PUBLIC IMAGE LTD. - THE FIRST THREE LPs

PIL - Metal Box (1979)
So here are the first three of PIL's LPs, starting with there second, Metal Box, and then their third and first (Flowers of Romance and First Issue, respectively). PIL has proven to be the best belated (almost embarrassingly so) music discovery of the last year or so. It's Johnny Rotten's follow up to The Sex Pistols. I pretty much hate The Sex Pistols and I always found Johnny Rotten's relation toward his own spectacle boring and futile, so PIL was a hard sell at first. Now it's been on constant rotation for nearly two months. Very little of it could be called 'catchy'. It works through brooding, starkly repetitive rhythms, Rotten's loathing vocals, and allusive lyrical content that, without saying as much, always seems to concur with Crass on the death of punk and the absence of available alternatives. Metal Box and Flowers of Romance together make up one of my favorite post-punk efforts. I recommend starting with these in their order of apearance here, starting with Metal Box. First Issue still sounds a little like Sex Pistols 2.0, but it's still worth a listen.


PIL - Flowers of Romance (1981)


PIL - First Issue (1978)

GLENN BRANCA ENSEMBLE - SYMPHONY NO. 6 (DEVIL CHOIRS AT THE GATES OF HEAVEN)

GLENN BRANCA ENSEMBLE - SYMPHONY NO. 6 (DEVIL CHOIRS AT THE GATES OF HEAVEN)
REPOST FROM WAY BACK IN THE DAYZZ. GOOD SHITS.

BURZUM - BELUS

BURZUM - BELUS
Played at during this year's annual munching of the TURDUCKEN(OSTANT). Tracks 2, 3, 7, and 8 kill it.

DJ DIGGA - SOUNDSTORM BATTLES

DJ DIGGA - SOUNDSTORM BATTLES
Yeah, this stuff is still the jam.

R. KELLY - LOVE LETTER

R. KELLY - LOVE LETTER
New territory for the Smile. Been listening to this on repeat for the past couple hours. Has to be here. Have your doubts? Watch and learn:

GATEKEEPER - GIZA

GATEKEEPER - GIZA
More darkwave, though less horror-inspired and more industrial. Good stuff from January '11.

GATEKEEPER "Chains" from Thunder Horse Video on Vimeo.

UMBERTO - PROPHECY OF THE BLACK WIDOW

UMBERTO - PROPHECY OF THE BLACK WIDOW
Second full length from Umberto. Not quite as good all the way through as FROM THE GRAVE...but good nonetheless.

UMBERTO - FROM THE GRAVE...

UMBERTO - FROM THE GRAVE...
Like the HALLOWEEN soundtrack kicked up to 11 on the creep. It's horror-inspired darkwave (with track titles like 'Shower Scene' and 'It Came from the Swamp'). Ill.

LOVE, INC. - LIFE'S A GAS

LOVE, INC. - LIFE'S A GAS

Neon Indian / Era Extraña [2011]

Neon Indian / Era Extraña [2011]

Music From Saharan Cellphones

Music From Saharan Cellphones Vol. 1

From Saharan Cellphones Vol. 2

Soooooooooo good! Holy shit. This is right up there with Cambodia Cassette! Can't stop listening.

(Also, check out the Guardian article below)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/nov/01/music-from-saharan-cellphones-mali

Celer - Menggayakan (2011)

Celer - Menggayakan (2011)

Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage (2011)

Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage (2011)

320kpbs

M83 - HURRY UP WE'RE DREAMING (2011)

m83 - hurry up we're dreaming

The new double-album is out.

ODETTA - ODETTA LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL

ODETTA LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL
This contains the track that was featured in Ounpuu's Temptation of Saint Tony. It's called Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.

Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun- Divine Music From a Jail божественную музыку из тюрьмы

Amazing Tuvan throat singing.

Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun- Divine Music From a Jail божественную музыку из тюрьмы

(320kbps)

Aquarium Drunkard Presents :: Ghost Capital: A Mixtape

Aquarium Drunkard Presents :: Ghost Capital: A Mixtape

TIM HECKER - RAVEDEATH, 1972

TIM HECKER - RAVEDEATH, 1972
Good ambient/drone thematically created around the image of music as digital garbage, in particular, an image of a bulldozer pushing thousands of CDs and DVDs into a landfill. I don't know. Whatever.

