20 Buck Spin has a sale going on and I just had to take advantage of it. Since I have a good chunk of the label releases, I bought only distro items that I probably couldn't get cheaper anywhere else. I picked a couple of Acid Mothers Temple ('Wild Gals A Go-Go' reissue and 'Minstrel In The Galaxy') and Circle ('Panic' and 'Arkades') releases. Apparently the 'Arkades' jewel was broken, so Dave threw in a disc from Ryokuchi as a freebie. I have no idea who that is so it should be an interesting first listen.
Also coming in the mail from Robotic Empire was the first full length LP from Behold... The Arctopus. The LP comes with a pressed CD of the album which is something I hope more labels will be doing in the future. And since it took so long to ship, they threw in the disc of the Torche self-titled album. I already have that album, but it was a nice gesture.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Turkey Week Roundup
Back from a nice Thanksgiving in the mountains, there were some packages waiting for me.
From Crucial Blast were a pair of reissues, that of Grey Daturas' 2004 album 'Dead In The Woods' and a remaster of Skullflower's IIIrd Gatekeeper.
Public Guilt have released the debut full length album from French occult psych rock band Aluk Todolo so I picked that up along with one of the latest albums from Finland's Circle. They also threw in the sampler disc featuring bands on Public Guilt and Implied Sound.
An order from the fantastic label/distro Eclipse Records came a couple of new CDs from Drag City - Sir Richard Bishop's second release of the year 'Polytheistic Fragments' and another new album from Six Organs Of Admittance titled 'Shelter From The Ash' (an appropriate title for where I'm at after 1/3 of the county burned down in October). On vinyl came the latest from Bardo Pond side project Alasehir, a new 45 from Wooden Shjips, and a split 7" from Jack Rose and Silvester Afang.
From Crucial Blast were a pair of reissues, that of Grey Daturas' 2004 album 'Dead In The Woods' and a remaster of Skullflower's IIIrd Gatekeeper.
Public Guilt have released the debut full length album from French occult psych rock band Aluk Todolo so I picked that up along with one of the latest albums from Finland's Circle. They also threw in the sampler disc featuring bands on Public Guilt and Implied Sound.
An order from the fantastic label/distro Eclipse Records came a couple of new CDs from Drag City - Sir Richard Bishop's second release of the year 'Polytheistic Fragments' and another new album from Six Organs Of Admittance titled 'Shelter From The Ash' (an appropriate title for where I'm at after 1/3 of the county burned down in October). On vinyl came the latest from Bardo Pond side project Alasehir, a new 45 from Wooden Shjips, and a split 7" from Jack Rose and Silvester Afang.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Massive Week In Review
Not getting anything last week in the mail and the holiday on Monday, several orders arrived between Tuesday and Thursday.
From Archive CD came three surprise releases that to my knowledge weren't know until they went on sale on the website. A reissue of the first UP-TIGHT album along with a couple of bonus tracks, and two collaborations - Astro, Jazkamer, and Hair Stylistics for a long track and Todd Merrell, Aidan Baker and Patrick Jordan for some mellow tracks. From the distro I bought the new Boris with Merzbow live album 'Rock Dream', a reissue of Circle's first album 'Meronia', South Saturn Delta's debut album, and expanded editions of Sunn O)))'s 'Flight Of The Behemoth' and 'The GrimmRobe Demos'.
Coming from Constellation Records was their two releases from Hrsta (featuring members of Godspeed You Black Emperor), one of them a new release and the other I finally got around to picking up.
From Kranky Records came a load of CDs by Charalambides, including their two most recent releases, 'Likeness' on Kranky and 'Electricity Ghost' on Wholly Other that features outtakes from the 'Joy Shapes' sessions.
After not being able to find them in a couple of trips to the record store, I reluctantly put in an order to Souther Lord Records for the latest albums from Orthodox, Wolves In The Throne Room, Oren Ambarchi and Deathspell Omega.
From Archive CD came three surprise releases that to my knowledge weren't know until they went on sale on the website. A reissue of the first UP-TIGHT album along with a couple of bonus tracks, and two collaborations - Astro, Jazkamer, and Hair Stylistics for a long track and Todd Merrell, Aidan Baker and Patrick Jordan for some mellow tracks. From the distro I bought the new Boris with Merzbow live album 'Rock Dream', a reissue of Circle's first album 'Meronia', South Saturn Delta's debut album, and expanded editions of Sunn O)))'s 'Flight Of The Behemoth' and 'The GrimmRobe Demos'.
Coming from Constellation Records was their two releases from Hrsta (featuring members of Godspeed You Black Emperor), one of them a new release and the other I finally got around to picking up.
From Kranky Records came a load of CDs by Charalambides, including their two most recent releases, 'Likeness' on Kranky and 'Electricity Ghost' on Wholly Other that features outtakes from the 'Joy Shapes' sessions.
After not being able to find them in a couple of trips to the record store, I reluctantly put in an order to Souther Lord Records for the latest albums from Orthodox, Wolves In The Throne Room, Oren Ambarchi and Deathspell Omega.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Earthless, Danava, Saviours and Witchcraft at Brick By Brick, San Diego November 6, 2007
First time I've been to Brick By Brick to see a show and the lineup for the Tuesday night gig was stellar. After seeing all the shows at the Casbah, Brick By Brick feels gigantic in comparison. It was nice to have some room to roam around between sets. The downside was they opened the doors about 45 minutes late. I believe the everything did start on time however.
First up was Earthless and their broken-finger-playing guitar player. Back from a US tour (which they said was great), Earthless started off their jam in similar fashion but went into different territories afterwards. Starting with some fretboard acrobatics, they eventually went into some heavy jamming for most of the set. Definitely the heaviest set I've heard from them as it featured less guitar effects, but the excellent soloing was still intact.
Next was Danava whose first album from last year was a welcome surprise when I got it as a freebie. I loved that their bass player was out in front and playing all over the fretboard (fingerstyle!) for their seemingly brief set. My complaint about them, and perhaps this was the soundman's fault, but I couldn't hear the electronics/keyboards/synths very well. Either they really wanted them blended into the sound or something was off at the mixing board.
Saviours, the only band that I wasn't really familiar with, ripped their doom-tinged "classic" style of metal. They certainly had a nice contingent of fans for their set but I couldn't get into them. There wasn't enough uniqueness to their sound to differentiate them from the pack. It was solid metal but nothing that hasn't been done already.
The headliners for the night coming all the way from Sweden was the Black Sabbath and Pentagram influenced Witchcraft. One thing is clear right away is that they are much heavier live than on their records. Once again I loved the fact that their bass player was playing fingerstyle and all over the fretboard. It was their first showing in San Diego and the good turnout for a Tuesday night was excited they were in town. Witchcraft played a great set of tunes from their three full length releases. They seemed to be having a great time playing and hopefully they'll be back again.
First up was Earthless and their broken-finger-playing guitar player. Back from a US tour (which they said was great), Earthless started off their jam in similar fashion but went into different territories afterwards. Starting with some fretboard acrobatics, they eventually went into some heavy jamming for most of the set. Definitely the heaviest set I've heard from them as it featured less guitar effects, but the excellent soloing was still intact.
Next was Danava whose first album from last year was a welcome surprise when I got it as a freebie. I loved that their bass player was out in front and playing all over the fretboard (fingerstyle!) for their seemingly brief set. My complaint about them, and perhaps this was the soundman's fault, but I couldn't hear the electronics/keyboards/synths very well. Either they really wanted them blended into the sound or something was off at the mixing board.
Saviours, the only band that I wasn't really familiar with, ripped their doom-tinged "classic" style of metal. They certainly had a nice contingent of fans for their set but I couldn't get into them. There wasn't enough uniqueness to their sound to differentiate them from the pack. It was solid metal but nothing that hasn't been done already.
The headliners for the night coming all the way from Sweden was the Black Sabbath and Pentagram influenced Witchcraft. One thing is clear right away is that they are much heavier live than on their records. Once again I loved the fact that their bass player was playing fingerstyle and all over the fretboard. It was their first showing in San Diego and the good turnout for a Tuesday night was excited they were in town. Witchcraft played a great set of tunes from their three full length releases. They seemed to be having a great time playing and hopefully they'll be back again.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
New Important Records
A big order from Important Records finally arrived with new CDs and LPs from the always diverse label.
The CDs included another live album from Suishou No Fune (Archive just recently released a live album by them as well), a new (very short for a) full-length from LSD March and the self-titled (debut?) album from Sky City who features Robert Horton, Tom Carter, and Lisa and Lee Ann Cameron.
ImpRec has put out the new Citay album on vinyl and I decided to pick that up. I still need to get their first album. However this second album sounds fantastic. Getting some buzz on the music forums was the self-titled LP from A Place To Bury Strangers. Haven't given it a spin yet but I'm curious to hear what "New York's loudest band" sounds like. The collaboration between Oren Ambarchi and musician-producer Chris Townend, dubbed simply Sun. I'm not sure if this is the first Sun release, but I've enjoyed Oren's past work.
The CDs included another live album from Suishou No Fune (Archive just recently released a live album by them as well), a new (very short for a) full-length from LSD March and the self-titled (debut?) album from Sky City who features Robert Horton, Tom Carter, and Lisa and Lee Ann Cameron.
ImpRec has put out the new Citay album on vinyl and I decided to pick that up. I still need to get their first album. However this second album sounds fantastic. Getting some buzz on the music forums was the self-titled LP from A Place To Bury Strangers. Haven't given it a spin yet but I'm curious to hear what "New York's loudest band" sounds like. The collaboration between Oren Ambarchi and musician-producer Chris Townend, dubbed simply Sun. I'm not sure if this is the first Sun release, but I've enjoyed Oren's past work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
