brainwashed radio album hour: week two
Brainwashed Radio continues with the Album Hour this coming week. This week's albums include new releases from The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden, Cex, Mirror, Northern Song Dynasty and Martjin de Kleer. Every weekday evening Brainwashed Radio will air an album in its entirety, followed by some other music and special things from that artist. For those in different time zones, we will repeat the broadcast. For schedule times and list of future programs, please see the site.

hud return to the usa to tour with !!!
When Out Hud return to the USA, they will hit the road with !!! for some long overdue West-Coast dates. In related news, the upcoming single from !!! will be co-released by Warp pretty much everywhere in the world aside from North and South America. Touch & Go will still handle that. No news is yet to report on future album releases at this point. Tour dates will be posted at Kranky as they're made official.

rrr hosts beequeen
This month's upcoming events are now posted at RRRecords, including a special performance at Evos Art Space with Beequeen and Andrew Liles this coming Tuesday night. Also on the bill are Emil Beaulieau, 4 Way Anal Touchfight and Rawlings/Stelzer/Talbot.

mute announces tg remixes
Two 12" singles and a CD single (big surprise, there) are due out on June 23rd. Mute claim "So far we have had remixes/re-edits of Hot On the Heels in from Carl Craig and Simon Ratcliffe from Basement Jaxx. Andrew Weatherall/Keith Tenniswood are also due to remix United. The CD single will feature mixes not available on vinyl."

trimming the bacon
Brainwashed has ceased affiliation with World Serpent Distribution effective this week. For more detailed drama and dirty laundry, see brainwashed.com/wsd.

it's our birthday and you get the present
April 16th is Brainwashed's SEVENTH birthday! As a fundraising effort/gift idea/clearance gesture, all orders placed and paid for that day for Brain In The Wire (using our Paypal Account) will be at the astonishing blowout price rate of only $17.77. This price does not include shipping. For shipping prices see the Commerce Section of the site. (This ain't no April Fool's joke.)

brainwashed sells out
To keep up with the costs of production, maintenance, supplies and equipment, Brainwashed has begun soliciting sponsors for The Brain. Record labels, stores, and other businesses are encouraged to contact us regarding rates. This will only effect The Brain and not the rest of Brainwashed. Brainwashed remains committed to not selling out its artist web sites and hope that this form of generating capital will be successful. For more information about sponsorship and donations, please click here. Thank you for your continued support.

edwin k. starr
The singer known best for his anti-war single (and quite arguably the most well-known anti-war hit song) "War," died on Thursday, April 3rd from a heart attack. Starr, 61, was born in Nashville, Tenn. as Charles Hatcher and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. While "War" was originally a Temptations song, it was considered too controversial for the group and was released as a single for Edwin K. Starr in 1970. He passed away in his home outside of Nottingham, England. For more information, see www.edwinstarr.info.

manitoba, "up in flames"
Leaf (UK) / Domino (US)
Canadian born London dweller Dan Snaith has reintroduced Manitoba with his second full-length release. Up In Flames is a fantastic surprise, as it is a complete turn around from the meandering simplicity of the relatively trendy instrumental electronic music on earlier releases. With vocals, guitars, bombastic organic and samples drums, feverishly catchy melodies, and a complete overload of collected sounds, instruments and an excess of quirky samples, this could easibly be one of the most maximalistic recordings by one person in a long while. With the keen skill of roping everything into a blissful melodic soup, this album is easily poised to be the breakthrough hit of the spring. From the opener "I've Lived on a Dirt Road All My Life," there is no irony, no pulled punches, as the music just barrels in with nearly no introduction. A gorgeous interlude ends the piece with a moment to let things settle in and stays rather low key for the instrumental follower. "Skunks" opens and closes with the sounds of frogs (what identifiable sounds do skunks make after all?) but is propelled along with bass and guitar playing, layers of drums, screechy sax, The energy blasts back in with the one-two punch of the two vocal tracks "Hendrix with KO," and the single "Jacknuggeted," which could easily be two of my fave songs on the disc. Snaith isn't afraid to stack killer drum samples upon drum samples, hand claps, fill the rest in with gorgeous harp sweeps and always make it a point to end on a good note. With songs like "Bijoux," this one man army has achieved what numerous multi-member ensembles have only ever dreamt of. If anything, on the vocal tracks, Snaith probably could try and get a little more confident with his voice so it's not as buried in the mix. Other than that very, very minor observation, this album is flawless. Manitoba is set to tour North America with Four Tet and Prefuse 73. Promises have been made to turn Manitoba into a fully realized live band with two drummers, guitars and a whole mess of other people. Let's hope this happens. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• I've Lived on a Dirt Road All My Life
• Hendrix with KO
• Twins

