14 mayo, 2006

Más noticias 14/5/06

Mogwai ponen banda sonora a la pelicula sobre Zidane

La banda escocesa Mogwai ha grabado la Banda sonora de la pelicula Zidane, un portrait du XXIe siècle.

La grabación tuvo lugar en los estudios del grupo galés (
Castle of Doom) durante las pasadas navidades y la pelicula, grabada durante el partido Real Madrid-Villareal de este año es un documental deportivo desde la perspectiva del jugador. Los directores del film son Douglas Gordon y Philippe Parreno y su fecha de estreno en Francia es el 25 de mayo unos días antes del comienzo de la Copa del Mundo. También está previsto un pase en el Festival de Cine de Cannes, aunque la pelicula está fuera de concurso.

La banda galesa tiene previsto editar el EP
"Travel is dangerous" el 26 de Junio, en él se incluirá algún tema de las sesiones de "Mr. Beast" más 2 temas en directo grabados en Japón ("Like Herod" y "We're no here").

Podeis ver un trailer de la pelicula aquí.


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Björk Surrounded en Junio

Rhino Records tiene previsto publicar el próximo mes de Junio una caja con toda la discografía de Björk (incluyendo bandas sonoras), esta edición será muy especial, ya que para ella se remasterizarán todos los albumes y se mezclarán en 5.1 (de ahí el título del album). A los albumes los acompañarán sus correspondientes videos dirigidos por autores de la talla de Spike Jonze y Michel Gondry.

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La banda neoyorkina Clap your hands say yeah! preparan nuevo album para antes de fin del 2006. El grupo que continúa sin distribución en USA a pesar del hype que supuso su debut "Clap your hands say yeah!" (Wichita, 2006) y que les llevó a firmar con Wichita para su distribución en Europa confía en afianzar su carrera con este nuevo album y considera que no es pronto para editar un nuevo disco.

Otro que prepara la inminente edición de su disco en solitario es Thom Yorke, se llamará "The eraser" y está producido por su compañero Nigel Godrich, la fecha prevista para su salida es el 11 de Julio, edita XL Recordings.

Otros que editan disco son Camera Obscura, se llamará "Let's Get Out of This Country" y es su tercer largo. Distribuye Elefant para Europa a partir del 29 de mayo y Merge para USA a partir del 6 de Junio. Mañana mismo sale a la venta el single de adelanto "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" (Elefant).

Noticias

Steve Mason, cantante de Beta Band, desaparecido
A pocos días de la publicación de su nuevo album "King Biscuit Time", prevista para este 15 de mayo, Steve Mason cantante del grupo británico Beta Band ha desaparecido sin dejar más que un mensaje para los fans que decía lo siguiente: "Peace to you all. I'm out of here. It's been amazing but I've had enough. The mountain beat me and sadly you too. That don't mean you should give up. It just wasn't me. Over and out, Steve."

Al parecer circulan rumores que apuntan a una mala situación mental del vocalista debido a la mala acogida de su último trabajo "Heroes To Zeros", del cual el grupo salió mal parado economicamente. También se especula con la posibilidad de que esta desaparición sea una simple artimaña publicitaria.

Pagina oficial: http://www.betaband.com/gotflash.html

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Fallece Grant McLennan, miembro de Go-Betweens
El pasado sábado 6 de mayo fallecía en su casa de Brisbane mientras dormía Grant McLennan (12/2/58-6/5/06). McLennan formó parte de la banda australiana Go-Betweens junto a Robert Forster. La banda se formó en 1977 y tras una separación a finales de los 80, que daría lugar a su carrera en solitario, ambos retomaron el proyecto en el año 2000 y estaban cerca de celebrar el 30 aniversario de la formación del grupo.

"I recall a schoolboy coming home
through fields of can
e
to a house of tin and timber
and in the sky
a rain of falling cinders
from time to time
the waste memory-wastes

... further, longer, higher, older

- from "Cattle And Cane" (1983)
"


--------------------------


Tapes 'n Tapes firman por XL para la distribución de "The Loon"
El cuarteto de Minneapolis acaba de firmar un contrato con XL Recordings para la distribución mundial de su álbum de debut "The loon", probablemente el debut del año y uno de los mejores discos de indie rock que hemos oido en lo que va de 2006.

El disco autoeditado por la banda será distribuido a partir de ahora por XL y está prevista una re-edición tanto en Vinilo cómo en CD para el 25 de julio. La banda tiene previsto actuar este mes de mayo en Inglaterra y comenzar su primera gira americana este verano.

