Hoopla Skirts

Got a load of shiny new music for you good people out there, most of whom live in my head. The big event this weekend was the Reverend Glasseye CD release party at the Middle East. The new album is called Our Lady of the Broken Spine & I am now the proud owner of a copy. Not an easy band to describe. I was thinking of a cocktail of Nick Cave, Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter, & a bar mitzvah. You may well draw your own conclusions. It was a hellbent show featuring a heap of guest stars. Humanwine was the opener. I've mentioned them before, but they've morphed into a spooky French gypsy cabaret act which I really enjoy. My favorite tune of theirs is, I believe, called "Wake Up" & sounds alarmingly like one of those evil dream sequence numbers from classic Disney films, along the lines of "Huffalumps & Woozles." As if the song wasn't sinister enough as is, Brian Carpenter of Beat Circus notoriety led a marching band of misfits onstage during its finale, just to ensure all traces of sanity were left behind. As an added treat, the ubiquitous Karen Langlie of the Sob Sisters sat in on cello. There was a furious NYC band called World/Inferno Friendship Society who left us with the immortal threat "fuck with me & I'll hold a grudge against you for the rest of my life!" I spotted Amanda & Brian from the Dresden Dolls waltzing crazily on the mezzanine during a few tunes. And then there was Ho-ag, who can best be described as chaos incarnate. Let's try Captain Beefheart, Black Flag, & Devo for a rough approximation.

In other news, Twink has a sparkling new album called The Broken Record which is comprised of reconstructed snippets from vintage children's records. The tune "Pussycat" is available for your listening pleasure off the website & is more fun than a polkadotted bowtie.

Meanwhile, Kate Bush's criminally overdue album Aerial is gorgeous. Takes a few listens for it to really sink in, like most her albums do, but once it does, you're in for a vastly unique landscape. I'd say this one picks up right where Sensual World left off, as though Red Shoes never happened. In one song she actually duets with a bird, which feels a little akin to the ghost in "Watching You Without Me" on Hounds of Love. And no one but Kate Bush could get away with a heartfelt ode to the pi ratio.