Moose - Reprise [12"]

Wasn't too familiar with the band MOOSE. They appeared on a compilation CD that i have, with their song Suzanne (which is really good by the way!). The four songs on this REPRISE EP are from around the same period and Do You Remember is my favourite. Sounds like a big jam session. Pretty decent early 90s indie rock, but nothing really special to be honest. Picked it up cheap last week at the local second-hand store.

Label: Hut Recordings
Cat.nr.: HUTT8
Year of release: 1991

SIDE A:
01. Last Night I Fell Again
02. This River Will Never Run Dry

SIDE B:
01. Do You Remember?
02. Reprise

Soundtrack - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence [12", LP]

The soundtrack for MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE is one of the first soundtracks i ever bought. On CD, that is.This vinyl edition i only bought this year, in May at Camden Market to be precise. It didn't cost much and i had been looking for it for a while because i wanted to have that great song Forbidden Colours on vinyl. So now i have it. Obviously this was the first time for me as a young David Bowie fan back in 1983 to get to know both Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian. Bowie, pictured on the sleeve but furthermore not involved with this soundtrack, was of course the reason for me to see the movie and buy the soundtrack. I bought some other Sakamoto stuff later on, and i do like his soundtrack for The Last Emperor especially, but David Sylvian as an artist was -and is- more my kind of thing. So i started to discover his work with Japan, and also his later solo releases. Brilliant stuff of course. Sylvian has such a great voice. Oh, and it was even so that i had the book that this movie was based upon, The Seed And The Sower by the South African writer sir Laurens Van Der Post, on my books list for English at highschool. Anyway, a great soundtrack for one of the best movies i think Bowie has ever played in.

Label: Virgin
Cat.nr.: V2276
Year of release: 1983

SIDE A:
01. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
02. Batavia
03. Germination
04. A Hearty Breakfast
05. Before The War
06. The Seed And The Sower
07. A Brief Encounter
08. Ride Ride Ride (Celliers' Brother's Song)
09. The Fight

SIDE B:
01. Father Christmas
02. Dismissed!
03. Assembly
04. Beyond Reason
05. Sowing The Seed
06. 23rd Psalm
07. Last Regrets
08. Ride Ride Ride (Reprise)
09. The Seed
10. Forbidden Colours

Esben And The Witch - A New Nature [12", 2LP]

Rarely have i been looking out more for an album to appear than for A NEW NATURE by ESBEN AND THE WITCH, a band which i've been following since their 33 demo EP came out. Literally looking out for it, because ever since i made my pledge early February at Pledgemusic for this album to be realised, i've been counting down the days to receive it at my doorstep. The band chose to release an album on their own brand new Nostromo Records label, and even wanted to record it with no other than Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studios. The funds were raised and the result is absolutely gorgeous. The band's sound developed from rather claustrophobic yet beautiful "nightmare pop" on their debut Violet Cries to a more accessible sound on Wash The Sins Not Only The Face early 2013, but this is yet another step further. Steve Albini's raw signature sound is very present, and captures exactly how their live sound is: energetic and free. The bass-driven 10+ minute opening track Press Heavenwards! is unlike anything we've heard from them before. And there's even a longer track on this double LP: The Jungle, which is over 14 minutes long and to my opinion one of the album's best tracks and actually even one of the best tracks they ever made. Just like No Dog, with its energetic outbursts. However Dig Your Fingers In is my favourite. A pure gem. It's also the first single of the album (check the video here).
The vinyl itself is beautiful as well. I really like the yellow colour (one could choose between this limited coloured version and the regular black one during the pledge process) and also the artwork is outstanding with a very atmospheric picture and a reverse board printed gatefold sleeve.
Besides the LP i also received a signed copy of the limited CD EP And New Life Blossoms From The Ruins, with drones and jams and alternate versions of songs on the album.

Label: Nostromo Records
Cat.nr.: NSTRM001LPX
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. Press Heavenwards!

SIDE B:
01. Those Dreadful Hammers
02. Dig Your Fingers In
03. No Dog

SIDE C:
01. The Jungle

SIDE D:
01. Wooden Star
02. Blood Teachings
03. Bathed In Light

Swervedriver - Never Lose That Feeling [12"]

The version of NEVER LOSE THAT FEELING on this SWERVEDRIVER 12" maxi is simply awesome. It's a nearly 12 minute trip: the song is extended with Never Learn, which sounds like a long outro with saxophones and stuff. Really cool. The Watchmakers Hands (on the back of the sleeve just written as Hands) is an outtake from the Raise album and Scrawl And Scream is actually a reworked version of the song Afterglow that appeared on the Rave Down EP.Amazing band and i still hope to catch them live somewhere some day.

Label: Creation Records
Cat.nr.: CRE 120T
Year of release: 1992

SIDE A:
01. Never Lose That Feeling/Never Learn

SIDE B:
01. Scrawl And Scream
02. The Watchmakers Hands
03. Never Lose That Feeling

Harold Budd, Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymonde - The Moon And The Melodies [12", LP]

Because the COCTEAU TWINS collaborated with HAROLD BUDD on this album, they didn't want it to be released as one by their band, but as an album by the four individuals. So the band name is nowhere present, although the sound is unmistakingly Cocteau Twins on most of the album. I like the parts with Budd's icy piano sound a lot as well (Memory Gongs, for example). Wasn't too familiar with the man's work before i bought this. The ambient instrumental wailing guitar track Why Do You Love Me? is probably my favourite track of this album. For some reason it reminded me a lot of a track called Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann) by the otherwise completely different band Tool. If you compare them, they definitely do not sound alike, but they have the same kind of atmosphere - to my opinion at least. Anyway, this is a great album. Glad i picked it up secondhand somewhere last year.

Label: 4AD
Cat.nr.: CAD 611
Year of release: 1986

SIDE A:
01. Sea, Swallow Me
02. Memory Gong
03. Why Do You Love?
04. Eyes Are Mosaics

SIDE B:
01. She Will Destroy You
02. The Ghost Has No Home
03. Bloody And Blunt
04. Ooze Out And Away, Onehow

Bleach - Snag EP [12"]

BLEACH is a band i vaguely remember from the videos they showed on MTV's 120 Minutes back in the early nineties. They were from Ipswich, and played indie rock with a shoegaze edge. Hard to give a good description, but think of a mix between Swervedriver and the later years of Lush. This SNAG EP is a pretty cool release that i came across at Delicious Goldfish in Solna, Sweden some time ago. Not something i was (or would be) particularly on the hunt for, but typically a record to pick up when you see it somewhere in the crates for a fair price. The song Seeing is definitely my favourite of the four. They chose to call the two sides "side 3" and "side 4" for some reason, by the way.

Label: Way Cool Records
Cat.nr.: WAY 10T
Year of release: 1991

SIDE A:
01. Bethesda
02. Seeing

SIDE B:
01. Dipping
02. Burn