Playlist Week of 2013-08-03

* Poulenc: Works For Piano (Parkin) (d.2-3) (Chandos 3CD)

* Poulenc: Complete Chamber Music (Nash Ensemble) (d.1) (Hyperion 2CD)

* Sun Ra: Media Dreams (d.2) (Saturn/Art Yard 2CD)

* Sun Ra: Disco 3000: The Complete Concert (Saturn/Art Yard 2CD)

* Lowell Davidson: Trio (ESP-Disk’ CD)

* Larry Coryell: Spaces (Vanguard LP)

* Pat Metheny: Watercolors (ECM LP)

* Pat Metheny: New Chautauqua (ECM LP)

* Steve Tibbetts: Yr (ECM LP)

* Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires: Second Sight (ECM LP)

* Last Exit: Iron Path (Virgin CD)

* Mark Nauseef/Ikue Mori/Evan Parker/Bill Laswell: Near Nadir (Tzadik CD)

* Divination (Bill Laswell/Laraaji): Sacrifice (Meta CD)

* Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Moers Festival, Germany 2012-05-26 (FM FLAC)

* Mary Halvorson Quintet: Saalfelden, Austria 2012-08-25 (FM FLAC)

* Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You (Atlantic/Mobile Fidelity CD)

* Daft Punk: Random Access Memories (Columbia CD)(†/‡)

* Daft Punk: “Get Lucky” (Columbia 12”)†/‡

* John Fahey: John Fahey Visits Washington, D.C. (Takoma LP)

* Grateful Dead: Madison Square Garden, NYC 1987-09-18 (selections) (SBD 3CDR)

* Grateful Dead: Madison Square Garden, NYC 1987-09-19 (selections) (SBD 3CDR)

* Eric Clapton: Slowhand (RSO/Mobile Fidelity LP)

* Camel: Rain Dances (Deram/EMI CD)†/‡

* Uriah Heep: The Magician’s Birthday (Mercury LP)

* The Police: Synchronicity (A&M SACD)

* U2: Achtung, Baby (Deluxe Edition) (Island/Universal 2CD)†

* Talk Talk: The Colour Of Spring (EMI LP/DVD)

* Talk Talk: Spirit Of Eden (EMI LP/DVD)

* Tears For Fears: The Hurting (Mercury LP)

* Tears For Fears: Songs From The Big Chair (Mercury LP)

* The Dream Academy: The Dream Academy (Warner Bros. LP)

* ABC: The Look Of Love (Mercury LP)

* ABC: Beauty Stab (Mercury LP)

* ABC: How To Be A Zillionaire (Mercury LP)

* The Art Of Noise: Who’s Afraid Of…! (The Art Of Noise) (Island LP)

* Robert Pollard: Honey Locust Honky Tonk (GBV, Inc. LP)

* Yo La Tengo: Fade (Matador LP)

* Queens Of The Stoneage: …Like Clockwork (Matador 2-45RPM LP)

* Opeth: Blackwater Park (Music For Nations/Sony CD/DVD)

* Katatonia: The Great Cold Distance (Peaceville 2LP)

* Katatonia: Night Is The New Day (Peaceville CD)

* Anathema: Weather Systems (The End 2LP)

* Kylesa: Spiral Shadow (Seasons of Mist LP)

* Kylesa: Ultraviolet (Seasons of Mist 2-45RPM LP)

* Baroness: Live At Maida Vale (BBC/Relapse EP)

* Black Tusk: Tend No Wounds (Relapse EP)

* Animal Collective: Centipede Hz (Domino 2LP/24-bit FLAC)

* Deerhoof: Friend Opportunity (Polyvinyl LP)

* Deerhoof: Deerhoof Vs. Evil (Polyvinyl LP)

* Deerhoof: Breakup Songs (Polyvinyl LP)

* Locrian: The Clearing & The Final Epoch (Relapse 2CD)

* Locrian: Return To Annihilation (Relapse 2-45RPM LP/CD)

* True Widow: Circumambulation (Relapse LP)

* ASG: Blood Drive (Relapse 2-45RPM LP)†/‡

* Lord Dying: Summon The Faithless (Relapse LP)

†=iPod

‡=car

Commentary:

Lots of interesting releases on the Relapse Records label lately, most notably this vinyl-only EP from Baroness, Live At Maida Vale. Check out the bad-ass etching on the B-Side drawn by leader John Dyer Baizley, who is also a gifted visual artist, his work gracing a number of album covers by numerous bands besides his own. Man, that is just too cool! The A-side consists of the band ripping through four songs from last year’s brilliant double-album Yellow & Green, recorded in July 2012 for the BBC, just before the near-fatal bus accident that derailed the band for nearly a year. Now back on a lengthy world tour, this limited edition EP shows how these guys bring it on stage – albeit now with a new rhythm section, with bassist Matt Maggione and drummer Allen Bickle having left the band in the wake of the horrific incident. The reborn Baroness is nothing short of miraculous and this lovingly produced EP is a fitting testimony to their former bandmates. Good stuff!

