Sunday, September 30, 2007
The Pop Group - 1979 - Y
The Pop Group was a post-punk band from Bristol, England whose uncompromising, dissonant sound spanned punk, free jazz, funk and dub reggae. Their lyrics were, more often than not, political in nature.
Formed in 1978 by Mark Stewart (lyrics, vocals), John Waddington (guitar), Gareth Sager (guitar), Simon Underwood (bass) and Bruce Smith (drums, percussion), they issued their debut single, "She is Beyond Good and Evil" on the Radar label the following year.
Their debut album Y, was produced by reggae veteran Dennis Bovell to critical acclaim but low sales figures. Although it did not chart, the album's success was sufficient to convince Rough Trade to sign the band, but not before more line-up changes, with Dan Katsis replacing Underwood on bass.
The band's career with Rough Trade commenced with what is possibly their best-known single "We Are All Prostitutes", which featuring a guest appearance by free improviser Tristan Honsinger on cello. This was followed the release of their second album, For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? in 1980, which included a contribution from US proto-rappers The Last Poets.
Shortly afterwards The Pop Group released a split single, "Where There's a Will...", with The Slits, a band with whom they now shared a drummer and managers (Christine Robertson and Dick O'Dell), as well as a growing interest in exploring musical genres such as dub and funk rhythms.
The band split in 1981, after legal wranglings and internal disagreements. Members of the group went on to form bands including Pigbag, Maximum Joy, Head and Rip Rig & Panic, the latter notable for the involvement of Neneh Cherry.
Singer Mark Stewart, meanwhile, collaborated with the On-U Sound posse, issuing records firstly as Mark Stewart and Maffia, then as a solo artist.
The Pop Group and associated bands started a Bristol 'scene' that would later spawn trip-hop.
Flat Duo Jets - 1993 - White Trees
"The first time I ever saw them, I was a teenager. It was in the film, Athens, GA: Inside Out. I was mesmerized, I just remember thinking, “I feel like that! That’s what I want to say!” They didn’t have a record out, so I had to go over to my friend, Bill’s house and beg him to rewind his third generation copy of the movie over and over again. As the years went by, I loved them more and more. I bought all their records (White Trees and The Flat Duo Jets are my faves). I saw many of their heartbreaking live shows, and to this day their ability to thrill me has not diminished. They are the Winchester Mansion of sound. We are still happily married as “shy dork” and “favorite band.” In fact, I think our silver anniversary is coming up." - Neko Case"Although their work is deeply rooted in vintage rockabilly, hillbilly and blues, this two-man band is no preservationist society. Instead, the pair fuses its timeworn influences (Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Johnny Horton and the Ventures among them) with the primal thunder of the finest punk and three-chord rock. The result is a hurricane swirl that packs more punch and emotion than a month's rotation of Soundgarden, Metallica and Green Day. Better yet, it's completely without pretension." - Marty Jones
"Produced by Caleb Southern, White Trees is the Jets' second masterpiece, proof that Romweber can diversify without losing his frisky urgency. Sticking exclusively to originals, the boy spews out everything from boogie woogie ("Old Soul") to funky rock ("Daughter of the Jungle") to cornball country ("Husband of a Country Singing Star") to spooky mood pieces ("Rabbit Foot Blues"). Holy moly!" - Trouser Press
Track Listing
1. Daughter Of The Jungle
2. Love Can't Be Right
3. Old Soul
4. You Don't Love Me Anymore
5. Husband Of A Country Singing Star
6. Where Are You Now
7. Michelle
8. How Long
9. Rabbit Foot Blues
10. Tura Satana
11. Radioactive Man
12. Interlude
13. Big John
14. Cool Boys
15. White Trees
Download here
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Stranglers - 1984 - Aural Sculpture [192k]
Alex Ogg;
A massively underrated album by a band too quickly dismissed as relevant only to the '70s — fair enough, as the accompanying statement of intent (the title was meant to be descriptive) is pretentious rubbish. Yet there is a real majesty to some of these pop compositions, notably Burnel's devastating "North Winds." The hit single "Skin Deep" is excellent, if a little self-important. Other cuts, like the infectious "Uptown" and "Mad Hatter," reveal the eternally grim Stranglers to be in a playful mood. Not quite what everyone expected, but a great album nevertheless. [Allmusic.com]
Track list;
01 - Ice Queen
02 - Skin Deep
03 - Let Me Down Easy
04 - No Mercy
05 - North Winds Blowing
06 - Uptown
07 - Punch And Judy
08 - Spain
09 - Laughing
10 - Souls
11 - Mad Hatter
Link
Style; New Wave, Punk
A massively underrated album by a band too quickly dismissed as relevant only to the '70s — fair enough, as the accompanying statement of intent (the title was meant to be descriptive) is pretentious rubbish. Yet there is a real majesty to some of these pop compositions, notably Burnel's devastating "North Winds." The hit single "Skin Deep" is excellent, if a little self-important. Other cuts, like the infectious "Uptown" and "Mad Hatter," reveal the eternally grim Stranglers to be in a playful mood. Not quite what everyone expected, but a great album nevertheless. [Allmusic.com]
Track list;
01 - Ice Queen
02 - Skin Deep
03 - Let Me Down Easy
04 - No Mercy
05 - North Winds Blowing
06 - Uptown
07 - Punch And Judy
08 - Spain
09 - Laughing
10 - Souls
11 - Mad Hatter
Link
Style; New Wave, Punk
Magazine - 1978 - Real Life
Magazine - 1978 - Real LifeTracks :
1. "Definitive Gaze" – 4:25
2. "My Tulpa" – 4:47
3. "Shot By Both Sides" (Devoto, Pete Shelley) – 4:01
4. "Recoil" – 2:50
5. "Burst" (Devoto) – 5:00
6. "Motorcade" (Devoto, Bob Dickinson) – 5:41
7. "The Great Beautician In The Sky" – 4:56
8. "The Light Pours Out Of Me" (Devoto, McGeoch, Shelley) – 4:36
9. "Parade" (Devoto, Barry Adamson, Dave Formula) – 5:08
All songs written by Howard Devoto and John McGeoch unless otherwise indicated.
Real Life is the debut album by post-punk pioneers Magazine. The album is cited, along with Public Image Ltd.'s debut album, Public Image, and Talking Heads: 77, as being one of the first post-punk albums.
