2 comments about Backyard Barbecue Broadcast.

1. A nearly perfect set, the feel is equal parts GiantSand and Blacky Ranchette. Highlight is the meandering "BBQ Suite" . You take your 2-4 beers, your macrame lawn chair & your Saturday afternoon, plop yerself down by the cow-laden backyard grill, drop the needle on that puppy and sail away. "Mope-A-Long", less polished, more languid than the "Still Lookin'Good" version, "Get To Leave", here but a lowfi seed, yet to bloom on SnoAngel. By the time "Lester The Lampshade" comes about, that 2nd (or 3rd) beer is doomed and you're grinning. That's a promise. "Lean", the GiantSandiest of the bunch. "Blue Waltz Reprise" flows in and out, low tide now, wait 5 minutes for hidden track "Rolling Stones I Am". Here's homage, nasty, lowdown dirty blues, Howe-style. Thrashed? Yep. Trashed? You bet. It's a BBQ, afterall. This music makes me happy, you too is my hope. "You gotcha (only) so many days here on the planet"-HG



2. Giant Sand is the perfect example of less being more. The tone and feeling of space within this cd speak to the listener. I love it.

2 comments about Giftgas.

1. From Brainwashed's website:
   
   Studio recordings allegedly from 1975 (but most likely between 1975-1977),
   : Peter Christopherson is not credited. He was most likely a participant,
   : and the credits are falsified.
   
   Is it worth it to pay an outrageous price for a used copy of this cd? Save your hundred bucks and buy the boxed set live cd's instead, Mute record's website (US and UK) carries a lot of TG's back catalogue, go buy it from Mute's website for a much better deal.



2. this and heathen earth are, in my oh so humble opinion, the best throbbing gristle albums money can buy - and what a bundle. whether or not its worth it - well thats for you to decide. this is throbbing gristle taking the velvet underground and taj mahal travellers most fierce moments and making them even sparser, even more hypnotic, even more paranoid - it sounds like that band the skaters (who are currently on tour with the double leopards!) playing occult rock acid house. buyer beware - giftgas can lead to some pretty nasty dreams and some pretty creeping rituals.

5 comments about Pennsylvania.

1. This is the second installment from the current incarnation of Pere Ubu, which kicked off wonderfully with "Ray Gun Suitcase" in the mid-90's. Where that effort was sharp and focused (almost vehement in its psychosis), this one is more subtle and nuanced, with even more stylistic variations. As the needle touches down onto the vinyl (OK, I'm old - it's actually the laser bouncing off of the disc, but that doesn't sound as good, so sue me), we're treated to the booming, thundering, sonically pleasing bombast of "Woolie Bullie". Wow, have the boys gone all populist on us??? But wait, now an extended one-note organ solo appears out of nowhere. Whew, that was a close one! Now I feel better in that I'm reassured that I'm truly listening to a Pere Ubu album. After this, the music just keeps changing colors like a chameleon. We're treated to the pensive twang of "Highwaterville", the depressive shuffle of "SAD.txt", the frenetic chaos of "Urban Lifestyle", the atmospheric and spooky "Silent Spring", the crazed eccentricity of "Mr. Wheeler", and so on. The next part of the album gets back into more familiar territory, with "Muddy Waters", "Drive", and "Monday Morning" representing what I think of as more "typical" Pere Ubu songs (and I'm not even sure what I actually mean by that). As soon as I state this, I'm forced to qualify it further since "Drive" starts off sounding like something from an early Talk Talk album! A Pere Ubu album is never anything you're going to completely get on the first listen; and that may be more true for this one than for any other in their catalog. After a while, you just let the sonic variety lift you up and drop you down, like a buoy on a stormy sea. I even like the quasi-pan-cultural ramblings of "The Duke's Saharan Ambitions" (Could this be a glancing political statement aimed at the first Iraq war from a 1998 perspective, or perhaps a premonition about W's future Iraq quagmire??? Probably not, but it's fun to imbue Pere Ubu with shamanic powers). One beef I've always had with Pere Ubu is that they never seemed to know how to end an album properly - with a strong finale that leaves you wanting more. Well, that's been taken care of here with the excellent, hard-rocking "Wheelhouse", which is easily the best album closer they've done since "Codex" off of "Dub Housing". Sometimes, when the mood is right, I even let the disc keep going so I can chill out to the extended jam of the hidden track "My Name Is..." (Could this be a glancing, precognitive dig at Eminem??? Probably not, but it sure would be fun to pit Dave Thomas against Eminem in a stare-down contest for charity). Well, if you'll all excuse me now, I feel the sudden urge to start my own antique light bulb collection.



