Hernanfloresleyes

Unlike the slew of legendary acts — including My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, and Daft Punk — who surprised fans with new albums in 2013, Pixies emerged from their lengthy recording hiatus more cautiously. By releasing a series of EPs that were eventually collected as Indie Cindy for 2014′s Record Store Day, the band eased fans into their new material — and, perhaps, gave them time to lower their expectations. Indie Cindy may be most notable for illustrating the pitfalls genre-defining artists face when attempting a comeback: Pixies had such an impact on how indie rock sounded in their wake that upon their return, it’s almost inevitable that they sound like they’re aping themselves. It doesn’t help that the band’s first new material in almost a quarter-century is also…

320 kbps | 211 MB | UL | MC1+MC2 ** FLAC

…the first largely without founding bassist Kim Deal (her insistent eighth-notes are mimicked by session player Ding). However, her absence is the least of Indie Cindy’s problems. “Bagboy,” the reunited band’s first single, features her vocals, but even her presence can’t make the song’s collision of drum machines and surreal spoken word — which suggests a failed collaboration between David Lynch and LCD Soundsystem — succeed. It’s more worrying that much of Indie Cindy feels like it was written to fit specific niches: “Blue Eyed Hexe,” a “U-Mass”-like rocker, proves Black Francis’ scream is still spine-tingling, but the song plods. Even if the album just isn’t as nimble as the best work from Pixies or Frank Black, it feels like what the band would be doing two decades on from their peak even if they hadn’t taken a break. Aside from “Snakes,” which tempers the biblical post-punk of their early work into something resigned instead of vengeful, most of these songs continue the sci-fi riff rock of the band’s later albums and Francis’ first two solo albums (producer Gil Norton even suggested that the bandmembers pretend that they’d spent their hiatus touring in outer space). “What Goes Boom” sounds like a beefier version of “Alec Eiffel,” while “Indie Cindy”‘s mix of shouty, stream-of-consciousness verses and dreamy interludes recalls Frank Black’s “Los Angeles” more than his Pixies work. The least contrived songs are the best: “Magdalena” creates tension between its heavy guitars and soft vocals in a way that’s less expected than the band’s famed loud-quiet-loud dynamics. Meanwhile, “Greens and Blues” combines the album’s spacy motif with heartfelt songwriting and lyrical guitar work from Joey Santiago, who also helps elevate “Jaime Bravo” and “Ring the Bell.” Still, there’s no escaping that Indie Cindy is an odd return. It plays more like a collection of B-sides than a true album, and it’s laced with goodbyes and a sense of sadness that feel more like closure than catching up. Arguably, it fares better as a decent Frank Black album than an anticlimactic Pixies album, and fans who can appreciate that these songs don’t diminish the legacy of the band’s previous music will probably enjoy it the most.

CD1
1 – “What Goes Boom”
2 – “Greens and Blues”
3 – “Indie Cindy”
4 – “Bagboy”
5 – “Magdalena 318″
6 – “Silver Snail”
7 – “Blue Eyed Hexe”
8 – “Ring the Bell”
9 – “Another Toe in the Ocean”
10 – “Andro Queen”
11 – “Snakes”
12 – “Jaime Bravo”

CD2 Live in the USA
1 – Bone Machine
2 – Hey
3 – Ana
4 – Magdalena 318
5 – Snakes
6 – Indie Cindy
7 – I’ve Been Tired
8 – Head On
9 – The Sad Punk
10 – Distance Equals Rate Times Time
11 – Something Against You
12 – Isla de Encanta
13 – Planet of Sound

13 – Monkey Gone to Heaven (Japan Bonus Tracks)
14 – Nimrod’s Son (Japan Bonus Tracks)

recorded live in the USA with 13 performances from the 2014 North American tour

While the ear essentially functions the same way for everybody, all people don’t process sound in the same fashion. Experiences shape the way each and every person takes in what they hear. Some tend to focus in on a single sound, others key in on conversational concepts, and then there are those who are big picture listeners; drummer Dan Weiss‘ Fourteen, a brilliantly ambitious through-composed work, toys with all three of these angles of perception.
Weiss gathered fourteen forward-thinking folks and set them against each other in striking fashion, using juxtaposition as his chief tool for composition. The resultant music is full of pointed contrasts in mood, sound, and structure. A progressive edge informs all of this work,…

320 kbps | 86 MB | UL | OB | MC ** FLAC

…but despite popular opinion, progressive doesn’t always mean aggressive. Weiss and company do lean toward metal music and pound away in places, but they’re also capable of creating curious blends and delicate filigree when the texture thins out.

