- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
For the three remainding tracks, TPS is joined by familiar crew from the album's sessions on very synth-heavy and structurally bound pieces. The tunes are considerably shorter, less clouded with showoff musiciannery, while still being aurally challenging. "Paralysed" features guest vocals from percussionist Siªn Orgon in a very Tangerine Dream-esque analogue sequencer bisque. Coupled with "Hovercar Von Dusseldorf," the tracks are strongly remeniscent of the Cold War influenced instrumentality of the less popular 80s synth popsters. For the EP's closer, "Fouled", John Balance's shrieks gets added to Thighpaulsandra's in a nine-minute psychedelic bass guitar-heavy, live drum, guitar and synth mix which would easily appeal to any fan of the Last Man to Fly-era Tear Garden. Once again this Thighpaulsandra release might not be for all Coil fans, but it's worth the listen.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
"Komfort" is a 58 minute mixer by Stefan Betke, aka Pole and head of~scape, for WMF Records. Betke doesn't transform everyone into Polewith his mix, but he does seem to dull down much of the sharp edgeswith an odd murkiness, as well as weaving in barely discernible tracesof a Nils Oekland string melody throughout. Lazily progressing throughalmost indiscriminate glitch-click and bass by the likes of VladislavDelay, Kit Clayton and Process, it slowly builds a head of steam upinto the echo chamber house of Maus & Stolle. The mid-section ofFarben, Dr. Rockit and Cinematic Orchestra mellows things out againwith some diffusive pads and slow motion jazz rhythm. Flanger continuesthe jazz tip with erratic beats and keys, gradually simmering down intothe sax augmented deep dub of The Private Lightning Six. Pole's owndigi-dub "Rondell 2" comes leaping out of the speakers, almost as ifBetke intended for his own composition to overshadow all the others. Asolo performance on a stringed instrument of some sort by Oekland wrapsit all up, oddly enough, and oddly enough, it works. But altogether,despite the talent involved and effective track selection, something isstill lacking. Clarity perhaps.
On the other hand, "Staedtizism 2" resonates with digital precision.And same as the first volume, this one has only a few artists actuallyfrom the label's roster - Jan Jelinek, Burnt Friedman & The Nu DubPlayers and Kit Clayton - along with System, John Tejada, Process,Nolte, Bus, Beige, Sad Rockets, Headset and Low Res. While there'sstill some glitch, it seems to no longer be as in vogue these days asthese tracks refer more to easy listening jazz and dub, electronicallyof course. Jelinek's "The Village Vanguard" churns through microscopicbits of old jazz records while Headset's "Dustmite" uses passages ofsquawking horn. The liquid keys of Nolte's "21st Century SchizoidMan.." remind me of the jazzy runs in Coil's "The Snow". Tejada's "AWorld So Wide" is bright and airy, coupling easy going bass and cleanguitar melodies. Bus' "Tamed Lion" and Friedman's "Xyz (Our Version)"dip furthest into the dub end of the spectrum while Clayton's "PaintingBetween Numbers" is probably the most experimental, looping andlayering electric piano notes into oblivion. Though all these artistsare of a similar mindset, they also remain on separate if not paralleltrajectories.
samples:
- Burnt Friedman & the Nu Dub Players - XYZ (Our Version)
- Cinematic Orchestra - Continuum
- The Private Lightning Six - Baby FM
- Headset - Dustmite
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Loud. Before I describe or review this CD in any length, one word can describe it perfectly: loud. This is probably the loudest album I've ever heard, and certainly raises the bar on intensity more than any other power electronics album I've ever heard.For you PE freaks out there (anyone? anyone read the Brain and give a shit about power electronics? We'll see, I guess), you may know the French Propergol from his previous two CDRs, limited to 99 and 200 copies respectively - they weren't bad, but I didn't listen to either of them more than once. He has much improved on his latest release, and actually, it's quickly becoming one of my favorite PE albums released recently. It starts off quite well, with "Swat-police," a mash of found sounds, distortion, and movie samples. That's where the album's only (possible) downfall comes into play. For those of you who hate movie samples (I usually don't mind them, and I think the ones used on this album are used pretty well), "United States..." will be intolerable. Movie samples are used judiciously and frequently, and apt listeners will quite easily discern their origins. As the album progresses, it gets louder, louder, and louder (although I've found that the lower in proximity your ears are to the floor, the quieter the album gets. Does bass rise?), climaxing somewhere around the sixth track. Certainly not for everyone, but if you're into it, get it now.
