Greg Oblivian & the Tip-Tops "Head Shop" (1998)

Greg Oblivian is from the Tennessee rock 'n roll scene of the 90's that has so many artists on Sympathy Records (run by John Reese of Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, and Rocket from the Crypt fame to name a few). Greg Oblivian has had several groups he's played in, most famously the Oblivians. The Tips Tops were a short lived group formed as the Oblivians were breaking up (a part of this album was recorded live after an Oblivians show in Texas).

This album has a mellower feel to it than many of the other 90's rock 'n roll artists, and a heavy lo-fi prom night sound. Some songs have the reverb on the vocals set to incoherent even. "Beside You" is thee typical slow song, and "Watching My Baby Get Ready" has an almost ballad feel to it. The last song, "Self-Indulgent Asshole" is pretty much as the title suggests-- a 17 minute noise session that reminds you that this album actually did come out in the late 90's. This was the only full length from the Tip-Tops; from here Greg moved on to form the Reigning Sound.

TRACK LIST

1. Watching My Baby Get Ready
2. Precious One
3. Twice As Deep
4. Girl With The Glasses
5. Beside You
6. Bad Man
7. The Man You Need (Close)
8. Self-Indulgent Asshole

Try it.
Buy it. (The Sympathy Records mail order is temporarily down, so there's some indie shop that seems to have copies.)

Lhasa de Sela - La Llorona (1998)

Lhasa de Sela (often known as simply Lhasa, the capital of Tibet) was born in New York to Mexican and American parents. As a child she and her sisters were self taught by her mother while they traveled the US and Mexico in a school bus. This exciting and unconventional upbringing shaped some incredible music with roots in Mexican folklore and Eastern European gypsy music, along with a very dark mood. After releasing this album she joined her sisters in a circus in France.

La Llorona is named after a tale of Mexican folklore about la llorona, the crying woman. She is a ghost seen crying for her children she had drowned. There are a lot of versions to the story but the one I heard as a kid was that la llorona was t he mother of three kids. Her husband had started to work out of town constantly and when he came home would only spend time with the kids. Eventually he came home with a new woman and told the kids they were to marry. That night la llorona drowned the children in a fit of rage to take them from her husband, and after realizing what she had done drowned herself. At night you can hear la llorona by banks of rivers crying for her children. At least, that's how I heard it.

TRACK LIST

1. De cara a la pared (Face to the Wall)
   
2. La Celestina
   
3. El desierto (The Desert)
   
4. Por eso me quedo (That's Why I'm Staying)
   
5. El Payande
6. Los peces (The Fish)
   
7. Floricanto
   
8. Desdeñosa (Disdainful)
   
9. El pájaro (The Bird)
   
10. Mi vanidad (My Vanity)
    
11. El árbol del olvido (The Tree of Forgetfulness)
    

Try it.
Buy it.

Pete Seeger - We Shall Overcome (1963) (INCOMPLETE)

Pete Seeger is one of the best folk singers to ever exist. His political drive and moral dedication is unparalleled. This album came out in 1963 and has an undeniable devotion to fighting for equal rights. Pete Seeger was brought to the House Committee on Un-American Activities on charges of being a communist, and for his entire testimony defended the right for people to be of whichever persuasion they want without conviction, and never mentioned any specific parties. Seeger has always just done what he knows to be right and what can offend no man of good intentions. This guy is a huge influence on me, he's why I learned to play the banjo. Sadly, this album has very minimal banjo playing. I'll be sure to upload some more Seeger with banjo in the future.

I went to go find the track list to post as I usually do only to discover that my file of this is wildly incomplete. I always felt that this was a really short album! I'll post what I have for now and upload more later. Sorry.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WP0BAYQS

Oops!

Hi,
I'm not sure if people read this often enough or not, but I'm sorry I haven't been updating too much lately. I've got a lot on my plate right now, including moving and releasing a 7" I really can't afford. Soon enough I'll be updating more. Let me know what you've enjoyed so far! I'd love to talk to more people who enjoy the same music as I do. Any requests you think I'd have? I'm totally planning on putting up some Tortoise soon enough. Would you want an album or the box set, A Lazarus Taxon?
Best!

Ambitious Lovers - Envy (1984)

I am really excited to be uploading this album on here, it's one of my absolute favorites. I've praised Arto Lindsay's work several times on this blog (as seen here, here, and here) and I really started getting into his work beyond DNA through this album. It's the perfect starting ground-- this was his first album after the end of DNA and still has so many of the edgy elements and guitar playing that made DNA so notable. At the same time this album has so many more dynamics to it. It's got a heavy bossa nova presence and a twist of 80's synth pop production. There's so many incredible ideas on this album that jumps from noise to pop to mellow beauty so quickly.

This is the first of three Ambitious Lovers albums, which had the intended theme of releasing albums titled after the seven deadly sins. Ambitious Lovers was mainly Arto Lindsay and Peter Scherer, and each album would have appearances by all sorts of musicians; from Bill Frisell to Caetano Veloso, from Marc Ribot to Nana Vasconcelos. This work could very well have bridged the gap between New York experimental music and world music, particularly Brazilian artists. Many of these artists have releases on Luaka Bop (a world music label run by David Byrne) and several have collaborated with John Zorn and Fred Frith, with whom Lindsay has collaborated with as well. This is a very important, very underrated album.

TRACK LIST

1. Cross Your Legs
2. Trouble Maker
3. Pagode Americano
4. Nothing's Monstered
5. Crowning Roar
6. Too Many Mansions
7. Let's Be Adult
8. Venus Lost Her Shirt
9. My Competition
10. Badu
11. Dora
12. Beberibe
13. Locus Coruleus

Try it.
Buy it. (Out of print. Link goes to Caroline records, who put it out. It's a really good label.)

DOUBLE POST: Funkadelic - Funkadelic (1970) & Maggot Brain (1971)

Funkadelic, along with Parliment (both led by George Clinton), are known as the bands that birthed funk. The bands bridged a lot of gaps. The group was originally a doo wop group called the Parliments. There were legal troubles with the name so the band went with Funkadelic. The band had members from groups all over in different periods including James Brown's backing band, Bootsy Collins, and session musicians from Motown Records. The first couple of albums had a heavy Hendrix-esque rock and roll guitar sound thanks to guitar pioneer Eddie Hazel, especially tracks like "Super Stupid" and the stoney "Maggot Brain".

The group could have a very fun and energetic sound while at the same time having some heavy themes in the lyrics approached with a very intelligent and clever approach. There's so much more going on in this music than just lyrics about funk. At the same time it's what funk was made out of.
TRACK LIST (Self Titled):

1. Mommy, What's a Funkadelic?
2. I Bet You
3. Music for My Mother
4. I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody's Got a Thing
5. Good Ole Music
6. Qualify and Satisfy
7. What is Soul
   

TRACK LIST (Maggot Brain):

1. Maggot Brain
2. Can You Get To That
3. Hit It And Quit It
4. You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks
5. Super Stupid
6. Back In Our Minds
7. Wars Of Armageddon

Try it.
Buy it.

Film Post: The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

NOTE: The quality ain't great and I'm told people who aren't using Firefox can't seem to download it. Also, if you're retyping the path instead of clicking the link, "Decline.rar" HAS to have the D capitalized. It's .mp4 format, perfect for putting on the iPod.

I really don't think I need to write anything about this film. It has Black Flag, X, The Germs, Fear (with footage that sounds better than any release they've done), The Bags, Circle Jerks, and Catholic Discipline (who I don't give a shit about, but the singer worked for Slash records so I guess they had to give him something). This is basically punk rock at its finest, and in some cases ugliest.

I've heard Chuck Dukowski say he doesn't feel it properly represents the scene because they were just being kids showing off in front of the camera. Considering Black Flag is one of the most hard working bands of all time, I could see why he'd feel that way. Regardless it's some great footage of some of the most important bands.

Download.
It's long out of print, good luck buying it.

Denison/Kimball Trio - Walls in the City OST (1994)

Walls in the City is a soundtrack to a film I've never seen. An incredible soundtrack to a movie I've never seen nonetheless. The group (actually a duo) is comprised of Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison and Mule drummer James Kimball. The film stars David Yow, front man of the Jesus Lizard (which also features David William Sims who played in Scratch Acid and Rapeman, respectively). Mule has done a split 7" with Shellac. Given the heavy noise rock background, you think you could expect some more heavy dosages of a similar breed. Not these guys. If Arto Lindsay of DNA fame can play bossa nova inspired trip-hop and Greg Ginn of Black Flag fame can imitate Ornette Coleman's playing on the guitar, then these guys can make a mellow and ambient free jazz soundtrack. And damn fucking well, too. Duane Denison did, after all, graduate from Eastern Michigan University with a degree for classical guitar.

Walls in the City has the sort of vibe as the stuff you do when you and a friend get sort of stoned and try to play some music but don't want to wake up your friend passed out on the couch. Next thing you know you're fixated on perfecting the one beautiful part you guys jammed out, and then you can't help but get gnarly with it. This is, luckily, always the way to go. This is one of the most perfectly mellow albums. There are no tracks that you'd want to skip, since they all blend so well.

TRACK LIST

1. Prelude
2. Cold Light Of Day
3. Walk Away
4. Reunion
5. Harrys Theme
6. One If By Land...
7. Romantic Interlude
8. Separate Checks
9. Blue Corridor
10. Postlude
11. Two if by Sea

Try it.
Buy it.

King Geedorah - Take Me to Your Leader (2003)

King Geedorah is yet another alias for London-born New York-based hip hop artists MF Doom. He's done a lot of different albums and collaborations, and all are at least interesting, but this is one of my favorites. It's got a lot more experimenting than other works. This and Madvillain (his collaboration with DJ Madlib) are, in my opinion, his most classic works.

This album was written through the perspective of King Geedorah, the three headed alien from Godzilla movies. The music is filled with samples from various movies and strange Korg noises. The lyrics are written in an outsider's perspective about humanity, and at times that can be a gnarly thing. Gnarly in a good way. There's a lot of cameos on the album with all sorts of different names used. Mr. Fantastik? That voice sounds familiar to me from other projects.

TRACK LIST

1. Fazers
2. Fastlane (featuring Biolante AKA Kurious Jorge)
   
3. Krazy World (featuring Gigan)
   
4. The Final Hour (featuring MF DOOM)
   
5. Monster Zero
   
6. Next Levels (featuring Lil' Sci, ID 4 Winds & Stahhr)
   
7. No Snakes Alive (featuring Jet-Jaguar AKA MF Grimm & Rodan)
   
8. Anti-Matter (MF DOOM & Mr. Fantastik)
   
9. Take Me to Your Leader
10. Lockjaw (featuring Trunks)
11. I Wonder (featuring Hassan Chop)
    
12. One Smart Nigger
13. The Fine Print

Try it.
Buy it.

Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks (2007)

Big Business formed in 2004 as a two piece from some kickass bands. Coady Willis played drums in the Murder City Devils (and Dead Low Tide, which was basically the same band but much heavier. A lot of people aren't that into it from what I've heard, but I think their one LP is incredible.) and Jared Warren was in Karp and the The Tight Bros from Way Back When. Karp was one of the absolutely sickest bands around in the 90's. The band formed in Washington and after releasing their first LP, Head for the Shallow (also a great album), moved to Los Angeles. They recorded this album here with local noise musician David Scott Stone. The three are common collaborators with the Melvins, and Big Business are now members in the band.

This album is heavy and epic. It has a very pummeling metal driven sound with some surprisingly depressing lyrics. There's a song about living in a cave due to being so paranoid about death. Some moments you can picture fighting some fucking vikings in a thunder storm on horses to this shit. When I saw Big Business, Jared had a stack of amps taller than him (and he was pretty tall). His bass is very overwhelmingly loud, but David Scott Stone managed to work in his guitar parts at just the right times. As much as I love the Murder City Devils, I feel like Coady's drumming didn't hit such precise power as it does on this album. He's got some incredible parts that are constantly changing. This is easily one of the best albums to come out in the past ten years, if not more.

