Twittering Machines

By Emanuelle Grinmore, CNN
October 30, 2009 11:11 p.m. EDT

(CNN) – Apple Computers announced a new disk drive for their popular Mac Pro desktop computer that reads, writes and plays 45 rpm records.” The Mac Pro is widely praised as the best desktop computer in the world and today we are making it even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. ” With the ability to play and record 45 rpm analog records, the new Mac Pro delivers an amazing desktop experience that we think customers will love.”

Industry insiders claim that Microsoft has been scrambling for a Windows-based analog solution ever since news of Apple’s pending player hit the street. Nicholas Kolakowski of the popular Microsoft News Blog has been quoted as saying the MS offering will be geared toward the more vibrationally robust 8-track tape format due to the inherent instability of the MS operating system and PC owners propensity to kick their PCs often.

Shangri-Las
Golden Hits

Two pairs of sisters, Mary (the lead singer) & Betty Weiss (who rarely toured which is why they appeared like a trio) and the Ganser twins put voice to some classic melo-drama storytelling songwriting by George Shadow Morton, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich (the powerhouse husband/wife team) and  Jerry Leiber.

Like the Feminine Complex, the Shangri-Las started in high school, choosing their name after a local Queens diner. Mary Weiss was 15 when she laid down that stunningly disaffected vocal in 1964 on “Remember” backed by, among others, studio musician Billy Joel on the demo track. While the publicity machine turned the Shangri-Las, especially “Leader of the Pack” (vroom vroom) into some dumb-assed cleaned up comicbook version of the ’50s (like the cover of this record), I hear, most likely with the aid of David Lynch, some demons lurking. Maybe it’s the sound of one of the biggest musically innocent bubbles about to burst into a thousand tears. (that was corny) I also hear post-pop Shangri-Las in so many of today’s girl-groups. Rock on.

recorded in “perfect presence sound”

earth
hibernaculum

Dylan Carlson’s 2007 remix of older material + 1 new track “A Plague of Angels” all in his sludgy-slow super-brooding building guitar-driven dronescapes. Accompanied by Adrienne Davies drums & percussion, Steve Moore B-3, piano, Mellotron, Wurlitzer and trombone, Don McGreevy bass and Greg Anderson Korg MS-20. I first read about this record in The Wire’s Invisible Jukebox then saw it at Vintage Vinyl and couldn’t resist. Normally a record I would not browse upon (it was in the “Metal” section), I have to thank The Wire (again) for turning me on to this slow burning beauty.

While I don’t know much about Dylan Carlson/Earth, his story seems to be a bit darker than most – drug addiction which caused an 8-year hiatus from LP making, he also happens to be the guy that turned Kurt Cobain on to heroin and bought him the shotgun. They were friends. He sites AC/DC, Black Sabbath, The Melvins, LaMonte Young and Terry Riley as influences and if you think about putting all those in the sonic blender, you’ll hear the Earth drone.

I opted for the picture disk which reproduces Seldon Hunt‘s cover photo in all its fall-en glory. Released on Southern Lord Records.

Shogun Kunitoki
Vinonaamakasio

Shogun Kunitoki are from Finland and this lovely spotty picture disk of theirs was put out by Finland’s Fonal Records. I think Stephen pointed me to this one but my memory serves no master. In any case, it’s some good old electronica of the analog synthesiser and percussion persuasion (dare I say progish with a hint of Riley?) and the music is at once epic and intimate. Some pulsing and pounding but overall highly listen-able, these cold-weather-climate peoples seem to have a knack for this melodious heavy-sounding beautiful stuff.

Oh hell, the band/label says it better: “…absolutely explodes into the cosmos with an unrelenting squall of swirling organ patterns, droning guitars, ring modulator death-rays, and an impenetrable wall of percussion, sweeping the past 30 years of Krautrock, psych, prog, and electronic innovation up into your dizzy, expanding head-space.“

And what’s more, these spots are also animation loops which you can view if you buy the strobe light from Shogun Kunitoki (or make/get your own).

(and yes, those are chew marks on the clear record sleeve corner that Tara chewed while retrieving this package from Tony, the friendly UPS man and fortunately her chewing was interrupted just before eating spots)

Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Research Arkestra
Live At The Donaueschingen And Berlin Festivals

How can you not love Sun Ra? How can you not love a record with Hieronymus Bosch on the cover? How can you not love a record that opens with June Tyson singing as only she can “It’s after the end of the world! Don’t you know it?” Well, I can’t not love all this intergalactic goodness.

Recorded live in 1970 and released on MPS/BASF, Sun Ra kills on Farfisa, Hohner clavinet, piano, roc-si-chord, spacemaster, mini-Moog and Hohner electra and the Arkestra, 21-strong, are tighter than a seal on pod bay door. Tracks: Strange Dreams/Strange Worlds/Black Myth…; Black Forest Myth; Watusi, Egyptian March; Myth Versus Reality: The Myth/Science…; Duos.

My only disappointment, other than the few tracks that are cut short, is this admission on the rear cover “We gratefully acknowledge the help of…belgian world airlines for flying the sun ra arkestra to europe.”  Airlines. What? Thankfully, we don’t need beligan world airlines, we got records.

I also wonder how long I’ll continue to get flashes of that strange world that is a late-night drive through Cleveland and the Lava Lounge whenever I hear Sun Ra…I hope the answer is a good long while.

The Feminine Complex
livin’ love

Formed while attending Maplewood High School in Nashville, Tennessee in 1966, The Feminine Complex seems to have caused a bigger stir with their wake than their initial wave. This, their sole record came out in 1969 and its a bit of a mish-mosh of 60s styles from bubble gum (thankfully in the minority) to wah’d, fuzzed and phased psychedelia. Regardless, and in spite of the heavy hand of the studio and backing pros, livin’ love is a wild ride and lovely time-encapsulated slice of ’60s fresh-faced complex feminine pop.

It’s worth checking out some of the untouched tracks from the 1996 CD-only re-release including the demos for “I’ve Been Workin’ On You” and “Are You Lonesome Like Me” and the track “A Summer Morning” for a taste of The Feminine Complex in all their original glory. The Feminine Complex: Mindy Dalton (guitar, vocals); Pame Stephens (organ, vocals); Jean Williams (bass, vocals); Lana Napier (drums, vocals); Judi Griffith (tambourine, vocals). Oh yea, and they broke up to go to college.

Exhibit A. how to fuck up a good thing from the liner notes by Bucky Wilkin:

The Feminine Complex – just as the name implies, delightfully beautiful girls, ages 17 to 19 years. A Complex of great ability, talent and beauty. The Feminine Complex, despite their youth, is one of the most exciting new groups on the entertainment scene today. Their ability, both instrumentally and vocally, are only two of the characteristics that make them the most popular all-girl aggregation in the Mid-South. The group’s extremely intricate stereophonic sound system plus their psyche lighting show adds greatly to their fascination. The girls’ brilliant, and sometimes abbreviated costumes also add appeal. The Complex’ choreography is not only exciting, but has been termed the “pace-setter” for many young enthusiasts.

The act is a near phenomenon on personal appearances. They are dynamic, captivating, and excitingly entertaining. Leader of this self-contained show and dance combo, as well as its featured Singer-Guitarist and Composer extraordinary, is tall, willowy Mindy Dalton.

All five members are sports car enthusiasts, their favorites ranging from a Triumph, two Firebirds, to an Austin Healy in all colors to match their personalities.

For those who appreciate sensitive songs written, sung and “souled” for the youth of today, plus talented beauty, action and excitement – this is the Feminine Complex.

I started preparing this prior to JDs wickedly lovely post and thought twice about placing this bit of er um non-beautiful noise directly after. But then I figured there’s some beauty in here too albeit of the beastly kind…

Harry Crews
Naked In Garden Hills

Lydia Lunch, Kim Gordon and Sadie Mae on drums recorded live in Europe in 1988 for this one-time release as Harry Crews the band and tribute to the author. Loud, sloppy and dirty, Lydia is in typical form leaning on the F-word like a fucking splint while Kim screams and throbs and Sadie Mae (who is she?) pounds out incessant time. Teenage Jesus and the Youths barroom style and the witty reparte’ with the crowd is priceless – “If that’s the size of our dick, leave it in your pants” Lydia.

Burial Hex | Zola Jesus

Gruesome, dark, black, horror, heavy, sex, vampire (not really but nearly) funereal blast furnace in your face split LP from Burial Hex and sweet little Nika. This is a 33 1/3 LP and Burial Hex comes in with a two-track industrial-noise-scraping spook-fest while Zola Jesus turns out a 19 minute one-track stunner accompanied by Dead Luke for more echoe’d screaming and truly operatic ecstasy than a witch-trial in flames (yea, that kind of moaning). Perfect for the upcoming holiday and a must-have for anyone who has a feel for her darker side(s) (eh hem you knows who you are).

From Aurora Borealis and limited to 500 copies. Aquarius seems to have some left. Boo!

Pens
Hey Friend! What You Doing

Garaged lo-fi’d London-based post punk girl group trio debut and its catchy as all get out. At first, soon after the first needle drop, I was all “been there, heard this” but then High in the Cinema kicked in and I was fitfully hooked by its fitful hook and lazy lumpy groove and then Hey Freddy ran me over. Are they even old enough to drive?

Vivian Girls
Everything Goes Wrong

I liked the first one fine but I like this one finer finding scant little to dislike. Is it the new drummer? The better sonics, less foggy fuzz to listen through? The extra 3 days (spending twice as long!) in the studio? I think it’s all of the above plus the Vivian Girls sound like they’re just making better music. How much better? On a scale of 1 to 5, I’d give this a totally fucking fun. References to other older girl-groups like the Shangri-Las is still here but its become more infused into their sound as opposed to worn like a Schott leather jacket. Some say they’re nothing but posers which I think they do well too.

This is not really a record review, but I need to include a record in this post because it is essentially beautiful. Beautiful in it’s essence. And without it, I wouldn’t be writing any of this. There’s no cover art pic, the cover is okay, very minimalist and irrelevant to a discussion of beauty, it’s not beautiful. But the record is also minimalist. Superficially at least. Because it’s not really minimal at all. There is a sophisticated and confident multiplicity about this record that confounds it’s minimalist-techno facade.

Sheesh, I used facade. Sorry about that. That’s not beautiful or minimalist, is it?

So the record is Yesterday And Today, by The Field. And yeah, it’s laid back. Sometimes I feel like a discovery has to have this earthy-gritty or harmony-hating shit going on to be considered a real gem, and that’s all cool and shit. I’m down with much of that nasty. But once and a while I feel like it’s time to offer up these morsels of otherspace now and then. Right? You guys know what clicks my shit. You probably make fun of it by now…

This is it. It’s good. It’s one of those, but not as sad, I think. Not sad at all, it moves along without that addictive but relentless Houseishness. Double album, and all long tracks, because sometimes I just don’t want to have to rush into things. Sometimes I just want to lay back and let things happen to me. Slowly.

Long songs laid out the way they naturally come: a couple of tracks at 8-10 minutes followed by a long, side-length meditation, then a couple more tighter bits then leave me with another full-side trip. There are a couple of almost “songs” here, including a cover of Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime and the killer title track, with John Stanier drummer gently wrenching us with a feather out of the analog synth MBV dream for a satisfying rub of the eyes and then depositing us back in the driver’s seat of this sensuous sports car in the Italian Alps.

Okay, that’s ridiculous, but every time I play this record, it’s a different thing, so by the time I describe it once, it’s already making fun of me at the next place. Another thing I love about vinyl is this:

That’s side four, Sequenced, over fifteen minutes of journey, and it’s spelled out right there in front of you. Look at the way those rhythms and undulations caress the surface of that side, all the way to the lead-out groove. You look at that and you know you’re going on a nice ride. One of the few recent acquisitions that I just want to hear beginning to end. And I just can’t get Yesterday And Today (the song) out of my head.