Con la firma de este acuerdo de distribución por fin podrá adquirirse en nuestro pais este magnífico disco, que recomiendo a todo aquel que no lo haya oido aún.

Aquí dejo 2 enlaces a temas suyos colgados en su propia web: http://www.tapesntapes.com/

-Insistor
-Cowbell

Pinchad y disfrutad.

06 mayo, 2006

Banda del mes: Audrey

Audrey - Audrey Ep
Sello: Stereo Test Kit
Estilo: Dream pop / Slowcore
Audrey: Anna Tomlin (drums & vocals), Victoria Skoglund (guitar & vocals), Emelie Molin (cello, piano & vocals) and Rebecka Kristiansson (bass & vocals).


Pues sí, a partir de este mes trataré de presentaros una banda más o menos desconocida siempre que mi vagancia me lo permita. Y que mejor grupo para empezar que éste, Audrey son probablemente una de las grandes joyas de la escena independiente sueca y permitidme decirlo, mundial. Con sólo una demo y un EP publicado (Audrey EP, Stereo Test Kit, 2005) y a punto de publicar su disco de debut "Visible forms" (Tenderversion, 2006) ya apuntan a lo más alto. Y no es de extrañar. Estas cuatro suecas de Henan, un pueblecito en una isla cercana a Goteborg, llevan juntas desde el 2002 y ya han empezado a dar que hablar y más que lo harán a partir de la salida de su nuevo disco.

Cualquiera que las haya escuchado se habrá dado cuenta de que no estamos ante un grupo convencional, ya desde su primera demo se puede apreciar su maravilloso olfato pop mezclado con una oscura y gélida tristeza, a lo que habría que añadir unas letras enigmáticas que buscan la emoción del oyente. Pero es en su primer EP donde dan muestra de todo lo que son capaces y en un disco de 26 minutos logran ponernos la piel de gallina y emocionarnos cómo pocos habían hecho antes en un primer EP.

Partiendo de unas melodías cristalinas y melancólicas y aderezadas por los juegos vocales de sus cuatro componentes y por la lentitud con que desgranan las notas de cellos, guitarras y demás instrumentos nos acercan por momentos a la perfección pop y nos estremecen cómo pocos habían logrado antes.

Sus referencias a pesar de ser obvias apuntan a lugares distantes dentro de la escena musical, si bien la voz principal nos recuerda a Björk, la utilización de la instrumentación las aleja completamente de la islandesa acercándolas más a bandas como Low o Cat Power.


A pesar de las referencias que también las emparentan con Songs:Ohia o incluso Red House Painters, Audrey tienen algo que las hace especiales, su EP con el encadenado de "Triumphal Arch" y "We thought we were ghost, but we are feathers" que empiezan a subir y subir hasta llevarte al cielo de "Hymn" (con esa manera de cantar a lo Mark Kozelek de principios de los 90) de donde ya no nos dejarán bajar jamás, las convierte en referencia para todos aquellos que buscan algo especial. Delicadeza y belleza en estado puro.


Arriba de izquierda a derecha: Victoria, Emelie, Anna y Rebecka.

Página oficial - Tenderversion - Stereotestkit

Dirty Three - Singles & EPs

Dirty Three & Low
Obvious is obvious EP
Year:1997
Country:Australia/USA
Genre:Rock
Label:Touch & Go
Tracklist:
1. Obvious Is Obvious (Instrumental Version)
2. No Need - Performed By Low
Review:
Release Date: 03/11/1997

Split Cd-sigle with the band Low.
The Dirty Three play the Kim Salmon song "Obvious Is Obvious".
Limited edition.
Touch and Go Records, TG183 CD


Dirty Three
Sharks EP
Year:1998
Country:Australia
Genre:Rock
Label:Anchor & Hope
Tracklist:
1. Obvious is obvious
2. Two am
3. Rope
4. Running scared
Review:
This four-song recording was released as a limited-edition CD on the band's tour in support of their 1998 Touch and Go release, Ocean Songs. It continues in the threesome's tradition of beautiful, melancholic violin passages that manage to tell stories of lost souls and create violent visuals. This is exemplified well on "Two A.M.," where Mick Turner's distorted guitar and Warren Ellis' plucked violin start a slow dance, while drummer Jim White adds abrupt tambourine. Together, the band sounds like a shackled pirate making his way to the gangplank of a swaying ship. The music builds during a voiceless chorus and creates the sound of a fierce storm with gale winds. The violin finally breaks free with a short repeated violin solo as to signify a parting of the storm clouds. Other numbers feature march-like tempos ("Rope") and a special guest appearance by the band's good friend Nick Cave. The trio, along with Cave, reinvent the Roy Orbison classic "Running Scared," recorded live at Brisbane, Australia's the Zoo. It acts as a foretelling of Ellis' future with Cave's Bad Seeds three years later on the album No More Shall We Part. This EP is a lost treasure that should be dug up if found. (AMG)


