Spring normally provides a feeling of optimism here at Chez Dots, but spirits are particularly high this year with the prospect of our first ever shows in Romania at the end of this month. Now, two concerts are confirmed in Control Club, Bucharest on 20th and 21st May.
The first evening will feature a set from Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman, plus a short show from LPDs while The Dots will play their current repertoire in its entirety on the 21st.
Sadly the previously announced EK solo show in Athens slated for 14th and 15th appear to be canceled as the promoter no longer replies to emails. Another opportunity will surely arise there.
NEW RELEASES:
EDWARD KA-SPEL/The Painted River of Regrets (vinyl LP)
Just released by Beta-Lactam Ring records in an edition of 300 copies. A delirious voyage to a melancholy corner of the universe. It costs 20 Euros plus 8 for postage /packing inside Europe and 10 further afield.
Also recent…
1. LEGENDARY PINK DOTS/Plutonium Blonde CD… we think it’s a landmark. Available now: 15 Euros.
2. EDWARD KA-SPEL/Dream Logik 2 CD…. we have the limited and luxuriously packaged double CD version at 20 Euros (postage inside Europe is 4 Euros, 6 outside). PLEASE ENQUIRE BEFORE ORDERING as very few left in stock.
3. EDWARD KA-SPEL/Dream Logik 1-3 (4 x LP plus exclusive CD)… a vinyl box set in an edition of 400 copies encompassing the entire Dream Logik project… Seriously beautiful. It will be available in October. It costs 65 Euros (plus 12 for postage inside Europe and 18 outside).
4. LEGENDARY PINK DOTS/Chemical playschool 8/9 (2CD)… seems to have been out-of-print forever. Now reissued by Beta-lactam Ring as gloriously as you’d expect from this fine label. Imminent… 20 Euros (plus 4 for postage inside Europe and 6 outside). 
5. The T-shirts… two of them and thank you to those who designed them and everybody else who entered the competition. They cost 25 Euros each but please enquire about availability and sizes.
6. MARTIJN DE KLEER/The Stranger it gets (Part One) CDR… basement recordings from the 90s in five dimensional lysergic glory. Touching acoustic songs, explosive space exploration. Lovingly home-made CDR release- an hour of music. It costs 15 Euros.
7. MARTIJN DE KLEER/The Stranger it gets (Part Two) CDR… second installment of the stranger basement tapes. 15 Euros…
8. THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS/ Alchemical Playschool CD only… regular edition of long out-of-print and screamingly rare release. 15 Euros.
9. THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS/Live in Paris 2007 CDR… probably the best sounding live release in the Dots’ history. A remarkable night. 15 Euros.
FRIENDS & RELATIONS
Keep your eyes peeled for a new CD by long term LPD friends PHALLUS DEI who recently reunited to record a glorious CD. Highlight for me was the performance of guest John Walker (of Walker Brothers fame) who produces a vocal so touching it brought tears to these eyes.
A LINK
We’d like to bring your attention to www.loveandloudcolours.com… this is a website dedicated to Edward Ka-Spel’s book of lyrics which was released a few years ago. The site has been updated and visitors will find a section where Edward reveals the origins for many of his outpourings.
BEAUTIFUL THINGS THAT CAME OUR WAY
ES/ Sateenkaarisuudelma
Available as a beautiful double album release and as a double CD. Quite honestly if the amount of love and devotion poured into this album was contagious (I hope it is) then we could seriously talk about the dawn of a New Age of earth. Nothing sweet here, this is music that lifts the listener to a place he or she probably hoped would exist but somehow doubted it. I had to think of the best work of Terry Riley at odd (golden) moments, but that would be a lazy comparison ultimately.
Much has been written about the “Finnish free folk” movement, and there are an awful lot of releases out there which carry this categorization. My recommendation is to dive into the ocean with confidence… but this is a good place to start from.
KEMIALLISET YSTAVAT… anything
Just what is in the water in Finland? I confess I’m completely hooked on the music that emerges from a small community of musicians and non-musicians in this remote Northern country. Rarely have I heard such a glorious union of technology and anti-technology .Rarely have I encountered such care, such feeling in modern music… Ah, I’m ranting… Kemialliset Ystavat is a wonderful, special and unique band and I heartily recommend their entire catalogue. Check out releases on Fonal records, Secret Eye records and Beta-lactam ring records (Thanks to Chris at BLRR for introducing me to this group).
UTON… anything
Also from Finland… A myriad of fantastic releases in all formats. Dig for a new perspective, you will not regret this….
SVARTBAG
I was given this CD by a kind record store owner in Copenhagen, and what a beauty it is!!! Perhaps there are echoes of the sadly missed Godspeed You Black Emperor, but that comparison does this Danish band a disservice. Very much an individual sound to this CD on the Rump Recordings label. Charged, ecstatic. Utterly uplifting in these sepia times.
THE JOHN MORAN CORPORATION
Sometimes a CD comes along that makes you want to fling open the windows and scream about to the rest of the World (only that would of course interfere with the beautiful music). In the case of John moran, it wasn’t one but 2 albums that turned up in the mail box.. Psychedelic in the broadest sense, tuneful, intelligent, happy, sad – don’t know where to stop. John is from Australia and his CDs are on the Puzzle Factory label. Seek him out, and buy his music – you will not regret this.
UN FESTIN SAGITAL
Title: Epitafio a la Permanencia
Imagine Christian Vander and Pierre Henry collaborating on a lost masterpiece when they were both at the peaks of their powers… Imagine the master tape turning up in Chile… Imagine it’s reputation preceded it and turned out to be EVEN BETTER. Un Festin Sagital is a group I’d never heard of before, but I reckon I’ll spend the next few years hearing them again and again such is the depth of this debut. Purchase from < www.blrrecords.com > now before it vanishes.
ARIEL KALMA
Beta-Lactam Ring has given Ariels’ first insanely rare album a long overdue re-release and it’s a glory. Lots of beautiful bonus material as well. We loved this record for years at Chez Dots… Hearing it with this kind of clarity was akin to waking up after a long Winter’s sleep.