Blood Drive, the Relapse debut from North Carolina’s, ASG (a/k/a All Systems Go), is a huge leap forward from their bar-band roots, with sharp songwriting and big hooks across broad range of feels and grooves, from acoustic ballads to head-banging bliss. Jason Shi’s distinctive voice carries these songs, comfortably ranging from a warm, baritone croon to a soulful, whiskey-soaked tenor to the occasional horrifically blackened shrieks. Overall this is more workingman’s rock than metal per sé, but there is enough variety on Blood Drive to appeal to a wide range of music fans outside the metal underground. Ably produced by Matt Hyde, the double-LP is pressed at 45-RPM and sounds really nice. The vinyl edition also contains an additional track, “Mourning of the Earth," a nice bonus. ASG is definitely a band to watch.

The prolific Chicago-based collective, Locrian, has recently dropped Return to Annihilation, which, despite the portentous title, is their most accessible and downright pleasurable release to date. Combining intense power electronics, drone-y, post-rock ambience with touches of black metal fury, the band has upped the ante considerably with this gripping, wrenchingly beautiful album. Not for everybody, certainly, but if you’re open to this kind of thing, Return to Annihilation is an utterly engrossing musical journey—and, again, the colored-vinyl edition is pressed at 45-RPM for superior sonics. This is a record I return to again and again only to hear it anew every time—definitely one of the top releases of 2013 so far.

Dallas-based True Widow is another up-and-coming band making their first LP for Relapse, Circumabulation, and it’s a bit unusual for the label. Despite the requisite heaviness and distorted guitars, they sound more like gloomy indie-rockers, Anglophiles besotted with Joy Division and Jesus and Mary Chain. And although the shambling, simplistic song structures have a scrappy, just-learned-to-play-our-instruments charm, it is the yin/yang, male/female vocal pairings that make these tracks memorable and elevates the record to something beyond merely derivative. Perfect for a rainy, dreary day.

Portland’s Lord Dying, on the other hand, fits right into the Relapse roster, with their chugging, death-obsessed, prog-inflected sludge. Sporting a fantastically creepy cover and song titles like “In a Frightful State of Gnawed Dismemberment,” “Dreams of Mercy” and “Perverse Osmosis” you know exactly what you’re getting with Summon the Faithless, their first full-length album. Despite the sometimes rote songwriting, Lord Dying’s youthful energy and enthusiasm is completely enthralling. These guys are clearly hungry and ambitious and Relapse is the perfect label to nurture their growth. Definitely another band to watch.

Finally, label stalwarts Black Tusk have a new EP out called Tend No Wounds. Like Baroness, the Tusk are in the midst of a massive tour and this record is something of a stop-gap measure, a bit of merch to sell on the road. Even so, it’s a groovy slab of 45-RPM goodness housed in a sick, glossy jacket illustrated by Brian Mercer. There’s nothing really new going on here but the string section on “The Weak and the Wise” points in an interesting direction. Tend No Wounds is a nice collectable, if nothing else—and imminently listentable to boot.

Summertime is usually a slow period for new releases but Relapse is bucking that trend with a full slate of strong records coming out in the past few weeks. Rock on!

Playlist Week of 7-21-12

* Jordi Savall & Rolf Lislevand: Cadogan Hall, London, England 8-18-08 (FM CDR

* Purcell: Fantasias For The Viols (1680) (Hesperion XX/Savall) (Alia Vox SACD)

* Dusapin: Quatuors à cordes & Trios (æon 2CD)

* Sun Ra: Solo Piano, Volume 1 (Improvising Artists CD)

* Sun Ra: St. Louis Blues: Solo Piano, Vol.2 (Improvising Artists, Inc. CD)

* Henry Threadgill Zooid: Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry, Spp (Pi CD)

* Derek Bailey: Guitar, Bass And Drums (Avant CD)

* Gram Parsons: GP (Reprise/Mobile Fidelity SACD)

* Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel (Reprise/Mobile Fidelity SACD)

* Grateful Dead: History Of The Grateful Dead, Vol.1 (Bear’s Choice) (Warner Bros./Audio Fidelity LP)

* Deep Purple: Shades Of Deep Purple (EMI/Odeon LP)

* Deep Purple: Deep Purple (Tetragramaton LP)

* Deep Purple: In Rock (Warner Bros. LP)

* Deep Purple: Machine Head (Warner Bros. LP)

* Deep Purple: Burn (Warner Bros. LP)

* Van Der Graaf Generator: The Least Could Do Is Wave To Each Other (Charisma/4MWB LP)

* Van Der Graaf Generator: H To He Who Am The Only One (Charisma/4MWB LP)

* Van Der Graaf Generator: Pawn Hearts (Charisma/4MWB LP)

* Roxy Music: Avalon (Virgin HDCD)

* Can: The Lost Tapes 1968-1975 (selections) (Spoon/Mute 3CD)†/‡

* Porcupine Tree: Stupid Dream (KScope CD/DVD)

* Porcupine Tree: Lightbulb Sun (KScope CD/DVD)

* Porcupine Tree: Recordings (KScope CD)

