First of all I want to say how much of a thrill it was to see thatsomebody else from Slowdive is finally releasing music again. Slowdivewas possibly one of the best components of the shoegazing movement thattrickled out of the United Kingdom in the early 1990s, before the groupsplit, they released a departure from the blurry guitars and buriedvocals, 'Pygmalion', which despite being a fucking incredible release,was nowhere close to the charm and happiness experienced with 1993's'Souvlaki'. So the group called it quits and the singer went on topursue Mojave 3, which was decent in my opinion, but never something Iwould pull from the racks and listen to on a regular basis. Now thisshows up at my doorstep - a five-track EP from former Slowdiver SeanHewson with somebody I'm unfamiliar with, Christian Savill. From thefirst blurry guitar chords, it's refreshing to hear notes from a soulbehind a three of my favorite albums of the last decade. When thevocals start, however, it becomes painfully apparent that these chapsare neither good singers nor lyricists. To its defense, the EP hasgrown on me very very very slightly over the time that it's been in mypossession. Plus, these songs will probably be able to muster up somegood press and a decent amount of attention from college radio. At theend of the 20 minutes, however, I'm left unsatisfied, but all the whilewaiting to see if they can get their shit together for a decent debutalbum.
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Over the past few years bass maven Jah Wobble has collaborated with anumber of varied artists including his own Deep Space ensemble, MolamLao members, a brief stint in post-rock outfit the Damage Manual andhere virtuoso saxophonist Evan Parker. "Passage to Hades" consists offour 9 to 14 minute tracks combining trademark Wobble band hypnoticworld-dub groove with Parker's circular breathing, free jazz abstractsoundscaping. The title track settles into a smooth, lumbering bassline and sticks with it as Parker gently drones in tenor and Deep Spacemembers Clive Bell and Jean-Pierre Rasle add flirtations of Thai pi sawflute, harmonica and bagpipes. "Giving Up the Ghost" varies the tempomore by fading Wobble and drummer Mark Sanders out a few times and backin at a different pace. Parker flutters and squawks in soprano, takingon a shimmering quality as notes are swallowed up and fed back throughthe mix. "Full On" features the most aggressive bass workout but Bell'sstereo goathorns are a bit too overbearing thus, unfortunately,dominating the track. And on "Finally Cracked It", Sanders lays down amildly funky rock rhythm for Wobble's rigorous bass line to lock into.Parker is in exceptional form here layering tenor drones and darting inand out with pretty reverberated riffs. Altogether, "Passage to Hades"is another successful collaboration for Wobble with predictable butbeautiful results. It seems that most anything and everything workswell with Wobble's low end led liaisons. Jah Wobble and Deep Space willtour major U.S. cities in May
Come on baby, let's rock baby. With all the different mega-buzzworthyamusing modern electronic artists collected on this one CD, all I canthink of after hearing 17 remixes of and tributes to "Come on baby,lets rock baby" is exactly that. The disc starts out with aninstrument-free spoken word track from Chicks on Speed and continueswith contributions from American, European and Japanese electronicistslike GD Luxxe, Console, Adult, Pita, Sylvester Boy and DMX Krew. It'sthe eighth release from Angelika Koehlermann, an Austrian label formedby people from the Cheap and Mego labels. I suppose it would make moresense to me if I actually owned the 1999 release from the fragile andfeministic Osakan singer Michiko Kusaki, whose album released by AKallegedly had 8 top ten singles from, of which the hit "Let's RockBaby" was born. Since everybody apparently missed all these hits fromMichiko Kusaki, Angelika Koehlermann felt it their duty to compile atribute to the record. Whether it's the blippy Adult, cute Japanesestyles of Shinto, the horn-stem-funk friendly Mixmup, noise onslaughtof Obscurum, children's tv show theme-esque Bodenständig 2000,Casiotone tunage of Yoko Tsuno or the New Order-worshipping GD Luxxe,these tracks never get tired or worn, old or uncool. Summer is on itsway and this disc provides a great soundtrack for a trip to the beach.I'm now itching to hear what the hell the hoopla is all about from theoriginal release from 1999.
Au Revoir Borealis (clever name, eh?) are a four piece band fromDetroit who have played live with Jessica Bailiff, Windy & Carl,The Autumns, LN and the like. They appeared last year on volume 1 ofE+J Recordings "Sculpting Nick Drake" tribute and "Tienken" is theirself produced and released debut EP. Six tracks, half of which aretitled songs and the other half untitled instrumentals, make up the 25minutes. Points of reference for their sound, besides those they'veplayed with, might include Cocteau Twins with a dash of Sigur Ros and apinch of My Bloody Valentine. "Heavens Downward" poeticizes a nighttimesnowfall against a lush electric guitar/synth cloud and gentlebass/drums pulse. Stephanie Halpert's heavenly voice repeats 'I couldlose myself in this' as I think the same thing to myself, though I'mreferring to the music rather than the precipitation. "Waldorf TheftSong" is a tad more upbeat with more of a synth pad presence andguitars restrained to non distorted tones. Lyrically it centers aroundthe mysterious lines 'falling away into the waiting field' (or is it'into the way you feel'?) and 'the Waldorf is something I might like tosteal'. After the rhythmic synth gurgling of interlude track 4, thedeeply moody "Monolith" slowly takes shape out of the atmosphericaether. Here the words are more personal and full of longing, Halpertbegging 'hold my heart in your heart, say I can stay, can stay'. Thefinal track gracefully closes the disc with pretty de-tuned guitarnotes in an effected wash. A wonderfully emphatic and impressive debut.Here's hoping the next disc gives us much more. Be sure to play withtheir fun to navigate web site aurb.org.
