Monday, December 31, 2007
B.Movie - 1980 - Volume 2 - Radio Days
The first four tracks come from the Peel session, and they're all winners, neatly showcasing the band's nervy edge of post-punk drive a la the Comsat Angels, balancing a cool synth sheen against understated rock power. "Polar Opposites" begins the set with its mix of low and high keyboard drones, while "All Fall Down" gets a commanding run-through, its unsettling synth lines and pulsing crunch making it the equal of other early-'80s nuclear paranoia classics as the Sound's "Missiles" and the Chameleons' "Up the Down Escalator." The Skinner cuts include a beautiful version of the band's signature cut "Nowhere Girl," its memorable keyboard hook even more prominent. Another track of note is the almost Bunnymen-like "Love Me," with its bongo-like opening percussion leading into a garage/psych jam.
The local radio session tracks, recorded shortly after the band formed in 1980, includes a brisk version of "Remembrance Day," at once more spooky and slightly more goofy than the studio take, and an amiably energetic "Spirit of the Age," with a great closing jam that indeed sounds like they were trying to capture just that.
~Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/79190366/b_movie_-_radio_days_1980.rar
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Kit Ream - 1978 - All That I Am
(Private) 1978 Wonderful Outsider Real People artifact by 60's acid casualty.
Spaced out weirdness with jazzy overtones, indescribable grunting , moaning and hilarious lyrics. One of the strangest records in existence & well documented by now in the "Incredibly Strange" book.
Tracks :
1 Introuniversal Jam
2 Don't Be So Holy Poly Over My Souly
3 Beautiful
4 Memories
5 Wines
6 Cool Water
7 Funk
8 Golden Drops
9 The End
This one is pretty well-known by “incredibly strange” fans and has been raved over by Jello Biafra. To make the story short, Ream was a wealthy 1960s acid casualty and then mental patient whose album was actually released by the "Institute For Creative Living,” a conservative “spiritual growth” center. The spacy, jazzy music on the album is strikingly similar to the equally bizarre Gary Wilson. Ream rants and raves in a completely confident and lounge-inspired way, entreating us not to be so holy poly over his souly, among other things. As real people albums go, this is one of the most endearing, as his life philosophy is even more compelling than, say, Father Yod’s, and the music is never dull. One song has some unexpected female vocals, and a few others have cool and weird vocal arrangements. He grunts and groans and moves from sing-speak to crooning at the drop of a hat. This is absolutely wonderful. “Go down to the beach, baby, get naked at twelve o’clock!” [AM]
~@~@~
Jello Biafra in the book "Incredibly Strange Music Vol II" writes:
The most deranged "rich person do-it-yourself" album is All That I Am by KIT REAM, heir to the Nabisco cookie fortune. According to someone who knew him, he dropped tons of acid in the '60's and wound up in a mental hospital where he spent six months staring at his own reflection in a mirror. Eventually the acid wore off, he was deemed "cured" and let loose in society, whereupon he decided to become a guru and make a record. From his maniacal expression you can see that this is a man who has seen it all and knows that he has "the answer". The songs are light beatnik jazz mixed with pseudo-psychedelia; he chants lines like "Don't be so holy, poly, over my soul-y." As far as I know his cult is still vastly outnumbered by Maharaj Ji, Rajnessh and the Moonies. Read A Review Here :
http://waxidermy.com/2006/05/04/kit-ream-all-that-i-am/
Get It Here :
rapidshare.com/files/Kit_Ream.rar
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Edie & The Eggs - Big Girls Don't Cry + Punks, Get Off the Grass (1982)
Get it here:
Rapidshare: rapidshare.com/files/edie_the_eggs.rar
or
Sendspace: www.sendspace.com/file/yj2s9r
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Datura
Formed in early 1995, Datura have performed frequently in the clubs of central north New Zealand. Two self-produced demo-style cassettes, released in 1996, sold out.
~Craig Harris, All Music Guide
~@~@~@~
Rockdetector Biography :
Eastern flavoured Psych Doomsters from Hamilton in New Zealand’s North Island. Although DATURA have been in existence for many years the present incarnation of vocalist / bassist Craig Williamson, guitarist Brent Middlemiss and drummer ‘Mad’ Jon Burnside have been together since 1995. The band debuted with the inclusion of the ‘Happiness Grows’ track on a Hamilton compilation album ‘Atrocities One’ in 1994. Two demo tapes followed during 1996 and a third the following year.
DATURA released the ‘Allisone’ album for Cranium Music in 1998. The record, which included an unaccredited ghost track, received praise from the global Stoner community. ‘Vision Of The Celestial’ would follow in 1999 although reports suggested DATURA underwent radical line up changes since its release.
In April of 2002 Williamson re-emerged as a solo artist, taking the mystical and Psychedelic influences felt on ‘Vision Of The Celestial’
into mellower territory for his LAMP OF THE UNIVERSE solo project. Under this new title Williamson released ‘The Cosmic Union’ album, following it in June 2002 with ‘Echo Of Light’.
