The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Line Out: Classic

Breaking Sublime News

Emily Nokes — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:09:00 -0700

"Set for release on June 18, 2013, the package marks the first-ever complete Sublime concert to be officially released on DVD and CD. This new release also celebrates the 25th anniversary of the seminal Long Beach, CA band, who performed their first official show on July 4, 1988 and went on to release a string of critically acclaimed hit singles."

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Happy Birthday, Willie Nelson!

Anna Minard — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:38:00 -0700

(Royal Room) I love birthday parties—what a lovely focus for communal celebration: Hey, this one person is great! So happy birthday to the beloved double-braidin', pot smokin', bandanna-wearin', folk strummin' Willie Nelson. Here to make this celebration feel worth your while are all the pot brownies in the world (must make yourself and consume at home, sorry!) and a troupe of local musicians. The best parts of this show, though, are its unexpected location and diverse lineup—the Royal Room is mainly a jazz club, and the lineup is a jazz trumpeter (Cuong Vu), a soft and slow pianist (Michael Stegner), a famous genre-transcender (Robin Holcomb), and more. Now this is a new tribute to the grizzled country poet.

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Bros...Everyone Hates a Jam Band, Right?

Mike Nipper — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:41:29 -0700

But...what if this jam band is King Crimson doing a bit of improv!?

This bit is an excerpt from Live In Central Park, NYC, which was recorded July 1, 1974 and released in 2000. If I remember correctly, this Central Park show was the last Crimson live appearance till the early '80s. If you want more and have time, listen to the entire Felt Forum (NYC) show, recorded May 1, 1974.

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Patrick Vian's Amazing 1976 Synth LP Bruits et Temps Analogues Finally Reissued

Dave Segal — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:14:13 -0700

The German label Staubgold—which is distributed in the US by Forced Exposure—will be reissuing Patrick Vian's Bruits et Temps Analogues on May 14. Thus another holy-grail/Nurse With Wound List album becomes more accessible and affordable.

The son of writer Boris Vian, Patrick Vian was in the agitational avant-rock group Red Noise. Much different than his work in that band, Bruits et Temps Analogues is Vian’s sole solo album; it’s a Moog- and ARP-heavy excursion into wonderfully exotic atmospheres and strange melodies. It falls somewhere between the tactile, oddly shimmering tones of Haruomi Hosono’s Cochin Moon and the glowering menace of Heldon’s Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale. This is a very distinctive and thrilling place for an album to fall between.

More info here.

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How Hard Can it be to Throw a Bitchin' Club Tropicana Party?

Emily Nokes — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:53:55 -0700

My only goal for this summer is to somehow replicate this amazing looking party. Please let me know if anyone is in a Wham! cover band that can nail "Club Tropicana" while wearing board shorts and an open Hawaiian shirt. Do you think Q would be willing to rent out the space? I got five on it.

We'll also need tinsel palm trees, neon light shapes, a white baby grand piano, and really cool extras willing to act out all the song lyrics. Easy!

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The Ramblin', Gamblin' Bob Seger

Dave Segal — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:42:00 -0700

(Tacoma Dome) Like Kraftwerk, Bob Seger refuses to acknowledge his best work. His 1969 debut LP, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, is an all-time garage-psych classic and the Detroit troubadour's pre-'69 singles contained some of the hardest, most indelible riffs ever. Seger also had a quintessential, Midwestern-white-boy soul voice—gruff, feral, libidinous. Of course, he blanded out and wrote some of the most annoyingly ubiquitous songs to which you've ever broken speed records to get away from: "Old Time Rock and Roll," "Katmandu," "Like a Rock," etc. Now 67 and comfortably wealthy, Seger can't be expected not to play it safe, so don't hold your breath waiting for searing psych cuts like "White Wall," cutthroat garage burners like "Heavy Music," or bizarre freak-outs like "Cat."

