NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN The Final Moment (Birdman)
This acclaimed Qaawali vocalist had reached the ears of many outside of
his native Pakistan through the 90's, having just scored his biggest deal
yet in America after being touted by the likes of Peter Gabriel, Massive
Attack, Eddie Vedder, and Tim Robbins. Khan died in 1997, and this final
recording is a live scorcher with some in-the-red microphone
moments that have captured the spirit and this incredible voice better
than any other in my opinion. Totally ecstatic and jawdropping in
delivery, Ali Khan sings Sufi compositions on love of woman and God with a
heaviness that makes Blue Cheer sound like the Free Design. An incredible
final snapshot of the man at his peak power.
THERIOS I (Hollenden)
THERIOS II (Hollenden)
Reviews of this one-man lo-fi black metal abuser from Ohio include: "the
shittiest piece of music I have ever received", and "shredded my
speakers...I remain slightly amused." Seemingly mastered up at yes,
speaker-shredding capacity, the two Therios CDs are absolutely brutal,
ultra-distorto ridiculousness that I find fairly awesome. Full of random
explosions, stuck-grooves and cut-ups everywhere, crack-huffing gremlin
vocals, this is the metal equivalent to the early Eye tape-deck adventures
(Hanatarash, UFO or Die, etc). CD #1 is a bit more nebulous and hard to
take in a full sit-down, but like Myles of Destruction, a reaffirming nod
that all extreme metal need not follow convention and dresscode. Truly
twisted.
S.K. THOTH The Herma - Act 1 (S.K Thoth)
For a while, some FMU-ers and listeners have described a mysterious
"dancing shaman in Central Park", whom I'd yet to witness, until Kid
Millions from Oneida emailed me this link to a video clip (if you have a
Real Player, you must go
to: http://www.skthoth.com/SKTHOTH/Video_Pagex.html). Wow. Classically
trained and then having thrown it all out the window, Thoth (who bounces
between NYC & San Francisco) is a loin-cloth sporting, violin playing
whirling dervish of energy and sound. He's also invented his own
mythological land, the Festad, and depicts tales of it in his CD the
Herma, complete with detailed maps, and terminology related to its people,
the Mir. Inspired by Wagner, Thoth sets out to bring his mythologies to
life while injecting a variety of cultures, races, and sexualities
together (which I think may mean an island nation of Thoths). Envisioning
a nation of loin-cloth sporting yelping banshees pounding away on the
fiddle: most likely a much better thing than the reality of most
countries?
DANIELE BRUSASCHETTO Bluviola (Radon Studios)
In the past this Italian musician has been fairly active in the noisy/
industrial realm but on this, his third album he and his band stretch
into a place a boundless beauty. Ringing, chiming dissonant guitars remind
me of splendorous moments of Sonic Youth circa EVOL, and Daniele's upfront
vocals (in Italian) meld with the chaos is a most stark and pleasing
manner.
GOLD CHAINS Gold Chains (Orthlong Musork)
Total heavy rotation on the deck and hip-hop pleasure of the moment, Gold
Chains is a guy from San Francisco who kind of looks like David Cross (in
the video, he is wearing a suit on the BART train, rapping like a lunatic
like David Herman's "Michael Bolton" character commuting in his car in the
movie "Office Space"), but coming off with total charm amidst all the
cheesoid stereotypes (bragging, selling women off as sex slaves in
Thailand etc etc). There's a great old school vibe of basic electronics
(the disc was recorded by IDM mainstay Kit Clayton), beats, and even some
wailing noise guitar coda in "Rock the Parti", and the short length (5
song EP) is perfect. Fans of Chilly Gonzales who are a bit terrified at
his Broadway/Taco leanings might want to investigate Mr. Chains.
THE HYLOZOISTS La Nouvelle Gauche (Brobdingnagian)
An ambitious and innovative outfit led by Paul Alcoin (the Sadies,
American Flag) coming out of Nova Scotia and seemingly set to please
post-rockist fans of the Sea and Cake and Tortoise, though this group is
much harder to peg in many ways. This is mainly because they address so
MANY areas (with so MANY instruments: marimba, banjo, pedal steel,
marimba, woodwinds, brass etc etc), swinging easily from lush, orchestral
High Llamas/Beach Boys isms (without letting them take over) to brittle,
shambling string experimentations, baroque jazz, droning theremin breaks,
mutant synth excursions, cosmic banjo breaks and more. Succeeds in holding
interest so much better than many so-called post-rock discs throughout, a
must-listen.
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