This Is Book’s Music

The album cover for Exterminating Angel (Corleone) is an illustration of a demented being, perhaps the exterminating angel itself, eating the flesh of someone who is hanging from a tree (click thumbnail for bigger version of cover). It’s creepy, some may call it disgusting, maybe something that would be perfect on a death metal album. But Alec K. Redfearn & The Seizures use accordions, ‘ukulele, drums, bass, and vocals to create a somewhat folksy/rootsy feel to their indie rock, but this indie rock doesn’t have any guitars. The heaviness comes from the accordion and ‘ukulele, which might come off as a novelty at first but when you listen to their music, they reveal that they are as complex and heavy as King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins, and Mr. Bungle, bringing together an ironic thrash mixed in with eclectic pop tendencies. Lyrics such as “Rubber fists and candlesticks adorn the narrow halls/cipher scratched into the wood and lipstick on the walls/a naked smile on your lips, a hunger red and deep/broken teeth and metal tongues to sing us all to sleep” (from”Elzebet”) would have fit perfectly on Master Of Reality, and the way the song unfolds itself while revealing new dimensions at the same time could easily turn this into a prog rock staple if placed into the right hands.

A part of me feels these songs would work in the hands of others, which would make Redfearn a musical prodigy of sorts, but hearing them in this form, as they were intended, makes these songs even more beautiful. Maybe the decay of the album cover is meant to represent what the music will do to the mind of the listener. If so, I have a lot of cleaning up to do right now.

Only 500 vinyl LP’s and 1000 CD’s are being pressed for this album, I would recommend buying doubles so you can keep one and give one as a gift to friends. It’s that good.

Vivacious is what I would call the vocal stylings of jazz singer Kristina, who brings the world to her music and jazz to the world with an album called Offshore Echoes (Patois).

The liner notes indicate that one can imagine hearing a pirate jazz radio station, where sounds from distant lands mix up with the music of one’s home, mixed in with Kristina’s own love of Latin jazz. The end result is an album full of powerful performances and renditions that would fit in with any means of tropicalia, as “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”, “Tenderly”, and “Open Your Eyes” are taken into new places to reveal a new uniform, and in turn a brighter musical face. Her version of The Police‘s “Tea In The Sahara” is sure to give her a good amount of radio exposure, but I hope DJ’s will go deeper into the album to let people hear this fantastic talent.

(Offshore Echoes will be released on October 15, 2009.)

What happens when you mash-up the Beastie Boys with the Beastie Boys? You get an all new album of Beastie Boys madness courtesy of Max Tannone called Doublecheck Your Head, which he is making available for free. Head over to DoubleCheckYourHead for a listen, or click the blender.