FULL BEAVER MOON (10 November 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

KEYES NORAH

SONGS TO CRY BY FOR THE GOLDEN AGE OF NOTHING



Original Issue: 2004 Dual Plover (PBD-703)

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

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Do not forget to take a look at the comments section :-)

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from Blunt:

"This CD is absolutely off its chops, or at least this woman seems to be. If a cackling old witch playing a spooky organ and caterwauling extremely depressing tunes while accompanied by violins and auto harp is your Sunday cup of tea, then I’m sure you’ll adore the quite disturbing sounds of Nora Keyes. You think Joanna Newsom or the Dresden Dolls make some freaked out shit, Los Angeles born Nora kills them for sheer peculiarity. She’s the bastard child of Anton LaVey and Kate Bush and apparently she’s riding her broomstick down for the Big Day Out. Oh…you should be scared all right." - matt reekie.

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from Soundplay:

"If the girl from The Ring had an organ stuck in the well with her, this is the kind of music she would make. Not the remake either, the original Japanese version...it’s heaps scarier. Nora Keyes has released her debut album on the eccentric Sydney label dualpLOVER, and to put it bluntly, it’s frightening. Songs to Cry by is a concept album interwoven with themes of life, death, suffering and (surprise, surprise) transcendence. Full of haunting melodies, gloomy lyrics and a sinister, even bloodcurdling vocal styling, it’s definitely not for the faint hearted. As her organ plays on, we’re confronted with the many paradoxical incarnations of Nora Keyes. She appears both ominous and pure, wicked and beautiful. Clearly, Keyes experiments with her range, shifting from an angelic falsetto to witch-like howling and cackling. There’s a duality, a sense of familiarity juxtaposed against that of the unknown, like that of a dream. Maybe this fiendish witch has appropriated sounds from my nightmares? ‘Cauliflower’ is haunting – the drone of the organ fading through a series of twisted harmonies. While Nora’s vocal range is altogether astounding, it is at times painfully evocative. On ‘My Child’, Ms Keyes howls: “my child eat your little, cold, piece of meat and your soggy brussel sprouts / because you have nothing / in a puddle of urine / not your own.” Positively disturbing, these lyrics create striking visual imagery. ‘Old Pal’ – which, coincidently, is a Jimmie Rodgers cover – is the lightest track on the album, as Keyes breaks into a possessed, but strangely effective, form of yodelling. In ‘The Show is Over’, Nora shapeshifts yet again, this time adopting a childlike quality to her voice. But more or less, this banshee seems to float on some dark rain cloud, eerily overseeing an ominous world of cruelty and bedlam. This is truly original stuff from a lass who apparently grew up in a haunted house. Maybe that explains it. Regardless, organs are really, really creepy. Period." - Cassandra Kiely

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from NO-FI:

"This is Nora Keyes' (of The Centimeters) new solo album and it is everything I hoped it would be. The best way to describe it would be if you were digging through a crate of old 78s and found a dusty old album in the back covered with earth and leaves with songs by a woman who has probably spent a lot of time alone in a shack before recording her music. The recording itself really does have the feel of a much older recording with vocals that sound like they were recorded at the same studio that did recording for those old black and white Popeye cartoons. I love all the songs on this album, but I think my favorites are "Small Apart" (which I saw her perform at a Centimeters show before with a bunch of her teeth blacked out which added to the effect of her creepy cackling during the song), "Look At You, You're Ugly", and her cover of a Jimmy Rogers yodelling song called "Old Pal" (which I would love to direct a video for...it would be neat to see Nora in a 50s style cowgirl outfit). Other people performing music on this album are Creekbird, Rebecca Lynn, and Ray Day of The Centimeters and Dame Darcy (whose weird episode of Blind Date I finally saw today) on Autoharp and Saw. This is not "normal" music by any means so get this if you are looking from something so different from mainstream music today that it may as well be from outer space. This is good music for taking a bath or doing work in the toolshed." - Chris Beyond.

FULL HARVEST MOON (12 October 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

ALQUIMIA

COATLICUE "GODDESS OF THE EARTH"


Original Issue: 1992 Musica Onirica (MOCD 002)

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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Do not forget to take a look at the comments section :-)

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from All Music Guide:

Latin music is fused with futuristic electronics by Mexican-born Alquima. While her basic tracks feature vocals and piano, Alquima enhances her recordings with layers of looped vocals, electronic processors, sound effects, samples, synthesizers, gongs and bells.

The result is a sound that combines the musical traditions of Latin America with influences of rock, pop, avant-garde, classical and improvisational music. According to Audion magazine, "Alquima aims to dazzle, entrance , relax and excite, and, does so on all counts."

Alquima's debut album, Coatlicue: Goddess of the Earth, released in 1992, featured a nine-part title track and five individual pieces. Her second album, Wings of Perception, released in 1995, was inspired, by what she told an interviewer, "my experiences in the Yucatan region of Mexico, the mysticism of the ancient temples and my reading of the works of Carlos Castaneda."

Alquima recorded her third album Dead Tongues in 1996 with Mexican composer Jose Luis Fernandez Ledesma, who played Fender Rhodes, synthesizers, percussion, voices, shells, flutes and electronic sounds. The daily Mexican newspaper called Dead Tongues, "the best Mexican album of its kind this decade." Alquima divides her time between studying music and mysticism in London and composing and recording in her own studios in London and Mexico City.

Craig Harris

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from New Gibraltar Encyclopaedia Of Progressive Rock:

Alquimia is from Mexico, though she now lives and records in the UK. Her music is inspired by Mexican/Central American occult and pagan influences, including Mayan religion and Carlos Castaneda. I have several of her albums, and they vary quite a bit from one to the next. Most of them have in common a "tribal" feel with lots of hand drums, rattles, wood blocks and other ancient-sounding rhythmic devices.

