Charlemagne Palestine - Battling The Invisible - VINYL LP

Charlemagne Palestine's newest record pairs two energetic works for carillon bells. On side A, a new piece recorded at his studio in Belgium-a high-ceiling, stuffed animal paradise he calls Charleworld-among friends and divinities. On the flip side, Blank Forms Editions' very first and long out-of-print appears on vinyl for the first time a cathartic street recording of his 2018 musical eulogy for his late friend Tony Conrad, performed on the bells of St. Thomas Episcopal Church where the two first met. Two mesmerizing InchklanggdedangggebanngggInch sessions in the Quasimodo of 53rd Street's unmistakable improvisatory style.

Vinyl LP pressing housed in a gatefold sleeve includes . Battles return with Juice B Crypts on Warp Records to follow their complex, mind-bending predecessors Mirrored, Gloss Drop and La Di Da Di. Their latest album is a sensory overload of information that throws everything you thought you knew about Battles into flux once again. Battles' redefined line-up puts Ian Williams (keys, electronics) and John Stanier (drums) at the core of the covertly named Juice B Crypts, which was produced and mixed by Chris Tabron (Trash Talk, Mobb Deep, Ratking). Marrying synthesizer loops, cut-throat drum patterns and cyclical riffs, the album flirts with new technology, questions of authenticity and the technicalities of reinventing the wheel at the eleventh hour.

All 25 of these 1963-1967 tracks were generated by the mini-empire of Jerry Dennon, who recorded numerous Northwest bands for issue on his own labels or lease to others. Not one of these tunes made a national impact, and even if you have a good number of '60s garage anthologies on your shelves, you may well have heard of none of these bands, besides the Sonics and perhaps Don and the Goodtimes. As garage comps go, it's middle-of-the-pack, but respectable, aided by a concentration on original material rather than covers. Most Northwest bands - including most of those on this CD - were distinguished from other regions by a heavier R&B influence and lumpier backbeats, although they did pick up some accoutrements of the bluesier side of the British Invasion in fuzz guitar lines, harmonica, harmonies, Animals-/Them-style organs, and blustery vocals. There's nothing here that screams shoulda-been-hit (or even forgotten gem), but it pounds along pretty authoritatively, with some occasional eyebrow-raising weirdness, as in the Bards' cuckoo version of InchMy Generation,Inch which is actually one of the best covers ever of this familiar standard. As far as some unusual pre-fame names, Larry Coryell is the guitarist on the Checkers' 1963 R&B instrumental InchBlack Cat,Inch while the New Yorkers, one of the poppiest acts here on their 1967 single InchAgain,Inch would evolve into the Hudson Brothers