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Local Legend Duffy Bishop

David Schmader — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 09:44:00 -0700

(Royal Room) Predating the women rockers of the grunge years and carrying on through the These Streets era and beyond, Duffy Bishop is the Northwest musical treasure beloved for her winning stage presence and absolutely humongous voice. She's been nominated for a Grammy, shared stages with John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, and Bobby "Blue" Bland, performed a hit one-woman show about Janis Joplin, and tonight she performs at Columbia City's the Royal Room for free.

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Breaking Down the "Amen" Break

Dave Segal — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:09:54 -0700

Almost everything you could possibly want to know about the "Amen" break can be found in this post on Open Culture. You've probably heard the "Amen" break hundreds of times; it's been sampled in tons of hiphop and drum & bass tracks over the last 30+ years because it is inexhaustibly, undeniably funky and can be fruitfully manipulated in many different permutations. Its origin derives from the Winstons' 1969 song "Amen, Brother," the B-side of their hit single "Color Him Father." For a music head, not knowing about the "Amen" break is like a writer not being aware of a letter of the alphabet.

Read the whole thing here.

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George Harrison Would've Turned 70 Today, So Why Not Listen to Wonderwall Music?

Dave Segal — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:07:03 -0800

Guitarist/vocalist/sitarist George Harrison—who was born 70 years ago on this day in Liverpool, England—wrote a lot of beautiful, timeless songs for the Beatles*, of course, and his 1970 solo LP All Things Must Pass is worth the considerable shelf space it takes up. But when you want to get down to the core of Harrison's real greatness, you need to break out Wonderwall Music, his daring 1968 soundtrack to the film Wonderwall (which I still haven't seen for some reason).

Wonderwall gave Harrison free rein to flaunt his Anglo take on Indian music and to indulge in some of his stranger, more psychedelic proclivities. There's not much cohesiveness, but there are plenty of brilliant, concise passages of exotic allure and scattered instances of a multimillionaire's engaging follies. Unbelievably, Wonderwall Music reached #49 in the US charts in 1969, according to Wiki.

Happy birthday, George. (I know you can read this.)

* A partial list would include "Don't Bother Me," "Think for Yourself," "Taxman," "Blue Jay Way," "The Inner Light," "Within You Without You," "It's All Too Much," and "Only a Northern Song."

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Root Radics' Dangerous Dub

Charles Mudede — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 10:08:00 -0800

(Neumos) If you were to ask me who the greatest band in the history of pop is, I would not say the Beatles, or the Stones, or anything like that. The greatest band will not be found in England or the United States, but on the little island of Jamaica. That band is the Roots Radics. Established in 1978 by the bassist Errol "Flabba" Holt, the guitarist Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont, and the drummer Lincoln "Style" Scott, the Roots Radics built a sound that not only cemented dub but had the profoundest sense of space and time. Scott's drumming could be as hard as dry land and Holt's bass as substantial as a heartbeat, but they always made sure there was plenty of room for words or echoes to float about like slow-moving clouds. The Roots Radics' music is never rushed, nor tight and robotic like Sly and Robbie's, but very sensual, very physical, and very earthy. Listen to King Tubby's Dangerous Dub to hear what the greatest band ever sounds like.

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LITA Reissues Four Great '70s Albums by Marcos Valle

Dave Segal — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:12:00 -0800

Brazilian composer/musician Marcos Valle is a master of the orchestral pop that exudes a bronzed euphoria and a light yet substantial soulfulness. A surfer with long blond hair, Valle is the Brazilian counterpart to America’s Rotary Connection. The man could write the hell out of a heavenly arrangement.

On the four albums Seattle/LA label Light in the Attic is reissuing in January and February—Marcos Valle (1970), Garra (1971), Vento Sul (1972), and Previsão Do Tempo (1973)—Valle purveys a post-bossa, hybridized pop that can be sublimely ebullient or gloriously melancholy. His songs are hummable, but not in blatant ways. He’s an impeccable craftsman, kind of in the vein of Caetano Veloso in his more accessible modes, blending light psychedelia, soul, samba, and baião. Valle also sings the slyly subversive lyrics of his brother Paolo Sergio in a burnished baritone that’s somewhere between Veloso and Gilberto Gil. The delivery’s all about a restraint that’s innately seductive—a style that so many Brazilian artists have mastered.

