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By now, the house lights have come up, the violinist has left with somegirl, the drummer is loading up his truck, and a lone guitaristcontinues on. If Dirty Three is appropriate for the late, late night,Mick Turner's music is most definitely appropriate for after, afterhours. Like other Mick Turner albums, Mothis a collection of numerous short but pretty pieces. This time around,there's 19 untitled parts. While it lacks the more solid songstructures with Tren Brothers and Bonnelvill releases, the expectantbeauty and variety has remained. Turner's instrument is simply theguitar and rarely something more. With the use a looping pedal, layersare added, removed, played with and reversed to make beautiful guitarcollages. Mike Krassner (Boxhead Ensemble, Edith Frost, Pinetop Seven),who co-produced the album joins up on piano by "Part 5," and appears onpiano for a number of parts thereafter, until, by "Part 18," (I thinkit's mis-labelled on the sleeve) they're joined on organ by RyanHembrey (also of the Boxhead Ensemble, Edith Frost, and Pinetop Seven).While the songs are delicate and gorgeous, I would probably recommendthis album only for existing fans, as other fantastic introductions toMick Turner's work would include music as Bonnelvill with Jessica Bileyon violin and piano or being fortunate enough to catch him live wherehe blissfully lets the songs drift for great lengths.
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It's late and the bartender has announced last call. Tonight wasfantastic, as a number of singers graced the stage to stand in thespotlight, whether it was an ex junkie, a rich hick with a spookybeard, an overemotional freaky chick, or a cute male/female duo whoharmonize beautifully well. The parade of stars has come and gone. Thecrowd has been reduced to the small number of staff and a couple otherswho similarly are just trying to let the world stop spinning. On stage,the trio that sat in the back are still playing quietly. A triangularsymmetry is met by the lonely violinist, shuffling drummer andreflective guitarist. Only now does it make sense that while thesefolks can back up a variety of egos, their knowledge of, attraction to,and attention in which they pay each other is truly remarkable. WarrenEllis, Mick Turner, and Jim White have been playing as Dirty Three foryears, and with each album, it seems their bond grows stronger. Whetherit's with the driving force of "She Has No Strings," the quiet pianoand malleted-drums of "Long Way to Go with No Punch," or the pluckedviolins on "No Stranger Than That," they demonstrate that like anygreat ensemble, there is never one member who is more or less importantthan the other. Sure, they take turns leading the group here and there,like the unexpected fuzz guitar on "Rude (and then some slightreturn)," the mad drum solo on "No Sister Let Them Try and Follow," andthe multiple-layered violins on "She Lifted the Net." Dirty Three areone of the most reliably consistent bands and I have never been letdown by any of their records. Furthermore, it's always an extra specialtreat to see any of them live together, alone, or with others, and I'mhappy that it seems like they're always on the road in some band oranother.
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Vivo is a primarily electronic label based in Poland with six releases to date, including the recommended Black Faction remix album 'Reworked.' With this compilation, they present 49 minutes worth of "narrative sonic stories," ("nowele" is Polish for "short stories") by little known but impressive artists from the US, Poland and Japan. "Uruk," by Maciek Szymczuk sets a rhythmic foundation of pops and gelatinous warbles as a lucid two note ping makes for melody.
"Awar Fedbk," by Shapethrower slowly casts resonant synth waves over gears and light beats. "NonStopFilm," by FilmFilter, the lone Japanese entry, is uniquely bizarre as numerous samples—pop vocals, cartoon-like sound effects, a twinkle bell, rips and tears, metal on metal, etc.—violently mesh in a Nurse With Wound-meets-Mouse on Mars manner. Yume's three tracks are mostly soft, truly ambient environments, populated with chimes and the sonic residue of shifting clutter. Phasmid's "The Heroine Of Goat Bells," and "Mehr Licht," (More Lights) feature playful melodies plunked out on vibraphone-like instruments, the former forgoing the latter's big bass tones and tiny beats for bird song and ritualistic thumps. The cryptically titled "I=B000-B7FF.CRC," and "There's No Way," by Zenial and Palsecam (the latter vs. Szymczuk) both overlay mellow ambiances with more pops and slightly more aggressive electronics. Finally, "Six Sigma (Blackbelt Rmx)," by Alphabet1 mixes moans, mid tempo drum loops, and electric guitar notes, all effected in one way or another. Altogether, this is a very pleasant array of electro-organic sounds. "Now:Le" is one of those compilations that you won't have to skip any tracks and you'll want to repeat quite a few. 