Reviews
AMG Review ~Andy Kellman
Howard Devoto had the foresight to promote two infamous Sex Pistols concerts in Manchester, and his vision was no less acute when he left Buzzcocks after recording Spiral Scratch. Possibly sensing the festering of punk's cliches and limitations, and unquestionably not taken by the movement's beginnings, he bailed -- effectively skipping out on most of 1977 -- and resurfaced with Magazine. Initially, the departure from punk was not complete. "Shot by Both Sides," the band's first single, was based off an old riff given by Devoto's Buzzcocks partner Pete Shelley, and the guts of follow-up single "Touch and Go" were rather basic rev-and-vroom. And, like many punk bands, Magazine would likely cite David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Roxy Music. However -- this point is crucial -- instead of playing mindlessly sloppy variants of "Hang on to Yourself," "Search and Destroy," and "Virginia Plain," the band was inspired by the much more adventurous Low, The Idiot, and "For Your Pleasure." That is the driving force behind Real Life's status as one of the post-punk era's major jump-off points. Punk's untethered energy is rigidly controlled, run through arrangements that are tightly wound, herky-jerky, unpredictable, proficiently dynamic. The rapidly careening "Shot by Both Sides" (up there with PiL's "Public Image" as an indelible post-punk single) and the slowly unfolding "Parade" (the closest thing to a ballad, its hook is "Sometimes I forget that we're supposed to be in love") are equally ill-at-ease. The dynamism is all the more perceptible when Dave Formula's alternately flighty and assaultive keyboards are present: the opening "Definitive Gaze," for instance, switches between a sci-fi love theme and the score for a chase scene. As close as the band comes to upstaging Devoto, the singer is central, with his live wire tendencies typically enhanced, rather than truly outshined, by his mates. The interplay is at its best in "The Light Pours out of Me," a song that defines Magazine more than "Shot by Both Sides," while also functioning as the closest the band got to making an anthem. Various aspects of Devoto's personality and legacy, truly brought forth throughout this album, have been transferred and blown up throughout the careers of Momus (the restless, unapologetic intellectual), Thom Yorke (the pensive outsider), and maybe even Luke Haines (the nonchalantly acidic crank).
Amazon.co.uk Review
Howard Devoto's more arty and intellectual inclinations were never likely to be accommodated by a band as formulaic and reductive--though utterly marvellous--as The Buzzcocks. Devoto left Pete Shelley to it shortly after Orgasm Addict and founded Magazine with guitarist John McGeoch (later of Siouxsie & The Banshees and Public Image Ltd) and bassplayer Barry Adamson (later of Visage and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds, as well as distinguishing himself as a solo artist). As might be guessed from the later careers of the personnel involved, Magazine were and remain a terrifically influential band, whose determined wedding of punkish energy with the art-school delusions of Roxy Music has been echoed since by Blur, Elastica, The Auteurs and Happy Mondays, among many others. That said, Real Life--Magazine's debut album--has not weathered the passing of the years all that well. By far the best thing on it is the anthemic single "Shot By Both Sides", and it is of somewhat dubious parentage, credited to Devoto/Shelley. The rest of the album--with the arguable exception of "The Light Pours Out Of Me"--bears the unmistakable awkwardness that comes of being created by people whose ambitions, at this early stage, are beyond the grasp of their abilities. --Andrew Mueller
Description
REAL LIFE, Magazine's 1978 debut, might be the first true post-punk album. Bandleader Howard Devoto had been the co-leader of Manchester's Buzzcocks, one of the first and most important U.K. punk bands, but he left shortly after the recording of their first EP, SPIRAL SCRATCH. Forming Magazine withguitarist John McGeoch, keyboardist Dave Formula and bassist Barry Adamson (later a noted soundtrack composer), Devoto married the manic energy of the Buzzcocks to a darker and more ambiguous lyrical and musical vision. REAL LIFE is undeniably bleak--"Motorcade" concerns the JFK assassination, and other titles include "Recoil" and "Burst"--but there's a certain black humor in tracks like "The Great Beautician in theSky". Purists should note that the version of "Shot By BothSides" here is a much different and somewhat inferior re-recording than the classic 7". That version is available on the singles compilation RAYS AND HAIL.
Get it Here :
http://rapidshare.com/Magazine.rar
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Einstürzende Neubauten - 2000 - Silence Is Sexy
Einstürzende Neubauten:Blixa Bargeld (vocals, electric slide guitar, Fender Rhodes piano, Clavichord, Hammond organ); Alexander Hacke (electric guitar, E-bow, viraphone, synthesizer, bass, percussion, loops, background vocals); Jochen Arbeit (guitar, background vocals); AC (Hammond organ, drums, maracas, percussion, background vocals); Rudi Moser (drums, percussion, bells)
Additional personnel includes: Sebastian Reimann, Alexandra Kratsch, Ruth-Maria Kosow, Natalia Domagala (violin); Magnus Dohler, Christoph Rabbels, Manuel Klein (viola); Florian Dohler, Jan Schade (cello); Julia Regehr, Ingo Krauss, Marc Weis (background vocals).
Producers: Einsturzende Neubaten, Boris Wilsdorf.Recorded at Hansa and Trixx Studios, Berlin, Germany between April 1998 & January 2000.
SILENCE IS SEXY continues Einsturzende Neubauten's explorations of individual sounds and anti-sounds. On the title track, several passages of silence are broken only by the sound of singer Blixa Bargeld inhaling on a cigarette; but, given that this is an Einstnrzende Neubauten record, that sound is amplified enough for you to be able to taste his brand.While the majority of the cuts uncoil slowly, sinister affairs constructed around Bargeld's debauched, lounge-crawling, after-hours aristocrat-on-hard-times vocals, there are a couple of danceable tracks. "Newtons Gravitatlichkeit" and "Zampano" both featuring pulsating bass lines and frenetic percussion; though both also have several time-signature changes that might prove hazardous on the dance floor.
Collectors should note that initial copies of the CD included a second disc featuring the slithering 18 and-a-half minute "Pelikanol."
watch "Sabrina" at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TssuSYrxVI
"difficult" album... highly recommended album
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/57965582/Silence_Is_Sexy_Disc_1.rar
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Screaming Trees - 1988 - Invisible Lantern
Where many of their Seattle-based contemporaries dealt in reconstructed Black Sabbath and Stooges riffs, Screaming Trees fused '60s psychedelia and garage rock with '70s hard rock and '80s punk. Over the course of their career, their more abrasive punk roots eventually gave way to a hard-edged, rootsy psychedelia that drew from rock and folk equally. After releasing several albums on indie labels like SST and Sub Pop, Screaming Trees moved to Epic Records in 1989. Though they were one of the first Seattle bands to sign with a major label, the group never attained the popularity of fellow Northwestern bands (and friends) like Nirvana and Soundgarden, largely due to their erratic work schedule.
Throughout their career, the Trees were notorious for drinking and fighting, which caused them to break up briefly at several points in their career. Nevertheless, the band managed to cultivate a dedicated following, which included not only fans, but also fellow musicians. Brothers Van Conner (bass) and Gary Lee Conner (guitar) formed Screaming Trees with Mark Lanegan (vocals) in the mid-'80s. Lanegan and the Conners grew up in Ellensburg, WA, a small college-town some 90 miles from Seattle. The trio were the only people in their high school who listened to punk, garage rock, and independent music, so they eventually gravitated toward each other. After falling out with the Conners before either completed school, Lanegan contacted Van Conner several years later. By that point, Van had a band with a singer named Mark Pickerel; the pair had recently kicked Lee Conner out of the band, so they invited Lanegan to sit in on drums. Eventually, Lee re-joined the group and they settled on a lineup that featured Lee on guitar, Van on bass, Lanegan on vocals, and Pickerel on drums.
