Wednesday, February 23, 2011

EVENTS - Thank You; Jury Duty; The Beets & Bad Indians!

THANK YOU wsg ORIGAMI CAT PLAN + MOTHER WHALE - Wednesday, February 23 @ Woodruff's
*** Currently one of the best bands playing, Thank You (Thrill Jockey) returns to Michigan for a set in Ypsi w/ Origami Cat and the loud, spacey & wicked Mother Whale.
Woodruff's Bar / 36 E Cross Street, Ypsilanti / 8PM / $5 / FBOOK: http://on.fb.me/huQbXt

JURY DUTY - Friday, February 25 @ Elks Lodge
*** Disc jocks FOREST J. (HOTT LAVA), GEOFF P. (Mystery Party), and ROBERT W. (Ann Arbor Soul Club) do the pony & watusi with you, baby. Soul, R&B, boogie, disco, bounce, int'l & more.
Elks Lodge / 220 Sunset, A2 / 10:30PM / $5 / FBOOK: http://on.fb.me/hYIvec

THE BEETS wsg BAD INDIANS + THE SUGARCOATS - Saturday, February 26 @ Yellow Barn
*** The Beets have played just about every bill in New York City with every band you know that's passed through there. Plus BAD INDIANS!!
Yellow Barn / 416 W Huron, A2 / 9PM / $5 / FBOOK: http://on.fb.me/fHMG2B

NEW ARRIVALS: DVD - Trash Humpers (again!) & Fugazi

FUGAZI Instrument DVD
*** RECOMMENDED BACK IN STOCK! The excellent feature-length documentary by the talented Jem Cohen made from over ten years of footage shot by Cohen, fans, and others. Truly astounding.

TRASH HUMPERS by Harmony Korine DVD+BOOK
*** RECOMMENDED BACK IN STOCK! While the title is by no means a misnomer, Trash Humpers is one of the most unpredictable & frightening films of all time! Is it the future of horror films? Certainly, the trailer must be seen to be believed:

NEW ARRIVALS: Vinyl - Dead Kennedys, Modest Mouse, Sparklehorse & more

DEAD KENNEDYS Frankenchrist LP
DEAD KENNEDYS Bedtime For Democracy LP
DEAD KENNEDYS Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables LP
DEAD KENNEDYS Plastic Surgery Disasters LP

*** BACK IN STOCK!

DELTRON 3030 Deltron 3030 LP
*** BACK IN STOCK!

THE DIRTBOMBS Party Store 3x12"
*** NOW ON VINYL!

DISMEMBERMENT PLAN Emergency & I 2xLP+MP3
*** BACK IN STOCK! Hooooooly smokes! We can barely keep this one on the shelf. Welcome back, Travis Morrison.

TALB KWELI Gutter Rainbows LP
*** NOW ON VINYL!

MODEST MOUSE The Moon & Antarctica 2xLP
*** BACK IN STOCK!

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE Asleep On The Floodplain LP / CD
*** "Ten portable slabs of home recorded blur-and-ripple (and warble) from a (mostly) acoustic Six Organs. Ben just hangs around with the creatures of the earth and he likes the sounds and transcending the body, that's all. The NEW new spirituals!"

SPARKLEHORSE Good Morning Spider LP+MP3
*** BACK IN STOCK!

TORO Y MOI Underneath The Pine LP / CD
*** "Underneath The Pine is an album evocative of R.Stevie Moore's homespun ruminations, David Axelrod's sonic scope, Steve Reich-ian piano phrasing, and the pervasive funk of Toro Y Moi's first record."

NEW ARRIVALS: CDs - Toro Y Moi, 13 Floor Elevators, Six Organs, Chain & The Gang...

CUL-DE-SAC OST by Krzysztof Komeda CD
*** "Jazz pianist, Christopher Komeda's rarest and weirdest music performed for a film directed by his friend, Roman Polanski. Huge rarity -- here for the first time since 1966. Full explanatory liner notes included."

ADELE 21 CD
*** "21 is the eagerly awaited sophomore album from British singer-songwriter Adele. Adele said: 'I discovered lots of artists I'd never heard of, particularly Wanda Jackson, Allison Krauss, Yvonne Fair, Andrew Bird, Neko Case...'”

WILLIAM BASINSKI A Red Score In Tile CD
*** "Think how Erik Satie could have sounded like if his most famous pieces had been inserted in a muffling mix after dropping him down a couple of octaves: a lament of decaying sounds, the feeling of a growing sorrow. I suggest you to listen to this on a sunny late afternoon; you could have a lot of secrets revealed."

