REVIEWS

Bill Callahan Shedding the "Smog" moniker Bill Callahan brings us his 12th full-length. "Woke on a Whaleheart" sounds like - well - Smog. Smog getting older maybe. Neil Hagerty of Royal Trux-fame assisted with arrangement and production which is as straight-forward as the song writing. Old fans of Smog won't be let down, nor will they be particularly pleasantly surprised. While the album has a strong country feel and incorporates some very slight gospel influence, Bill's overall essence lopes toward the more boring reaches of "indie singer-songwriter" as it gets less creative. If this album wasn't by Bill Callahan I probably wouldn't recommend it, but as he has a long history of making stellar music, it's interesting to hear as a piece of his development as an artist. Maybe this would be really good summer night driving music if I had a car. And if it was the 90s. But I don't have a car, so I think this would be a good gift for your friend who just turned 32 and has been kind of boring for a few years or else maybe your cousin who's in high school. It ain't bad! :: Bill Callahan: Woke on a Whaleheart- Drag City/Rough Trade.

Boris w/M.Kurihara Was hätten wohl Karl Heinz Stockhausen und Frank Zappa gemeinsam, wenn beide Japanischer Herkunft wären und auf Deep Purple und Richie Blackmores Rainbow stehen würden. Boris, die Band mit dem Namen nach einem spätachtziger Album der Melvins, verbindet ihre schwermetallenen psychedelischen Ausflüge, traditionell gitarrenlastig, mit den stark rückkoppelnden Gitarrenfiguren des Michio Kurihara, ansonsten bei Ghost, Damon & Naomi und White Heaven. Rainbow ist kein typisches Boris-Album geworden, nach den bombastischen Werken Amplifier Worship, Akuma No Uta und Feedbacker bleibt Rainbow größtenteils ruhig, melodisch, sehr melancholisch, folkig, wie im Song You Laughed Like A Watermark, dessen japanischer Text ich leider nicht verstehen kann, der aber so wehmütig gesungen klingt, als wäre Sänger Takeshi Elvis in Can´t Help Falling In Love. Im Instrumental Sweet No. 1 zeigt sich, warum Ghost nicht auf Michio Kurihara verzichten können, und warum er hier auch für Boris eine Bereicherung darstellt: Die fuzzigen Gitarrenschrapnelle - so schneidend wie ein Santoku Hocho - scheinen ihm mühelos elektrifiziert aus den Handgelenken zu strahlen. Und so klingt Rainbow eher nach den japanischen Ghost, nach deren Meisterwerk Hypnotic Underworld, nach Frank Zappa in Hot Rats, nach Deep Purple in Child In Time und Lazy. :: Boris w/Michio Kurihara: Rainbow - Drag City/Rough Trade

Death Vessel Joel Thibodeau is an excellent solo performer, playing raw and dark country-influenced guitar songs, sung by his oft-confused-for-a-woman's voice that is odd and amazing. His songs are well crafted and eloquent and seeing him live in an intimate setting is captivating. Stay Close doesn't do justice to Death Vessel largely due to its production which sounds all wrong. Also, the arrangements and guest singers are not quite at the level Joel's song writing is at. This album has its moments for sure, but I'd highly recommend seeing him live before you judge him by this one. :: Death Vessel: Stay Close - ATP/Rough Trade

