Travelogue is Jon Sonnenberg, yet another young man who uses only analogue synths and equipment in making his simple melodic songs (and lists the specific instruments on the liner notes, of course). Travelogue's minimal tracks are amazingly well-crafted, though, and deeply rooted in Gary Numan, Fad Gadget and Kraftwerk without succumbing to the syrupy pop trap of other new synth-artists whose music shares more in common with OMD, New Order and the like.

The longer it goes on, the weirder it gets, and then it tames itself.You see, this is not the Cerberus Shoal you're used to. It has some ofthe same elements, that's true, such as the horns and jazz structureswith moments of ambient drone and beauty. But this is a bit different.Scratch that. A lotdifferent. This time around, Cerberus Shoal have gone the moreimprovisational route, abandoning structure as it is commonly known fora bit wilder, more chaotic, jumbled noise of a sound. Yes, it does spantwo CDs. Yes, it is genuine. Yes, it is meant to be this way. And yes,it is good. But I miss the more tame Cerberus Shoal. Don't mistake: therecord does have structure in places—'Nataraja,' though a bitmonotonous around the middle, is a highlight—and the two separate discsare different thematically; which is why, though the release could fiton one CD, they are separated. It just sounds like Cerberus Shoalstarted with basic layers, and then let their minds and instruments gowild, and pulling out the stops between their influences. The resultsare mixed. It's certainly more experimental than anything they'vereleased before, and it's good for the band to escape their usualconfines and stretch. But most moments on the first disc do more topush away than invite. The annoying repition that opens 'Stumblin'Block' is not forgiven by that tracks middle or end; the chimingbeginning and vocalized middle of 'Camel Bell' are blown away by theinstrumentation of the track; and the struggling Middle Eastern vocalstylings of 'Tongue Drongue' go on far two long before its climaxredeems it. The first disc feels like Cerberus Shoal meets Fantomas.That's why the second disc is here to save the first's bacon. That'sright, the second disc of "Mr. Boy Dog" is fantastic. From the firstminute of 'Unmarked Boxes,' you recognize the sound. This is moretraditional Cerberus Shoal with gentle experimentation and interestingsamples. And that's where it comes together nicely. Rhythmically,melodically, and vocally superior, these tracks are truly moving intheir beauty. There is a nice separation between the two discs.Ultimately, I prefer the second, but I'm glad the band tries as they doon the first. I'm sure that's part of what makes the second soappealing.

samples:

• Camel Bell
• Tongue Drongue
• An Egypt That Does Not Exist

The three post-goth Bowie-obsessed acid-dropping ex-Bauhaus hippies known as Love and Rockets released a couple of my favorite albums of the 1980s. Now that the back catalogue has fallen out of RCA's clutches and back into the hands of Beggars Banquet, the first few albums have been remastered and reissued in expanded forms with bonus tracks and more complete booklets. Unlike the original CD releases, the original running order of the LPs have been restored with bonus tracks tagged on at the end as opposed to interspersed among the album tracks.

Beggars Banquet

'Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven' came out only two years after the release of the final Bauhaus record, following side projects like Sinister Ducks (with David J) and Tones on Tail (with Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins) and showcased a trio of seasoned musicians, with two strong singer/songwriters, heavily influenced by psychedelia, with a stunningly professional execution and original approaches to production. In its original form, the album consisted of seven tracks, opening with the hypnotic drum machine-enhanced single "If There's a Heaven Above", followed by a dark, acoustic, psychedelic world with classics like the heavily distorted "Dog End of a Day Gone By," "Haunted when the Minutes Drag," which was used in that 'She's Having a Baby' film with Kevin Bacon, and ending on the glorious instrumental acoustic gem, "Saudade," which could easily be one of my favorite Love and Rockets tracks ever. While this Bonus tracks on this edition is impeccably complete, with the inclusion of "Ball of Confusion" and "Insde the Outside," and an alternate version of "Haunted," it includes way too many versions of "If There's A Heaven Above."

