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Category: Alt rock
Failure offer “Fantastic Planet Live” through PledgeMusic campaign.
1990’s shoegaze / alt-rock maestros Failure have begun a PledgeMusic campaign to offer a live album from their October 2016 tour (which, sadly, I missed). They played their outstanding album Fantastic Planet in its entirety and chose the best versions of each song from the tour for this live record.
In case you don’t know, Fantastic Planet is one of the best records of the 1990’s and a masterpiece of engineering. You deserve to hear it, so jump on this campaign before all the signed stuff is gone.
Keep your mind open.
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Rewind Review: Public Broadcasting Service – The Race for Space (2015)
Widely heralded as one of the most innovative albums of 2015, Public Service Broadcasting’s (J. Willgoose, Esquire – banjo, guitar, sampling, Wrigglesworth – drums, piano, electronics) The Race for Space is an amazing concept album about / tribute to the space race of the 1960’s.
Beginning with the title track of an angelic chorus behind JFK’s speech calling for the exploration of space, the album moves into “Sputnik.” The electro beats and bleeps are perfect for a song about the first satellite to round the Earth. The first sample you hear is a man saying, “This is the beginning of a new era for mankind.” It was. We weren’t the same after it. The song builds in synth grandeur, not unlike something from a John Carpenter film score.
“Gagarin” is a funky electro-lounge jam and salute to Yuri Gagarin. The funky guitar and drums make him seem more like a super spy than a cosmonaut. “The whole planet knew him and loved him,” says one man in a sample before a brass section puts down a great groove. “Fire in the Cockpit” is lonely and cold, despite the title. The soft bleeps seem miles away, and the synths sound like a car engine trying to start on a cold winter morning as a man reads aloud a news release about the cockpit fire on a test flight of the Apollo 1.
“E.V.A.” brings us back to a sense of wonder with building guitar work, snappy drums, groovy keyboards, and samples about weightlessness and walking in space. “The Other Side” samples real transmissions from the Apollo 8 mission control about the inevitable loss of signal when the satellite rounds the moon. The synths build as you imagine Apollo 8 getting closer and closer to somewhere no one has ever gone. What’s great is that all music stops during the loss of signal. It’s silence until the synths return at the moment a signal is received from the Apollo 8, and burst loud when the Apollo 8 crew calls back all the way to Houston.
“Valentina” is a beautiful song you could put on a St. Valentine’s Day mixtape and a wonderful tribute to Valentina Tereshkova – the first woman to fly in space. “Go!” is a fun ride that builds from soft synths to rock drums to transmissions from the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The calls of “Go!” from all the mission control members become a stadium chant, and you can’t help but tap your toes and cheer on the mission that you know was a success.
The album ends with “Tomorrow,” an uplifting song about the Apollo 17 mission and the future of our exploration of space and of mankind. The xylophone gives it a cool “space-lounge” feel, and the fade-in is heavenly. I hope someone has sent it to the international space station for the astronauts’ wake-up music.
I hope this whole album has been sent there. It’s wonderful. The Race for Space would easily have been in my top ten albums of 2015 if I’d started this blog last year.
Keep your mind open.
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American Wrestlers to begin North American tour next month.
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Ty Segall’s new album due January 27th.
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The Kills – Ash & Ice
I’m not sure if there’s a current band that does songs about sex and the dangerous side of love better than The Kills (Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart). Ash & Ice is certainly about both, and it’s also a hip journey into electro-rock that I didn’t expect.
The album begins with electro beeps on “Doing It to Death,” but Hince’s squawking guitar is close behind. The mix of Hince’s as-always fine guitar work with the electro touches is interesting, as is the reverb on Mosshart’s vocals during the bridge. Synth-percussion then mixes with a traditional drum kit on “Heart of a Dog,” which is a sexy showcase for Mosshart’s bad ass-ness as she sings about coming back yet again to a lover she knows is bad for her. It also has a sultry bass groove throughout it that gets into your bones.
“Hard Habit to Break” isn’t a cover of the sappy Chicago song, but instead a near drum and bass track with Mosshart dressing down her lover as he tries to control her. Ash & Ice is firmly into electro-rock territory by the time we get to “Bitter Fruit” and its programmed beats and synth bass. It’s a wicked groove, and Hince and Mosshart’s co-vocals are outstanding. “Days of Why and How” is minimalist guitar, a drum machine, some bass, and Mosshart singing into what sounds like an old microphone. Don’t worry, it all sounds good.
