4AD 1995 / Red House Painters / Kendra Smith / Lisa Gerrard / Tarnation / Mojave 3 / Air Miami / The Amps

1995


DAD 5005 - Red House Painters / Ocean Beach
Released March 28 1995

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Red House Painters has always been Mark Kozelek's project, but Ocean Beach represents the first record that is almost entirely a solo project. Not that that distinction has made a great change in the music -- Ocean Beach is a spare, gentle, nearly painfully introspective folk-rock album that draws more from Simon & Garfunkel than Bob Dylan. Kozelek reigns in the droning, experimental tendencies of the group's first full-length album, yet he is more generous with his melodies and arrangements than the band's second untitled record. While Red House Painters remains very arty and self-conscious, Ocean Beach shows the singer/songwriter breaking out of his shell ever so slightly, bringing more fully developed songs and melodies with him. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

CAD 5006 - Kendra Smith / 5 Ways of Disappearing
Released May 30 1995

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Five Ways of Disappearing marks Smith's return to recording, and the album reflects both her psychedelic background and the more ethnic/folky material she creates now. Songs like "Aurelia Zebulon" and "Temporarily Lucy" are heavy, droning pieces bordering on gothic, while "In Your Head" is a demure pop song, and "Maggots" is an odd tune with a nonsensical chorus of "maggots/do-do-do-do-do." Her deadpan vocal delivery adds another layer of individuality to an offbeat album by an offbeat artist. - Heather Phares, All Music Guide

GAD 5009 - Lisa Gerrard / The Mirror Pool
Released August 21 1995

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Lisa Gerrard was so indelibly and obviously a part of what made Dead Can Dance what it is that it's little wonder that The Mirror Pool feels essentially like a continuation of that band's haunting, vast atmospheres. Without Brendan Perry's deep, rolling voice as a contrast, Gerrard's sky-sweeping abilities transform the entire recording into a truly mystical experience. The use of Australia's Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra on many tracks continues the tradition of strong arrangements in Gerrard's work, thanks to the abilities of John Bonnar, who conducts as well as performs at other points. Future collaborator Pieter Bourke contributes everything from vocals to tabla and claps, while other guests add similar touches. Gerrard handles everything else, as always demonstrating her excellent abilities on the yang t'chin, while when it comes to singing she again is practically peerless, her multi-octave range demonstrating both power and astonishing control. If there is a slight criticism of The Mirror Pool, it's that as a collection it's almost too overwhelming -- the contrast between more direct and loftier performances on Dead Can Dance releases add immeasurably to their impact. It's hard to argue with the end results, though -- Gerrard's singing is just so rich and dramatic that even the smallest complaint seems puny. Her overdubbed choir effects are particularly striking, especially when she's exploring different styles within the same song. Several cuts make their studio debut after having been part of the Dead Can Dance live repertoire, as partially captured on Toward the Within; two standouts in particular are "Sanvean" and "Persian Love Song." Others, such as "Ahjon" and the immediately following "Glorafin" seem to derive from Gerrard's Dead Can Dance piece "Bird." There's even an attractive adaptation of Handel's composition "Largo," which suits the mood perfectly, and on which Gerrard's vocals are absolutely perfect. - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

CAD 5010 - Tarnation / Gentle Creatures

Released September 18 2005

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Given that Tarnation's frontwoman Paula Frazer is best known for her work with the L.A. post-punk band Frightwig -- and since Gentle Creatures is, after all, a product of the arty 4AD label -- the absolute-torch-and-twang authenticity that defines the record is a wonderful surprise; ethereal yet earthy, the album's strength derives from all of its seeming contradictions. Powered by Frazer's deft songwriting and smoky vocals, Gentle Creatures is melancholy and gorgeous, its love songs and ballads cloaked in reverb and gothic imagery. What Tarnation shares with its 4AD stablemates is an uncanny knack to build and maintain a rich, dense atmosphere; the record is dusky and otherworldly, haunted by the spirits of failed relationships, late-night radio transmissions, and other ghostly presences. - Jason Ankeny All Music Guide

