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02 April 2000

Alan Ezust and Julie Geanakakis

Albums and Singles

This is a wonderfully schizophrenic release, with an aptly chosen name.The hypnotic andmultivaried samples and loops take sounds which hark back to thepsychedelic sixties, and yet sound so crisp and clean and engineered,as they are mixed with other sounds which cross musical genres frombaroque to industrial noise.
The first song sounds almost like a 60s beatles ripoff, and then turnsinto this very dirgey noise with some The The-like electric harmonicasounds. The elephant trumpet samples mixed with orchestral sounds inSnowfish add a very surreal quality to an otherwise manic piece. Everysong just goes nuts half way through, providing no end of surprises,and yet there is a cohesive theme that carries through the whole CD,providing a very entertaining trip. If you enjoy high-energypsychedelic weirdness, unexpected and out of context sounds throwntogether in a rhythmic way, and occasionally amusing spoken wordsamples, this CD is for you. One small comment about the packaging - itis incredibly difficult to insert and remove the CD, so one of thefirst things I did was trim the packaging so it would fit into a jewelbox. It was a very easy operation to perform.

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26 March 2000

Thomas Olson

Albums and Singles

This excellentraster-noton release is really worth getting. It's a strange andintelligent little EP, with a nice balance between tightly controlledminimalism and playful goofiness. Very impressive!

"Chickenspin" is a thin and tightly controlled soundtrack for Santa'selves at work. I like the part where the boss walks in and they all getbusy.
Jhon Balance's lyrics on "Silence is Golden" are wonderfully kinky, andthe music on this piece, alternately jaunty minimalist pluck and darkominous pulse, is effectively schizophrenic. As if Balance werePersephone, skipping gaily through a field of Asphodels in a littlewhite frock, unaware of something enormous homing in... like a shift offocus from figure to ground. The way he says "My love is endless" givesme shudders. The lyrics on this are really extra-deliscious, likehaving phone sex with H.P. Lovecraft.
"Their new polka" is wobbly and perky, like a tightly spinning jewel giving offdelighted tones as it slowly runs out of energy.
"46 things I did today" is a pretty little music box tune which turns into afrantic and tense reflection of Annie Anxiety's spoken word list of activities.Her list occasionally falls into rhymes which briefly create exciting rhythmsagainst the music...
COH is Russian (living in Sweden) Ivan Pavlov, and I see his posts onthe Coil email list now and then -- what's his story? I'm suddenly afan.

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26 March 2000

Albums and Singles

Since Swans demise in 1997, Michael Gira has meticulously re-packaged exactly what he wants to preserve of Swans 15 year legacy via double cd re-issues, this being the fourth and final one. This set couples the long out print 1983 debut album Filth and the 1982-85 studio out takes and live recording collection Body to Body, Job to Job. In addition is a previously unreleased 25 minute live show in NYC from 1982/3 and a 9 minute live version of "Raping a Slave" from 1984. Noticeably missing are the four songs from the debut s/t EP from 1982.

19 March 2000

Mark Weddle

Albums and Singles

Now I remember why I avoided all those Psychic TV live albums all these years. Yuck.

This 2cd set (this being the limited edition version with 'bonus' cd)features 2 live shows in Germany from late 1984, not long after thedeparture of Peter Christopherson and John Balance (Coil). Here we havethe very beginnings of the 'hyperdelic' song based period, though thebulk of these tracks are still in the experimental vein of the early tomid '80s. PTV were notorious for not practicing for gigs and, well, itshows. Sometimes I wonder if anyone on stage was actually aware of whatanyone else on stage was doing at any given time. It often seems likerandom jamming, noise and feedback ... in a bad way. A really bad way.The 'songs' are loosely arranged with Genesis mumbling, yelling,bellowing, howling and/or occasionally singing over them here andthere. Those that should be recognizable, like "Unclean" and "Godstar",barely are and are lame in comparison to their studio counterparts. Thesound on both discs is bootleg quality: poorly mixed, distant and fuzzywith audience members clearly chatting amongst themselves. Disc 2,which I guess is the 'bonus' disc, is ironically the better of the twoas the band is much tighter and competent, but only marginally so. Andwith 7 tracks exceeding 11 minutes in length this is simply cruel andinhumane punishment. As for the packaging, it's not much better. Thecover drawing is the most redeeming quality as the insert offers only 1b/w picture of Genesis, track listings, copyright info and web siteurls with nothing in the way of liner notes. Everything about thisreeks of bootleg despite it being an official release from Cold SpringRecords. Definitely for die hard PTV fans only. As for me, I'll stickto the studio albums. May I please have my $18 back?.

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note - It wasn't worth the hassle of listening to any more of this to find 3 minutes worth of redeemable music to make mp3s.