Garra is my favorite of the quartet, but they’re all worth immersive listening. Valle was at his peak powers here, and these songs have a deathless quality; they stand up to repeated listens as well as anything in the David Axelrod or Charles Stepney canons. The eponymous Marcos Valle, recorded with the great baroque psych-prog band Som Imaginário, is probably the most instantly catchy collection of the four. Recorded with the rock group O Terço, Vento Sul is an incredibly subtle, baroquely beautiful work, elevated by gorgeous flute motifs by Paolo Guimarães. Previsão Do Tempo has a very suave, quasi-exotica vibe to it, and possesses a menagerie of eccentric textures and unpredictable, jazz-fusiony song structures.

Valle’s music is not as off the wall as that by Tropicalia’s oddest proponents like Os Mutantes or Tom Zé, and maybe that’s why underground-music heads haven’t really cottoned to it—or maybe Valle’s records were simply harder to find than those of his Brazilian counterparts. Whatever the case, LITA has gone a long way in getting some of Valle’s most important recordings back in circulation.

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Yoko Ono Is 80

Dave Segal — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:35:54 -0800

It still needs to be said, because a lot of blinkered Beatles fans have created a massive force field of scorn around her, but Yoko Ono, who turns a vibrant 80 today, has done a helluva lot of good work that has pushed rock into far-out realms and frayed conventional notions of what a female voice should sound like. Check out Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, Fly, and Approximately Infinite Universe for proof. She's also created a lot of naÏvely profound/profoundly naÏve visual and performance art and is a sweet, philanthropic soul who's done way more to help the world than you have. Deal with it, haters.

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Tomahawk: A Slightly Quirky Supergroup

Dave Segal — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:38:00 -0800

(Showbox at the Market) No getting around it: Tomahawk are a muzzafunkin' supergroup. Any lineup with mad vocal acrobat Mike Patton, caustic, incisive guitarist Duane Denison, powerful drum deity John Stanier, and Mr. Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3/Melvins bassist Trevor Dunn is going to induce a certain amount of awe among people who appreciate savage virtuosity. But Tomahawk's new album, Oddfellows, only their fourth in a dozen years, is, uh, oddly underwhelming. Not to imply these songs suck or anything, but the players don't seem to be even close to pushing themselves to the extent of their formidable abilities. The result is mildly quirky art rock with somewhat heavy undertones and few songs that stick in your mind after they fade out.

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The Return of the Return: The 10th Anniversary of Specs One's Classic

Charles Mudede — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:57:00 -0800

Return of the Artist 10 year anniversary by SPECSONE

Before the big year of 2005-a big year for local hiphop, that is-four albums made it clear that something was in the air, something was about to really happen. Though no one knew exactly what shape this something would take, everyone was certain that it would somehow be related to one or all of these albums: Gift of Gab's 2004 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up (yes, Gift of Gab is from the Bay Area, but the album was recorded in Seattle and produced by Jake One and Vitamin D), Blue Scholars' 2004 debut Blue Scholars, Onry Ozzborn's 2003 The Grey Area (which was released by Portland's One Drop), and finally, Specs One's 2004 Return of the Artist. Specs One's album was recently rereleased to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its creation.

Specs One is a much-admired local rapper, producer, artist, and activist who fell in love with hiphop in 1979 and began making music in the mid-1980s. As there are writers for writers and filmmakers for filmmakers, Specs One is a rapper for rappers. It's not that he doesn't want to rap for everyone (he does), and he has nothing against fame and making money, it's just that he can only make hiphop that he wants to hear, hiphop that he loves. You can separate, say, Jay-Z's music from Jay-Z (indeed, he says as much—"If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli"), but you can't separate Specs One from his music. And the more you are your music, the less likely it will speak to or connect with a large audience.

