With this split vinyl EP marking the final release of the late Hydra Head label, it almost seems fitting that it is the work of two artists who have embraced their own independence throughout their prolific careers. It also stands as a monument to change and evolution, with Justin Broadrick's re-embracing of his harsher past put alongside Dominick Fernow's recent surprising turn towards melody and ambience.

This CD consists of 16 HipHop tracks made by 5-10 year old children from Amber Charter Grade School in East Harlem, New York City.  The children write and improvise their own raps, play their own instruments, and program their own drum machine beats.  They named their own groups and created the cover art for the CD.  So why is this album credited to a middle-aged white guy named Dave Soldier?

After a night of hard drinking, I discovered by chance that Leaving Songs represents the mid-life hangover, figuratively as well as literally.  As my thinning hair turns noticeably greyer, the frank subject matter the Tindersticks frontman presents here hits home like a brick hurled through the window.

Can't say I'm terriblysurprised that a label run by the Autechre folks would put out an EPlike this. Team Doyobi's style is relatively remeniscent of an older,more squarish 4/4 beat-filled Autechre sound, yet the group exploresmore with melodic motives than Booth and Brown seemingly did back in"the day." The release is an eight track mini-lp stretchingapproximately a half hour. The music is enjoyable, bright and bouncey,with innovative usage of sampled and synthesized sounds tapping out themelodic rhythms. Fans of glitchy Mouse On Mars beat music willdefinitely be keen on this one as there's various video-game esquesamples and over-processed primitive sounding analogue syntheticstossed in to color the tunes. As good as it is, however, it's nice tohave it short and sweet. There's not an incredible amount of variety interms of tempo change and feeling between the different songs, sosomething like this would be a bit heavy to digest had it been twice aslong.

samples:

• Push Chairs for Grown Ups
• Kitten Development
• Spidermonkey

Uwe Schmidt's SenorCoconut project is probably his most popular incarnation. This 12" has3 versions of the Kraftwerk song 'Tour De France' and 2 versions of'Expo 2000'. All but one of the songs are unique to this 12". There isthe 'Merigue album version' of "Tour De France" taken from the 'ElBaile Aleman' CD. You get 2 more verions of the song here as well: the'Good groove's 501 Vocal mix' and the 'Good groove's 501 Instrumentalmix'. All three versions break out of the tight confines of the pretend'neo-Latin' music that the Kraftwerk cover record sticks to. This 12"is the only place you'll find his version of the recent Kraftwerk'comeback' song "Expo 2000". there are 2 versions here: the 'MamboOriginal' and the 'Mambo Instrumental'. Uwe Schmidt seems to excel atwhatever he does. A few weeks ago I heard the second Flanger CD he didalong with Burnt Friedman. Although I am not usually one for straightup jazz, that CD sounded crystal clean and somewhat unique in it'scombination of traditional jazz and modern electronics. I can't wait tohear his Erik Satin project, which I've heard is his EasyMusicdeconstruction act - kind of similiar to what Tipsy is doing.

Though the bright, streamlined bounce of first-track "Container of Drudgery(Never Had a Name)" seems to be crafted with almost excruciating precisionnext to last year's noise-saturated Fingerpainting, don't let the openingstrains fool ya. The Red Krayola's new six song EP eventually flexes andfractures into the same smattering of electronic chirps and indifferentlycolliding rhythms and melodies that characterizes their other recent DragCity releases. Midway through the album, the spastic rhythms and synthesizedsquawking and burping commence. These moments are capable of producing thefear and agony of one confined to a room filled with two-year-olds andFischer Price instruments. On "Is There," vocals, guitar, synthesizer, anddrums all seem to improvise playfully with only the occasional nod tosolidarity and structure. This isn't a problem in itself, but the samecryptic sing-song lyrics and compulsively spastic tapping that carry throughmost of The Red Krayola's albums now seem uninspired and more likely toinduce nervous twitching than appreciation. Yet when the fun and bluesyinstrumental "6-5-3 Blues" eventually breaks into chewy electronic twists,you can't help but feel the scattered moments of cohesion are worth (mostof) the disarray. The last two tracks maintain this balance with flair.While 'Blues, Hollers and Hellos' may not be The Red Krayola's best, the morevaried use of electronics makes up for some the inconsistency and you can'thelp but be grabbed when it's disparate elements come together just right.The slow "Magnificence as Such" rolls with cymbals and fuzzy, meanderingguitars while Mayo Thompson's wobbly croon, "Still it slays me when I touchmagnificence as such," may even produce pangs of tragedy and beauty in thosewho typically cringe. Yum.

samples:

• 
  
• 
  
• 6-5-3 Blues

Ulan Bator is a French avante art rock trio who apparently take theirname from the capitol of Mongolia. "Ego : Echo" is their third albumand it was for the most part spontaneously created during 3 weeks ofsessions last summer in Florence, Italy with producer and Young GodRecords head Michael Gira (SWANS, The Angels of Light). Ulan are allabout tight and minimal, tense and repetitive guitar/bass/drum rockgrooves - both noisy and subdued - as musical and (French) vocalpassages become hypnotic head noddin' mantras. Add organ, piano, bow,keys, horn, tape loops, electronic drone, 'la la la' styled backingvocals and Gira's dry, crisp, clean and full production. Comparisonsto Can, Faust (Jean Herve Peron contributes horns to 1 song), the BadSeeds and Gira's own projects is inevitable as everything is sparseyet beautifully melodic and the sound and feel is similar, at the veryleast, in spirit. The 16 minute centerpiece "Let Go Ego" in particularprovides the variety of most everything Ulan Bator do in one song withextensive stretches of drone, somnambulant sonic meandering, heavy rockout and lengthy coda chant. "Ego : Echo" is a dynamic rock record thatresonates with passion and a sense of straightforward urgency. It'sone of a handful of cool musical things lately from France and it fitsright in with the rest of the Young God catalog. Up next from YGR arealbums by Calla and Flux Information Sciences in January and the newAngels of Light album "How I Loved You" in February.

samples:

• Hemisphere
• Let Go Ego
• Soeur Violence

Following the energy fromthis year's spectacular full-length offering, "And then Nothing Turneditself,..." Yo La Tengo have come up with three pleasant newinstrumental gems. The group called all three songs Danelectro andcoupled them with a remix of each to round out the CD EP. A short butsweet hip-hop variation is brought to the table by somebody who goes bythe moniker of Q-Unique, while a rather intense jazzy cut, spliced andover-layered version has been treated by San Fran's Kit Clayton. Myfavorite however would be the 11+ minute electronic sunshinereinterpretation from Nobukazu Takemura. In my opinion, whileTakemura's work was in no way 'cut out' for him, he did have theprettiest source material to work with. While I'm fond of Yo La Tengo'sLPs and this EP, these songs might sound rather out of place on analbum from the group known for their vocal pop rock material. There'ssomething that's somewhat indescribable about the brightfulness of themelodies themselves, it's almost as if they possess a certain Holidayspirit. Perhaps this EP was intended to be a Christmas-type releasefrom the NY threesome. I'm not aware of this yet I'm not convincedotherwise.

samples:

• Danelectro 1 (Q-Feel mix)
• Danelectro 2 (Nobukazu Takemura mix)
• Danelectro 3 (Kit Clayton mix)

It's tough to try to talk about a release from the High Llamas without mentioning Stereolab, but when you've got Sean O'Hagen leading a chorus of girls singing pretty "la la"s combined with airborne melodies, loads of chimes and vintage organs, comparisons are as unavoidable as the moose standing in the middle of the highway as you barrel towards it at 65 miles per hour. I quite like this disc however.

Talk about variety, thesecond Echoboy album of the year once again follows a seeminglymulti-genre'd blueprint as Volume 1. Richard Warren, who goes by thename of Echoboy has gathered another ecclectic collection of nineself-recorded self-produced delves into audio experimental popinfluenced rock tunes. Whether it echoes early 80s electro pop a'laPeter Schilling's "Major Tom" or 90s analogue synth retro, Warren'senergy is fiery and relentless, his talent as a songwriter and musicianis undying. Some songs carry a feverish pulse, with a utilization ofguitars and vintage keyboard sounds not entirely unlike good oldSuicide or Trans Am. When the slower paced tunes creep through thespeakers, the music is never less saturated. The usage of variousorganic drums with electronic drum machines, guitar filters, bass linesand special effects . Echoboy's loved by critics and adored by collegeDJs all over the world, I assume because it seems like the guy's arabid music fan like the rest of us, and hasn't decided to make a'band' to only focus on one style. If I only had one complaint aboutEchoboy, it would be that this guy has way too many limited editionsingles and EPs of which many tracks will probably be lost, never tosee the light of day again. Brilliant asshole.

samples:

• Telstar Recovery
• Sudwestfunk
• High Pitch Needs

With a fondness of vintage analogue keyboards and rockin tunes is this defunct (?) Detroit duo. Herein lies 23 tracks recorded between 1996 and 1998, pulled from various out of print 12" and EP releases. Le Car's automobile has been retrofitted with analogue keyboards, but it drives quite smoothly and is exciting to show off.

This is the first release of DirkDresselhaus (schneider TM) since his 'Moist' full length was licenced for UK release by Mutefrom Germany's City Slang Records. He has made this 6 song mini-album in collaboration withKPT.michi.gan aka Michael Beckett (who usually joins schneiderTM as part of his live band),and Japanese artist Hanayo http://www.hanayo.com/ (her site has a lot of fun things tolook at). Hanayo is a very interesting person based on a look around her site. She provides thevocals (another first on any schneider TM release) on 2 songs" "Onnanoko" and "The Light3000", which is a cover of The Smiths song "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out". Prettyneat, huh? In fact it is. I loved the Moist album and I like this a lot too. The first song on eachside are busy instrumentals, the second song on each side are quiet instrumentals, and the lastsong on each side are the vocal tracks.

"Part of the 'Atom Series', a series of limited vinyl only releases by AtomicRecordings favourite new artists from around the globe" informs the website. Atomic Recordingsis a Belgium label, The Remote Viewer is a Leeds UK band formed by 2 ex-members of Hoodwho also used to record as The Famous Boyfriend. The music is 4 instrumentals that areelectronic and slightly somber in tone, kind of like an early morning/late night ISAN. AtomicRecordings was also associated with 'In The Fishtank', the series that released the collaborationbetween The Ex & Tortoise, and a Guvner disc as well. 'In The Fishtank' captures exclusiveAmsterdam recording sessions by touring bands. 'In The Fishtank' is run by their dutchdistribution company 'De Konkurrent' with Atomic Recordings taking care of the vinyl. TheRemote Viewer also have a new 12" out on Domino Records as part of their resusitated 'Series500' 12" line.

Cubismo Grafico is Gakuji Matsuda: DJ, remixer, and musician, born Feb. 12 1970, known tohis friends as Chabe. He lives in Tokyo and is one of the top male J-pop artists around today,along with Pizzacato Five's Konishi Yasuharu, Mansfield's Masanori Ikeda, and Losfeld'sMasashi Naka. Pizzacato Five have been around for a long time and are the modern fathers ofthis sound, but it is only recently that male vocalists are breaking out into popularity. Until recentlyartists like Yukari Fresh and Takako Minekawa were the new faces and voices. CubismoGrafico, Losfeld, and Mansfield are almost a united force to me. They have similiar palettes andare all very classy and clever without being pretentious. Pizzacato Five's Maki Nomiya has justput out her first solo album on Readymade records. Soon Konishi Yasuharu's first release asPunch The Monkey will come out. He may join this group of J-pop artists and take his rightfulplace on top of it all - we'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, there are some great releases toenjoy at home, and this is one of them. I really love the song "Trip To Rio". It is not a bossa orsamba song like it's title would imply. It is super upbeat with a female Japanese "rapper" doingthe type of vocal I like best in J-pop. It is a non-threatening "Yo" type street tough that remindsme of a miniature dog yipping. Of the 15 songs on this CD 9 are less than two minutes long. Onone of the short songs ("Ya-Ya!") Yukari Fresh guests, on another ("Tonight You Belong ToMe") Hideki Kaji. The 6 longer songs pull their weight completely though. The song "Fairytale OfEscape" is the acid test to tell if you like this whole sound at all. The song is so perfect that if youdo not like it you can rest assured that you need not check out any of the other J-pop I'll evermention. It is an awesome song that Chabe must be very proud of. I can't wait till he tops it onfuture releases!

A major tragedy of thelast few years is the growing usage of computers as exclusive musiclistening environments. Kids are growing up in a world withoutexperiencing true high fidelity, a life without listening to anuncompressed music source through a stereophonic amplifier with warmroom speakers. It's all MP3 to them and why the hell not: it's freeright? Ikeda is probably onto this, which prompted him perhaps torecord something like 'Matrix.' Disc one, "Matrix [for rooms]"stretches about an hour over ten tracks. It absolutely cannot beexperienced to its fullest intent without a relatively decentstereophonic sound system with appropriate space between speakers,placed well inside a room. Well who the hell are you to tell me how tolisten to this? Track one: the pulses are established, elements fadein, space is established between the speakers. Walk around the room andhear pulses changing sequence or solidifying into one solid tonedepending on where you stand and how you hold your head. Track 2: thewood on a coffee table starts vibrating, rattling a pen. Track three:pitches change, earlier tones fade out, this guy is either a fuckinggenius or I'm going crazy. Track four: where can I get somehallucinogenic drugs? Track five: blissful massaging of the inner ear.I think I'm going to stop here and reccomend that you try your ownexperience now. Think of this CD as a movie you buy on video or DVD tohave at home, to watch every now and again, to entertain guests with(this disc does sound different if there's multiple people in the roomversus being alone) or just to pull out on a Saturday afternoon betweenlunch and your evening plans. Do not, however, listen to this on yourcomputer or in your car or anywhere 'convenient.' It demands your fullattention. For fans of Ikeda's head bobbing, almost poppy rhythmicmulti-tonal work, there's always disc two. ".Matrix" also features tennew tracks, a half hour of cleverly-crafted beat friendly gems, stylishand intoxicating. It is in no way less spectacular than disc one, bothof which make this package well worth the wait and an excellent bargainfor the inexpensive price.

samples:

• 0000000100
• 1111110111
• 1101111111

My appreciation of Spencer Yeh has increased in recent years due to his clear disinterest in re-covering familiar and expected territory.  Nowhere is that creative restlessness more conspicuously on display than here, an entire album of charmingly ramshackle left-field pop.  As it turns out, Yeh has been concealing a knack for songwriting all these years, as Transitions is a legitimately excellent and charismatic effort that makes me wish he had been doing this all along.  These are some of the most instantly likable songs that I have heard all year.

Sometimes, an artist sticks to a style even though they have done it to death but lack the vision to move on from the one idea that they briefly got right. Then there are artists who take this one idea and make it work, over and over again. A Place to Bury Strangers fall firmly into this second camp. They continue to sound as fresh as they did on their debut, which is impressive, considering the musical coffers of My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain should be well and truly bare by now. A Place to Bury Strangers have created a magnificent and charged work that demonstrates they have plenty of fire still to be unleashed.

Originally an accompanying piece for the vinyl release of A Static Place, this afterward to that album utilizes the same archaic gramophones paired with computer processing approach, resulting in a similarly dynamic, understated piece of minimalist composition.

Initially a work inspired by Cage's 100th birthday this year, this album began life as a soundtrack to his One11 film. However as those recordings progressed, Australian composer Lawrence English began to develop a wider body of pieces that were inspired, both directly and indirectly, by the legendary artist, and take on a life of their own.

Locrian has spent the better part of the last four years distinguishing themselves from the also-rans of the post-Sunn O))) drone scene, crafting their own distinct sound and identity amid many less engaging acts. While much of their recent work has been focused on the deconstruction of metal symbolism, paired with a more conventional rock bent, here the trio go back to their dissonant, abstract roots, with help from legendary audio and visual artist Christoph Heemann.