 
samples:
 
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Captured here is the non-polished side of the early line up : BarryAndrews (Vocals, Keyboards), Dave Allen (Bass), Carl Marsh (Guitar,Vocals) with Martyn Barker (Drums, Percussion).From their well-know material included is only the flip side version of"My Spine Is The Bassline" with complete different vocals layered uponthe basic track, from the 15 cuts here most have never been releasedbefore and only a few in different versions.
It's by no means an alternative "best of" - there already have beenseveral, busy repacked and redesigned during the 90's ( mostlyincomplete as the rights to their recorded output are spread between YRecords, Arista, Island and World Domination ) - more an addition whichcould also serve as an introduction, especially as Marsh and Andrewswhere asked to comment all the tracks which makes it even moreinsightful.
This is actually great stuff, get it while you can as double packincluding the nearly lost 'Naked Apes & Pond Life' album (even ifyou have to search shriekback.com for further details as no bookletcomes along with it). A very unspectacular one at first but it puts adifferent spell on you after a while, not to be compared with their1992 masterpiece "Sacred City" - an album I can't recommend too much.Dave Allen got lost again and Lu Edmonds came back for Guitar and Saz.Naked Apes & Pond Life originates arround 1995 but was not finallymixed nor published until 1999 (as no Record Company ever made too muchmoney with the approach of the Shrieks) when Martyn Barker took overand got involved in label work.
You can't say it's too long clicking in with a barely traditional LPlength of 42 something and a content of just 6 'proper' songs in midst8 mostly short instrumentals, but listening to the perfect 4:26 of"Everything's On Fire", shaped with elegance, sensuality and magic youknow that very well known acts would kill for songs like these and it'snot the total length that makes a release worthwile to obtain.
Don't expect anything. Discover.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
"Stranger Things" has a more light and polished production, compared tothe preceding "Open All Night" and provides an overall glossy feel asthe Trevor Horn produced "Tenement Symphony" did.
No cover versions of well known songs he's so famous for are includedthis time, instead two songs are taken from an album by JohannJohannson; "Love In The Time Of Science" and "Come Out" which seem tobe written exactly for him.
Surprisingly only four songs are co-written or feature his maincollaborator since "Fantastic Star" - Neal X (of Sigue Sigue Sputnik?fame'), all the others where co-written with his Icelandic Team;mainly J.Johannson who also produced the album, Siggi Baldurson (of"Sugarcubes" fame) and Sara Gudmandsdottir (Backing Vocals).
The opener and single "Glorious" is a fine piece of Almondesqueoptimism, but the non album pieces "Fur" and "Give In" which give hisvoice more room to illustrate the lyrics hit the listener between theears and are the real bonus - as so often with his singles. There areno techno remixes of "Glorious", just a radio edit included, if youwant to hear him more discoid there's "Soul On Soul" with System F.around, nearly simultaneously released in various versions.
The album itself demands to be heard completely, it's one flow of allhis tasteful and well known obsessions; love, desire, dark sinfullongings, haunted loneliness, melancholy and the will to survive. Thegroove of "Dancer" reminds me pretty much of Elvis' "Fever" and isbesides the hypnotic "Love In A Time Of Science" and the heart tearingepics "When It's Your Time" and "Under Your Wing" a bit outstanding,but there are no misses, maybe some songs could have been longer orshorter, the lyrics (not included this time) a bit more twisted but whocares if it's Marc Almond and the "feeling's wider than the sky".
There's a beautiful 1st edition of the CD with engraved Cover, alsofeaturing as bonus cut the duet "Amo Vitam" , sung with the Germankitsch duo Rosenstolz (some might recall the cover of Klaus Nomi's"Total Eclipse" he did with them lately), which is a fine addition andending for "Stranger Things".
samples:
- Find them at his website
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
samples:
Read More