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vinyl -- selection MARCH 2006 |
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| Artist: |
WHY ? |
| Title: |
Elephant Eyelash |
| Label: |
Anticon |
| Format: |
LP |
| Price: |
16,5 euros |
| Catalog #: |
ABR055 |
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ALSO AVAILABLE ON CD 16,5 euros
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What you’ve got here, dear listener, is something grand. Something bold. Something to trumpet proudly as the future of something that hasn’t yet happened. Something (gasp!) to be excited about. What you have here is Elephant Eyelash, the brand-new, brilliant album from WHY? at the very least you should be asking yourself, “why not?”
Elephant Eyelash is a beautifully realized work, a smile-twisted opus of bright colors, dark corners and fearless moves by head architect Yoni Wolf (cLOUDDEAD, Reaching Quiet, Hymies Basement). After six years of treating WHY? as a solo project, Yoni has fashioned WHY? into a full-fledged band. The Sanddollars EP, released in May, presented the group working through a short set of miniature oeuvres, but Elephant Eyelash dishes up the real deal: twelve gorgeously rendered tracks of jangly pysch-rock, folk-hop and peculiar pop.
Whether inhabiting the persona of a lovelorn crooner or warp-mouthed Dylanesque poet, self-deprecating, soft-singing shy guy or loud-mouthed macho type, Yoni wraps unforgettable lyrical imagery around grooves powered by an arsenal of instruments: guitars, turntable, piano, glockenspiel, pedal, pots, pans, and more.
Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, krautrock and dub are all channeled here, but the mix never gets too heady. Rather, it’s Yoni’s trademark delivery, half-smirk, half-grin, that reminds us that it’s life’s inconsistencies that make it so damn addicting. (ANTICON)
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| Artist: |
THE TELEVISION PERSONALITIES |
| Title: |
My dark places |
| Label: |
DOMINO |
| Format: |
LP (CD available) |
| Price: |
20,5 euro |
| Catalog #: |
SN 013LP |
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The Television Personalities' last release was called 'All The Young Children On Crack' and within a mere seven inches firmly cemented itself as one of my least favourite singles of all time. Ever. With a sound that extracted the worst excesses of crap-folk outfit Moldy Peaches, The Television Personalities somehow made it even worse; marrying XXX-annoying vocal, clump-hop beats and all manner of mismatched instrumentation (think a one-man band falling down the stairs). The result? Utter shite. Given these inauspicious roots, I was pretty sceptical that an LP would offer me anything more than a mild rash - with 'My Dark Places' their appropriately titled return. Whilst no-where near as bad as the infamous 'All The Young Children...' (included here you lucky people!), 'My Dark Places' is nonetheless pretty messy - with a waterfall of styles jostling for scant attention. Whist this translates to quite pleasing strings on 'Sick Again' and horn-riddled indie with 'They'll Have To Catch Us First' (think Cay...), elsewhere it goes less smoothly; with 'Velvet Underground' (Doherty jamming with Jools Holland) and the title tracks' cloying disposition raising hackles across the land. Why don't you... |
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| Artist: |
TEST ICICLES |
| Title: |
For screening purposes only |
| Label: |
DOMINO |
| Format: |
LP ( CD available ) |
| Price: |
20,5 euro |
| Catalog #: |
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Deranged disco metal? Gonzo noise-punk firebrands? Genre munching mega racket? Chaotic noise-hop? Here are a band who namecheck Motley Crüe, Rick James, Pharell Williams, Slick Rick and Slayer as well as an increasingly long list of future star bands like Need New Bodies and Sex Positions. At 25 (Rory Atwell) and 19 (Sam Mehran and Devonté Hynes) they listen to everything: metal, grime, hardcore, rock, hip hop, pop. It’s all in there. And boy, can you tell.
Test Icicles sound like Bloc Party on drugs and in detention. Or a parallel universe Rancid wired into the touretting energy of early Beastie Boys. Or, indeed, an amalgam of almost everyone you can think of – ever. Their newly-recorded album ‘For Screening Purposes Only’ is a screaming, thrashing pedal-to-the-metal hardcore pop freak-out.
First single Boa Vs Python was met with astonishing aplomb, the anthemic second single Circle Square Triangle (which contains the FM-heading chorus ‘We could do with some more Poison’ repeated over and over again until the listener explodes into pogo mania) will certainly light the fires of many more. Whether they sound like snotty skatepunk tykes (What’s Your Damage), the spikey grandsons of The Stooges (Snowball) or the UK brethren of Pantera (Catch it!) their debut album is a breathless, exhuberant testament to youth’s joie de vivre.
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| Artist: |
WOLF EYES |
| Title: |
Fuck the Old Miami |
| Label: |
IMPORTANT RECORDS |
| Format: |
12" |
| Price: |
16,5 euros |
| Catalog #: |
IMPREC 048 |
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Repressed. "12" vinyl featuring the entire live performance on the A side and a B side etching hand carved into the original laquers by Wolf Eyes. On their home lathe Wolf Eyes cut playable grooves into and around the etching, playable at your own risk. We're not aware of any record ever released to contain a playable etching on the B side." Was originally released as a 3" CDR on Chondritic Sound.
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