Taking their name from a guitar distortion pedal, Screaming Trees recorded their first demo tape in 1985, just a few months after their formation.
Their producer, Steve Fisk, was able to convince the head of Velvetone Studios to release an album by the band, The result, Clairvoyance, appeared on Velvetone Records in 1986.
The band's first SST album, Even If and Especially When, was released in 1987 and the Trees began working the dying American indie circuit, playing shows across the country. The following year, SST reissued the band's demo tape under the title Other Worlds as well as their third album, Invisible Lantern.
Following the release of Buzz Factory in 1989, the group's contract with SST expired and they made the Change Has Come EP for Sub Pop early the following year. By that time, tensions in the band had grown somewhat, and the group spent most of 1990 working on side projects. Mark Lanegan recorded a solo album, The Winding Sheet, which featured support from Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic; the album appeared on Sub Pop. Both of the Conners formed new bands and released albums on the SST subsidiary New Alliance. Van's band was called Solomon Grundy; Lee's was Purple Outside. By the end of 1990, the band had signed a major-label contract with Epic Records.
Screaming Trees reconvened to record their Epic debut, Uncle Anesthesia, with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Terry Date as producers. Uncle Anesthesia appeared in early 1991 .
Once Martin joined, the band finished "Nearly Lost You," their contribution to the Singles soundtrack, and their 1992 album Sweet Oblivion.
During that time, Lanegan recorded his second solo album, Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, which was released in 1994. That same year, Martin drummed in the Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) and Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) side project Mad Season, which released its only album in the spring of 1995.In early 1995, Screaming Trees regrouped to begin work on their follow-up to Sweet Oblivion.
The resulting album, Dust, was released in the summer of 1996, nearly four years after its predecessor. Dust was greeted with positive reviews, and its first single, "All I Know," became a moderate hit on modern rock radio.
Following the Dust tour, Screaming Trees took another hiatus, with Lanegan beginning work on his third solo album, Scraps at Midnight, which was released in 1998. When Lanegan completed another solo project the following year (I'll Take Care of You), it seemed to confirm that the Trees' strained relationships would make it impossible for the band to continue. Following a June 25, 2000, concert to celebrate the opening Seattle's Experience Music Project, the group unsurprisingly announced their official breakup. 2005's Ocean of Confusion: Songs of Screaming Trees 1989-1996 gathered highlights from the band's Epic years, and included two previously unreleased tracks.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AMG
listen to the Screaming Trees at : http://www.myspace.com/screamingtrees
download it here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/57953779/Screaming_Trees.rarMonday, September 24, 2007
Dreadful Shadows - 1994 - Estrangement
Written by flowergatherer on June 26th, 2006
Although I`m not a gothic metal fan at all, i still enjoy this album a lot. To me it`s the best of all Dreadful Shadows releases.Firstly, It`s more guitar-oriented album unlike the rest that are more based on keyboard themes. The keyboards are used here too, but for the most part they introduce and close songs. Guitar melodies are very skilled and simple, that strikes you right from the second song Over the Worst- very unusual track mostly consisting of lead parts. Acoustics are also added, so good melodies don`t escape us here again. The music possesses this atmospheric feel that makes you dream and imagine. It is masterly performed and thanks to good execution has a very distinct sound.Secondly, this release simply bursts with hits. Almost every song is a potential hit, sounds incredible but it`s true. There are a couple of beautiful ballads like Funeral Procession and Estrangement ( a real hymn to solitude). Being a bit simple in stucture songs aren`t repetitive. Moreover they display different guitar playing techniques in every song if you listen the album song by song from the start.And lastly Sven`s voice is more melodic here and even tranquil, unlike their other albums where he tends to more harsh singing variation.He sings in a deep clean voice.
This is a very sincere album, you can feel melancholy and sadness the musicians wanted to convey to you in every note. I would include this album in the list of the best music i`ve ever heard. I wish I ever hear something that would impress me so much.
Download It Here:
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Patti Smith - 1975 - Horses
Patricia Lee ("Patti") Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American musician, songwriter, and poet. Smith came to prominence prior to the Punk movement with her 1975 debut album "Horses." Called "Punk's Poet Laureate", she integrated the Beat poetry performance style with garage-band Rock & Roll;
her allusions introduced 19th Century French poetry to American teens, while her androgynous public persona and unladylike language defied the Disco era.
From the underground, Patti Smith has become one of rock and roll's most influential musicians. Smith's commercial success has been limited in that she has never had an RIAA certified record and has had just three Top 20 singles (One each on the Hot 100, Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts). However, "Rolling Stone" magazine placed her at #47 in its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. On March 12, 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Horses is the debut album by Patti Smith released in November 1975, produced by John Cale. It was recorded and mixed by Bernie Kirsh. The innovative track, "Land", is a radical reworking of Chris Kenner's "Land of a Thousand Dances". "Gloria" is a similar reinterpretation of the old Van Morrison classic. "Birdland" is based upon "A Book of Dreams" (1973), a memoir of Wilhelm Reich by his son Peter.
At the time she recorded Horses, Smith and her band were cult favorites in the New York club scene. Smith was a rabid fan of many 60's rock idols such as Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones and Jim Morrison as well as favorites of Motown and jazz such as Smokey Robinson and John Coltrane. The former's influence can be best heard in the tracks "Gloria" (a radical and attention-grabbing retake on the Them garage rock classic). "Birdland"'s music, in particular, owed more to the jazz music Smith's mother enjoyed than to the influence of punk. When recording this song, which was improvised by the band in the studio, Smith has said she imagined the spirit of Hendrix watching her in the studio (Horses was recorded in Electric Lady Studios). Several of the songs ("Redondo Beach", "Free Money", "Kimberly") were inspired by moments with members of Smith's family, while others ("Break It Up", "Elegie") were written about her idols. "Land" was already a live favorite and featured the first verse of Kenner's "Land Of A Thousand Dances". [1] Guest musicians included Tom Verlaine of fellow CBGB favorites Television and Allen Lanier of Blue Öyster Cult; both had relationships with Smith during the 70's and became the focuses for a song called "We Three" from her third album Easter.
source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patti_Smith
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The Nits - 1987 - In the Dutch Mountains [224k]
Biography;
There seems little doubt that were they not so geographically challenged, the Nits would be one of the most widely respected bands in the world today — at least on a par with smart-as-a-whip types like XTC and Prefab Sprout. Certainly few can match their sheer creative stamina: how many other bands can claim to be still reinventing themselves after 30 years and nearly 20 albums? But the Nits come from Holland. And furthermore, the occasional tour of the U.S. and Canada aside, they quickly made it clear that their only concession to the big outside world, where real rock stars wear shades indoors, would be to sing in English. That aside, anyone wanting them to tailor their unique brand of art-pop to the demands of a broader audience could go hang. In particular, the Nits specialize in making their latest album sound as little like the last as possible — a marketing man's nightmare. This has simultaneously guaranteed them a modest degree of success across continental Europe, where fans appreciate their fierce integrity and commitment to playing intimate venues, and denied a lot of people in Britain and America some wonderfully inventive — and very accessible — music.