The opening of “Let It Drop” is so quirky that it almost sounds like the track wandered in from another record until Hince’s guitar walks into the room. “You give me the shakes. You give me the cold sweats,” Mosshart sings, making us swoon. The song could be a pop-dance track with a bit of remixing. “Hum for Your Buzz” has an interesting title and an even more interesting sound. Mosshart’s vocals are clear as Hince’s guitar sounds like he’s playing in the back of a forgotten highway bar. It reminds you that the Kills could (and I wish they would) make a great blues record.
“Siberian Nights” has Mosshart singing, “I could make you come in threes. I’m halfway to my knees. Am I too close for comfort?” No, Ms. Mosshart. The answer to that is a definite “No.” Beware the Psycho shower scene soundtrack-like synths on this, however, for I feel they reveal wickedness behind Ms. Mosshart’s seductive lyrics. She’s just as good on “That Love,” which is a pure torch song.
“Impossible Tracks” sounds like “classic Kills.” The programmed beats are minimized in favor of Hince’s panther-prowl guitar work. “You get what you give. I don’t regret what I did,” Mosshart sings. I don’t know if she’s singing about leaving someone or shagging him (and not feeling guilty about either). “Black Tar” keeps up the guitar-driven sultry rock the Kills do so well. Hince’s guitar on “Echo Home” sounds like it’s from a warped record of a spaghetti western soundtrack, and his vocals mesh well with Mosshart’s. The electro-rock comes back to finish the record with “Whirling Eye,” and it’s a sharp track that sounds like they teamed up with Metric or listened to a lot of krautrock before they recorded it (and how about that psychedelic guitar solo from Hince?).
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I didn’t expect so many electro touches from the Kills, but it all works. I suppose the “ash” in the album’s title could refer to the gritty guitar work and tough lyrics, while the “ice” could refer to the cool synth touches and loops featured throughout the record. It could also refer to Mosshart’s love of cigarettes and how both she and Hince like to kick back a few cocktails now and then. Kick this album back with them. It’s smoky and cool.
Keep your mind open.
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Psych-pop outfit Ne-Hi release catchy single from upcoming album due out in February.
NE-HI ANNOUNCE SOPHOMORE RECORD, SHARE TOUR DATES
WATCH VIDEO FOR “STAY YOUNG“; OFFERS OUT 2/24 ON GRAND JURY
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Rewind Review: Bleached – Ride Your Heart (2013)
Ride Your Heart from Bleached (Jennifer Clavin – vocals, guitar, piano, percussion, Jennifer Clavin – guitar, bass, vocals, percussion, lap steel, Dan Allaire – drums) is a great, California sun-soaked pop-punk record about looking for love. The lead track, “Looking for a Fight,” has Jennifer Clavin warning a potential suitor to back off, but the following track, “Next Stop,” is about tearful goodbyes at the train station. Both have excellent guitar work by Jennifer and her sister, Jessica.
“Outta My Mind” has lovely vocals from both Clavins and instrumentation taking the album briefly into psychedelic territory. Jennifer Clavin goes back to wishing love would stay away from her and stop complicating everything, but it’s too good to avoid. However, when we get to “Dead in Your Head,” she roasts her ex for screwing up the great thing they had. She apologizes for her own bad behavior on “Dreaming without You,” in which she sings, “…I won’t hold you back. I know I’m a heart attack. You’ll be fine without me.”
“Waiting by the Telephone” could be their tribute to Blondie’s “Hanging on the Telephone,” because both songs have the same theme – anxiously awaiting the call of a lover. Bleached’s version rocks as much as Blondie’s, by the way. “Love Spells” has Jennifer Clavin first spurning love (“I don’t wanna see you no more. You keep on running back to my door. Told you once, yeah I told you before. Your love spells don’t work anymore.”), then hoping it returns (“Will I see you tonight when I open up my heart?”). It’s a clever song about the confusing nature of love.
“Searching through the Past” is a fine power pop song about missing a lover and hoping for a return to good times. It has great guitar solos by the Clavin sisters as well. The title track is not unlike a Pixies song with quiet verses backed with rock riffs that crank up during the chrous. “Dead Boy” is good, solid fuzz rock that builds to a sweet guitar fade-out. “Guy Like You” is about a guy who keeps breaking Jennifer Clavin’s heart, but she “can’t get enough” of him. It’s a sweet, sad song with lap steel guitar by Jessica Clavin that takes the song to a great, lonely place. The closer, “When I Was Yours,” builds to a wall of psych-fuzz bliss and leaves you hoping the track would go on for another five minutes or more.
The Clavin sisters thank, among others, “ex boyfriends,” in the liner notes to the album. The entire record is about them and the mindboggling nature of love, and it’s a fine salute to both.
Keep your mind open.
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Priests release single, “Pink White House,” from upcoming new album.
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Foxygen release new single, “Follow the Leader,” in time for your post-election blues or euphoria. New album due in January.
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