Chem-Farmer

!!!! Thee Oh Sees make me wanna scream !!!! But seriously, this prolific San Fran band is headed by frontman John Dwyer,keyboardist/singer Brigid Dawson, bassist Petey Dammit, and drummer Mike Shoun. With unspeakable chemistry and an instinctual bond that borders on telepathic, the band has taken its wildly cacophonous and setlist-free live show to must-see status, turning music venues populated by arm-folding spectators into anarchic riot scenes. In fact, they just played the Bug Jar this past Monday! An Oh Sees show is a place where combing the floor for your shoes when the house lights come on becomes ritualistic, where getting kicked in the face by a renegade crowd-surfer provokes a shit-eating grin instead of a scowl. Most of the band's best albums serve as recorded documents of their live sets; you can practically hear Dwyer swallowing microphones and spitting upwards to the rafters.

2011's Castlemania was the poppiest and most melodic we’d heard Thee Oh Sees yet, but Carrion Crawler/The Dream completely flips the script, capturing the range, energy, and freedom of their notoriously raging live performances in a way none of their previous records have. Recorded in June around the time of Castlemania’s release, this could be attributed to the addition of Lars Finberg (the Intelligence), who joined the band on tour as second drummer and makes his recorded debut on this release. And while Castlemania begged speakers to bubble over with eccentric effervescence, the assault of driving double-drum rhythms and scuzzy bass riffs on freakouts “Contraption/Soul Desert” and semi-eponymous “The Dream” threaten to blow them clean out.

Please rock out to Chem-Farmer below and take a peep at a video while yer at it!




Buy your own copy of Carrion Crawler/The Dream by stepping into the shop or emailing marta@alternativemusic.com

Say Somethin' (Joel Ford Revoice)

King Midas Sound is a collaboration between Kevin Martin (God, Techno Animal, the Bug) and vocalists Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi. They came out in 2007 on the Soul Jazz Records compilation, Box of Dub. KMS linked with Kode9’s Hyperdub label, where they made their proper debut in October 2008 with “Cool Out,” a relatively rugged A-side backed by remixes (of tracks that had yet to be released) from Dabrye and Flying Lotus. Another 12”, Dub Heavy: Hearts & Ghosts, came in June 2009, containing dub versions of tracks that -- once again -- had not been released in original form. The despondent “Meltdown” led off October 2009’s 5 Years of Hyperdub compilation and previewed Waiting for You, King Midas Sound's debut album, released the following month. For me, this was quite a distinctive album of the time due to its throbbing bass (in a non-cheezy dub-step kind of way), vocal treatments and how it sounded like hip hop or R&B of the future.

Now we have Without You, a remix album two years after the fact. It's not really a track-by-track revisit, and there's a deep focus on some songs in particular-- like the Kiki Hitomi feature "Goodbye Girl", which gets three different reinterpretations from three different remixers. Each mixer brings a special treatment--either minimizing the song even more, such as with Flying Lotus' version of Lost, which also features the record player static featured on his own songs. I really dig it when I can hear the remixer's touch or even a complete reconfiguration to the original, rather than just as extended version of the song, as we used to hear with 80's 12 inch dance singles. It's another ball game entirely on Without You. There are "remixes" and "revoices" by the likes of Flying Lotus, Scritti Politti's Green Gartside, Ford & Lopatin's Joel Ford, Gang Gang Dance, Cooly G, D-bridge, and Kuedo to name a few. This album is a bad-ass, I highly recommend it. Then you should go back and listen to the original. Nothing else really sounds like this at the moment in the shop.