Fourteen is divided into seven sections, each with its own merits and miracles. “Part One” begins with a focus on solo piano, but the piece pans out and slowly broadens and thickens with the addition of instrument upon instrument. Things really begin to gel when saxophone and voice enter, and a wonderfully dense sonic thicket eventually forms. Guitar and glockenspiel counterpoint carries “Part Two” at first, but drums and voice throw a wrench into the works and help to alter the direction. The excoriating saxophones of David Binney and Ohad Talmor make a mark on “Part Three,” ringing piano chords give way to some slamming passages on “Part Four,” and a low brass exchange on “Part Five” proves to be an album highlight. Wordless vocals start “Part Six” off in gentle fashion, but things immediately take a bold-and-dark turn. The piano-focused “Part Seven,” while somber and serious, still comes off as the calm after the storm. All of these notable moments make a permanent impression, but they’re really just stop-off points in a far more involved and complex musical labyrinth.

The aforementioned forward-thinkers—a list which includes Weiss, Binney, pianist Matt Mitchell, trombonist/tubaist Jacob Garchik, guitarist Miles Okazaki and others—are part of the crème de la crème of creative music, so it should come as no surprise that they ruffle some feathers here and push the envelope in many places. It’s to their credit that they lean forward instead of sitting back, making music that’s heady and heavenly all at once.

Personnel: Dan Weiss: drums, vocal recitation; Jacob Sacks: piano; Matt Mitchell: glockenspiel, piano, organ; Thomas Morgan: acoustic bass; Miles Okazaki: electric guitar, classical guitar; David Binney: alto saxophone; Ohad Talmor: tenor saxophone; Jacob Garchik: trombone, tuba; Ben Gerstein: trombone; Lana Cenčić: voice; Judith Berkson: voice. Maria Neckam: Voice Katie Andrews: Harp Stephen Cellucci: Percussion

Most box sets are designed to enshrine an artist in the amber of posterity. The idea is that the artist has transcended their time, that they can now be appreciated outside of the context of their era.
The digital age, where recordings from the past sit comfortably with tunes from the present, accelerates this trend, suggesting that all the classic artists exist upon their own continuum, that their development was almost a product of self-divination. What is interesting about Sound System is that it throws this notion out the window and celebrates the era that produced the Clash as much as it celebrates the band itself. As designed by Clash bassist Paul Simonon,…

320 kbps | 1.19 GB | UL | CL | RG ** FLAC

…Sound System looks like an old-school ghetto blaster, and it’s filled with replicas of fanzines, stickers, badges, press photos, posters, dog tags — all manner of period-specific tchotchkes that walk the line between nostalgia and commercial art. This aesthetic trickles down to the presentation of the music itself, with London Calling split over two CDs where it could easily fit onto one and Sandinista! taking up a full three discs. Such details slightly impede playability if Sound System is listened to as a series of CDs, but once the set is ripped and listened to digitally, the divided discs are simply another design flourish, one of many little things to appreciate. But Sound System is also attractive in delivering what effectively is the Complete Clash in one sitting. Apart from the disowned Cut the Crap, all the albums are here — the U.K. version of The Clash, Give ‘Em Enough Rope, London Calling, Sandinista!, Combat Rock — along with three discs of extras that include all the non-LP singles (i.e., the singles that were added to the U.S. pressing of the debut, plus everything that wound up on the clearinghouse Super Black Market Clash, such as the Cost of Living EP), oddities that appeared on the first Clash box Clash on Broadway in 1991, and B-sides; then, most attractively for collectors, previously unreleased mixes, outtakes from Combat Rock, “extracts” from the band’s first recording session in 1976, Polydor demos from that same year produced by Guy Stevens, and six live cuts from the Lyceum in 1979. Then, there’s the DVD which contains all the band’s promo videos, the Clash on Broadway video, the White Promo Film, footage from Sussex University in 1977, and individual selections from Clash compatriots Don Letts and Julian Temple. Perhaps there are still some stray tracks in the vaults — this seems to excavate all the unheard songs from Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg, aka the original version of Combat Rock and some cuts may be left behind — but this is as complete as we’ll get and if it doesn’t present any fresh revelations, it brings the Clash’s era back to life, both sonically and visually.

Disc 1: The Clash (released as CBS Records LP S-CBS 82000, 1977)

1. Janie Jones
2. Remote Control
3. I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.
4. White Riot
5. Hate & War
6. What’s My Name?
7. Deny
8. London’s Burning
9. Career Opportunities
10. Cheat
11. Protex Blue
12. Police & Thieves
13. 48 Hours
14. Garageland

Disc 2: Give ‘Em Enough Rope (released as CBS Records LP S-CBS 82431, 1978)

1. Safe European Home
2. English Civil War (Johnny Comes Marching Home)
3. Tommy Gun
4. Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad
5. Last Gang in Town
6. Guns on the Roof
7. Drug-Stabbing Time
8. Stay Free
9. Cheapskates
10. All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)

Discs 3-4: London Calling (released as CBS Records LP S-CBS 88478, 1979)

1. London Calling
2. Brand New Cadillac
3. Jimmy Jazz
4. Hateful
5. Rudie Can’t Fail
6. Spanish Bombs
7. The Right Profile
8. Lost in the Supermarket
9. Clampdown
10. The Guns of Brixton

1. Wrong ‘Em Boyo
2. Death or Glory
3. Koka Kola
4. The Card Cheat
5. Lover’s Rock
6. Four Horsemen
7. I’m Not Down
8. Revolution Rock
9. Train in Vain

Discs 5-7: Sandinista! (released as CBS Records LP FSLN-1, 1980)

1. The Magnificent Seven
2. Hitsville UK
3. Junco Partner
4. Ivan Meets G.I. Joe
5. The Leader
6. Something About England
7. Rebel Waltz
8. Look Here
9. The Crooked Beat
10. Somebody Got Murdered
11. One More Time
12. One More Dub

1. Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)
2. Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)
3. Corner Soul
4. Let’s Go Crazy
5. If Music Could Talk
6. The Sound of Sinners
7. Police on My Back
8. Midnight Log
9. The Equaliser
10. The Call Up
11. Washington Bullets
12. Broadway

1. Lose This Skin
2. Charlie Don’t Surf
3. Mensforth Hill
4. Junkie Slip
5. Kingston Advice
6. The Street Parade
7. Version City
8. Living in Fame
9. Silicon on Sapphire
10. Version Pardner
11. Career Opportunities
12. Shepherd’s Delight

Disc 8: Combat Rock (released as CBS Records LP FMLN-2, 1982)

1. Know Your Rights
2. Car Jamming
3. Should I Stay or Should I Go
4. Rock the Casbah
5. Red Angel Dragnet
6. Straight to Hell
7. Overpowered by Funk
8. Atom Tan
9. Sean Flynn
10. Ghetto Defendant
11. Inoculated City
12. Death is a Star