Coatlique is her first and her most experimental album (of those I've heard at least). There are those who might say "this isn't music at all!" This is more along the lines of sound collage, though she sings with a vocal timbre somewhere between Gilli Smyth and Enya, from ethereal and lofty to trancing chants. The tribal drums and percussion are most prevalent on this album, along with an array of synthesized groans, klangs, hissing and percussive sounds designed to elicit emotions ranging from elation to skin-crawling.

This is an excellent album and should be of interest to most prog fans who don't need too much melody to satisfy them. Those who only like symphonic or neo-prog style progressive music will probably be bored.

FULL STURGEON MOON (13 August 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

CAMERATA MEDIOLANENSE

CAMPO DI MARTE


Original Issue: 1996 Discordia (Disc 093 CD)

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

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Do not forget to take a look at the comments section :-)

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from Old Europa Café:

This album was released back in 1996 and is still one of the very best Neoclassic albums ever ! True European music!

The quality of Camerata in their music stile is unique and no other group was able to achieve such results …

Fanfare, Drums, super wonderful Vocals especially the female ones, Cembalo plus other classic instruments, simply majestic sounds and exquisite compositions !

FULL FLOWER MOON (17 May 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

ROSEMARY'S BABY

ANDREW WOODHOUSE


Original Issue: 1986 Ricerche Studi Babalon (RSB 3/7)

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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from L'Erba della Strega (Google automatic translation from Italian):

From the beginning of its work, RSB said to put the TOPY as a starting point and not necessarily of arrival.

This implied the fact that prior to putting in the fruit of his research could be of any type and not necessarily on one side or the other for stupid statement.

With the completion of this project, "Andrew Woodhouse is immediately and permanently ended the research studies Babalon and his work as TOPY Italian, also comes to an end the existence of Rosemary's Baby, a subsidiary of the music more complex project RSB : Babalon was researched and studied and, at the present time was recognized.

Below we publish the results.

RSB - July 1986



This is the statement that opens the book contained in the final production of Rosemary's Baby: The LP Andrew Woodhouse. After only a couple of years, as the group bids farewell to his supporters, admirers and followers, exalted, and not trendy. Print run 500 copies of the disc, 250 in free distribution. The title itself symbolizes the change took place in the group: in the film Rosemary Andrew is the name that would give his son, and will ultimately be called Adrian. Nearly a change of course.

Disk and the words contained in the booklet and in the letters that he wrote about Pierre, he could talk for pages, but I remember the premise made at the beginning of the article. I have uncovered the tomb where rests Rosemary's Baby, I tried to describe their past life, but I do not want to completely remove the veil that envelops the body. This we can do each of us if interested and with his head.

What is certain is that the project had actually worked well, the purpose of study and research had been fully pursued and at the time had come to maturity of the ideas with the point from which he had left had little to do. The results mentioned in the statement are not disclosed. Instead, they are presented as extracts from books by various authors, among which is expected to emphasize the preponderance of the quotations from the works of Rene Guenon: its opinions on the psyche and the magic, the modern world and human development.

The entire A side of the disc is occupied by an impressive cover of "The End" The Doors, re-run in a tribal, ethereal, dreamy, full of percussion and never disturbing and oppressive as it could be a "... The power of love." You find yourself floating in a smoky haze for the duration of the piece, even more exciting final for the registration of which the Rosemary's Baby have used some tools used by Tibetan monks for the last piece of the B-side The text is modified, you can read all handwritten in a copy of a calendar page dated July 3 (death of Jim Morrison ...), also attached to the disk. Text not changed at random, as Pierre explains in one of his last letters.

The B side is instead of three recordings. "ENI," Byzantine chant sung and celebrated in the Monastery of Xenophontos. "La ilaha illallah" Muslim who obsessively repeats the song title, which sounds like "There is no god but Allah." "Swayambunath" recording of a song made by Tibetan R'sB in the temple of Swayambhunath.

Pierre closes one of his last letters with the phrase "Seek the Lord." I believe that reflecting on this fact and the three songs that Rosemary's Baby have decided to include in the B side of the disc, you can guess what was the road that they were trying to take at that time.

FULL WOLF MOON (19 January 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

ITSUTSU NO AKAI FUSEN

FLIGHT 1 & 2


Original Issue: 1970 Underground Record Club URG-4006)
Original Issue: 1971 Underground Record Club URG-4007)

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Margot-meter: 4 moons / 5

Impossible-to-find holy grail ranking at #47 in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler is finally available in Margot's coven!!!!

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from Julian Cope's Japrocksampler:

Imagine an LP half full of songs such as Erika Eigen's 'I Wanna Marry a Lighthouse Keeper' from the A CLOCKWORK ORANGE soundtrack. Mo Tucker's Velvet Underground ballads 'After-hours' and 'I'm Sticking with You', and that ubercute ditty Tonight You Belong to Me' that Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters sang together in The Jerk.

Imagine that same album also contains a few euphorically strung-out cosmic folk ballads somewhere in the style of Tim Buckley's Straight Records LP BLUE AFTERNOON united with Culture's super-sweet TWO SEVENS CLASH, but sung by a man and a woman in the manner of Emtidi's SAAT. Then imagine that some of that material was extended to cover a whole side of 12" vinyl, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser-style.

Okay, now imagine there were two such LPs and that they were released one year apart on a cult label called Underground Record Club, and you've hit exactly where Itsutsu no Akai Fusen is coming from. It's a weird combination of urban torch songs, rural lovey-dovey indoor campfire, and transcendental tripped out meditative space folk. Both LPs were packaged in cosmic spacious gatefold sleeves, and the records were mainly sung by female singer Hideko Fujiwara and written by songwriter Takashi Nishioka, the man responsible for a fairly legendary Japanese album, MELTING GLASS BOX. that I've never really found much time for.

These two records I like very much indeed, however, so they're hidden away at number 47 because I listen to them all the time, despite having never had much time for the Japanese early-'70s folk scene. So please excuse this review hyping two LPs simultaneously, but by 2012, you'll most likely have found time to investigate these records and, hopefully, are by now digging them.

