Courtesy Desk: Turntable Report #083 PART ONE
Hello!
There is so much to cover spanning the past three plus months, that I am going to divide my newsletter into two parts. This is part one. Part two will go out tomorrow with reissue/retrospectives and singles/EPs.
A quick recap of the past few months. The Outer World tour was a blast and I am so happy I had the opportunity to see some of you in person. Thank you for that and to all that showed up/booked us/fed us/gave us a place to sleep. Post-tour pneumonia overstayed its welcome in my body in June which delayed this newsletter among so many other things. We are writing a new record this summer and the only show we have on the books right now is opening for Velocity Girl in DC at the Black Cat on Saturday, November 23rd. The documentary Flipside I am in is now rentable/buyable from many digital platforms. Courtesy Desk record shop is hanging in there. My radio show is also still happening as time allows. I have chronic anxiety about the future of America and am ill prepared for another stressful election cycle. Thank goodness for making art ( or taking in art) as it continues to offer the much needed out of body experience. Insert an Outer World joke here.
This year I have really enjoyed thinking about the record sleeves of the music I stock in my store as unique pieces of art also worth celebrating. In turn I have been creating social media posts that try to capture the artistry of a 7” single or LP cover art. Shout to my talented team composed of myself along with Josie and Ingrid (both starting their senior years in high school this fall). Together, we turn a social media post about new releases into something that I think is as unique as the records themselves. I love a record store bin flip video as much as the next, but if you are wondering why my shop stock updates look the way they do, now you know why.
Thank you Style Weekly for voting me Best music e-Newsletter for discovering new sounds and big welcome to all the new subscribers.
Take good care and thanks for reading,
Tracy
Playlists:
June BNDCMPR playlist / July BNDCMPR playlist - being added to almost daily
Q1 2024 playlist / Q2 playlist - Q3 playlist -being added to almost daily and are all giant
Follow my semi regular Courtey Desk radio show here - a new show will be coming later this week.
Winged Wheel - Big Hotel (12XU) This kosmische masterpiece (AKA best of 2024 alert) is a surprise to absolutely no one following the careers of the current line up of Winged Wheel: Whitney Johnson/Matchess, Cory Plum/Spray Paint + Rider/Horse, Matthew J Rolin. Fred Thomas/Tyvek, Steve Shelly/Sonic Youth, and Lonnie Slack/Water Damage. They are some of the greatest talents in experimental rock, and their chemistry together as Winged Wheel is award winning. Impenetrable echoes rumble and then evaporate in hypnotizing swirls as if a raincloud is trying to extinguish a volcanic river of neon molten rock. Willy Wonka could play any portion of Big Hotel in his unsettling boat ride tunnel and I think accomplish the same mesmerizing yet mind expanding journey. In stock.
Rachel Love - Lyra (The Cat Collects) The singer/guitar of the legendary indiepop group Dolly Mixture solo is heartbreakingly lovely. Lyra is a Baroque kaleidoscope of lite-psych with shades of modern classica; which doubles as a loving tribute to her late husband and creative collaborator Steve Lovell. Recorded with the assistance of her two sons, this family moving family affair brings a delicate silver lining to their grief.
Yu Ching - The Crystal Hum (Night School) Imagine a Salvidore Dali painting trying to whisper the delicate aural blooms of a Cocteau Twins song in your ear. Atmospheric, surreal, and slippery to the ears, these ghostly love songs tickle the imagination. In stock.
Broadcast - Spell Blanket - Collected Demos 2006-2009 (Warp) I stand by my earlier assessments that Broadcast is one of the most important artists of the past 30 years. They have become as influential to new/ current artists as the Velvet Underground; especially earning historical importance and relevance over the past decade. By default, all of their releases are worthy of your attention, including a collection of demos. It turns out even skeletal outlines of their songs are better than most bands trying their hand at retrofuturisms. Sold out, sorry.
The Galaxy Electric - Muzak from the Korova Milkbar (Subexotic) Samples! Drum machines under water! Reverb drenched space echoes! Musique concrete for space age bachelor pads! Trip-hop for international jetsetter! It squiggles, whirs, chirps. AND titillates!
Userband - Looking For a Band (Chrusimusi) This charming electronic infused indiepop band from France is the musical version of having rose petals sprinkled into your ears. Soft(ies) as velvet vocals lead the way as the rest of the band’s gentle performance weaves and dances like a kite climbing into a cloudless sky. I am especially impressed with the multiple vocal layers of Sarah-Lousie Barbett. Her masterful melody choices turn casual dreamscapes into a decadent black tie affair (despite the silly song titles). Très spectaculaire!
Ana Frango Electrico - Little Electric Chicken Heart (Mr Bongo) This 2019 magnificent samba infused orchestrated-pop record was originally only released in Brazil and Japan, but thankfully Mr Bongo has brought this beauty in an affordable reissue form to the rest of the world. Best of 2024 alert.
Negative Gears - Moraliser (Urge) The five year wait since their debut was worth it! I recall MRR describing this Australian post-punk group once as “a bit Wipers, a bit Iceage” and that has stuck with me because it’s so darn accurate. If a death rocker, a post-punker, and a new waver all walked into a bar at the same time, the punchline would be if this record was playing over the speakers, they would all raise a glass to Moraliser for capturing nihilism with such memorable insight and devastating power.
