BLACK LIPSTICK
Converted Thieves
(PEEKABOO BOO1212) CDReleased the week of April 21st, 2003
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Pardon the gratuitous pop-culture reference, but Converted Thieves is the record the Royal Tenenbaums might've made if they were 20-something Texans living dangerously close to the poverty line. Like a chorus of punch lines without a joke, the voices on this record are inevitably preoccupied with getting loaded and just getting by, and strive to create something meaningful, tender and true. Beneath a deliberately dated, stylized veneer lurk some of the wittiest "rock" lyrics since the demise of The Smiths. Puns crack at every beat. Low jokes mesh with high motives to craft a tone that is more serious for its refusal to take itself seriously, like 1965 Bob Dylan fermented and distilled.
Reviews of Black Lipstick's debut EP place the band on par with its vaunted influences, a short list of rock's great trash-poets (VU, TV, Modern Lovers, The Fall). On Converted Thieves, Black Lipstick progresses from these starting points to find a voice all its own. Chock full of stoned-Stones wailers, southern rock chooglers, sardonic ballads, post-punk dirges, soaring Marquee Moon guitar solos and even the occasional (and occasionally convincing) drunk Nicky Hopkins impersonation on rock piano, Converted Thieves' depth sets it apart from garage rock contemporaries without sacrificing an unpretentious, all-too-Texan party spirit. It is made to matter by people who care, deeply, passionately and truly. A voice from the present urging one to live in the now. So roll the tops down and turn the AC on. This is one for the Jeeps, friends.
A makeshift junk-jam boogie for greased hips and painted lips, with the foursome melding rock, neo-country, and piano into their own charming brand of floozy fun and bar-band noir. -Seattle Weekly
Like that magic New York moment when wry lyrics and dirty guitar united in Warholian unison more than 30 years agoÉ. cleanly combining melodic guitar, groovy bass lines, kinky keys and Jonathan Richman-style vocals into a thick, rich makeup of post-post-art-wave. -CMJ
THE BUG
Pressure
(TIGERBEAT6 MEOW076) CDReleased the week of April 7th, 2003
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Since the critically acclaimed release of the Seismic 12-inch in late 2001, The Bug (aka Kevin Martin of Techno Animal, Ice, God, Curse of the Golden Vampire) has attracted high profile support from Andy Weatherall, Adrian Sherwood, Coldcut, Mark Stewart, DJ Rupture, Kid 606 and Aphex Twin (who was impressed enough to release Pressure on Rephlex).
Pressure provides heavyweight evidence of the bassbin blowing, mechanoid mash-ups that have become The Bug's trademark sound. Having been indelibly marked by the skull-crushing impact of UK dub, and increasingly obsessed with ragga's bionic gyrations, The Bug crunches reggae's sub-genres into a physically brutal, psychologically deep, low-end feast for non-conformist dance-floor fiends. From the thug-step ragga of "Beats, Bombs, Bass, Weapons," to the electronic dub of "Live & Learn," via the dancehall punk of "Killer," Pressure ignites basement anthems and exhausts the echo chamber, as basstronic frequencies are mercilessly exploited. Ignoring the stagnant digi-dub scene, bypassing retro-fixated roots revivalists and avoiding ill-advised attempts at Xeroxing ragga's current trends, The Bug has formulated fearsomely original future shock for electro mainliners and yardcore fanatics alike. With maniacal MCs, blissful crooners and a metaphysical poet, the range of vocals exemplifies the free thinking range of this album. Intense.