 
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It's simply amazing what a band can accomplish when they trulycollaborate. The Delgados had released three proper albums, includingthe brilliant The Great Eastern,when they were asked to contribute the soundtrack to a film ofpaintings. The film, by an artist named Joe Coleman, was violent,brutal even. As the first time the band had written music togetherwithout the benefit of Alun Woodward or Emma Pollock's lyrics, it, too,was a brutal experience. It was rewarding, however, as it showed theband how beautiful their music could be without words. It's surprisingthat the people who signed Mogwai wouldn't have tried this before now,but they were then set to make some of the most beautiful music oftheir lives. It's not that instrumental was where they needed to go,but the music had to come first this time, and so it does on Hate, easily their best work yet by miles. By the band's own admission, where Easternwas a great record, it was brought about because producer Dave Fridmannwas able to bring commonalities together in the mixing process. Themusic was actually frighteningly disparate, because different memberswrote different pieces. Fridmann is with them again on Hate,but this time he had less to do, as the band had a unified vision tostart. It's a gorgeous vision, too, as the band makes the most movingmusic they've ever mustered. From "The Light Before We Land," Pollockis in rare form lyrically and vocally, as the music swells and buildsaround her, almost engulfing her. Woodward then updates the Beatles on"All You Need is Hate," a casual admission of the strong emotion we allhave and need to examine more. In order to find the positivity, absorbthe negativity, and you will find what you lack. Not a new statement,but a great way to say it, as the band sounds like they're enjoying anew playful and experimental side. All over the disc, The Delgados playwith effects and glitches, echoes and strings, faded vocal trails andodd sounds that twist your ears a bit. Where they truly succeed is whenthey slow it down and break it down. "Coming in From the Cold," and"Child Killers" are the album's middle, its core, and its two besttracks. After that, it's classic Delgados, just better and morecoherent. "Favours," and "Never Look at the Sun" have that energy seenon Eastern matched with the complete meld of their new sound,and it works on so many levels. Even Woodward's singing has improved,as he gets more comfortable in his delivery. The US release alsocontains two bonus tracks recorded at the same time but not on the UKrelease. It's their best, that much is true, but something tells meit's just gonna get better.
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This is a soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist. It's a movie filledwith adventure, romance, and regret as swashbuckling privateers sailthe seven seas, coming to port just long enough to break a few heartsand make a few mistakes. The sailor's life is at once glorified, as in"Jean Lafitte," a rollicking sing-a-long sea shanty wherein the titlecharacter spins yarns about his eventful life as a sailor, and alsolamented. "Go Home," asks "Where do you go when it's closing in onsupper time," already knowing the answer when it responds "Wrap yourthings inside your rag and go." The sea serves as both an escape and aprison, as the sailor of "Streets of Marseilles," running from apainful heartbreak, finds himself shanghaied and regretting the actionsthat led to the sea, and his fate. Puerto Muerto captures the essenceof these tales with spare instrumentation, heavy drums and a staccatostrummed acoustic guitar that add a depth and darkness to the sound.Husband and wife Tim Kelley and Christa Meyer share vocal duties,bringing to their respective songs their own nuances that make themspecial. These are folk ballads, meant to be shared and spread as faras they can go, through every port you pass through. The joyous energyand sorrowful emotion of these songs are absolutely entrancing, seizingon childhood fantasies of adventure while touching on the sad realitiesof a wanderer's life. Your Bloated Corpse... will have you piecing the scenes to that nonexistent movie together in your imagination.
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I've always liked Pigface and, often, loved them because of the thingsthat set them apart from the legions of look-a-like and sound-a-likeindustrial-rock clones: a forever fluid membership (including manyfemales), variety, groove and an actual sense of humor.Drummer/producer Martin Atkins is rightfully proud of his 12-year-oldbaby—an unruly child with multiple personality disorder—and this timearound there's over 40 others, old and new, helping him feed, diaperand discipline it. All of the 13 tracks are restrained to the three- tofour-minute range (only one exceeds five minutes) and I can't help butnotice that most of the ones I dislike are the ones in which Atkins hasno writing credit. Even though there aren't really rules as to what isand what isn't "Pigface", about half of this album is run-of-the-millor out of place and just doesn't feel like Pigface to me.
