indieground

2010-12-05T06:58:00.000-08:00

.:: The first indieground posted album ever was Tom Waits' Closing Time so I think it is a good choice to post, in this reborn time, one of my favorites Mr. Waits albums... I know, there's no review as I used to do some time ago. Well you have to understand, my last state of inactivity caused my metabolic-writing system failed but I promise it will get stronger... so here it is

download: tom waits - mule variations

call it: hiatus, coma, hibernation... it's over, indiegroud is back !!!

2010-12-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

ok, it'd be a long long story to tell and maybe I will tell it later but for now what really matters today is that indieground is back.
after months and months of no activity in this blog many things have changed, first of all: blogs aren't the coolest thing on web (as I used to think some time ago) and maybe many people don't follow them. now we have facebook (I hate it), twitter (I dont hate nor love it), the new myspace (I still think it sucks) and all this social network hysteria...

anyway, for those who still look for good music and want to explore and feed their ears with new (maybe strange) dishes, indieground -once again- is back !!!

indieground isn't dead

2009-03-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have checked back a few times, fear not, indieground isn't dead, just been busy with a few other things, work, recording some bands, working on my own company, and a looong etcetera.

Thanx for asking and keep checking... I promise I'll post new material soon.

recession - time, arithmetic & other elementary subjects not well learned

2009-01-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

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sorry guys it took me a long time to upload your material… i know, it's all my fault !!!

.:: "Time, Arithmetic & Other Elementary Subjects Not Well Learned", the rather lengthily titled debut "full-length" (though its 10 tracks only clock in at 21 minutes) from Nebraska trio Recession on Blood & Ink Records, makes for quite a caustic listen with its flurry of short, furious tracks that crash 'n' bash through an assortment of densely mangled textures.

In fact, I'm kind of surprised that I enjoy it, considering I've always tended to be rather picky about the harsher, noisier side of the "metalcore" spectrum. But it sort of starts to make sense when you look at their quality list of influences, which ranges from respectable contemporaries like Knut to genre-defining staples such as Deadguy to more obscure gems like Groundwork - which is a name you just don't see thrown around too often these days! In addition to your usual doses of hammer-on/pull-off riffs and dingy, borderline out-of-tune scrapings (and I actually mean that in a good way here), little hints of melody even start becoming apparent as your ears adjust to the thudding dryness and subtly gritty textures of the recording.

It actually took my ears a few minutes to adjust to the mix since things sound just a hint flat in some respects, but they're definitely on the right track there. They're hinting at a pretty mammoth low-end throb that could really pay off well, and the vocals sound pretty fuckin' devastating as it is. Not too shabby when all is said and done.

The songwriting boasts a great balance of grating, over the top acerbity and surging, tangible grooves that you can latch onto, and when you combine that with the fact that the tracks are so damn short, it keeps things moving and prevents the listen from becoming stale, and that's where a lot of comparable bands fail. So I can definitely appreciate what's happening here, and I'd really like to hear more down the road, especially if they're able to warm up the production values just a touch! -- aversionline.com

download: recession - time, arithmetic & other elementary subjects not well learned

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sonic youth - syr5 kim gordon, ikue mori, dj olive

2008-12-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

.:: SYR5 is a 2000 album by Kim Gordon, DJ Olive and Ikue Mori.

Following the tradition of having the liner notes of SYR releases written in foreign languages, SYR5 has them in Japanese.

The fifth release in Sonic Youth's SYR series doesn't even feature Sonic Youth at all, but rather an avant-garde power trio of SY bassist Kim Gordon, turntablist DJ Olive, and programming electro-goddess Ikue Mori. The music is ultra-abstract and mood-driven, filling the listening space with a dark ambience constructed by Olive's incredibly resonant choice of samples and Mori's carefully tweaked bleeps.

Gordon predictably contributes with a dose of noise guitar, though the source of sounds on this disc is heartily confusing — Gordon calling into question the identity of the electric guitar while Olive and Mori try to carve out identities for their respective instruments. Throughout, Gordon contributes a free vocal style she has been experimenting with since the first SYR discs, released in 1998, and on the two intervening Sonic Youth albums, A Thousand Leaves (1998) and NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000).

In combination with the lyrics, which dance the line between abstract poetry and frustrating downtown pretentiousness, many might find Gordon's vocal approach quite grating. It is more than made up for, though, by the utterly weird and compelling soundscapes the group creates — a true headphone head trip. Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda contributes on "Take Me Back."

download: sonic youth - syr5 kim gordon, ikue mori, dj olive

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sonic youth su tim barnes - syr6 koncertas stan brakhage prisiminim

2008-12-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

.:: SYR6: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui is an EP by Sonic Youth. The sixth in a series of experimental releases put out on the band's own SYR label, the album is a live recording from an April 13, 2003 benefit show for the Anthology Film Archives. The band, joined by percussionist Tim Barnes, played along with silent Stan Brakhage films.

SYR6 follows the tradition of having the liner notes in the SYR series written in foreign language titles, in this case in Lithuanian. The meaning of the title is "A Concert in Memory of Stan Brakhage".

It is the first in the SYR series to receive no release on vinyl.

download: sonic youth su tim barnes - syr6 koncertas stan brakhage prisiminim

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sonic youth - syr7 j'accuse ted hughes

2008-12-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

.:: SYR7: J'Accuse Ted Hughes is the seventh release in American group Sonic Youth's SYR series. It was released only on vinyl--the first in the series to receive no compact disc release--and features two songs: "J'Accuse Ted Hughes", and "Agnès B. Musique".

SYR7 follows the SYR series tradition of liner notes in foreign languages. The language used on the artwork is Arpitan.

download: sonic youth - syr7 j'accuse ted hughes

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sonic youth med mats gustafsson og merzbow - syr8 andre sider af sonic youth

2008-12-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

.:: SYR8: Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth is an album by Sonic Youth with Mats Gustafsson and Merzbow. It is the eighth release in the SYR series.

Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth-- the eighth album in Sonic Youth's self-released, experimental series known as Sonic Youth Recordings, or SYR-- risks suffering from expectations. A live 2005 collaboration between Sonic Youth (in its quintet formation with the redoubtable Jim O'Rourke) and special guests Merzbow and Mats Gustafsson, here the noise rock fountainhead invites an extreme electronics pioneer and one of free jazz's most ferocious instrumentalists ever over to jam. Things could get crowded.

The album is recorded the first July 2005 on the Roskilde Festival. The album title is in Danish and means "Other sides of Sonic Youth".

download: sonic youth med mats gustafsson og merzbow - syr8 andre sider af sonic youth

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

moi dix mois - nocturnal opera

2008-12-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

.:: Moi dix Mois is a Japanese musical project founded by Malice Mizer's front, Mana. As part of the visual kei movement it is marked by Mana's selection of guest performers rather than a typical band structure, and exhibits a combination of classical elements of gothic metal.

Apart from playing guitar, Mana composes all of Moi dix Mois' music and lyrics, arranges, produces, and designs the stage costumes and acts as overall artistic director. In contrast to Mana's previous bands, Moi dix Mois is explicitly billed as Mana's solo project; while the project members have input during the performance and recording of the music, Mana essentially determines the band's artistic direction on his own. All of Moi dix Mois' music is released via Mana's own independent record label, Midi:Nette.

(Japanese pressing of sophomore album from Japanese gothic rock act featuring guitarist Mana of the legendary Malice Mizer)

download: moi dix mois - nocturnal opera

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

amen ra - mass III

2008-12-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

.:: Amen Ra delivers a brilliant, from every point of view, mini-album. “Mass III” crawls somewhere between “Through Silver In Blood” of Neurosis, “Celestial” of Isis, the first Cult of Luna albums and Knut’s slow moments. To be more poetic and descriptive, this shit is laden with heavy guitars, huge riffs, an aura that makes you asphyxiate and bitter, aggressive intentions.

The shredding vocals add more power to this already dynamic presence and the “unholy” layout offers a very attractive black metal aesthetic to the visual aspect of the band’s music. It’s obvious that Amen Ra don’t feel comfortable just learning their lessons by the aforementioned bands well, since with “Mass III” they prove that they surpass the level of “good students”. They offer great music and add their own little something to the history of the genre. The opening track “The Pain It Is Shapeless” is a perfect example.

download: amen ra - mass III

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

alec empire - futurist

2008-12-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

.:: Alec Empire is many things to many people: a man with an extraordinary recording history, the musical revolutionary behind avant-garde noise-punk outfit Atari Teenage Riot, an electronic music experimentalist who has made records on a Gameboy, and a consummate musician who has worked with an extraordinarily broad range of peers.

He has remixed artists as diverse as blues legend R.L. Burnside, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Bjork, Rob Zombie, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Slayer, Einstürzende Neubauten, and members of the new hip-hop generation like Company Flow and Prince Paul's Handsome Boy Modeling School. He has toured with Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang Clan, Beck, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails.

Alec Empire's new album, Futurist, is the most fully integrated vision of his twenty-first century rebellion yet. A blistering alliance of primitive punk fury and advanced technological overload, Futurist heralds the return of the guitar to the center of Empire's musical vision.

The characteristic shockwave aggression of his previous outings is still channeled for maximum impact, but the gun-to-temple blasts of tracks like "Gotta Get Out" and "Vertigo" deliver their powder-keg payloads with a newly discovered blood rush of excitement. Futurist is the most brutally uplifting Empire has ever sounded.

"Empire has tapped into something vital, dangerous, and all-too-absent from so much rock music today ... this isn't the death of rock `n' roll but a blasting, needle-in-the-red affirmation of its power. Turn it up." - KERRANG

"Simply a great punk rock record." - TERRORIZER

download: alec empire - futurist

ramona córdova - the boy who floated freely

2008-12-01T11:25:00.000-08:00

.:: Ramona Cordova, a.k.a. Ramon Alarcon, took his grandmother’s name to record this project, and one-half a minute into the album it seems fitting. Cordova’s falsetto is more gender-bending than any hair metal singer’s could hope to be. His high, theramin warble is a perfect match for his heartbreaking brand of folk music.

The Boy Who Floated Freely tells the story of a boy named Giver, who washes up on an island and meets, among others, a girl he falls in love with. The album seeks to track his trajectory and starts off strong. The Spanish-sung “Inside the Gypsy Bar” is full of hand claps and sweat and manages to pump energy into the album without relying on volume. “Giver’s Reply” starts off with the boy pining over keys before the song breaks out in pan-banging as precocious as our young, wistful narrator. After that, the album settles into a pattern of simple acoustic folk tunes.

Standing alone, songs like “Heavy on My Head” and “Sung with the Birds” are aching and wonderful songs sung with heart and originality. However, stacked together, the songs have a hard time coming together as an album, since the repetition of the guitar belie any trajectory of the album’s story. Cordova’s voice also might push a little too far in some spots, and while it might be trying overall, when he nails it his voice sounds as imperfect and beautiful as any you’ll hear. --words: Matthew Fiander

download: ramona córdova - the boy who floated freely

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

alonso arreola - labA

2008-12-01T11:17:00.004-08:00

.:: Musician and journalist, former bass player of La Barranca, has participated in several rock and jazz recordings and recently edited his first solo project: Música Horizontal, of which he made ten thousand copies in a deluxe package, featuring several outstanding musicians from Mexico and other countries, such as Trey Gunn, Michael Manring, David Fiuczynski and Jaime López.
He also writes in several magazines, newspapers and internet sites.

download: alonso arreola - labA

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

coprofago - unorthodox creative criteria

2008-11-28T10:08:00.000-08:00

.:: With technical death metal making gains in the States as of late, and bands from Sweden and Poland being some of the biggest international beneficiaries, it becomes hard to figure out how Coprofago have been ignored during this upsurge.

Then again, the painstaking compositions and awe-inspiring engineering/mixing job (done by names most have never heard of) that comprise Unorthodox Creative Criteria contain some spectacular ventures into jazzy interludes and ambient soundscapes, which could definitely be called fusion. And even the most ardent and erudite fans of metal and hardcore have historically been slow to understand, let alone appreciate, fusion bands. Furthermore, many works from the most well-known masters of progressive metal/jazz fusion have been out of print for far too long, which has spelled the improbability of re-discovery by younger, more open-minded metal fans.

Although Chile's interestingly-named Coprofago initially burst out of the gate with a standard-fare death metal sound in the mid-nineties, it was 1999's Images of Despair and 2000's Genesis that provided a window into the fast-growing musicianship of its members. If there are indeed multiple peaks to a mountain, Coprofago have finally hit one with Unorthodox Creative Criteria, their fourth and finest album, which is easily up to par with modern death metal fusion created on domestic shores.

"Streams" is one of the many examples on Unorthodox Creative Criteria where the band ventures into creating a sensuous soundscape by using almost a looped beat and prog-metal guitars, while "Isolated Through Multiplicity" sees experimental guitar and keyboard/organ arrangements that bring to mind Disco Volante-era Mr. Bungle.

