These are, once again, the things that have been in our ears and on our mind this week. Please do explore and if it sounds interesting then just hit the link and go make your own minds up, make contact, go switch the other, we're just here to point the way - don't let this thing blow over, we've done with undercover - like we say every week, our reviews and thoughts are mere signposts designed to guide you to the things you might like to feast on yourselves... don’t you just love the instant way this web thing works when things fall right and the doors flip open and the touch of a key....
 

TO ARMS ETC. debut album and gigs...  Fronted by the UK-based Australian multi-instrumentalist and sonic adventurer, Charles Campbell-Jones (his recent solo album was a big favourite around these Organic parts), To Arms Etc release their debut album Corner Games on 9th March 2009 through Bronzerat Records. Drawing inspiration for their band name - if not their music – from Serge Gainsbourg’s Aux Armes Et Caetera (the reggae album he recorded in Jamaica, infamous for its version of the French national anthem), To Arms Etc’s sound blends pure pop with richly layered soundscapes and prog-indie. (this is coming direct from their press release)
            “Some negative perceptions of my first solo album [2006’s Wasting The Duke] were to do with pretentiousness and self-indulgence...of which, I'm of course, guilty-as-charged!” laughs Campbell-Jones. But Corner Games demonstrates a much more disciplined and cohesive take on 60’s baroque pop (think The Millennium or Sagittarius) and 70?s influences - Lou Reed, Roxy Music and Van Der Graff Generator.
  To Arms Etc could almost be labeled melodramatic (it is both mellow and dramatic in equal measure). It's tic music, like nervous laughter. If To Arms Etc were singing about a burning school with the kids trapped inside, they would be doing it from a distance, leaning on a tree. Moved enough to warrant a song perhaps, but not lifting a finger to help.  Judge for yourself. To Arms Etc drift effortlessly from the minimalist to the epic with melodious craftsmanship. Lyrically you will be taken to a world where you will be told of a crush on a Russian pole-vaulter (Isinbayeva), hear mention of men in Y-fronts listening to Sophie B.Hawkins (Most Mathematicians), and privy to confessions like a hard-on in a sauna would have made make me feel less queer? (All Showed Up).
          Corner Games underwent a long gestation period - due in part to Charles’ rootlessness -recorded back and forth between Melbourne and London, and features a plethora of collaborators including the celebrated Gemma Ray, Julitha Ryan of Silver Ray, and choral singer Oliver Mann. Since May, To Arms Etc has settled into a solid line-up of Charles Campbell-Jones (voice/keys); Tiia Jaakola (keys); Nathan Futo (guitar); Alex Lawton Mawdsley (bass); Richard Perman (drums).
          The band have dates coming up as follows: 30th Jan - Water Rats, London, 13th Feb - Wilmington Arms, Rosebury Ave, 23rd Feb - La Flèche D’or, Paris, 26th Feb - Deep Inside, Dijon, 27th Feb - Spoutnik Bar, Nantes, 6th March - The Hope, Brighton
         The album landed here in the Organ office this morning, on first listen something every bit as good as that solo album, full of uplifting prog goodness, euphoric sunshine and , yes, sounds like one of the classic albums of 2009 just landed...  – www.myspace.com/toarmsetc
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ENABLERS - Tundra (Exile On Mainstream) - This one creeps up on you; don't expect instant fireworks. Tundra is like the romance cliche of the girl and boy who don't realise until the final scene that they were made for each other all along, however bleedin’ obvious it was all through the movie.  These songs... narratives... are the meditative, solemn, brooding thoughts, of a consummate observer of human frailties - Pete Simonelli, a man watching, observing.  And, I suspect, cursed with the kind of empathy that can't help but painfully connect with the kind of people other turn away from.  Also connected, and equal, the four members of Enablers, are forming a seamless flowing whole, the voice/guitars/drums so inexplicably understanding of each other that it sounds effortless. 
        No, this one doesn't grab you, if you try to skim it or play in the background to a busy head, until suddenly in a late night listen you find yourself where there's traffic soughing by in a light but ceasless rain./ To the west, house lights bristle/ Through a gathering mist on the hill ... Another place and time, often a pause in an open door, a storm, the outcast rummaging a dustbin or railing on a street corner; moments unregarded by the big wide world but forever captured in holographic 4-D surroundvision, by a handful of words in sound. Better than cinematic: I smelt that rain. Painting their dynamics with whatever rhythm comes to hand, easily shifting time without calling attention to it the way speech and classic film soundtracks do, together these Enablers evoke atmospheres like few others can. Real atmospheres, ones you come across in cities or leavetakings or insomniac nights. At the same time, when the words shift the vision somewhere internal, somewhere behind the eyes, they're there too, replaying regret and loneliness and desires and obscurely persistent fragments of memory.  Sometimes they roar, often on Tundra they're quiet and calm and deft. Two powerful guitarists Joe Goldring and Kevin Thompson, both swap and share the upper and lower register, and drive the breathtaking subtlety and depth of the band's dynamics with Joe Byrnes' speaking, swaying, perfect drums.
          The two previous Enablers albums, End Note and Output Negative Space had all the warm, untreated, live sound in the fine tradition of Slint and Shellac and others, but Tundra is the earthiest yet. I wasn't too keen at first, but nothing's been lost, it just takes more listens - hear the depth of the guitars in A Blues, the tiny delicate flourishes of acoustic guitar hovering out there at the edge of perception, same with ghost backing voices near the end of The Destruction Most of All. Tundra feels a more personal, drawn-in... did I say solemn? I'm missing out the life-affirming core, a joy in the textures of life at the heart of Simonelli's writing, that elevating empathy that all four of them understand and express.  At the end of the day, its new creations from the Enablers, and it is of course exceptional; each and every new song here is a world unto itself, full of unspoken ideas and the meanings in points of time that can't quite be written down, only recognised. 
     Tundra is released in Europe on January 26th 2009 as a limited edition of 1200, in a silk-screened, handmade wooden box 'containing some special surprises'.  – www.enablerssf.com or www.myspace.com/enablers or www.mainstreamrecords.de
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ALBUM OF THE WEEK 2 IMAGINATION SCHOOL – To The Level Of Light (Sonic Junction) - Shimmering treats, glowing treasures, encompassing atmospheres, the new Imagination School album is something rather special. Washes of warmth and such delightful detail... Lazy reference points would put this somewhere near the Affection Friends side of relaxed Cardiacs/Sea Nymphs and the goodness of early Mike Oldfield. Spring-like and winter-full all at the same time, seeds pushing up through the warmth of the ground, those first brave shoots in to the light, magical boxes and trinkets that catch the first rays of sunlight to reveal themselves. All instrumental save for the beautifully voiced Temporal – now that really is Sea Nymphs heaven born and ever bright good.  Lawrence Harwood, for he is Imagination School, would be the first to admit to a love for all things Cardiacs, he lets that influence flow in such a gracefully positive way on this, his finest release yet. To The Level Of Light is a wondrous album, an album that invites you in and reveals a little more with every must-come-back listen, an album you can leave on repeat for hours and hours and let it soothe with such radiant beauty. Look, I know we enthuse about so much around here, but this really is pond-vital shiver-up-the-spine good, glorious glowing clever simplicity, Cardiac-good, absolutely beautiful, if you touch it you will believe it, heart-lifting beauty... www.imaginationschool.com

