This Weeks Wishlist

Short list this week, though I may add to it when I see the more mainstream releases coming out this week.

via Forced Exposure:



ANIMAL COLLECTIVE: Prospect Hummer EP CD (FAT SP009CD) 8.00
"Animal Collective return with their first release of 2005 -- a brand new four-track EP, which features the sweet voice of the near legendary Vashti Bunyan. Having long been huge fans of her sole album, the recently rediscovered 1970 gem, Just Another Diamond Day, Animal Collective happened to meet Vashti when they played in Edinburgh on a 2003 tour supporting Four Tet (Four Tet's Kieran Hebden had recently played as part of Vashti's band during her first live set in over 30 years at the Royal Festival Hall). Following this meeting, ideas were hatched and conversations began, culminating in the group selecting these three beautiful songs for her to make a home in. Acoustic-based and once again recorded by their friend Rusty Santos (who co-produced Sung Tongs along with the band), Prospect Hummer centres around the three harmonised vocal tracks, 'It's You', 'Prospect Hummer', and 'I Remember Learning How To Dive', all of which were recorded over three days in March 2004 at Idle Luxury Studios in London, immediately before the band set off on their European tour to promote Sung Tongs. Weaving their luscious, multi-layered web around Vashti's singing, these three tracks feature Animal members Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Deakin. A fourth track, the instrumental 'Baleen Sample' was completed late last year, and includes samples from band member Geologist, who was absent from the Four Tet tour."

From http://aquariusrecords.org/cat/newest.html

13 & GOD "s/t" (Anticon / Alien Transistor) cd/2lp 14.98/14.98
This is essentially the perfect mix of
Anticon's off kilter avant indie hip hop, and the
Notwist's melancholy electronic bliss rock. Which
makes perfect sense considering that 13 And God
is made up of 3/5 of the Notwist (Markus and
Micha Acher, Martin Gretschmann) and all of
Anticon's Themselves (Doseone, Dax, and Jel). The
rest of the Notwist (drummer Martin Messerschmid
and guitarist Max Punktezahl) help with
production and several tracks feature guest
vocals from Steffi Bohm of Ms. John Soda and
Valerie Trebeljahr of Lali Puna. That should give
some idea of what 13 And God is all about. Dreamy
expanses of melancholy glitchpop, wistful and
wandering, simple shuffling and loping drum
beats, fuzzy synth melodies, warm warbling loops,
soft focused and otherworldly, and then the
strange entangling of Notwist-like breathy
effervescent vocals and Doesone's rapid fire
tongue twisting helium affected flow. Seems like
it would be a mess, but surprisingly, they manage
to make it all fit perfectly. Fans of the
Notwist\'s Neon Golden should find this essential
(assuming they aren\'t averse to a little hip hop
here and there) and fans of Themselves, Doseone
and those sorts of things will most likely just
find this to be yet another perfect piece in
Anticon\'s always evolving musical puzzle.