Outsight
Outsight: Fresh Frith
FRESH FRITH
Britain's ReR MegaCorp, distributed domestically on Cuneiform, reissues Fred Frith's Accidental: Music for Dance, Vol. 3 and Gravity titles. From the avant-guitarist, these are two varied discs. The title of each is a reverse barometer of the weather system contained therein. Gravity is possessed of levity and a even a cartoonish experimentalism. Accidental, however, is so purposeful as to border on the aggressive in its repetitive purposefulness. Gravity is Frith's lighthearted celebration of dance from all cultures. Perhaps it is the streak of dance-music appreciation that caused him to later collaborate on the musical score to Sally Potter's The Tango Lesson. Percussion here is light and largely marked with handclaps. The guitars sound twang-y and bring folk-instrumentation to mind. Indeed, much of Frith's source material for this album was scratched on napkins while listening to Greek musicians while on holiday. Violins and horns add a jubilant feel to the music. Many musicians help vary the sound of each tracks and some of these guests are from Samla Mammas, Manna, The Muffins and Henry Cow. Gravity is an entertaining and multi-cultural pocket folk festival. Certainly, Gravity, of all the Frith releases is the most accessible, the easiest to enjoy. The disc contains a rendition of "Dancing in the Street" and it is the only Frith album where this does not seem out of place.
Accidental is Frith on all voices and instruments. This instrumentation is mostly guitars, violin, junk percussion, and radio found sounds. British choreographer Paul Selwyn Norton commissioned this music for a dance piece made in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was recorded in 1995-1996 winter. This reaches back to harsh, angular art sounds that hearken back to Frith's Henry Cow days. This is the sound he was freeing himself from on the more unfettered Gravity. In a way, though, this is then a back-to-basics approach where Frith returns to his roots but employs modern production techniques. As Gravity benefits from the exuberance of Hellenic folk musicians Frith encountered, so Accidental reflects the tension of an Israel shuddering from the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. It was shortly after this event that Frith was in Israel recording the music in all-night sessions.
These reissues are co-releases with Frith's own Fred Records. Along with the back catalog will appear new release. Frith on the Web: http://www.fredfrith.com.
Listen to or Buy Accidental at CDNow
Listen to or Buy Gravity at CDNow
TOM WAITS NO MORE
Tom Waits sold over a million copies of Mule Variations and won a Grammy for it. Never one to rush albums anyway, Tom Waits took time to top that excellent opus and with the dual release of Alice and Blood Money, both on the Epitaph-distributed Anti label, he has. For the fans, any mention of new Waits activity suggests the question, Will he tour? Well, these albums were created, like Frank's Wild Years, for performance and have already been performed. The cover of the booklet of Blood Money shows Waits in a tux casting stark shadows with a mechanic's light. Shades of Big Time, indeed. It seems that only official announcement of the dates and venues awaits.
Again recalling Frank's Wild Years, Alice gives us another character in the Waits pantheon. Performed in Hamburg in 1992 and thought abandoned by Waits, Alice is loosely based on the Alice Liddell that so obsessed author Lewis Carroll. However, this Alice becomes more of an archetype: that one woman that becomes the prime source of joy and pain in a man's life. As Waits has always been more a celebrator of the sad than the serene, this Alice becomes the focus of mad melancholia in this recovered masterpiece.
Blood Money also has an inspiration, Woyzeck. Like, Alice this was a performance directed by Robert Wilson. The songs Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan composed here were for George Buechner's Woyzeck play. Like Alice, acoustic instruments are almost exclusively employed for this dark and carnivalesque work. Psychically akin to Bone Machine, Blood Moneyis the malevolent, demonic side of Waits given full creative reign. Waits and Brennan fully incarnate the tortured spirit of Woyzeck, a man driven by punishing forces beyond his control to despair and suicide. On this album Waits performs on a 1929 pneumatic calliope adding to the funhouse nature of this personal, Götterdamerung circus.
Listen to or Buy Alice at CDNow
Listen to or Buy Blood Money at CDNow
1,2 ANEW
Geffen is reissuing remastered versions of Peter Gabriel's first two albums. The intelligent and sophisticated songs presented on these 1977 and 1978 albums only hint at the hip dance-pop Gabriel became known for in the MTV years. 1, with its moody rain-spotted car cover, has all the psychological landscape of a compelling novel, or moving movie. There are the unsettling low points of life covered in the melancholy "Humdrum" and the Randy Newman-flavored "Excuse Me." The moment of transformation is captured in the memorable "Solsbury Hill." This ambitious rock album includes not only the London Symphony Orchestra, but Robert Fripp, Tony Levin and Steve Hunter. Somewhat more obvious on the two-sided vinyl original releases is the dichotomy of a more upbeat Side 1 compared to an apocalyptic Side 2. 2, with its jarring image of a black and white Gabriel tearing down and through his world, is not necessarily any darker. However, it is somewhat edgier and opens with a Joe Jackson-flavored "On The Air." This seems a metaphor for not pop success but all the tension that being "in the spotlight" implies. Released at the height of the punk movement, Gabriel employs on this Fripp-produced album a more sparse, uncluttered sound typified by the successful single "D.I.Y." 2 is the ex-Genesis lead vocalist's post-art-rock album of lucid pop vision.
Listen to or Buy 1 at CDNow
Listen to or Buy 2 at CDNow
ZINE SCENE
Continuing a fine, quarter-century tradition with readers in all fifty States is Farming Uncle (Box 427, Bronx, NY 10458). There's a rural, anti-establishment, almost survivalist tone to the photocopied digest. Mostly filling it are ads, which themselves offer entertainment value going from Native American tribal leader classifieds to notices for mood-altering herbs. Interspersed are factoids, quips and short articles, such as herbal remedies for menstrual problems and the Asian Indian derivation of Southern U.S. cattle… Shannon Colebank (POB 5591, Portland, OR 97228) is hard at work with her prolific self-publishing venture Whizzbanger Productions. First, there is the one-sheet Whizzbanger Newsletter. No. 5 (October 2001) focuses on circumcision and the patriarchy inherent in Christianity. Also available from Colebank is The Whizzbanger Guide to Zine Distributors. Issue Six (March 2002) continues a fine tradition. This is a useful, international directory compiling self-descriptions from 80 zine distributors in 18 countries. The spiral bound volume includes other features, among them poetry. Another spiral-bound Whizzbanger product is Aftermath. Containing mostly a post-September 11 journal and poetry from Colebank, this provides an underground publisher's perspective on the terrorist attacks. Shannon also compiles here relevant excerpts from other publications and letters and writings from others.
DVD REVIEWS *************************************************
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders Live: In Cold Blood
Cult DVD/MVD
This DVD captures Johnny Thunders in all his infamy live March 13, 1982 in New York City. However, Thunders seems more dead than alive, or at least in need of a good nap. After the title selection, there is what seems to be very apt, "Too Much Junkie Business." Of course, Thunders' music is as loose and rolling as a junkie's rolling nod, so none of the songs suffer. As a matter of fact, Thunders, apparently a walking coma and constantly fumbling with the basic mechanics of a guitar strap, launches into his guitar parts with vim and accuracy on each tune. There are nine songs performed all together. (3.5)
More on this video title from CDNow
Toy Dolls
We're Mad / Idle Gossip
Cherry Red Films
The back of this DVD proclaims Toy Dolls "the north of England's most famous punk rock outfit." The punk angle is emphasized with ransom-note style cut-and-paste graphics. However, the brightly colored toy dolls pictured on the cover fit better with the jubilant power pop container herein. That is, the group is more spirited and lively than anything sneering or snotty. Brightly colored clothes and fiercely fun sounds mark the two video-films by these high-speed guitar jesters of post-punk. As a bonus, this DVD includes the original promo vide of "Nellie the Elephant," the group's chart hit. The 95-minute collection is the first ever DVD from the group. This is an excellent release for fans of The Young Ones and The Dickies. (3.5)
More on this video title from CDNow
STYLUS COUNCIL (VINYL REVIEWS) **********************
The Rat Hole Sheikh
Jag Mår Så Illa
Subway Star Records
This 7" EP contains four tracks. They get better as you go along. The first cut on Side A is the title track and is a cover from the Swedish "Progg" era. The original was harsh vocals and acoustic guitar Mike McCann, a.k.a. The Rat Hole Sheikh, decided to go with "schoolboy harmony" style vocals and put the punk energy in an electric guitar. This causes his voice to get overpowered. The song, originally done by The Schoolboys, is about smiling through a hangover looking forward to the next meeting with a bottle of homemade wine. This is actually the first (and Mike says the last) song he has done in Swedish. Also on Side A is "Who's Fooling Who." This is an upbeat and solid garage rock number. More rootsy rock starts off Side B: "Down in Hell." This is rock-n-roll with a primitive, vintage style. Even more primitive is the Charley Patton-inspired "My Voodoo Dolly" with Delta blues pulled from a Rat Hole. (3)
The Spy's
Original Punkrock
Incognito Records
During this Windsor, Canada quartet's 1978-1980 existence, they only released a single: "Machine Shop" b/w "Underground." Those tracks are presented here along with 1979 demos on Side A. Side B is a 1995 reunion show. Pressed together on 200-gram vinyl, this package documents the entire story of the group that gigged in Windsor and Detroit after inspired by guitarist Dale "Elad" D'Amore's on-stage jam with Sonic's Rendezvous to form a band. Certainly loose and unrefined, this collection spills over with infectious enthusiasm and the hope that late '70's punk gave to many: it could be easy and fun to have a noisy rock band. (4)
The Gruesomes
Cave-In!
