Martyn Bates is a founding member of the eclectic '80s duo Eyeless inGaza and a prolific collaborator and solo artist. "Dance of Hours" is a27 minute mini album that is essentially a continuation of his solowork "Letters Written" begun in 1982. Bates plays most everything here:piano, organ, bass and electric Hawaiian guitar plus additional vocalson 2 songs by Elizabeth S. and co-production by former Gaza partnerPeter Becker. But, most importantly, is the voice. To say that Bates'voice is heavenly is still an understatement. It is undeniably thefocal point of these richly melodic, poetic songs. In fact, the moreminimal the musical accompaniment, the better. "Poems Pennyeach" and"Alone Reprise" (which are pretty much the same James Joyce piece, bothless than a minute apiece) and "The Heart Song" showcase only Bates'golden throat within a reverberated cloud or intermittent backgroundvocalizations. The rest effectively couple the voice with flickers ofnotes and drone. Though this album is brief it's still a very welcomeaddition to Bates' catalog. And the insert thoughtfully contains all ofthe lyrics, pure poetry in and of itself.

 

samples:

• The Heart Song
• War Like
• Wishing Songs

The latest offering by seminal Ant-Zen "powernoise" favoritesSynapscape is an interesting one. Although "Positive Pop" is moretechnoid than anything released recently on Ant-Zen save for PAL's lastRebirth-rife album, it manages to sound quite fresh and interestingwithin the constraints of the genre. The first track, "Ammunition," isa test of your patience, however - atmospherics accompanied by apiercing frequency which slowly raises makes for an interestingintroduction. The track that follows, "Thirsteater," is classicSynapscape, while "Smogue" is a beatless piece with a fewhigh-frequency injections like the first track. "Dubforce" is aptlynamed, using reverb and a slower tempo to create a very interesting,dub-like feel for a Synapscape track. Reminds me of Nine Inch Nails.The album continues as expected, not varying much from Synapscape'stried-and-true (or not?) formula. If you acquired the box set, you'rein for a very special treat - three (yes, three!) ten inch slabs ofvinyl accompany the album, and the remixes and extra tracks featured onthese records are (for the most part) golden. Disc one is newSynapscape tracks, whose standout is "Bizarre Vinyl Junky," with itsskittery, up-tempo beats. Discs two and three are remixes, and here arewhere things get interesting. The remixers are varied, and whileseveral of the remixes are formulaic and predictable (Converter, Asche,Somatix), some of the results are downright surprising: Savak'sreconstruction of "Thirsteater" begins with melodic synths straight outof your favorite IDM track. Hell-G's "Notorious" is a dancefloorbreakbeat track reminiscent of good-ol' Position Chrome, and ImminentStarvation's remix borders on glitch-techno, with miniscule hypnoticbeats ripped right from Panasonic. Yes, the box set is most definitelyworth your money. Overall, not a bad album, but "Positive Pop" onlyreinforces Ant-Zen's latest direction: to be the next "stepping stone"for those getting tired of EBM and looking for something just a tad bitless friendly.

 

samples:

• Face Off
• Emogue
• Bielfield

There are times, when listening to a particular release by a particularband, you feel very sorry for the musicians. Not because they aren'tplaying their music well, mind you. The music is luscious, hypnoticeven, and they play it with fervor, energy. But it seems no matter howhard they try, they are a vessel for the voice that sings over them.Luckily, 27 doesn't really have that problem. The music is compellingenough to keep you there before the voice comes in, and then itimproves. Sparsely arranged, and melodically playful despite a slowertempo on the majority of the songs, "Songs From The Edge Of The Wing"is an excellent first release from 27, defining in its beauty. Thesesongs are captivating, even without Maria Christopher's sensual vocallines, but her presence is what takes 27 to the next level. She weavesin and out of the songs with the skill of a siren, singing about thetroubles and trappings of human relationships. And the variation ofstyles not only speaks well for future releases by 27, but also gives ahint of their influences and pasts. With ex-members of Dirt Merchantsand Spore present, one might not be expecting music of this subtlety.Loud moments of guitars are present, but they are few and far between.Mostly, these songs are lush, languid, the soundtrack to a dream youwait every night to have. The only seemingly awkward moment (no, theNeil Young cover of "Danger Bird" is brilliantly executed, thank you)is the latin-flavored "Lone Mariachi," where Christopher's vocals areintermingled with spoken word by someone else, who sounds frighteninglylike Mark Sandman of Morphine in areas. What do you expect from a bandfrom Boston, though? A fine release, and I wait for more...