Personnel :
Craig Williamson - bass, vocals
Brent Middlemiss - guitar
Jon Burnside - drums
Datura - 1998 - Allisone @192
From Aural Innovations #6 (April 1999)
Take a trip down under, hang a left and find the north island of New Zealand. There you will find a pretty cool stoner band named Datura. Cranium Music, the lone Kiwi space/psych music label, found them also and so now their music is ready for worldwide consumption. "Allisone" is made up of seven heavy rockers and one uncredited folksy psych tune hidden at the end, but together total only about 35 minutes of disc time.
Musically-speaking, Datura's style is nearly indistinguishable from either California's Fu Manchu or its offshoot Nebula. Fuzz-heavy riffs, thundering bass, copious amounts of wah-wah soloing, aggressive vocals...it's all in there. One difference though...vocalist (and bassist) Craig Williamson has a voice most similar to Glenn Danzig - maybe not quite so deep and resonant, but Williamson uses the same sort of inflections. It works well here, and for that reason alone I'd say Datura is worthy of checking out. That said, I don't really feel that they've written enough good tunes to jump to the top of the Stoner pile. "Man in the Moon" really gets me going with its funky-fuzz, bass-thumpin', and guitar screamin', but then I had to wait until the finale, "Mountain" to hear something as good. Here, they present a darker, almost-gothic feel that really does sound original. The lyrical lines were well-written, the crazy psych-guitar swashing provided a nice backdrop, and the extended outro jam was a great way to finish off the album. Which then it doesn't, as the hidden track still remains. (Hit the fast forward...there's no sense in waiting.)
OK, I'm ready to give this album a 'thumbs up,' though I think they could do a bit more to distance themselves stylistically from all those jumping on the stoner bandwagon. The gothic quality of "Mountain" was a good start, and tells me they have the tools to do just that. I'll be back to check in on them next time 'round, and see how they've made out.
~Reviewed by Keith Henderson
Datura - 1999 - Visions for the Celestial @320
(Brainticket 2000, BTR-008, originally released on Cranium, 1999)
From Aural Innovations #15 (April 2001)
From New Zealand, Datura play fairly standard stoner rock. But read on as there are some special moments on this disc. Visions For The Celestial is their second CD. It was originally released in 1999 on Cranium and has now been reissued in the U.S. by Brainticket. The band consists of Craig Williamson on vocals, bass, and percussion, Brent Middlemiss on lead and rhythm guitars, and Jon Burnside on drums and percussion, plus guests on keyboards, flute, clarinet, and percussion.
There are 6 tracks on the CD and four of them are decent stoner rock tunes, but don't really make any individual mark. Datura's brand of stoner isn't too sludgy and features heavy wah'd guitar that gives an extra psychedelic kick to the music. The bass throbs but isn't so low-end that it sticks in your chest. In fact, it really has a strong 70's jam rock feel. I'm reminded of Mountain but with a more cutting psychedelic edge. "Reaching Out" is a little different being a bit of good old thrash rock 'n roll set in Stoner land.
On "Euphoria" things get a little more interesting and we really start to trip out. I liked the brain-searing acid metal guitar and the mix has it shooting between left and right such that it jarred my head a bit. Actually it sounds like dual guitars on this track and the whole thing is head banging and mind melting at the same time. But the closing track, the 15-minute "Mantra", is completely different. Keyboards create a mucho spacey landscape over which the guitar plays still slow paced, but less heavy stoner wah'd, and more trippy solos than on the rest of the album. Same for the bass. It aids the drums as a rhythm instrument, leaving the stoner throb behind so the keyboards and guitar can do their cosmic magic. There's just a wee bit of the stoner element from the guitar but it adds a welcome edge to the music and contrasts nicely with the flowing space keyboards. This is a solid piece of tripped out psychedelic space rock and really took me by surprise. It makes the whole album for me.
In summary, Stoner fans will more than likely dig Datura, especially if you like a little less sludge and more psychedelia. But like a lot of stoner rock there's little real structure to the music. It's sounds great, but just jams along at a lethargic pace without really going anywhere. Still, there's enough here to indicate that Datura have the right stuff and if they bring on more songs like "Mantra" I might just be a committed fan.
~Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz
And Here You Can Read an
Interview with DATURA (Craig Williamson) - May 2000
@ http://www.monolith.gr/
Download Here :
RapidShare Part 1
RapidShare Part 2
or
SendSpace Part 1
SendSpace Part 2
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Mighty Lemon Drops - 1988 - World Without End
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Origin
Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England
Years active
1985–1992
Paul Marsh (vocals, rhythm guitar)
Originally called the Sherbert Monsters, the quartet first formed in the spring of 1985 in Wolverhampton, in the English Midlands The Black Country. Group members Dave Newton and Tony Linehan were the principal songwriters for the group. Their sound can best be described as neo-psychedelia in the vein of Echo & The Bunnymen played with a ringing Rickenbacker as the lead instrument which allowed them to transcend, and not merely imitate, the work of their influences. They were very popular on the College radio circuit and were the soundtrack for many students' lives in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In December of 1985 the quartet, now all officially Mighty Lemon Drops, released their first single, Like An Angel, which shot to the top of the UK Indie charts. They also recorded a session for John Peel around the same time. They soon landed a major recording contract, the matter, in this case, being late summer when Chrysalis Records signed the group for the UK, & Sire Records / Warner for the USA / Canada.. Previously Paul Marsh, Dave Newton and Tony Linehan played together in a band called Active Restraint in 1982 with Newton leaving to become a founding member of another band, The Wild Flowers (who later had an excellent track called A Kind Of Kingdom and the album Dust in 1986). Becoming part of the "C86 movement" which was championed by the New Musical Express they were soon snapped up by Blue Guitar, a subsidiary of Chrysalis, alongside the excellent Shop Assistants (who themselves had considerable success on the "Indie scene" with the brilliant Safety Net single) in 1986.
Derek Jarman produced the video for the polished Out of Hand single in 1987 which was followed by their sole hit Inside Out in 1988. They were eventually dropped by Chrysalis after three albums (Happy Head, World Without End and Laughter) when failing to repeat their initial independent success. During the sessions for Laughter, Linehan left the band being replaced by Marcus Williams.
The band released two more albums, Sound...Say Goodbye To Your Standards and Ricochet before finally breaking up in 1992. Two further posthumous album releases followed (All The Way and the greatest-hits package Rollercoaster) and at the end of 2000 the band played a one-off comeback gig in Wolverhampton.
In 2006 Dave Newton produced Inside Out (as well as played bass on the track) for the LA noise pop/shoegazers The Lassie Foundation's 2CD collection and final album, Through and Through.
Tony Linehan now works as a project manager and emigrated to New Zealand in April 2007.
David Newton still works as a recording engineer / producer, & has recently completed projects for, amongst others, The Little Ones and The Blood Arm.
Discography
Singles
Like An Angel 1985
The Other Side Of You 1986
My Biggest Thrill 1986
Out Of Hand 1987
Inside Out 1988
Fall Down (Like The Rain) 1988
Into The Heart Of Love 1989
Beautiful Shame 1989
Too High (Remix) 1991
Unkind (Remix) 1991
Albums
Happy Head 1986
Out of Hand 1987
World Without End 1988
Laughter 1989
Sound...Say Goodbye to Your Standards 1991
Ricochet 1992
All The Way (Live In Cincinnati) 1993
Rollercoaster: The Best Of The Mighty Lemon Drops 1997
Young, Gifted, & Black Country 2004
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Certain General - 1984 - November's Heat
Monday, December 24, 2007
The Prefab Messiahs - 1998 - Devolver
In the first half of the 1980s, in the post-industrial landmine known as Worcester, Massachusetts (a/k/a/ Wormtown) -- a city whose two industrial complexes made it number one on the Soviet Union's hit list in case of war -- three wise men, accompanied by an equally strange entourage of followers and inventors, ignored all the rules of how to become successful musicians and created a unique legacy of their own, and with it, the era of "Peace, Love and Alienation."
The journey began at Clark University, where two devotees of Dada terrorism, Seth "Xerox" Feinberg and "Egg" Al Nidle postered its campus with posters announcing "talentless guitarist and drummer seeking bassist and lead guitarist to form post-new wave pop pseudo-psychedelic band." It drew the attention of Kris "Trip" Thompson, a new member of the church of all things psychedelic and guitarist-without-a working guitar Mike "Doc" Michaud. They began practicing at the local community radio station, using only pizza boxes for a drum kit, and were not so politely asked to leave by half the station. The other half demanded they play on the air, and soon afterwards, the Prefab Messiahs were on the airwaves asking the question, "Whatever happened to Cousin Artie? / He blew his mind out at a '60s party...," and intended or not (thanks to the fact the local underground club's doorman was indeed a popular scenester named Artie, and still scarred from having been forced to attend Woodstock), the residents of Wormtown took it as a celebration of one of their own.
With its Betty Crocker-like instant success, and fame (or at least a good used clothing store) just around the corner, "Egg" Al decided to leave the performing line-up and like Gepetto and Malcolm McClaren, pull strings from behind the scenes (he attempted to bring Ronald McDonald into its lineup - but alas, failed by a single screw of pulling off the artistic coup of the century). He was replaced by Ringo, a Casio instrument whose existence irritated serious music fans, but delighted music lovers.