Coil, "Live Four"
Threshold House
Coil is easily playing some of their most haunting, spectral, hypnotic, and sublime material ever, combining the new with the old and doing so without the outcome sounding muddled or too disparate. The cohesiveness of the album is achieved in a couple of ways: "Last Rites of Spring" gets overhauled completely and extended into a 10 minute noise-fest. "Amethyst Deceivers" and "Ostia" are altered in small ways that result in a new sound but retain the spirit of the original. "Are You Shivering?" is the perfect misnomer; its glowing tones and soft, simple drum part are the perfect warm blanket. The firey, yet cleansing attack of "A Warning From the Sun," on the other hand, with its scratching and violent pandemonium easily reduced my brain to rubble and at the same time soothed it by way of whimsical melody. The extra treats, however, are three of the previously unreleased songs. "The Universe Is A Haunted House" begins with quiet echoing synths, water leaking from ceilings, and absolutely threatening promises of mischief from Jhon Balance. It later turns into a rhythm propelled freak-out session of LSD-like proportions. "Bang Bang (Sonny Bono)" is, strangely enough, a cover of a Cher tune. It is composed of piano, Balance's singing, and patches of serpentine glitchery that slither in and out of the air. It's also the closest Coil has ever come to performing a ballad. The album ends on a very high and exhilirating note with "An Unearthly Red." Here an explosive Balance screams and shouts over dissonant and jarring rhythms while fits of ecstatic decomposition bounce and detonate everywhere without remorse. Melody battles against a wall of distortion and tension builds and builds to a boiling point that just might make you sweat; this is one hell of a way to end a record. At this point I've almost completely forgotten that this is a live recording because the quality of the sound and the songs are so absolutely fantastic. Go buy this album, turn out the lights, turn on this record, and prepare to have your ears and mind blown away. - Lucas Schleicher

samples:

• Are You Shivering?
• A Warning From the Sun
• An Unearthly Red

DEVENDRA BANHART, "OH ME OH MY... THE WAY THE DAY GOES BY THE SUN IS SETTING DOGS ARE DREAMING LOVESONGS OF THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT"
Young God
Seemingly out of nowhere comes this 21-year-old oddball whose four track demo tape piqued the interest of Michael Gira and thus this release on Young God and membership in The Angels of Light. Banhart's biography reads like a transient David Lynch. He has lived everywhere from Texas to Caracas to Paris to a NYC squat, attended art school in San Francisco and played gay weddings and Ethiopian restaurants. Somehow it all makes sense. Selected for this disc are 22 of the 75 or so songs recorded over the past three to four years. Gira wisely decided not to polish the diamond in the rough, i.e. he has simply released the original demos rather than quarantine Banhart in a studio for new versions. This is bare Banhart: double tracked voice and acoustic guitar with whistles and hand claps, plus tape hiss and whatever else happened to be going on in the background for extra character. Most of the time the finger picking is plaintive and the vocals are hushed (recalling Nick Drake some), at others it's much more frantic with wild strumming (recalling Syd Barret some) and the falsetto morphing into the call of some yet to be discovered rain forest bird. The lyrics are suitably simple and/or surreal with deceivingly naive plays on words and word associations that reveal a sharp mind. Prime examples are in "Roots (If The Sky Were a Stone)": "when the roots of the tree / are as cold as can be / when the wind and the sea / are the moth and the bee / when the rays of the sun / lick your skin with its tongue / and the grass with its green / and the shine with its sheen / and the trains with their tracks / and the spines with their backs / and your sway with its slow / and the wind with its blow" and in "Michigan State": "well my snail has my favorite slow / the shell helps the snail still the skin lays low / and if my snail has my favorite slow / then my cold has my favorite snow / but if my snail is cold and comes to a halt / then my sea has my favorite salt / the salt keeps the sea from feeling sweet / and my toes have my favorite feet / and if I sweat salt and the Earth sweats heat". In addition, there's "Lend Me Your Teeth" with it's strange single line mantra: "I'm lost in the dark / lend me your teeth / come on!" Everything is fair game as subject matter for Banhart's songs (10 are less than two minutes long and many come to a sudden, unexpected end) including lovers, teachers, friends and family. I never get the impression that he's being weird for weird's sake—it's eccentric but genuine, child-like but brilliant, raw but real. These songs are extraordinarily touching, melodic and infectious. - Mark Weddle

samples:

• The Charles C. Leary
• Michigan State
• Pumpkin Seeds

ANGELS OF LIGHT, "EVERYTHING IS GOOD HERE/PLEASE COME HOME"
Young God
What's immediately striking about the third album by Michael Gira's Angels of Light is the visual presentation. The six photos—an empty chair, a cluttered desk, a room full of plants, a bookcase loaded with CDs and books, a rosary draped over a thermostat, and, perhaps most tellingly, an empty bedseem to paint a picture of a sufficient but lonely life. Coupled with the title, one can't help but construe that Gira is sending out a clarion call to former partner Jarboe. Does he want her back or has he found peace on his own? Further lyrical clues are open to interpretation as Gira's songs often blur the lines between autobiography and fantasy. The opener, "Palisades," inquisitively details a suicide in which "reasons won't come, and no one will regret that you're gone." Gira whoops and hollers most on the climactic "All Souls' Rising," and "Nations," 2001 tour favorites. Conversely, he softly sings "with the rhythm of your breathing, with the rhythm of my thinking," over the tumbling, tender electric guitar notes and strums of "Kosinski." "The Rose of Los Angeles," another paean to Gira's mother, has drastically changed into a stomping romp with a decidedly Irish flavor. The crack of percussion and bluesy guitar disrupt the bleak reminiscences of "What You Were." "Sunset Park" repeats the single enigmatic line "she'll bring some, she brings some, she brings one, she'll bring one" ad nauseam in a swirling wall of sound march. Gira concludes the album with the half droned, half near-whispered, semi-optimistic prayer, "God save us, from what will come." Musically and thematically Everything feels more haphazard than the previous albums, and with none of the tracks exceeding seven minutes, it lacks the epics that made How I Loved You so stellar. Comparisons to the past aside, it's still a fine album. An impressive orchestra of cohorts was once again assembled to add varying degrees of layers to his voice and acoustic guitar, including everything from standard rock band instrumentation to mandolin, accordion, harmonium, flute, trombone, harmonica, banjo, fiddle and even a children's choir. A new version of the band sans drums—Gira (vocals, amplified acoustic guitar), Devendra Banhart (electric guitar), Christoph Hahn (lap steel and electric guitars) and Patrick Fondiller (bass guitar, mandolin, mandola)#151;is currently on tour in North America through late April with Banhart opening with a solo set. - Mark Weddle

samples:

• All Souls' Rising
• Kosinski
• What You Were

styrofoam, "a heart without a mind" EP
Morr Music
Belgian Arne Van Petegem is also making an attempt to graduate from the class of instrumental group of European laptop nerds with his latest EP, a prelude to his forthcoming second full-length album. In the three years since his last LP, Arne has been recruited by a number of musicians and labels to do remixes, singles and compilation tracks. It's probably through this that he reached two conclusions: #1) it's not so bad to start including organic sounds like guitar back into the mix and #2) my voice isn't so bad that I can't start singing the songs I write! Arne even harmonizes with himself on the title track of this EP, a blissfull introduction to the more evolved Styrofoam sound. The pretty melodies and robotic percussion have not been forfeited and the vocals and guitars just add a much nicer dimension on this, a more radio-frendly version of a track of the forthcoming album. "Fade Out Your Eyes" is a live recording of what sounds pretty much like Styrofoam remixing himself: letting his vocals and instruments twitter and waiver in a beat-less tapestry of digitally echoing samples which could easily go on forever. The disc is rounded out by two charming technologically-enhanced cover tunes: "Hard to Find," originally by Codeine and "Snow Crush Killing Song," originally by Mountain Goats. The full-length I'm What's There to Show That Something's Missing is due out this week, but those lucky enough to catch the Notwist on tour right now can catch both a set by Styrofoam and his place in the Notwist, filling in for Martin Gretschmann, who's off doing stuff with Console right now. While I still might have reservations when it comes to laptop performers, Styrofoam deserves credit for having a rock club audience attentive and interested, something most laptoppers can still only fanticize about. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• A Heart Without a Mind
• Hard to Find
• Snow Crush Killing Song

