May 2009

Live in a DiveThe incestual issues that obscure any sort of proper kraut rock discography are explicated through the life of a super group dubbed Harmonia. Made up of different combinations of musicians from Neu! as well as Cluster and ever Brian Eno for a brief time, the group, over it's three proper studio discs, set out a blue print as specific as any other ensemble from the period. Read more

ArtificeThe British music scene of the '60s had as many stars as over here in the States. Each group had some unique flavor while still borrowing liberally from American blooze and RnB. No matter, the music worked. And even if the early '60s only yielded some sugary love songs, the latter portion of the decade was rife with hits. Unfortunately, some of these chart toppers are all but forgotten today. Regardless of their current standing in the history of pop music here or in the UK, Slade - or on their first album Ambrose Slade - was able to rave up simple blues, get into spacey Pink Floyd territory and even cover a song by Zappa. Read more

DefektiveFirst off, ever since interviewing the (International) Noise Conspiracy earlier this year, I've become pretty wary of Swedes - or anyone from a country whose population overwhelming has blond hair and in Detroit could pass for a gaggle of models. Apart from that, pseudo revolutionary commie speak seems pretty pervasive over there. And in an atmosphere of nonsensical, ill conceived governmental works the mush that passes for brains - in t(i)NC at least - seems be result in grand notions of musical purpose. And unfortunately, not just played out garage rock is affected by this - it's droney pretndo experimental rock as well.

The American based Important Records traffics in the general territory of purposefully obtuse rock musics. And to include the Skull Defekts isn't all too shocking. It makes sense actually. Unfortunately, apart from the Vanishing Voice disc from a few years back, I can't say that I've enjoyed any of the label's releases all too much. Read more

Not StiffThere's more than one confusing aspect to Repeat When Necessary - the 1979 album from Welsh singer and guitarist Dave Edmunds. First, the fact that this disc is from one of the Love Sculpture dudes, who were responsible for some bluesy, pysch touched moments, but has nothing to do with that music seems weird. Secondly, the album is on Led Zepplin's Swan Song imprint while the music doesn't seem even tangentially related to the soopa group's muzak. Next, is the fact that not only does the album look like a power pop disc, it features Nick Lowe on bass and begins with an Elvis Costello song seems to refute the fact that there isn't all to big a correlation between this disc and that movement.

Apart from all of those things, it's still a pretty good listen. Read more