 

samples:

• Easy Trigger
• The Lone Mariachi
• Warm Hands Cold Heart

While CD singles can be interpreted as collectable, tradable fun littlethings, they arguably killed the art of the b-side in the late 1980s.After much pressure, Virgin finally honors OMD with a collection oftracks from the other side of the hits. With two-sided singles, groupsoften went wild since their albums were scrutinized by the press undera microscope and their singles had to grab enough public attention tosell. Some of OMD's finer moments can be heard within the earliergrooves, now collected for the first time on compact digital audio. I'mthrilled mainly because I had all of these songs on crummy-qualityvinyl, and now can listen to a beautifully restored mastering job.Thankfully for people who were never impressed by the watery pop phasesof OMD, this comp is heavy on the early classics. Vocal songs like"Sacred Heart" and "I Betray My Friends" showcase an undeniable masteryof songcraft, while instrumentals like "66 & Fading" and theuber-anthemic "Wheels of the Universe" are emotionally chargedmasterpieces, years ahead of their time. The group pays tribute toinfluencors Velvet Underground with their cover of "Waiting for theMan" and Neu! (in title alone as far as I can hear) with "4-Neu" whilethe inclusion of early alternate versions of "Almost" from the firstalbum and "The Romance of the Telescope" from Dazzle Ships are certainto please the completist fans. If you avoid the expensive chainretailers by buying direct from omd.uk.com,you'll get an autographed booklet and additional booklet of moreextensive liner notes. My only beef with this and the web site is theincomprehensive 'Brit-centric' qualities of each, which ignore the factmost people only know OMD by "If You Leave" outside of their tinylittle island, omitting it from the booklet discography.

 

samples:

• (The Angels Keep Turning) The Wheels of the Universe
• The Romance of the Telescope
• Sacred Heart

You never really know what to expect at an Eitzel show. It could be a religious experience or quickly deteriorate into self deprecation, or a bit of both depending upon Mark's mood.
Fortunately for these two shows, Mark was affable and tolerated himself and annoying audience members, for the most part. Mark is backed by a 3 piece band on this tour: Kristin Sobditch - keyboards and occasional bass guitar, Brian Gregory - bass guitar, guitar, pedal steel guitar and backing vocals and Andrew Clark - beats, electronics and mixing.
The sets drew mostly from the latest CD, "The Invisible Man", plus some American Music Club classics and two yet to be released new songs. Songs I'm sure were played at both shows: "The Boy With the Hammer", "Can You See?", "Sleep", "To The Sea", "Shine", "Steve, I Always Knew", "Bitterness", "Anything", "The Global Sweep of Human History" (nice drone finale), "Seeing Eye Dog", "Proclaim Your Joy" (very rocking, with customized anti-George Bush lyrics in Austin), "Greeting Cards" (new) and "Soap Opera Star" (new, solo). The band leaves stage during the solo songs where Mark plays with electric guitar. In Dallas the solo AMC songs were "Last Harbor", "Western Sky" and "Blue and Grey Shirt". I can't recall what they were in Austin, but it was only 1 or 2, plus "I've Been a Mess" (on acoustic guitar) at the very end. They played between an hour and hour and a half total.
Mark really gave his all vocally, moreso than on "The Invisible Man", and is quite animated while playing. Not to disrespect the band as they were solid and sounded great, but it's when Mark plays solo that I'm totally enthralled. He completely loses himself in the songs (the only other person I've seen like that live is Michael Gira of SWANS/The Angels of Light). He closes his eyes and tends to wander back away from the mic during instrumental sections and will begin singing again oblivious that he's off mic. But it doesn't matter because the audience is perfectly silent, entranced. I think he came close to crying during "Last Harbor" in Dallas. I felt all tingly during most of "Soap Opera Star". Just stunning. It must be difficult to draw upon that much emotion night after night. Surpringly, Mark announced on stage that he'd be selling CDs after the show. There were 2 for $10 apiece: "Eitzelsuperhitsinternational tour CD" (unreleased studio demos from 1999) and "Mark Eitzel - Live on WMFU NYC Solo/Acoustic 4/16/01", both of which will be available on an Eitzel web site after the tour.

After taking several years off from the road - except for the occasional performance in their home country of Switzerland, or nearby France - The Young Gods returned to European stages to do a short tour. I went to see them on their stop in Hamburg.
The concert was poorly promoted, the only poster announcing the show was put up in front of the venue while we were waiting to be let in. Regardless of that, quite a few people showed up, I would say about 150 to 200 give or take a few. This was a good amount of people for the size of the venue, it wasn't too crowded, but neither too empty.
When listening to The Young Gods' music, they may at first sound like your typical Industro-Metal band, with distorted guitars and everything. The bigger is the surprise when you see them live, and the only guitar used on stage is an acoustic one used to generate some feedback. Everything else is sampled and put to good use by keyboard player Al Comet. Add a drummer and singer Franz Treichler with his irresistible french accent, and you end up with The Young Gods.
I kind of pity the people who live next to or above the venue, the Westwerk. The amount of volume and noise The Young Gods put up on stage for the next 90 minutes was just insane. One of the loudest concerts I've ever been to. You wouldn't think that three guys can pull off noise like that and enjoy it. Apparently they do, as you could see that they were having an excellent time up there on stage.
During the show, the emphasis was on their current release "Second Nature". They played most of the songs from that album, mixed with some old classics. The slower songs like "In The Otherland" or "Laisser Couler" definitely benefited from the intimacy of the small venue. I can't imagine these songs would come across that well when being played in a big concert hall. Highlights of the concert were "Skinflowers", the stomping "Astronomic" and "Kissing The Sun". The performance was well received by the audience, so the band had to come back on stage twice before the lights finally went on. The show ended with one of the Kurt Weill cover tunes they do so well, which put a nice end to a fantastic show. Make sure you catch them live if they ever play a show near you.