Call & Response have a new CD on Kindercore which I am dying to hear. A description pinned to it in a store said 'Free Design vocals layered on electronic beats'. Sounds pretty great to me! Especially with the weak showing that the new Free Design 'Cosmic Peekaboo' CD is (avoid). For some reason is is hard to find the kindercore CD in the stores. It was with great joy that I found this 7" in the Newbury Comics gullbuy hold bag, put there by Peter Ledebur. This 7" has sat unnoticed in the bins for almost a year. I'm sure it's already difficult to find. This single is not at all like the description I read about Call and Respose. There is not multi-layered vocal harmonies like The Free Design, and no electronic beats. It is more like Birdie. The basis of the sound is acoustic guitar, female vocal, fender rhodes organ, and shuffling indie styled drums. That said, I like both sides a lot. The A-side 'Rollerskate' is my favorite. It sounds like Birdie, but is way less polished. It has a cool 12 string guitar part in it too. The B-side 'Sun' has music that sounds a little like The Beatles 'Here Comes The Sun' (in the bridge part, with the picked guitar and the 'ba-ba-ba-ba-ba' melody) and vocals that sound very much like Chrissie Hynde singing in The Pretenders. Fave: A

Kit Clayton is a mighty force from San Francisco CA. He has had a low profile considering how many records he's put out, how long he has been recording, and the quality of his work. I'm not sure why he isn't well known. Heck, he even put out a full length on Stefan Betke's ~scape label. He has a really imaginative sound on all his tracks and he knows how to keep the pace stand up on longer tracks. On this 12" there are 3 longish tracks. Each kind of percolate through shifting parts. My favorite track 'Quindio' (B1) has an organ part in it that almost sounds like something you hear on a Lee Perry reggae track. 'Izmit', 'Quindio' and 'Nantou' are not as experimantal as the songs on the Latke 12" (see last week's gullbuy http://www.gullbuy.com/buy/01/3_27.php#1a). They have more of a Jan Jelinek or Pole sound. 'Quindio' stands above the other tracks to me because of the organ part in it, though all three tracks succeed on their own. Fave: B1

Strut is the label who put out the 'Disco Not Disco' compilation (see Feb 27 gullbuy) and the Blo CD under their AfroStrut guise (see the March 20 gullbuy). This CD is a compilation of late 60's through 70's cuts that are famous for the drum breaks which breakbeat kings have used from them. The songs presented in their entirety made a great compilation of 70's funky rock that does not sound like it would be on a disc which started with 'DJ Pogo presents...'. I only knew 2 songs from this disc before buying it. Armando Trovajoli's 'Sesso Matto' (Mad Sex) was on Eighteenth Street Lounge's 'Easy Tempo' compilation last year, and Jeff Beck's 'Come Dancing' (from his 1976 LP 'Wired') is a song I've played bass along to since, well - forever! (great riff). Beyond those cuts this CD has lots of stuff I never knew - all sounding fine. Though not one of my favorites, Lee Michael's 'Tell Me How Do You Feel' (#8) sounds tons like Blo. Maybe my favorite song on the disc is The Tremeloes 'Instant Whip' (#7). It was the B-side of a 7" from 1969 '(Call Me) Number One'. Like many songs on this CD it has guitar solos and everything, but it works A-OK and is a great track. The 1971 song 'Hot Pants' (#9) by The 20th Century is a female vocal song just a little tamer than Betty Davis, but still spicy and sounding like Donna Summer ripped it off a little for her song 'Hot Stuff'. All these songs are here for a reason, and each have really cool parts that would sound awesome when nipped for a track of your own. Faves: 2,5,7,9,12

