Thursday, September 13, 2012

Reissues to watch!

Donnie Emerson in wintry attire

And so it was...  the summer of Donnie and Joe Emerson!  I must say that I am overjoyed and flabbergasted at the waves of positive energy that have emanated from Light in the Attic's reissue of this magical, one of a kind LP.  Finding the record in  Spokane some 5 or 6 years ago I was blissfully wrapped in its spell, and immediately thrilled with their charm, but never could have expected the love that would pour in from across the globe for these teenage cabin-pop wunderkinds...  I think it speaks to the inherent goodness in personal vision, and the kind of do-it-yourself ethos that permeated the groundwater of American music from the birth of rock-n-roll well into the dawn of indie-rock.  I realize I'm probably just preaching to the choir, but I think that their latter day success elevates a truth in spirit for music in general, and I'm deeply humbled to be apart of that in any way.  So cheers!  If you're looking for more of the goods, I can't recommend these already available, or shortly forthcoming reissues of vintage self-released music enough...


It may seem like an odd place to jump to next, namely the NINETIES, but from my end, there is nothing else out there like Woo's 1990 LP "It's Cosy Inside."  Issued on a small indie label called Independent Project, the LP by this reclusive British duo saw little attention out of the usual circles at the time, but in recent years has caught deep appreciation from fans of lush ambient otherworldly instrumental textures that transcend everything from Eno to New Age to the more etheral branches of the Krautrock wellschpring...  which is no small feat when it all comes down to it, and in their complete originality, and moving tonal vision that encompasses the entire spectrum lying between melancholy and bliss is one of the best records you will hear this fall (if you've never heard before, I guess, that is)...  out on a Drag City and Yoga Records collaborative issue October 2nd, this is absolutely not to be missed.


It would seem our friends at Yoga are on quite the roll this year, as they unfurl the banner of further greatness  in late November with this mad rare beast of 60s pop dementia funneled through central valley realness and drag race pathos...  If you're interested in the wilder underbelly of American pop pre-tofu but post British Invasion, and adore the boy-scout deep down inside Lynch's more unhinged digressions this is the record for you...  there's nothing like it, and that's about one of the highest compliments you can pay in this day and age!  So hi-ho, silver...  check out the amazing doc they made on him too...  he's very much alive and well in the belly of the Californian dream...


From another end of the pool of possessed and catatonic visionary American songsmiths seeing the light of day in the near future is none other than KONRAD - a man so embedded in a fractured 80s consciousness whirling about casio synth rave-ups and extraterrestrial neuroses that it's a wonder he ever managed to write an album's worth of some of the best glitch pop gems you've never heard...  If future science conspiracy, white funk, and New York after hours metro hallucinations are your bag there's nothing better to soothe the soul - or start a completely spontaneous dance party.  I love him to death, and I hope you will too...  (if it's your first time getting this weird) ...  hehe...  due out on a yet un-named imprint in early 2013, so stay tuned!


One of my all time faves for the retro set came straight out of the dustbins of your mind on Guerssen this summer...  a rare LP I was happy to help see back into some kind of circulation for lovers of the low life meeting the high life and rocking late into the nocturnal Gotham skyline...  The original record was a post-posthumous debut of a Staten Island club band that channeled late 60s pop and psychedelic rock for a swirling brew of soulful melancholic dirges and after thoughts to love gone bad or nearly arrived...  a very hard disc to put your finger precisely on what is going down, but something deep and unusual arises over the course of two sides to say the least, and it is no pun intended so close to my heart.  Pick it up if it sounds like your thing...  a rare bird rarely roosts...  or so they say!



In other news, it was a great surprise to find this reissue on our doorstep after trying to elicit the secrets of the Metz puzzle by showcasing their unbelievably rare 45 from after (?) their equally rare LP debut...  to say the least it is a buckwild party machine of an album that others have done way better justice to than I can even begin to do in such a short time here...  please check out my friend Collin's full length report back from the depths of Houston gender bending MDMA wildness...  and pick up the record at a distro near you!


And finally I want to give props to my buddy Nemo's herculean efforts to get out 4 of the highest quality reissues of the year, w/ the quadruple threat of Virgil Caine's "Great Lunar Oil Strike of 1976," Eddie Callahan's "False Ego," The Bachs' "Out of the Bachs," and Drywater's "Backbone of the Nation."  Each one of these records deserves a write-up in and of their own right, but because (I believe) they're mostly sold -out, I'll just briefly speak to the rust-belt basement rock clout of the mighty Drywater who pressed a whopping 25 copies of their ode to teenage heartache and work-a-day blues (I believe the label still has stock on this one!).  It's a deeply American trip into the very heart of private press tomfoolery, and I couldn't recommend it more if those stock cover clouds don't already have you weak in the knees.

Friends, it's been a great time getting to know you all here, and I can only hope I have more to offer in the near future.  Life sails on, and I hope to put out a reissue of my own in the near future (perhaps first and last - but it's a GREAT one, the mighty TURIIYA!), in addition to a variety of film and art projects which are becoming my primary focus now.  Love you all, send me music, and take care -- jdf