Von SparMir persönlich gefällt die neue, zweite Von Spar Scheibe so gut, dass mir der Spruch auf den Lippen liegt: Macht doch einfach weiter so. Sollnse doch dürfen. Ein Album, zwei Tracks, Xaxapoya, der erste, findet seine eigentliche Basis, die zentrale Mitte ab Minute 15: And I`m searching for the beauty, searching, searching...Ein treibender Beat begleitet Sänger Tom Mahmoud, die E-Gitarre zwirbelt insich verdreht, Monotonminimalbasslauf und schwelende Keyboards suggerieren Stasis: Wir sind am Ende. Und dies ist erst der Anfang, sagt sie. Da klopft jemand an die Tür, Track Zwei Dead Voices In The Temple Of Error öffnet seine Pforten der Wahrnehmung, hereingelassen werden aber nur Gedankenströme, die in sich geschlossen und autark weiterarbeiten können, die keiner weiteren Behandlung bedürfen. Megafonstimme, relaxter Achtviertel, brummende Distortion, wir tauchen ein ins Ungewisse, in eine Gegenwart, die sie nicht verdient, unsere uneingeschränkt alerte Aufmerksamkeit. Wir sammeln und samplen die Brocken, die Bruchstücke, die Kieselsteine, und fügen sie neu ineinander in der Nacht, wenn niemand zuschaut, wenn alle beschäftigt sind, wenn alle fort sind und kein Blick zurück geworfen wird. Wir lösen uns von der Vergangenheit so gut es eben geht, wäre nicht in der Musik alle Vergangenheit eh immer auch gleichzeitig Gegenwart, und so bleibt neben der uneigeschränkten Freiheit der privaten Initiative nicht viel zu tun ausser Wasser in den Bach hinunter zu tragen, die losen Fäden und Enden zu finden, die dort rumliegen, sie aufzuheben und neu zu knüpfen, sich Ruhe und Zeit zum Formen nehmen, auch wenn die Wolken da draussen heute wiedereinmal eher dunkelgrau als blütenweiss vorbeiziehen. Zum Glück gelingt es Von Spar mit dieser Scheibe ein Zeichen zu setzen, ein Zeichen gegen das Muss, gegen das Soll, gegen das Was-Aber, gegen die Option auf Sanktion, gegen das Allgegenwärtige und Allwissende. Suchen und nicht finden können, sehen und nicht gesehenwerden, hören und nicht wahrnehmen, im dunkeln tasten und finden, nur was gefunden werden will. Weder Von Spar sind hier um etwas anderes zu versuchen, noch man selbst. Deshalb werde ich die nächste Von Spar-Scheibe wohl blind unterschreiben. Obwohl jeder sagt, dass man sowas ja niemalsnie tun sollte. Was aber auch wieder nur vom Hörensagen kommt. Blind, Blind, Blind. Gutes Stichwort übrigens. :: Von Spar: Von Spar - Tomlab/Indigo

Von SüdenfeldVon Südenfeld is, in case you didn't know, the latest collaboration between Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars reknown and Mark E. Smith, legendary singer of The Fall. I'm normally really dubious of these crossover collaboration things, they rarely seem to go beyond the sum of their parts. Von Südenfeld are pleasantly surprising in this respect. Whilst there are several tracks that sound like Mouse on Mars noodling whilst Mark E. Smith rants, there are a couple where they meld really well. Serious Brainskin is anarcho grime with the lyrics fitting adding nice rhythmic accentuation to the beats. The Young, The Faceless And The Codes is in my opinion the stand-out track. The song builds up from a disco beat adding acid house elements and vocals till we have something resembling a slicker, more danceable version of P.I.L.'s Death Disco and which by the end comes truly anthemic. It is not surprising that the best tracks are where both sides of the collaboration seem to have departed from their own familiar territory. On Tromatic Reflexxions we can see a band forming whilst still trying to shake off their pasts, for the tracks where this is pulled off this album is worth it, and hey - inbetween you get jam sessions with Mark E. Smith and Mouse on Mars, if thats your cup of tea. :: Von Südenfeld: Tromatic Reflexxions - Domino/Rough Trade

raccoo-oo-on

Raccoo-oo-oon blend wooded spiritual progressions with guitar experimentation, sometimes reminiscent of Animal Collective or Acid Mothers Temple. Often psychedelic, it also feels like something scraped up along the American landscapes on a recreational drug-use category of drugged-out roadtrip. The songs lurk strangely in post-Godspeed You! Black Emperor territory with simple guitar lines being built upon with varying degrees of epicness and strangeness as well as tribal throw-back sing-songing. This recording was originally pressed as a CDR in early 2005, now repressed here on a regular CD. I'm anxious to hear the newer offerings by this group of cave spirits. They are on their way to possibilities. :: Raccoo-oo-oon: The Cave of Spirits Forever - Time-Lag Records