There seems little doubt that were they not so geographically challenged, the Nits would be one of the most widely respected bands in the world today — at least on a par with smart-as-a-whip types like XTC and Prefab Sprout. Certainly few can match their sheer creative stamina: how many other bands can claim to be still reinventing themselves after 30 years and nearly 20 albums? But the Nits come from Holland. And furthermore, the occasional tour of the U.S. and Canada aside, they quickly made it clear that their only concession to the big outside world, where real rock stars wear shades indoors, would be to sing in English. That aside, anyone wanting them to tailor their unique brand of art-pop to the demands of a broader audience could go hang. In particular, the Nits specialize in making their latest album sound as little like the last as possible — a marketing man's nightmare. This has simultaneously guaranteed them a modest degree of success across continental Europe, where fans appreciate their fierce integrity and commitment to playing intimate venues, and denied a lot of people in Britain and America some wonderfully inventive — and very accessible — music.
In retrospect, you can only wonder what was on the members' collective mind in 1974 when they formed the band in Amsterdam and decided that calling themselves the Nits was a good career move. Apparently, they felt it suggested an insectoid link to the Beatles, but in pop history only Prefab Sprout and lugubrious Aussies My Friend the Chocolate Cake have made more teeth-grindingly inappropriate choices. Initially, the band consisted of Henk Hofstede (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Rob Kloet (drums), Michiel Peters (guitar, vocals), and Alex Roelofs (bass), and it was this lineup that recorded the independently released single "Yes or No" in 1975 and their eponymous debut album in 1978.
On this and the next three albums — Tent (1979), New Flat ( 1980), and Work (1981) — the Nits carved themselves a slice of the post-new wave action that spawned bands like XTC and Talking Heads. Indeed, Hofstede has conceded that both were big influences on the band in those early days, along with the literary approach of Leonard Cohen. Although Hofstede's melodies had often betrayed the odd Beatles influence, this only came to the fore on the Nits' 1983 album Omsk. Where before the band's reluctance to conform had often resulted in a self-conscious quirkiness, suddenly it showed signs of blossoming into something with genuine depth and distinctiveness. Something moreover that drew as much on European traditions like chanson and musical theater as it did on British and American pop. It was also no accident that the album marked the arrival of keyboard player Robert Jan Stips. Having previously worked with the band as a producer, the one-time Golden Earring and Supersister member gave the Nits a whole new orchestral dimension with his rich array of individually tailored samples.
Omsk and the mini-album that followed it six months later — Kilo — also established Hofstede as a genuinely gifted singer. Most listeners instantly pick up on his voice's John Lennon-ish edge, but there's also a touch of Elvis Costello — without the ever-looming threat of a sneer — in the way Hofstede nails a ballad like "Dapper Street" or "Mask." He's also a powerful presence on-stage, simultaneously charismatic and affable.
In the years that followed Omsk, the Nits always seemed to be on a mission never to retrace their own musical footsteps. Adieu, Sweet Bahnhof in 1984, helmed by Stars on 45 producer Jaap Eggermont, was the closest they ever came to courting commercial success, though it includes two of their most memorable songs in "Mask" and the title track — a wistful waltz whose melody once heard is never forgotten. Henk followed in 1986, an album whose heavy reliance on sampled sounds and surrealistic songs like "Port of Amsterdam" and "Bike in Head" contrasted sharply with both its glossy predecessor and the altogether more sober 1987 album In the Dutch Mountains, whose title track gave the band their biggest hit. That in turn was followed in 1990 by the kaleidoscopic Giant Normal Dwarf, conceived by Hofstede as a kind of fairy tale for his newborn child, but sounding more than anything like a joyous expedition to the candy striped psychedelia of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Glass Onion."
In 1992, Ting was a more stripped-back affair, with Stips' piano the dominant sound, and later that year the Nits (who were by then just known as Nits) recorded Hjuvi with a full symphony orchestra. Mostly composed by Stips, the piece mixed songs with instrumental compositions in the style of composers ranging from Satie to the Gershwins, and was mostly led by Stips at the piano. Da Da Da followed in 1994, even securing a release in the U.S. and U.K., though as usual Sony had no idea how to promote it.
By this point, the Nits were reduced to a three-piece, with Alex Roelofs having bailed out in 1981 and Michiel Peters following in 1985. And though subsequently they were often augmented by other musicians, a trio they would remain until 1996 when Stips also departed to form his own band, Stips Egotrip, leaving only founding members Hofstede and Rob Kloet.
It's worth noting Kloet's important contribution to the band. No mere time-keeper, he's a master of economy — the polar opposite of Keith Moon — whose minimalist interjections nevertheless keep the bombast and rhetoric of rock at bay while applying the very sleekest forward thrust. Someone once described him as less a drummer, more a percussionist, and that's spot on. He's never heard simply laying down an off-the-shelf rock rhythm, and it's significant that he always gets a co-composer credit.
With the band down to a core of two members, Hofstede nevertheless ensured their 1997 album Alankomaat still boasted the kind of lush textures with which the band had become associated by focusing much more heavily than usual on his own role as a keyboard player. Similarly, on 2000s Wool (their first for new label Play It Again Sam), Hofstede drafted in a string sextet, a jazz trumpeter and various soulful backing singers to compensate for the Stips-shaped hole in the band's sound.
After a six-year absence, however, Stips returned for the 2003 album 1974. Though the title refers to the band's year of formation, it nevertheless contained little that might be described as backward-looking. In fact, after the somewhat subdued and tightly arranged music of Alankomaat and Wool, it represented a return to a more playful and spontaneous style. There remained a suspicion, though, that Hofstede had expended some of his best music on a 2002 solo album — comprising music written for a video installation — called Het Draagbare Huis ("The Portable House") and was fresh out of top-notch material.
In their 30-odd years of existence, the Nits have notched several chart successes in their homeland and been showered with awards. Around the time of In the Dutch Mountains, it seemed international stardom was theirs for the taking. Yet only two of their albums have been released in the U.S. and U.K., and though they can boast a small but loyal following in Canada — where they have doubtless benefited from the endorsement of the Barenaked Ladies — they remain one of rock's best-kept secrets. And you suspect they wouldn't have it any other way.
