NEW RELEASES 2015 WEEK # 23 JUNE 9, 2015

JUNE 9, 2015 (WEEK # 23)

1.    ASH-“KABLAMMO!” (6/9) 

2.    AUTOMAT-“PLUSMINUS” (6/9) ("In my desperate attempt to free art from the ballast of objectivity, I took refuge in the square form and exhibited a picture which consisted of nothing more than a black square on a white field. The critics and, along with them, the public sighed, 'Everything which we loved was lost. We are in a desert...' But the desert is filled with the spirit of non-objective feeling..." --Kazimir Malevich. "Anyone endeavoring to free music from such weight inevitably lands at dub, the analog mother of all minimalist pop. The studio as a black cube, devouring all that is dispensable or banal. Rhythm and sound prioritized over melody. Repetition reveals itself as a form of change; focus gravitates to important details. It was under this premise that Berlin-based trio Automat recorded the follow-up to their 2014 self-titled debut (BB 161CD/LP). Denser and more unflinching than their debut, Plusminus recalls the monolith in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 (1968). There's nothing here to hold on to, and yet so much of it that the listener is transported into a kind of trance. While its predecessor featured prominent guest vocalists like Lydia Lunch, Blixa Bargeld, and Genesis P-Orridge, here it is the studio that speaks -- the 1950s analog technology of Candy Bomber Studios, Tempelhof, Berlin, where Automat recorded the album over three days, without much rehearsal. First takes were final -- limitation as strength. Most track-titles come from devices and effects units used during production: 'EMT 140' is a two-meter long reverb-plate and 'H 910' is a harmonizer that defined the sound of David Bowie's Low. Automat member Zeitblom had been searching for this unit for ten years; his perseverance paid off. The thunderous bass lines, delirious rhythms, and hypnotic sounds of Plusminus make notions of categories and genres superfluous. Of course, we're not dealing with classic dub reggae here. And the Detroit techno of musicians such as Terrence Dixon is another story. Yet oscillating between these poles is a music that also draws from jazz and other genres without compromising its autonomy. One can follow this development through previous productions, including a 2014 split single with Schneider TM (BB 178EP) and a 2015 EP with Max Loderbauer (BB 197EP). But with Plusminus, Automat has succeeded in creating their interim masterpiece" --Jürgen Ziemer. Automat is Jochen Arbeit (Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Haut), Achim Färber (Project Pitchfork, Prag, Phillip Boa), Georg Zeitblom (Sovetskoe Foto). )

3.    BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB-“LIVE IN PARIS” [2-CD/DVD] (6.9) 

4.    THE CRAMPS-“COAST TO COAST: LIVE RADIO BROADCAST RECORDINGS” (6/9) (The Cramps are one of those select handful of bands that have such a groundbreaking combination of sharply-defined musical, sartorial and behavioral styles as to stake a claim to being 'unique' in so far as that oft-abused epithet may be applied to a mere 'beat combo'. The Cramps weren't Punk like The Pistols, New Wave like Television, Garage like The Fleshtones, nor Glam like The New York Dolls... no, they really were something else, with a garish graveyard Trash aesthetic all of their very own. The Cramps first releases were a brace of singles, produced by ex-Box Top and Big Star maverick main man Alex Chilton, recorded in 1978 at Memphis' Ardent Studios: Human Fly b/w Domino and Surfin' Bird b/w The Way I Walk. The band's potent fuzz-drenched and reverb-soaked sound was succinctly and accurately described as a stew of depraved influences - TV, 60's garage punk, comic books, jungle movies, deep-ghetto R&B and shock-value theatrics. By the summer of 1979, the Cramps had completed their first European tour and returned to New York. They signed to IRS Records and began work on their debut album produced once again by Chilton. The producer's obsessive attention to detail resulted in the album, 'Songs The Lord Taught Us', not being released until March 1980. This superb recording from New York's Irving Plaza features rip-snorting live versions of 6 of the albums 13 tracks: Mystery Plane, Zombie Dance, Garbageman, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, Sunglasses After Dark and TV Set. Although The Cramps sophomore album, Psychedelic Jungle was not destined to appear until 1981, both Voodoo Idol and Rockin' Bones are also previewed here. Weekend On Mars would have to wait even longer before finally making onto wax as the B-side of a French New Rose single in 1984.)

