en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices AxemRangers's Last.fm Journal http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal The Last.fm journal for AxemRangers. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. Top 10 Albums Of 2009 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2010/01/15/3capvz_top_10_albums_of_2009 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:06:19 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2010/01/15/3capvz_top_10_albums_of_2009 Disclaimer: Obviously not a definitive, end-all be-all list, and not so much "best" albums as "my favorite" albums, but an interesting little exercise for me nevertheless (as I usually try to avoid putting things like this together), and one I hope you enjoy.

10. Fantastic Explosion - Sound Track (from Time Evaluation Tactics Hyperion)
Fantastic Explosion's first new full-length album in five or six years more or less validates itself on those merits. Kazunao Nagata's (producer for many, the man behind Transonic Records, ExT Recordings, and owner of Transonic Studios) group is now joined by Tetsuto Yoshida (a Readymade artist) for the soundtrack to an film that I have...not seen. Fantastic Explosion's bouncy, influenced sound is back in full swing, with some more mature and glossy elements overshadowing the disjointed, breakier elements of their early work. Playfully programmed drums and meticulous synthesizers are still king. No tracks that pop out at me as much as in the past (Japan As No.1), but on the whole the collection is more than worth your time.

9. This Immortal Coil - The Dark Age of Love
Some , weepy chamber covers of Coil songs. But no, wait, that's a good thing! Coming out at the perfect time for me, having just really grown to appreciate and relate to Coil this past year, many of the interpretations play off the ideas of the originals with respect and passion, and are still beautiful in their own right. I'm not really familiar with any of the individual players, but the instrumentation is lush and carefully assembled, with rich tonal interplay between the strings and vocals, especially in tracks like "Teenage Lightning." "Tattooed Man" does an especially harrowing job embodying the spirit of the original: both give me the complete imagery of a dreary, brick paved harbor. Fascinating... Well, worth a listen, and essential for Coil fans.

8. Kaito - Trust
Kaito is one of Japanese techno producer Hiroshi Watanabe's most prolific aliases, and 2009's "Trust" is possibly the high point of what he has set out to achieve with it thus far. Kaito is known for deep, dreamy (the project being dedicated to Watanabe's young son), with layer upon layer of synthesizers and sentimental key melodies. While this is consistently successful in making music, somehow, on the whole, Trust is much more engaging than the Kaito albums before it. The tracks seem to maintain a more active and tangible energy within themselves, with bouncier drum kicks and tighter rhythms. The payoff during the second half of "rainbow circles" has to be heard to be believed. Part of the way through the album we even switch to a minor key for a low-lit feel for a little while... The tracks are mostly in the 7-8 minute range, so be prepared for some level of immersion.

7. Neely - I Suppose / Nothing's Wrong
When I started compiling names for my favorite albums of the year, I actually tried to actively avoid albums released by people I know...but it seems like being aware of this one and not recognizing it would be impossible. This is the debut tape of a very close friend of mine, with the recordings contained therein selected from things he made for himself over the course of several years. Though it could be easily classified as a " album," upon a closer look it's not nearly so simple. Many of the pieces are arranged in obsessive and complex fashions, and are kept grounded by integral loops, rhythms, sometimes repeated musical phrases or bass pulses. Low, fuzzy, implacable sounds come from every direction, as though recorded in the middle of an afternoon nap in a . Lo-fi electronics, intoning vocals, moments of and guitar. To be frank I haven't the faintest idea as to how some of the sounds on it were created, or made to sound how they do. But they are all real unto themselves, and the tone of the album overall is not foreboding or creepy as much as touching and, well, spooky. "Ing's Piano," is a personal favorite mind-bender. All in all it's nearly an hour of abstract, murky, and crushingly emotional music, with almost a tangible entity all its own.

