KID CONGO & THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS - 'DRACULA BOOTS'

Formats

• ITR166 - LP

  759718516616

• ITR166CD - CD

  759718516623

Details

The legendary Kid Congo Powers returns to the psychedelic jungle with a stripped-down, no-frills set of volcanic songs. The premier voodoo guitarist for seminal sexy, swampy bands like Gun Club, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and The Cramps, Powers is a restless aesthete whose earlier solo efforts explored and mixed genres. With Dracula Boots, he comes back to his roots as a crackerjack guitarist playing the primitive music that inspired him-the raw sounds of garage and early Chicano rock. It only makes sense to record such glittering gems as Thee Midniters' "I Found a Peanut" and Bo Diddley's "Funky Fly" in a high school gymnasium. The sessions took place in a Midwest town called Harveyville with his nefarious Pink Monkey Birds. Bassist Kiki Solis from El Paso,TX and drummer Ron Miller from Macon, GA provide the Southern soul sauce needed to fuel the engine of the rhythm train. Recording on a stage with an old PA system created a natural reverb, summoning the magic of a bygone prom interrupted by a juvenile delinquent rumble. The original songs on Dracula Boots go from loud, fuzzy biker rock ("Hitchhiking") to a greasy rump-shaker groove ("Bobo Boogie"); from a scary movie soundtrack ("La Llarona") to The Meters having an acid flashback ("Black Santa"). So sink your teeth into this hunk of wax and waste no time strapping on your Dracula Boots. You will dance your way from the cradle to the grave, and beyond.

Tracks

1. LSDC
2. I Found a Peanut
3. Hitchhiking
4. Funky Fly
5. Black Santa
6. La Llarona
7. Buck Angel
8. Pumpkin Pie
9. Bobo Boogie
10. Rare as the Yeti
11. Kris Kringle Ju Ju
12. Late Night Scurry

Press

In The Red delivers the goods yet again: reviews in Uncut, Plan B, and Mojo, more tbc

Audio & Video

FLOWER CORSANO DUO - 'THE FOUR AIMS'

Formats

• VHF115 - 2xLPs

  783881011517

• VHF115CD - CD

  783881011524

Details

The Four Aims is the much-anticipated second full-length by the long-running duo of Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunroof, Michael Flower Band) and Chris Corsano (Flaherty/Corsano, Jandek, Bjork, Sunburned). In the couple years since their debut, The Radiant Mirror (Textile), the two have toured and recorded frequently, expanding their range to include a mind-boggling array of free sound. "I, Brute Force" kicks off the record with their signature-one of the most original in rock/free/whatever music-the electrifying sound of Flower's virtuosic, heavily amplified Japan Banjo (also known as a Shaahi Baaja) over Corsano's free-wheeling percussion. Other tracks show off subtle improv moves, with both players using extended techniques to generate a wide range of unusual sounds. Corsano's technical mastery is almost without peer in his generation (Alex Neilson, maybe)-his ability to take the lessons of nearly five decades of free playing and extend them into new ranges is startling and exciting. Rather than play backup, Corsano meets Flower's strings and organ head-on with his own drum-bowing, cello, and circular-breathing-fired melodica. Both busy players and collaborators, Flower and Corsano will tour extensively as a duo in 2009.

Tracks

1. I, Brute Force?
2. The Three Degrees of Temptation
3. The Drifter?s Miracles
4. The Beginning of the End
5. The Main Ingredient
6. The New Process
7. The Glass House
8. The 8th Day

Press

reviews in Wire, Uncut, Mojo, the Times, and more tbc. First album was (and is) one of the most consistent sellers of 2007.

Audio & Video