In the spring of '82 the group entered the "Spring Rock Showcase" at the city's largest nightclub [Sanctuary]. Heavily promoted by the region's biggest radio station [WAAF], it attracted a large hard rock crowd, most of who were beyond stunned to see the Prefabs take the stage with Ringo - but not as horrified as when they learned the group had won its preliminary round enroute to the semi-finals.
The Prefabs' belief in their music earned the respect of Nebulas drummer Tony Serrato, who volunteered to replace Ringo. They took their prize and recorded "The 16th Track" and "Desperately Happy", and with a real drummer, rapidly became one of the city's best live acts.
Time constraints eventually forced Serrato to leave the band, and he was replaced by Billy Brahm, from Bobb Trimble's equally mythical Crippled Dog Band.
source : http://www.myspace.com/theprefabmessiahs
"Much of the U.S. new wave scene was as much garage/psych revivalism as anything else, but so long as the music was good fun there wasn't any reason to complain. And thus arrived the Prefab Messiahs, who besides having a great name and a proto-college rock dress sense clearly loved many things acid-ridden and more than slightly spaced out. Devolver, a late-'90s reissue that captured most of what the band recorded via live sets and rehearsals and the like, shows the band -- notably featuring future Abunai!/ Lothars member Kris Thompson on bass and backing vocals -- merrily careening through a series of mostly brisk, ramshackle joys. It might be a bit limiting to say that their contemporaries were probably the Three O'Clock for the sweetness and the Fleshtones for the mania -- if anything, though, songs like "The 16th Track" sound a bit like the Damned in their Naz Nomad guise, while others would fit in well on a Syd Barrett album or two. In any event, the trio plus various assisting performers -- including Ringo Casiotone, cousin to such legendary drummers as Echo and Doktor Avalanche -- manage to nail a good blend of lightness and merry insanity. "Franz Kafka" is a great example of how the band could turn things into a great full-on rave-up. Humor was always core to the group's approach -- while not a comedy band as such, the fact that some song titles included "Prefabedelia" and "Rice 4 a Sheik" says it all. Lead singer Xerox Feinberg's singing is in ways the secret weapon of the band, both beautifully disaffected and snotty in a classic Nuggets sense. Meanwhile, various minute-long songs interspersed throughout are mostly off-the-cuff bizarro dialogues and rants, thus "Got a Hole in Me" (addressed to "Mr. Donut")."
--Ned Raggett AMG
Sunday, December 23, 2007
The Sun Blindness - 2007 - Like Pearly Clouds
Tracks :
1. Our Glassy Selves
2. Everything Is Imminent
3. Flash in the Cosmic Pan
4. A Crack In The Concrete (For D. Crosby)
5. Jeremy Stares Into The Sun
6. It's Only 3 am
7. A Trip In A Painted World
8. Right Where You Are Sitting Now
9. Sleep Inside
10. Everything Comes Right
11. Panta Rhei'
12. Lazy Livin'
A delightfully lush, druggy & dreamy neo-psychedelic affair is this one. These guys hail from somewhere in Australia and they really have come up with something unique here for their first album. A strange mixture of LSD-era Beach Boys, J.K & Co, Byrds & perhaps the softer side of Spacemen 3.... songs such as "It's Only 3am" and " Everything Is Imminent" really have a warm, beautiful atmosphere to them. Lots of backwards guitars, strange percussion, echoed harmonies and a New Tweedy Bros cover. This is one of my favorite releases of the year.
Shared w/ Permission.... Enjoy!
Get It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/77789145/TSB_-_LPC-__07.rar
If you like the album you can visit band's myspace
http://www.myspace.com/thesunblindness
for instructions how to purchase a copy !
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Blackmail - 1993 - Life After Death
This LP is characterised by shades of psychedelia blended with the spirit of that era.
Blackmail issued three LPs :
Life After Death (Hitch-Hike) 1993
Overexposed (Creep) 1995
7 (M Records) 2001
Download It Here :
Friday, December 21, 2007
Mazzy Star - 1993 - So Tonight Τhat I Might See
Though many songs work with full arrangements like "Fade Into You," a thick but never once overpowering combination, two heavily stripped-down songs demonstrate in different ways how Mazzy Star makes a virtue out of simplicity. "Mary of Silence" is an organ-led slow shuffle that easily ranks with the best of the Doors, strung-out and captivating all at once, Sandoval's singing and Roback's careful acid soloing perfect foils. "Wasted," meanwhile, revisits a classic blues riff slowed down to near-soporific levels, but the snarling crunch of Roback's guitar works wonders against Sandoval's vocals, a careful balance that holds. If there's a left-field standout, then unquestionably it's "Five String Serenade." A cover of an Arthur Lee song -- for once not a Love-era number, but a then-recent effort -- Roback's delicate acoustic guitar effortlessly brings out its simple beauty. Tambourine and violin add just enough to the arrangement here and there, and Sandoval's calm singing makes for the icing on the cake.
