Freq has been running in various forms since 1998, and this iteration has been around since 2010, with an archive of older material available too.
Please scroll down and on for the most recent reviews; the archives index for 1998-2009 is here while there is an A-Z index here of everything posted so far.
The bulk of the record reviews 1998-2008 are in the following pages: Continue reading …
This could have been. The idea behind Belgotronics is zeitgeist-tappingly brilliant; we need a Belgian version of those Congotronics tricks; that DIY ethic, those tumbling rhythms, those alien sounding timbres and treads, that otherness. Everything seems in place; the name – Hoquets references “hockets” (the technique used in Western medieval music, Africa, Bali and elsewhere of sharing a melody line between several voices or instruments) and “hoquets” (pronounced “OK”, and the French word for “hiccoughs”) – even the music itself, which rattles and slips like a woodworker’s shed sliding slowly downhill, but… the vocals ruin it for me. They are ‘off the wall’ but not convincing, crazeee not crazy; you don’t have to be mad to be in this band but – well, that’s it. That’s all. There’s an
Not long ago, in the relatively balmy days of early December, I found myself, as is my usual daily routine, strolling through the local cemetery, Abney Park, all overgrown and witch-haunted, broken angels and grasping stone hands. And that’s on a normal day. But this particular afternoon the region was visited by the harbinger of truly apocalyptic weather. About an hour earlier than was reasonable (and certainly earlier than would be considered polite by any civilised climatic system) the sun went dark, the wind picked up, and darkness descended across the land. The veil of the Temple may even have been rent in two, but I was nowhere near the bloody Temple, what with being on the other side of the world and all, so I
I’m on a train a foggy winter afternoon, beats rocking me away into an unfamiliar yet known landscape. The steady beat accompanied by bass-noisy distorted guitar rhythms feeds to the familiarity of the sounds. Suddenly strange background screeching brakes hits, but without any effect on the speed, like the change of mood when entering a tunnel, but still continues when coming out of it, swirling through the narrow valley of winterly mountainous landscape. The feelings created by the first tracks on Dead Clubbing matches perfectly the dual sides of the experience of listening to the music, combined with the train ride I am on writing this. Almost like they where made for each other.
Anders Hana has made some hard impressions on the Norwegian scene of avant-rock, by his
Oh, caveats. They’re buggers right? Yeah. Well, here’s one anyway – without wanting to get into the ‘how do ‘we the west’ appropriate non-Western music?’, there’s always a massive problem writing about this sort of thing. I’d not suggest that my lack of knowledge of Carnatic/ Hindustani music is in any way an impediment to enjoying/ talking about Indian classical music, but I always get this feeling that it’d take me 20 years to get near putting this in some sort of context. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan has a phenomenal tone, lovely range, the ornaments to the rags are phenomenally delivered, the recording has been re-mastered brilliantly considering it sounds like one mic in a dusty room some point before the 2nd World War (!). But I’m taking it as read
Appearing as part of a series of DVDs from Blast First Petite unearthing performances on legendary German TV music show Rockpalast (see also Kevin Coyne in 1978) comes a rare broadcast featuring John Fahey from March 1978. Remastered from the original video tapes, this is a rare opportunity to see footage of Fahey on stage, and the results are captivating.
Fahey arrives in front of the WDR TV audience to a brief introduction and no stands upon which to place the guitars he holds in each hand. Thankfully his embarrassment is averted by the reverentially lighthearted way his corduroy jacket is instantly whisked off his waiting arms as he seats himself at the mic, at once amusing, and indicative of the esteem in which he was – and
Sweeping in on modernist orchestrations, Rupture is a very different kind of Nurse With Wound collaboration, though there is plenty which harks back to Steve Stapleton‘s tape-loop manipulations of orchestral music both in Nursey guise and with Current 93‘s earlier harshly overbearing recordings in the pre-Apocalyptic Folk days. Here there is an explicit theme hinted at in the title, as the ensemble attempt to envisage musically what it might feel like to undergo a severe brain embolism – and who better for sculptor and composer Graham Bowers to work with on such a project than Messrs. Stapleton, Liles, Waldron and Potter?