EYES ADRIFT
Cooking Vinyl
I used to be a big Meat Puppets fan and when I finally got the chance to see them play live and interview them it was a blast. Curt Kirkwood was as hilarious, hallucinatory and obtuse an interviewee as his lyrics might have suggested he could be and they effortlessly blew the comparatively lame Soul Asylum right out the door. Nirvana should need even less introduction. So here are Kirkwood and former Nirvana bassist in a new trio with a drummer from some band called Sublime who I've never heard of and probably never will bother to. As you might expect, Eyes Adrift are much more like Meat Puppets than Nirvana, after all, Kirkwood was that band's main songwriter. He still splashes together dashes of punk rock, country and weird psychedelic acidfire guitar solos in a way that shouldn't disappoint any old Meat Puppets fans. In fact, the new band seems to have revitalised him and set him looking for slightly new angles to throw his illusive songlight on. The album starts unobtrusively and builds inexorably. What would be the first side seems to coast by nicely, but it seems they saved the best songs for the second half. "Solid" is classic Kirkwood, a huge psyched out lament by a protagonist whose blood has frozen in his veins, perhaps a perverse metaphorical reflection on Meat Puppets and his bassist brother's drug problems? "Telescope" should have lovers of cute melodic twists and hard chuggin' metal riffage alike grinning from ear to ear, as Kirkwood shows anyone who'll listen how he'll aim his potato gun at the sun. By the time they run themselves a "Slow Race," where the object is to lose, there are no fish left in the streams, they've all taken to the air. Despite some subtle textures imparted by computer editing and recording, there aren't really any huge leaps from Meat Puppets music, but some small progression has been made out of the creative cul de sac that band seemed to end up in latterly. My biggest surprise was finding a copy of this CD for the price of half a pint of booze in a bargain bin, but the last track is also quite a curveball. "Pasted" is an epic meandering voyage that stretches out well over fifteen minutes and glues a vaguely folk rock lyric about old St Paul, which might be sung by Novoselic, onto some of Kirkwood's most ecstatic sundrenched guitar noise ever. You can hear the entire album at the Eyes Adrift site where they also have two new songs up for grabs. The obvious is dead. - Graeme Rowland

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION, "SHAKIN' ROCK'N'ROLL TONIGHT"
Mute
Whilst the leading cut promoting the very disappointing Plastic Fang isn't much to get excited over unless you're big into the V/Vm Shakin' Green Door massive, the bulldozing Techno Animal remix of "Over and Over" shows just how a slice of mediocrity can be elevated to greatness. I only picked this single up for that remix, which is as hardass siren spurting as the best of their audio assaults and might just be the best thing Spencer has done, or had done to him, since Pussy Galore! Barry Adamson's remix of the same track is also effective, if comparatively slinky and sleazy. It doesn't set the emergency flashlights off at quite the same frequency but it gets the feet moving frantically with its fucked over drum'n'bass distortion moves, as does the Tremelo Beer Gut mix of "She Said." Who is Tremelo Beergut anyway? Only the sugary sheen of the Sub Species "Money Rock'N'Roll" remix fails to get my blood pumpin'. This is a bland lot of ol' toss that sounds like some kind of misguided bid for Ibitha. Otherwise, this is a creditable salvage operation that pulls surprising fiery modern machine shapes from an album that seemed like an exercise in terminally bland self parody. If you've ever enjoyed anything from Techno Animal, Barry Adamson or Jon Spencer then this single shouldn't be ignored. So far I just can't be bothered to watch the four videos of the Explosion in action tagged on the end, but I guess they probably offer value for rock'n'roll money if you have a computer that can deal with that much shakin' excitement, Steven. - Graeme Rowland

