A harum-scarum bloodbath of sixties rock, seventies motorik-fusion, and eighties punk.
‘The landscape Orcutt Shelley Miller inhabits lies deep in the stoner American bedrock, fed by volcanic riffage and hypnotic phrasing with rhythmic nods to the SoCal ’60s and atonal slash piled on a mid ’80s SST punk-fusionoid substrate, ultimately blasting a ‘big rock statement’ that treads the line between good times and blown minds.’
The second of Marc Hollander’s LPs under the alias Aksak Maboul, from 1979, with Fred Frith and Chris Cutler amongst the guests. ‘Sets the imagination reeling through a sequence of phantasmagorical scenarios, transporting listeners to a cafe in Montmartre, a bazaar in Istanbul, a tango bar, a punk rock venue or maybe an exotic location in a Tintin cartoon. Eclectic, inventive, inquisitively playful and surreal… it remains simply indispensable’ (The Wire).
Loco, lo-fi garage and psych, 1966-7, put together by the people behind the excellent Six Feet Under compilation.
Superb fourth album, bare but sparkling, steeped in her vaudevillian take on Americana, rawly confessional and beautifully voiced as ever — a mid-thirties heartful of fierce discontent.
From 1971, contemporary settings of Handel, illuminated by psychedelic guitar, flute and electric piano, and a break-happy, funky rhythm section. Carol Kaye plays bass; Cannonball Adderley conducts the 38-piece orchestra (fresh from his own Black Messiah sessions). The gospelised choral sections carry the swing, as seems right.
‘In these recordings without amplification I could hear the natural resonance of the instruments and the subtleties in the vocals. They also played songs not heard in the dance halls: haunting, sad songs.’
Outtakes, alternate versions and rare tracks.