Patsy Cline - Showcase

Cline's strong, beautiful voice feels its way through this collection of love songs. Her performance is very strong, if unmatched, on stirring ballads like "I Fall to Pieces" and Willie Nelson's "Crazy" (perhaps the definitive rendition), as well as lighter tunes like "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)" and Bob Wills' "San Antonio Rose". The backing vocals of The Jordanaires are ever-presented here, but rarely in a lucid way; they serve to lift Cline on their smooth vocal wings. 

A1. I Fall To Pieces
A2. Foolin' 'Round
A3. The Wayward Wind
A4. South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way)
A5. I Love You So Much It Hurts
A6. Seven Lonely Days
B1. Crazy
B2. San Antonio Rose
B3. True Love
B4. Walkin' After Midnight
B5. A Poor Man's Roses (Or A Rich Man's Gold)
B6. Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)

mp3/320kbps

Pain Jerk - Mission Invisible

A more recent release from the still very active Kohei Gomi (I count nine releases of live, new and unreleased material last year alone), this CD on Dominick Fernow's Hospital Productions is a recording from 1997, apparently envisioned by Relapse Records' Bill Yurkiewicz. This is one of the foremost talents of japanoise in his prime, playing electronics entirely live (the liner notes make a point of stating: "Completely No Overdub and No Edit").

1. Plug-In
2. Blue Damon
3. Technocrat-Outsider
4. Uncle Scum
5. Plug-Out

mp3/320kbps

Evil Moisture & Macronympha - The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other

Collaborative release on Ron Lessards' Pure series from RRRecords. Frenchman Andy Bolus (as Evil Mointure) joins yankee veterans Macronympha in a cavalcade of short attention span, high attack noise. Particularly good fun are the sick, dadaist track titles.

1. Junk Dissection
2. Deported Women Of The Suction Socket Special Section
3. Fucking Melted Like Mozzarella Cheese!
4. Anal Arsehol
5. Yokohama Pussy Half
6. Left Brain Lubricant
7. Evil Flower
8. Pittsburgh Capillary Action
9. Bad Drugs From Hell
10. Transsexual BBQ Holocaust
11. Acoustic Output From Driver Unit Used As Output For Inner Ear
12. Seismic Enlarger
13. Involuntary Regurgitation
14. The Chains Rattled In Time To The Ever Sharper Tempo Of Tanya's Lashings While The Once Arrogant Cynthia Offered Up Every Inducement Her Mind Could Devise To Win Her Repreive
15. Peak Exploration
16. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 1
17. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 2
18. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 3
19. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 4
20. The Tentacles Of The Octopus Sometimes Compete Against Each Other 5

mp3/192kbps

Richard Ramirez - Memorial

A CD release from harsh noise titan Richard Ramirez on the German noise/industrial/P.E. label Praxis Dr. Bearmann. The work is dedicated to Kevin Ogg, seemingly a friend Ramirez's who had passed away in 1996, just over a year prior to the release of this album. The noise here is frustrated, menacing and direct. You can feel in the title "How to Direct Your Anger", as well as in your gut as you listen, the frustration that is connected in the artist's mind with bereavement. 

1. Metal
2. Open It
3. How To Direct Your Anger

mp3/320kbps

Charles Mingus - Mingus Plays Piano

Charles Mingus' first (and as far as I am aware, only) foray into solo piano playing on record. Audibly this is not his main instrument, but the playing here is highly intimate and personal—as if we hear the bassist talking to and analysing himself, picking through past experiences, joys and woes. As the liner notes state, a style that "expresses the more gentle, the more reflective and the more innocent elements of his personality." From the first piece, "Myself When I Am Real", we are immediately struck with the sensation of being privy to a private world, perhaps what friends' might have heard in the course of a late night spent at Mingus' home. "It's not like playing at home by yourself!", he exclaims between songs, trying to get comfortable. As we progress, though, the playing is as effortless as anything we might imagine; the overwhelming love of standards and the roots of the musical tradition he became such an integral part of is beaming through.