listen to them here : http://www.myspace.com/mazzzystarrr
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/78831968/mazzy.rar
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wipers - 1987 - Follow Blind
Follow Blind / Someplace Else / Any Time You Find / The Chill Remains / Let It Slide / Against the Wall / No Doubt About It / Don't Belong to You / Losers Town / Coming Down / Next Time
Follow Blind is basically a cleaner, more contemplative version of Land of the Lost, taking its obsession with melancholy to an even more mysterious and occasionally spooky level. As the lyrics are often simple, vague and enigmatic, uncovering a surface that barely hints at what's really going on below, so does the music also reside in an empire of shadows where black and white are eternally banned in favor of shades of grey. Luckily, this gloomy atmosphere doesn't become a breeding ground for mopey angst or overly depressive messages, which would neutralize the music's impact. As one of the very few truly independent bands, the Wipers have one major advantage that few others bands have, and that is that they're immediately recognizable, even though they're working within a clearly defined tradition and rarely indulge in extreme experiments. It's obvious that the Wipers' albums weren't recorded in this millennium, but on Follow Blind they also manage to avoid the over-production and annoying gloss that marred so many of the releases that appeared in 1987. As suggested above, the direction is basically the same as on Land of the Lost: it's moody guitar rock, sometimes slow, sometimes up-tempo, but always hypnotizing. The rhythm section of Davidson and Plouf may not have anything challenging in store if you're in for versatile musicianship, but along with Sage's dense guitar style, they turn each song into a trip of its own, even though more than half here stay under three minutes. Someday, someone really should try to analyze The Wipers' music and try to find out what it is that makes their releases so effective: it must be a combination of Sage's weary voice, the steady rhythms, the peculiar and rather thin production, as well as his virtuoso guitar playing (but never in a boasting manner), but even that doesn't cover the entire package.
I've been listening to this album for a few days when I walked home from work and while I was listening, it was as if the outside world temporarily disappeared and only a sort of tunnel around me remained. Such is the intensity of Follow Blind's best moments. It makes you feel slightly drugged and a spectator seeing things from the outside, in slow motion. As for the songs: it's hard to point out highlights, yet the best stuff is stacked (as is often the case on Wipers album) in the beginning half. This part of the album contains the slower, moodier tracks that feature a throbbing groove and subtly addictive melodies that appear in the guitar playing and vocals (Sage is a limited singer but a great vocalist). Of the first four tracks, the recurring favorite (probably because it's actually recognizable) remains "The Chill Remains," in which Sage evokes an entire emotional universe with just a guitar and a few simple lines "I wonder how it's been, your ship came in, but the shadow shall arise, you turn your eyes," before launching another one of those metronomic grooves. From "Let It Slide" onwards, the album suddenly heads into a more conventional, immediately catchy and rock-oriented direction with less consistently impressive results. The hard rock riff of "Against the Wall" works just fine, but it might take a while to get accustomed to the nearly rockabilly and blues-directed style of "Don't Belong to You" and, especially, "Coming Down." Yet, for each merely "decent" track, there's a grinding winner like "Losers Town." Follow Blind isn't exactly the Wipers' most inspired album; in fact, it's a bit average compared to their best works (of earlier and later), but that's redeemed by the unique style that's retained throughout the album, as well as the refusal to descend into mediocrity. The kind of mediocrity that makes people come up with stuff like "Every day is a gift, that's why they call it the present" (yesterday's most memorable line!!). In other words: the legend continues, albeit on a humbler level. (Dec. 29th, 2005)
source : http://www.guypetersreviews.com/wipers.php
Download it Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/78819604/wipers_follow_blind.rar
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The Fall - Totally Wired : The Rough Trade Anthology
Staggering out of industrial Manchester, England at the height of the post-punk era on a lo-fi bed of jagged, intoxicated guitar work and swaggering rhythm, The Fall were like an alternate rock and roll reality, an entire musical universe unto themselves. Vocalist and band mainstay Mark E Smith's scattershot, loquacious delivery and Northern pride put him in a league of his own, where his sneering, often indecipherable vocals ranged from shocking to hilarious to deeply political, and were never any less than absolutely thrilling.
The Fall's three-year tenure at Rough Trade Records is the stuff of legend, full of rancorous label/band fighting (Smith later said he'd rather retire than record for them again), furious live shows, and music that would forever alter the course of independent music. Some of The Fall's best songs are scattered across the two discs of this set. The only other period during which the band were this consistent in their 2�-decade-long (and counting) career was the one that immediately followed it, when the band signed to Beggars Banquet and released some of their best work-- including 1984's The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall and their 1985 classic This Nation's Saving Grace, both of which saw them incorporating more distinct pop elements into their sharp-witted, staggering cut-and-thrust.