JOHNNY CASH Bootleg 2: From Memphis To Hollywood 2xCD
*** "Featuring previously unreleased and incredibly hard-to-find singles, demos and other rarities recorded from 1955 through the late 60s, chronicling his exciting rise from local sensation to an artist of national importance." 57 tracks.

CHAIN & THE GANG Music's Not For Everyone CD
*** RECOMMENDED "Music's Not For Everyone is their follow-up long-player to Down With Liberty... and it is pithy and succinct. Led by Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses, Make Up, Weird War), it features roaring organ solos, shredding guitar, and plomping percussion by an all star cast (Fred Thomas, Arrington de Dionyso, Brian Weber)."

THE CRYSTALS Best Of CD
*** YES! Budget priced remastered best of compilation.

EARTH Angels Of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 CD
*** RECOMMENDED "Drawing on inspiration from both British Folk-Rock bands the Pentangle and Fairpoint Convention and the North African Tuuareg band Tinariwen, the new material, while still heavy contains many breaths of fresh air, hopeful tones and drones as well as more eerie ones."

TIM HECKER Ravedeath 1972 CD
*** "Recorded in a church in Reykjavik, Iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this piece is essentially a live recording. In reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity."

LOW ANTHEM Smart Flesh CD
*** "With its dreamy, rustic take on the idea of Americana, the Low Anthem's Smart Flesh builds on the promise of the group's 2008 Nonesuch Records debut."

JIM O'ROURKE & CHRISTOPH HEEMAN Plastic Palace People CD
*** "Previously unreleased recordings of Jim O'Rourke and Germany's Christoph Heemann, presenting an intense three part journey, a mix of granular synthesis and concrete sounds, reshaped, reassembled."

PETE ROCK Petestrumentals CD
*** BACK IN STOCK!

RONETTES Best of CD
*** Double-yes!! Budget priced remastered best of compilation.

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE Asleep On The Floodplain LP / CD
*** "Ten portable slabs of home recorded blur-and-ripple (and warble) from a (mostly) acoustic Six Organs. Ben just hangs around with the creatures of the earth and he likes the sounds and transcending the body, that's all. The NEW new spirituals!"

PHIL SPECTOR Wall Of Sound CD
*** Budget priced remastered best of compilation.

13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS Easter Everywhere 2xCD
*** New two-disc deluxe edition of the acid rock originator's 1967 album.

TORO Y MOI Underneath The Pine LP / CD
*** "Underneath The Pine is an album evocative of R.Stevie Moore's homespun ruminations, David Axelrod's sonic scope, Steve Reich-ian piano phrasing, and the pervasive funk of Toro Y Moi's first record."

Thursday, February 17, 2011

EVENTS - And a whole lot of 'em too!

CALVIN JOHNSON wsg SWIMSUIT + TOVAH D-DAY & HOLLY HELLFIRE
*** Underground stalwart, K Records honcho, Beat Happening main man, and righteous DJ Calvin Johnson visits Ypsilanti for the first time! Also
Dreamland Theatre / 26 N Washington, Ypsilanti / 9PM / $5 / FBOOK: http://on.fb.me/gDDEp5

THE FORMS wsg SKATE LAWS + OUR BROTHER THE NATIVE - Tuesday, February 22 @ Arbor Vitae
*** The Forms (NYC) plus one-man hardcore sensation Skate Laws and FatCat's Our Brother the Native. Sleep not!
Arbor Vitae / 336 1/2 S. State (above Wazoo), A2 / $5 / FBOOK: http://on.fb.me/h5NvZh

THANK YOU wsg ORIGAMI CAT + MOTHER WHALE - Wednesday, February 23 @ Woodruff's
*** Currently one of the best bands playing, Thank You (Thrill Jockey) returns to Michigan for a set in Ypsi w/ Origami Cat and the loud, spacey & wicked Mother Whale.
Woodruff's Bar / 36 E Cross Street, Ypsilanti / 8PM / $5

JURY DUTY - Friday, February 25 @ Elks Lodge
*** Disc jocks FOREST J. (HOTT LAVA), GEOFF P. (Mystery Party), and ROBERT W. (Ann Arbor Soul Club) do the pony & watusi with you, baby. Soul, R&B, boogie, disco, bounce, int'l & more.
Elks Lodge / 220 Sunset, A2 / 10:30PM / $5

THE BEETS wsg BAD INDIANS + more - Saturday, February 26 @ Yellow Barn
*** The Beets have played just about every bill in New York City with every band you know that's passed through there. Plus BAD INDIANS!!
Yellow Barn / 416 W Huron, A2 / 9PM / $5

NEW ARRIVALS: DVD - Brian Eno + Avant Garde shorts

AVANT-GARDE: Experimental Cinema of the 1920s & 1930s 2xDVD
*** RECOMMENDED "In the latter half of the 20th century, Raymond Rohauer was one of the nation's foremost proponents of experimental cinema. This two-DVD collection assembles some of the most influential and eclectic short films in the Rohauer Collection, including works by Man Ray, Hans Richter, Marcel Duchamp, Watson & Webber, Fernand Leger, Joris Ivens, Dimitri Kirsanoff, Jean Epstein, and Orson Welles."