1. Myself When I Am Real
2. I Can't Get Started
3. Body And Soul
4. Roland Kirk's Message
5. Memories Of You
6. She's Just Miss Popular Hybrid
7. Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress; Then Silk Blues
8. Meditations For Moses
9. Old Portrait
10. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
11. Compositional Theme Story: Medleys, Anthems And Folklore

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Tibetan Ritual Music Chanted and Played by Lamas and Monks

Recorded in 1961, and free from the trite commercial new age trappings that tended to replace serious ethnographic study in the decades that followed, this is an excellent example of Tibetan monks chanting in situ, rather than in a studio setting (selling "world peace meditations" to spiritually confused westerners). Naturally, we prefer to be a fly on the wall. Lyrichord is an American label responsible for this and many other good "world" and ethnic music releases in the 20th century.

A1. Offering To The Savior Gompo
A2. Invocation Of Gompo
A3. A Buddha Prayer
B1. Offering To The Guru Drakmar
B2. Glorification Of The Past Buddha

mp3/320kbps

Zabelle Panosia - I Am Servant Of Your Voice: April-May, 1917

A voice of stunning fragility. There is a transcendent simplicity to these early recordings that one can only hear in music from this era—comparisons could be drawn with Caruso, or Gina Cigna's staggering 1937 Turandot performance, but even these fall short of the mark. Some songs ("Der Getso") have a familiar western sound, like operatic arias, while others ("Groung", in particular) are entirely foreign to our ears, possessing a warmth and intimacy that seems impossible unless we allow ourselves to believe it. The overwhelming impression is that what we hear here, in an era of so many distractions, is something gone from the world. Such humility, such talent, such understated brilliance and purity of expression seems to only be narrowly approachable in these fallen years.

1. Groung (Earlier Take)
2. In Sireli Zavagounks (Earlier Take)
3. Der Getso
4. Mir Khor Babge Kerezman
5. Caroun
6. Tzain Dour Ov Dzovag
7. In Sireli Zavagounks (Later Take)
8. Groung (Later Take)

mp3/320kbps

Vern Gosdin - Chiseled In Stone

Country powerhouse Vern Gosdin excels here with a cast iron set of heart-rending ballads and thoughtful, sensitive story-songs. The late singer was a big, wholesome man with the heart to match. A man with the power to make you tap your foot or hang your head as he saw fit. All this, and what an album cover—it hollers artistic confidence and self respect.

A1. Do You Believe Me Now
A2. Tight As Twin Fiddles
A3. Is It Raining At Your House
A4. Set 'Em Up Joe
A5. There Ain't Nothing Wrong (Just Ain't Nothing Right)
B1. Chiseled In Stone
B2. Who You Gonna Blame It On This Time
B3. It's Not Over, Yet
B4. Nobody Calls From Vegas Just To Say Hello
B5. I Guess I Had Your Leavin' Coming

mp3/256kbps

Tom Waits - Bone Machine

One of Tom Waits' finest moments. These are songs of death, hardship and intense spiritual struggle. Waits plays out sepia-toned mysteries and tragedies, his characters ranging from the bare-chested outlaw ("Goin' Out West"), to the lonely outcast ("Whistle Down The Wind"), to the innocent child ("I Don't Wanna Grow Up"), to the mysterious, omniscient narrator ("Murder in the Red Barn"). Musically, Waits' vocal performance is as incredible as his arrangements: endlessly varied (almost with each different character), wild and robust. The cantankerous blues shuffling blueprinted with Waits' reinvention of himself on "Frank's Wild Years" is intensified here ("All Stripped Down" you could say—one of the best examples of this), and the heartfelt, boozy ballads that serve as the antidote are just as loose and wild, and the emotional potency is two hundred proof. Waits, now sober, can still inhabit a character at the bottom of a bottle ("except for drinkin', but I knew that I would...").

