BACK FROM ENGLAND!
After months of waiting and many phone calls to UK customs, a box of 7" singles of Brainwashed 001 (Coil remixes by Thread) have finally arrived back, safe and sound at Brainwashed WorldWide HQ. The singles were sent to a UK distributor but weren't recovered when customs decided to demand large sums of cash. After much dispute, the struggle was lost and the records were requested to be returned. The single has been sold out from Brainwashed HQ since June. So, if you're still interested in grabbing a piece of history, check out Brainwashed Recordings and snag the first single from the website turned label, us!

BEST OF '99
Did you notice something while clicking on the link to vote for the best of 1999. You're brought to that archive page that lists everything in our past issues. You know why? Cos people have been just voting on one CD, one movie, etc.. Perhaps people need suggestions because if you listened to only one new album or saw only one new movie in the last 12 months, you'd probably not be reading this to begin with! That said, take your time and think about your vote for the Best of '99! Results posted in the new year.

PRE-ORDER SHIRTS STILL AVAILABLE
Yes, we're still trying to sell pre-orders for them Brainwashed shirts. Choose your style and color, but choose quick! Pre-orders close January 15th, so get them in ASAP please.

20' to 2000: MIKA VAINIO
Both halves of Finland's Pan Sonic (the other half being Ilpo Vaisanen) have contributed 'issues' to the Raster-Noton "20' to 2000" monthly series. Vainio's contribution, October's issue incorporates many of the same ideas found on his recent solo album "Ydin" in the course of the single 18:41 track found here. The piece begins brutally with continuous textured waves of noise which slowly devolve into a single pulsating surge by the 4th minute. Near the 7th minute mark, the surge abruptly ends. From this point on the track is very minimal and quiet, nearly silent save for a variety of light, drifting drones, steam-like hisses and something similar to a the sound of a hot air balloon engine being turned on and off. The final 2 to 3 minutes are completely silent as far as I can detect, until the last 24 seconds when a warped carnival music sample fades in and abruptly winds down. The piece is quite a mind fuck and much more interesting and engaging to me than what I've heard from Pan(a)Sonic, which seems to be the case for all of Vainio and Vaisanen's respective solo output. Next up is the November issue by Wolfgang Voigt (Studio1, Mike Ink, Gas) then the final December issue by ELpH (Coil) ...- Mark Weddle

"MUSIC FOR LISTENING TO"
Bubble Core release this 10 track showcase featuring tracks from brainy indie rockers Rex, Him, Mice Parade, Dots Will Echo, Matmos and the Clutch Mountain Boys. This collection serves a few purposes. One of them being an introduction to a label with discriminate taste in original instrumental rock-based music. (Have to be careful around that P.R. term that has got so many artists and labels sensitive about...) Another purpose is to make available on CD some tunes previously only released on 7" like the Rex and Kirsten McCord songs. Rex is guitar based rock and the songs on this collection seem more concerned with brainy educated guitarist technique than an actual pleasant sound. Mice Parade's song has been lifted from this year's release, "Ramda" to promote that album a little better. Kirsten McCord busts out a home recorded sounding tune using Hank Williams lyrics. Dots Will Echo make a reference to escaping Matador Records' chief with "Help! Gerard Cosloy is chasing me with an axe". Clutch Mountain Boys hold nothing back with their country ditty, "The Farmer's Girl." Velma explores French fish-themed surrealism with "55'291." Matmos (who you'll hear a lot more of in the upcoming months) give us "Sun on 280 to the 1," blending their own special brand of pulsating organic rhythmic drum loops, quirky noises, low drones and guitars, flirting with drum and bass ever so subliminally, making this my fave pick of the litter. Give it a whirl and see what you like.- Jon Whitney

MUSLIMGAUZE, "DRUGSHERPA"
Bryn Jones (Muslimgauze) not only wanted to release as much music as frequently as humanly possible, he also desired that it be released on every possible format. Staalplaat obliged with "Drugsherpa", their first ever 3" cd in 1995, which has just now been re-released. The oh so cute 3" disc comes in an equally cute gatefold pocket and contains a single 20:25 track of the ominous 'desert trance' variety, similar to many other Muslimgauze releases in 1994 and 1995. The music gently fades in as if we are joining the already in progress journey of a caravan. The rings of cymbals, gentle hand percussion playing, looped drones of stringed instruments, bits of distant street noise and an off and on, repetitive 'thump, thump, thump' bass beat drift in and out of the mix, all seemingly representative of the phases of the trek across the desert and through the city streets. The piece is moody but always relaxing as it gently shifts through roughly equal portions of ambiance and beat driven sections ... perfect for putting on just as you go to bed. "Drugsherpa" is a small but certainly worthwhile piece of the massive visual and sonic art puzzle that is Muslimgauze ... get it while you can. Look for an untitled cd via the Klanggalerie label by year's end then a slew of new and re-released cds and vinyl in January of 00 from various other labels ...- Mark Weddle