Wall of sound doesn’t begin to adequately describe the onslaught they unleash together; once the first few gentle tones of part one’s calm before the rupture (“… a
Brixton is a place that has changed a lot over the past twenty odd years. It feels very different now then when I lived (well squatted) there in the late eighties, at that time the riots had calmed down but there was still a sense of unease . It now feels less tense and has quite up-market café culture and some of the old dodgy pubs now seemed to have gone. But scratch the surface of the place and its past is still there just under its shiny new veneer. Somehow it seem quite apt that The Levellers would be celebrating twenty years of their album Levelling the Land here.
Ok, I admit it…..I missed Hugh Lloyd Langton’s set because I was in the pub watching Hawkwind covers band Hoaxwind and enjoying them way too much. They played a superb set of Hawkwind classics (including “Needle Gun” which I had not heard in years and sounded amazingly good), and were fantastic great fun and sounded quite amazing. If you have not seen them yet I strongly suggest you do and they always seem to be playing at a pub near to a Hawkwind gig.
The winter solstice machine rolls on for Hawkwind and I now can’t imagine a yuletide period without their tour of shows. Whereas last year Dave Brock was stood over to one side of the stage tonight he is dead centre, the
For most bands, tackling that ‘difficult’ second album can be a daunting experience; the expectation, the pressure to top their debut, and the need to break new ground can all conspire to form a perilous trap for the unwary and the uninitiated. Most bands, however, don’t record their second album 41 years after forming.
Figures of Light, a ghost legion of the proto-punk army who fought almost single-handedly around New York and New Jersey during the early 1970s, have returned to the studio, however, and recorded a new album, following on from their 2007 ‘debut’ Smash Hits. That album, which collated vintage material from as far back as 1970 alongside recordings made that year, was a first step in placing the band back into their proper historical context, elevating them
This is the DVD and Blu Ray edition of a performance of Raw Power by Iggy & The Stooges‘ at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in September 2010, not long after the untimely death of founder member Ron Asheton. The CD edition included all eight songs (albeit reordered) from their classic third album alongside single cut “I Gotta Right,” and Alan Holmes‘ review of the disc can be read here.
Leaving the musical content to the review for the most part, it’s worth noting that the sound on the video is excellent throughout, and the performance by the band is exemplary in its energy and vigour. James Williamson rejoins The Stooges onstage for the first time since 1973 to recapture his contribution to Raw Power, while Mike Watt continues to hold
To a young mind searching for meaningful music in the early 1980s, encountering CRASS for the first time was a frightening proposition. In those hazy, far-off days, when the Californian IT development nerds responsible for YouTube and Google had barely finished breastfeeding and the ZX Spectrum was the hot shit in cutting edge computer technology, one really couldn’t be entirely sure whether CRASS was a Punk band, a twisted Dadaist subversion, a political movement or some kind of terrorist cell, like the Baader-Meinhof Group fallen to earth in Ongar Great Park. Or, come to that, all four. With no promotional images to refer to (part of a carefully cultivated tactic to avoid the usual characterisation of a ‘band’ with ‘leaders’), one was confronted only by
As part of the Lumberton Trading Company‘s limited edition subscription series (others in the set include Glass Out – with vox from the late Jhonn Balance; the ever-crackly Main; Brian Conniffe, Human Greed and Jean-Hervé Péron plus guests) of 12″ singles, Cindytalk – (AKA Gordon Sharp) teams up with Phillipe Petit for a double-A side mini-album.
Taken together, the two sides of vinyl make for an environmental audio travelogue of lengthy proportions, one which rewards the use of both powerful sub-bass speakers and tweeters which can fully capture the higher tones; without wishing to be overly audiophile about such things – though here the benefits compared to an average home stereo setup are noticeable. A good set of computer gaming speakers or a home cinema set would be
Organic grinding. The music humming inside the skulls of cannibals as they try to decide which would go better with their longpig; rosemary or thyme? Are chives too much? Too little? What would Michel Roux Jr. suggest? They’d hardly want to spoil the meat with excess seasoning, or overpower the flavour with some badly chosen shallots or unnecessary garnishes. Here, we are treated to imaginary soundtracks to imaginary places. Brian Pyle (who was in… etc etc) coming up trumpeting; weaving processed, processional sounds into the mix; keeping things flowing.
