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November 30, 2007
Potpourri Catch Up
Been back in Brooklyn for the better part of a week, but only regaining my normal balance after the corrosive influence of clean air and lovingly prepared fresh foods now. So here's some stuff that's been dominating the iPod for a while, in one big blur. Good to get this new or novel material out of the way before we go all in for an orgiastic year-end blowout stuffed with crippling self-involvement. Priorities, and all that...
Nine Circles - "Twinkling Stars"
I have no real idea where the British bloggers behind the always good and newly glam, 20 Jazz Funk Greats track down these deeply out of print rarities, because I, uh, find mine over there. With no context clues to work from, I defy anyone to feel 100% certain in discerning the native land and home decade of this track from a band called Nine Circles. To ruin half of that mystery right away, it's from their self-titled 1982 album, of which I'm having trouble finding any concrete information. You can order a import re-issue if you are brave enough to laugh off an unfavorable Euro conversion, but that's really all I've got. It sounds timelessly awesome, a pessimistic vision of a future that will never arrive. With its deep and regal European ice queen vocal perfectly bound to excellent dark electro pulses that seem too well shaped to have sprung from the crude early eighties New Wave well, "Twinkling Stars" must have fallen in some kind of serious memory hole to remain this obscure for so long. Any reader information on this will be humbly appreciated.
Apache Beat - "Tropics" (CFCF remix)
When I fawned over this song's original jungle drum version back in the run-up to Apache Beat's Neon Lights appearance, it embarrassingly never occurred to me that Ilirjana's sultry post-punk vocals might be even better suited to a dance floor remake, cast in gilded neon. This is, like, wow.
Deerhunter - "Calvary Scars" (Daytrotter Session)
High Places - "New Grace"
Regular readers of the site probably just had a "Jesus, again?" reaction at those two names in tandem, but what can I say? My intense band infatuations unfairly skew towards the prolific. Coal + fire = burn. In brief: Deerhunter move into their second year of buzz by trading the stomping, wild menace of "Cryptograms" and "Wash Off" for a sustained and quiet creeping dread, epitomized by this Daytrotter Session highlight. High Places finally bring out the thudding percussion of their live show in the poppiest song they've yet released.
Die Regenbogen Jugend - "With a Name Like Yoko"
Portland's newest hitmakers/my old chums DR J are starting to flesh out the Germanic glory of the impending Mit Schlag. Shifting their focus to another Axis Power, we get a glimpse into the aristocratic childhood of Ms. Ono. I'm assuming from Karen Lynn's steely line readings that this insider info is coming from a biography of some sort? I guess I don't want to know either way, as the image of servants hiding from sight while young Yoko sips her morning tea is too good to ruin with petty fact-checking. Check their MySpace here.
Also:
Tonight at the Cake Shop I get to see the Clean! THE CLEAN, people!! It saddens me that the NYC blogosphere has not exploded in rapture...
The Clean - "Anything Could Happen"
the Clean - "Anything Could Happen"
The Clean - "Tally Ho!"
...report soon.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at November 30, 2007 02:13 PM
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