19 March 2000

Jason Olariu

Albums and Singles

Glitch music is quickly becoming the new jungle: a newborn style that artists, both old and new, look to for inspiration.Take Danny Zelonky, AKA Low Res/PlugResearch. Under his Crank guise, Danny explores the same sonicterritory pioneered by Pole (a landscape now threatened byover-population), but injects enough character into his music to makeit his own. Eschewing the ear-and-mindbending style of dub favored bysaid digital drop-out technicians for jazz, "Heftibag" can best bedescribed as Miles' "Live Evil" as remixed by Farmers Manual. From thecrisp, multi-layered drum clicks of "D Conomic" to the fusion from theSeventh Layer of Hell of both "Mala Vista" and "3 Spot", Crankcertainly has fun showing us around his kaleidoscopic soundworld.
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19 March 2000

Jason Olariu

Albums and Singles

Soul music, just like any good genre, needs an album to redraw its blueprint every now and then.Marvin did it with "What's Goin' On?", and Prince did it with "Sign O'The Times", and now D'Angelo unleashes his "Voodoo", changing theboundaries yet again. With his lengthy liner notes expressing bothpurpose (embracing women, life, and his muse) and disgust (rapperswhose muse is the almighty dollar), D sets his sights on making trulyspiritual music, inspired by his idol, Jimi Hendrix. Scrubbing most ofthe traces of hip-hop/R&B found on his debut, D'Angelo also setsaside the machine-built tracks in favor of live instruments (featuringsome of The Roots, 8-string guitarist Charlie Hunter, and Roy Hargrove)and heavy soul-funk sound. "The Line", with it's slow-and-low groovethat's sexy as fuck, casts D in the Al Green spotlight, complete withsexual/spiritual double entendres. D serves up a gooey slice of NewOrleans funk on "Chicken Grease", then takes us south of the borderwith the fiery "Spanish Joint", which conjures up images of Santanabacking up Stevie Wonder on the latter's "Innervisions." "Voodoo" is amusical milestone, one that bleeds honesty, thoughtfulness, andsexuality. Put this on at your next backyard barbecue, or the next timeyou turn the lights down low when you're with "that special someone".You'll be glad you did.
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19 March 2000

Mark Weddle

Albums and Singles

Richie Hawtin has beenDJing, playing and recording Detroit and minimalist techno for a decadenow under his own name and as Plastikman, F.U.S.E., etc.Here he uses his most basic set of creative tools: a crate ofvinyl, a couple turntables, a mixer, a few effects boxes, a foot pedaland the classic TR-909 drum machine for an hour long dj set. This discis, thankfully, the opposite of his tediously minimal and slow buildingPlastikman compositions ... this is upbeat techno for the dance floors.A few minutes in the beat is up and running as Hawtin works his waythrough a continuous mix of techno, house and dub music by himself,Richard Harvey, Jeff Mills, Nitzer Ebb, Surgeon, Stewart S. Walker,Vladislav Delay and many others. There is one very brief break at track23 then the beat comes slamming right back in and continues on to theend. It's tracks 24 through 38 (the last half hour) where things arereally pumping with a solid assortment of beats and washes culminatingwith the future dub of Rhythm & Sound's "Never Tell You". Hawtindoes a great job of meshing the musical components, changing anddeveloping the mix and just plain keepin' it interesting. This isprobably the first cd by him that I want to listen to more than acouple times! Hawtin is currently on tour in Australia.

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19 March 2000

Daniel McKernan

Albums and Singles

One of the most foul-mouthed, sleazy, perverse, sexist and nasty records I've ever heard.

In a word: excellent! Funny, funky hip hop from one of the manymembers of the Wu-Tang Clan. For those with a not-so-uptight sense ofhumor, this album is really great - laughs from start to finish at thelewd and crude lyrics of Big Baby Jesus. ODB repeatedly displays hisinability to really sing, but does so in a very catchy way, along withthe accompaniment of various other flavorful backing vocalists. "Idon't have no trouble wit you fuckin' me - but I gotta little problemwit you not fuckin' me" is a rhyme in "Got Your Money" - a must for allwomanizer fans. It isn't all sexist humor, though; there is theoccasional drug and violence reference. Despite being one of TipperGore's worst nightmares, though, the album is unique in its genre -nice to own even for those who aren't normally into hip hop and/or theWu. Pretty much, if nothing else, this CD is a violent sleaze-fest ofpretentious dirtiness that makes you shake that ass.

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06 March 2000

Alan Ezust and Julie Geanakakis

Albums and Singles

Kate Messick, vocalistfrom Unto Ashes, appears with composer/lyricist James Babbo on thisalbum, and her full upfront vocals seem flatter and less textured thanon Moon Oppose Moon.

Kate Messick, vocalistfrom Unto Ashes, appears with composer/lyricist James Babbo on thisalbum, and her full upfront vocals seem flatter and less textured thanon Moon Oppose Moon. The whole CD is rather spartan in its composition,featuring a guitar, some ambient synths, and almost no percussion. Thefantastic art-nouveau cover art belies the very simplistic andslow-tempoed droning vocals that persist in track after track -Messick's voice has it's own beauty although here it's relativelyunadorned and the melodies Babbo writes lack dimension and depth. Quitepleasing to the ear though.

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