"Mind Your Own Business" and "Sweetmeat" prove that you can write coolsongs about anything, even privacy via a "can I have a taste of yourice cream?" metaphor and unfortunate encounters with animals."Insect/Suspect" is an instant classic with bash and crash drums, KeithLevene-esque guitar (he actually appears on another track) by Kittie'sFallon Bowman and Hate Dept's Seibold and Chris Connelly trading offverse and chorus vocals. "Closer To Heaven" is the "hit" as it were,dripping with sitars and underpinned by Charles Levi's liquid bassline. Thrill Kill Kult's Groovie Mann is backed by Nocturne's LaceyConner in refrains of "I'm closer to heaven when I'm with you, I'mcloser to heaven without you." "Du Liebst Mich Nicht, Ich Lieb' DichNicht," ("You Love Me Not, I Love You Not") sees the successful returnof En Esch for another German language sing-a-long. In "Miss SwayAction," Connelly croons poetry over a lo-fi synth and percussionsetting by Machines of Loving Grace/Stabbing Westward alumnus DavidSuycott. That leaves all the rest: heavies dabbling in industrial rockand metal clichés (some of these will be fun live), a cyberpunk spokenword piece by Jared Louche, drum 'n bass filler and a vaguely amusingaddition to the "fucks" list led by the talking half of Penn &Teller. The "United" North American tour featuring Pigface, My LifeWith the Thrill Kill Kult, Zeromancer and Bile will hit the road inmid-March.
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In the years between this collection being first announced until thetime of its release (this past week), almost anybody could haveprobably tracked down the out of print recordings contained herein.With that in mind, I can't deny that I'm somewhat jaded about therelease before even possessing it. Now that it's in my hands, I'mrelieved to finally have it, excited as a longtime fan, but stillsomewhat put off by its posturing as an EP collection, as it neglectssome songs from the original EPs and was arranged in a nonsensicalrandom order. On the surface, Mouse On Mars have always appeared to benonsensical (just pick up any album of theirs and look at the songtitles!). However, the music has always been cold-calculated, withstrong tendencies to avoid the trends that have come and gone sincethey started releasing music back in 1994. For this, the duo of Tomaand St. Werner have perpetually remained ahead of the curve. They couldhave easily jumped on bandwagons of drum 'n bass or glitch, but as thetrends became more minimal, more was added to their sound. They heldtheir ground with music that was always dancable and rich withcaptivating melodies and unique sounds from song to song. Starting in1994 with the FroschEP, the duo are clearly observably unwilling to accept pre-packagedpreset sounds and pre-programmed beats. While appearing on compilationslike Trance Europe ExpressBib EP, with songs like "Selektron," slower than what they were used to doing before, but never dull at any point. By 1997's Cache Coeur NaifEP, the band has kept the beat intact, bottomed it out with arump-shaking intensity, added the vocals of Stereolab's LaetitiaSadier, and found a way to mangle original sounds of guitars and basickeyboards beyond original recognition while still maintaining a sexycatchiness. If this isn't considered intelligent dance music, then Idon't know what to think. With the most recent recording on this discnow six years old, the music has held up amazingly well compared to themusic of many of MoM's contemporaries.
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With his band Kinski, guitarist Chris Martin engages in noisy,concussive, and layered rock that dwarves most standard rock with itsmassive weight and intensity. Under his solo moniker, Ampbuzz, Martintakes the spirit of his Kinski work and uses it to create a patient,meditative album that is every bit as intricate and powerful. As soonas the opening track "Bubbles" begins, it is clear that This is My Ampbuzzis thematically centered around ocean imagery, and the shifting droneof the album evokes this concept perfectly. Not a single element seemstagged on; every buzz, layer, and loop seems to reinforce the dark,fluid tone of the album. "Center for Clouds" begins with a deep rushinglike water against your eardrums, then builds around an ebbing two notebass line that's surrounded by static gusts and washes, giving thesensation of bobbing up and down in ocean waves. "Soft Currency"follows with a shimmering drone that is interrupted by a frothing,churning noise that sounds like a struggling scuba diver's regulator ora fish tank filter's last gasp. "Diving Instructions" is a sustained,foreboding track full of reversed cymbal hits and sonic jetsam thatleads into the panic pulse of "Welcome to the Ocean Floor." The descentis complete, and a deep, resonant buzz overtakes the scene. It'sdisorienting and unsettling, as the sound moans and oscillates just outof sight. The final track, "Underwater Bomb," doesn't explode into afury, but instead releases the built up tension of the precedingpieces. This is My Ampbuzz is a fully-rendered, fully-realizedlistening experience that manages to vividly capture an image, from theglistening beauty of the surface to the chilling, claustrophobicdepths.
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Those captivated by the skeezy sound of the Gary Wilson are in for atreat, as enough songs have been uncovered for a second album ofmaterial previously unavailable on compact disc. For those who don'thave last year's awesome reissue of You Think You Really Know Me,Wilson was man who simply wasn't afraid to say exactly what's on hismind, and it's mostly about trying to get into a girl's pants.Unsurprisingly, this context is backed by the sound of when low budgetporn and Christmas decorations crash in a tavern with upturnedbarstools and regulars passed out in their own cigarette ashes. Theresult is actually amazingly catchy, with slick bass riffs, cleverdrumming and the piano and keyboard work of a dedicated talent. Thisdisc collects a variety of scarce singles and B-sides, and aged demos,with loads of pictures and detailed accounts of the years, places andthe age of Wilson when the tunes were recorded. Included are a fewinstrumental soundtracky jazz jams, like the brilliant "AnotherGalaxy," to adventurous, stream-of-consciouness tunes like "You Took MeOn a Walk Into My Mirror." This would never have been a follow-up tohis other album, originally released in 1978, but, as the titlesuggests, a selection of songs for numerous love desires, longforgotten over time. Judging from the liner notes and story aboutWilson returning to his parents home last year, there's still morestuff yet to resurface. I'm completely hooked and will certainly bewaiting. -
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Austrian label Laton together with Vienna-based journalist's collectiveRedaktionsbuero have put out this thirteen track compilation ofelectronic music packaged together with a sort of tabloid publicationcontaining 12 pages of text relating to the music and two poster-sizedx-ray images of electronic equipment. The CD includes contributionsfrom Benzo, Pan Sonic, Pomassl, Fon, Alva Noto, Alexei Borisov,Thilges3, Auxpan, Terre Thaemlitz, Mira Calix, Udo Wid, Tommi Grönlund& Petteri Nisunen, and CM von Hausswolff. The presentation makes itclear that the paper document is to be taken at least as seriously asthe digital one. At first I was pleased with the whole thing: it's anice size, has something to read and some nice pictures bigger eventhan in a gatefold LP. However, with the exception of Alexej Borisov'sinteresting account of the Russian music scene, the essays are verydisappointing—variously banal, vacuous and old ideas dressed up inirritatingly self-aggrandizing language. The CD itself is a mixed bagand as such the high points stand out. Pan Sonic provide a powerful,visceral layering of hum and buzz; Noto's piece is a haunting,throbbing soundscape ornamented with pretty electro-gestures drenchedin reverb; and Thaemlitz's fascinating composition combines trashylooped disco samples with potently inhuman synthetic sounds, machinenoises and calculated sequences that make a dramatic and disturbingcontrast with the pop music backdrop. For me, it functions as a rathereffective indictment of the easy—and vaguely cowardly—abstraction ofsome of the music on this CD and so popular now elsewhere. Too much ofthe rest of the music relies on hackneyed, clicky rhythmicconstructions or on conventional forms executed with insufficient tasteor skill. I suspect that the musicians are less to blame for this thanthe compilers since for some of them we know that in other contextstheir music can be of value. The stand out winner for me is the threeminute "Til," by young Icelandic newcomer Elvar Már Kjartans akaAuxpan. Sounding a bit like "Kytkenta - Connection," from Vainio's KajaCD, it is a beautiful ripping noise, evoking the power of electricityto move, burn and destroy. This is one of those extremely rare andexceptional pieces of music that is so satisfying that it can turn yourday around.
- Pan Sonic - Eriö-Osuus
- Terre Thaemlitz - TGA Prototype
- Auxpan - Til
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The title track of this three-song EP makes for an awesome continuation of the crisp, groove-driven compositions of 2002's Every Day,which incorporated a full live band rather than relying as heavily onsampled rhythm sections and re-mixing as previous releases. The upbeatand lyrically positive Horizon features the soulful singing ofNiara Scarlett (who also co-wrote the tune) backed by the group'sdriving, latin-jazz inspired rhythm section. Voiced mainly by a Rhodespiano, the band's grooves shift comfortably and dig deep throughoutdifferent sections of the tune. "Oregon" features the duo of bandleader J. Swinscoe and saxophonist Tom Chant for a composition whichoriginates as a sombre, repetitive chord progression from the keyboardthat builds into multiple layers of soprano sax, bass clarinet andwhirring electronic effects. Closing out the EP, and taking up theentire second side if you get the vinyl, is the six-and-a-half minutePatrick Carpenter (aka PC/Mr. P) re-mix, "Evolution II," which uses theoutstanding Fontella Bass vocal track from "Evolution" as its center.Opening with some spacious string swells and drones, the tune kicksinto a burning, jazzy groove to back the vocals and eventually draw ina slightly distorted sub-bass line to fill it all out. Carpenter'skeyboards and re-mixing have the vocals sounding even better in thiscontext than in the notable original. This EP is well worth hearing,even for this track alone.
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