TRACK LIST

1. Just as the Day was Dawning
   
2. Hands Up
   
3. Shields
   
4. Grounds for Divorce
   
5. Another Fourth of July... Ruined
   
6. Start Your Digging
   
7. I'll Give You Something to Cry About
   
8. Another Beautiful Day in the Pacific Northwest

Try it.
Buy it.

Einstürzende Neubauten - Silence is Sexy (2000)

I imagine Neubauten is a band that needs no introduction. It's one of the most common things I see on other blogs. I just wanted to upload this album because I have yet to see it uploaded anywhere else and it's my favorite of their more contemporary works and possibly my favorite of all their works.

For the few who aren't familiar, Einstürzende Neubauten are born out of West Berlin in 1980. The name translates to "collapsing new buildings". The band's early sound was quite literally industrial music-- music made out of industrial tools. They would use power drills and sledgehammers, and even throw glass bottles into cement mixers. Their early work had this dark, chaotic backing as Blixa Bargeld would screech and pace around like a madman. Gradually their music developed more songwriting foundations, but not in the cheesy way that bands "mature", but just start playing acoustic guitars. Their music now shows a wide range of ideas, sometimes even having a heavy classical influence. Most of their instruments are still hand made and often out of found objects, but their skill in applying these pieces to music has strongly matured and shines particularly bright on this album.

TRACK LIST

1. “Sabrina”
   
2. “Silence is sexy”
   
3. “In circles”
   
4. “Newtons Gravitätlichkeit”
   
5. “Zampano”
   
6. “Heaven is of honey”
   
7. “Beauty”
   
8. “Die Befindlichkeit des Landes”
   
9. “Sonnenbarke”
   
10. “Musentango”
    
11. “Alles (Ein Stück im alten Stil)”
    
12. “Redukt”
    
13. “Dingsaller”
    
14. “Total Eclipse of the Sun"
15. "Pelikanol"
    

Try it.
Buy it.

Extra Golden - Ok-Oyot System (2006)

Extra Golden is a collaborative effort with some musicians who, while seem unlikely, work together beautifully. The group consists of Alex Minoff of Weird War (a band with Ian Svenonius of Nation of Ulysses and the Make-Up on vocals), Ian Eagleson of Golden (a band with a cameo-style lineup as is), and Otieno Jagwasi and Onyango Wuod Omari of Orchestra Extra Solar Africa. The four met in Nairobi, Kenya. Apparently they pieced together most of the music with recordings of Omari that Eagleson had done, and in an afternoon the four got together and recorded most of this album. Everything about it has a very budget rock way of being put together-- the art looks like it's a bootleg and the drumset looks like it was found in a trash can (which wouldn't surprise me, considering Konono No. 1's gear). But this adds the very powerful charm to the album that really caught my attention.

Otieno Jagwasi had suffered liver disease for five years, and was in the middle of this struggle while they recorded this. His voice has a powerfully weak strain to it which really adds to the charm of this album. Jamming econo and his sad story really just show how some people just can't help but make music. Jagwasi passed away from his liver disease two years later, so Eagleson and Minoff convinced Thrill Jockey to release the album. It has a very mellow afro-funk vibe all the way through with some seriously clean guitars and some incredible stories in the liner notes. The vinyl pressing was only of 1,000 and I'll trade my left foot for it. Contact within for details on the foot. (Edit: Nevermind, found it! Best offer for the foot.)

TRACK LIST

1. "Ilando Gima Onge"
2. "It's Not Easy"
3. "Ok-Oyot System"
4. "Osama Rach"
5. "Tussin' and Fightin'"
6. "Nyajondere"

Try it.
Buy it.

Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes (1968)

Os Mutantes came from Brazil in the late 1960's and on into the 70's. The group was formed by two brothers Arnaldo and Sergio Baptista, along with Rita Lee on vocals. The group began with an influence from both American and English pop and psychadelic bands as well as the flourishing Tropicalia scene going on in Brazil. They got to meet and participate with artists from the Tropicalia movement by playing on a TV show with Gilberto Gil. The group would face several lineup changes after their initial couple albums, Sergio Baptista would take too much LSD and consequently get institutionalized and jump out of a window putting himself in a coma, and the band eventually fell apart and everyone went their own ways in the late 70's. The group, minus Rita Lee, reformed to play shows in 2006 and 2007.

The sound this band developed has been commonly listed as a reference for mainstream rock musicians and artists experimenting in world music alike. Some moments the group has a Beatles pop frame of mind, and the next it's a bossa nova psychadelic dance party. The first album is possibly the best blend of experimenting and beauty with a pop sensibility. From there some albums, while still incredible, would lean either in the experimenting way or the rock and roll way. This album is a great way to get into some other incredible artists of the time like Tom Ze, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, and much more.

TRACK LIST

1. "Panis et Circenses"
2. "A Minha Menina"
3. "O Relógio"
   
4. "Adeus, Maria Fulô"
5. "Baby"
   
6. "Senhor F"
   
7. "Bat Macumba"
   
8. "Le Premier Bonheur du Jour"
9. "Trem Fantasma"
   
10. "Tempo no Tempo"
11. "Ave, Genghis Khan"

Try it.
Buy it.

DNA - A Taste of DNA (1981)

DNA formed in 1978 and music was never the same from there. DNA decided to approach playing their instruments differently and was still an incredible band with some real force. Often their bizarre timings and parts are compared to Captain Beefheart, but even he was challenging the way songs were written more than the usage of notes at all. Arto Lindsay's revolutionary "skronk" guitar playing has been compared to that of Derek Bailey before him, but Lindsay didn't just take the bold leap of playing anti-guitar parts but he took that and put it in a band. A band with a Japanese drummer who neither spoke English nor knew how to play drums.

Arto Lindsay was born in New York but spent a good deal of his childhood in Brazil with his missionary parents. He grew up seeing artists like Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, and Gal Costa come into their own tropicalia psychadelic revolution. He came back to New York to pursue writing but instead began playing music, and DNA was born. The group, initially a quartet but a trio on this release, had a gnarly and distinct sound. The drums were very minimal and rarely had any cymbals; they sounded like running more than anything. From there the bass held any hint of melody while Arto Lindsay practically randomly shrieked out and scraped at his guitar. There was no notes played on his 12 string guitar to be found. It's incredible and expressive and somewhere between noise and master jazzwork.

This is definitely not the last Arto Lindsay release I'll be uploading. I had mentioned before that he had played with Fred Frith and he had a cameo in the James Chance box set. These are some of my favorite artists. Just as Frith, Lindsay would go on to try many other sounds. His group the Ambitious Lovers had an 80's pop sound played by nervous sounding noise musicians, as though their cover was going to be blown any second. Lindsay's solo albums have a heavy influence in his upbringing in Brazil. Expect to see Noon Chill in the future.

TRACK LIST

1. "New Fast"
2. "5:30"
3. "Blonde Red Head"
4. "32123"
5. "New New"
6. "Lying on the Sofa of Life"

Try it.
Buy it. (Songs are featured on the collection, DNA on DNA).

PS, the song "Blonde Red Head" is where the popular band got their name.

Bonus! More Steve Albini!

So I ended up exchanging more Steve Albini music with fellow fans. So here's more releases with Steve Albini tearing it up and pissing it off:

Big Black: Songs About Fucking LP
Albini's first band, two guitars a bass and a drum machine. This is their most fierce of releases, and released just as they broke up. Touch and Go, 1987.
Try it!




Shellac - The Rude Gesture: a Pictoral History 7"
Albini's current band with the aforementioned Bob Weston on bass and Todd Trainer (Brick Layer Cake) on drums. Probably the best band around. This is their first 7". Touch and Go, 1993.
Try it!




