Aural Fixations

GHOST
Hypnotic Underworld
(Drag City)
Noted authorities like Jim DeRogatis and The Trouser Press Record Guide argue that psychedelia has nothing to do with drugs per se, but is music that moves your mind to another place. If that's true, then Ghost nearly embodies psychedelic music. Under the leadership of singer/guitarist Masaki Batoh, the Tokyo-based collective has consistently taken Western psychedelic rock and Japanese folk music into dimensions uninhabited by less restless folk. (more)

PROBOT
Probot
(Southern Lord)
Probot is one of the more intriguing side projects to rumble out of the superstar trenches. Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl spent his teenage years in 80s Washington, DC as a diehard fan of not only the hardcore he played in the Scream, but also of underground heavy metal. Probot is Grohl's way of paying tribute to the heroes of his pimple-faced years. (more)

TOM WAITS & CRYSTAL GAYLE
One From the Heart
(Columbia/Legacy/Sony Music Soundtrax)
Francis Ford Coppola's iconoclastic 1982 film One From the Heart was roundly dismissed at the time of its release; perhaps for that reason, many Tom Waits fans don't realize the soundtrack is essentially a Waits album. Written and recorded between his final Elektra disk Heartattack and Vine and his first Island record Swordfishtrombones, which began the experimental period for which he would become infamous, One From the Heart has more in common with his 70s incarnation than his 80s persona. (more)

THE WILDHEARTS
Riff After Riff
(Gearhead)
Way back in the dark ages of the Alternative Nation, i.e. 1993, a little band from England called the Wildhearts put out a record snottily titled Earth Vs. the Wildhearts. An amazing mixture of ravaged riffs, singalong choruses, witty lyrics and balls-to-the-wall performances, Earth Vs. generated a few minor hits in Jolly Olde, but stiffed in the US, despite a tour opening for AC/DC. As a result, while the band continued to put out records at home and in Japan (still their biggest fanbase), Earth Vs. was the last Wildhearts album to invade the colonies as anything but a prohibitively priced import. This made those of us who are fans of quality, melodic rock & roll very sad. (more)