Anklepants - Ilikeyourfaceheadshoesanddick

#Anklepants #Joshua Head #Reecard Farché #electronic music #IDM #breakcore #techno #house #grime #prosthetics #animatronics #experimental #Australian #music video

To be clear: this guy wears an animatronic dildo mask and his voice and music is controlled by sensors located in his suit? Shit just got weird. You either get Anklepants or you don’t. The brainchild of Reecard Farché, the 17th century fictional character brought back to life by Berlin-based Australian-born artist Joshua Head, is a deeply melancholic ghost. The electronic music of Anklepants is either loathed or loved, primarily because of superficialities: the mask he wears onstage has an animatronic dildo for the nose, better known as the “facé of Reecard Farché.” Interviewing Head is an incredibly layered experience - for one, he speaks of himself in the third person, then there are his characters, plus there’s the use of the accent aigu (é) in place of the English vocabulary. With a background in prosthetics and animatronics for films like Star Wars Episode 3 and special effects for Prometheus, he brings together his talents in robotics and prosthetics and combines them with beats for the one-man mechanical-faced masterpiece. With over 20 releases to date, Anklepants’ voice and input are created from custom controllers and sensors within his (somewhat scary) custom-tailored suits. He combines electronic music with hardware, synths, guitars, animal growls, field recordings and custom instruments. The question “Why the dick face?” is understandably the most pointed question, but beyond this is a musician who fuels the experiences around him for a complex soundtrack. Also, his You Tube channel is filled with anecdotes from living on top of an African church, which tried to push him out of his former home in London.

Q: You’ve worked in prosthetics and robotics for films like Star Wars Episode 3. How did your trademark, the Facé of Reecard Farché, come about?

Anklepants: The Facé of Reecard Farché was in the beginning the direct fusion of prosthetics, animatronics, and 80s animatronic control (retro). Using midi input to output pwm to servo motors gave Reecard Farché the power to sequence servo motors from any conventional midi sequencer.

Q{ What kinds of reactions do you get both on and offstage?

Anklepants: As Reecard Farché enters the building, people are generally filled with a desire to touch, a desire for control. Watching Reecard Farché carry out his duties gives the viewer the feeling that their mind is being formatted, and they leave having no recollection of their life before they watched the Reecard Farché. It’s kind of a cleansing experience, and at the same time similar to the feeling when you have not taken library books back, and you realize this seven months after the due back date. Generally its "heterosexual" males that become the most sexually charged, they just want Reecard so bad that their little eyes light up and they forget what they were supposed to be doing. It’s really nice. The bodily gestures of Reecard Farché in the midst of extracting a linear input from the mic I take it is desirable for any social complexion. The suggestion is to try it out; it’s not tested on animals.

From: https://www.vice.com/en/article/rm5gyr/the-mechanical-face-of-anklepants

 

Buckingham Nicks - Don't Let Me Down Again

 #Buckingham Nicks #Lindsey Buckingham #Stevie Nicks  #blues rock #folk rock #melodic hard rock #pop rock #singer-songwriter #pre-Fleetwood Mac #1970s

There was a lot of competition in the singer-songwriter field in 1973, and Buckingham Nicks wasn’t the best of the lot, but it’s excellent, and it’s still puzzling how swiftly it vanished. It’s packed with top-flight session musicians—Waddy Wachtel on guitar, Jim Keltner on drums—and was recorded by Keith Olsen, a producer with dozens of gold and platinum records ahead of him, but it was a complete failure. Promotion was light, the few reviews were mostly bad, and Polydor dropped the duo a few months after the album came out. After a five-year build-up, the moment was over as quickly as it started. But Stevie and Lindsey were writing for their next album even before this one was finished. Lindsey had penned “Monday Morning,” and Nicks, inspired by a passage in a book about a Welsh witch, had a stunning new song called “Rhiannon.” There was another ballad called “Landslide.” They weren’t ready to give up on Buckingham Nicks, which made the next decision difficult. In December 1974, Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac received news that his guitarist, Bob Welch, was quitting the band. Line-up changes were nothing new - in their seven-year history, they’d already been through several - but Fleetwood’s band was due back in the studio soon. He’d heard Lindsey play once, and Keith Olsen, with whom he was friendly, mentioned his name. It didn’t take long before he offered Buckingham the job. Lindsey was reticent, afraid of giving up what he and Stevie had built together. He said that Nicks would have to be part of the deal. After having dinner with the members of Fleetwood Mac in January 1975, they both agreed to join.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/buckingham-nicks-buckingham-nicks/

22 Brides - King For The Day

#22 Brides #Libby & Carrie Johnson #folk rock #alternative folk #alternative rock #indie rock #folk pop #blues folk #1990s 

The group 22 Brides is mostly vocal duo Carrie and Libby Johnson, but before you truth-in-advertising freaks get your feathers ruffled, go talk to 10,000 Maniacs. I'd rather spend my time listening to the dozen songs that make up 22 Bride's self-titled new album. Don't let that "vocal duo" tag mislead you; 22 Brides ain't your average folk-light Indigo Girl wannabees. Instead, they push those voices out in front of a surging tide of drums, guitars, bass, keyboards and the odd mandolin or violin, creating a sound that's mostly stainless steel, gleaming and tough. The songs themselves are hard to pin down. Take "Wild in My Arms," which starts with what sounds like a snippet of tape played backwards, tumbles into a craggy percussive ballad, then kicks up its heels and raises some dust by the time the chorus arrives. Ballad? Rocker? All I know is that those stirring sibling harmonies and the tune's driving beat make it seem all too short. This unpredictable mix propels the record through the brooding Celtic muscle of "Visions of You," the whirling dervish of "City of Brides," the moody R.E.M.-ish drift of "King for the Day," the lean pop of "Silence," the hard country-rock gallop of "David," the electric urgency of "Ghost House," the piano and violin delicacy of "You Do," the perfectly restrained ode to sisterhood "Harder than Nails," the INXS swagger of "Transparent," the ringing resignation of "What's So Wrong," and the lovely fragility of "Time Stands Still." The lyrics tug at the edges of emotion and reason, phrases floating by on the breeze to resurface later like a small revelation and wrestled into memorable melodies by the strong, supple voices of the sisters Johnson. All of which makes 22 Brides one gem worth hearing.  From: http://www.louisvillemusicnews.net/webmanager/index.php?WEB_CAT_ID=50&storyid=12140&headline=22_Brides_-_22_Brides&issueid=68

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

 #Alice Cooper #hard rock #heavy metal #shock rock #glam rock #art rock #classic rock #glam metal #garage rock #1970s

The title track off of Alice Cooper’s most successful album up to that point, ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ presents the dangers of overindulgence. The background falsetto is provided by Scottish singer/songwriter, Donovan. In spite of the oftentimes comically distorted and grotesque subject matter throughout the album, Cooper says that Chuck Berry provided the bulk of his inspiration while making the album: “Berry was my favorite lyricist. When I first heard something like ‘Nadine,’ or ‘Maybelline,’ I understood those songs told a story. As the lyrics went along, you really got a picture of what was going on. He took the girl out; he couldn’t get his seat belt off – things like that. I always wanted to write three-minute stories that were funny, or maybe not just funny, but also dramatic. The idea was to compact everything into three minutes, which is really hard to do.” 

Donovan, during a post-show interview, on adding lyrics to Cooper’s ‘Billion Dollar Babies’: “Alice was downstairs and I was upstairs at Morgan Studios when he was doing ‘Billion Dollar Babies’, I had heard this track and he asked me to put a vocal on it and I said ‘Sure. But it’s so big and so bouncy and so loud, I think I’m going to have to get into a falsetto!’ No one believed it was me!”  

From: https://genius.com/Alice-cooper-billion-dollar-babies-lyrics

Ouzo Bazooka - My Prince

 #Ouzo Bazooka #psychedelic rock #neo-psychedelia #Middle Eastern rock #garage rock #Middle Eastern psych rock #desert rock #psychedelic surf #Isreali #music video

Ouzo Bazooka was formed in Tel Aviv by Uri Brauner Kinrot, who grew up on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean sea and has been active in the music scene for over a decade, shaping the sound of influential local groups as well as the critically acclaimed mediterranean surf band Boom Pam (who collaborated with Turkish psychedelic-folk legend Selda Bağcan). Tel Aviv’s cultural diversity served as the perfect backdrop for Ouzo Bazooka’s formation and the maturing of their style; an exotic blend of middle eastern sounds and scales, moulded together with fuzzed psychedelic surf rock and garage. Following the release of their acclaimed self-titled debut album in 2014, the band was embraced by the local crowd and became somewhat of a local phenomenon. It was only a matter of time before their sounds reached the European front and after memorable high profile festival appearances, followed by two stellar releases, the media, critics and the international crowd took notice. The band’s position as the ambassadors of a new middle eastern rock sound was cemented.  From: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5067836177008380097/4507547854277938480

Orla Gartland - I Go Crazy

#Orla Gartland #indie folk #contemporary folk #folk pop #R&B #alternative rock #indie rock #singer-songwriter #music video 

Irish musician Orla Gartland combines singer/songwriter folk and elements of traditional Irish music with bedroom pop sensibilities. Hailing from Dublin, Gartland was taught to play violin, fiddle, and other traditional instruments at the age of 5, but she found her true calling when she picked up the guitar at 12. Within a year she was uploading cover songs online, eventually branching out and creating her own tracks. At 17, she had released her debut single, "Devil on My Shoulder," landing her support slots for Ryan O'Shaughnessy and Nina Nesbitt on their respective U.K. tours. Her debut EP, Roots, surfaced the following year, and she toured the U.K. with five headline shows. Later the same year, Gartland contributed the song "Cast Your Stone" to the Simple Things album in support of suicide prevention in Ireland. After the release of her second EP, 2015's Lonely People, Gartland relocated to London and stepped back from writing for a short period, returning in 2019 with a third EP, Why Am I Like This?. She joined Irish Women in Harmony in 2020, working with them to record a version of "Dreams" in support of Safe Ireland, a domestic abuse charity. Later the same year she released her fourth EP, Freckle Season, which she combined with her previous EP to create Why Is Freckle Season Like This. It led to placements on the BBC Three/Hulu series Normal People. Gartland's first proper album, Woman on the Internet, was recorded with help from producers including Tom Stafford and the Vaccines' Pete Robertson. It arrived on her label, New Friends, in August of 2021.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/orla-gartland-mn0003202129/biography

Cat Stevens - Angelsea

 #Cat Stevens #folk rock #pop rock #album rock #singer-songwriter #1970s

Catch Bull At Four is a masterpiece of artistic creativity that saw Cat Stevens at the peak of his powers taking his insightful and introspective songwriting into a bold new direction. He was beginning to lean into his love of R&B, Soul, and even musical theatre with stunning results. Sonically, the album is bigger than the previous three records, introducing a broader array of instrumentation, backing vocals, and lush, multi-layered arrangements. Cat’s trademark impassioned vocals and percussive guitar style is combined with the sound of a new fuller backing band featuring Gerry Conway on drums, Jean Roussel on keys, and Alan James on bass, alongside the ever present force of Alun Davies on guitar. This heavier musical ensemble allowed the artist to inject a new level of drama into his work as is displayed on songs such as ‘Can’t Keep It In’, ‘18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare)’ and ‘Freezing Steel’. Even tracks such as the much loved ‘Sitting’ and ‘Angelsea’, that bare the hallmarks of songs from the Tillerman and Teaser albums, have a previously unheard intensity that is deeply hypnotic and entirely compelling.
Although Catch Bull At Four represents a progression beyond the classic Cat Stevens acoustic sound, thematically it is unmistakably a continuation of his earlier work. ‘O Caritas’ and ‘Ruins’ are both rooted in the prescient environmental and societal concerns found throughout his previous albums stretching back into the late 1960s. Similarly, ‘Sweet Scarlet’ and ‘Silent Sunlight’ emanate from the same sensitivity that informed many of his most beloved songs and that had already garnered so much profound devotion from legions of fans worldwide. And yet it is ‘Boy With The Moon And Star On His Head’, arguably the album’s crown jewel, that at once seems the most familiar song while simultaneously breaking new ground in terms of timeless folk storytelling. The song’s mystical narrative of a man’s transgression on his wedding day that results in a blessed child that grows into a wise sage who is revered by people from far and wide, feels as though it belongs in a collection of the world’s greatest epic poems or among the sagas and legends of a time now lost to history. This song, perhaps above all others, is a testament to Cat Stevens’ deep and transcendent spiritual awareness.  From: https://catstevens.com/catch-bull-at-four-50th-anniversary-remaster/