About the album In The Dutch Mountains;
After the synthesized hijinks and tomfoolery that blighted much of Henk, the Nits — once again a four-piece with the addition of bassist Joke Geraets — opted for a return to simplicity with In the Dutch Mountains. The result was an album that probably did more to seduce listeners far beyond their homeland than any other, not least because it was the first to secure a release in the U.S. and the U.K. Yet although it was recorded live in the studio direct to two-track tape, this is no mere exercise in bash-it-out, one-take boogie. It's a warmly atmospheric set that contains some of the Nits' most fully realized work to date. Many of the songs are inspired by childhood memories, including the title track with its reference to the young Henk Hofstede's assumption that there must be mountains beyond the borders of his home town of Amsterdam. A massive hit across continental Europe, "In the Dutch Mountains" still generates a storm of applause at Nits concerts. Another live mainstay is "J.O.S. Days," an atypically rustic song about Hofstede's failure to make his local football team, featuring sampled acoustic guitar and (real) harmonica. This contrasts sharply with the dreamy "Two Skaters," at around seven minutes one of the longest songs in the Nits' repertoire and as close as they've ever gotten to an exercise in pure atmospherics. Other highlights include "The Swimmer" (yet another in a long line of film references), with frenzied accelerating piano assaults framing a delicate melody; the faintly berserk "An Eating House"; and the gorgeous lullaby "Good Night," with Hofstede's tender vocals cushioned by a remarkably convincing brass band sample. On the vinyl edition, this made for a wonderful coda to the album, but for the CD release three bonus tracks — none of them quite in keeping with the rest — were tacked onto the end. Nevertheless, In the Dutch Mountains marked the beginning of a richly creative five-year period that the Nits have yet to top. [Allmusic]
A long post this time but read it!!!
The Nits is one of my favorite Dutch bands and when you listen to the album you know why…
And than I need to say something about the comments of my posts on this part of Lost-In-Tyme, I did some counting and came to a number --> 0,54% of the downloader’s give comments.
That’s great, isn’t it?
Track list;
01 - In The Dutch Mountains
02 - J.O.S. Days
03 - Two Skaters
04 - Pelican & Penguin
05 - In A Play (Das Madchen Im Pelz)
06 - Oom Pah Pah
07 - The Panorama Man
08 - Mountain Jan
09 - One Eye Open
10 - An Eating House
11 - The Swimmer
12 - Goodnight
13 - Strangers Of The Night
14 - The Magic Of Lassie
15 - Moon And Stars
Link
Style; Alternative Pop/Rock, New Wave, Post-Punk
Monday, September 17, 2007
Angelic Upstarts - 1993 - Kids On The Street (the best of)
Angelic Upstarts formed way back in 1977 in South Shields, North-East England. Working class punk band with strong anti-fascist views and beliefs.
What more can be said about this legendary band? Influenced by bands such as The Clash and The Sex Pistols, The Angelic Upstarts are a meeting of working class ideology
and musical aspiration.
Mensi was always liable to provoke reaction, his lyrics making much of his working class roots, and lashing out at police and politicians. The original line up consisted of Mensi (vocals), Mond (guitar), Steve Forsten (bass) and Decca Wade (drums). The Angelic Upstarts launched their punk crusade with the independently released single 'The Murder of Liddle Towers' in 1978. The band paid for the recording and pressing of 500 singles which they released themselves and sold at gigs and local record shops. The single was then picked up by Small Wonder Records who released it nationally. It's attack on police brutality earned them an early patron in Sham 69's Jimmy Pursey, who chased a similar constituency of disaffected working-class fans.
The band then signed to Warner Brothers, Pursey producing the L.P. "Teenage Warning" (1979). The band's wholehearted delivery coupled with their denunciation of racism - a particularly admirable stance at a time when other "skinhead bands", were flirting with right wing elements - made the album a classic. With the UK hit singles, 'I'm An Upstart' and 'Teenage Warning'(both 1979), they focused on the plight of the working class. The band went on to release a number of successful albums and minor hit singles before splitting in 1983. Angel Dust (The Collected Highs,1983) was a useful compilation of their best early work. The band have reformed and split a few times over the years and some of the ex members include... bass players, Ronnie Wooden, Glyn Warren, Tony Feedback, Ronnie Rocker and Max Splodge who also had a stint playing drums. Other drummers have included Sticks (who later joined The Cockney Rejects), Paul Thompson (ex Roxy Music) and Chris White. Decca Wade rejoined the band for a few years before leaving again. (he's now back in the band) Brian Hayes originally joined the band as second guitarist until Mond left leaving Brian as the only guitarist.
The band had two full-length live releases 'Anthems Against Scum' and 'Live From The Justice League'. More recently, Mensi revamped the Upstarts with an all star line-up of Tony Van Frater (Red Alert) guitar, Gaz Stoker (Red London) Bass, Lainey (Leatherface) Drums, and this line-up recorded the first new Angelic Upstarts studio album in years, entitled "Sons of Spartacus". Bringing the Upstarts to a mostly new generation of fans, still playing in tune with the anti-fascist cause. Mensi decided to leave the band in late 2006 but wanted Chris Wright (a long time fan of the Upstarts and singer for Crashed Out) to take over on vocals. (Chris is still singing for Crashed Out)
The current Angelic Upstarts line up is
Chris Wright - Vocals, Dickie Hammond - Guitar, Neil Newton - Guitar, Gaz Stoker - Bass, and original member Decca Wade - Drums, Pure Dedication.
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/56137138/angelic_upstarts_-_kids_on_the_street.rarSunday, September 16, 2007
Action Now - All Your Dreams...and more 1981-1984
For reasons that remain mysterious, power-pop remains a cult movement in spite of its overt accessibility. Any number of “lost classics” from the genre sound like they should be just plain classics, and the fact that they’ re not frustrates the musicians who made them as well as the lesser souls who simply want to be able to find them at their local record store. And tough as it is to find the great power-poppers of the ‘70s like Dwight Twilley and Shoes, it can become downright quixotic when the search turns to ‘80s heroes. Luckily, the Let’s Active catalogue has finally come back into print on CD, but the Plimsouls’ first record, the last two dB’s albums, and anything Game Theory ever did seem stuck forever in the gilded cage of eBay with scores of others teetering on the edge of oblivion.Those watching the wires for the reissues of artifacts of power-pop’s glorious early ‘80s revival may have to keep waiting for any of the aforementioned platters to return to the world, but at least one more obscure disc has come back from the void. Action Now, a California quartet who did their best to bring melody and energy back to rock, have now had their sole LP, All Your Dreams, released with a plethora of live tracks as All Your Dreams.And More: 1981-1984. The group was, in most respects, like any other power-pop band of the time—obsessed with record collecting and dedicated to stringing together as many three-minute, three-chord nuggets as they had in them. To the degree that Action Now was separated from the pack, they were distinct thanks to the drive of one Paula Pierce, a former accordion whiz who started a band back in her early teens that morphed through countless lineups and names to wind up as Action Now. Along the way, Pierce had a remarkable habit of getting impregnated by passing cult rock heroes like Rat Scabies, but thanks to a few abortions and the eventual deployment of birth control, she was able to keep her rock dreams from being derailed.
