June Of '44 - Engine Takes To Water

1. Have a Safe Trip, Dear
2. June Miller
3. Pale Horse Sailor
4. Mindel
5. I Get My Kicks for You
6. Mooch
7. Take It With a Grain of Salt
8. Sink Is Busted

I've gone by the intarnet name, or 'handle' as they used to call it in the 90's, Pale Horse Sailor for a really long time. 5 years at least? I don't know. It's a total bitch trying to give your email address to people, let me tell you that. Very few people get the 'Pale Horse' reference and even those who do don't understand why 'Sailor' is tacked on after. I thought it would be completely apparent to people that I was Captain Ahab, seriously. I mean was there ever a phrase more perfectly fashioned to describe him?

Well, whatever your opinion is, mine is the opposite. Unfortunately, I did not create this wonderful three-string dangle of words. That honor belongs to the fine, fine people that made one of the best albums about sailing and seas, the highly underrated June of '44.

I really don't know much about them, other than one guy has something to do with the band Rodan and later on some of them (or one of them) became another band called The Shipping News. I also know they came out of the Slint Spiderland era where American hardcore-ish indie-ish bands were starting to discover they could turn the volume up and down and up and down and oh lawdy dynamics?!

Well, as evidenced, I was never a really big fan of Slint. But something about this particular band managed to reel me in like a fish into frying pan. Maybe it was the drums that pulled me in first, the rhythms tighter and more exciting than anything else I was listening to then. Maybe it was the sharp, stacatto guitar riffs, as catchy and punchy as Hit Me Baby One More Time (lawl). Maybe it was the fact that I listened to them during that strange period of time where I just kept re-reading that passage from Moby Dick about biscuit and chowder. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the vocals, not at first anyway, but by the time they started screaming "PORT AND BOWWW, STERN AND STARBOAAAARRD" I was fucking sold, man.

On second thought, I think the rhythms had the most to do with it. I don't know what the drummer's name is, but he's definitely one of my favourite drummers. How, from the very first track even, he manages to emulate a rolling sea so accurately, is completely beyond me. You can literally feel the ship boards shifting under your feet, soaked with water and crumbling, rocking from side to side. All the other parts, the guitar parts, vocal parts etc, bring you the stories and the salt sea air but it's truly the drums that set you on deck, bringing you the motion of the ocean. The aptly titled first track, Have A Safe Trip, Dear, kicks off the album by throwing you out to sail through a terrible thunderstorm punctuated by periods of whirlwind calm.

And the fourth track is Pale Horse Sailor yey so you can all understand my name now. Damn I started this review last night while I was still drunk and I spent the whole day working today so I don't feel like continuing it anymore. Sigh. Exhausted exhausted yahoo! Just download the album, it's really good.



Engine Takes To Water (drop.io)

Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy (2004)

Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy

1. Found That Soul
2. Ocean Spray
3. Intravenous Agnostic
4. So Why So Sad
5. Let Robeson Sing
6. The Year Of Purification
7. Wattsville Blues
8. Miss Europa Disco Dancer
9. Dead Martyrs
10. His Last Painting
11. My Guernica
12. The Convalescent
13. Royal Correspondent
14. Epicentre
15. Baby Elian
16. Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children
17. Hidden Track

The Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh band who like to dress up, act intellectual and shout political slogans. Unsurprisingly, they seem a little silly. Also unsurprisingly, they command a huge cult following. They're made up of three people right now. Nicky Wire, James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore. Nicky is the cross-dressing, vacumming, teetollar bassist who writes all the lyrics, James is the singer and lead guitarist and musical genius, Sean is the drummer. Adding to their mystique is the fact that one of their band members who used to cut himself with knives and take pictures of it (Richey James Edwards), disappeared in 1994. Poof! And he never came back.

The year is now 2008 and my Manic Street Preachers tickets just came in the mail yesterday. It seems like I've spent the better part of my youth spraypainting my clothes, buying tiaras, feather boas, leopard skin tights, obsessing over them and acting like a bit of douche but good fucking god was it fun. And now I am old and it's hard to be as excited as I was, today especially, since I'm in one of those Serge Gainsbourg moods where you're old and bitter and drunk and just want to fuck girls.

It actually might be part of the reason that I'm posting Know Your Enemy. A quick Google survey reveals that a huge portion of the people who actually post in forums (as opposed to trolling, like normal internet denizens) think that this is the album when everything started skating downhill for the Manics. It was then that I realized that in the back of my mind, I felt everything after The Holy Bible to be a bit of a footnote. And I was overcome with shame. Was I really one of those cutter Richey fanatics who was depressedlawl and pined for his return? How could I have been so... so... unfair to James, the person who actually wrote all the music and was, possibly, the only talented one in the whole band?

