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samples:
- Antedelirational Music Box (from Dust Pincher Appliances)
- Nascere e Crescere e Ardere D'inconsapevolezza (from Radiand Black Future)
- (internal dialogue) (from An Uncertain Animal)
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With the reissues of these two classic LPD albums, Soleilmoon has finally finished the project of bringing the old PIAS titles back into print. Both albums feature the album cover artwork of Babs Santini yet only the second part, 'Malachai' was actually produced by Steven Stapleton. Originally released in 1992, 'Shadow Weaver' was the first album to be recorded since the untimely death of guitarist Bob Pistoor.
Unsurprisingly, the mood is very calm, still, and reserved on the opening of each. A new lineup was created, which pretty much lasted for the next ten years with only minor alterations. Dutch guitarist/bassist Martjin de Kleer joined along with Canadian multi-instrumentalist Ryan Moore to take over drumming, bass and guitar duties. (Violinist Patrick Wright gave up his full-time duties but did make appearances on both records.) The group both explored more experimental territories, playing with different arrangements, moving in new directions for both production and technology, perfecting a balance between pop, post-prog, and psychedelia. I still remember a sizable number of old-school fans seemed to be lost on these albums when they were released, yet they remain two of my favorite LPD records. It was almost as if they had been consciously making an effort to shed the sound that lumped them in with the Wax Trax, Skinny Puppy and post-industrial goth crowds. Heck, Edward even sings "I'm sick of the same scene, I'm tired of this road" during "Twilight Hour." No longer was this band the outlet of Phil and Ed, in addition to the two new members, Niels was taking a more active role in the band than ever before, with a noticably stronger presence of saxophone, flute and other wind instruments. The lyrical basslines and tinkling piano melodies were fresh to the LPD sound and within the mix it was rather unworldly. There were fewer songs but the albums were the same length... LPD had finally agreed to be more patient with their songs, letting them grow and develop. They were unafraid to have heavy electronic beats on songs like "Needles" and "Laughing Guest," a saxophone duet on "The Key to Heaven", or sound effects like bathwater or birds, ripping guitars, acoustic guitars, and organic percussion.
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'Malachai' opens with the stunning, yet surprisingly proto-rock-standard mimicing "Joey the Canary" with lush acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, and subtle, pulsing percussion. On Malachai, they pushed the envelope even further, creating with Steven Stapleton an album with loads of cut up tapes and a number of effects and lengthy drones, making tunes almost completely impossible to recreate live. At this time, the group seemed to be touring more than ever, but playing a lot of old favorites with the occasional current song or two. Highlights for me include the sparse, chilling instrumental arrangement of "Pavane," the serene closer, "Paris 4 A.M." and the 19 minute-long epic, "We Bring the Day," equipped with a scattering of signature Nurse with Wound sounds and sampled farm animals. (yum) Since both of these albums came out towards the end of their career with PIAS, they have been in circulation far less, and newer fans would typically have to spend loads of money to hear the albums. Thankfully the music is finally available again, "so cease your lonely mourning."
samples:
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Thisfour-tracker contains the aforementioned ripoff, "Dundas, Ontarioremix" two new tracks, the album version and a video of "Dundas". Whilehis skills as a player and technologist are more than evident in all ofhis recordings, I always feel there's something conceptually missing.The beats he drops on the opening of track two, "Tits and Ass" arebombastic at first, then the track drifts into some pretty melodickeyboard loops which sort of linger in the air like a fart in a roomthat won't dissipate soon enough. The other new track, "Webers" is alsopretty, with a xylo-phoney melody which reminds me of being stuck in aJapanese restaurant in a cheap Kung-fu film waiting for my take-outnoodles minutes before the ninjas burst in. It's accented by tiredrhythmic clicking and an artificial bass drum kick, but once again Ifeel about as statiated after I've eaten only one gyoza. Themade-for-chic coffee shop ambiance LP version of "Dundas" closes theaudio portion and the video of the remix version rounds out the set. Tome, the video seems like it's trying to parodize Beach Party MTV-stylevideos whilst making fun of the place where young Dan grew up, takingthe form of a home video of a bunch of drunk Canadian kids. Even theplushies couldn't help this one in the end.