Shellac - Uranus 7"
Shellac's second 7". "Doris" and "Wingwalker". Touch and Go, 1993.
Try it!






Shellac - The Bird is the Most Popular Finger 7"
Their third 7". Blah blah blah. Drag City Records, 1994
Try it Willya!






Shellac - Billiardspielerlied 7"
Release on Überschall Records. What the fuck? 1995.
Try it.






As far as I know all of these are available through the mentioned labels. Go forth and purchase.

Rapeman - Two Nuns and a Pack Mule (1988)

Rapeman was formed in 1987 and broke up the next year. The group was fronted by indie music producer and legend Steve Albini, also known for playing in Big Black and Shellac (Shellac's bassist is Bob Weston, producer of the Rachel's album I previously uploaded). Albini has recorded albums for Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Bush, the Stooges, the Pixies, the Jesus Lizard, and tons upon tons more. After Big Black disbanded he played in the short lived Rapeman with David Sims of Scratch Acid and Jesus Lizard on bass and Ray Washam of Scratch Acid, Big Boys, and many other bands on drums. The controversial name came from a Japanese comic about a anti-hero who is a high school teacher by day and a rape man by night, "righting wrongs through penetration."

Two Nuns and a Pack Mule is their only LP, and this CD rerelease version includes the Budd 12" EP. Budd is about Budd Dwyer, the politician who shot himself on live TV. This definitely represents what Rapeman was all about. Anger, disgust, nihilism, and being pretty fucking loud. There's a song, "Kim Gordon's Panties", which was apparently written during an era where the two were mad at each other and thus mocks Sonic Youth's style. The same year a live Sonic Youth album was released, Hold that Tiger, and before playing White Kross Thurston Moore announces "This song is about Steve Albini". There's a song, Trouser Minnow, which features the lines "Why don't you come on over? I'll let you shave my pussy, and I can paint your dick". Truly an album all about upholding Albini's knack for writing ugly ass lyrics, but taking the idea from Big Black and adding live drums and more instrumental focus at some points.

TRACK LIST

1. "Steak and Black Onions"
   
2. "Monobrow"
   
3. "Up Beat"
   
4. "Coition Ignition Mission"
   
5. "Kim Gordon's Panties"
   
6. "Hated Chinee"
   
7. "Radar Love Lizard"
   
8. "Marmoset"
   
9. "Just Got Paid"
   
10. "Trouser Minnow"
    
11. "Budd"
    
12. "Superpussy"
    
13. "Log Bass"
    
14. "Dutch Courage"
    

Try it.
Buy it.

Au - Au (2007)

Au is a product of Portland based Luke Wyland and his collaborating with other musicians in the area. There isn't much of a history to give to this, it's still pretty fresh. It's also pretty incredible, too. This album was actually mastered by Jherek Bischoff.

This music has a very definite folk influence but reaches points so much higher and complex through subtle vocal harmonies, epic drum rumbling, and beautiful ambient moments. At first listen it may get mixed up with psych folk, but there's much more than that going on. It's all very precise and every move is more thought out than it would be if it were simply psych folk. It's more of a post rock work played by someone immersed in folk music. Definitely one of my favorite releases from the last ten years.

TRACK LIST

1. "Boute"
2. "Sum"
3. "Shelter"
4. "Death"
5. "Remain"
6. "Honeybee"
7. "Life"
8. "Ask the River"

Try it.
Buy it.

Leonard Cohen - Death of a Ladies' Man (1977)

There's a story that during recording this album, Phil Spector walked up to Leonard Cohen with a bottle of kosher wine in one hand and a gun in the other. He put his arm around Cohen and pointed the gun at Cohen's chest and said "I love you, Leonard" to which Cohen replied "I hope you do, Phil."

This album is the sound of a mid life crisis. Death of a Ladies' Man is Leonard Cohen's fifth album, and Leonard Cohen doesn't like to talk about this one. The collection "The Essential Leonard Cohen" is songs hand picked by Cohen, and there isn't one song from this album on there. This is one of the most brutal and depressing albums I've ever heard.