5.    CRYS COLE-“SAND / LAYNA” (6/9) ("Sand/Layna is the first full-length solo release by Canadian sound artist crys cole. While cole is known to many through her collaborative work with a host of Canadian artists and internationals such as Oren Ambarchi, Keith Rowe, and James Rushford, this LP presents the first opportunity for an extended appreciation of her singular approach to amplified sound. Using contact and other microphones to amplify her interactions with small objects and the surfaces on which they rest, cole's work exists in a lineage of heavily amplified 'small sound' that stretches back to Cage's Cartridge Music. cole's approach to these materials and techniques is distinguished by its single-mindedness: rather than simply searching for interesting or attractive sounds, her performances attempt to illuminate the sonic properties of the specific objects and amplification devices she uses. Devoid of looping and complex processing, the sonic outcome of her work always retains an audible link to the handling of microphones and what they amplify. The awkward and sometimes even 'ugly' sounds of manipulated microphones and recording equipment thus sit comfortably alongside the mysterious crackle of amplified salt and the deep, musical resonance of a rubbed tabletop. This LP presents two pieces, recorded almost ten years apart. Sand, recorded in 2004, crafts a sustained texture from rubbed surfaces that transcends academic sound art tropes to recall the haunted environments of Massimo Toniutti and Small Cruel Party. The seemingly static structure of the piece allows the multitude of dynamic and timbral variations caused by the basic instability of cole's sound sources to come to the fore. In contrast, Layna, constructed between 2012 and 2013, lets loose a volatile stream of microscopic activity. Adding extremely amplified voice and domestic field recordings to the mix, the piece inhabits a space of bodily, almost sensual intimacy, moving beyond the Cageian tradition of small sounds to somewhere uncomfortably human" --Francis Plagne, Melbourne, January 2015.)

6.    DAMAGED BUG-“COLD HOT PLUMBS” (6/9) (***John Dwyer has a surprise... While everyone eagerly anticipates the next Oh Sees record, he's been working tirelessly in his synth laboratory, hand-crafting a followup to last year's neon-noir Damaged Bug debut--one that shakes up the snow globe considerably. If Hubba Bubba was a brush with a robotic exoskeleton on deep-space patrol, Cold Ht Plumbs visits the alien world that sent it into the cosmos. Lush, textural and psychedelic, the songs breathe with a otherworldly sadness and heart. Barbed, sophisticated arrangements flower in every direction. The vintage-perfect sound palette would be window dressing if not for the songs themselves: fresh, vital, and above all catchier than the flu. Cold Hot Plumbs is a strange, beautiful, and oddly infectious addition to Dwyer's oeuvre, and not one to be missed.)

7.    THE DESLONDES-“THE DESLONDES” (6/9)

8.    THE FALL-“SUB-LINGUAL TABLET” (6/9) 

9.    FFS-“FFS” (FRANZ FERDINAND + SPARKS = FFS) [DELUXE EDITION] (6/9) (FFS = Franz Ferdinand and Sparks Collaborations don’t work, or that’s what FFS would have us believe on their debut album. When the seminal Los Angeles duo Sparks and Glasgow-based quartet Franz Ferdinand decided to record together, it was a flawed and potentially disastrous idea, right? Wrong, as ‘FFS’ is one of the strongest albums of either bands’ career. Produced by Grammy-award winning John Congleton (St Vincent, David Byrne) at London’s RAK Studios, the album ‘FFS’ took 15 days to complete. 'Kimono My House'-era Sparks fans will recognize how ‘FFS’ highlights their classic ‘pop rock’ DNA, and Franz Ferdinand fans won’t be dissapointed to hear the band at their peak of their powers as they bring their exhilaratingly unique and witty modern rock sound to the collaboration. Very much a new project, FFS doesn’t truly sound like either band, but a striking and fascinating mutation. So in the right hands, collaborations DO work, and beautifully. The strength of the two bands is bigger than the sum of the parts.)

10. FLORENCE + THE MACHINE-“HOW BIG, HOW BLUE, HOW BEAUTIFUL” [LIMITED DELUXE EDITION] (6/9) 

11. FUR COAT-“BALANCE PRESENTS FUR COAT” (6/9) (However you describe riveting Venezuelan-born, Barcelona-based duo Fur Coat's style, there's no denying that theirs is very much the sound of now. Fusing bold, dramatic synth lines with heady atmospherics and rhythms that seamlessly blend the organic and electronic, they have won fans far and wide with their releases on Crosstown Rebels, Hot Creations, Culprit, Get Physical, My Favorite Robot, and BPitch Control, and debuted at #66 in Resident Advisor's Top 100 DJs of 2014. Their mix for Balance is their first official compilation, following online mixes for the likes of Red Bull Music Academy, Deep House Amsterdam, and Rinse. "We mixed the compilation live in Barcelona, at Israel's house, with TRAKTOR and an Allen and Heath mixer. We really wanted to have that DJ feeling, the actual feeling of it being mix; not just dropping the tracks on Ableton and mapping automations" --Fur Coat. We begin in deep and mysterious fashion with the throbbing beats of Mathew Jonson and The Mole's remix of Tobias and the spooky afro-tech of Masomenos, before the soaring riffs of Patlac's remix of Embassy of Joy. Âme's classic Akabu remix sends the mix into spine-tingling overdrive, with Chardronnet & Afrilounge (feat. Phetote the Poet) in hot pursuit. Francesca Lombardo plunges us into a more hypnotic place, teeing up Radio Slave's incessant Tokyo Black Star remix and more introspective, subtle material from Cesare vs Disorder and Luke Slater (the latter remixing Slam). Efdemin's remix of Simon Flower's "Phosphenes" continues to delve into the deepest reaches of Fur Coat's record box -- all throbbing low-end and mind-bending slivers of sound. Fur Coat's exclusive "Monday" -- made specially for this compilation -- brings the mix out of its depths with bold lead lines, twinkling arps, and plump bass toms. Agoria's haunting Metronomy remix increases the tension, segueing into the mesmerizing melodies of Fur Coat's now-classic "U Turn." The grunting synths of Roman Flügel's "O.T.H." provide some relief from the tension, before Malandra Jr's "Infinity" brings back the brooding feel. DJ Koze's "Mariposa" provides the perfect foil to its predecessor, maintaining a sense of majesty while bringing the energy down to a simmer. Barnt's tough-edged, industrious remix of Michael Mayer's "Voigt Kampff Test" brings the mix to a rousing close with eerie melody and swathes of fizzing white noise. As a whole, it's a very cohesive listen that manages to sound at once contemporary and classic.)

12. GIRLPOOL-“BEFORE THE WORLD WAS BIG” (6/9) 

13. GRASSCUT-“EVERYONE WAS A BIRD” (6/9) 

14. HERBERT-“THE SHAKES” (6/9) 

15. HONEYHONEY-“3” (6/9) (The third full-length release from L.A.-based duo HONEYHONEY, '3' is an album born from fascination with the sweet and the sleazy, the light and dark, the danger and the magic. Since Ben Jaffe and Suzanne Santo released the critically-acclaimed 'Billy Jack' in 2011, they've kept on the road, growing their fan base tenfold both at home and internationally. Working on this new album with Dave Cobb (the producer behind Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson), lead singer/banjo player/violinist Suzanne Santo and vocalist/guitarist Ben Jaffe twist their gritty, harmony-driven brand of Southern-flavored rock & roll through tales of lost souls, broken boys and girls with gold in their spit. The two songwriters also take a mirror to their own experience in lust and heartache - never shying away from revealing the messy truth. This album reflects their continued growth, and holds nothing back. It's easy to understand why HONEYHONEY's following ranges from lovers of the Black Keys and White Stripes to The Civil Wars. Whether they rattle, soothe or joyfully inspire, HONEYHONEY instill each song with a straight-from-the-gut honesty and elegance of storytelling that make '3' both cathartic and electrifying.)

16. JENNY HVAL-“APOCALYPSE GIRL” (6/9) 

17. KOLSCH-“1983” (6/9) (Revered Danish producer and live performer Kölsch follows his 2013 hit album 1977 (KOMP 107CD/KOM 276LP) with 1983, again chaining up heroic techno tracks for a grandiose sonic journey to the vibrant heart of today's dancefloor. Coupling contemporary production pizazz with nostalgia-tinged soundscapes and sweeping melodies, this opus acts as both a skillfully composed portfolio of personal memories and a sublime collection of crowd-charming cuts -- a modern classic in the making from a master of his craft. Hot on the heels of Speicher 84 (KOM EX084EP, 2015), featuring club crackers "Derdiedas" and "Two Birds," 1983 is very much a travel album: "When I was a kid in 1983, we used to drive through Europe every summer on the way to the south of France", Kölsch explains. "A lot of my early music memories stem from these long travels, as we would listen to all my father's favorite records on the cassette deck. After getting a walkman, I would make up my own soundtrack for travelling, with early electro and hip-hop creeping into my life. My father of course did not like it, and it never graced the official cassette deck of the car, obviously." Informed by the symbolic quality of these slightly gauzy childhood memories, Kölsch's unique mélange of emotional and functional elements works exceptionally well for the full-length format -- a seamless transition of musing introspection and explosive expression, where catharsis never seems far away in dance-ready techno vignettes like "Moonface," "Unterwegs," or "Pacer." From beatless opener "1983" to the filigreed piano banger "Die Anderen" or the bleep-infused synth-fest "E45," each cut operates as its own little time capsule, storing bits and pieces of recollection and then magically transforming them into epic, beat-driven soundscapes. Confronted with other producers' input (and other memories), these traits find themselves extended in the most interesting ways; "Talbot," "The Road," and "Cassiopeia" (the latter also featured on Speicher 79 (KOM EX079EP, 2014)) make excellent use of Gregor Schwellenbach's emotive orchestral flourishes, while the lyrics of "Bloodline" come to life thanks to the distinct timbre of Tomas Høffding of WhoMadeWho fame. A powerful take on an earlier collaboration, "Papageno 30 Years Later" not only features the return of WAA Industry on vocals, but also ends the album on a wonderfully elegiac, yet hopeful note, basically turning water into wine, as we've come to expect from Kölsch.)

18. LEFTFIELD-“ALTERNATIVE LIGHT” (6/9)

19. MUSE-“DRONES” (6/9) 

20. NO JOY-“MORE FAITHFUL” (6/9) 

21. KARIN PARK-“APOCALYPSE POP” (6/9) 

22. PINS-“WILD NIGHTS” (6/9) (Manchester all-female four-piece PINS have announced the release of their new sophomore album Wild Nights on June 9th. Speaking about their second album, PINS say With Wild Nights we didn't want to be bound to the sound of our first album. The albums were recorded years apart, and in Wild Nights you can hear the new experiences, ambitions, and influences we've taken on. We have introduced new instruments, and stronger vocal harmonies - and have brought this through to our live performances. They ve just toured with Sleater-Kinney, Babes In Toyland, Wire and Drenge and have huge fans at KEXP, WFUV, Stereogum, NYLON and Rookie Mag. Recorded in Joshua Tree at Rancho De La Luna with Dave Catching (QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal) and Hayden Scott, and mixed in New York with Ben Baptie at Atomic Sound NYC, Accumulating high praise and a growing fanbase for their debut album Girls Like Us, along with packed out headline shows and tour dates supporting the likes of Crocodiles, Sleigh Bells, Warpaint, The Growlers and The Fall, tight-knit girl gang PINS have had quite a two years.)

23. THE ROLLING STONES-“STICKY FINGERS” [SUPER DELUXE EDITION BOX SET 3-CD +] (6/9) 

24. ARTHUR RUSSELL-“CORN” (A NEW COLLECTION OF ARTHUR RUSSELL’S ARCHIVAL RECORDINGS FROM THE EARLY ‘80’S. THERE ARE NINE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED RUSSELL RECORDINGS FROM 1982 AND 1983) (6/9)

25. SANDWITCHES-“OUR TOAST” (6/9) (***"The Sandwitches are a band straight out of a David Lynch film. Wide eyed beauties, hardened against the cold San Francisco air, voices bellowing like the capricious winds, sometimes low and meandering, sometimes high and haunting. Roxanne Young's drums ramble through song after song with a strange, unpredictable and perfect lightness, while near-moans and sky-high melodies collide in a soundtrack to the end of the world. Songs on this record deal with the most playful moments in a new love, the most charming parts of decay, the heart wrenching feeling of impending doom at the dawning of something new. This record is a seamless followup to their previous release, Mrs. Jones' Cookies, a record teeming with, for the most part, a spirit possessed by possibility; pure and potent potential. Our Toast is a causal record; the beautiful, raw comedown. The spell has been broken and this new batch of songs lingers in the space between. The Sandwitches took songs born of universal anguish to create a record blooming with whimsical notes on a life that's changing chapters." --Emily Rose (Ty Segall Band))

26. SOAK-“BEFORE WE FORGET HOW TO DREAM” (6/9) (Early on, much was made of the young age of Bridie Monds-Watson – who performs as SOAK – but as her accomplished, wise-beyondher- years songs and breathtakingly lovely voice reached more new listeners, the pixie-ish, tattooed skateboarder’s appeal has transcended her youth. Before We Forgot How To Dream is a beautifully-wrought album, full of musical turns that showcase Watson’s uniquely sweet and haunting voice, as well as lyrics that marry a sunny and romantic sense of nostalgia with frank treatments of human failings, hopes, and – yes – dreams. Already a household name in the UK, with “Sea Creatures” in BBC Radio 1 A-list rotation and prominent festival bookings throughout the season, SOAK’s debut appearances in NYC and SXSW this March found her playing before capacity crowds - “the only performer to stun the crowd into silence,” noted Consequence of Sound. US press – including heavyweights like NPR, and the New York Times - have anointed her one of SXSW 2015’s breakout performers. The stage is set for SOAK to win the hearts of US audiences, and we know she’ll win yours, too, once you listen. ) 

27. SHARON VAN ETTEN-“I DON’T WANT TO LET YOU DOWN” [EP] (6/9) (One of music's most astute cartographers of the heart, able to squeeze enormous sentiments into especially small spaces, Sharon Van Etten offers up documents of surrender and disappointment, admission and longing with this 5 song EP, I Don't Want to Let You Down.)

28. WE HAVE BAND-“THE WOODS” [EP] (6/9)