There aren't many bands like Coprofago. It takes a sense of culture, professional musical ability, and most of all ballsy creativity to create an album like Unorthodox Creative Criteria. There are tracks that bulldoze like Meshuggah's finest work, and others that massage the eardrum with ambient sounds and jazz elements.

Having finally gained distribution in North America thanks to Canada's answer to Willowtip, Galy Records, there is no excuse for fans of classic fusion death metal or modern experimental metal to ignore this. --Reviewer: Michael Gluck

download: coprofago - unorthodox creative criteria

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sun kil moon - ghosts of the great highway

2008-11-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

.:: Where it's the gorgeous string trio underpinning "Last Tide," the melancholy epic "Duk Koo Kim," the unexpected driving rhythms of "Lily and Parrots," or the compelling personal reminiscences of "Floating," the material both expands and refines Kozelek's trademark sound. The songs on Ghosts of the Great Highway concern themselves more than ever with matters of life and death, without ever forgetting the inherent magic of a pretty melody or a gripping beat.

.:: Ghost of the Great Highway is the sonic equivalent of a tightly woven patchwork quilt, a sprawling aesthetic manifesto overflowing with empathy, warmth, nostalgia, and an intensely resigned anger and yearning to reclaim those who time has taken. The album's wistful opener, "Glenn Tipton", serves as a testament to this desire to recover the most modest of moments from one's past. In the song, Kozelek reminisces about debating over boxing legends ("Cassius Clay was hit more than Sonny Liston") and Judas Priest guitarists ("Some like K.K. Downing and some Glenn Tipton"), while mirroring these discussions to memories of his own dad watching Clark Gable movies on TV…

Sun Kil Moon's Ghost of the Great Highway is a modest win for great music everywhere: it is the triumphant sound of an industry underdog finally making good on his past potential, and consequently demanding some long unappreciated due. The fact that it wasn't with Red House Painters is an irony that only makes this victory of an album that much sweeter.

download: sun kil moon - ghosts of the great highway

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

black sheep wall - i am god songs

2008-11-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

.:: An organized mess composed of intense energy, hatred, and sadness could be an accurate first impression of I Am God Songs. Oh, and exhausting, by the time you finish it. Black Sheep Wall has made an album in which every cliché about Death, Black, Doom or any other extreme metal sub-genre can apply with. Some of which may be intense, bleak, hopeless, crushing, punishing…demented, even. Scary has never been so raw, so immense. Or exceptionally chaotic.

Down-Tempo with minimal songwriting approaches is the game for this band, caused by having only two main emotions: Anger and depression. Sounding like the unwanted spawn of Meshuggah and Neurosis, with a little seed from Sludge Metal, Black Sheep Wall’s debut is a grinding, skull-exploding animal. Because of its somewhat minimalistic nature, I Am God Songs needed to have, or sound like it has, experience in this sort of music. And while this is only a debut, Sheep’s musicians can promise in mixing rage filled emotion with dispirited, depressed aspects. Most of it has to do with the way the album is produced.

While having lots of elements derived from noise, Black Sheep Walls debut retains polished sonics; because, by contrast with the noise, we have a crisp and edgy approach (except the instances when effects are used) on the guitars, the vocals, and the drums. The bass is a bit murky, whether because it melts in with the strings’ drop B tuning or for shits and giggles, we will never know, but it doesn’t take away from any point in this album anywhere. read on

.:: Most of ‘I Am God Songs’ is cold, bleak and fearsome, like being abandoned on a particularly daunting ice floe. Their monstrous, detuned throb is impressive even on the less imaginative songs, but when they really get their teeth stuck into an interesting idea – as on titanic suicide epic ‘Myolden’, an eight-minute muttering of doom and eerily melodic counter vocals – they come into their own, with a blast that’ll freeze your brains out.

download: black sheep wall - i am god songs

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

elvatorium - message from the black sun constellation

2008-11-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

.:: Elvatorium is a collaboration between Tom Maggio from USA and Radek Kordasiewicz from Poland. They continue their collaborative work since late 2006. Elvatorium's first album "At Border Of Disorder" (recorded with guest saxophonist Janusz Kruszelnicki) has been released through Amduscias Records netlabel in september 2007. This year sees the duo working with guests Troy Southgate (of H.E.R.R.) on vocals and again Janusz Kruszelnicki on the saxophone.

"Message From The Black Sun Constellation", which is the second release from Elvatorium, continues the mood of their debut album. The bottom line of all compositions is still the combination of Tom Maggio's dark ambience and Radek Kordasiewicz's gothic-like harmonies, both prepared with various sets of digital tools. The infinite and cold landscapes are perfect place for Janusz Kruszelnicki's saxophone explorations, making his second outing with Elvatorium.

Above it all, deep and shady voice of Troy Southgate brings the lyrics written by Radek. With such combination they invite the listener to the world of hidden and dangerous truth of symbols, thoughts and feelings with roots in all of the past human history. Feel invited. words: elvatorium's web page.

download: elvatorium - message from the black sun constellation

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

mucc - zekuu

2008-11-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

.:: ムック (MUCC) is a japanese rockband formed in Ibaraki, Japan in 1997. The band has four members, 逹瑯 (Tatsurou Iwakami, vocals), ミヤ (Masaaki Yaguchi, guitar), YUKKE (Yusuke Fukuno, bass) and SATOち (Satoshi Takayasu, drums). In 1997, ex-member Hiro was the bassist, replaced by YUKKE in 1999.

The band’s name, decided upon by guitarist ミヤ, was originally the name of a character from a Japanese children’s program “Ponkickies”. The band is also known as “six-nine” from a play on words, since six-nine can be pronounced “muku” (六九) in Japanese. June 9th (6/9) is also known as “MUCC day” by their fans.

In 2000, the band had their first interview in the monthly publication FOOL’S MATE, issue 221. TATTOO (on vocals) changed his name to Tatsurou, and the band’s name MUCC was changed to ムック (pronounced MUKKU). On 6/9, (“MUCC day”) they released their first CD single “娼婦/廃” (Shoufu/Hai) and a second press of their album “アンティーク” (Antiiku). last fm

download: mucc - zekuu

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

tori amos - to venus and back

2008-11-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

.:: Complicated is a word for Tori Amos; she might even use it to describe herself. Her sixth recording, the double disc To Venus and Back, testifies to just how wide and deep her river runs. The two CDs -- Venus Orbiting, an unplanned studio effort that Amos recorded suddenly this summer, and Venus Live, Still Orbiting, a set of thirteen live songs from her recent world tour -- are not exactly opposites, but they are far from twins. Venus Orbiting is Amos at her most surreal, dreaming of her past, her pain and her desires in supersaturated musical and lyrical color.

Tori Amos is one of those impossible figures in the music world who, for various reasons, arouse so much hype that one continually has to wonder if there is any substance behind the public image. Tori Amos’s latest release, To Venus and Back, silences any such doubts. It is also an amazing testament to a passionate and talented singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. The 2-CD album combines a live disc with a studio album, and highlights the fascinating musical language that this multi-talented performer continues to develop as she explores the elements of a song: subject matter, lyrics, melody, harmony, and structure.

The only real complaint about the live half of To Venus and Back is that it isn’t three times as long. The disc features live performances from Tori’s 1998 Plugged tour. In contrast to her previous three tours in which it was just a woman, her piano, and a microphone on the stage of a theater filled with a silent entranced audience, the Plugged tour traded intimacy for a more raucous show. It added a fantastic supportive band, Tori’s first for a tour, consisting of Steve Caton on guitars, Jon Evans on upright and electric bass, and Matt Chamberlain on drums.

Perhaps for balance, or simply for the sake of completeness, Venus Live, Still Orbiting spotlights Amos' more acoustic material, most of it performed with her crackerjack touring band. It's Amos' first live recording, long overdue, and it works equally well as a greatest-hits collection. Crowd faves like "Cornflake Girl," "Waitress" and "Cooling" -- which has never before surfaced on an album -- make showstopping appearances. With To Venus and Back, Amos pays herself the ultimate compliment: She's good and complicated.

download: tori amos - to venus and back

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

oni wytars ensemble, unicorn ensemble - on the way to bethlehem | music of the medieval pilgrim

2008-11-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

.:: Oni Wytars is an internationally renowned ensemble founded in 1983 to further promote early music. Appearing in concerts and festivals throughout Europe, Canada, the Middle and the Far East the ensemble performs music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance as well as classical and traditional Arab and Turkish music. The work of the ensemble centres on the uniting of the many traditions that have influenced and enriched European musical culture for centuries by building a bridge between ancient and still-thriving musical traditions, between East and West.

Oni Wytars perform on instruments from the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, and on contemporary Arab and Eastern European instruments. Blending elements from both the rich cultural heritage of Medieval Europe and from their own diverse backgrounds, the instrumentalists and singers come from Austria, Germany, Italy, Iran, Hungary, Spain, England and the United States.

.:: The Ensemble Unicorn consists of five musicians specialising in early music. Together with guest-musicians the Ensemble is dedicated to the interpretation of music from the Middle Ages to the Baroque and of works of their own. The aim is always lively authenticity, avoiding the merely pedantic.

An original feature of the Ensemble is the approach towards contemporary popular music in new compositions and interpretations of Medieval and Renaissance works, played on original instruments. The compositions by the Ensemble are based on Medieval and Renaissance dances, cantigas and chansons, reflecting the amalgamation of Oriental and European cultural trends. The members of the Ensemble are Michael Posch, Marco Ambrosini, Riccardo Delfino, Thomas Wimmer and Wolfgang Reithofer.

download: oni wytars ensemble, unicorn ensemble - on the way to bethlehem | music of the medieval pilgrim

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

arvo pärt - tabula rasa

2008-11-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

.:: This seminal disc now almost seems like the manifesto for a whole new strain of minimalism that has found an enormously receptive audience. It represented a breakthrough for Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, whose music--like that of his European colleagues John Tavener and Henryk Górecki--pursues an austerely beautiful simplicity that suggests spiritual illumination.

Fratres, given here in two versions, one for piano and violin and the other for 12 cellos, repeatedly intones a sequence resembling chant to convey a sensibility that seems at once archaic and beyond time. Violinist Gidon Kremer, for whom Pärt wrote the exquisitely contemplative and hypnotic title work, grasps the music's koan-like idiom, allowing an inner fullness to resonate through the most fragile, ethereal wisps of tone against the mysterious clangings of prepared piano.

The tolling of the tubular bells in Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten is an emotionally charged lament, based on a simple minor descending scale, that introduces Pärt's fascination with what he calls "tintinnabulation": the literal and metaphorical sound of ringing bells. This recording is also famous for the acoustically warm presence produced by ECM's Manfred Eicher, which magnificently captures the mystical simplicity of Pärt's sound world. --Thomas May

.:: Let it be said at the outset that any criticisms I have of this CD have nothing to do with performance or, for that matter, the quality of the recording. My reservations relate solely to the programming and therefore, inevitably to the intrinsic worth of the pieces on offer.

None of which applies to the opening work, Pärt's famous Tabula Rasa, written back in the late seventies for violinists Gidon Kramer and Tatiana Grindenko. The original recording, on ECM, is still arguably the best, although, listening to it again I find myself increasingly irritated by the occasional coughs and splutters of the audience: the piece was recorded live for German Radio. This is less noticeable during the first movement, Ludus, but ironically obvious during the second, Silencium. read on

download: arvo pärt - tabula rasa

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

between the buried and me - colors live

2008-11-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

.:: Between the Buried and Me have no problem stretching out, and the live setting gives them an even greater opportunity to do so. Colors Live finds the band working out their entire Colors album from start to finish at one memorable Tennessee show.

The complicated, intertwined guitar work of "Ants of the Sky," with its epic structure and abrupt plunges into meditative quiet, is reproduced expertly, and the Eastern-tinged exotica of "Informal Gluttony" is even more evocative with an audience to mesmerize. The album is available with a bonus DVD that contains studio footage and an additional live set.

download: between the buried and me - colors live

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

mógil - ró

2008-11-10T12:31:00.000-08:00

.:: The line up of the band is half Icelandic and half Belgian and creates, unconsciously, a unique sound combining Scandinavian vastness and European density.

The musicians are Heida Árnadóttir (vocals), Ananta Roosens (violin), Joachim Badenhorst (clarinet/saxophone) and Hilmar Jensson (guitar).

Mógil composes their own songs, which are written to old Icelandic folk texts. New lyrics are similarly written in the folk text style. words: radicalduke.com

download: mógil - ró

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

dredg - connect sets (acoustic ep)

2008-10-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

download: dredg - connect sets (acoustic ep)

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

thurston moore - sensitive/lethal

2008-10-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

.:: American fringe music boasts no figurehead as prominent or as potent as Thurston Moore: The multimedia mogul of independent rock, Moore still leads Sonic Youth after nearly three decades, runs a record label with worldwide distribution, writes poetry, reviews records in Arthur, scribes liner notes, recently co-authored a handsome hardback on the history of no wave, wrote trenchantly about Finnish hardcore last year for The Wire, and managed to narrate a straight-edge documentary for National Geographic. Oh, and if you have a guitar and a pedal around, he'd probably be super fucking stoked to do a little collabo later this afternoon. pitchforkmedia.com

After last year's amazing 'Trees Outside The Academy' - his second album of solo songwriting - Thurston Moore takes a major look back into the noise arena with Sensitive/Lethal, an incredible three-part study in raw sound matter, utilising electronics and both electric and acoustic guitars.

