New Stuff

[Bob Krajewski <lmi-angel!rpk>]

Finally picked up the 12" of Experiment IV -- probably the most worthwhile
big single she's done, as there is a lot more information to glean than from
the short version.

* Holger Hiller: Oben Im Eck
                 (+ Ein B\"undel F\"aulnis in der Grube on the CD)
  [Mute, album, UK]
If you can imagine early Art of Noise and perhaps the collage sensibility of
Haruomi Hosono (formerly of YMO) joining forces, this would be the result.
_Oben Im Eck_ is actually more than the sum of any parts I mention; it is
skillful in its use of sampling in real live *compositions*, from art songs
to Stravinksyesque orchestral hardcore.  So you get the satisfaction of
pieces with real structure with immediacy and suggestion of novel sounds.
There is a cover of _Warm Glass_ (it's by Tom Verlaine, but I don't know if
Television did it) which shows both a light hand and incredible dynamic
range.  The best of this stuff works on both sensual/physical and structural
levels.

_B\"undel_ is an earlier album which is a little denser, and features a more
conventional instrumental line-up.  The samples are more ``obvious'' and are
allowed to clash with each other more.  My favorite track there is _Jonny
(Du Lump)_, which takes his sharp style and places it into a Motown song
blueprint.

* Steve Tibbetts: Exploded View [ECM, album]
Steve Tibbetts just keeps on producing guitar stuff which just sounds so
intuitively *right*.  There have always been certain constants in his sound,
like Eastern percussion and lyrical melody lines, but there is also steady
change.  He started to turn up lead guitars on his previous album (_Safe
Journey_), and now we get wordless vocals from Claudia Schmidt and even neat
sequenced synth lines, all judiciously applied.  The worst thing that can
happen to this album is to get filed in some ``New Age'' section.

Other things:

Big Star's first two albums are on Big Beat UK.  Great guitar pop, and it's
 legal.
The Stalin have an album on CD -- I haven't heard it, as it's a Japanese
 import ($22).  The credits include Bill Laswell and Sonny Sharrock, who
 also have a new album out with Ronald Shannon Jackson.  (Oh yeah, the
 almost impossible to find _Mandance_ is also available in Bag o' Bits
 format now at domestic prices.)  Anyway, how good is this album (it's got a
 fish on the cover), James ?  What's it like relative to early Material,
 Frith, etc. ?
I'm still out on the Husker Du.  After the first time I heard it, I groaned.
 Where was the energy, dudes ?  The second time I listened to it, it didn't
 sound so lethargic, and there are some nice pop touches.  But still, I
 really bothers me how most of the stuff is uniform and barely deviates in
 tempo.
Yet another Fall album floats our way.  No sooner do I start chewing on
 _Bend Sinister_ when that smart-aleck Mark E. (for Ego) Smith writes an
 opera about Pope John Paul.
In other Pope news, the current one appears (with the Swinging Nuns) on the
 new Holger Czukay album, _Rome Remains Rome_.  For those who know and love
 the man (Czukay, that is), he's up to his old tricks again.  And while the
 NME has been hit on for all the right reasons, it can be a good information
 source.  For example, I learned that Mr. Czukay is going to make a movie,
 and that Can is reforming.
The fIREHOSE album is amazing.  The most assured debut I have ever heard.
 (Well, maybe it's not ``really'' a debut, but...)

You want 80's garage stuff, OK:

How about the Droogs' _Stone Cold World_ -- they've been doing non-wimpy 60s
pop since '72.  If you see their cover of _Waiting for My Man_ (7"), grab it
-- I wish I did (sigh...).  I just snarfed a copy of the Wombats' _Zontar
Must Die_ -- no archivists here !  Varied songwriting, cheerfully grungy and
muddy sound.  Plasticland can be a little precious at times, but as adults
they can give new meaning to a lot of old pyschedelic moves.  Try their
first album on Enigma.  And the Lyres of course: the new album is really
cool, with a great soul/screamer version of _She Pays the Rent_.  Probably
the only 6Tz band an audiophile would listen to, thanks to Rick Harte's QC.
In the fuzz-tone division, the Flaming Lips EP wins hands down, if you can
find it...

``One can laugh without being composed of laughing particles.''
  -- Lucretius