ALSO CHECK OUT BLOOD MOON – The Birth Of Tragedy (Womb) - Hard-boiled challenging left field experiments in stretching the envelope out in to noise sculpture. Blood Moon are a duo from Manchester and this is is a set of exercises spinning around some kind of semi-structured healthy unneighbourly freeform noise, distortion, banging and crashing. “Eschewing the restrictive use of sequencing and  slavish song structure”, they play non-rhythm off against rhythm, they wrap things in what sounds like pained sax and fractured guitar, electric noise and discordant improvisation glancing off your head and pulling you all out of shape - slices of harmony, composition and touches of things like Original Silence, Sunn O))), Sonic Youth, Flying Luttenbackers... a gloriously challenging set of experimental noise pieces and all well worth your precious time – www.myspace.com/bloodmoonmusic or www.myspace.com/wombrecordings xxxx

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino) - So this is it then, the much talked of new album from Animal Collective. The ninth full length album - had it kicking around here for a few weeks now and I don’t know... Starts off well enough, actually it starts off sounding like Something off a mid period Genesis album for that first half a minute or so, Trick Of The Tail or something, sounds like a gloriously good start actually - ah yes, and then off they spin in to a world all of their own after those first Ripples and that open half minute... Off they go dancing and smiling and inventing their own textures like a 21st Century Beach Boys who know Yes were actually extremely cool for a while back there. In The Flowers and the following track My Girls, with those demands for hand-claps and the left field experimental alt.rock Smiles that could only really be from modern day now. Yes indeed, those opening couple of tracks really have us agreeing and fawning like everyone else - they’ve done it again, rising with the birds up in to the clouds. They just have ‘something’ and if you don’t know why and who and what all the fuss is suddenly about and they’re just a name that the whole world seen to be going on about this month then these first two and half tracks will more than explain it all – all and a little more... And you’re thinking fine, I like that start, you’ve got us with you, now take us further in, take us somewhere deeper, pull us under, grab our coats and shoes and hats and really thrill us like you (and everyone else) promised you would. Where’s that change of texture? Why aren’t we really feeling like we’re going anywhere? Like they hit that peak early and were just happy to stay there. This time around Animal Collective appear to be David "Avey Tare" Portner, Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox and Brian "Geologist" Weitz, and these days they’re scattered around New York, Portugal, and Washington, D.C., respectively. Sure, they’re doing all the semi-experimental noise things in there within the clever regulation structure and the frames of the songs, they have the different-sounding bits of psychedelic freak-folk and the very current very now alt.indie-rock, but are they really that innovative? Are they really that ground breaking and different? Or are they just another rather good rather imaginative American alt.rock band? Are they anymore innovative than any number of other albums that have slipped out to one-tenth of the fanfare in recent months? Is this as good as the new Women album for instance? Or the innovation of Battles or that recent Zach Hill album or...? Is this really the ground breaking (avant) challenge that everyone says it is? Just you just you just you.... On closer examination is the emperor’s coat just a little bit thread-bare? Yes, it does glow with beauty - on the surface it glows with radiant shimmering beauty. Where ever you choose to dive in to that clear reflective water, every track is a thing of beauty - of that there is no doubt, but how about when you dive beneath that inviting surface into the whole collective body of this album? Is this really as important an album as seemingly every critic ever is making out? Is there that much depth to that water or are we in danger of hitting our heads on the bottom?  The bits that don’t make you want to go listen to a Yes album or reach for Smile are all very Mercury Rev in the 90’s aren’t they?  Good album, really good album - really wish they’d add a few more dimensions and change the tone and texture now and again though. I find myself coming back and loving if for a couple of tracks, wherever I choose to start... start on track six, love it for a couple of tracks and then find myself drifting off again, not holding me when it really should be pulling me deeper in... Good album, but is it really that good? www.myspace.com/animalcollectivetheband HYATARI – They Will Surface (Caustic Eye) – West Virginia drone merchants, epic dark-end drone and monolithic instrumental pieces (or is this just one long piece?).  