DRIFTING ACROSS AMERICA
News from the Kranky Kompound: Billions has begun to announce the dates for this fall's Labradford/godspeed you black emperor! tour. Dates are posted on the kranky site.

BRAIN IN THE WIRE
The July issue of The Wire magazine from England features a cute and respectable blurb on both Brainwashed.com and the two first singles on Brainwashed Recordings from Thread/Coil and Edward Ka-Spel.

BRAINWASHED RADIO
One step closer to a streaming audio station completely hosted at Brainwashed, imagineradio.com now hosts a radio station programmed with brainwashed and somewhat related artists. click here to tune in!

THE FLAMING LIPS, "THE SOFT BULLETIN"
Even though The Lips have bolstered their old indie psychedelia lite sound with string sections, minimal electronics, and studio trickery not heard since their "Hit To Death In The Future Head" album, they've seem to have crafted the perfect 70's AM radio pop gem. Sure, there are still moments of heady weirdness, Wayne Coyne's quivering Neil Young-ish singing, and drugged out rock jams. But, there is also vocal harmonies (what song isn't made better by Oooo's and Aahhh's?!?) to die for, making this the album Jim O'Rourke tried to make with "Eureka." A lot of the tunes have a Beatles kind of flavor: "Suddenly Everything Has Changed" sounds like an out take from "Let It Be" with Phil Spector going nutty with the strings, and "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" could be a demo for "Tomorrow Never Knows". "The Spark That Bled" is pure Lips experimentation with a whole lot of sweetening, and "The Spiderbite Song" is an updated version of Fleetwood Mack at their creative peak. The thing I really liked about this album, besides the music, is the production. In many of the tunes, the drums are right at the front-line, sometimes trampling over the guitars. Although they're both great songs, did we really need two versions (which are pretty much the same) of "Race For The Prize" and "Waitin' For A Superman"? The Lips new direction with this album is a welcome one, and it can't get any better than this. - Jason Olariu

LEGENDARY PINK DOTS
SING WHILE YOU MAY (in Russian) - The second compilation from Legendary Pink Dots in the 90s features the same title of the first, but instead of Spanish, this time around it's in Russian. All but the website and copyright information on this disc is written in Cyrillic fonts. The collection is a Russian pressing and is made available over here through a few places. The price is inexpensive and offers an overview a little bit less varied than "Canta Meintra Puedas". The three exclusive tracks on here includes two new songs, "Interflora Overdrive" (parts 1 and 2) and an alternate recording of "Supper at J's". Supper at J's isn't different enough to justify a completely different version outside of the one on Edward Ka-Spel's The Blue Room, while the new songs are decent but hardly tremendous. "Interflora Overdrive" are instrumental jams which sound like the band was listening to entirely too much Can and Neu! for hours before recording. If you're new to the Dots, it's not a bad starting point, featuring songs from The Lovers, Crushed Velvet Apocalypse, The Maria Dimension, Shadow Weaver and From Here You'll Watch the World Go By. The selection could very well be on purpose songs that are not their "favorites" that live on stage - someone seeing them live might get this as companion to the material they heard there. The selling points: it's limited, everything's in Russian and it's priced as a domestic. - Jon Whitney
LIVE AT THE METRO - As brilliant as they are on record, they're an even more fulfulling experience to take in live. The tracklisting is a good assortment of songs spanning the various styles and history of the Dots: a new song ("Pain Bubbles"), a few from 1998's "Nemesis Online", a few from 1997's "Hallway of the Gods", and four updated classics. The real treats here are Aarzhklahh Olgevezh, Green Gang 98 (with extended guitar intro and chaotic "freakout" section), Saucers Over Chicago (with an always amusing spoken story from Edward, different each night), Fates Faithful Punchline (achingly beautiful horn work by Niels) and Andromeda (which is similar to the updated version on 1998's "The Pre-Millennial Single" and is what I figure will be the closest I'll ever come to seeing 60's Pink Floyd). Some minor quibbles that keep this disc from being perfect: "Green Gang 98" and "Zoo" have some sound issues, a clipping/skipping sort of sound that may be due to how the cd was mastered. It's annoyingly noticeable on headphones, not so much on a home stereo though. "Grain Kings 98" isn't quite as tight as it should be and Edward's vocals are muffled through much of it. And, then there's the missing songs from the set: "Princess Coldheart", Dissonance", "Cheating the Shadow", "Blacklist", "Casting the Runes" and "Hellsville" ... understandable since it would have required two discs for the entire set. The booklet is nicely done with 14 pages of color live shots of the band. "Live at the Metro" isn't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it. - Mark Weddle
SHARE THE DAY/DREAM STEALER - The two songs on this 7" were recorded February-March of 1999 and neither are all that similar to the tracks on Edward's latest solo album, 1998's "The Blue Room". "Dream Stealer" begins with a few minutes of dark, atmospheric sound washes which serve as background for Edward's poetic spoken words. The latter half of the track is instrumental, switching gears to a beautifully solemn piano melody. "Share the Day" is piano, keyboard and vocal based with dabs of percussion and female backing vocals courtesy of Lisa. It's a gentle and pretty, head nodding sort of song as you sing along with the swirling "share the day, share the day" chorus. Good stuff, a must for any Pink Dot/EKS junkie. Now for the aesthetics, which is at least 1/2 of what makes these 7" singles so cool: the vinyl is a gorgeous, transparent light orange with etching "cease your lonely mourning". The cover artwork by John Beck and the enclosed postcard by Daniel McKernan are both neat, the former being an image of five blurry figures on a hillside and the latter being an image of a Picasso-esque woman in a chair. And, of course, a black with orange print "brainwashed" sticker to put on your car to show those "in the know" how cool you are! There's only 1027 of 'em so get on it. Sound clips are available at the Brainwashed Recordings web page. - Mark Weddle

PIANO MAGIC, "LOW BIRTH WEIGHT"
How much can I get away with saying 'blissful,' 'dreamy,' 'swirling,' or 'pretty'? That said, this wonderful disc is a great variety of distorted guitars, chimy electronics, pulsing percussion, pretty vocals and pleasantly dark tunes. Excellent for the dark nights with the window wide open and the breeze gently blowing. For those not in the know, Piano Magic is a London-based collective with one main person, Glen Johnson. The rest are revolving door guest vocalists and instrumentalists, each listed on this particular release with their birth weight (gotta love those clever, witty Brits). With a formula like this, it's not surprising that each track maintains their own distinct identity while you can still tell they're all children from the same parents. Rest assured from Rocket Girl, no animals were harmed in the production of the artwork...- Jon Whitney

NIGHTMARES ON WAX, "CAR BOOT SOUL"
Gone are the days of blippy techno house records from Warp. Nightmares on Wax was part of that trend in the early 90s and have thankfully stuck around to mature. If you can't tell by the cover artwork and text, Nightmares seem to be taking influence from the 70s urban American culture. This could easily be their attempt at a score to Superfly or Shaft. Smooth lush strings, delicate guitars, organic sounding drums and cool organs make this an enjoyable chill out release on a lazy Sunday afternoon with your favorite cold beverage.- Jon Whitney

RED SNAPPER, "MAKING BONES"
I'm completely confused as to what this group is trying to accomplish here. Each song takes the disc into a different direction, but nothing goes anywhere, does anything or seems to have a purpose. You feel more like you're in a boat trying to row in different directions - and spinning around in circles - rather than being navigated through a journey. This disc has its token bad rap and generic soul female vocals, but the rest is sleepy techno tunes - making me wonder if it's supposed to be a discount Massive Attack. The sounds are all presets, the drum patterns never vary throughout each track and the writing is terrible. I honestly thought Warp had a little more respect than to put out half-assed craptacular records like this one. - Jon Whitney

MONDAY
A Guy Called Gerald - Peel Sessions CD/LP (UK)
Co-Fusion - Cycle Remixes 2x12" [mixes by Buckfunk 3000, FLR & Daz Saund/Ben Tisdall] (Sublime, Japan)
Innerzone Orchestra [Carl Craig] - Programmed 5x10" [limited edition] (Talkin' Loud, UK)
Orbital - Nothing Left 12"/two CDEPs (FFRR, UK)
* Panasonic - Vakio LP (Mute/Blast First, UK)
* Andrea Parker - Kiss My Arp CD/limited CD/LP (Mo'Wax, UK)
Quannum [DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Latyrx] - Spectrum CD/LP (Mo' Wax, UK) TUESDAY
* Autechre - EP7 CDEP (nothing, US)
Scanner - Lukewarm Instrumentals CD (Beggars Banquet, US)
* Swans - Public Castration is a Good Idea live CD (Thirsty Ear, US)
* Various - Electro Lounge CD [electronic remixes of lounge/exotika classics by Q-Burns, Utah Saints, Uberzone, Meat Beat Manifesto, Gus Gus, mu-Ziq, Wagon Christ and more] (The Right Stuff/EMI, Canada)
Various - Excelsis 2 CD [dark Christmas music from a variety of artists] (Projekt, US)
Various - Om Lounge 2 CD (Om, US)
For a more comprehensive release schedule stretching far into the future, please check out the NEW RELEASES brought to you by Greg and Feedback Monitor.

