Blogg

This week we feature Neotropic’s new release “Equestrienne Remixes” on LA label Architects + Heroes, the companion to last year's "Equestrienne" album on her own Council Folk imprint. To celebrate, we throw open our stable doors and let the horsies out to Extended Play. Prancing ponies! Strutting studs!! Neigh!!!

------------------------------
# -> Australian artist or release
------------------------------

John Rodgers - Horseshit
(“A Rose Is A Rose...” - 1997, Extreme) #

Ya Ya Choral - Cowboys Are Pt 2
(“Terrace Industry: M Squared Box 1980-1983” Box Set - 2010, Ascension) (original 1983) #

Neotropic - Sirens Sister (Rusty's Housekeeping Mix by Panoramica)
(“Equestrienne Remixes” - 2011, Architects + Heroes)

Fagget Fairys - Feed The Horse
(“Feed The Horse” - 2009, Music For Dreams)

Neotropic - Knucklebones (Dark Corners Mix by The Grim Life)
(“Equestrienne Remixes” - 2011, Architects + Heroes)

Quando Quango - Low Rider
…

Here’s a guest mix by our favourite lo-fi psych pop artist Gary War. The mix gives a good insight into where he gets his inspiration from. Sounds pretty much like you would imagine a Gary War mix to sound, featuring quite a few discoveries. Grab this awesome mix below.
Gary War’s latest single Reality Protest is out now on Sacred Bones, you can get it here. Check their Myspace for upcoming shows.

NC GUEST MIX#16: GARY WAR

01. Electric Light Orchestra – Secret Messages
02. Prefab Messiahs – Seen It All
03. Gary Allen – Oops! It’s An Accident
04. Nick Nicely – Treeline
05. Richard Bone – Alien Girl
06. Clan of Xymox – A Day
07. Viktor Vaughn – Vaudeville Villain
08. The Bug – Skeng (Feat. Killa P & Flowdan)
09. Bill Nelson – Empire Of The Senses
10. Front 242 – Operating Tracks
11. Yu – Radio Astronomy
12. The Passage – Born Every Minute

My last review of an album by The Passage for a while, at least until I manage to snag a copy of For All and None.

Pindrop, their debut long-player, sported 14 concise tracks, though it’s hardly Pink Flag. This one probably has the set of longest songs (the LP had ten tracks sprawled over nearly 50 minutes), but it’s hardly Close to the Edge. A couple of tracks (Born Every Minute and time will tell) come perilously close to the six minute mark. I’m almost certain the “real” punks dismissed them as “elitist hippies” for daring to go over three and a half minutes.

I’d certainly not call this “synth pop”, at least not in the accepted, Human League sense of the term. Perhaps not too far removed from things like Ultravox, but with a far more provocative (some may say strident) vocal/lyrical stance. Oft-compared to The Fall (mainly due to early involvement by bassist Tony Friel), they remind me mainly of bands like Wire, that are still full of punk energy, but are going beyond into more “artistic” territory. …

Fourth and final album by Manchester’s The Passage, and usually the one I consider my favourite (though I still have not heard the second, For All and None). Dick Witts is all over the album with big tympani rolls and other odd orchestral percussion, massive sheets of synthesizer sound. It’s probably their hardest-edged album, with in-your-face sound and biting lyrics. The sloganeering, swear-words and other “shock tactics” employed are going to seem gratuitous cries for attention to some, though.

Early, experimental use of samplers abounds on this album, notably the John F. Kennedy samples on brd usa ddr jfk. Check out the “lyrics” on the Passage website...hilarious!

As with LTM’s CD issues of the other Passage albums, tons of bonus tracks (seven, in this case) consisting of non-album singles and demos (including a vastly different version of “Drugface”). Many of these had previously appeared on the Through The Passage and Seedy compilations.

…