6. XXX RESIDENTS - Attack of Killer Black Eye Ball!!!!
Okay this one kind of snuck up on me and is pretty high off the weird charts. As an interesting companion to "The Dark Age Of Love," here we have a hard, tribute to The Residents from Japan. XXX Residents is presumably a producer with ties to two live Residents tribute performance acts, and Killer Eye Ball!!!! has over 40 minutes of driving, progressive club tracks based around pilfered Residents melodies and hooks. Some seriously interesting production in here, covering too much ground to really hold down. The mix takes an even more surreal turn in the last ten minutes, when an intense track rises out of "Census Taker," orchestrated by Merzbow and featuring some of his more concentrated and psychedelic noise of the decade. Capped off with an almost hokey track, this is mandatory listening for open-minded Residents fans. (Oddly, there's quite a few that aren't...)

5. Fantastic Plastic Machine - FPM
This one blew me out of the water honestly. Tomoyuki Tanaka is obviously a producer with a lot of songs and especially remix work that I adore, but full-length Fantastic Plastic Machine albums are usually pretty hit-or-miss within themselves. Don't get me wrong, they have preciously few "bad" songs, but it's a lot of downtime in between the gems. However, barring maybe a couple of grating vocal cuts, 2009's "FPM" is a home run. If the opening track doesn't have you on the merit of how fucking weird it is, skip around a little. The album is buffered on all sides by the slick, grooves that FPM is known for, maybe with a bit more chrome these days now that all the kids are putting on shades. And at the halfway mark, "Forever Mine (Piano Dub)," we're treated to a series of groovy, leaned back instrumentals with wet, skin-crawling percussion that even lends itself to the side at times. "No Matter What Others Say" is my standout vocal track. Perhaps the best full-length album under the FPM moniker since its debut.

4. The Residents - The UGHS!
As always, The Residents had like fifty fucking releases this year, aided by their embrace of digital distribution to release content that would probably not break even on a physical product, which I think is great. "The UGHS!," however, did get a proper jewelcase CD release. The songs on this release are (supposedly) the product of an alternate band persona ("The UGHS!") The Residents adopted to create freeform musical sketches from which to cull themes for the soundtrack of their audio-only stage production, 2007's "The Voice of Midnight." And while you can hear bits and pieces, leitmotifs and grooves and patterns from VoM in The UGHS!, any self-respecting Residents fanatic/skeptic must question whether the whole thing is a clever reverse engineering... But completely independent from the mythology of it, The UGHS! is a truly unique work in its own right, and one of The Residents' most compelling and downright bizarre releases in years. The plodding, progressive soundscapes are all here, with some soaring strings and jaw-dropping guitar work by "resident" guitarist Nolan Cook. But the entire CD has a sort of sticky, humid, primitive atmosphere: Low end, scenic bass rumblings, ethnic hand percussion, grunting and chanting in non-languages. You can almost see the group recording, naked except for their eyeballs and top hats, squatting around a fire on a tropical riverbank, ingesting nauseating psychedelics and belching in rhythm. The music even descends into a kind of inhuman at times, before rising back up into hypnotizing grooves. "The Lonely Lotus" in particular is one of the most striking Residents pieces of the decade, while "Rendering the Bacon" just goes to show that they still know how to be completely baffling, in spite of their own brand.

3. Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do
From every 's favorite producers (whose names they know), Switch and Diplo, comes a totally unabashed and self-aware disc packed back-to-back-to-back with bite-sized poppy bangers that refuse to compromise. There's not a whole lot of substance here, admitted, but there's also not a bad track on the disc. Each one is a thick wax slab of ridiculous booty-shaking reaggaelectro dubs and jahs, balancing the riffs and hollow space within the tracks with infectious vocal hooks and tasteful sprinkles of . Absolutely fucking determined to get white kids to locate and (attempt to) utilize their hips, from the y "Pon De Floor" to the aggressive "When You Hear The Bassline" to the sugar/painkiller coated feel-good anthem of the year "Keep It Goin' Louder." (It's like an inverted "I Gotta Feeling." Like, imagine if that song didn't suck. Amazing, huh?) "Mary Jane" is possibly the most annoying song I've ever heard in my life, and my personal favorite. The only album in recent memory that you could put on at a party and not have to switch CDs after the first four tracks.

2. アーバンギャルド (Urbangarde) - 少女都市計画 (Girl's City Project)
Urbangarde is a self-proclaimed TOKYO VIRGINITY POP group, drawing from , retro synthpop, shibuya and influences to promote traditional Japanese social ideals and preach against the mortal dangers of promiscuous sex to the virgins, otaku and mentally diseased populations of Japan. Yeah... With alternately disturbing/hilarious imagery and a cute, kickin' synthpop sound, their 2006 debut "A Girl Only Lives Twice" was more fun than anyone could possibly ask for. But this year's sophomore followup, "Girl's City Project," raises the bar to a totally new level, with more unconventional song structures and darker, mature and schizophrenic production. For starters, during nearly every instrumental break in the album, where a simple guitar or key solo should go, we're instead treated to an impossible to break down concrete collage of instruments, synth riffing and beeping, guitar thrashing, pulsing chaos. Vocal delivery is theatrical, determined, and sometimes frenzied and hurried. Even the backbones of the tracks have had a tuneup, with the beats on tracks like "Revisionist," "All About The Girl," and especially the lead single "Concretegirl" boasting a degree of demure sophistication, like a well dressed man at a funeral. Perhaps most mind-blowing is "Tokyobirth," which ping-pongs in and out of degrees of delerium before finally rising into a "" kind of extreme groove that previously only existed within 1:50 long j-pop songs composed for music games, with syncopated piano riffing at methamphetamine fueled BPMs and urgent vocals shouted in boy/girl harmony. Simply put, if you have any affinity for pop music, order yourself a copy of this and prepare to hear it pushed in seriously innovative directions, eschewing the trendy shibuya electropop sound to peer over the fence into something genuinely freaky.

1. Captain Funk - Sunshine
As an unabashed, rabid Tatsuya Oe fanboy, I had pretty high expectations for this album, which were met and then some by what is quite possibly his most teeth-decaying album to date. 2007 saw the release of Captain Funk's sister albums "Heavy Metal" and "Heavy Mellow," both wonderfully sentimental /electro collections, but each of them did seem to have a lot of downtime in between the truely memorable tracks, evenly spread between the vocal and instrumental cuts. With Sunshine, however, Captain Funk hasn't sold himself short in the slightest. A feel-good, funny and sexy groove throughout, and a careful unified balance of themes and rising/falling action over the course of the disc helps cement it as an honest-to-god album, rather than a collection of songs. Vocal duties are tastefully split between Tatsuya himself and guests, and vox anthems like "Just Wanna Get You Tonight" and the bright, shiny, ultra-compressed title track (which also showcases Funk's penchant for aesthetics) are at the heart of the album. Plenty of organic instrumentation and Oe's trademark custom voice synths combine with rolling bass and stinging guitars to create precise, euphoric cuts that are impossible to not dance to. In essence, Sunshine is classy, like seriously fucking classy. We're talking red-velvet lined limousine interior. Ending with the hopelessly melodic eight minute "Summer Nights," albums as concise and successful in their intentions as Sunshine don't come along very often. Definitely one to savor for a long time to come.

(Thanks for reading!)]]> Bye Buy Alchemy Records http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/12/08/385900_bye_buy_alchemy_records Tue, 8 Dec 2009 23:43:26 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/12/08/385900_bye_buy_alchemy_records



rip




Hijokaidan]]> Dear Amazon.com Customer, http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/10/17/33caux_dear_amazon.com_customer%2C Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:00:40 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/10/17/33caux_dear_amazon.com_customer%2C As someone who has purchased or rated Singles 1985-1993 by Gerogerigegege, you might like to know that Paata Paata Heenayak - Nalin Jayawardena (Sinhala - Sri Lanka) [CD on Demand] is now available. You can order yours for just $12.00 by following the link below.



