Kimya Dawson - Remember That I Love You

For startsies, the film Juno isn't how I found about the music of Kimya Dawson, The Moldy Peaches, or even Antsy Pants. You see, all I care about deep down is the maintenance of my credit as a deeply subversive, blindingly hip outsider who enjoyed certain things "before they were cool" back in high school, I was friends with a lovely little musky-aroma'd, axillary hair-unshaven, veggie-consuming, environmentalist lass with what I can tell now, a lot more maturity than I had at the time (as well as a lot more lofty idealism and conviction, but that's another matter for a more "bloggy" blog than this'un) and a great love of the anti-folk movement. After exchanging a few mix-tapes (that were actually CD-Rs, but I'm a romantic), she finally handed me one filled to the diameter's edge with her favorite Kimya Dawson songs. Being relatively unfamiliar with folk of any suit at the time, I was hooked instantly and proceeded to gobble up everything I could find of her's.

A few months later, the album on the left was released, and I immediately loved it from beginning to end. Come 2007, Juno features a few songs from here on the soundtrack and all the hepcats are shitting themselves over the infringement of their sacred territory. Listening to her catalog again for the first time in close to 2 years, I'm still impressed by what I hear. After the decidedly more hi-fidelity, full sound of 2004's critically acclaimed Hidden Vagenda, Remember That I Love You sounds like a retreat to the minimalism of her earlier works but still pulling the guest-instruments in tow including ukulele, vocal harmonies, mandolin, and chimey, unringing keyboards - all encased in a warm production style that's clean as it is claustrophobic.

Getting waaaay ahead of myself there, but if you've never heard any of Kimya Dawson's material, it's a pretty subdued and bare, acoustic folk sound (no scratched cords) accented by various low-key instruments and sweet, childish vocals bespeaking lots of clever, sometimes abstract, but mostly personal lyrics loaded with cultural references and commentary on the US's socio-political ongoings.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5xmuwmxtyvw

In my mind, Remember That I Love You is Kimya's best album for one simple reason: the songs are all great. Each one is memorable, sonically interesting and digestible, accessible and fully developed. Plus, it aces on a nostalgic level. A few tracks in and I'm sitting on the aforementioned girl's porch assessing our friend's descents into drug abuse and rehabilitation. RIP SNORTIN' FUN! I can see this stuff not being your thing if you're a fan of the more left field crazy shit I post here regularly, but if you're having an identity crisis, check this out.

Also: even if I hated Juno (which I can't say I do, despite it being eye-rollingly stylized indie dork fodder), Ellen Page is adorably boyish and looks sprite as a 12 year old.

(a comment that proved most insightful years later as a gangly, bloodied and battered Steve Hughes was escorted from his shelter in the woods to court on counts of homosexual pedophilia)

Sun City Girls - Dante's Disneyland Inferno & 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda

Skimming through here, improbability of all improbabilities, I somehow avoided showcasing my love for everyone's favorite triangle of unclassifiable wankmaestros, the Sun City Girls. Dabbling and Wonka brand "Fun Dipping" in everything from improv, free-jazz, ethno-eastern traditionals, lounge sleaze jazz, folk Americana, and whatever else paints a target on itself, the 'Girls has one of the most fantastic and expansive catalogs out there - close to 20 full length LPs, an even greater slew of cassettes, an oodle-point-five of live albums (most of which fly under the Carnival Folklore Resurrection series), a wickerbasket of "7 inches, and a hammock of singles collections (one of which, Box Of Chameleons, clocks in at 3 stuffed CDs and is littered with prank calls the 'Girls made in the 70's (?)).
Anyhoover vacuum, today we're covered 1996's excursion into the uber-epic with the two double-CD full lengths, Dante's Disneyland Inferno and 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda. Unfortunately, like most of Sun City Girls' catalog, they were quick to vanish from the label rosters and the remaining copies made their collective way into the fat-pocketed collector dips. Then, come 2001, Locust Records kindly reissued the duo on monstrous triple LP formats - repressings of the most tasty and extravagant kind. Unfortunately (again), within a year or so, they disappeared back into the ether without a squeak since (like anyone would expect from a small label issuing such a costly, limited audience package).