ICEAGE - NEW BRIGADE

ICEAGE - NEW BRIGADE
There's been some internet buzz about this album since the beginning of the year and I usually don't get swept up in that shit, but I have to admit: it's been a while since I've been excited about a new punk band. That could also read: it's been a while since I've heard a punk band that isn't just rehashing shit to keep the flame alive. Leave it to some sleeper band of 19 year old kids from Denmark to pick up the slack. For all of the recognizable late-70s/early 80s Brit-punk and early hardcore elements that abound here, there's enough garage, surf, and no-wave revival shit to make it timely and keep you on your toes. If you've ever liked punk, you will like this. Even if you haven't, I could see you liking this. It's a quick 24 minutes of twelve songs charged with severe energy.

SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP - S/T

SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP - S/T
Sounds like angels being destroyed by sludgy hardcore metal.

SUN O))) - MONOLITHS AND DIMENSIONS

SUN O))) - MONOLITHS AND DIMENSIONS
If you haven't already, download it for track 3, Hunters and Gatherers, if nothing else. So good. So HEAVY. Sidenote: whenever I think of Kristeva's Black Sun, the album art here is the closest approximation to what comes to mind.

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL - BEAUTIFUL SPEC TRIUMPH

WASHED OUT - BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL - BEAUTIFUL SPEC TRIUMPH 1
WASHED OUT - BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL - BEAUTIFUL SPEC TRIUMPH 2
EPIC AMBIENT on the Joenado's recommendation (to be synced with the silent film The Last Laugh).

WASHED OUT - WITHIN & WITHOUT

WASHED OUT - WITHIN & WITHOUT
New Washed Out full length.

MÉNILMONTANT

MÉNILMONTANT 1
MÉNILMONTANT 2
MÉNILMONTANT 3
MÉNILMONTANT 4
I found this on Karagarga and just watched it and it turned out to be one of the most beautiful films I've seen. Also, I think Carax references it in Sans Titre. It's a short silent film from '26 about two émigré sisters in Paris. There are no intertitles and it needs none, as the acting is so brutally effective and the director, Dimitri Kirsanoff, employs some incredible Soviet-style montage work. BTW, this syncs really well with M83's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts if you disable tracks 1, 5, and 10. Try starting the sync after the title shot, so at 8 seconds in.

YOU SLUT! - CRITICAL MEAT

YOU SLUT! - CRITICAL MEAT
SCOTCHMATHROCKSPAZZOUTBITCHFACE
this is so three going on four years ago, but whatever

SLEEPING PEONIES - GHOSTS, AND OTHER THINGS

SLEEPING PEONIES - GHOSTS, AND OTHER THINGS
The second release of Sleeping Peonies, who plan to release another EP sometime in the next week or so.

GILES COREY S/T

GILES COREY S/T
"I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to kill myself."

From Enemies List:
"Sometime in the Spring of 2009 I tried to kill myself. Six months before that, I used a Voor’s Head Device for the first time."

This line opens the 150-page book that accompanies Giles Corey, an intensely personal, intimate portrait of depression that took me almost 4 years to make.

We've called this "acoustic music from the industrial revolution," and that's as good as anything. Dominated by the acoustic guitar, the music is a gloomy mixture of Americana influences, snippets of EVP recordings, ghostly choirs and deep, heavy organ. It ranges from very dark to triumphant, hushed quiet to crashingly loud.

The album follows a story arc of emotions that are detailed in the accompanying book, as much a part of this record as the music. The text switches between personal tales of struggles with depression, suicide, and a feeling of being lost, and the story of cult-leader and afterlife theorist Robert Voor. Voor's writings on death and the afterlife feature prominently across HAVE A NICE LIFE's "Deathconsciousness," Nahvalr's self-titled debut, and Giles Corey, making him the unifying factor behind most of the music I've written in the last 10 years.

This record is as personal and raw as anything I've ever done. Thank you for your interest.

MAMALEEK - KURDAITCHA

MAMALEEK - KURDAITCHA
i'm feeling too much like shit to write anything cogent about this album. just three things then to get you to listen: it's black metal; they stray from the blast beats and get into all sorts of other shit without being any less metal for it. this was released on enemies list. there.

PICTUREPLANE - THEE PHYSICAL

PICTUREPLANE - THEE PHYSICAL
On TK's recommendation. Trancey electro-clash stuff from Denver.

