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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.
When I saw the latest incarnation of Current 93 in performance last June, I made it a point to personally tell David that it was by far my favorite lineup and show that I had ever seen of the group, and I meant it. This album is perhaps the most anticipated Current 93 release ever, and it is easily one of, if not, the best.
The irony of Vol. 2 of the Exchange Session is that, even though the three songs are longer, the music is far more controlled, composed, and tighter, as opposed to the improvisational and somewhat looser sound typically associated with long pieces.
After nearly three years of relative incubation, Aereogramme hasresurfaced with a monster EP showcasing, in only 32 minutes, theirrepertoire of noise, affinity for technology, mastery of songcraft,lust for those heavy metal chords, and respect of beautiful pop. Ifthat's not enough, Seclusion comes equipped with a music video,repeated (same video, different songs), directed by Steven Morrison andpaying homage to Japanese horror directors Hideo Nakata and TakashiShimizu.
Volcano the Bear's dramatic, highly ambitious two disc (two-CD or two-LP) return is a lot to ingest, however, every second is rewarding in what could easily be one of my top albums of the year so far and my favorite Volcano the Bear release to date.
Over the course of four albums and some relentless touring, Mono have proven themselves capable of making some noise. On You Are There, however, the band doesn't burst in with guns blazing, but quietly sneak in through the side door. They haven't succumbed, however, to making an MOR record by a long shot.
If it was 20 years earlier, an album like this wouldn't havesurprised anybody by popping up on Paisley Park Records, as it's gotsome sort of fragile white soul that Prince seemed to frequently chase and salivate over,but the fact that it's been released on Temporary Residence, a labelknown more for instrumental guy-rock, is a bit of a surprise. 
Imust confess that Andrew Chalk has been scoring my ritual eveningrelax/unwind "me-time" almost exclusively for the last few weeks. The newest release is exceptionally fantastic, reminding me why peoplepay outrageous amounts for his releases at online auctions.
Peoplehave grown so accustomed to Kieran Hebden's work as Four Tet that theyhave probably almost completely forgotten what his role as amusician/composer was in Fridge and the directions the trio werebeginning to pursue on their last full-length release, Happiness.The people who are aware and welcoming to more loose sounds will be themore receptive audience for this brand new project, as Hebden hasteamed up with Steve Reid, a seasoned drummer known for his work insoul and jazz circles.
Nice Nice are Jason Buehler and Mark Shirazi: a multi-talented duo fromPortland, Oregon who have demonstrated through their brilliant fulllength album, Chrome, that they can fill sound to the wallswith only a guitar and drums and some skilled real-time effects processing.With this series—a limited quartet of numbered CD EPs which had to bemail ordered directly through Temporary Residence—I hate to admit, onthe whole, I'm underwhelmed.
RazorX is the production team of Brits The Bug (Kevin Martin of TechnoAnimal, God, Ice, and more) and The Rootsman, who make blistering,aggressive hardcore dancehall tracks with the levels pinned to the redunderneath some of some of the most creative Jamaican MCs, and thisawesome two CD set collects the first ten 7" singles.