Leonard Cohen met Phil Spector one evening at the request of Spector, and the two stayed up all night drinking by the piano. Two weeks later 15 songs were written. In the process of recording, Spector wrapped his wall of sound around Cohen's blunt and dark lyrics. There were times when Spector would brandish his gun while throwing fits, and there was even a point later in the process when Spector had armed guards keep Cohen out of the studio. While recording many arists just record basic "guide vocals" with no emotion as to have a basis to work the rest of the instruments on, then come in later to rerecord the vocals with more "feel". Some of the songs are only guide vocals, and it works out so well. The disco massacre "Don't Go Home with your Hard-On" has Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg singing backup vocals. This is the best Leonard Cohen album ever.

TRACK LIST

1. "True Love Leaves No Traces"
   
2. "Iodine"
   
3. "Paper Thin Hotel"
   
4. "Memories"
   
5. "I Left a Woman Waiting"
   
6. "Don't Go Home with Your Hard-On"
   
7. "Fingerprints"
   
8. "Death of a Ladies Man"
   

Try it.
Buy it. (Major label nonsense. I bought my vinyl copy on eBay.)

Rachel's - Music for Egon Schiele (1996)

There's a couple stories to this album. There's the story of the artist Egon Schiele and the story of Rachel's. There's also mention of the producer of this album, Bob Weston. All of the above are incredible people who did/are doing incredible things.

Rachel's formed after the math rock/hardcore band Rodan broke up. (I will definitely absolutely be uploading their album Rusty in the future, an album named after Bob "Rusty" Weston who produced that as well). It was originally a solo project from the guitarist, Jason Noble. He began collaborating with people and some became permanent members (including pianist Rachel Grimes, who the group is not actually named after). Each album has its own feel, but the most common theme with all of them is some sort of modern classical/chamber music approach. This album is a trio of piano, viola, and cello. The music on here was composed as a score for a theater production performing the life of Egon Schiele.

Egon Schiele is an incredible artist from Austria in the early 1900s (1890-1918 to be exact). His life was short but filled with many tragedies and his art still stands as my favorite art. I have an Egon Schiele piece tattooed. I highly recommend reading into his life and work. He was an understudy of the more commonly known artist Gustav Klimt. The album contains prints of several of Schiele's works and a quote from composer Arnold Schoenberg, a close friend of Schiele.

The albums is very sweet, beautiful, well drawn out, and sometimes has a morose feel. Just the same with Schiele's art. I can't stress enough how incredible this album and other works from Jason Noble are.

TRACK LIST

1. "Family Portrait"
   
2. "Egon & Gertie"
   
3. "First Self-Portrait Series"
4. "Mime Van Osen"
5. "Second Self-Portrait Series"
   
6. "Wally, Egon, & Models in the Studio"
7. "Promenade"
   
8. "Third Self-Portrait Series"
9. "Trio Goes to a Movie"
10. "Egon & Wally Embrace and Say Farewell"
11. "Egon & Edith"
12. "Second Family Portrait"

Try it.
Buy it.

James Chance - Irresistible Impulse (2003) (BOX SET)

James Chance is a pretty important part of New York's experimental music history, and yet I rarely meet people who have heard him. James Chance's career started with him playing in Lydia Lunch's band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, one of the groups alongside Chance's own Contortions that appeared on the notorious compilation No New York (produced by Brian Eno). That comp is cited as a collection of some of the most important New York No Wave bands.

Chance left The Jerks to pursue his own ideas, and most of these ideas were taking some form of jazz and funk and drugging it with punk and noise. Chance would scream in a sort of James Brown a-la Darby Crash way and play saxophone much akin to Arto Lindsay's skronk guitar playing (Arto Lindsay appears on a song on this collection, "That's When Your Heartaches Begin").