WAYNE SHORTER - SCHIZOPHRENIA

Wayne Shorter - Schizophrenia
This is probably my favorite Wayne Shorter album. It's sick post-bop from '67. 256 kbps.

Personnel:
Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone
Curtis Fuller – trombone
James Spaulding – flute, alto saxophone
Herbie Hancock – piano
Ron Carter – bass
Joe Chambers – drums

WOODY GUTHRIE - BALLADS OF SACCO & VANZETTI

Woody Guthrie - Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti

Woody Guthrie's songs about Ferdinando Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two anarchist labor organizers assassinated by the state of Massachusetts.

From the label: Woody Guthrie was one of the twentieth century's greatest poets and songwriters, and his songs about Sacco and Vanzetti include some of his best songs. The murder trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was one of this century's most controversial. Sacco and Vanzetti's story was dramatic; their front-page trial was filled with dubious procedures; and the years of appeals and their eventual execution led to protests around the world. These songs, written and recorded nearly twenty years later, have been carefully remastered from the original acetate discs and are presented with a previously unpublished letter by Guthrie to the judge in the case. Produced by Moses Asch. Reissue compiled by Anthony Seeger and Jeff Place.

PARIS - GUERILLA FUNK

Paris - Guerilla Funk
One of the best militant pro-black rappers of the 90s appropriates g-funk for his third album (1994).

GRASS WIDOW - PAST TIME (2010)

mp3 VBR 201-249kbps
Grass Widow - Past time (2010)


For the coming of warm weather. Indie/surf/pop...some of it is instrumental, some has vocals. Stop eating boring tuna. Stop having a boring life.

DAF - ALLES IST GUT

DAF - ALLES IST GUT

JUSTICE - PLANISHPERE EP

Justice - Planisphere EP
Planisphere, mechanosphere.

PROPAGANDHI - RECOVERED EP (2010)

Propagandhi - The Recovered EP (2010)
mp3 V0
Booklet


Three songs that Chris Hannah recovered from old 2 inch reels from the early recordings, but which were never released. They've been re-mixed. I've also upped the artwork for the EP which tells the story.

I'm quite happy to hear this version of "gamble", as there was only ever a live recording of them covering it until now.

Tracks:
1.What Price Will You Pay?
2.Leg-Hold Trap
3.Gamble

"The chance is just as fat as a union bureaucrat
That the life you wanna live ain’t the one you’re looking at
There’s more risk in a brain-cell
Than any Vegas hotel
When you can’t find the pit boss, anywhere"

PROPAGANDHI / SACRIFICE SPLIT 7" (2010)

Propagandhi Sacrifice Split 7 inch
mp3 V0

Copied from elsewhere:
"MB's War On Music issues a split single from two of Canada's greatest, yet most underrated, acts: thrash metal gurus Sacrifice and politi-punks Propagandhi. Opting for something slightly different, each band cover one track from their personal heroes. Sacrifice strip Rush's "Anthem" down to its bones, rebuilding it with tenacity, bile and grit. Venturing into darker territory, Propagandhi tackle "Technocracy," from hardcore punks Corrosion of Conformity's 1987 EP of the same name. While a bit more straightforward, adhering more to the original version, "Technocracy" is no less vicious than its vinyl partner, creating the extreme music equivalent of peanut butter and chocolate: a compelling blend of overt metal and ripping hardcore. Both songs are delivered with the severity, passion and inherent originality that make these bands great.[exclaim]"

BIG BUSINESS - HERE COME THE WATERWORKS (2007)

Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks

..."Scream bloody murder, the mountains are listening
Huntress has left you for dead, bloody
How can you sleep when you can't pull the teeth from your eyes"

While I like the 2009 follow up "Mind the Drift", I think this one is clearly their best album. Huge sound, sick heavy riffs, addictive melodies.

KARP

Karp - Mustaches Wild (1994)


Karp - Suplex (1995)



Karp - Self-Titled LP (1997)

Heavy-fuzzed-out thrash rock from the 90's pacific northwest (washington). Precursors to Big Business, but more raw and angry, and metal-influenced here, while still pulling from the Melvins and the 90's grunge feel where necessary. This shit sounds HUGE, without ever feeling overproduced. Play it loud.

