The recent work of forty something Swedish artist/composer CM Von Hausswolff fits in nicely with that of the modern minimalists (such as ?, Noto, Goem, Kim Cascone), all of whom have contributed to the Raster Music 'clear' series thus far. "Str?m" (German for "Flow") presents a constant, cyclic electric hum as a single 48 minute track. This band of energy inconspicuously wavers here and there and picks up fields of static debris and minor blips, but for the most part stays true to the course of a minimized power hum. So what are we to make of this? My personal responses to the piece have been polar opposite and of a more physiological than emotional nature. When I listen with head phones it makes me anxious while without is very calming. Something I noticed when using a disc man and head phones is that when you press 'pause' the sudden disappearance of the sound leaves a strange void in the ear drums that's simultaneously somewhat painful and somewhat pleasurable. The longer you listen to the hum before pausing, the more drastic the effect. That has become the primary focus of my time with this disc: experimenting with various ways of listening to find out the effects on my brain. I don't know if that's what Hausswolff intended but, well ... who cares? I just hope I haven't re-programmed my neurons too much ...
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Skinny Puppy/Download founding member cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton)returns with his 2nd solo outing for Metropolis Records. It seemed tome that much of the first one, 1998's "Music for Cats", was unfinishedleftovers from other projects. This album may very well be the same butit also feels fully realized as a project unto its own. Key plays justabout everything - electronics, drums, guitar, bass, etc. - andcollaborates with many: Justin Bennett (guitar, Professional MurderMusic), K. Tokoi (saxophone), Omar Torres and Kent Clelland of NativeInstruments, Bill Van Rooy (bass), Phil Western (synths,Download/Plateau), Ken Marshall (electronics, Download), all of TheLegendary Pink Dots and recently reunited Puppy compatriot Ogre, amongothers. The shadowy influence of Jamaica is cast over parts of thealbum, from the artwork to the electro dub strains, most notably in theganja haze groove of "Horopter", to the radio banter in "Klora".Saxophone riffs add an unexpectedly welcome flair to "Tatayama". "15thShade" and "A Certain Stuuckey" are likely a precursor of things tocome from the Tear Garden (Key + LPD). Both feature Edward Ka-Spel'scalm and collected, detailed spoken story telling, the former over anaddictive bass line and guitar meandering and the latter over afragmented soup of bass, synth and beats. "Frozen Sky" gives one SPflashbacks - pretty synth sequences, "Process"-era heavy duty guitarchords, vocoded vocals - and, again, is probably a precursor of futurework. The remaining tracks are mostly jittery electronic jams of therecent Download/Plateau mindset. The more Key works with a variety ofothers, the more varied and interesting the results ... 
Does Glasgow have all of the best bands in the world? In recent years,that Scottish city has given us Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian, ArabStrap, the delgados, and of course, the classic Del Amitri. Sorry, Ihad to. Most of the best bands come out of Glasgow, though, and here'sanother to add to your list. Aereogramme is a brilliant fuzz rock bandwho, gladly, sound nothing like any of theie Glaswegian counterparts.This is truly a unique sound, driven by a unique songwriter, Craig B,formerly of Ganger, another great Glaswegian band. Electronic hums,buzzes, hard drum hits, squelching guitars and angry sentiments giveway to rather lush passages with Hum-like glory and a very capablevoice on top, something I'm sure Craig didn't get a chance to showcasein Ganger. And there's a great sonic variety, too. Piano joins the mix,acoustic guitar, swelling keyboards and strings. And grounding it allis a profound sense of melodies that can rouse your soul from sleep orslap it senseless. This US release, on Matador, also features threetracks from their White Paw EP, released in the UK, but not here.Because the music is so good, you are willing to forgive some of theoff-kilter or awkward moments, like the death metal shrieking on"Zionist Timing." It's great fun, but wholly unnecessary. And we loveit anyway. That's the power of Aereogramme: they'll lead you to thewater, make you drink, tell you it's piss, you'll spit it out, andeveryone will laugh. It's a good time, and it's great music. Check itout.
Picking up from where we last heard from him, Jack Dangers has continued his analogue audio explorations through his latest release, a 10" released in cooperation with the Science and Education division of Tino Corp. For four tracks on the 10", Dangers avoids the usage of samplers, resorting to analogue tape manipulations, resulting in a very 50s horror film soundtrack/early Stockhausen-esque musique concrète type of sound.
