Slipped Discs November 2010
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Japan's Shonen Knife
Initial Thoughts
From the Holy Trinity to the less sacred love triangle three tries harder, especially this month as the barrage of end of the year CD releases gather together some wild trios. From the jazz-classical-electronic song cycle in the recently formed WYATT/ATZMON/STEPHEN’s “For the Ghosts Within” to long-established cyber-synthesists IMA ROBOT’s cheeky studio voodoo, “Another Man’s Treasure,” and J-Pop princesses SHONEN KNIFE’s slam-dunk power-punk fun, “Free Time,” three’s the bee’s knees.
Disc Reviews
Breathe Owl Breathe - Magic Central
Breathe Owl Breathe
Album title: Magic Central
Record Label: Hometapes
Blissfully breezy, B.O.B.‘s fluid musings sly rhymes and placid tactics combine sophisticated kinderpop to whimsical chamber-folk. Ballads of benevolent sentiment happily waxing philosophic, “Central,” sneaks heartbeats between light-hearted lullabies leisurely weaving intricate sympathies from nimble narratives; encouraging enticements tinged with Cuban rumbas, timid tangos and tottering waltzes. B.O.B. plays Milwaukee’s Cactus Club Nov. 9th and Madison’s High Noon Nov 10th.
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Breathe Owl Breathe online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Magic Central from Amazon
• Purchase Magic Central on Amazon
Notekillers - We’re Here To Help
Notekillers
Album title: We’re Here To Help
Record Label: Prophase Music
Caustic hostages sorting through clustered squalor; surfing curling furies and polishing purring pandemonium, Philadelphia’s Notekillers burn through a blur of microtonal moments, pelting the ears like sonic grommets. Fine-tuned noise rock ruckus plus bluesy snaggled-tooth groovin’, “Help,” hosts vice-grip commitments to colossal oscillations washed in kamikaze tsunamis, wordlessly streaming careening frequencies in an onslaught of stuttering staccato and hemorrhaging tremors.
(3137) Page Views
Notekillers online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Purchase We’re Here To Help on Amazon
The City Champs - The Set-Up
The City Champs
Album title: The Set-Up
Record Label: Electraphonic
Getting up and under the brash, downbeat sound of a cresting, cooking Hammond organ with side-swiping, chicken-pickin’ electric guitar and kickass trap kit drumming, Memphis’ TCC shoulders ferocious restraint, buttery souls and sizzling swing. Augmented with occasional bass, horns and Latin percussion, “Set-up” remains powered by three equal talents trading interplay tucked inside velvet waves, cool nuance and rooted grooves.
(2968) Page Views
The City Champs online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download The Set-Up from Amazon
• Purchase The Set-Up on Amazon
Die! Die! Die! - Forms
Die! Die! Die!
Album title: Forms
Record Label: Flying Nun
Hyperactive packages bundling sudden flooding, hurricane-force haikus buried in an astro-tinged blitzkrieg of Kiwi punk bluster, Die! Die! Die!‘s warrior stories ride tumbling avalanches of swarming guitars, monster bass and torrential percussion. Urgent vertigo uncorked and sputtering, “Forms” congeal and unveil; buzzing in a pummeling, rummaging crush, blending rampaging rhythms against agitated visions whose cathartic textures catapult across cosmic mosh-pits.
(2741) Page Views
Die! Die! Die! online:
• Website • Wiki
• Download Forms from Amazon
• Purchase Forms on Amazon
The June - Green Fields and Rain
The June
Album title: Green Fields and Rain
Record Label: Rainbow Quartz
Merseybeat meets the Maharishi as Italian jangle-rock rides sunshine psychedelia in spritely, air-tight flights through wizardly, electric-folk holidays draped in clean, sweeping dancehall harmonies. The June’s fearlessly weird and winsome crimson mission includes manicured melodies cushioned in majestic suggestions, earthbound analogies and techni-colored choirs. “Green Fields,” cultivates incurable romantics and heaven-scented meditations, refreshing medication for tired lives and crowded hours
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The June online:
• Download Green Fields and Rain from Amazon
• Purchase Green Fields and Rain on Amazon
Mini-Mansions - Mini-Mansions
Mini-Mansions
Album title: Mini-Mansions
Record Label: Rekords Rekords
Ghoulish pursuits from pop-rock hooligans, Mini-Mansion’s crazed clichés cleave dream-speak tweets into a scrumptious rush. Cryptic gibberish and lecherous messages canned into pounding, pouncing demonic delights, a bushwhacked grab-bag evoking Spoon, Supergrass, even Billy Joel, this self-titled debut scoops goofy gremlins into spirited shenanigans, walking bass pirouettes into spiraling guitars and barrelhouse piano for campy vamps and predatory rock-star glory. Mini-Mansions appear Dec 8th at Milwaukee’s Mad Planet and Dec 9th at Madison’s Project Lodge
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Mini-Mansions online:
• Facebook • Wiki
• Download Mini-Mansions from Amazon
• Purchase Mini-Mansions on Amazon
Final Thoughts
Other numbers make algorithmic three-ways. Investigate electro-soloist GLASSER’s serenely bewitching battle-cry, “Ring,” pop-rock auteur GRAYSON GILMOUR’s stellar invention, “No Constellation,” and one-man soundscapist BJORN TORSKE’s twittering tapestry, “Kokning.”Duos include MATT AND KIM’s Brooklyn-bound ballyhoo, “Sidewalks,” HARMONIOUS BEC’s constantly altering musical mutations, “Her Strange Dreams,” plus looped groovers EL TEN ELEVEN’s splendid electric memories, “It’s Still Like A Secret.” Finally, divide your attention between quintets THE 1990’s upbeat elegy “Return of the Century,” bilingual surf-rockers THE CUBAN COWBOYS’ fiesta-fueled, “Diablo Mambo,” and THE HIGH DIALS’ heavenly dream-pop “Anthems for Doomed Youth.”