- The Bug has remixed DJ Vadim, Sensational, Sofa Surfers, Adrian Sherwood, and has worked with Bill Laswell, Sonic Boom, John Zorn, Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine), Anti-Pop Consortium, Porter Ricks, Godflesh, Alec Empire and Company Flow's El-P, among many others
- Guest poets, toasters and singers from all across the reggae spectrum
30-second RealAudio excerpts:
Politicians & Paedophiles (ft. Daddy Freddy)
Beats, Bombs, Bass, Weapons (ft. Toastie Taylor)
Executor (ft. Roger Robinson)
Live & Learn (ft. Paul St. Hilaire)
Thief of Dreams (ft. Roger Robinson)
Superbird (ft. Singing Bird)
Run the Place Red (ft. Daddy Freddy)
Night Steppa (ft. Roger Robinson)
Some Days (ft. Paul St. Hilaire)
Fuck Y~self (ft. Wayne Lonesome)
Killer (ft. He-Man / The Rootsman)
Living Dub (ft. Roger Robinson & Paul St. Hilaire)
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DEADLY SNAKES
Ode To Joy
(IN THE RED ITR102) CD/LPReleased the week of April 7th, 2003
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From the word go, Toronto's Deadly Snakes were a big band. While most high-school rock aspirations begin with groups of friends playing in trusty three- or four-piece lineups, the Snakes got off the ground as a six-piece ensemble. Kid rockers with a horn section, for Christ's sake. Start young with that kind of firepower at your disposal, stick with it six long years-- practicing, playing out, and digging deep into the Rolling Stones, electric Bob Dylan, early Van Morrison and the entire canon of soul music-- and, yeah, you do earn the word "deadly" in your name. The 'Snakes now have a well earned reputation as one of the most soul-shaking live acts on the circuit today.
Ode To Joy is The Deadly Snakes' third album and it's their finest moment to date, even hotter than their first two albums. It refines their attack with galloping rhythms, weeping turns to gospel, and the horn section leans into New Orleans funk. These guys have got a Memphis soul-gone-punk rock sound nnnnnnailed. Not bad for a bunch of white guys in their early '20s from Canada.
GOLDCARD
s/t
(OFF 996) CDReleased the week of April 21st, 2003
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After much coercion from his peers, reluctant genius Charlie Campbell finally allows the world to hear the Goldcard recordings-- about which a small, privileged group of awe-inspired fellow musicians have long whispered since the mid-'90s, and have come out of the woodwork to help complete this year. Brace yourself for recordings of the greatest band that never was.
Recorded with members of Grandaddy, Quasi, Sleater-Kinney and Pond, Mr. Campbell's knack for creating otherworldly, orchestral psych is truly unmatched. His unique guitar-playing technique (e.g. his use of multi-tracked slide above the bridge almost resembles a full blown orchestra) has been showcased in his previous band Pond (Sub-Pop) as well as his four compositions on the Colonel Jeffrey Pumpernickel compilation.
Recalling The Grifters' perverse soul, the sad pop aspects of Sparklehorse and Grandaddy, an overall vibe of someone who's losing it à la Skip Spence, and happily in the shadow of the Pet Sounds legacy, Goldcard is truly a beautiful piece of work over which fans of mysterious, innovative pop music will drop to their knees, look upwards and thank the heavens the day these rare recordings were made available the public.
From Grandaddy:
Jason Lytle Vocals, piano, keyboards
Jim Fairchild Guitar, synth bass, keyboards, production
Aaron Burtch Drums, percussion, production
From Quasi:
Sam Coomes Vocals, keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, theremin, production
From Sleater-Kinney:
Janet Weiss Drums
From Pond:
Chris Brady Vocals, bass, production
Dave Triebwasser Drums
Free MP3s:
To download: Apple users-- hold down the Control key (CNTL) and click the mp3 link. Choose "open with iTunes" to stream the song, or "download link to disk" if you want to save the track on your hard drive. If you have a PC compatible computer, right-click the mp3 link and choose the appropriate selection.
We Only Doubt
To stream (high bandwidth connections only):
We Only Doubt
30-second RealAudio excerpts:
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We Only Doubt Which Theory We Will Be Proving First
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Destroy and Recreate
Rabbit
Didn't Feel a Thing
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Picture of a Horse
If I Could Help It
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It Had a Dream
Birthday
A Fascinated Eye Production
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HORRORS
Vent
(IN THE RED ITR101) CD/LPReleased the week of April 7th, 2003
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Back in 2000 three 20-year-olds belched up one extremely raw debut recording: in your face, out of tune, overblown, 100% pure raunch that you could actually dance to... kind of. They toured the States and Europe to wild acclaim for their explosive live performances. The Horrors are now finally ready to drop their second album; this time they traveled to Memphis, and enlisted Greg Cartwright (formerly of The Oblivians, currently with Reigning Sound) to produce at the legendary Easley Studios. The results are what could be called a quantum leap for the band; some of the words are actually understandable this time. The boys still lay down quite a filthy blend of country blues, rockabilly and retardo garage punk, but this time the results are much more cohesive and, well, danceable. Kind of. This is a sincere and honest attempt by The Horrors to create rock'n'roll along the lines of the bands they worship-- The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Howlin' Wolf. The end results, however, earn them a rightful place along side the likes of The Gories and The Oblivians in the scuzz blues hall of fame. There's no one else doing this type of shit as good as The Horrors these days-- believe that!