The CD titled as "PAATA PAATA HEENAYAK" is a dream come through for Nalin Jayawardena and hopefully be so for Sinhala music loving fans too.

This CD consisting of 20 songs created by leading musicians and lyrics-writers, demonstrate the variety of rhythms and tunes to reflect the creations in the past five decades of music in the Sri Lankan music scene. This CD may join the history as the first CD produced of this kind.

CD consists of a song, a nawa rithma song, and a kapprina song and a variety of other music traditions, styles and rhythms. In addition, a song to one of the Sri Lankan pioneering masters, the music guru Fernando from Kahalla, Katugastota who composed songs in the late 50's and taught music to ... Read more

I might buy this.]]> Six Six Sixties http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/10/14/330fs2_six_six_sixties Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:37:55 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/10/14/330fs2_six_six_sixties Here's three groups that avoid structure and niceties almost entirely and dish out something pretty wrenching in the process. Using raw sound as a tool, they make some of the most visceral, and intelligent, music around. They may use tapes, synthesizers, treated guitars etc. but they are definitely not cool, removed or "modern" (qualities unfortunately linked to the above tools due to the regrettable posings of a few overly made up robotic prigs). You might call them expressionist, but that would be too personal. I think they pull back a scab covering a common malaise and make music out of it.

Throbbing Gristle's Greatest Hits is a sampler culled from their previous releases (voluminous), and includes such memorable ditties as "Hamburger Lady", "Subhuman", Six Six Sixties", and "tiaB gulS" (Slug Bait). Thoroughly uncompromising, TG never fail to expose a buried nerve. Variously trance-like, atmospheric, and abrasive, each piece of music is a unique chunk of psychic disarray. This is the music you'll hear as you prowl the sewers looking for food, or fuck in the sludge as the radiation settles aboveground. Their decision (if there really is a choice) to deal with the "darker" side of things is not necessarily negative. Listening to TG, you get the feeling that it's realistic.
(see also the TG live cassette Beyond Jazz Funk)

-Michael Gira]]> Wolf Eyes - Always Wrong http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/07/28/2wff3n_wolf_eyes_-_always_wrong Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:19:16 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/07/28/2wff3n_wolf_eyes_-_always_wrong Always Wrong is a mantra of severity. Wolf Eyes has been scouring audiences across the globe with their acid drenched industrial noise and dub terror psychedelia, establishing themselves as the trailblazers of a genre and pioneers of the long-form noise tour. coming forth from the piles of tape loops and effects the bulk of tables reeling with electronics have been shed. This clarity never sacrifices intensity as paradoxically this is the most organic of the full lengths but also the harshest and most dissonant.

Opening track "Cellar" immediately sets the pace of barraged edits and percussive electronics as startling vocals spit from the dry throat and remain unfiltered for the first time breathing a clear litany of scorn. a new voice is rising and it isn't happy. throughout the album non-electronic beats created from live drums replace programming while colliding tape loops and junk metal bring new unstable rhythm like a house with erroding foundation. "Living Stone" shows a more natural state of acoustic composition highlighting the despondent subtle plucking of controlled guitar improvisation that could come from natures ghost. forging ahead in "We All Hate You" loud tonal horns and architectuarly placed electronics. however their aesthetic core of pummeling hasn't been abandoned as the aggressive "Broken Order" takes hold with shrill feedback fueling industrial cannon blasts of white hot noise that burn the body from the neck down. an eerie harmonica driven death march straight out of "once upon a time in the west" cries on the closing track 'droll/cut the dog'