2. This album, in my opinion, outranks Tenement Year as a signal of a new version of Ubu, and it continues the notable strengths of Raygun Suitcase admirably. True, sections do grate and occasionally grow muddled. The production tends to become glutinous and gloppy instead of feral and barbed. Yet, for fans, this is a keeper.
   
   Highlights for me are the first, the seventh, and the last, track fifteen that fades after a few minutes only to return a few more later with a vengeance and a jam that seems to flow marvelously and churn relentlessly. If you like Pere Ubu, you'll surely want to hear this album from the late 90s. I think it's one of their most varied, and the chug and chant of David Thomas' vocal style, half poet, half crank, makes an effective foil against which drums roll, synths squeal, and the bass and guitar twist and turn. The album threatens to slip into itself with similarly paced tunes, but the three strongest songs manage to wrench the works and botch the plan satisfyingly. Lyrics tend to match the mood of the ornery music: our contemporary excuse for a culture, our malaise, and our greedy and wasteful pig-headedness. Fittingly, the back cover has a primitive painting as if from a store's outside wall, of a bear chasing a man up a tree.
   
   This issue on the British indie label Cooking Vinyl (best known for hip folk-inspired outfits) did not receive enough attention upon its release, but it sounds fresh and prescient in this decade, and deserves a wider audience. The band is vigorous and alert. The singer is armed with irony and imagery. Parts annoy, and other parts intrigue: Pere Ubu as it should be.



3. This Pere Ubu album is best enjoyed as a whole. From the beginning track "woolie bullie", which slides into a rhythmic cry to the flawed society, accompanied by an insect life guitar noise and a machine keyboard, to "my name is", an echoed 15 minute hidden track with the words "my name is" repeated to the point that it blends into your surroundings, Pennsylvania is a record that takes you to a world that bleeds instrumental cries. I particularly like the song "Perfume", with a slide that sounds like a knife being sharpened. This is one of my favorite pere ubu albums, next to "Terminal Tower" and "Ray-gun suitcase". Pennsylvania has the cool sound of "New Picnic Time" with earthy base and powerfully soft vocals. It is great music to listen to while your walking or commuting.
   By the way, I didn't mention the other pere ubu albums to be a pretentious creep, but to get people to get those records, too.



4. Pere Ubu lovers will especially appreciate this cd, as it is yet another new concept that nonetheless contains the quintessentially odd PU sound and experimentation. Perhaps this album has the most innovative electronica flourishes of all their recordings. It perfectly evokes doomsday through the absurd existential master lyricist/singer/performer David Thomas, yet somehow ultimately comforts, as it's hard not to smile at these songs.



5. I have been a fan of this group since their second album. I have seen them twice and David Thomas (leader and vocalist) a few times on top of that. I have 8-10 PU and DT albums. (I have even corresponded with DT.) This is a strong effort. Of course I like their first two albums, but Tenement Year and Sound of Sand are later efforts you should buy before buying this (if you can find them!). But it was a tremendous relief to buy this latest Ubu album and smile with contentment and delight. These are musicians with vision and control who know how to work together. In other words, they know how to rock, but choose to make their mark on the fringes of your consciousness. And David Thomas is exploring relatively new territory. What an amazing artist to keep fresh like this! All that said, I put on this album when I am doing housework or bills or other tedious work. Then its infectiousness comes out. But I think it has limits worth recognizing. It is ambient in nature. As such, it is extremely good, and on certain banal days cannot help but cheer you up, or at least realize life isn't so bad after all with people like Pere Ubu around to celebrate it with.

