LIVE AND KICKING
Meat Beat Manifesto play a couple shows in Japan this weekend, Fridge announce a few new dates in England, Stars of the Lid announce a June/July USA tour and Legendary Pink Dots head back home to Holland following Saturday's performance in London - their first English performance in years.

WORK IN PROGRESS
If you have looked on the music page recently, you might have noticed the new addition of Ryoji Ikeda. This page is a work-in-progress and still has a way to go before it comes up to brainwashed standards. Yes I know there are a few releases missing and a full discography too but fear not, as we are working on making it more complete. For now enjoy the visually appealing website.

WARP PEEL SESSIONS
From Warp in the UK and various affiliates in the USA comes 4 Peel Sessions from the vaults of John Peel and the BBC. Warp has thrived where many techno and dance labels have fallen because generally speaking, Warp's artist can stand up to the test of time circumventing the popular weekly trends in techno and dance music. Releasing Peel Sessions from techno artists can be a risky venture, especially since the BBC won't release the rights of the sound recordings usually for a good few years. In techno and dance music, a week is a lifetime. (Just walk into the hippest techno and dance stores and try and find something older than two weeks.)
The first in the series is Autechre from 1995 - a simpler time from the boys as they were younger and a lot more humble. The tunes are simple campared to anything from them in the last two years, yet inviting. This e.p. follows their usual style - 3 tracks and about 25 minutes.
Next up is Boards of Canada from July of last year. This three tracker is only about 16 minutes but features the "bonus song" featured on Matador's US release of "Music Has the Right to Children" - for this you could either take or leave this release. If you bought the import Warp release last year, you might want to get this instead of shelling out the money for another copy of the full-lengther, if you have the Matador release, you might want to hold off since you're only getting a new version of Aquarius and Olson.
The Black Dog is the third in the series with the session from 1995. This is most likely the best bargain of the set - 5 tracks and over 30 minutes of music. Tweaky and chirpy in spots, this 4 year old techno has its own naive charm. It is probably the most 'dated' of the set but is not for a minute any less enjoyable. The Roland 303 interplay with middle eastern samples can be quite hypnotising...
Finally, we have Plaid's session from last year. The pulsing 4/4 time beats will keep your head nodding and the loops will hold your interest, unfortunately for only a mere 17 minutes. If you're a fan of the Plaid album from last year, this is a good pick for you. - Jon Whitney

MUCHO MACHO, "THE LIMEHOUSE LINK"
Romford, England's Mucho Macho deliver a damned good party album, although it's one I feel I've heard before. Their style is Big Beat and they stick awfully close to The Chemical Brothers musical blueprint. I suppose if you're going to copy someone, you can't go wrong with copying artists most everyone likes - but where The Brothers go wrong, Mucho Macho know how to make it right. They keep their tunes short and sweet, and most don't lull halfway through. "Rockley Sands" is pure funk, sounding like a mix of Lonnie Smith's "I Can't Stand It" and The Sofa Surfer's "The Plan." "S.K.O.O.B.Y." has to be the album's highlight, with it's breakneck House beats peppered with a cute chorus and Latin flavor. The album's only letdown is "Backstreet Love," the obligatory Chemical Brothers-like vocal track, where very bland female vocals repeat very trite lyrics over tinny beats and horrible synth washes. Couldn't they get The Chems to give them Beth Orton's number?!? This aside, it's a fun and extremely funky album, one that would play just as well on a pirate radio shows it would at your favorite meat market dance club. - Jason Olariu

THE CHURCH... PLUS SOME
Three years after the original release, Cooking Vinyl and Thirsty Ear have presented this new version of "Magician Among The Spirits" - yet another overlooked album from Australian esoteric rock veterans, The Church. This new edition is only packed with four additional tracks from their "Come Down" single. Didn't hear it in 1996? Probably because after the phenomenal release/commercial disaster of Sometime Anywhere, Arista and The Church parted ways. I personally think some of The Church's best music has been released in the 90s - this album along with Sometime Anywhere and Priest=Aura are testiments to that. The songs are original, well thought out and gracefully flowing - walking the line between rock gems like their early period and introspective candle-lit room music, similar to the more recent stuff. It's a gentle blend of droney distorted guitars, intelligent melodies, with Eastern-influcenced violin and lush strings in spots. The production is slick but never impersonal. So, if you missed your chance three years ago, here's your chance to catch it now. - Jon Whitney