SO: Movement The First -
Both a major departure from their previous work and an expansion of some of their earliest ideas, Dante's Disneyland Inferno is a strongly dialogue/lyric-cornerstoned album with yakking taking precedent over the tunes for once. There are a handful of full fledged songs on here (and GREAT ones at that), but for the most part, what we have is a mesmerizing collage of sickness, absurdity, and religious mockery delivered by mouth and propelled by background instrumentation. Lots of lounge jazz, screwed-up folk meanderings, bongos, ambiance, and whatever else fits. If you ever found Bishop's lyrics clever on past releases, this is a fucking shrine to these sensibilities, and all gold to it, as it's one of the most consistently disturbing and hilarious recordings I can think of. Plus, it's the return of the wizened Uncle Jim, has a comic adaptation of the song "The Brothers Unconnected", and contains the lines "Is that Prince Albert in a can? Or is it just Prince Albert in your mind?". Brilliant stuff here.

http://www.mediafire.com/?y0yo3mnndzh

THEN: Movement The Second -
330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda. Poignant. Deep. This is the perfect counterpart to the talkative aforementioned, as it's a monstrously epic music focused release with but a small handful of decipherable lyrics to be found. Presumably Dante's... parasitically drained this'un of mouth-jive. This is apparently considered to be the quintessential Sun City Girls album as it sounds more like a retrospect of the band's entire career rather than a singular vision cooked up for one release. Intriguing, no? The first portion of the album is made up of polished actual songs in the vein of the first 4 LPs, while the second half is a loose, beautiful mixture of ragas, free-jazz, and improv, including the hypnotic epics/epic (depending on whether you own the CD or LP version) "Ghost Ghat Trespass" and "Sussmeier"; the former being an incredible raga piece with Eyvind Kang on violin accompanied by the 'Girls drum 'n guitar antics, the latter being a huge, rattling improv that gets better on subsequent listens.

http://www.mediafire.com/?wnk2i2nnyck

Apparently, according to Richard Bishop, these two releases were supposed to be a spiritual follow-up to the notes and sentiments exhibited on their first handful of releases, which is pretty clear if you've heard the bulk of their work. Sadly, drummer Charles Gnocher died in the past few years, putting their career to an end. It's hard to imagine how much losing your bandmate of 20 years must suck, but Rick Bishop is still performing under his name today and offering up a slew of great albums. Summed up, these are two albums you need: two masterpiece triple albums from one of the best bands out there.

Stretchheads MEGAPOST

OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE:

PART 2 OF THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED "MEGAPOST SERIES"

(patent pending)

So alright! Let's get this gravy train of lucrative endeavoring 'a chuggin'. Back about 10 hundred trillion seconds ago, I made a big-ass post about Scotland's Dawson in an attempt to make accessible a giant stew of fantastic releases rendered virtually impossible to acquire in their original formats (or unoriginal formats, at that... the Cheesemarket compilation released on Gruff Wit is just as off grid as the LPs it contains!). Dawson were part of an incredible regionally-relative scene back in the closing years of the '80s and early '90s made up of heavyweights like De Kift, Whirling Pig Dervish, Archbishop Kebab, Dog Faced Hermans (who stand strong as one of my all-time favorite bands), Badgewearer, Mug, Keatons, and today's rodeo sweethearts, 87' to '91's (the) Stretchheads.

While the above list contains a wide range of sounds and styles, Stretchheads still end up sticking out like a clown's brutally defiled corpse laying just off the shoulder of I-80 with a sore thumb in an implied sea of upturned thumbs. Instead of dabbling in funk-punk ala Minutemen/Pop Group like Whirling Pig Dervish and Dawson, anarcho or folk and free jazz aesthetics in the Dog Faced Hermans' case, these guys seemed to wrap up their Big Flame/Bogshed fanship in a whacked out, sped-up, silliness the Boredoms were championing simultaneously, littered with samples, effects, and electronic dickery of all varieties. As to whether they were even aware of the Boredoms' existence at the time I'm not so sure, but it's a hard comparison to avoid.

Anyhow, the band's debut LP Five Fingers, Four Thingers, A Facelift, And A New Identity is a bit different from the rest of their catalog with it's seemingly powerviolence-timbered, bass-heavy bleats of raw hardcore speed and aggression with militant, rolling drums. Definitely tough on the ears, but a great disc nonetheless. In the following years, 3 EPs that showed a much cleaner, less speed-oriented version of the band emerged which amalgamated to their swan-song and one of my all-time favorites, Pish In Your Sleazebag - a raucous epic of silliness, squealing vocal upchuck, great songwriting, and lots of tape-edits and sound manipulations.

