Hifana – Channel H [2005]

Hifana is a Japanese breaks duo notorious for their live shows in which they trigger all samples by hand.  I imagine that they must cut a lot of studio tracks based on that kind of live improvisation as well, as you won’t hear a lot of intricacy in the layering of sounds in the tracks on Channel H.  Instead, a few carefully-selected samples are cut and collated into continuously shifting phrases that can be intuitively understood.  I’m surprised at the mileage the duo can get out of something like a few bars of shamison music or whatever the bamboo-sounding percussion is in track five.  Generally I prefer music that feels more carefully composed, as opposed to “jammed,” but the good source material and playful feel make this easy to recommend.

 [YouTube] Hifana - Wamono

[Artist Website] http://www.hifana.com/

Hifana – Channel H [2005]

01 - Channel Push Breakin'

02 - Wamono

03 - Mr. Beer

04 - See'em

05 - Tanglang

06 - Now Thinking

07 - Nampooh

08 - Now Playing

09 - Ryukyu Long Board

10 - Akero

11 - Raggachin H

12 - Waiyandub

13 - www.Hifana.Com

14 - Peeteejay

15 - Asalato

Machines of Loving Grace [1991]

By the mid nineties every major label had an industrial pop rock band in their back pocket, cleaning up the disposable cash of NIN and White Zombie fans.  Not all of the bands probably deserved the attention they received.  Machines of Loving Grace benefitted modestly from that trend, if mostly from track they had on The Crow soundtrack.  Really, Machines of Loving Grace is a rare case of a 90s industrial rock band that should have – and, I think, could have – been bigger. 

I like this album the best, their 1991 self titled debut on the then-still-indie Mammoth Records.  It’s easy to draw comparison between this album and Pretty Hate Machine.  Hard rock guitars, programmed drums, samples, synth, occasionally processed vocals, check, check, check, check, check, but beside the point.  What makes the albums kindred is the quality of pop songcraft.  While most of their peers were reveling in the mechanical coolness of electronic music production, MOLG created not necessarily warm, but at least human sounding music, with real hooks and catchy choruses.  And, unlike a lot of studio-based artists of the time, it sounds like an actual band.

 

Rumor has it that the demo submitted to Mammoth Records consisted of the very same audio tracks that were released as this record.  That may explain why the recording lacks a robust bottom end, but otherwise sounds good for an 8-track garage recording.

[Youtube] Burn Like Brilliant Trash (at Jackie's funeral)

Machines of Loving Grace [1991]

01 - Burn Like Brilliant Trash (at Jackie’s Funeral)

02 - Cicciolina

03 - Rite of Shiva

04 - Lipstick 66

05 - X-Insurrection

06 - Content

07 - Weatherman

08 - Terminal City

09 - Number Nine

Ulver – A Quick Fix of Melancholy [2003]

So Ulver just came out with a new album and it’s pretty good!  Thing is, those guys are so talented, I can’t help but be a bit disappointed at “pretty good.”

It reminded me that I haven’t posted any Ulver on this blog, so here: A Quick Fix of Melancholy.  This 2003 EP is has been described as neoclassical, but that’s just because it makes heavy use of symphonic pads and some string samples.  The melodic line of each song isn’t explored or expanded, but left to unreel into the dark and cavernous space around each track.  Too repetitive and dynamically sparse to be classical, but too eventful to edge into ambient territory, I guess this could be triangulated by Nico, Coil, and Arvo Part. 

[Youtube] Ulver – Little Blue Bird 

[Artist Site] http://www.jester-records.com/ulver/ulver.html

Ulver – A Quick Fix of Melancholy

01 - Little Blue Bird

02 - Doom Sticks

03 - Vowels

04 - Eitttlane

Strength in Numbers – The Telluride Sessions [1989]

First, I’ll let the lineup speak for itself:

Sam Bush - fiddle/mandolin

Jerry Douglas – dobro

Bela Fleck - guitar/banjo

Edgar Meyer – bass

Mark O'Connor - fiddle/guitar/mandolin

Strength in Numbers was a one-off project for some of the most highly regarded current blue/newgrass musicians. Yet for all the star power, the music never feels like there are too many cooks in the kitchen.  In fact, save for a few somber numbers, the album is surprisingly breezy and relaxed, though the careful listener will quickly appreciate the firm structure beneath each track.  It’s a testament to the collaboration that for all the virtuosity on display, it never becomes overbearing, and individual ego seems to take a back seat to making good music.