LEGENDARY PINK DOTS IN BRUSSELS
The Botanique in Brussels is really a nice concert venue. As it's name suggests it's part of the botanical gardens of Brussels. Inbetween the gardens there are a few concert halls and in one of them the Legendary Pink Dots played. I wondered whether they had locked their section of cannabis plants in the botanical garden. The concert hall itself was high and had a dome. The stage was very big.
When I came in Ryan just started doing his Twilight Circus show. He was dressed up for the summer with slippers and bermuda shorts. And he had his hair cut. But here in Holland there's a saying, the fox loses his hair but not his tricks.
The Edward Ka-Spel solo set was the first time in the almost 14 years I know the Legendary Pink Dots that I saw him solo. It wasn't really a solo set, he was never alone on stage. Edwin, Niels and especially Phil played along with various songs. But most surprising was the appearance of Edward's wife Nienke on stage. It was only her second appearance on stage (Mexico City last year was the first one). It gave a new dimension to the concert.
The Legendary Pink Dots were great as ever. The setlist was the same as in the previous concert in Aachen which I saw almost 7 weeks ago, except that they now also played Citadel as encore. The whole concert lasted about 3 and a half hours.
I was hoping to buy the new live CD, but they still hadn't received them from Poland. So for the people that want to order the live CD from TeKa or already have done this, you'll probaly have to wait until after the short Poland tour in 2 weeks. - Erik Gibbels

THE CASTLE
Hyped as this years The Full Monty by Roger Ebert, I went in expecting the worst, skeptical about the best, and I encountered something in between. An Australian film, The Castle deals with a man's fight to save his home from "compulsory acquisition" by a money-grabbing, family-destroying capitalist machine who would like to expand the airport that already encroaches on this man's backyard. Darryl, along with his wife, children, and few neighbors, undertake a very low-budget, grass-roots campaign in hopes of retaining their neighborhood. The movie, narrated by Darryl's youngest son (who strikingly resembles the Baby Ruth-eating character in Goonies), traces all of their attempts, from local and magistrate courts to Australia's high court. There are a few funny moments, but otherwise the film falls into the trap so often found in recent movies: redundancy and predictability. Although, it might be worth the price of admission to hear Darryl's by-the-seat-of-his-pants lawyer declare the actions of compulsory acquisition unconstitutional based on the "vibe" of the order. - Carter Adams

ELECTION
This may be one of the best movies I will see this year. Matthew Broderick actually plays a creep. Reese Witherspoon plays an overachieving nerd. Some other stuff happens. It reminded me of Rushmore, which is is the best movie of the decade. But I'm not reviewing Rushmore. So, Rushmore made me laugh very mucho. And best of all, it wasn't a "soundtrack" movie. Zowie.- Thomas Guttadauro

THE BURBS
I'd like to start by saying that this is one of my all time favorite movies. I can watch this film over and over again. However, this is the first time I've seen it in it's original format on DVD. First off, being a big fan of this film I was excited to see a 7 minute alternative ending on the DVD. It may not be the better ending but it's wonderful to see this rare piece of film. The story is set in a modern day suburb. A new family, the Klopeks, moved into the neighborhood months ago, nobody has seen them nobody know who they are. One day they see them in their backyard, digging. What are they digging? nightcrawlers? graves??? 3 of the neighbors discover that another neighbor is missing, could the Klopeks have murdered him? They try to find more information on the Klopeks and find out who they really are. I strongly suggest you check out this film, there isn't a single flaw in it, the Jerry Goldsmith score is outstanding as well as the acting talent. Staring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern and some other guys, not an intentional comedy but you won't stop laughing. - John Beck

Nice to hear about your revelations, I'll be sure to send you one of those "Congratulations on Your Self Actualization" cards from Hallmark along with "We'll come visit you on basket weaving day" cards. How do I get this mail???