Rock /
Bored
American group Destroy All Monsters caused quite a stir when they first appeared in the UK. Featuring guitarist Mike Davis who had previously played in The MC5, Ron Asheton, bass player from The Stooges and drummer Rob King, the band were completed by vocalist and ex-model Niagara. Despite all of this, the band recorded only three singles for Cherry Red, all of which are contained on this mid-price CD.
Scales
*Orange Vinyl* Like a would-be soundtrack to some forgotten Wagnerian saga, Mythical Beast's debut full-length unleashes sonic elements akin to trudging minions in an epic struggle for tonal supremacy. This bloodless battle is for hearts and minds though, and is shot through with majesty and pathos. It's no wonder that a trio commanding this type of simple yet nuanced compositional energy would risk life and limb crossing the New Orleans "security" perimeter one month post-Katrina to rescue thei…
Genclik Ile Elele
Regarded by collectors of Anatolian rock as The Daddy of all Turkish rarities, this instrumental record from 1973 has to be heard to believed and even then it’s unbelievable. Either these guys had time machines or DJ Kool Herc had secret Eastern connections. Ten tracks of swinging hybrid grooves that run from blues to jazz to folk to soul to kraut, Latin, African and beyond. Rare grooves, indeed.
Ersen
Sixteen schizoid slices of Arabesque Funk Rock from the silver-tongued chameleon of the electric Anatolia Pop Movement. Featuring LES MOGUL, ZAFER DILEK, KARDASLAR and members of the BARIS MANCO BAND. "Yo Ersen music is ridiculous dope!!!! I'd love to flip this!!!!!" —Oh No (Stones Throw).
LA Dusseldorf
"Continuing in his more energetic, punky side two of Neu! 75, Klaus Dinger recorded three stunning albums as La Dusseldorf, including Viva (1978) and Individuellos (1981) all remastered and reissued on Warner’s German label, and available at Die Schachtel. With his singing and relatively catchy melodies, some might argue that these albums have as much to do with Krautrock as Kraftwerk’s late 70s synth albums. However, La Dusseldorf has too long been ignored, and have enough in common with Ne…
You Are The One I Pick
"Nottingham duo Felix make their Kranky debut with this fine and idiosyncratic collection of songs. The main focus here is the vocal/piano/cello talents of Lucinda Chua, whose sparse yet quirk-loaded minimalism receives guitar and bass backing from Chris Summerlin, who's probably best known for his work in the rock band Lords. Chua's writing is quite unlike anything else currently out there; her lyrics convey strange or often very simple, domesticated ideas delivered in a pared-down, plaintive f…
Prince Of Truth
Beginning with her first Constellation release in 2006, Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista project has steadily been gaining recognition for its complex beauty and fierce, raging appeals. Bozulich has been knocking these and many other ideas into form for two decades (Neon Veins, Ethyl Meatplow, The Geraldine Fibbers, Scarnella). Evangelista is the best and the brightest, filled with adventurous risk taking that sometimes whispers and licks, sometimes pulls the listener so close that it is hard to bre…
Festival
"The songs on Festival may sound chaotic, but actually they are pretty structured. each song has certain goal-posts that we have to execute precisely. a melodic idea, or a rhythmic idea, or some sort of event that has to be synchronized with the other members. at the same time though, the songs allow for free improvisation within certain sections. a lot of these ideas came from our interest and love of free-jazz. particularly the late-era recordings of John Coltrane." - Joseph Kim, guitarist & v…
Sun Awakens
Ben Chasny has busied himself releasing a solid run of outsider folk records for some time now; ‘The Sun Awakens’ is his eighth full-length outing and thankfully it shows no signs of Chasny letting his quality control wane. As he explored on his last Drag City release ‘School of the Flower’, Chasny has again employed a handful of collaborators to fill-out his unique sound with percussion and odd instruments – yet this doesn’t distil the fact that the record is totally his own. "The Sun Awakens" …
Broken Mirrors: rehearsals and shows 1977/1978
Broken Mirrors/Rehearsal & Shows 1977-'78" These are the earliest recordings of DAM's first lineup, w/Niagra, Ron Asheton (STOOGES), Michael Davis , Larry Miller, Ben Miller & Rob King. They were made on a Teac 1/4" reel to reel 2 track & contain covers; Stooges "Little Doll" & Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots" & some originals the band was working on from the Fall of '77 to Fall '78
Fools Meeting
Pretty solid blues and r&b with a lot of jazz influences. Many of the band members would go on to other London jazz outfits like Caravan and Hatfield and the North. The most interesting feature of this album is the Grace Slick-like lead female vocals. "Bllinded to Your Light" is a fantastic opener with great sax and piano. "Home Made Ruin" is not too good, but the next track, "Is it Really the Same" has some really solid psych guitar. Most of the rest of the album follows the style of the first…
Overloaded Ark
A sequel to last year's eponymous debut as a duo, this new Drag City LP from Espers cellist Helena Espvall and Ghost's Masaki Batoh delves even deeper into traditional and ancient musics, making use of an armoury of instruments that extends beyond 'mildly obscure' (renaissance harp, sho, hurdy gurdy, etc) and enters into the realm of 'are you sure you haven't just made that up?' (auschpfeife, crumhorn, cornamuse, rig and darbuka). On hand to assist in this piece of instrumental archeology is anc…
Live At F.W.
Cassette only - limited edition of 250 copies. A: Part One. B: Part Two. Cover features an illustration by SaxX, after Martin Sharp. Who on earth are The Van Patterson Quartet? The Tapeworm stumbled upon the lost psych rock recording, 'Live at F.W.' by The Van Patterson Quartet, late during a sleepless night. A link started a chain of events the Wormery would not sleep until the answer had been found! 'Who on earth are The Van Patterson Quartet?' we asked ourselves We sent out feelers via our co…
A Long Way Around To A Shortcut
Ever shrouded, serpentine by design, the legend of the Sic Alps has at last made its way to the gates of Drag City. The new, first-time-ever-on-vinyl 2xLP reissue of A Long Way Around To A Shortcut is somehow a 'greatest hits' of the golden not-quite-decade of Sic Alps. Well, not quite golden, either. Can gold be tarnished? Can it be done on purpose? If so, Sic Alps are artisans of the highest order -- for their music is the bright, surging sound of ye olde rock and roll radio (and the garages t…
Leopard On My Right
The Liars have a great 7" picture disc and DVD set thing out. It looks great and if you're a fan of the Liars you'll be murderizing people to get your hands on this filthy sex pest of a thing. Musically it sounds just like early Neubauten... dark clattering lofi industrial sounding gear with some nods to Confusion Is Sex era Sonic Youth. Always a good thing. Leopard On My Right is well tasty...
Shelter From The Ash
This feat. a most fluid combination of electric & acoustic styles. Feat. Elisa Ambrogio (MAGIK MARKERS), Tim Green (FUCKING CHAMPS) & Noel Harmonson (COMETS ON FIRE) & Matt Sweeney. Seeking change & a fresh killing field at all costs, this fords fronts both dark & blustery, lucent & lithe, mining electricity, hydrogen & other elemental forces within.
Wild Life
Two fifteen minute plus monster jams - the first is an amazingly inspired & completely improvised wailing twin guitar, rock meditation on Paul McCartney's "Wild Life." "Black Sangria" rounds out the disc w/a completely improvised piece covered in heavy jazz fusion & free, latin jazz rock overtones. Features BEN CHASNY (SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE) on guitar. LIMITED TO 1,000 on 180g RTI vinyl.
Anthem
Now including a bonus DVD of almost 90 minutes of previously unreleased material including a 3-camera movie of the band performing their "Special Wishes" album. 3.5 hr, 44 song live documentary chronicling this band from their first shows in early '93 to their recent stint of reunion shows. Shot almost entirely on broadcast quality television cameras (by a guy that worked in the business), this is a mandatory release for any fan of the band or any fan of metal, avant-garde or plain old rock & ro…
God Is Good
It's been years now -- just about two, judging from the sun. OM have done their time in the desert, and ever-changing, are returned. Today, they say, God is Good. Are you surprised? Perhaps you've haven't understood what OM was saying to you. But perhaps you felt something... It's true that the one way pursued by OM leads in many different directions. It is a mystic path. Songs come from innumerable sources, filtering through the external and the internal. OM albums are rituals, personal convict…
Black Tar Prophecies Vol's 1, 2, & 3
The collected Black Tar Prophecies ends up being a more idiosyncratic mission statement for future Grails recordings, revealing their fondness for the groundfloor '60s and '70s experimental artists that saw music as a process of discovery as opposed to the pre-conceived, pre-parametered, commodified sport that underground music has become. A parallel is now forming between Grails and old-school experimental bands like Faust who, rejecting their past, started over from the beginning to build new …