Dirty Three
Ufkuko EP
Year:1998
Country:Australia
Genre:Rock
Label:Bella Union
Tracklist:
To Aster!
Mihelkos Arm
Cast Adrift
Three Wheels
Wish I Could
Review:
The five-track EP Ufkuko features the three songs from the bonus disc that accompanied the first 2,000 U.S. copies of Ocean Songs, as well as two previously unavailable numbers. It won't win any new fans, but needless to say, it's essential for the converted.


Dirty Three
Lowlands
Year:2000
Country:Australia
Genre:Rock
Label:Anchor & Hope
Tracklist:
1 Cottonhead
2 Country Song
3 Kangaroo
4 Lowlands
5 Three Mile Creek
6 Wheels
7 Time After
8 Irish Red (Live)
Review:
Lowlands is something of an anomalous treat from Dirty Three. The songs, which were recorded in three European capitols between 1998 and 1999, are a selection of outtakes from the Whatever You Love, You Are sessions in London, two songs produced for radio broadcast in Dublin, and a handful of tunes recorded in Paris. The collection was originally sold only as a tour souvenir, but (at press time) was still available for purchase through the band's official website. And fans of the band are advised to seek the disc out -- for all practical purposes, it's a continuance of their trend toward outsider folk ambience and houses some remarkable songs that otherwise would never have seen the light of day. The band does mix it up a bit here and there, twisting their accustomed formula by supplanting Warren Ellis' violin with melodica, to great effect, on the standout "Three Mile Creek," and revving up the end of the disc with the tumultuous "Time After" and live track "Irish Red," all three of which sport some of the trio's most memorable melodies. Lowlands' relatively low profile may not make it the ideal introduction to Dirty Three's shambolic, celestial music. But, as rough-and-tumble odds-and-ends discs go, it works beautifully as a snapshot of the versatile group's evocative spontaneity. ~ Bryan Carroll, All Music Guide


Dirty Three & Low
In the fishtank EP
Year:2001
Country:Australia/USA
Genre:Rock
Label:Konkurrent
Tracklist:
I hear goodnight
Down by the river [Neil Young cover]
Invitation day
When I called upon your seed
Cody
Lordy
Review:
Am I alone here in thinking that the phrase "In the Fishtank" sounds, I dunno, maybe something like a euphemism for some weird childhood punishment? The cover art to this album-- the seventh installment in a series of EPs produced by placing handpicked bands in the eponymous studio for spontaneous two-day recording sessions-- doesn't really allay the creepiness. We see a pair of deceptively cute, speckled fish (maybe gobies, or drobies, or gillies) floating on a deceptively tranquil aqua backdrop. Eerily, the fish don't seem that far removed from those flashy tropical fighting fish that rip their tankmates' fins off.

It doesn't help that the label putting out these records is named "Konkurrent" (as in, "the diabolical Konkurrent corporation"). It also doesn't help that the K's signify not only evil but blatant foreign-ness. It's not too much of a leap to imagine these Konkurrent folk hijacking unsuspecting bands on tour in the Netherlands and whisking them off to their Amsterdam drug-fortress to breed an indie rock master race.

I'm also a bit wary because the last time they paired two bands together "in the fishtank," it was the unlikely combination of Tortoise and avant-punkers the Ex, a union whose musical offspring didn't graduate much beyond "interesting."

It's encouraging to see that the bands seem to at least make some sense together this time; both Low and Dirty Three work in broad, deliberate strokes at virtually nonexistent tempos. Also, we learn in the liner notes that Herr Doktor Konkurrent didn't arrange this match himself; Low actually invited their Aussie mates to play with them. With this, however, the question becomes not one of compatibility but of musical interest: will the pairing challenge two admittedly great bands to do anything new?

