I must admit that although I consider myself a big fan of Laub, I was a bit put off by the title of their latest release, which initially seemed like just another electronic artist's gratuitous nod to trendy internet jargon. Upon further investigation, however, I learned that Antye Greie-Fuchs and Jotka, who comprise Laub, actually created most of the album in separate locations, infrequently together. Taking this into consideration, 'Filesharing' makes more sense as a title.

This Chicago-based trio, comprised of Tatsu Aoki (Fred AndersonQuartet) on upright bass, guitarist Jeff Parker and the multi-faceteddrumming of David Pavkovic (Toe 2000) are exploring the improvisationalmeans of a small collective on this live six-track recording withpleasant results.

The first in a line of long unavailable HNAS LPs is finally availableon CD. Originally released in 1987, this was the fourth album releasedby Christoph Heemann, Dr. P. Li Khan, and Andreas Martin as HirscheNicht Aufs Sofa and is a must have for any current or future fan.

Mysterious UK based reggae label PK Records have somehow dug up aclassic and coupled it with a modern classic on 10 inches of vinyl. TheA-side is a previously unreleased instrumental by The Wailers Band,produced by Clive Chin at Randy's and featuring Peter Tosh on melodica,thus dating it to the early '70s I believe.

In the four years since their last album, 'Shrink,' the members of this German group have kept active with numerous other projects, including two astonishing albums from Lali Puna; two incredible full-lengthers and a remix disc from Tied and Tickled Trio; plus notable LP, EP and remix releases from Console; and various appearances on others albums. 'Shrink' was probably such a phenomenal pop/post-rock electronic jazzy breakthrough that I may have been expecting something similar. 'Neon Golden' has far exceeded my expectations, however.

After releasing a somewhat mediocre debut album, Louisville'sKilowatthours took some timeoff, underwent a change in their line-up, reconsidered their direction,and then went intoTrevor Kampmann's (aka hollAnd) studio to record "The Bright Side." Theresult is a maturesophomore release that is as full and as sophisticated as any albumI've ever heard.

Two contagiously enthusiastic men in goggles and lab coats coaxing somefun if fairly light rhythmic noises from a table of gadgets is thepossibly erroneous memory I carry of witnessing Mount Vernon Arts Labin a London pub a few years back. Since then they've explored slightlystranger performance spaces such as a nuclear bunker, a boat and aderelict building. This CD sees mainman Drew Mulholland plough a moreesoteric furrow, into which he drops psychogeopraphic seeds that growfrom pale saplings wincing in the light into a dark forest of tanglednoise monorhythms.

Imagine an alternate universe in which all the so-called 'shoegazer'bands didn't just water down the all pervasive influence of My BloodyValentine but upped the noise crescendos to the next level. Japaneseduo Xinlisupreme just beamed in from that place!

Longtime NWW fans are going to be very very very pleased with thisalbum. Shaved down to a mere duo featuring Steven Stapleton and ColinPotter, this is almost a tribute to the more ambient and free-formearly to mid-period Nurse with Wound.

The debut Morr Music release from this quartet of Danish wanna-becosmonauts takes the form of a marvelous six-track EP.

The latest release from Thomas Weber's Munich-based 'ShimmeringCollective' is somewhat of a crossover between the previous twofull-lenthers recently issued in North America by Temporary Residence.The six-song EP continues with Weber's love of both organic jazz/improvand affinity for electronics, almost split down the middle between thecollective playing and Weber's solo electronic journeys.

This has got to be the worst CD I have ever listened to ten times in arow. Strange but true, this disc of juvenile adventures on cheap18-year-old keyboards in late night bedrooms is fucking terrible yetsomewhat addictive.

After months of agonized waiting and much hand wringing, Coil hasmailed out all 300 copies of the special edition of "Moon's Milk (InFour Phases)" double CD set with a bonus, exclusive CD-R of brand newmaterial. This bonus disc was recorded last Winter Solstice - December21, 2001 ev. The special sets were supposed to be burned over thatweekend and shipped out before X-Mas, however, all of us that orderedhave had to show the ultimate patience to wait until early March to seethe package. One begins to feel a tad pathetic, looking forlornly atthe mailbox every day waiting for the treasure to arrive. The sinkingfeeling sets in that perhaps the music will not have been worth all ofthe build-up and anticipation; what if it's totally worthless andanticlimactic? Can you justify having paid $85 for this stupid CD-R?Have you become obsessively insane?

Noise-based electronic music has been around long enough that now, likeall musical idioms, you have progression on one hand and stylism on theother. Merzbow, having been a pioneer in noise and electronic music formore than twenty years, is one of the most important figures in theprogression of this music. But this Smalltown Supersound collaborationwith Norweigan electronic duo Jazzkammer seems quite predictable withinthe genre. That's not to say it's a bad disc; the music is interestingenough. But it's certainly doesn't make my jaw drop.

So - Matthew Shipp knows how to play traditional jazz and fusion. Whichis to be expected, because what good is a free-jazzer who can't swing?But that doesn't stop 'Nu-Bop' from being pretty boring.

The Replacements, arguably one of the best rock bands ever, have alwayshad rumor and innuendo surrounding them. One story tells of the band,upon hearing that Twin Tone, their first label, was going to re-releaseall their old LPs on CD, fooling that label's secretary into lettingthem in the vault. They then stole any master tapes they could find andthrew them in the river. Secretly, they hoped that the tapes would washup on the banks near Prince's house, where he would find them, listen,and change his musical direction.

Shinji Shibayama has a bit of a legacy in the Japanese music community.First, his work in the bands Nagisa Ni Te and The Hallelujahs earnedhim recognition as a superior singer/songwriter. In addition, he is thefounder of the Org label, responsible for the most well-knownexperimental Japanese rock music of the '80s. This release, onGlasgow's Geographic imprint, is meant as a retrospective ofShibayama's music, released around the same time as Nagisa Ni Te's newalbum, "Feel," was released in Japan.

Finally returning from an unbearably long six-year hiatus, Scott Cortezand Melissa Arpin-Henry of Lovesliescrushing release their third albumof complex and lush gossamer guitar-based ambience. The band departedfrom the Projekt label to join up with the Conneticut-based Sonic Syrup(on which Cortez has released material under his Astrobrite moniker).

I really couldn't bring myself to like Belly.  I could never understandhow Tanya could go from writing songs like 'Green' and 'Honeychain'—andbeing a beautiful, if edgy, foil to Kristin Hersh's life-affriming butbarely controlled mania—to doing bland indie-rock pap and appearing onMTV all the time.  Plus—she hasn't acquitted herself well over theyears: her solo debut 'Lovesongs for Underdogs' passed by like a45-minute Breeders b-side.  And now she's writing songs about being amother.  It doesn't look so good for Tanya.  Well, actually it does—she's finally come into her own, and'Beautysleep' could easily sit along Hersh's 'Sunny Border Blue' or'Hips and makers' as the finest non-Throwing Muses work since theybroke up.

This album very pleasantly surprised me. I was a little skeptical coming into this album since 'Culture vs. Nature,' the earlier Templegarden's album, fell quite flat for me. And I've become very skeptical of Ant-Zen lately, since they have not been releasing quality material lately. But the extremely talented collective behind this multi-faceted act (Andrea Börner of Morgenstern, Andreas Schramm of Asche, Tim Kniep and Phillip Münch of Synapscape, along with some others) pulls through with a wonderfully deep ritual-ambient album.