DARKNESS FALLS OVER ENGLAND
Folks in the UK have reported receiving Coil's "Musick to Play in the Dark, Volume 2" this past week. So the arrival in various different countries can't be too far away,...

LEGENDARY PINK RADIO
A recent radio interview of Edward Ka-Spel by Jon Whitney and Daniel McKernan is now available in streaming real audio and text format on the LPD website. It concerns mostly the new album and their current tour.

DRIFTING TIME IS HERE AGAIN
Labradford have their third annual Festival of Drifting coming together for June 6-14. Featured artists include Papa M, Pole, Bruce Gilbert, and Robin Guthrie. For more info go to http://www.cmntours.org.uk/ .

LEGENDARY PINK DOTS, "A PERFECT MYSTERY"
For those of you who have the opportunity to see the tour for this new album, take it, and experience the unique space rock jam sessions that focus on this new material. Their new direction is improvisation and all-out jamming, and the music on this disc is some of a very joyous and new nature to the Pink Dots. The lyrics are wonderful, of course, sticking to Edward’s excellent story-telling style, but most of them have a more rhyme-schemed, verse, chorus, verse style that is very out of the ordinary for him. Niels van Hoornblower’s winds are throughout the disc, as well as Ryan Moore’s distinct dub style and The Silverman’s wonderfully eerie and spacey keyboards and effects. Martijn de Kleer mostly plays guitar, it seems, but also adds in superb violins on such tracks as "Skeltzer Spletzer." The CD really brings you back to the show, with a spellbinding and uplifting feeling - upbeat and more solemn tracks alike. As Edward said in a recent interview, a lot of the music on this disc "could never, in fact, be repeated." - Daniel McKernan

samples:

• Lent
• When Lenny Meets Lorca
• Condition Green

MARTIJN DE KLEER - FLOW, "SONGS AND PIECES"
This is the short and sweet solo debut from the guitarist of the Legendary Pink Dots. It's very simple, but beautiful, and at times reminds me of if the late Nick Drake would have had a slightly more country feel to him. Throughout the disc, Martijn plays acoustic guitar, fiddle, banjo, and handdrums. He also sings very simple lyrics that have a warm flow to them, about the road, birds, and the reflection of the moon in his lover's eyes. His solo style is very different from how he plays with the Dots, as I did not expect such a blend of acoustic rock, folk, and country. The result is surprising, but ultimately good and filled with a very down and out emotion. This CD-R was "recorded at home with 2 microphones & tapedeck, March 2000." It is limited to 100 copies, which are only available on their current tour. - Daniel McKernan

samples:

• Once a Road
• Sunflower
• Reflections

NICK CAVE, "THE SECRET LIFE OF THE LOVE SONG"
This disc on the King Mob label couples two spoken word lectures written by Cave: "The Secret Life of the Love Song" and "The Flesh Made Word", the former originally for the 1998 Vienna Poetry Festival and the latter for a 1996 BBC Radio broadcast. "The Secret Life.." is 48 and 1/2 minutes of Cave casually explaining the inspirations and minutiae of his proudest achievement: the love song. Cave deftly describes how the void left by the death of his father and the influence of the Bible drive him to write his love songs ... "my gloomy, violent, dark-eyed children. They sit grimly on their own and they do not play with the other songs." For Cave the love song is by definition sad, has a life of it's own and is ultimately a search for God: "the love song exists to fill, with language, the silence between ourselves and God." To help illustrate his points, music is interspersed with the spoken passages: the brief new song "West Country Girl" and beautifully sparse (vocal/piano/violin/bass/drums) new recordings of "People Ain't No Good", "Sad Waters", "Love Letter" and "Far From Me" with Susan Stenger of Band of Susans and Warren Ellis and Jim White, both of Dirty Three. The entire piece is indexed as 1 track. "The Flesh Made Word" is 17 minutes of just spoken word. Here Cave goes into great detail about his relationships with the Bible and his father and his growth as a writer and as a person. The disc comes packaged in a cd sized hardback book that contains 6 in studio b/w pictures and printed excerpts from the lectures. Nick Cave is a truly learned and brilliant artist ... this is a very interesting and insightful work that bears repeated listenings. It is absolutely essential for Cave fans and anyone else interested in passionate songwriting and the genius behind it ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• Secret 1
• Secret 2
• The Flesh Made Word
• West Country Girl