'Express' saw the group move into more vigorous territories, opening with the two multi-part tracks "It Could be Sunshine," and "Khundalini Express." This LP was their first US breakthrough, with the rock radio-friendly minor hit "All in My Mind" and the barrelling "Yin and Yang (the flowerpot man)," which probably was the biggest crowd-pleaser for years at Love and Rockets concerts. Bonus tracks include songs that were originally on singles and the original CD release like "Angels and Devils," "Holiday on the Moon," and a version of "Ball of Confusion" which was on the original US LP edition along with a couple pointless 1+ minute tunes titled "B Side #1 & #2." The trio may have experienced bigger international hits on later albums but they never experienced such a flood of saucy, creative, original ideas as they did on 'Express.'

samples:

• Dog-End of a Day Gone By
• Saudade
• Kundalini Express
• Yin and Yang

 

Fromthe box of freebies often comes the most interesting and challengingsurprises. This one is particularly enigmatic: no artist info, no titleand no track titles (some e-sleuthing revealed three: 'Juunigatsu','Koutetsukan', 'Makugine'). Just a four track, 16 minute CD-R with b/winsert photo of a rocky stream. Ah, but the music is far from tranquil.It's more befitting of an industrial wasteland. Molten masses ofoverdriven sound are forged to cantankerous rhythmic clangor andglitches. It's blistering and menacing alright but also near melodicand even ambient at times. Hitohana has meticulously placed and shapedthe debris into noisy songs. The third track offers the first and lastrespite by abruptly flipping the on/off switch on the din, deceivingthough as discharges continue to erupt and the noise ultimately returnsfor its revenge. Powerful stuff.

samples:

• track 2
• track 3
• track 4

Following the "12 Times You" 7", on which Colin Newman remixed liverecordings of Wire playing that little old number "12XU" infast'n'furious cut'n'paste fashion, our swimmers found the stroke fortheir third length. This six song EP marks the first fruits of a newkind of R'n'B, but joking aside Wire sound like they're splitting theirsides over the "Everybody Loves a History" idea, smashing their historyto bits and glueing it back together in new shapes. Or maybe theyreally had to hark right back to the simplest forms because they'dalmost forgotten how to play guitars and so here and there it soundslike they're reincarnating their debut album 'Pink Flag' in a precisecomputer studio cut up frenzy. Imagine various cuts from 'Pink Flag'given the manic makeover the way they gave "Our Swimmer" a "SecondLength" and you'll begin to make out the shapes emerging here.Lyrically a lot of this could be read as Wire commenting on their musicand existation, especially the superbly titled opening salvo "In theArt of Stopping" which could be seen as a manifesto of sorts, after allWire have stopped a couple of times before. After a snare tap Colinslurs the verse, "Trust me, believe me" (which could hail from any oldpiece of pappy pop - but hang on, maybe he's actually singing "Tryspeed") and then rises to a stop as he hollers, "It's all in the art ofstopping" (you'd be hard pushed to find any other band with a lyriclike that). His delivery is vaguely reminiscent of "Once is Enough" butseems sillier, especially when he starts braying like a disgruntledmule, and the track also appropriatelt recalls the jabbering "CheekingTongues." Meanwhile spindley Gilbert guitars spit harsh circles andsome comical morphed backing vocals really lift the track off thetracks. The whole thing gets crunched down into an infinitessimalshrunken hard chip blurt before the whole caboodle rushes back, poweredalong by the relentless mono rhythmic crack of Robert's reawakenedsnare that went to bed. Rock bluster is dissolved into techno tricks,and even tiny shards of glitch have been worked so subtley into the mixyou hardly notice at first. The incredibly uplifting rush of energyfrom "Germ Ship" is even more exciting. It sounds like a bastardisationof "Pink Flag" and "The Commercial" but given a high octane refueling,and the guitars ignite. This tune was debuted at their Edinburgh gigthat saw off the twentieth century, with Newman and Lewis bothobstreperously hollering their fatal attractions, but here Lewis hasgone quiet and Colin is hushed to a whisper until the end when heshouts out the title to end it in 21st century digipunk style. Thesetwo tracks have ensured constant rotation. Whilst the rest of the EP isgood fun musically, I'm not so convinced that it's going to add up tomuch more than good fun, but its early days and Wire recordings veryoften reveal hidden depths with later plays. The "Surgeon's Girl"ending for "1st Fast," the "Comet" chorus about the chorus going "Ba baba bang," and that track's very retro 'Pink Flag' album feel seemedalmost smugly self referential at first, but the detail and humour havewon out in the end. Maybe the most mashed future-past meltdown is "IDon't Understand" which reinvents "Ally In Exile" with "An Advantage inHeight" via two chord "Lowdown" funk with the great opening couplet"Over the edge / Under an illusion." Lewis steps up to the mic for thelast track "Agfers of Kodack" and sounds as if he's just swum all theway from Sweden to sing it, or maybe he's been torching the sand in hisjoints. It sounds oddly as if it could be a drastic reworking orforerunner of "In The Art of Stopping," and is probably as close toheavy metal as Wire have ever stepped. With this EP Wire have in asense cast aside progression in favour of temporal corruption. Like theFall and Sonic Youth, they seem to be moving outside of linear time andzapping back and forth throughout their own universe. Perhaps whenprogressive rock bands amass a certain musical critical mass theycollapse like suns into black holes that turn time into space. If soWire are creating intense gravitational pull and inspiring their mostpretentious reviews yet. - 