CAD 5013 - Mojave 3 / Ask Me Tomorrow
Released October 16 1995

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After the spare, delicate power of Slowdive's final album, Pygmalion, with influences like the Durutti Column and Brian Eno readily apparent, it would have made perfect sense for Mojave 3 to continue in that vein. Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell had a much different idea in mind, though, and Ask Me Tomorrow, though even further away from Slowdive's shoegaze beginnings, is just as intoxicatingly intriguing. Arguably it remains the group's high point, flashes of inspiration here and there; as the band grew more straightforwardly authentic and less swathed in an aural cocoon, much of their uniqueness went with them. Here, though, both Goswell and Halstead -- along with drummer Ian McCutcheon (more often than not using brushes), pianist Christopher Andrews, and some guests -- tapped into a drowsy beauty that ran parallel to the burgeoning alt-country movement without completely sounding like it yet. Slowdive's cover of "Some Velvet Morning" is a good reference point -- everything is swathed in echo still, but the emphasis on slide guitar twang and a gently down-home feeling, plus some occasional soft cello, makes the album a hushed masterpiece. Andrews' piano often takes the lead, further emphasizing Mojave 3's own approach, while the Goswell/Halstead vocal combination suggests a cousin to the killer Chris Eckman/Carla Torgeson blend in the Walkabouts. Ask Me Tomorrow starts and ends with its best songs; "Love Songs on the Radio," also the band's debut single, sets the tone perfectly, Goswell's sweet but strong voice and Halstead's guitar in perfect balance. "Mercy," meanwhile, concludes things on a dramatic, powerful note; without completely exploding, it's the most fiery song hands down, with Andrews' steady, doom-laden piano and the ever more strung-out guitar the bed for an at once soothing and warning vocal duet, Goswell and Halstead closing the album with a final a cappella singing sigh. - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

BAD 4014 - Air Miami / Fuck You Tiger
Released October 16 1995

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It's a shame that Air Miami didn't produce more material; the four songs on Fuck You, Tiger are just as wonderful as Me, Me, Me, the album they preceded. The EP is ostensibly a single for the album's "I Hate Milk," but the remix that appears trades off the hyper guitars for a more synthetic late-80s art-rock feel. In general, these songs are more based on the 4AD back catalog than the jangle of Unrest (Mark Robinson and Bridget Cross' former band) -- "Warm Miami May" has an almost New Romantic feel, and "See-Through Plastic" indulges a more classic pop sound. Since Me, Me, Me was such a beautiful but painfully small album, Fuck You, Tiger makes a great companion piece. - Nitsuh Abebe, All Music Guide

CAD 5016 - The Amps / Pacer
Released October 30 1995

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Initially, Kim Deal planned the Amps to be a solo project as she waited for her sister and fellow Breeder Kelley Deal to finish recovering from heroin addiction. Soon, the Amps flowered into a full-fledged band, recording material intended for both Kim's solo project and the third BreedersJim MacPherson and two local Dayton musicians, Deal recorded Pacer in the summer of 1995, releasing it in the fall. Appropriately, the album is raw, punky, and amateurish -- it's lo-fi garage punk. Not only does Deal sound recharged by recording with a new band in such a rushed atmosphere, she contributes her most immediate and bracing songs since Pod, the first Breeders album. Pacer somewhat recalls the Pixies, but only in the sense that both bands rely on amateurish enthusiasm to rock, and both bands have an off-kilter sense of song structure. In that sense, the Amps also take a great deal from Guided by Voices, who the Breeders covered on their 1994 Head to Toe EP. But the key to Pacer is its primitive energy. From the brutally pounding "Empty Glasses" and the charmingly sleazy "Tipp City" to the singsong pop of "Pacer" and the fractured melodic rock of "Hoverin" and "Breaking the Split Screen Barrier," Pacer is exciting, gut-level rock & roll. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide