13 January 2002

Graeme Rowland

Albums and Singles

Subtitled "Inside the Dream Syndicate II", this is the second CD in thetrio documenting a stash of Cale's old sixties tapes unearthed byviolinist Tony Conrad.
Tony's probably quite pleased to have thesereleased as they seem to back up his claims that Dream Syndicate sonichappenings were very much collective endeavours. The opening twentyminute Cale and Conrad string drone duet certainly has all the traitsof the previously released 'Day of Niagara' but is a better recording,although still sounding rough hewn. Perhaps it could be viewed as astepping stone on the path to Conrad's unrelenting skullfuck "FourViolins", but it's a transcendent portal in its own right. Cale's deepviola is the foundation with Conrad's violin cutting through the dreammist at spiky glancing angles. The viola is overwhelming, and everytime Cale shifts the drone up or down a notch colours swirl, shift,dissolve and reform. 'Ex-Cathedra' is Cale solo on Vox ContinentalOrgan with a beautiful shimmering tremelo loop underpinned by anintermittent half drowned lower chord. The third track is twelveminutes of what sounds like rummaging through the guts of a piano witha bunch of keys. Latterly the strings are bowed frantically to anintense maelstrom, and remind me of a couple of Thurston Moore'scomparatively polite duets with Nels Cline on "The Pillow Wand".'Carousel' is perhaps the most throwaway track, but only because it'sbeen done better so many times since. Cale makes 'electonic sounds'which thunk thunk thunk in the way that a guitar resting on top of itsamp might. The best is saved until last. The second duet with TonyConrad is as strangely beautiful and haunting as a track with a titlelike 'A Midnight Rain of Green Wrens at the World's Tallest Building'ought to be. The strings ooze retuned sadness for plummetinginter-dimensional avians. The final track finds Cale rattling off someextremely ragged guitar strumming with original Velvet Undergrounddrummer Angus Maclise bashing away on the cimbalom in a clatteringfreefalling ecstatic frenzy which perhaps shows a step in the evolutionof the glorious finale of the first Velvet Underground album. - 

samples:

• Carousel
• Ex-Cathedra
• Hot Scoria

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01 January 2002

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Album of the year

1. Low - Things we lost in the fire
2. Fennesz - Endless Summer
3. Autechre - Confield
4. Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of...
5. Mogwai - Rock Action
6. Cannibal Ox - A Cold Vein
7. Fridge - Happiness
8. Matmos - A chance to cut is a chance to cure
9. Four Tet - Pause
10. Aphex Twin - Drukqs
11. Angels of Light - How I Loved You
12. Tortiose - Standards
13. Labradford - Fixed::Context
14. Silver Mt. Zion - Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward
15. Squarepusher - Go plastic
16. Current 93/Nurse With Wound - Bright Yellow Moon
17. Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance
18. M√∫m - Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is OK
19. Nick Cave - No More Shall We Part
20. Set Fire To Flames - Signs Reign Rebuilder
21. Strokes - Is This It?
22. Dntel - Life Is Full Of Possibilities
23. Fugazi - The Argument
24. Spiritualized - Let It Come Down
25. Lali Puna - Scary World Theory
26. Stereolab - Sound-Dust
27. Hood - Cold House
28. Microphones - The Glow Pt 2
29. Mouse on Mars - Idiology
30. Prefuse 73 - Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives
31. white stripes - white blood cells
32. Telefon Tel Aviv - Farenheit Fair Enough
33. Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains Passing By
34. Bonnie Prince Bilie - Ease down the road
35. Cex - Oops, I Did It Again
36. clouddead - clouddead
37. Cyclobe - The Visitors
38. Fantomas - The Director's Cut
39. Red House Painters - Old Ramon
40. Skinny Puppy - Doomsday Back and Forth Vol. 5
41. Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life
42. Bardo Pond - Dilate
43. Beta Band - Hot Shots II
44. Calla - Scavengers
45. Godflesh - Hymns
46. Herbert - Bodily Functions
47. Jan Jelinek - Loop Finding Jazz Records
48. Plaid - Double Figure
49. Thighpaulsandra - I, Thighpaulsandra
50. Explosions In The Sky - Those Who Tell The Truth...

single or ep

1. Mogwai - My Father My King
2. Low & the Dirty Three - In the Fishtank
3. Squarepusher - My Red Hot Car
4. Thighpaulsandra - Michael Publicity Window
5. Low - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
6. Belle & Sebastian - Jonathan David
7. Matmos - California Rhinoplasty
8. Antony & the Johnsons - I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy
9. Squarepusher - Untitled
10. Autechre - Peel Sessions 2
11. Fugazi - Furniture
12. Hood - Home Is Where It Hurts
13. V/A - 2 Remixes by AFX
14. COH - Love Uncut
15. Anti Pop Consortium - The Ends Against The Middle
16. To Rococo Rot & I-Sound - Pantone
17. Mouse On Mars - Actionist Respoke
18. Calexico - Even My Sure Things Fall Through
19. Tortoise - Gently Cuping the Chin of the Ape
20. Stereolab - Captain Easychord

fave remix

1. 808 State - Flow Coma - Remix by AFX
2. Slag Boom Van Loon - Poppy Seed - Remix by Boards of Canada
3. Missy Elliot - Get Yr Freak On - remix by Kid 606
4. Depeche Mode - Dream On - remix by Kid 606
5. Foetus - Cirrhosis of the Heart - remix by Amon Tobin
6. Kings of Convenience - Weight of My Words - remix by Four Tet remix
7. Matmos - Disco Hospital
8. M√∫m - Please Smile My Spring Reverb AMX - remix by Uwe Zahn
9. Slag Boom Van Loon - Fallen Angels Entering Pandemonium - remix by Coil
10. Yann Tiersen - Lost - remix by Third Eye Foundation

best various artist compilation

1. Tigerbeat 6 Inc.
2. Clicks & Cuts 2
3. All Tommorrow's Panties
4. [O]acis.Box
5. Bip Hop generation 4
6. Emre - Dark Matter
7. Snow Robots Vol. 1 & 2
8. Braindance Coincidence
9. House Of Distraction
10. The Wire Tapper 7
11. Warp - Routine
12. electric ladyland 7: glitch-hop compilation 2CD
13. Immediate Action
14. Putting the Morr Back in Morrissey
15. RKK 13 remix comp

best single artist compilation

1. Einsturzende Neubauten- ""Strategies Against Architecture III""
2. Coil - A Guide for Beginners
3. Coil - A Guide for Finishers
4. Coil - Moons Milk In four Phases
5. Dead Can Dance - 1981-1998
6. Godflesh - In All Languages
7. Piano Magic - Seasonally Affective (1996-2000)
8. pigface 'best of - preaching to the perverted'
9. Cabaret Voltaire - Conform To Deform
10. Third Eye Foundation - I Poo Poo On you Juju

best double or multi-lp/cd release

1. Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
2. Aphex Twin - Drukqs
3. Thighpaulsandra - I, Thighpaulsandra
4. Unwound: Leaves Turn Inside You
5. Einsturzende Neubauten: Strategies Against Architecture III
6. Clicks & Cuts 2
7. Current 93 / Nurse With Wound - Bright Yellow Moon/Purtle
8. Xhol Caravan - Motherfuckers Live
9. Coil: Moon's Milk (in Four Phases)
10. Orbital - The Altogether
11. Cabaret Voltaire - Corform to Deform
12. Low - Things We Lost in the Fire (2LP version)
13. Miles Davis - In A Silent Way complete sessions
14. Nuggets II
15. Rewriting The Book
16. Ride - Box Set
17. Velvet Underground - The Quine Tapes
18. Nart Nibbles
19. Dead Can Dance box set
20. Faust - The Wumme Years

coolest unusual packaging

1. Aranos - magnificent! magnificent! no one knows the final word
2. Set Fire To Flames - Signs Reign Rebuilder
3. Silver Mt. Zion - Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward
4. Aphex Twin - drukqs (vinyl version)
5. Cyclo
6. No-neck Blues Band - Sticks & Stones...
7. Shipping News ""Carrier""

nicest cover design

1. Fridge - Happiness
2. Jim O'Rourke - Insignificance
3. Tortoise - Standards
4. Set Fire to Flames - Sings Reign Rebuilder
5. Angels of Light - How I Loved You
6. Björk - Vespertine
7. Radiohead - Amnesiac
8. thighpaulsandra - i, thighpaulsandra
9. Silver Mt Zion - Born Into Trouble as Sparks Fly Upwards
10. Current 93 / Nurse With Wound - Bright Yellow Moon

best rerelease/repackage/reissue

1. Coil - Love's Secret Domain
2. Neu! - Neu!
3. Neu! 75
4. Neu! 2
5. Coil - Horse Rotorvator
6. Coil - Scatology
7. Nurse with Wound - Chance Meeting
8. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
9. Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information
10. Love - Forever Changes
11. Nurse With Wound - Automating vol. 1
12. 23 skidoo - 7 songs
13. This Heat - Deceit
14. Current 93 - Imperium
15. Gescom - Keynell

most amusing song/album title

1. Cex - Florida (Is Shaped Like A Big Droopy Dick For A Reason)
2. Matmos - A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure
3. Aphex Twin - Drukqs
4. M√∫m - Please Smile My Noise Bleed
5. Third Eye Foundation - I Poo Poo on your Ju Ju
6. Cex - Oops! I did it again
7. Current 93 - Cats Drunk on Copper
8. Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
9. Massimo - Hey babe, let me see your USB and I'll show you my FireWire
10. Tenacious D - Fuck Her Gently

worst album you bought

1. Aphex Twin - Suqks
2. Radiohead - Amnesiacrap
3. Autechre - Confield
4. Depeche Mode - Exciter
5. Death In June - All Pigs Must Diet
6. Spiritualized - Let it Come Down
7. Weezer - Weezer
8. Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus
9. Squarepusher - Go Plastic
10. Mogwai - Rock Action

most anticipated disappointment

1. Aphex Twin - Drukqs
2. Autechre - Confield
3. Spiritualized - Let it come down
4. Death In June - All Pigs Must Die
5. Squarepusher - Go Plastic
6. Tortoise - Standards
7. Weezer - Weezer
8. Air - 10,000 hz Legend
9. Mogwai - Rock Action
10. Current 93 - The Great in the Small

guiltiest pleasure

1. Strokes - Is This It?
2. Britney Spears - I'm a Slave 4 u
3. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of my Head
4. Madonna - Greatest Hits Vol. 2
5. Missy Elliot - Miss e... so addictive
6. Daft Punk - Discovery
7. Depeche Mode - Exciter
8. Destiny's Child - Bootylicious
9. N'Sync - Pop
10. Radiohead - Amnesiac

band of the year

1. Coil
2. Low
3. Mogwai
4. Sigur Ros
5. Matmos
6. Stars of the Lid
7. Autechre
8. Cannibal Ox
9. Mouse on Mars
10. Tortoise

best solo musical artist

1. Jim O'Rourke
2. Christian Fennesz
3. Thighpaulsandra
4. Jimmy Lavelle (Album Leaf)
5. Tom Jenkinson
6. Will Oldham
7. cEvin key
8. Kid 606
9. Michael Gira
10. Richard D. James

new act of the year (band or solo artist)

1. Explosions In The Sky
2. Cannibal Ox
3. Set Fire To Flames
4. Strokes
5. M√∫m
6. Avalanches
7. Baby Dee
8. Dntel
9. Clinic
10. Amenti Suncrown

best live show/concert experience

1. Coil
2. Radiohead
3. Low
4. godspeed you black emperor!
5. Sigur Ros
6. Mogwai
7. Mouse on Mars
8. Tortoise
9. Björk/Matmos
10. Autechre

sexiest musical artist

1. Björk
2. Kyle Mnouge
3. Britney Spears
4. Cex
5. Peaches
6. Hope Sandoval
7. PJ Harvey
8. Shakira
9. Jennifer Lopez
10. Alison Goldfrapp

most overrated band/artist

1. The Strokes
2. Radiohead
3. White Stripes
4. kid 606
5. Aphex Twin
6. Sigur Ros
7. Björk
8. Godspeed you black emporer
9. Matmos
10. Mogwai

most irritating band/artist

1. Fred Durst/Limp Bizzkit
2. The Strokes
3. Creed
4. Radiohead
5. Kid 606
6. Britney Spears
7. Aphex Twin
8. Destiny's Child
9. V/Vm
10. Ryan Adams
11. p. diddy
12. Björk
13. White Stripes
14. Vincent Gallo
15. U2

lifetime achievement

1. Coil
2. Michael Gira
3. John Fahey
4. George Harrison
5. sonic youth
6. Radiohead
7. Autechre
8. David Tibet
9. Johnny Cash
10. Richard H Kirk

fave producer/engineer

1. Steve Albini
2. JIM O' ROURKE
3. John McEntire
4. Steven Stapleton
5. Dave Fridman
6. el p
7. Timbaland
8. Nigel Godrich
9. Brian Eno
10. Michael Gira

who will break big next year?

1. Cex
2. Sigur Ros
3. Explosions In The Sky
4. Lali Puna
5. The White Stripes
6. M√∫m
7. Clinic
8. Fourtet
9. Coil
10. Calla

record label

1. Kranky
2. Warp
3. Morr Music
4. Constellation
5. drag city
6. Thrill Jockey
7. Temporary Residence
8. Matador
9. Eskaton / Threshold House
10. Young God
11. World Serpent
12. City Centre Offices
13. Def Jux
14. Domino
15. Schematic

music video

1. Sigur Ros - Vi√∞ar vel tl loft√°rasa
2. Add N to (X) - Plug Me In
3. Björk - Pagan Pottery
4. Gorilaz - Clint Eastwood
5. Björk - Hidden Place
6. Coi Live in NY
7. Mouse on Mars - Actionist Respoke
8. Ohgr - Cracker
9. Tortoise - Seneca
10. Low - Dinosaur Act

OTHER STUFF

movie of the year

1. Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amelie)
2. Memento
3. Mullholland Drive
4. Lord of the Rings – Fellowship of the Rings
5. Ghost World
6. The Man Who Wasn't There
7. Waking Life
8. Royal Tenebaums
9. Amores Perros
10. Hedwig & The Angry Inch
11. Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone
12. Moulin Rouge
13. Monsters Inc
14. Sherk
15. The Others
16. A.I.
17. Apocalypse Now Redux
18. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
19. Blow
20. Brother
21. From Hell
22. In the Mood for Love
23. Oceans 11
24. Battle Royale
25. Odishon (Audition)
26. Otanesek (Little Otik)
27. State and Main
28. The Anniversary Party
29. Vanilla Sky
30. L.I.E.

tv show

1. Simpsons
2. Daily Show
3. Sopranos
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
5. Futurama
6. Family Guy
7. The West Wing
8. Absolutely Fabulous
9. Invader Zim
10. Malcom in the Middle
11. That '70s Show
12. South Park
13. Will & Grace
14. Brass Eye special (UK)
15. 24

magazine/newspaper

1. The Wire
2. The Onion
3. Magnet
4. alternative press
5. Chunklet
6. Q
7. grooves
8. Tape Op
9. XLR8R
10. Devil in the Woods
11. guardian (uk)
12. urb
13. uncut
14. The Nation
15. Mojo

book of the year

1. Neil Gaman: American Gods
2. No Logo by Naomi Klein
3. Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
4. Eric Schlosser - Fast Food Nation
5. Haruki Murakami - Underground
6. How to be Good - Nick Hornby
7. our band could be your life-azerrad
8. Salman Rushdie ""Fury""
9. Alain de Botton ""The Consolations Of Philosophy""
10. David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest

fave actor

1. Johnnny Depp
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman
3. Brad Pitt
4. Billy Bob Thornton
5. Guy Pearce
6. Anthony Hopkins
7. Benecio del Toro
8. Christopher Walken
9. Jack Black
10. Jason Lee

fave actress

1. Thora Birch
2. Audrey Tautou
3. Nicole Kidman
4. Reese Witherspoon
5. Carrie Anne Moss
6. Julianna Moore
7. Asia Argento
8. Cate Blanchett
9. Jennifer Connelly
10. Gwyneth Paltrow

fave director

1. David Lynch
2. Peter Jackson
3. Jean Pierre Jeunet
4. Coen Bros
5. Darren Aranofsky
6. Wes Anderson
7. andrei tarkovsky
8. Christopher Nolan
9. Guy Ritchie
10. John Waters

fave writer (book/tv/film/play,...)

1. Kurt Vonnegut
2. Neil Gaiman
3. Chuck Palahniuk
4. David Foster Wallace
5. David Lynch
6. David Mamet
7. Haruki Murakami
8. nick hornby
9. Thomas Ligotti
10. Bret Easton Ellis

best website

1. Brainwashed
2. Pitchfork
3. The Onion
4. Threshold House
5. Allmusic Guide
6. Audiogalaxy
7. eBay
8. Warp Records
9. Buddyhead
10. Fake Jazz

most annoying trends

1. Nouveaux Patriotism/American Flags on cars/Cheap Patriotism/Flag Waving/Cashing in on 9/11
2. rap metal / rap rock / dysfunction rock / nu metal / sports rock
3. misdirected patriotism / violent nationalism / rampant fervor
4. Cell Phones / Everything becoming wireless
5. Clicky glitch music
6. corporate garage rock / the strokes / the white boy blues rock revival (again) / pop punk
7. IDM
8. war & terrorism / bioterrorism / fear
9. Emo
10. SUVs
11. Scooters
12. boy bands
13. 1980s retro music/clothing
14. Approval of George W. Bush
15. Harry Potter
16. Rock bands going electronic and being considered innovators
17. Icelandic music obsession (Sigur Ros/Björk)
18. Indie rock fashion fascist kinder-punks
19. big pants
20. Increased Commercials (everywhere, in movie theatres)
21. Reality TV
22. Benefit concerts
23. Manufactured Bubble Gum Pop
24. Stale electronic music
25. Mods

dumbest category on this poll

1. This one
2. Sexiest
3. Guiltiest Pleasure
4. Who Will Break Big Next Year
5. TV show
6. Most Annoying Trends
7. all of the them
8. Fave Remix
9. Music Video
10. None of them

"

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30 December 2001

Administrator

Albums and Singles

The Fall continue to tour a disturbing experimental past life and pack pristine venues with enthusiastic dripping venom, shambolic contempt and twisted wry amusement. "We are the new Fall," the lads hesitantly proclaim on the up an' at 'em opener, as Smith harrangues anyone who'll listen that they'd better look up! Who knows whether they'll stick it long enough to become an old Fall? The drummer's already shuffled off. For now Fall fans can ruminate on the twenty-third (at least 18% studio non-compilation) album proper from Mark E Smith and whoever else can put up with his bad Spanish accent impressions. Ditching the band that made the mostly excellent pro-tooled belter "The Unutterable", Smith has marsalled his ever expendable bedraggled combo to belt out a raw rocking set.

Cog Sinister

Every Fall album has at least one track that demands endless repeated listening. This album's classic 'Crop-Dust' gets its hooks into my brain for hours, combining primal addictive Fall rhythm with a killer snake-charmer riff whilst the sound levels are tweaked like tape drop-out. Mumbled backing vocals recall the twilit dusk of the haunting gross-chapel era, and Smith declaims a tale of a hesitant old singer from Manchester joining World War I soldiers in great coats. There is no mention of flabby wings here, but the time travel plays havoc with the liver and brain. The whole album has a kind of twisted time-warped feel to it. It sounds like the band that made early classics such as "Grotesque" and "Slates" took a dose of straight strychnine at a rockabilly festival and took a temporal wrong turn into an alternate pre-gramme reality in which only Smith could emerge the winner. A small alteration of the past turns time into space, which explains why shoddy collections of Fall demos have been proliferating across the earth. The hilariously abysmal sleeve and credit mistakes (two songs are listed in reverse order; there is a keyboard on the latter live portion of 'African Man' but no sign of former keyboardist Julia Nagle's name) are either a cockeyed homage to fan fleecing demo slew, or Smith just doesn't give a monkey's. In fact he eats monkeys for breakfast if the hilariously messy destruction of Iggy Pop's super dumb 'African Man' is to be taken seriously, which it obviously isn't. The African man eats elephants and lions too, but only because the hotel provides them. Lo-fi tapes and dyspeptic guitars infest the hotels and park themselves willy nilly in Afro Ibis Hotel man's driveway, where he strangles a screaming ibis for his supper (no fork or knife for him). He eats a skunk for lunch and sounds a bit shocked, triggering a time lock back to recent gig audio fragment.
The Fall haven't sustained such a lengthy unhinged and uncommercial onslaught since the violin scraping of 'Papal Visit' and this'll have trendy fairweather White Stripes fans running for cover faster than you can say 'Spectre vs Rector'. It's also far and away the funniest track I heard in 2001. Whilst mention of skyscrapers in 'Crop-Dust' might have some dubious claims on Smith's prophetic capabilities, it's 'Kick the Can' and the resurrection of their Can homage 'I am Damo Suzuki' at gigs prior to Michael Karoli's death that rings grimly eerie. For 'Hollow Mind' they redo 'Jerusalem' with too many notes on low power with no discarded brick chip. The R. Dean Taylor cover 'Gotta See Jane' pales anaemically next to the bouncy 'Ghost in my House'. Nevertheless this version of The Fall could teach most of these hyped-up soft rockers, like the Strokes with their Housemartins plus little feedback lick shtick, a thing or seven. This album sounds as ravaged as everyone's favourite toothless idiot savant singer from Salford looks these days. The band are solid enough, if rather normal next to the formidable Scanlon, Hanley, Brix attack, and Smith sounds gloriously deranged even if he seems to have less to say than ever. He's probably been saving up witticisms for his next spoken word album. Mostly Smith's voice has been mixed at speaker damage levels, and if he doesn't finish off yer hi-fi, the dustbin lid drumming on 'My Ex Classmate's Kids' will. That song is basically a slowed down rewrite of the popular freebie Flitwick single 'When I Wake Up in the City'. Instead of coughing and tapes of say nothing radio chat, Smith drawls his most barmy alingual vowels and latterly complains of aftershave stench like twigs up the nose. That's what you get for living in a 'Bourgeois Town' where container drivers do the hassle shmuck with a handful of antacid!

 

samples:

• Bourgeois Town
• Kick the Can
• The Acute

 

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30 December 2001

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Keven Blectum and Blevin Blectum, a pair of freaky San Francisco art school-type chicks, have made some of the most queasy lo-fi breakbeats since Coil's Scatology. This CD collects two of their early EPs, "Snauses and Mallards" and "De Snaunted Haus." Blectum's scattered, fuzzy beats are a chorus of guttural rumbles, poops, farts, and dysenteric discharge - all messily orchestrated for maximum nausea. If you can keep yourself from laughing at the musical turds populating this bizarre album, you will start to notice sinister undercurrents afoot. The comic strip liner notes and some of the spoken word tracks begin to explain Blectum's anal fantasy land of sex-crazed, cannibalistic "snauses" and "mallards" - two complimentary lifeforms whose main functions are, apparently, to copulate and excrete out the evil, distorted songs herein. The first nine tracks are a random, misshapen assortment of various musical ideas - from distorted jungle to retro-futurist tomfoolery - none of which exist long enough to make any real impact. Beginning with track ten, Kevin and Blevin begin to unravel their terrifyingly absurd tale of a "snaunted haus" with dirty industrial beats, fragmented drum and bass, distorted voices, abstract noise, and even samples from Men at Work (on "Right Time, Right Place"). This is truly an original work; it's rather difficult to compare it to anything. However, listening to this CD repeatedly is a little like playing with your own diarrhea. I hope that these obviously talented women will decide to make a slightly more mature, less fecal album sometime soon.

 

samples:

• Anti-Duck-Tion
• Caravan Voyager
• Hotrodderdam

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30 December 2001

Administrator

Albums and Singles

"Difficult" is a loaded word when used in electronic music reviews. In one context, it can be taken to mean the record is so far ahead of everything else out there that it needs numerous intense listening sessions to be understood and appreciated. On the other hand, it could simply mean that the record is an unfocussed, unlistenable and pretentious piece of crap. So when I tag these two new releases from Miami's Schematic label as being "difficult", which end of the spectrum am I referring to? Well, somewhere in between, but at least a little bit closer to the former than the latter.

On "Aleamapper", Atlanta's Richard Devine almost entirely abandons the crunchy beat structures of his previous releases and offers a set of soundworks that could loosely be referred to as "ambient" for lack of a better classification. There are some really inspired moments amongst the 16 tracks on the disc, but unfortunately the more interesting and vital bits are often cut short (one of the album's best tracks, "Mtr Method", doesn't even hit the two minute mark), while the more esoteric experiments are more often than not allowed to wander aimlessly. Despite these flaws, "Aleamapper" exhibits strong evidence of an artist who is committed to taking his music into new directions, so with a bit of fine tuning, I suspect that Devine's future work in this field of abstract sound could be phenomenal.

 

 

samples:

• Model
• Patelle
• Swap Trigger

 

As for Mr. von Schirach, his "Escalo Frio" platter feels like a cross between Matmos (who appear as guests on a track) and Prefuse73: quirky, organic sounding IDM with a hint of fractured hip-hop. [Jon adds: but kind of feels like a stoner kid obsessed with video games, Saturday morning cartoons and Count Chocula.] Unfortunately, the MCs he chose to provide vocals to be processed don't offer much in the way of exciting or insightful rhymes, but since they only appear in a comprehensible form on a couple of tracks it's not too distracting. Otherwise the album is actually a lot of fun, with sounds and ideas of all sorts ping-ponging back and forth, and even a goofy fake commercial at the halfway point that's good for a chuckle.

samples:

• Coconut
• Commerical LD Add
• Spooky Jar

 

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Out now on Temporary Residence is the second full-length release fromXian Hawkins as Sybarite. Oddly enough, the Brooklyn-basedmulti-instrumentalist/producer/ composer has yet to finish and releasewhat he considers to be his official debut album. 'Placement Issues'collects 13 songs from various singles, compilation tracks and a coupleremixes that were limited in number, scarcely distributed, andcompletely impossible to find now. Through these single releases onStatic Caravan, Emanate, and Zealectronic, Hawkins gained the attentionof 4AD, who are scheduled to release Sybarite's debut, 'Nonument,'early on in 2002. It follows the 'Music for a Film' release, also onTemporary Residence, which was assembled as a score to the horrorb-movie, "Kill Me Tomorrow," yet the collection pulls form both earlierand later recordings. Hawkins' most high-profile gig was in the touringincarnate of Silver Apples, and listening to these recordings, it'sclear that his talents as a multi-instrumentalist were important infilling that role. Over the course of these recordings, the manskillfully delves into organic and synthetic electronics, bass, guitar,and various other odds and ends. Songs like "Otonomy" and the albumopener, "Engaged" never get too cliche or predictable, with chopped upacoustic guitar playing, distorted string samples and sharp beats. Thecombination of a lyrical bassline against unobtrusive guitar melodiesin other tracks like "Second Cities" create an attention-grabbingatomsphere that makes this disc hard to be a simple example of auralbackground, especially with the carefully positioned field recording ofa playground at the end. It's not so surprising that hiscomplex-yet-cool instrumental tunes have earned him the support of alabel who's roster includes Fridge and Kammerflimmer Kollektief.Listening to this disc back to back with the soundtrack, 'PlacementIssues' seems miles ahead, with a carefully calculated precision, muchlike the roster on Hefty excel in. My only issues with this collectionare in the rather deceptive gathering of the pieces: not only are therea couple songs missing here and there, but there's no accompanyingnotes nor are they placed in any observable order. [Perhaps that's justthe obsessive completist in me, manifesting itself onto a very youngcareer.] In the end, it's served its purpose as I'm now eager to hearhow he pieces together an album less fragmented and disjunct.

 

samples:

• Engaged
• Otonomy
• Incredible Magnetic Missive

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Given enough time Jah Wobble will, hopefully, collaborate with just about everyone. Over the past few years he has successfully mixed his trademark, bedrock bass guitar styling with Laotian folk ("Molam Dub"), inventive saxophone ("Passage to Hades") and all out industrial rock ("The Damage Manual"), among others. Here he teams up with Temple of Sound, the duo of Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah, both formerly of Transglobal Underground.More success! The disc is initially only available by mail order through Wobble's 30 Hertz label. And no, this isn't an album of Motley Crue covers, just an unfortunate title coincidence. Ten tracks, most in the 5 to 6 minute range, explore a genuine Arabic electro dub amalgamation. Wobble provides the soul shaking bass lines, Dubulah the guitar, keys, strings and programming atmospheres and Sparkes a host of ethnic percussion such as riq, zils, Egyptian tabla and darabuka. Among other contributors are 3 female vocalists - Shahin Badar, Natacha Atlas and Nina Miranda - who grace half the album with powerfully emotive, mostly foreign tongued strains. Every track is solid. Really solid. The quirky loops of "Cleopatra King Size" are laced with electronics, stuttered guitar notes and booming low end.
The wandering bass line of "Once Upon a Time in The East" reminisces of Wobble's legendary late '70s tenure in Public Image Ltd. The sweeping strings of "Maghreb Rockers" weave together a delightful tapestry of Middle Eastern flavors. A rolling mass of effected percussion brings "Symphony of Palms" close to Muslimgauze territories. And it doesn't get anymore lovely than the slower, more subtle "La Citadelle" - the lumbering groove, the solemn vocal, the gliding background guitar notes - all of which are revisited in the finale "Mistralazul 2". Fantastic. No word yet on what Wobble is up to next, but other recent releases include "The Early Years" and "Radioaxiom - A Dub Transmission" with longtime collaborator Bill Laswell.

 

samples:

• La Citadelle
• Maghreb Rockers
• Symphony of Palms

 

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Time will forget music. Much of it. Oldies radio stations are a perfectexample. On most of those channels, you'll find James Brown reduced toonly one hit, "I Got You (I Feel Good)." You'll never hear "FunkyPresident," "Mother Popcorn," or "It's a Mans Mans Mans World." Thesame can be said for a number of artists who might have never reachednumber one. Right now it can be observed with music from the 1980s, aswe're reminded constantly of "Come on Eileen" but never Dexy's MidnightRunner's second single. While Boyd Rice understands that he can'tchange the world, he sure as hell knows how to put up a fight. Twelveof his favorite forgotten girl group songs have been presented here,none of which you have probably ever heard of. While the sound qualityis obviously shoddily reproduced from the old 45s, it sure isrefreshing to hear some really fun girl group songs that haven't beenplayed to death. It's almost like getting one of the Nuggetscollections or the amazing 5xCD set called "Box of Trash", anduncovering a world stifled by corporate decisions to trim playlists andlimit history. If anything Boyd Rice can be commended for, it's hisastonishing ability to make people question their surroundings and getthem thinking. "Music for Pussycats" frighteningly gives me moreconfidence that over time, much of the music we love and write abouthere on Brainwashed will be erased from civilization.

 

samples:

• Diane Ray - Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard
• Bernadette Caroll - Party Girl
• Priscilla Parts - My Window
• Lori Burton - Love Was

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

The No-Neck Blues Band are a semi-improvisational collective ofmusicians making fragmented, shamanistic music that alternately toucheson elements of blues, folk, country, bluegrass, psychedelia andkrautrock. For all these myriad influences, the No-Necks have arrivedat a sound that is not very far from Captain Beefheart, Sun Ra or thefirst two Amon Duul albums. That is to say, very unstructured andchaotic hippie drum circle music that will probably sound best to thosehopelessly in the throes of a violent hallucinatory state. There aresome moments of genuine psych-folk intensity, like the dark mumbledvocals and cello drones that occur about 10 minutes into the firsttrack "assignment subud." However, most of these songs sort of meanderin a non-engaging way through enticing song fragments that melt awayjust as they become interesting. I think you might be able to achievesome of the same effect by recording the Dave Matthews Band as theywarm up. Well, not really, but it felt good to write that. In allhonesty, the reason I can't get very excited about this release isbecause there is so much music in this same vein that is so muchbetter. The Boredoms "Vision Creation Newsun" or Acid Mothers Templetraditional folk album "La Novia" are both far superior examples ofthis genre. This first pressing of this CD comes with beautifulhome-made packaging made of plexiglass, Velcro and burnished plywood.It is unfortunate that the music contained within really doesn't fullylive up to its aesthetic aspirations.

 

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist and band whore Sam Shalabi has re-arranged the concept of collaboration for this one. Instead of the player in the ensemble, his role this time is of a maniacal mastermind at the controls. For this recording, he has solicited recordings from a number of friends on various instruments, cut up their bits and pasted them back into his own compositions.

 

Alien8

The result isn't remotely similar to the rhytmic, hypnotic, free-form other-worldly jams heard on Sam's Shalabi Effect album, but more of an improvisational collage, carefully constructed of loops and manipulated sounds. Rolling cymbals, tinkling pianos, multi-layered flutes, high-pitched ringings, field recordings and a repeated low-string color the 27 minute first track, almost like a tourist showing a slide-display from multiple projectors of various vacations. The sounds stay long enough to be identified and work into a comfortable synergy with each other, then move on, one by one, giving way to completely new movements which before long don't resemble previous or future snapshots. Just when a level of serene comfort is reached by the end of "Outside Chance," the blaring horns of the next track rush in. "Soot," accurately describes this track, as what appears to be distorted guitar loops, abrasive loops, tapes played at wrong speeds, and intruding horns create a gritty, dark, and uneasy sound. As interesting as it is, thankfully it clocks in under six minutes. The album ends on the nearly eight minute "The Wherewithall," which returns to the ease while soaking the listener in a thick tape hiss. The tinkling piano returns, an unoffensive guitar taps out notes and all lights fade.

samples:

• Outside Chance
• Soot
• The Wherewithall

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