MU / Afro Finger and Gel
(Tigersushi)
Whoa, total crazed electronic weird pop out of nowhere, I smell much fame
and fortune for Mustumi Kanamori, the woman who IS Mu along with Maurice
Fulton. Imagine cold but animated synthpunk blats and beats via "Nag Nag
Nag"-era Cabaret Voltaire, dark electropunk weirdness ala Subterranean
80s, dub chamber references of the likes of 23 Skidoo and even then you
get the odd curveball (like some Afro-Samba detours). James Murphy of
DFA/LCD
Sound System is already gaga, he even featured Mu's "Chair Girl" on his
recent mix compilation. I tend to believe the cute Japanese vox are
going to win this a lot more fans easier than without, but it's just so
fun and twisted that it adds to the well known (around here especially)
formula. In this overrun-with-electroclashcityrockers world
we live in this definitely dips into the well of style and substance in a
nicely rounded and forward-thinking way.
SIMPLY SAUCER / Cyborgs Revisited (Sonic Unyon)
Cargo reissued a CD back in the 90's, now out of print, but here it
resurfaces again. This is one of my alltime fave mutant-rock records ever:
total Velvets-meets sci-fi electronic gush songs about cyborgs, the future
gone bad and even more bizarre stuff, from early 1970's Hamilton, Ontario
(steel mill town central) nonetheless. I made a copy of this disc for Jay
from Sloan years ago and he flipped out at the thought of having lived in
the same country as such a freaking insane band that he'd never even known
about, and if you've never heard 'em, you gotta grab this now. Indeed,
unlike other 70s cult bands, SS probably made their mark on absolutely no
one
else, though one hears Chrome, Hawkwind, Pink Fairies, Syd Barrett,
Detroit monster rock and a lot more, with
White Light-style guitar explosions, wheezing analog synth flurries,
extended freakouts in what leader Edger Brau called "heavy metaloid"
stylings. The late 70's got a bit more new-wavey and less primitive for
the band, but this latest reissue tags on some welcome demos and live
stuff from that period. Totally primo. If you own Rocket From the Tombs'
new reissue, Stooges, Can, Velvets, or anything of that ilk you will *NOT*
be disappointed.
FLAMING FIRE / Songs From the Shining Temple (Perhaps
Transparent)
NYC concertgoers have been lucky enough to have the chance to witness the
live spectacle of Brooklyn's FF for the last few years and they're a hard
image to forget: cloaked in red togas they turn the stage into a scene out
of a Greco-Roman ritual or bizarro Kenneth Anger flick. Despite the weird
pagan vibe, it's not as foreboding as you would think; there's pounding
rhythms, chanting, noisy electronics, but there's also a great playful
air about Flaming Fire and extremely catchy and hummable guy/gal interplay
between Patrick Hambrecht, his missus Kate, and third vocalist Lauren
Weinstein. The songs are completely inventive, fun 'n dark, as if
Beelzebub was about to take over, but decided to sit in and play the moog
for a while. Damn, I would even kinda say FF are sometimes a cross between
Psychic TV and Haysi Fantaysee (that's not an insult, honest). Great
layers and
textures, total theatrics both visually and musically, and it all carries
onto their records (this is the second) wonderfully.
|