Sound good?
On with the share!

1.) Five Fingers, Four Thingers, A Facelift And A New Identity LP 1988

http://www.mediafire.com/?1iyy5eo3jgz

2.) 23 Skinner EP 1990

http://www.mediafire.com/?zthiuim340d

3.) Eyeball Origami Aftermath Wit Vegetarian Leg EP 1990

http://www.mediafire.com/?cn2eemfzzrj

4.) Barbed Anal Exciter EP 1991

http://www.mediafire.com/?ww4mmzzdgay

5.) Pish In Your Sleazebag LP 1991

http://www.mediafire.com/?gkgdeizidww

Sonny Sharrock - Black Woman

As I mentioned in previous entries (I think), I'm tunneling through the vast, dark, jungle of free jazz wackiness - the apparent truest showcase of black musical expression (as well as a trend Miles had no trouble shrugging off in favour of music that doesn't clear banquet halls in under 30 seconds). Hey did you catch the metaphorical use of "dark" and "jungle" in tandem with sentiments for black musicians in that last sentence? Dial 3 if you'd like to paint me a racist. Dial 4 if you're aware of the phenomenon known as 'unfortunate coincidences'.

Bullplopage aside, let's just say it's... challenging to find a foot hold in the murk of free jazz at times. There certainly is appeal, as I've found a lot of enjoyment is derived purely at the sonic force of these musicians, but for all that and a jar of dimes, Sonny Sharrock's '69 debut is in-fucking-credible. A total mindblower here, as well as a perfect balance of melody and blistering improv chaos, with wifey Linda Sharrock screaming, howling, and even singing all over this bad boy. The percussion is pounding and clattering away neat little rhythms and falls into the painfully abstract while the piano dips in and out of nonsense, complimenting Sharrock's fast picked tunefulness and improv alike.

As far as I can tell at this point, the ideal form of free jazz dips it's fingers into the traditional, but always reverts back to the sanity-damaging improv. No damages to Brotzmann and his particular vehicle - it's definitely a vision I enjoy - but man do the more traditional moments compliment the improv (and vice versa!).

Hey, did I mention how much this album rocks? 'Cause it's the bee's knees AND tibia. "Black Woman" sways and shrieks, "Peanut" clamours and smashes, and "Bialero", "Blind Willie", and "Portrait Of Linda" are all just beautiful. Reeks of hyperbole, but I could seriously see this album working it's way into an all-time favorites list some day. Totally awesome stuff.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mydzozye2my

Goma & The Jungle Rhythm Section - Rhythm And Breath

Going for a post record this month!

I've been pretty much artistically devoid lately (and then some), but fortunately good ol' music and the inane, uninteresting ramblings she imparts with me keep this blog turd afloat. Before we get to that album on the left, though, lemme tell you about an album tying my knickers in a troop-leader impressing knot - Joanna Newsom's new full length, Have One On Me; a godblessed TRIPLE ALBUM of new material. What other modern artist can you think of released a 3XLP in recent years? I know it's already leaked (and released in stores, too!), but with my iron will, I'm holding out til' I can acquire it in it's most prim and prose incarnation - wax. This'll mark my 4th album exceeding 2 discs, with the other two being Sun City Girls' Dante's Disneyland Inferno and 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda, as well as Bastard Noise's truly monstrous 5XCD(!!) Our Earth's Blood IV (which I'll be covering in a future entry).

But enough about ridiculous excess, let's focus on that enigmatic album in the corner. To be honest, I don't know much of anything about these guys (and can't really find anything, either), so I'll keep this short. Goma & The Jungle Rhythm Section are apparently a side project of the band's leader and didgeridoo player, Goma, with this being the first of currently 2 full length albums. Urm... here:

In the 1998 Arnhemland Barunga Didgeridoo Competition, Goma received The Northern Land Council prize (judged by Galarrwuy Yunupingu), surprised audiences by being the first non-Aboriginal to be recognized. Since that time, as a solo player, session musician, and band member, he has steadily increased his audience by consistently striving to innovate and expand his musical horizons.