YULE (21 December 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

VARIOUS ARTISTS

PEOPLE TAKE WARNING! (Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, 1913-1938)


Original Issue: 2007 Tompkins Square (TSQ1875) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

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from Pitchfork:

Times are tough. Times are always tough. But times used to be much tougher.

A recent report noted the global rise of the standard of living, and the U.S. stock market keeps hitting all-time highs. Even if the relative prosperity of America is tempered by the troubling observation that, contrary to the usual positive economic indicators, life isn't getting much better, life in general doesn't seem that bad.

Every so often, though, we get a glimpse of what once was and what could very well be again. The precarious, precipitous housing market leads to talk of recession, which inevitably brings up depression. The Hurricane Katrina humanitarian disaster provided an alternate-reality view of the United States as Third World nation. The resolution of the United Auto Workers strike settled the weight of thousands of jobs bobbling in the balance. The death toll and number of wounded in Iraq and elsewhere creeps upward, reminders of a time when sacrifice was compulsory, not voluntary.

Yes, times are tough, but times used to be absolutely terrible-- rife with starvation, disease, extreme poverty, and senseless death. As relative prosperity continues unabated, perspective predictably fades. People Take Warning: Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, 1913-1938 provides that perspective with three discs of abject misery, songs about misery, miserable people, and the miserable things they've done or that were done to them. It's the epitome of a bad trip back in time, and a riveting collection of musical snapshots capturing a country teetering on the edge of the abyss, looking down, and singing songs about what they see.

Titled "Man V. Machine", the first disc focuses on songs of train wrecks, plane crashes, and the odd car accident, and features lot of songs about the Titanic, in particular. The other two discs are titled "Man V. Nature" and "Man V. Man [And Woman, Too]", respectively, and tackle just what their names imply: natural disasters and good ol' fashioned murdering.

It's harrowing and horrifying stuff, but there's a twisted element of rueful humor to this set, too. "If it bleeds, it leads," goes the cynical journalism saying, and these horror stories, drawn from headlines, serve much the same purposes as the tabloids, providing tales of loss you can't turn away from. It's also a little like the scene of the accident on the side of the highway, with traffic slowed to a near halt so that everybody can get a good look, as if they don't already know what they're going to see.

You generally know what you're going to get here, too, but just because it's familiar sounding hardly means it's full of household names. The set inevitably includes a few songs from such usual suspects as Son House and Charley Patton, as well as often anthologized tracks like Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks". There are also plenty of well-known subjects, like the infamous Old 97 train, conductor Casey Jones, the doomed Tom Dooley, and the reliably murderous Stack O'Lee. But there are countless surprises as well, like "El Mole Rachmim (für Titanik)", a song that stresses how much the great ship's sinking resonated with recent Eastern European Jewish immigrants.

Music like this has always been the province of obsessive collectors, and it will probably always remain that way. But there's no question that having this music packaged together by experts and fans beats scouring estate sales for fragile 78s. Whether beautifully packaged (like the astounding gospel collection Goodbye, Babylon), thematically organized (the fun medicine show soundtrack Good for What Ails You: Music of the Medicine Shows 1926-1937), or both (the still essential Anthology of American Folk Music, which, lest one forget, really was once just part of one man's collection), it's still remarkably powerful and moving all these years-- but really not that many-- later. As Tom Waits puts it in his introductory essay, "The scratches on the 78s sound like the ocean in a shell, and the songs are riding inside across time."

FULL BEAVER MOON (21 November 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

AUTUMN SHADE

EZRA MOON


Original Issue: 2007 Strange Attractors Audio House (SAAH049) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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from http://www.tinymixtapes.com/:

Tulsa, Oklahoma native Jes Leneé’s prematurely world-weary and timeworn vocals may betray a maturity beyond her years, but they also possess a damaged, little-girl-lost quality that suffuses her songcraft with a ghostlike, almost spooky ambience. Her lyrics, however cryptic and ambiguous, are nonetheless conveyed with an anguished candor that reinforces the music’s supernatural affectations, and while she frequently sacrifices profundity for abstraction, Leneé’s nebulous lyrics suit the tone of the music, which has a distinctly antiquated flavor to it. Her voice is expressive, but conversely yearns to convey something inexpressible, as on the beautiful and somewhat distressing “Red,” with its simple yet devastating melody and ominous lyrics.

Ezra Moon, Leneé’s debut release under the name Autumn Shade, illustrates the manner in which an album’s whole dynamic can be altered entirely by its production, and in keeping with her band’s moniker, there is an autumnal, almost gothic quality to these pieces, redolent of gray skies, wet leaves, and wood-smoke haze. The record’s opening instrumental, “Sparrow,” features a delicate piano figure that, with its slightly out-of-tune character suggestive of a creaky upright piano from an Old West saloon, ultimately dematerializes and dissipates as if into a cloud of dust motes. Leneé’s lyrics and plaintive, minor-key chord progressions convey a wistful sense of melancholy that, coupled with the record’s atmosphere, pack an additional emotional wallop. Ornate piano melodies are a testament to Leneé’s background as a classically trained musician and add a subtle hint of color to a generally sepia-toned affair.

Reduced to their constituent elements, which generally include little more than vocals, guitar, and piano, with the occasional violin and hammered dulcimer flourish, the frugal arrangements of these tracks are fairly straightforward. But the filigree production from Derick Snow infuses the music with something spectral and sometimes icy cold. Snow’s production also serves to emphasize the broad dynamic range of the instruments. This technique is manifest on the incredibly haunting “Spanish Willow,” which features a vibrant and animated acoustic guitar line that makes Leneé’s subtly reverbed vocals sound even more spectral and otherworldly, as if those of an apparition beckoning from beyond this mortal coil. Other shorter, more piano-driven tracks act as interludes that showcase the singer’s impressive dexterity on the keys.