Soundgarden Rev Up Again

David Schmader — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:11:00 -0800

(Paramount) Soundgarden do not fuck around. After rising to the tippy-top of the American hard-rock heap in the mid-'90s, the band stopped having fun and called it quits in 1997. A decade and a half later, Soundgarden decided to rev up again, and from its first notes, the new King Animal announces itself as a sibling to Superunknown. Steeped in the great tradition of melodic headbanging rock for nonstupid people, these are songs that sound great on first listen. And they'll mix perfectly well with the many grunge-era classics the band is sure to dish out tonight (and tomorrow).

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Theme Wars: The Twilight Zone Vs. Lost in Space

Dave Segal — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:30:57 -0800

In my review of Spectre's adventurous 2012 hiphop album The True & Living, I mistakenly wrote that he had sampled the theme song from The Twilight Zone (composed by Gregor F. Narholz); in actuality, he'd sampled the Lost In Space theme (composed by John Williams). I watched both shows as a lad, but somehow over the ensuing 40+ years, I mixed up the two. I swear it won't happen again.

Both pieces are among the best TV tunes in history; the shows weren't bad, either, though I preferred The Twilight Zone because it chilled my blood with more regularity than did Lost in Space. However, the latter's robot was the best character on either program.

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Spend a Night with Dr. John, the Nite Tripper

Dave Segal — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:35:00 -0800

(Jazz Alley) Judging from his 2010 Seattle performance, Dr. John will not be exhuming his swampadelic classics from Gris-Gris, Remedies, or The Sun, Moon & Herbs. Maybe this New Orleans musical legend just can't get back into that dank headspace anymore, can't summon that ominous libidinal pressure at this late date. It happens. That being said, Doc's latest album, Locked Down, finds him receiving a filthy, robust boost from a group of younger cats, including the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach—who produced, sang backing vocals, and played guitar on it. The record sounds vital and politically engaged for a 72-year-old magus—the funkiest he's been in decades. Those players won't be joining Mac Rebennack for this four-night stand at Jazz Alley, but trust him to hire a band that'll nail Locked Down's punchy grooves and triumph-over-adversity melodies.

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Numero Group to Reissue Entire Unwound Catalog This Fall

Dave Segal — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:22:50 -0800

If you're an Unwound fan or are looking to become one, the Numero Group is about to make your life a lot better. Similar to what it did with Codeine, the Chicago label plans to reissue the phenomenally trenchant Olympia post-punk band's seven albums in expanded, remastered, and liner-noted form. In addition, it will release pre-Unwound recordings under the name of Giant Henry on Record Store Day. Hell. Yes.

Press release after the jump.

In the fall of 2013, The Numero Group will begin a lengthy campaign to reissue the complete works of seminal Olympia, Washington, post-punk trio Unwound. Their seven albums - Fake Train, New Plastic Ideas, S/T, The Future Of What, Repetition, Challenge For Civilized Society, and Leaves Turn Inside You - will be expanded, remastered, and annotated in typical Numero fashion. Kicking the series off is the first ever release of Unwound's Tumwater High-era recordings, all under the name Giant Henry.

"Tumwater High has always been known as a 'redneck' school," reflects guitarist/vocalist Justin Trosper in the album's liner notes. "People took football and AC/DC equally seriously. The smoking area was rich in facial hair. We were into punk rock but we weren't really 'punk.' We thought punk was funny. After all, this was the late-'80s. Post-punk was a memory, and everything was totally damaged and weird. We were kind of more with the times than the catalog-punks with mohawks and bondage pants."

Recorded in original Unwound drummer Brandt Sandeno's parents' basement over one weekend in the winter of 1991, the 12-song vinyl-only album captures Vern Rumsey and Justin Trosper in their Metal Circus and Bleach-influenced halcyon days. In true DIY spirit, Numero has hand-screened the entire pressing of 1050 LPs, which includes three cover variants (one of which is below along with tracklisting).

GIANT HENRY "BIG BABY" TRACKLISTING
1. Super Nova
2. Gas Cap
3. Listenator
4. Stopt
5. No Duh
6. Huckleberries
7. Beautiful Name
8. Thumb Question
9. Linoleum
10. Refrigeration Scheme
11. Fathom It Again
12. Chris Jordan

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Kool and the Gang's Funky Stuff

Dave Segal — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:35:14 -0800

(Snoqualmie Casino) Kool and the Gang returned to people's consciousness last year when Van Halen surprisingly tapped them to open for the hard-rock veterans' tour. Curiously, some observers thought they upstaged the headliners. There's no doubting the large funk/soul ensemble's technical proficiency, but clips of recent live performances show a troubling tendency for cheesy crowd interaction and emphasis on their frothier material (who doesn't grimace after hearing "Celebration" for the millionth time?). But in their 1970s prime, Kool and the Gang cut some of the filthiest and sweetest funk to ever maximize a gluteus. If they fill at least half their set with burners like "Jungle Jazz," "Hollywood Swinging," "Funky Stuff," and "Love the Life You Live," this will be worth the trip to Snoqualmie.

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Is Coloured Balls' "That’s What Mama Said" Oz Rock's Zenith?

Dave Segal — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:27:00 -0800

What’s the greatest rock song by an Australian band? Is it something by the Easybeats? AC/DC? Radio Birdman? The Saints? Birthday Party? The Moodists? The Go-Betweens? feedtime? The Church? The Scientists? Dead Can Dance? Tame Impala? Little River Band? Or is it “That’s What Mama Said” by Coloured Balls? This is a question that weighs heavily on the minds of some of the world’s least-respected thinkers.

At one time, I may have answered the Easybeats’ “Sorry,” the Saints’ “Know Your Product,” Birthday Party’s “Zoo Music Girl,” feedtime’s “Arse,” the Go-Betweens’ “On My Block,” or the Moodists’ “That’s Frankie’s Negative.” Now, thanks to a tip from a friend who recommended Coloured Balls’ 1973 album Ball Power (which Sing Sing Records has recently reissued), I’m inclined to go with “That’s What Mama Said.”

The song starts with power chords from leader/guitarist Lobby Loyde that loiter with malicious intent while a special foot-powered Theremin wails crazily, then things gradually accelerate to a purposeful chug, creating a sensation akin to the greatest tension-building scene from the best movie Quentin Tarantino never made. Imagine Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” retooled by artfully brutish Aussies who've eaten fistfuls of magic mushrooms and then thought it would be cool to combine the best traits of Hawkwind and Canned Heat. When they finally come, the unison chants of “That’s what mama said, mama said” are utterly uplifting, and the tune proceeds to blaze toward the horizon line with Theremin squeals Silly Stringing all over the stereo field. The coda sounds like the band’s entering a supremely nasty hard-rock vortex in the dustiest Down Under dive bar in existence. You stagger away from the nearly 11-minute track as if you’ve guzzled a keg of Foster’s. BRAAAAP! The end.

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Bloody Amazing: Andy Votel's Top 15 Horror-Film Soundtracks

Dave Segal — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:46:07 -0800

This survey of the top horror-film soundtracks by DJ/Finders Keepers Records boss Andy Votel first surfaced in November, but there’s something timeless to it, so I’m linking to it for your damned, bloody benefit.

As with all Votel endeavors, he’s dug deep for the sublime and obscure goods and done a bang-up job explaining the circumstances behind the tracks and why they succeed at generating the desired effects; Votel’s writing and researching chops are as acute and incisive as his selecting abilities. Go read the whole thing, listen to the clips, and be scared shirtless here.

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The Tubes: Social Satire + Quasi-Porn?

David Schmader — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:30:00 -0800

(Snoqualmie Casino) For casual listeners, the Tubes are best known as the new-wave band behind the 1983 MTV hit "She's a Beauty." But for die-hard fans, the Tubes are something else entirely: a band of highly theatrical San Francisco freaks whose multimedia live shows—blending social satire with quasi-porn—remain legendary. According to online reports, the Tubes of 2013 are harking back to their roots, with a high-drama stage show lorded over by a shape-shifting Fee Waybill. At the Snoqualmie Casino!