No, not just drone merchants, far more than just that - the heavier more imaginative end of post-rock, not the formulaic sort that tells you where you’re going well before you get there, no no no... this is musical adventure in the dark droning fields out there on the edges of post-rock, the bit on the edge of the dark forest they tell you not to go near - the forest with the shafts of sunlight and all the inviting colours. Beautifully ploughing through the fertile richness with their big riffs, their brooding riffs - slowly turning things in a way that’s just a little different. Kind of Sigor Ros for Sleep devotes who like it dark and somewhere over on the heavy side where drums are hit rather than just touched, where baselines brood, where things are epic and never that obvious. Recommended – www.hyatari.com SILENTIUM – Amortean (Dynamic Arts) – One of those lush neo-classical female fronted symphonic neo-prog flavoured neo-this, neo-that Euro goth-metal bands. All moody ravens sweeping, soaring wings, neo-operatic vocals, inner hurt and dawn after darkness... Nightwish, Evanescence, you know the score - they do it as well as anyone, probably better than most. Yes indeed, these dark people from Finland do this thing really impressively well should it be your thing - really not ours but hey, here’s the links, fly on the wings underneath the fear of night through the clouds of sorrow and partake of a slice should you wish – www.myspace.com/silentiumband or www.dynamicartsrecords.com AWESOME WELLS – The Highs And Lows Of De Witt A Stanton (Red Deer Club) No sooner had we made it demo of the week that it comes out 'properly', and so now that it is available on a label for you to go and buy, here's the review all over again...      Thirty three minutes of refined experimental lo-fi bedroom pop, just one piece or track - a simmering set of feelings laced with found sound, cleverly worked in samples, field recordings, uplifting bird songs, sunshine, euphoric instrumentation and all revolving around song parts and never losing focus or the grip of the evolving tune. This really in wonderfully different – drifting easily through playgrounds, past pianos, squeeze boxes, passing Eastern sounds, delicate percussion, seagulls, and all without ever losing the focus, the melody, the purpose. Looped vocals, different instruments moving in an out without you really noticing the subtle shifts and changes, distant brass bands in a park – it all feels like a beautifully sunny day in an English park. Gentle acoustic guitars, quiet electric guitars, gentle textures, delicate accordions, wind in trees, and all so soothing...  Awesome Wells is mostly Jonathan Palmer, in his bedroom with an eight track recorder, laptop and creating something rather beautifully refined and rather rewarding – an endlessly glowing ear-painting of a piece to just get lost in and simply enjoy – www.myspace.com/reddeerclub or www.myspace.com/awsomewels x

HOLMES – Wolves (Black Star Foundation) - A heart full of gentle fire and mellow spark, and some rather sublime, refined and extremely relaxed alt.country. Delicate Americana with a personality, enough of it to fill the blackest hole of any soul, and all the way from the West Coast of... well Sweden actually. Ten radiant slices of downbeat mellow slowcore, ten slices of crafted beauty, ten pieces of acoustic/electric lap steal, mandolin and accordion guided warmth. Fluid, pensive - caressing songs that touch on everything you need, delicately euphoric, deliciously uplifting, uplifting however downbeat the subject matter may be. Warm hearted and aching in the most mellow of crafted Neil Young ways – that is to be taken as a big compliment and an even bigger recommendation, you have to be good to have Neil Young name-dropped in a positive way, Holmes are good  - www.myspace.com/holmezzz or www.blackstarfoundation.com THE WHORE MOANS – Hello From Radio Wasteland (Mt. Fuli) – Punked-up garage rock ‘n roll swagger and a bag load of degenerate, soulful, sometimes sneering, searing scuzz and grungy energy from deepest Seattle. Shots at American popular culture and the bites of the alternatives to be found on late night radio. A brash mix of feisty Nuggets era garage and 70’s new wave punk –  www.myspace.com/thewhoremoanssuck GATHIENS – Nesh (Murkhouse) – Slowly uncoiling, rather pleasant, relaxed and crafted post-rock. All very much in the moody dark-edged style of bands like Pelican, Russian Circles or Mono. Subtle, atmospheric, and all very nice... Not really taking us anywhere we haven’t already been several times already though – slowing burning build-ups to instrumental euphoria and all that... Sounds like a labour of love, sounds like they really enjoyed doing it, doesn’t sound like they just went through the motions in the way that some more recent post-rock releases do - there’s some feeling here, some soul... Bottom line is, as pleasant as this may be, the North American band aren’t really doing anything you haven’t already heard several times – www.murkhouserecordings.com or www.myspace.com/gathiens x.xxxx