samples:

• Germ Ship
• I Don't Understand
• The Agfers of Kodack

It's hard to know what to make of these two CDs. Both individuallybejewel-cased CDs have the same name and track titles. The cover art isalso identical except that one is the photographic negative of theother. Let's call the one + and the other -. I came to this releasewith no prior experience of V/Vm except for the curiously dismal littleAphex Twin CDs last year. I gave it my best positivist shot, avoidinginterpretation to see where it takes me. Not very far, as it turnedout. + is collection of lo-fi, vaguely dreamy soundscapes. It's almostlike an exercise in the various styles of early 90s ambient electronica-- drones, soft looping techno bleepery, some airy beats, plenty ofswooshes, all with a slathering of reverb and echo. But the variety isonly from track to track -- each piece is a static presentation of oneidea, which would be fine if it were a good one. None of them reallyhave anything to enjoy. The effect when listing through the album isthat ones hopes rise as each new track begins, perhaps because a changeis as good as a break, but then fall again, ever deeper, as you realizethat each one of them is a dreary, unimaginative regurgitation ofalready over-worked ideas, neither taking the respective genre forwardsnor a competent stylistic statement. Soon the pattern becomes apparentand one learns to temper the little lifts that each new track brings.The other disk, -, is in fact exactly the same in every respect exceptgenre. - is an exercise in 90s electronic noise. Noise is about sonicdiscovery and confrontation and demands entirely different skills fromthe electronica of +. The lift in hope as a track starts a bit biggerthan on +, and is occasionally even exciting for a moment but this iscompensated by a much faster decline. The overall trajectory as the CDprogresses is severe. The paucity of imagination is blatant. Is thatthe point? I wonder. I decided finally to allow interpretation ofintent into the equation; the packaging, after all, seems to demand it.V/Vm's Queen Mother tribute announcement shown on the Brain recentlyprovided a handy reference point. It seems that V/Vm is a bit of aprankster but everything I found shows the same lack of imagination,skill or entertainment value as the music. I developed the impressionthat what we have here is a no-talent faker embittered with resentmentof the achievements of others trying to work up an ultra-pomo mythologyto shroud the bad art. I went back to the CDs and, yes, that fits too.A one word summary? Wank.

samples:

• The View Below Me Was Always the Same
• Everything's Going Downhill
• Sometimes, Good Things Happen

