More new blatant consumerism

Here's a few picks from this week's Forced Exposure list...



MONO: You Are There CD (TRR 098CD) 13.50
"Throughout their six-year career, Mono has ascended consistently in both popularity and critical acclaim, with record sales and live show attendance corresponding. But still elusive to the Japanese quartet has been the successful translation of their powerful and violently beautiful live performances to their recordings. Despite their albums' masterful subtleties and majestic walls of noise, the consensus has remained that their transcendent live show is simply incomparable. If there is any chance of breaking that spell, it lies in You Are There, without a doubt the prime contender to unite the live and recorded worlds of Mono. With You Are There, Mono's representation of tragedy comes with an inherent joy, delivered with the hope that in all dark there is equal parts light. They're not heavy like Black Sabbath -- they're heavy like Beethoven."



WIRE, THE: #266 April 2006 MAG (WIRE 266) 8.00
"On the cover: Tom Verlaine (On the eve of his first new albums in 13 years, the reclusive Television guitarist allows Alan Licht a rare audience). Features: Mouthus (The elusive and prolific Brooklyn noise-rock duo pinned down by Marc Masters); The Knife (Louise Gray looks behind the many masks of the Swedish electro-prankster siblings); Ned Sublette (The writer and musician talks up his Cuban music book and his work with artist Lawrence Weiner); Invisible Jukebox: Burnt Friedman; Linder (Brian Dillon unpicks the secret history of a transgressive visual artist and musician, from punk to present); Spring Heel Jack (Keith Molin� charts the progress of John Coxon and Ashley Wales from '90s drum 'n' bass to noughties free Improv); Primer: The Fall (A user's guide to the Mancunian iconoclasts' intimidatingly vast discography)."



FLAMING LIPS, THE: Telepathic Surgery 2LP (PLAIN 113LP) 17.00
Deluxe LP reissue, 3-sided. "Experimental, even by The Flaming Lips standards, the band's third album is a glorious and mind-expanding mix of heavily effected guitar solos, backwards recordings and surrealistic imagery. Again, the classic song titles keep coming with 'Chrome Plated Suicide,' 'Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon (Fuck Led Zeppelin),' and 'Drug Machine in Heaven.' Telepathic Surgery became a big influence on many bands such as Mercury Rev and Beck to Grandaddy and The Olivia Tremor Control. Deluxe reissue on blue vinyl. 23-minute bonus track on Side 3."



FLAMING LIPS, THE: In A Priest Driven Ambulance 2LP (PLAIN 114LP) 17.00
"The final pre-major label album from The Flaming Lips brought a huge shift in sound that would define their work over the greater part of the next decade. The first album to feature Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue on guitar, In A Priest Driven Ambulance features more structured songwriting and tighter production. The lyrical wit and insight of Wayne Coyne had never been better as his obsession with religious imagery moved to the forefront. Features 'Unconsciously Screamin',' 'Rainin' Babies,' and 'God Walks Among Us Now.' Deluxe reissue on pink vinyl. Bonus 12"."



VA: Caroline Now! The Songs of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys CD (MA 050CD) 15.50
Originally released by Marina in 2000, Caroline Now! celebrates the songs of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys with a main focus on their lesser known gems including previously unissued compositions. It features exclusive contributions by such eminent Wilson-o-philes as Alex Chilton, Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake, Kim Fowley and Belle & Sebastian's Stevie Jackson. Most of the tracks appear in quite different sounding reworks. Highlights include The High Llamas' electronic version of "Anna Lee The Healer" and Saint Etienne's sparse "Stevie." The legendary '60s group The Free Design specially reformed for this occasion with their first recording in 30 years. The 24-page booklet features extensive liner notes, an exclusive Brian Wilson interview and many rare photographs. Get ready for some good, good vibrations!



FOSTER, JOSEPHINE: A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing CD (LOCUST 079CD) 13.50
"Over the course of just a few years, Josephine Foster has captivated audiences & critics alike through a magnetic patchwork of recordings ranging from broken spirited balladry (Born Heller), fiery psych rock gestalt (All The Leaves Are Gone) to the voice of an outsider folk siren (Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You). The two constants are the utterly overwhelming strength and seductive unease of her voice & the bravery of her iconoclastic spirit. For anyone else, what lies inside her latest offering, A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, might be a freakish turn but for Josephine Foster this is a grand part of a continual movement. And so it goes, A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing is a deeply absorbing, magical reconstruction of 19th century miniature German art song -- the intimate sibling to operatic arias customarily performed in the parlor. The album floats in a wash of blissed out voice and electric guitar in an almost dreamlike fashion through a salon of her own invention. In a music where sacred cows roam the pastures a plenty, Foster pays tribute -- on her own terms -- and in the process makes a case for German as a new found romance language."



ELECTRIC GHOSTS: The Electric Ghosts CD (IMPREC 081CD) 13.00
Duo of Daniel Johnston and Jack Medicine. "The Electric Ghosts is a side project that Daniel and his tour manager/Hyperjinx Tricycle bandmate created while on the road touring America, playing shows and searching for salvation."



STATON, CANDI: His Hands LP (HJR 023LP) 17.00
New album, released for the first time; CD is on Astralwerks in the US. "Candi Staton's triumphant return to soul music. The album combines her own new compositions with originals from admirers like Will Oldham, alongside a handful of revivals of luminaries like Charlie Rich and Merle Haggard. Recorded last year in Nashville by musicians including Aretha's right-hand man Barry Beckett, Jerry Lee Lewis' mainstay Chip Young, and members of the Lambchop crew, this is the soul album of 2006. There are southern soul voices and there are southern soul voices. Raw and ravaged, Candi Staton's is one of the signature sounds of the genre. It's a voice with a tear in it, the cry of a woman wounded by life, by men, by woes turned inwards. On her new album for Honest Jon's, it's also the voice of a gospel singer returning to the music that first made her name: the country soul songs presented by the same label on its 2004 compilation Candi Staton, twenty-six tracks of Muscle Shoals magic." -- Barney Hoskyns



CICCONE YOUTH: The Whitey Album LP (GOO 009LP) 13.00
"A deluxe vinyl re-release of Ciccone Youth's The Whitey Album, the full-length recorded by Sonic Youth's Top-40 obsessed alter-ego is now available on the band's own Goofin' imprint. In 1988, after hinting that a tribute to the Beatles' White Album was in the works, the band about-faced and delivered this brain-sick celebration of pop culture and The Material Girl in particular. The album has been spectacularly remastered and manufactured to provide hi-fi reproductions of such favorites as 'Needle-Gun,' 'MacBeth,' and Mike Watt's original demo recording of 'Burnin' Up.'"