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A heaping serving of patience is needed asthe disc opens with a gentle 8 1/2 minute piece of soft drones andsparse guitar. Over the course of nearly an hour, the music crescendosslowly, slowly, slowly. Various other instruments are added, numerousdifferently treated guitar sounds, un-dominating beats and rhythms,bass, long-stretched keyboard synth string sounds, pianos, andbell-like chiming things (xylophones, wind chimes or keyboard sounds,it's hard to tell what's real these days). Unfortunately, as is theseeming downfall of everything I'm writing about this week, there are anumber of derivative elements. Sampled tirades of Jesus freaks hasalmost been done to death by godspeed, swirling guitar melodies echothose from the Aerial M record and chord progressions I'm hearing arestrikingly similar to those overused by Mogwai and their imitators.These aren't bad things to emulate by a long shot. If anything, moremusic needs to be this patient and delicate. Josephsson, however, seemslike a very intuitive man, tactfully issuing this disc only as a CD-R,giving out a number of songs for free on his website, www.islandia.is/hauskupa.In essence, he's made a silent statement that he's here, he's busy, butthings are not quite ready just yet for a mega-super world dominatingrelease. Pay attention to him, however, as things will happen. You canquote me on that. In the meantime, lend him an ear and I'm sure hewon't let you down. -
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What Edwards is doing iscompletely different from the Fridge boys. It derives, however, morefrom the repetitive, glistening days of Aphex and Autechre mixed with alittle cheesiness of Isan and only a slight nod to Four Tet. While it'snot a bad thing, it is somewhat predictable, in the way that you knowthe first 40-second track is an intro, the second track will probablybe one of the strongest, and the ending will have that proverbialessence of finality to it. The production is great, the melodies arecatchy, yet I'm finding myself more interested in hearing how Edwardsdevelops as a musician. After a year of stunning electronic releases bygroups like Múm, Dntel, Ulrich Schnauss, Four Tet, and Telefon TelAviv, I'm honestly seeking out something more challenging and far moreoriginal. Keep us posted, Dave. -
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The scene is Brooklyn, NY. The time is present day (okay, 2001. This release came out last year, but I just found it for review). And the music is by... Hey! Who the heck are these guys? From Arena Rock Recording Co. comes this compilation of both unknown and well-known Brooklyn bands. And what better cause could there be but donating all the proceeds to the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition? Arena Rock has introduced us to some superior rock bands in the past, and Brooklyn has a history of being the birthplace for impressive rock. And the results are astonishing. This is, quite simply, the best 2-CD multiple band compilation I have ever heard.
Arena Rock
The established acts show off their strengths: They Might Be Giants bring a great rock record to the table, complete with quirky lyrics; Grand Mal is at their heavy-psychedelic best; Nada Surf donate a fantastic acoustic track with well-blended harmonies; and Elk City come off like Concrete Blonde with a fuzz bass. It's pretty impressive just taking the home team donations into consideration. And what about the little-heard from visitors? They hold their own, and, in some places, could teach the veterans a move or two. The Seconds come out of the gate ready to tear out your throat, with a punky Cure sound; Blasco try to break your heart with a very film noir, Giant Sand-like sound; Stereobate successfully combine Mogwai with Thurston Moore without sounding lame; and then recent Arena Rock signing The Mink Lungs want to groove you with their lo-fi slacker sound. Overall, the variety of sounds and abundance of bands make for a very disjointed but aurally pleasing mix. A great introduction to some great new bands, a worthy cause, and two CDs for one low price. Christmas can come a little early for you, too, this year. - 
- Weeds of Eden - "Radiate"
- Scout - "It's All Made Up"
- Elk City - "Three Ears"
- Stereobate - "False Porno Alarm (Surgery Mix)"
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Does shesucceed? Not all that well, no. But it IS her first release, and Isuppose we can forgive her that. This is a phenomenon that must beheard to be believed. Man, what a personality Claudia truly is. Andwhat better material to pick for sixties redux than a track popularizedby Skeeter Davis and another by Lou Reed? These songs just lendthemselves to the treatment. And Claudia has put together a fine bandfor the release, just so you know it's not a joke. Actually, the truthis the music and her voice together sound like what you can expect tohear in your favorite pub on karaoke night. And the voice that youexpect to be dazzled by is really buried in the mix, and sometimesthat's for good measure. But is that really what's important? No.Claudia is not here to show you the most beautiful voice you've everheard. Nor is she here to show you what a wonderful new approach shehas to this music. She's here to entertain you. She wants you to feelher emotions. She wants to be loved, and to love you. She wants you tostare at that photo on the front of the CDs for hours on end, longinglyhoping for it to wink at you and blow a kiss. And it's the style morethan anything else that's important for that. Not the music. The musicis secondary to the image. So what more do you need? Listen foryourself, and have an open mind for the ways and wiles of Claudia. -
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Thankfully it's devoid of the tongue-in-cheek tackiness such a concoction could create. Lydia is simply, perfectly credited as "chanteuse". She is extraordinarily melodic here as she erotically exhales two short stories and an especially lusty poem. I imagine her words and voice are enough to make some homosexual men reconsider things. On 'Nothing But Trouble' she confessedly purrs "the trouble with being so bad is that it feels so damn good" then regales us with the sins of her trouble man. With an opiated whisper she tells us of a little man in the title track, "another hopped up bastard on a barstool" who'd "go in heat just like a little bitch" at the sight of any woman out on the town. 'Potango Tango' plays out like a horn-y Foetus production, Lydia insisting "your kiss tastes like an orgy" and "your kiss is my elixir" over a throbbing dance rhythm. The near instrumentals 'Guernicana' and 'Potango Tango (Rmx)' tastefully round out the suite. Everything from the music to the voice to the lyrics to the artwork is complementary on this release. I'm just about sick of it I've been listening to the damn thing so much. It's only April Fools Day, but I'm pretty confident this will be my top EP of 2002. -
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Department claims thattheir attitude is based on a "punk" aesthetic - "making strongstatements, keeping album lengths short and getting straight to thepoint." Well, maybe, but the music on these two self-released CDssounds more like a modern soundtrack for an apocalyptic student film.Department is mostly instrumental, with industrial drum machine beats,layered synths and guitars, processed samples, and lots of noise thrownin for good measure. On the whole the music sounds a few years dated,but there are definitely some intriguing elements within the mix. On'This Is Tension Avenue,' the first disc, the most notable track is"Detached," where a pleasant guitar line plays over synth drones andwhat sounds like stereo-shuffled radio clips. I could definitely dowithout the overbearing "Cure For the World," the only song withvocals, which makes fairly evident why Department is primarilyinstrumental, but the film-music synth washes of "Pulchrify" areengaging enough that it's worth a few listens.
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'Exiting,' Department's more recent album, takes a step off to one sideby adding ultra-reverbed horns to the industrial jams of "From TheClutches" and "There's No End," and on the whole the music soundsslightly less serious, almost reminding me at moments of Mr. Bunglewithout the frontman/clownish vocal antics of Mike Patton. The mostinteresting track on 'Exiting' is "Baltra," a quiet computer-generatedpiece of bouncing and cycling tones, which is a pleasant departure fromthe intensity of most of the rest of the album. I think Department liketo think that they're more experimental or groundbreaking than theyreally are, which is not a big issue, but it makes me feel like there'sa lack of irony to this music which is sorely needed. Their biographystates, "Anti-corporate paranoia never sounded so good," and I hopethey're kidding, at least a little bit. Department is a nice additionto the industrial canon, though, and with their very tailoredindustrial film score sound, I wouldn't be surprised if they show up onan indie-flick soundtrack in Australia sometime soon. -
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