Strawberry Switchblade, Self-Titled , 1985

  

 I'm always in search of new, compelling muaic from times past, as well as the present. I'm taking you back in time however, and to the eightees to be precise. There was no better time for pop than then. Pop Goth and New Wave were at their peak and I am well-known to be a fan of great female vocals. I don't really mind that little teeny bit of cheesy 80's pop if it's done well, and it's intention is to be...cheesy!

Strawberry Switchblade was a new wave duo band from Glasgow, Scotland UK in 1981. Rose McDowall later become associated with the industrial scene and contribute to projects such as Coil, Current 93, Death in June, Nature and Organisation, Nurse With Wound, Psychic TV, Boyd Rice. Jill Bryson and McDowall bonded  in the Glasgow punk scene of the late 70s. 

Since Yesterday, became a top 10 hit in the UK ,  and a huge success in Europe  as well as Japan . The track's opening fanfare came from Sibelius' Symphony No.5 and had also featured on the earlier hit "Beach Baby" by The First Class. The girls' strikingly contrasting black and white wardrobe, including the polka dot rah-rah skirts worn for the sleeve of Since Yesterday, attracted some coverage at the time. Their somewhat "Gothic" appearance was part of their ensemble and was particular to their personal demeanor. In my very personal opinion, you can tell there was a partnership with Boyd Rice and Friends. And they've a high similarity to artists such as Lene Lovich, Danielle Dax, Altered images, X-Mal Deutschland, The Wake and Dolly Mixture. If you're into the likes of the previously mentioned, this album would make a welcome addition to your music library!

 TRACKLISTING:

1. Since Yesterday

2. Deep Water

3. Another Day

4. Little River

5. James Orr Street

6. Let Her Go

7. Knows What Love Is?

8. Go Away

9. Secrets

10. Who Knows What Love Is?

11. Being Cold

12. Beautiful End

13. Poor Hearts

14. Ecstacy (Apple Of My Eye)

15. Jolene

16. Black Taxi

17. Trees And Flowers (Extended Mix)

18. Michael Who Walks By Night

19. Since Yesterday (Extended Mix)

20. I Can Feel

Listen:

Self Titled- http://www.mediafire.com/?gwmfsdfr5x5


Enjoy this rare pop album!

The Areola Treat, Pleasure Machines, 2011

As readers of my posts are well aware, I have documented this band several times on my blog posts, just because I believe them to be a good experimental art rock band, and deserve credit for their writing, drumming and vocal skills (their live performances are mind-blowing). As you also know, I had been wowed away after seeing them live in a Brussels punk club. I often visit their web pages and browse for pictures and info of the band. I am also aware that many of you out there, the world over, have got to know about the band through my little blog, and others through other music blogs or discussion threads, however I have purchased their album online (plus a few extra copies for friends) and am posting Pleasure Machines for your enjoyment.

One of the most striking features about the album, is the versatility of this band.  Whereas the  ep was all about the beats and the punchy lines, Pleasure Machines seems  slightly more directional and structured. At some points, you can't really tell where it is going, so it will surprise you. Yet most often, the songs are a good trip. The fun element is still quite predominant and their new work is much more thorough. It is versatile in a clever, yet not in a subtle way, which is something not all listeners can relate to, as some of my readers prefer a more or less consistent mood throughout, so as I said, it's not for everyone, however, if you are enamored of Nina Hagen and Diamanda Galas, you will appreciate the various vocal styles offered. The music remains playful yet strict, and once again the command on the vocal chords is splendid. The drummer is another very pivotal element in their music style as a whole. Very structured delivery in most tracks, quite intense I would say. I usually believe the bass in many bands I listen to are what  make a good artpunk/post punk/indie band and don't usually focus on the drumming skills, however, the drummer Chris is what gives this band a backbone, with his amazing technique . Most of the tracks on this album are still as memorable, adding a touch of finesse at times (the yelps and cat-howls still being present). The frontwoman (Lisa) who seems the designated writer in the band, seems to have a vast range of  (top-notch) musical influences and taste  and I do have a thing for vocals that double as effect peddals! Pretty great stuff on the whole. Always remember, as with all of my other posts in my blog, if you like it, go ahead and buy it!, (or blog about it and share the good word).

Unfortunately I have no knowledge of the band's exact whereabouts this year, except for this Summer, they have been and will be playing in various different local clubs in Europe in Malta, where they hail from.




