Twittering Machines

PJ Harvey
White Chalk

Polly Jean plays piano. And sings. Sparse, quiet, lonesome and beautiful in a windswept melancholy way. Sends shivers down the metaphorical spine. Lovely.

Cool embroidered shirts from Barcelona’s Nubius.

Nagra T for JD

50s Pad for JH

and some sweet iron-on patches

Colleen
Les Ondes Silencieuses

Part autodidact, part savante, part recluse and oh so very French, Colleen (Celine Schott) plays all the instruments on this dark, quiet and quite lovely LP. Viola de gamba, classical guitar, spinet, clarinet and crystal glasses unadorned and recorded in her living room or a friend’s attic. Quirky, medievalishly simple with just enough silence interspersed to create and keep interest.

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The Green Arrows
4 Track Recording Sessions

Great 1970s Zimbabwaen pop as colorful as the cover. Jangly, crisp, rhythmically complex and just plain fun. Double gatefold LP includes an excellent booklet with photos, history and pics of early singles. This is the first release from Alula Records in their Analog Africa series and its a winner.

Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters
Return of the Super Ape

The cover is about as good a description of the music as one could hope for. Swampy, scratchy, smoky, rootsy reverb-heavy dub classic with a touch of insanity. Chris Blackwell of Island refused to release this one cause he thought it half-baked. While it may not be the equal to the original Super Ape – who cares. It’s still got that manic Perry magic.

Various
Box of Dub: Dub Step and Future Dub

From Soul Jazz Records, this triple LP collection brings together some of the swampiest, bass heaviest, cracklinest beats the current South London scene has to offer. Digital Mystikz, Kode 9, Skream, Burial, Scuba, Paul St. Hilaire, King Midas & more all offering exclusive tracks for this here Box of Dub. Turn out the lights, spark up, crank up and sink.

So I bought another piece of test equipment to help with the reviewing gig. I put it on the main rig and ran a quick pass of the lower frequencies. I’ll be damned.

Illustration from a recently discovered treatise on Hi-Fi by Copernicus

Interestingly, Copernicus shows Music as the center of the reproduction chain as opposed to the commonly held view that it’s the gear. Even less popular but still widely held is the belief that the reviewer sits at the center and all things revolve around them.

Scholars note that Editors from the leading audio publications have known of the existence of this treatise for centuries but have managed to keep it out of the public eye. There are also unsubstantiated reports of a secret sect of Monks that have fought to keep the Music First treatise from being destroyed. The only clue to the identity of this secret order is the use of a bunny insignia.