It's Thurston's unplugged activities that probably prompted the otherwise entirely ironic title 'Sensitive' for the first piece: buried under a maelstrom of extravagant feedback and yelping oscillator modulations a mantra-like open dreadnought chord lays down a foundation of clean, crisp steel string sounds, jangling excitedly like the beginnings of some unholy raga.

After twenty-two minutes of this oddly beguiling punishment, the tone changes for 'Lonesome', a magnificent four-minute blast of stereo feedback cycles, sounding not unlike certain interpretations of Steve Reich's swinging mic piece 'Penduluum' - Sonic Youth's own version on Goodbye 20th Century springing most obviously to mind. Finally, 'Lethal' is a markedly less easily digested production, spewing forth analogue noise in all its myriad colours, with pure voltage controlled carnage in one ear and lacerating guitar in the other.

There's still plenty of detail spread across the stereo field to make the piece an immersive listen though; after all, this isn't authored by just any old bedroom-bound tape jockey, but rather one of the founding fathers of noise rock and the modern American underground, so frankly it'd be surprising if this wasn't one of the very best noise albums of the year so far. Which it is, by the way.

Sensitive/Lethal proves that Thurston Moore's far from done finding ways to wrangle sound from his guitars, and that any fear of him relaxing as he ages is likely unfounded. The album's not going to scare most listeners as much as Moore did the young lady on the album's cover, but Thurston's still no stranger to aggressive sound, as evidenced here in spades. With his vast discography, this release might not signify one of Moore's absolute best, but it's a more than ample sign that he's in no way ready to let the kids have all the fun.

download: thurston moore - sensitive/lethal

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kayo dot - blue lambency downward

2008-10-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

.:: Multi-instrumentalists Toby Driver and Mia Matsumiya lull you into a dream state with a small cavalcade of instrumentation, plying an almost noir sensibility at once moody and contemplative, bristling and demure. An unclassifiable masterpiece.

Sounding somewhere between the avant garde lounge music of groups like Pram or Tom Waits and the progressive New York scene that has embraced groups like Time of Orchids and Colin Mastron's slew of project Kayo Dot have skillfully traded their rigid sense of dynamic build-ups for the more ambient and psychedelic side of "Dowsing".

It seems if one thing is clear with "Blue Lambency Downward" it is that Driver will finally be able to shrug off the shadow that his previous band, maudlin of the Well has cast on his career thus far. The album is devoid of any "metal" sections and instead of using heavier sections as the basis of the sound the group has decided to flirt with their more melodic side.

.:: For an initial impression it’s a good place to start, but any attempts to lump Kayo Dot in with some of the more fashionable acts peddling experimental music at the moment would be a mistake.

The ethereal guitar chords and chant-like vocals on opener ‘Blue Lambency Downward’ are far more indebted to vintage Italian horror soundtracks and the prog-rock of King Crimson than anything put out by the current Brooklynite noise brigade. read on (this is indeed a good review).

download: kayo dot - blue lambency downward

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the british expeditionary force - chapter one a long way from home

2008-10-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

.:: The British Expeditionary Force bring to mind the sweet Scandinavian sounds of Efterklang or Mum. This is pop music, reframed and re-imagined as electronica, and taking influence from the muddy mire of indie music on the way, so it's not hard to work out that the two members of the band are old hands at production.

In the red corner we have Justin Lockey, founder member of Mycodenameis:Milo and producer of such beastly projects as Enter Shikari among other things, and in the blue corner vocalist Aid Burrows, better known as the frontman of Fierce Panda band My Architects.

The music featured on 'Chapter One : A Long Way From Home' is the most unusual to ever come from this camp. It's indie music for people who want a little more for their money, pop music for people getting bored with pop or electronica for those of you who don't mind some vocals slapped about over the glitches and pads, and somehow it works. While the record isn't totally successful it leaves you with a warm glow, perfect for this time of year I'd say... boomkat.com

download: the british expeditionary force - chapter one a long way from home

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entertainment for the braindead - hypersomnia

2008-10-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

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.:: Hypersomnia is the self-released, handmade first album from Julia Kotowski aka Entertainment For The Braindead. Hailing from Cologne, Germany this 21 year old singer/songwriter bring us 13 fragil but direct songs, full of a complex simplicity and layers and layers of tiny lo-fi sounds that remind the same atmosphere and kindness reached by acts such as Juana Molina.

entertainmentforthebraindead.com

download: entertainment for the braindead - hypersomnia

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tertium auris - vox stridens

2008-10-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

.:: Recorded, arrenged and created by a pianist and choir-orchestra conductor, Voz Stridens is a sound experiment based on vocal sounds with no other instrument. You may think "ok, this is going to be/sound like opera or something". Well my dear friends i'm glad to tell you that you're wrong.

According to artists's own words:
I think the voice is the most powerful instrument since it is inside of us own, mirror of ourselves.
I think that at a production level the vocal sound is the most direct from our thoughts.
We can gain control of our own tool.
We can understand the difference between hear and listen.
We can unify the two.
In my personal idea of sonorous space the irrevocable decision to give my electroacoustic compositions only human voice audio samples became increasingly convincing to me.

To achieve this release, I used predominantly personal voice sounds, made using overtone singing technique, sometimes vocal sounds of my wife Elizabeth (she is an opera singer, her voice is on "Cyclus"), of a little girl with brain disease (on "Vox Mentis"), of a dolphin and a whale (on "Vox Mentis"). Any other instrument was not used.

It it important to know that no compressor or limiter tool was used in the post-editing phase. Each song is based on one to three sample at most, each of which was analyzed and then digitally processed. All derived from the original takes, and stacked in multitrack.

download: tertium auris - vox stridens

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r.e.m. - accelerate

2008-10-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

.:: In the decade since the departure of drummer Bill Berry, R.E.M. could seem at times schizophrenic. Their albums of the era, which veered from the experimentalism of Up and reaffirmation of Reveal to 2004's more diffuse, reflective Around the Sun, often stood in stark contrast to the vibrancy of their live act. But here the alt-rock godfathers have resolved that dichotomy with their most focused and satisfying album in over a decade; a collection that doesn't so much revisit the bracing ethos of the band's '80s coming-of-age, as boil it down to its essence and supercharge it with the energy of their contemporary stage shows.

That sensibility is evident from the opening track, "Living Well's the Best Revenge," where Peter Buck's aggressive, distortion-drenched riffs and Michael Stipe's gruff snarl set the tone for "Mansized Wreath," "Horse to Water," and "Supernatural Serious"; rockers that bristle with the abandonment and aggressive energy of a band half their tenure. Yet it's no mere blast-from-the-past. The inclusion of the band's recent touring musicians (Scott McCaughey on second guitar and drummer Bill Rieflin) into the session mix, as well as working out much of the material live onstage in Dublin, has yielded something more sonically akin to R.E.M. 2.2.

Stipe's penchant for the lyrically opaque has been largely supplanted by an edgy, articulate passion that variously explores "Houston'"s displaced Katrina refugees, the bluegrass-tinged "Until the Day is Done," and the more typical, quiet self-examination of "Hollow Man," before exploding in the album's unlikely, upbeat elegy "I'm Gonna DJ," where singer and band find renewed hope in not only music, but themselves.

.:: Accelerate is the first studio album by that post-Berry stage band, and it is one of the best records R.E.M. have ever made. Much of Accelerate was cut in live-band takes and even tested onstage during a run in Dublin last summer, and it shows. Guitars are front and center, in slashing-chord and rusted-arpeggio crossfires, as if you've got R.E.M.'s 1982 EP Chronic Town and the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks spinning in your CD tray at the same time. "Man-Sized Wreath," "Supernatural Superserious" and "Horse to Water" rattle and zoom like buried treasures from an old club-tour set list. And there is nothing soft or shy about the slower darkness either. In "Houston," a stark snapshot of post-Katrina exile ("If the storm doesn't kill me/The government will"), crude fuzz drones and ham-fisted organ chords roll over Buck's acoustic guitar and the fighter's will in Stipe's voice ("I was taught to hold my head high. . . . Make the best of what today has") like oily floodwater.

But the R.E.M. on Accelerate is also the one I saw at New York's Madison Square Garden right after 2004's Vote for Change Tour — and two nights after Bush's re-election. Bummed but unbowed, they opened the show with loud, fast defiance — "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" — and they do the same thing here, with "Living Well Is the Best Revenge." "Don't turn your talking points on me/History will set me free/The future is ours, and you don't even rate a footnote," Stipe sings in a rapid, ecstatic near-shout over flying fists of guitar and racing bass and drums. And that's just the start of the blowback. "Nature abhors a vacuum/But what's between your ears?" he snaps in "Man-Sized Wreath," a bitter laugh at empty pomp and sound-bite patriotism, aimed at sheep and herders alike. And whoever "Mr. Richards" is, he gets his just desserts — "Mr. Richards, your conviction/Had us cheering in the kitchen" — served with Buck and McCaughey's bristling-glam guitars.

Stipe has not sounded this viscerally engaged in his singing and poetically lethal in his writing since the twilight of the Reagan administration. But he is not merely protesting the mess of the nation. Accelerate is total-victory rock, Stipe making promises he knows he can keep — "You weakened shill . . . Savor your dying breath" ("Living Well") — because he's not alone. The apocalypse is obvious in "Sing for the Submarine," an urban-holocaust update of Crosby, Stills and Nash's hippie-escape plan "Wooden Ships." So is the strength in numbers. "It's all a lot less frightening/Than we would've had it be," Stipe insists, as Mills swoops way behind him in guardian-angel harmony. (Mills' vocals, too often taken for granted, are frequent literal high points on the album, the reassuring sunlight on Stipe's gritty delivery.) And in "Hollow Man," Stipe concedes his own needs and fuck-ups, then calls for help — "Corner me and make me something" — in a stunning mix of tender-piano ballad and big-guitar chorus that sums up the commitment that makes true loves, democracies and great rock bands possible.

Ultimately, the best thing about Accelerate is that R.E.M. sound whole again, no longer three-legged but complete in their bond and purpose. "Music will provide the light you cannot resist," Stipe crows at the end of the record, in the atomic frivolity of "I'm Gonna DJ." And you can believe him — because he and his band believe in themselves again. -- rolling stone

download: r.e.m. - accelerate

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mary shelley overdrive | 3 free albums

2008-10-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

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.:: Columbia, SC-based band Mary Shelley Overdrive has made two albums available today as free downloads.
The band made a splash earlier this year with an impromptu collection of covers titled Hideous Sexy. Released the same weekend as Bo Diddley’s death, the album featured a cover of his classic “Who Do You Love,” described by New York Magazine as a “muscle-bound goth dirge.”

Hideous Sexy was a collection of cover songs recorded during the creation of the band’s self-titled LP, released September 24, 2008. Hideous Sexy has been available as a free download at the band’s website, www.maryshelleyoverdrive.com, since May.
Joining that album today are two more EPs — Shock Theatre, and Bride of Shock Theatre. Both are also posted as free downloads.

Shock Theatre is a re-mastered version of the band’s first EP, originally posted for download a year ago today. It has since been discontinued but, after the release of Hideous Sexy, the band was hit with requests to make their earlier effort available again to the public.

When the band finished its self-titled LP, they returned to the studio and recorded seven new songs in a week. Titled “Bride of Shock Theatre,” it’s a collection original compositions peppered with covers of tunes by Blue Oyster Cult, New Math and Bauhaus.

“It’s got a rushed, impromptu sound that I like,” said singer Mark Wood. “It sounds very ‘live.’ We didn’t do many takes or spend much time obsessing over details.”

I love these guys !!!

download: mary shelley overdrive - hideous sexy
download: mary shelley overdrive - shock theater
download: mary shelley overdrive - bride of shock theater

pass (Hideous Sexy):MSOhs+88
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oxomaxoma - espíritus en rojo y negro

2008-10-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

.:: Here's another awesome album from the great mexican band Oxomaxoma. This is such a rare album, really hard to find son enjoy it. Enjoy !!!

download: oxomaxoma - espíritus en rojo y negro

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the octopus project + black moth super rainbow - the house of apples & eyeballs

2008-10-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

.:: "The House of Apples & Eyeballs" is not a split, but a year-long, full-length collaboration by both bands. The Octopus Project is known and loved for their uncategorizable broken-guitars-meet-samplers-meet-drums-meet-drum machines sound, while the musical island of Black Moth Super Rainbow would rather play their songs in the woods and not let you know if their gear is broken or working just fine.

Holding hands from Austin to Pittsburgh, they set out to create one of the wilder pop records of the year. For anyone familiar with both bands, may you find yourself at peace with this dream record. But know that not all is as it seems, and the challenge of figuring out which band played which parts may sometimes be impossible.

While a couple tracks did make it to the record in their original, one-band form, most were passed back and forth for several rounds of dismemberment, rearrangement, and augmentation. The result overflows with sonic treats: cut-up beats and vocoder melodies collide with huge, distorted riffs. A theremin orchestra descends into layered steel guitars before all is dissolved in a wash of hazy synths.

download: the octopus project + black moth super rainbow - the house of apples & eyeballs

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cranes - forever

2008-10-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

.:: Having reached a new level of variety and elegant restraint combined with brusque power on Wings of Joy, the foursome continued exploring such combinations on Forever without simply rehashing the previous album. If anything, the album went to extremes in both directions -the quieter moments were even more hushed and shadowed, the louder points all that much more whipsnap cruel. "Cloudless" remains the album's most sweetly beautiful, truly haunting moment.

Over what sounds like a synthesized combination of plucked violin and keyboards, doubtless played by Jim Shaw, sister Alison delivers a softly husky vocal that slowly grows in strength. More synth strings swell up in the background, just enough, followed later by gentle electric guitar and at the end distant drums.

On a completely different tip, there's "Clear," its searing, blunt lead guitar line matched by a massive rhythm slam, only occasionally interrupted by a quieter moment or two before launching back into the full band attack. "Jewel" ended up being a surprise U.K. and U.S. hit, though thanks to a somewhat transformed remix courtesy of longtime fan Robert Smith (in fact, Forever takes its name from a Cure rarity of the same title).

.:: just for the record:
Early on in their recording and performing career, the music of Cranes borrowed from both the industrial/avant-garde, deconstructive style of bands such as Einstürzende Neubauten, and the ethereal labyrinths of acts like Cocteau Twins. Following a general softening of their sound, the introduction of pop elements to their music, and a world tour with The Cure in 1992, the band's popularity increased, and peaked with the release of the albums Forever and Loved.

The band fell silent for a period of approximately four years after the release of Population 4 in 1997, but did not actually break up. In the early 2000s, they began writing music again, and released Future Songs and Particles and Waves on their own label, Dadaphonic. These albums signified a change in the overall style of their music, emphasising its ambient, ethereal qualities. Despite heading in a more electronic direction, however, the band's music continued to revolve around Alison Shaw's distinctive singing.

download: cranes - forever

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r.e.m. - chronic town

2008-10-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

.:: Chronic Town is the debut EP by the american "unknown" rock band R.E.M., released in 1982 on I.R.S. Records. Chronic Town is the first illustration of R.E.M.'s signature musical style: jangling guitars, chords played in arpeggio, murmured vocals, and oblique lyrics.

download: the inventors of aircraft - unknown language

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risser mazur duo - élan vital

2008-10-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

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.:: One more great collaboration to enjoy by Rafal Mazur. 23 minutes of complexe mutant structures and magical interaction between bass and piano exploration.

Eve Risser: Grand Piano
Rafal Mazur: Acoustic Bass Guitar

Recorded in concert, 21.06.2008, Centre of Contemporary Arts, Krakow.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Rafal Drewniany "Dzwiek to Sztuka/Sound
is Art" mobile recording studio.

Edited as 50 8''cdr with hand-made cover.

download: risser mazur duo - élan vital

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the divine comedy - victory for the comic muse

2008-10-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

.:: One of the most critically acclaimed acts to emerge in the UK during the '90s. Mixing a bit of Serge Gainsbourg with Noel Coward, Morrissey and Ray Davies, The Divine Comedy sound like no-one else and remain a musical quilt that continues to grow with each release.

The Divine Comedy, a nom de chamber pop for Northern Ireland-born singer/songwriter Neil Hannon, has traipsed through several musical wardrobes since 1989-- jangle-pop, eccentric Britpop mini-orchestra, Nigel Godrich-guided introspection-- but despite sporadic UK chart appearances and a 2002 U.S. tour with Ben Folds, critical acclaim has yet to usher in popular acceptance. The Divine Comedy's constants are a Wildean wit with an apposite sense of style, and they persist on extravagant ninth album Victory for the Comic Muse.

It's a pity that such similarly sharp-minded social observers as Evelyn Waugh and Bernard Shaw don't have more platinum records. At least there are always MySpace friends.

download: the divine comedy - victory for the comic muse

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alice in chains - mtv unplugged

2008-10-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

.:: Out of the dozens of MTV unplugged performances there were two that stuck out in my mind as the best. The number two spot goes to Eric Clapton. An excellent show by the guitar marksman. But the number one in my opinion would be the Alice In Chains Unplugged. By far the best, this performance shows no matter how far down from the top you think you are, some of the best can come out it.

Take Layne Staley for example, the period of time when he was seriously losing the battle against drugs (particulary heroin) he comes out of the dark and puts on a spectacular once in a lifetime performance. Just when you think Alice In Chains are gone and lost, April 1996 comes by.

There's alot of humor in the performance as well as interactive comments with the crowd, particulary after messing up on the first take of 'Sludge Factory', an audience member yells "hey, quit f---in this up!" Even Layne's attempt at humor early in the show saying "Now we're going to break to, uh, an LL Cool Jay video, so" was kind of funny. Overall it was a great show.

Is Alice In Chains done? Or do they have another chapter to write in their incredible history? All I know is, the 400 people in attendence to this concert sure were lucky. That's all I have to say about that.

download: alice in chains - mtv unplugged

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youth group - casino twilight dogs

2008-10-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

.:: Picking up where they left off from "Skeleton Jar", Youth Group fans will be assured once again of more incredible song writing. The first taste from their third album is the stand out 'Catching & Killing' and from here on in the music just gets better and better.

The band achieved double platinum sales and an Australian #1 single in March 2006 with "Forever Young", before playing Coachella and undertaking a hugely successful support slot on Coldplay's trek down under.

Produced by Wayne Connolly (The Vines, You Am I), and mixed by Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Guided By Voices), Casino Twilight Dogs is the follow up to last year's critically acclaimed Skeleton Jar, a work of shimmering beauty full of heart, debuted at #10 upon release in Australia and has already achieved gold status there.

download: youth group - casino twilight dogs

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el senor ciuf ciuf - as seen from above

2008-10-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

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.:: Hello everybody, you have to give a try to this fantastic album… a must have !!!

Just check the first song "I Feel Like A Clean Blackboard": along with his mates Matteo Mohorovicich at sax & clarinet and Daniele Dalla Pellegrina at trumpet, Oliviero Farneti creates a surprisingly catchy and slightly surrealistic pop-song that knows about dance-music, lo-fi indierock and jazz (!).

Bet you'll whistle this one when you leave the house. "We The Ants" sucks you in with his beautiful warm guitar-riffing. This song didn't leave my head for weeks! It ends with a little free-jazz woodwind-intermezzo. Stunning. "I Think I Saw A Dead Person Walking Yesterday" expands olivieros sound-cosmos back to the sixties- these sweet vocal-harmonies in the middle make you think of The Beach Boys immediately.

Along with cheap synth-melodies, noisy wall-of-sound guitars and the trademark-woodwinds of Matteo and Daniele, by the way. "Demons", song seven, introduces the housy bassdrum and could have fit on the last Gorillaz-album without a problem. "The Unspeakable Chant Of A Collapsing Universe" afterwards exactly sounds like this: about nine minutes of psychedelic kraut-pop build on a small repetitive synth-motive. El Senor Ciuf Ciuf waves hello to the early Flaming Lips.

This description might sound a little weird, indeed. But: the album doesn't! Although there are a lot of genres in the mix, Oliviero's melodies, his voice and his sound of lo-fi homerecording hold it all together.

download: el senor ciuf ciuf - as seen from above

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

skitsystem - ondskans ansikte 10"

2008-10-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

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.:: Skitsystem certainly didn’t care about aesthetics or perfectionism on this release, instead opting to belt out chaotic and fuzzy, yet catchy, hardcore influenced metal, or vice versa… or punk. The songs are direct and in your face, leaving little room to relax. It’s evident that these guys gathered into the studio with beers.

Oddly enough, this album featured two members of At the Gates (you know who they are), was recorded in the same studio on said bands time and used the same gear, yet managed to not even sound at all like ATG. That’s nice. They clearly weren’t trying to ride the coat-tails of the more popular band and were simply and plainly having a good time. The guitars are fuzzy, sorta thrashy, and the bass is fucken low on top of some fast drumming. The vocals are spat with aggression and halitosis in a not too subtle shouty way that I found to be enjoyable for some weird reason.

download: skitsystem - ondskans ansikte 10"

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

okkervil river - the stage names

2008-10-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

.:: "Their fourth full-length may also be Okkervil River's most conceptually gnarled work to date, as frontman Will Sheff's intricately detailed lyrics leap from the ornate to the blunt, encompass philosophical inquiries and goofily playful riffing, invite the listener into confidence only to con them. With a voice both poetic and toughly slangy, these songs are equal parts high-concept filigree and low, street-level kicks; they're both artistically ambitious and refreshingly unpretentious."

This record dynamites the moss-covered castle walls of 2005's "Black Sheep Boy" to let in the glaring sun. Riddled with characters real and fake, with the relics of high culture and the crumpled up trash of low culture, "The Stage Names" is a cinemascopic take on the meaning of entertainment in the modern world.

Reverberant with echoes of Motown snap and girl group pop, redolent with ripe whiffs of dirty rock 'n' roll, shining with the shimmy of Bo Diddley, with the shimmer of the Velvets, with the swagger of the Faces, and with a glittery sprinkling of cheap perfume to disguise the stink, "The Stage Names" is a relentlessly paced and ruthlessly thrilling journey.

This is the sound of a band at the height of their powers, effortlessly making good on their earlier promise long after the point where they remember or care that they even made that promise in the first place.

download: okkervil river - the stage names

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

pedro the lion - achilles heel

2008-10-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

.:: David Bazan, the driving force behind Pedro the Lion, hasn't reached Jay-Z's level of material success, and even fans of Pedro the Lion's work might not recognize Bazan's name outside of the context of his band.

Recorded in his home studio near Seattle, Achilles Heel enlists previous collaborator TW Walsh, along with fellow Jade Tree label mates James McAlister and Ester Drang. The album jumps off with "Bands With Managers", a catchy, ironic song reminiscent of a slowed down Grandaddy ditty that seems inspired by a run-in Bazan had with an arrogant lead singer or actual manager.

Achilles Heel is filled with a few deviations from Pedro the Lion's previous style. For example, long-term fans will wonder at the higher falsetto with which Bazan sings, and speculate if he is attempting to emulate the success that groups like Coldplay have found recently. But for the most part, Pedro the Lion continue to mine the rich vein of material they've been concentrating on from the beginning.

Much of Achilles Heel focuses on Bazan's attempt to hold his relationships together no matter the cost. His relationship with God, his wife and himself all bend under the strain, but he'll break his bones holding them together. Ultimately, Bazan continues to sound more like a distillation of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and The Counting Crows' Adam Duritz than the latest flavor of pop star.

Bazan uses the context to separate himself from other groups that are so obviously "going places", using the occasion to posture that his relationship with longtime contributor T. William Walsh is far more important than getting to open for U2 on their next stadium tour. Lyrics like "But I trust T. William Walsh and I'm not afraid to die" are a testament to friendship and loyalty that Bazan takes more seriously than the trajectory of his career.

Somehow a band that existed in a foundation of Christian indie rock found an audience with songs that dredge the banks of the river misery. Would the achievement destroy the very fabric that made Pedro the Lion great: poignant, somber songs about Bazan's moral struggle with faith, marital fidelity, and the reason to keep going in this life?

download: pedro the lion - achilles heel

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waiting room - la estulticia del cognicidio

2008-10-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

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.:: Edited under Creative Commons License (CC) "La estulticia del Cognicidio" is one of the best albums I've ever listened from a spanish band (dont forget Ekkaia). These collection of songs are based on improvisation and experimentation.

Although, Waiting Room was conceived as an instrumental band, they recently added some human voices (catalonian and english lyrics) without losing their warm, delicate sound.

download: waiting room - la estulticia del cognicidio

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

kurregomma - 8bitconnection

2008-10-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

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.:: Broken rhythmic, blurry poems, epileptic fillings: this is the language chosen to commemorate the relationship between the existence of men and machine, programmed to explore the hidden shadows of suffering: ignorance.

8-bit connection is a furious descent into an aseptic hell from the heretic unbalanced cables.

download: kurregomma - 8bitconnection

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sam king - two

2008-10-07T16:02:00.003-07:00

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.:: Prodigal painter and sometimes musician, Sam King (Fire Don’t Care’s guitarist and singer) bring us his second solo album "Two", a collection of indie pop bedroom songs that reside on the hi-fi end of the lo-fi spectrum.

Consisting of nothing but his voice and acoustic guitar, this set of captivating, haunting folk songs is simply perfect and beautiful.

Who needs bells and whistles when songs are this strong and the voice is this perfect?. Folk is reinventing itself and, as the Kings of Inconvenience's first album announced, "quiet is the new loud."

download: sam king - two

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caribou - the milk of human kindness

2008-10-06T19:19:00.001-07:00

.:: The first record after changing the band's name from Manitoba (before a threatened lawsuit from a similarly-named artist caused the switch to the similarly-Canadian Carobou), Dan Snaith delivers a heavy set of his most developed music to date, touching on influences as distinct and impressive as Neu! and Soft Machine. Full of life and tasteful production/instrumentation, this art record's got antlers, though still progresses like a more delicate animal.

The songs that will jump out a first time listeners, however, are the ones where Snaith makes the transition from organic samples to a more simple band performance, but while the compositions mark a major shift in his musical approach, they still remain true to the Caribou sound.

The leisurely five-minute jam "Bees" centers around a relaxed '60s garage/blues rock groove, complete with cool touches, such as a memorable recorder solo, only to be briefly interrupted by string samples and more of Snaith's thunderous drum fills.

The warm "Hello Hammerheads", meanwhile, is straightforward, late '60s folk pop, the plaintive acoustic guitar and layered vocal harmonies greatly resembling both Simon and Garfunkel and Nick Drake.

Although The Milk of Human Kindness sounds more stripped down, its simplicity is deceiving, as Snaith has drawn from a much wider musical palette that he ever has in the past.

download: caribou - the milk of human kindness

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spirit elevating brains - pulsos temporales memorias estables

2008-10-03T18:05:00.001-07:00

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.:: Pulsos Temporales Memorias Estables' is the second album from SEB here at test tube and this time he made it even bigger than the previous one.

Twenty tracks of SEB's trademark 'digital nostalgia' style of clicks 'n' cuts and weird sampling. After a couple of listens, it's clear that Sebastian has been refining his sound. He's more precise and to-the-point when he tries to capture an emotional essence into a track or simply by telling us a story.

Most of his new tracks are also smaller and more effective, like a new engine model that consumes less but takes you farther. Some of this tracks work a bit like interludes of sort, filling the gaps between heavier, denser and more mesmerizing ones.

In the end, Sebastian Alvarez offers us 20 wonderful tracks for us to dream about metaphorical titles and the unknown dimensions that inhabit his mind. Have a nice trip.

download: spirit elevating brains - pulsos temporales memorias estables

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

crash test dummies - god shuffled his feet

2008-10-03T09:03:00.001-07:00

.:: Hailing from Winnipeg, Canada, with its dense, richly textured production and the distinctive baritone vocals of Brad Roberts, the Crash Test Dummies are ready to crash this party.

The band, which is considered a mainstream pop act in Canada, developed a modest following in the States following the release of its 1991 debut album, The Ghosts That Haunt Me. On God Shuffled His Feet, the band departs from its acoustic roots and heads toward an alternative sound, with a crisp rhythm section and supremely over-dubbed guitars and keyboards.

The fact that the production on the album (which was recorded in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin) is flawless is not surprising, considering that Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads fame) was at the helm.

Basically, It's a great album with catchy lyrics and tunes. The quirkyness is missing for music nowadays.

download: crash test dummies - god shuffled his feet

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scott joplin - the entertainer

2008-10-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

.:: Scott Joplin (between June 1867 and January 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American musician and composer of ragtime music. He remains the best-known ragtime figure and is regarded as one of the three most important composers of classic ragtime, along with James Scott and Joseph Lamb, and also a precursor to Stride Piano. Decades after his death, his music enjoyed a considerable surge of popularity and critical respect in the 1970s, especially for his most famous composition, "The Entertainer." wikipedia

He combined the traditions of Afro-American folk music with nineteenth-century European romanticism; he collected the black Midwestern Folk rag ideas as raw material for the creation of original strains. Thus, his rags are the most heavily pentatonic, with liberal use of blue notes and other outstanding features that characterize black folk music.

In this creative synthesis, . . . the traditional march became the dominant form, and the result was a new art form, the Classic rag – a unique conception which paradoxically both forged the way for early serious ragtime composition, and, at the same time, developed along insular lines, away from most other ragtime playing and composing.

After his death, Joplin's music and ragtime in general waned in popularity as new forms of musical styles, such as jazz and novelty piano, emerged. However, a number of revivals of ragtime have occurred since. Scott Joplin created many different styles of ragtime and made it what it is today.

download: scott joplin - the entertainer

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london after midnight - selected scenes from the end of the world

2008-10-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

.:: Los Angeles goths London After Midnight open this, their debut CD, with a provocative sample from one of Hitler's speeches. Whether it's meant to shock or educate or both, it's one of the few moments of drama on this otherwise fairly straightforward disc of glam-manqué death rock.

Songwriter, instrumentalist, producer and founder Sean Brennan is known for his strong stances in favor of animal rights, pro-environmental and human rights issues, anti-corporate control of media, and support for progressive and liberal politics.

London After Midnight began performing live in Los Angeles in the early 1990s at the legendary club Helter Skelter, which also hosted bands like Nine Inch Nails and many others. The live band immediately began to draw large crowds and always had elaborate stage settings including stage props that could have come from the Universal Studios' back-lot.

Needless to say the extreme stage settings attracted as much attention as LAM's music, which soon grew in popularity. So much so that the original four song demo cassette tape released in 1991-1992 was the hottest selling item in Hollywood's trendy Melrose Ave indie record stores, even beating out new releases from Duran Duran and other major label artists.

For 2 years the most sought after item Los Angeles area club kids searched for in LA area independent record stores was the LAM cassette tape. Signs hung in record store windows proclaiming "yes we have LAM's tape IN STOCK". Stores from as far away as Australia ordered multiple shipments of the tape each month to meet demand.

download: london after midnight - selected scenes from the end of the world

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jimmy page & the black crowes - live at the greek

2008-10-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

.:: Jimmy Page, one of rock music's greatest guitarists combined with The Black Crowes, one of today's best live bands, delivers ripping Zep classics.

Recorded in October 1999, this double-disc slab will certainly stick to your ribs, chock-full as it is of burly, brawny riffs, and it is as flavorful as it is filling. Without question, the pairing of Page and the Crowes sounds as strong on your player as it does on paper.

Page's playing is more focused and incisive than it has been of late, the Crowes sound energized and inspired by the esteemed guest, and Chris Robinson makes a fine Robert Plant. The Zep covers, which account for 14 of the 20 tracks, stay close to the original arrangements--you can sing along most of the way based on your knowledge of the Zep studio albums.

Zeppelin fans are going to go three ways on "Jimmy Page [ tickets ] and the Black Crowes Live at the Greek": those who want anything that smoking Jimmy lays his axe to; those who heard that these two October 1999 shows were the best thing in rock since medical marijuana and want to hear what it was all about, finally; and that little group of naysayers who just might be onto something when they say, "Why not just listen to the original Zeppelin albums?"

Track by track, there's plenty of screaming soloing by Page, who blasts out his devil-take-the-hindmost blues on "Woke Up This Morning," works the slide soulfully on the rocking "In My Time of Dying," and cuts himself a nice slice of the wah-wah pie on "Ten Years Gone," one of the more interesting Zeppelin tunes that the Crowes homed in on.

THIS IS ROCK BABY !!!

download: jimmy page & the black crowes - live at the greek (disc 1)
download: jimmy page & the black crowes - live at the greek (disc 2)

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circle of dust - disengage

2008-10-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

.:: Circle of Dust - the 90's cult industrial act, released it's final record (Disengage) in 1998 before Klayton retired the act to pursue other ventures.

Originally released in 1998 on Flying Tart Records, but barely noticed due to inadequate distribution and both label and distro tanking quickly thereafter, a Limited Edition (only 1000 made) version was re-issued by Retroactive Records October, 2005.

Not only do fans get the Disengage album, but another entire album's worth of bonus tracks, i.e. Refractorchasm, which fills out the disc, making it a twofer. It was digitally re-mastered and features enhanced artwork. This was the last album ever released by the most influential Christian gothic industrial metal band ever.

Later Scott Albert (aka Klay Scott, Klayton, and Celldweller) would go on to release mainstream albums by Angeldust, and most recently Celldweller. Expect pounding, aggressive gothic industrial metal full of angst and dissatisfaction with the status quo. For fans of Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, HIM, Argyle Park, Klank, Ministry, and Prong.

download: circle of dust - disengage

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los campesinos! - hold on now, youngster

2008-09-30T09:10:00.001-07:00

.:: Recorded in Canada and produced by David Newfeld (Broken Social Scene) the album is a frenetic mix of Indie Pop inspired by the likes of Architecture In Helsinki, Pavement and Bis. It's been a hugely eventful year for the band: a right-of-passage, roller coaster, massively exciting kind of year, that's seen them make an impressive dent globally, experience an avalanche of 'firsts', and subsequently proved their mettle as a Pop collective of huge potential...and all before they've even released their debut album! 11 tracks.

Few bands have made as much out of this ideal of enthusiast-as-artist as Los Campesinos!. Formed two years ago at Cardiff University in Wales, the indie-pop septet first grabbed attention on MySpace, but their music embodies some the best elements of the past 30 years of indie music.

It's not just the superficial connections, like their Ramones- or Pastels-style surnames, band-made zine, or the cover of Pavement B-side "Frontwards" on last year's slept-on Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP. With boy/girl exclamations (!) befitting a punkier Heavenly/Calvin Johnson collaboration (!!), the lavish instrumentation of Broken Social Scene (whose Dave Newfeld produces), childish glockenspiels, and exuberantly buzzing guitars, debut album Hold on Now, Youngster... is a giddy, tuneful love note to individuality, pathos, smarts, silliness, and everything else indie pop built its name on.

There's even the requisite ironic self-mockery-- nobody actually thought this stuff was cool, did they?

download: los campesinos! - hold on now, youngster

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

1000 hours of staring - co-operative thread

2008-09-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

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.:: '1000 Hours of Staring' is the alias under which Mike Ramsey and occasional collaborator Mike Bigel record music. Here is an EP of elegant instrumental music, crafted from guitars and farfisa organ, field recordings and layer upon layer of dense sound, sound that is alive with energy and purpose.

Now I'm not much of one for over-complicated genre naming, honestly, but I can't help but file this one in my mind under psychedelic post rock folk. Phew. It is at times gritty and raw, and other times drifts over the listener as if void of any cares or concerns. That the sounds were recorded using a video camera is perhaps a fitting tribute to an EP that sounds so personal, a lo-fidelity gem if ever there was one.

download: 1000 hours of staring - co-operative thread

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forbidden planet (original soundtrack) - louis & bebe barron

2008-09-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

.:: The movie's innovative electronic music score (credited as "electronic tonalities", partly to avoid having to pay movie industry music guild fees) was composed by Louis and Bebe Barron. MGM producer Dore Schary discovered the couple quite by chance at a beatnik nightclub in Greenwich Village while on a family Christmas visit to New York City. Schary hired them on the spot to compose the film music score. The theremin had been used as early as 1945, in Spellbound, but their score is widely credited with being the first completely electronic film score. The soundtrack preceded the Moog synthesizer of 1964 by almost a decade.

Using equations from the 1948 book, Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine by mathematician Norbert Wiener, Louis Barron constructed the electronic circuits which he used to generate the "bleeps, blurps, whirs, whines, throbs, hums and screeches". Most of the tonalities were generated using a circuit called a ring modulator. After recording the base sounds, the Barrons further manipulated the material by adding effects, such as reverberation and delay, and reversing or changing the speed of certain sounds.

As Louis and Bebe Barron did not belong to the Musicians' Union, their work was not considered for an Academy Award, in either the soundtrack or special effects category. Curiously, MGM avoided producing a soundtrack album when the film was first released. However, film composer-conductor David Rose released a 45-rpm single of his original main title theme, which he had recorded at MGM Studios in Culver City, California in March 1956. This theme had been discarded when Rose, who had originally been contracted to compose the film’s music score in 1955, was discharged between Christmas 1955 and New Year’s by Dore Schary.

.:: just for the record:

The soundtrack for Forbidden Planet (1956) is today recognized as the first entirely electronic score for a film. Eerie and sinister, the soundtrack was unlike anything that audiences had heard before. Music historians have often noted how groundbreaking the soundtrack was in the development of electronic music.

On the album sleeve notes of the Forbidden Planet soundtrack, Louis and Bebe explain:
We design and construct electronic circuits which function electronically in a manner remarkably similar to the way that lower life-forms function psychologically. [. . .]. In scoring Forbidden Planet – as in all of our work – we created individual cybernetics circuits for particular themes and leit motifs, rather than using standard sound generators. Actually, each circuit has a characteristic activity pattern as well as a "voice". [. . .]. We were delighted to hear people tell us that the tonalities in Forbidden Planet remind them of what their dreams sound like.

The producers of the film had originally wanted to hire Harry Partch to do the music score. The Barrons were brought in to do only about twenty minutes of sound effects. After the producers heard the initial sample score, the Barrons were assigned an hour and ten minutes of the rest of the film. The studio wanted to move the couple to Hollywood where most of the film scores were produced at the time. But the couple would not budge, and took the work back to their New York studio.

The music and the sound effects stunned the audience. During the preview of the movie when the sounds of the spaceship landing on Altair IV filled the theater, the audience broke out in spontaneous applause.

Not everyone was happy with the score. Louis and Bebe did not belong to the Musicians' Union. The original screen credit for the film, which was supposed to read "Electronic Music by Louis and Bebe Barron", was changed at the last moment by a contract lawyer from the American Federation of Musicians. In order to not upset the union, the association with the word music had to be removed. The Barrons were credited with "Electronic Tonalities". Because of their non-membership in the union, the film was not considered for an Oscar in the soundtrack, or special effects category. --wikipedia

download: forbidden planet (original soundtrack) - louis & bebe barron

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kalashnikov - songs about amore and revolution

2008-09-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

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.:: Under the drunkenness of the heavenly libertarian nectar and rejecting the ruling alternative thrash music, Kalashnikov are created with the wish to put together their own utopias and passion.

Through the years there were many changes either in the line-up, or in band's music and lyrics, but anyway some features have lasted: Kalashnikov have always played a concentration of melodic and fast music with high libertarian spirit, following the path of DIY.

download: kalashnikov - songs about amore and revolution

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dios (malos) - dios (malos)

2008-09-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

.:: California based indie-pop band Dios is joyful and weird, but not too weird.

The songs on (Malos) are nice songs that seem like not a whole lot is happening in them, just some unexpected yacht rock sensibilities creeping subtly into pleasant genre-morphing exercises. Then you find yourself listening to the album for the seventh time that day and you realize this stuff is really, really good.

They have some of the overreaching ethos of Olivia Tremor Control and Super Furry Animals, but not in any crippling way. They're not afraid to experiment, but they're not Wolf Eyes either, you dig? If you love the Move, Grandaddy, the Shins and the Radar Brothers, then this is probably already your favorite band and you know that this is thus far their best record, and all is right with the world.

download: dios (malos) - dios (malos)

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the inventors of aircraft - unknown language

2008-09-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

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.:: Unknown Language is the debut release by South London based 'The Inventors of Aircraft'. A name which might suggest multiple members, but which is in fact the sole invention of one Phil Tomsett.

These obscure symbols lend themselves well to the music, for 'Unknown Language' has very definite leanings towards the world of science and indeed science fiction. The album has a vast, almost monolithic sound that builds relentlessy. On the track 'Passing' it is not difficult to imagine that the title may be a reference to some gargantuan satellite, a slow paced yet immovable object casting a shadow over some desolate alien landscape far below.

The pieces meld into one another flitting between earthy and organic soundscapes to more overtly electronic and droney pieces. In the lead up to its release, the album has increasingly been one I turn to late at night. The opening track 'All, nothing' being the perfect introduction to the hypnotic underworld The Inventors of Aircraft so deftly weaves. Do not miss.

download: the inventors of aircraft - unknown language

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brtlmn - come closer please

2008-09-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

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.:: Come Closer Please is BRTLMN’s fifth piece in his series of EPs that he’s been sprinkling over the net on various labels. you can expect to hear a massively varied palette of sound with all of BRTLMNs works, but this EP goes just about everywhere.

Come Closer Please is made up of unnerving film quotes, psychedelic bleeps, shifting moods, surreal, ever changing atmospheres, and unexpected, yet, strategically placed abstract melodies.

download: brtlmn - come closer please

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muhr - anthèmes pour les regrets

2008-09-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

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.:: The stunning artwork for "Anthèmes our les Regrets" is based on three paintings by Portland-peintre Eric Adrian Lee. His textural works beautifully resemble the Muhr music and bring forth a new level of interpretation to both aural and visual components. Like Vince, Eric accepts (and facilates!) elements like dirt, noise and error in his producing. Like him, texture and detail are more important than sheer tangibility.

Equally influenced by various forms of electronica, film music, Folk and Postrock, Muhr is about organic Ambient music. Vince' compositions and improvisations fathom the space between synthesizer oscillation and guitar delay, they focus on background noise and the spatial hiss of his lo-fi recordings.

download: muhr - anthèmes pour les regrets

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plaistow - do you feel lucky?

2008-09-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

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.:: "Do You Feel Lucky ?" gathers 4 tracks recorded last february in Geneva. As usual, it will be freely downloadable, and two collector CD editions are proposed, the first one directly from Sven Swift and his netlabel, the other silk-screened by Thomas Perrodin.

.:: The Plaistow music goes through all extremes. Sometimes close to silence, sounds and gestures slackened, an idea of calm and contemplative meditation might form. The feeling to be able to compose with a slow progress of time. And then, at some point, a kind of anger is given voice, just like in a brief scratch or a long howling.

Forms are neglected, there is a will to get out of style and decency, a will to adopt an attitude both offhanded and intense. Up to now, the repertoire consists of original compositions solely. Arrangements are made during an intense collective work, the trio creating a tentaculary soundscape as concerts and residences go along...

Words by Johann Bourquenez

download: plaistow - do you feel lucky?

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gustav holst - the planets

2008-09-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

.:: Music derived from astrology is surprisingly rare. The ancient Greek philosophers, whatever their intellectual attitudes towards astrology may have been, were certainly not ignorant of astrological teachings and ideas.

It was they, after all, who put forward the idea of the "Music of the Spheres", the idea that these vast objects, twirling and whirling about through space, must have hummed a tone as they went along their courses, much as a ball spun on a string will whistle. They knew of seven planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Not surprisingly, Western music evolved with seven-tone scales.

Music and astrology come together again in this suite devoted to the seven planets, though the luminaries of Sun and Moon are displaced by Uranus and Neptune. Gustav Holst (1874--1934) was well-acquainted with astrology and mythology, as well as the Greek idea of the Music of the Spheres, and he drew heavily on this knowledge in his composition of the Planets Suite.

It was first performed in the autumn of 1918.

download: gustav holst - the planets

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entertainment for the braindead - hydrophobia

2008-09-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

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.:: Fragile lo-fi folk music by 21 year old singer and songwriter Julia Kotowski aka Entertainment for the braindead (Eftb). This release is published with cooperation of aaahh records, a brand new German netlabel with georgeous music and Aerotone.

“Hydrophobia” is full of colourful sounds and melodies. Ukulele, guitar and flute are ever-present instruments, just like Julias wonderful voice and her unconventional percussion that consists of jars, cans, boxes, drawers and peppermills. Her intimate songs are detailed snapshots of thoughts and feelings - sometimes filtered and reflected, sometimes pure and transparent.

All hydrophobia songs are about drowning, are written and recorded between April and July 2008.

download: entertainment for the braindead - hydrophobia

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osvaldo golijov - ainadamar

2008-09-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

||| This unique, 80-minute opera must be heard |||

.:: The one-act opera Ainadamar was composed in 2003 and revised in 2005. The plot centres on Federico García Lorca and his tragic death; the Spanish author was executed by Fascist soldiers early in the Spanish Civil War in a place the Moors called Ainadamar, or “Fountain of Tears”. As in the song cycle Ayre, the female title role is interpreted by Golijov’s muse, Dawn Upshaw.

The title means "Fountain of Tears" in Arabic and refers to the place in Granada where Federico Garcia Lorca was executed by Fascist soldiers in 1936. The work opens in a theater in Uruguay in 1969. As the actress Margarita Xirgu, who collaborated with Lorca in the 1920s and '30s, is about to go on stage, she recalls memories of him and his death and the survivor's guilt she feels.

Musical images take us back as well. The sounds of hoofbeats, a fountain, and gun shots punctuate the otherwise beautiful, tonal, highly Spanish-influenced score, filled with flamenco and rumba rhythms. The vocal lines are all highly singable as well as dramatic. The work is mostly scored for women's voices: Margartita, sung by Dawn Upshaw; Lorca himself, sung by Kelley O'Connor; Nuria, Margarita's student, sung by Jessica Rivera.

There is also an ensemble of women's voices that do most of the work. Margarita dies just before going onstage. The trio for her, Nuria, and Lorca is about as beautiful as anything you'll ever hear. "What a sad day it was in Granada / The stones began to cry" is a refrain that recurs throughout the opera, and the whole piece is sheer poetry. This is stunning.

download: osvaldo golijov - ainadamar

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converge - no heroes

2008-09-10T09:34:00.001-07:00

.:: What can i say about Converge… they're beyond tags like: emo, screamo, post-hardcore, metalcore, mathcore, etc.
These guys ROCK !!!

If LCD Soundsystem's 45:33 is good Nike-sponsored running music, No Heroes is what boot-wearing non-joggers use at a punk-slapped punching bag to reach fighting weight. It's pretty amazing to think Converge has been around almost as long as some of you have been alive, especially considering this sixth full-length is packed with some of the most ferocious moments in the Boston quartet's 15-plus year history.

download: converge - no heroes

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morgen - morgen

2008-09-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

.:: "ABC Record's valiant attempt at the 'hip/youth' market, Probe, released many memorable LP's by such groups as Saint Steven and The Litter along with debut offerings by Zephyr, Soft Machine and Rare Bird, but none generate the frenzy at this late date quite like the quartet led by guitarist/vocalist Steve Morgen, first unleashed in 1969.

Even before dropping needle on groove, the stark black-and-white sleeve with inset Edvard Munch lithograph, in contrast to the multicolored hues so prevalent then, makes an immediate statement. And then the music makes another immediate statement... A foreboding bass riff and staccato drumming introduce 'Welcome To The Void', and for the next thirty-eight minutes one is hurled headlong into a vortex of dual-guitar overload, lyrically woven with romantic and Victorian imagery residing on a tab of microdot.

World Psychedelia has at last given this near-perfect album a proper presentation, reproducing the original insert with new transcriptions of the handwritten lyrics and, for the first time, including the rare 7" mono versions of 'She's The Nitetime' and 'Of Dreams'. Radio stations didn't bite on the single, Probe closed up shop, and the world became a decidedly sadder place."

download: morgen - morgen

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islands - return to the sea

2008-09-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

.:: Hailing from Montreal, Islands is a 7 piece band, a fantastic conglomoration of melody, blips and beats brought to you by front man Nick Diamonds and drummer J'aime Tambeur's new crew (formerly of indie faves The Unicorns). Following the untimely disbandment of the Unicorns right as they were on the cusp of breaking through, this highly anticipated debut release by Islands entitled Return to the Sea, with its quirky sounds and refreshing, catchy melodies, contains collaborations with members of Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade and Beck.

download: islands - return to the sea

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ash ra tempel - ash ra tempel

2008-09-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

||| REPOSTED BY REQUEST |||

.:: Ash Ra Tempel were one of the most notable German Krautrock groups of the 70's and 80's. Led by guitarist Manuel Göttsching, and also included former Tangerine Dream drummer Klaus Schulze at various points. Originally founded by Manuel Göttsching, Ash Ra Tempel released their first album (''Ash Ra Tempel'') in June 1971… read on

download: ash ra tempel - ash ra tempel

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neurosis - times of grace

2008-09-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

.:: While the term "progressive" might elicit groans from diehard headbangers, it's entirely appropriate when describing the evolution of Neurosis's sound. Songs like "The Doorway" and "The Last You'll Know" build an inescapable sense of oppressive dread with their walls of crushing, droning guitar, but the band has far more than that to offer.

With a band like Neurosis, every song is going to be strenuous. If you don't listen closely, you may miss out on the subtle sections of the album that make it so unnerving and worthwhile. This album and A Sun that Never Sets is Neurosis' progression from the insanely dark, Through Silver in Blood to the more mellow The Eye of Every Storm.

The large amount of ambient tracks can be bothersome and the repetition is the same. If you can come to a point where these characteristics don't bother you or if you are already a fan of Neurosis/sludge/doom/post-metal then Times of Grace can be a great album to listen to. The guitars are heavy, the tribal drumming sounds great, and the atmosphere is scary, that is Neurosis in a nutshell.

Art-metal heavyweights Neurosis have been steadily perfecting the balance between heaviness and symphonic grandeur, and they may have gotten things one hundred percent correct with Time of Grace.

download: neurosis - times of grace

khonnor - handwriting

2008-09-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

.:: Khonnor, the 17-year-old US-based wonderboy, first came to the attention of many through his cult internet-only EP releases as "Grandma" and "I, Cactus". With this, his long-awaited debut album "Handwriting", two years in the making, he has produced a record which is sure to bring an important new voice to the emerging "indietronica" movement.