He’s amassing an interesting soundpile; working I’m guessing mostly by instinct (‘those reversed bells would sound just lovely right there’) but also paying plenty of attention to detail. And here’s where the Devil is; in the little sounds behind the main
Ok, where do I begin? This is a monumental release! Yeah, I like that even though it feels somewhat understated. Hmmmm, all right lets start with a bit of background info; Omnia Opera first appear in the mid-Eighties new psychedelic boom that spawned venues like The Deptford Crypt and big one-off festivals like Acid Daze and watched Ozric Tentacles shoot to fame. A little later Delerium Records start and release albums by various underground and free festival artists in a second summer of love type vibe. Omnia Opera release two albums for the label their space/acid/punk/prog sound being one highlights. And then silence… the Omnias disappeared into the mists of time and people like me were left clutching their old copies of Red Shift with a wistful look in our
Lumberton Trading Company
As part of the Lumberton Trading Company's limited edition subscription series (others in the set include Glass Out - with vox from the late Jhonn Balance; the ever-crackly Main; Brian Conniffe, Human Greed and Jean-Hervé Péron plus guests) of 12" singles, Cindytalk -
Nostalgia Blackrain
From the opening chimes of "Garten," it's apparent that Corrupted have taken on what could almost be considered a upbeat and cheery atmosphere in their music making - if only by the very heavy sludge standards they have helped define, of course. For almost anyone else this tra
Mind Your Head
Royal Festival Hall, London
1 October 2002
Following an introduction which emphasizes the psychedelic nature of the selection of musicians and bands from Glenn Maxx, the South Bank Centre's mastermind for the Mind Your Head season, Coil emerge on stage bathed in UV light, their
Kosmische @ The Spitz, London
5 June 2003
When the Acid Mothers Collective come to town, a few things are certain - extended improvisations, guest appearances (tonight's honourable psychonaut is none other than Daevid Allen), antics and japes at the keyboards, and hair. Lots and lots of hair: no
Modisti
[pullshow id="cancer"]In 1961, Harold Pinter was in Paris, attending rehearsals for the French production of his play The Caretaker. Pinter’s critical reputation was starting to gain serious traction at this time, and the literary establishment were beginning to write about him as the n
Sonic Boom Live
Queen Elizabeth Hall
South Bank Centre, London
4th May 2000
Presented in conjunction with the excellent Sonic Boom exhibition of sound installations at the Hayward Gallery, the line up for this event features three groups and artists who have also been selected for inclusion in
The End
Skin Turns to Glass is epic stuff, I love it. Huge shoegazer doom from Toronto-based duo Nadja, who began as a solo project of Aidan Baker. In 2005 Leah Buckareff joined him allowing them to leave the studio and go live, though this album was originally released in 2003 in a slightly dif
The Underworld, London
5th November 1999
Back at The Underworld for the second time in six months, follwowing on from an absence from their founders' homeland of six years, The Legendary Pink Dots bring home their unique format of intense live musical performance at the tail end of yet another w
The Underworld, London
15 July 2008
The first time I came across Part Chimp, a few years back, they were tipped as The Loudest Band in London, but now that the reanimated corpse of My Bloody Valentine has reclaimed that title with its rotting, maggoty fingers, Part Chimp have mellowed a little.
Mute
Is it just me, or did it suddenly get kinda butch in here? I mean, the amount of testosterone coming out of the discerning listener's speakers at the moment is really quite intimidating. What with Michael Gira's reactivated-and-all-male-again Swans trying to frighten you into an early grave
Pica Disk
The May edition of Jazkamer's monthly series starts with an almost twenty minute long drone track. It's very deep dark and with mellow synth sounds to start with, moving about in my headphones, almost without recognising it, the track creeps upon me, moving more, being more intense and
Label: Decay/Target Video Format: DVD,VHS
Originally released on VHS in 1987, this collection of the Dead Kennedys live in concert and the studio finds them in fine Punk Rock form. As is to be expected, the sound quality of the gig footage (mostly recorded at Mabuhay Gardens 1979-80) is less than
Dekorder
[pullshow id="roar"]This is a work in progress about a work of progress. A split album in all senses.
Side A is Debussy’s La Mer played on sawtoothed (maybe snaggletoothed) electronics. Keith Fullerton Whitman’s latest Buchla synth missive, “101105,” comes with health warnings
The Troxy
London
2 April 2011
So nostalgia culture bravely forges into the ever more recent past. John Foxx ambles amiably on; I think people are welcoming, the odd chin wobbling in appreciation, but this is not a high energy crowd. I am used to hot venues, sweat dripping off the walls, a cloud r
The Albery Theatre, London
from 4th April 2002 for 11 weeks
Based on Heinrich Hoffman's dark fairy-tale Struwwelpeter, Shockheaded Peter originally opened in 1998 and last year alone played to an audience of some 80,000 West End theatre-goers. For its 2002 production, David Thomas & Two Pale
The Garage, London
11 September 2010
Reanimated musical corpses aren’t much of a news story these days – after The Velvet Underground and Throbbing Gristle reformations, nothing comes as a surprise. I was shocked then to realise just how stunned I felt to hear that The Pop Group had got back
Sargent House
Well, what can I say.....I was going to start off this review with the same two words used to review Spinal Tap’s Shark Sandwich album.....You see I’ve been a Boris fan and collector for quite a few years, this at times has been quite a hard and infuriating task. They have eithe
Recommended
The Necks seem to have been around forever and they’re still boiling the elements of jazz down, adding their signature dabbles and occasional electronic bursts, collecting and sieving through new sounds, gold panning their way into new forms. This album collects two 20 minute-plus t
OIB
[pullshow id="fresh"]This started so well. Opening track “Gobachi” lets orie(m)ental toy tunes sumo each other out of the ring, while some crazy sub-Venetian Snares drums roll. It’s [pullthis id="fresh"]fresh (like a babywipe), funny (like someone falling down the stairs), even a little
Constellation
When Toronto's Do Make Say Think emerged over a decade ago, they came over as an enjoyable but slightly generic example of the Canadian post rock scene of the time, seemingly doomed to live in the shadow of Montreal's Godspeed You! Black Emperor, before fading away when the post roc
Triple Bath
The title Soundscape Study is immediately misleading - while ostensibly sourced from the sonic ambience of dreary and audibly sodden holidays (in Scotland's Isle of Barra and France's Fitou respectively), this disc lacks the arid mic-fetishising of a great many soundscape pieces. Dani
Umbilical
Ok, where do I begin? This is a monumental release! Yeah, I like that even though it feels somewhat understated. Hmmmm, all right lets start with a bit of background info; Omnia Opera first appear in the mid-Eighties new psychedelic boom that spawned venues like The Deptford Crypt and b
Ad Hoc
Every now and then you come across a product born of such radically alternative starting assumptions that it gets treated with near indifference by its potential audience, as though to even entertain the possibility of its existence could cause the tapestries of multiple musicotheologies t
Drid Machine
I’m on a train a foggy winter afternoon, beats rocking me away into an unfamiliar yet known landscape. The steady beat accompanied by bass-noisy distorted guitar rhythms feeds to the familiarity of the sounds. Suddenly strange background screeching brakes hits, but without any effe
Crammed Discs
This could have been. The idea behind Belgotronics is zeitgeist-tappingly brilliant; [pullthis id="Belgian"]we need a Belgian version of those Congotronics tricks; that DIY ethic, those tumbling rhythms[/pullthis], those alien sounding timbres and treads, that otherness. Everything
The Smell, Los Angeles, California
29 March 2001
The stages faces a room which cages a particular piece of modern art and the reflection is this: levelor blinds painted with barcode marks bracketed by (0) and (1) and a neon word consci divides ousness. White of the eye stares back towards the wh
Crystal Antlers - Crystal Antlers EP
Touch and Go
From the Comets on Fire school of sunshine-and-reverb-addicted, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink meltingpot psych come Crystal Antlers, the band with possibly the most unjustly off-putting name of the year. If you’re interested, the contest for
Pica Disk
The Monroe Doctrine is the March edition of Jazkamer's 2010 monthly abum series. This CD is a 30 minute track with full on noise rock free jazz improv beat hysteria. Performers are the regular four piece of Gross, Hegre, Marhaug and Drønen. Beautiful artwork by José De Diego.