NUMBERS
Death Remixes Vol. 1
(TIGERBEAT6 MEOW073) 12"
Released the week of April 7th, 2003
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NUMBERS
Death Remixes Vol. 2
(TIGERBEAT6 MEOW074) 12"
Released the week of April 7th, 2003
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This collection of all-star remixes of Numbers' debut album, Life, is diverse, dynamic, downright rocking and enjoyable in a way remix assemblages seldom are. The remixers try to outdo each other either by improving on the originals or reinventing them by adding not just new rhythms and synthesizers but in many cases new vocals and completely new musical sections-- all faithfully inspired by the Numbers aesthetic.
Highlights include: the full-throttle dance-rockabilly remix of "Driving Song," by recent Depeche Mode remixer Electronicat (Disko B, Angelika Kohlermann); the New Order-esque take on "Prison Life" by GD Luxxe (aka Gerhard Potuznik of Mego, Cheap Records, Ersatz Audio, Interdimensional Transmissions); Kid606's rock-steady reworking of "We Like Having These Things" into a hands-in-the-air dance punk anthem; Original Hamster's fittingly all-over-the-sound-canvas drill-and-bass remix of "Human Replace"; and Kit Clayton's original and inspired take on the Numbers' theme song "Information."
Death Remixes vol.1
Track listing:
1. "We Like Having These Things (Williamsburg Address Remix)" - Kid606
2. "What Is the Product?" - Dymaxion
3. "Information (Faster Than Sound)" - Kit Clayton
4. "Driving Song (Crash Remix)" - Electronicat
5. "We Like Having These Things" - Dwayne Sodahberk
6. "Intercom (Stalker Mix)" - Caro
Death Remixes vol.2
Track listing:
1. "Prison Life (GC Remix)" - Gold Chains
2. "Prison Life (Get Away Mix)" - GD Luxxe
3. "Driving Song" - Dat Politics
4. "Human Replace" - Original Hamster
5. "I Have a Headache This Big" - Stars as Eyes
6. "Alphanumeric Disinformation" - Uprock [rhizomatic]
7. "I Like Having These Things" - Zeigenbock Kopf
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ORIGINAL HAMSTER
Nuthin' But a G4 Thang
(TIGERBEAT6 MEOW81) 12"Released the week of April 21st, 2003
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The first Tigerbeat6 release from Original Hamster-- that always changing, full-of-aliases MIDI master and dangerous electronic music artist from Santiago, Chile-- is just the thing for anyone who enjoys modern electronica, indie classics, hip-hop superheroics, and old fashioned "singing" music.
Track listing:
1. My Gun Goes Click
A break track with short samples all over, ready to be danced to.
2. Hamsta My Dear
The lo-fi-with-acid Beatles cover, full of clicks and internet MIDI files.
3. Hell Yeah
A song with a bad title but an irresistible groove.
4. Tacky Bag Bob
A Miami Bass anthem that kicks Sir-Mix-A-Lot's ass back into the game and ends the side.
5. Notorious DSP
This track appeared on the Tigerbeat6's Paws Across America 2OO2 tour CD and is a cover from a well known artist, but this one will be "bigger."
6. Vinnie And The Beats
A mix of hip-hop beats and experimental electronic music.
7. Timestretching Is Not A Crime
Kids will love the singed hook, vocoders, tribal rhythms, and chopped samples
8. I Smoke [K]
Tigerbeat6 describes this as "funfunfun, fun and more fun."