Stark as these pieces are, they make amazing use of space; in between guitar strums or the deftly keyed notes of a piano we find ourselves paying attention to the lingering ambience, which seems informed by an earthy resonance. As if to even further emphasize the importance of space, atmosphere, and the visual aspects of Autumn Shade's music, Snow doubles as a live painter on stage. On the whole, Ezra Moon is an exercise in subtlety. Trim and succinct, these 12 tracks showcase the abilities of a talented, budding songwriter, and leave us waiting in earnest for more.

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from http://www.strange-attractors.com/:

Autumn Shade is the nom de plume of Jes Lenee', a stunning young songstress brimming with unbridled talent. Armed with a satchel full of pensively beautiful tunes, Lenee' possesses a voice as pristine as any your ears will have heard in this lifetime. The fact that Lenee' calls Tulsa, Oklahoma home only adds to the mystery, for her music is much more aligned with the astral plane than anything resembling the Okie Plains. Lenee' is a classically trained piano prodigy, who at the age of eleven was penning songs that won award recognition. Ultimately seduced by the craft of songwriting, Autumn Shade is a marriage of her piano prowess and folk-inspired guitar strumming, imbued in a heady ambiance and enveloped in some of the most heavenly, intimate vocals to have come down the pike in some time.

Formed in 2002, the band self-releasing an EP entitled Grandfather's Attic, which caused a stir in the Tulsa and Midwest area; in the live setting, the band incorporates painter Derick Snow, who creates his pieces on stage, allowing the moods to dictate the whim of his creations, lending a tactile visual element to the music. Set to splash with their full-length debut Ezra Moon, Autumn Shade has concocted a fascinating foray into an ethereal, yet emotionally raw netherworld.

Ezra Moon is a journey into a unique sepia-toned microcosm, one that intertwines folk, chamber music, psychedelia, avant-rock and indie singer/songwriter. Opening with the wispy "Sparrow", a delicate piano interlude softly fluttering in and out of focus like a foggy memory, the misty landscape spills into "Home", a folk-inspired lament driven by acoustic strumming and Jes Lenee's yearning vocals. Colored by additional instrumentation of violin, hammer dulcimer and percussion, and a healthy penchant for sonic experimentation, the narcotic, detached feel of Ezra Moon is reminiscent of albums by the female artists that helped define the 4AD sound. Jes Lenee's classical roots and compositional sense invoke the avant-chamber feel of Rachel's, if they were enveloped in the hazy folk atmosphere that Marissa Nadler resides in. Ezra Moon is an entrancing debut, inaugurating Autumn Shade into the contemporary folk scene with an understatedly personal and cinematic sound.

FULL HUNTERS' MOON (22 October 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

LAIBACH

NATO


Original Issue: 1994 Mute Records (CDSTUMM121) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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Miscellaneous reviews:

Following the 1992's "Kapital" and the launch of their new republic (don't ask), Laibach are back. You may remember their reinvention of Queen's "One Vision" as stirring Volk anthem, which somehow managed to highlight some peculiarly common ground between Nuremberg and Freddie Mercury ("Ein Fleisch!/Ein Mensch..."). You may even remember their slow detonation of "Sympathy For The Devil", reinvented as a funereal postcard from hell. Laibach have always been scary and hilarious - mostly at the same time. "NATO", I'm delighted to say, exceeds even their most burlesque moments.

Apparently, "NATO" is inspired by the state of flux gripping Eastern Europe. But don't let that put you off the fact that Laibach's penchant for dignying silly pop songs like Status Quo's "In The Army Now" with absurdly operatic pomp and Teutonic portent, reveals them to be more akin to a kind of solemn Slovenian Frank Sidebottom. On Europe's "The Final Countdown" Milan scarily intones, "We're heading for Venus/But still we stand tall", and immediately the poodle-permed rockers become ashen-faced harbringers of the apocalypse. Elsewhere, the album's theme of changing world orders takes the Holst ("The Planets"), Pink Floyd ("Dogs Of War") and Edwin Star ("War"), relocated within Laibach's grand vision of a Europe in flux at the of the millennium. Nostradamus, Wagner, Giorgio Moroder and the Warsaw Pact make ideal bedfellows. Quite how Laibach have kept a straight face for so long, is something I'll never understand. I wouldn't have them any other way though.

Peter Paphides, Time Out, 19 - 26 October 1994

It's always been very difficult to pin Laibach down to a particular style. Certain ingredients of their sound (a dark orchestral feel, heavily accented, sepulchral vocals) have remained relatively constant, and allowed the easy identification of their work. However, the context within which those characteristic features are used has varified widely. They've done everything from stage-related concept albums such as "Macbeth" to all - cover releases like "Let It Be" and "Sympathy For The Devil".

"NATO" fuses both of these extremes into a seamless whole, an album with a consistent theme that is implemented entirely through cover versions. Rather than stick with a single artist, the group have selected material from a number of sources and fed it through the Laibach mincer. Not all of the songs chosen were originally on the theme of war, but given their talent for making almost anything sound like it was recorded at a Red Army requiem disco, this isn't important.

First up is "NATO" itself. At some time in the dim distant past this track was Gustav Holst's "Mars" but Laibach have, in typically awkward fashion, taken the most intrinsically warlike piece of music on the album, and added a dance beat and assorted electronic burbles to produce a bizarre cross of full orchestra and lightweight techno that updates Holst's pre - First World War piece to an age of electronic warfare and laser - guided munitions. It works, but Laibach's interpretation is rather less doom - laden than the original, allowing it to meet the other metamorphosed covers here halfway.

Edwin Starr's "War" is equally unconventional. Part contemporary techno, part Laibach theatrics, the lyrics here have been cleverly altered so that Starr's original rhetorical question of "War - what is good for?" is for once actually answered. Science, religion, domination and communication, according to Laibach. More specifically, they list (among others) GM, IBM, Newsweek, CNN, Universal, Siemens, Sony... the list goes on. Very cleverly done, both musically and lyrically, even if Laibach's list of martial benefactors seems a little odd at times. Sony? Aren't they purely a consumer electronics firm? Or did I somehow miss the launch of the Bombman?

The first single taken from this album, a cover of Europe's "The Final Countdown", was a highly commercial mixture of lightweight Euro - disco and the usual Laibach ingredients. When I heard the single, I suspected the album version would be rather less explicitly dancefloor friendly.

I was right, but not to be expected degree. The version here does indeed suggest that the Pet Shop Boys have run off to a remote Balkan castle and begun experimenting with a pipe organ the size of a house and a heavily accented choir, but it's still rather more poppy and rather less overblown and pompous than I'd hoped. Still, it's pretty good and would certainly have Joey Tempest turning in his grave if he was dead in anything but a musical sense.

The thought of Laibach covering Status Quo is strange enough in itself but the blunt reality of it is stranger still. Their rendition of "In The Army Now" is recognizable, but reshapes the song in Laibach's own image as a blend of grandiose choral sequences and a dance beat. It works well but there's really not more I can say about it. Pink Floyd's "Dogs Of War" gets a similar treatment. I'm not familiar with the original, but regardless of how it originally sounded it's now a high BPM techno track with a choir and those gravelly Slovenian tones over the top. Again, it works well although it's difficult to say exactly why.

Probably the most faithful cover here is that of DAF's "Alle Gegen Alle". This is perhaps due to the stark minimalism of the original - there was so little to it to begin with that you can't really add all that much if you want it to remain recognizable. On the top of this, let's face it, even Shirley Temple would sound like DAF if she were to bark German lyrics over a stripped - down militaristic dance beat. Musically, it's very close to the original, but adds the inevitable Laibach vocals and choir, plus an odd choral bridge that suggests Laibach are considering adding the track to a 30s musical spectacular about the Nuremberg rallies.

The next track finds Laibach indulging in a little lyrical meddling, metamorphosing "Indian Reservation" into "National Reservation" with appropriate lyrical changes to slant the song towards the situation of the former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe. It's perhaps not entirely fair to liken the current situation of the Eastern European states to that of native Americans, but musically the track's interesting enough and trundles along nicely.

Their interpretation of the old Zagen And Evans hit "In The Year 2525" hits some rather more firmly. The song was always rather more suited musically to their current approach than most of the material here, but Laibach have done some very interesting things to the track lyrically, replacing the umpteen - thousand years of future history chronicled by the original by a gloomy and decidedly apocalyptic history of the period 1994 - 1999. Those dark Slovenian vocals are perfect here, and manage to convey an incredible sense of world weariness, cynicism and sadness. The minimalist backing track of a thunderous heartbeat works well too.

The album is rounded off by the song I couldn't trace the original of. I know that it was originally "March On River Drina" (read: The War God Mars on River Drina, read: March On River Drina - which is a Serbian military marching anthem from the First World War) but that's about it - the credits for the original versions are, alas, printed rather illegibly on the disc itself rather than in the booklet. It looks like it was composed by Stanislav Binicki, but I'm unsure of the spelling of that surname and with my musical encyclopedia inaccessible can't confirm it. Anyway, regardless of the composer, Laibach's arrangement of the track is excellent. It begins in a dark and warlike vein, punctuated by male and female choirs, eerie moans and groans and a militaristic drumbeat before veering into a more contemporary vein. The slightly cheesy brass is a little odd - one picture Captain Kirk fighting a man in a lizard suit for the hand of a woman with green hair rather than anything military, and the choir sometimes suggests the flying monkeys from the Wizard Of Oz, but there you have it. Very enjoyable, even if it doesn't quite have the desired effect.

Overall, I'm very impressed. As always, it's difficult to compare this to any prior Laibach releases since they never seem to head in quite the same direction twice in succession. However, it's more likely to appeal to those who're into the group's cover material such as "Let It Be" than those who like "Macbeth" or their early work.

The interest here lies less in Laibach's distinctive take - no - prisoners approach to covering other people's material than in what their reinterpretations actually say. There's less parody here than before, with Laibach apparently focusing less on a demolition job of the artists covered than on using their material to get Laibach's own point across.

Of course, that's not to say that the material here couldn't be enjoyed in a parodic sense - "Final Countdown" is, for example, a fine example of the total war approach to cover versions that Laibach have used in the past. There's more to this on though, and it's by turns beautiful and terrible, although not quite to the same degree as their best material. Definitely worth a listen though, and as good an introduction to their more recent sound as anything they've put out in the past few years.

Al Crawford - awrc@access.digex.net

FULL PINK MOON (28 April 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN

TABULA RASA


Original Issue: 1993 Mute (BETON 106 CD) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

"Blume" and "Wüste" still resonating and haunting me from 1993!

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1 Die Interimsliebenden
2 Zebulon
3 Blume
4 12305(te Nacht)
5 Sie
6 Wüste

Headcleaner
7.I Zentrifuge / Stabs / Rotlichtachse Propaganda / Aufmarsch
7.II Einhorn
7.III Marschlied /
8 Das Gleissen / Schlacht
8.IV Lyrischer Rückzug

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from http://www.sputnikmusic.com/:

Latin for clean slate, its an apt title it would be the last album with Mark Chung and Muffi. The album opens with Die Interimsliebenden, with a funky bass by Alexander Hacke. Immediately you are struck by the lack of metallic noise and how melody is beginning to move to the fore.

Zebulon is spare and gentle melody and vocal harmonies devoid of any percussion until it explodes in the last minute or so. Still the release is lacks the abrasion of previous works.
Fans may at this point begin to feel that neubauten have softened and they may be right but then they are missing the point.

Neubauten have began to expand their sound, use noise more sparingly and effective. Blume is a haunting melody, lead by female vocals with Bargelds whispers under pinning it, at times dreamy and other times filled with sadness.

12305 (Te Nacht) is electronic beeps and metal scrapings and droning, not the strongest track but by no means filler.

Sie sees the band swap metal pipes for plastic tubing, a technique that they will reuse throughout later albums, at least until the end of the track where it comes in sparingly. While not as harsh as their more metallic songs, it still has the same intensity.

Wuste is a stand out track, using strings for the first time in a Neubauten album, as well as sand and burning oil. It starts off largely instrumental sounding like a Philip Glass composition, before
Blixa's whispered vocals creep in, at times they are barely audible over weird sounds and strings. Then the song abruptly ends.

Headcleaner builds from a low to hum over 1.03 mins punctuated by metallic percussion then dies down only start up again, and does this over its 15 mins.
Every time explodes the band throw themselves full long into sound smashing metal against metal recalling the glorious collapse of their debut kollapse.

Hearing it now the tension of the track it sounds like percussionist Muffi trying to drown out Bargeld and the rest of the band, it becomes easy to use the song as a metaphor for the inner tensions of the band and how they would never record another song as chaotic or tense as this track.

tomwaits4noman

FULL WORM MOON (29 March 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

FERN KNIGHT

MUSIC FOR WITCHES AND ALCHEMISTS


Original Issue: 2006 VHF (vhf#101) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

IMHO, the more beautiful folk-related album of 2006

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1 Song For Ireland
2 Awake, Angel Snake
3 W. Memphis
4 Murder Of Crows
5 Lintworme, Pt. I
6 Marble Grey
7 Shingle River
8 The Dirty South
9 Summer Of Throg
10 What The Crows Left Behind
11 Lullaby

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from Boomkat:

Fern Knight is guitarist, cellist and singer Margie Wienk in collaboration with a revolving cast of musicians, in this instance largely culled from the Espers line-up (Meg Baird, Greg Weeks and the ubiquitous Otto Hauser). As you can tell from both the artist name and album title, this project really isn't going out of its way to avoid the faerie folk typecasting acts like Espers are associated with, and sure enough Ms. Wienk guides her troupe of followers through the acid folk haunted wood with aplomb. As is often the case with this scene, much of the influence here has been taken from English folk fusion groups from the '60s and '70s. Opener, 'Song For Ireland' has that hypnotic Wicker Man feel that's referenced so often by this music, while 'Awake, Angel Snake' contains some of Greg Weeks' curiously medieval sounding acid lead guitar. As the album starts to draw to a close, 'What The Crows Left Behind' proves to be one of the finest things here; an upbeat waltz featuring Jesse Sparhawk's beautiful harp playing and some great ensemble arrangement and vocal harmonizing from the Espers crew. Music For Witches And Alchemists might turn out to be exactly the record you expect it to be, but given the quality of both the writing and performances, that's far from a bad thing. Excellent stuff.

IMBOLC (02 February 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

THRESHOLD HOUSEBOYS CHOIR (THE)

FORM GROWS RAMPANT


Original Issue: 2007 Threshold House (THBKK3)

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

Listen to the seductive sound of EVIL!!!

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1 A Time Of Happening (7:02)
2 Intimations Of Spring (11:29)
3 So Young It Knows No Maturing (14:34)
4 So Free It Knows No End (8:25)
5 As Doors Open Into Space (7:04)

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from Brainwashed:

This CD/DVD is the first proper release by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson's post-Coil audiovisual project. The music on Form Grows Rampant is a logical continuation of Sleazy's contributions to late-period Coil and the reformed Throbbing Gristle, a suite of dense digital environments that combine shuddering electronics with sampled vocals. In the process, The Threshold HouseBoys Choir create a brand new genre that might be described as Post-Industrial Exotica.

The DVD is the main attraction here, containing a slightly lengthier version of the program that premiered at last year's Brainwaves festival. The DVD contains five videos captured at the GinJae Vegetarian Festival held in Krabi Town in the south of Thailand. Because the recently expatriated Christopherson's has made Thailand his new home, and because of the prurience suggested by his longtime nickname "Sleazy," there is a distinctly perverse undercurrent to the name "HouseBoys" and to the five-part video program included on the DVD. Fear not: there is nothing here which could be construed as boy-porn by any but the most censorious fundamentalists. However, these videos do not shy away from depicting young, willowy Thai boys in the rapturous malaise of ritual religious ecstasy, and there is a distinctly erotic component to the proceedings that must be acknowledged.

The boys whip themselves into a furious trance, heads shaking back and forth, eyes rolling back into their heads. A crowd of people stare as they eagerly volunteer to have their eyebrows and cheeks and lips pierced with long skewers and giant sharpened metal poles. Christopherson slows down the video footage as a way of depicting the peculiar beauty and savagery of the GinJae Festival, adding subtle time-stretching effects so that it seems as if one can actually witness the moving of the spirit in these zealous young acolytes of the "Khatoey" Holy Men. As an ethnographic documentary, this doesn't work very well at all, as it is far from a complete picture of the cultural context which surrounds this important festival. However, as a highly aestheticized way of gazing upon these seductively erotic-religious rituals, the videos are a resounding success.

Contributing to this success is Sleazy's soundtrack, which represents his first major musical project since the death of John Balance and the subsequent demise of Coil. Many people, I assume, will be interested to know how this music compares to Coil. The answer to this question is complex. Certainly, there are many features of the music that will be very familiar to those who have followed the work of Coil, especially during their last decade of existence: shuddering electronics, dense atmospherics, eerie digitalia, twisted and mutated vocals and sinister undercurrents hinting at a gleaming heart of darkness. These features give the music of THBC a superficial veneer that is unmistakably Coil-esque, but on the whole it is a very different animal. Here, Sleazy leaves behind the elements of chance, chaos and asymmetry that characterized late-period Coil. Perhaps because he is working almost exclusively with computer software now, instead of the variety of analog synthesizers and organic elements favored by Coil, the music feels more hermetic and inorganic. Even though human voices and other elements are sampled, they are mutated to the point where they synthesize with the rest of the digital library of loops and effects. This is not necessarily a criticism of THBC, but rather a proviso to those who were expecting the second coming of Coil.