After Action Now bit the dust, Pierce went on to form a somewhat more successful group in the Pandoras and also went on to die young, so this release is tinged with the historical interest of a prelude as well as a memorial to a talent passed before its time. As such, it’s a lot more life-affirming than anything Pierce did with the Pandoras and has some moments of real joy in it, not the least of which is Pierce’s lone lead vocal on the live track, “Anyone But You”. Taken as an ultra-rare document of a beloved time in music history, it’s a great peek into what it meant to be striving in an exciting scene. Pierce, along with Jim Schuster, Mike Lawrence, and Scott Hillman may sound rudimentary, but they were tight and smart, playing with plenty of passion and dexterity. They were underdogs in an underdog movement, a position almost anyone who’s ever played in a band can relate to.
The dual temptations of something like All Your Dreams.And More is to overrate it based on Pierce’s death and its obscurity. What greater joy is there for the rock critic than to unearth some piece of lost pop bliss that not even fellow snobs know about? None that I know of, but I still feel an honest appraisal would note that Action Now rarely exceed mere pleasantness. They are solid and have a good grasp of the fundamentals of power-pop, but not much on the album sticks in your head. They aren’t experimental enough to distinguish themselves, nor do they have the supernatural gift for melody or harmony that makes bands like Fountains of Wayne or the Raspberries succeed in spite of their familiar format. That won’t stop the usual suspects from revering Action Now above such blasé legends as Big Star, but the rest of the world should be able to spot Pierce’s group as a likeable bunch of also-rans who wrote tunes better than most and then disappeared like all the rest.
http://www.myspace.com/actionnowband
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/action_now_all_your_dreams...and_more.rar
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Selecter - 1981 - Celebrate the Bullet [200+ vbr]
The Selecter were a 2 Tone ska revival band from Coventry, England, formed in the late 1970s.
Like many other bands of the ska revival movement, The Selecter featured a racially mixed line-up. Their lyrics featured themes such as violence, politics and marijuana. Much of what set The Selecter apart from the other 2 Tone bands at the time was the voice of Pauline Black. The band's name is based on the term selector, which is a Jamaican word for DJ.
Pauline Black has been the lead singer in The Selecter since its formation in 1979 when the band released the singles "The Selecter", "Three Minute Hero", "The Whisper", "Missing Words" and "On My Radio". The Selecter's debut album Too Much Pressure was recorded at the end of 1979 and beginning of 1980, and released by the 2 Tone Records and Chrysalis Records. Their second album, Celebrate the Bullet, was issued in 1981. The Selecter were featured in the 2 Tone documentary Dance Craze.
After the band split in 1982, Black developed a career in TV and theatre, appearing in dramas such as The Vice, The Bill, Hearts and Minds and 2000 Acres of Sky. She won the 1991 Time Out award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the play All or Nothing At All. She starred next to Christopher Lee in the horror film The Funny Man. She reformed The Selecter in 1991 and has released several new albums and has toured all over the world. In the 2000s, the band has continued to occasionally reform to perform concerts [Wikipedia]
Track list;
01 - (who likes) facing situations
02 - deepwater
03 - red reflections
04 - tell me what's wrong
05 - bombscare
06 - washed up and left for dead
07 - celebrate the bullet
08 - selling out your future
09 - cool blue lady
10 - their dream goes on
11 - bristol and miami
Link
Style; Ska Revival, New Wave
A Certain Ratio - 1980 - The Graveyard & The Ballroom
Somewhere between the Graveyard and the Ballroom, in a place defined by late seventies industrial Manchester and early eighties New York sunsets, at a point between the old and the new, they found their feet. Formed during the ampthetamine-crazed soundwave that was Punk UK 1978, taking in influences from teutonic technotronicers Kraftwerk, powered by Wire and holding court in George Clinton's Funkadelic house of Parliament, A Certain Ratio took to the stage. Intense and diverse, and originally drummerless, they released their debut single in 1979 - "All Night Party/The Thin Boys" through Factory Records, a label set up by Rob Gretton, Alan Erasmus, and Anthony (H) Wilson. A highly prophetic choice of title, as this was indeed the beginning of one long all-nighter for both parties. Donald Johnson joined as drummer after its release, completing the original line up with Simon Topping, Jez Kerr, Pete Terrell and Martin Moscrop. The band returned to the studio and completed a series of gigs around the country with labelmates Joy Division during late '79 and early 1980. Factory released the debut album "The Graveyard and the Ballroom", a limited edition cassette-only release that contained both studio demos and live tracks.
source : http://www.myspace.com/acertainratio
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/55860592/graveyard___ballroom.rar
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Band of Susans
Band of Susans - Peel Sessions (1992)
Released in 1992 by Restless/Dutch East India Trading; this is a bit confusing to some because it's "out of order" in the discography -- the material was recorded in two separate Peel sessions in 1988 and 1989, with two different lineups. This may be one of the reasons why many people have always thought of the BOS lineup as constantly-shifting, even though it actually never changed (in the studio, anyway) after 1990. See the notes below for who recorded when.
Band of Susans at this time were:
Robert Poss: Guitar, vocals
Susan Stenger: Guitar, vocals
Karen Haglof: Guitar
Page Hamilton: Guitar (1988 session)
Mark Lonergan: Guitar (1989 session)
Ron Spitzer: Drums
Tracks :
1. I Found That Essence Rare
2. Throne of Blood
3. Child Of The Moon
4. Hope Against Hope
5. Which Dream Came True
6. Too Late
Tracks 1-4 recorded October 4, 1988
Tracks 5-6 recorded July 2, 1989
Above from the official Band of Susans website.
Band of Susans - Veil (1993) Part I
Band of Susans - Veil (1993) Part II
++++
Released by Restless in 1993. A single with truncated radio-remix versions of "Mood Swing" and "The Last Temptation of Susan" was also released on Restless/Sing Fat in conjunction with the album. The destroyed amp on the back cover is the result of Susan Stenger's "forceful" bass playing in the studio, where her playing caused the amp to catch on fire. The CD contains a "hidden" track at the end -- a remixed version of "The Red and The Black" (not to be confused with Blue Oyster Cult's "The Black and Silver").
Band of Susans at this time were:
Robert Poss: Guitar, vocals
Susan Stenger: Bass, vocals
Anne Husick: Guitar
Mark Lonergan: Guitar
Ron Spitzer: Drums
Recorded and mixed at Baby Monster Studios, New York City, January/February 1993.
Engineer: Bryce Goggin. Assistant: Chris Lewis.