5 song EP with a Twerk remix, a Farben remix, a Matmos remix, and 2 remixes by Kid 606 himself. Kid 606 recently relocated to SF from San Diego. That is not all that has changed. No longer the darling of US IDM, Kid 606 has had to work to regain the status that his 'PS I Love You' LP on Mille Plateaux seems to have cost him. Late last year there was a big backlash against all the attention that Kid 606 was getting by the press. It seemed that everyone who had initially championed him had moved on to other artists and left him cold. One ZBC DJ even made me promise not to buy anymore Kid 606 records for the station. With trepidation I checked out this new 12". It had 2 markings in its favor though. I loved Jan Jelinek's latest CD on ~scape (see March 13 gullbuy). Farben is one of Jan Jelinek's recording personas. A Matmos remix almost guaranteed that there would be a second good cut on this as well. After many listenings I can say that this 12" is OK. The Farben remix is nothing special, and the Matmos remix uses background conversation from the raw recording session background banter - it is not any kind of bizzare or far out thing. Matmos remix 'Twirl', as Kid 606 does right before them. I like all three songs on the B-side (the 2 Kid 606's and the Matmos), though my favorites are Kid 606's remix of 'Together' (B1) and the Matmos remix of 'Twirl' (B3). Faves: B1,B3

The new MoHoBishOPi single has an incredible A-side and two OK songs on the B-side. The first two songs are produced (to perfection) by Don Fleming, and the third track is a home recording by Bimrose (who plays guitars, vocals, and keys in the band) tweaked after the fact by Don Fleming. 'Playboy' reminds me of La Peste's 'Better Off Dead' (Boston punk band from 1979. Matador put out a CD retrospective a few years ago) with Pavement-style vocals. 'Fish & Visitors' strongly reminds me of the 80's LA band The Leaving Trains. Fronted by Falling James, The Leaving Trains were kind of like The Gun Club without the blues or Jeffrey Lee Pierces unique personality. Falling James has quite a personality of his own though, to be sure! 'MT-400V' reminds me of a bedroom version of Servotron with guitars and a cheap casio. It is (to me) the weakest track here. 'Playboy' is really quite the tune though! Fave: A

A 30 song monument of a compilation with songs from 1965 - 67 Pacific Northwest, originally on Jerry Dennon's Jerden Records. The comp starts off incredibly strong with The Sonic's 'You've Got Your Head On Backwards', sounding like Thee Headcoats tried to on their 'In Tweed We Trust' LP. This whole CD is filled to the brim with great songs. It doesn't seem like any cuts are just here for their collectibility - all are great listens. My faves are both Sonics songs (the other is 'Like No Other Man' (#18) - both totally killer; The Express 'Wastin' My Time' (#4) - incredible fuzz guitar; The Trolley 'Breakdown' (#6) - just the overall sound, kind of like early Blue Oyster Cult; Mr. Lucky & The Gambler's 'I Told You Once Before' (#14) - sensitive like The Zombies, and just as good; The Scotsmen 'Sorry Charlie' (#16) - sung to the Starkist Tuna 'Charlie', goofy like The Trashmen; and 'The Owl & The Pussycat' by The Bards (#21) - playing on the double entendre of The Owl singing to 'the beautiful pussy', nice Acetone organ too. Faves: 1,4,6,14,16,18,21

If you enjoyed the Fila Brazilia mix disc 'Another Late Night', or think Tosca, Thievery Corporation, Jazzanova, or Kruder & Dorfmeister are 'it', this comp will score a hole in one with you. If you are afraid of anything that could be adequately described using words including 'jazz' or 'fusion', then you'd best skip this review. Me - I've found myself liking the sound that Compost Records puts out, to my surprise. All my life I fell under the category of 'no way' when jazz or fusion were mentioned. I remember liking bass player Stanley Clark's 'School Days' LP when I was young (struggling till I could play a passable version of the title song on bass), and thought Mahavishnu Orchestra had a few fine tunes, but that was about as far as it went. Then through my love of exotica I discovered that I liked Thievery Corporation. Compost Records is a label that have put out 'German fusion grooves with a Brazilian flavour' for several years now. Among their releases are 4 volumes of 'Glucklich'. I love each and every one. I also like their CD 'Go Right', a collection of jazz from Poland from 1963-75. This new CD, 'Compost Community' is a showcase of many of the new artists putting out stuff on Compost. My favorites are the soulful/funky female vocaled 'The Season' by Beanfield (#2), the instrumental 'A Go Go' by Truby Trio (#5), and the Voom Voom song 'Poppen'. Voom Voom is a new project formed by Peter Kruder and several members of Fauna Flash. Fauna Flash themselves have out a recent CD on Compost that I haven't bought though I am interested in doing so. Voom Voom just released a 12" on Compost. Faves: 1,2,3,5,7,10,12

