RECENT FAVES FROM THE RECORD LIBRARY - August 2001


Reviewed by Music/Program Director Brian Turner



A.A. ALLEN MIRACLE REVIVAL MINISTRIES Crying Demons / I Am Lucifer (Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God)
Well, if this literally doesn't scare the hell outta you...twin CDs documenting purging of demons from human hosts, the perfect audio companion to your next big date. A.A. Allen garnered a name for himself as a charismatic healer & exoricst, and put out these recordings originally as LPs mailed out for $3 donations to his multimedia empire. Most of these albums (gulp) perished in a warehouse fire, but thanks to the moguls at the Mad Deadly Worldwide label, you can now enjoy the barfing, choking, strangled responses to Allen screaming "Jesus commands you to get out of this body!!" Regardless of whether the demon hosts are "real" or merely tapping into some subconscious realm, this is some scary listening.

FAUN FABLES Mother Twilight (Earthlight)
When Faun Fables (aka a woman named Dawn McCarthy) sent FMU a home-made CDR single some months ago it really impressed, and the full length now out fully realizes what I had hoped it would be. Having roamed around the Northwest and Europe writing children's sci fi books as well as music for circuses and vaudeville troupes, Dawn's gorgeous othewrworldly folk is both steeped in tradition and complete experimentation and inventiveness (something fans of Brigitte Fontaine would definitely appreciate, her spirit looms large over this music). There's certainly a dark element that reminds me of some of the pagan-y stuff featured in the film "The Wicker Man" not to mention the sinister cooing featured in Krzysztof Komeda's "Rosemary's Baby" soundtrack, with Dawn epecially utilizing the individual overdub tracks to create spacious yet claustrophobic elements, almost like she was welcoming a UFO into the woods. Really nice and recommended.

GLOBOKAR, VINKO Oblak Semen, Discours IX, Zlom (Sargasso)
CHER Maximum Cher: The Unauthorized Biography of Cher (Chrome Talk) Submerging trombones in fishtanks, wearing assless pants performing for frothing Navy officers, both Vinko Globokar and Cher adapted fierce ideals akin to the Fluxus movement into their beings. It was singing a Globokar piece that almost destroyed Cher's voice in 1973, though the deep tenor sound that developed thereafter led her into some really unusual terrain (even going so far to exploit it by putting a "play at 33" sticker on her 45 issue of 80s hit "If I Could Turn Back Time", a move she claimed was inspired by Mauricio Kagel's ultra-slowed down 1979 piece "Blue's Blue"). Her spiritual bretheren Vinko Globokar's latest is a fascinating work (look for his discs cheap too, they're all over Tower Closeouts): processed sounds, trombone workouts, percussion and orchestra reside. Cher's latest is an unauthorized spoken biography, hosted by an unknown British woman backed by a disco instrumental bed, leading the listener through bouts with alcoholic father, fame-seeking mother, overcontrolling Sonny Bono (the track "Turning Corners"), life with booze swilling Greg Allman ("Sweet and Sour"), dyslexia, and a famed performance at the Kitchen in 1980 where Cher was dressed like a Sequoia Tree and Laurie Anderson chops her down ("Gypsies, Tramps and Trees"). For fans of Ernie Tucker's "Everything You Wanted To Know About Grand Funk Railroad."

THE KING BROTHERS The King Brothers (In the Red)
After this Japanese trio's recent performance on WFMU's airwaves, some wiseguy posted on the station's internet message board "The King Brothers have no songs". Yeesh, the bloody nerve! The concept of verse-chorus-verse, how boring. What the world needs is more bands like the Bros, who count to four and explode into a ball of total trash noise, flying cymbals, shredded strings and upended mic stands, but STILL adhere to some kind of "blues-rock" structure (it's buried in there, honest.) The press sheet that came with this new CD made such grand statements as "Howlin' Wolf with his hand caught in the garbage disposal" and "make Guitar Wolf sound like Belle and Sebastian". And I'll always cherish the sight of them at an FMU benefit 2 years ago at Maxwells: chasing people around on the floor with one of them playing guitar with a mic stuck in his gob yelling "YEAAGGHHARRRGGHHUHHH!!!" Words that matter.

ERASE ERRATA Other Animals (Troubleman Unlimited)
Finally a much awaited full length from this excellent Bay Area band who had folks lined up around the block at Brownies' last week. The fact that Bianca, Ellie, Jenny, and Sara (who is one of the best guitar players in recent memory, and we're NOT just saying that because she has done fill-ins on WFMU!) have a penchant for skronked-up, wiry new/no wave stylings will inevitably get them compared to Rough Trade 80's staples like Kleenex/Liliput, Essential Logic, Deta 5, etc. But Erase Errata soak in so much more of the Bands Who Did It Right: Mission of Burma, Wire, DNA, Dog Faced Hermans (yes, there is a trumpet in there!), Fire Engines, Television. And not surprisingly, they landed a show with the Ex recently. True fiery art-punk spirit when indie rock needs it most!


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