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fridge gear stolen
PLEASE FORWARD THIS LIST TO PEOPLE WHO MIGHT BE HELPFUL IN RECOVERING THE GEAR...
STOLEN EQUIPMENT
Equipment Stolen from Grey Dodge Van in Arlington, MA on morning of 11th October between 5 amd 9. Any details contact Jon Whitney.
List of stolen items (serial numbers where known)
Cream Fender Telecaster guitar (case covered in distinctive orange
brainwashed stickers) N7293594
Dark red sunburst Fender Jazz Deluxe V bass N7236945
Brown Sunburst Fender Stratocaster Guitar
Hartke 300W Bass Amp/Head
Akai MPC2000 sampler A9855-01035
2 x Iomega SCSI Zip drives and leads
EMU Proteus 2000 sound module 109901940
Roland PK5 Midi trigger footpedals AL62788
(all flight cases have distinctive circular blue stickers with 'FRIDGE'
on)
This list has been faxed to music shops in MA, RI, and NH and the police
are involved too.
The opening date at the Middle East in Cambrdige did happen, but was a modified set. Portland, Maine had to be cancelled however. The rest of the tour is still on schedule, please show up and say hi.
Thank you for your assistance in this urgent matter.
cex joins fridge
Cex along with Hella has agreed to join Fridge on the NYC show at The North Six in Williamsburg, Brooklyn this coming Tuesday night. For more information about show time and club d'erections, check out www.northsix.com.
little annie in nyc benefit
Little Annie and Paul Wallfisch are scheduled to perform in a concert to benefit The Police and Fire Widows and Children Benefit Fund on Saturday October 20th at 8:45pm. The fund is to benefit police and fire families affected by The World Trade Center tragedy. It will be held at The Slipper Room, 167 Orchard Street (corner of Stanton), New York City. 212-253-7246. Minimum doantion $10, suggested donation $20.
coil live archive goes live
The initial stab at constructing an online archive of material relating to Coil's live performances has just been posted to the Coil website. It currently consists of a simple list of Coil's past and future performances, along with links to photos, reviews, etc. Eventually, we plan to have a seperate page for each show which will include set lists, images, links, merchandise info, reviews and commentary, and in some cases, audio and video recordings. If you know of ANY material related to Coil's live performances that has been posted online and is not currently linked, please contact Greg. In addition, if you have (or know of someone who has) any photos, reviews, articles, clippings, ticket stubs, programmes, etc. from any Coil performance, please contact him as well. As work on the archive progresses, we will want to gather scans and transcriptions of anything we can get our hands on that has to do with the live Coil experience!
Hrvatski teams up with Kranky
kranky is extremely pleased to announce that Keith Fullerton Whitman has agreed to record for our label. Whitman is best known for his relentless networking, compilation appearances, remixes, writings and one full length album released under the name Hrvatski. While Whitman continues to perform and release breakbeat concret as Hrvatski, he will be recording for kranky under his own name.
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JANSKY NOISE, "THE CUCKOO"
"The Cuckoo" is the full length debut from Jansky Noise, a solo project of one of the V/Vm lads. The ziplocked LP is a gorgeous green/black splattered vinyl and is "part 3 of an ongoing series of colour coded distressed audio" releases, the previous ones being Noise/Girl's "Discopathology" and V/Vm's "Masters of the Absurd". Side 1 begins with a few tracks worth of heavily processed loops that approach a Merzbow-ian level of noise assault. The remainder of the side calms things down considerably, but only after a passage of disruptive human snoring paired with bird squawks. This eventually tapers down to an odd but soothing sort of ambient experience that includes a sound reminiscent of a distant cruise ship horn and a bit of effected music box. Side 2 alternates between mercurial and mellow tracks. Patsy Cline's classic rendition of the Willie Nelson penned "Crazy" is given the classic V/Vm treatment, pitch shifted and slowed down to a creepy crawl. "Roaming in the gloaming with SCOTTISH pie by my side" (you gotta love those whacky titles!) is an impressive example of pastoral meets industrial ambiance just after sunset. "Rapid Racing" revs up and shifts through high pitched frequencies, coming to an abrupt stop for the finale: a relatively untouched Andrews Sisters' "Money is the Root of All Evil". "The Cuckoo" is another thoroughly fun and diverse 32 minutes of lunacy from the V/Vm camp. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cringe, you'll smile. Be sure to check out the revamped V/Vm site at Brainwashed later this month for info on the neverending torrent of new releases on the horizon. - Mark Weddle
samples:
low, "last night i dreamt that somebody loved me"