...that was posted on the JPOP Lover blog, and is only available information I could find about this dude in English. The music itself isn't much easier to describe, though... it's tribal. Very rhythmic and pounding, likely featuring lots of homemade percussion (again... "likely")with the didgeridoo warbling in it's earthy tones all over the record. It's all instrumental, and while I wouldn't call it "danceable", it's definitely moving. But ENOUGH weak descriptors: this stuff kicks some supple ass. It's certainly not the most varied, but it's got a lot of punch, and if nothing else, is a perfect oddity for your collection. Czech it:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zehmmmomudm

The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes

I'm afraid this blog's got an expiration date - approximately 4 months away, too. Y'see, although you don't care, I'm going off grid. New York's cold, my job is monotonous, I've worked myself into an artless rut, and I'm chock-full of pent-up crust punk idealism. How does one break this strain of wide-eyed hopefulness? Likely by going into the muck of the U.S. with a backpack, a bike, and a friend or two. No date set for it's conclusion, either, so if I ever choose to revive this here blog, it might be 6 months to a year-plus away.

Anyhookers, I'm in the middle of a free jazz/70's prog odyssey right now, but since the former is still digesting and the latter's not delivering the goods as I'd hoped (Gentle Giant? Bleah), I figured it was time to whip out an old favorite of mine - The Pop Group's stupidly scare singles collection, We Are All Prostitutes; a bag of hits I started rotating back in high school and never looked back.
Now if you're unfamiliar with the music of said Pop Group, it's a bizarre, somewhat even composure of spacey dub reggae, funk, skeletal jazz, and noise, all weaved into a sweater of post-punk sensibilities and hard-as-tacks political staunchness - and a phenomenally ugly sweater at that. In fact, if I were pressed to describe The Pop Group's sound in a single word, it'd probably be "ugly". This compilation is essentially a split between the creeping, disjointed minimalism of their legendary debut, Y, and the undeniably danceable funk-punk of the follow-up and neglected classic, For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?, but the quality is consistent as either release.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BNVI2B8R

Another thing worth noting (but uninteresting to read, much like this entry as a whole) is the production, which is raw, scratchy and full - totally unlike the spaciness of the rest of their catalog. Makes Gang Of Four sound like total pansies.

Oh, and once again, my stupid laptop is still broken because everything sucks and/or should die.

Organisation - Tone Float

If there's a better example of a band with "classic" status I'll never find an affection for, it certainly hasn't topped Kraftwerk on my list. Both critically lauded and perpetually glorified by music buffs of a far too similar persuasion to mine, I can't help but feel bewildered whenever I catch a fragment of the praise heaped on them in my periphery. Am I overlooking some key historical principles that make them anything but the progenitors to a genre as personally maligned as synth-pop? Or maybe that's where the problem lies...
Either way, after the 'Werk's 4th LP, the better constraints of krautrock all but dissipated, leaving a cheesetoothed, starched suit pop band of the "dorkiest" variety. But hey, enough about corny keyboard progressions, lifeless, processed vocals and simple melodies that ramble on and on longer than the universe is vast - let's talk about Organisation!

Who are actually Kraftwerk.

For whatever reason, the RCA decided the relatively phonetic Kraftwerk moniker ("Kraaftverk") had less of a hook for U.S. audiences than the plain-as-toast British variant on the the word "organization". But whatever; at this point, Organwerk was a totally different entity: almost entirely acoustic and stationed firmly in the krautrock territory with nary an electronic bloop or bleep to be found. The group's sole recording under this name is a bit like the 2 following releases from Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk and Kraftwerk 2 - and stands as a colossus of the hippie-dippie magic we all ashamedly enjoy.
The title track is a 20-some minute spiritual epic of flute, organ, bass and bongo with a particularly meditative, eastern-vibed, and almost Pharoah Sanders-esque quality, followed by the high density, Miles Davis-indebted fusion murk of "Milk Rock". From there, the tiny, creepy interlude "Silver Forest" pops in and out to allow my favorite track on the album, "Rhythm Salad" to bongo the fucking house down. It's a seriously great piece that grows in intensity over the course of 5 minutes with a whole slew of unorthodox percussive devices clattering and bopping their brains out. The album closes with an extension of the title track's sonic terrain, but pulling a scratchy electric violin in tow to a bongo/cymbal backdrop.

http://www.mediafire.com/?okz0kkz2tm0

All in all, a solid, enjoyable release. Probably nowhere near as groundbreaking as Kraftwerk's later material, but it also doesn't sound SO AGONIZINGLY OUTDATED. Here's the ideal usage of Kraftwerk's material:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58OabCRCx_Q