Thiswhole album is relaxing and feels warm through every listen. If theidea of being on an island or on a beach isn't appealing, then imaginesitting on a dock and fishing somewhere with nobody around—only thesound of crickets or the call of different birds all throughout theday—the water would pass slowly by and even the most pressing matterswould slip away with it.Thiswhole album is relaxing and feels warm through every listen. If theidea of being on an island or on a beach isn't appealing, then imaginesitting on a dock and fishing somewhere with nobody around—only thesound of crickets or the call of different birds all throughout theday—the water would pass slowly by and even the most pressing matterswould slip away with it.
I'mnot sure why it took me so long to discover Múm: the records havealways been available and they've toured through these partsand received rave reviews and comparisons to lots of music that Ilike, so it would seem natural that I'd have picked up a couple of Múmrecords by now, but not so. 
After a full year off from touring and releasing new music, A Place to Bury Strangers are still going strong with their balance of sharp hooks and sonic firepower. Much like the Jesus and Mary Chain's significant leap in fidelity from Psychocandy to Darklands, this five-song EP will likely generate more discussion about its production and mixing choices than its well-constructed tunes.
I didn't know quite what to expect from a new Esplendor Geométrico album, aside from a lot of relentlessly repeating percussion loops.  However, I did know that I didn't expect Desarrollos Geométricos to be nearly as distorted and brutal as it is, as their last few studio albums have been comparatively clean and less-hostile.  In many respects, this surprise return to the fury of their youth is pretty striking and invigorating, but this Spanish duo still has yet to shake some of their more fundamental and recurring flaws.
#15 in the Fading Captain Series, this release from Airport 5 is thefirst LP Rob Pollard has recorded with Tobin Sprout since the latterleft Guided By Voices to focus on his solo career. Given those keypieces of information, one could probably form a pretty solidpreconception about the sound of this record and what they might findwhen listening to it. Let's face it: Pollard is one of those artiststhat you either love or despise. So those who don't Like any ofPollard's music with Guided By Voices or the plethora of other bandshe's in, skip right over this review. The other camp will be happy toknow that these two artists still make magic together, and it's in rareform all over this release. From the first track, "Burns Carpenter, ManOf Science," you're drawn in to that weird land where anything ispossible, at least lyrically speaking. And it's an amazing thing,considering that the music and words were recorded separately (possiblyeven written separately). Sprout is an amazingly talented musician,capable of playing all the components that make up your average bandstructure, and writing melodies that hold great hooks and fantastictwists and variations. And Pollard is just plain weird. Any man whowrites songs about bright paper werewolves or scientists creatingliquid forms of love has some issues to resolve. But together it makesfor fascinating music, as it has in the past. I'm glad theses twomusicians are working together again, because these initial results areproof that thos combination still works. I hope to hear more fromAirport 5 soon.
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No, it's not a much-needed tribute to the KLF/JAMMs, it's another 2xCDcollection of electronic music from friends of a musician who runs hisown label. It might not be as varied or densely packed like aTigerbeat6 comp or thematically tied as a Morr comp, but it doescontain some fine moments of both label-promoting and friend-promoting.Hrvatski's guitar and click "Lullaby" contribution reminds me all toowell that there aren't enough Hrvatski albums in the world, MikeParadinas' alias Kid Spatula serves up a dish tastier than any Mu-Ziqrelease I own, and the thoroughly entertaining collage of illegal hiphop samples, "Turntable Savage" by Hellfish. However, there are a fewvery weak spots: like the Vincent Gallo-lite contribution by Dykehouseand the obvious oversampling of Coil's "Hellraiser Themes" in thedrum-and-bass-by numbers "Defluxion" by Venetian Snares or theover-predictable, skippable Tusken Raiders track, "Pansy". In allhonesty, this collection would have probably been much more noteworthyif released in 1997. In the end I'm left affirmed by my affection forElectric Company and my interest in whoever this Joseph Nothingcharacter is. Must research deeper,...
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- Kid Spatula - Sharemaker
- Hrvatski - Lullaby
- Hellfish - Turntable Savage
The fourth full-length studio album from this English quartet is boththeir most vocal and most structured release to date, focusing moresoon songcraft and development than ever before. Fear not, however, asthere's still a large amount of improvisational influences and playfulfuckery on nearly everything, including sounds of the bathtub, cellularphones, and kitchen utensils alongside the intentionally mis-playedstandard rock instruments, classical and jazz wind instruments,strings, accordion, and numerous percussion tools. If there's one thingsmoking pot teaches you, it's how to become a craftsman (how to makethe best bong out of a melon, etc,...) and I have always consideredVolcano the Bear to be a crafty group of lads. Over the few releasesthey've had, it's clearly visible how the lot is increasinglyharnessing that craftmanship into a more organized, bridled chaos. Onceagain, the group recorded with Kev Reverb — once described as "a tenfoot tall cowboy with sunglasses, dressed all in black and possessing avoice like The Voice Of DOOM" — who runs an appropriately named'Memphis studios' out of Leicester, UK. The album contains punchdrunksurrealistic singalongs like the opener, "Hairy Queen" and parts of"Seeker" as well as lengthy drawn-out mostly instrumentaleverything-and-the-kitchen-sink pieces like the title track, withsuggestive hints of traveling minstrals in the album's closer, "I amthe Mould". If I could recommend any album to aquire and memorize onlyto bring to your school's art class only to play and sing along withand confuse the fuck out of those "artistes," this would be it. 'FiveHundred Boy Piano' is their second release for Steven Stapleton'sUnited Dairies label, and features artwork from each of the members aswell as Stapleton, himself.
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For their Warp Records debut, Antipop present a 7 track EP that's donespinning in less than 17 minutes. Warp may seem like a strange placefor an MC trio to be, but APC's hip hop is as electronic and forwardthinking as anything else on the label. NYC's Beans, Priest and Sayidfastidiously flow mile a minute rhymes, as always, and are as involvedin the sparse yet phat production as producer/engineer/arranger/mixerEarl Blaize. "Tuff Gong" gets right up in your face quick, Sayidletting you know within the minute that he "have the need to tell whatI see". "Splinter" is as close as you'll get to verse chorus verse butlike "Vector", it's a bit too laden with annoying synth notes. Moog andsynth lines help propel the instrumental future funk groove of"Dystopian Disco Force". In "39303," Priest testifies, "I write like aman who can't read / feelin' the need / to seize his mind of reason / Ispit treason / MCs in season / vets freezin' / I rap like there'snothin' left to believe in / clumsily uneven," seconds before his voiceis panned to one channel and digital gurgles fill the opposite one.Next, "Pit," disorients with 2 minutes worth of veering tones, off/onbeeps and ping pong ball percussion, then "Perpendicular" adds another2 minutes of tasty piano and atmosphere enhanced hip hop beats. Thisdisc is all over the place, much like an APC album, but it's all themore obvious in such a short time span. And unfortunately, I'd say only4 tracks are really necessary (but hey, it's only ~$7) so here'slooking forward to the debut album for Warp set to drop early nextyear. In the meantime, get "Tragic Epilogue" and "Shopping CartsCrashing" if'n you don't already have 'em.
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If you own any records from The Faint, Ladytron, Fisherspooner, I am Spoonbender, Adult, or G.D. Luxxe, owning no Fad Gadget albums is completely unacceptable. Mute began releasing Fad Gadget (their first signing in fact) back in 1979, and over the course of four full-length albums, Frank Tovey managed to firmly establish electronic music as a new form of punk, combining abrasive synths, punchy drum machines, the occasional vibrophone or other organic instruments, and clever lyrics.
After a fascinating re-release on Temporary Residence earlier this year("Maander"), the Kollektief return to reinterpret some of those songswith a live band. and add a few new compositions. The results are amixed bag, but never dull. It's said that Thomas Weber, KammerflimmerKollektief's central figure, gave the members copies of "Maander" andthen asked them to come into the studio to play them as best theycould. Considering "Maander" was beat-driven electronic music, it'shard to see how a live band could rework that and come out with similaror better results. The Kollektief manages just fine. I found thereinterpretations to be better than the originals, but still lacking insome sense. Maybe it's that I like the music but it doesn't affect meall that much. But two of the last three tracks on this release, newmaterial by Weber and the Kollektief, are well done. I liked them muchbetter than anything else I'd heard from the band. The ambient wonderof "Kissen," for instance, is spooky in feel and in the way it buildsbut never quite achieves anything destructive or shocking. It's almostaural teasing, but in a good way. "Venti Latir" is hauntingly gorgeous,with violins and bass and keyboards that can cause the heart to soar.All in all, a solid release, even though two of the tracks are underminute, and really did nothing for me whatsoever. Weber got someamazing results on "Incommunicado," and it would serve this group wellto try a whole release of original material.
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