The set opens with the track it was named for, a 1980 single that later appeared on the US edition of Grotesque (After the Gramme). The song is as indicative of The Fall's signature sound as any other, but it's also perhaps one of their most accessible. First come the stomping drums, briefly recalling the opening moments of The Ramones' "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio", though the similarity ends when Smith grandly announces, "I'm totally wired," his voice stuttering and cracking, turning an otherwise routinely declamatory line into a frantic yelp. The band members echo his chorus, but it's during the verses that Smith drops the song's best lines: "You don't have to be weird... uh-to be... wiiiired... and I'm always worried."
It's stunning to hear how consistent this band was in their heyday. Throughout their countless genre explorations, they never failed, and always wound up, somehow, sounding like nothing other than The Fall. "That Man" is old-fashioned 50s rock 'n' roll, as if the Cold War had really become the nuclear holocaust it always threatened to. "The Man Whose Head Expanded" hints at schlocky New Romantic synth-pop with its bleeping keyboard preset (the same one used by Trio for their Volkswagen-resurrected hit "Da Da Da"), but Smith's rant pulls it back from the brink and the guitars send it lurching into a wandering breakdown and frenzied build-up. The mighty "Rowche Rumble", one of the band's defining tracks, soon follows, with Smith's sarcastic opening claim, "Well, this is a groovy number," preceding the nailbomb-like explosion of Marc Riley's and Craig Scanlon's guitars into a jaw-dropping riff.
Elsewhere, "Pay Your Rates" barrels through production that makes Vampire on Titus sound like Kylie Minogue, while "New Puritan" sounds as though it could have been recorded off a depression-era radio show receiving the future of harrowing, abstract art-punk mayhem. And the sinister riffs of "Pay Your Rates" and "Prole Art Threat" are designed for the sole purpose of detonation and destruction: raw pummeling with little consideration for the rest of the band.
Though neither of these discs are arranged in chronological order, the second largely consists of later material than the first, focusing primarily on 1983's Perverted by Language. The album marked the debut of Smith's future wife Brix with the band, and a turn toward slightly more accessible (or at least less grinding) music, and though none of it was ever going to threaten the top of the charts, the group was opening up to a less improvisational stance that made for more direct hooks. In fact, this was the era in which The Fall would do their best work yet, balancing dissonant crunch with more rigid structures.
This compilation is invaluable: it's the first time a truly exhaustive compilation of some of The Fall's best material has been made available stateside, where the stuff has long been difficult to track down. Compiling the work of a band like The Fall would be a maddening task, with literally dozens of releases in multiple formats scattered across more than a half-dozen labels. Totally Wired provides an excellent starting point for one of their best periods. Though it does stop short of the thoroughness that might make it a true anthology, Totally Wired pulls from every Rough Trade release The Fall recorded, providing a quality roadmap for where a listener might want to go next, and that's indispensable for a band so worth exploring.
-Joe Tangari, October 10, 2002
source : http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/
Download It Here :
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Flowers Of Romance - 1996 - Brilliant Mistakes
The band was originally formed on February 2nd, 1981 by members Mike Pougounas-vocals (later will perform keyboards and synthesizers but played the bass when needed), Tasos Dimitriadis-bass and Costas Venos-guitar and were named after Sid Vicious's band (of the pre-Sex Pistols era). Recruiting George Venizelos on the drums, they started gigging regularly and quickly gained a number of followers in the punk rock scene and the university circles with their a la Dead Boys/Lords Of The New Church style. Trying to put down the Flowers Of Romance would be ridiculous as Greece was never a friendly ground for greek bands with english lyrics, playing rocknroll, gothic, new wave, punk rock or whatever you wanna call it. Cause you see, there aren't any famous bands coming from good old Greece that people heard of, except maybe Vangelis, Aphrodite's Child and this means we go a long way back.