DIPLO – Decent Work For Decent Pay: Collected Works Vol. One (Big Dada) – Well now, just how much of all this is down to the original band-created material and how much of it is down to the skill and touch of yer remixer is open to debate. I mean these remixers and sound manipulators are often just names for the music industry to drop and show you how cool their latest artist is. Lot of time the bands have no idea who the hell the remixer the label has brought in is, most of the time they couldn’t give a toss. Not saying this is the case here, just saying... that’s all, just saying... Usually goes something like this: A&R man to band manager and marketing department; “Who we going to get in to remix a b-side, who’s being namedropped this week? We need something that will give us some cred with the press and the clubs and the ‘kids’ man, who’s cool this week? That 140db lot? Oakenfold? Flood? Ironhand? Icon? Yer cool name-dropped remixers love it of course, and who can blame them? Laughing themselves all the way to the bank with the cash in their pocket for remixing some major label indie band they couldn’t careless about.              Did we ever tell you about the scam we Organs pulled on EMI that time with cool as a can on blue baked beans Swedish remixer DJ Peacekiller? Had the then head of A&R frothing on the electric telephone to us offering silly cash for a whole load of remix projects he had in mind. Thought we had some kind of ‘in’ with said DJ Peacekiller seeing as we told said A&R man just that after he’d read the Organ reviews of the mysterious Terrorvision and Blur white labels that were apparently going down well in the cool clubs that the EMI people never went to - well they couldn’t actually go to the cool clubs could they? The cool clubs didn’t exist, all made up it was, the white labels didn’t exist either, - even though said A&R man mysteriously had one of his desk with DJ Peacekiller and Blur written on it in inch-think black marker pen (couldn’t have scribbled it on some old white label himself for appearances sakes could he?. The Organ reviews were all fake, the whole thing was just there as bait, six month plan executed perfectly. Peacekiller (and his ambient alter-ego DJ Lavender Filter) may have been the names to drop, truth is, we made it all up. No one came from Sweden, Peacekiller was never too cool to speak to EMI’s A&R department directly, it was more that he didn’t actually exist and our Swedish Chef voices wouldn’t have done the trick. No white labels ever really existed, it was all just us in our messy demo-infested East London flat just of the Claremont Road frontline messing about with an old four track and passing out a few well placed cassettes (this was still the 90’s, none of yer CDr back then). You’ll find the results of said scam on the b-sides of Terrorvision singles and for six months Peacekiller’s name kept popping up in the music press and knowing conversations... Some people even claimed thay knew him, others had met him and blah blah blah... Lavender Filter even got to DJ some shows at the Astoria and such, though no one ever got to see him, his name was on the posters, there was music coming out of the speakers.... So we banked the money, paid another printing bill, put out another Charlie’s Angels single and no one ever did work any of it out. Keep all this to yourself mind, wouldn’t want that episode getting out would we.            Not that any of that last paragraph has anything to do with Diplo, I’m sure he’s as real as the day is long – and what does it matter, whoever these remixes and tracks on this album are down to, Diplo or the bands and such, there’s some damn fine tracks on this here collection.  There’s one of the the many M.I.A collaborations of course - Paper Planes is on here, you got bits of CSS, Spank Rock, Bonde De Role, Black Lips, that Young Folks whistling thing from Peter, Bjorn and John (thankfully that’s the last track so you can hit the eject button and avoid that damn whistling...), you got some Hot Chip remix action, some Daft Punk and lots more. Sixteen tracks in all, including four Diplo original pieces... And all of it good on the ear, the whole album flowing well - and yes, a fine collection of cutting edge beats, bites, cuts, buts, mixes and more more more. More than enough evidence here to illustrate why Diplo has been the name to call for your b-side remix and such in recent times. Diplo-dipped is always worth checking out, gathering some of it together like this on one rather tasty album was kind of overdue, well worth your time guv... www.bigdada.com SEANCE – Awakening Of The Gods (Pulverised) - Now we like our metal as much as the next set of rivetheads, we like it ripped and crunchered, we’re up for it when things are done right... Been listening to this Seance album on and off for a few days now, and besides the weird-ass throwaway short fifth track Flight Of The Wicked – a track that hints that they may have some imagination and the ability to think and create outside the box if they really want to – there really is nothing much here to get that excited about. It isn’t that the almost twenty year old “pioneering Swedish technical death metal outfit” are bad, more that they’re kind of predictable and we’ve heard it all far too many times already. Uninspired when that weird-ass little thing that is track five tells us they really want to be different – cowardly rule-obeying technical death metal with a Lemmy-type growler and one of those cookie monster backing vocalists (seems the drummer is the cookie monster). They do it well enough, regulation extreme metal stuff, workmanlike, played aggressively well, technically good, technique is no real substitute for imagination though is it? Oh hell, here comes the meaningful we’re-very-sensitive-and-kind-to-all-Gods-little-animals acoustic classical guitar bit... fades out without going anywhere after a minute and a half though, like they didn’t have the guts to blend it in to one of their “serious” tracks. Enough of this, here’s the link, we’re out of here – www.pulverised.net x

Last week's album of the week - WOMEN Previous albums of the week - FIGHT LIKE APES / THE JELAS / HUNTSVILLE / GALLON DRUNK / SLEEPS IN OYSTERS / THE WELCOME WAGON / AU / BLACK ELK / MOHA! / SEMAPHORE / AIDS WOLF / THE PROCESS / DEERHOOF / MARTIN ORFORD / ORIGINAL SILENCE / RELIGIOUS KNIVES / F*CKED UP x

ALBUM REVIEW ARCHIVES

LIVE REVIEW ARCHIVES

The Steve Irwin came tantalizingly close to the Kaiko Maru whaling in Antarctic waters. Once within throwing distance, activists tarred one of the vessels with rotten butter, bottles of methyl cellulose and permanent die. The whaling ship moved hard to starboard and bumped into the Steve Irwin, damaging the helicopter deck. The campaign"s Captain says they 'will continue to pursue, harass and intervene against their blatantly illegal lethal assaults on the whales.' 

