CURRENT 93 / Horsey (1997)

An album that brings together many of the facets that C93 have explored over the years since their conception: the experimental, the acoustic, the abrasive industrial guitar drone, the neo-folk pastoralism, beauty and horror, and Tibet's unique, esoteric poetics that are delivered like some kind of informed, unconscious voice that guides the listener through a chaotic dream state. If you've ever had a dream spiral out of control, you'll understand what I mean.

Note: four of the six tracks on offer were originally released on a triple album (split release with Sol Invictus and NWW) that was limited to just 2000 copies. The two additional tracks are live recordings.

Songs of Note: The Death of the Corn; The Tree

4 breaking sounds out of 5

NURSE WITH WOUND / The Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion (1985)

Neither Sylvie, Babs nor Murray Fontana are on the album; nor any of the songs advertised on the front. It's NWW taking the joke contained within and extending it to the packaging. Stapleton has been quoted as saying he wanted to make a record "that was stolen from other people's records," so he did. He does the same thing with stolen clips that he usually does with his own; i.e. create a collage of sound that's neither music nor non-music, but something in-between.
Many of the sounds are culled from easy listening records from the 50s and 60s, interspersed with snippets of dialogue and various man-made sounds.
NWW albums always ride a fine line between irritating and art; Sylvie and Babs veers into the irritating more than usual, in my opinion.

Songs of Note: You Walrus Hurt the One You Love; Great Balls of Fur

1½ warning shots out of 5

ANNIHILATOR / Alice in Hell (1989)

Amid the usual odes to death and wickedness that make up many thrash albums, Annihilator's début included songs about the crippling nature of childhood fears, self-destructive adult obsessions, clinical insanity and a song inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. It's fast, technical thrash with breaks and riffs that should please fans of the genre. There are a couple of filler tracks that stop it achieving a perfect score but even they entertain after a few quality beers. And how could you not love a band with a gruff vocalist named Randy Rampage?

Songs of Note: Crystal Ann; Alison Hell

4 salads out of 5

JELLYFISH / Spilt Milk (1993)

The sound on Jellyfish's second album is a lot fuller than on their previous release. The band filled the spaces in their songs with so much dreamy, melodic Pop that it threatens to turn your ears to candy. It's one of the reasons I prefer the début album. I liked the spaces. There's almost too much going on here. The regular shift from Pop assault to saccharine lullabies is a jarring experience on first listen, but after a while it becomes easier to pick out the good bits, which is about 90% of it. If the Beach Boys joined a circus band, they might sound something like Spilt Milk.

Songs of Note: The Ghost at Number One; All is Forgiven

4 hand shandies out of 5

YEAH YEAH YEAHS / Mosquito [2013]

Post-punk dance act Yeah Yeah Yeahs' fourth album, 2013's Mosquito pushes the electronic textures into the background and brings out the standard guitar & drums, without sacrificing the dancefloor catchiness they're known for.
The songs teeter between frantically captivating to sublimely off-beat with some tracks being the best the group have ever penned to some of the least interesting they've ever mustered up.  I respect that Karen O & teh boys have stuck to their roots, unlike some of their peers in the genre but Mosquito is simply a mixed bag of quality that could have used just a bit more time to fine-tune the weaker areas.

3 percussive railroad tracks out of 5

Songs Of Note: Sacrilege; Buried Alive [feat. Dr. Octagon]

DAVID GILMOUR / David Gilmour [1978]

After dealing with the nightmare that was Roger Waters & Pink Floyd's Animals, guitarist David Gilmour stepped away to release his first solo album in 1978.
The self-titled effort is a bluesy straight-up prog-rock album without all the sound effects & cold disant emotions of the Floyd of that time.  In fact it's more of a melancholy album, filled with notions of loneliness, exhaustion and questions of one's own worth.  He's never been the imaginative one in Floyd and that lack of sticks out like a sore thumb here.  There's nothing really too special on the table but Gilmour's ear for beauty and his soothing voice is what carries the whole record which is something Waters' solo efforts are missing.

3 Joker's Wild reunions out of 5

Songs Of Note: Cry From The Street;  Short And Sweet

MIKE PATTON & VARIOUS ARTISTS / The Place Beyond The Pines: Music From The Motion Picture [2013]

Being a celebrated vocalist in a number of outlandish music projects it's interesting that Mike Patton would choose to score voiceless film scores.
With 2013's crime drama The Place Beyond The Pines being his 3rd feature length score it's even more interesting seeing as the film is so low-key, Patton's usual aggressive and flamboyant sound is nowhere to be heard.  Instead we're treated to a non-conventional film score that's eerily seductive and melancholy which perfectly reflects the lonely images it's meant to compliment.  Layered with Morricone-esque guitar twangs, haunting piano stings, a sampled choir, icy string arrangements and intimidating percussion work, Patton works with a compelling and creative palate of sounds to conjure up an impending sense of doom and mystery.

4 sharpened teardrops out of 5

Songs Of Note: The Snow Angel; Handsome Luke

AMORPHIS / Circle [2013]

11 albums in to their career, Finnish metal band Amorphis finally drop the Kalevala folktale concept in their lyrics and run with an original story on 2013's Circle.
It's a beautifully polished album with keyboards pushed into the background making for a fully fleshed out guitar & bass sound to add an extra woompht (that's the technical term for all your musicians).  It's not nearly as experimental as their early days but that's all right seeing as strong songwriting is their main focus now and that makes for a consistently well-crafted album here.  The symphonic folk flavors are still nicely fitted in where needed as are the dramatic guitars and emotional passages leading the listener into a world long forgotten.