LOBE, "HIBERNATION"
Another release unmentioned earlier this year is the second CD from Scotland's Ian Hartley, A.K.A. Lobe. This comes to us from the Swim label (see below) and features a selection of nine pusling electronic instrumental tunes. While Hartley doesn't present new ideas, dramatic changes on a formula, he knows how to work the instruments. The music has a perfect balance of attractive low frequencies along with melodies which are never overbearing, subtle yet moving rhythms and original sounds. Coil fans will notice the Nara-Arab soundbytes in a couple numbers on the album - they work well and give me hope that more people are recognizing Coil. My only issue with this is that it might be a little bit too tame and easy, and that's not a bad thing given the amount of electronic musicians trying to create harsh noise. This is most definately a CD to seek out and use while sutdying for all those finals coming up over the next couple weeks. - Jon Whitney

MICK TURNER, "MARLAN ROSA"
In case you didn't feel like showing up to any of the concerts put on by Mick this past year, you're now able to get a good sampling on this album. "Marlan Rosa" is a collection of instrumental guitar pieces, calm and swirling, sound effects and loops add to the intoxicating atmosphere on a couple tracks. Intentionally clumsy drum sounds with piano accents the only song with anything spoken on this album, "El Arbol," also the most dissonant track here. The rest of the songs are warm and charming, perhaps simply unfinished bits left over from Dirty Three session that were too good to bury. - Jon Whitney

APPLIANCE, "MANUAL"
Mute sure do love this post-kraut-rock kick they're on, and while Appliance are actually English, they seem to be paying quite a tribute to Can on this, their debut album. I must confess that I didn't like this CD one bit when I got this a few months ago, I'm glad however I've given it another chance. While it's a bit spotty and sort of unfocused, there are some very good tracks. The disc opens on a somber instrumental note, and then continues to flip flop back and forth between Can-inspired vocal tunes and instrumental experimental rock songs. Low-end rhythm is the formula which works in their favor, with prominent bass guitar and drum synergy, but when the guitar takes center stage, thoughts of boring 70s records which are only good when experienced on pot come flying out of the stereo. If you can find a place to listen to the sounds before dropping the cash, do so. - Jon Whitney

ELVEN SHADOWS, "SANGSARA"
I'll admit it - I'm a sucker for sad female vocals and dreamy electronic soundscapes. When Heavenly Voices came out with their first two compilations, I was in heaven. There were tons of bands I "discovered" directly as a result of this comp. Eleven Shadows, however, was not one of them, even though they have a very moving piece on Volume 2 called "56 in 81, sampling liberally from a senator discussing the Rodney King trial who was describing what it might be like to be beaten 56 times in 81 seconds. A very vivid and disturbing song. The vocals which sounded german and very sad and operatic were almost eclipsed by the spoken word.
I came across this new release in the used bin and decided to check it out. The dark brooding synths, and the operatic female vocals did it for me. She sings in Italian and Tibetan, and sometimes her voice takes on this Bjork-like quality to it which I find quite endearing. But if this wasn't enough, in the middle of the CD, I was pleasantly surprised to hear some instrumental ambient noise tracks. The shimmering bright bell sounds combined with heavily aliased and distorted sound samples created an atmosphere which reminded me quite a bit of the instrumental bits in Tear Garden's 'Tired Eyes Slowly Burning'. What a combination! It's their third album, but their first on this very young record label out of Ohio. Good luck finding it in stores though! You may want to check out the web site to hear song samples at www.Adastra-Records.com. - Alan Ezust

We know that sometimes these CDs are somewhat challenging to find, which is why we have a RECOMMENDED STORES section which can be used to obtain nearly everything available on the site.

MONDAY
Beastie Boys - Alive 10"/two CEPs [with Bentley Rhythm Ace mix] (Grand Royal/EMI, UK)
Blackalicious - Nia Remixes CD/2xLP (Mo'Wax, UK)
Ko-Wreck Technique [Push Button Objects & DJ Craze] - Ko-Wrecktion 12"/CDEP [with remix by Plaid; CDEP includes extra track] (Chocolate Industries, US - Warp, UK)
Kraftwerk - Expo 2000 12"/CDEP (Kling Klang/EMI, Germany)
NON - Recieve the Flame CD (Mute, UK)
Quannum - I Changed My Mind 12" (Mo'Wax, UK)
Quench - A Journey Into Electronix CD (Eat This, Germany)
Sneaker Pimps - Octagon 12" (Clean Up, UK)
TUESDAY
Blue Man Group - Audio CD (Virgin, US)
Carter Burwell - Being John Malkovich soundtrack CD [with new Björk track, "Amphibian"] (Astralwerks, US) Iyunx Productions - The Duckie Dickie Bird 12" (Isophlux, US)

