Dick Acidsoxx: The Sophist (CD)
Strange and surrealist pop. Lots of samples and Beck-meets-Prince moments. Some interesting passages, and some annoying vocals. A mixed bag, but pretty engaging. I'm curious if it's a band, or a one-man operation, as it seems. (Cactus)
Black Dice: Cold Hands (CD)
Beautifully harsh noise unit, using screamed voice, distorted noise guitar and drums. The first cut is sedate and pretty, with what sounds like a child's toy, then all hell breaks loose for the duration. Droning and trance-inducing sturm und drang. Outstanding. (Cactus)
Bloom 05: Stills and Honey (CD)
Live 105-style alt-rock that is MTV-ready, and about as boring as Ally McBeal. They would be the ideal opening act for U2 on their next stadium tour. Shite, this. (Cactus)
Hugh Cornwell+Jim Drury: The Stranglers Song By Song (Book)
Fascinating interview-format book, with Hugh breaking down the lyrics and recording process of every damn Stranglers song (150+) up to 1990, when he split. Funny, and filled with mind-bending anecdotes about this highly surreal punk group. Much better read than, say, the Dee Dee Ramone book, which everyone is burning through. Recommended. (Cactus)
Ernesto Diaz-Infante and Chris Forsyth: Wires and Wooden Boxes (CD)
Experimental duo, doing wide-ranging improv pieces, using guitars, percussion, piano, and more. Diaz-Infante is a local improv player and curator of many excellent shows at The Luggage Store Gallery on Market, and on this record, he and Forsyth shred in an aggressive and thankfully interesting manner. Explosive and careening racket. Nice. (Cactus)
E.S.T.: Somewhere Else Before (CD)
Major label jazz trio from Sweden. Would be perfect on KCSM, but it's not without it's redeeming moments for KUSF folks. Very placid, and at times too close to dinner jazz territory, but there are also moments of beauty and quiet, minimal intensity. Matthew Shipp need not feel threatened, however. This would go over well in some wine bar in the Marina. (Cactus)
Fantomas: The Director's Cut (CD)
Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, Buzz Osbourne, and Dave Lombardo star in this thrashing permutation of film music. Killer and bombastic takes on Mancini, Rota, Herrmann, Morricone, Badalamente, Goldsmith, Barry, et al. Wait til you hear their version of "The Omen." You'll likely soil your drawers, kid. Another record that is very reminiscent of Zorn's Naked City film works. Excellent and highly recommended. (Cactus)
Faudel: Baida (CD)
Watered-down rai music, with a heavy pop production coating. Fans of Peter Gabriel's vision of world music will probably swallow it, but it's too smooth and calculated for me. (Cactus)
Faust: BBC Sessions+ (CD)
The BBC used to make all bands re-record their material, in their studios, before they would interview them on air. It's a weird rule, but it means all sorts of cool recordings are now surfacing years later. These are excellent early 70's recordings of the seminal Krautrock legends doing their funky ass psychedelic noise skronk. With 75% of all the new bands these days aping Krautrock, it's good that bands like Faust are now making a bit of copper. This kicks arse, chum. (Cactus)
Fred Frith: Clearing (CD)
Awesome improv acoustic guitar pieces from this long-standing luminary in the experimental git scrapers world. He's now teaching at Mills, so you'll have ample chance to catch his genius in person. Don't flake, bub. (Cactus)
Godflesh: Hymns (CD)
Latest sledgehammer release from Godflesh, this time with a new, live drummer, Ted Parsons. Seems to be a return to their earlier, sludgier rock days; less of a dub/electronica influence on this record, but it slams along nicely in a mode reminiscent of "Streetcleaner" days. The first 2 cuts are worth the price of the cd alone. Hopefully, they are touring in support of this. (Cactus)
Guitar Wolf live at Paradise Lounge (11/28/01)
Primitive garage rock geniuses in a typically chaotic and ecstatic freak out. Sweat, spit, and beer was flying. Brilliant Japanese deconstruction of our early American rock and roll formula. Like other live Japanese juggernauts Melt Banana, The Boredoms, et al, this band must be appreciated in a live context. Bloodthirsty wolves, yes. (Cactus)
Huntingtons: Songs in the Key of You (CD)
Yet another thoroughly repulsive Ramones-lite clone band for the kids. I suppose every college town has to have one, as a sort of refuge from the Limp Biskit jock boy crowd, and the new-Menudo boy group sheep, and so on, but is a recording of it really necessary? Completely generic pop-punk. Like it, I did not. (Cactus)
The Locust: s/t (CD)
Mini-CD from these local metal surrealists. Very thrashing and intense, but with a lot of what sounds like analog keyboards laid atop. Looks like they play with locust heads on, a la The Residents and the eyeballs. Musically, it reminds me of the Naked City records that have Eye from the Boredoms singing on them. 20 songs in 16 minutes. Heavy and claustrophobic record. Great absurdist song titles. (Cactus)