To ma
Conspiracy
Ah, already after the first riffs of Wonder, I get a sense of “this is my kind of heavy metal”. Hard and the kind of old fashioned heavy feeling; that sort of heavy feeling from some of the the 80s bands like Dio, that made my body want to slow down, BUT with the speed and intensit
GEO
Gagarin’s sole member Graham ‘Dids’ Dowdall, has played with various cult and avant-garde and electronic musicians over the years including Nico, John Cale and Suns of Arqa. This polymath of musical activity may go some way to explaining the patch-bay electronica of Biophilia as it maj
Paw Tracks
“Rest in Peace”, the opening track of the latest Prince Rama album opens with a slightly strangulated House howl, the kinda thing you might have gurned circa 1990, which is then savagely dismissed without a thought, a discarded, non-devotional whore… the drum rumbles begin and th
(Endgame)
Shane Fahey is an ex-member of the seminal Australian post-punk combo The Makers of the Dead Travel Fast, whose much sought-after late 70s and early 80s output has recently resurfaced on a couple of anthologies focussing on the releases of the M Squared label. If anyone was wondering wh
Label: On The Fiddle/Proper Music Distribution Format: 2DVD (PAL)
The Levellers are a bit like Marmite, really. You either love them or you can't fucking stand them. I'm pretty much in the former camp, but, also like Marmite, I can go for ages without them. Then one day I'll fancy some toast, and
The Spitz, London
24th July 2000
First off, any further mention of the fact that Dry & Heavy are a Japanese Reggae band can largely be dispensed with; so they are Japanese, not Jamaican. Well, there are Reggae and Dub groups from all over now - the Czech Republic, the Basque Country, Texas e
Klangbad
Longevity in the fickle world of pop music has traditionally been an undervalued trait and Cluster, now well into their fourth decade as a musical unit, have long been an elusive presence as they've sailed through the decades since their inception in 1969 (with fellow electronic pioneer
Bluray/DVD
Field Pictures
Factory 25 (North America)
OK, first things first. Until The Light Takes Us isn't really a music movie. It's not a musical, for a start, though that would be awesome. Can you fucking IMAGINE how awesome that would be??? It isn't a musical, though. It's not even a movi
The Barbican Centre, London
22 March 2001
"This guy played at The Barbican. About 200 people watched the show. The jam session was awesome. It rocked a snow leopard's ass. The crowd roared like a lion. WES-LEY WILLIS, WES-LEY WILLIS, WES-LEY WILLIS, WES-LEY WILLIS. Rock over London, rock ove
Pure Pop For Now People
Along comes the latest release from PPFN, the label run by Joachim Gaertner of German psyche/kraut powerhouse group S/T, and it's another that explores the territory somewhere on the borders of electronica and a peculiar concept of pop music. As with most of PPFNs releases
Ambolthue/Synesthetic Recordings
Apparently this is the debut CD of Torstein Wjiik, which is really hard to believe when you look at his discography, where you can find lots of MP3 and CD-R releases. Wjiik is the alias of Norwegian experimental artist Kjetil Hanssen. Knowing that this young man h
Royal Festival Hall, London
12 October 2001
Given that this appearance by Faust marks both their 100th live performance since the group's reformation in 1993 and possibly their final show, it's somehow appropriate that the emergency services soon became involved once again. Part of the reason
Southern Lord
Hey kids, welcome to another exciting edition of “Fuck Yeah Science”, with me, your host, Dr Deuteronemu 90210, here to show you that not only is science a thing, it's also a FUN thing! Now, if you'd like to start your educational CD (or whatever you youngsters are listening to
The Underworld, London
28th January 2000
Dead Voices On Air are conducting a bit of an experiment on the London leg of their tour, starting off loud, noisy and danceable and trailing down into ambient passages of extended mood workouts. Mark Spybey and Darren Phillips man the keyboards, sequence
Label: Threshold House Format: CD
The last Coil album proper, The Ape Of Naples marks a tragic end point, a conclusion to one of the more remarkable groups to grace the annals of electronic and deviant music. Completed under the direction of his longtime collaborator Peter "Sleazy" Christophers
93 Feet East, London
8 March 2002
Kitty-Yo hit London, taking over the snazzily labyrinthine 93 Feet East venue on Brick Lane for an evening of the label's quality acts and a host of guest DJs from Berlin, London and further afield, one of whom seems to be playing Generation X's "Dancing With M
Crammed Discs
[pullshow id="sit"]To borrow the imprecation that Debbie Harry once sang so passionately in 1978, "Picture this." However, rather than a sky full of thunder, or for that matter Debs’ telephone number (wistful sigh...), try instead [pullthis id="sit"]a giant sit-on banjo constructe
The Lexington, London
22 June 2011