A Silver Mount Zion are the band formed by Efrim, one of the threeguitarists in Godspeed You Black Emperor! although here he often playspiano. Bassist Thierry and classically trained violinist Sophie alsomoonlight from Godspeed, but A Silver Mount Zion has extended its namepresumably to denote the arrival in their midst of a further trio ofstring players on second violin, cello and guitar. Their friends Jonahand Eric also play trumpet/trombone and drums to further fill out thesound. The extra instuments bring a depth and climactic momentum thatsurpasses that record and the songs seem more fully realised than thesparse piano led songs from the first album. Whilst the sound mighthave moved closer dynamically to Godspeed, the most obvious differenceis that on some songs Efrim sings in a wavering voice similar toJonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev or Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips, butsaddened by far weightier lyrical concerns. A key track is 'Take TheseHands and Throw Them in the River', which rises in intensity as stringsswell in dark desperation until Efrim's voice almost cracks as he singsthe heartfelt tearful refrain. Melancholy and hope are the two wordsthat instantly spring to mind in describing this music. Most tracksstart quietly and slowly build up a beautiful layered emotionallyhotwired intensity. The standout track for me was the penultimateinstrumental 'C'mon Come On (Loose an Endless Longing)' which buildsslowly with drum and guitar led visions of the first rays breakingthrough after the storm clouds, then falls back, and then the stringsseem to reach for the sky and just won't stop there and the big bandunleashes its full Tra-La-La glory, godspeed to silver planets,climbing up above the hand chopping megalomaniacs and soaring above themisery and the starvation and the war and the superweeds and thedepleted uranium and the rotting corpses and babies too starved toscream and... 
I've got good news and bad news: the good news is that now you canfinally afford to buy a Mirror album! This German 2xLP set costs about$15 less than any of the single LP "limited" releases on the US labelsRobot or Anomalous. The bad news however is it'll be quite easy to gethooked on Mirror after buying this. Record #1 features an all newstudio album from the trio (Andrew Chalk, Christoph Heemann and AndreasMartin). The recording is like an aural painting of a journey in asmall boat as day turns to night. What appears to be recorded sounds ofoars gently hitting the water can be heard faintly as the ominousmusical sounds suggest the impending nightfall. While other ambientrecording artists recently have been recording the wind or theelements, Mirror have impressionistically created something original,both captivating and inviting. Through guitars and electronicprocessing, the trio's journey has a clear beginning, journey andreaches its destination as the rain begins to fall. The second recordfeatures a live performance from Austin recorded last year whichrevolves around the same concept. Like the studio recording, thejourney both starts and ends in a similar way but the nature of thebulk is a different improvisation with the same tools. If you're quickand lucky enough, the first copies ordered from Die Stadt come in bluevinyl with a bonus 7", unfortunately you won't get that in the stores.
One thing I think I've learned over the past couple years is to always trust something which shares members of the Notwist, Tied & Tickled Trio, and Console collectives. Couple that with the fact that Morr Music has become an industry leader for superb electronic pop challengers.
An album great enough to play seven times in a row is quite a rarething and a compilation at least seven times rarer. But that's whathappened when I got this second sampler from Colin Newman and MalkaSpigel's Swim label into tbe machine. There are nineteen tracks and nota dud amongst them. Even the previously released tracks from Silo andSymptoms are edited versions, and there is some degree of rarity - theImmersion remix of Flying Saucer Attack is about five years old andappears here for the first time and is quite similar in feel toImmersion's Bowery Electric remix. Colin's sped up remix of Silo's'Prime Movers' appeared on the flipside of a 7" that you might havemissed and another short 'Low Impact' style Immersion track previouslyappeared only on a CD-R compilation 'genuine particle'. However most ofSwim Team 2 comprises brand new tracks. A couple of cuts show off theprogress Colin has made towards his follow up to 'Bastard', and thedriving infectious instrumental 'Tsunami' in particular suggests thathe might eclipse that fine album. However work on new Wire recordingsis taking priority at Swim studios, so it might be a while until thenext Colin Newman album. Maybe his son Ben will get his debut outfirst? Recording under the name Bumpy he also gets a couple of trackswhich display his upbeat inheritance of the Newman rhythm. 'Blokey' and'Bumpy on the Beach' are just as bouncy even catchier than his trackfrom 'Swim Team 1', but display a phenomenal progression. Bumpy'smother Malka Spigel makes a welcome return to singing in her nativeHebrew with one of the most joyous pop songs she's sung, although I saythat without understanding a word of it. She also collaborates on amore understated and haunting track with new artist Dictaphone underthe name of Host, which is the aegis under which collaborations betweenSwim artists will appear in future. Dictaphone's Oliver Doerell livesin Berlin, a city awash in atmospheric beat mongery and his 'esc.Meetings' doesn't disappoint. It's a squiggly little number that clicksaway melodically and prepares the way for the dark vortex of Symptomsin the middle of the disc. Poetess Leonie Heyes-Cercio of Beat Kittenis another new Swim artist who watches a man melting on the pavement ina way that recalls former Swimsters Pablo's Eye but is perhaps a littlelighter in mood than their cinematic 'All She Wants Grows Blue' album.Manchester based tunesmith Dave Scattergood aka Toucaen is another newSwim signing, and like the other newcomers his infectious and emotiveoffering leaves me eager to hear more. Toucaen and Lobe seem to sharequite a similar aesthetic, and a new Lobe track bodes well for the nextalbum, as does the exclusive 'Root' from Denmark's premier machine rocktrio Silo. The CD doesn't hit the shops until early November but youcan get it online now at www.posteverything.com, and for the price of a12" single you'd be silly to let it pass you by, unless of course youhate emotive insistent inventive melodic music that displays severalinteresting modes of forward propulsion.
