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The Alchemy Index Vols. III And IV Air And Earth

April 16, 2008 at 6:21 pm · Filed under Articles

Artist: Thrice
Album: The Alchemy Index Vols. III And IV Air And Earth
Label: Vagrant Records
Playtime: 45:10 min
Genre: Rock

Thrice’s boundary pushing continues with the second installment of the Alchemy Index series. Volumes 1&2 (Fire & Water), released in October of last year, were met with tremendous critical acclaim and fanfare. Fans and critics
were especially impressed with the Water side and just how far the band had pushed the parameters of what they can do as professional musicians. The Ear and Air series show two more sides of the band that anyone has yet to see. The Earth side will showcase a more stripped down, raw element of the band,while Air will expose a more soft rock side. One thing is for certain. No one really knows where Thrice’s music is going, and their fans seem to like it just fine that way..

Tags: Indie, Rock

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Watch The Ride

March 20, 2008 at 9:44 pm · Filed under Articles

Andrew Weatherall (born 6 April 1963, Windsor, England) is a DJ, producer, and remixer. Starting off with his work alongside DJ Paul Oakenfold on the “Hallelujah” remix for the Happy Mondays, Weatherall entered the fray of the indie rock and acid house sounds of Madchester. Other remixes followed, including “World in Motion” by New Order and “Loaded”, a hit remix of Primal Scream’s earlier track “I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have“. He joined fellow scenesters Terry Farley and Pete Heller to form Boy’s Own, initially a magazine commenting on football, fashion, records, etc. They also did parties, and had a record label under the name of Boys Own Recordings (which went on to be called Junior Boy’s Own in 1992 upon Weatherall’s departure). Along with engineer Hugo Nicholson and singer Anna Haigh, they released two singles as Bocca Juniors on Boys Own Records, “Raise (53 Steps to Heaven)” and the lesser known “Substance”.He formed the dub trio The Sabres of Paradise in 1993, and promoted the Bloodsugar and Sabresonic warehouse raves. In early 1996, after shutting down Sabresonic, Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood became Two Lone Swordsmen signing to Warp Records label and setting up Rotters Golf Club for their own dancefloor-orientated work.Weatherall also has cited humor as an important component in his musical ideology.With This new album mix , Kicking off with Roy Montgomery’s lush spoken word diatribe ‘London Is Swinging By His Neck‘, Andrew eases into the mix segueing into the rolling rhythms of Beatville’s ‘Keeping Barry In Check‘ then dropping the first of a series of his own remixes with the Black Lips ‘Veni Vidi Vici’, a head nodding rock trip-out. The Gallic grooves of Cosmo Vitelli’s ‘Converted’ take’s the mix into deeper territory before Andrew serves up a curveball with the post-punk dub of Maximum Joy’s ‘Let It Take You There’ rolling into the twisted stabbing jazzy riffs of Mock & Toof’s ‘Beat Up’ and Andrew’s mix of ESC’s ‘Legacy’.The funky throb of Padded Cell’s ‘Far Beneath London’ takes the energy levels up a notch switching between live grooves and techy stabs as Andrew drops a piece of infectious genius with the Chicken Lips Malfunction mix of Love Is All’s ‘Make Out Fall Out Make Up’. Andrew’s own pounding rub down of Siouxsie Sioux’s majestic ‘Into A Swan’ and Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘State Of Things’ keep the space dub vibes to the fore as Andrew enters the final straight with Fairmont’s pulsating ‘Fade and Saturate’ and the soaring euro electro-pop of Au Revoir Simone. Alloy Mental’s ‘Seconds’ driving grooves and the blissfully wonky psychedelia of The Oscillation’s ‘Saturn 5′ lead into ‘Watch The Ride’s final track from synth and drum duo and solid gold legends Silver Apples.

Tags: , Acid, Acid House, Andrew Weatherall, Electro, Funk, Indie, Mix, Rock, Set

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OK,It’s Understandable

March 13, 2008 at 4:19 pm · Filed under Articles, Media

Blisaed has made quite a name for himself over the years. While the Blisaed moniker hasn’t been used in some time, here we are with three beautiful pieces of music featuring the unique vocal stylings of this talented musician. “It’s Understandable” delivers contemplative lyrics with a powerful musical accompaniment. In contrast, “The Shame” sports manipulated vocals that carry a melancholy tone. “It Just Ends” is a fitting closer, sweet and to the point.It is with great pleasure that I present to you my :”Blisaed”.

01. Blisaed / It’s Understandable
02. Blisaed / The Shame
03. Blisaed / It Just Ends

Tags: Electronic, Indie, Melancholy, Rock

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Safe and Sound

February 28, 2008 at 6:26 pm · Filed under Reviews

Justus Köhncke’s two previous full-lengths on Kompakt, Was Ist Musik (2002) and Doppelleben (2005), were slightly frustrating affairs. Both albums were filled with clever pop structures, quality sound design and subtle shifts in mood, but somehow they tended to fall short of pure emotional captivation. Partly of course this was due to Köhncke’s notorious vocals, which are at times just too deadpan and at times just too camp (check his destruction of Jürgen Paape’s seminal ‘So Weit Wie Noch Nie’ for the evidence, but the albums were also occasionally marred by Köhncke’s weakness for soft-focus disco, with kitsch rather than glamorous and decadent results. Safe and Sound combines many of these tendencies, but happily, it’s a much more satisfying listen. So much so you’ve got to wonder what inspired the difference. Perhaps this more muscular sound is down to Köhncke spending a lot of time in the clubs, or perhaps it’s a product of his new studio (located in an old butcher shop). The newfound help of the album’s co-writer/producer Fred Heimermann (certainly on ‘Tilda’, but likely more) might also be a contributing factor. But perhaps there was just something in the air? Those leaves on the Pop Ambient-esque cover, after all, do look suspiciously like marijuana.Köhncke’s disco tendency come to the fore on several tracks, but more confidently than on the previous two albums. With its ‘70s strings, ‘Parage’ is downright funky and would, in an ideal world, play on radios in Cadillac cars with whitewall tyres. ‘Molybdän’ lives up to its elemental name (attn non-scientists: ‘molybdenum’ is a heavy metal) and mimics more disco ball glitter than disco sound itself with sparkling stabs of sound and winding analogue washes. More overtly disco is the brilliant opener ‘Yacht’ which pays strong homage to ‘Slave to the Rhythm’, but then develops its own melodic narrative.Grace Jones isn’t the artist from the past to get name-checked. The first single from the album, ‘Feuerland’, is a cover of Krautrocker Michael Rother’s track from his 1977 LP ‘Flammende Herzen.