At a sold-out show at the Electric Factory, The Decemberists focused on their excellent new album The Crane Wife while delighting the audience with some unexpected and fun antics.
Yep, this one’s still going strong on the list. I’m still playing it and while I don’t quite think it’s as superb as Picaresque, what’s clear is that they’re moving in a really interesting new direction (one more influenced by prog-rock and folk). Like bigger bands such as RADIOHEAD and WILCO, they only seem to be getting more and more popular as they keep getting more experimental.
A mind-blowing collection recorded live at a now defunct jazz club here in West Philadelphia back in 1972, it features bandleader Khan Jamal on vibes as well as Jamal and drummer DWIGHT JAMES on clarinet. I can’t recommend it enough. You can read more about it here.
I know that this came out back in June, but I just got around to listening to in the last few weeks. On initial listens, it’s nowhere near as satisfying as her previous album Soviet Kitsch, but it’s still worth a listen, especially to the excellent single “Fidelity” as well as other standouts such as “Samson” and “That Time”.
This was a special show in which Amy and her excellent band, which included TONY MAIMONE (formerly of PERE UBU) and STEVE GOULDING (formerly of THE RUMOUR and THE MEKONS), played the entirety of her debut album Diary of a Mod Housewife in sequential order to mark its tenth anniversary re-release, which includes five bonus tracks not on the original album. As a fan of the album and of Rigby’s, it was a bit disheartening to see her play an excellent show to only twenty or so ardent supporters at the small upstairs level of World Cafe Live, but on the other hand it made the connection between her and the audience that much stronger.
This record will surprise a lot of people. It’s more psychedelic, layered and keyboard-heavy than their previous efforts. It’s also a bit more like what they sound like live, which is also a bit heavier and more more rockin’. It doesn’t have the immediacy of Oh Inverted World and it’s a bit too early to tell if I’ll like this one as much as Chutes Too Narrow (which took a while to grow on me as well, but after it did I became convinced that it’s a stronger album than the debut), but I’m really enjoying it on initial listens.
Named after a 2001 B-side and boasting forty one songs in seventy nine minutes, this self-made compilation was made by Big Takeover reader and huge GBV fan KEVIN POINDEXTER. It features single B-sides and EP tracks from 1992 up to 2002 and contains some real gems like “A Crick Uphill” (a B-side from 1999) and “Dodging Invisible Rays” (from the Tigerbomb EP, which was released in 1995), just to name a few. Not only is it a great treat for hardcore fans, but it’s also not a bad introduction to the band’s catalog. It could also be viewed as an unofficial companion piece to their “official” best of Human Amusements and Hourly Rates.
I heard the song “Computer Love” on WXPN’s excellent Y-Rock program a few nights ago, so I pulled this one out. It’s my second favorite Kraftwerk album next to The Man Machine and “Computer Love” is so undeniably beautiful and transcendent that it’s no wonder that COLDPLAY admitted to using it as the basis for their “Fix You”. After playing the song the other night,WXPN DJ JIM MCGUINN said that he was debating whether to play “Fix You” or “Computer Love”. Needless to say, I’m glad he chose the latter.
Taken from a November 1974 show in Paris, this is a great recording of that show. It’s a double album with each composition taking up an entire album side. A great companion piece to their officially released ‘70s albums No Pussyfooting and Evening Star, ROBERT FRIPP’s “Frippertronics” guitar playing layered on top of BRIAN ENO’s tape-loops creating a soothing, almost dream-like effect ideal for relaxation or background noise, but just as satisfiying if listened to actively.
In anticipation of their upcoming show here on Tuesday, I pulled this one out a few days ago. It’s a good, but not great debut album from this promising Chicago-based band, with the strongest songs (especially “When I Wake” and “Her, You and I”) reprised from their EP. Still, this band has a lot of potential and an ear for melody that’s only rivalled by VOXTROT amongst newer indie bands.