From wiki:
Karp was a rock band from Tumwater, Washington, that formed in 1990 and lasted until 1998. ... They released three full length albums entitled Mustaches Wild, Suplex, and Self Titled LP... Their recordings were released by several Northwest-related labels such as K Records, Kill Rock Stars, and Punk In My Vitamins. Karp managed to mix the terror of hardcore, The Melvins, and Black Sabbath with an ear for pop-influenced song assembly. The band name is inspired from a newsletter/zine that Chris Smith put out in highschool and is an acronym that stands for "Kill All Redneck Pricks". Members went on to play with Tight Bros from Way Back When, The Whip, Dead Air Fresheners, and Big Business (currently playing with The Melvins).

While they're all good, I'm rocking the '97 record the most right now.

BLACK COBRA

Black Cobra - Bestial (2006)


Black Cobra - Chronomega (2009)

HOLY FUCKING SHIT SO HEAVY
as one user comment put it: "better than killing a clown with a cookie sheet"

Black Cobra is a two-piece from California. Heavy doomy bass and wicked riffing that will make your brain melt.

Demdike Stare - Tryptych

Demdike Stare - Tryptych

Demdike Stare - Symbosis

Demdike Stare - Symbiosis

From Allmusic.com (because I am feeling lazy): "The project's name is an extension of Whittaker's main act, Pendle Coven, which is named for the infamous 1612 witch trials centered around Pendle Hill in Lancashire. Elizabeth Southerns, better known as Demdike, was one of the central defendants in the case; she herself died while awaiting trial for witchcraft, but ten people, including several members of her family, were eventually hanged. It follows that the duo's music should be suitably creepy, and it is; Demdike Stare's haunting soundscapes, rooted in dub and the stark minimalism of techno, are infused with exotic rhythms and samples, and at times have a disturbingly otherworldly quality, as though transmitted from the other side" – In short, polyrythms, occasional syncopation, vaguely middle-eastern melodies and rhythms + icy drones foreboding whispers and rumbling, textured basses.

I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE: MISSISSIPPI RECORDS COMPILATION 1927 - 1948

I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE: MISSISSIPPI RECORDS COMPILATION 1927 - 1948
Best summed up by the label itself: "This compilation is our tribute to the music made in the U.S. between 1927 and 1948. We decided not only to focus on traditional genres (blues, old-time, Cajun), but to also show the music that was brought by the boatloads of immigrants coming to these shores. Their music influenced and still affects our culture today. The album starts off with a heavenly example of Greek rebetica from Marika Papagika. Also featured is early Tex-Mex pioneer Lydia Mendoza and gospel duo Two Gospel Keys. The latter gives us our title track. Louisiana Cajun music is beautifully executed by artists Cleoma Falcon and Blind Uncle Gaspard with Dela Lachney. The Blue Sky Boys may be considered old-time, but their haunting, melancholic harmonies belong in their own genre. The Caresser and Wilmouth Houdini bring on the Calypso with that New York jazz flavor. Hawaiian slack key guitar is demonstrated by Mike Hanapi's Ilima Islanders and Mme. Riviere's Hawaiians. Aside from Calypso, NY was also a big hub for Jewish klezmer, as shown by Jacob Hoffman playing with Henry Kandel's Orchestra. Sexteto Bolona is a great example of the roots of salsa and there's even a mystery track by an unknown Indonesian folk singer of the time. The comp ends with blues performer Big Boy Cleveland with his oddly original 'Quill Blues.' A beautiful record from beginning to end."

WOODY GUTHRIE - THE ASCH RECORDINGS, VOLUMES 1 - 4

From Wiki: Recorded in 1944 and 1945, The Asch Recordings are possibly Woody Guthrie's most famous recordings, conducted over a series of days by Moses "Moe" Asch in New York City. The songs recorded by Asch comprise the bulk of Guthrie's original material and several traditional songs. They were issued on a variety of labels over the years since under the labels Asch, Asch-Stinson, Asch-Signature-Stinson, Disc, Folkways and Verve/Folkways. The tracks for Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads, Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child and Nursery Days were from this session.

Asch Recordings Vol. 1: This Land Is Your Land

Asch Recordings Vol. 2: Muleskinner Blues

Asch Recordings Vol. 3: Hard Travelin'

Asch Recordings Vol. 4: Buffalo Skinners