PLUXUS VS FRIDGE VS PLUXUS
Somebody musta missed announcing this release as it sort of magically appeared without warning. The music consists of three tracks totalling approximately eight minutes. The tracklisting merely only suggests that the second track is a Fridge track while the first and last are Pluxus - but with some kind of Fridge interference. It's a charming instrumental interplay of pretty melodies and electronic beats, but it's over all too quickly. Judging from the liner notes, Pluxus looks like a Swedish group, the record label (based in Philadelphia, PA) appears to be a collaborative effort between Box Theory Records and Space Foundation and this single is limited to 1,000 copies. Best of luck getting this one. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Pluxus - Tarta Och Raketer
• Fridge - All That
• Pluxus - Ar Jag Tunnharig

WHEN, "WRITER CAKEBOX - 1983-1998"
When is Lars Pedersen, longtime solo artist and former member of '80s experimental/industrial pioneers Holy Toy. Pedersen began recording as When in 1983 and to date has a back catalog of 7 albums. "WriterCakebox" is a 2 disc retrospective of those albums as well as a collection of numerous soundtrack, compilation and/or previously unreleased tracks. There's a lot to explore here with over 148 minutes of music spanning 15 years and numerous projects. I first became aware of When via the bizarre collage and pop of 1999's "Psychedelic Wunderbaum", also on Norway's Jester Records. When's previous work is in the same sort of surrealist sample vein, minus the psychedelic pop aspect. Anything and everything is a source for sound: orchestras (sampled and 'real'), drones, whistles, bells, rain, footsteps, music boxes, typewriters, animals, acoustic guitar, choirs, dialogue, chants, noise ... the list is practically endless. Pedersen's talent really shines on the soundtrack minded collage/soundscape pieces. He skillfully pieces together cohesive and dynamic tracks, some dark and ominous, some subtle and beautiful, others cartoon like or just plain weird. The songs from the '80s (ten of which have English vocals) are hit and miss and most sound dated now due to the gear used. I prefer the more recent 'pop' oriented songs like those found on "Psychedelic Wunderbaum". The packaging for this set is very sharp, as is all Jester product, with a 10 page insert with full color collage artwork and brief comments on many of the tracks. Altogether, "WriterCakebox" is a fascinating journey through an artist's repertoire, an artist you've most likely never heard and should. When's past only makes me more curious as to what When's future has in store ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• Asylum
• Death in the Blue Lake
• Intrepid Traveller
• Snowfish
• Time Ago

PANACEA, "BRASILIA"
What surprises me is that with all the different aliases Panacea goes under, this one didn't get a new alias. Reason being is that the music is quite an alarmingly different direction than Panacea, Squaremeter, Problem Child, or any other releases. It's out in the USA through Caipirinha (the follks who brought you the "Modulations" film) and is volume four in their Architettura series. It's minimal to the core and is absent of punchy beats, creepy samples and apocalyptic music, so fans of Panacea should bear that in mind. While it's a great background CD to listen to, there's not an incredible amount of variance between the tracks. The sounds he's come up with for the disc however are pretty unique and original for this disc, and I'd really enjoy for future releases to incorporate more of a mix between these sounds and the abrasive high energy stuff I've grown to know and love about him. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• We Have Never Arrived
• Suicidal-2
• Onerous (My Slickness)

IAN BODDY & CHRIS CARTER, "CAGED"
Also on the minimalist rhythmic tip this week, Chris Carter & Ian Boddy have joined together for the "Caged" CD release. The mesmerising and decadent low cool rhythms and music run deep and delicious throughout the entire disc. It amazes me that Chris Carter has pulled through in the last few years to release some of the mose surprisingly excellent music in his entire career. I have to admit I had not been a big fan of his post-Throbbing Gristle works alone or with Cosey Fanni Tutti until the 90s. "Small Moon," "Disobedience," and the live CD recorded at the Festival of Drifting, "Union" have all astounded me and solidified a place in my heart for them. According to their website, there's a renewed possibility of a collaborative recording with another post-TG band whose name begins with C!!! Well, back to this release, unfortunately it's limited, but should not be avoided. For all I know, it's only obtainable through www.chrisandcosey.co.uk. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Sub-Aura
• Concussed
• Caged

KID KOALA, "CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME"
Montreal's scratchmaster Kid Koala brings this tasty treat of 14 new tracks of grooving melodies, peculiar samples, breakbeats and scratches. It's entertaining, varied and linear from start to finish, featuring two tracks by Bullfrog, a rhythmic band in which Kid Koala fronts at the turntables. It seems like it would music to just chill out to, but the odd clips and effects thrown in add a lot of humor to the mood. Most of the tracks have tons of samples throughout, rewound and sped up and scratched about to mix right in with the groove of the back beats. One track even samples a man imitating a chicken, and somehow combines it with It falls short of 40 minutes however, but is good enough to keep going. Also included is a cute comic book starring Kid Koala and some Ninja Tunes. - Jon Whitney / Daniel McKernan

samples:

• Fender Bender
• Barhopper 1
• Like Irregular Chickens

PAN SONIC/CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE
Again on the minimalism tip, but this time completely absent of rhythm, this limited release is the result of another "Mort Aux Vaches" program on Holland's VPRO Radio. The problem with this release is that over the course of five tracks, just topping an hour, the notes barely change. It's almost as if somebody decided to hold down one note for the duration of the program and add a couple other notes here and there to make it slightly less boring. If you're a huge fan of either and need this in your collection, go right ahead, but it could easily be hacked up into a 5-10 minute track and sold at a discounted rate. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

CALIFONE
Bridging the gap between twangy country, 70s glam rock and modern electronics, Califone (which features ex-members of Red Red Meat) present this 20 minute 5-track EP. Heavily influenced by both Bowie indie rock dreaming, the songs are fun and light. Brought to you by Road Cone (that mysterious label out of Portland with other exciting greats like Jackie-O Motherfucker and Loren Mazzacane Connors) this is what I believe to be their second release (following a debut long-player a couple years back). Califone are on the road right now with the highly popular Modest Mouse and should be pretty fun to catch. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Beneath the Yachtsman
• Dock Boggs
• Electric Fence

MIKA VAINIO, "KAJO"
For this full release, this half of Pan Sonic once again goes minimal, but never boring. For nine distinct tracks, Vainio chooses differing instrumentation, pulse, approach and feel. While the drive and beat from Pan Sonic albums is not here, the sonic excitement is. Tones ring out, vibrating various hairs inside the inner ear, creepy noises and soundscapes act as perfect sci-fi b-movie soundtrack contenders, while glitches indeed get worshipped. The disc was recorded in both NY and Mika's current home town of Barcelona and for the first time features English translation of the song titles. To be honest, it's more enjoyable than the Mort Aux Vaches but less entertaining than any full force Panasonic long-player. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Unessa (In Sleep)
• Osittain (Partly)
• Aaltomuoto (Waveform)

"SWIM TEAM #1"
All new for 2000 is the latest collection from Colin Newman's Swim label. Featured here are 17 tracks from all the bands on the current roster of champions. Sold at an affordable rate, this collection isn't one to miss, featuring Silo, Steve Gears, Lobe, Legion of Green Men, Ronnie and Clyde, Symptoms along with family members Malka Spigel (Colin's wife and ex Minimal Compact) and their 11 year-old son, Ben (recording as Bumpy). Plus, of course there's a couple Colin Newman and Immersion tracks tossed in, one being a Mick Harris remix. Colin truly has an ear for great music and this showcase is a perfect place for beginners into the Swim label. Most of the music runs a line between electronic, beat friendly, rock-oriented and instrumental head bobbing tunes. While I've heard and grown fond of most of these artists, a shocking surprise is "Pizza," the track from Ben Newman as Bumpy, both entertaining and alarmingly mature for someone his age, but then again I guess growing up around Colin and Malka it's somewhat inevitable. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Bumpy - Pizza
• Immersion remixed by Mick Harris - Walkabout (edit)
• Malka Spigel - Tall Grey Buildings

MISTRESS OF STRANDS, "S/T"
It's unfortunate that many listeners are unfamiliar with Ventricle, a small Seattle-based label devoted to the female voice. Mistress of Strands, Ventricle's newest project, is an excellent introduction that will hopefully serve to lure in the attention the label deserves. This release belongs to Ventricle's "silver series," which features CDs packaged with beautifully crafted metallic sleeves. Musically, Mistress of Strands resides in uncharted territory between "ethereal" and "ambient", but can be limited to neither. Group members Tali Braun, Dusty Lee, and Dana Devereaux create atmospheric collages of crystalline strings; eerie, yet alluring vocals; and lush, dreamy drones. As with other Ventricle sirens, Tali's haunting voice compliments rather than dominates its surrounding layers of sound, and the singer exhibits her versatility by ranging from infinitely delicate echoes to spoken word to outright melody. Dusty's deluge of psychedelic noise on the mellotron is equally enchanting, and the gauzy distortion leaves the listener pleasantly suspended in a state somewhere between waking and dreaming. - Jessica Tibbits

samples:

• coming later this week, hopefully ...

We know that sometimes these CDs are somewhat challenging to find, which is why we have a RECOMMENDED STORES section which can be used to obtain nearly everything available on the site.

MONDAY
Fontanelle - Fontanelle CD (Kranky, US)
Leftfield - Leftism 2xCD [reissue with new bonus disc of remixes] (Sony, UK)
Leftfield - Remix Album 2xLP (Sony, UK)
Low/Spring Heel Jack - Bomb Scare 12"/CDEP (Tugboat, UK)
Tim Tetlow - Beauty Walks a Razors Edge 12" (Planet µ, UK)

TUESDAY
Not Breathing - Itchy Tingles CD (Invisible, 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.

LEGENDARY PINK DOTS/DVOA
Dead Voices On Air was fantastic. This is the first time I've seen Mark, and it's definitely turned me on to his music. He performed a souped-up version of Download's "Base Metal" which was very, very cool. LPD's own Niels was the perfect foil to his deadpan, serious demeanor - they had a fun sax duel in the middle of the show (real sax vs. a delayed version of the sax). Mark said at the beginning, "You would not believe the trouble we had setting this up," but declined further comment on the basis that it was "too personal." He made a comment later on about no longer being a citizen of Canada. I'm sure many were drawing their own (and probably wild) conclusions about that statement! In short: yes, DVOA, very very good.
In terms of merchandise: most of the Dots CD catalogue was there (though not "Malachai" which I heard a lot of people asking for). "Farewell, Milky Way," and the new Tear Garden were nowhere in sight. One T-Shirt, quite cool, says "I'll Not Interfere" and has a little God-face on it. I thought I spotted the "Textures of Illumina" vinyl in there someplace, the Martijn solo CD-R, which I haven't had a chance to listen to yet, plus the Mimir #3 vinyl.
Now, onto the Dots. Edward said that we were the "guinea pigs" for the new material, and everything sounded great. On a first listen to "A Perfect Mystery," I can confidently say they played the first four songs. They also performed "Space Captain" in a creepy, wonderful, slo-mo version (yay!), and "Disturbance." They also played "Evolution," during which Martijn played the violin. Didn't hear "Grain Kings," though. The music-box sample from "Doll's House" got some of us excited, but it didn't actually happen.
The encores: "Nine Shades" (this time Ed's a dog for a day, apparently) and "Premonition 13" without the slow bits and ending with a ginormous psychedelic weird-out. Their sound was great. Martijn sounded totally integrated with the rest of the band. Niels, of course, hamming it up and having fun and (yes) parting the crowd with his saxophone. Did anybody else notice his funky blue-suede boots? Ryan was shockingly subdued compared to the other shows I've seen, at the end of "Premonition 13" placing his bass in front of his amp and playing with the feedback. Silverman was really getting into it, and Edward was Edward. Just a wonderful, wonderful show, I'd have to say the best Dots show I've seen so far, all the more amazing considering their troubles with their equipment and the fact that it's the first on the tour.
If they keep this up for the rest of the tour, you're all in for a treat! If you haven't bought your tickets yet...buy them now. - Muffy St. Bernard

THE CURE
When I was nine, I attended a Paula Abdul/Color Me Badd concert. I would be honest in saying that it was far more emotionally moving than the Cure. I expect many of you will read this and think "He's not a REAL Cure fan." Trust me; I was. The band played at the Saenger Theatre in downtown New Orleans on May 22 and the 23. I was there for the 22. The Cure opened with "Fascination Street," which was pleasing but somehow devoid of any real energy. The concert was all downhill from there. I recognized roughly 50% of the songs they played, some of which included "Cold", "Sickness", "100 Years", "In Between Days", "The Same Deep Water As You", "At the Edge of a Deep Green Sea." Most of the songs I didn't recognize had to have been from the Pornography, Faith, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, and Head On the Door albums, which I disliked in the first place. There were quite a few songs from the new album as well like "Maybe Someday", "39", and "Bloodflowers". Almost every song contained excruciatingly long breakdowns, which reminded me of Wesley Willis' work: it left me alternately shaking with annoyance and yawning from boredom. And then there was Robert Smith himself. The man is aging badly. His famous cleft chin is now a double chin, his face was covered in stubble, and his belly is making him look more and more like Humpty Dumpty. Someone who saw the same concert as I put forth an interesting theory regarding the obscure setlist and Mr. Smith's increasing weight: "Maybe he ate all the good songs."
There were a few high points to the show however. The crowd, as one would expect from many Cure fans, was very calm and polite. The lighting was spectacular. There were something like four towers of lights, and for certain songs, they emitted random second-long bursts of silvery light. They were like starbursts going on in the background. There were a few artsy photographs (black and white cityscapes, etc.) projected for some songs, which I thought worked well for the material.
Overall, I'm glad I went, considering this is quite possibly the last tour they will ever do. Was forty dollars a fair price to pay? No. - Sam Houston

A TRIBUTE?
Jon Whitney used to think I was a woman. Funny that, last time I checked I was most certainly a man. Anyways, I won't go any further with that except to say that I'm guilty of being a mysterious chap. When I first got wind that Brainwashed would be celebrating a birthday, a broad smile hit me right across the face. Four years...whoah. Four years of ass-kicking bands, brilliant no-nonsense design and a sense of humour that could only belong to our dear Jon boy.

I got my first taste of the Brain several years ago when first hunting for information on Meat Beat Manifesto, one of my all time favorite bands. It was during this search that I came across the offcial MBM web site, one of several hiding nicely under the Brainwashed umbrella at the time. Over time I would return to that web site as well as many of the other Brainwashed sites countless times. As a research tool, as a source of entertainment and as a direct-line to the heart of its creator, Brainwashed was and is second to none.

Over time, I got to know the man behind the sites thanks to our mutual admiration for Brainwashed artists such as Coil, the Legendary Pink Dots, Abba and the afformentioned Meat Beat Manifesto. I am honoured to have been able to watch Brainwashed grow from from a small, grassroots effort into the multi-national corporation that it is today.

Okay, maybe I'm abusing my artistic license as a writer but you have to give mad props to a project that has encompassed a label, multiple artist web sites, a weekly zine, an informatiom archive and more. Even certain violently highbrow intellects at certain avant-music magazines havce even recognised it and given Jon Whitney his well deserved props.

The future for Brainwashed? In the end, I think only Jon really knows. Already hosating web sites for such cutting-edge artists as Kid606, Labradford, Diamanda Galas and Panacea, the sky is indeed the limit for the Brainwashed empire and its treasure trove of information.

As an artist and as a journalist, I hae always thought that if you can affect someone with your craft or with the gift of knowledge, then you've made the ultimate contribution to existance. Jon Whitney and Brainwashed have done that a million times over, each person logging on infected and enlightened by a unique cultural virus.

So here's to another four years of teenage lightning and storming the studio. Keep up the good work Jon boy.

Somewhere over the ocean and high in the air.

- James Graham, Skinny.com Correspondent and occasional Brainwashed contributor

MORE PRIVITIZATION BULLSHIT
Combine this link of the week with a comment basically, how rotten and untruswothy the net has become. Last week I had talked about how the net has changed over the last few years since I became part of it. Let me expand on that saying that the validity of internet resources has significantly declined since the early 90s. Back before the graphic and affordable web, enthusiasts joined newsgroups and bbs organizations, the die hard collectors used the net as a tool for their obsession. People spoke with authority and were trustworthy, the internet was free for those who had access to a college or university. The net is bombarded these days with a combination of corporate propaganda and sleaze coupled with jackasses who by natural selection would never have a podeum to stand on and speak. So, this week I want to divert your attention to the latest corporate muscling in from that small mom-and-pop shop from Washington, reported in this article by Kuro5hin, this company has banned sales of all of their product. How can this happen??? Somebody buys something and then wants to sell it and can't??? Further on in the article, they also showed how this auction site has changed all the "negative feedback" to neutral feedback of said corporate user. What the fuck is going on here? People bitch about the governments and how awful they really are, how oppressive they are, but rarely are people angry enough to question corporations and their practices. It's these multi-billion dollar corporations that we need to worry about and pay attention to and once again, raise our voices to our local and national representatives that we've had enough. - Jon Whitney