My friend D, however, was being very fair to James when he told me that Know Your Enemy was actually his favourite album. I jumped back in shock! But why? According to him, the guitar work on Know Your Enemy was amazing. I jumped back in shock! But... I never noticed! So caught up was I in the Manics not sounding like the Manics anymore!

So, recently, I've tried to rediscover the Manics, this album in particular. It's not a very good introduction but there really are some good tracks on there. My favourite being So Why So Sad, which is an odd ditty that sounds like James has the same crush on Brian Wilson that I do. Stuff like Let Robeson Sing and Found That Soul has also kind of aged better. I find myself enjoying it a lot more than before. Maybe it's because I'm older, maybe it's because it so poppy, maybe it's because... I don't care, it just sounds better. I haven't discovered the amazing guitar work yet but I'm sure it's in there since my aforementioned friend is also a really amazing guitarist. Let me know if you find it though.

God, my writing has become really lazy all of a sudden. Oh well, WORKING WILL DO THAT TO YOU. Now I will proceed to get drunk to Serge Gainsbourg.


Know Your Enemy (drop.io)

Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh (1974)

Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh

1. Hortz Fur Dehn Stekehn West
2. Ima Suri Dondai
3. Kobaia Is de Hundin
4. Zeuhl Wortz Mekanik
5. Nebehr Gudahtt
6. Mekanik Kommandoh
7. Kreuhn Kohrmahn Iss de Hundin


When I was younger and more stupid, I got really excited over the term 'math rock' because I thought it was music that was derived from special equations. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that it was just a sound, a style, a term some idiot music journalist conjured up. Oh sigh.

On a vaguely related note, many other idiot journalists use the the term 'Space Opera' to describe everything from Star Wars to Dune to whatever Sci-fi and David Bowie. In fact there's even a Wiki for 'Space Opera' which describes it as "a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities."

But no no no no non on ono! We know they are wrong! A REAL Space Opera only happens when you take some French people, shoot them into space, give them a collective messianic fantasy and make them sing in harmony. A true Space Opera is... MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH, also known as M.D.K, the towering, glowering album from Magma that originates from somewhere beyond the stars.

The story surrounding this album is something like, a long time ago, some aliens from the planet Kobaia came down to enlighten us and all of us rejected their 'message' with the exception of this one man called Nebehr Gudhatt. Years pass and our world fucks up and Nebehr Gudhatt becomes something of a prophet and this album is all about a kind of march he organizes to... something. I don't know, do they go to Kobaia?

But, weird stories aside, Kobaian is a fucking glorious language to sing in! I heard it's made from a weird mix of French and German but, since I don't speak either, I'm not sure if I can say anything intelligent about it other than it sounds damn, damn good. It sounds absolutely PERFECT when set to the music, really. Imagine Carmina Burana given a huge forward driving beat, immense production and psychotic singers who sing in this made-up language that sounds gruttal and punchy in all the right places. A real call to arms! A call to Kobaia!! AAaaaAamlaKAaKAdlkaaaaa WLASIK KOBAIA!!!!!

And it's so goddamn catchy too! It's constructed such that one melody repeats for as long as it feels sweet and then another melody takes over and then again and again so it feels like you're really moving forward, up and outwards, into the future. After awhile, you'll really start singing along, I swear. There was a time I could actually sing this whole album, despite it being in Kobaian. It's that catchy.

In conclusion! This is one fine, fine album by make-believe spacemen. Listen to it and you, too, will feel like joining the Six Billion Man March Against McCain.


Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh Part 1 (mediafire)
Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh Part 2 (mediafire)

Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn (1969)

Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn

1. Chariots of Silk
2. 'Pon a Hill
3. Seal of Seasons
4. Throat of Winter
5. Cat Black (The Wizard's Hat)
6. Stones for Avalon
7. She Was Born to Be My Unicorn
8. Like a White Star, Tangled and Far, Tulip That's What You Are
9. Warlord of the Royal Crocodiles
10. Evenings of Damask
11. Sea Beasts
12. Iscariot
13. Nijinsky Hind
14. Pilgrim's Tale
15. Misty Coast of Albany
16. Romany Soup

The 'freak-folk' revival of yesteryear gave us gems like Animal Collective and Joanna Newsom, but also washed up trash like Devendra Banhart and, well, everyone on that godawful The Enlightened Family compilation, with the exception of Vashti Bunyan. Anyways, thank god that's over!

But to find real freaky folks who are real freaks of folk musicians, one has to look a little harder and a little further back. What did your face look like before your parents were born? Who was Animal Collective's music before they picked up instruments?

Why... Marc Bolan, of course!

Collaborating with such luminaries as 'Steve' Peregrin Took, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Saruman of the Many Colors, with bells and whistles and puppy dog tails, Marc Bolan created a mystical, child-like wonderland where sound roamed freely, all around.