You will not believe your ears if you loved and miss early New Order. You have them right here in perfect facsimile on Gerhard Potuznik's G.D. Luxxe project. Not your bag? Then check out song #7 ('Geisha Girl') with lyrics/vocals by Nicki Murray-Leslie of Chicks On Speed in top form. There is even a third sound here - the early 80's electric new wave somewhat like Sylvester Boy or Sonovac on 'Ocean Liner' (#4) and 'Comebacker' (#8). All in all it's quite a CD. I can thank the Angelika Kohlerman CD 're: Kusaki' (see Feb 27 gullbuy) for finding out about this. On that disc one of my favorite songs was the G.D. Luxxe song. Gerhard Potuznik has tons of stuff out on lots of different labels under many different names. This disc is on Ed DMX's Breakin' Records. It has the same 80's electro love as DMX Krew but is more melodic and much easier to love with it's familiar New Order vocal sound. Check out 'Airforce One' (#1) and 'Ocean Liner' (#3) to see what I mean. ...And then there's that Chicks On Speed song - fantastic! Faves: 1,3,4,7,8

The 14 cuts on this disc are by 70's funk women, with lyrics balancing the macho chauvinist songs of period artists like James Brown, Isley Brothers, Ohio Players, Isaac Hayes and others. These women knew what they wanted and what they didn't want, and were breaking boundaries by saying it in funk for the first time through women's eyes. There is a Betty Davis song on here ('Anti-Love Song') with Sly Stone's bassist Larry Graham laying down a killer groove. With all three of Betty Davis's disc recently re-issued I can say with confidence that you need to buy ALL THREE if anything on this disc sounds interesting to you - Betty Davis is that good. My four favorite songs on this disc (each as good as Betty Davis) are Laura Lee's 'Crumbs Off The Table' (#1), The Stovall sister's 'Hang On In There' (#3), Vera Hamilton's 'But I Ain't No More (G.S.T.S.K.D.T.S.)' (#4), and Gladys Knight & The Pips 'Who Is She (And What Is She To You)' (#8). Each are just about perfect. They really move and have awesome lyrics and vocals. Stand up knock 'em down killer. Faves: 1,3,4,8

Compilation of tracks from the end of the 60's to early 1974 by this Jamaican artist who is still recording today in his mid 60's. Perry was an independent creative force who recorded at Studio One and Blark Ark with his band the Upsetters, recording many other bands as well. The 22 tracks on this disc are taken from the time when 'his star was on the rise'. Some are instrumental, some are dub, and some have vocals: both male and female. The songs I've chosen as my faves all get a top rating from me. They are: 'Roll On' by Roland Alphonso & The Upsetters (#2) - a nice instrumental using sax in a way that doesn't bother me (rare thing); 'All Combine Parts 1 & 2' by The Upsetters (#4) - really moving bass intro then jumps into a deep instrumental skankgroove, 'Lady Lady' by Cynty & The Monkees (#6) - ultra upbeat female vocal and my fave track on the CD; 'Enter the Dragon' by Lee Perry & The Upsetters (#7) - echo, effects, talking vocals by the man, general coolness; 'Ungrateful Set' by The Versatiles (#9) - ultra staccato guitar, some kind of dead toned glockenspeil, and great tuneful male vocals; 'Ungrateful Skank' by The Upsetters (#10) - the dub version of 'Ungrateful Set'; 'Do It Baby' by Susan Cadogan - male backgrounds and female vocals that are sexy and tuneful; and finally 'Cheat Weston Head' by The Upsetters (#18) - a dub version of one of Lee Peery's biggest hits, 'Bury The Razor'. Faves: 2,4,6,7,9,10,11,18