1. Earth Died Screaming
2. Dirt In The Ground
3. Such A Scream
4. All Stripped Down
5. Who Are You
6. The Ocean Doesn't Want Me
7. Jesus Gonna Be Here
8. A Little Rain (For Clyde)
9. In The Colosseum
10. Goin' Out West
11. Murder In The Red Barn
12. Black Wings
13. Whistle Down The Wind (For Tom Jans)
14. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
15. Let Me Get Up On It
16. That Feel

mp3/320kbps

Sick Llama - Horrible

CDr release from Keith Moerland on his own Fag Tapes label. This is a subtle, slow release, with creeping and threatening sounds developing into low, ominous waves of deep static by the end of the tape. Lives up to its title and cover in creating a twisted, seedy B-movie atmosphere. One of two releases with this title, one CDr and one cassette (if anyone finds a rip of the other get in touch!).

1. Untitled
2. Untitled
3. Untitled
4. Untitled

mp3/320kbps

Carlos Giffoni - Vain

An interesting effort from the Venezuelan-born noise musician. This release fits a trend that sees artists moving from the harsh noise underground into a more acceptable sonic sphere: Dominick Fernow, Jon Borges, Loke Rabek, to name a few others. While we can lament the loss of these voices in the harsh noise scene they do often prove to be very talented in making lighter electronic music, and this is in evidence here. Giffoni drifts through modulating, melodic synths, thudding 4/4 drum beats and intricate synthesised chirps and whistles. The artwork is cheesy, but intriguing enough to match the playful, mysterious atmosphere Giffoni creates.

A1. Vain's Face
A2. The Desert
A3. Erase The World
A4. Hands
A5. We Pay The Price
B1. Stop Breathing
B2. Faith And Pain
B3. I Can Change
B4. Sun Rain

mp3/v0

Pain Jerk - Cacophony Of A Thousand Pleasures

Three cassette, two hour tour de force from Kōhei Gomi. An orgiastic hellscape of twisted screams, belting, scraping static and overall a captivating, stimulating noise release. Side B features a fierce vocal performance from Incapacitants' Fumio Kosakai.

A1. Waltz Back
A2. Tick Tack Tumor
B. Anti-Treatment Front
C1. Disco Dance Macabre
C2. Animaterial
D. EEG ECG
E. A Wheel Track On Face
F1. Animaterial 2
F2. Fight Back

mp3/224kbps

Spykes - Schizo Style

One of many projects from Wolf Eyes' John Olson. The sounds here dart back and forth, looping and taunting at a frenetic pace. Appropriate to the title. Artwork is by the always lovely The Walking Body Bag. Something fun and different.

A. Schizo One
B. Schizo Two

mp3/192kbps

Sun Ra - Lanquidity

Stands alone in the vast discography of Sun Ra. Plodding, fuzzy bass lines give passage to an intense, swirling and intoxicated atmosphere. The music here has almost perceptible colour, and truly seems to direct the listener towards (and perhaps into) another plane. It is easy to become lost in the lanquidity. Richard Williams' bass and Eddie Gales' trumpet are exceptional here, as are Dale Williams' guitar and, as ever, John Gilmore's tenor saxophone. Ra himself, flirting sensuously with tonality, shows us the transportive powers of his synthesiser. "They wish to speak you..."

A1. Lanquidity
A2. Where Pathways Meet
A3. That's How I Feel
B1. Twin Stars Of Thence
B2. There Are Other Worlds (They Have No Told You Of)

flac/24-bit

Yazoo - Alabama Blues, 1927-1931

An excellent early compilation of Alabama bluesmen from the unrivaled Yazoo label. The bulk of the albums tracks are the work of Clifford Gibson and Edward Thompson, who both have unique styles and some staggeringly enjoyable songs. Gibson, in particular, was unique as a musician. The liner notes state: "the semi-improvisatory [sic] nature of his guitars licks makes his style, like Blind Lemon Jefferson's, somewhat inimitable" and that "all of Gibson's solos featured instrumental breaks which were, more often than not, absent from other country blues." Musically, Thompson is just as interesting: "all of [his] blues are in the key of E, he avoids monotony by changing his vocal delivery from piece to piece, as Blind Lemon Jefferson did." Certainly a case emerges for the depth of Jefferson's effortless talents, though each musician (as well as others featured) is very much his own man. Other notable highlights are Ed Bell's guitar work on "Mean Conductor Blues", which chimes with locomotive regularity under Bell's expressive vocal, and Marshall Owens' "Try Me One More Time"—a truly exception song that speaks for itself.

