Witch - Witch

March 21, 2006


mmmmmm. black sabbath-y guitar and rocking, without ozzy singing! yes! sure, there's a singer, but the singing is further back in the mix, and no where near as much of a focus as it was with black sabbath. the focus here is just awesome rockin' out. also, this album is the only album that all 6 of us (my departmental coworkers and i) have ever aggreed on. and we dont just agree on it, we all think its pretty awesome. so, a modern update of black sabbath as the key to world peace? maybe. just maybe.


Soul Position - Things Go Better With RJ & Al

March 15, 2006


I JUST got done listening to this. This is by far the speediest review turnaround I've ever done here. But this is that awesome. I think i might have mentioned Soul Position before, and their other stuff is indeed good, but oh man... this one is even better! My only complaint about this album is that one of the songs uses the same sample as one of the songs from Dan The Automator (and friends)'s Lovage - Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By, and Automator used it better.... but that's really my only complaint. This album has awesome and always-interesting production, worthwhile lyrics with a good sense of humor and intelligence, and, perhaps most importantly, the best song about cellphones ever (which just so happens to have one of the best choruses ever). Oh, and the album opener is basically the definative essay about the stupidity of popular hiphop (a.k.a. 'pop-hop' a.k.a. 'radio hits' a.k.a. 'utter crap'). so, if you can even find this CD anywhere (it comes out april 4th), you need to hear it. and you will enjoy it. i think. maybe. if you're awesome.


everything by Thee Headcoatees and Holly Golightly

March 13, 2006

sure, its all in the same 60s/70s female garage rock style of which there are many awesome compilations available, but theres something nice about being able to get an entire album by one band, instead of just having to deal with compilations of singles or 7"s. and, theyre very very awesome, too. i dont exactly understand Thee Headcoatees' relationship to Billy Childish (and his bands Thee Milkshakes and Thee Mighty Caesars and Thee Headcoats, etc, etc, all of which are awesome) but i think he just makes all these bands, and theyre all garage rock-y. which of these Billy Childish projects came first? who cares. if given the choice, i prefer girls singing. you know that. oh! and they're english, so theres the slight hints of their english accents working their way through, oh so awesomely. oh, and the singer of Thee Headcoatees (Holly Golightly) has awesome solo material too... its more early rock'n'roll (bo diddly, chuck berry, buddy holly) than it is girl-group garage-rock... totally worth checking out.

[note: this entry proves that i need to come up with better descriptions than just 'awesome'.... sorry about that.]





Moondog - Viking Of Sixth Ave


Moondog wasn't quite the 'outsider' to music that many make him out to be. He did, in fact, study music before moving to NYC and performing with homemade instruments on the corner of 54th Street and Sixth Ave dressed in homemade robes with a Viking helmet and spear. As bizarre as his costume was, his compositions were delicate minimalist masterpieces, which folks like Philip Glass and Steve Reich credit as being the first of their kind. But above all else, his music is just soooooooo awesome and soooooo beautiful.

[NOTE: this blurb works equally as well for the Moondog release Moondog/Moondog 2, and i can't figure out whether that or Viking... is better. so, they're both good.]


J-Dilla - Donuts


it pisses me off that jay dee (a.k.a. j-dilla) died recently. we had just gotten this promo a week or two before the album dropped, and i was listening to it at least once a day (sorry i forgot to mention it sooner on here)... then the album comes out and he dies. sure, dying probably helped sales of this album, but it's so awesome that i want more! i want to team up with him somehow and make music! i want to see a j-dilla + mf doom album! i want more.... more future posibilities.... and all i have is his back catalog. well, at least he squeezed out this album before passing. about the album: its instumental hip hop. yes, yes, i know, instrumental hip hop is usually rather boring, just begging the question "why the hell isn't there an MC?!?"..... but not this one. all the songs are so perfect of a length that you get the gist of it, then it's on to another one. its always interesting, yet it doesnt just sound like one-beat-after-another nonstop rapid-fire. while artists like RJD2 typically have a few awesome songs on their instrumental albums, Donuts is solidly entertaining from beginning to end. and unlike dj shadow's stuff (which i think isnt so much hiphop as it is more like electronic music), Donuts is definately hiphop. awesome awesome hiphop, to be specific.

[SIDE NOTE mini suggestion: also check out the jay dee and madlib collaboration they did under the name Jaylib entitled Champion Sound. sweet beats, sweet rhymes.... its my second favorite madlib thing, next to Madvillain. and my second favorite Jay Dee thing, next to Donuts, of course...]


Josephine Foster - All The Leaves Are Gone


it took me a little (little little) while to get past the indy-famous people (whom i refuse to mention) that have recommended this album in interviews and such, but i'm very glad i got past it. i think technically (ha!) this would get classified as psych-folk or freak-folk or something like that, but its really just awesome. the music is sort of psych-rock-ish, but no, not the long droning psych-rock i talk so much about... its more jefferson airplane or non-masturbatory-solo jimi hendrix, i guess. i could be wrong, though, because the music (to my ears) always ends up playing the role of a bed for ms.foster's awesome voice. ahhhh... her voice..... her voice is almost as different from other people's voices as bjork's voice is. (dont worry, bjork haters, it doesn't actually sound like bjork) it does make you think that she might be as insane as bjork, though, while still sounding nice. and the way it works with the songs! oh! its great! when the song gets energetic, so does her voice. it actually sort of makes me think of an airplane or a bird or something flying around. i can't explain how or why i think that, but maybe you'll see. (oh, and it doesn't actually sound like an aeroplane, it just makes me think of one.)


Psychic Ills - Dins

March 06, 2006


[what? theres finally a new cd on here?!? whoah!!!!]

I guess one could say that it's sort of like if My Bloody Valentine's wall-of-sound was applied to some of Spacemen 3's droning riffs. But, wait, that description sounds wrong to me.... Oh, I don't know... It's just so awesome. While most droning psych rock is about the trance and the droning itself, there are also some amazing tension build/release moments on this album. A structure will form out of the chaos, or chaos will form out of the structure, and it's so chill and heavy and trippy all at the same time! Ahhhh, yes!


Jorge Ben - Samba Esquema Novo / Sacudin Ben Samba



Unfortunately, I can't remember which album is which, so I'll just recommend them both. They are both awesome. If you might like some fine Brasilian bossa nova, or you're looking for some wailing music that expresses your pain and makes you want to dance with your family at a picnic and fuck your significant other at the same time, or maybe you just heard 'The Girl From Impanema' in a movie and thought it sounded neat, well, you MUST check out this guy. he's got a long spanning carreer, and not all of his later stuff is as good, but these two earlier albums are awesome! soulful, yet bossa nova-y. i still don't understand how it's possible, but here it is. and two albums of it, to boot.


v/a - Studio One Rockers


some of you have heard much of this already, as a certain hawaiian listened to a lot of the songs on this a lot, and that, in turn, had me listening to it a lot. but the fact remains, that if you're looking for a classic, solid rocksteady compilation, this is THE one to get. so many people, so much rocksteady. a perfect chill vibe. and, after listening to this, you can get a feel for which of these artists you may want to further check out. my picks: alton ellis, marcia griffiths, and horace andy.


Soul Position - 8 Million Stories


while rjd2's solo instrumental songs are not always amazing (they are sometimes, though!), team him up with an MC and its golden... El-P, Aesop Rock, and other def jux folks have known this, and now apparently (well, 'then' apparently, actually. this is sort of old-ish) Blueprint knows it too. Mr. Blueprint does occasionally have a busdriver-esque whiny-ness, but like Busdriver when he shines, his atypical voice is a perfect fit. and rjd2 definately makes him shine on almost every single song.


Freescha - Kids Fill The Floor


Sounding, to me, sort of like a less-melancholic version of Boards Of Canada, this is such a beautiful and chill album. I love listening to it on a morning when i have to wake up extra early and i really dont want to be awake, because its gentle and simple enough to not bother me, but the relaxed beats slowly wake me up a bit and get me ready for peppier music. that's not to say this album isn't interesting, either, because it really is. such nice sounds, such beautiful music.... ahhhhhhhh.

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