* Porcupine Tree: In Absentia (Lava/Atlantic CD)†

* Porcupine Tree: Deadwing (Lava/Atlantic CD)†

* Porcupine Tree: Fear Of A Blank Planet (Atlantic CD)

* Porcupine Tree: Nil Recurring (KScope CDEP)

* Porcupine Tree: The Incident (Roadrunner CD)†

* Storm Corrosion: Storm Corrosion (Roadrunner CD/BD)

* Anathema: We’re Here Because We’re Here (KScope CD/DVD)†

* Anathema: Weather Systems (The End CD)(†)

* Evoken: Atra Mors (Profound Lore MP3)†/‡

* Baroness: Blue Record (Relapse CD)

* Baroness: Yellow & Green (Relapse 2CD/2LP)

* White Hills: White Hills (Thrill Jockey LP)

* White Hills: H-p1 (Thrill Jockey 2LP)

* White Hills: Frying On This Rock (Thrill Jockey LP)

* Astra: The Weirding (Rise Above/Metal Blade CD)

* Astra: The Black Chord (Rise Above/Metal Blade CD)

* Dusted: Total Dust (Polyvinyl MP3)†/‡

†=iPod

‡=car

Commentary:

Now that I have lived with the new Baroness record for several days (and I have listened to it every day since Tuesday—sometimes twice), I have to comment further on my “published” review over at Spectrum Culture. I pretty much agree with everything I said, but I would amplify it thusly: 

• Despite its faults, this is a four-star record, surely one my favorite records of 2012 so far. I hate giving numerical ratings to records to begin with (something I’ve never even attempted on the blog), but surely my middling score had more to do with my frustration over not being able to hear it properly than with the music as such. 
• The vinyl absolutely slays the CD in terms of sound quality, even though my copy has a fair amount of surface noise. Don’t get me wrong, the CD sounds fine—I  don’t hear any nasty digital compression artifacts or anything like that—but the LP beats it in just about every way: dynamics, tonality, high-frequency extension and, most surprisingly, bass response. This thing just kicks ass, despite the clicks and pops—and maybe a super-deep cleaning will take of that. 
• Perhaps I didn’t stress just how different Yellow & Green sounds from everything else in their discography—not even the slicker stuff on Blue Record would remotely prepare you for what they’re doing here. Some fans are crying “sell-out”—but I have to ask: “To whom?” Not you obviously! And the rest of the world has no idea they even exist. Such a radical change in sound and approach does not always work out to mainstream success, no matter how pure the motive—or how good the music. Baroness should be commended just for stretching so far so fast. There are no half-measures on Yellow & Green; they are committed to this material, even when they are overreaching. 
• I said nothing about the continuing color theme and John Baizley’s Mucha-meets-Pushead cover art—an obvious hook that I’ve heretofore avoided. Well, it’s all part of that punky, DIY thing and makes for brilliant branding: each Baroness record has a unique yet unifying look that is very cool—but only in that teenage boy kind of way. Now that the primary colors have been covered—and one mixture—one does has to wonder how far they can take this trope. What next, Orange? Purple? Rumor has it this is their last record for Relapse—so it wouldn’t surprise me if their next record takes on a whole different graphic design (for a major label). But who knows? Given their history, their next record will come out sometime in 2016; we’ll find out then. 
• “Sea Lungs” may be another bit of “by-the-numbers arena rock,” but, damn, that chorus is catchy. It’s been running through my head all week.                                               

I excised over a thousand words from my original review (a long digression on the “metal ghetto”) and that stuff may be re-worked someday, but my point was that Baroness had broken out in a big way—yet because the world-at-large sees them as a metal band, they will likely fail as a crossover and, moreover, their core audience will be disappointed. This has to be a frustrating situation for a forward-thinking band like Baroness. If you like rock music—and think it can continue to reinvent itself—check out Yellow & Green. It’s a great record. Then, who knows? Maybe you’ll work your way backwards to the Red Album and become an overgrown metal-head just like me.

Baroness Review @ Spectrum Culture

My review of the new Baroness double-album, Yellow & Green, is now posted at Spectrum Culture. You can read it here.

This one was kind of hard, especially since I am a fan of the band. The promised pre-release download never materialized (due to an apparent “leak”) and the promo website eventually stopped letting me listen. Gee, thanks, guys! Fortunately, NPR was streaming the whole thing at “First Listen” all last week but, let’s face it, a lossy, low bitrate internet stream sounds like crap no matter how you try to listen to it—especially when gaps are inserted between tracks that are supposed to flow together seamlessly, as on Yellow & Green. Good grief! All this angst and paranoia over downloads and “leaks” is understandable but completely wrong-headed, in my opinion. When will the labels/artists finally realize that a crappy mp3 is worth exactly nothing? 

The album officially came out today, so I went to my favorite local record store and bought it—as I was planning to do anyway. I’m spinning the vinyl right now, ogling the twelve-inch artwork and studying the lyric sheets while I rip the CDs to my iPod. It sounds great! I stand by my review but it might have been a bit more positive—and expansive—had I been provided an opportunity to really hear the thing. I guess that's how it goes for a “rock critic.” Ha ha!