Aluminum - Fully Beat (felte) If this was a fine wine, I would describe their notes as buttery like melancholy backbone of Swervedriver, the honeyed middle years of My Bloody Valentine, Neneh Cherry-like, a bitter bite of The Fall, and all together creating something that Gen X will recognize as sounding like the golden age of 120 Minutes. Sold out, sorry.
Tara Jane O’Neil - The Cool Cloud of Okayness (Ordinal) Seven years since her last solo effort, the bass player of Rodan (who also went on to play with Ruby Falls, Retsin, Sonora Pines to name a few) gifts us The Cool Cloud of Okayness. It is a comforting weighted blanket of cool mist, shapeless and soft. If rebirth or a miraculous recovery could become a collection of songs, it would sound like this. Tension humbly being laid to rest is something you will want to hear again again.
Bibi Club - Feu de Garde (Secret City) Recommended for folks who like the melancholy tension of early Blonde Redhead, this mercurial pop from Montreal might just be at the forefront of bringing back indietronica. PS: check out the Morr Music catalog for genre examples. In stock.
Parsnip - Behold (Anti Fade/Upset! the Rhythm) The perfect companion piece to the new La Luz album, Parsnip makes joyous garage pop (Australia has really perfected) that twists the sixties girl group sound into a playful pool party soundtrack you will want to turn up to 11 and show off your best cannonball. In stock.
Great Area - Light Decline (Relaxin) UK sadcore bedroom pop with dub elements for fans of Cindy and Marine Girls. I especially appreciate the use of manipulated samples with the bass and vocals that keep the whole record feeling mostly minimalistic without losing any of the impact.
Luxury Apartments - S/T (Eeasy) Sometimes I just want a no frills political post-punk record that carries the spirit of PIL, Kiling Joke, and the choppy rhythms of Gang of Four - and Luxury Apartments fits the bill. Disillusionment channeled through sophisticated/clever guitar-centric punk is a stirring combination, be it from the late ‘70s or 2024.
The Mad Walls - Have you Heard the News (Big Potato) A fascinating combination of Clinic’s nervous grooves, Dan Treacy’s obsession with lo-fi mod revivalism, and the eccentric acid drenched folkiness of Syd Barrett had he relocated to California. In stock.
Kairos Creature Club - KCC- S/T (Greenway) Speaking of great companion pieces to La Luz, we have KCC which features member Lena Simon alongside Glenn Dyke of BOYTOY who recorded 7 songs in Florida together during the pandemic with the help of some friend that also includes Lucas Harwood of King Gizzard. Their dreamy synth driven landscapes have perfected the push and pull between the past and what we thought the future might sound like with the help of electronics. My favorite track DATADADATADADATA serves up the funky energy from Sesame Street’s epic Pinball Number Count with international psychedelic vibes AKA it is amazing.
Die Verlierer - Notausgang (Mangel) I could practically write the same review as the Luxury Apartments record, but swap out the influences for early Wire and Stranglers. This is outstanding muscular post punk from Berlin and for those who have a soft spot for The Decline of Western Civilization period of American punk.
Marcel Wave - Something Looming (Feel It) Any band that features members of England’s Sauna Youth (one of my favorite bands of the past two decades), no less TWO members, I need to make a public service announcement and bring your attention to this new offshoot band Marcel Wave. This quintet tells cheeky kitchen sink stories told with wit, impeccable timing (partly sung, partly spoken), all the while volleying back and forth using complicated rhythms, rigid guitar lines, and a keyboard that brings melody to the intensity. Back in stock soon.
Kenji Kariu - Rain/Water (Bruit Direct) The fourth release for Kariu who is also from the Tokyo based OWKMK. Imagine a trickle of water weaving its way slowly through city cracks, helping flowers blooms, nurturing a thirsty bird, and then slowly vaporizing into hazy waves as the sun heats up the day. Easy listening for modern times, Rain/Water is wispy avant-pop as light as cotton candy is a summer delicacy to the ears. Coming soon.
Mr Chop - Glass Cathedral (Madlib Invazion) The monthly Madlib Invazion series created by Madlib and Egonback last year. Inspired by the concept library music (music once used for television and cinema, and now a hip hop sampling goldmine), Mr. Chop gives us deeply hypnotic celestial musicians, chock full of heavy Jazz breaks (drums by Malcom Catto), part experimental electronics swerving into Krautrock territory. Funky afrofuturists - y’all have a 17 tracks of pure bliss ahead.
Perennial - Art History (Ernest jennings) This New England 3-piece brings the energy of an electrified army of art-punk anthems so short, they are over as quickly as they began. If you have around 20 minutes to spare, Perennial has a whole record of postmodern poetry in firework bursts that would have the Cedar Street Tavern rebel painters blissfully throwing colors from their brushes in every direction. In stock.
Sprung Aus Den Wolken - 1981-West Berlin (Bureau B) The “Geniale Dilletanten” brute noise artists movement that took place in the ‘80s and brought us groups like Einsturzende Neubauten and D.A.F.. Expanding on expression via experimentations before technical perfection, Sprung Aus Den Wolken are primal provocateurs of throbbing, dynamic dance music about to fall off the cliff into a sea of electronic chaos. It’s like tuning in your radio through layers of warm static to uncover a post-punk minimal wave banger.
Conny Frischauf - Kenne Keine Tone (Bureau B) A Courtesy Desk favorite from Vienna based artist Conny Frischauf whose soft krautronic pop music is relaxing, but never predictable. Perhaps this is what Jane Weaver listens to while taking a bubble bath or what Bas Jan unwinds to at the end of a long tour day.
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Stay tuned for part two tomorrow.