[Youtube] Strength in Numbers - One Winter's Night

Strength in Numbers – The Telluride Sessions [1989]

01 - Future Man

02 - Texas Red

03 - Pink Flamingos

04 - Duke and Cookie

05 - One Winter's Night

06 - Macedonia

07 - The Lochs of Dread

08 - No Apologies

09 - Slopes

10 - Blue Men of the Sahara

Ferrari Mediafire

Oh hi there.   I've decided to pull this blog out of cryogenic stasis.  THIS FUTURE WORLD IS FRIGHTENING AND UNFAMILIAR.  I've also decided to switch to Mediafire for hosting my files.  Still using zip files, though.  If you don't like it, feel free to bite my frozen ballsack.

Winter Solstice IX Compilation

Presenting Ferrari Naptime's first seasonal compilation! This is a roundup of tracks from each of the artists featured on this blog from the previous season.  At my current rate of output, The vernal equinox compilation will be an EP.

For the uninitiated, simply click on the album title above the tracklisting, choose "free user," wait the required 95 seconds, and then click "download." Unzip and feel free to lambaste my musical tastes!

Winter Solstice IX
01 - Guillaume Dufay - J'ay Mis Mon Cuer
02 - Soil & Pimp Sessions - Crush!
03 - Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rise Up With Fists
04 - Grace Jones - Private Life
05 - Needle Sharing - Yellow Pages [task force mix]
06 - Old Crow Medicine Show - James River Blues
07 - Meg Lee Chin - Heavy Scene
08 - Kaki King - Close Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames
09 - Trollfest - Der Jegermeister
10 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Little Demon
11 - Maruosa - Death Stretch
12 - Error - Nothing's Working
13 - Cubanate - Vortech I
14 - Carpathian Forest - Start Up The Incinerator (Here Comes Another Useless Fool)
15 - Blind Lemon Jefferson - Matchbox Blues
16 - Gridlock - Cramp
17 - The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Munchen

Gridlock – Further [1999]

As the nineties drew to a close, a lot of electro-industrial acts headed for the greener pastures of IDM. This would eventually contribute to a glut of middling rhythmic noise projects, but a few gems were created in the flux of bands who remembered their Skinny Puppy roots while reaching for the erudition of Autechre. Of these gems, Gridlock’s Further might be the crown jewel. Some of the songs consist only of wintry synth washes that evoke a tone of desolation, while other tracks are obliterated by blasted, broken beats of sculpted white noise. Gridlock’s later work would emphasize this ambient aspect while using a more conventional midtempo rhythmic structure, but here the beats are ugly and extravagant.

It’s hard to believe this was released ten years ago. Unfortunately, the intervening years have seen Gridlock’s ambient/noisy duality contribute to the dumb powernoise cliché of alternating soft and loud tracks on an album. Parties guilty of following that trope should take another listen to this album and hear how it's done.

[YouTube] Gridlock – Sever

Gridlock – Further [1999]
01 - From Zero
02 - Ash
03 - [Untitled]
04 - Sever
05 - [Untitled]
06 - Cramp
07 - Without
08 - [Untitled]
09 - Here
10 - Further
11 - Egeszeges
12 - Scrape
13 - Under
14 - Ash [KSP remix]
15 - Enzyme [Dryft remix]

Blind Lemon Jefferson – King of the Country Blues [1990] (Compilation of songs from the late 1920s)

In the first few decades of this century, most commercial blues singers were women – Bessie Smith and Ma Rainy are two well-known examples.  Noted for his intricate guitar technique, Blind Lemon Jefferson was one of the first men to find success in the style, and served as inspiration several other noted Texas bluesmen, including personal favorites Leadbelly and Lightnin' Hopkins.  While other musicians have adopted similar playing techniques, few choose to imitate his high, almost ghostly singing.  That’s a shame, as that lonely-sounding timbre is an appropriate fit for his mournful subject matter.
This compilation was released by Yazoo records, who at the time refused to filter the 78 RPM sources in order to minimize the hiss and pop of the records.  This means that each song emanates from beneath a light haze of noise, but in my opinion it only adds to the character of the songs.

