Fricara Pacchu Midnight Pyre CD
Jane Berserker CD
Magas Friends Forever CD
Galaktlan Constance CD
Philip Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble Singles CD
Six Organs of Admittance Shelter From The Ash CD
LOST season premiere

Continuing with the Lal Lal Lal CD batch, we have a new one by Fricara Pacchu, a member of Maniacs Dream, and therefore 1/3 responsible for yesterday's Turku Hold 'Em endurance test, but this Midnight Pyre album, and his work in general (see the masterful 2005 Lal Lal Lal cassette Waydom) is definitely song-and-pulse-oriented compared to that endless MD blast-wallage. In fact, the Pacchu release after Waydom and before Pyre, another cassette called Space Puppet, saw him moving into what could be called dance/techno waters - this release keeps the techno vibe but makes something singular out of it, almost like high-speed computer-programmed surf-rock that unexpectedly plays when you open up your 4-year-old nephew's toy box. Yeah, maybe... Also from the Drastic Plastic 99 cent bin (see previous Jane Berserker post) was a nice find, the 2003 Magas album Friends Forever. Magas was one of my favorite Chicago-based live acts when I first moved here in 2001. Of course I already knew of him from the Ann Arbor no wave explosion of the 1990s and his bands like Couch, The Many Moods of Marlon Magas, and then, after his move to Chicago, the bad-ass 'no wave supergroup' Lake of Dracula with Weasel Walter and Heather M of the Scissor Girls.... but by the time I got here he had gone 'electro' (maybe even 'electroclash') and done it particularly well, with a great goofy but also seriously slammin' solo synth-and-drumbox live act, and this CD represents those live shows just about right. Before the kids came along I would see him play quite a bit, and poke around his excellent but shortlived specialty store Weekend Records & Soap - seems like he's slowed down the activity a bit but then again so have I. Either way, this is a good record, and hearing it I'm realizing that his electro persona actually has more in common with Lake of Dracula than I thought - sure his singing voice is more reserved and cool, but it is the same voice, and more importantly the songs have a real similar running-in-place bobbing-your-head drive - I think it's just Magas's internal rhythm and it was probably pulsing away before he discovered electro, no wave, and everything else. This Galaktlan CD has been kicking around the Blastitude HQ forever - I never listened to it but a coworker rescued it from the nevermind pile and started playing it quite a bit and shit, it's pretty nice. Lush space-techno from Estonia, possibly the only record I've gotten from there.... Finally caught up with the latest Six Organs of Admittance and I'm impressed. More electric guitar based than acoustic based, Chasny rips all kinds of wild psychedelic leads on here but the real news is the songs and arrangements. I wouldn't even use the "folk" word to describe what he's doing here, maybe something more like "shivering progressive symphonic guitar ballad mini-epics." Heavy album - when he sings about getting "shelter from the ash" it honestly makes me want to get some too. LOST was pretty great and I can't believe I get to watch another one next week. (Bummer about only eight episodes though.) The Oceanic Six! Naomi has a sister! Michael Abaddon is scary! I will not get tired of this show, no matter how ridiculous or withholding it gets.