BRAINWASHED BROADCASTING NETWORK
Brainwashed Radio debuts! Now, thanks to Live 365, brainwashed radio broadcasts 24 hours, 7 days a week. The broadcast fidelity might not be the most excellent, but that's also due to the fact that we have over 25 hours of music programmed. Tune in and leave it on at work or at home to listen to the finest from the brainwashed roster of champions. Over the next few weeks the brainwashed staff is looking to expand on the radio stations, adding more subsets including label and band exclusive channels. All the streaming stations are starting to be collected at /radio, so if there are other existing broadcasts, feedback, suggestions, corrections or anything else—email us. [Perhaps sometime soon we'll have a station that changes every week to correspond to reviews in THE BRAINWASHED BRAIN!]

GOLDFRAPP, "FELT MOUNTAIN"
Well, add this to the list of things I just happened to miss at Sonar and get really pissed off about after. Alison Goldfrapp has graced albums from Tricky, Orbital and Add N to (x), now teamed up with Will Gregory (a young film score enthusiast), John Parish (PJ Harvey) and Adrian Utley (Portishead), a debut CD has been released through Mute. With the above roster it's hard to get away from Portishead or film score comparisons, but Goldfrapp owes more inspiration from 40s jazz singers combined with a film noir enthusiasm. Open the CD and images strike up Twin Peaks eeriness mixed with breathtaking natural beauty. The music can be described somewhat like that, deep rich sounds with Alison's tender voice (and whistling) gently layered on the top, echoing voices from beyond the final resting points of some of the mid-20th Century's best loved jazz singers. Gothic-jazz? Portis-Peaks? Franken-Sushi? Now I'm getting giddy. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Utopia
• Lovely Head
• Human

PRAM, "THE MUSEUM OF IMAGINARY ANIMALS"
Rosie and company return with a brilliant new disc of ten of the best Pram songs since 1995's "Sargasso Sea" LP. Each track as catchy and slightly off center as the next, all of them single worthy or better. I had heard the song "The Mermaids Hotel" a few weeks back on a local college radio station and have been humming the tune ever since, after only hearing it once. Now after scoring the full record, i'm about as happy as a kid at Christmas that the whole album is as good, or better (I'll admit, some of their past records have been hit and miss). Even better yet, they're touring the states, fulfilling my wish to see them before i die. It's the simple things in life, you know. - Christopher Anderson

samples:

• The Mermaids' Hotel
• Mother of Pearl
• A Million Bubbles Burst

CALE/CONRAD/MACLISE/YOUNG/ZAZEELA "INSIDE THE DREAM SYNDICATE VOLUME I: DAY OF NIAGRA (1965)"
In the early to mid 1960's the New York City based collective of John Cale, Tony Conrad, Angus Maclise, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela invented a "dream music" of precise pitched drones for extreme duration. This music was essentially the foundation of American minimalism (and influential upon the subsequently influential Velvet Underground) and has until now gone largely unheard and unreleased due to credit/ownership conflicts. Recorded live at Young and Zazeela's NYC loft on April 25th, 1965, "Day of Niagra" is a single 31 minute piece that is unfortunately presented here in poor sound quality due to it being derived from a multi-generation tape. This is one reason Young was opposed to it's release by Table of the Elements. Cale and Conrad dominate with the continuos dueling drones of their respective viola and violin, so much so that Maclise's hand percussion and Young and Zazeela's vocals are inaudible or inconsequential. The sound is tinny, dissonant and grating with a few recorder drop outs and it all comes to a mysteriously but mercifully abrupt end. The result, at least on this disc, is neither dreamy or mesmerizing or even very interesting. The insert offers only a very brief group bio and a few quotes from Cale and Conrad, which is very disappointing considering all that could and should be said. Despite the intriguing and pioneering concepts being explored and the welcome attempt to document a bit of musical history, one has to wonder if releasing inferior quality packages such as this one does anyone any good. Hopefully Young will present better quality recordings for future release so myself and others may make a more informed judgment on this music ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• Day of Niagara

