Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Wrong: Stories - Dennis Cooper





Wrong – Dennis Cooper

Slick. As far as gay & lesbian literature goes, I'd consider this to be as good as it gets. Though it would be wrong to falsely disguise Dennis Cooper as only that. William S. Burroughs said it correct on the front cover, "...a born writer." His sentences are crafted like a well sequenced fight scene in an interesting and intellectual movie, peculiar and courageous, but believable--it makes you stop and take another look, then take a step back and say to yourself, 'well that's pretty "badass".' An entertaining, humorous, and a beautifully constructed cross section of the dark and bizarre and ridiculous monstrosity of human nature.


Wrong: Stories - by Dennis Cooper

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Names - Swimming + Singles


Originally released in 1982, Swimming, was The Names debut LP. From Belgium, The Names would later sign with Factory Records and join the famous Post-Punk line-up with bands such as Joy Division, the Stockholm Monsters, and Crispy Ambulance. LTM has reissued this Post-Punk, Goth Pop masterpiece and has even added 8 extra tracks in its customary fashion. Quite the impressive record.

Tracklisting:

01 Music For Someone
02 Discovery
03 Floating World
04 The Fire
05 Life By The Sea
06 White Shadow
07 Calcutta
08 Postcards
09 (This Is) Harmony
10 Shanghai Gesture
11 Leave Her To Heaven
12 Light
13 Nightshift
14 I Wish I Could Speak Your Language
15 The Astronaut
16 Cat
17 I Wish I Could Speak Your Language (Premix)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Even As We Speak - Nothing Ever Happens EP


1990's 7" EP, Nothing Ever Happens EP is a tremendous 5 song contribution to early 90's Indie Pop and to the Sarah Label as a whole. 5 songs that display Matthew Love's (vocals, guitar) striking songwriting talent and musical range and ability. A popy version of New Order's Bizzarre Love Triangle is a nice break off from a song that's been beaten to death with electronic and post-punk remixes you hear over and over. Nothing Ever Happens EP is a must have for any Sarah lover or an excellent introduction to the Sarah Label for those who are just hearing its sound for the first time.

Year: 1990
Label: Sarah Records
Album: 7" EP, Sarah 037


TRACKLISTING:
1. Goes So Slow 2:27
2. Blue Suburban Skies 2:26
3. Bizzarre Love Trianlge 1:55
4. Nothing Ever Happens 1:26
5. A Stranger Calls 1:50

Sarah 037

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Harper Lee - Everything's Going To Be OK


The former members of Sarah Records's Brighter team-up with Matinee Records and make one hell of a second album. Keeping with their same broken-hearted sound, Keris Howard (vocals, guitar, and keyboard) and Laura Bridge (drums, guitar, and piano), make a solid compilation of Post-Sarah [Records] Pop ballads with jangly, Guitar Pop hooks that will get stuck in your head all day long.
Excellent example of the contemporary, Matinee sound. Don't miss it.

Year: 2002
Label: Matinee Recordings

Everything's Going to be OK

The Field Mice - Skywriting + Singles

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One of the most important Indie Pop bands that on the Sarah Label in the late 80's and early 90's, The Field Mice, sadly goes utterly unnoticed within the mainstream history of British Indie Pop. LTM put together three, two disc remastered albums plus extra singles, to put The Field Mice's lengthy array of out-of-print, pop gems back into the eyes and ears of Indie Pop fans. 21 songs taken from 1989's EP So Said Kay - Sarah 38 and 1990's, two disc, album The Autumn Store Pt. 1 & 2 - Sarah 24 & 25 make up the extra 15 songs that weren't on the original 6 song, Skywriting album. An excellent collection of fluffy, melancholy pop songs that is a perfect cross-section into the jangly, neat and clean pop sound of the legendary Sarah Records and the similar bands on the label. The Field Mice were arguably the most popular and best-selling band of the many that started out on the Sarah Records Label catalogue though their fame is minimal compared to the hundreds of other Indie Pop bands that came out of Bristol, England in 1988 (Surrey, England to be exact). The Field Mice disbanded in an onstage quarrel in November of 1991 only to play one last farewell gig in London. Wratten, Davies, and Dobson later reunited to form the Northern Picture Library and Trembling Blue Stars which were both fantastic bands in themselves. 

TRACKLIST:
Disc 1

01 - Triangle
02 - Canada
03 - Clearer
04 - It Isn't Forever
05 - Below The Stars
06 - Humblebee
07 - Landmark
08 - Quicksilver
09 - Holland Street
10 - Indian Ocean
11 - So Said Kay


Disc 2
01 - If You Need Someone
02 - The World To Me
03 - Song Six
04 - Anyone Else Isn't You
05 - Bleak
06 - I Thought Wrong
07 - Right As Rain
08 - A Heart Disease Called Love
09 - This Is Not Here (1998)
10 - Other Galaxies

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Monday, November 1, 2010

The Magnetic Fields - The Charm of the Highway Strip


In case one is about to take a road trip through the dark.  2:55 AM is arguably the best time to drive from Phoenix, AZ to L.A., California. Role your windows down and drive 86 m.p.h. while listening to this album two times over. "Time, measured in dotted yellow lines."

The Charm of the Highway Strip