Molasses, "A Slow Messe"
Fancy
The upright bass gives a resounding and metronomic thump thump thump on the new Molasses album. This low-octave punctuation generates a gloomy yet suspended feeling: you might grow anxious in the gray fog that surrounds these songs, but you simply cannot escape it or shed the gloom. It lumbers methodically after you while your feet are rooted in place and you have nowhere to go. But the more you are compelled to listen in place, the more you notice the glistening sounds of the music which come breaking through the gloom. Scott Chernoff's voice is familiar and inviting; it has this habit of laying a heavy croon or accent on the end of verses and lines, while laying off almost disinterestedly at the beginning of them. It's not unlike rocking up and down on the waves in a unstable rowing boat which could capsize with the next swell. Again, the feeling is one of inescapable isolation, but this time some Dramamine might help.
Surrounding Chernoff is the requisite (and, at this point, almost cliched) Montreal cooperative of musicians whose memberships in other bands would be too laborious to enumerate (a sampling of the Constellation and Alien8 labels will give you a representative cross-section). Let it just be known that there is a lush assortment of piano, guitars, strings, horns, and organs. "Death March (Erskine's theme)" lets loose at one point with what rightfully could be called an aural assault of horns, percussion, guitars and banjos. For about two minutes, it sounds as if thirteen New Orleans brass bands were simultaneously competing on separate street corners of Bourbon Street. My biggest disappointment with Molasses is how similar all the songs are. I enjoy the sound of the first few songs, like "Valley Song" and "Insomnia," and the music along with the lyrics along with the packaging (we will talk about this shortly) create this lovely gothic environment (not gothic in the way you are thinking. I am merely talking about 18th century spooky houses in rural New England, lit by moonlight and with wind rustling dead leaves on trees). But soon the repetition of chords, tempos, and vocals give the sensation of being stuck in a time loop. Listen to one of the song samples and you have a fairly good idea how the entire album sounds. The instrumental songs come almost as a relief, for they are the most distinct and experimental pieces in the two disc set and they remind us we still going forward in time rather than repeating it. Despite the homogenous sound, it is not too much of a chore to listen through two discs since Molasses executes a pleasant sound. The packaging of 'A Slow Messe' is beautifully done without being cumbersome and unwieldy. The dual booklets feature lyrics as well as Chernoff's photographs, distressed to make them look ancient or unearthed. By the end of listening to the album and perusing the inserts, I understood how aptly named the band is. Chernoff's vocals stretch out with the viscosity of drops of molasses, keeping level and understated during the formation of the drop and rising at the point at which the droplet of molasses gets too heavy for itself and finally falls away into the dark space below. - Joshua David Mann

samples:

• Valley Song
• Insomnia
• Silkworm

Slow Reader, "S/T"
Fueled By Ramen
It's so sad that some emo music has gotten the bad rep that it has, as the style's beginnings had a lot of promise in bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Mineral. It was energetic, loud guitar music with "emotive" vocal performance and songs that dealt with human relationships mostly. Emo has had its off-spring, from the emo-pop of Jimmy Eat World to the emo-sap (or, for me, emo-suck) of Dashboard Confessional, and their sound is now more recognized and prevalent than the original. They are also the source of the bad reaction to emo. Every once in a while, though, a band or two come along that are loyal to the original sound without sounding trite, and the Impossibles were such a band. Showing off all the components of the original sound, but lacking a bit of focus, they released two full-lengths and 2 EPs before calling it quits. Now, two members of that band return as Slow Reader, a great name for a band if I've ever heard one. The sound is drastically different from their former band, as now they record lush pop laments with electronic flourishes. The core feeling is there, though, and the vocal performance is still emotive while maintaining an interesting detachment and laziness. "I Like You Most" may sound like a horrible Chris Carraba song title, but it instead takes more from Ben Folds and the Beach Boys with overmixed drums and clear harmony vocals. "Stupid Bet" features the best lyrics on the whole release, with softly delivered vocals and remorse over self-created loss and suffering. "Anesthetic for the Amputee" is probably the most raw song on the album, with just acoustic guitar and a multitude of voices filling the the speaker. It's a good start, with its weaknesses intact, but it shows promise. For a traditionally punk or ska label to be releasing it is really a good sign of where both artist and label are heading. - Rob Devlin

samples:

• Politics Music and Drugs
• Anesthetic For the Amputee
• So This Is It

Howe Gelb, "The Listener"
Thrill Jockey
Giant Sand frontman Howe Gelb credits this solo project to Howe Home, a somewhat ironic reference to the fact that The Listener was largely recorded on a trip to Denmark, an ocean and a continent away from the southwestern sounds that have defined his work. Despite the change in cultural climate, and the use of Danish supporting musicians, Gelb sticks to his formula with middling results. The initial attitude of The Listener comes across not so much as relaxed, but lazy. Like a Thorazine stuffed Leonard Cohen, Gelb spills his vocals over the music in a lackadaisical, arrhythmic manner. He floats above the songs, coming down occasionally to momentarily latch onto the beat before releasing it again. "Jason's List" ventures into classic AM Radio territory with a modest horn section that sounds right out of a Burt Bacharach arrangement. On the first several tracks, smooth jazz bass lines and blue-eyed boss nova rhythms threaten to conjure images of hotel lounge singers and elevator accompaniment. Gelb is strongest when his southwestern roots and inspirations form the meat of his songs. "Torque (Tango de la Tongue)" is a sinuous duet with singer Henriette Sennenvaldt that evolves around a fantastic Latin rhythm. The vocal interplay between the two is wonderful; their hushed, suggestive tones twist around each other as they dance cheek to cheek. Sennenvaldt's Danish accented English adds a disorienting and unexpectedly exotic touch the track. Her presence is welcome, and seems to focus Gelb's sleepy delivery. The Latin shuffle continues on the instrumental "Plango," and while it is nearly as entertaining as the previous track, it really does not add anything to the formula. "Lying There" is a cute song that shows a pinch of vitality after the album's half awake opening. "You can bungle up your own birthday party / by showing up one year late / you can foul up playing in traffic / just by trying to concentrate." It's a sunny track that wins you over with a bright acoustic melody. "B 4 U (Do Do Do)" invigorates the album with a country-fried, searing electric guitar while copping the vocal melody to "Lean on Me." Everything works on this track, with Gelb sounding buoyant and the accompaniment as bouncy as hell, like a bar band on their third round of drinks. "Blood Orange" sees Gelb once again trading vocals with a woman, this time Marie Frank. Together they tell a sweet, endearing love story that's pleasant enough. The second half of 'The Listener' vastly outshines the first, landing on the opposite side of the fine line between easygoing and meandering. In a solid finale, Gelb closes with "Now I Lay Me Down" and "Lemmy N Emmy," two songs that sound completely formed and confident. Tasteful strings add a stately poignancy to Gelb's worn guitar lines and dusty voice. - Michael Patrick Brady

samples:

• Torque
• B4U
• Now

Sam Shalabi, "Osama"
Alien8 Recordings
It is so frustrating to hear this release when I know that Sam Shalabi can make excellent music. Osama is lacking almost everything that typically makes Shalabi's music so good. It's not that the musicians here aren't talented and it's not that the music isn't well played, the problem is the lack of depth and complete disparity between the songs. None of the multiple sudden changes in musical style help to add to the album's enjoyability, they subtract from it because the changes seem so arbitrary. For instance, the opening song "The Wherewithall" begins with an excellent rhythm section and shimmering guitar melody that faultlessly and easily travels across a broad sonic spectrum. Indeed, it begins colorfully and promisingly enough but then suddenly explodes into a heavy metal brawl of screams and grinding guitars that completely ruins the mood that was only just established. Within the next four minutes the song goes from a quiet, meditative movement to a spoken-word dronescape and then back to still more heavy metal. Normally shifts like these are the sort of things that can make an album exciting, but on Osama this just isn't the case. This game of musical chairs pretty much continues for the rest of the album and it only becomes more annoying. Just when Shalabi seems to finally be settling down, he radically changes styles and ruins everything. Just one more note about this album: the title might suggest that an interesting political statement is being made; one that, given current events, would be worth investigating. This really couldn't be further from the truth. Sadly, I'd even venture to say that Shalabi doesn't have a message at all. A song with the name "Mid-East Tour Diary (2002)" might seem promising, but it starts off with the words "Why don't you just suck my big fat semetic cock?." The song only continued to alienate me as it plodded along with its redundant music and similarly aimless lyrics. The album ends as suddenly as it began and I'm left wondering why this was released; I know Shalabi can do better. - Lucas Schleicher

samples:

• The Wherewithall
• Mid-East Tour Diary (2002)
• Shitmobile, U.S.A. (Adam Frank and Sam Shalabi)