Two new songs grace this CD single available now from Low on their Chair Kickers label. In addition, the disc comes with a very impressive music video for "Dinosaur Act" directed and edited by NY-based independent film enthusiast, sometime musician and fulltime fan Marc Gartman. Ironically enough, "Last Night I Dreamt,..." is possibly the -last- great Smiths song, yet the overall font and style theme of this single mimics the -first- Smiths release. "Last Night" is by far my favorite on their final album, strangely enough allegedly recorded -after- their split (without Johnny Marr and Morrissey even recording their studio sessions on the same days). The trio have been performing this live in the US to receptive audiences but reports tell the band was heckled in the Smiths' hometown of Manchester recently. While it's noted that the recordings took place at the home studio in Duluth, the emotionally heavy reverb makes it sound like it was recorded in an empty concert hall. The second track, "Because You Stood Still" is a climactic Low original which probably won't become one of my favorite Low tunes, yet it has the most natural mix of strings I have heard in a Low song since "Condescend" from 1997. Maybe one day Low will finally give in and release a nice compilation so I don't have all these great songs on individual singles,.. - Jon Whitney
samples:
FOETUS, "BLOW"
Every single track from Foetus' latest album "Flow" is given a "Blow" job for this companion remix album. Eleven hip remixers take their turn but Thirlwell isn't quite willing to entirely let go of the controls as he maintains the executive producer's chair. For me, remix albums are usually a hit and miss proposition and this one's pretty par for the course. I often can't help but think, 'yeah, this is alright, but I like the original much better'. First the ones I like. Franz Treichler (Young Gods) completely turns "The Need Machine" inside out from raucous rocker with aggro vocals to frosty soundscape techno with whispered vocals (which must have been re-recorded). Phylr (JF Coleman, ex-Cop Shoot Cop) does a nice job of transforming "Mandelay" into one of his own moody, predominantly instrumental pseudo-industrial tracks. Sean Beaven (Kidney Thieves, longtime NIN mixer/engineer/producer) gives "Grace of God" some drum 'n bass fills, clever new samples and eventually a slower guitar fortified chorus. Ursula 1000 serves up "Someone Who Cares" with a whole new white trash race track influenced backing reminiscent of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult circa "Sexplosion". And Thirlwell himself can't help but join in on the fun by obliterating and extending "The Need Machine". And now the ones I don't much like. Charlie Clouser (Team Nine Inch Nails) gives parts of "Quick Fix" an extra rock jolt but he also relies on far too many NINnie-isms like vocoded and hacked up vocals. Pan Sonic and Kid 606 essentially make new, annoying tracks of their own from pieces of "Kreibabe" and "Shun" respectively while Panacea buries "Heuldoch 7B" in distorted beats and synths. Yuck. And DJ Food tries to make "Suspect" creepier by pitch shifting down much of the vocals but the music is such a mess it makes it intolerable. I'll say it again: hit and miss. I'd rather listen to "Flow", one of my favorite new albums of the year. Foetus.org states that a "Blow" related event is planned for next January in Los Angeles. - Mark Weddle
samples:
kitchen motors presents: "nart nibbles"
The third collection to come out of Iceland's Kitchen Motors might as well be parts three and four to the Motorlab (reviewed a couple months back). This 2xCD collection shares many of the Icelandic performers as on the other collections, recorded earlier however (1999) from a variety of improvisational performances in the Motorlab. The major difference is that the first two compilations were rather rigid in the collaborative respect — each performance was between at least two unlikely paired identities. On Nart Nibbles, collaborations occur, but there are also performances by the individual groups. Seven tracks from seven different entities make up the first disc, beginning with a four organ and one drummer ensemble, Apparat Organ Quintet, whose performance sets the stage for this rather clean, well assembled collection. A contribution from Big Band Brutal is neither big nor brutal, but quite clearly establishes the fact that instrumental improvisation doesn't always have to be harsh or directionless. Disc one ends with a fabulous 10+ minute rhythmic collaboration between Múm and Músíkvatur with organs, a toy drum kit, synths and dryer sounds. Disc two however features only two tracks. The first is an all-star 13-guitarist ensemble which stretches nearly half an hour. "Helvitis Symphony I" is much less dissonant (and more enjoyable) than most avant garde guitarist ensembles (like those led by Glen Branca) and features guitarists like Motorlab organizer Kristin Bjork, Jonsi from Sigur Rós, Hilmar Jensson and Hei¦a. Over the course of the piece, each guitarist introduces their part, contributing a distinct sound and feel, from drones to melodies, carefully layering over what's already been established, yet developing and mutating the feel and direction. The collection concludes with a beautiful electronic versus organic collaboration between Biogen, Plastik and Hilmar Jensson, matching pulses, low frequencies, and caterwauling guitars into a hypnotic audio soup. Gosh I wish I were there. - Jon Whitney
samples:
ALVA NOTO + OPIATE, "OPTO FILES"