A1. Barefoot Bill - Snigglin' Blues
A2. Clifford Gibson - Don't Put That Thing On Me
A3. Jay Bird Coleman - Coffee Grinder Blues
A4. Edward Thompson - Seven Sister Blues
A5. Ed Bell - Mean Conductor Blues
A6. Clifford Gibson - Tired Of Being Mistreated, Pt. 2
A7. Edward Thompson - Florida Bound
B1. Clifford Gibson - Keep Your Windows Pinned
B2. Edward Thompson - West Virginia Blues
B3. Clifford Gibson - Whiskey Moan Blues
B4. Edward Thompson - Showers Of Rain Blues
B5. Marshall Owens - Try Me One More Time
B6. Marshall Owens - Texas Blues
B7. George "Bullet" Williams - The Escaped Convict

mp3/320kbps

Blind Lemon Jefferson - King Of The Country Blues

Presented by the Yazoo label as an "in-depth documentary" of the great blues singer. The effect of this compilation of single sides on the imagination proves this accurate: very similar to reading Xenophon or Homer; while we visualise how radically different the world of the author may have been, we are struck with the overwhelming human immediacy of the works, which baffle us with ascendant simplicity, truth and pain ("the blues ain't nothin' but a good woman on your mind"). Jefferson's cousin said of him: "They were rough. Men were hustling women and selling bootleg and Lemon was singing for them all night... he'd start singing about eight and go on until four in the morning... mostly it would be just him sitting there and playing and singing all night." Jefferson would serenade criminals, bootleggers, hard drinking, near down-and-out men. The powerful dread of these songs is combined with the feeling of living life in spite of these circumstances: pain shared is some antidote to pain felt, and from death ("See That My Grave is Kept Clean"), to heartbreak ("Easy Rider Blues"), to alcoholism ("Broke and Hungry"), there is pain a-plenty on show here. 

1. That Crawlin' Baby Blues
2. Bad Luck Blues
3. Matchbox Blues
4. Hot Dogs
5. One Dime Blues
6. Shuckin' Sugar
7. Rabbit Foot Blues
8. Corrina Blues
9. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
10. Easy Rider Blues
11. Broke And Hungry
12. Black Horse Blues
13. Lonesome House Blues
14. Oil Well Blues
15. He Arose From The Dead
16. Beggin' Back
17. Prison Cell Blues
18. Rambler Blues
19. Gone Dead On You Blues
20. Wartime Blues
21. Booger Rooger Blues
22. Right Of Way Blues
23. Big Night Blues

mp3/320kbps

Bob Dylan - Tempest

Tempest is Dylan's latest collection of original material to date, and is a peak in his later career. The casual, jangling blues style underwriting Dylan's cool, wisened tenor is at its finest here. We climb into Dylan's semi-fictional mind world, inhabited by surly sinister characters ("I've been down and around, with the rowdy men", "Two-timin' Slim, who's ever heard of him?") and never ending encounters with transient heartbreaking women ("I could stone you death, for the wrongs that you done", "I ain't afraid to make love to a bitch or a hag"). Dylan long ago shed the lofty expectations certain elements held of him after his early career; there is a sense of relief and freedom here. The title track is a long, mesmerising account of the sinking of that ship; time slips away as we listen and feel for Dylan's various characters, who pass away in rhyme and in reality with the closing of the song. One thinks of Woody Guthrie's "1913 Blues", which surely had a profound effect on the formative Dylan. "Murder Most Foul", released yesterday, builds on foundations laid here: an extended, dream-like exegesis of an historical event. From his juvenile years this has been a singular talent of Dylan's, building into his own legend the dream-reality of American myth.

