JEFFREY MORGAN’S MEDIA BLACKOUT #622.262!

Oh Susanna – Soon The Birds (Outside Music) :: Ain’t nothin’ I like to do more on a gloomy day than listen to a large-lunged songstress with the ethereal voice of an angel casually croon lines like: “Black is the color of your dark, dark soul” and “They’ve come much too late for by rope I am hanged” and “Your wretched face you cannot scour” and... Hold on, I think the pilot light on my gas oven is out; lemme go light a match and look.

Diamanda Galás – “Wild Women With Steak-Knives: The Homicidal Love Song For Solo Scream” (Mute) :: Exactly!

Martha’s Trouble – Anchor Tattoo (Aisling) :: It’s not often I hear an album that’s an authentic joy to listen to, but I’ll be gosh darned if this isn’t one of them. Not only is the uplifting music refreshingly bright and poppy, but Jen Slocumb’s distinctively charming vocals shine through with a bright light of their own that perfectly compliments the proceedings. Best of all, the insightfully inspiring lyrics won’t let you down when you require a much-needed lift.

True Widow – As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Hearth (Kemado) :: As if getting the “Longest Album Title Of The Year” award wasn’t enough, True Widow have managed to build on that impressive accolade by creating the most disconcerting disc of the year to date. The ponderous melancholy music is a heavier than heavy dirty destorto cross between Leigh Stephen’s Blue Cheer and Jimmy Page’s Led Zeppelin—impressive, I know—while the echoey female vocals sound like Nico auditioning for Portishead and the echoey male vocals sound like Lou Reed auditioning for Nirvana—addictive, I know. And when they both duet...

SIZZLING PLATTER OF THE WEEK: Gangpol & Mit – The 1000 Softcore Tourist People Club (Ipecac) :: I’ve got a good mind to join this club and beat myself over the head with it because this is nothing less than the craziest retroactive synthesizer album you’re likely to hear this year. You’ll turn on to its classic primitive Telex pedigree! You’ll tune in to its even cooler Casio meets ARP aesthetic! You’ll drop out to its Tull meets Crimson prog rock passages! Then you’ll awaken to its eerie Walter Carlos lounge lizard Theremin vibe and anxiously ask yourself that timeless musical question: Well, how did I get here?

Timothy Leary – You Can Be Anyone This Time Around (Douglas) :: I bet you wish you’d recorded an acid rap album with Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Miles, Steven Stills, and John Sebastian!

Mark Farner – Grand Funk: Live Album (Capitol) :: “Hey, I keep getting shocks off this mic, can you switch the ground around? I know it’s a hell of a rush but I can’t take too many!”

Be seeing you!