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

WEEK OF APRIL 6 - APRIL 12
Adult. - Anxiety Always CD/2xLP (Ersatz Audio, US)
Autechre - Draft 7.30 CD/LP (Warp, UK)
Bangkok Impact - Traveller CD/2xLP (Clone/Creme, Holland)
Janet Bean and the Concertina Wire - Dragging Wonder Lake CD/LP (Thrill Jockey, US)
Breathless - After All These Years CDEP (Tenor Vossa, UK)
Peter Brotzmann Group - More Nipples CD (Atavistic, US)
The Bug - Pressure CD (Tigerbeat6, US - Rephlex, UK)
Kim Cascone - blackCube( ) square CD (Anechoic, US)
Central Falls - Love and Easy Living CD (Atavistic, US)
Client - Price of Love 12"/CDEP (Toast Hawaii/Mute, UK)
Coil - The Restitution of Decayed Intelligence 10" (Beta-Lactam Ring, US)
Cranes - Moon City 7" (Elefant, Spain)
D.I.E. - The Men You'll Never See Pt. 2 12" (Clone, Holland)
DJ Vadim feat. Slug - Edie Brikell 12" (Ninja Tune, UK)
Echokrank - Advanced Epileptic Music 12" (KlangKrieg, Germany)
Erasure - Make Me Smile {Come Up And See Me) two CDEPs/DVD (Mute, UK)
The Essex Green - The Long Goodbye CD (Merge, US)
Fat Truckers - Teenage Daughter/Superbike 7" (International DJ Gigolo, Germany)
Fortdax - Folly CD (Rough Trade, UK)
Front 242 - Raw & Still CDEP (Metropolis, US)
* Hexstatic - Telemetron/Funky Mule 10" (Ninja Tune, Canada/US)
* Hint - Quite Spectacular 10" (Hombre/Ninja Tune, Canada/US)
Imitation Electric Piano - Trinity Neon CD/LP (Duophonic, UK)
Interpol - Say Hello To The Angels 7"/CDEP (Matador, Europe)
Jaga Jazzist - Animal Chin 10"/CDEP (GSL, US)
Mary/Liquitex - split 7" (Agent, UK)
* Majesticons - Suburb Party 12" (Big Dada/Ninja Tune, Canada/US)
Takagi Masakatsu - Journal for People CD/DVD (Carpark, US)
* Mouse on Mars - Glam CD [reissue] (Thrill Jockey, US)
* Norken - Soul Static Bureau CD/2xLP [reissue; first time on vinyl] (Hydrogen Dukebox, UK) Omega Cinco - En Tu Casa o En La Mia 7" (GSL, US)
Ontayso - Score Of An Imaginary Iceland CD (U-Cover 40, Belgium)
Portastatic - The Summer Of The Shark CD (Merge, US)
Schneider TM - 6 Peace CDEP (Mute, US)
Set Fire To Flames ­ Telegraphs in Negative/Mouths Trapped in Static 2xCD (Alien8, Canada)
Sixtoo - Antagonist Survival Kit CD/2xLP (Vertical Form, UK)
Skalpel - Sculpture 12" (Ninja Tune, UK)
Luke Slater/SI Futures - Nothing At All/Eurostar 12" (Novamute, UK)
Smog - Supper CD/LP (Domino, UK)
Sonar - Volt Control CD (Daft, Germany)
Soundmurderer - Wired For Sound CD (Violent Turd/Tigerbeat6, US)
Styrofoam - I’m What’s There To Show That Something’s Missing CD/LP (Morr Music, Germany)
Nobukazu Takemura - Songbook CD/LP (Bubble Core, US)
Nobukazu Takemura - Assembler CD/LP (Thrill Jockey, US)
Miles Tilmann/Larvae - Double/Seclusion Dub 7" (sub:marine, US)
Amon Tobin - Verbal Remixes 12" [mixes by Prefuse 73, Boom Bip, Kid 606 & Topogigio] (Ninja Tune, Canada/US)
Various - 2CDs & MP3s 2xCD (Novamute, UK/US)
Various - All Tomorrow's Parties 3: Curated by Autechre 2xCD (All Tomorrow's Parties, US)
Various - Channel 2 Compilation CD [with LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Blackstrobe, Dempsey, Playgroup, 7 Hurtz, Colder] (Output, UK)
Alexander Von Schlippenbach Trio - Pakistani Pomade CD (Atavistic, US)
Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows CD (Metropolis, US)
Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun CD/2xLP (Matador, US/Europe)
Yoshimi & Yuka - Flower With No Color CD (Ipecac, US)
Zero dB/Various - Reconstructed CD/LP [tracks by Suba, Sun Ra, Peace Orchestra, The Truby Trio, Interfearance and more remixed by Zero dB] (Ubiquity, US)

willard
While Crispin Glover is considered by many to be merely a cult figure, he's always entertaining on the screen, and the top billing of him in a Hollywood studio film is enough to warrant some interest. The interest might have been weakened by the fact that this film is a remake of a less-than-savory horror film from 1971.

Much like Red Dragon, this film is a remake that didn't need to be made. I understand the studio's compulsion to cash in on nostalgia, or a trend, but I don't understand who was nostalgic for a movie about a guy who befriends a colony of rats, and then sings a Michael Jackson song that ALSO didn't need to be remade (the song, "Ben," was written for the sequel to the original version of "Willard," entitled "Ben").

Crispin always gets cast as the weirdo. This time, he, as the title character, is a complete pussy under the thumb of both his mother and his boss. His bedridden mother was apparently instructed by the director: "Act like the mother in 'Braindead' (a.k.a. 'Dead Alive'), but less zombieish." The boss was played by R. Lee Ermey, who did a great job acting like he normally does: a screamy drill-sergeant type guy.