The tracks are lengthy and contain layers of digital ambience. Melodies are present, but are sometimes buried, or are so child-simple that they become almost subliminal. Some of these tracks have appeared before in compilations in a much more nascent form. "As Doors Open Into Space" was previously known as "Mahil Athal Nadrach" when it appeared on the It Just Is... compilation last year. Here, it is expanded and reworked, with new elements added, until it becomes a rich, post-ethnic piece of electronica with a joyful melodic progression that sounds positively triumphant coming at the end of the disc. Critics such as David Toop have criticized the Anglo-American-Continental tendency to co-opt the musical features of third world cultures as a texture for their music, and certainly THBC could be accused of this kind of ethnic colonization. However, Sleazy's pieces are so hypnotic and beautiful, and so vague as to be impossible to pinpoint which specific world musics are being invoked, that they come across as a sort of 21st-century exotica: space-age bachelor pad music for the sexual tourists of tomorrow. Lovely pieces such as "Intimations of Spring," alive with electrified spirit voices smearing out behind a resonant sequence of xylophone tones, quickly negate any inherent problematics. All that is left is a stunningly well-conceived collection of audiovisual art that, though it is quite different, is undoubtedly the worthy successor of the legendary group to which Sleazy once belonged.

Jonathan Dean

FULL WOLF MOON (30 January 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

ARBOGAST LUC

HORTUS DEI


Original Issue: 2007 Private Release (No Number) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

For this Esbat I'd like to use the bit of visibility this blog has gained (thank you, folks) to promote the work of a French artist I've recently encountered during my travels across Europe: Luc Arbogast.

More details about him below.

Please if you like the musick (and I know lots of you will) come into contact with the Artist and buy his CDs that I consider real gems in the modern medieval revival trend. Essential listening!!!

His "Hortus Dei" is in heavy rotation in my CD player since day one I purchased it :)

Cheers,
Margot

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1. Morgenstern
2. La rosa enflorece
3. La valse du miroir
4. In memoriam Alesia
5. Pälastina lied
6. Dame de Cataluña
7. Non sofre Santa Maria
8. Beold de maï
9. Entre moi et mon ami
10. Unicornus
11. Hortus Dei
12. Ange

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from http://www.ubikann.com/:

It’s been a long time since I had such an unusual and memorable experience and it happened while we were looking at the cathedral in Strasbourg. A guy sitting on a stool started playing an instrument (called a bouzouki) and singing. He is pretty large guy and has several tattoos on each arm.

You look at him and expect a real husky voice. To begin with his voice was pretty low and slowly started crescendo. What was astonishing was the power and pitch of his voice. He is labelled as a “Countertenor mezzo-soprano”. For myself and maybe others this means he got to really high notes and was able to hold them at great ease ! I didn’t have anything I could use to record him and although a friend recorded the voice on a phone, the quality isn’t good.

To describe the overall style I suppose I would say medieval or Shakespearian, a really beautiful moment and after searching on the Internet I can only tell you that the disc is not yet available on the Internet anywhere. The guy is called Luc Arbogast and from what I understand he also plays with his wife Mélusine who wasn’t there on this occasion.

Before he started singing there were maybe five or six people in front of the cathedral and when he finished I would guess there were over fifty in a semi-circle around him. He switched from German to French with great ease after singing, talking to people wanting to buy his CD. He has a French father (from Strasbourg) and German mother.

FULL BLUE MOON (31 December 2009)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

JARBOE

MAGICK FOR MISCHIEFS


Original Issue: 2006 The Living Jarboe (No Number)

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

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1 Five Point Star 7:46
2 Furfur 7:29
3 Psychedelick 6:23
4 Ascension 4:56
5 Running Through Invisibility 6:25
6 Magickgrl 8:31

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from http://blogcritics.org/:

Experimental vocalist Jarboe is currently creating a trilogy of CDs which reflect her ongoing studies in Buddhism, Islam, and the Kabbalah: Magick for Mischiefs, Magick for Prudence, and Magick for Cherishings. This sometimes ethereal, sometimes dissonant series of releases is the latest creation in a career that started with The Swans in the 80s and has not subsided. Although Jarboe is not radio or major label material, she has carved a niche for herself, marketing her work to fans through her website. She has also performed with many others in the avant-garde, most notably Neurosis, and the interviews on her website are a veritable who's who, including talks with Diamanda Galas, Athan Maroulis, Steven Severin, Richard Kern, and Lydia Lunch.

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from Rate Your Music (and my dear blog-friend Brad):

Positively my favorite recording by Jarboe so far (although I have not yet received my copy of Prudence yet). This CD is brilliant. Jarboe's amazing vocal talents are on display in both ways you have come accustomed to with this brilliant vocalist, and new ways as of yet unexplored.

The CD starts off with my favorite track "Five Point Star" Beautifully crafted with a piano score that sounds right off of Greed or Holy Money by Swans. Jarboe's vocals, multilayered and beautiful, sound like a coven of young witches lamenting over one of their own. Georgeous.

Furfur will thrash your speakers. Jarboe hits some notes on this one that have permanently fuzzed my car stereo. Don't let that deter you though. This mostly instrumental track is beautiful and her voice is Angelic. Psychedelick is the exact opposite. Her voice isn't Angelic here, more like possessed, but not in the guttural roar that we found on Anhedoniac. No, Psychedelick has Jarboe sounding primitive and almost animal like. Very interesting and unique track. Ascension and Running Through Invisibility are reminiscent of the work that she did with Blackmouth... somewhat. Both tracks feature a more traditional song structure and "rock". The CD finishes off with Magickgrl which is basically an instrumental version of Five Point Star until the end when Jarboe sings a repeated chorus and the drums kick in.

If you haven't ordered it, do so now. If it's sold out, prey for it to be re-issued!

TheeBradMiller

FULL CORN MOON (04 September 2009)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

NIJIUMU

LIVE

Original Issue: 1997 Big Cat (ABB 1000/2CD)

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

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01 Untitled (3:11)
02 Untitled (49:38)
03 Untitled (12:29)

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from The Sound Projector:

Top of the range is Nijiumu, one of Keiji Haino’s quieter musical hats, and for sheer pathos this live recording worth your entry money by itself; to call this slice of sheer emotion tear-inducing is not enough. You will weep!

