For those of you who read my review of French director Claire Denis'film Trouble Every Day in last week's Brain, you may have noticed somecomments about the soundtrack. Brought together by Tindersticks and asmall armada of violinists, cellists, and even a bongo player, StuartStaples and company offer a minimal score that borders occasionally onthe work of David Lynch darling Angelo Badalamenti.

Trabant is the second act to be released by Icelandic label TMTEntertainment, and much like Múm, it's a charming, unexpected treat.This debut full-length album, which follows the EP release of 'EnterSpacebar' has gained a ton of ground already, being nominated for bestdebut album in the 2001 Icelandic Music Awards and featured in the NewYork Times as Reykjavik's most interesting new band.

Greg Clow and Sheryl Kirby are inaugurating their Toronto based PieheadRecords with an ambitious CD-R subscription series. If Mr. Clow's namedoesn't ring any bells you're either in the wrong place or haven't beenonline very long: DJ, event promoter, writer, discography and websiteguru, Brainwashed staff member, etc. Piehead is the next logical stepfor Clow and Kirby to bring many local electronic and experimentalartists, not to mention a few other well known names, to a wideraudience.

For the six of you who aren't familiar with South-by-Southwest (SXSW), it's a music and film festival in Austin, Texas. Nine hundred bands play at 18 clubs in five nights. Last Friday at Emo's was a Kork Agency Showcase featuring Gold Chains, Louie Austen, The Mooney Suzuki, Atmosphere, and Chicks on Speed. I had come to see Chicks on Speed, so I missed the beginning of Gold Chains. What I did see was this guy yelling into a mic while his iBook played mediocre beats. I decided to check out the smaller stage, and when I came back, the next act was just starting. A sixty year old lounge singer in a white tux came out on stage and began to sing "The Lady is a Tramp." This is some kind of novelty act, for sure, something to go inbetween the other acts. Then, before the next song, Louie Austen introduced himself and told us, that two young men (M. Neugebauer) approached him and asked him what he thought of electronic music. Before I know it, a beat has started and Louie is singing "Music Keeps Me Staying Alive." It's lounge IDM. Maybe this is what I'll listen to when I'm sixty and I go out to clubs. Louie was extremely entertaining, and his performance and charisma were 60% of the reason that act was so enjoyable. Next came Mooney Suzuki, a high energy mix of indie rock and garage punk. Excellent set, very entertaining men. The drummer, Will Rockwell, and the guitarist, Graham Tyler, are amazingly talented. Their new album, Electric Sweat, is coming out in the next few weeks, and it is quite good.
Then came Atmosphere, and I was looking forward to this set, but it was a dissapointment. The sound levels were off at the beginning, so they never really got started well. If it were'nt for their DJ, Mr. Dibbs, I would have gone to the other stage. He was great, mixing in Ozzy when they started to lose the crowd. I'd say that the highlight of the set was a medley they did of spoofs of other rap artists, i.e. "I'm a slug" and "My name is . . . Tim Daley." But overall, I was not impressed with the band, as they started a fight on stage, and then Mr. Dibbs put some kid who was trying to buy his merchandise in a chokehold for no apparent reason. Maybe they aren't cut out for fame.
Last was Chicks on Speed, and this made the whole night worth it. They had a bad start, as the monitor levels were off , which seemed to be a theme that night, but once they got started, they did an amazing set. They had well-composed songs that were heavy on bass and full of improvisation. Their girl-punk vocals really made the act stand out from everything else that night, and I couldn't get over how captivating they are as performers. They paint themselves and use homemade instruments, like their electronically altered vinyl belts that they play during "We don't play guitars!" They are smart musicians and they really know how to play a crowd. After the false start, they grabbed our attention, spraying us with water and getting off the stage to roam the audience. Chicks on Speed appear to be a retro-novelty act, with neon lame and fishnet hose, until you listen and realize that they are making really good music. I bought the album on my way out, and I haven't been sorry. - 

The latest duo release from Rob Mazurek's Chicago Underground presentsthe progressive melding of electronics with that of free jazz playing,resulting in some great performances of very cool and moderncompositions. With drummer Chad Taylor at times providing the changesfrom the vibraphone on the disc's eleven tracks, Mazurek is freed up tostretch in his cornet soloing and explorations.

Kicking off his new Kangaroo label, care of Raster-Noton, Ilpo Väisänendebuts the Liima (Finnish for "glue") moniker with four tracks on twoblack pouched, black vinyl 10"s. The plan for the label is to releasemore records, including 7"s and 12"s all limited to 1000 copies, ofmusic that has "a strong connection to the Jamaican dubstyle".

It's always weird writing about friends records. Papa M stayed with meon September 9th last year following the show with Pullman (Bundy K.Brown and Dave Pajo in the same room, it was once thought impossible).It was a Sunday night and I remember staying up and talking with Daveand his band partner for a bit. We may have had breakfast at theinfamous Arlington Diner around the corner the following morning.Monday night was their gig in NYC and they ended up staying overnightin Brooklyn. Tuesday morning, the western world changed forever.

These two limited edition releases on Cambridge, MA's Intransitiveimprint both suffer from putting far too much stock in their conceptsand processes than in the music itself, and as a result they are bothmediocre efforts. Marchetti's release, an audio collage of world musicand, to quote the artist himself, "citations" of well-knownexperimental music pieces, hides under the guise of being an"exploration of Shamanism and ecstatic states of mind."

Giant Sand's second release on Thrill Jockey, a record designed to seejust how well this configuration are connected musically as well as achance to bring in more diverse guest collaborators. As always, theringleader is Howe Gelb, this time with his rhythm stalwarts in JoeBurns on bass and John Convertino on drums, and, as the title suggests,covering other artists' songs except for one new track.

Guitarist Andy Moor is best known for frenetic harrangues in the Ex andDogfaced Hermans. His idiosyncratic six string scratchings getreprocessed via Kaffe Matthews computer on these recordings ofimprovised encounters. Matthews mutates the raw angular attack andchime of Moor's guitar into loops, drones and static buzz which Moorresponds to in turn.