Trio Of CDs, Part 2

A couple of new releases plus a three year old album arrived in the last few days. The latest from Japan's Mono collects rare and out of print EPs on a single disc. A wonderful collection of tunes but I don't know why they decided to put 'Yearning' on it since it was on their last album as well. It's a fantastic track but I'm sure there were other tracks that could have been included instead of it.

The other two CDs are by Richard Bishop of Sun City Girls fame. Under the moniker Sir Richard Bishop, he plays some impressive acoustic guitar in the tradition of John Fakey, Leo Kottke and Robby Basho. 'Improvika' is just solo acoustic guitar but on his new album 'While My Guitar Violently Bleeds' he uses other instruments to compliment his acoustic playing.

Conifer & Ocean

Important Records has released a split 12" with new material from Portland Maine's Conifer and Ocean. Apparently both bands have shared members and are good friends, but also musically it makes sense to pair them up on a split. Both bands feature a single 20 minute track that explore many of the different aspects of heavy music. Full length albums from both bands are expected to hit next year and I will be looking forward to hear what they come up with.

Trio Of CDs

For the weekend three CDs arrived.

First in was the latest from Three Lobed Recordings. Heavy Winged makes their debut on TLR with 'Blacc Lust' which collects a pair of CD-R releases that are probably long out of print. I heard about Heavy Winged before but never had a chance to listen to their music. Someone described them as Bardo Pond mixed with The Goslings and that's probably a decent description of what they are doing. It has the long psych-ish jam of BP mixed with the intensity and noisy abrasive side of The Goslings which creates an interesting sound. They are like the link between psych rock and noise rock but take the better qualities of each side. This one needs to get more spins to really sink in.

Two years ago Bass Communion and vidnaObmana (aka Steven Wilson and Dirk Serries) got together for a collaboration titled 'Continuum'. They are now back with 'Continuum 2' and a much different sound. The first in the series was minimalist ambient work while the second release goes in the complete opposite direction and sounds more like a mix of Sunn O))) and Black Boned Angel with ambiance of the first release underneath the wall of guitar.

Zoroaster released a self-titled EP last year that reminded me of Electric Wizard and Sleep. While I still need to pick up that album, I ordered their first full length CD titled 'Dog Magic'. I haven't given this one a spin yet, but from what I've read it's supposed to have more of a psychedelic tinge to it.

TempResLtd

Finally the package containing some new and old releases from Temporary Residence Ltd. showed up in the post yesterday. On clear red wax comes the second collaboration between Hydra Head and TRL, a split 12" from Jesu and Eluvium. The other new release is from Maserati who make their debut TRL release with 'Inventions For The New Season'. The certainly will fit in on the roster along with Explosions In The Sky, Grails and Mono. I also picked up a couple of older CDs from Eluvium, 'Talk Amongst The Trees' and 'Lambent Material'.

Roundup Of Last Week

Last week saw the arrival of many packages in the post.

From Relapse came the reissue of the very hard to find Harvey Milk album 'The Pleaser'. Not only does it contain a bonus track, but also included is a second disc containing the rare live album 'Live Pleaser'. I also finally got around to buying High On Fire's 'Blessed Black Wings' in anticipation of their upcoming album.

Robotic Empire had a few new releases for order. A remastered and remixed version of Torche's debut album with a bonus track was reissued along with an EP of new material. Coming in gorgeous glossy gatefold sleeve is a colored 10" record in one sleeve and a CD in the left panel. Just a fantastic release by RE. The debut from Pygmy Lush also came out. It's one of those records that cannot be classified under one genre. The songs range from folk to punk rock, often alternating between styles through the tracklist.

From All That's Heavy the came the following CDs:
Solace - The Black Black (one of the better albums this year and that's saying a lot)
Tonerlow - Tonerlow (some doom mixed with psych rock)
Gas Giant - Mana (another album from Elekrohasch, the best label for heavy psych rock)
Suma - Let The Churches Burn (heavy stuff influenced by Kyuss, etc.)
Solarized - Driven (fuzz rock from Meteor City)

And coming all by itself was an officially released album from Beatallica. As the name suggests these dudes play songs by the Beatles in the style of Metallica with all new lyrics. The contains mostly older songs that have been re-recorded along with a few new gems. A rather bizarre listening experience if you've never heard them before.

Jandek Box Set

Another first arrived from Corwood Industries today - a four disc box set from Jandek chronicling the two live sets performed in Brooklyn, New York on September 7, 2005. According to Seth Tisue's website, the Representative played electric guitar (a fretless for the second set) and Matt Heyner and Chris Corsano joined on double bass and drums respectively. I have no idea what this sounds like so I'm looking forward to putting it on.

New Releases From Elektrohasch

New releases from German psychedelic rock label Elektrohasch arrived compliments of All That's Heavy. Although not new music, they reissued a pair of albums that came out a few years ago. Recorded by in the late 90s, 'This Is...' by The Beginning gets a reissue treatment with a couple of bonus live tracks. The other reissue is of Electric Orange's 'Platte' which might have been a vinyl only release. Included are a couple of long bonus tracks. The third Elektrohasch album I bought was the debut from The Kings Of Frog Island who feature members of Josiah and The Beginning.

For a freebie I received 'Spit Blood' by The Atomic Bitchwax which includes a sampler from MeteorCity.

Pair Of Important Records

Arriving in the post today was a pair of new releases from Important Records. The next in the Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis from Eleh comes on thick 200 gram black wax and is dedicated to Charlemagne Palestine. There's a warning that due to the low frequencies, side B must be played at a higher volume than side A. Side A reminds of the last record while side B has some nice low frequency pulses and gives the hi-fi a good low-end test.

The next release in their Arts & Crafts series comes from Barbez who I absolutely nothing about. It's a nice 7" on red wax with a nice instrumental on side A and apparently a sort of protest song on the flipside. Sounded pretty good on my first spin.

Red Sparowes Debut LP

I bought the repress of the debut double LP from Red Sparowes titled 'At The Soundless Dawn'. The LP features different artwork from the CD version. Robotic Empire did two color variations for it and I went with the "clear with smoke". The wax itself sounds awesome on my system so I couldn't be happier. This was one of my favorite albums from 2005 and still my favorite Red Sparowes release to date.

Trace Bundy, Acoustic Music San Diego, San Diego July 13, 2007

Having only seen a video on YouTube and a few snippets on his website, I got invited to go see acoustic guitar player Trace Bundy last night. I wasn't sure what to expect from him but the samples I heard were decent.

Hailing from Boulder, Colorado and taking a complete grassroots approach to music, Trace has released three CDs and has toured all over the country and overseas. Having an arsenal of five capos, he would pick, strum, bend and tap his way through classic pieces, traditional folk songs, modern covers and original compositions. His fretboard work was top notch as he constantly displayed his "ninja-like" attack. Most of his arrangements attempted to play the bass, rhythm and lead parts all at the same time as well as incorporating percussive beats on the body of the guitar and using a looping/sampling effects pedal to add a background for him to play over.

So going into the show not knowing what to expect I was pleasantly surprised by his playing and rapport with a audience that had such a wide age gap.