by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Orange Juice - Felicity (MP3)

In what I hope (but don't promise) to be a regular feature, I'm gonna recommend a couple notable new reissues. What with the holiday season it full swing, either of these would make good holiday presents for the serious indie music lover.

Firstly is Domino Records' new Orange Juice box set, Coals to Newcastle, that compiles nearly everything the Glasgow legends ever recorded. (The single mix of "Rip it Up" is mysteriously absent.) This marks the first time 85% of this material has ever been released in America. Polydor reissued their albums on CD in 1997 but they fell out of print almost immediately. You can now chart the band's progression from their shambolic, jangly beginnings on Postcard Records through myriad line-up changes and transformation into what could be called an indie equivalent of Chic. Even the weird stuff -- like the high life-inspired "Million Pleading Faces" on Rip It Up -- is pretty good. And even if, like me, you shelled out the dough in the mid-'90s for the Polydor reissues (which went out of print almost instantly) there's previously unreleased 12" mixes, dub versions, rough mixes, non-LP singles, radio sessions, live tracks, and interviews. There's also a DVD containing rare Orange Juice television special Dada with Juice, and a Derek Jarman-directed video for "What Presence?" that I'd never seen before. (Why is this not on Youtube?) At $70 it ain't cheap, but if you think of it as less than ten bucks a disc it's not so bad. And well worth the money. You can stream 18 tracks from the box set over at Domino's website and download classic OJ single "Felicity" above.

While on the subject, OJ's Edwyn Collins' new album, Losing Sleep, is one of the year's best. His first made since two brain haemorrhages nearly took his life in 2005 and left him at first without the ability to walk or talk, let alone write songs. That it exists at all is a miracle, that it's as great as it is a testament to his spirit. Helping him out on the album are a cavalcade of talent -- Johnny Marr, Roddy Frame, The Drums, The Cribs, Franz Ferdinand, The Magic Numbers -- but always in the service of getting Collins' songs on record. Like his last two albums, Losing Sleep hasn't been released in America but is well worth picking up on import. Hey Domino... how about putting this one out too.

Speaking of Domino, the label just reissued Robert Wyatt's entire back catalog on CD and vinyl. If you don't own Rock Bottom, Nothing Can Stop Us and Shleep... now is the perfect time. Then move on to the rest of his records.

The other notable reissue is the four-disc "Omnibus Edition" of The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall, my personal favorite Fall album. The 1984 record was the first fully made with Mark E. Smith's then-wife Brix, who brought pop smarts to the Mancunian band's somewhat difficult sound, and their first produced by the great John Leckie.  Along with guitarist Craig Scanlon, bassist Steven Hanley and drummer Karl Burns this is the classic Fall lineup in my opinion. The Omnibus Edition restore's the album's original running order, putting singles from the same time "Oh Brother!," "C.R.E.E.P." and "No Bulbs" on the second disc with their b-sides and rough mixes of album tracks. The third collects radio sessions, and the fourth is a live recording from their performance at the 1984 Pandora's Music Box Festival in Norway (set time 3:15AM) that shows what a powerhouse live band the Fall were at the time. The box set sold out in the UK, but seems to be easily gettable here in the U.S.

Beggars Banquet also reissued The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall on vinyl (just the album) which lets you hear classics like "2X4," "Slang King" and "Disney's Dream Debased" in their analogue glory. Also out on vinyl: its follow-up, This Nation's Saving Grace which is widely considered by people not me to be their best-ever album. (It is a very close second.) It gets the Omnibus treatment in January. Save up, kids.

An Orange Juice video below...

Continue reading "an Orange Juice box set, new Edwyn Collins, the Fall reissues"

photos by Leia Jospe

DOWNLOAD: Hot Chip & Robert Wyatt - We're Looking For A Lot of Love (Gees Mix)
DOWNLOAD: Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance (Chromeo Remix)
DOWNLOAD: WhoMadeWho - TV Friend (Hot Chip Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Robert Wyatt - Hasta Siempre Comandante (MP3)

Vampire Weekend @ Terminal 5

New Hot Chip EP

Despite their feverish schedule this year which took in numerous side projects, solo records, countless dancefloor-igniting remixes, production duties and, of course relentless touring (which culminated in their triumphal homecoming shows at Brixton Academy in November) that indefatigable, delightfully off-kilter five-headed electro pop colossus known as Hot Chip have somehow found the time to assemble a lovingly put together little present for their fans. And not only that, but they have managed to rope in the services of none other than the godfather of the experimental psych-prog world, Robert Wyatt and kindred mischievous electronic spirits Geese to help out as well.

Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese" contains the following tracks:

1. Made in the Dark (with Robert Wyatt)
2. Whistle for Will (with Robert Wyatt)
3. We're Looking for a Lot of Love (with Robert Wyatt and Geese)
4. One Pure Thought (remixed by Geese)

Click HERE to order your copy.

In other news, Pitchfork strangely named Hot Chip's Made in the Dark the 23rd album of the year. Bill said:

I am one of Hot Chip's biggest supporters, but Made in the Dark hasn't really held up for me (wheras the Warning still does). And Cut Copy at #4???? The Metronomy record crushes both of those.

Also, you may have heard about the cover of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel. The very man who is mentioned in the song, does the singing. Listen to it below.

Vampire Weekend recently ended their whirlwind year on a high note with 4 NYC-area shows, 3 of which were at Terminal 5 (the same venue Hot Chip played twice in October). They were also named the most overrated band of 2008 in Stereogum's Gummy Awards, and they got 7th best album of 2008 by Pitchfork. The latter seems less weird than Hot Chip's ranking, though it's probably even more globally controversial.

Coming up for Vampire Weekend: the Tibet House benefit concert @ Carnegie Hall and a NY Times speaking event.

Picture's from Vampire Weekend's third of three Terminal 5 show (the one Fiasco opened - 12/6), the Peter Gabriel song, and more, below...

Continue reading "Hot Chip - an EP w/ Robert Wyatt & Geese, a Vampire Weekend cover w/ Peter Gabriel, free MP3s, Terminal 5 pics"