Carsten Nicolai (aka Noto/Alva Noto) has been collaborating via e-mail with several different but like-minded artists lately: with à for "Wohltemperiert", with Ryoji Ikeda for Cyclo, with Scanner for "Uniform" and here with Thomas Knak (aka Opiate) for the latest in the 'static' bag series. Knak records solo under his own name as well as Opiate and Gloria Hirsch, is a member of Future 3 and worked with Bjùrk on her latest, "Vespertine". These tracks, referred to simply as opto files 1 through 4, total a little over 33 minutes and fit right in with the static aesthetic. Nicolai's digital glitches rhythmically sing accompaniment to Knak's simple, lazy melodies. Add bass swells, simmer and stir occasionally. It's a comfy balance between fireside warmth and goose pimple chill. 1 and 3 are just the right length, the latter adding a tasty beat, while 2 is way too long and 4 is way too short, the latter being the most minimal of all. Nice ... - Mark Weddle
samples:
ALVA NOTO, "TRANSFORM"
"Transform" is Nicolai solo as Alva Noto and it is his second disc as such for Mille Plateaux, follow-up to last year's "Prototypes". Both are all about minimalism deeply rooted in microscopic mathematical coding and structure. It's kinda funny now because I really enjoy(ed) the first disc and was looking forward to more in a similar vein at the time, but now that I have it I'm not as satisfied as I should be. Unfortunately for me (and perhaps Nicolai) is that in the time that has passed between the two albums his collaborations with others have injected new and different blood into the mix with varying and exciting results. With "Transform" were back to just Nicolai's evolutionary composition techniques and standard set of audio building blocks - the full range of waves, pulses and drones, glitches, metallic pops and clicks, etc. The quality of his solo work is just as good but my perception of it has changed some ... it seems exceedingly academic and sterile in comparison now. That said, there are still a number of mildly funky (well, about as funky as a German with a laptop can possibly be) grooves to be found among the 10 tracks or 'modules' as they're referred to here. But here's hoping that more collaborative work is in store. - Mark Weddle
samples:
REHBERG & BAUER, "PASST"
Peter Rehberg may be familiar as Pita and Ramon Bauer as General Magic, both of whom are usually at home on the Mego label. However, they've been documenting noisy rhythms emanating from errors over the course of a trilogy of CD's on Touch. Never ones to stick closely to a rulebook (except perhaps 'How to Rewire Your Fridge') the third CD is actually culled from Australian live performances by the Austrian duo. Once past the irritating over the top intro from a swearing local 'celebrity' it's over the top laptop noise all the way. Really this has as much in common with Rehberg's Pita material as it does the earlier 'ballt' and 'Fasst' installments. Maybe that's because the glitch is seen by the cogniscenti to have become a bit of a cliche in the five years since 'Fasst' emerged twitching and humming into the twilight. The CD is indexed into 13 tracks over the course of four titles, so on random play cuts three of the noisescapes into 2 to 7 chunks which actually work off each other very well in any order. I suspect that Rehberg and Bauer would actively encourage even greater listener interaction. Try downloading the samples below and hacking, chopping and mulching them to your own requirements. I had a lot of fun doing just that with samples from the last General Magic CD. Which is not to suggest that 'passt' isn't a fine listen in itself. Its crackles and pops and measured descents into howling digital whirlwinds are fine exercises in reigning in and controlling chaos. From heartbeat pulses to emergency white noise whiteouts, Rehberg and Bauer keep things moving at a finger clicking pace. Halfway through the longest closing excursion into mounting dissonance, 'Revolver', the influence of Bruce Gilbert's latter day solo work is readily apparent, and recommendations don't come much higher than that. Like 'In Esse' or the Speedranch^Jansky Noise 'Live at the Scala' disc, these are noise works with so many layers and masked shifts that repeated listening is essential to make heads into tails. Piccadilly Records were impressed enough to remark that the album has a nice cover and These Records have described 'passt' as the first comedy laptop record. So where does that leave V/Vm and their horrible covers? - Graeme Rowland
samples:
"V/VM HATE YOU"
When Beatles tributes take the stage someone has to put it back. Stadium bores with hands behind backs and whiny nasal voices are pelted with rancid eggs, fat squishy tomatoes, tubs of lard and mouldy old dough by young hackers who forgot John Lennon before they were even born. Suddenly backdrop collapses and the thin squawking of union jack guitars is drowned by big nasty laptop noise eruptions. Two men in pig masks are revealed and cabbage leaves are thrown to the throng. To the butchered tune of 'Hey Jude' a new anthem is dedicated gloriously writhing in eternal hacked ridicule: "Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, We Hate You!" Stadium bores dissolve into puddles of plagiarist goo and Madonna bumps and grinds across the stage until she knocks over the achey breaky hard drive and is declared a filthy slut by a horde of rampaging alien porno midgets. The Caretaker gives pause for organ reflection before the sucker MC Russ Abbot is airlifted into the stadium to announce the happiest atmosphere at any party he's ever been to! Even the timely demise of Big Ron, whose liver erupts with all the excitement, can't put a dampener on the stomp. Russ's biro tache gets the biggest round of applause yet, but is soon upstaged by the 'Mod Theme' courtesy of Gai/Jin (Hrvatski in a monkey suit) whose frantic dum'n'base remix of the jolly mouldy old dough anthem is even better than anything you've heard by the legendary Karl Cocks ever! But you ain't seen nothing yet! Remi Moses and Devil Chan drive huge trash trains into the arena and the music fighters and ghostbusters hurl it all around until the place is full of garbage as far as the nose can smell. The stench of rancid trotters, rotten cabbage and mouldy old dough fills the air. A giant pig mask appears in the sky above the stadium, cackling, "We did it because we HATE you!" Fade out to eerie strains of 'The Bleeding' from Icon of Throat. Aphex Twin didn't show up, and no one gave a fuck. - Graeme Rowland
samples:
my bloody valentine, "ecstasy and wine"
When I think back to the early 1990s, three albums stick out in my mind as being timeless classics: The Las, The Stone Roses, and 'Loveless' from My Bloody Valentine. Unfortunately, these bands had recordings before these records (and in one case after), which fail (miserably) to reach the stunning climax of their staple album, leaving their mark on the world as an imperfect existence. To its credit, the recent My Bloody Valentine collection of older EPs is much better than both from the Las and Stone Roses 'Garage Flowers'. If you're looking for the next best thing to a follow-up from 'Loveless', however, you will be in for a disappointment. While the airy open voice male and female vocals and heavily distorted guitars are recognizable, it's a cross between jangly pop and the occasional dark distorted track, often giving a retrospective nod to more obscure 1960s rock stuff. My Bloody Valentine were certainly not in their own element quite yet. There is a certain almost indescribable charm to it however, despite the poor production, embarassing lyrics and crummy artwork. Perhaps they were trying too hard not to sound like The Smiths but couldn't escape the traps of the contemporary music as these EPs most likely doubled as a demos back then. It's worth the cheap price but if you see the disc going for a jacked-up import cost, there's no need to bother. - Jon Whitney
samples:
MICK HARRIS, "HED NOD 04"
Though recorded in 1999, the latest Hed Nod Session is just now finally upon us from Montreal's Hushush. This one is on candy red transparent vinyl and, unfortunately, it is the last one on vinyl due to financial issues (future sessions will be split CDs with other artists). You should know what to expect from Harris by now, especially for this series of limited edition (300) 33 rpm LPs: killer beats spinning slow and hitting low. Slower and lower than most of Harris' work as Scorn. Each of the 3 tracks per side, about a half hour total, consists of a hip hop stylized beat, a dark atmosphere, deep bass bumps and swells. And once Harris lays down the minimal groove, he sticks with it, so you'd better be a fan of repetition. "Shorting" takes the cake on Side A with it's crisp snare rush loop propulsion. "Sweet As" starts off side B tediously, its beat being relatively limp and the downwardcascading sound loop growing tiresome after a few minutes. But "Where" and "Then 3 More" recover very nicely, carrying on where side A left off. Every time I spin one of these records I realize minutes later that I'm subconsciously swaying back and forth and/or nodding my head. Proof positive that Harris is doing something right. - Mark Weddle
samples:
"the princess + the warrior" soundtrack
The name Pale 3 has now been bestowed upon to the three-person team who have composed two soundtracks prior to this one, 'Winter Sleepers' from 1996 and 'Run Lola Run' from 1998. This time around, the trio teamed up with a host of some of the most buzzworthy female singers in modern and electronic music to complete a full-length release which accompanies the score. The first half of the disc are seven songs which feature Skin, Louise Rhodes (from Lamb), Alison Goldfrapp (of Goldfrapp), Anita Lane (Bad Seeds/solo), Beth Hirsch (solo/Air guest appearances), and the film's star Franka Potente. While most of these are not from the movie itself, the trio has taken the skeletal work of many film themes and developed them into complete songs with the said singers. Fans of the 'Run Lola Run' soundtrack would probably be impressed with the electronics once again exhibited here. Lush soundscapes fill the sound spectrum, heavy with emotion, while each singer delivers rather dry and almost heartless performances in contrast. From the opening track with Skin, I have to admit I wasn't impressed as the tune sounds much like a ripoff cross between Portishead's "Roads" and Radiohead's "Pyramid Song", yet the two following tracks from Louise Rhodes and Franka Potente seemingly make the purchase worthwhile. The second half of the disc features straight score from the film and recycles many themes heard in the vocal tracks from the first half. It's decent and a must-have for Lamb, Goldfrapp and Anita Lane fans, but as the movie is, your life won't be different if you miss it. - Jon Whitney
samples:
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