While the Japanese whaling ships claim to carry out scientific research under approval of the International Whaling Commission, campaigners say whaling is being undertaken for commercial use - which has been banned for 23 years and breaches both the IWC conditions and International Conservation law. They are also in Australia"s Economic Exclusion Zone and Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary where whaling is prohibited under an Australian Court Order. However, so far the Australian government have remained silent on the issue.

Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson, says, 'we still have them on the run and we intend to keep them on the run for as long as our fuel resources allow.' The Steve Irwin has 40 international volunteers and an Animal Planet film crew onboard producing the 2nd year of the series Whale Wars. 

On Tuesday this week (Jan 6th) the Japanese had to abandon their operations as one of their crew had fallen overboard. The Sea Shepherd joined the whaling ships in search for the missing man, but were told the whalers did not want help from an 'eco-terrorist' organization.More from www.schnews.org.uk and www.seashepherd.org

FIGHT LIKE APES – Tie Me Up With Jackets (Model Citizen) - What a shock, goodness me, FLApes single of the week again.... More of their hit the spot junk food TV channel jumping pop and her butter wouldn’t melt smile while she deliberately knocks yours over. Yeah yeah yeah, I know, more fawning and don’t you touch mine, just get the f**k away from mine... Another single from the album that’s finally out in the UK this month, another bout of coats tied around your head and lovely noise that’ll make you love them even more.  Tie me up with jackets and take me to a place that smells like apple schnapps. They’re not obnoxious, butter really wouldn’t melt, they’re everything pop should be and conversation now is so weightless, using words like clandestine and nit-picking won’t do. Goodness me Canhead is here again with more fish and chips and don’t you touch mine! Lots of fancy toys and lovely noise and feisty feisty synth pop push and shove goodness...  they’ve laced my brain with egg yoke and what?!  Unreleased b-sides so you need this as well as the album and everything else they've ever done - www.fightlikeapesmusic.com

ALSO CHECK OUT
THEO – Encouragement (Ingue) – A rather enjoyably impressive EP of soundtrack music from a guitarist called Theo. He’s from Worcester (England) and these four tracks are four bright breezy post-rock flavoured uplifting pieces of creative positiveness. Delicate interlocking looped guitar layers of a Battles, Volta Del Mar, Crime In Choir nature – considered, creative, refined, just really enjoyable post rock creativity. Mostly instrumental, only Fortress has the added colour of vocals. Cautious musical steps, all made for short films that your really don’t need to see to enjoy this recommended release. – www.myspace.com/inguerecords or www.myspace.com/theo1000

FRANKLIN – Lost House (Wool) – Very mellow, delicate, quiet slightly Sixties-tinged psychedelia laced with slightly weird colour, with oldschool electro and most important of all, rather radiant songs. Vintage analogue warmth, quietly echoing guitar lines, nostalgic sweetness all pulled together to make some radiant whispered honey-hued French pop – www.myspace.com/franklinfranklinfranklin

SHIRLEY LEE – The Smack Of Pavement In Your Face (Missing Page) – Mr Shirley Lee, he out of Spearmint, with a warm-hearted indie-country kind of tune... That smack in your face is a pleasant enough one – www.shirleylee.co.uk
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Previously - CUDDLY SHARK / RED PAINTED RED / RALPH BAND / RAW POO / RUDE MECHANICALS / THE BRUTE CHORUS / TIM AND SAM’S TIM AND SAM BAND... / THE DEIRDRES / THE MINIONS / LOYAL TROOPER / ALISON O’DONNELL / SPEECH DEBELLE / OVER THE WALL / THE RAYOGRAPHS

SINGLE REVIEW ARCHIVES

KIJU – Ignite The Revolt - Tag your bones, they’re coming to jumble them - well that’s what they said. Brutal onslaught of thrashing metalcore aggression flowing in from Firenze, Italy. Brutal brutal brutal... Pantera, Machine Head, Medulla Nocte and all the necessary hardcore metal hostility - whole impressive album’s worth of it. I guess they’re looking for someone to step up and put it out? They didn’t say much, just a CDr with a name and title hand-written on it. Ten relentless tracks, frontline modern metalcore brutality, they’re rather good at it, nothing radically groundbreaking or different, they do the aggressive metalcore thing really well though – www.kiju.it or www.myspace.com/kiju

ALSO CHECK OUT

CRYOGENICA – Redux – London based female fronted industrial/electro dark wave goth, bit of a home-made sound right now. Dark-voiced, black-clad, dark-hearted machine driven goths busy playing the black corners of London alongside bands like Sheep On Drugs, The Last Dance and The Ghost Of Lemora... “I look in your eyes, I feel no pain, darkness and light will always remain...” - each to their own dark corner of life I guess, there’s the link for you eye-lined goth creatures should you feel like further investigation – www.cryogenica.co.uk

THE HARD LUCK SAINTS – Life, Death, Sex and Whisky – Scuzzed up old school metal and street wise blues-edged no messing punky rock n’ roll. They’re from Derby, bit of a raw hint of hell-yeah Motorhead, touch of early youthful Guns ‘n Roses biting right down To The Bones with their high octane scuzz ‘n spit. They look rather fresh faced, right now they’re raw and messy, kind of splatter gun approach – they certainly rock, all spilt beer, steaming amps and broken strings. Good, sometimes it just needs to be stripped down no messing raw scuzzy broken up in your face raw punky back to basics attituded-fuelled heavy metal  - www.thehardlucksaints.com or www.myspace.com/thehardlucksaints

CASTALIA – I Change My Mind... – A rather interesting set of sketch book ideas that flirt around Tangerine Dream, Zombi, John Carpenter soundtracks. Sounds more like a whole body of slightly unresolved ideas and working sketches for an album right now. Dark progressive synth pieces, jittering drum machines, passages of smooth clarity, like leafing through the pages of a private sketch book, a glimpse of work in progress, work that needs to be pushed to a challenging conclusion rather than being left up in the air like this. Castalia is from Italy – www.myspace.com/castaliaonemanband

Last week's demo of the week - AWESOME WELLS

Previous demo's of the week - THE MAXIMUM DANGER PROJECT / CHARLIE BARNES / THE CURSORS / THE WINTER LEAGUE / JARMEAN? / RIOTGOD / CUTTHROAT CONVENTION / INERTIA BLOOMS / SID SINGS / GIRO JUNKIE / THE ATROCITY EXHIBIT / SEA SICK / COUNTRYSIDE / MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN / GRASSCUT

DEMO REVIEW ARCHIVES

PREVIOUSLY - JAGJAGUWAR / VESSELS / COLT / LIARS / SLARAFFENKLANG / 4AD / PHANTOM LIMBS  / THE PRODIGY / KAYO DOT / BLACK ELK / MADE IN MEXICO / THE BUG / TEMPORARY RESIDENCE / WOODBOX GANG / ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES / EX-GIRL / DELIA DERBYSHIRE /  F**KED UP / THE REVELLIONS / LIZ PHAIR / OASIS / THE CLOUD ROOM / HERZOGA / THE MELVINS / SHEARWATER / THE REAL McKENZIES / VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR

Previously: THE BOXER REBELLION / THE NERVES / THE THING / THE ERGS / DAMON & NAOMI / MR. BROWN / SUBHUMANS / RUBELLA BALLET / BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP / MARILLION / KUNG FU SUPER SOUNDS / VOORHEES / EXODUS / DEATHROW

Bernadette Louise & Natalie Swain explore themes of feminine control and lack of control. Harnessing Lunar Hysteria is a multimedia art show referencing hormonal and physical aspects of life today and during late 19th and early 20th Century. Swain&Louise embrace and challenge ideas of lunar cycles and female hysteria whilst approaching such themes in an unusual and thought provoking manner. This voyeuristic approach to a tender subject is an opportunity to see what really goes on behind closed doors...

Harnessing Lunar Hysteria, 16th - 23rd January 2009. Launch: Friday 16th Jan 5:30 - 8:30pm. The exhibition is at the gorgeous Fazeley Studios, on the corner of Fazeley Street and Floodgate Street in Digbeth, Birmingham. For more details go to www.waxcherry.co.uk
 

PREVIOUSLY - PROG ROCK BRITANNIA / INDYMEDIA / FRESHWHIP / ANDY WARHOL'S SCREEN TESTS DVD / DVD: NASHVILLE PUSSY / BOOK: TATTOO SOUP / TAURID METEOR SHOWER / BLACK'N'READ ALL OVER  / MAXWELL DAVIES ON DUMBING DOWN / ACT ART 6 - DYING FOR IT! / DAMIEN HURST / JOE MEEK

Schhhhhneeeeews? What's that? - go see, where would we be without the balance that SchNews offers, not saying that they're always right, not saying we agree with everything thay say, we agee with a lot though and everything should be questioned, damn glad they're there to throw out a question or two and tell us what's really going on out there  - www.schnews.org.uk

libcom.org is a resource for all people who wish to improve their lives, their communities and their working conditions.

Meanwhile to download (free) and watch a selection of SchMOVIES short films click
here - www.schnews.org.uk/schmovies

THE ORGAN MAILING LIST -  If you want to be on the ORGAN/ORG Records e.mail list then you need to get in touch E.MAIL HERE.
 

ORGAN 289 - WOMEN, MAEGASHIRA, DANKO JONES, JACK SHIRT, FEN, LOW BUDGET ORCHESTRA, MEN OF UNITUS, GRAHAM REYNOLDS AND THE GOLDEN ARM TRIO, OH ATOMS, DENNIS HOPPER CHOPPERS, THE WOE BETIDES, DEVOTCHKA, THE SOCIAL, AWESOME WELLS, LITHURGY, SUNDAY SCHOOL, RON ASHETON, JAGJAGUWAR....

ORGAN 288 - FIGHT LIKE APES, ANATHALLO, SHRAG, THE THREE AGES OF ELVIS, ORPHANS, CUDDLY SHARKS, MOLLOY, IRON FIRE, RED EYED LEGENDS, THE HIGH WIRE, SHOCK ELEVATOR FAMILY, LADYDOLL, IVAN CAMPO, VESSELS, COLT, THE NERVES...