Ingram Marshall: Dark Waters (CD)
Gorgeous ambient minimalism, utilizing electronics, oboe, and english horn. Slow moving and entrancing, with a dark and ominous mood. One of the best records of this sort that I have heard in a long time. On the excellent local label, New Albion Records. Highly recommended. (Cactus)
Mollusk: Accretions (CD)
Extremely creepy ambient soundscapes along the lines of Lustmord or Blackhouse. Local? Quite excellent at times. Great late night music. Very dark mood that draws you in and then presses you down for the ride. Terrific electronic mind-fuckery. (Cactus)
Negativland: These Guys Are From England And Who Gives a Shit (CD)
This cd collects all of the tracks involved in the hypocritical U2 lawsuit against local sound collage group Negativland. Hilarious and awesome document of an ugly event. Casey Casem is the potty-mouth star of the cd, of course, but The Weatherman is particularly creepy and annoying, as well. This reminds me of that now infamous bootleg of Elvis Presley drunk and raving in the studio, trying in vain to make it through "Silent Night." Negativland should win the Nobel Prize for Sound. (Cactus)
Robert Normandeau: Clair de terre (CD)
Canadian sound collage and electronic artist. Terrific audio cinema constructions. Canada seems to be a hotbed for this sort of musique concrete, and the gorgeous ear candy that is the result is alternately stunning and lulling. Highly recommended. (Cactus)
Olivette: All God's Children Get Weary When They Roam (CD)
Very fey pop, so much so that it makes Simon and Garfunkel sound like Slayer. Completely forgettable, with trite lyrics and Smiths-lite songs. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood today, but I don't think so. (Cactus)
The Residents live at the Brava Theatre (11/31/01)
San Francisco's beloved and anonymous dada darlings did not disappoint. Another excellent Halloween spectacle, complete with films, sets, and revamped versions of all the old classics like "Hello Skinny," "Moisture," "Harry the Head," and many more scary and funny songs from their vast back catalog. The show began with a small percussion troupe performing a beautiful medley of Residents material, gamelan style. A treasure, they. (Cactus)
Rent Romus' Life's Blood Trio: Blood Motions (CD)
Local sax improv luminary Rent Romus blowing hard and free in a trio setting, with Jonas Westergaard and Stefan Pasborg on drums and bass. Explorative post-bop in the Ayler and Coltrane lineage. Great. Romus is heavily involved in Bay Area improv concert promotion, and plays out constantly, so check out his live thing, too. (Cactus)
John Szwed: Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (Book)
Engrossing read that details the exploits of the genius jazz composer and cosmic big band leader, Sun Ra. As usual, now that he's dead, everyone is coming out of the woodwork to trumpet their long-standing love of his enigmatic music, but this book painstakingly shows the lifelong struggle of a genius to continue making such non-commercial and highly personal art. How and why he kept going when there was no money or positive reinforcement to be seen is the story here, and it is beautifully told. Long live Sun Ra. (Cactus)
Tower Recordings: Folk Scene (CD)
Wide-ranging avant-pop and psychedelic folk. Like an acid-soaked Stereolab recording on a 1985 4-track in Gastr del Sol's basement studio. Very nice droning and swirling moments throughout. Acoustic guitars and buzzing keyboards float up and then recede. Seems to be another maximalist group, with about a dozen people listed as participants in the recordings. Quite interesting. (Cactus)
Peter Trappen: Frequent Sea (CD)
"Romantic" alt-rock singer-songwriter it says on the blurb sticker. Bland, middle of the road pop that rocks not. Save your yen. (Cactus)
Volcano the Bear: Five Hundred Boy Piano (CD)
Wonderful and very strange record. Musically, it's got a heavy pagan or medievel vibe, and at times it reminds me of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and other units working in a kind of epic form. It also has the kind of primitive, acoustic production sound that Tom Waits has now perfected, and it creates an ominous, backwoods at night mood. Crazy vocals complete the unsettling pastiche. Excellent and highly recommended. (Cactus)
Zeni Geva: 10,000 Light Years (CD)
Brilliant, as usual. The reigning kings of Japanese noise-punk are back with a blistering scree that will peel the paint off your walls and melt your brain stem. It's on the local label run by Neurosis, Neurot Recordings. Null, Tabata, and Fujikake have a near-telepathic gift, and they use it to explode music shapes with their extreme tightness and expert tension-release calculations du sonique. Highest recommendation possible. Get your wallet and sprint to the ATM. (Cactus)