1. Duquesne Whistle
2. Soon After Midnight
3. Narrow Way
4. Long And Wasted Years
5. Pay In Blood
6. Scarlet Town
7. Early Roman Kings
8. Tin Angel
9. Tempest
10. Roll On John

flac, 16-bit

Charles Mingus - Right Now: Live At The Jazz Workshop

Recorded in an important year in Mingus's musical career and life. It was in 1964 that Mingus would embark on a famed European tour, meet his wife, and lose one of his closest musical partners and personal friends in Eric Dolphy. This was recorded in San Francisco in early June of that year, presumably upon returning from Europe. Dolphy elected to stay in Europe, and would die tragically from complications relating to his diabetes at the end of this same month. The energy from the tour is very present here in Mingus's manic scat singing ("more! more!" he shouts to John Handy), and particularly in the interplay with him and drummer Dannie Richmond (who was to Mingus what John Gilmore was to Sun Ra). Handy, who was not part of the sextet that cut a triumphal path through the European continent, is featured alongside Clifford Jordan on the A side ("New Fables", a variation on Mingus's "Fables of Faubus" which at times strongly recalls "Tijuana Moods"), while Jordan takes the horn helm on the B side. The pianist's chair here is filled by Jane Getz, who, while energetic, is quite reserved and sober in interesting contrast to the untamed and eclectic energy of Jaki Byard. 

Performers: Charles Mingus (bs), John Handy (a-sx), Clifford Jordan (t-sx), Jane Getz (pi), Dannie Richmond (dr)

A. New Fables
B. Meditation (For A Pair Of Wire Cutters)

flac, 16-bit

Kevin Drumm & Jason Lescalleet - The Abyss

This is the first of two collaborative albums on Erstwhile by the US sound artists (2015's Busman's Holiday can be found below). The first half of the first disc is a malaise of threatening, abrasive drones, audio cut ups and vocal samples; this drops in to a low, cavernous drone on "The Abyss" which ascends slowly into warm tones, like crystalline light appearing in the dark. "The Echo of Your Past", which makes up the second disc in its entirety, lifts us out of the cavern and presents familiar sounds: crickets chirping, birds calling, planes overhead, then draws us through a slow crescendo of illuminating drones.

1.1. Dawn
1.2. Anger Alert
1.3. Flaws Played Thawed And Flayed
1.4. Abuse
1.5. Boatswain's Call
1.6. Outside Now
1.7. The Abyss

2.1. The Echo Of Your Past

flac/16-bit

Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge - Full Moon

The first of three albums released as a couple (essentially spanning the length of their marriage—they married in 1973 and divorced in 1980), this is a fine and tender collection of love songs. Kristofferson and Coolidge duet on some songs and take solos on others, and the overall feeling is intimate, relaxed and bohemian while maintaining something of a country twang. Highlights are a duet rendition of Kristofferson's "From the Bottle to the Bottom" and a cover of Bobby Charles' languid ballad "Tennessee Blues".

A1. Hard To Be Friends
A2. It's Over (All Over Again)
A3. I Never Had It So Good
A4. From The Bottle To The Bottom
A5. Take Time To Love
A6. Tennessee Blues
B1. Part Of Your Life
B2. I'm Down (But I Keep Falling)
B3. I Heard The Bluebirds Sing
B4. After The Fact
B5. Loving Arms
B6. A Song I'd Like To Sing

mp3/320kbps

David Allan Coe - Underground Album

Of course one of Coe's most controversial releases, this album (for fairly obvious reasons) was sold only at shows or through mail order via Coe's own D.A.C. label. Happily though, this is not just an exercise in cheap shock value. The musicianship is tight, Coe is on form if sounding a little strung out (one wouldn't expect a clean and sober man to be writing these songs anyway, who cares), and songs like "Nigger Fucker", "One More Time", "Little Susie Shallow Throat" and "Fuckin' in the Butt" are genuinely hilarious. More than anything, the sense of fun and endless good times pervades.