ORGAN 287 - THE JELAS, ZACH HILL, THE PRESENT, TRENCHER, EVERYTHING EVERYTHING, FIGHT LIKE APES, THE PRODIFY, INDYMEDIA, RED PAINTED RED, THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING, HOWL GRIFF, WHITE SHOES BLACK HEART, LOST ROBOTS, COCONUT, GRAVE DIGGER, PERFECT AS CATS: A TRIBUTE TO THE CURE, THE RETAIL SECTORS, THE CAPITOL YEARS, LITTLE WOMEN, ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD, THE MAXIMUM DANGER PROJECT, MISS COSMOS, FIRESUITE, FAIRYTALE, THE YALLA YALLAS, SLARAFFENKLANG, LIARS... 

ORGAN 286 - HUNTSVILLE, SOUTH CENTRAL, THE THING, ROSE KEMP, HANDS ON HEADS, PLUG, SPECIALISATION IS FOR INSECTS, BEFORE THE DAWN, ELECTRIC MUD GENERATOR, THE TRUTH ABOUT FRANK, CHARLIE BARNES, THE PINE HILL HAINTS, SONIC RONDEZVOUS BAND, AGATHOCLES, THE TROUBADORS, THE WICKED SOUNDTRACK by AL JOURGENSEN, WEDNESDAY 13, LOSS LEADER, CARRY ON LOVIN’, A VERY CHERRY CHRISTMAS VOL 4,  RALFE BAND, RAW POO, SILVERY, LOS, KONG, THE FM FLASH, SEELAND, I AM IMMUNE, BROKEN ARM, MORIARTY, DUMB INSTRUMENT, LOUIS BARABBAS AND THE BLACK VELVET BAND, BLACK CHANNELS, ANTHEMS, SPOOKBOY, LONG HAT PINS, LOS CONIOS, BOY OUTSIDE, LOCI, THE DO OR DIES, The FRESHWHIP art collective, that 696 form and more...

ORGAN 285 - GALLON DRUNK, SONVAR, MATT ELLIOTT, PSYCHIC TV, SUSPYRE, PAPIER TIGRE, RUDE MECHANICALS THE CURSORS, more on AMANDA PALMER'S beautiful belly, THURSTON MOORE's new cassette only fetish flavoured release... oh lots of stuff, DAMON & NAOMI, THE ERGS, ANARCHISTWOOD, ABE VIGODA and more, go read and see...

ORGAN 284 - Do we need to go type out a list? Just go have a look...

ORGAN 283 - THE WELCOME WAGON, TIM AND SAM'S TIM AND SAM BAND WITH TIM AND SAM, JARMEAN? NASHVILLE PUSSY, RUBELLA BALLET, VOLCANO!, THE LAKE SITUATION, SUBHUMANS, GLOBO, KAYO DOT, I LIKE TRAINS, PREGO, THE VERVE, THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, CRISIS NEVER ENDS, SIX FEET UNDER, USELESS ID, BITCHES SIN, SLICK'S KITCHEN, JE SUIS ANIMAL, SEVERAL UNION, GUILLOTINE, DEAD OR AMERICAN, THE JOHN HENRYS, BURNING PILOT and more... 

ORGAN 282 - Oh loads of stuff, go see....

ORGAN 281 - F**KED UP, ROLO TOMASSI, MoHa!, SEMAPHORE, THE MINIONS, CHICKENHAWK  TROST, MAGNOLIA, LEFT TO VANISH, FREDRICK STANLEY STAR, HEADLESS HEROES, TORTUGA, THE BOAT PEOPLE, BARR, SAMMY HAGAR, BORN FROM, ROB HIMSELF, THE DeRELLAS, THE RACE, CONOR OBERST, DEPARTMENT S, MARILLION, 11:59, GHOSTFIRE, HANDMADE & BOUND...

ORGAN 280 - AIDS WOLF, THE PROCESS, RIOTGOD, SLITVEIN, TO THE BONES, LOYAL TROOPER, ALISON O’DONNELL, THREATMANTICS, DARK CAPTAIN LIGHT CAPTAIN, EARTHLESS, CROWPATH, THE COMPUTERS, MIA VIGAR, BRIMSTONE HOWL, SATYRICON, THE ESTRANGED, MERCURY REV, AS EDEN BURNS, SUPERSUCKERS, CARNAL DECAY, PSAPP, DANKO JONES, JOHNNY COLA & THE A-GRADES, UNFOLD PRESENTS: TRU THOUGHTS HIP HOP, KUNG FU SUPER SOUNDS, MADE IN MEXICO, KOSMISCHE, DESERT MUSIC SCHOOL BENEFIT....

ORGAN 279 - DEERHOOF, MARTIN ORFORD, CUTTHROAT CONVENTION, SPEECH DEBELLE, OVER THE WALL, SOUTH CENTRAL, MAYORS OF MIYAZAKI, DIAGONAL, CONSOLATION PRIZEFIGHTER, DAN BAIRD & HOMEMADE SIN, THE RAMPTON RELEASE DATE, NANAS REVENGE, DISTANCE TO FAULT, MARSHALL LAW, SPEED THEORY, JUD, SOLITARY, FAILSAFE, EASTER, THE ACORN, FROM MONUMENT TO MASSES, STONE GODS, VOO, EDO BRIGHTON PROTESTS... 