DISCOGRAPHY (no compilations included)
LP/CD DORIAN GREY (Only on vinyl released in Greece)
PLEASURE & THE PAIN (vinyl for Greece/CD with extra tracks in Germany )
BRILLIANT MISTAKES (Only CD both in Greece and Germany too)
12" EP LOVE MEANS DEATH (Only Greece)
7" PLEASURE & THE PAIN / WINTER WALTZ (Only in Greece)
CD SINGLE CHANNEL Z (Only in Germany)
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/79002228/brilliant_mistakes.rar
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Gary Wilson
Tracks :
1 Dream(s) (2:36)
2 Rhythm in Your Eyes (2:22)
3 In the Midnight Hour (3:24)
4 Forgotten Lovers (2:05)
5 New York Surf (2:26)
6 It's So Sad to Be Alone (2:08)
7 Soul Travel (2:34)
8 Chrome Lover (5:00)
9 Sick Trip (2:31)
10 Softly the Water Flows (1:29)
11 I Wanna Take You on a Sea Cruise (3:31)
12 When I Spoke of Love (2:26)
13 Another Galaxy (7:23)
14 You Took Me on a Walk into My Mirror (2:36)
Forgotten Lovers is the illuminating companion to geek-funk lothario Gary Wilson's 1977 masterpiece You Think You Really Know Me. A cult record if there ever was one, Wilson's home-recorded debut would influence numerous independent music tastemakers, including Beck, the Make-Up, and Magnetic Fields. But it was a one-off, a fluke, the twisted genius product of a lonely guy busting snarky, R-rated pickup lines on a cardboard cutout of Joan Crawford in his parents' basement. You Think You Really Know Me was so far ahead of its time, it was behind itself. 2003 sees the release of Forgotten Lovers, assembled from Wilson's previously unreleased material, rarities, and vinyl-only pressings from 1973 to 1982. Its awkward funk experiments "You Took Me on a Walk Into My Mirror," Jonathan Richman-style sour grapes "It's So Sad to Be Alone," and bizarre space jazz trips ("Chrome Lover," on which Wilson warbles "Make out! Make out!" repeatedly) are the stuff of creepy genius. "Rhythm in Your Eyes," recorded with Wilson's part-time backup band the Blind Dates, would be a remake of Beck's "Hollywood Freaks" if Wilson hadn't recorded it 20 years before Midnite Vultures ever came out. Some of Wilson's material is more challenging; strange jazz-funk interludes and some odd sampling choices might deter some listeners. And Wilson's vocal phrasing is an acquired taste. But overall, Forgotten Lovers is an odd, yet eminently listenable album, of special interest for anyone who sees You Think You Really Know Me as only the tip of the Gary Wilson iceberg.
~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
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Gary Wilson - 2004 - Mary Had Brown Hair
Tracks :
1 A Very Sall Town (0:52)
2 Linda Wants to Be Alone (2:25)
3 Shauna Made Me Cry (1:22)
4 Debbie Debbie (3:10)
5 Mary Had Brown Hair (2:07)
6 Gary's in the Park (2:03)
7 Newark Valley (2:00)
8 Sodus Point (1:41)
9 Gary Saw Linda Last Night (5:04)
10 She Makes Me Think of Endicott (2:02)
11 Electric Depression (2:23)
12 Our Last Date (1:23)
13 Hold Back the Daylight (2:14)
14 Mary, Make a Wish (0:49)
15 6.4=Make Out [O.G. 1976 Version] (7:17)
16 Chromium Bitch [O.G. 1976 Version] (2:28)
Mary Had Brown Hair is Gary Wilson's first new material since he re-emerged in 2002, after reissues of his late-'70s work turned the world on to his crooked and flower-caked smile. But despite his nearly 30-year station break, he's ignored the musical interim. Mary doesn't draw on the whatever-wave climate of 2004, despite parts of it being owed to Wilson's original mercurial horn-dog muse. Nor does the album feature cumbersome, press-hogging guest shots -- this isn't the hipsterati Supernatural. Instead it spools out snips of Wilson's broken fusion style, gluing them together for another neurotic soundtrack to would-be chrome lovers and penned-in thoughts. On Mary there's a second Gary sitting on the real Gary's shoulder. This alternate is in 2-D, sputtering like blistered beta playback. He brandishes the severed arm of a foxy-ass mannequin and speaks in manipulated tone-bank warbles. This other Gary often speaks for the original, who's overcome with love and indecision, anger, or sexual frustration. The sped-up voice tells us "Gary Saw Linda Last Night," and how he was sad. "But then I was glad," Gary himself says, "'Cause now I'd be alone." For, as much as he longs for companionship, it's easier to not subject himself to the pain, to return to the comfort of darkness and the avenue. "Gary's in the Park" bounces all chipper, like a 24-hour supermarket's incidental music remixed for use in cocktail lounges. But while out searching for tail, Wilson and his wavering alter ego turn angry at some perceived slight. They were happier alone, when love was just potential. This is the shift in Mary Had Brown Hair. While Wilson always did more wanting than getting, his desires now seem to guide him to a cynical id dead end. The women that haunt the album don't seem aware of him; they're random bus passengers, or pretty secretaries on the sidewalk. Regardless, they're impetuses for his particular heart damage. "Debbie Debbie" is a love song in the classic Wilson sense, its fuzz guitar and pattering drum machine drenching his pleading in awkward basement slow jamming. And even though "Linda Wants to Be Alone" turns a little stalker creepy, its sharp-angled whir is reminiscent of the Korgis' "Chinese Girl." Of course, Mary Had Brown Hair also has its freaky sketches. "Shauna Made Me Cry" is a brief interlude of, well, Gary Wilson crying. Later, Linda reappears in "Our Last Date." Backed by a chorus of horror film organ and radar beeps, a shape-shifting Wilson describes how he "saw" her name scrawled on a rock. He slept on it, only to wake and find himself alone with painful memories. "I can still see her face in the Jaycee Diner/Where we shared French fries and gravy." And the Donnie Darko bunny beckons from a ravine. Mary Had Brown Hair is an unpredictable and thrilling teeter of nightmare and wet dream. It might be Gary Wilson's official return to our world, but it's clear he's still living deep inside his own. [The album included radically different demo versions of Wilson oldies "6.4= Make Out" and "Chromium Bitch," both dating from 1976.]