Dinosaur Jr.Über die neue Scheibe von Dinosaur Jr. berichten, respektive in der wiedervereinten Originalbesetzung - J. Mascis, Murph, Lou Barlow -, lässt sich nur an einem solch sonnigen Tag wie heute, am Besten zur Musik von Barbara Carlotti, dem in Harmonik und Lässigkeit gleichenden Äquivalent. Ungleich vieler vorangegangener Dinosaur Jr Alben wie Bug oder Green Mind umgibt Beyond eine perfekte schillernd-homegene Eleganz, diese unbeschreibliche Leichtigkeit, die schlicht verblüfft, ja--, nach all den bandinternen Querelen wirken die drei Herren nun einig und zentriert. Das hört sich sehr schön an. Einzelne Songs hervorzuheben macht hier wenig sinn, denn Beyond ist ein Album-Album geworden, man hört die Scheibe entweder ganz durch oder lässt es sein. Das Video zur Single Been There All The Time wurde von Matt Dillon gedreht, es zeigt Thurston Moore samt Tochter Coco in kleinen Nebenrollen. Zuletzt gastierte J Mascis solo im Berliner Festsaal Kreuzberg, und was soll man sagen, der Mann beherrscht sein Handwerk. Stuhl, Akustik-Gitarre, Rekorder für die Loops - J Mascis braucht nicht viel Gerätschaften, um Präsenz und Komplexität, Schwingung und Identität zu vermitteln. Irgendwie lässt sich wohl über jedes Dinosaur Jr Album sagen es sei das Beste bisher, Beyond gehört hier und heute aber in jedem Fall dazu. :: Dinosaur Jr: Beyond - Pias

ThilgesIf world peace were achieved through the perfect understanding of differences in music theory and approach, Thilges would be paving the way for a brighter, better future. La Double Absence is self-described as Western experimental music meets oriental art music. Persian vocalist Zohre Jooya and renowned Oud-player Asim Al-Chalabi worked with the Austrian ensemble to bring together expertise from east, west, now, yesterday and tomorrow. The complex meolodies, eastern pop hooks, and delicate electronic instrumentation are as contemporary as they are traditional. Nobel-Peace-Prize 2007. :: Thilges: La Double Absence - Staubgold/Hausmusik/A-Musik

Hafler Trio

"Something approached, and it was embraced, thorns piercing the anonymous functions and the ways in which all the secrets had been help in high esteem. traces of the places yet to come, and those to be left far behind. the first outing in the digital domain, and all the difference the day made when it appeared, startling those in need of a jolly good lie down. and so it went, out with the new and in with the old. dressed up to the (significant number), polished so that even the lowliest louse can admire themselves in the obsidian entities we call an aid to beauty. without a doubt, the flowering of nothing evil, but certainly the full spectrum of the shades. and a small wander through some of them. unable to be be defeated, it carries on with a huge flag at the beginning of the procession." — Hafler Trio ::

It always irritates me to hear the phrase 'let the music speak for itself'. It obstinately refuses to acknowledge that the relationship between sound and the listener is mediated by countless preconceptions, preconceptions so strong as to determine whether the listener hears anything in the sound at all. I say this, for the Hafler Trio provides the perfect antithesis to such short-sightedness. From the moment one picks up a Hafler Trio release one is inundated with (dis)information designed to confront expectations and mould a context for the sounds one will hear. Ignotum Per Ignotius [unknown to the very unknown], the seventh re-release by Korm Plastics (originally released 1989 by Touch), comes (like the previous six) in beautifully sumptuous packaging and with an accompanying booklet of mythical looking prints and short stories - all of which are written in reverse. The stories are all childlike in nature but with a dark symbolism always just beneath the surface. They are also, as with much Andrew McKenzie does, soaked in wit (something sadly often missed in his work). The mirror reading exercise, which I initially thought a somewhat conceptual point, actually proved to add a great deal to the stories. The physicality of the text, as it floated around on the dirty mirror, was very much felt in the process of reading, making the experience feel singular and unique and perfectly preparing for the CD. I do not feel I can really comment much upon the audio on the CD other than saying that the contrasts are perhaps more pronounced and shocking than most other Hafler Trio releases. There would be no point trying to describe the sounds as beautiful, ugly, pleasant or unpleasant, for although they are all of these things, this proves inconsequential as regards their efficiency. All I will say is that as a means of communication the Hafler Trio's work generally, with adequate concentration, succeeds, this work being no exception; I cannot say what it communicates, but then if I could there would be no such need for the means employed. Andrew Mackenzie is neither an artist nor a musician but one feels that he succeeds in delivering what both fields promise and almost always fail to deliver, namely a medium created to fulfil its own communicative demands. You would be fools not to buy up his back-catalogue given that you have a second chance. :: The Hafler Trio: Ignotum Per Ignotius - Korn Plastics/A-Musik