ORGAN 278 - ORIGINAL SILENCE, INERTIA BLOOMS, TRANSMISSION, REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES, THE RAYOGRAPHS, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, THE BEDROOM PROJECT, MISPELT (TWOPOINTZERO), MONKEY FIGHTERS, EXODUS, BONNIE PRINCE BILLY, PAUL J.ABBOTT, DEERHUNTER, KILL THE CLIENT, RAY, HELGRIND, MARTUTA, ROBIN TAYLOR, INCASSUM, FLOWING TEARS, DANIEL LAND & THE MODERN PAINTERS, THIS OR THE APOCALYPSE, I HATE KATE, AIRBOURNE, EXIT CALM, THE PADDINGTONS, SILVERY, MAYBESHEWILL, HER NAME IS CALLA, WE ROCK LIKE GIRLS DON’T, HAYMAN WATKINS TROUT & LEE, MAXWELL DAVIES... 

ORGAN 277 - yeah yeah, a non stop operation....

ORGAN 276 - Oh go have a look, do we have to list it everyweek, we had loads of great stuff last week, classic week for new music... 

ORGAN 275 - GRAILS, BEATGLIDER, THE ATROCITY EXHIBIT, TO THE BONES, SEA SICK, F**K BUTTONS, STE McCABE, THE BARDO, GENTLE GIANT, THE ALL NEW ADVENTURES OF US, HANSON BOTHERS, RUMORS OF GEHENNA, ACID MOTHER TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO, JMC, P.G.LOST, UGLY STICK, A TEXTBOOK TRAGEDY, NO RETURN, TRIVIUM,  AMANDA PALMER, THE DeBRETTS,  TEMPORARY RESIDENCE...

ORGAN 274 - UNIVERS ZERO, HAUSCHKA, COUNTRYSIDE, MANIQUI LAZER, MAB, MILK ROAR, HYDRA, MAGICIAN, KIMYA DAWSON, STRIBORG, ROSE KEMP, VOLBEAT, THE BOBBY McGEES,  THE MAY FIRE, MOOSE FACTORY, PRO-PAIN, TRIP LAVA, A POETIC YESTERDAY, LORD BELIEL, FRIGHTENED RABBIT, FROM PLAN TO PROGRESS, BOWERBIRDS, BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES, DAMIEN HURST, CLIFF'S SINGLE, ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES... 

ORGAN 273 - CONSTANTINES, WOODBOX GANG, RA RA RIOT, MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, PERHAPS CONTRAPTION, AMANDA PALMER, BYE BYE CANDY, OF THE I, RUDE MECHANICALS, ANARCHISTWOOD, GIRLSCHOOL, ICED EARTH, ICED EARTH, BLOOD CEREMONY, TONAL OAK, SOULS, FALLEN, PURE INC, BULLET, THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, DARK CAPTAIN LIGHT CAPTAIN, THE TAMBORINES, EX-GIRL, DESTINATION:OBLIVION, JOE MEEK....

ORGAN 272 - YOUNG WIDOWS, AMANDA PALMER, EHNAHRE, GRASSCUT, PRINTS, THE FRENCH QUARTER, POPE JOAN, THE VERVE, BUFFALO KILLERS, MISERATION, DRAGONFORCE, THE MONO EFFECT, BONKERSFEST ‘08, NOUGHT, GERTUDE, TO THE BONES, ROLLINS, BOBBY BARKER, ONE TRUE DOG, BLUEZZ INTOXICATED, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, F*CKED UP, IMPROV EVERYWHERE, CLIFF... 

ORGAN 271 - LUSTMORD, SLIPKNOT, LOVELY LITTLE GIRLS, AARON KRATEN, FIGHT LIKE APES, TOY GUN COWBOY, IMMERSION COMPOSITION SOCIETY, PICTURES PAINT WORDS, LITTLE JACKIE, RUBY THROAT, TO THE BONES, THE MIRIMAR DISASTER, AGRYPNIE, CITY 13, LORDS OF BASTARD, THE DONKEYS, GOLDBLADE, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE PRESENTS: BRENDAN CANNING, BLAND BLADEN, EUREKA MACHINES, BRIAN WILSON, PETALS ON A WET BLACK BOUGH, NARRATION, KISSING KALINA, THE REVELLIONS, KILLING JOKE...

ORGAN 270 - HEY COLOSSUS, ROSE KEMP, MOTORHEAD, COP ON THE EDGE, GNOMES OF ZURICH, LITTLE JACKIE, JOY OF SEX, GNAW THEIR TONGUES, GEOFF SOULE, UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, JAGUAR LOVE, HELLFIRE, CRUISER, THE CHAIR, GORGOROTH, SONNY, REGURGITATOR, LAGWAGON, MILLENNIA, UNBUNNY, TZUN TZU, SUPENIK, ZEBRAHEAD, MOURNING RISE, SINISTER, THE BIKINI BEACH BAND, ZAG AND THE COLOURED BEADS, WHIMWISE, SUSAN GEORGE BOOTH, SERGEANT BUZFUZ, POPE JOAN, FOUR DEAD IN OHIO, THE VIEW FROM BELOW, THE INCONSOLABLES, THE SAVAGE RESURRECTION, LIZ PHAIR, BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB...