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Outsight
Outsight: Get the 411
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Outsight brings to light non-mainstream music, film, books, art, ideas and opinions.
Published, somewhere, monthly since July 1991. Feel free to re-print this article.
Please, keep Outsight informed:
Email Outsight at outsight@usa.net
Ratings are (1) = :(, (5) = :)
Outsight Radio Hours Internet radio Webcasts with live interviews:
Sundays 6pm-8pm EST http://www.new-sounds.net
GET THE 411 ON NEW JAZZ IMPRINTS
New jazz label 441 launched out of New York City's Avatar Studios. The initial release is strong, with seven titles out on the streets. Two of the CDs reached my desk and they show a focus on classical, instrumental jazz. (I think Wynton Marsalis would very much approve.) There is a new Joe Chambers album on 441 called Urban Grooves. The name may call to mind some of the new hip-hop influenced jazz fusions that found a home at San Francisco's Up/Down Club, but this great percussionist from the 1960s post-bop period artfully leads his sax ensemble (Gary Bartz on reeds) with a light but deft hand through tastefully rendered standards such as "In a Sentimental Mood" and "Surrey with the Fringe on Top". On piano and some synthesizer, Eric Reed adds a lot of the 1960s-era Bill Evans-like classicism to Urban Grooves, a feeling also evoked by the Don Friedman Trio on his 441 album Waltz for Debby, an album about grace and style in the classic piano jazz idiom... Hyena is keeping it real in the jazz world by distributing releases from artist labels. T.S. Monk's Higher Ground heralded an exclusive U.S. distribution deal with Hyena Records for Thelonious Records releases. Hyena now opens the Thelonious Monk Archive series with Monk in Paris: Live at the Olympia with bonus DVD. This takes us back to March 7, 1965, and a Monk ensemble including Charles Rouse (tenor sax), Larry Gales (bass) and Ben Riley (drums). The DVD is from one year later in Oslo with the same group... The same format of archive audio and a live DVD in a 2-disc set marks the inaugural release of a similar relationship with Dr. John. All By Hisself: Live at the Lonestar is the first release in a live concert recordings series on Dr. John's Skinji Brim records to be distributed through Hyena. The audio disc is from a two-day solo concert with the DVD offering a thirty-minute interview with the good doctor on the history of New Orleans music. Skinji Brim also plans new artist signings...
Listen to or Urban Grooves Buy at Amazon.com
Listen to or Waltz for Debby Buy at Amazon.com
Listen to or Higher Ground Buy at Amazon.com
Listen to or Monk in Paris Buy at Amazon.com
Listen to or All by Hisself Buy at Amazon.com
JANIS IAN: MARRIED AND RELEASED
Singer-songwriter Janis Ian married her partner of fourteen years, Patricia Snyder, in a civil ceremony at Toronto's city hall August 27, 2003. Snyder is a criminal defense attorney practicing in Nashville, TN. Two-time Grammy winner Ian wrote and recorded her first hit, "Society's Child" at the age of 14 and is best known for her 1975 hit, "At 17." Ian's been nominated for nine Grammy awards over the years and she deserves another one for the live 2-CD album Working Without a Net. This is a collection of performances from 1990 and on. Ian culled material from over 300 shows on tape to provide a live album for her fans, especially those in parts of the world she has not been able to tour. Janis Ian has a long history of activism and she's been honored with awards from the Human Rights Campaign for her fight against AIDS. This live album continues her activist tradition with an accompanying eBay auction for a stage guitar, clothes she is wearing on the CD and more items related to the album. Proceeds go to Ian's non-profit organization, The Pearl Foundation. Look for, in early 2004, Ian's first studio album in four years, Billie's Bones. This album will include duets with Dolly Parton. For more info on all things Ian go to http://janisian.com.
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DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
In reaction to a strong financial privacy law adopted earlier this year in California, big banks, insurance companies and other financial firms are pressuring Congress to pass legislation that would set a lower national standard for our financial privacy. Current federal law already allows widespread distribution of private information among financial institutions. Under legislation being considered by the Senate, financial institutions would be able to continue selling and sharing details of financial life without approval. This includes all of the financial and personal information that banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions possess. Some Senators are fighting back. A proposed amendment to the bill would restrict the amount of information available for sharing and would allow people to indicate that they do not want their information to be released. The ACLU has a Web page with more info and a way to contact your Senator. This all sounds like the Do Not Call list, but for financial information. Will the amendment get passed and then a court decide it is not enforceable? Think of these things: the last presidential election, the California recall, the interruption of the Do Not Call list subscribed to by over 50 millions and even the judicial decision to limit the Clean Water Act to "navigable waterways". Is it just me, or do our appointed judiciaries have a penchant for meddling with the democratic process in ways that reek of political motivation in retrospect? I say the Senators also ought to consider an amendment to whatever has to be amended so that judiciaries at all level have term limits and require election from the electorate, not appointment. Then, at least, the citizenry would have recourse to elect out of office unruly judges.
LIVE365 AND WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER
Live365 (www.live365.com), the leading Internet radio network, announced that its thousands of Internet radio stations are now available to Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 customers. The Live365 site is especially designed to be viewed in Media Center, which can be enjoyed from the distance of a couch or comfy Poof Chair. Customers can conveniently preset their favorite stations and listen to music with the easy-to-use navigation of Windows XP Media Center. "Live365 offers a wealth of content from Internet radio stations to Media Center PC customers Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 provides consumers with a whole new set of digital music options on their PCs by supporting FM radio and the streaming music offered by Live365," said Brad Brooks, Windows eHome division at Microsoft Corp. I really hope Media Center takes off because Live365 deserves it for the cool, DIY attitude and rugged surviving of all the Internet radio storms. Besides, this means Media Center early adopters can preset the Outsight Radio Hours Internet radio program.
DEPARTURE'S NEW VENTURE
English mail order company Departure Records started a vinyl-only series of compilation albums. Each album in the series is a limited edition of 500 copies. The first, available now, is Words Will Never Be Actions. The inspiration is what Crass used to do with the Bullshit Detector albums of the '80s. Each release will be accompanied by a full-sized foldout poster featuring all the bands' own artwork. Departure asks punk poets, bands and noise merchants to send demos. Any format is fine. Departure says, "We particularly want to hear from people who have something to say about life today and the world we live in and who haven't had official releases made available yet; It's all about attitude, not necessarily ability, so home recordings are especially welcome. Quality is also therefore irrelevant." The address for submissions is: Sid, Departure Records, 24b Alexandra Road, Farnborough, Hants, GU14 6DA, United Kingdom or e-mail sidstovold@aol.com for further details.
DVD Reviews *******************************
Josh Collins, filmmaker
The Perv Parlor & The Frat Shack Shakedown
Screen Edge
Costumed actors and toy models filmed in stop-action display depraved and orgiastic behavior in a surreal post-Victorian setting in this zany, campy flick. Humor is the main goal, it would seem, but I think there were more fun and laughs making the film than there will be by most watching it. This is an outrageous romp with a point of departure that is the intersection of Guy Maddin and the late-night cable TV Emmanuelle: The Series. If you like the spirited interpretation of '60s rock that is the soundtrack, that flavor is distilled into an hour bonus feature The Frat Shack Shakedown featuring (who?) Pooptones, Pervirella, Spiv & Spam, and more. (3)
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Kettle Cadaver
A Taste of Blood
Horror Rock Records/MVD
What it lacks in length, this 18-minute DVD makes up for in intensity. The metal band singer/songwriter Edwin Borsheim lives in a dungeon and carries out such acts as self-stapling, nailing his extremities to boards and other acts of self-mutilation. Seeking blood (sometimes by the chalice-full), mutilation and pain, Edwin is an order of magnitude beyond The Genitorturers and supermasochist Bob Flanagan. Interestingly, hypermasochist Borsheim could guarantee a cult following by his painful praxis alone, but on top of that his heavy metal is actually rather good! (3.5)
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Jon Lord & Hoochie Coochie Men
Live at the Basement
Thames/Thomson
MVD
I will never forget the phenomenal keyboard performance of Jon Lord with Deep Purple on the House of Blue Light tour when I saw him play at Deep Purple's Detroit stop. Here the master plays organ alongside Australia's Hoochie Coochie Men and introduces one of his stunning, baroque episodes into "Green Onions" turning the rock 'n' soul chestnut into a barnburner. Lord is very comfortable in the small club and talks to the audience before nearly every song delivering many humorous anecdotes from his past with Deep Purple and more. This DVD of the Sydney concert includes, as a special feature, an Australian TV appearance by Lord and the group. Jimmy Barnes is on hand for three songs ("The Hoochie Coochie Man", "When a Blindman Cries" and "12 Bar Blow Jam") making those standout tracks. Other notable segments include the performances of "Strange Brew" and "The Money Doesn't Matter". It appears the mastering was not the best, leaving rather low volume, for instance, but this is overall an excellent concert DVD. (4)
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Neil Hamburger
The Show Must go Off!
Kung Fu Films
"And now for the comedy stylings of Marty Malt" was the phrase the presaged the peculiar non-humor of the stand-up comedian in the film The Dark Backward. This Neil Hamburger stand-up comedy show is like that movie, but with nothing but the stand-up. Neil Hamburger is Marty Malt with fashion direction from Dan Martin. Like a damaged alcoholic comic time traveler from the '50s, Hamburger arrives on the scene looking for humor in a time and place he cannot understand. It becomes a type of guerilla performance art as most of the attendees of the dog park where this took place are unprepared for this type of show. These uninitiated, hapless race fans are mostly confused and offended by Neil Hamburger. We get a before and after look through roving interviews presented before and after the show. Neil Hamburger goes through a series of topical jokes on Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Iraq and more before engaging the audience in a free for all to find his scatological reaction to movie titles. (4)
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Vinyl Reviews *******************************
Rocket Science
"Burn in Hell" and "Crazy" b/w "Copycat" and "Six Foot 4"
Voodoo Rhythm
Rocket Science so crowds its garage rock revival with rock-action sounds that the dense atmosphere becomes oppressive. This is a dark, malevolent rock and roll. Only "Crazy" on the four-song 7" lets one up long enough to catch one's breath. This is teen rebellion distilled to a high-octane grain alcohol. (4)
Heros Severum
"Rock N Roll Nigger" b/w "Get Ur Freak On"
Two Sheds Music
This 7" is from a Georgia band that Mission of Burma's Roger Miller insisted open for them at a February 2003 show in Atlanta. I think the band's name means something like "strict gods", but I must be wrong, because the band is too loose and free to be that. The release is two songs, both excellent choices as covers. Patti Smith's "Rock N Roll Nigger" still reverberates as an anthem to the creative outlaw, even if Jackson Pollock is no longer a topic of discussion with many. Heros Severum's driving rhythms and the siren vocals of Mandy Branch really makes this side. The B-side is the 2001 chart-topper from phenomenally successful female rap artist Missy Elliot. Heros Severum is basically a progressive indie rock band and they can only keep the hip-hop feel for so long before they (mercifully) deconstruct the song into a clamorous ending. (3.5)
CD Reviews *******************************
Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
Little Worlds (sampler)
Columbia
This is actually a 3-CD concept album from the genius of Béla. What I have here is a nine-song promotional sampler of the project, merely the shadow of the monument itself. What I hear is that Fleck stretches out in so many different directions, that the force is dissipated as sophisticated genre dabbling. Maybe we should just take this in small bites, such as the side dish serving I have. Even that is a complex blend of many different seasonings. There is a strong jazz flavor here like the funky "Snatchin'" with excursions in klezmer soul ("Bill Mon") and a spirited Gaelic reel ("The Leaning Tower"). This is probably best thought of as a constellation of songs spinning in space, each track is like visiting a special little planet, its own "little world". (4)
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U.S. Bombs
Put Strength in the Final Blow
Disaster Records
This album does not quite follow up the last few albums from the group, lacking the excellent production and punch street punk attitude. This sounds more like a low-budget punk band heavily inspired by The Sex Pistols. Well, you have to put it into perspective, though. These are the recordings made by the group in 1993. Basically, these are the first songs composed and recorded by the, then, new band formed by vocalist Duane Peters and guitarist Kerry Martinez. This includes the tracks off the double-7" release from Vinyl Dog Records and a 1994 live recording of "Rumble Beach". Among the standout tracks is the cover of "Demolition Girl" and "Rockets" with anthemic chorus vocals and sound effects. (3.5)
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Kid Icarus
Maps of the Saints
Summersteps
This is a remastered reissue of the 1999 album. This is home recording done by Eric Schlittler in a dorm room with a primitive boom box overdubbing system. Eric is admittedly inspired by the lo-fi experimentation of Guided by Voices and Chris Knox projects. This shows in the songs basking in a harsh sun of feedback and distortion, like "Laughing Skeletons". Other songs shows the sad and somewhat psychedelic mood garnered from such damaged pop icons as Roky Erickson, Scott Walker and Syd Barrett ("Firecracker Girls"). (3.5)
The Vanity Set
Little Stabs of Happiness
The Vanity Set
Drummer James Sclavunos (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) leads this project. With The Vanity Set, the fruit has not fallen very far from the tree. Sclavunos, here on lead vocals, tympani, and synth, is a Cave soundalike ("The Big Bang"). Guitarist Peter Mavrogeorgis offers a big, creepy sound that recalls Blixa Bargeld. However, this is not the hollow, gothic sound of the early Bad Seeds. Instead, the music is brighter and fuller due to keyboards, strings and richer percussion ("Little Demons"). Veteran player Sclavunos has been also involved in Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Sonic Youth, and Cramps. Elements of those groups, noise with a punk aesthetic and psychobilly, season this release. (4)
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Android Lust
The Dividing
Projekt
Shikhee takes her vocals from a hoarse whisper to the allure of sweet melody on The Dividing. There is an anger and even malevolence to this music that makes is straddle the cold calm of darkwave and the fiery assault of industrial music. Fans of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson can appreciate this music as well as fans of Arcana and Projekt labelmates Black Tape for a Blue Girl. Android Lust is really The Shikhee Experience, as she also provides programming and keyboards. Perhaps this is the harbinger of a more sophisticated, arty neo-industrial trend. (3.5)
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The Diplomats of Solid Sound
Let's Cool One
Estrus Records
Lead instrument in this Iowa City instrumental combo is the Hammond B3 of Nate "Count" Basinger. Taking cues from Booker T. & The MGs and Medeski, Martin & Wood, this group swings it low and easy. The group calls its instro blend an "action soul sound" and, sped up to 45RPM, it could be the cop funk that is the soundtrack to your favorite '70s chase scene while it is also a James Brown barnstormer minus the vocals and horn section. This is the hip kernel of rock 'n' soul. (4)
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Royal Wood
The Milkwood EP
Sherpa Records
Royal Wood cites Randy Newman as an influence and offers some of that icon's same rolling, fun, piano rhythms with clearly enunciated lyrics and catchy hooks. This five-song EP, the Royal Wood debut, is a promising EP of compelling songs. Wood, a multi-instrumentalist, performs most of the album with some guests, including drummer Adam Hay (Sarah Slean, Martina Sorbara) on a few tracks and horn player Sarah McCelcheran (Sarah Slean, Young Ideas, Hawksley Workman) on two. There are some similarities here to Ben Folds and Of Montreal. (3.5)
Miki Dallon
That's Alright!
RPM Records
Miki Dallon is known as producer for the Apollo 100 album Joy as well as albums by Rod Stewart, Don Fardon and more. It is mostly this '70s and '80s work that won Dallon widespread fame, although he did work just as important work with the Strike and Youngblood labels for the '60s and '70s. This compilation focuses on teen beat and R&B tracks from 1964-1966 that are Dallon performances or recordings of his songs. "Let Me In" as recorded by The Sessions features Ritchie Blackmore on guitar and Jimmy Page plays guitar on Neil Christian's recording of "I Like It". These songs and performances have a slinky, fun-spirited vitality that marks mid-'60s recordings as previously featured on RPM's collections of singles from the Strike and Youngblood labels. As is standard with RPM compendiums, this album features a richly detailed, thick CD booklet with plenty of photos. (4.5)
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Bunnydrums
PKD/Simulcra
Metropolis
The use of snaky and piercing guitar lines on this early '80 goth rock summons to mind Bauhaus and Shriekback. Vocalist David Goerk uses his voice in different styles, sounding sometimes like the cartoon-voiced Jello Biafra ("Magazine"), and sometimes like an early Peter Murphy ("Smithson"). Fans of Joy Division, Gang of Four and Killing Joke will also like this gothic time capsule which is a reissue of the PKD album with additional material from Holy Moly, the EPs On the Surface, Feathers Web, and the "Win"/"Little Room" single. A standout track is "Ugh", the group's punk-funk instrumental with freak-sax. (3.5)
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Brazelton/Naphtali
What is it like to be a Bat?
Tzadik
Track 15 here could be a great follow-up and maybe even answer song for Talking Head's "Life During Wartime". The entire album has such imaginative and vivid lyrics mostly immersed in a noisy art-punk freakout with visitations of clarion, operatic vocals. Kitty Brazelton and Dafna Naphtali continually careen their big music machine toward the cliff of cacophony before taking it back into digital chamber punk or an avant-jazz/hard rock rumble. This is a massively majestic album, at times scary, with this spirited land featuring by sophisticated oases of punk attitude and clamorous sounds of arena rock size. (4.5)
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Various Artists
Just Because I'm a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton
Sugar Hill
An all-star cast of female artists gather together to contribute Dolly Parton cover songs marking the country icon's RCA solo debut album, also called Just Because I'm a Woman. Dolly Parton herself is on hand to perform that title track in a new recording while Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, Melissa Etheridge, and more are on hand to cover songs from the breadth of her career. This includes "9 to 5", "I Will Always Love You", "Little Sparrow" total of all in thirteen tracks. By and large, the songs are done gently and almost with a reverence, even Krauss' "9 to 5". These artists pay homage to the poignancy and poetry in this baker's dozen taken from the 3,000+ songs written by Parton. (4.5)
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Winfred E. Eye
The Dirt Tier
Luckyhorse Industries
Winfred E. Eye is the southern gothic alter ego of Tom Waits. There is an eerie, damaged blues to these rugged and roughly performed tunes. The songs are delivered in a measured rusty but mechanical industrial-blues that eschews guitar leads and other ornamentation. The title track is a standout example of this with a great song in a much milder, melancholy style is the sad harmonica-born lamentation "Grey Ghosts". (3.5)
Stripsearch
Stripsearch
Magna Carta
The hard rock/prog orgy of instrumental tunes that is this album comes from an unexpected trio. The ensemble is drummer Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, The Vandals) with Michael Ward (The Wallflowers) on guitar and bass courtesy of Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem). Featured heavily is guest Jason Freese on saxophone. The result is like King Crimson crossed with James Chance and The Contortions. It is unusual and unexpected rock improv that is also heavy, almost foreboding. The music seems to lack cohesion and a precise enough architecture, but this is very promising as a debut. (3.5)
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The Flash Express
Introducing the Dynamite Sound of The Flash Express
Hit It Now! Records
The Countdowns was a band that backed risqué R&B shouter André Williams. Brian Waters of The Countdowns is here on vocals and lead guitar given us some rock 'n' soul that would certainly earn Mr. Williams' blessing. Waters takes that R&B energy into a rock direction ending up with an MC5-like finished product but more rhythmic. This is an exciting and energetic debut. (3.5)
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Various Artists
Rockin' Memphis 1960's - 1970's - Vol. 1
Lucky Seven Records
This is a compilation of Memphis rock bands from the 1960s and 1970s. One standout track is "Spanish Castle Magic" by a Zappa-influenced Briarpatch. (Just think if Zappa had done with "Spanish Castle Magic" what he did with "Whipping Post".) The strange instrumentals from Warp Nine are also good, like its take on "Theme From Star Trek". One track here that happened in Memphis, but not born of Memphis, is when Martin Mull passed through in the early '70s. Mull's track here is "Do the Nothin'", a comic anti-dance dance song. The entire compendium is entertaining. This is a fun window into one slice of that period's urban rock scene. Focusing artists who recorded rock music in Memphis at the time, this album such artists as Big Star, Van Duren, Mud Bluff, and more. Christopher Bell's first professional recorded appearance is included here on "The One After 909." Many of the selections are debut releases or the first time on CD. (4)
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Hem
Rabbit Songs
Dreamworks
Hem's songwriter Dan Messé spent himself into poverty making this album, and sweat equity and commitment shows in this scintillating song-oriented pop, especially as delivered by vocalist Sally Ellyson. The album was an indie success, reissued to the world here by Dreamworks. Two guitars and mandolins intertwine elegantly on these songs with Messé providing melodic support from piano, glockenspiel and harmonium. All this comes across as deceptively simple in an easy folk-pop way. As Messé says, "The sound of Rabbit Songs was of people playing music together in a room. It was very natural." So, accept the invitation into that warm and cozy room by a sophisticated post-folk pop band rooted in Americana but hip enough for alt-folk. (4.5)
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Satoko Fujii Orchestra - East
Before the Dawn
NatSat
Satoko Fujii continues to extend her art as she extends control over it. This is her self-produced CD inaugurating the NatSat label she founded with husband and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Tamura is one of the 15 world-class improvisers in this large jazz ensemble. As the name suggests, though, this is a subtle album of promise and soft hues, not a orchestra of cosmic jazz that would bear comparison to Sun Ra. There are some intense, freakout episodes here of note cascades, but balance is held with periods of restraint and understated melody. Fans of William Parker's Little Huey Orchestra and the Dutch I.C.P. ensemble will appreciate this small orchestra creating extemporaneous jazz. (4)
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Radio Berlin
Glass
Action Driver
Members of this band are also in Destroyer and A Luna Red. It would not be hard to believe the members were also in The Fall. This is the third album from the Vancouver band the lead vocalist has a sound very akin to Mark E. Smith of The Fall. Combine this was a vintage, post-punk art-pop feel and a dark, sparse, spooky sound that recalls early goth bands and you have a real throwback sound. As with those bands, the emphasis is on style over speed and drama over hooks. (3.5)
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James Blood Ulmer
No Escape from the Blues
Hyena
James Blood Ulmer is a comet guitarist whose elliptical orbit takes him from blues to jazz. This recording was made at the scared ground of blues-rock, Electric Ladyland Sessions. However, Ulmer goes back even further that the '60s blues rock style suggested by this recording venue. The sound here is Delta and early Chess. Producer and additional guitarist is Vernon Reid, another man of artistic variety. It is a visitation of the spirit of Muddy Waters and other blues patriarchs on the sounds incarnated on this album featuring guests Olu Dara and Queen Esther. Just as Waters and Company recalled their southern roots, so Ulmer continues to explore the atavistic blues sound. This is a second session communion with the Delta spirits that was begun with Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions. (4.5)
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T.S. Monk
Higher Ground
Thelonious Records/Hyena
The higher ground reached by Monk on this album is also an uneven, rugged ground. Some of the high points that offer beautiful views to more possibility for exploration is the flute-fueled Latin jazz "Cubano Chant" and the vintage, slinky club jazz of "Craw-Daddy". These songs all feature the talents of the other members of the veteran drummer's ensemble. Percussionist Victor See Yuen really shines on "Cubano Chant" and pianist Ray Gallon showcases on the New Orleans-flavored "Craw-Daddy". This track also has some great blowing from the group's reeds man Willie Williams. (3.5)
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Semiautomatic
Wolfcentric
5 Rue Christine
Wolfcentric is an infectious blend of rugged beats and deconstructed hard rock. The electro-punk album from the Brooklyn group has a timely social commentary in the terrorism-affected "This Place Does not Exist" and the tongue-in-cheek call for a Marion Barry presidency "Marion Barry". Two standout dub tracks feature Ari Up of The Slits: "Stushpuss" and "Execution". (3.5)
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Sinéad O'Connor
She Who Dwells…
Vanguard
This is a 2-CD set that goes over great with the serious O'Connor fan. (I should now, I sprung it on my wife who listens to both kinds of music: Sinead O'Connor and Tori Amos.) There are some great covers here. This includes the Dan Penn-penned Southern soul ballad "Do Right Woman" made famous by Gram Parsons and Aretha Franklin. Then there is that get-out-your-lighters anthem for Nazareth, Boudleaux Bryant's "Love Hurts". Covers are also found in the previously unreleased studio tracks, like her take on Abba's "Chiquita" and The B-52s' "Ain't it a Shame". There are collaborations with Massive Attack ("It's All Good") and Sharon Shannon ("The Seven Rejoices of Mary") as well as three Brian Eno-produced tracks. The second disc focuses on songs featured on the popular 2003 DirecTV Freeview concert. Each song is a showcase for O'Connor's sophisticated pop vocal delivery as are the traditionals sung in Gaelic, "Regina Caeli" and "O Filli et Fillae". (4)
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Danny Barnes
Dirt on the Angel
Terminus Records
While Danny Barnes may be obscure to you, you know his co-conspirators here. He has none other than Darol Anger on violins, jazz-folk guitar maestro Bill Frisell and nonetheless then Check Leavell (Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers) on piano and organ. The album is a great addition to modern Americana with memorable songs like the self-deprecating "Life in the Country" and the biscuits-and-gravy bucolic ballad "Get It While You Can". The band also has immense fun with covers, like when this former Bad Livers banjoist leads the group through Beck's "Loser" and "Ooh La La" from The Faces. Covers aside, this album shows Barnes' songwriting has leapt up to a new tier since his previous Terminus release. (4.5)
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ohGr
Sunnypsyop
Spitfire
Ogre, former Skinny Puppy vocalist has an album in a neat Digipack featuring a black-and-orange artistic vision that could be storyboards for a Svankmeier film. Wow, that could be really cool. However, this release does not live up to its promise. Ohgr seems obsessed with high-frequency, trebly beats that somebody probably told him "all the kids are listening to." Combine that with low growl of vocals that lapses into bright melody - that Marilyn Manson formula - and you have an audio vision of post-industrial schizophrenia. This album draws more off the Pigface and KMFDM portion of Ogre's career than the dark malevolence of Skinny Puppy. All this is no accident, though. Ogre admits to be seeking a new direction and the album sounds like someone looking for a direction. (2)
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Countdown To Life
Tragedy Is So Irresistible
State of Grace
Just listening to the screaming vocalist on the debut album from Oregon's Countdown To Life leaves me hoarse. The band's sore throat-inducing approach to hardcore also relies on drumming and guitar styles taken from hard rock and heavy metal. Then, just when you think you have the group in your sights, it suddenly breaks left with "Better off Dead". This song weaves in an indie rock song like something off Kung Fu Records, contrasting the clearly enunciated lyrics of that approach to the audio assault more prevalent on the album. (3)
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Clearing Autumn Skies
Pulses & Matter
State of Grace
This band serves up a brutal blend of Cro-Mags-style hardcore with punishing metal. Their ostentatious desire to fill each bar of music with the greatest impact proliferates the number of dramatic pauses to the point where the songs seems to jerk forward incrementally in a stop-and-start motion. The mix of vocals leaves the backing vocals too far in the background on "Squares", but this is not the case on the rest of the four-song EP. This is a Bay Area band that should be able to make inroads with hardcore and metal audiences. (2.5)
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Great Redneck Hope
'Splosion!
Thinker Thought Records
With The Locust on the high-visibility Anti it would seem progressive noise rock is gaining widespread appeal. If that is true, the future could be bright for this group's blend of clamorous noise rock, sound bites and unexpected side trips into brief melodic episodes. The arty approach to apocalyptic rock recalls legendary '90s Texas project Angkor Wat. (2.5)
Asterisk*
Dogma
Three One G
This Swedish band is in the grindcore style. The group has two levels of vocals: cookie monster and shrill demon shriek. This is a retrospective CD compiling every Asterisk* track previously released. That is, Dogma is the Dogma I: Death of a Dromologist LP, material from its split EP with Jenny Piccolo as well as the split 7" with Nasum and assorted compilation tracks. Dogma is twenty tracks of the band's progressive grindcore. What makes them progressive is the group makes sudden and agile leaps from the wall of sound grindcore formula into unexpected instrumental breaks and changes of mood and timbre. "Furniture" is exemplary of this with its interludes of bass licks and angular guitar riffs. (3)
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Envy
A Dead Sinking Story
Level-Plane
Envy segues from brutal hardcore to melodic, emotional rock with ease and aplomb. The Tokyo band has a cohesive style for what may be as rare as hen's teeth: hardcore for headphones. This makes parts of a song excellent for nighttime driving at excessive highway speeds while the same song can easy the painful breakup of a relationship. So this begs the question, when is the right time and place to put this disc on? I suspect the genre mosaic that is this album will prove interesting and attention-grabbing but it will languish in the CD collections of hardcore and indie rock fans who recall it fondly but never find it the right time for a repeat listen. A Dead Sinking Story is two good bands merged into one and put on one CD. (3)
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Blood In/Blood Out
No One Conquers Who Doesn't Fight
Spook City
While not that developed and eschewing shrill guitar leads, the music of Blood In/Blood Out recalls late '80s Slayer. The band's metal-tinged hardcore should appeal to the same crowd of hardcore and metal fans that still hum "South of Heaven". Still, the production is a little weak and muddy which would make it no surprise to hear any one of the Laporte County, Indiana band's legion of local fans remark that the CD is good, but "you gotta hear them live." (2.5)
The Reptile Palace Orchestra
We Know You Know
Omnium Recordings
This ethno-rock septet continues to show continued inventiveness in its spirited cornucopia of songs, rock instrumentals and acoustic pieces. On this recording, the core septet, most members being multi-instrumentalists, is enhanced by an outnumbering mass of guests. Every track is thus a cornucopia of styles in overwhelming basket of arrangements and ethnic styles. Motifs from Crete, the Balkans and more are all delivered with a swinging dance beat. Some salient features of the band are Anna Purnell's jazzy vocals and the sweeping tones of Biff Blumfungagnge's electric violins. Biff also plays on that fusion of the electric violin and theremin - the therolin. Among the standout tracks, is the group's horn-fueled take on The Ides of March's 1970 radio hit "Vehicle". This enhanced CD includes 14 extra MP3 tracks from the group's archives. (4)
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Goldblade
Strictly Hardcore
Thick Records
This album starts off with a bang, featuring the Goldblade anthem as the title tracks. More horns for a ska-core feel come in on the end of that song. Take away the horns and you have the sound of an unearthed early '80s single that forewarned of the coming of hardcore. With the horns you get a much wider sound and a brass-toned precision added to the punk energy. This is a retrospective of the British band, the title track being its biggest hit single. That is song is, along with "Black Elvis" a sample of the group's first album. This is an excellent introduction to the band for the North American neo-punk fan or old school hardcore follower. Along with the ska horns, some tracks have dub influence, like "Who was the Killa?" (3.5)
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Sean Noonan / Aram Bajakian
CHiPs
Innova
This duo is Sean Noonan of The Hub (drums) and Aram Bajakian (guitar). This promises to be only one of a future collaboration between Aram, master of "mysterious" guitar, and Sean's jazzy, no wave percussion. In this project the group veers from quiescent, tranquil ruminations on a simple melodic theme to stormy free jazz excess. This is what I would imagine collaboration between Fred Frith and Whit Dickey to be like. (4)
The Modey Lemon
Thunder + Lightning
Birdman
The Modey Lemon dressed up their stripped down, lo-fi hard rock with reverb and early Black Sabbath production values. The core duo is Paul Quattrone (drums) and Phil Boyd (bass/vocals/Moog/keyboards) as recorded here. The group currently has a second player on guitar and Moog, Jason Kirker. The group uses its Moog strategically in the low end area usually populated buy a rock combo's bassist. While the two-man band approach is often for the direct and basic rock attack, The Modey Lemon succeeds to pile in the sounds and over-modulated tones for a dense briar patch of post-garage rock. Standout tracks include "The Other Direction", "Predator" and "Ants in my Hands". (4)
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Budapest One
This Town Just Gave you a Dreamer
Beatville Records
Fans of Elvis Costello will take to Budapest One right away. There is a highly sophisticated sensibility to this music that delivers vivid story-songs and imaginative narratives as easy to enjoy, as they are grist to ruminate on. There is a post-Americana style to this pop rock that transcends roots rock to offer a mature and developed song-oriented album nicely dressed up with grand piano, organ and Farfisa from Chad Stockslager. (4)