Murder Inc. - Locate Subvert Terminate: The Complete Murder Inc. 2xCD (Invisible, US)
Various - Another Prick in the Wall... A Tribute to Ministry Vol. 2 CD and Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar CD [with En Esch, Electric Hellfire Club, Terminal 46, Heavy Water Factory, Attrition, Meg Lee Chin and more] (Invisible, US)
WEDNESDAY
* Art of Noise - The Seduction of Claude Debussy CD [with bonus track] (Sony Techno, Japan)
Pig - Genuine American Monster CD (Rock Records, Japan)
Various - Nummer Een CD [a collection of favorite, unreleased, rare, and upcoming recordings from the Djak-Up Bitch roster including EOG, Phako, Funckarma, Autophonic, Duracel and more] (Djak-Up-Bitch/Phonics, Canada)
Various - Warp 10 Box 6xCD [box set containing the three Warp 10 2xCD compilations plus an exclusive Warp t-shirt and other stuff] (Warp/Sony Techno, Japan)

For a more comprehensive release schedule stretching far into the future, please check out the NEW RELEASES brought to you by Greg and Feedback Monitor.

THE MELANCHOLY OF RESISTANCE
It's not entirely baffling why Laszlo Krasznahorkai has gone ignored in English-speaking countries. He writes very long sentences, without indenting for paragraphs, in Hungarian. Of his five novels, three are in print in Germany (his The General Theseus won Best Book of the Year award there), but in English there's only The Melancholy of Resistance, and you have to get it from the UK. Unless you stumble across the book by chance, you're slightly more likely to have seen the movies Satan Tango and Damnation which Bela Tarr made from his novels. Yet The Melancholy of Resistance is so completely imagined, so mysteriously compelling and humorous, it recalls Doestoyevsky and Kafka. And he's no imitator; Krasznahorkai's genius for making the metaphysical material and the material metaphysical is entirely his own.

The story of The Melancholy of Resistance is straightforward: a great truck hauls a stuffed whale into a decrepit town, mayhem follows. But Krasznahorkai is fascinated with the resistance a sentence can offer to the passage of time; he details events such as the pounding of a nail with insane precision. In the two days which occupy much of the book, the author watches rats devour bread, ponders garbage, deconstructs the well-tempered scale, and portrays a bar game where drunks play the sun, earth, and moon in eclipse, all while somehow never losing his concern with what will happen to these hapless people.

Events are mostly caught up with a would-be village idiot, Valuska, and the embittered musicologist in retirment, Eszter, who care for each other more deeply than anyone else in the village is capable of. By temperament opposites, both crumble as the city is overwhelmed. The whale and the circus crowd, however, remain ungraspable, the carcass no attraction, and the audience driven on by their loyalty to a mysterious figure, the Prince, who might be the devil were it not that others are much more fiendish.

But it is the tension between the magical and the mundane which lies at the heart of this book and is well displayed in a description of sleep: "The wasbasin no longer existed, neither did the untouched glass of bicarbonate; the wardrobe, the clothes-rack and the stained towel thrown into a corner all disappeared; floor, walls and ceiling had no more meaning for her; she herself was nothing but an object among objects, one of millions of defenceless sleepers, a body, like others, returning each night to those melancholy gates of being which may be entered but once and then with no prospect of return. She scratched her neck--but she was no longer aware of doing so; for a moment her face contorted into a grimace--but it was no longer aimed at anyone in particular; like a child crying itself to sleep she gave a brief sob--but it no longer carried meaning because it was only her breath seeking a regular pattern; her muscles relaxed, and her jaws--like those of the dying--slowly fell open . . ."

With The Melancholy of Resistance, Krasznahorkai has written one of the most impressive and satisfying books of the year. I hope we'll soon see more of his works in English. - Paul McRandle

HELLO MIDDLE AMERICA!
Yes, everybody can have a website now, even Rhonda, a receptionist in a tanning salon with strawberry blonde highlights who loves to dance and roller skate among other things. She's got some siblings and half-siblings, loads of pictures, a few links and even her own poetry! "That's it, 'Yearn' is going to be my Epitaph." - G.G. on Poetry by Rhonda from Ohio.

Your servies are great, your catalog is awesome, your prices are reasonable, my assessment of the site stands as is on the description page of our stores. I'm not asking you to change your site cos that's a big task, but as it stands, those are merely my warnings to the web surfers. I will not list places I hate or hate to deal with. Won't even give them negative publicity cos that's still publicity...