Jaguar Club/Incognito Records
The Montreal "Goresome Foursome" emerges from obscurity to once again show how garage revival should be done with fourteen new tracks. Also a very rhythm-focused group, Cave-In! pops and bounces with crisp, clean recording that brings the bass and drums right to the front. These neo-60's Canadian legends do not disappoint in the least with this gem that holds up in comparison to their classic '80's releases. (4.5)
Bob Log III
"Bubble Strut!" b/w "The Slide Guitar Ride"
Dropkick Records, 38 Advantage Rd, Highett, Vic. 3190, Australia
The hand-decorated paper sleeve of this 7" declares "recorded live-to-acetate at Corduroy Records, Monday 17 December 2001." The two sides contain all the loose, extemporaneous energy that implies. The instrumental cow-punk of "The Slide Guitar Ride" matches nicely with the cartoonish, hiccupping twangcore of "Bubble Strut!" (4)
The Sights
"If That's What You Want" / "People" / "Say Say" / "Nobody"
Fall of Rome Records
This is a double-7" collection of four tunes recorded by the Detroit trio to follow up Are You Green? The group reaches back to '60's rock for their brand of pop songs that feature harmony vocals and rumbling drums between the verses. The group delivers their warm, vocal-oriented sound with skill and enthusiasm. (3.5)
CD REVIEWS *****************************
One & Twenty
I Don't Remember Falling
Blakhol Records
One & Twenty is a quartet with a funky side to their rock-n-roll. Featured in this ensemble is the powerful, soulful voice of vocalist Carol Thomas. Thomas, a black woman and guitarist, takes One & Twenty down an R&B-inspired style path not usually encountered in rock groups. Having originally started as an acoustic outfit, I Don't Remember Falling finds the group having entirely fallen in love with electric rock and performing the original music boldly. If Nina Simone, with a lyric similar to Thomas, had decided to go rock and roll, the result would have been something like One & Twenty. (3)
Mark Eitzel
Music for Courage & Confidence
New West Records
This album covers allows Mark Eitzel to apply his refined art-pop voice to the fine selection of memorable songs. Each takes on new life, as "Snowbird" here is entirely effective yet entirely unlike the version popularized by Anne Murray. The versatile Eitzel takes on jazz vocal standards ("I'll be Seeing You") to folk (Phil Och's "Rehearsals for Retirement"). Together, all include such as the originally saccharine "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" (Culture Club) and funky "Move On Up" (Curtis Mayfield) take a somber, introspective almost dark demeanor on this exquisite album of rendered gems. (3.5)
Peter Murphy
Dust
Metropolis
Peter Murphy's album Dust is rich in lyric content the vary arrangement of the words in the lyric booklet and Murphy's gentle but precise delivery points to this album as vivid poetry in a sophisticated post-Gothic setting. Much world influence goes into Dust. However, the kanun (zither), table percussion and more never overpower. The dark and moody strings (cello) and somber singing temper the bright, eastern sounds. Dust is a bridge between the sounds of Bauhaus, which Murphy fronted, and the atmospheric world sounds of Bill Laswell. (4.5)
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
In C
Squealer Music
Composer Terry Riley initiated the minimalist movement from California with his 1964 opus "In C." On this album, Acid Mothers Temple, the Japanese Hawkwind, perform their version in overdrive. Included is the group's own single-chord experiments "In E" (performed during their 2001 U.S. tour) and the potent "In D." Like a fusion of Blue Cheer and Curved Air, AMT is a churning space rock. Their wide swath of fuzz gives each piece substance and considerable weight on this classic disc of rooted neo-psychedelia. (5)
Brother JT
Maybe We Should Take Some More?
Birdman
Maybe We Should Take Some More? is experience-enhancing drug music from a master if trippy sounds and the sonic collage. JT sang and played guitar in the Original Sins from 1987 to 1998, but these headspace vaunts are unlike that group's garage pop though there are occasional similarities in this guitar-based music. Partly melodic, partly gloomy, this lo-fi hypno-rock is preceded by ten other solo albums as Brother JT continues to combine some present hooks with resonant audio analogues of the poly-philosophical musings of chemical reverie. However, this episode is unique in his discography as part drug experience documentation and part clearly realized pop verses. Having created the experience alone, Brother JT composed the album solely and then invited in others as musical collaborators to realize the production. (3.5)
Yume Bitsu
The Golden Vessyl of Sound
K Records
Yume Bitsu's The Golden Vessyl of Sound is a set of untitled atmospheric improvisations. Subtle space rock, disembodied voices and the sound of faraway horns marks this atmospheric music. This arty drone music is a lo-fi minimalism carried out without the support of a bassist. Occasionally featuring vocals with complete lyrics on fantasy subjects, The Golden Vessyl of Sound at these show itself to be neo-psychedelia with real heart and feeling. (3)
Luciana Souza
Brazilian Duos
Sunnyside
sunnyside@attglobal.net
Coming out of relative obscurity, Souza achieved widespread success with critics viewing Brazilian Duos as an exquisite jazz album. Part of the success may be Souza's realistic and natural recording technique. Souza opted for an in-studio live recording capturing all performers simultaneously along with the occasionally pops and clicks that reverberate authenticity. Of course, it is more talent that mere technique responsible here. Foremost are Luciana's excellent vocals and lucid phrasing that draws the listener deep into each track. Also, her vocals must and effectively do convey the gentle swing to tehse melodies in the absence of a percussionist. Also, the duo settings - Souza performs with three different acoustic guitarists - makes the songs intimate, small and personal moments. Especially notable is Marco Pereira whose 8-string abilities enrich the music with a wider range of tones. There is a subtle bossa nova influence arising from her songwriter parents. (Father Walter Santos appears on the album.) Beside hereditary, there is content here as Souza excellent gems from Jobim, Walter Santos and more for these duo arrangements. (4.5)
The Shangri-Las
Myrmidons of Melodrama
Cherry Red Records/RPM Productions
Combing their rare debut 45, several B-sides and unforgettable LP cuts with a 4,800-word CD booklet, Myrmidons of Melodrama is an incredible document of this female vocal group. With songs like "Leader of the Pack" and "Give Us Your Blessings," the girls were controversial and at the center of the teen "death-disc" phenomenon. With tracks like the free and jazzy "Sophisticated Boom Boom" and "Give him a Great Big Kiss" they were on the edge of stereo experimentation. Admittedly, there recording career contains forgettable fluff. However, Myrmidons of Melodrama compile the crème de la crème into one important and memorable collection. (5)
Various Artists
Empire Made: The In Crowd, Vol. 2
RPM Productions
Following on the success of Empire Made: The In Crowd, Vol. 1, RPM Productions released this excellent compendium of more 1960s soul and R&B from not only the U.K. this time, but the U.S. as well. In this, the Volume 2, like its predecessor is tied to the Terry Rawlings book, "Empire Made: The Handy Parka Pocket Guide to All Things Mod." The "soul" of this binational collection is club hits of the '60s along with some hip obscurities making their debut appearance on CD. Stand out tracks include "Buzz with the Fuzz" (Chris Farlowe), "Billys Bag" (Billy Preston) and a high-pitched rendition of John Lee Hooker's "Dimples" by a young Spencer Davis Group. The Healer himself is present with "No-One Pleases me but You." (4.5)
Rev. Pearly Brown
You're Gonna Need that Pure Religion
Arhoolie
Rev. Pearly Brown, also known as Blind Pearly Brown, was born blind in Macon, Georgia in 1915. As a boy he heard Blind Willie Johnson play on the street, inspiring Brown to also become an accomplished gospel-blues slide guitarist and singer. His repertoire reaches back easily a single generation to slavery days. This album is composed of the original Georgia Street Singer LP (Folklyric, 1961). To this is appended four tracks recorded live with Brown's wife (backup vocals) and members of the Dirty Butter Band by Chris Strachwitz on KPFA (Berkeley, CA) in 1974. This section includes discussion between the host and Brown about the songs, Blind Willie McTell and more. (4)
Troy Gregory
Sybil
Fall of Rome
Songwriter and bassist Troy Gregory is a noted scenester and involved person with the underground revival sounds of Detroit. Sybil attempts to represent his multiple musical personalities with a baker's dozen of songs written by or with Gregory and performed by such groups as Bantam Rooster, Larval, The Volebeats and The Dirtbombs. (4)
Dana Cunningham
Dancing at the Gate
RockingEchoMusic
Dancing at the Gate is a beautiful and soothing instrumental piano album of a dozen tracks. Riding a wave of satisfying extra-Christian spirituality, Dana enhanced her academic studies of piano with apprenticeship in healing modalities at Esalen Institute along with Swedish massage therapy and energy work. Dana's scintillating, impressionistic pieces like "Light on Water" and "Wild Geese (in accordance with a poem by Mary Oliver)" cleanse the mind with massaging energy. (4)
Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Oliver Mtukudzi
Vhunze Moto
Putumayo World Music
The "Big Voice" of "tuku music" from Zimbabwe is Oliver Mtukudzi. The title translates as "Burning Ember" and this bright disc glows with his bright, contemporary African music that successfully melds elements of Afropop with warm tribal rhythms and backing vocals. At the time of this release, Zimbabwe is in the grips of political turmoil and suffering under an AIDS epidemic that claimed the lives of some of Mtukudzi's family and band members. Each song is translated from Oliver's native Shona language, but for those not able to understand these lyrics, that tone would be missed. This is because Vhunze Moto shines with hope, optimism and good feeling despite such troubles. Perhaps the most serious sounding piece is the song of warning, "Moto Moto (Fire is Fire)." Even this features an effulgent soprano sax from Steve Dyer delivering the uplifting Zimbabwean rhythms that captured the genius of Kronos Quartet ("Dumisana Maraire") and Robert Iolini ("Zimbabwe"). (4)
Nod
Good Night Sleep
Smells Like Records
Nod changes genres like people change their clothes. This is their reflective but not nodding CD that offers bouncing, gentle, lo-fi tunes like the grainy remembrances of the drams of a good night' s sleep. Darkish and gently stumbling with somnambulism, these songs recall '60's rock and reflect simple but robust melodies. Leaving off the overt angst and grit that characterizes underground sounds contemporary to this release, Nod succeeds with a cohesive album of relaxed, primitive midnight pop. (3.5)
Timothy Prudhomme
With the Hole Dug
Smells Like Records
Here away from Fuck, which he fronted, Prudhomme sings and plays guitar in front of an ad hoc journeyman ensemble: pedal steel maestro and producer Doug Easley (Two Dollar Guitar, Pavement), Jack Adcock (Last Chance Jug Band) on congas and bongos, organist Alex Greene (Big Ass Truck, Lorette Velvette), vocals from Megan Reilly, theremin from Davis McCain and percussion from Geoff Soule (Fuck) and Stu "Trainwreck" Sikes. Gentle and despondent, these downbeat, melancholy tunes are given creaky, crackling production. (3.5)
Kenn Lending Blues Band
Psychedelic Mind
Qualiton/Olufsen Records, Uraniavej 12, 1878 Frederiksberg C., Denmark
Brightly packaged in a fractal-festooned digipack, this CD suggests more that is psychedelic than it offers. However, that is not to dismiss the lively electric blues inside. While Kenn Lending is not exactly stunning as a vocalist, the Kenn Lending Blues Band fueled by Hammond organ and Moog synthesizer from Dan Hemmer is a quality unit. A standout track, "Black Clouds" does capture the essence of a "Summer of Love" sound. (3)
The Matchheads
Live, Farewell August, 1982
The Matchheads
This live swan song event features classic material from the group reaching back to the late 1978s: "Pearl Harbor," "Fat Bitch" and "Cadillac". The vocal style and lead-filled guitar delivery on tracks such as "East Berlin" mark the group as one of the West Coast punk outfits that saw a connection between the inspiring English punk and the 1960s rock arising from the same country. (3)
The Matchheads
Backtracks 1980-1982
The Matchheads
This overview of The Matcheads contains two 1980 tracks ("Why" and "Wanted Man") with another eight tracks from 1982 covering three lineups of the group. Those early tracks have a thin, unsure band sound while lead singer Patrick Wickler alternates between a punk yowl and an '80's rock crooning. The next four are better recorded and the whole formula is more or less adequately presented resulting in a power pop sound. Nearly back to the original lineup and the recorded tracks
Outsight is non-mainstream music news and views. The content is wholly based on new releases and a focus on the the eclectic and overlooked.