Disc 9: Non-LP material

1. White Riot (Single Version) (single A-side – CBS 5058, 1977)
2. 1977 (single B-side – CBS 5058, 1977)
3. Listen/Interview with The Clash on the Circle Line (from Capital Radio EP – CBS CL-1, 1977)
4. Capital Radio One (from Capital Radio EP – CBS CL-1, 1977)
5. London’s Burning (Live) (B-side to “Remote Control” – CBS 5293, 1977)
6. Complete Control (single A-side – CBS 5664, 1977)
7. City of the Dead (single B-side – CBS 5664, 1977)
8. Clash City Rockers (single A-side – CBS 5834, 1978)
9. Jail Guitar Doors (single B-side – CBS 5834, 1978)
10. (White Man in) Hammersmith Palais (single A-side – CBS 6383, 1978)
11. The Prisoner (single B-side – CBS 6383, 1978)
12. 1-2 Crush on You (B-side to “Tommy Gun” – CBS 6788, 1978)
13. Time is Tight (from Black Market Clash - Epic/Nu-Disk 4E 36846 (U.S.), 1980)
14. Pressure Drop (B-side to “English Civil War” – CBS 7082, 1979)
15. I Fought the Law (from The Cost of Living EP – CBS 7324, 1979)
16. Groovy Times (from The Cost of Living EP – CBS 7324, 1979)
17. Gates of the West (from The Cost of Living EP – CBS 7324, 1979)
18. Capital Radio Two (from The Cost of Living EP – CBS 7324, 1979)
19. Armagideon Time (B-side to “London Calling” – CBS 8087, 1979)
20. Bankrobber (single A-side – CBS 8323, 1980)
21. Rockers Galore…U.K. Tour (single B-side – CBS 8323, 1980)

Disc 10: More non-LP material and outtakes

1. The Magnificent Dance (12″ B-side to “The Call Up” – Epic 48-02036 (U.S.), 1981)
2. Midnight to Stevens (from Clash on Broadway box set – Epic/Legacy E3K 46991, 1991)
3. Radio One (B-side to “Hitsville UK” – CBS 9480, 1980)
4. Stop the World (B-side to “The Call Up” – CBS 9339, 1980)
5. The Cool Out (12″ B-side to “The Call Up” – Epic 48-02036 (U.S.), 1981)
6. This is Radio Clash (single A-side – CBS A-1797, 1981)
7. Radio Clash (single B-side – CBS A-1797, 1981)
8. First Night Back in London (B-side to “Know Your Rights” – CBS A-2309, 1982)
9. Rock the Casbah (Bob Clearmountain 12″ Mix) *
10. Long Time Jerk (B-side to “Rock the Casbah” – CBS A-2749, 1982)
11. The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too *
12. Idle in Kangaroo Court *
13. Ghetto Defendant (Unedited/Extended Version) *
14. Cool Confusion (B-side to “Should I Stay or Should I Go” – CBS A-3186, 1982)
15. Sean Flynn (Extended “Marcus Music” Version) *
16. Straight to Hell (Unedited) (from Clash on Broadway box set – Epic/Legacy E3K 46991, 1991)

Disc 11: Demos and live cuts

1. I’m So Bored with the U.S.A. (Beaconsfield Film School Demo, 1976)
2. London’s Burning (Beaconsfield Film School Demo, 1976) (from Selections from “Revolution Rock” promo CD – Epic/Legacy 88697 28275 2, 2008)
3. White Riot (Beaconsfield Film School Demo, 1976) (from Selections from “Revolution Rock” promo CD – Epic/Legacy 88697 28275 2, 2008)
4. 1977 (Beaconsfield Film School Demo, 1976) (from Selections from “Revolution Rock” promo CD – Epic/Legacy 88697 28275 2, 2008)
5. Janie Jones (Polydor Demo) (from Clash on Broadway box set – Epic/Legacy E3K 46991, 1991)
6. Career Opportunites (Polydor Demo) (from Clash on Broadway box set – Epic/Legacy E3K 46991, 1991)
7. London’s Burning (Polydor Demo) *
8. 1977 (Polydor Demo) *
9. White Riot (Polydor Demo) *
10. City of the Dead (Live @ The Lyceum, London – 12/28/1978) (from From Here to Eternity: Live - Columbia 496183 2, 1999)
11. Jail Guitar Doors (Live @ The Lyceum, London – 12/28/1978) *
12. English Civil War (Live @ The Lyceum, London – 12/28/1978) (from Clash on Broadway box set – Epic/Legacy E3K 46991, 1991)
13. Stay Free (Live @ The Lyceum, London – 12/28/1978) *
14. Cheapskates (Live @ The Lyceum, London – 12/28/1978) *
15. I Fought the Law (Live @ The Lyceum, London – 12/28/1978) (from Clash on Broadway box set – Epic/Legacy E3K 46991, 1991)