Listen to Joel Ford's revoiceing of "Say Somethin'" here


Buy your copy of Without You here. or email marta@alternativemusic.com

Angel Is Broken

Bradford Cox is an interesting fellow. When he is not busy with Deerhunter, he sings atop his solo project, Atlas Sound. Parallax is the third official release and in case you were wondering, refers to the visual phenomenon that affects the perception of objects’ relative positions depending on the viewer’s distance from them, a term typically used when speaking about stars. Yet, it seems like an appropriate title; Cox references distance, motion, and emotion on this set of songs, oscillating between the sparkling pop he does so well with this project as well as Deerhunter and the hazy experiments that are all Atlas Sound. He seamlessly moves between blurry edges and glorious pop. I was already getting the inkling that he is the next Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous) and on this record, I hear it even more, but sans precious xylophones and 4-track hiss. But that tenderness, that vulnerability and vocal experimentation between light and affected, sneers and melody that Linkous characterized can be heard through Cox. I don't know what his official position on Sparklehorse is and for my purposes it doesn't matter--the similar vein alone is enough to fulfill my interests and to see Bradford Cox as someone special amidst the many trending musicians now.

Parallax feels like a more complete work than any other Atlas Sound record, with the differences between the songs less distinct and everything flowing together more naturally. There are no such loose strands here, and the closing "Lightworks" ends the album wonderfully with a tremoloed guitar shuddering against Cox's hankering vocals. There's no kraut-rock-y jam this time, like the one from the last album, with Laetitia Sadier, which kind of disappointed me, but, to have another song like that just for the sake of it wouldn't be a good move either. That lightness of touch is on display throughout this album, bringing the listener closer to Cox's brittle self-examination. I don't know what it is about Cox that seems so small, alone, and cut adrift from the world, but the way these songs breathe suggests he's more comfortable in his own skin, allowing him to draw his audience closer than ever. It's that artist-created inner world that gives the work a sense of authenticity and honesty. You just can't fake that tenderness.

Picking a stand apart track doesn't seem right, but hey, take a stab at "Angel Is Broken".


Buy your copy of Atlas Sound Parallax here.

Raconte-Moi Une Histoire

M83's Anthony Gonzalez is back with Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, a delightful synth pop gem, spanning more sounds and moods than any of M83's previous work, resulting in a collection of impressionistic moments rather than a grand statement. My first impressions of it were somewhat blase, a bit too heavy handedly ripping off the 80s, particularly Men At Work, but upon subsequent listenings, I found it to be an album channeling our inner child, trying to tap our psyche and get us to feel both exaltation and melancholia, focusing us on memories of when we were young and felt optimism towards the world and that anything was possible. Surprising to me, I read that this album was heavily influenced by Smashing Pumpkin's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness! We still hear the familiar vocal stylings that Gonzalez sings and Zola Jesus' Nika Rosa Danilova sings on the opening track, "Intro". He also takes us through tender piano, slap bass, sax solos (so Clarence Clemens!), and children's choir. Somehow it works across this double album because it is polished and it is clear that Gonzalez has honed in the sounds he has already given us and he has settled into a clear artistic vision.

More than any of M83's other albums, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming feels like a destination to explore; while it may not be quite as striking as Saturdays = Youth, it delivers a welcome mix of classic sounds and promising changes.

Listen to"Raconte-Moi Une Histoire", or tell me a story, about a magical frog. Some might consider this a throwaway, but I am fascinated with songs that turn the absurd into a delight.


Buy your copy of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming here.

Talking at the Same Time

Tom Waits--that bastard, wild-eyed, character of an uncle we all wish we had is back with his first album in seven years, Bad As Me. Alongside Mr. Waits is his longtime collaborator and wife (and saint!), Kathleen Brennan, his son Casey on drums, Keith Richards, Flea, and Charlie Musselwhite, amongst a few others. As a whole, this album is filled with short songs, the longest being just over four minutes. Long time fans will find nothing terribly new here, which is not a bad thing at all. Waits is characteristically weird, tender, gruff, bluesy, and woozy. He has has formula down, however idiosyncratic it is. Most of these songs are slower love songs that trace a lineage back to his earliest material. There is less strange vaudeville akin to Frank's Wild Years than one might expect but when he caters to his more sensitive side, we see what a gem of a songwriter he is. Don't get me wrong, this is not typical songwriting, however, he sounds less like a muppet and more of an old blues singer. There's enough variation here that all that oldness and weirdness-- all those frantic, busted melodies, all that carnie growl never gets tiresome. For all his indulgences, Waits never lingers too long; these tracks are concise and expertly edited, and Bad as Me feels as new as it does ancient. It's the kind of music we're all gonna be glad we have come winter. I guarantee listening to this album is like drinking a fine bourbon.

