JANDEK Put My Dream On This Planet (Corwood Industries)
As much as the mention of the name will send some running for the hills,
there is no denying the sheer head-scratchery at this man's mysterious
existence. 29 LPs down the line, nobody knows who the hell he is, or why
his Venusian blues continue. His fans paid tribute to him on a disc this
past year ("Naked in the Afternoon"), and everytime we Jandek for CDs
for giveaway during the WFMU marathon, they arrive in a box of 30 covered
by some kind of unknown gelatinous goo that is actually inside the
shrink-wrap of the discs themselves. Regardless, this new one has the Man
completely a capella, speculating on life and his relationship with the
universe through some kind of broken amplifier or something, sometimes
angry, sometimes silent. Perhaps he has been listening to our friend
Mustafio? This is a head-turner.
SCREAMERS In a Better World (Xeroid)
The long lamented Screamers were a west coast punk terror who actually
never released anything legit, hence boots and demos have been floating
around on the market for years. Fronted by the late Tomata du Plenty (who
passed on last year, maybe the impetus for this overdue retrospective),
these guys had a complete ground zero on synth-driven punk, a bit like
Suicide minus the Velvets influence. This limited double disc compiles
their shredding live sets (you gotta hear their version of Sonny Bono's
"The Beat Goes On"), demos, and a great Tomata radio spot. They had the
coolest fliers too!
ENSLAVED Maudraum (Necropolis/Osmose)
Yet another example of Black Metal being criminally ignored by the
avant-garde fans and press, this Enslaved record is utterly unbelievable
and strange! Nordic freaks who swerve back and forth from metal pound to
fits of moody post-rock (!) and psychedelia. Strangest example of
schizophrenia in music since the Canderia record which was like Lou
Donaldson playing with Emperor.
CHRISTINA ROSENVINGE Frozen Pool (Smells Like)
We loved Christina's last disc here, but now that she's done a record in
English we can really appreciate it. Rosenvinge is a Spainish chanteuse
(now relocated to NYC) with gorgeous and emotional, delicate folky-pop
sensibilities. On her US debut she teams up with Steve Shelley, Lee
Ranaldo, Janet Wygal and Tim Folijahn, and while musically this might
have hints of the fragile bluesiness of Steve and Tim's Two Dollar Guitar,
this is different and more lush thanks to her mesmerizing aura. Francois
Hardy comparisons have arisen, but there is a lot to draw from this
record.
JOHN SCHNALL More Songs From Midnight Matinee (John Schnall)
We're happy to have another CD reminder of what used to be one of WFMU's
most inventive & creative radio shows. John Schnall presented Midnight
Matinee weekly until 1998, carving up memorable and abstract portions of
films and soaking them into a freeform stream of sound and music that
created whole new identities, even poppy hooks, floating about in a hour
of aural ether. In Schnall's world proto-Christian claysters Davey &
Goliath would meet the Butthole Surfers, Jack Klugman as Quincy warns the
dangers of punk rock over a loopy "Baby Elephant Walk", and other films
like "The Last Picture Show" and "Broadway Danny Rose" get catapulted into
a pyschedelic, repetetive realm.
VARIOUS Between or Beyond the Black Forest Volume 2 (Crippled
Dick Hot
Wax)
Another welcome installment to a reissue series of music compiled from
the legendary MPS label from Germany, which in the 1960s and 70s presented
some completely grooving and progressive sounds from the likes on Dave
Pike, Sun Ra, Don Cherry, Deiter Reith and more. George Duke's
Phillipine-American sister vocal group the Third Wave were on MPS (and
have a separate reissue) as was the incredible Baden-Baden free orchestra
recording (which has yet to get a findable reissue apart from some
expensive Japanese ones). MPS has become holy grail for club DJs
especially, a testimony to the diversity in sound this label
offered. Avoid the $100 reissue LPs and get a taste of it right here to
start you off.
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