5 comments about Ozma.

1. the songwriting and complexity of the songs on ozma and gluey porch treatments is unlike any other later melvins records. after this album the melvins stuff is just more simple.



2. first off, if you dont already love the melvins, then dont buy this album. Buy houdini first. this is a fan favorite album. This is what melvins fans wanna listen to.
   Great album. sudden stops and heavy drunk sounding music is what i like.
   
   only buy this album if your a fan of the melvins already



3. I started getting into Melvins after seeing the video for Hooch on Headbanger's Ball. I got Stag and then Stoner Witch, and liked them all, except for some of the experimental tracks on them. After reading the reveiws I decided to get some of their older material, and I am glad I did. Nothing experimental here, and all good tracks. I recently purchased several CD's, so I haven't given it much play yet, but I know I will.



4. I must say having heard of these guys for years, it was about time I checked their music. And where better to start than their first 2 albums helpfully combined on this one disc. Note: Ozma is actually the band's 2nd album, and Gluey... the first.
   
   This album(s) are not going to be to everyone's taste, very murky, sludgy punk-metal, in the vein of latter day Black Flag, with touches of Black Sabbath and St. Vitus. It is very hard to listen to at times as it is oppressively slow, but have patience and you will find it a very rewarding listen. I would highly reccomend it to anyone with an open mind.



5. It's a lot of fun to hear music that wasn't created with the burden of any inhibitions, and that is why I have nothing but good things to say about the Melvins and this particular album (actually 2 albums). Like the majority of us outside the Pacific Northwest, I was turned on to the Melvins courtesy of Kurt Cobain in the early nineties and I bought Houdini. Houdini is good, but this would have been a more appropriate introduction to their music and I'm glad to finally hear their music from the ground up.

2 comments about Hokey Pokey.

1. After this album's initial release, much of the same material became available on the longer "Group Dance Epidemic" and it vanished from view. So if you missed it then, rejoice! This treasure, with its priceless "Bunny Dirge," is again available to set your soulful, furry [bottom] and long, dragging, soulful ears in cathartic motion.



2. Get this one while you can -- the Hava Nagila twist is not to be missed! Rock out to Hava Nagila, imagine a slo-mo Bunny Hop, and get into TWO cool versions of the Hokey Pokey. You'll be glad you did.

No comments about Paris: Encore du Pain.

5 comments about Regulate the Chemicals.

1. Not too many other words can describe this cd. The lyrics, the melodies, just everything rolled into one package is just amazing. It is one of the few cd's where I don't want to skip a song...I can listen to the whole cd over and over again--and I have.



2. What i love most about this album is that it is very real, and very focused. The band sounds very mature and doesn't follow the crowd with songs about how much life sucks, but instead just about everyday life, and the view that they have of it. I'm so glad i discovered this band. They're like a rose in the desert, and thankfully i followed the mirage.
   THe lyrics are great, and very focused, and also show just how talented the band is. Some of the songs are also very haunting, which makes this not just some album, but a sirious album that wants to be taken siriously.
   I'd recommend this album to anyone who desires sirious punk rock, and a band of maturity.



3. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for haunting music and well-written emo/indie rock. I love twothirtyeight and other bands of the ilk (Pedro the Lion, Roadside et. all.). This album, whether you have the original and *short* takehold version or the lengthened Tooth and Nail re-release, is incredible. From songs like "The Hands of Men" to "The Bastard Son and the Spoiled One," the music seems to have transcended the idea of art and entertainment and moved into confession and questioning purposes in life. The lyrics are moving and understandable, touching on basic truths in an effective way. The line: "I'm not the gratefule bastard son, I'm the rich and spoiled one" gives a whole different perspective on common understandings of moral lessons.

   Harder songs like "Songs Will Write the Words" are complemented by slow moving David Bazaan-esque songs like "Indian in Your Eyes." This album is wonderful, and is one of my favorites of all time. Though it surprises most of my fellow twothirtyeight addicts, I even prefer this album over the more recent album: "You Should be Living."

   A quick anecdote, this past summer I was driving to a Sleep Center to undergo a sleep study, and I pulled into the parking lot listening to "Hands of Men" and the haunting line: "Sleep safely in the hands of men" was playing at the time...coincidence...yeah, probably, but it still made me think.




4. Although i don't yet own this album,i've heard it many times. My cousin loves this band,and introduced me to them about 2 months ago. It was then that i too fell in love. I was first impressed by the music,which is truly amazing. When you hear the songs,you want to hear them over and over. Second,i was impressed by the quality of the lyrics. They convey emotions incredibly,and in clever ways. Overall,i can't wait until i can get this CD,because i already love it. i highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for GOOD music.



5. Incredible. Yes it is. And so refreshing... refreshing in the lyrical approach. It's like David Bazan quit making concept albums and decided to just sing about heartbreak and all that other emo stuff while still leaving room for plenty of clever observations about the human condition. The music is refreshing as well. This can fit in the whole emo/indie category I guess, but that sells it short. Once again, I'll reference Pedro The Lion... simple drum beats, great melodies, and singer-songwriter flourishes here and there. But where these guys manage to really set themselves apart is in the guitar sound. The guitars here are stinking HUGE... loud and brash riffs move things from the sweater clad crowd to the more generalized modern rock arena. And the hooks... wow! These guys really know how to make quirky guitar hooks and build a whole song around them. I can't tell you just how awesome this album is, and how it comes across so much more heartfelt than most of today's mainstream or indie scene.
   Through all this incoherent babble, I'm trying to tell you that you seriously need to buy this. Not a bad song on here, you won't regret it.

2 comments about Meconium.

1. There are a few very solid, tight, classic Nomeansno assaults on this album, like "Red on Red" and "Blinding Light" (dealing with religious fanaticism and warfare); but they're equally balanced with oddities and outtakes that are sometimes rather surprising, like the blackly playful piano jaunty, "More ICBMS," the bluesy acoustic "I'm doing well," a version of "Real Love" by Scott Henderson and Swell Prod., and, most memorably, a take on the Kinks' "Victoria" by the Hanson Bros, with lyrics rewritten as a mocking jab at the Wright brothers hometown -- probably one of the funnier moments on any Nomeansno disc. Some of the earlier pieces aren't quite as engaging, but all in all this is a decent collection of songs otherwise unavailable by Nomeansno and won't disappoint any fan. "Widget" is fun, too. The world needs more songs about widgets.



2. This album is hot! You'll know from the opening riffs of "Red on Red" that you are in for a audio treat. The hard driving sound is typical of NoMeansNo's other recordings... yet somewhat even harder and faster! NoMeansNo fans will not be disappointed. The only minor flaw on the album in "Baldwang Must Die", a silly and wacky interlude among the guitar driven masterpieces.

3 comments about Hello.

1. This is their latest release, 2001. There's nary a song on here that sticks to the ribs. Nothing stands out. Just meandering, wandering, not hitting the mark.
   
   These guys know how to make awesome records. I consider Music to Strip By and The Band That Would Be King and Charmed Life to be three of the finest albums ever made. Period.
   
   This stuff doesn't even come close. There's no solid song writing, nothing musically that sails, that swings, that makes ya say, "If there was real radio in the world HALF JAPANESE would be chart toppers." No, not on this record. One can only hope for the future.
   
   If this is the first album a person hears by HALF JAPANESE they may be struck by the complexity of their sound, of their ability to not adhere to traditional musical forms in Western (punk) pop music. Just do yerself a favor, listen to those other three albums and you'll know what's missing here. chrisbct@hotmail.com



2. Jad Fair along with longtime bandmates John Sluggett, Jason Willett and Gilles Rieder somehow manage to keep evolving and stay fresh. While most bands that manage to make it to their their 13th release get repetitive, this band sounds better than ever and Jad continues to explore new visions of romantic love at its peakiest.
   Paradoxically refined and retarded, they squirm out from under your thumb just when you think you've figured them out. It's one helluva entertaining album and highly listenable by any standards, even to those who found their early stuff to be rough listening (refer to Lester Bang's Guide To Horrible Noise). They surprise with lots of sonic interest and a stunning variety of approaches on Hello's 17 songs.
   This record features sweet sounding natural instruments like thick Hammond organs, crystal pianos and lots and lots of guitars.
   "And the Angels Said Go To Her" opens Hello with a laid back feel and goofy accents that suggest a musical game of leap frog.
   "10 AM" is a wild punk-rock rocket ride with upside-yo'-head guitar explosions, guitar missile whistling sounds and a guitar 'solo' that sounds suspiciously like a broken guitar cable buzzing.
   The gem, "Red Sun," is intimate, lovely and languid with sweet ringing guitars that collide with innocence. Actually, there are several fine sounding ballads here and on "No Doubt" you can hear Jad declaring his love (our love) "maple syrup pure." "Summer Nights" unpredictably mutates from teenage hand-holding purity into hideously tortured guitar tones, kinda wack-a-doo. While "Jump Into This Mess" conjures a funky bouncy hoedown groove, "Best of the Best" might have been Diamond Dogs' alien spawn with its crunchy circular guitar riff and hand claps. The ironically titled "Happyland" takes the record out with a crawly, ominous vibe and Sluggett's Dark Shadows piano echoes in the canyons of your mind after the record ends.
   A couple of weaker tracks could have been omitted: "Our Turn" reworks the old Steam riff and not much happens, "Whatever The Outcome" actually sounds pretty good, like Echoes era Pink Floyd, but it's too sombre compared to the forward-looking vibe of the rest of the album.
   As a whole, Hello is a very fine release. This time it shows that Half Japanese may be slightly touched, touched by genius too.



3. Before everyone was raving about some guy named Calvin Johnson and this thing called twee pop, there was David and Jad Fair, two odd ball brothers who first took to making music in the late 70's. These guys were among the first pioneers in naive rock and took to becoming the greatest rock 'n' roll band on the planet before they even learned to play chords.
   "Hello," the 2001 release retains the spirit and playful simplicity of albums predating this release by 20 years. Stand outs on the disc include the sensitive ballad "Red Sun" with lyrics that include "Heaven must have sent her/Heaven must have meant her for me/And who am I to fight with the judge/Who am I to argue with perfection." Exuberance and joy just fill me when listening to "Summer Nights," a song about love and good times in the summer.
   Some songs get strange, such as the bouncing beats and the use of a duck call in "Jump into the Mess." After over 20 years of playing, Jad Fair still can not play a chord but the band has had a lasting influence on many popular bands today such as Sonic Youth and Pavement. Overall, I would have to say "Hello" is great. Each song on "Hello" is able to stand alone but the listener will also find joy in listening to album as a whole.

2 comments about Barry Black.

1. A melancholoy trip. Beautiful and irritating sounds make for one truly interesting album. I had this album a while back and I just had to have it again. My favorite tracks are the Mighty Feilds of Tobacco and Animals are for Eating.



2. If you're a fan of loud, bizarre, and sometimes haunting music, BUY THIS ALBUM! Anything from bizarre polka waltzes, train whistles, and sweet cello songs are on this album. A little known gem from the lead singer of Archers of Loaf. Trust me. You'll love it.