[YouTube] Blind Lemon Jefferson – See That My Grave is Kept Clean

Blind Lemon Jefferson – King of the Country Blues
01 - That Crawlin' Baby Blues
02 - Bad Luck Blues
03 - Matchbox Blues
04 - Hot Dogs
05 - One Dime Blues
06 - Shuckin' Sugar
07 - Rabbit Foot Blues
08 - Corrina Blues
09 - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
10 - Easy Rider Blues
11 - Broke And Hungry
12 - Black Horse Blues
13 - Lonesome House Blues
14 - Oil Well Blues
15 - He Arose From the Dead
16 - Beggin' Back
17 - Prison Cell Blues
18 - Rambler Blues
19 - Gone Dead On You Blues
20 - Wartime Blues
21 - Booger Rooger Blues
22 - Right of Way Blues
23 - Big Night Blues

Soil & "Pimp" Sessions - Pimp of the Year [2006]

I've got a terrible, dirty secret....  I don't like jazz.  As far as western music is concerned, it's the only major genre that I haven't yet "cracked."  For some reason, I never found the band or artist that I could listen to long enough to temper my ear, to give me the ability to read other jazz artists.

That may have changed.  Soil & "Pimp" Sessions (I don't know what that means either) is a group of Japanese kids who play fast and tight, using considerable melodic and harmonic dissonance without losing a sense of tunefulness.  I wish I could provide a more apt description, but as I said, Jazz is a new world to me.  All I know is that this is a badass album.

[YouTube] Soil & "Pimp" Sessions - Crush

Soil & "Pimp" Sessions - Pimp of the Year

01 - Memai

02 - Summer Goddess

03 - Worldwide

04 - Crush!

05 - Sabotage

06 - Scoop Out

07 - Sahara

08 - Ha Hen (Splinter)

09 - The Black Widow Blues

10 - The White Widow

11 - I-Rony

12 - Last Long

13 - Satsuriku New Wave

Cubanate – Barbarossa [1996]

Marc Heal and Phil Barry, the duo that make up Cubanate, marry high speed techno to industrial-influenced metal, and makes a glorious racket in the process.   Guitar riffs, played both on real electric instruments and by synthesized pads (though it can be difficult to tell one from another), are cranked up to a punk rock tempo and underpinned by a furious dram machine assault.  It's notable that, at a time when most of Cubanate's coldwave peers were programming drum machines to a simple and speedy rock or dance beat, the duo were creating some brutal but complex and refined techno.

[YouTube] Cubanate – Barbarossa

Cubanate - Barbarossa
01 - Vortech I
02 - Barbarossa
03 - Joy
04 - Why Are You Here
05 - Exultation
06 - The Musclemen
07 - Come Alive
08 - Vortech II
09 - Lord of the Flies

Kaki King – Everybody Loves You (2003)

My introduction to Kaki King was a performance on Conan in 2003 or 2004.  It began inauspiciously; one young girl with her head down, hair hiding her face from the camera, slouched over an acoustic guitar held flat in her lap.  Without a word of introduction she began to play, and the sound was something I hadn’t heard before.  The song was from this, her debut album, on which every track but the last features only her solo acoustic guitar.  King often plays percussively, making liberal use of slapping and striking.  She also favors harmonic runs over traditionally strummed chords, lending the denser pieces a fragile ornamentation.  Critics have cited the lack of conventional melody as a weakness of this piece, but that seems unfair – this type of playing is more about texture and timbre than melody, though it is much more akin to folk than twelve tone music.  Those who characterize the acoustic guitar as an intimate or tender instrument may have trouble adjusting to the heady contents of this album.
I’d lost track of Kaki King in the last several years, and in doing a bit of research for this post, I found that she tours with a full band these days, and has played with the likes of the Foo Fighters and Tegan & Sara.  I’ll have to check out her latest sometime.

