FAO#33: Land Observations & Dead Rat Orchestra

Land Observations - Roman Roads IV - XI

Although instrumental music is so intrinsic to our daily life, whether it’s deadly lift muzak or the enthralling score to an on-screen drama, it’s still considered somewhat of an oddity for your average music fan to stock up on releases with a wordless voice-free remit.  Which is a shame, as good instrumental music can often be a life-line for … [Read more...]

Rick Rizzo & Tara Key – Double Star / Eleventh Dream Day – Riot Now!

Rick Rizzo & Tara Key - Double Star

With its sheer volume of releases and increasingly vinyl-centric tilt, it’s arguable that the current workings of Chicago’s pioneering Thrill Jockey label are straining fans’ finances as well as running the risk of over-supply and quality-control lapses. No such concerns can, however, be raised when a less-prolific elder statesman on the … [Read more...]

Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship Remixes 12″

Tortoise - Beacon of Ancestorship Remixes 12"

Unlike its two tightly-scripted full-length predecessors (2001’s still somewhat impenetrable Standards and 2004’s meticulously-arranged It’s All Around You) this year’s new Tortoise long-player - the steadily-advancing Beacons of Ancestorship - appears ripe for some of the choice remix treatments so prevalent in the band’s earlier … [Read more...]

Flipsides & Otherwise: FAO #18

Jarvis Cocker - "Further Complications."

Sometimes it's a wonder the music world hasn't just collapsed back on itself, upon reaching a critical mass of self-regurgitation.  Miraculously though, the capacity of long-serving artists to periodically reinvent and regenerate has helped to shuffle around the rock/pop planet's furniture into seemingly infinite feng shui combinations to avoid a … [Read more...]

Tortoise (Doug McCombs interview and albums guide)

Tortoise (left to right): John McEntire, Dan Bitney, Jeff Parker, Doug McCombs & John Herndon

Despite nearly two decades of activity, Chicago's Tortoise continue to sustain an awkward yet alluring sense of mystery.  Consequently, for many it has become all too easy to define Tortoise by well-merged collective influences (Miles Davis, Can, Kraftwerk, Neu!, John Fahey, Ennio Morricone, Gang Of Four, Augustus Pablo, Brian Eno, Tom Verlaine, … [Read more...]