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Welcome Back, Paul Di'Anno

Kevin Diers — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 09:27:00 -0800

(El CorazÓn) Paul Di'Anno sure has had an interesting past couple years. In February 2011, the "original voice of Iron Maiden" (aka the old guy) was convicted of eight counts of benefit fraud and sentenced to nine months in jail. Shortly after his release, a two-disc anthology of Paul Di'Anno tunes surfaced, showcasing his versions of old Megadeth, Metallica, and, of course, Iron Maiden classics. If you're more of a Bruce Dickinson fan, don't fret; local band Witchburn supply enough Southern-rock riffage to make this well worth the cover price. They're sure to be playing songs from their upcoming album, Baptized in Blood, so show up early.

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The Flaming Lips Head Up a Cover of King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King

Dave Segal — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:35:24 -0800

The Flaming Lips and some of their favorite bands have covered in its entirety King Crimson's 1969 debut LP, In the Court of the Crimson King. You can hear their attempt—retitled Playing Hide and Seek With the Ghost of Dawn—to do justice to one of the first and greatest prog-rock albums here.

It's brave to tackle such a daunting record and also benevolent of the massively popular Oklahoma band and their "heady fwends" (New Fumes, Linear Downfall, Spaceface and Stardeath and White Dwarfs) to shine a Klieg light on a cerebral masterpiece not known for its accessibility—although Kanye West sampled "21st Century Schizoid Man" on "Power." By the way, the Lips & co. do a suitably combustible version of Crimson King's most famous song.

More about the project and future Lips-curated track-by-track classic album interpretations here.

Tip: Andy Reichel

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Conny Plank Tribute Album to Drop in 2013

Dave Segal — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:22:10 -0800

The late, innovative German producer Conny Plank is the subject of a 4-CD tribute titled Who's That Man—A Tribute to Conny Plank, coming out Feb. 2013 on GrÖnland Records. A key architect of the vastly influential krautrock sound of the '70s and '80s, Plank produced works by Kraftwerk, Can, Neu!, Cluster & Eno, La DÜsseldorf, D.A.F., and many more. In addition to his wizardry behind the boards, Plank also released his own excellent, sui generis music in collaboration with Can bassist Holger Czukay (Les Vampyrettes) and with Cluster's Dieter Moebius and Guru Guru's Mani Neumeier. He famously declined to get in the studio with U2, telling Brian Eno, "I cannot work with this singer." If that ain't testament to Plank's character, I don't know what is.

According to louderthanwar.com, the very necessary Who's That Man will contain the following [complete tracklist after the jump]:

CD1 & CD2 – Compilation of 21 tracks all produced by Conny Plank, including luminaries of the 70s and 80s Krautrock scene such as Arno Steffen, Moebius, Roedelius, Michael Rother, La DÜsseldorf, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, NEU!
CD3 – A remix album. Tracks by Cluster & Brian Eno, Eurythmics, NEU! receive remix treatments by current artists such as Walls, Kreidler and Can collaborator Jens-Uwe Beyer (aka Popnoname)
CD4 – A live album taken from a live performance given in Mexico in 1986 by Conny Plank / Dieter Moebius / Arno Steffen. The three formed as ‘Trioformation’ and performed a south American our sponsored by the Goethe Institute. The show was the last taped performance of Conny before his death in ‘87.

DISC ONE

Arno Steffen - 'HÖrprobe'
Eno/MÖbius/RÖdelius - 'Broken Head'
Phew - 'Signal'
Eurythmics - 'Le Sinistre'
Michael Rother - 'Feuerland'
La DÜsseldorf - 'Silver Cloud'
Psychotic Tanks - 'Let's have a party' [rare]
MÖbius & Plank - 'Conditionierer'
MÖbius/Plank/Thompson - 'Farmer Gabriel [rare]'
MÖbius/Plank/Neumeier - 'Pitch Control'
D.A.F. - 'Alles ist Gut'
NEU! - 'Leb Wohl!'

