22
Nov
2005
· This coming Tuesday the V2 imprint looks back at the early days of the Greenhornes with a compilation of 19 rarities and an all-new bonus track, "Lost Woman." Collecting hometown seven-inch singles from Cincinnati, Ohio, and selections from LP releases on the Prince and Telstar labels, Sewed Soles boasts an alternative version of "Can't Stand It" (as heard in HBO's The Sopranos) and "There Is an End," a track with guest Holly Golightly that was featured in the film Broken Flowers.
If you haven't yet caught the fever of the band's R&B British-invasion retro wig-out, this is a great place to go back and start, better than any homemade CD you could dream of burning from an expensive eBay hunt for these long-out-of-print nuggets. The just-released rapid-fire opus of sampled cacophony from Stunt Rock is my mesmerizing, mind-melting pick of the week. The mad scientist behind this audio waterfall of clanging junkyard beats, monolithic guitar riffs, and loopy looped snippets is the lone William Flegal, a spasmodic, speed-reading, cut-and-paste conductor up to much mischief. The spoken-word bits from Redd Foxx, Eric Bogosian, Christopher Walken, and forgotten late-night movies tumble out as a stream of advertisements on a desert highway - zip, zip, zip - one after the other in a din of suggestive affirmation and despair-driven abandon. Flying the flag of free digital-sampling delights, the new CD, This is Stunt Rock Vol. 3, is a game-show quiz of audio "guess who," with slices of Billy Joel, Neil Young, and Judas Priest melodies among the hundreds - if not thousands - of puzzle pieces that make up this crazy, creepy, lively production. Highly recommended for fans of Negativland and other culture-jamming alchemists. Look for it on the Cock Rock Disco Records imprint.
· Speaking of tour-de-force visionaries, more adventurous audio delights can be found in this week's release of God Is a Moog: The Electronic Prayers of Gershon Kingsley. As an early tape-loop experimenter with Jean-Jacques Perry on The In Sound from Way Out in 1966, Gershon purchased an original Moog synthesizer from creator Robert Moog in 1968. In the 1970s he began using it to create a new breed of Jewish music, with the Moog-driven rock operas Shabbat for Today and The Fifth Cup, all lost and forgotten until the archivists at Reboot Stereophonic Records discovered his work on LPs in thrift-store bins and tracked the composer down for this two-CD compilation of his work. Don't know a Moog from a Theremin or a kalimba? Later this week Backbeat Books will release Strange Sounds: Offbeat Instruments & Sonic Experiments in Pop, a nearly 200-page guide to the weird sounds of science, from early French devices such as the Ondes Martenot keyboard in the 1930s to the flood of cute Casio Tone synthesizers in the 1980s. Americana Luddites get the salute too, with saws, washboards, Jew's harps, and kazoos, not to mention the jug-band folk revival of the 1960s. Meticulously researched by author Mark Brend and peppered with rare photos and original magazine ads, all types of noisemakers are explored, including sitars, early drum machines, and toys such as Hohner's Melodica and Mattel's Bee Gees Rhythm Machine. Not only inventors and musicians led this clever march of innovation; recording-studio producers - such as the eccentric Joe Meek - were working alongside them, tricking out their primitive multi-track tape recorders to produce masterpieces such as the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" in 1966. Many of these machines were monstrous beasts, such as Pierre Shaeffer's tape-delay device, the Phonogéne - a Frankenstein's monster of spinning tape heads. Also enclosed is a 59-track CD with samples of most of these instruments, including the Farnell Audio Test Oscillator, the Stylophone, and the Marxophone. Music geeks unite!
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosts Scott Stapp tonight, James Blunt on Friday, and a special teaming of Queens of the Stone Age and ZZ Top on Monday; The Late Show with David Letterman welcomes Big Boi tonight and John Mayer on Thursday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien features Ray Davies of The Kinks on Thursday overnight and the fantastic Gogol Bordello on Friday; Last Call with Carson Daly sits down with George Clinton this evening overnight and 30 Seconds to Mars on Friday overnight; and Austin City Limits presents The Pixies this weekend.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, November 29:
... and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change.