Listen:

https://rapidshare.com/files/1392473346/The-Areola-Treat-2011-Pleasure-Machines.rar

The Areola Treat's Pleasure Machines now on CD Baby

Follow the link to CD Baby: The Areola Treat | Pleasure Machines | CD Baby

 The Areola Treat's new album is now available for download on CD Baby. I've been on about this band ever since having seen them in a live performance in belgium a while ago. The drummer and vocalist had quite an impact on me, and I kept following them on Last FM and created a few blogs reviewing them myself. The frontwoman herself has a charm about her and the drummer's punding is quite simply astounding.

CD Baby Indipendent Artist Reviews: This week, 'Pleasure Machines', the new, self-released album from The Areola Treat. Read, listen and buy!

The Areola Treat are an indie/sludge/art punk band, formed in Malta in 2006. Inspired by UK-based, late 1970s punk and rock and roll, besides the burgeoning punk and post punk revival, The Areola Treat are arguably a definitive art punk ensemble, mostly due to their detailed tightness, blood-curdling female screeching, growling vocals and punchy guitars in the first few years of the band being formed, and more recently with their somewhat more political stance and echoes of psychedelia and post rock. Their first self-entitled studio ep, The Areola Treat was released in 2008 under Belgian label Kinky Star. The band's first self-released studio album 'Pleasure Machines', was released in April 2011. 

The Areola Treat will be performing in Malta, Europe, at Voice Of A Generation, in Ball Street, Paceville on the 27th August.

Two Lone Swordsmen, The Fifth Mission (Return To The Flightpath Estate), 1996

 

Label: Emissions Audio Output

Year:1996
Styles: Ambient Techno, IDM

Andrew Weatherall's first post-Sabres outing (together with Keith Tenniswood) is a truly beguiling cachet of alternately moody and unexpectedly funky down- and mid-tempo electro. Miles more complex and integrated than such future-funk wibblers as the Clear Records stable, Fifth Mission is often as tear-jerkingly emotional as it is goofball lino material; machine music imbued with more than a bit of humanity. Uniformly excellent.

- Sean Cooper (Allmusic Guide)

Source: (Allmusic.com)

The Two Lone Swordsmen are British house DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall and studio engineer Keith Tenniswood. They had formed in early 1996, following the dissolution of Weatherall's influential Sabres of Paradise techno act, and since then have indulged themselves in styles ranging from electro and 4/4 techno to post punk and downtempo breakbeat. Emissions Audio Output, was the first label they had worked with, and was run by Weatherall. However, the small nature of the operation limited the duo's success, which caused them to look elsewhere and they subsequently signed to Warp Records, making them labelmates with acts such as Autechre and Boards of Canada, as well as setting up the Rotters Golf Club label for their more dancefloor-friendly output under various other guises.

In 2004 they released From the Double Gone Chapel, exhibiting more of a late 1970s dub and post punk sound than their previous work, influenced heavily by groups like PiL. It was released with the single Sex Beat, a cover of the popular Gun Club song. Their latest album, Wrong Meeting, was released in April 2007, with Wrong Meeting II following a month after. Set solidly in the dub rock vein they explored on From the Double Gone Chapel, the duo venture into sleezy country and LCD Soundsystem-style punk funk disco.

Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Lone_Swordsmen 

Tracklisting: 

01. Little Did We Know
02. The Best of Stealth
03. A Slow Drive West
04. Big Man Original
05. Spark
06. Lino Square
07. Search for a Car
08. Glenn Street Assault Squad
09. Gang Sweep Shuffling
10. The King Mob File
11. Enemy Haze
12. Beacon Block
13. Two Barb Quickstep
14. Switch It
15. Rico's Helly
16. The Backstair Rattlers
17. Paisley Dark
18. Extended Branch Brothers

Listen:

Part One: http://rapidshare.com/files/106759933/Two_Lone_Swordsmen_-_The_Fifth_Mission__Return_To_The_Flightpath_Estate_.part1.rar

Part Two: http://rapidshare.com/files/106764797/Two_Lone_Swordsmen_-_The_Fifth_Mission__Return_To_The_Flightpath_Estate_.part2.rar
Part Three: http://rapidshare.com/files/106768059/Two_Lone_Swordsmen_-_The_Fifth_Mission__Return_To_The_Flightpath_Estate_.part3.rar

Listen:

Download Mediafire

Listen:

Megaupload

Wanda Jackson, Queen Of Rockabilly, 2000

Born October 20, 1937) Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist^. She is known to many as the Queen (or First Lady) of Rockabilly.

Jackson mixed country music with fast-moving rockabilly, often recording them on opposite sides of a record.

As rockabilly declined in popularity in the mid-1960s, she moved to a successful career in mainstream country music with a string of hits between 1966 and 1973, including "Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine", "A Woman Lives for Love" and "Fancy Satin Pillows".