[YouTube] Kaki King – Close Your Eyes and You’ll Burst into Flames

Kaki King – Everybody Loves You
01 - Kewpie Station
02 - Steamed Little Juicy Bun
03 - Carmine St.
04 - Night after Sidewalk
05 - Happy As a Dead Pig In The Sunshine
06 - The Exhibition
07 - Close Your Eyes and You'll Burst Into Flames
08 - Joi
09 - Everybody Loves You
10 - Fortuna

Carpathian Forest – Fuck You All!!! Caput Tuum In Ano Est [2006]

Time for some fucking metal!  Carpathian Forest built their reputation on keeping black metal stripped down and primitive, the Great Black Hope for kvlt kids who scoffed as their once-favorite band had the temerity to grow and evolve.  However, Fuck You All!!! is punky, chunky, rock n’ roll oriented black metal that keeps riffs short and makes blastbeats a tool instead of the whole trade.  Those same kids were probably pissed upon hearing it, and with a latin subtitle that translates roughly to “Your head is up your ass,” it’s pretty obvious that the band didn’t care. 

[Youtube] Carpathian Forest – Diabolism (live version)

[MySpace] http://www.myspace.com/blackshiningleather

Carpathian Forest – Fuck You All!!! Caput Tuum In Ano Est

01 - Vi Apner Porten Til Helvete

02 - The Frostbitten Woodlands of Norway

03 - Start Up the Incinerator (Here Comes Another Useless Fool)

04 - Submit to Satan!!!

05 - Diabolism (The Seed and the Sower)

06 - Dypfryst Dette Er Mit Helvete

07 - Everyday I Must Suffer

08 - The First Cut is The Deepest

09 - Evil Egocentrical Existentialism

10 - Shut Up, There No Excuse to Live

Guillaume Dufay – Chansons [Performed by Ensemble Unicorn, 1996]

Guillaume Dufay was a fifteenth century composer who worked for most of his life in northern France.  Regarded even in his lifetime as that era's premiere composer, Dufay’s oeuvre contains elements of both the high Medieval and early Renaissance, managing the difficult balancing act of innovating while staying rooted in tradition, and getting contemporaries to appreciate it.

The songs presented on this album are secular, and consequently are more forward-looking.  The track list alternates between instrumental and vocal performances, though it must be said that the vocal pieces best display the rich and tuneful polyphony for which Dufay is known.  The instrumental tracks muddy the interplay of voices (at least to my uncouth modern ear), but the use of period instruments is still a treat.

[Youtube] Dufay - Ce Jour De L'an 

Guillaume Dufay – Chansons

01 - J'ay Mis Mon Cue

02 - Par Droit Je Puis Bien Complaindre

03 - Quel Fronte Signorille - La Dolce Vista

04 - Puisque Vous Estez Campieur

05 - Belle, Que Vous Ay Je Mesfait

06 - Vergene Bella

07 - Se La Face Ay Pale

08 - Donnes L'assault À Ia Fortresse

09 - Par Le Regard De Vos Beaux Yeux

10 - Resvelons Nous

11 - Ce Jour De L'an

12 - Mon Chier Amy

13 - Pour L'amour De Ma Doulce Amye

14 - Helas Mon Dueil

15 - Bon Jour, Bon Mois

16 - Resvelliés Vous Et Faites Chiere Lye

17 - Adieu Ces Bons Vins De Lannoys

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat [2005]

Critics will tell you that Jenny Lewis has a voice that is too sweet for an alt-country chanteuse.  They’re not wrong – Lewis does have a sweet voice, but don’t get that confused with weak.  I like the pack-a-day drawl of some of country’s underground matriarchs, but the intimate atmosphere of this record is engendered in no small part by keeping the drama in the lyrics, not in her voice.  For all of the darkness in the libretto – autobiographical tales of broken families, grappling with apostasy – it is never grim.  That’s a  tough trick to pull off.

[YouTube] Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins – Rise Up with Fists

 [MySpace] http://www.myspace.com/jennylewismusic

[Official Site] http://www.jennylewis.com/

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat

 01 - Run Devil Run

02 - The Big Guns

03 - Rise Up With Fists

04 - Happy

05 - The Charging Sky

06 - Melt Your Heart

07 - You Are What You Love

08 - Rabbit Fur Coat

09 - Handle With Care

10 - Born Secular

11 - It Wasn't Me

12 - Happy (Reprise)

Error [2004]

Error is a studio project helmed by Atticus Ross of 12 Rounds and NIN, his brother Leo, and Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion and founder of Epitaph records.  What’s more, they managed to entice Greg Puciato from Dillinger Escape Plan to undertake vocal duties.  What I love about this EP is that each artist adds what I like best about him to each track.  Each song contains a memorable hook thanks to Mr. Brett’s songwriting, which is then sliced and diced into a digital cacophony of cutup guitar riffs and urgent jungle-influenced beats by the Ross brothers.  The vocals are wisely left unprocessed, giving a sense of cohesiveness and melodic contour to songs that might have been too hard to decipher for the punks who don’t typically listen to digital hardcore flavored aggro.  Not to mention, it’s Greg Puciato!  Why would you fuck with his voice?

It’s a damn shame that Error left us with only this five track EP and little hope for future releases.  Still, considering NIN’s imminent hiatus, there is a slim possibility that there may be some life left in this project yet.  Yeah, right after the third 12 Rounds album drops.

[YouTube] Burn in Hell and Jack the Ripper

Error

01 - Nothing's Working

02 – Homicide (999 cover)

03 - Burn In Hell

04 - Jack The Ripper

05 - Brains Out

Trollfest – Villanden [2009]

As you can see from the album cover above, Trollfest is not a band that takes itself too seriously.  The lyrics, which are a combination of two languages I don’t know and one that’s made up, are purportedly about drinking, trolls, and drinking too much.  I like all three of those things, so I can’t help but dig this album.  Unlike Finntroll, to whom Trollfest is often compared, there are no synthesized sounds (at least that I can discern) on this album.  Instead, the horns, accordion, and acoustic strings are all the real deal.  For some reason, this goes down easier than Finntroll’s arguably more catchy tunes.  The only drawback in my mind is the unrelenting death metal vocals which can dampen much of the melodic content of the songs, as they are always foremost in the mix and rarely silent.

[YouTube] Trollfest – Der Jegermeister

[MySpace] http://www.myspace.com/trollfest

Trollfest – Villanden [2009]

01 - Wo Bin Ich Jetz Aufgewacht

02 - Der Jegermeister

03 - Uraltes Elemente

04 - Villanden

05 - Per, Pål Og Brakebeins Abenteuer

06 - Das Uhr Ist Skandaløst Schändlich

07 - God Fart

08 - Festival

09 - En Ny Erfaring

10 - Trinkenvisen

11 - Die Kirche Undt Der Mache

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Mutations EP [2009]

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble’s first self-titled LP on Ad Noiseam sounds like what you would expect from a jazz band on a dark electro label – plaintive horns atop subterranean drones and subdued violins, underpinned with percussion that weaves between quiet brush strokes and clicky IDM.  It’s good stuff, but I wasn’t terribly excited by the band until I heard this year’s Mutations EP.  

Mutations sheds much of the jazz trappings from the first album favor of languorous tones, acoustic and electric, draped over minimal electronic percussion.  I can’t disagree with anyone who would call this a collection of ambient music – on paper it certainly sounds like it - but ambient to me has always equated to “low impact” and this is anything but.  Lush sweeps of sound slide slowly atop each other like cirrus clouds, evoking candlelight and shadow and humid summer nights.  Each song is impelled by the largely unobtrusive percussion that nevertheless manages to help build the tracks to a climax that is subtle and so long in coming that when the harmonic or melodic tension is resolved, it comes as a surprise to the listener just how invested he or she had become in the buildup.

TKDE have a new album, Here be Dragons, coming out in October, for which this EP is intended to be a bridge.  Download this, and then preorder that when you find out how great this is.

[Youtube] The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Shadows

[MySpace] http://www.myspace.com/tkde

  

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Mutations EP

01 - Caos Calmo

02 - München

03 - Serpents

04 - Twisted Horizons

05 - Shadows

06 - Symmetry of 6's

07 - Horns of King David

08 - Avian Lung

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – Cow Fingers and Mosquito Pie [1991; compilation of songs from the 1950s]

Jay Hawkins is oftentimes regarded as the first ‘shock rocker’ and there may be something to the claim. He’s remembered as much for his voodoo-themed stage shows, which opened with Hawkins rising from a coffin and brandishing a staff mounted with a smoking skull named Henry (and when I say smoking, I mean a cigarette), as he is for his musical output. There’s nothing particularly special about the R&B and early rock n’ roll that forms the foundation for each tune on this album, but what has made Hawkins enduring as well as endearing is his outlandish vocal delivery, which ranges from a melodramatic vibrato to howls and guttural grunts. It’s shtick, pure and simple, but the lightheartedness and sense of joy in each song is irresistible. Even though the minor hit, Constipation Blues doesn’t appear on in this collection, the disc is still guaranteed to cure a shitty day.

YouTube - Live Performance of I Put A Spell On You

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – Cow Fingers and Mosquito Pie

01 - Little Demon

02 - You Ain't Foolin' Me

03 - I Put A Spell On You

04 - You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It)

05 - Yellow Coat

06 - Hong Kong

07 - There's Something Wrong With You

08 - I Love Paris

09 - Orange Colored Sky

10 - Alligator Wine

11 - Darling, Please Forgive Me

12 - Take Me Back To My Boots And Saddle

13 - Temptation

14 - Frenzy

15 - Person To Person

16 - Little Demon (Alternate Take)

17 - I Put Spell On You (Alternate Take)

18 - There's Something Wrong With You (Alternate Take)

19 - Alligator Wine (Alternate Take)

Meg Lee Chin – Piece and Love [1999]

Contrary to popular opinion, Invisible Records has hosted some amazing bands over the years (though I don’t really consider Pigface to be one). One of my favorites is solo artist Meg Lee Chin, who has unfortunately released only one full-length LP of original material. This is 1999’s Piece and Love, a short but sweet ride through prime nineties techno-industrial rock. The album sidesteps coldwave territory by keeping guitars spare and largely in the background. The focus of most songs are on the percussion (no surprise on a Martin Atkins-produced disc) and on Meg’s voice, which admittedly isn’t special, but can deliver the pop hooks that really make this album stand out from the pack. I don’t really think this is the best album to come from the Invisible roster, but it certainly is one that best balances accessibility, songcraft, and some very crisp production values.

MySpace for Meg Lee Chin

Meg Lee Chin – Piece and Love [1999]
01 - Thing

02 - Heavy Scene
03 - Nutopia
04 - Sweat
05 - Swallowing You
06 - Sweet Thing
07 - Bottle
08 - London
09 - Deeper
10 - Swallowing You [Subgenius Mix]

Needle Sharing – My Kind Came First [2001]

Roland Danielzig, the man behind Needle Sharing, is a friend of Panacea’s Mathias Mootz, and it’s not difficult to see why. Both projects feature heavily distorted drum ‘n bass beats over spacey and discordant samples. My Kind Came First has even been accused of being Low Profile Darkness Jr. four years too late, but the accusation is unfair. Needle Sharing’s disc trims away a lot of the late 90s/early 00s dnb trappings – you won’t find the squiggly subbass or hoover sweeps that date Panacea’s records of the same era. Instead, the beats are monolithic, the melody minimal, and bass clipped. My Kind Came First gained a lot of traction with the powernoise crowd, though for some reason I don’t hear it talked about much today. Hopefully that just means I’m hanging out with the wrong crowd, because this album sounds just as fresh today as it did 8 years ago.

Note: If the tracklisting comes across as homophobic, take comfort in the knowledge that the titles are ironic; Danielzig has verified on several occasions that he is in fact a “huge queer.”

[YouTube] Needle Sharing - Yellow Pages

Needle Sharing – My Kind Came First [2001]

01 - Kick Start
02 - Yellow Pages (Task-Force-Mix)
03 - Overload
04 - Club Empty
05 - Gay Crisis
06 - Post Trauma
07 - Club Empty (Gay-Bashers United mix by Panacea)
08 - My Kind