Landlocked Music - 202 N. Walnut St. - Bloomington, IN - 47404
info @ landlockedmusic . com
(812) 339 - 2574
Hours of operation:
Monday - Saturday : 11:30 - 7:30pm
Sunday : 12pm - 5pm
Every week (or so...), the proud employees of Landlocked Music attempt to help guide you along the path of auditory redemption. We take time away from our busy schedules and craft, in our own words, a tiny little review of a great piece found in our bin that is for sale. We are happy as a clam when a customer purchases our picks, we gotta feed our egos somehow, right? But don't just take our word for it... or rather, DO take our word for it!
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One of the all-time underrated UK psych albums, Traffic's '67 UK debut 'Mr. Fantasy' reconfigured for US release. Like other masterpieces of its time (ie. Sgt. Pepper's, Piper, 5000 Spirits, Are You Experienced?, etc.) this album has the same ability to transcend time and space, instantly connecting you with the vibes of the times. Very British in the best psych-pop way, you won't find the (also good) rootsy folk elements of later Traffic in these grooves. Instead, we are blessed with sitar-drenched pop numbers, heavy acid-rock and Small Faces-esque bounce. In fact, Steve Winwood's vocals almost rival those of Small Face Steve Marriott throughout, charged full of soul, intensity and purpose. Production from Jimmy Miller (Rolling Stones, Blind Faith) is stellar, full of huge drums, real tape-phasing and some strange, unclassifiable sounds. One of the classiest, most genuine psych albums of the era, any 60's rock fan should have this one in their collection. - Cyrus
Charlotte is the daughter of the legendary French pop maestro Serge Gainsbourg and his association with Jane Birkin. You might also recognize Charlotte from her role in the heartwarming indie film The Science of Sleep. If this isn't yet all-star enough for you, the music is performed by French electronic duo Air, lyrics are written by Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) and Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy) and the whole thing is produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead) - yowza! All of this actually adds up to a wonderful listen. A lush, intimate album that fans of any of the aforementioned artists should enjoy. And it is significantly less creepy than Lemon Incest, her duet with Serge in her pre-teen days. - Heath
It's hard to imagine the shock of hearing the first Sparks LP upon its release in 1971. The bros. Mael, who are at the heart of Sparks to this day, had sopped up all sorts of pop music weirdness growing up on the LA scene, from bubblegum to the girl groups to rockabilly, and Sparks contains elements of all those. But, still, nothing at the time really sounded like this; vocalist Russell Mael's warbling falsetto hovers gently over layers of keyboards and a psuedo-glam rock strut, with just the slightest knowing, ironic wink, just enough to let you know that they know how campy it all is, but not enough for it to come off like a total joke. Keep in mind Roxy Music & Queen had not released anything yet, two bands somewhat similar in style if not exactly in sound. Bowie is a clear influence, but this ain't exactly glam either. I imagine this is what 10cc would have sounded like had they hooked up with Kim Fowley. - Jason
Everybody loves the French New-Wave, right? No, not the films of Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer, Chabrol and Melville and Malle... I mean the music of Vox Dei, Comix, Marie Moor, Deux, TGV, Vitor Hublot, etc! You didn't think that French music started with Air, Daft Punk and Justice - did you??? This collection has something for everyone. Some call it new-wave, cold-wave, dark-wave, synth-wave... call it whatever you like, it extends far beyond the constraints of any genre. A great package with great information about fourteen groups you've never heard of and probably never will again. Is it a rebellion? No, sire - it is a revolution. Viva la Revolucion! - Heath
Beachwood Sparks' split in 2002 came as a very unpleasant surprise to me, and I really wish they were still around today. However, their split spawned some great solo projects, and singer Chris Gunst's Mystic Chords of Memory is a little different but every bit as beautiful as his former band at their best. This first album is more or less just Chris and his girlfriend, and it has an extremely relaxed, clear-headed and free sound throughout. The record basically sounds like Beachwood Sparks in extreme chill-out mode. There aren't any big drums or outer-space pedal steel, just pretty songs soaked in gently psychedelic home-recorded production. I feel like this record slipped through the cracks upon release. However, it's relative obscurity and ethereal beauty make it even more special to those who are fortunate enough to discover it. - Cyrus