It's stunningly experimental for it's time, fearlessly incorporating all sorts of sounds into its patchwork of melodies. Kind of like an In An Aeroplane, Over The Sea, lo-fi, kitchen sink approach to things, only much less emotional crazy and a lot more quaint crazy. It fucking works, though! The clapping hoofs and bird song and Marc Bolan's loopy thin voice mumbling "sky sky sky" all come together in a way that is really quite magical. And the melodies! Good god! I really didn't expect some of the best, most gorgeous, most comforting melodies I'd ever hear in my life to come from people pretending to be hobbits but fuck! They are so crazy catchy and beautiful, it's hard not to melt into a puddle of fairy goo. The flow of the album is also very solid, which is surprising, given how loose-sounding the songs are. But, well, that's what it is. All the songs make sense in their little compartments but put together they weave a wonderful world around you... How much more convincing do you need? It's a great album, pls download kthnxbai.

Oh man... look at that cover. Is it just me that wishes it was a picture of them doing each other instead? Did I just come out to the internet?


Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn (drop.io)


Buy It Now!

King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black (1974)

King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black

1. The Great Deceiver
2. Lament
3. We'll Let You Know
4. The Night Watch
5. Trio
6. The Mincer
7. Starless And Bible Black
8. Fracture

Starless and Bible Black, the King Crimson album named after one of the opening lines of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood. King Crimson, if you weren't aware, are an English progressive rock band started sometime in the seventies. The King of King Crimson, Robert Fripp, is also El Presidente of the League of Crafty Guitarists, members of whom he refers to as 'Disciplined Mobile Units'. I heard that he also whips them from time to time.

If you don't feel like you've stepped off this planet into some twisted children's storybook yet, it is clear that you have not listened to Starless and Bible Black and I urge you to download it now. There's some amazing guitar work for you to discover! The lyrics stumble from surreal to poetic but they always, always feel very art noveau. In The Night Watch, particularly, it all comes together in this amazing, amazingly amazing, wonderful beautiful tribute to Rembrandt's painting of the same name. The sense of time that they convey, the chilling melancholy of the pentatonic tones, the guitars that sound like an electric orchestra... it's all very, very good.

Oh and I do have to say something about Fracture as well. Recently, I attended an art exhibition where one of the works was a wall full of sketches, photographs and text regarding a single subject. I really enjoyed the work even though it was dull, because I like the idea of extrapolating so much from one thing, like a raga. Fracture explores this also, running over many different melodies extracted from a single theme but does so in a way quite like the work, in a disjointed, sketchy manner. I really do enjoy it! And there's also someone whooping in the background of the song so I think he enjoys it too!


King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black (mediafire)

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My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - 13 Above The Night (1994)

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - 13 Above The Night

1. The Velvet Edge
2. Delicate Terror
3. Badlife
4. Dirty Little Secrets
5. China De Sade
6. Dimentia 66
7. Final Blindness
8. Blue Buddha
9. Starmartyr
10. Electrical Soul Wish
11. 13 Above The Night
12. Disko Fleshpot
13. Savage Sexteen
14. Blue Buddha-Master Of The UltraFlesh Mix
15. Electrical Soul Wish-Miss Hate Mix

I actually picked up this album on a whim at a discount store because I thought the cover was interesting. In exchange for 5 dollars, I was treated to some of the sleaziest, most salacious goth-y music I ever heard. And I mean this in the best possible way, because I usually dislike the gothic sound quite a bit.

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, as far as I can tell, is this huge band that looks more like a biker gang than a bunch of goths. But, they were in The Crow! Also, one of them looks like one of the Lone Gunmen in the X-files. Does this make it more gothic? I don't know. But they sure make some nice music!

Their sound is full of the normal synths and samples and funny drum machine beat and stuff but, somehow, they manage to infuse it with so much non-wanky atmosphere. They transpose the goth sound from misguided self-importance into something that doesn't take itself very seriously at all, taking the long, awful B-movie inherent in the whole gothic subculture and giving it life! Turning it more into something like Ilsa She Wolf Of The SS than er... I dunno, Saw? No, it doesn't fit but you get what I mean, right?

Some of the tunes here are impressively catchy as well. The Velvet Edge is silky soft and lovely, Badlife just sticks in your head forever and don't even get me started on Disko Fleshpot, possibly the catchiest, danciest, most loveable disco song ever. It has one of those melodies that you want to run your tongue over even though it's probably full of veneral disease. The way the creepy Lone Gunmen dude's voice slides over the breathy porn samples, over the beat and the horns, it really sounds like you're in the sleaziest club in some kind of urban wasteland. It's so good, in fact, that I forgot to include it in the folder and you'll have to download it seperately because it's the king of the album.



My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - 13 Above The Night (mediafire)
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Disko Fleshpot (mediafire)

Buy It Now!