Candid Landed

Plus, JP Jones, Lynx, and more

by Michael Caito

Sheesh, make one little comment about how the flow of area CD releases has slowed lately, and next thing you know we're all backed up again with a pile o' substantive records from Newport to Providence to Boston.

Before we get to those, a request from one of the many irked fans of the Purple One from Minneapolis about New Year's Eve tune selection. He said something like, "Hey, you should tell everyone in your column that the song "1999" is for next New Year's Eve, not this one," and in the eternal quest for accuracy, I do believe he's right. Don't forget designating a driver on Amateur Night.

Landed: everything's happening (Vermiform 7-song CD)

Liner info is sparse, but we do know that the core of Sean Greenlee, Dan St. Jacques and Joel Kyack are aided by members of Six Finger Satellite. The Satellite's J. Ryan and Rick Pelletier (respectively, singer and drummer though both man synths) recorded this prodigious release at their Parlour studio in Pawtucket, and it was later mixed there and at Monoroid and Sound Station Seven.

Any attempt to contextualize Landed would be silly without at least mentioning the Satellite's ground-shaking electronic musical vision, but Landed are far from a Six Finger-inspired tease. Sonically, Landed thrash about with drums, bass and a healthy sampling of distortion, pre-recorded and otherwise. The result, over the course of seven tracks, is a cross between a nasty industrial accident involving the inadvertent mangling of body parts in the gears of a relentless giant machine and the best goddamned sex you've ever had. And I certainly shouldn't be the one to tell you how much those two seemingly disparate incidents naturally overlap. But on their (Prov-based) Vermiform debut following up the Load Records single put out by Ben McOsker several months ago, they certainly make a mighty contribution to the experimental New-No-Wave movement which Ryan hinted at the last time we did an official Satellite interview.

Like the work of Arab on Radar and Astoveboat (and the Satellite), this Landed CD will be challenging listening for those more comfortable with g / b / d instrumentation and a nice verse / bridge / chorus framework to the songs. But listening to Landed -- and seeing them live -- one gets the same feeling as that of those people glued to their screens watching the flickering bombs over Baghdad last week. Landed's mastery of sonic texture and rhythm, and their awesome grasp of the ebb and flow of emotion lend a sense of danger and excitement. It's like watching the breathing pattern of a newly-created Frankenstein in its labored, jagged gasps. It's also like emerging from a post-nuclear bunker and surveying the damage all around you, horror-struck by the carnage yet terribly excited at the chance for a fresh start. The closing track, at over 17 minutes, encompasses all these ideas, ratcheted up and down repeatedly to thrilling effect. Just when the nerves get a little too frayed by distortion, they allow the listener to breathe for a moment, a choke / release hold that Six Finger have used effectively through their history. What Landed accomplish beyond that involves the dynamics within their more stripped-down instrumentation. Though Landed have no less enthusiasm, they mete out pleasure and pain and construct a world which, despite its chaotic tendency, seems poised on the brink of a new era, where the CD title is a harbinger of hope even though the contents may be occasionally disturbing. A candid moral take on the millennium, and a tremendous disc. Find it.

JP Jones: Angels on the Road (Soft Wind 15-song CD; http://members.aol.com/softwnd/)

Amiable, extremely well-played CD from the veteran Jones, whose pals the Loose Associations (Mike Fischman, Kurt Meyer, Vinnie Pasternak, Steve Tavares, Lloyd Salisbury)are not to be messed with, revealing a loose-limbed affability in their playing that makes the unmistakable Dylan/Hiatt feel in Jones' songs endearing if not particularly memorable. Nevertheless there are several strong tunes within this epic 72-minute disc, and more than enough great musicianship in tracks like "Mona Lisa," Peggy's Song"and the opening "One of These Days" to glide you over the rougher spots, all of which occur in the last third of the disc. Overall, a good one for the car on a sunny day.

lynx (Sampson 3-song CD-EP)

Boston instro quartet owing more to the feel of the Amoebic Ensemble / Eyesores camp in quixotic arrangements, though with a more minimalist feel. Pro job recording by Jetpack's Keith Souza, who worked on it at his own Sampson studio in Tiverton as well as Sound Station Seven. The Sampson / Atomic Action axis continues to bring the goods. Eyes open for the Jetpack review, along with a more in-depth foray into Shed's Mosaic, very soon.

STARS & BARS. 'Twas a very well-done piece in Sunday's Journal by Vaughn Watson concerning area DJs, though as in any such story some pretty huge mixmasters (most notably Fred Da Great) got precious little coverage, as did all but a few of the DJindustry unmentionables, such as major label efforts to suppress many of the mix tapes these DJs rely on for income due to copyright issues, and the fact that the SoundScan/Billboard issue is a big unspoken joke, and a legal mess waiting to happen. Too many times clerks at various record stores will "swipe" a release repeatedly through the machine, thus tallying a SoundScan vote many more times than actual sales represent. This has been mentioned to me (off the record, no pun intended) by actual employees here, in Boston and New York. That is precisely how many releases perhaps not-so-surprisingly blast up the Billboard charts. I have no problem with this . . . uhh, creative method of ponying up for someone you respect, especially when so many major labels play even dirtier pool (of the payola variety) when promoting, let's say only for the sake of argument, the new Mariah Carey.

Also, on the technology tip, the same monied labels are now waging a losing, costly battle on the internet front, working to fine, if not shut down, the thousands of webmasters offering unauthorized MP-3 recordings of artists in every genre for free download at their Websites. Good freakin' luck, friends. You'll need it. As the cost of CD burners continues to plummet, Ihave a very simple, cost-effective solution for these labels, one which will certainly keep the evolution of DJing as an art form healthy into the new century:

RELEASE MORE VINYL!!!!

Happy New Year.