Taking influence from Jim 'O Rourke, Fennesz, Sonic Youth, The Smiths and David Sylvian, 'Handwriting' shows both reverie and intense originality. Khonnor manages to make music with a rare endearing naivity which combines a dark sense of humour with a keen uncynical eye. Everyone has been through similar experiences, but Khonnor documents his with startling originality and finesse.

Dreamlike digitally manipulated guitar noise and wavering synths form the foundation for most of the tracks, complimented by Khonnor's frank and open lyrics throughout, breathing life into his tracks with an ease and unforgettable beauty as he charts the ups and downs of teenage love, pocket change and lost hazy nights.

After releasing his first EP at only fifteen years of age, Connor Kirby-Long had an early start to the music scene. What resulted from his early experimentations was an exceptionally original and unrestrained mixture of guitar strumming, twisted lyrics and abrasive electronic noise.

Using only an old PC, a microphone from a 'Learn Japanese' boxset and a single low quality PC speaker, Connor Kirby-Long had created something fresh and original, and will be sure to give the sometimes tired electronic scene a much needed adrenaline boost.

Not long after this he embarked on 'Handwriting' which slowly began to take hold of his life. Connor put his heart and soul into his music, often to the detriment of his everyday life. After nearly getting thrown out of school on numerous occasions, narrowly escaping rehab, appearing in county court and eventually graduating, the now seventeen year old used this album as a marker pen to sign a release form on his teenage years.

In a year when electronic music has been striving to make the ever-elusive leap into pop, where indie-electronic albums are no longer an oddity, Khonnor's music has something different. The punk rock attitude, the fresh and heartfelt emotion, the unhidden fragility and anticlimaxes of adolescence. This seventeen year old from Vermont, in his debut album has compiled something so personal and original that many would fail to achieve in a lifetime. -- text: www.typerecords.com

download: khonnor - handwriting

the reuploading process

2008-09-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

hello everybody,

as you've noticed many of my links are dead and some others are reborn… well, i've been busy trying to repost the whole blog as soon as possible, in the meantime i've reuploaded august, july, june and i'm currently working on may posts. i'm trying to post new albums either and i'm using several host services such as: rapidshare, uploadjockey, rapidspread and some others. so if these services work for you or if they just dont, please let me know about it.

i just hope that any of these hosting services dont f*** with me again just like gigasize and shareonall did (they're on my black list hahaha)

thanx

nasum - shift

2008-08-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

.:: There is no question that nasum is probably the most punishing and furious grindcore bands ever. since the release of "Inhale/Exhale", nasum has been torching the grind scene with an excellent mix of all out speed and slow, thick heaviness. with each release, Nasum kept getting better.

There can’t be a clear answer, which record of them could be the best, there’s no better or weaker album of the Swedes. This is Grindcore at its best and with a breathtaking perfectness. It’s impossible to name any check out tip, better you buy this ultra brutal masterpiece and listen to your own on highest volume. Then you will realize what NASUM have reached with “Shift”. It’s unmistakable, straight and uncompromising.

"Shift" was recorded without any fans knowing about it. With "Helvete" we really invited the fans into the studio with our detailed studio diary. This time we didn't even write on nasum.com that we had begun working on a new album and actually were recording it.

download: nasum - shift

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

isis - sawblade (ep)

2008-08-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

.:: According to wikipedia.org:

The Sawblade EP (also called the Buzzsaw EP) is a handmade CD-R made by Isis for their tour with Neurosis and Candiria, limited to 200 copies (the first 40 with red blade inserts, the remaining 160 with black). It was sold at these shows at a limit of 15 per night, and the leftover copies were given to friends of the band as a year-end "thank you" gift.

download: isis - sawblade (ep)

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

tin hat trio - the rodeo eroded

2008-08-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

||| REPOSTED BY REQUEST |||

.:: Like good musical ramblers, the Tin Hat Trio traveled around the world on their first two albums, Memory Is an Elephant and Helium. Theirs was a tango that could fill classical music's archways. A jazz that melded continents. With The Rodeo Eroded, the San Francisco-based threesome heads home. read on

download: tin hat trio - the rodeo eroded

eels - souljacker

2008-08-26T15:19:00.002-07:00

.:: The Eels have stunned and astonished listeners through four albums, always taking it up a notch and putting themselves to the test, to re-create the band, and to offer up something new. They've always managed to do so and Souljacker is no exception.

Souljacker continues to explore the lives of the left-behind and the not-so-beautiful freaks, this time fully amplified to rock. Between the grooves of Souljacker it's hard to hear the masterpiece that the breathless overseas press has heralded, but E and his crew have put together another solid outing that touches on broader sonic and emotional vistas yet left to explore.

download: eels - souljacker

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

fiona apple - tidal

2008-08-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

.:: Fiona Apple demonstrates considerable talent on her debut album, Tidal. Her voice is surprisingly rich and supple for a teenager, and her jazzy, sophisticated piano playing also belies her age. Given the right material, such talents could have flourished, but she has concentrated on her own compositions, which are nowhere near as impressive as her musicianship…

Out of virtually nowhere, 19-year-old Fiona Apple established herself a visionary singer and songwriter with her 1996 debut album Tidal. With gems like 'Shadowboxer,' 'Criminal,' and 'Sleep to Dream,' the vocalist/pianist reaped critical and commercial success almost overnight. As aficionados found echoes in her songs of such legends as Nina Simone and Carole King, Apple found herself at the vanguard of contemporary pop. Released in July 1996, Tidal went gold in December and currently is certified triple platinum for sales of more than three million copies.

download: fiona apple - tidal

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

dinosaur jr. - you're living all over me

2008-08-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

.:: You’re Living All Over Me is Dinosaur’s second album and one that some claim to be the best guitar record ever waxed. Listening to it a few times in a row, as I’ve just done, one begins to appreciate how goddamn right that sounds.

Touring with Sonic Youth and on their own, Dinosaur slowly found an audience willing and able to penetrate their curtain. The band’s presence mixed savagery with lethargy in a wickedly captivating way. And Mascis’ effects-laden guitarwork was something of a revelation to a generation that had forsaken solos as old hat.

The Sonic Youth connection is actually quite heavy on You’re Living, too. Lee Ranaldo sings back-up, the bulk of the sessions were done with Sonic soundman Wharton Tiers, and, to cap it off, the tape of the finished album made its way to Sonic Youth’s then-label, SST. Gerard Cosloy has always felt that this was a personal kick in the teeth, but it made sense in the greater scheme of things. SST was as hot as tar right then, with Black Flag, the Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Husker Du, Sonic Youth and more.

The sound on You’re Living All Over Me is mesmerizing, both distant and close at the same time. And the guitar playing is fucking unearthly. The Ron Asheton cops on Dinosaur had given way to a much broader palette. On a song like ‘”Sludgefeast” the model seems to me something more along the lines of Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, and everyone should be able to admit – that’s a pretty nice line.

The album also features Barlow’s songwriting swansongs. And listening to “Poledo” it’s easy to understand why he devoted all of his songwriting focus to Sebadoh from this point on. But playing the album it is also easy to understand why it’s considered such a fucking monument. It is just about a perfect wobble into the hot ring of the o-mind, and you can’t ask for much more than that. -- text by Byron Coley

download: dinosaur jr. - you're living all over me

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

bajofondo tango club - mar dulce

2008-08-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

Categorizing and classifying contemporary music in this post-millennial world is very difficult and seems very subjective, primarily because rock music has dominated the scene for over five decades now, subcategorizing itself to include any new musical movement.

Rock is all about experimentation (or was supposed to be all about experimentation) and pushing the boundaries of what is considered mainstream and Bajofondo Tango Club knows it.

Producer (guitarrist and multi instrumenatlist) Gustavo Santaolalla along with Juan Campodonico, Luciano Supervielle, Javier Casalla, Martin Ferres, Veronica Loza, Adrian Sosa and Gabriel Casacuberta -and some international guests, including Elvis Costello, Nelly Furtado, Julieta Venegas and Gustavo Cerati- combine rock, tango, milonga, hip hop and electronic elements on the Bajofondo Tango Club latest album (Mar Dulce) and delivers strong interpretations of a dozen standards.

As "electro-folk" bands have become a dime a dozen it is always great to hear a band be as good as Bajofondo Tango Club at their own little niche of the genre. Important to Bajofondo Tango Club is the sophistication of their songs not the textural beauty and this is why they come off as a more intelligent and catchy version of groups like Gotan Project, Tanguetto and Tango Jointz.

listen:
pa' bailar - siempre quiero mas
fairly right

medeski scofield martin & wood - out louder

2008-08-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

||| REPOSTED |||

.:: "Funky, infectious, brash and sometimes downright beautiful" is one way to describe Medeski Scofield Martin and Wood's second album, Out Louder. The groove-heavy trio is once again paired with guitar guru John Scofield for a mind-blowing improvisational album that continues to push their sound to new levels… read on

download: medeski scofield martin & wood - out louder

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

shareonall.com is dead !!!!

2008-08-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

hello everybody,

i've got bad news: Shareonall.com the host service used to upload the albums you found here it's pretty much dead, so I'm looking for new options… I've (re)uploaded some material on zshare and fileqube but I still dont know what's the best option.

suggestions are welcome and please be patient, eventually I'm going to repost all the albums I've uploaded on Shareonall… first Gigasize now Shareonall !!!

mugison - mugimama! is this monkey music?

2008-08-05T16:10:00.001-07:00

||| REPOSTED |||

.:: Mugison (pronounced Moogieson) is a one-man band from Iceland. He plays abstract psychedelic melodies inter-twined with heart-wrenching lyrics and has been compared to Tom Waits, Beck, and Will Oldham. Find out what the Album Of The Year sounds like in a land that has spawned both Sigur Ros and Björk… read on

download: mugison - mugimama! is this monkey music?

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

my brightest diamond - bring me the workhorse

2008-08-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

||| REPOSTED |||

.:: My Brightest Diamond is Shara Worden, granddaughter of an Epiphone-playing traveling evangelist, fathered by a National Accordion Champion, and mothered by a church organist. Spanish tango, Sunday morning gospel, classical and jazz were the accompaniment to her home life. Her first song was recorded at age three and by age eight she was studying piano and performing in community musical productions… read on

download: my brightest diamond - bring me the workhorse

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

oxomaxoma - sin boca con los ojos negros

2008-08-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

.:: OXOMAXOMA might be one of the first mexican bands which dared cross beyond experimentation, using less orthodox instruments such as glass bottles and plastic toys, then even created a new music instrument called “trombatron”. They are a quartet formed by: José Álvarez (voice), Arturo Romo (sampling, trombatrón, drums and synth), Víctor Méndez (guitars) and Armando Velasco (keyboards and rhythm programming).

download: oxomaxoma - sin boca con los ojos negros
alt download

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

tad - god's balls

2008-07-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

.:: Led by ex-butcher Tad Doyle on vocals and guitar, Tad was formed in early 1988 by Doyle and bassist Kurt Danielson, who met at a Christian potluck dinner. A true anomaly in late 80's: No spandex. No pointy guitars. No pretty boy frontman. Instead, you had a frontman who weighed the same amount as three or four members of Warrant spliced together, and a flannel shirt-wearing band with hairspray-free long hair that played punk rock slowed down to a powerful Sabbath-like pace.

They previously played together when Danielson's band Bundle of Hiss played with Doyle's previous band (in which he played drums) H-Hour. Doyle had also earlier played in a Gang of Four cover band called Red Set. They recruited drummer Steve Wied (formerly of Skin Yard and Death and Taxes) and guitarist Gary Thorstensen to complete the original lineup.

Tad was among the first bands to be signed to Sub Pop Records and was possibly the first pioneer of what was to be later called grunge rock. In 1987, Doyle released the Daisy/Ritual Device Single on Sub Pop, produced by seminal Seattle producer Jack Endino, in which he wrote and performed all music. Their debut album God's Balls appeared in early 1989 and was also produced by Jack Endino.

download: tad - god's balls

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

embrace - embrace

2008-07-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

.:: One of the several reasons behind Minor Threat's demise was that Ian McKaye was sickened by the hardcore scene he'd helped to create. By 1983 it had become insufferably conformist. Even worse, it had also grown to be intensely violent. Even though in many ways the motivation was positive, the release of energy at hardcore shows often resulted in kids getting physically hurt. Ian felt extremely guilty and saddened over it.

When bemoaning this to HR of the Bad Brains, HR told him, "You started it." This is why Ian did Embrace. It was his attempt to undo the damage he perceived himself being responsible for. While Embrace didn't last long and crumbled an entire year before they released this album, Ian carried on his same sense of purpose in Fugazi in 1987, and he continues to this day.

.:: Faith and Minor Threat broke up within months of each other in 1983. During 1983/84 there was a general malaise in the Washington DC hardcore scene which saw a lot of the founding bands and scene makers move to the sidelines as shows became increasingly violent and the attitude became increasingly mainstream.

In the summer of '85 there was renewed spirit in DC, often referred to as "Revolution Summer," This "Revolution Summer" included a handful of bands who preferred smaller more intimate venues and focused on a more personal and introspective interpretation of punk rock. Embrace was part of this renewal.

They were formed by ex-Minor Threat member Ian MacKaye and three of the former members of Faith. The band played shows from the summer of 85 until the Spring of 1986. This album was origionally released on LP in 1987 and on CD/Cassette around 1990.

download: embrace - embrace

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

david thomas broughton - the complete guide to insufficiency

2008-07-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

.:: Coming from the same city as the Kaiser Chiefs, David Thomas Broughton couldn't provide a more distinct juxtaposition of styles with the Leeds winkle-pickers if he tried. Where they revel in crass Britpop sloganeering, Broughton is all about the slow-burn; coaxing melodies and oddly gorgeous vocals from a shuffling music box of acoustic guitars, looping pedals and bargain-bin drum machines. The result is (predictably) tooth-achingly gorgeous.

Recorded in a single take at Wrangthorn Church (Hyde Park, Leeds), Broughton has been unceremoniously dumped into the 'freak-folk' enclosure and in doing so shows up the meagre offerings traditionally proffered under this soft-centered appellation.…

download: david thomas broughton - the complete guide to insufficiency

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

the octopus project - one ten hundred thousand million

2008-07-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

||| RESPOSTED |||

.:: This instrumental space-dance quartet won a spot on the bill at the upcoming Coachella festival after a fan entered the group in a MySpace contest, unbeknownst to the band. The Octopus Project's set was a preview of how they'll light up the California desert: sci-fi-flick synthesizer squeals, power-riff guitars, hellbent drumming. In one song, Yvonne Lambert coaxed playful squiggles and dying sighs from the antennae-like extension of a theremin, waving her hands in the air like code as guitars rang like church bells around her -- as if it were an outtake of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" with Mogwai as the studio band…

read on

download: the octopus project - one ten hundred thousand million

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

ben folds five - whatever & ever amen

2008-07-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

||| RESPOSTED |||

.:: Ben Folds' Five's Whatever and Ever Amen is a fantastic collection of songs from a band beginning to believe in itself as something more than a novelty act. Having excised much of their regrettable tendency to flippancy with their first album, the three members of Ben Folds Five delivered a classic follow-up: the single "The Battle of Who Could Care Less" is a witheringly witty character study of middle-class wasters that could be thought of as an American companion piece to Pulp's "Common People". Angry and articulate, Whatever and Ever Amen is a rewarding exploration of the hitherto virgin territory between Elvis Costello and Jerry Lee Lewis… read on

download: ben folds five - whatever & ever amen
alt download

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

andreas meland / lasse marhaug - brakhage

2008-07-28T10:46:00.001-07:00

|||REPOSTED |||

.:: Beyond Grandpeople’s seductively psychedelic and explosively colorful cover art Brakhage is a split release by two emerging artists come together to pay homage to filmmaker Stan Brakhage. And with sass and brass these two men re-style this recording, originally performed live back in ’03.

The results permeate the listening space into an experience in instant solitude, as Andreas Meland wrangles through the six-part "Dog Star Man." It’s like sipping ether through a swirly straw, just bloating your head with an slow-churned eruption of blisteringly shaped white noise that tightly wraps itself over and over like an endless spool of twine. This is not sheer noise, its cultivated sound-art noise, with blowing whistles and a vibrant presence.

read on

download: andreas meland / lasse marhaug - brakhage

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

the kilimanjaro darkjazz ensemble - the kilimanjaro darkjazz ensemble

2008-07-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

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.:: The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble’s form of mutant jazz, slithers and slides...delicately painful. Each song, a little story of heartache, hope and perseverance, seemlessly fusing analogue and digital.
Soundtracks to non-existing movies, inspired by the worlds of The Quay Brothers, Hieronymus Bosch, Picasso, Goya, Murnau and Lang.
The self titled debut released on Planet Mu in April 2006.

Jason Kohnen and Gideon Kiers started TKDE around the turn of the century, creating new soundtracks to existing silent movies such as Murnau’s Nosferatu and Lang’s Metropolis. Both graduates of the School of Arts and majoring in audiovisuals and multimedia, the audio/visual concept developped into creating ‘visual’ music supported by existing film fragments to intensify the audio.

The Quay Brothers became a big inspiration for their debut album, their surreal world combined many weird and wonderful aspects to strengthen TKDE’s sound. Hilary Jeffery on trombone joined in 2004, a master in trombone improvisation, and a breathing shadow of TKDE.
Nina Hitz on cello and Eelco Bosman on guitar and Charlotte Lica on vocal improvs form the TKDE live quintet or sextet, with Kiers providing drums, sequencing and visuals and Kohnen the bass, synths and sequencing.

Dark cinematic jazz alert here people, so if you like The Cinematic Orchestra (TCO), The Broadway Project or Amon Tobin, please read on…

download: the kilimanjaro darkjazz ensemble - the kilimanjaro darkjazz ensemble

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

the united states of america - the united states of america

2008-07-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

||| RESPOSTED |||

.:: Fueled by the avant-garde sonic ammo of keyboardist/composer Joe Byrd and the haunting vocals of Dorothy Moskowitz, the United States Of America found a way to permanently hard-wire space-age electronic music to the heart of rock and roll on their highly desirable, self-titled 1968 debut.

read on

download: the united states of america - the united states of america

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sleepytime gorilla museum - grand opening and closing

2008-07-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

||| RESPOSTED |||
||| One of my favorite bands of all time |||

.:: S.G.M. are Kihlstedt on electric violin, percussion guitar, autoharp, pump organ and voice; Nils Frykdahl on guitars, Tibetan bells, autoharp and voice; Moe! Staiano on percussion, metal, pressure-cap marimba, spring, spring-nail guitar, popping turtle, food containers and tympani; Dan Rathbun on bass, slide-piano log, pedal-action wiggler, thing, autoharp, and voice; and David Shamrock on drums and piano (he has since left the band)…

read on

download: sleepytime gorilla museum - grand opening and closing

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sean lennon - friendly fire

2008-07-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

.:: Being the progeny of a famous, if not the most famous, rock star and an avant garde artist must be a double edged sword. It certainly opens doors which would be otherwise closed but at the same time it leads to comparisons with the parents and expectations which cannot possibly be met.

On the other hand, nowadays, no one anywhere is expecting the Beatles progeny to produce material approaching the greatness of their pops. This means they can finally relax and just make some music, which would seem to suit the younger Lennon boy just fine. Fire is a piano- and guitar-driven collection of likeable, melancholic, Elliott Smith-y, Rufus Wainwright-ish pop music.

The brief, sing-songy, Clapton-by-numbers guitar solos are a bit of a puzzler, but it's not like they're bad by any means. The guest appearances are a strange lot. His mother's here, longtime collaborator Yuka Honda as well, and Beastie Boy DJ Money Mark, too (which makes sense as Sean used to be on Grand Royal and the whole album has a mid '90s vibe to it). All these sleazy Hollywood types creep in here, too: Vincent Gallo, Lindsay Lohan, "superstar" DJ Steve Aoki.

Thankfully, it sounds a lot better than any MisShapes party. Lennon sings "Let's hide the diamonds and cocaine for another day/But don't forget to pray," so maybe the dude isn't the best lyricist around. But Friendly Fire is really very good throughout. It's easily the finest music made by a Lennon since, well, you know.

download: sean lennon - friendly fire

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

mi and l'au - mi and l'au

2008-07-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

.:: The duo's back-story seems apocryphal in an old-world fairytale sense: Finnish model Mi meets French musician L'au in Paris; the two fall in love and forsake everything to retreat to a remote cabin in the woods of Finland to write and record their music in isolation. Whatever they did in that hermitage spawned an album's worth of songs spare and elegant, definitely removed from that of their acoustic-based neo-folk contemporaries, but never alienating.

Despite the fact that these songs were written in the cold north, and that it includes its share of minor keys, tagging it as "dark folk" is misleading. Calling it "folk" in the traditional sense is just a little less misleading. Although lush and delicate acoustic guitar, strings, flute, and piano (played by Mi and L'au as well as contributors from Akron/Family, Antony and the Johnsons and others) constitute the album's instrumentation, some tunes still might sound a little jarring in their spartan-ness at first listen. But, from a form-follows-content approach, the instrumental simplicity of tracks like "Older" and "Nude" reflects their brief lyrical sketches on character and setting.

The opening "They Marry” incorporates a swirling carnival/music box melody and piano flourishes. Mi's whispery delivery is intimate throughout, to the point where she might well be an inch from the listener's ear, breathy sibilance and all. She even clears her throat at the end of "Andy," a later tune also augmented by a meandering toy piano. L'au takes the lead vocal on "I've Been Watching You,” which swings with a strange anti-blues quality. He's a singer in the Bacharach (as a vocalist, not as a composer) mold – wavering, vulnerable in an endearing way.

When coupled with the shimmering instrumental ambience of "World in your Belly,” or the bare plucked acoustic guitar of "New Born Child,” L'au's voice cuts a striking contrast. "Study" closes the album with solemn contemplation, to the sound of bubbling water, a wheezing accordion and strings that swell ominously behind a fingerpicked guitar figure.
Adam MacGregor

download: mi and l'au - mi and l'au

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

muzak - escenas en círculo…

2008-07-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

.:: Muzak is a interesting band from Barcelona, Spain. Blending krautrock, folk, rock and jazz with improvisation and sonic landscapes ala Mogwai, they creat a very unique sound.

download: muzak - escenas en círculo…

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

pit er pat - pyramids

2008-07-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

||| REPOSTED |||

.:: Pit er Pat is the Chicago-based trio of keyboardist Fay Davis-Jeffers, drummer Butchy Fuego and bassist Rob Doran. When approaching a title for the new album, the follow up to 2005’s Shakey, each member of Pit er Pat remembers coming across pyramids in various forms: in random images they encountered, in the course of personal reading, and even in their own drawings. Pyramids were everywhere it seemed, and the strength and symbolism of that shape clicked for the band with the themes of the new album and their nature as a three-piece.

Powerful rhythms provide the solid floor for ethereal melodies and layers of textural samples on Pyramids. Contemporaries describe Pit er Pat’s sound as distinctively modern and fresh… rean on

download: pit er pat - pyramids

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

tom waits - one from the heart (ost)

2008-07-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

||| RESPOSTED |||

.:: Apocalypse Now is widely considered director Francis Ford Coppola's Waterloo, an ambitious personal vision that nearly wrecked his fabled career, health, and sanity. In fact, it was the director's equally Quixotic 1982 Vegas-themed musical One From the Heart that forever cast a pall over his Hollywood future, sounding a death knell for his once-promising American Zoetrope studios in the bargain. Hindsight being 20/20, it's now easy to see Heart's visual conceits as the glorious cinematic antecedent to Moulin Rouge, its smart, lounge-savvy score by musical odd couple Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle easily 15+ years ahead of the retro-hipster revival it preceded--and outclassed at every turn.

Rean on

download: tom waits - one from the heart (ost)

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sonic youth - syr 1 anagrama

2008-07-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

.:: Having completed construction on their Manhattan studios in 1996, Sonic Youth suddenly found themselves in a position to create unadulterated by the tyranny of time and space. As a result of their natural writing process, whereby collective improvisation congeals over time into song structures, they began to amass a small mountain of tape, most of it containing raw, wild, spontaneous music they reckoned wouldn't be "commercial" enough for Geffen to release.

Owning their own studio gave them the freedom to experiment as they were recording, since they no longer had to pay rental fees. To inaugurate their new studio, they set out to record a series of experimental instrumental EPs with engineer Wharton Tiers, all of which would be released on the quartet's own label.

With its winding, elliptical improvised instrumentals, SYR 1 set the tone for the entire series. Musically, the EP isn't far removed from the instrumental sections on Sister or Daydream Nation, but this music isn't merely waves of feedback -- it's considered, detailed, and bizarrely accessible. Like the epic "The Diamond Sea," the four songs have shifting sonic colors, as simple riffs build and intertwine, crossing over each other before finding a new path.

It's closer to avant-garde than rock, but the music isn't purely cerebral, either. Recognizable statements float in and out of the mix, providing something of a touchstone for the free-form explorations. SYR 1 also has brevity on its side. The EP lasts 25 minutes -- which is just enough time to provide an exciting blueprint for a new era of Sonic Youth.

Chose language: French

download: sonic youth - syr 1 anagrama

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com

sonic youth - syr 2 slaapkamers met slagroom

2008-07-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

.:: Number 2 in the self-released Sonic Youth series featuring 3 new tracks written in their NYC studio.

SYR 2 follows through on the promise of SYR 1 while exploring new territory. A noisier record than its predecessor, SYR 2 nevertheless shares the same modus operandi (namely, it's purely improvised music that gleefully wanders into uncharted territory).

Chose language: Dutch

download: sonic youth - syr 2 slaapkamers met slagroom

pass: indie-ground.blogspot.com