~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
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Bio :
The brain-damaged electro-funk of Gary Wilson was new wave when the label was still mainly used to categorize punk acts with a sweet tooth for pop. Completely ahead of his time, Wilson used chilly synthesizers and bizarre sound effects and samples to tell his odd tales of love and sex. In 1977, Wilson recorded his debut LP You Think You Really Know Me in the basement of his parents' house in Endicott, NY. Home tapings started becoming prevalent in the '90s, but in the late '70s, Wilson was an indie pioneer, releasing a strange lo-fi record that eventually influenced Beck. Moreover, the LP inspired Olympia, WA, college radio station KAOS to spin underground artists, helping to cultivate a taste for non-commercial music that later gave birth to K Records and Sub Pop. Legendary Seattle DJ Stephen Rabow even presented one of Wilson's gigs in the early '80s. Wilson toured with his group, the Blind Dates, at times covering their bodies on-stage with flour. But the masses were not ready for Wilson's eccentricities. Wilson did not release a follow-up to You Think You Really Know Me; nevertheless, the album's cult status grew as years passed. Finally, in 2003, Motel Records released Forgetten Lovers, a follow-up album of sorts assembled from Wilson's previously unreleased material, rarities, and vinyl-only pressings from 1973 to 1982, further solidifying Wilson's stance as the unsung hero of indie rock. The new record Mary Had Brown Hair was released in 2004 on Stones Throw.
~ Michael Sutton, All Music Guide
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Wellwater Conspiracy - The Scroll and It's Combinations
~ Steve Kurutz, All Music Guide
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Dif Juz - 1985 - Extractions
Tracks :
1 Crosswinds
2 A Starting Point
3 Silver Passage
4 The Last Day
5 Love Insane
6 Marooned
7 Two Fine Days (And A Thunderstorm)
8 Echo Wreck
9 Twin And Earth
10 Gunet
11 Soarn
12 Hu
13 Re
Dif Juz was a British instrumental band, strongly influenced by dub, who were active in the early early to mid 1980s. Retroactively they can be seen to be most strongly allied with the Post-rock movement.
History :
The members of the group were Dave Curtis (guitar), Alan Curtis (guitar), Gary Bromley (bass), and Richard Thomas (drums, percussion, saxophone). The band developed out of the punk band London Pride that was formed by the Curtis brothers.
In late 1979, Alan Curtis was involved with New Wave band Duran Duran. He apparently disappeared and missed a particularly volatile gig after the band hired the owners of the Birmingham Rum Runner nightclub as managers. In a 2003 interview John Taylor (bassist for Duran Duran) said "straight away Alan Curtis skipped town, thinking getting involved with two nightclub owners meant he would end up in pieces down a city alleyway."
Dif Juz is associated with their more famous contemporaries Cocteau Twins for several reasons:
- Cocteau Twins guitarist Robin Guthrie produced several of their recordings.
- Cocteau Twins vocalist Elizabeth Fraser sang on "Love Insane" from the album Extractions.
- They were (4AD Records) label-mates and toured with the Cocteau Twins.
- Cocteau Twins bass player Simon Raymonde was quoted as saying Dif Juz were the "Best live band I've ever seen".
- The two bands shared some superficial similarities in production style, notably a love of delay and reverb effects.
At one point they served as a backing band for Reggae/Dub luminary Lee Scratch Perry for a few live dates. A studio album of this collaboration was recorded with Robin Guthrie as producer but this album was never released and sits unheard in the 4AD vaults. There is currently some debate as to why. 4AD's current stance is that the Curtis brothers never really appreciated the results. However, Dave Curtis has stated that he believes it's "the best thing Dif Juz ever did".
Source : Wikipedia
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Thursday, December 6, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Pixies - 1998 - Pixies at the BBC
The album is characterised by its raw, underproduced sound.
- "Wild Honey Pie" (J. Lennon & P. McCartney) – 1:52
- "There Goes My Gun" – 1:25
- "Dead" – 1:30
- "Subbacultcha" – 2:08
- "Manta Ray" – 2:15
- "Is She Weird" – 2:52
- "Ana" – 2:14
- "Down to the Well" – 2:31
- "Wave of Mutilation" – 2:22
- "Letter to Memphis" – 2:33
- "Levitate Me" – 2:18
- "Caribou" – 3:18
- "Monkey Gone to Heaven" – 2:57
- "Hey" – 3:17
- "(In Heaven) Lady in the Radiator Song" (P. Ivers & D. Lynch) – 1:51
listen to the Pixies here
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