Twittering Machines

listen

Thanks go to Jonathan for pointing me to this beautiful and impossibly proportioned, nearly cartoonish 1920s (?) gramophone from E.M.G. That’s a papier-maché horn and the handwind motor is from Garrard. Music gets picked up by the needle which excites the aluminum diaphragm which sits at the throat of the horn. Then the horn does what horns do coupling the resultant sound waves with the air in your room. Music. Direct, 100% acoustic and green – all it takes is a turn of the crank and you’re listening to Billie Holiday. This one sold on eBay for $22,000.

The Bug
London Zoo

Rage n riddim. Pure fucking anger. The Bug, aka Kevin Martin, is fucking angry and Tippa Irie, Ranking, Flowdan, Warrior Queen, Spaceape, Roger Robinson, Killa P, and Aya sing it out while The Bug drives it deep into your psyche. And if that isn’t enough he spells it out – there is a “Credit” section in the liner notes and then there’s “Spite” – Haters, Biters, Bigots, Music Industry, Sharks, Sheep, Racists, Vampires, Dollar Suckas, Fame Fuckas, The Uncommitted, The Average, The Mediocre, The Innocent Bystanders, The Anglo/American War Machine and the Multinational Elite.

Dubstep with a capital A. “What’s wrong with this fucking world?“…“So much people are losing their minds, because we’re living in a serious time. I guess it come in like a judgment sign, the people have killing on their mind.” Think Burial ripped from the underground, twisted, ratcheted up with some madly outrageous vocals over the top.

“makes Burial’s Untrue sound like Music for Airports” Pitchfork

I got chills listening to this and I’m sure it will be even more imposing given a fuller presentation – bass an important tool in this ominous soundchest (London sound-system culture). Believe the hype. 3 LPs $40 and worth every fucking penny.

Evangelista
Hello, Voyager

Have I lost all critical faculties? Or is there something in the air? This LP arrived alongside the lovely Leila and I frankly didn’t expect to be bowled over. I have Evangelista Carla Bozulich’s last record and even though it was Wired Magazine’s Top 4 LP from ’06, our relationship has been a bit lukewarmish. But this! her new record Hello, Voyager with her new band Evangelista (yes, same name as her last LP to confuse the crap out of people I’d guess) just kills (me at least). A sea storm of styles and tropes, guitars and other strings, hitting stuff, harmonium and some tasty Doors references including the title track which sounds like Carla’s version of “The End”, this record just shimmers with a mad intensity.

And on the oddly-everpresent-these-days theme, Bozulich gives credit to a conversation with Ches Smith as her inspiration for the title track .

“The Buddha Machine is a little plastic box that plays music.

Specifically, FM3 constructed nine drones, varying from two seconds to 42 seconds, which repeat endlessly in the listener’s ear until the ” track” is switched to the next drone (or the two AA batteries run out).

The machine has its own built-in speaker, in case one would like to fill a room with the drones, but there is also a headphone jack for more personal meditative experiences. There’s a switch on the side that allows for traversal of the tracks, and a DC jack (though an adapter is not included) for those who would like the Buddha Machine experience be truly endless.”

Why don’t I have a Buddha Machine? I need a Buddha Machine.

Grails
Take Refuge in Clean Living

Instrumental dronescapes from Portland’s Grails. Trippy, swirly, hippie “spaghetti-western drone-rock”; Pink Floyd meets Led Zeppelin in Kashmir for an extended hookah party with harpsichord, organ, sitar and of course some heavy-ass guitar. Includes a cover of The Ventures “11th Hour” but like Jimi said …you’ll never hear surf music again…

Get yours from Important Records fast for the amber vinyl version.

Painful by Yo La Tengo is my current favorite ‘Tengo LP. Brimming over with epic guitar arcs and filthy feedback grinds, this moody masterpiece scratches that indy itch like little else.

Not the actress Andrea Parker but the cellist turned electronica maestro Andrea Parker.


Her debut LP from 1999 kills in a really slow heavy way. Atmospheric like being slightly too high in a really good place–comfortable, dark and ambient, but with moments of enlightened/enlivened FUNK it has a moody genius throughout. You find yourself with your eyes closed in some really far off planet of chill when, without warning your doing a deep chair groove.

Washington Phillips
What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?

Recorded between 1927 & 1929, so little is known about Washington Phillips they’re not even sure what instrument he’s playing. Best guest says it’s either a Dolceola or a homemade instrument that “nobody on earth could use except him” according to Frank Walker, the guy who first recorded Phillips. All’s I know is it sounds like something between a harp and piano. It sounds like angels. And Phillips singing his biblical tales over the top is pure, simple over the top joyousness.

Ornette Coleman
Science Fiction

1971 beautiful madness from the Ornette Coleman Septet featuring Don Cherry, Bobby Bradford, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins, David Henderson reciting his poem on “Science Fiction” and Asha Puthli on vocals.

From the liner notes by Bob Palmer, Rolling Stone :

After years of discipline and determination, after having influenced the course of contemporary music so profoundly that giants like Coltrane and Miles have learned from him, Ornette comes back to an everyday sound that communicates the raw experience of unstructured cosmic consciousness. That’s more than “far out”; it’s science fiction.

Grace Jones
My Jamaican Guy

12″ UK 45rpm 7+ minute extended version to include the “J.A. Guys” dub remix. The original song appeared on the LP Living My Life and another mix shows up as the B-Side of the 12″ US single Cry Now, Laugh Later and yet another on the compilation Island Life. Covers by graphic artist Jean Paul Goude who fathered Grace’s son Paulo.

happy birthday to me…

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