Chin Chin have been pushing it hard over the last few years, even making a handful of pitstops in Bloomington. Now the hard work has paid off with their "debut" on El-P's Def Jux label. These well-dressed gentlemen walk that delicate line where 70s disco-jazz-funk turns sharply left melding Zapp vocoder-love with muscular horns. Like Brass Construction doing New Edition covers arranged by Steely Dan for Dick James Enterprises? So they say. Their full expanded line-up is a multi-racial, mutli-octave party assault to the pants (and short skirts) with horns and congas galore. They constantly take the funk idiom and turn it on its ear, exploring all the surrounding regions, all the while keeping your body moving. Appetite is the meeting between Snoop's Sexual Eruption and Daptone's Brownstone Sound. RIYL Bootsy Collins, early Prince, Gnarls Barkley. - Heath
The Flame are to the Beach Boys what Badfinger are to the Beatles. Formed in South Africa in the mid-60s, the Flame were spotted at a London gig in 1968 by Carl Wilson, who immediately signed them to Brother Records and relocated the band to California to cut an album. Released in 1970 to little commercial attention, the Flame soon broke up. But instead of abandoning the band they'd taken under their wings, the Beach Boys recruited guitarist Blondie Chaplin and drummer Ricky Fataar to join their band. They appear on Holland and the Carl & The Passions LPs. Chaplin even sang lead on the hit "Sail on Sailor". As the for the lone Flame LP, it's more than obscurity for Beach Boys nuts. It's a classic proto-power pop LP on its own mertis. Maybe just a notch under the first few Badfinger LPs, and comparable to Todd Rundgren, Big Star, and Blue Ash. - Jason
Over 7 instrumental tracks Earth prove their name: elemental, heavy, dirty. Slow-motion panoramas across a western ghost town. Beautiful landscapes, long-soaks of color that burn like molasses on the dashboard. While many might be turned off at the pacing (think Low level slow), patience pays off greatly for those able to face the journey. The guitars are Floydian in their massiveness, but the idiom is much more Big Sky than Deep Space. Grounded and spacious yet still psychedelic in tone, Earth have created an album of cinematic scope that is ominous and timeless. A call from the mesa to the clouds, the sun, the desert. Featuring guitar legend Bill Frisell guesting on 3 songs. RIYL Ennio Morricone, Jonathan Kane. - Heath
The Radar Bros. are yet another second (or third) tier Merge band that gets lost in the shuffle. The play a brand of slowly unfolding, epic rock that I'd called slowcore if that didn't evoke countless boring, anonymous acts. There is little of Putnam's former bands (Medicine, Maids of Gravity) shoegaze tendencies. Instead, what distinguishes them is a sound that, despite its easy recline, is bright, airy, and wide open--not at all suffocating like most bands that choose to go this route. It evokes a hazy, stoned California environment just as well as all those Laurel Canyon hippies of yore. Imagine if David Gilmour moved to the Hollywood Hills in '68, hooked up with Arthur Lee, and cut a whole album that sounds like "Fat Old Sun" or "Green is the Colour" meets Van Dyke Parks. This was their first LP for Merge, and still stands as their best. - Jason
Less noisy and definitely more accessible than most of his work with the Red K(C)rayola, Mayo Thompson's lone solo album is an oddball pop gem that never fails to amaze me. It has an outsider, Syd/Skip sort of feel to it, but 'Corky's' is wierd in a more playful and coherent way. The song structures are intentionally strange and continually side-step the chord changes and notes that you would expect to hear, preferring to go where other songwriters refuse to, or are scared to. The lyrics almost up the ante on the music as far as the weirdness factor is concerned, but somehow they fit so perfectly to the music that they enhace it to an even higher degree of brilliance. This album is a true one of a kind piece of work, chock full of really beautiful music and lyrical imagery that has a strange folk-pop identity you won't find elsewhere. Recently reissued on Drag City vinyl with a bonus 7"! - Cyrus
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