Today I bought a couple of records from the budget section of a record shop in my town, they were ‘Paradiso’ by Kamerakino and ‘Calling Out of Context’ by Arthur Russell, less than 8 quid altogether. So…

Kamerakino- Metall Auf Eis

These guys are another of those wonderfully weird/weirdly wonderful bands that tend to come from, of all places (you guessed right) Germany. The album, out in Gomma, is fucking bizarre, some of it sounds like a German cabaret freaky Faust style thing while other songs are more of the Dawn of the Dead dizzee Zombie racket style. Erm, yeah. Then there is also a couple of normal-ish things (I mean, the type of things you would expect in a Gomma release), amongst which I would highlight the song I’m posting, Metall Auf Eis, which sounds like one of those Teutonik Disaster lost hobbit rock neu wave gems, only the drums are less tinny (not necessarily a good thing) and there are strings and everything.

Arthur Russell- The Platform on the Ocean

This guy’s stuff sounds so ahead of its time (and even this time) both in what refers to its structure and its production that it is a bit silly to try to categorise it, mention influences and followers etc. As the pitchfork people wisely observe, in the front cover photo Arthur Russell even wears a crooked trucker cap 20 years before they were (‘ironically’) trendy!

Whatever, I hope we all agree that Arthur Russell, who started his musical career as a cellist working with Phillip Glass and stuff to later become the mastermind behind some of the most beautifully weird pieces of disco not disco ever released (under the monikers of Dinosaur L, Loose Joints etc.) is one of those few people who fully and truly deserve the title of genius. His music was a personal trip in which he could be avant garde as fuck but never forgot the importance of making the listener shake her hips (or gently bang her head, the ultimate gestures of approval). ‘Calling Out of Context’ is a demonstration of this, a compilation of tracks released this year by those Audika Records imps. It is full of experimental pop, intimate, sexy and dreamy music that exists in its own beautiful island but never turns it back to you, the amazingly warm voice of Russell tends a bridge over the sea and takes you in gently. Which brings us to ‘The Platform on the Ocean’, an absolutely astonishing fuzzy (that’s a cello, yeah) sort of Motorik (had to say it, it’s like Can on morphine!) multi-layered echoey coral reef of a song that with its murky production engulfs you like warm waters, yay, you can feel the currents taking you deep into the sea, listen to the whales, what’s that, a jellyfish! Don’t worry, it’s all good.

(Disclaimer- I haven’t smoked any dope while writing this. Do kids still call it dope? Am I out of the wave? It’s scary to be out of the wave)

By the way, this post is so budget it has discounted links, only the basics…sorry! And no pictures! We’re cheap! Also got wrong the label that published “Calling Out of Context” but now it’s corrected.