Collabs 3000- Metalism (NovaMute) rolling and fragmented techno teaming of DJs Speedy J and Chris Liebing
The Darkness- One Way Ticket To Hell ... & Back (Atlantic) with producer "Mutt" Lange
DJ Muggs vs. GZA- Grand Masters (Up Above) debut collaboration with guests RZA, Method Man, Sen-Dog, and Prodigal Son
Futureheads- Area EP (679 Records) three-track CD single
Hot Chip- Coming on Strong (Astralwerks) featuring the single "Over & Over"
INXS- Switch (Epic) featuring new lead singer J.D. Fortune, selected in the Rock Star: INXS television show
Maldini & Vegas- Bad Taste (System) new in the Bad Company UK Presents series, this deliciously frantic jungle set is a mind-melting rabbit chase featuring Chase & Status, The Upbeats, and State of Mind over two CDs
Dave Matthews Band- Weekend on the Rocks (RCA) CD and DVD package recorded in September in Colorado, and featuring a cover of The Zombies' "Time of the Season"
Ennio Morricone- Crime & Dissonance (Ipecac) collection of rare recordings from 1969 to 1974, compiled by Mike Patton of Faith No More
Nurse with Wound - Salt Marie Celeste (Durtro/Jnana) reissue from 2002 in a fancy new digipak
The Proposition- original motion picture soundtrack (Mute) music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer- Drift (Plexifilm) cool DVD release from the Sonic Youth co-founder and his wife, a visual artist who uses projectors like a DJ uses turntables
Todd Rundgren- Liars Live (Sanctuary) DVD filmed last year, featuring his cover of the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
Supermercado- Scary Baby (Dark Star) blistering metal-funk with a testosterone-fueled theatrical edge - think Warrior Soul meets Living Colour with a little bit of Queen
various artists - 20 Nights of Wine and Song (Greyday) label-artist sampler CD featuring John Larsen, Piney Gir, Pablo's Triangle, and Books on Tape
· Speaking of tour-de-force visionaries, more adventurous audio delights can be found in this week's release of God Is a Moog: The Electronic Prayers of Gershon Kingsley. As an early tape-loop experimenter with Jean-Jacques Perry on The In Sound from Way Out in 1966, Gershon purchased an original Moog synthesizer from creator Robert Moog in 1968. In the 1970s he began using it to create a new breed of Jewish music, with the Moog-driven rock operas Shabbat for Today and The Fifth Cup, all lost and forgotten until the archivists at Reboot Stereophonic Records discovered his work on LPs in thrift-store bins and tracked the composer down for this two-CD compilation of his work. Don't know a Moog from a Theremin or a kalimba? Later this week Backbeat Books will release Strange Sounds: Offbeat Instruments & Sonic Experiments in Pop, a nearly 200-page guide to the weird sounds of science, from early French devices such as the Ondes Martenot keyboard in the 1930s to the flood of cute Casio Tone synthesizers in the 1980s. Americana Luddites get the salute too, with saws, washboards, Jew's harps, and kazoos, not to mention the jug-band folk revival of the 1960s. Meticulously researched by author Mark Brend and peppered with rare photos and original magazine ads, all types of noisemakers are explored, including sitars, early drum machines, and toys such as Hohner's Melodica and Mattel's Bee Gees Rhythm Machine. Not only inventors and musicians led this clever march of innovation; recording-studio producers - such as the eccentric Joe Meek - were working alongside them, tricking out their primitive multi-track tape recorders to produce masterpieces such as the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" in 1966. Many of these machines were monstrous beasts, such as Pierre Shaeffer's tape-delay device, the Phonogéne - a Frankenstein's monster of spinning tape heads. Also enclosed is a 59-track CD with samples of most of these instruments, including the Farnell Audio Test Oscillator, the Stylophone, and the Marxophone. Music geeks unite!
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosts Scott Stapp tonight, James Blunt on Friday, and a special teaming of Queens of the Stone Age and ZZ Top on Monday; The Late Show with David Letterman welcomes Big Boi tonight and John Mayer on Thursday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien features Ray Davies of The Kinks on Thursday overnight and the fantastic Gogol Bordello on Friday; Last Call with Carson Daly sits down with George Clinton this evening overnight and 30 Seconds to Mars on Friday overnight; and Austin City Limits presents The Pixies this weekend.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, November 29:
... and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change.
Collabs 3000- Metalism (NovaMute) rolling and fragmented techno teaming of DJs Speedy J and Chris Liebing
The Darkness- One Way Ticket To Hell ... & Back (Atlantic) with producer "Mutt" Lange
DJ Muggs vs. GZA- Grand Masters (Up Above) debut collaboration with guests RZA, Method Man, Sen-Dog, and Prodigal Son
Futureheads- Area EP (679 Records) three-track CD single
Hot Chip- Coming on Strong (Astralwerks) featuring the single "Over & Over"
INXS- Switch (Epic) featuring new lead singer J.D. Fortune, selected in the Rock Star: INXS television show
Maldini & Vegas- Bad Taste (System) new in the Bad Company UK Presents series, this deliciously frantic jungle set is a mind-melting rabbit chase featuring Chase & Status, The Upbeats, and State of Mind over two CDs
Dave Matthews Band- Weekend on the Rocks (RCA) CD and DVD package recorded in September in Colorado, and featuring a cover of The Zombies' "Time of the Season"
Ennio Morricone- Crime & Dissonance (Ipecac) collection of rare recordings from 1969 to 1974, compiled by Mike Patton of Faith No More
Nurse with Wound - Salt Marie Celeste (Durtro/Jnana) reissue from 2002 in a fancy new digipak
The Proposition- original motion picture soundtrack (Mute) music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer- Drift (Plexifilm) cool DVD release from the Sonic Youth co-founder and his wife, a visual artist who uses projectors like a DJ uses turntables
Todd Rundgren- Liars Live (Sanctuary) DVD filmed last year, featuring his cover of the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
Supermercado- Scary Baby (Dark Star) blistering metal-funk with a testosterone-fueled theatrical edge - think Warrior Soul meets Living Colour with a little bit of Queen
various artists - 20 Nights of Wine and Song (Greyday) label-artist sampler CD featuring John Larsen, Piney Gir, Pablo's Triangle, and Books on Tape