 4 tales of altered destiny out of 5

Songs Of Note: Narrow Path; Nightbird's Song

LIGHTS / Siberia [2011]

Valerie Poxleitner aka Lights offers a "grittier" more developed version of her bubbly electro-dance pop on the 2011 sophomore effort Siberia.
2009's The Listening was insanely sweet and offensively cute, so thankfully Siberia tones down the sugar flavored sap and inserts some distorted dub-step & hip-hop tinted anthems.  Lights still sounds like Cyndi Lauper overdosed on pixie sticks & rainbows but now with a little bit of attitude it's much more bearable to the ears.  Her voice is actually quite nice but I get the feeling she found a comfort zone then stuck to it without realizing her full potential.  It does get a bit repetitive in the middle but if she explores her creativity with a bit more confidence and curiosity things could get really good.

3 Holy Fucks out of 5

Songs Of Note: Banner; Suspension

THE FLAMING LIPS / The Terror [2013]

It's pretty common for psychedelic rock acts as they age to get less and less "psychedelic" to the point of creating nice soft rock music over soothing sonic backdrops.  After being together for 30 years, The Flaming Lips will have none of that and prove it with the noisy, dark and bizarre 2013 album, The Terror.
Being a colorful, cold and vivid musical expression of loneliness, broken hearts and despair, I can't help but wonder what brought up such feelings from a normally upbeat act like The Lips.  It's like a suffocating krautrock version of Damon Albarn doing Atom Heart Mother that pulls you into it's headspace and paralyzes you with mesmerizing otherworldly soundscapes and emotions.

4 suns going up & down out of your control out of 5

Songs Of Note: Try To Explain; Always There...In Our Hearts

BLACK SABBATH / 13 [2013]

13 is Black Sabbath's first studio album to feature vocalist Ozzy Osbourne since 1978's Never Say Die! and bassist Geezer Butler since 1994's Cross Purposes.
With Rick Rubin on board as producer, the heavy metal legends have A LOT to live up to.  So do they meet those expectations?  Well, yes and no.  A band like this could easily fall into cartoon caricatures of their former selves but Sabbath somehow manage to recapture the strengths and sound of their golden days.  Not to say it sits side by side with Paranoid or Master Of Reality but it certainly stands up on it's own two feet.  Now it's Rubin's tight and dry production that's the problem here.  It's almost as if he's trying to suffocate us with too much compression and distortion to fully enjoy the groove of the bluesy songs.  There's a few moments that try a bit too hard but it's mostly standard Sabbath material and sits just fine with me.

3½ tombs of doom & gloom out of 5

Songs Of Note: Loner; Zeitgeist

SYD BARRETT / Opel [1988]

Opel is a 1988 compilation of Syd Barrett outtakes and unreleased material recorded between 1968 and 1970.
In keeping with the raw sound of The Madcap Laughs & Barrett, the mostly acoustic collection is uneven and rough around the edges yet mystifying and awe-inspiring as well.  If you know what you're getting into then you'll probably enjoy hearing the scratched surfaces of these familiar songs and what might have been with the unreleased songs.  The roughness of the album is something that will probably drive away the average listener but as a fan it's a tasty audio scrapbook for the die-hard fan.

3 freakouts out of 5

Songs Of Note: Opel; Lanky

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR / All Hail Bright Futures [2013]

Alt. rock outfit And So I Watch You From Afar push the optimism and their outgoing musical personality on 2013's All Hail Bright Futures.
The act is known for having a very unique and clever approach to their sound, being mostly instrumental they're constantly changing tempos, seamlessly shifting their sonic palette from hard rock to poppy electronic without missing a beat and pushing the happiness an extra mile without ever getting sappy or artificial.  The ideas and musicianship are more than wonderful but with so much going on here not everything glues together when it all comes down to it.  The world's a piece of shit but it doesn't mean you have waste your time to acting like it and ASIWYFA plays like they damn well know it.

3½ steel drums out of 5

Songs Of Note: Like A Mouse; Ka Ba Ta Bo Da Ka

THE MILK CARTON KIDS / The Ash & Clay [2013]

California acoustic guitar duo The Milk Carton Kids deliver another great album of straight-up folks songs with 2013's The Ash & Clay.
Channelling Simon & Garfunkel with hints of Gillian Welch, the pair are so straight faced yet upbeat I can't help but think of Christopher Guest's folk music satire documentary A Mighty Wind.  This is the real thing and what it lacks in originality it makes up for in genuinity with it's pitch perfect harmonies, gently strummed guitars and confidence in their timeless songwriting.  The lovely simplicity of the songs is their greatest strength and perfect for that last glass of wine & cigarette of the night.

3½ ghost towns in Graceland out of 5

Songs Of Note: Years Gone By; Promised Land

RADICAL FACE / The Family Tree: The Roots [2011]

2011's The Family Tree: The Roots is the first part of a series of concept albums created by Ben Cooper (aka Radical Face).
It follows a fictional supernatural family known as the Northcotes, beginning in the 1800's with this particular album.  Recorded under a fairly limited budget and a simple ensemble of instruments gives the album a genuine traditional sound that's hazed over with a sense of distant memories, dreamy personality and deep thoughts.  Cooper has an elegant way of writing sad music to make you feel happy that at times feels hauntingly familiar and warm as it conjures up images of a fading childhood, your first love and the people you've lost over the years.

4 alcoholic wooden hearts out of 5

Songs Of Note: The Moon Is Down; Always Gold