It should come as no surprise that there is an album in Nick Cave's oeuvre called Prayers on Fire; a fascination with the dark, (self-)destructive side of religion is more than evident in his later work with the Bad Seeds. While there might not be any of the explicit Biblical imagery on Prayers on Fire that Cave would later ejaculate, the title of the album is apt, and its aptness is revealed almost immediately. Over the tribal thud of floor toms, shards of trebly guitar, the throb of an org...   [ read more ]

CD $7.59

Future rock historians may point to the early 2000s as the point at which hardcore died -- not because of the creeping influence of emo or the hegemony of major record labels, but because that's when hardcore bands decided that pretentious literary references and arty song titles were cool. Hence the band name Anterrabae, for example. In the proto-chick-lit novel {-I Never Promised You a Rose Garden}, Anterrabae was the name of a god forever falling to earth in a shower of fire -- at seve...   [ read more ]

CD $13.28

Paul Whiteman's versatile orchestra was well suited to carry out his symphonic approach to jazz, and while he didn't exactly manage to tame the beast and turn it into uptown classical, his 1920s and 1930s recordings did show that jazz was capable of carrying a then previously unheard level of sophistication. This interesting set collects pieces done between 1923 and 1936, including the sturdy title tune, "Whiteman Stomp," a swirling arrangement of "St. Louis Blues," and the frenzied {&"Se...   [ read more ]

CD $14.23