She has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity among the rockabilly revival in Europe, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence in 2009

Source: Wikipedia:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Jackson 

This album was Recorded between 1956 and 1963. Includes liner notes by Rob Finnis and digitally remastered by Duncan Cowell (Sound Mastering Limited). 

Wanda was the first country and rock n roll singer to teach me a woman could growl! I would say Jackson's music is the epitome of rockabilly, with heavy, twangy guitars, a good, solid base and some serious drum shuffling. With such a great gritty voice and superb skill, it's surprising this album was released in 2000.

Enjoy! 

Tracklisting:

01. Baby Loves Him
02. Mean Mean Man
03. Fujiyama Mama
04. Cool Love
05. Honey Bop
06. I Gotta Know
07. Let's Have A Party
08. Money Honey
09. Long Tall Sally
10. Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad
11. Searchin'
12. Savin' My Love
13. Kansas City
14. Hard Headed Woman
15. Tunnel of Love
16. My Baby Left Me
17. Sticks And Stones
18. Who Shot Sam?
19. There's A Party Goin' On
20. Brown Eyed Handsome Man
21. You Don't Know Baby
22. Tongue Tied
23. Riot In Cell Block #9
24. Slippin' And Slidin'
25. Fallin'
26. Rip It Up
27. Rock Your Baby
28. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
29. Honey Don't


Listen:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=41MYYDG3

Ulver , Shadows of the Sun, 2007

Tracklisting:
 01. Eos
02. All The Love
03. Like Music
04. Vigil
05. Shadows Of The Sun
06. Let The Children Go
07. Solitude
08. Funebrae
09. What Happened?

 Timelessly beautiful, envelop yourself in a few few hours of meaningful silence in appreciation of the ebb and flow of solitude, darkness, joy and sorrow. 

If "Shadows Of The Sun" could be considered an exercise in mourning, then "Funebre" would definitely represent the actual funeral. The second half of the track features a lengthy piano solo, in which the 'classical composition' techniques are particularly evident, while the theramin returns to give the song an otherworldly distance to it. Finally, "What Happened?" (an appropriately titled song, as I will explain in a minute), begins with uneasy 'industrialesque' noises humming in the background, while the last piano melody slowly hangs over your head like a death sentence. A bell begins tolling shortly before two minutes. However, the Oslo String Session Quartet quickly moves in and delivers their most moving moment in the album, a fitting end for the album.

Source credit: Music For The Rest Of Us: http://musicfortherestofus.blogspot.com/2007/10/ulver-shadows-of-sun.html




 



 Listen:
http://rapidshare.com/files/74141738/Ulver-Shadows_Of_The_Sun-_Retail_-2007-SER.rar 

Yoga Megafauna ,RETAIL, 2009

 I keep discovering new, exceedingly thrilling dark music.


The fusion of black metal and dark electronic music continues to gain steam with the release of Megafauna, the first proper full-length from Yoga. The band’s name might signify a rejuvinating, esoteric form of exercise, but the sounds of this epic 12-track journey illustrate an audible fate far more taxing than two hours of holding the downward facing dog pose. Here, synthesizers are cauterized of their sonic sheen, implementing a muddy, caustic veneer more in line with a scratchy, old 78 than a shiny, new 12-inch and creating a sound drenched in murky dissonance and creepy ambience that would make Tobe Hooper’s arm hairs stand on end. This is something like a field recording of some soundtrack to a nightmare scored by an unholy studio session between Xasthur and Alan Lomax. And if that seems like something which would appeal to you—yes, it is that awesome.

Above Source: http://www.roadburn.com/tag/megafauna/ 


Album Info:
Album: Megafauna
Year: 2009
Genre: Black Metal

Tracklisting:
1. Yoga - Seventh Mind
2. Yoga - Flying Witch
3. Yoga - Encante
4. Yoga - Wagion
5. Yoga - The Hidden People
6. Yoga - Dreamcast
7. Yoga - Fourth Eye
8. Yoga - Black Obelisk
9. Yoga - Treeman
10. Yoga - Warrior
11. Yoga - Haunted Brian
12. Yoga - Chupacabra's Rotting Flesh



Listen:
http://rapidshare.com/files/396397023/CFD-2009-RETAIL-Megafauna-Yoga_Sparhawk.rar

Buy : http://www.insound.com/Megafauna-Vinyl-LP-Yoga/P/INS63659/&utm_source=Google+Base&utm_medium=Google+Product+Search&utm_campaign=Yoga+Megafauna+%5BVinyl%5D+LP&from=10688