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Lyle Lovett
Smile: Songs from the Movies
MCA/Curb
"Straighten Up and Fly Right" (Dear God, 1996) is one of the standout tracks on this album of songs recorded for the movies. Another is the duet with Randy Newman from Toy Story: "You've Got a Friend in Me". We get selections from 1992 to 2002 on this compendium. Rather than sounding like an uneven collection, all this gels very well as a vocal album in a hip, '60s jazz style. (4)
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Greenleaf
Secret Alphabets
Small Stone
This is a nice take-off of the early Black Sabbath, updated for today's audience of stoner rock and the heavy blues-rock revival. Production is excellent, so it should be pointed out the album was recorded at Rockhouse Studio in Sweden and engineered by Bengt Bäcke (Demon Cleaner, Dozer, The Sick). Bengt is part of the story because guitarist Tommi Holappa (Dozer) and drummer Daniel Lidén (Demon Cleaner) had both worked with Bengt previously with their previous bands. All this group experience helped to forge this sophomore release from the Nordic masters of reality in a sweet Greenleaf (cough, cough with reverb…) album for the retro hard rock scene. (3.5)
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Five Horse Johnson
The Last Men on Earth
Small Stone
There was a revival of Southern-tinged hard rock boogie that crested in the late '80s. Raging Slab rode that wave to major label success. Now, Raging Slab is a has-been and the sheen of the new-old angle on this has faded. Five Horse Johnson arose out of Toledo from the aftershocks of that revival to be premier members of a third wave of hard rock with a rootsy feel and pronounced bottom. On The Last Men on Earth Five Horse Johnson fails to add some new twist to give this tired beast a much-needed shot in the arm. The greater number of guitar solos signal regression, not progression. However, I am being too hard on this album because taking it off the timeline, this is an excellent album of that big-sounding blues-rock that also speaks to us from the early ZZ Top albums and the early Black Crowes. (3.5)
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Bobby Birdman
Heart Caves 2003
States Rights Records
Portland, Oregon's Rob Kieswetter, a.k.a. Bobby Birdman, here delivers more of his patented, low profile atmospheric electro-rock. Not as downbeat as the earlier material that lent comparison to Low, this is still for the soft glow of a setting, not rising, sun. There are six songs on the CDEP are patiently delivered in chilly, downbeat grooves culminating in the final, standout track "Ultra Shape". This pieces slowly stutters forward with elongated breakbeats and treated vocal tracks. (3.5)
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The Sixth Chamber
Molded Truths
Novokkane Noise Recordings
The truth is, this band is molded in the shape of Christian Death. But then, it is OK because vocalist Sevan Kand is the son of Christian Death's Gitane DeMone and Valor Kand. Kand leads the trio down same black-rose path of gloomy goth. Also in the band and writing the songs is Rahne Pistor. With a name that unique, this is probably the same Rahne Pistor that is a music journalist and part of Bobby Steele's Undead. However, the cold death rock never real gels into something compelling here. Sixth Chamber's theatre of pain is not yet ready for prime time, but is very promising. The band also features Kjehl Johansen, guitarist for Urinals, 100 Flowers and Trotsky Icepick. (3)
Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, Ginger Brooks & Friends
Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project
K Records
Mirah and Ginger set the scene for the creation of this album by obligating themselves to be sequestered in a town where neither lived. They did this for a month and, surrounded by instruments, created this album. Seven friends visited, become guest musicians on the project captured onto a Tascam 4-track and a mini-disc recorded in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The largely (if not totally) acoustic album is a klezmer-folk album that is light and airy. It is a sunny album of gentle and endearing neo-folk songs with a seasoning of Jewish spice. The album is a benefit for the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon as well as the Pentridge Children's Garden (Philadelphia). (4)
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Beat Happening
Music to Climb the Apple Tree By
K Records
There is a loose, uneven aspect to this album that varies from lazy, drawled cow punk ballads ("Look Around", etc.) to feisty garage rock ("Sea Babies", etc.). It is like Velvet Underground meets Dead Milkmen. However, the songs, considered one at a time, are generally very good. The compilation brings together Beat Happening songs recorded between 1984 and 2000. This includes tracks from out of print singles and compilations, like the original, 45 version of "Nancy Sin". In these songs comes through the seminal Olympia, Washington group's indie pop that lead the wave and offered the notion that you did not really need bass guitar in a rock combo to do fun, infectious music. The rare material on this collection satisfies collectors (especially those that cannot afford the 7-CD Crashing Through on K Records) as well as serving as a ready-made Beat Happening primer on those uninitiated into the band's flagship role in American post-punk DIY pop movement. (4)
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Red Card
Red Card
Red Card
This is the eponymous debut from a Brooklyn power trio for a no-holds-barred, unfettered approach to the hard edge of indie rock. There is urban frustration expressed in the lyrics by this band, which contains two immigrants. One immigrant is vocalist Sasha Simic from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other is drummer Carlo from Italy. This angle, combined with the ferocious
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