Subtle Turnships, s/t LP
More or less what I expected; or rather, nothing more nor less. Heavy 'Maps influence, kinda sloppy and kinda monotonous, recorded with integrity and "good taste."
The Pheromoans, s/t LP
I loved this record as soon as I heard it, and so will you, madam. 'Twas playing in the record shoppe as I browsed a couple days ago -- I thought to myself, What IS this? Do I have this? Sounded so familiar but I couldn't place it. There's so much gusto, so much personality, so many ideas on display here. The template, I suppose, is the Messthetics "school" of UK DIY, but this isn't a pastiche or a tribute. In spots it reminds me of a lost, slapdash American indie record from the early or mid- eighties, by someone affiliated with Half Japanese or maybe the rockinger precincts of the LAFMS. In others, and for no good reason at all, it reminds me of The Bachs or, bizarrely, The Deep (I think it's the wobbliness of some of the songs, and the vocals). So, needless to say, there's a lot going on here and it'll take a while to digest but tha' IMPACT is undeniable. Great record, better than either of their already very good singles.
Cult of Youth, s/t LP
Blabbed a bit about this a few days ago. I wasn't crazy about this guy's stuff in the beginning but this is such a well-wrought piece of work, I gotta give it my respect. The songs and the recordings are superior to anything COY has issued before, though the stylistic coordinates remain the same: essentially, the band is mining English neo-folk ca. '87 - '88, and making no bones about it (no pun intended -- honest). The arrangements are more robust, though, than those of Death in June (whom I find to be unlistenable) or on Current 93's records from that period (which I like very much). This stuff tends to be a tad monochromatic but Mr. has a very good ear and he teases out some very fine melodies from his chosen form. The singing reminds me slightly of early eighties Nick Cave, though the personality behind it is decidedly more modest. The guy knows how to create an atmosphere all is own, and I can see this paying dividends late at night in the company of some port, a cigarette, and some incense. If nothing else, the package is irresistible: this band and the Sacred Bones label were made for each other, it's a perfect fit. Lovely color watercolor on the cover complements the label's distinctive silkscreened template.
The Move, Shazam! LP
As a non-fan of Roy Wood I never gave this record a second thought. Today it proved the perfect soundtrack to getting up and making pancakes and bacon. Very, very good, surprisingly heavy yet cut from the same cloth as the first ELO record, which it clearly anticipates.
Noel Nicola, s/t LP
A somewhat tepid collection by one of the great singer-songwriters of Cuba's Nueva Trova. In their early, more rock-oriented arrangements, tunes like "Comienzo el dia" are as good as the finest of Holyground's psych-pop tunes from the same period ('67 - '70), but here they're subjected to a very flat, "mature," Latinized production that amounts to a sort of Latin American MOR pop for lefty intellectuals. Too bad.
Duchess of Saigon, s/t LP
Woodhouse's imprint is surprisingly strong on this one, given how different the approach is here to A-Frames and subsequent projex (this is foremost a collection of lively and skewed pop songs -- imagine that). Sounds just as good as you'd expect, and benefits from generous 45rpm mastering. I look forward to hearing their EPs, which I was completely oblivious to when they was fresh out the oven nearly a decade ago.
James Blake, s/t DL
I like what this guy is doing. Sort of. Having no interest whatsoever in the dubstep scene that this guy is supposed to be a part of, this sounds to me like nothing more (nor, again, less) than a radically minimalist take on contemporary r&b, and, well, that's just fine. I look forward to the novelty of hearing this shit on vinyl, through a proper stereo, as it wafts languidly through the apartment. The trick I think is to NOT look at any pictures of this guy, who looks like a delicate little English piece of shit, kinda guy with a shelf full of Kings of Convenience and Jens Lenkman CDs and a bunch of Warp records shit. That could really cripple one's ability to "listen without prejudice," in the words of some old queen or other.
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