Bumped into Matt Wand of Stock, Hausen & Walkman as he was hawkingthe new Rip Off Artist CD to the Manchester shops. Opening his box ofHot Air to reveal brains aplenty: "You can have one for a fiver if youwrite a good review!" Thus bribed I went home to ruminate on whetherthis Rip Off Artist was some kind of scam since my first impression wasthat this could feasibly be a follow up to Stock, Hausen &Walkman's wry techdance appropriator 'Oh My Bag!' Hot air has neverbeen proven magnetic so maybe it's just a case of like attracting like.Whoever he's ripping off, the bribe was not necessary. The Rip OffArtist is said to have recorded this in Southern California. There aresome quirky Matmosian shuffles in there, or am I just hearing thisbecause I played this right after the 'California Rhinoplasty' EP? TheRip Off Artist, or Matt Haines as his mum probably insists on callinghim, uses a smaller range of sounds, or at least his sources seem lessdramatic, mostly relying on good old frazzled bleepery, but he has alighthearted foot shuffling fluid beat organisation technique which isexactly what you might expect from Hot Air, if indeed you expectedanything at all from this slightly odd and idiosyncratic label. The RipOff Artist is alleged to have helped out Uwe Schmidt with recording andhas thus been accused of ripping off Atom Heart. I haven't heard enoughAtom Heart to know if that's so, but this is certainly a rapid motionmelodic addition to the ever expanding quirky sampled cut up beatsglut. Is the cover picture of a brain just a ploy to get a glowingwrite up on this Brain? No, it's not, but how can an album that openswith a track about how 'Asparagus Spears My Artichoke Hearts' possiblybe less than soupy?
Moblin is Chris Ragnar Bergen, multi-talented artist and apparentproprietor of thistownisdoomed.com. Bergen has an obvious predilectionfor old school computing and gaming, namely Dos and 8 bit Nintendo, asevidenced from the moniker (a character from the NES "Legend of Zelda"series), title and artwork. Perhaps it's this love of fun and engaginginteractive machines that provides his penchant for likewiseelectronica. The 11 cute and/or oddly titled tracks that make up the38+ minutes of "CPrompt" draw upon the playfulness of those classicvideo game themes and the influence of fellow modern electronicswizards such as Kid 606 and Matmos. Moblin's sound set is predominantlywarm tones, bass and beats with similar samples and the occasionaloutburst of static or noise. At times it's a chaotic barrage of splicedsamples and at others a markedly restrained ambient walk in the park.But it's Bergen's skill in data sequencing and attention to precisedetail that makes these tracks special ... test tones, ripplingglitches, minuscule loops, fuzzy melodies and appropriated rhythm bitsseemingly fall into place rather effortlessly. This is really highquality stuff that bears repeated listening. Judge for yourself withmp3s of four full tracks at thistownisdoomed/moblin. Next up for Moblinis 2 tracks on a 7" for the Itcfwak label and a new EP entitled "TheWar On Drugs is a Joke."
Mogwai are back, but are they better than ever? Fans of these Scottishlads and their music tend to be rabid, so this is one of the mosteagerly awaited CDs of the year. Much more concise than their otherreleases (read: shorter), Rock Action is Mogwai's most musicallyambitious release in terms of arrangements and their finest effort todate, warts and all. Gone are the 16 minute epics that marked "YoungTeam" and later releases; here to stay are killer melodies and lovelyarrangements. Yes, there are a few let downs. The opening track, "SineWave," while scary and malicious, sounds a bit too much like "A WarmPlace" by Nine Inch Nails/"Crystal Japan" by David Bowie. And "RobotChant" sounds like what Mogwai ends their shows with: distortion pedalson stun + volume on 11 = fuck the audience! The high notes leave thesemissteps in their dust. The finest track, "2 rights make 1 wrong" willthrill fans everywhere with it's melodic beauty, and "you don't knowjesus" sounds just like the title suggests, destroying your faith atits basic levels. There's even vocals on four tracks, including a fineguest appearance on "dial:revenge" by Gruff Rhys from Super FurryAnimals singing in his native Welsh. On "Take Me Somewhere Nice," it'sclear just how much guitarist/vocalist Stuart Braithwaite's deliveryhas improved, and the lyrics are far more understandable this time. Allin all, a great release for them and you. Earplugs are recommended,even with your headphones on.
The brand new full-lengther from former Throwing Muses vocalist/lyricist/boss is undeniably her greatest solo achievement. The rocky road Hersh has endured over the last few years has surfaced into an explosive collection of gut-wrenching songs. After fifteen years of hearing her voice, I can safely say there is absolutely no comparison to this one-woman powerhouse of skill and talent - her voice, playing and writing styles are all part of the package deal.
I must admit at the first few listens I wasn't quite blown away by the latest release from yet another instrumental rock band of Germans who refuse to admit they're influenced by Neu! 'Profane' is their fourth full-length album, and first release to be issued in Europe, North America and Japan simultaneously (as opposed to 'Fantasy': out on Kitty-Yo in 1999, surfacing on Matador USA and Japan in 2000).