STARS OF THE LID
Okay, so it was the Angels of Light tour and they were only opening, but nobody has seemed to mention their set on most of the reviews I have seen. This was phenomenal - two guys with simple guitars making beautiful waveforms, a stellar projection show made you feel like you were on the set of Poltergiest. The drones were wonderful and spacious, and I wished the night went on forever. Angels of Light headlined and they were okay, read last week's issue for their review. - Jon Whitney

SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT
Tom the Fish says "Bring your children!" This is quite possibly the best film of the year - far better than any of the big blockbuster hits that we have already seen. It makes fun of itself inside the industry where parent groups blame everything for the problems our kids are facing except themselves. Nobody is spared: targets for this satirical musical comedy include (but are not limited to) Saddam Hussein (who will most likely wage war against the USA after viewing the film), Wynona Ryder, parent groups and ALL Canadians. The only obstacle to get over when watching this is trying to hear the dialogue due to the laughter in the audience. Sit as close as possible to the speakers! - Jon Whitney

KING OF MASKS
Not a bad movie at all. Very good, well filmed, nice colors and settings. Moves along nicely. There's a monkey in it. The King of Masks is a street performer, in what I assume is 1920-30 china, who is afraid of losing his "art" when he dies with no heir to learn it's secrets. He adopts a young boy, but things don't turn out as planned. The only bad thing in this movie was a dues ex machina which saves the old man in the movie's last act. Otherwise, a very good movie. - Thomas Guttadauro

TEMPESTT BLEDSOE
Tempestt gave hope to the world that every man, woman and child will eventually have their own talk show. Tempestt enters the discount along with anyone else who: 1. was a kid on the Cosby show and 2. whose talk show competed with talk shows hosted by Charles Perez, Carnie Wilson and Gabrielle Cateris. Another killer for her career was her appearance on the short lived TV series, "Homeboys from Outer Space." Wow, who didn't see the cancellation of that one coming? I guess she can hope for a TV reunion show or just stay on the Hollywood Squares circuit...

MISFIRED MAIL
Subject: this fine Monday

Hello there, how are you all doing this fine monday?
Thanks for the wonderful lunch yesterday it was so nice to see Diane and Peter and of course the two of you! So, how hot is it there today? It is truly like a sauna here in the city, we are so lucky to have that a/c! How is bub feeling? We will be up there on Thursday night (overnight) so we will try to keep his mind off the surgery. If you would like to have dinner that would be fine or whatever is easiest for you. Since it is so late by the time we get up there we can just stop by McDonalds for a burger! Let us know either way! Tell bub hello and thanks for the Northfield Mount Herman shirts and shorts, they are great!

love you both

heather

I think "Bub" as a nickname is just about due to make a comeback, thanks Heather for your insight.

Thanks for the note, mom.

WASTE SOME TIME
Mr. www.xdude.com sure spent a lot of time designing his flash pages. It's pretty neat even if it seems like just another advertisement...

WASTE SOME MORE TIME
Check out www.superbad.com to spend an hour just clicking on more worthless stuff.

AND FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...
Be warned, it's rude, but some believe it's the real reason Why The Titanic Sunk.
Once again, if anybody has more exciting links, let us know!

GOTTA GET A TICKET TO WICHITA
"It's Raining Today: The Scott Walker Story (1967-70)"
Anita Lane "Dirty Pearl"
The Angels of Light "New Mother"
Stars of the Lid "Gravitational Pull vs. the Desire for an Aquatic Life"
David Bowie "Diamond Dogs"
Nick Drake "Time of No Reply"
Polar Bear s/t
Can "Sacrilege"
The Soft Machine s/t
Johnny Cash "at Folsom Prison and San Quentin"
Al Jabr "One Million and Three"
- Mark Weddle, Kansas