This movie has only one thing going for it, and that is the stellar performance by Crispin Glover. If you love Glover, you have already seen this film. If you haven't, don't bother. And when I say "don't bother," I don't mean "wait for video/HBO", I mean simply don't bother. - Sean Graham

Results from last poll:

ever wondered,...
What if Fox News was around to cover other historical events? The possibile scenerios are frighteningly hilarious because they're oh so true! Readers have submitted their own takes, all which have been collected and posted at http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=485972.

you're so vain

Subject: Mika Vainio review

I was reading your review of Mika Vainio's "In the land of the blind one-eyed is king", when I saw that you were defining the Pan Sonic sound as "electro-rock". Now, I've read a lot of weird things in records reviews, but Pan Sonic being electro-ROCK??? That does it. Perhaps "rock" and "minimal" are synonymus to your reviewer? Otherwise I can't quite figure where the "rock" element comes from.

Thanks nevertheless for your great site.

Tom responds: minimalism? certainly not. Or, if by 'minimal' you just mean pared-down then ok, sometimes, but pared-down what? Vainio describes Pan Sonic's music as "horsemeat rockabilly."

Subject: nww in portland?

question....a friend text messaged me the other day saying Nurse w/ Wound is playing a show in Portland Oregon next month.

i need info, do u know what's up????

Steven Stapleton is scheduled to make an appearance at a release party with Beta Lactam Rings Records. The details will probably be made available on their website when they're publically divulgable.

Subject: wsd

I'm really sorry about the World Serpent shite - what a shower of spiteful bastards. I'm sure this is the last fucking thing you wanna hear, but every single person besides perhaps Dave Tibet has bad things to say about World serpent. They're cunts, they got rid of some of their best artists (Shock Headed Peters & Karl Blake, Danielle Dax for instance) and then sued the ones who figured they were making more money than they were (Death in June, even though I hate them, the set up was waaay dodgy). Anyone who doesn't make big money for them gets treated like a plaything, basically. Plus, Alison was rude to my mate **omitted** several times (**omitted** works at **omitted**) over stock orders (e.g. "what do you mean, you only want FOUR copies of 'Time Machines'??!!"), and she'd better hope she doesn't run into her anywhere, coz **omitted** plans to kick her ass, hard. World Serpent are like the poor man's 4AD -- except the only integrity present is the artists (and that can be negligble also).

Violence is not the answer. If there's such a thing as Karma, they'll surely get what they deserve.

Subject: wsd

Good for you!

IMHO, you should've done this ages ago. Aside from the big 3 of Coil, C93 & NWW, most of the stuff that WSD releases/distributes completely sucks ass. Having some of that stuff associated with Brainwashed was an embarassment.

I know that John & Peter have defended WSD in the past, but I've heard enough stories like this about them to believe that they really are a bunch of douchebags.

No comment.

Subject: news item

I was wondering if there's a place for asking you to mention the forthcoming gig of No Neck Blues Band with Trud Gras and Green Ray supporting them on their first European tour. Its on May 21st at Evil Art 4.1 in Gallery 291 London. I could send you a press release if you would like to mention it in the Brainwashed issue. Sorry if you find this a nuissance.

It's not a nuissance, but the news section on brainwashed is for site-related news.

Subject: GTO

Hi there,

Was taking a look through your GTO discography earlier. I just picked up the remixes of "Listen To The Rhythm Flow / The Bullfrog" and was surprised to find a mix of "Pure" that I had never heard on it, completely uncredited. Anyhow, regarding this release, your discography credits it as REACT 12002, but my sleeve has it printed as REACT 12R001 with a label stuck over it correcting it to REACT 12002. The label on the record as well reads REACT12R001 on both sides, no stickers are on those ones. The inner grooves read REACT+12+R+001+A and REACT+12+R+001+AA respectively.

I know it's minor, piddly little shit, but your discography is pretty thorough otherwise, so I thought I'd give you a heads up.

Thanks for the work on an excellent site.

Thanks for the note. It's not terribly piddly. Every bit helps keep the collective accurate.

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goin back to lansing, lansing, lansing
isis - oceanic
afi - sing the sorrow
gravitar - now the road of knives

eh, i don't think so (On the way home)

aix em klemm - aix em klemm
spritualized - ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space
tarentel - the order of things


- LL Josh C