Take a listen to the third track, Talking at the Same Time here. Get a load of Waits' take on the state of the economy set to a blues backdrop.



Buy your copy of Bad As Me here.

Kompakt's super producer Axel Willner is back, as The Field, with Looping State of Mind. I get very excited when there's a new release from this German label, as it has a pretty reliable track record of quality output. His first singles and debut album, From Here We Go Sublime, were like ambient records disguised as both experimental techno and luscious pop. On his third release, Willner orchestrates very dense soundscapes that pluck from shoe-gaze, deep house, noize, and of course, techno. It's not entirely the same repetitions one would expect from him. The rhythms on are more varied than anything the Willner's done before. He's come so far as to make his earlier albums seem like a warm up compared to level of integration and complexity he has achieved currently. On Looping he packs all seven tracks with curveballs, and each new direction feel successful, vital, surprising. I find this is an album that I need to hear played really loudly. I can't wait to get my copy and rock out to it at home!!

Listen to this jam, It's Up There.


Buy your copy of The Field's Looping State of Mind here.
or email marta@alternativemusic.com

Scale It Back

Finally!! DJ Shadow seems to be back in his skin, with The Less You Know is Better, his latest release. My initial reaction was that it sounds like someone put their arms around him and shook him the crunk out of him and now he is back to his old self. The only travesty is that it took so long to get there...several albums have passed since The Private Press, the last album I bought. Less You know picks up where the Private Press left off, as it is reminscent of that sound and also of his collaboration with James LaVelle with UNKLE. Pitchfork panned this album, giving it only a 4.5, but then again, I am assuming that the average age of the reviewer is about 23-25 and they wouldn't have been really into the emergence of Shadow back in 1996. In 2011, every new band has to be hip, cool, a throwback to what young 20-something can understand. For all of us who are in our thirties and beyond, this might be the album for you!

In case anyone needs a refresher, DJ Shadow, nee Josh Davis, was a key figure in developing the experimental instrumental hip-hop style associated with the London-based Mo' Wax label. His early singles for the label, including "In/Flux" and "Lost and Found (S.F.L.)," were all-over-the-map mini-masterpieces combining elements of funk, rock, hip-hop, ambient, jazz, soul, and used-bin finds. There was nothing really like in the early 1990's. When his sound began to mature, Mo Wax released the 40 minute opus, "What Does Your Soul Look Like" in 1995, a heady concept for a hip hop instrumental, yet topping the British Charts!

Davis grew up in Hayward, California, a suburb of San Francisco. He had already been fiddling around with making beats and breaks on a four-track while he was in high school, but it was his move to the Northern California town of Davis to attend university that led to the establishment of his own Solesides label as an outlet for his original tracks. There he hooked up with b-boys and Blackalicious and Lyrics Born, and through college radio his mixtapes were heard and began spreading around the hip-hop underground. Shadow's first full-length, Endtroducing..., was released in late 1996 to immense critical acclaim in Britain and America. Preemptive Strike, a compilation of early singles, followed in early 1998.

Fast Forward to 2011, Shadow is back on his turntables, scrounging up countless bits and pieces of vinyl history. The Less You Know...is his first studio album in five years and sounds closer to his humble beginnings than the past couple albums. This is quite a contrast from the previous album, which was heavily rap based. Instead, Shadow focuses on plumbing the depths of his record collection, occasionally flashing and scratching like in his salad days, but just as often pulling slabs of forgotten wax -- metal riffs, piano balladry, bygone acid-rock burnouts, crystalline female folkies -- to state his case for him.

One such vocal, "Scale it Back" features the sultry voice of Little Dragon's Yumiki Nagano. Take a listen here.



Buy your copy of The Less You Know here.