FULL BUCK MOON (07 July 2009)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

FINN SIMON

PASS THE DISTANCE


Original Issue: 1970 Mushroom (100 MR 2)

Reissue: 2004 Durtro/Jnana (DURTRO/JNANA 1970 CD) (Buy it here!!!)

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

Listen to "Jerusalem" and, just after the last note, please write a comment with your thoughts

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1 Very Close Friend (1:19)
2 The Courtyard (5:43)
3 What A Day (3:16)
4 Fades (Pass The Distance) (3:39)
5 Jerusalem (6:44)
6 Where's Your Master Gone (3:13)
7 Laughing 'Til Tomorrow (2:54)
8 Hiawatha (4:58)
9 Patrice (2:49)
10 Big White Car (5:48)
11 Children's Eyes (4:36)
12 Good Morning (3:00)
13 Butterfly (3:27)
14 Colonel Bleep (3:04)

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from Foxy digitalis:

I normally don't review reissues. Other rags insist on giving precious print space to Pink Floyd reissues. My problem is not with the fact that I simply don't like Pink Floyd. That's fine, I don't like a lot of music. The problem I have with an independent music site taking the time to write a review of the latest Pink Floyd reissue is that it's a complete waste of time and resources. Everyone knows who Pink Floyd is and knows about their records. Trust me, they haven't changed in 20 years. Reviewing said reissues takes away valuable space from some great, lesser-known band that could actually benefit from the press. I shouldn't be surprised. These are the same 'zines who seem to only review things they are paid to, which destroys any remaining credibility they might have. But I digress...

Simon Finn's "Pass the Distance" has a strange and tumultuous past. It was originally issued in 1970 on Mushroom Records, but subsequently deleted because of issues with the artwork. Thankfully, Durtro has rescued this seminal, acid-soaked masterpiece. Remastered from the original tapes, it's been reissued with loads of additional information. I had heard about this album for years and managed to track down a few songs, but was not prepared for the onslaught of hallucinatory genius that it unleashes.

"Pass the Distance" is the forbearer for all the psych-folk that has been proliferating the airwaves over the past few years. All those brilliant Six Organs of Admittance and Fursaxa records you love owe a lot to this record. Finn was doing all the same things they are now, but he did it 30 years ago. That's what makes this album so impressive. Hearing it completely for the first time recently, it holds up. This could easily be mistaken for something brand new. That's a feat in-and-of itself.

The beauty of this album not only lies in the individual songs, all of which are excellent in their own right, but also in how they are pieced together to create the perfect flow. It's as if this record could not have been sequenced in any other way. Each song moves into the next like an aging artist moving through the various stages of his life. As in life, you can't change how time passes, and so it goes with "Pass the Distance." It goes like this because it has to.

But really, the genius is in the songs. Every one of them is worth mentioning, but I don't have the time or space to go through why each track is wonderful. Instead, I'll focus on the three most impressive, and let me tell you, whittling it down to this trio of songs was not easy. First is the short and whimsical "Patrice." It's near the end of the album and offers a breath of fresh air after some heavier tracks. It's like the period of time right after a midlife crisis where nothing phases you. Life is simply beautiful and you are thankful for all the things in it. This song glides along under the sun without a care in the world. With a combination of acoustic guitar, flutes, and other reed instruments, this has vague hints of Nick Drake, but is distinctly Finn's own creation. "My poetry just lives to guide you, my songs to start your day," he half-whispers. It's these heartfelt and sincere sentiments that make this song great. The overall feel is one of someone in love with someone they view as perfect. It's sappy in all the right ways and simply makes you feel very, very good.

Contrasting the darker undercurrents present throughout "Pass the Distance" with the hopeful hallucinatory anthems it?s full of is "Where's Your Master Gone." This melodic track is like Bob Dylan on acid. With the meandering lead guitar track and minimal percussion accenting Finn's guitar, they create an uneasy, somewhat solemn web for him to sing on top of. His words are gorgeous, and in this context, powerful. It brings to mind the most psychedelic Beatles stuff, but takes it even further. "How do you know when you should set someone to go?" Finn asks. "The wizard spoke his piece, the person at least was never to be born." His soft voice floats in the air like a fine mist spewing from overcast skies. His words evaporate as soon as they're released. "You are no more evil now than man was and is and ever more will be," he sings. It's a powerful castigation, and his words are still relevant today. It's absolutely fantastic.

But on this album, there are nine amazing songs and then there is "Jerusalem." I would rate this as one of the ten best songs I've ever heard in my life. For a song about Jesus and his impact on the world, Finn's lyrics cut like a knife. Brilliant is the understatement of the year. This hallucinatory tale is as moving as anything you'll ever hear, and when Finn lets go with his acid tongue, even the staunchest cynics will be impressed. "And Jesus was a good guy who lived on figs and wine. A political revolutionary out to let you have a good time," he wails. This is somebody who has a true grasp on Jesus the man, which is oft overlooked by Christians. As the church organ drones build in the background, the intensity is turned up notch after notch. It's almost intimidating. "Did he imagine at that moment that 2 million hypocrites would praise his name? And were he now to come down, those hypocrites would crucify him again," he screams. It's biting commentary, and paired with this stunning music, it will do nothing but blow your fucking mind.

If there ever was an essential record to own, "Pass the Distance" is it. This is influential work and for any avid reader of this website, I urge you to go out and pick this album up today. Every word I can use to describe it doesn't do it justice. You have to hear it. You have to experience it. You have to let it run through your veins. Some of these songs are more lighthearted than others, and some take you on an emotional tailspin that you'll never fully recover from. "Pass the Distance" is an album that should have never been in the vaults for 30 years. This is an album that will make you see music differently and pay closer attention to the intricacies therein. Simon Finn's innovative work will stand up with any of your favorite records, and will likely nestle itself comfortably at the top. Absolutely essential. 10/10

Brad Rose