Anticipating a new full length, Sonig reissues every side of non-album Lithops material on one disc, with unreleased tracks from the same time period. At least three of these singles have been long out of print, and as bittersweet as it is to see my $2 copy of “Tubino-see-through / Filterabend” (Static Caravan 1, clear-vinyl, hand-stamped sleeve, decal insert) swiftly devalued, having the rest of these immediately available is almost better than a new record from Jan St. Werner.

Maybe it’s a bit too early to call, but right now I’d say it is safe to say that Stay Afraid, the latest release from Brooklyn noise-rockers Parts and Labor is the first great fist-in-the-air rock record of 2006. With all the instruments jacked up within an inch of their lives, the band goes flat out on every song here, and comes up victorious for the most part.

2nd Gen mastermind Wajid Yaseen also works under the alias Uniform with partner Alice Kemp, and Protocol is their latest effort for Planet Mu. Despite Planet Mu's ruptured dance tendencies, 2nd Gen's reputation for heavy break beats, and Uniform's first album for Ad Noiseam of abstract beat compositions, Protocol takes a hard left turn into unexpected territory.

Japanese instrumental group Anoice cherish melodies over everything. This, their debut release, doesn’t redefine music but it does carve out its own little space somewhere near the sea and sets up its own nest of ideas.

With their sixth full-length album, Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt once again approach their music from the conceptual level, hitting upon a brilliant idea and elaborating it perfectly. The ten "audio portraits" that comprise the album evidence a precision of concept and working method that is almost fetishistic in its exactness, but nonetheless provides an engaging, humorous and often illuminating listening experience.

Numero Group's fifth number covers the output of this southern gospel/country singer, a collection of recordings that, unlike the other Numero releases, was recorded for a major record label, however equally challenged with facing extinction as the others. Fern's album Singing a Happy Song was recorded for Paramount's Dot imprint but it soon became the property of MCA following a buyout and basically layed dormant for 25 years before being returned to Fern Jones after a lengthy letter campaign.

Not unlike 2002's Amore del Tropico, the focus on The Spell is on love. Devastation, remorse, seduction, memories, and a whole host of emotions ranging from despair to anger occupy every thought and every syllable of every song. Whittled down to a five piece, now including The Album Leaf's Jimmy LaValle, the band sounds forceful. The entire album buzzes with a apprehensive energy, summoning the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock with equal parts lone poet and repenting sinner.

This mysterious UK noise collective bring out the torture chamber intern side of Thurston Moore and get Jim O’Rourke as pumped as your average everyday metal teen. The omission of Chris Corsano's name, however, seems like an oversight as he deserves credit for the five and a half minute hardcore percussive finale.

Numero 004 is named after Yellow Pills, the magazine that Jordan Oakes began publishing in 1990, dedicated to the power pop sounds discovered through obscure 45s from bands he thought of not as "has-been"s or "never-were"s, but "could-have-been"s.  That, however, is up for debate.

Out of all the stories of small indie record labels that vanished almost without a trace, none screams more for a cinematic representation than the Bandit label out of Chicago.  Founder Arrow Brown was more than just a producer and visionary, he was like a polygamous cult leader, who lived with with his singers, who he referred to as his daughters, all in the studio and label HQ.

Antena was a French trio whose adoration for Brazilian samba/pop combined with a mastery of synths and guitars could easily be sited for the blueprint of Pizzicato Five or Stereolab, however, in 1982 the audience simply wasn't there.  Numero Group issued this collection featuring their 1982 mini LP Camio del Sol in 2004, expanded to include tracks from other singles and compilations originally issued on Les Disques du Crépuscule, and now LTM, the primary label issuing the old Crépuscule and Factory Benelux catalogue has issued their own version boasting two more tunes.

The first thing that comes to mind when reading about modern Jewish music born out of a multitude of influences, backgrounds, and traditions including both Eastern European Gipsy and 20th century jazz/improv matched with lyrics which come from Jewish poetry is Klezmer, but Black Ox Orkestar, formed from members of Silver Mt. Zion, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and Sackville, does not play Klezmer.  Klezmer is vocal dance music, often used for festive occasions like weddings, born from hardship but designed to lift spirits while the Orkestar take a much more solemn approach.

I would like to claim that the central rift of opinion on the solo career of Scott Walker falls between those who think that the aging crooner's music has become ridiculously pretentious, and those who think he's a genius. Actually, though, this would be inaccurate, as even those who love Scott Walker and think him a genius are also likely to find him pretentious. The only difference between admirers and detractors is that admirers can look past Walker's many pretensions, and the detractors either refuse to or can't.

If Jesu is any indication, putting Godflesh in the grave was the best thing that Justin Broadrick could have done with his lumbering behemoth of a legacy. Jesu's latest is a return to the slow grinding despair of Godflesh's Merciless EP, something that Broadrick does better than most.

By my count this is the third version released of this 'infamous' Belgian Magik Markers show. The interest in this particular May 9th 2005 show stems from the fact that it ended with Elisa Ambrogio impersonating Carrie at her bloodiest after a bass in the face. This may not be the definitive release, but with Prurient editing and remastering the gig for, and I’m quoting here, "maximum dog shit sound" it’s the heaviest.

It was about a year ago when I first stumbled upon the Numero Group, and finally after months of begging to get the true insides on them, they've finally answered my emails and come around to getting some of their stuff to us. Numero 001 is the first part of an indefinite Eccentric Soul series.  It's a series of out of print soul music criminally ignored or lost for years in vaults and basements, and part one is a representation of Columbus Ohio's Capsoul label and their releases from the early 1970s.

The second album by Pateras and Fox finds them raiding the human body for sounds and reorganizing them in convulsive detail. Their improvisations logically find the duo favoring texture over form, yet after a while the constantly shifting dynamics becomes a form of motionlessness in itself and at times I found my mind wandering.

This release, the second in a seven inch trilogy, sees a further distillation of the band’s gorgeous organically structured songwriting. These two pieces are instantly noticeable as more electronic sounding than the first instalment, even though some of the strongest melody lines here are analogue in origin.

This is the second album from Denmark’s Jens Berents Christiansen as Rumpistol. Mere Rum is a listenable but boring album. Each of the eight tracks are forgettable. They work as background music they're but definitely not anything I could sit down and listen to properly again.

As Jesu, Justin Broderick along with Diarmuid Dalton have teetered somewhere between metal, pop, thrash, and shoegaze.  Last year's self-titled album ranks amongst my favorites of 2005, perhaps because at points it makes me watery-eyed for the early 1990s days of Bowery Electric, Slowdive, Curve, and Loop.  Silver is sort of a stopgap, a four song extended play single with songs that aren't bad, but just not as thematically connected as the eponyous LP.