From the opening seconds of the first track, "I Hear. Goodnight," it's easy to see what roles the bands' members have taken; Low's Alan Sparhawk plays a measured, delicate counterpoint to Mick Turner's woozy, stumbling guitarwork, while Jim White's pointillist drums keep the song anchored to some vague sense of tempo. It's amazing how "bandlike" the group sounds-- Zak Sally fills in as the bassist Dirty Three never had, while Warren Ellis becomes the violinist Low fantasize about in their Mormon-style wet dreams. Mimi Parker enters with something like an apocalyptic lullaby ("I hear the windows shake/ I hear the silence break/ I hear the moon turn to blood") that quietly breaks down into the chorus before Ellis lifts it up again with a swelling, wistful solo. Interesting, for sure, and as pretty as anything either group has done before.

The next track, an inverted version of Neil Young's "Down by the River," is just as solid, with a long, formless, quietly chaotic opening that gradually takes shape into Parker's icy rendition of Young's confessional lyrics. Even in this soup, Sparhawk's guitar meanderings sound both distinct from Turner's string-popping feedback swoops, and perfectly complementary. In the next song, "Invitation Day," things start to get brilliant. Parker, Sparhawk, and Sally trace out a silvery, descending modal melody, which Dirty Three proceeds to prick at with plucked violin and drunken strumming. Before you know it, the bands seem to merge, and once again, lift the song up to heaven. With the addition of White's drums and a droning church organ, "When I Called Upon Your Seed" sounds more country than anything Low has ever done, even as it threatens to turn into a D3-esque slow-motion sea chantey.

"Cody" seems to be a bit of a step backward, sounding like little more than a Dirty Three tune with a bassline. However, the EP's sixth and final track, "Lordy," follows through on its rootsy impulses; Sparhawk actually takes up the banjo and whips up a sincere Gospel vocal fury as Parker propels the song with surprisingly intense drumming. Ellis and Turner get caught up in the rapture as well, churning out an echoed, noisy jubilance that thrashes in waves around the baptismal flame.

This track alone makes what could have been a nothing more than one-off EP worth it; it's like seeing those fighting fish at the pet store suddenly starting to rip shit up together. And, like any other pleasant surprise, it's deeply frustrating to know that this is a one-time-only deal. The possibilities apparent in this collaboration deserve to be developed in ways that the format just can't provide. But it's at least as satisfying to see this one end the way it does, with a pile of torn scales slowly starting to gather on the bottom of the tank. (Pitchfork)


Dirty Three
A Strange Holiday
Year:2003
Country:Australia
Genre:Rock/Post-rock
Label:Anchor & Hope
Tracklist:
Summer's lost heart
Somewhere else, someplace good
A strange holiday
Xmas song
Au revoir petit chat
Review:
Recorded with Adam Rhodes and mixed by Matt Voigt at Sing Sing studios, Melbourne (Australia) in 1999.
Tracks 1-4 originally on 'Praise' soundtrack album.


Dirty Three
Great waves
Year:2005
Country:Australia
Genre:Post-rock
Label:Bella Union
Tracklist:
1) Great Waves
2) Lisa's Mountain
Review:
Dirty Three introduce vocals for the first time ever in the form of the new single Great Waves featuring none other than the quite brilliant Cat Power on vocals.

----------

Australia's Dirty Three make what sounds like modern Chamber Music, albeit rubbed clean of the fusty core which that may suggest and replaced with a gorgeous heart of Celtic lustre that can't help but bring a shine to your eyes. Featuring the vocal talent of Chan Marshall (which is somehow both tacitly mournful yet utterly uplifting) 'Great Waves' is an old fashioned love song buoyed by rich and expansive instrumentation, whilst 'Lisa's Mountain' is a swelling viola-led piece that could calm the most tempestuous of seas. (Bookmat)




More info:
Band's web / Bella Union / Touch & Go / Complete discography

Dirty Three Albums

Albums

Dirty Three
Sad & Dangerous
Year:1994
Country:Australia
Genre:Rock
Label:Poon Village
Tracklist:
1. Kim's Dirt
2. Killy Kundane
3. Jaguar
4. Devil in the Hole
5. Jim's Dog
6. Short Break
7. Turk Reprise
8. You Were a Bum Dream
9. Warren's Waltz
10. Turk
Review:
On their debut, Dirty Three seems to be working out future ideas. Most of the songs are quite lengthy, and some of the more repetitive numbers are often hurt by this ("Kim's Dirt," "Turk Reprise"). As a result of the band's experimentation, however, we see a different side of the group not witnessed on later efforts. For instance, Warren Ellis sets down his violin to play bass on "Jim's Dog," a song that seems like it would fit perfectly on a film-noir detective movie soundtrack. One of the greatest moments on the record arrives in the form of "Turk," appropriately the last song and the biggest epic. Here, Dirty Three emits dark Eastern melodies that build until they finally climax into a shrieking, stuttered middle section. In the end, there are two sides to the material on the album: pure emotional feeling and meandering filler. (AMG)