DISC TWO

Ibliss - 'Drops'
RÖdelius - 'Regenmacher'
Streetmark - 'Eleanor Rigby'
NEU! - 'Negativland'
Psychotik Tanks - 'Security Idiots'
D.A.F. - 'Was ziehst du an'
MÖbius & Plank - 'Automatic'
Fritz MÜller - 'Fritz MÜller Traum'
Blue Point Underground - 'Conny Plank' [rare]
Konrad Plank – 'Weihnachtssong' [rare]

DISC THREE [previously unreleased material]

Cluster & Eno – Jens-Uwe Beyer remix
Le Sinistre – Kreidler remix
Broken Head – Automat remix
Cluster & Eno – Walls remix
Eurythmics - Take Me To Your Heart remix
Feuerland – Justus KÖhncke remix
NEU! – Eye remix

DISC FOUR [previously unreleased material]
MÖbius/Plank/Steffen – live in Mexico 1986

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Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire...

Bethany Jean Clement — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:37:03 -0800

...Jack Frost nipping at your nose, yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and... hey, wait—maybe we want to rethink this a little. (How about "And folks dressed in their warmest clothes"?)

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A Folk-Tastic Tribute Show

David Schmader — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:34:00 -0800

(Columbia City Theater) Originally released in 1952 and given a deluxe reissue in 1997, Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music is the history-making, humanity-enhancing cavalcade of American folk songs gathered from old 78 rpm records found all over tarnation. The whole thing's a treasure, and its best songs—"John the Revelator," "James Alley Blues," roughly two dozen others—are among the most powerful tracks ever recorded. Tonight, KEXP's Greg Vandy hosts an evening devoted to the man and his found songbook, featuring musical performances and special Smith-based animation from the amazing Drew Christie.

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The Family Stone... Minus Sly

Dave Segal — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 09:58:00 -0800

(Jazz Alley) There's something sad when phenomenal old groups try to carry on decades past their prime with only a fraction of their original membership. Tours by these acts typically bring to mind thoughts of financial desperation, diminishing skills, and concern about the players not involved. With the Family Stone, one can't help thinking of leader Sly's awful downward spiral. Of course, he's not participating in this venture. However, original trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Greg Errico, and saxophonist Jerry Martini are in the lineup, and all had a role in some of the most dynamic, exciting, funky, and soulful songs ever conceived—an ultimate black/white/male/female explosion of pop. The Family Stone's other four members may not be household names, but the strength of the catalog guarantees hot fun in the wintertime, even without his Slyness.

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All Hail John Cale

Kurt B. Reighley — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:04:00 -0800

(Showbox at the Market) Great artists aren't content to merely reproduce previous successes with minor variations. They continue forging ahead. This is why John Cale's résumé reads like an encyclopedia of modern music. The Welshman produced landmark albums for Patti Smith, the Stooges, and Nico, and has collaborated with everyone from minimalist Terry Riley to LCD Soundsystem. He recorded Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" before Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, et al. reduced it to a TV soundtrack cliché. Oh, and he was in the freaking Velvet Underground! His solo discography is ever-evolving, too—just contrast 1979's abrasive Sabotage/Live with the icy beauty of 1982's Music for a New Society. Any other 70-year-old working with Danger Mouse and experimenting with Auto-Tune vocal FX would seem a bit desperate, but Cale's new Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood, which does both, only underscores his willingness to keep taking chances. See also Underage.

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Take a Beatles Song and Make it Better

Dave Segal — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 10:17:56 -0800

(Egan's Ballard Jam House) In the '60s and early '70s, it seemed as if the music industry had mandated that every artist had to cover at least one Beatles song per album. Seattle's Overton Berry Trio performed their share of 'em, but they outdid themselves—and damn near everyone else who attempted a Fab Four tune—with "Hey Jude." OBT's instrumental version adds lovely, spiritual piano filigree courtesy of Mr. Berry, and the whole thing ascends to a "hallelujah!"-inducing level of sublimity. Of course, Overton Berry Trio is about more than just dazzling Beatles interpretations. They're also a supremely elegant soul-jazz combo that can extemporize on several musical tropes, making fluff like "Aquarius" and cuts from Jesus Christ Superstar sound substantial. Check out Light in the Attic's excellent reissue of T.O.B.E./At Seattle's Doubletree Inn for proof.

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