Music should never be judged purely. It should be judged on how 'wrong'or how 'right' it feels in the ears of them who listen. This may not bea reason why V/Vm have taken the trouble to simultaneously release twovery different selections of 'good things' which they claim areactually the same. Both discs have twelve tracks with the same titles.Previous plunderous releases enabled by the VVMCPS laws such as 'SickLove' might be aptly described as corny, but make no mistake it's wheaton the cover of these two. This is pure germ of V/Vm - remember theearliest V/Vm 12" releases or the Fat Cat split with Third EyeFoundation and that'll give you some idea of what to expect from the CDwith the regular yellow wheat. If I wanted to be cheeky I could tellyou that this is what it would sound like if V/Vm helped Aphex Twinwithout doing any hacking, but I know Jim's sickly traumatised by thedeath of the racist granny robot so I'll try not to mention AFX and hisinfluence again. Whatever, this is the sound of V/Vm distilled to pureessence of wheat beer hoedown direct from the mythical school thatplays records with wooden styli. The inverted blue wheat disc is likethe imagined brick bashing your head the next day in hangover city. Myguess was that it's the same tracks but crunched up through distortionand ring modulation and all that fun stuff, but someone in the knowsays this is not so, and the two CD's are not exactly the same lengtheither. In fact there's so much of that digital processing on the blueone that even though its massive robot noise approaches all consumingnuclear meltdown the sound seems to run a bit thin at times. Obviouslythe blue one is the one for noise heads to hear, just don't mentionMerzbow. A lot of it actually sounds like it could be mashed uprecordings of explosions. "The View Below Me Was Always the Same" isthe deceptively titled intro to each CD. Yellow is Caretaker type organswells. Blue is a discordant ring modulator sweep punctuated byexplosions. "The Truth is Dead" is the conclusion they reach before theunderwater Aphex beat excursion "Some Things Look Better Baby." Sorry Iforgot I said I wouldn't mention that Twin again. This far into theblue disc and it's deafening machine grind all the way until completelyfucked relentless deaf disco splatters brains. The idea is probablythat the yellow one is right in that its more conventionally tuneful,but wrong in that this kind of thing is not expected of V/Vm; blue iswrong in that it's a big noise but right in that it confirms V/Vm'sreputation for making big cacophony. But how did it make me feel? Theblue one made me feel like a daffodil in a rainstorm but the yellow onemade me feel like a witch in beat. With all this hack lack and wheatygoodness V/Vm will be claiming they're serious artists next. But ofcourse they always were?

samples:

• The View Below Me Was Always the Same
• Everything's Going Downhill
• Sometimes, Good Things Happen

So, the goal is to figure out which one is right and which one iswrong? Actually, I find that the best way to listen to each of these isat the same time. Not all the tunes match up, but if you've got aboombox and a home stereo in your livingroom, try one disc in eitherand hit play. You won't have any goofy delays like that goddamnedFlaming Lips thingy! Do I hear porn sounds? - 

It really seems like every other week Bob Pollard has a new record out,doesn't it? He has a myriad of bands to play with, he was an anxiouslabel in Rockathon, ready to release whatever he graces them with, andhe's on the cover of Magnet every other week, so Mr. Pollard does havea fan base to keep up with, it would seem. With a new Guided By Voicesrecord coming in June - the band are back on Matador this go around -Bob tides the fans over with this, his second effort with formerbandmate Tobin Sprout. Is is time to for Mr. Pollard to throw in thetowel with these side collaborations? Almost, by my estimation. Thistime around, Airport 5 are darker, grittier, and more lo-fi thanbefore. Bob seems intent on providing as many vocal tracks as possible,and that means double-tracking, doing his own background vocals, andbasically monopolizing the mike. Sprout's instrumentation is, asalways, acceptable and worthy of the treatment. But, again, this typeof collaboration seems to suffer by the lack of face-to-facecollaboration. Some of the vocal tracks are so rough, it'sembarrassing, but only given GBV's recent love of real recordingequipment - the vocals would be right at home on earlier releases bythe band. The lyrics are quirky, and, for the most part, Pollard doesnot over exert himself in order to hit notes he shouldn't. And thealbum is not without highlights, or, in this case, moments that work.'Yellow Wife No. 5' and 'I Can't Freeze Anymore' are among the bestsongs Pollard and Sprout have EVER recorded. But the album as a wholeis close to forgettable. And short. In short, if you're a GBV fan, thiswill serve to tide you over. If you're not, you won't be wowed orpushed away. (Is this what was meant by the rumor that Matador askedPollard to pair down the projects he worked on because they thoughthe'd clutter the marketplace with work that was not as polished as GBV,and buyers would have a problem knowing just what to buy?) - 

samples:

• Yellow Wife No. 5
• Wrong Drama Addiction
• I Can't Freeze Anymore

Austinite Michael "Thor" Harris is practically a modern day renaissance man: multi-instrumentalist, painter, art and bicycle repair instructor and environmentally conscious DIY home builder. He has appeared on many others albums and performed live locally and nation-wide, but he's probably best known outside Austin city limits as percussionist for Michael Gira's The Angels of Light.

Kenseth Thibideau and Marty Anderson are Howard Hello, and on this,their debut on Temporary Residence, the announce themselves far moreeffectively than the name might imply. Given that Thibideau's previouswork was with Tarentel, you could expect that the record would havesome similar elements, and that it would be a strong, gorgeous release.That it is. The soundscape is mainly familiar-sounding melodies thathave been recorded, then edited, jumbled, and extrapolated to make newcompositions on top of the old structure. There are guitar melodies,organs, keyboards: instruments of all types are used. The compositionsthat are created are very ambient, full, and spellbinding. And MartyAnderson's voice is purely haunting, adding a fantastic element to theproceedings. The ambient vocals by Wendy Allen are also stunning, and,at times, the vocals are the only part you can clearly follow, as theyare the main element, saved from being cut-up and reproduced. Theamazing thing is, even though elements are repeated - Anderson's vocalon 'Revolution,' melodies - the music never sounds repetitive or stale.It gets into your head, burrowing way down deep. This is a dynamicsound, with elements being added as the song progresses, allowing it togrow, swell, climax, and then fade away, leaving you with the scars.And there will be after you've heard this, believe me. An excellentdebut, well deserving of your hard-earned cash. Your ears have beenwaiting for something like this again.

samples:

• Belief
• Revolution
• Prozac

Hot on the heels of the Deep Space double live album "Largely Live InHartlepool & Manchester", Jah Wobble has already assembled a newunit, toured and recorded another live album. Solaris is Wobble onclean bass, longtime collaborator Bill Laswell on distorted bass,composer Harold Budd on piano and keyboards, Graham Haynes on cornetand electronics and Jaki Leibezeit of Can on drums. It's almost a caseof too much talent for one group but, as you'd expect from improvisersof this caliber, each and every member knows their place and they sharethe limelight admirably. The starting point is Budd's modal scales onpiano, then Wobble's relentlessly repetitious (yet infectious) basspatterns, then Leibezeit's metronomic snare-centric beat. Haynes,Laswell and Budd then texture wrap the groove with ambient backdropsand kinda sorta solos. The group gels, ebbs, flows and orgasms in equaldoses, their sound more jazzy than Deep Space's worldliness. With threeof the four tracks in the 19 to 25 minute range, it's all about gettinginto the comfort zone of the groove. The two part 'The Mystery ofTwilight', 45 minutes total, is most engaging as overdriven riffs burnalongside a heavy duty rhythmic propulsion. Another winner from Wobbleand friends.

samples:

• Seven Dials
• Around the Lake
• The Mystery of Twilight (part 1)

Tiger Saw are from Newburyport, Massachusetts, or, at least, that's where they began. After writing most of their debut alone in Los Angeles, Dylan Metrano brought those songs home to Newburyport, where he found like-minded souls to help him bring those creations to life. In listening to their records, it seems he found more along the lines of kindred spirits who were lying in wait for this sound to come along. It is not a wholly original sound (are there any of those anymore?), as Tiger Saw play primarily slowcore music in the vain of Low or 27. But it is a new twist, as most songs possess a jazz structure, but a rock-like instrumentation. And it is a lovely listen.

 Mix albums. Usually pretty shit. Brainfreeze was pretty good, theK&D Sessions weren't without their charms. But generally the ghostof Ibiza looms over them all, and if it doesn't then they're usuallypacked with the DJ's own material or remixes of friends' material.Plus, most of them are just too blinkered - pure techno or drum n'bass, no variety. Basically many of us just want an album to put on ata party that won't empty the room within a few minutes. And, unlessyour friends are all hip, cool culture vultures, that means yourSpeedranch / Jansky Noise mix disc isn't going to cut it.
Last year we got the ultimate party album courtesy of the Avalanches.Well, summer's on the way, and that one was played to death last year.Still great, but time for something new. So, Soulwax, show us whatyou've got.
Belgian band Soulwax, previously known as the rockers behind lastyear's minor hit 'Much Against Everyone's Advice', have thrown thekitchen sink into this mix tape, and some of the parts have got jumbledup. So, where Skee-lo and the Breeders are listed together, they aretogether. He raps acapella over a Cannonball instrumental. Shouldn'twork, but does. Ditto Basement Jaxx shouting over Emerson, Lake andPalmer, or Salt N' Pepa calling on us to 'Push It, Push It real good'to the strains of Iggy and the Stooges. We also get Destiny's Childdoing the 'Independent Women' thing with 10cc's mellow 'DreadlockHoliday' in the background. You may be wondering what an albumfeaturing Kylie Minogue, Destiny's Child and Basement Jaxx is doinggetting a review in the Brain. Well, this particular album alsofeatures the Residents, the Velvet Underground, Adult and Peaches. Andit blends Dolly Parton into Royksopp, which can't be bad.
Don't know how they got copyright for all this, but they did, sometimesthrough licensing cover versions, or sampling samples (MichaelJackson's 'Billie Jean' slips through the net on this technicality,using a dance record which samples the original).
Basically, this album is enjoyed in two stages. First listen or two,you're comparing the new 'versions' with the originals, and sniggeringaway at how wonderfully post-modern the whole thing is. But soon you'rejust tapping your foot, and calling your friends around. It's just tooinfectious, too catchy, it puts too wide a smile on your face not tolove it.
Summer's here. Don't worry, your Low records will still be there in theFall. For now, to quote a (surely copyrighted) drink's company's slogan- Let the sun into your spirit.
Further info on the tracks used, and copyright/licensing difficulties is at www.2manydjs.org - 

Do you remember what your first dream was like? When you woke up youwere either so glad it was over, or you wanted to go back and live inthat world forever. Sometimes you'd have the dream again and again,like some foreboding message or prophecy. If I had a dream where I ameverything I want to be, I would want Parlour to provide thesoundtrack. And I would want that dream to happen every time I go tosleep, just so I could hear that music again. Tim Furnish, best knownfor his work in Cerebellum and Crain, formed Parlour by joining withthe experimental band Paden in 1999, and the result is nothing short ofstunning. A strong rhythm section drives each track, with keyboardbeeps, whistles, and samples joined with hypnotic guitars and bassfeeding the frenzy. Furnish's dabbling in Aerial M and The ForCarnation have had an influence on him, as this music is dark in tone,but not sinister. From the opening track, 'Stipendlax,' with its simpleguitar chords and droning bass; to the funky bass and keyboards of'Aflipperput'; to the simple lullaby melody of 'Sleeper'; to thelaidback groove of 'Weeds That Grow Into Trees'; Parlour infect youwith their driven, relaxing tone. Every track is a lot to absorb in onelisten, as there's so much happening on so many different levels.Fortunately, although the music is simple, it is never repetitive. Eachtrack builds and builds, adding elements that intersect, intertwine,and interrupt your brain's normal activity. It's that infecting andthat endearing. This is cerebral math rock. This is the sound ofdreams. And I'm going to sleep here pretty soon.

samples:

• Stipendlax
• Mperfect
• Weeds That Grow Into Trees

Mark Nelson has shed some layers for the latest full-length release as Pan•American. No longer is he trading tapes with friends like the first or recruiting other players to guest like the second album. Much like the last Labradford album, this time it's all him. For those who have been following his career with the various singles and compilation track contribututions, the sound should come as no surprise. The influence from various other "micro-house" type people can be felt as there's more non-musical outside sounds like underlying electronic hiss, clicks and pops. What separates Nelson from the rest of the crowd is his undeniable talents as both a great musician and composer. Despite the overall quiet nature of the disc, his subtle synthetic organ melodies are lush and involved, inviting and even sexy. I'm almost embarassed to admit that 'The River' makes for a great record to underscore quite a romatic evening to. While many other uses can include schoolwork, housework, or quiet time, it is a fascinating album to completely tune the world out and zone out to. Yummmm.

samples:

• Plains
• Settled
• 2-Sided

After a critically acclaimed EP, a single release, and severalcompilation appearances, 27 release "Animal Life" their debutfull-length on Kimchee Records. Recorded "at home" by the band andself-produced, "Life" shows off the same elements listeners alreadyknow and love about 27, but here the band spreads its wings anddelivers its first masterpiece. Seeing 27 live, you hear a lot more interms of dynamics than what was heard on "Songs From the Edge of theWing." Those dynamics are heard here, in all their glory, plus someinteresting additions to 27's sound. There is a greater integration ofsamples (including one from Charles Mingus on the first track), andsprinklings here and there of horns (drummer Neil Coulon playsclarinet) and strings. Overall, though, the songwriting has improved,though the subject matter is still very much the same. Songs of frailtyand failed relationships never sounded this lush. There is also anattack in these songs, hidden just below the surface, that can utterlydestroy you, and should, were it not for the sheer beauty of it all.And everywhere, Maria Christopher's voice is clear and soaring, asalways, even when double-tracked and softly sung. There is anothervoice adding flavor on these songs, too, as Ayal Naor harmonizes andfollows Christopher's lead on select tracks, most notably on 'Undone.'These songs are more striking than anything 27 have put to tape so far.The intimacy seems more enveloping, the instrumentation warmer. By thetime you reach 'Cavalla,' the album's ten minute closer, with itshaunting crickets and whistle that gradually fade into the band'ssteady and heavy rhythm, you're utterly a believer. "Didn't youlearn?/It's supposed to burn" sings Christopher, right before theybring the wall of sound back in to show you how it's done when it'sdone right. There are no missteps or weaknesses here. This is slow rockmusic of the highest quality. Don't miss out. "Animal Life" isavailable now on the 27 website, with wider release soon. - 

samples:

• No Water
• 9 Mile Burn
• Heat Sink

Soon after the inaugural 'Spiral Scratch' EP, Pete Shelley and HowardDevoto parted ways, Shelley carrying on with the Buzzcocks and Devotomoving on to Magazine. A quarter century later they've reunited forlive shows and this album, possibly a one-off. Firstly the duo are tobe commended for not retreading their punk origins, choosing instead toexplore a more contemporary direction. Unfortunately that direction islame electronica. Devoto's peculiar voice is the same as ever, but Ifind it much more annoying here with a backdrop of bland beats, datedsynth textures and cheesy wanking. The handful of short instrumentalsdon't fare too much better, even with the addition of saxophones on "OnSolids". A computer and software does not an electronic musician make.It's either ironic or telling that the two songs most faithful to theirroots - "Can You See Me Shining?" and "'Til The Stars In His Eyes AreDead" - are by far the best, especially the latter with its high energyand heavy guitar riffage (if you heard or bought the single, don'texpect the rest of the album to sound like it!) Sure, they would havebeen lambasted by most critics and fans had the entire album been like"Stars", but sometimes it's best to just do what you do best. The videoportion of the disc is live footage of two songs, Shelley and Devotolooking about as bored as I am with the material. Get Magazine'sbrilliant career retrospective 'Maybe It's Right To Be Nervous Instead'box set instead!

samples:

• Can You See Me Shining
• On Solids
• 'Til the Stars in His Eyes Are Dead

Historically, the Rephlex label has defined and embodied the term"taking the piss." With tongues planted in their cheeks, the notoriouslabel owners Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge release, onaverage, nine questionable albums for every good one. So it's always awelcome relief to see a new Global Goon album at the record store.Though often, and incorrectly, rumored to be an Aphex Twin project,Jonny Hawk is his own man, wearing his influences on his sleeve like ageezer's cufflinks. Global Goon doesn't seem to mind promoting thatdated Artifical Intelligence sound, and for that we are thankful. Whileluminaries like Autechre continue to stray further and further awayfrom melody, the opening track on 'Vatican Nitez' ("Business Man")brings us back to when Warp was in its heyday, dropping classic uponclassic. Warbly analog synths, flatulent stabs, and coherant drumscarry this album for the most part, most noticeably on songs like"Stan's Slaves" & "Crudulus". The memorable "I'm On The 73" recallsa time before trip hop and downtempo, with an old-school hip hop grooveplaying awkward yet pleasant games with delay effects. With 'VaticanNitez', Global Goon confirms his place as one of the strongest acts onthe label (which isn't saying all that much) and one of the most uniquein today's IDM scene. I'm looking forward to a time in the future whenpeople rediscover the 90's; a time when Jonny Hawk can be regarded forholding down the fort while even the generals defected.

samples:

• Business Man
• Crudulus
• I'm on the 73

Somewhere, right now, indie rock kids are overjoyed beyond belief listening to this record. Why? Because Go Back Snowball is a project by two men that they readily worship for the music they release with their full-time bands. And people have often wondered in conversations at coffee shops and record stores what it would be like if they actually made a record together. The wonder is over, as Bob Pollard and Mac McCaughan, of Guided By Voices and Superchunk/Portastatic respectively, have joined forces for "Calling Zero." And it's almost as good as you'd expect it to be.