A1. Rock And Roll Fever
A2. Panheads Forever
A3. Nigger Fucker
A4. Coffee
A5. One Monkey
B1. One More Time
B2. Little Susie Shallow Throat
B3. Pick 'Em, Lick 'Em, Stick 'Em
B4. Don't Bite The Dick
B5. Fuckin' In The Butt

flac/16-bit

Merle Haggard - Sing Me Back Home

In all senses a complete album, not just a collection to support a hit, Sing Me Back Home is one of the finest from the late singer. The title track was written for a friend of Haggard's on death row at San Quentin: "Even though the crime was brutal and the guy was an incorrigible criminal, it's a feeling you never forget when you see someone you know make that last walk. They bring him through the yard, and there's a guard in front and a guard behind - that's how you know a death prisoner. They brought Rabbit out... taking him to see the Father,... prior to his execution. That was a strong picture that was left in my mind." The themes are, of course, very familiar: boozing and heartbreak. But Haggard's voice soars above, confident in its sorrow and as comforting as the wine he sings of. The sentiments of songs like Wine Take Me Away, Where Does the Good Times Go, I'll Leave the Bottle on the Bar and My Past is Present—not just the melodies—stay in the head for days after listening.

A1. Sing Me Back Home
A2. Look Over Me
A3. The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp
A4. Wine Take Me Away
A5. If You See My Baby
A6. Where Does The Good Times Go
B1. I'll Leave The Bottle On The Bar
B2. My Past Is Present
B3. Home Is Where A Kid Grows Up
B4. Mom And Dad's Waltz
B5. Good Times
B6. Seeing Eye Dog

mp3/320kbps

Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.

Possibly the greatest country album of the 1980s, Yoakam's debut has a sleak, urban sound carried by his seamless lead vocals. Yoakam certainly has as much in personality singing classics like Honky Tonk Man, Ring of Fire and Heartaches by the Number as he does his own originals, and the two blend very well together to the point the untrained ear couldn't easily tell them a part. Yoakam is skilled at painting himself as the lead man in the picturebook misfortunes of his fast life, and Guitars, Cadillacs... is the beginning of a great discography and a gripping American saga.  

1. Honky Tonk Man
2. It Won't Hurt
3. I'll Be Gone
4. South Of Cincinnati
5. Bury Me
6. Guitars, Cadillacs
7. Twenty Years
8. Ring Of Fire
9. Miner's Prayer
10. Heartaches By The Number

mp3/320kbps

David Allan Coe - The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy

"Anyone that would look at me and say I was a racist would have to be out of their mind. I have dreadlocks down to my waist with earrings in both ears and my beard is down to my waist and it is in braids... I was in prison with 87% black people and I hung around with black people and learned to sing music with black people. It was ironic that in prison the white guys called me a 'nigger lover' and now I write the word 'nigger' in a song and I am all of a sudden a racist. It is pretty ironic." Country firebrand Coe apparently no longer owns the rights to these songs: they were sold in a bankruptcy auction without his knowledge. Nevertheless, they are a stunning example of mid-seventies outlaw country music. The arrangements are tight and varied and Coe's vocals are crystal clear, matched by his mournful, if eclectic, storytelling. Coe spoke of his fondness for Kris Kristofferson, and this is definitely apparently in the tone of his lyrics, and in his vocal style on tracks like "Atlanta Song".

A1. A Sad Country Song
A2. Crazy Mary
A3. River
A4. The 33rd Of August
A5. Bossier City
A6. Atlanta Song
B1. Old Man Tell Me
B2. Desperados Waiting For The Train
B3. I Still Sing The Old Songs
B4. The Old Grey Goose Is Dead

flac/16-bit

Hank Mobley - Workout

One of the high water marks of mid-50s early 60s hard bop. The mood here is beyond casual and effortless, with the sense of calm exertion the title suggests. The rhythm section of Kelly, Chambers and Jones is, of course, an historic combination, and as well as Mobley on top form (unhampered by the lung problems that sadly would affect his musical career significantly within a decade), you have Grant Green displaying meaty, ground chops that show him very much in his element, reaching stunning peaks and avoiding the showboating that could sometimes hamper his performance as a sideman.

Performers: Hank Mobley (t-sx), Grant Green (gt), Wynton Kelly (pi), Paul Chambers (bs), Philly Joe Jones (dr)

A1. Workout
A2. Uh-Huh
B1. Smokin'
B2. The Best Things In Life Are Free
B3. Greasin' Easy

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