advantage Lucy - Have a Good Journey (1996-2000) (2000)

advantage Lucy (Originally Lucy Van Pelt) is a Japanese Indie Pop band that gathers influences from pretty much every feel-good genre there is, from lounge to jangle pop to alternative rock. In 2001 they released the compilation album "Have a Good Journey (1996-2000)" reuniting tracks from all of their albums and EPs released up to the year 2000 including their Lucy Van Pelt stage.

What separates this compilation from most Indie Pop compilations or from all Indie albums in general for that matter is that advantage Lucy has effortlessly pulled off what most Indie Pop bands don't achieve in their entire career; the natural ability to write compelling and short pop songs that don't feel manipulated or forced in any manner. advantage Lucy achieved fullness in a very pure yet varied form, not a single moment on this compilation is wasted, there is always a new musical idea waiting to put a smile on our faces. Whether it's the sharp and simple guitar leads from "Sora Wa Ugokazuni" or the electronic stunts of "Sunny", the semi-heavy guitar rhythms of "Citrus" or even the bitter-sweet whisperish vocals of "Nico" we are never deceived with even a single moment of empty space or "filler" in any of the songs' structures. The vocalist's work was especially refined and soothing, a definite highlight of this compilation, it's amazing how she can quickly change and change back from singing lyrics to wordless vocals like on the track "Citrus", there is an obvious vocalist-band chemistry that I personally can't get enough of. The last three tracks of this compilation are specially stellar, my personal favourite was "Frizz Pop", this track just sums up the whole album for me, it starts with an angry distorted guitar and quickly moves in into these gorgeous sugary vocals very á la Stereolab, then a flute comes in to complement this song, giving it a really funky-feel and putting an ironic point at the end of every verse the vocalists sings, and then the song finishes in a very humorous manner.

advantage Lucy is an example to follow for all Indie Bands and not only J-pop bands, an enormously entertaining compilation that deserves to be replicated.


"It's so funny, it's so sunny, it's so lovely, it's so funky"

Naked City - Leng Tch'e (1992)

Leng Tch'e is a ridiculously overlooked album from John Zorn's Jazzcore outfit Naked City. The album was released in 1992, the same year that Naked City's much more popular Grand Guignol was released, in my opinion Grand Guignol pales in comparison to this masterpiece. This album was also one of the first albums that could be classified as Drone Doom, predating Earth 2 by a year. For those of you who don't know what Naked City are: They are a band founded in 1988 by the insanely prolific artist John Zorn, their sound can best be described as Jazzcore, a mix of Jazz music and Grindcore which, surprisingly, works. Another thing to know is that "Leng Tch'e" is Chinese for "1,000 Cuts." It was an execution technique used in China where they cut off portions of the condemned's skin but kept him or her alive, the album cover actually depicts a real life occurrence of this gruesome act.

Yōran - Montparnasse (1981)

Yōran's 1981 EP "Montparnasse" is a depressing release, not only because of its mood but because it is so unfortunately short and obscure that one is only left to wonder about it without ever really knowing anything about it. The album begins with "Concert Maillol", which starts out as a bitter-sweet ballet-esque piano piece which later degenerates itself into a weary collage of what seems to be a weak synthesizer or a guitar with some of the most  haunting and magnificent field recordings of people talking I've ever heard. Then the track transforms into "Je Derve Avec Láir", starting out with the same notes as the piano piece in the beginning of the last track, only that this time the field recordings feel even more desperate and outrageous. Laughs, whispers, and what seems to be an angry imperative sentence haunt this delicate piano piece, crumbling it into a poem of retreat and pain. One cannot stop thinking that this release has some sort of story at this point of the EP. The next track is "Montparnasse" this time the piano-piece sounds heroic  and even fearless, like it's trying to liberate itself from the shiver-worthy words of whoever is speaking over it. Steps, a howling wolf , delicate screams of pain, and joyless whispers bitterly attack this piano-ballad once again, by the end of this track we feel defeat, as if the music has crucified and tortured itself for the good-being of something else.  "La Bou....." is a toy-box melody accompanied by words that seem to announce a epilogue, an epilogue of sweet death. "Montparnasse" is a self-destructive EP that seems to try to get rid of itself, one can only pretend to understand such a dusted gem. One can only invent its story, maybe it's a haunted ballet studio, a piano-ballet that brought a man to its demise, or maybe just a statement of depression and curiosity in its purest form.


"Je Derve Avec Láir"

Double Rainbow - Fuck the Internet (2011)

Fuck the Internet is an EP from Virginia-based Underground Hip-Hop band Double Rainbow. The album is short, simple, and sweet, very sweet. Only form of instrumentation is a distorted, washed-out guitar, which sounds perfectly fitting, and some nice percussion, other than that the album is pretty minimal relative to most Hip-Hop out there, no large amounts of  flashy production. I mean it's not to say its incredibly raw, its just not heavily focused on production. It's just to the point, the lyrics are clever and catchy, has a bit of a punk influence, and it's reminiscent of Hip-Hop acts like Bleubird or Otem Rellik, but, again, with less detailed production. The album also has a bit of a Punk influence, as far as the vocals go at least, and the instrumentals have a slight Post-Rock tint to them. The singer has a great voice in my opinion, some people might think it's a bit whiny but I really don't mind the whinyness. All in all it's a very great Hip-Hop album and I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend that you support the band directly via their bandcamp if you're able to, 7 bucks isn't that much and if anything it'll encourage them to work on and release more music.

Pride is a motherfucker and I've got a civilized mind

Gomorrha - I Turned to See Whose Voice It Was (1972)

Gomorrha were a relatively short-lived German band associated with the Krautrock movement operative in the early 1970s. In 1972, they released their swan song "I Turned to See Whose Voice It Was", considered by many to be their finest album. This album is a masterful blend of more blues-based psychedelic rock and progressive rock to create an extremely lively sounding brand of Krautrock dubbed "Hard Krautrock" by many germanophiles. Personally, this is one of the overlooked gems of the Krautrock movement, and one that definitely earns it's place on this blog

Monks - Black Monk Time (1966)

One of the most unique and ahead of their time bands ever. From the introduction of Monk Time, the authoritative call of Burger rings out over the driving, noisy and hypnotic instrumentation, and as the Monks launch into their first song, you know you're in for something special.

WaMü- Viafuckt (2012)

          

          WaMü seem to succeed in functioning within the sphere of organized chaos.  The Seattle noise rock/free improvisation group utilizes violin and alto saxophone along with more traditional rock instrumentation to make for a pulverizing wall of cacophonous sound.  In this respect, they share kinship with contemporaries Little Women, yet where the latter insist on carving out slight homages to their free jazz ancestors, WaMü insist on revitalizing the brutal punk aesthetic of their No Wave progenitors in a modern context.  This pulls more comparisons to bands like DNA and Mars, while Rachel LeBlanc’s shrilly vocals are reminiscent of Lydia Lunch and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.  Yet, despite all the influence tracking and comparisons, WaMü do manage to craft a sound of their own on Viafuckt that thrives on the interplay between musicians and the willingness to shape their wall of noise into ebbing sections rather than punishing the listener from start to finish.