Way back in 1996, the duo of Thomas Köner and Andy Mellwig released this singles collection on the revered Chain Reaction label.  Over the ensuing years, it has justifiably been hailed as an inarguable dub techno classic, but it has remained maddeningly out-of-print for quite some time.  Now it is thankfully back again and it still sounds pretty amazing, which is a rather astonishing feat for cutting edge techno from almost two decades ago.  I'm a little disappointed that Type did not try to replicate (or outdo) the original, famously CD-damaging metal packaging though.

Peter Rehberg and Marcus Schmickler make a perplexing and contradictory duo. Take their computers away from them and their differences, both in theory and in practice, become clear. Perhaps because of these differences, Peter and Marcus have produced just two records together: 2007’s One (Snow Mud Rain), released by Erstwhile, and USA, a live recording released by Pan in 2011. Composed entirely of high intensity, tuneless noise, USA offers no explanation for its rationale or structure, or whether it has either to begin with, which leaves only the quality of the sounds to speak for themselves.

On a stop at Steve Albini's famed Electrical Audio studios during a recent joint tour, the Washington state husband and wife duo recorded this collaboration with Chicago’s noise/metal trio, later mixed by Randall Dunn. The result is a dark, yet captivating set of tracks that brings in bits of drone, black metal, post-rock, and gentle piano passages, bearing the mark of both but sounding entirely unique.

Last year, I was pleasantly surprised by how much better Guider was than its predecessor.  Now Disappears has surprised me again, greatly toning down their signature Neu!-worship in favor of something that sounds like a hell of a lot like GVSB-worship (or perhaps merely a deep fascination with Mark E. Smith).  Fortunately, I thought Girls Against Boys were pretty awesome in their prime and The Fall aren't so bad either.  More importantly, this quizzical shift in direction coincides with a fairly massive leap forward in the band's songwriting, making this the punchiest, hookiest, leanest, and most immediately gratifying album that the band has made yet.

The Unutterable comes as a pleasant surprise, that is; two great new Fall albums in a row. 15 new songs. One of them ("Dr. Bucks Letter") is my fave Fall song right now. "Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun" is really great too, as is "Cyber Insekt". The songs on this disc combine 25 years of Mark E. Smiths experience in a very individual way.

I was excited when I heard this was getting reissued, as I missed the boat on the special 93 edition, unfortunately I was somewhat saddened to find out that the disc was coming without the special packaging with post cards and such. However, when the disc showed up in my box my excitement grew again. The booklet is huge and concise - 40 pages with extensive liner notes, biography, discography, interview from the early 80s, and lots of beautiful nude photos of Cosey Fanni Tutti. As for the music, along with three lengthy instrumental sound journeys, a bonus fourth track has been added, "Such is Life" pulled from tapes of an old performance. "Time To Tell" was originally released on cassette back in 1982, then on CD for the first time in 1993. The disc showcases a time when her music was much like some of the late studio Throbbing Gristle period (Journey Through a Body / In the Shadow of the Sun). Unlike the poppy electronic body music from Chris and Cosey of the late 1980s, the music here is truly timeless. Cosey's musical talents (arguably under-utilized in TG) as a guitarist, cornet player and technician shine through in some of the best spacial drifting soundscapes, long before indie rock kids were fawning over Stars of the Lid.

samples:

• The Secret Touch
• Time to Tell
• Such is Life

 

 

In my bedroom, behind my bed rests a small stereo which I've owned for approximately 9 years. One of my favorite moments of every day is falling back into a soft pillow with music playing while I fall asleep. Unfortunately the CD player portion of this stereo ceased to work over a month ago. I brought it into a trusted local shop and waited for nearly four weeks before it was returned to me. Unfortunately the CD portion couldn't be saved, but I could attach a portable and still get a good stereo sound behind my ears. Excited to have my player back behind my bed, 'EAR 2' was the first selection chosen to fall asleep to. Utterly blissful. Like 'EAR 1' released EARlier this year, this disc features (alleged) old sources of C&C material re-attacked with a focus on depth and space. 'EAR 2' is a revisitation of Cosey Fanni Tutti's "Time To Tell" release and while EAR1 featured about 15 medium-sized tracks, EAR2 features four long, stretched out drones with echoes and bleedings from "Time to Tell."

samples:

• Ritual Awakening
• The Secret Touch
• Time to Tell

Howard Devoto assembled Magazine within months of departing the Buzzcocksin 1977. More artsy and dynamic than the punk he abandoned, Magazine's 5piece line-up (the only constants being Devoto and a young Barry Adamsonon bass) augmented vocals/guitar/bass with liberal use of piano, keyboardsand saxophone and drew influence from punk, post-punk, funk, new wave androck, as well as the literature Devoto devoured. In less than 4 yearsthey released 5 albums and numerous singles. "Maybe It's Right.." boxesup previously unreleased goodies and the highlights of their influentiallegacy on 3 fifteen track cds. Disc 1 covers the Real Life/SecondhandDaylight era, including "Shot By Both Sides", "I Love You You Big Dummy","My Tulpa", "Definitive Gaze", "The Light Pours Out of Me" and theinfectiously catchy "Rhythm of Cruelty". Disc 2 is The Correct Use ofSoap/Magic, Murder and the Weather era, including "A Song From Under theFloorboards", "Thank You", "Because You're Frightened", "Model Worker" and"Come Alive". Both of these discs feature alternative mixes and recordings,live songs and single A and B sides. Disc 3 is the real treat though with4 previously unreleased, live in the studio Peel sessions dating between'78 and '80. These sessions, along with the live songs from discs 1 and 2,show just how diverse, tight, edgy, explosive and cool Magazine could bewith solid versions of the big 'hits'. There's a lot of really vital stuffhere some 20 years on down the road. Other than the simple slip cases forthe discs, the ugly turquoise and yellow fold-up box contains a 28 pageinsert full of archival photos but, disappointingly, no liner notes otherthan track credits and no mention of re-mastering. Fortunately everythingsounds great and the music more than makes up for it.

samples:

• Boredom
• I Love You Big Dummy
• Model Worker
• Rhythm of Cruelty

Like a mixture of Sigue Sigue Sputnik & TheFast. Totally new wave, as if I didn't just tell you that comparing him tothose two. Sigue Sigue Sputnik was Tony James band after he playedbass for Generation X. Tony James was responsible for the atrocious mixof The Heartbreakers 'LAMF ReVisited' when he and Johnny took themix money and played Doctor instead of making that record "bigsounding" like they were supposed to. They just washed the masters inreverb and trashed a legendary album until the original mix was reissuedseveral years later. Despite this judgment glitch Tony James was anincredible showmen and creative force. Sigue Sigue Sputnik were reviledfor their "Love Missile F1-11", though it became a classic of its genre.The Fast were a way ahead of their time band from NYC that combineda love of Sparks into a punky power pop that predated 'new wave' by afew years. You'd do well to check out another NYC band The Speediesas well. Their "Let me take your Foto" 7" is still 10/10. The Fast and TheSpeedies were peaking around 1979. The Fast have songs on bothMax's Kansas City compilations, plus some great 7"s and an LP. Back toSylvester Boy. There are a bunch of songs on this disc that are just sofine. Sonovac and Sylvester Boy are doing almost exactly the same thing,and the two of them are my picks of the week from the Other Musicsection of this weeks gullbuy. This CD is the first non Chicks On Speedrelease on their label. It is the third release of the label.

samples:

• Monsters Rule This World
• Helping Hand
• Bastardokratiasoon

A verylistenable 7 song EP with a Hawaiian theme. Each side of the brightyellow 7" starts off with a luau-styled instrumental that almost sounds'easy'. The second song on the A-side is a version of the cliché Hawaiiansong "Hula Hula". The third song is a version of Elvis' "Blue Hawaii" thatis my fave of the EP along with the first songs on each of the sides.Elsewhere things are warped up a bit in the V/VM fashion, but never tothe point that listening to the track is an act of art appreciation. This is agreat EP to buy if you don't have anything from them and would like tocheck them out, though their 2 CD "Aural Offal Waffle" 52 track setremains my favorite and most recommended V/VM disc.

Bruce Kaphan is a multi-instrumentalist and producer who's work has gracedalbums by American Music Club, Mark Eitzel, REM, The Black Crowes, Love andRockets, Chris Isaak, David Byrne and John Lee Hooker, among many others."Slider" is his solo debut for Hearts of Space (www.hos.com), an albumproperly subtitled 'ambient excursions for pedal steel guitar'. Kaphansuccessfully removes the instrument from it's stereotypical Country &Western setting and uses it as sound source for a music more akin to"Bitches Brew" than Buck Owens. Each of the 11 tracks, a few minutes shyof an hour total, are primarily the mellow notes and washes of the steelset in reverberated ambiance. "Clouds" sets the tone with lovely steel andfretless bass interplay. "Country & Eastern" and "Back to the Light" mixin tabla rhythms for an unnaturally natural East meets West feel. "Outpost"is an outlying settlement in one of Brian Eno's ambient worlds. "Homage(Pour La Grande Fromage)" has light beats credited as 'purrcussion' toKaphan's cat Hana. Overall "Slider" is like an audio sedative, not too dulland not too exciting, but certainly relaxing and pretty. Another welcomeaddition to the 'music for sleepy time' pile .

samples:

• Clouds
• Country & Eastern
• Outpost

Described on the Bungalow website as "style:lofidubhousediskopunknoise, bigbeat, stomping house, absurd samples,looped dialogues, glamour pop. Framed by the beautiful intro and outroyou are drawn into a different world." The intro and outro they refer toare mock Holiday Inn style lounge act audience introductions that I preferto skip over. This is Bungalows last release of 2000. The website tells us"Bungalow will change its structures and start a new partnership fromnext year on". I wonder just what that means. Bungalow introduced whatthey called 'clubpop' in the mid-90's. The sound was perfected in Japanon labels like Escalator, Readymade, and Trattoria. The 'easy' side ofBungalow found a home in Spain's Siesta Records, and the offbeat popin Spain's Elefant Records. That has left Bungalow in some sort of middleground - a little bit of this, a little bit of that, which I do not believe wasthe labels intention. I remember their early manifesto stating thatBungalow was to be a style as well as a sound; it was to be a gatheringplace for a world community of people who love technology, are notafraid of dance music, think Combustible Edison were way ahead of theirtime innovators, and still thrill to the sound of a good pop song. I'll becurious to see what the 'new structure' they speak of entails... As for thisrecord, nothing on it is as good as their side of the split 7" Bungalowreleased with them and Ursula 1000. Stereo Deluxe's song from that split("Groovy Boy") is not on this debut full length. The second song is theircurrent single "Soul Sauce", a horn infested big beat dance instrumental.There is a second version of the song later in the disc as well. Both arecompetent, but neither offer anything you haven't heard many timesbefore. "Lincoln Continental (feat. Lato)" sounds a bit like Two-Tone skaby The Specials or Fun Boy Three, though not as magical as they are."Riddle Me This" is one of my faves with it's (Batman TV series) Riddlersamples, though they are not used as creatively as even I could imagine.In fact, much of this album to me does not take full advantage of thesource samples they've used. Where I really expected to love this album Ijust find myself thinking that it is O.K.

I think they're actuallya quartet this time around. This disc is without a doubt my favoriteoffering from Mazurek and Taylor as the Chicago Underground. With JeffParker and Noel Kupersmith, the quartet leaves us with 15 well-definedpaintings which are much more matured to the sort of sketchwork soundof the very first releases. Songs are developed, foundations are builtand Parker's guitarwork and Kupersmith's electronics complete thepicture. I'm afraid to think I'm more fond of this because it stepsfurther away from a more traditional jazz sound the other discs havehad. Doesn't change the fact that I can truly say I enjoy listening tothis not only at home, but riding the train to work and even in thecar.

samples:

• The Tungflec Treaty
• Antiquity
• Woman in Motion

The second various artist release from Source Research featurescontributions from Andrew Poppy, Leif Elggren, Coil, Cyclobe and COH.The problem with acquiring a lot of music is finding the time and placeto sit back and really absorb an album. Unfortunately a car was neitherthe right place nor the right time for my first listen to this. Carefulattention must be payed to this release, much like the RGB discreviewed earlier this year. At first, each of these collections seemlike a simple gathering of electronic pieces by some of the best in thecommunity. After a short while, patterns begin to emerge and a themecomes into view. Deep listening is much more involved than just readingsome liner notes and throwing on a set of headphones. Whereas RGB was acollaborative musical representation of the full color spectrum, thisrelease is basically the antithesis of that, with a focus on darkness,negative energy and the absence of existence in thematerial/tangible/visible world. Artists seem to have worked in theirown space, with very little collaboration or mixing up of the elementsat the end. It's a very cold and dark place, solemn and quiet. Thisdisc would make a great listening party soundtrack if everybody plansto sit in complete darkness and silence.

samples:

• Coil - Broken Aura
• Cyclobe - Silent Key
• souRce research + Leif Elggren - Fear (the scuffle of angels)

For a band known for playing so damned slow, Earth have evolved quickly the past few years. Their visionary work takes yet another step into uncharted waters on this new release. Billed as a continuation of last year's album of the same name, Earth's music takes a turn toward sparse improvisation, with a suite of five songs openly influenced by English folk-rock and blues.

Masaki Batoh, guitarist and leader of the Japanese psych-rock collective Ghost, is a man of many pursuits: music, acupuncture, science and spirituality. His first solo recording since the mid '90s is a result of years of research into bioelectric functions of the human brain, and the national tragedy that struck his home country while working on the album in Tokyo, Japan.

With two brilliant albums recently released (Remain and A Static Place), and time spent playing live with Robert Hampson in the reactivated version of Main, Stephan Mathieu has been leaving quite an impact on me this past year, and this live collaboration with Argentina’s Caro Mikalef continues that streak of genius.

It has been looking less and less likely that Dirty Three would record any new material. Warren Ellis and Jim White left Mick Turner to his own devices in Australia in order to follow their own paths (Ellis’ ending in Paris and White’s journey is on-going through numerous collaborations with other artists). Even though they were touring over the last few years, no new music made its way into their sets. However, the fates have smiled upon us mere mortals as the group finally entered the studio and have returned with another monster of an album.

In theory, I should love this project, as it contains members of most of my favorite Bay Area bands (Myrmyr, Barn Owl, Tarentel, etc.).  The reality, however, is a bit complicated: distinctiveness, personality, and ego were all surrendered for the greater glory of these very pure and minimal drones.  This album has some impressive moments, but the participants and their individual talents are almost entirely irrelevant.

Talvihorros is Ben Chatwin, a London-based guitarist that has been quietly releasing some fairly good albums in the abstract soundscape/drone vein over the last few years.  Then he released a truly great one (this one) and it went woefully under-appreciated and overlooked.  If the world were a fair place, Descent Into Delta would have been all over "Best of 2011" lists.