What can be said about The Cesarians that hasn't already been described, outlined, put into the public sphere? That Charlie Finke is one of the great cavorting besuited frontmen of the century? That Justine Armatage arranges tunes to set the heart pounding and
Midwich Records
Ellen Mary McGee, founder of folk-rock band Saint Joan, has created a short but magnificently intense début album with The Crescent Sun. Its a dark lyrical collection of folk songs written, sung, and largely performed by McGee. She plays guitar, banjo, glockenspiel, drums, percu
Dirty Water
"... kind of record that gets played at the coolest party ...where the keg ends up in the pool..." says the press release... I've seen that film, but truthfully, never been to a party with a keg, let alone a swimming pool. I do remember a particular glue-crazed house-wrecker where sof
Label: Thrill Jockey Format: CD,LP
Welcome to the end of the world. With civilization on the brink of destruction, and all those Biblical prophecies starting to look not quite so funny, the inimitable Bobby Conn bounds back onto the scene, perversely enough eschewing the eschatological apocal
Northern-Spy
At the risk of prematurely blowing my journalistic load, this is a great record. And that's the bottom line for any review really. It’s not, perhaps, a record that fits with Rhy Chatham’s reputation for Glenn Branca-baiting massed guitar works. Outdoor Spell is nothing like 2005
On The Rocks, London
10th December 1998
What does a New York Jewish MC from East Berlin sound like in soundclash mode with his East End muckers? Especially when set off by their apearance on a stage in a Shoreditch nightclub seemingly more frequented by stag and hen parties - complete with spang
The Forum, London
17 December 2010
This is Earth calling, this is Earth calling......
It’s mid-winter, snow is on the ground and Arctic winds blow and London is bought to a stand still by Tube strikes and 2cm of the white stuff (no not the "Right Stuff"). Beaming down from their planet, Haw
The Garage, London
18th May 2006
In a Garage not exactly rammed to gills for a sold-out gig, Lightning Bolt - positioned as ever in a corner on the floor instead of taking to the stage - open their set with a looped low fidelity rhythm which soon wavers into loudness sliced by stabs of tuning-up
Vidna Obmana & Serge Devadder - The Shape Of Solitude - Suite For Electric Guitar, Atmospheres And Recycling
Label: Multimood Format: CD
Ah, how Swede...erm...suite it is... (Ouch - Ed.) Sound that often appears on the Hearts of Space broadcast (recently sacked from Los Angeles airwaves in f
Outlier
[pullthis id="guitars"]This is the kind of band where you can tell the shape of their guitars just by listening to them[/pullthis]. The fact that they’re from Iceland (via Rome) won’t help here; they could be from anywhere but they especially don’t sound Icelandic. You know what I m
MVD Audio
[pullshow id="naked"]Where do you start with the Dwarves? Having listened to this album words like offensive and puerile spring to mind; I guess I am a bit older and wiser since I last listened to them. That being said I do have few of their albums in my collection and on very rare oc
Irregular #5
The South Bank Centre, London
8th-10th April 1999
The last five to ten years have seen an exponential rise in the number of intriguing events at London's premier Arts Council-funded cultural centre on the South Bank of the River Thames, thanks to an innovative booking policy and th
The Garage, London
6th December 1998
There are few enough gigs where all three acts are equally placed in their levels of enthusiasm, energy and sheer in yer face enjoyment, but tonight is one of those nights where the rush of machine noise goes from strength to strength. Bomb 20 is first up, a
Editions Mego
The problem with the notion of Hypnagogic Pop was never the music, and Oneohtrix Point Never's superb Returnal demonstrates that fact perfectly.
Brooklyn's Daniel Lopatin makes tried and tested emotive music with plenty of precedent. Tangerine Dream is the most frequently cited
The Tape-beatles - Synthety No. 5: Good Times
Label: Staalplaat Format: CD
Stepping to an appropriately martial, mechano-deconstructed beat, The Tape-beatles' Good Times weaves a mix of political speech snippets, training-film educational banalities deleivered with the wooden certitude of a rigi
Rooster
When this album was released way back when, in 1996, it was at a moment when electronic music of all sorts was riding high in the charts and otherwise, and stoner rock riffage as produced by a hirsute quartet from Bristol somehow became buried in a slew of trip-hop releases which were a
Disco Activisto
[pullshow id="stopping"]Like many, I came across Billie Ray Martin, other-styled “Queen of Electronic Soul”, via Electribe 101 and, especially, the Throbbing Gristle cover "Persuasion" with the smooth electrogliders Spooky. At the time, we needed a new Queen and Billie Ray Mar
Smalltown Supersound
Top Auto road tests the latest model to roll off the production line at Helsinki’s Bleep Factory.
