Verklighet & Beat is the second solo album by Eric Malmberg. Malmberg (formerly a member of the duo Sagor & Swing) is the successor and heir to the Nordic organ god throne previously held by Bo Hansson (who also guests on this album). The two tracks posted below are the two teasers that Malmberg’s label Hapna has posted. They are the only ones I have heard, but they are pure heaven. Words like ‘progressive’ and ‘psychedelic’ don’t do justice to the vast worlds of sound Malmberg conjures with his playing and his arrangements.
The September 11 release date has gotten a lot of press because 50 Cent and Kanye West have been feuding over who will get the #1 spot on the Billboard sales chart for that week. The answer is Kenny Chesney, but don’t tell them that. What certainly won’t be #1 on the charts is Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective. I was a little hesitant about this album. Lead single “Peacebone” didn’t impress me all that much and I thought that Animal Collective had blown their 2007 load with Panda Bear’s excellent Person Pitch. However, my first listen of the full album won me over. It’s a great mix of pop songs and more experimental numbers. My favorite right now is “For Reverend Green”
Animal Collective - For Reverend Green (from Strawberry Jam)
Black Dice’s new album Load Blown comes out October 23rd. They’ve done a bang up job on this remix of “Peacebone”. I think it tops the original. It’s available on the Peacebone EP. Animal Collective - Peacebone (Black Dice remix)
Palms Out Sounds has a posted a bunch of songs that M.I.A. sampled. They do these sample round-ups every week for different artists and they are often quite revelatory. A lot of the songs posted this time are very well known and were recognizable when M.I.A. sampled them, but some of the Bollywood tracks are fresh and dope.
Like most people, I would imagine, I am only familiar with the bands first two releases, Silver Apples and Contact. However, they have other releases that I was aware of, but had not heard. So I listened to them. There are 3 from 1998. Beacon, which was recorded in ‘98 and was all new material, but included rerecordings of a few old songs. Decatur, which is one 45 minute long electronic/musique concrete experiment. And The Garden, which is half unreleased Silver Apples tracks from the 60s and half new stuff. Well, sorta new stuff. It’s drum recordings from the 60s with new electronics added to them. The Garden was also reissued in 2006 with two additional unreleased tracks from the 60s. There’s also an EP that is a collaboration between Silver Apples and Spectrum. And then there’s a few remix albums. It’s a much larger catalog than I had realized from a band that I always thought of in terms of just having two albums.
I really have no idea what I’m in for when I see Silver Apples on Sunday. Electronic wizard Simeon Coxe has had several different lineups of Silver Apples. Original drummer Danny Taylor toured with him for a while, but he passed away in 2005. The only information I could find was a press release, but the only useful information it has is that most of the songs they will play will be from their first two albums.
Silver Apples - Mustang Sally (from The Garden)
Silver Apples - The Lady And The Clown (bonus track from reissue of The Garden) Silver Apples - Ancient Path (from Beacon)
September 6, 2007 at 12:03 pm
· Filed under playlists
I am going to go see Marissa Nadler tonight at the DAAC in Grand Rapids. She is one of my favorite contemporary artists, so I’m extremely excited. I’ve been listening to her dark & beautiful folk songs for a few years now, but this is will be my first time to see her. She put out a new album this year called Songs III: Bird on the Water and it was wonderful. If you buy the US CD version on Kemado Records, you get a code for a free downloadable 4 song EP. I’m posting one of those songs. It’s a Neil Young cover, and you know I love Neil Young.
Marissa Nadler - Cortez the Killer (Neil Young cover)
The old Forkadork has a the first track off the upcoming Enon album Grass Geysers…Carbon Clouds. It’s called “Mirror on You”.
At one point I would have listed Enon among my favorite bands. I don’t anymore. Partly because I don’t just listen to indie rock anymore. And partly because Enon a) stopped being as good b) stopped producing much of anything at all. It’s been over 2 years since the disappointing b-sides collection Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence. 4 years since their last album, the decent Hocus Pocus. And 5 years since their last truly great album, High Society. So I was hoping for a real killer track to get me fired up for the album. I didn’t get that. I got a less than 2 minute long song that barely has enough ideas to fill those 2 minutes. It’s a “John Song” (the Braniac-esque fuzzy guitar pop numbers) and a rather pedestrian one at that. On their last few releases, the synth-pop ditties Toko writes have been the highlights. Sadly, I don’t think they realize this. Anyway, it’s got a nice beat and would be okay if it was dropped in the middle of an indie-dance DJ set, but it doesn’t get me excited. Unfortunately.
And while I’m on the topic of Enon, those motherfuckers need to get their reissue on. Their 1st proper album Believo! seems to be back in print, which I didn’t know about. But they still haven’t reissued their weirdo debut CDR release Long Play to reissue. Do that shit! Get on the ball motherfuckers. Wait a minute. You don’t have to. I just relistened to Long Play and it’s not very good. Sorry!
Enon - Conjugate the Verbs (from Believo!) Enon - Tile Basin (from Long Play)
Chris Watson is a founding member of industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, but now he mostly does field recordings. 1998’s Outside the Circle of Fire is a collection of closely miked recordings of animals. My favorite is “Vultures, Nine Birds Feeding On Zebra Carcass, Itong Plains, Kenya”. Apparently it was recorded from inside the dead zebra. Listening to it with headphones on is like being eaten alive.
Chris Watson - Vultures, Nine Birds Feeding On Zebra Carcass, Itong Plains, Kenya buy
There’s lots of bands influenced by classic Krautrock these days, but Von Spar stand out because they are actual Krauts! Like Can, Von Spar are from Cologne, and like Ash Ra Tempel, they like to do epic side-long jams. Now, Von Spar aren’t just Krautrock revivalists. They pull from that sound, but they also pull from early Industrial, metal and post-punk. This album, their 2nd, is two long tracks. The first starts of with a Liars-esque hypnotic drum beat before turning into a spacy synth workout and then a punk song. The second track begins as an atmospheric industrial thing that slowly transitions into metal. This is their 2nd album and first for Tomlab Records.
I’m posting the first, “Xaxapoya”, in its entirety. I hate to give away half the album like this, but this album hasn’t gotten anywhere near the buzz it deserves. This is one of the best albums of the year, but I’ve seen very few reviews or blog posts about it. Don’t sleep on this gem. Von Spar - Xaxapoya Get the CD or the LP
I'm Ed. I live in East Lansing, MI. I post things. I mostly post DJ mixes that I make, but if you want to send me something just send me an email.
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