Dirty Three
Dirty Three
Year:1995
Country:Australia
Genre:Rock/Experimental rock
Label:Touch & Go
Tracklist:
1. Indian Love Song
2. Better Go Home Now
3. Odd Couple
4. Kim's Dirt
5. Everything's Fucked
6. The Last Night
7. Dirty Equation
Review:
There have been many attempts to integrate instrumentation, other than the guitar, bass, and drums format, into so-called rock music. Many bands have gone through an Eastern or psychedelic phase, adding strings, tabla, or some other seemingly eccentric instrument to their sound. For the most part, bands like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and others make these new instruments sound out of place in a rock setting. But the Dirty Three -- an aptly-named Australian drum, guitar, and violin trio -- create an hour of music on this self-titled album that takes the experiments of their predecessors and coalesces them into a beautiful whole. Violinist Warren Ellis is a magician -- the sounds he coaxes out of the instrument range from conventional melody to washed-out feedback noise. On "Indian Love Song" Ellis starts off with a gentle plucking of the strings, but midway though this ten minute drone he's on another planet, wailing away in a Pete Townshend meets Thurston Moore vein. This album does not follow a strict melody-cacophony structure though. Mick Turner plays along perfectly with Ellis, crafting subtle guitar lines that complement his counterpart. All the while drummer Jim White uses a keen selection of shells, tambourines, and God knows what else to keep a beat. The band seems equally assured in playing quiet pastoral passages ("Kim's Dirt") and ferocious rock ("Everything's Fucked"). Their music is cinematic -- moving at varying paces through different emotions. Where most bands have come up short in both creativity and execution, the Dirty Three have it right. (AMG)


Dirty Three
Horse Stories
Year:1996
Country:Astralia
Genre:Rock/Post-rock
Label:Touch & Go
Tracklist:
1. 1000 Miles - 4:40
2. Sue's Last Ride - 7:22
3. Hope - 4:53
4. I Remember A Time When You Used To Love Me - 6:11
5. At The Bar - 6:39
6. Red - 3:54
7. Warren's Lament - 8:44
8. Horse - 5:38
9. I Knew It Would Come To This - 8:38
Review:
Dirty Three have a gift for creating unforgettably emotive instrumental soundscapes, and Horse Stories demonstrates this to great effect. The versatility of Warren Ellis' violin playing is what drives Horse Stories, but although the violin is the focal point, Mick Turner's guitar and Jim White's drumming are vital elements in making Dirty Three's sound so compelling. The tracks here are widely varied, from slow, languid pieces like "1000 Miles" and "At the Bar" and wild dances like "Red" and "I Remember a Time When Once You Used to Love Me" to stunningly beautiful tracks like the aptly titled "Hope." It is fitting that Horse Stories helped Dirty Three reach a wider audience than they had with their earlier efforts, as it was an album that saw them reach new heights in creativity. (AMG)


Dirty Three
Ocean Songs
Year:1998
Country:Australia
Genre:Post-rock
Label:Touch & Go/Bella Union
Tracklist:
1. Sirena - 4:06
2. The Restless Waves - 5:09
3. Distant Shore - 5:50
4. Authentic Celestial Music - 10:04
5. Backwards Voyager - 4:34
6. Last Horse on the Sand - 4:52
7. Sea Above, Sky Below - 6:04
8. Black Tide - 4:35
9. Deep Waters - 16:27
10. Ends of the Earth - 5:11