Immediately it is clear that Wolf Eyes have crafted a statement with maturity that stands at the top of their mysterious discography. Always Wrong is a denial against conformity and the triumph of walking a path alone. Young, Olson, Connelly.]]> New releases on Cracked Bat Tapes http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/06/22/2te98q_new_releases_on_cracked_bat_tapes Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:40:36 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/06/22/2te98q_new_releases_on_cracked_bat_tapes sup guys

well I am going to be out of town for a week or so on thursday so I will not be able to send tapes at that time but if you'd like to have me set things aside for you just ask or PM me and we'll deal with payment and shipping when I get back that works just fine

either way here's what's new :)

CBT004 - Various Artists - The Rodent Is Still Alive (c60)
Okay so this has been out for a bit but I never really mentioned it anywhere publically. This is a very special tape, compiled from several anonymous, unsolicited tapes I recieved in the summer of 2008 that as of this date remain unspoken for. Some noise, some loops, some bullshit free jazz, and some trip-hop based around stolen background music. Really. ($5 shipped)

CBT005 - Neely - I Suppose / Nothing's Wrong (c60, lim 25)
A long time coming, and a genuine privilege for me to get to release, the debut tape of Neely. A public issue of an album that doesn't exist and new selections that might not. Neely is the hottest band in Neverland and you have no idea what kind of strings I had to pull with the fireflies who run the label he is signed to there. This is a must have for anyone who likes crying. Twenty five numbered copies in baggies with inserts and fun stuff assembled by the artists. Just for you. ($6 shipped)

CBT006 - Reaching. - Forever Indebted To The Skull (c60, lim 25)
A cassette size slab of solid rock from Evan, crunchy as fuck charred Bastard Noise worship for all the fellow skulls out there at home. ($5 shipped)

old stuff:

CBT001 - AxemRangers - Two Stories (c30, lim 50) $4
CBT002 - Fuck, The Retarded Girl - Meat Puppet (c30) $4

distro stuff:

RRRecords - AxemRangers - Recycled Music (cassette) $4
[Axem Approved Rochester Grind] Spoonful Of Vicodin - Untitled EP (7" record w/ patch and sticker) $5 sold out
Dirgehead Distrobution - AxemRangers - Friendly Garbage (CDr, limited 20 copies) $6
[Axem Approved Rochester Grind] Spoonful Of Vicodin - Untitled (CD) $6 sold out

coming soon:

CBT007 - Volia - With Passion They Move (CDr)
CBT008 - AxemRangers - My New Lonely Nights (c60)
CBTX003 - Various Artists - Who's Funding Your Slush Now? (Rodent Vol. 2) (CDr)
Axem split tape with Tinnitustimulus

Prices include shipping. For totals for international orders, orders of more than one item (price cuts for shipping two or more things at once), or trade inquiries please leave a comment or shoot me a PM.

Thanks!]]> I just recieved 450 USD in CDs. http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/06/18/2t3wrl_i_just_recieved_450_usd_in_cds. Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:56:54 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/06/18/2t3wrl_i_just_recieved_450_usd_in_cds.







Hijokaidan]]> I just spent 450 USD on CDs. http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/06/15/2ss7io_i_just_spent_450_usd_on_cds. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:44:11 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/06/15/2ss7io_i_just_spent_450_usd_on_cds. Hijokaidan]]> First Sorry Robin Live Aktion http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/06/01/2rja88_first_sorry_robin_live_aktion Mon, 1 Jun 2009 02:08:16 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/06/01/2rja88_first_sorry_robin_live_aktion What a night. Sorry Robin was truely, truely transgressive.

Check out video of the brutality here:
http://vimeo.com/4159159]]> New Axemrangers last.fm policy (2) http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/04/20/2nvyzk_new_axemrangers_last.fm_policy_%282%29 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:15:13 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/AxemRangers/journal/2009/04/20/2nvyzk_new_axemrangers_last.fm_policy_%282%29 As of April 19, 2009, no anime avatars will be allowed in the AxemRangers (user) shoutbox.

This policy is effective immediately and will remain in place until further notice.

If you have an anime avatar, feel free to post in the shoutbox but do this understandthing that your shout will be deleted after it is read.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Feel free to contact us with any questions.]]>