There’s some new music (or reissues of old music) coming out that are looking good.

• Pitchfork report that there is a Steinski double cd compilation coming out. The first collects together a bunch of his stuff (including collaborations with Double Dee) that is otherwise rather hard to come by. I’ve heard about lots of these tracks but never heard them, in particular I think they were a big influence on Coldcut. The second disc has his “Nothing to Fear” mix, I have a version of this on vinyl but judging from the track listing there’s lots more on the cd.
• The new album by the Silver Jews is due out next month, called Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. To put it simply the Silver Jews are one of the best bands ever. When they first gained attention they looked to be something of a Pavement side-project (due to the involvement of Stephen Malkmus, Bob Natanovich and Steve West), but it was David Berman who was the driving force, and while I still love Pavement, and SM’s solo stuff as well, the Silver Jews have moved up to be one of my favourite bands, in the top the level occupied by the likes of the Laughing Clowns, Sonic Youth and Autechre. So I guess it’s clear that I’m keenly awaiting the release of the new album.
• Another new release of interest is exitingARM by Subtle. Subtle came to my attention due to the involvement of members of Themselves (and the recommendation of Peter). They released 4 eps names after the seasons which were brilliant, taking in a dizzying array of styles. When they moved on to releasing albums they seemed to bring all of it together into a unique mix of rap, rock, electronica and more. They deserve more attention than they get (though if you check out metacritic you’ll see that the critics have certainly been kind). The new one is there third full length album, and completes a trilogy. Also worth mentioning is a lower profile release, Yell&Ice , which includes a number of collaborations on remixes/alternate versions of tracks from second album For Hero: For Fool. I hadn’t heard much about it but found it in Missing Link in Melbourne and have been very impressed by it. Apparently there was something similar for the first album but I’ve never come across it. Hopefully the new one will do well enough for them to tour here, I’d love to see them live. It wouldn’t be the first time to Adelaide for Dose One and Jel, they played, together with Sole, at Enigma Bar back in 2001.

This is damn good! A comprehensive doco on one of the greatest record labels ever.

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Thanks to Derek for telling me about it.

Today is the 20th birthday of the Australian trio The Necks. Here’s where it started in their own words:

On Thursday 9th April, 1987 we gave our first public performance as The Necks, to about 120 people at the Old Darlington School, Sydney University, Australia.

I wasn’t one of those 120 people, which isn’t so surprising since I was still in primary school and my gig-going hadn’t quite taken off yet (and I’d rather not think about what I would have been listening to at the time). In fact, even once I did start going to gigs I was a bit slow to catch on to The Necks, first seeing them at the Governor Hindmarsh in Adelaide on the 25th of February 2001. Since then I’ve seen them another 6 times, which is probably every Adelaide show in that time.
The band is made up of Chris Abrahams on Piano, Tony Buck on drums and Lloyd Swanton on bass. A typical live show consists of two improvised sets of around 50 minutes each – a rough guess based on the live recordings I have (before I get a deluge of Necks fans after bootlegs I should point out that I’m referring to the commercially available 4 disc set), you tend to lose track of time once they get going. Out of these three instruments they are capable of conjuring up endless possibilities, and no two sets are the same. It can take a bit of patience on the part of the listener as they build up a piece from scratch, but once they get going they can be one of the most exciting live music experiences I’ve known. I’d single out the second set at the Space Theatre 12/2/05 as a personal favourite, here’s a review of the whole show that I wrote at the time:

The first set began with Abrahams repeating a gentle
piano figure which was puncutated by Swanton bowing his bass and some subtle
contributions from Buck. They very quickly established a relaxed atmosphere but
seemed to have trouble finding the next step. Abrahams lead the way, but I felt
that it was quite some time before they really found common ground. First to
really lock in with Abrahams was Buck, though still Swanton was just hanging
around the edges trying to find a way in. Quite suddenly Swanton started
playing a bass line that fit perfectly and it was clear that they’d all arrived
at the same place. This moment happens in every Necks performance, while they
may have taken a little longer than usual, everything afterwards was great.
Soon afterwards Abrahams decided to push things further rather than settle into
a comfortable rhythm. With an unusally sharp change he began playing in a
stacatto style so that it was as if he was playing through a delay effect. In
the meantime the rhythm section locked together and Buck was exploring more and
more complex rhythms, gradually incorporating all of his kit. Against this
steady background Abrahams attacked his piano producing great sheets of black
noise and bringing it all to a dramatic conclusion. While not one of their best
sets there were some fascinating and fairly uncharacteristic moments, and
Buck’s drumming in particular was a real standout.
After an intermission they were back for the second set, by now they’d hit
their stride and it was brilliant from start to finish. I think they record all of
their shows and if they were to release this set I’d get a copy without
hesitation. The first section was based around some very unusual melodies played
on the piano by Abrahams. His timing was quite loose and he seemingly made use
of all twelve tones giving a feel akin to modern composition (rather than
“jazz” which is usually a lazily applied label for the Necks). Buck accompanied
this with some appropriately unusual percussion making use of various extended
techniques including scraping a drumstick around a cymbal and around the
snare. Swanton’s contribution here was minimal but perfectly fitting, they all
fit together beautifully right from the start. The overall effect was
fascinating, a truly unique combination of sounds which worked remarkably well
together. The intensity was slowly cranked up until Abrahams cut loose with
some rather more convention melodies. Around this time Swanton took up his bow
again, though no longer with the tentative approach of the early parts of the
first set. For a long time Abrahams played in a beautiful melodic style, but
gradually he introduced slight notes of discordance, little jumps in tempo and
some complex counter melodies, it was in this section that he really stood out.
Eventually this all built up into another violent attack on the piano keys but
in the meantime Swanton really became the focus as the intensity of his bowing
increased. Buck’s playing by now was forceful as well as the trio produced a
wall of noise. With your eyes closed you could here strange harmonies arising
from the din, as if the audience around you were calling out with their voices.
Open your eyes again to watch Swanton as he becomes the focus of attention
bowing his bass in a ferocious trance. The piano and drums slow down and leave
the bass frantically screaming the last few notes of the performance, and then the
rapturous applause. Despite a shaky beginning the Necks have once again
succeeded in building something incredible and revelatory out of nothing.

From the Invisible Jukebox feature in the April edition of The Wire, the following quote from Bruce Russell of The Dead C:

They are one of the greatest things in rock music, ever, and I don’t think anyone can ever take that away from them. Who could not be profoundly influenced by The Fall? Only someone with cloth ears.

They also have a bit more to say about the excitement of The Fall’s NZ tour in ’82 and Russell also has some nice things to say about Sonic Youth.

It was interesting to find this feature in the magazine when I got home from work (it was delivered today), because just as I was leaving work, I had my computer playing random tracks on the hard drive and The Dead C’s “Power” from Clyma Est Mort came on, and I had to just stop and listen for its 7 minute duration because it’s so damn good. I really need to listen to them more. I first heard them many years ago at a friend’s place and they made a very good impression but I have no idea which album it was. I picked up the live album Clyma Est Mort on the basis of that prior encounter with their music, but have to admit that I didn’t immediately warm to the lo-fi sound (and also completely missed The Fall reference in the cover art, having not yet explored their massive back catalogue at the time), and the record sat amongst the rest of my vinyl half-forgotten. Yes, I know now that it is one of the holy grails of Dead C fandom and admit to an embarrassing lapse of taste.
More recently, having given up on it after an earlier search inspired by the wide held belief that it’s their best, I got the album Harsh 70’s Reality as it became easily available again, so I resumed my interest in the Dead C.

I’d already had them in mind just this week for another reason. I’d always imagined them to be outside the better known NZ indie scene of the 80’s, and certainly it sounds like they weren’t well accepted in that scene, but I hadn’t even realised that their first releases were on Flying Nun until recently. I just noticed the other day while listening to the Flying Nun 25th Anniversary comp that Michael Morley played in The Weeds together with Robert Scott of The Clean and The Bats, as well as Shayne Carter & John Collie before forming Straitjacket Fits. (More info here) Additionally, I only just foundout from The Wire article that Robbie Yeats was in The Verlaines.

Some of their recent activity is of interest. A couple of years ago they were featured in Fat Cat’s split singles series on a 12″ shared with Konono #1. The K#1 stuff is great, but not of too much interest if you already have “Congotronics”, but the Dead C tracks are well worthwhile. A nice feature is a number of locked-groove noise loops.
More recently they put out a 7″ called Relax Fallujah Hell Has Come which includes a version of “Power” mentioned above, which makes me interested, but I suspect I’d have trouble finding a copy. (Update: this isn’t hard to find at all actually)
This year they’ve put out a split 12″ with Australia’s Hi-God People which could well be worthwhile but is limited. I’ve got a H-G P cd somewhere I should dig out so I can remember what they sound like.