Special Edition DVD Tracklist
1. Last Horse on the Sand
2. Distant Shore
3. Authentic Celestial Music
4. Sue's Last Ride
5. Deep Waters
Review:
The Dirty Three's fourth venture into long-play territory is easily their most controversial, and a decided change in direction. While the band's previous recordings -- Sad & Dangerous, Dirty Three, and Horse Stories -- have all, in some way, attempted to capture the trio's live show, where slow, winding patterns and riffs become a swirling churning blast of emotional cacophony for both musicians and listeners, Ocean Songs takes a very different tack to achieve an end that is similar, but more focused. There is an aesthetic at work on Ocean Songs, from the cover through to the last note of the original recordings (early issues of the CD came with a second CD with three bonus tracks, all of which have surfaced elsewhere), the purpose of which is held in the somewhat mysterious title. The music is what makes it so. Are D3 playing songs inspired by or seemingly "created" from the ocean? Or are they paying homage to the ocean? The music here keeps all tempos reigned in and all instrumental flurries to a minimum, creating the feeling of waves lapping and pouring into and out of one another. It's as if the D3 were on a vessel, playing to the ocean itself. There are hints in guitarist Mick Turner's gorgeous cover painting, which shows a tranquil mermaid on one side, a near tidal wave over a red boat on the back sleeve, and both in deep blue against a light blue background, seemingly under the ocean. On the tentative opener, "Sirena," Warren Ellis plays two- and three-notes lines, held interminably against Turner's pastoral and minimal guitar flourishes while Jim White's rhythmic constructs glisten and shimmer through the middle, offering it all more room to drift rather than create a frame. On "Distant Shore," a tune built on three chords and a fragment, Ellis puts the album's tentative nature forth in the elegantly twisting lilt of his violin, creating a melody that is simply a chant, as Turner and White slip around his center, creating a view of the shore and the ground, mirage-like and ephemeral, and presented through a watery prism, as mournful, left behind, turned away from. The centerpiece of the album -- from which there is no return, either to "traditional" D3 form or to anything else considered rock music -- is "Authentic Celestial Music." Ellis, for the first time, overdubs his violin, creating a series of drones and overlapping melodies. Turner plays its straight, creating a chord structure that follows the dynamic changes in Ellis' minimal style, from one melody to the next, with no more than 12 notes total. White relies on his tom toms and a muted snare, almost leaving his cymbals out of the mix entirely until over halfway through the tune's nearly 11 minutes. Here is a new kind of intensity for the D3, one built in unison and not in any kind of rock counterpoint. A dynamic range is built upon slowly, with repeated phrases and rhythms masking the turbulence underneath, mirroring it even, and holding some degree of it in, where previously the dials would have been in the red. This is not to say there isn't drama or tension -- far from it. It's just that it does not get released through catharsis; instead, it merely goes quiet. When "Backwards Voyager" ushers in the second half of the album, it is clear that listeners are in the aftermath of a storm. A dangerous calm is created by White's whispering snare, and deepened by Turner's generous open-tuned chords, plucked and gently strummed, as Ellis just hovers elegaically in the background, moving the band into a lulling, shimmering space where everything floats in open, empty, poetic, and lyric space. D3 move eventually from this gorgeous, mournful, and some what sad space into the heart of beauty itself, meditating on this new terrain, one which extends far beyond anything they conceived of exploring as a band on previous albums. Loss, desire, remembrance, solitude, and the tenuous benevolence of nature are all emotional frames explored in tracks like "Last Horse on the Sand," the densely mysterious "Sky Above, Sea Below," and "Black Ride." The disc ends with "Ends of the Earth," with Ellis taking up the piano as well as his violin, and Turner playing a gorgeous yet simple lyric line that evokes the shimmering horizon, endlessly out of reach, just over the next curve in the earth. Ellis, whose chords underlie his fragile song, also layers his violin just above White's brushed snare that haunts Turner's guitar. In the middle of the tune's five-minute span, one can see into the depths of the ocean itself, and hear it speak its secret truths while revealing its hidden, flowing body. It's a song than ends in a small, shimmering whisper about things to come, things that are, and things that will never be. On Ocean Songs, the Dirty Three have expanded themselves immeasurably as a band by holding themselves in to listen, and have made some of the most haunting, poetically profound, and emotionally honest music ever to come out of the "rock" world. (AMG) / Pitchfork


Dirty Three
Whatever you love, you are
Year:2000
Country:Australia
Genre:Post-rock
Label:Touch & Go
Tracklist:
1. Some Summers They Drop Like Flys - 6:20
2. I Really Should've Gone Out Last Night - 6:55
3. I Offered It Up to the Stars & the Night Sky - 13:41
4. Some Things I Just Don't Want to Know - 6:07
5. Steller - 7:29
6. Lullabye for Christie - 7:45
Review:
The Dirty Three have created their own brand of violin-infused rock and carry this torch of innovation even further with Whatever You Love, You Are. There are some characteristic Dirty Three moments on this album; the final song "Lullaby for Christie" would have fit in perfectly on their first self-titled album. The song swoons and breaks with a delicate yet powerful melody. There are some key explorations on this album that, even if they don't always succeed, depict a band that is far from comfortable with the status quo. "I Offered It up to the Stars and the Night Sky" experiments with overlapping violin tracks and ends up sounding more like a chamber work by Steve Reich than the Dirty Three. Although it's not the album's most listenable song, it sounds incredibly different than anything else the band has done. Another new direction for the band is in terms of production; much of the album contains overdubs and has a much smoother, but not always better, sound. Perhaps the only aspect of Whatever You Love that is lacking is the rough "live" sound that the other albums have had. The production takes away from some of the band's spontaneity but also allows it to refine the subtleties of their sound. Hopefully, with time, the Dirty Three will be able to fuse their rough-edged sound with technological advancements to achieve a perfect synthesis. (AMG)/ Pitchfork


Dirty Three
She Has No Strings Apollo
Year:2003
Country:Australia
Genre:Post-rock
Label:Touch & Go
Tracklist:
1. Alice Wading
2. She Has No Strings
3. Long Way to Go With No Punch
4. No Stranger Than That
5. Sister Let Them Try & Follow
6. She Lifted the Net
7. Rude (And Then Some Slight Return)
Review:
On She Has No Strings Apollo, the Dirty Three again offer up the sounds of their hearts and inner landscapes to the skies and whoever's listening. The band's tendency to start a song quiet, loose, and lovely and then slowly sweat it into a faster, intensified crescendo is familiar by now, but somehow remains vividly evocative. The emotional road from heartbreak and regret, expressed through beating music with wailing violin ("Alice Wading"), to feeling lost, heard in a song's slow unraveling ("She Lifted the Net"), and back again is part of humanity's oldest story, and is a tale that violinist Warren Ellis, guitarist Mick Turner, and drummer Jim White are good at telling. If you are a fan of the Dirty Three's past expressions, you'll be moved by their sound again as they relay new wordless tales of woe, sadness, and things past. Worth noting: The quieter, reflective pieces like "Long Way to Go With No Punch" deliver moments of reprieve, and bass guitar (played by Turner) is heard for the first time on a Dirty Three album since 1994's Sad & Dangerous. (AMG) / Pitchfork


Dirty Three
Cinder
Year:2005
Country:Australia
Genre:Post-rock
Label:Touch & Go
Tracklist:
1. Ever Since - 4:48
2. She Passed Through - 3:26
3. Amy - 2:48
4. Sad Sexy - 3:23
5. Cinders - 3:02
6. Doris - 3:26
7. Flutter - 6:36
8. The Zither Player - 5:01
9. It Happened - 2:14
10. Great Waves - 3:28 (vocals by Chan Marshall)
11. Dream Evie - 2:43
12. Too Soon, Too Late - 3:29
13. This Night - 3:56
14. Rain On - 3:39
15. Ember - 2:38
16. Michèle - 3:23
17. Feral - 4:10
18. Last Dance - 4:16
19. In Fall - 3:54
Review:
Australia's Dirty Three have covered a lot of ground over their ten-year career, and always as a trio: violinist Warren Ellis (also a prominent member of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds), guitarist Mick Turner, and drummer Jim White (the latter two are also known as the Tren Brothers). The band have continually re-examined their sound, and looked for different textures and dynamics while retaining their original instrumentation. Not this time. This is the Dirty Three as you have never heard them before. Their sound is unmistakable, but their creation process has changed significantly. For starters, the record was not done live in a studio. Secondly, the band employs a greater range of instruments. Ellis adds viola, bouzouki, piano, and mandolin to his cache, and Turner plays organ and bass as well as guitar. There are also two vocal tracks on the set, Sally Timms of the Mekons appears on "Feral," and Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) wrote the lyrics to, and sings, "Great Waves." Mark Soul also plays bagpipes on "Doris." What it all amounts to is the most adventurous recording in band's catalog. And the experiment pays off in spades. There are 19 tracks here, most of them under four minutes and all but two under five. In other words, Cinder captures the Dirty Three at their tightest, most expansive, yet most "song"-oriented album ever. It opens with White's cymbal and snare slowly and purposely announcing "Ever Since," before Turner's signature electric guitar and Ellis on bouzouki slip in unobtrusively and the melody asserts itself before Ellis' violin finds a melody in the weave and plays in, through, and around, evoking distance, melancholy, and the hint of real sorrow. The tune gains in intensity, but only enough to assert tension that goes unresolved before the band takes it down another notch on "She Passed Through." It's even slower, more meandering, yet more melodic and the shift of mood and dynamic is prescient. The recording becomes almost lushly romantic through "Amy" and "Sad Sexy," where the volume rises, the dynamic thickens, and the pace quickens. But it's still only a glimpse. The chaos begins to assert itself in the title track, which is simply an intro, a way of entering into "Doris," which quite literally explodes with Turner playing power chords in a way he hasn't since Horse Stories. "The Zither Player" also moves into hard-driven rock, albeit textured by Ellis' bouzouki. Marshall's vocal on "Great Waves," graced by Turner's guitar, is moody, drenched in gorgeous erotic poetry and kissed by the slow, unhurried, gradually unfolding drama that is an homage to eros. The dreaminess begins anew here and carries on throughout the rest of the disc. Timms' vocal on "Feral" is wordless, drifting, and spiritual like an inebriated angel trying to find a song in her memory as the band conjures that ghost above and around her voice. The elegiac "In Fall" takes Cinder out, purposeful, droning, whispering. The Dirty Three don't go at things. They look at them softly, through clouded gazes, and move around them. This has always been true. On Cinder, they engage a song itself in this way, in their way, by not trying to find its musical body, the place where it defines itself, but instead but they seek relentlessly, through investigation and elegant articulation of the journey, its spidery, impure, constantly desiring heart and find it, in all its wounded, pulsing beauty. (AMG) / Pitchfork



