2007

never posted this 2007 list; followed 2008 even less than 2007 so no list there.. anyway here's the belated 2007 storm of shit:

Albums/EPs

Sorcerer - White Magic (Tirk)
Cornelius - Sensuous
Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
V/A - After Dark (Italians Do It Better)
Fennesz/Sakamoto - Cendre
William Basinski - El Camino Real
The Focus Group - We Are Pan's People
Ariel Pink - YAS Dudett
Glass Candy - B/E/A/T/B/O/X (Self-Released)
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Windsurf - EP
Proswell - Bruxion Frog

Tracks
Trilogyy - Apocolypse Rock
Hatchback - "Carefree Highway", "White Diamond"
My Chemical Romance - Teenagers
Junior Boys - FM (Tensnake Remix)
Beanie Siegel ft. R Kelly - All the Above
T-Pain - (pretty much everything)
UGK - Int'l Players Anthem
Arcade Fire - ??? don't know what it's called.. hear it everywhere
Beck - Cellphone's Dead (Villalobos OR Allien Mix??)
Mixes
Prins Thomas - Cosmo Galactic Prism
Lindstrom - LateNightTales
Dixon - RA Podcast
Henrik Schwarz - Live
G-Ha & Olanskii - Sunkissed
2006/re-released 2007
Studio - West Coast
Peter Bjorn & John - Writers Block
Sally Shapiro - Disco Romance
Haven't Gotten to Yet



Need More Time
µ-ziq - Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation (someone's been listening to proswell, ffs! his most listenable album in a decade; kind of points to dubstep and weirdo mid-90s afx remixes (nav katze, a couple of the ventolin rmxs)
Live Awesome
Todd Rundgren
Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti
Unknown Breakcore Acts somewhere in south sf?

Problems/Fence
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna (great melodies, too partridge family)
The Aliens (love the gross BTO honky tonk piano solos)
Kathy Diamond (vocals are kinda shite but maurice fulton's production is wonderful)
Les Savy Fav - (band sounds absolutely unstoppable when recorded properly. this album was not recorded improperly, per se, but it still sounds boring. lyrics, which were never their strong point, are even less consistent here)
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime - [concept sounds great and i do like the one track of the fire & ice ep that goes "lights off, lights, off" or whatever, but as much of a melancholy closet-goth drone soldier i am, this possesses neither the physicality of great techno nor the rapturous melodies/harmonies that embody the strand of this kind of music that stretches from cocteau twins through mbv through gas into fennesz and all in between. i really had my hopes up for this because i enjoyed the first ep immensely (still do) and i guess it's pretty lovely sounding, but it's so boring an uneventful.... i think he can do better (?)]
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver - (bad vocals, annoying indie-style bark chanting, abundance of tired-ass disco cowbell... the last track is the definition of abysmal.. lol!! still though, i like the track that sounds like mnml tranced-up harmonia.. and the one about growing old is really nice and sad.. but again, this guy's vocals... and enough with the fuckin cowbell!
Destroy
Apples in Stereo (ouch, 0/0, really bad chessy awfulness!!)
Deerhunter (boring, lazy stoner crap, poor songwriting)
Reissues
Ewan Pearson - Piece Work
Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti - Scared Famous
Young Marble Giants - 3cd thing that has almost everything (maybe it has everything?)

Old Not Reissued Just Hearing Now
Chris & Cosey - October Love Song (enough railing against cheese, this is innocuous C&C that melts the heart mcdonalds style)
Yellow Magic Orchestra - just the album with the toothbrush on the cover (definitely one of my favorite sleeves ever); just excellent not-so-shiny synth pop with all kind of weird-angles.... even the rap track is really good... just a marvelous album..

Gang Gang Dance/Ariel Pink show last week was fantastic! I was extremely hesitant; Ariel, despite being probably my favorite song writer of these times, has a near unanimous poor reputation as a live act. He really pulled things together this time, with what appears to be a stable lineup of 2 guitarists (including Vudi from American Music Club, of all people), keyboardist, drummer (on Simmons style electronic kit), and I believe they traded off on bass duties but I honestly can't remember... they could have had a bass player... (I WAS drunk and stoned enough to spend $60 on 3 Ariel CD-Rs with different artwork because I thought they all had different tracks..) The band was a little sloppy and flubbed a few times (the sound was pretty inconsistant). But I can only see things going up from here.

Gang Gang Dance, I hated what I heard from them before, but they were just magical.. Haven't gotten around to investigating their earlier stuff, but have they always had this indipop/middle east pop thing going on? Less adventurous bits of their set just sounded like generic post-punk revival/blonde redhead blandness (I assume this is the stuff I heard before?). Best moments had thickets of tribal drums alternating with very funky eastern-sounding rnb/hiphop digital beats. Flirted between Noise Mode and Party Mode and straight up Bliss Mode with major grace. Vocals were splendid and catchy as well, and contained a level of shriekiness I could stand.

OPENER was this headbanging electric guitarist playing an entire set of fast n complex distorted metal riffs UNACCOMPANIED!

2 Fusion Records

A pretty mellow early fusion album. By mellow I mean relative to Mahavishnu/Tony Williams etc.. i.e. what most people think of when they hear the word fusion... You can think of this record as Bitches Brew's conservative, less hairy cousin. There are some seriously gorgeous moments in the first half of this record where Don Pearson's glistening electric piano cascades over Byrd's echo-drenched trumpet and then gets washed over by a tide of severely airy clouds of horns/woodwinds. Last track "The Dude" is truly dire jazz-funk, but the rest of this record is a nice spacey delight.

More from the softer side of fusion. There are no awkward clunky attempts to make Jazz that rocks here, this is a rich, subtle album. A full orchestra rears its head occasionally, but it is used relatively sparingly and does not disrupt the grooves here at all.

John Foxx - S/T [Metal Beat, 1981]

Somehow I was under the impression that Foxx was some smooth n' syrupy 4th-tier Love Boat/Howard Jones/Duran Duran cad. I definitely did not expect such cold, airy urban wasteland synth-pop. This is a compilation culled from his first album(Metamatic and his early singles. Foxx's musical concept here (the serene mechanical pulse of Kraftwerk wed to the chilly post-apocalyptic atmosphere of Bowie's Low) is not unique for its time but his results are stunning. John Foxx's best moments are simultaneously soaring and unsettling. These are undeniably catchy songs here, but the sweetness is tempered by lyrical themes of industrial decay and post-human ideals.

Michael Shrieve with Klaus Schulze and Kevin Shrieve - Transfer Station Blue [Fortuna, 1984]

This here is what Harvey refers to as "adult dance music" (some would say this is merely a euphemism for "EZ cheese slop"). If you're not already turned off, just take a look at the garish cover, which resembles nothing so much as a corporate brochure for IBM or perhaps a family of cleaning products. Still interested? Well, brace yourself for the rainforest funk within.

Transfer Station Blue is supposed to be a showcase for Michael Shrieve's dynamic percussion workouts, but it's really all about Klaus Schulze's sleek production, which gives everything a misty, minty fresh aura. The title track is definitely the real stunner here, an immortal funky guitar lick over a crystalline cosmic beach groove.

Gato Barbieri - Chapter One: Latin America [Impulse!, 1973]

A wild latin jazz party. Barbieri really cuts loose and his band here is more than happy to come along for the ride. Open the gatefold sleeve and photos from the sessions show all 14 band members sitting down looking way too chill and in control for such a riotous freak-out. All manner of instruments are present here; Indian harps, bandoneons, and at least 10 which I've never seen or heard of before.