BRIAN ENO 14 Video Paintings DVD
*** BACK IN STOCK! "Comprised of 'Mistaken Memories of Mediaeval Manhattan' & 'Thursday Afternoon' & created for art gallery exhibition, viewers are presented with a series of slowly evolving 'video paintings' with alternate versions of classic Eno ambient tracks & an unreleased track."

NEW ARRIVALS: Vinyl - Madlib, Tom Waits, Metallica, Daft Punk & Dam Funk

BEACH HOUSE Devotion LP
*** BACK IN STOCK!

CHILD BITE The Living Breathing Organ Summer LP+MP3
*** Like a perfectly balanced amphetamine drunk, The Living Breathing Organ Summer exudes euphoria, urgency, baseless paranoia and a mild sense of vertigo. With their most recent effort, Child Bite seems to have thrown caution to the wind - mashing their punk vigor with avant-garde ideals into a no-fluff sound that is both consistently danceable and brazenly psychotic.

DAFT PUNK Discovery 2xLP
*** BACK IN STOCK!

DAM FUNK Adolescent Funk 2xLP
*** "At the request of Peanut Butter Wolf, Dam went through recordings dated 1988 and 1992, all made on cassette, going back to his teenage years. Wolf assembled the best tracks for this stellar collection."

DEERHOOF Deerhoof Vs. Evil LP
*** NOW ON VINYL!

GENDERS Tender Swarm LP
*** RECOMMENDED Genders is part of the flock of new and insane youth from Detroit piecing together wild and retarded sounds from all the broken refuse around them. After a slew of paint-smeared cassette and cdr releases, this 12" offers up five of their sprawling busted-drum machine explosions in a more accessible way for the world around us. Echoes of PIL, The Chromatics, TG and Wolf Eyes pre-harsh noise meltdown come through the bubbles of noise and blips.

MADLIB Medicine Show No. 11: Low Budget High Fi Music 2xLP
*** NOW ON VINYL! "MED, Guilty Simpson, Strong Arm Steady, Karriem Riggins are represented here with exclusive tracks plus Madlib digs out a Jaylib-era track that was earmarked for the never-realized second album." LIMITED EDITION

METALLICA Metallica 2xLP
METALLICA Master Of Puppets LP

*** BACK IN STOCK!

MI AMI Cut Men 12"
*** LAST COPIES EVER! "A joyful noise at the intersection of vicious high-energy. In this climate, when pretty much every band has some dub records at home and a myriad of musical influences have been rendered mundane, Mi Ami defines itself by turning inward. Transformed from a “fun time party band” into a lean, tight, near-telepathic unit, Mi Ami have turned in their finest recording." Vinyl is sold out in the U.S. but we picked up some more copies.

TOM WAITS Mule Variations 2xLP
TOM WAITS Blood Money LP

*** BACK IN STOCK!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

NEW ARRIVALS: CDs - Melvin Davis, Sonic Youth, Akron/Family, Bright Eyes

AKRON/FAMILY S/T II: The Cosmic Birth & Journey Of Shinju TNT CD
*** "S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT layers thousands of minute imperceptible samples of their first recordings with fuzzed-out representations of their present beings to induce pleasant emotional feeling states and many momentary transcendent inspirations."

JANE BIRKIN Di Doo Dah CD
*** "Di Doo Dah sees Birkin, SERGE GAINSBROUG and co-conspirator JEAN-CLAUDE VANNIER (YES!!) meld Jane's fragile vocals with jazz, rock, and lush orchestral textures: a perfect album for living and loving (::wink::)."

BRIGHT EYES The People's Key CD
*** "Bright Eyes's seventh studio album is an assured and accomplished album, artfully arranged and filled with the engaging and mesmeric songwriting for which Oberst is renowned." Feat. SPOKEN WORD.

MELVIN DAVIS Detroit Soul Ambassador CD
*** RECOMMENDED "One of the most talented, dynamic and prolific artists in the history of Motor City music, Melvin Davis is a musical force: songwriter, drummer, performer, producer, arranger, label owner, etc. His bands have included everyone from a pre-Temptations David Ruffin to a post-MC5 Wayne Kramer, and the songwriter who penned JJ Barnes' desperate ode 'Chains Of Love'."

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Go-Go Boots CD
*** And nine months later they have a new album! The band describes it as their "country, soul and murder ballad album."

PJ HARVEY Let England Shake CD
*** "Centering on both her home country & events further afield in which it has embroiled itself, the lyrics return to the matter of war but this is not a work of protest, nor of strait-laced social or political comment. It brims with the mystery and magnetism in which she excels."

ISOLEE Well Spent Youth CD
*** NEW ALBUM! It's been a while, ain't it?

KING CRIMSON Red Deluxe CD+DVD
*** Remastered album + bonus tracks + videos + hi-fi versions of tunes. KILLER!

KONONO NO. 1 Assume Crash Position CD
*** "Konono's thrilling junkyard sonics & relentlessly hypnotic percussive grooves (created by thumb pianos & drums made from scrap metal & disused car parts) further elevated with electric guitars & bass (played by neighbourhood musicians from a young Konono covers band!).

MOGWAI Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will CD
*** "Mogwai's music is a majestic, powerful sound where barely a word is spoken yet it is the antithesis of background music. Album and song titles bemuse, confuse and delight in equal measure."

OFF The First Four EPs CD
*** "LA- based OFF! features KEITH MORRIS (Black Flag/Circle Jerks), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Steven McDonald (Redd Kross), and Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless/Hot Snakes/Rocket From the Crypt)." Pitchfork = 8.5.

SONIC YOUTH Simon Werner A Disparu CD
*** 2011 soundtrack recording. "Rather than present the small clips of music as used in the film, the band re-organized the various pieces, sometimes montaging multiple tracks together, other times extending cues into new sonic realms."

TWILIGHT SINGERS Dynamite Steps CD
*** "Dynamite Steps explores the thin line between life and death, mortality and immortality, resignation and celebration that mythical moment when your life flashes before your eyes, drawn out here over the course of eleven songs."

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

NEW ARRIVALS: DVD - Trash Humpers!!! Can't stop! Won't stop!

TRASH HUMPERS by Harmony Korine DVD+BOOK
*** RECOMMENDED While the title is by no means a misnomer, Trash Humpers is one of the most unpredictable & frightening films of all time! Is it the future of horror films? Certainly, the trailer must be seen to be believed:

NEW ARRIVALS: Vinyl - Cold Heat, Bruce Haack, J Dilla, Sonic Youth & more

v/a COLD HEAT: Heavy Funk Rarities 1: 1968-1974 2xLP
*** RECOMMENDED Totally insane comp of ultra-rare, ultra-dirty hard funk tunes compiled by Stones Throw with the half of some friends. Highly recommended.

v/a MINIMAL WAVE TAPES 2xLP
*** "Peanut Butter Wolf has always had a love affair with that 80's new wave, Post punk and DYI Sound & scoured the archives of NY's Minimal Wave, a small indie label dedicated to reissuing lost and rare gems from around the World."

DISMEMBERMENT PLAN Emergency & I 2xLP+MP3
*** BACK IN STOCK! Hooooooly smokes! We can barely keep this one on the shelf. Welcome back, Travis Morrison.

BRUCE HAACK Farad: The Electric Voice 2xLP
*** "Legendary electronic weirdo Bruce Haack (1931-1988)! "Farad: The Electric Voice specifically focuses on tracks using Haack's self-made vocoder. This was the one of the first truly musical vocoders, and first to be used on a pop album, pre-dating Kraftwerk’s Autobahn by several years."

IRON & WINE Kiss Each Other Clean LP+CD / CD
*** "While Beam's early albums were sparse, intimate solo affairs, Shepherd's introduced layered textures and poly-rhythmic sounds that allowed his lyrics to spring to life. It's only natural then, that Beam took this sonic collage and built upon it for his new album, Kiss Each Other Clean."

WANDA JACKSON The Party Ain't Over LP / CD
*** "This collection of vintage and contemporary country, gospel & rockabilly covers was produced by fan/friend Jack White in Nashville w/ members of My Morning Jacket, the Raconteurs & Dead Weather among others."

JAY DEE Welcome 2 Detroit 2xLP
*** BACK IN STOCK! Happy birthday, Dilla. We miss you.

LAST ELECTRO ACOUSTIC Miles Away 2xLP
*** MADLIB! "Miles Away is Madlib's tribute to a series of his jazz heroes from the 60s and, mainly, 70s, with suites, waltzes, ballads, modal-numbers and swinging funk w/ electric flute, moog and synths stand aside accordions, sitars and vibraphones."

MADVILLAIN Madvillainy 2xLP
*** BACK IN STOCK!

SONIC YOUTH Confusion Is Sex LP
*** BACK IN PRINT! Ohhhhh this is dark as hell! If you're a teenager - BUY IT!

SPACEMEN 3 Perfect Prescription LP
*** BACK IN STOCK! And we think this sucker is going back OUT-OF-PRINT so sleep not!!

KANYE WEST My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 3xLP
*** BACK IN STOCK!

YOUNG JAZZ REBELS Slave Riot 2xLP
*** MADLIB! "Slave Riot is a rather chaotic affair, gunning to top speed almost immediately and rarely lets up its frenetic pace. To put this in a Sun Ra context, think of this as Madlib's Black Mass, as opposed to Last Electro's Sleeping Beauty."

NEW ARRIVALS: CDs - Davis, Decemberists, Deerhoof, Destroyer & non-D names

VINICIUS CANTUARIA & BILL FRISELL Vinicius Cantuaria & Bill Frisell CD
*** Much loved new collabo record from Bill Frisell's homie in the Intercontinentals project. Five star reviews across the board!

CUT/COPY Zonoscope CD
*** "Their 3rd and most ambitious work yet, Cut/Copy boiled a suite of futuristic visions built upon primal rhythm tracks. It is at once their most immediate work to date but also their most sonically exquisite: a weird vision of a tropical, jungle, tribal sound."

MILES DAVIS Bitches Brew Live CD
*** Combining rare recordings from Newport Jazz Festival 1969 and Isle Of Wight 1070, these tracks were originally produced by (the great) Teo Macero & are ragers! Totally insane.

THE DECEMBERISTS The King Is Dead LP+MP3 / CD
*** "A set of 10 concise, country-based songs -- marks a deliberate turn towards simplicity after the band's wildly ambitious and widely acclaimed 2009 song-cycle The Hazards of Love." Feat. GILLIAN WELCH and PETER BUCK (R.E.M.).

DEERHOOF Deerhoof Vs. Evil CD
*** "Deerhoof vs. Evil dresses up Deerhoof's wellknown recklessness in a newfound elastic groove -- one filled with big-hit choruses and exuberantly unfamiliar colors. The musical equivalent of hormones raging out of control!"

DESTROYER Kaputt CD
*** RECOMMENDED Destroyer's ninth album! Destroyer prevails!

JOHN GRANT Queen Of Denmark CD
*** "Debut solo album from the former vocalist and songwriter with The Czars. Queen Of Denmark is a record of gravitas and grace, of FM melody magic laced with raw emotional bleeding."

THE INSANE WARRIOR We Are The Doorways CD
*** aka RJD2 "A strictly instrumental affair, the album was loosely inspired by horror and sci-fi film scores, at times jazzy, psychedelic & introspective. Analog synth sounds, angular rhythms, and blissful ambient passages with the attention to groove that RJD2 is known."

TALIB KWELI Gutter Rainbows CD
*** "This release, recorded on his time and with his talent as the driving force, proves Kweli is a complete and formidable musician—it presents the depth and breadth of his experience and ability."

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM London Sessions CD
*** "The London sessions is a unique `john peel session style' nine-track encapsulation of one of today's most acclaimed acts in perhaps their rawest and most original recordings to date."

JON MUELLER Physical Changes LP+CD+DVD
*** RECOMMENDED "Jon Mueller's mammoth new solo percussion work, Physical Changes, drives the idea of 'pummeling rhythms and frequencies' into oblivion over an elaborate, all-inclusive three format (LP/CD/DVD). Joined by James Plotkin (KHANATE), FRED LONBERG-HOLM (Wilco, Brotzmann, Vandermark), Marcus Schmickler (Pluramon), Dan Burke (Illusion of Safety), Jim Schoenecker (COLLECTIONS OF COLOIES OF BEES) and the stunning landscape film work of DAVID DINNELL, Physical Changes reveals how complex and diverse heavy rhythm can be."

FRANZ NICOLAY Luck & Courage CD
*** Mustach'd fella' from HOLD STEADY is totally doing his own thing.

SMITH WESTERNS Dye It Blonde CD
*** These guys are just so dang'd hot right now. Believe the hype! I think!

WIRE Red Barked Tree CD
*** Brand new Wire album & it shreds. So killer.