Special thanks: Joel Mark, David Snyder, Nicolas Collins (black boxes), Tony Irving (grey boxes), The Trollbinders
Dedicated to Thurgood Marshall and Jim Marshall
Tracks :
1. Mood Swing
2. Not In This Life
3. The Red And The Black
4. Following My Heart
5. Stained Glass
6. The Last Temptation Of Susan
7. Truce
8. Trouble Spot
9. Pearls Of Wisdom
10. Trollbinders Theme
11. Blind
Above from the official Band of Susans website.
Note: Original post was on my own website, which I no longer have time to maintain. As I find time, I will be transferring some of those old posts that I think people may have missed here, if folks don't mind. Thanks for the great site and the opportunity to post! ~ gomonkeygo
Monday, September 10, 2007
Band Of Susans - 1989 - Love Agenda [224k]
On request
While Page Hamilton's work on guitar here is often referenced in stories about Helmet, the fact is that Band of Susans is very much Poss and Stenger's band, and the at-times grotesquely grinding feel of Hamilton's later work is thankfully missing in favor of the more intricate while still powerful music here. The group's second full album is one of those creations of its time which ages well rather than just sounding dated. Though you can easily imagine the band in its particular late-eighties New York context right from the first track, "The Pursuit of Happiness," from the squalling guitars and Poss' just a little bit like Thurston Moore at points vocals, the fact is that this album just plain kicks out the jams, art that is blessedly unafraid to rock. "It's Locked Away" is a killer example of this, centered around a great riff that has much more of an angular, drony sound to it than anything else, but is wedded to a full-on crunch that also has a great groove (one of the Susans' many instrumental secret weapons) to it as well. Poss, who produced the record, mixes his vocals, as well Stenger's occasional backing efforts, fairly deep into the mix throughout the record; rather than being annoying or pointlessly obscure, it just feels right, a good way of letting his voice be another instrument to carry the songs. Perhaps to reference that fact, "Thorn in My Side" and "Sin Embargo" are both instrumentals, and are as great numbers as any of the rest on the album. The CD version contains the band's noted cover of the Rolling Stones' "Child of the Moon," which in its guitar-overdriven way pretty much beats out the entire remake of Exile on Main Street that Pussy Galore did
Track list;
01 - The Pursuit Of Happiness
02 - It's Locked Away
03 - Birthmark
04 - Tourniquet
05 - Thorn In My Side
06 - Sin Embargo
07 - Because Of You
08 - Hard Light
09 - Which Dream Came True
10 - Child Of The Moon
11 - Take The Express
Link
Style; Post-Punk, Alternative Pop/Rock
While Page Hamilton's work on guitar here is often referenced in stories about Helmet, the fact is that Band of Susans is very much Poss and Stenger's band, and the at-times grotesquely grinding feel of Hamilton's later work is thankfully missing in favor of the more intricate while still powerful music here. The group's second full album is one of those creations of its time which ages well rather than just sounding dated. Though you can easily imagine the band in its particular late-eighties New York context right from the first track, "The Pursuit of Happiness," from the squalling guitars and Poss' just a little bit like Thurston Moore at points vocals, the fact is that this album just plain kicks out the jams, art that is blessedly unafraid to rock. "It's Locked Away" is a killer example of this, centered around a great riff that has much more of an angular, drony sound to it than anything else, but is wedded to a full-on crunch that also has a great groove (one of the Susans' many instrumental secret weapons) to it as well. Poss, who produced the record, mixes his vocals, as well Stenger's occasional backing efforts, fairly deep into the mix throughout the record; rather than being annoying or pointlessly obscure, it just feels right, a good way of letting his voice be another instrument to carry the songs. Perhaps to reference that fact, "Thorn in My Side" and "Sin Embargo" are both instrumentals, and are as great numbers as any of the rest on the album. The CD version contains the band's noted cover of the Rolling Stones' "Child of the Moon," which in its guitar-overdriven way pretty much beats out the entire remake of Exile on Main Street that Pussy Galore did
Track list;
01 - The Pursuit Of Happiness
02 - It's Locked Away
03 - Birthmark
04 - Tourniquet
05 - Thorn In My Side
06 - Sin Embargo
07 - Because Of You
08 - Hard Light
09 - Which Dream Came True
10 - Child Of The Moon
11 - Take The Express
Link
Style; Post-Punk, Alternative Pop/Rock
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Visage – 1980 – Visage [320k]
With apologies to Spandau Ballat, Ultravox, and even Duran Duran, this is the music that best represents the short-lived but always underrated new romantic movement. That's fitting, because Visage's frontman, Steve Strange, was the colorfully painted face of the movement, just as this album was its sound. Warming up Kraftwerk's icy Teutonic electronics with a Bowie-esque flair for fashion, Strange and the new romantics created a clubland oasis far removed from the drabness of England's early-'80s reality — and the brutality of the punk response to it. And no one conjured up that Eurodisco fantasyland better than Visage, whose "Fade to Grey" became the anthem of the outlandishly decked-out Blitz Kids congregated at Strange 's club nights. With its evocative French female vocals, distant sirens and pulsing layers of synthesizers, "Fade to Grey" is genuinely haunting, the definite high point for Visage and their followers. But the band's self-titled debut is a consistently fine creation, alternating between tunes that share the eerie ambience of "Fade to Grey" ("Mind of a Toy," "Blocks on Blocks") and others that show off a more muscular brand of dance-rock (the title track, filled with thundering electronic tom-tom fills, and the sax-packed instrumental "The Dancer"). Strange and drummer/nightclub partner Rusty Egan had wisely surrounded themselves with top-level talent, primarily drawn from the bands Ultravox and Magazine, and the excellent playing of contributors like guitarists Midge Ure and John McGeoch, bassist Barry Adamson, synthesist Dave Formula, and, especially, electric violinist Billy Currie, all of whom give the album a depth unmatched by most contemporaneous techno-pop. And despite the group's frequently dramatic pose, Strange and his band mates were hardly humorless; the first single, "Tar," is a witty anti-smoking advertisement, while the Eastwood homage "Malpaso Man" adds some incongruous cowboy twang to the dance beats. Only the closing track, the instrumental "The Steps," is inconsequential — the rest of Visage proves the new romantics left a legacy that transcends their costumes and makeup. [Note to collectors: The 1997 One Way reissue of the album adds a bonus track, the longer (and far superior) dance mix of "Fade to Grey." Opening with the tune's arresting synth-bass riff, and featuring a extended fade marked by exploding backbeats, it heightens the song's moody atmosphere, and is the way this club classic was meant to be heard.] [Allmusic]
Track list;