First Impression
Wow, this little baby can really move. Finland’s K-X-P have put together their first effort, and the time and effort pay off in no uncertain terms. Mo
Featuring the films of Jean Painleve (1902-1989)
Only Connect @ The Barbican, London
20 April 2002
Although Yo La Tengo are most often described in terms of the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth and Can, you only have to take a look at a setlist from one of their annual fund raising "request" sho
Label: Freeborn John Theatre Company Format: CD+DVD (PAL)
Originally released in 1996, Freeborn John was Rev Hammer's folk rock opera about the life of English radical “Freeborn” John Lilburne, who fought in the Civil War and dedicated his life to liberty and freedom. A natural subject for Ha
Thrill Jockey
I wasn't expecting Super Roots 10 to sound like this, which is what I have come to expect from the Boredoms and the Super Roots series. Super Roots 10 contains "Ant 10" and three remixes of it, and lives up to the impressive legacy Super Roots lays down. "Ant 10" itself continues th
Interlink Audio
Berlin-based Artridge, self-proclaimed purveyors of post-industrial chamber music and imaginary soundtracks, are back with a new full-length CD on German label Interlink. With a four-year gap since their previous album, Artridge have developed a knack for effortless eclecticism an
If you’re reading this then you’re part of an experiment.
Free improvised music – defined in necessarily loose terms by guitarist Derek Bailey as music with “no stylistic or idiomatic commitment… (its characteristics) established only by the sonic-musical identity of the person or perso
ReR
It's a curiosity, this one. I don't know if you've seen Paolo Angeli's prepared guitar (have a look on YouTube), but it's legions more cumbersome than the old crocodile clips and ebows that pass for prepared guitar in some circles. Part of me thinks of tacky one-man-bands when I look at it bu
Southern Lord
It’s four years since God Luck and Good Speed came out and in those four years I have probably played it as much if not more than any other sludge album or any album for that matter with the possible exception of Harvey Milk.When I heard that Weedeater were releasing a new album I
This could have been. The idea behind Belgotronics is zeitgeist-tappingly brilliant; we need a Belgian version of those Congotronics tricks; that DIY ethic, those tumbling rhythms, those alien sounding timbres and treads, that otherness. Everything seems in place; the name – Hoquets references “hockets” (the technique used in Western medieval music, Africa, Bali and elsewhere of sharing a melody line between several voices or instruments) and “hoquets” (pronounced “OK”, and the French word for “hiccoughs”) – even the music itself, which rattles and slips like a woodworker’s shed sliding slowly downhill, but… the vocals ruin it for me. They are ‘off the wall’ but not convincing, crazeee not crazy; you don’t have to be mad to be in this band but – well, that’s it. That’s all. There’s an
Not long ago, in the relatively balmy days of early December, I found myself, as is my usual daily routine, strolling through the local cemetery, Abney Park, all overgrown and witch-haunted, broken angels and grasping stone hands. And that’s on a normal day. But this particular afternoon the region was visited by the harbinger of truly apocalyptic weather. About an hour earlier than was reasonable (and certainly earlier than would be considered polite by any civilised climatic system) the sun went dark, the wind picked up, and darkness descended across the land. The veil of the Temple may even have been rent in two, but I was nowhere near the bloody Temple, what with being on the other side of the world and all, so I
I’m on a train a foggy winter afternoon, beats rocking me away into an unfamiliar yet known landscape. The steady beat accompanied by bass-noisy distorted guitar rhythms feeds to the familiarity of the sounds. Suddenly strange background screeching brakes hits, but without any effect on the speed, like the change of mood when entering a tunnel, but still continues when coming out of it, swirling through the narrow valley of winterly mountainous landscape. The feelings created by the first tracks on Dead Clubbing matches perfectly the dual sides of the experience of listening to the music, combined with the train ride I am on writing this. Almost like they where made for each other.