- Has worked with fellow Chilean musical genius Atom Heart
- Electronic hip-hop plunderphonic futurism with new surprises and as yet unheard melodies and sounds
- To be followed by a full-length one of these days
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PALAXY TRACKS
Cedarland
(PEEKABOO BOO1213) CDReleased the week of April 21st, 2003
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A gentle, half-concept album about the ghosts of lead singer Brandon Durham's hometown of Cedar Park, Texas, Cedarland sleepily mixes crystalline pop and delicate instrumentation. It's an American rock record that channels-- almost accidentally-- the spring-rain melancholy of every British LP you clung to for dear life in the early '80s. Cedarland recalls the depth of Joy Division with the quiet, ethereal luster of Galaxie 500, Bedhead, and even Brian Eno circa Another Green World, while Durham's overarching theme is calmly and resolutely worked out through the course of these 11 picture-perfect pop songs. Palaxy Tracks' first record, The Long Wind Down (Grey Flat, 2000) was alternately wispy and angular, swimming with shimmering hooks, and shot through with searing, Bedhead-esque starbursts of distorted guitar; it earned the band an avid local fanbase and was named the best Texas record of 2000 by The Austin Chronicle.
After the band relocated to Chicago, guests from The Sea and Cake, Archer Prewitt, Poi Dog Pondering, Okkervil River, and Shearwater were enlisted to help with Cedarland. The result further textures their supple indie-rock grooves with such chamber-pop trimmings as Mellotron, singing saw, lap steel, mandolin, and Wurlitzer, creating a record whose lush instrumentation and intimate, pillowy warmth should share the shelf with early Belle and Sebastian or recent Yo La Tengo.
Durham's wistful croon mixes a timbre close to Ian Curtis's with a smoother, breathier tone that recalls Neil Halstead, or maybe K.J McKillop of Moose. His voice both distinctive and totally unaffected, Durham's singing and lovelorn songwriting invite the listener into a personal space. Cedarland is a vision of rainy English skies, viewed from beneath Texas's wide, clear, blue ones.
SOUNDMURDERER
Wired For Sound
(VIOLENT TURD 06) CDReleased the week of April 21st, 2003
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The aptly named SoundMurderer produces and runs the ragga-jungle label Rewind Records based in Detroit, Michigan with co-owner/producer SK-1. His soulful dancehall ragga jungle productions combine the modern illness and intricate programming of Squarepusher and Plug with the classic sounds of Congo Natty and the early ragga jungle soundsystem culture. We're talking full-on bass-rinse snare-rush; tight, cutty ranks; and mixing like you're not likely to hear anywhere else.
Mixed between 1999 and 2002, and boasting a jaw-dropping 60 tracks in under 70 minutes, it was not done quickly just to pack as many songs as possible on a mix CD, but rather to highlight the most intense, mashed-up parts of great tracks that not many people have heard (most tracks were available on relatively small pressings at least eight years ago). Wired for Sound was originally intended to be a mix tape (track 1 being side A, and track 2 side B), but-- lucky you-- CDs allow for a third darker and more futuristic bonus track to be added for this release.
STATIC TAXI
Closer 2 Normal
(BIRDMAN BMR043) CDReleased the week of April 7th, 2003
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If trash-punk guitar virtuoso Bob Stinson had a way of making fellow musicians feel like it was him and them against the world, most of these musicians also got the impression that the world was winning. Recorded in 1989 and 1990 by Stinson's "art blues" outfit, Closer 2 Normal has remained unreleased until now, half a decade after The Replacements guitarist's death. Static Taxi stands as perhaps the best snapshot of Stinson's genius out of the shadow of the 'Mats. The band found its sound inside a kerosene-heated train car in 1989, where four guys-- Stinson with some art-school punks and cabbies-- gathered to drink, jam, drop LSD, and record demos. By 1991 they had put to tape an album's worth of studio material before promptly folding, never having recovered from the loss of their beloved boxcar the year before, when a nearby warehouse burned down. Since Stinson's final drug spiral, it has been difficult to romanticize that era. Birdman Records has decided that the grace period has ended and these songs were worth resurrecting for more than the sake of nostalgia or the opportunity to mourn. The lyrical ache of the cascading guitar shimmer on these recordings is enough to make you weep. Stinson's springtime-sludge textures elevate Ray Reigstad's snotty choruses and jumpy rhythms to the level of great gonzoid power-pop. There was chemistry amid the chemicals of that train car-- now everyone can hear it for themselves.
