Music I Liked And Didn't - 10/20/06 - 10/24/06

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BORIS: Vein LP (Important) - Current leaders of the Japanese underground scene, Boris, are back with another blast. While Boris features a wide range of styles in their sonic attack (and their best releases demonstrate this variety nicely!), the material on this release focuses mainly on the hard core punk/metal spectrum of their sound. One great, long slothcore track and a couple of experimental noise drones, but otherwise, Boris are keepin’ the pedal to the metal on this outing. Pressed on clear vinyl, with a unique goat head border printed around the outer edge of the LP (making it, in essence a 10”, rather than a 12”), this, like all their other vinyl releases, is bound to quickly become another over-priced Boris collectable.

D’SILVA, AMANCIO: Konkan Dance LP (Qbico) - A lot of archival world fusion jazz recordings have been released in the past few years, such as those by Ethiopian great Mulatu Astatke, Egyptian jazzman Salah Ragab, and so on. Now, we get the Indo-Jazz stylings of D’Silva. Like the other artists mentioned above, D’Silva received a formal musical education in the west, specifically, England. The material on this LP, recorded in the UK in 1972, but unissued until now, is a pretty tasty blend of western jazz and Indian rhythms and instrumentation (such as sitar and tablas). The title and final track, “Konkan Dance”, is more rock influenced with electric guitar playing a major role in the sonic mix.

TALL FIRS: S/T CD (Ecstatic Peace) - This is the debut release from this long-running NYC trio who describes their music (quite accurately, in my humble opinion) as being “underground electric folk”. This is dark, deep contemporary folk, with lots of ambiance and intense lyrical content. Some tracks are augmented with organs, loops, and so on, which gives them a more fully developed, more “rock” sound, especially on the great track, “The Woods”. Excellent!

By the way, as coincidence would have it, they’re playing tonight in SF at the Bottom Of The Hill at 9PM, in case any of you Bay Area residents wish to catch them live. And Bert Jansch on Wednesday 10/25 at the Great American Music Hall if you want to get a more old school "guitar soli" vibe.

YOUNG, ROLAND P.: Isophonic Boogie Woogie CD (Em) - Roland P. Young was a figure in the Bay Area underground music scene, as both a DJ and a performer, from the 60’s to the early 80’s. He produced this solo release, Isophonic Boogie Woogie, in 1980. The material here is deeply personal, other-worldly jazz, which reflects the wide range of influences he must have soaked up in the fertile environment of the black underground culture of the 60’s. Free jazz freakouts, afro-centric influences and instrumentation, and the electronic experimentation that exploded in all genres the 60’s are all in effect on these tracks, crafted by Young on kalimba, sax, clarinet, bells, electronics and other assorted instruments. Like most deeply personal recordings, the material on this release isn’t uniformly appealing, as it’s usually difficult to fully relate to any other individual’s personal trip, but, overall, this is a pretty satisfying archival blast. A public service to those interested in Sun Ra, Brother Ah and so on.


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Running Count For The Year

Adds 129/64%

Did Not Add 72/36%


Oh, and as always - FUCK GRAWER, THURSTON HUNGER, OPHELIA NECRO, AND DOC AT KFJC!!!!!