A new Dead C album will be out later this year.

You can read more about them at Wikipedia.

Things have been quiet around here for a bit, I’m still trying to work out how to balance various sorts of work (both paid & volunteer), plus various other things that make Adelaide a busy place at this time of year (WOMAD, film festival etc), with blogging.

Tonight I’ve been at a public meeting about the SA Government’s plan for Victoria Park, hopefully I’ll get a chance to post on that soon (maybe if I get enough work done tomorrow), but in the meantime I’ll throw in a quick “what’s on the stereo” post to let you know that I’m still here:

The Fall – Reformation! Post TLC cd (Slogan)
Femi Kuti – Africa Shrine cd (uwe/mk2)
Etran Finitawa – Introducing cd (World Music Network)
Huun Huur Tu feat. Samsonov – Altai Sayan Tandy-Vula cd (Green Wave)
Zulya and the Children of the Underground – The Waltz of Emptiness (and other songs on Russian themes) cd (Unstable Ape)
Various – Flying Nun: 25 Years 4cd (Flying Nun)
Mars – The Complete Studio Recordings NYC 1977-78 cd (5rc)
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation cd (Geffen)
Sonny Murray – Sonny’s Time Now cd (DIW)
The Necks – Hanging Gardens cd (Fish of Milk)

A few new albums to watch out for:

• My ongoing obsession with The Fall shows no signs of letting up, and neither does their resurgence of quality (despite the usual turmoil). Their new album is called Reformation Post TLC and is due out pretty soon. It includes a reworking of Coming Down by classic 60’s band The United States of America which I’m pretty keen to hear.
• Speaking of bands that have been around forever, The Red Krayola must be getting close to their 40th birthday. As Mark E Smith is to The Fall, so is Mayo Thompson to the Red Krayola. A couple of years ago there was a compilation of singles from the 60’s up to the 00’s which reminded me of just how great and unique they are. Their last album Introduction got great reviews but I haven’t heard it yet. Now they have a new EP out called Red Gold. The casual listener should be warned that they are something of an acquired taste though. By the way, if anyone has any footage, recordings, posters, photos etc of The Red Krayola their record label Drag City is after material for a documentary. But don’t give it to them until they agree to reissue the out of print Silver Jews records. Don’t give in if they offer to reissue The Red Krayola’s Soldier Talk, they’re doing that in March anyway.
• New York hip-hop group Dälek, whose last album featured the best shoegazer noise production since Kevin Shields went into hibernation to try and work out how to top Loveless, have a new one called Abandoned Language due out some time soon on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label.
• Speaking of hip-hop, a group that I think doesn’t get enough recognition is TTC. Maybe that’s because not enough people speak French. Well, I’m working on it and I’ll see what I can understand of their new album 36 15 TTC as soon as I get my hands on a copy. Their anything goes attitude results in music that sounds like no-one else – French or otherwise. I would love to see them live but an Australian tour does not seem likely!
• It’s quite some time since I’ve caught up with the music of Stefan Betke aka Pole. In the late 90’s his minimal glitch dub seemed to be all the rage, but he fell out of favour a bit and has been quiet for a while … actually he was always pretty quiet but you know what I mean. Not to say he hasn’t been active, his record label ~scape has put out some great stuff, particularly by Jan Jelinek. Now Pole is back in action with Steingarten and if David Stubbs’ review in The Wire is anything to go by (and on past experience it is) it is something of a return to form.

Thanks to a mail-order mix-up mentioned in a previous thread, Ninja Tune were kind enough to send me a promo copy of the new Amon Tobin album, Foley Room. For quite some time I’ve considered Tobin to be one of the best artists around who construct music completely out of samples, but on this album he’s taken a slightly different approach. He still samples, but rather than using records as his source as in the past this time he uses field recordings of all sorts of things. There are animals, from lions to ants, also there are various machines, ranging from industrial equipment to toys, and all sorts of other things. On top of this he also recorded samples from musicians including the Kronos Quartet. All of this is not exactly groundbreaking, and in the accompanying documentary he admits as much, but it presented all sorts of new challenges and inspirations for him. The results are superb, the album fits in with his great back catalogue, but the new approach also has brought something fresh. It will be out in early March, in the meantime there is a single available as a download only from Bleep.