Buy Contortions is probably the most notorious of the albums in this box set. It's definitely the most punk of them. Pat Place plays an open tuned guitar with a slide, and it sounds pretty gnarly. The lyrics are very nihilistic and mean (titles like "Throw Me Away", "I Don't Want to be Happy", and the anthem "Contort Yourself"). Some stuff from the James White and the Blacks era gets pretty silly with backup singers and dated production, but the silliness is very intentional. James Chance had gotten this obsession with disco music. He said he hated it and that could be why he insisted on playing his botched style of it for three albums worth (Sax Maniac, Melt Yourself Down, Off White). My personal favorite of all the albums is The Flaming Demonics. It's much more instrumentally focused and has some hints of bop song structure ("Rantin' and Ravin'" is a good example) and has a medley which throws in a sped up and freaked out Duke Ellington tune. "I Danced with a Zombie" is kind of stupid though.

James Chance moved to Paris and is still playing music today. He played All Tomorrow's Parties a few years back and I hear he's still pretty incredible. Kicking at the audience and still on the attack.

TRACK LIST
CD1: Buy The Contortions / Theme from Grutzi Elvis

1. Designed to Kill (Buy The Contortions)
2. My Infatuation (Buy The Contortions)
3. I Don't Want To Be Happy (Buy The Contortions)
4. Anesthetic (Buy The Contortions)
5. Contort Yourself (Buy The Contortions)
6. Throw Me Away (Buy The Contortions)
7. Roving Eye (Buy The Contortions)
8. Twice Removed (Buy The Contortions)
9. Bedroom Athlete (Buy The Contortions)
10. Throw Me Away (Live at CBGB's, spring 1978.)
11. Twice Removed (Live at CBGB's, spring 1978.)
12. Jailhouse Rock (Live at CBGB's, spring 1978.)
13. That's When Your Heartaches Begin (From Grutzi Elvis Soundtrack)
14. Schleyer's Tires (From Grutzi Elvis Soundtrack)
15. McGraw Army Base/Munchen (From Grutzi Elvis Soundtrack)
16. Theme From Grutzi Elvis (From Grutzi Elvis Soundtrack)

CD2: Off White / Soul Exorcism

1. Contort Yourself (Off White)
2. Contort Yourself (August Darnell Remix)
3. Stained Sheets (Off White)
4. (Tropical) Heat Wave (Off White)
5. Almost Black #1 (Off White)
6. White Savages (Off White)
7. Off Black (Off White)
8. Almost Black #2 (Off White)
9. White Devil (Off White)
10. Bleached Black (Off White)
11. Christmas With Satan (A Christmas Record)
12. Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (Soul Exorcism)
13. Exorcise The Funk (Soul Exorcism)
14. Disposable You (Soul Exorcism)

CD3: Sax Maniac /Melt Yourself Down

01. Irresistible Impulse (Sax Maniac)
02. That Old Black Magic (Sax Maniac)
03. Disco Jaded (Sax Maniac)
04. Money To Burn (Sax Maniac)
05. Sax Maniac (Sax Maniac)
06. Sax Machine (Sax Maniac)
07. The Twitch (Sax Maniac)
08. Super Bad (Melt Yourself Down)
09. Melt Yourself Down (Melt Yourself Down)
10. Hell On Earth (Melt Yourself Down)

CD4: Flaming Demonics / The Judy Taylor Sessions

01. The Devil Made Me Do It (Flaming Demonics)
02. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Flaming Demonics)
03. Rantin' and Ravin' (Flaming Demonics)
04. The Natives Are Restless (Flaming Demonics)
05. Caravan/It Don't Mean a Thing/Melt Yourself Down (Flaming Demonics)
06. I Danced With a Zombie. (Flaming Demonics)
07. White Meat (The Judy Taylor Sessions)
08. Town Without Pity (The Judy Taylor Sessions)
09. Hyp No Tease (The Judy Taylor Sessions)

Try it.
Buy the Contortions
Off White/Soul Exorcism
Sax Maniac/Melt Yourself Down
Flaming Demonics/The Judy Taylor Sessions

Buy it.
Unfortunately this box set is out of print and hard to find. The cheapest I heard was 90 dollars and was missing a CD. Though I think they're releasing each CD on their own through an import label. This is, as far as I know, a rumor. It would make sense though with Chance living in France.