More info:
Band's web / Bella Union / Touch & Go / Complete discography

01 mayo, 2006

Dirty Three Bio

Dirty Three is an instrumental rock band, formed in 1993, in Melbourne, Australia by Warren Ellis (violin), Mick Turner (electric guitar), and Jim White (drums).

Their music has elements of folk melody, rock energy, and 20th century classical music. Their early albums offered many aggressive, ferociously emotional songs, but since their fourth album, Ocean Songs, Dirty Three have gradually shifted their focus towards a slower, arguably more melancholy, style of playing.

Dirty Three have released albums on Touch & Go Records and have toured with Sonic Youth, Pavement, Cat Power, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Devendra Banhart and Shannon Wright to name just a few.

Since 1996, Ellis has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Ellis and Turner have both released solo albums. In addition, Turner and White have released several EPs as The Tren Brothers, and appear as backing musicians on albums by Cat Power and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. Turner is also an internationally exhibited painter with his own work gracing the covers of all of their major albums except Sad & Dangerous. He also runs the band's own record label Anchor & Hope. In 1999, Dirty Three joined forces with Low to record an In The Fishtank session for Konkurrent records; the result has been called "some of the best material either unit has produced."

In late 2005, the band released their seventh major album, Cinder, which, though following in the spirit of Ocean Songs, drastically diverges from all of their previous works on several points. It is the first Dirty Three album to feature vocals (those of Chan Marshall aka Cat Power and Sally Timms of The Mekons), if only on two of nineteen songs. The songs are also generally much shorter and more concise than their early work, which allows for the rather large number of tracks. Perhaps most notably, instead of the usual recording live technique, they opted, for the first time in their career, to record in the studio individually. (Wikipedia)


Melancholy instrumental trio Dirty Three formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1992, led by classically-trained violinist Warren Ellis, who began writing and performing music for art openings and plays and also tenured in the groups Blackeyed Susans, Paranoid and the Nursing Mothers. After enlisting Blackeyed Susans' guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White -- veterans of Melbourne bands including the Sick Things, the Moodists, Fungus Brain and Venom P. Stinger -- Ellis formed the Dirty Three; at the group's debut performance, he used a rubber band to attach a guitar pickup to his violin, giving the instrument a distorted, feedback-drenched feel far removed from its original sound. Recorded as a demo, the trio's debut Sad & Dangerous appeared in 1994; subsequent tours in support of Pavement, Sonic Youth and John Cale helped win the Dirty Three a deal with the Touch & Go label, which issued a 1995 eponymous effort and 1996's acclaimed Horse Stories. In 1998, the Dirty Three resurfaced with Ocean Songs; Whatever You Love, You Are followed two years later. That February, the Dirty Three celebrated their 10th anniversary and headed back into the studio. Initially, the trio had recorded songs for a follow-up to Whatever You Love, You Are in early 2001, however the songs were scrapped. White went on to tour with Smog and Will Oldham. Turner founded his own label, King Crab Records, and worked with Marquis de Tren. Ellis joined his fellow mates Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds for a monumental world tour in spring 2002. Somewhere in there, the Dirty Three reconvened with producer Fabrice Lor. Lor is chief of Prohibited Records and recorded part of the soundtrack to Amelie. Together, he and the Dirty Three arrived with the enigmatic, dark album She Has No Strings Apollo in February 2003. Cinder, which features appearances by Cat Power's Chan Marshall and Sally Timms from the Mekons, followed two years later. (AMG)


More info:
Band's web / Bella Union / Touch & Go / Complete discography