Oh, caveats. They’re buggers right? Yeah. Well, here’s one anyway – without wanting to get into the ‘how do ‘we the west’ appropriate non-Western music?’, there’s always a massive problem writing about this sort of thing. I’d not suggest that my lack of knowledge of Carnatic/ Hindustani music is in any way an impediment to enjoying/ talking about Indian classical music, but I always get this feeling that it’d take me 20 years to get near putting this in some sort of context. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan has a phenomenal tone, lovely range, the ornaments to the rags are phenomenally delivered, the recording has been re-mastered brilliantly considering it sounds like one mic in a dusty room some point before the 2nd World War (!). But I’m taking it as read
Appearing as part of a series of DVDs from Blast First Petite unearthing performances on legendary German TV music show Rockpalast (see also Kevin Coyne in 1978) comes a rare broadcast featuring John Fahey from March 1978. Remastered from the original video tapes, this is a rare opportunity to see footage of Fahey on stage, and the results are captivating.
Sweeping in on modernist orchestrations, Rupture is a very different kind of Nurse With Wound collaboration, though there is plenty which harks back to Steve Stapleton‘s tape-loop manipulations of orchestral music both in Nursey guise and with Current 93‘s earlier harshly overbearing recordings in the pre-Apocalyptic Folk days. Here there is an explicit theme hinted at in the title, as the ensemble attempt to envisage musically what it might feel like to undergo a severe brain embolism – and who better for sculptor and composer Graham Bowers to work with on such a project than Messrs. Stapleton, Liles, Waldron and Potter?
Ok, I admit it…..I missed Hugh Lloyd Langton’s set because I was in the pub watching Hawkwind covers band Hoaxwind and enjoying them way too much. They played a superb set of Hawkwind classics (including “Needle Gun” which I had not heard in years and sounded amazingly good), and were fantastic great fun and sounded quite amazing. If you have not seen them yet I strongly suggest you do and they always seem to be playing at a pub near to a Hawkwind gig.
For most bands, tackling that ‘difficult’ second album can be a daunting experience; the expectation, the pressure to top their debut, and the need to break new ground can all conspire to form a perilous trap for the unwary and the uninitiated. Most bands, however, don’t record their second album 41 years after forming.
This is the DVD and Blu Ray edition of a performance of Raw Power by Iggy & The Stooges‘ at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in September 2010, not long after the untimely death of founder member Ron Asheton. The CD edition included all eight songs (albeit reordered) from their classic third album alongside single cut “I Gotta Right,” and Alan Holmes‘ review of the disc can be read here.
To a young mind searching for meaningful music in the early 1980s, encountering CRASS for the first time was a frightening proposition. In those hazy, far-off days, when the Californian IT development nerds responsible for YouTube and Google had barely finished breastfeeding and the ZX Spectrum was the hot shit in cutting edge computer technology, one really couldn’t be entirely sure whether CRASS was a Punk band, a twisted Dadaist subversion, a political movement or some kind of terrorist cell, like the Baader-Meinhof Group fallen to earth in Ongar Great Park. Or, come to that, all four. With no promotional images to refer to (part of a carefully cultivated tactic to avoid the usual characterisation of a ‘band’ with ‘leaders’), one was confronted only by
As part of the Lumberton Trading Company‘s limited edition subscription series (others in the set include Glass Out – with vox from the late Jhonn Balance; the ever-crackly Main; Brian Conniffe, Human Greed and Jean-Hervé Péron plus guests) of 12″ singles, Cindytalk – (AKA Gordon Sharp) teams up with Phillipe Petit for a double-A side mini-album.
Organic grinding. The music humming inside the skulls of cannibals as they try to decide which would go better with their longpig; rosemary or thyme? Are chives too much? Too little? What would Michel Roux Jr. suggest? They’d hardly want to spoil the meat with excess seasoning, or overpower the flavour with some badly chosen shallots or unnecessary garnishes. Here, we are treated to imaginary soundtracks to imaginary places. Brian Pyle (who was in… etc etc) coming up trumpeting; weaving processed, processional sounds into the mix; keeping things flowing.
Ok, where do I begin? This is a monumental release! Yeah, I like that even though it feels somewhat understated. Hmmmm, all right lets start with a bit of background info; Omnia Opera first appear in the mid-Eighties new psychedelic boom that spawned venues like The Deptford Crypt and big one-off festivals like Acid Daze and watched Ozric Tentacles shoot to fame. A little later Delerium Records start and release albums by various underground and free festival artists in a second summer of love type vibe. Omnia Opera release two albums for the label their space/acid/punk/prog sound being one highlights. And then silence… the Omnias disappeared into the mists of time and people like me were left clutching their old copies of Red Shift with a wistful look in our