01 - Visage
02 - Blocks On Blocks
03 - The Dancer
04 - Tar
05 - Fade To Grey
06 - Malpaso Man
07 - Mind Of A Toy
08 - Moon Over Moscow
09 - Visa-age
10 - The Steps
Link
Style; New Wave, New Romantic, Synth Pop
Track list;
01 - Visage
02 - Blocks On Blocks
03 - The Dancer
04 - Tar
05 - Fade To Grey
06 - Malpaso Man
07 - Mind Of A Toy
08 - Moon Over Moscow
09 - Visa-age
10 - The Steps
Link
Style; New Wave, New Romantic, Synth Pop
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
Disc one (silver) - "Red Velvet Corridor" – 3:04
- "I Was A Prisoner In Your Skull" – 6:39
- "Helpless Child" – 15:47
- "Live Through Me" – 2:32
- "Yum-Yab Killers" – 5:07
- "The Beautiful Days" – 7:49
- "Volcano" – 5:18
- "Mellothumb" – 2:46
- "All Lined Up" – 4:48
- "Surrogate 2" – 1:52
- "How They Suffer" – 5:52
- "Animus" – 10:41
Disc two (copper)
- "Red Velvet Wound" – 2:02
- "The Sound" – 13:11
- "Her Mouth Is Filled With Honey" – 3:19
- "Blood Section" – 2:39
- "Hypogirl" – 2:44
- "Minus Something" – 4:14
- "Empathy" – 6:45
- "I Love You This Much" – 7:23
- "YRP" – 7:47
- "Fan's Lament" – 1:28
- "Secret Friends" – 3:08
- "The Final Sacrifice" – 10:27
- "YRP 2" – 2:09
- "Surrogate Drone" – 2:06
Soundtracks for the Blind is the final studio album by Swans. It was released as a double-CD in 1996. Soundtracks for the Blind ("Volcano"); ("Helpless Child", "The Sound"); , intended, as suggested by the title, to function as a sort of "soundtrack for a non-existent film", is by far Swans' longest and most varied studio effort. The album showcases various musical styles, ranging from stark, nearly gothic minimalism ("Empathy", "All Lined Up"); to epic compositions in the vein of Glenn Brancamusique concrète ("The Beautiful Days"); cinematic post-rock as later popularised by Godspeed You! Black Emperor ("I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull"); EDMambient music ("Surrogate Drone", "Red Velvet Corridor"); and even punk rock (the live track "Yum-Yab Killers"). Due to the extreme diversity and sudden shifts of musical style, Soundtracks for the Blind could be compared to Faust's The Faust Tapes, although the general mood of the album is far more consistent and less random than the latter.
Enjoy!
http://rapidshare.com/swans_-_1996_-_soundtracks_for_the_blind.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/swans_-_1996_-_soundtracks_for_the_blind.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/swans_-_1996_-_soundtracks_for_the_blind.part3.rar
Enjoy!
http://rapidshare.com/swans_-_1996_-_soundtracks_for_the_blind.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/swans_-_1996_-_soundtracks_for_the_blind.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/swans_-_1996_-_soundtracks_for_the_blind.part3.rar
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Bardo Pond - 1996 - Amanita
Review by
Ned Raggett AMG
Not changing all that much but whipping up just as compelling a mix of drone, volume, and blissout as before, on Amanita the now officially-a-quintet Pond cranked the amps, switched on the pedals, and let fly with 11 monster songs. After a four-minute series of guitar feedback and fuzz, "Limerick" fully kicks in the album with a slow, stoned groove that's as big as one could want it to be, with Sollenberger's echoed vocals emerging out of somewhere while the slow shuffled beat builds higher and higher. Effortlessly combining psychedelic inspirations from Pink Floyd's original explorations to the more modern reachings into the beyond by My Bloody Valentine and Main, it's a simply stunning way to begin an equally stunning album. Many of the songs take a generally quieter approach before fully turning on the riff action. Two good examples are "Tantric Porno," where things are more understatedly shuffled before pumping up the volume and riff-out in the midsection, and the similarly paced "Yellow Turban," with its slow, downward crawl and wonderful guitar from the Gibbons brothers, alternately watery, weird, loud, and crumbling. Another song of note in this vein is the floating "Rumination," sounding not dissimilar at points to the crystalline melancholy also explored by labelmate and future collaborator Roy Montgomery. Otherwise, it's tune-up and zone-out to the max. "The High Frequency," for instance, steps away from lyrical meaning by burying what sounds like a random selection of spoken word snippets deep in the mix, just letting that wash of sound do what it does. Final number "RM" lets Sollenberger more clearly contribute her flute to the proceedings, while in general, whipping a last conclusive blast of sound to close out an astonishing and inspiring album.
this is a vinyl rip with 2 bonus tracks !
Download It Here :
Saturday, September 1, 2007
V.A - Analogsounds vol.1
V.A - Analogsounds vol.1
80's minimal wave compilation ...
Download it Here :
here is missing track 13 + a bonus track...
Cyndi Lauper - 1986 - True Colors [320k]
There were a few years in the mid-'80s when one couldn't go out for a cup of coffee without encountering Cyndi Lauper in one form or another. Her videos were playing constantly on MTV, her music was everywhere on the radio, and, best of all, children were even dressing up as Cyndi for Halloween. In retrospect, it was a Lauper-ish time but it was all over quite quickly; in fact, the period in the ultra-limelight didn't even span the period covered by two album releases, which means that this follow-up to her smash debut album was relegated to the also-ran pile, with sad results such as only one sort-of hit single (the title track) and nobody apparently interested in imitating the skirt she wore on the back cover photo, which seems like it is made of slashed-up concert posters. Kind of a shame since so much love and attention went into this album. Guest stars and high-dollar session musicians abound, including other '80s icons such as the Bangles and the manic Pee Wee Herman, who provides a great little answering machine bit at the end of "911." Lauper is a fantastic vocalist, meaning that any record producer worth hiring would be happy to dream up endless settings for her. This album is nothing if not ambitious, and some of the stretches really pay off, such as the ultimately endearing cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." Other aspects date badly. For example, highly reverberated and artificial sounding drums and keyboards were really popular at the time, but a vocalist with a clear voice such as Lauper sounds much better in the context of real instruments with their warmer sounds. When it comes to tunes such as the nice Cajun number "The Faraway Nearby," drums should have been turned way down and other instrumental colors brought up. Despite these sorts of problems, there really wasn't that much music recorded by this artist during her most popular period, so fans will no doubt want to own it all [Allmusic]
Track list;
01 - Change Of Heart
02 - Maybe He'll Know
03 - Boy Blue
04 - True Colors
05 - Calm Inside The Storm
06 - What's Going On
07 - Iko Iko
08 - The Faraway Nearby
09 - 911
10 - One Track Mind
Link
Style; New Wave, Pop/Rock
Track list;
01 - Change Of Heart
02 - Maybe He'll Know
03 - Boy Blue
04 - True Colors
05 - Calm Inside The Storm
06 - What's Going On
07 - Iko Iko
08 - The Faraway Nearby
09 - 911
10 - One Track Mind
Link
Style; New Wave, Pop/Rock