URSA MINOR
Silent Moving Picture
(SMELLS LIKE RECORDS SLR049) CDReleased the week of April 21st, 2003
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Having combed the notoriously tough and crowded NYC club scene to rave reviews for the better part of the past year, NYC-based Ursa Minor has emerged with a debut release that perfectly captures the stark, distilled beauty of their subtly dynamic music. Envisioned, founded and fronted by sireny singer and keyboardist Michelle Casillas, Ursa Minor combines contemporary rock, singer-songwriting, ethnic, and experimental musics to which Casillas was exposed growing up in Manhattan and working as a sound engineer at downtown venue Tonic. The result is ethereal yet concise, wrought with ringing Rhodes work, enunciated keens and alto murmurs, moody drum snaps and strong melodies weaving hypnotic lyrical imagery. Her Village Voice-described "storm cloud-through-picture-window" songwriting engages themes of alienation, love, hope, and fear, against a sparse, organic, haunting instrumental backdrop.
The band's rhythm section, Robert di Pietro (drums) and Robert Jost (bass), share a similarly vast pool of influences, having played together for several years in various projects, developing a unique chemistry and flexibility in music which blurs the lines between rock and singer-songwriting ritual and the freedom of jazz and experimental music.
Silent Moving Picture was produced by fellow Smells Like Records artist Tony Scherr (bassist in Sex Mob, Lounge Lizards, and the Bill Frisell Trio), who is also featured on guitar. Other contributors include Jane Scarpantoni (Lounge Lizards, Nirvana, REM) on cello, Yuri Lemishev on accordian, and Chris Brown on clavinet. The album also includes a bold interpretation of the Jane's Addiction classic "Summertime Rolls." Fans of strong songwriting and soulful singing in the spirit of Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, and Christine McVie will surely find bliss.
1929
Last But Not Leased
(SILTBREEZE SB100) CDReleased the week of April 7th, 2003
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For the past two years 1929 have been leveling blowboxes all over Philadelphia without so much as a "Hello, It's Me" from Philly's own blowbox king, Todd Rundgren. You'd think with that kind of liberation going on the least Todd could do is invite 'em over to try on a pair of Roger Powell's sunglasses (left by mistake), rub one of Kasim's scarves or exchange high fives with Willie Wilcox. Maybe the Runt's savin' all the good times for Utopia acolytes The Champs. Cujusvis hominis est errare. Once 1929 were spied moping around town, giving each other charleyhorses and hertz donuts after the big dis, the CEO at Siltbreeze agreed to give 'em a record deal. Since they're all Vietnam vets, it makes sense. It's just that kind of restaurant.
1929 consists of members John Boothman (ex-Bro JT & Vibrolux, President BSA {Bald Swingers of America}), Brendan Gallagher (ex-Dischord waterboy, Battlefield Earth reenactor {that's "Terl" to you, farb}) and Tyler Harold (CFBI Booking wunderkid, Fred Biletnikoff lookalike). The sonic, slurring, instrumental tonic they have decided to bottle up and pass off as their own is a dab of Hawkwind, a pinch of Dead C., and a sprinkle of any number of desert rock's heaviest comancheros. You could say it's the finest non-vocal release to pass through the turnstiles since the Smashchords' 12-inch. Or if you weren't born then, how about Earth 2? Say whatever you like. So long as it's not Gone III.
1929 have played in support of and wiped the floor with the likes of Acid Mothers Temple, Bardo Pond, Major Stars, Bright Eyes, and Dead Meadow. As soon as Boothman finishes rebuilding the engine to their Huey Cobra AH-1 touring chopper (well, a Ford station wagon), they would very much like to come to your VC village and lay waste to your rice paddy. Just remember, it's not fun until someone gets an eye put out.
WIRE