HOLGER CZUKAY "LA LUNA"
Holger Czukay is a founding member of the legendary 'krautrock' band Can. The 60+ year old Czukay has been busy as of late with a 2 disc live collaboration with Dr. Walker of Air Liquide and 2 solo studio albums, all for the U.S. based Tone Casualties label. "La Luna" (The Moon, subtitled 'an electronic night ceremony') is a single 47 minute piece recorded live in the studio in 1996. Czukay uses his extensive cut-up skills to lay down a murky, Ovel-esque loop foundation to which he adds a metronome like beat and sporadic fills, sonic textures, voices and the like. 18 minutes later most everything drops out then it slowly rebuilds with glass bottle like percussion and waves of ambient sound and we're back on track by the 23rd minute. By the 30th minute it all drops off again and the vocals / spoken words of U-She debut with lines such as "la luna ... goddess of the moon". The 38th to 42nd minutes are the most active with percussion and noise stuff and the final few minutes bring it all to a close in a beat absent cloud. That's a long 47 minutes. I'm thoroughly unimpressed and utterly disappointed, especially considering Czukay's background. Most of the sounds are generic and dull and while the piece as a whole does change over time, it fails to progress or develop much and remains lifeless. The lunar themes just seem silly here unlike, say, those of recent Coil records. "La Luna" simply doesn't have the magic. And Tone Casualties - please, I'm begging you - hire someone with a sense of design to handle the artwork for future inserts ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• La Luna

LUSTMORD, "PURIFYING FIRE"
"That's what he's been doing for years," says Jessica regarding my comments of the latest collection from Brian Williams, a.k.a. Lustmord. "It sounds like a film score," I claim, but it's really more than just a film score. It sounds like the bits of the film score which never make it onto the record. (Those bits and pieces of sound effects sans dialogue, coupled with underlying noises and aural effects.) These noises sometimes are the best parts of the film's score but for some reason only the played-out orchestral repetitive themes ever make it onto a "score" disc (if one's ever made in the first place). All too often there's scabs of hits from hip alterna-major label starlets littering a movie CD, with a couple instrumental tracks tossed in for good karma. On Purifying Fire, Lustmord has collected recordings from 1995-1999 and pieced them together much like a film score of his own. Add some dialogue and Instant Hollywood! The disc is pleasant, sounds are great but in my opinion the themes are rather weak. Sounds like a true Hollyweird professional! - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Deep Calls to Dub
• Strange Attractor
• Permafrost

CHRIS CONNELLY AND THE BELLS "THE ULTIMATE SEASIDE COMPANION (REVISITED)"
Chris Connelly is a Scottish born, Chicago based singer/songwriter with a decade long solo career that has produced five albums thus far under his own name and The Bells band name. Recorded between 1995 and 1997, "The Ultimate.." was originally released as The Bells debut in '97 by Chicago indy HitIt! Recordings and is now being revisited courtesy of another Chicago indy Invisible Records. It looks and sounds better than ever as it's digitally remastered with 4 bonus tracks and has a lovely new insert with all the lyrics. With this album Connelly moved away from the more rock oriented moments of '94's "Shipwreck" and further honed his poetic pop songwriting craft with a collection of mellow and lush fragments and songs about love, life, death, travel and the waters of the rivers and the seas. These songs are brought to fruition with the aid of long time collaborators Chris Bruce (Prince, Seal) and William Rieflin (Ministry, Revolting Cocks) as well as Jim O'Rourke (Gastr Del Sol). Waves of acoustic and electric guitars, bass, banjo, lapsteel, harmonica, piano, kalimba, keyboards, organ and simple programmed rhythms flood all of the spaces beneath and between Connelly's emotive vocals to give the album a bit of an Americana roots sound and feel throughout. The two bonus studio outtakes from the Seaside sessions "Chorus of Eyes" and "Thunderland Reel" are just Chris on guitar and vocals. The two bonus live tracks are '98 live band renditions of Seaside songs, both with additional/differing arrangements. "The Ultimate Seaside Companion" is ultimately just that ... a beautiful, soulful album that's part open diary and part travel companion on the open waters. It's certainly a landmark in Connelly's much underrated songwriting career and deserved of this improved rerelease. The new Chris Connelly and The Bells album "Blonde Exodus" is due later this year on Invisible and "Largo" by Connelly/Rieflin is due early next year on First World Records ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• Chorus of Eyes
• Island Head
• No More Changing of the Guard (live)

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
Delerium - Silence 12"/two CDEPs (Nettwerk, UK)
Erasure - Freedom 12"/two CDEPs (Mute, UK)
Flanger [Bernd Friedmann & Atom Heart] - Midnight Sound CD/LP (N-Tone/Ninja Tune, UK/Canada/US)
Magic Mike - Journey (Era Of Bass Pt 2) CD/2xLP (Mo Wax, UK)
Mice Parade/V/Vm/Múm - E-RMX 2 7" (Fat Cat, UK)
Roni Size & Reprazent - Who Told You 12"/CDEP (Talkin' Loud, UK)
Slum - Keys For Frobisher 7" (Warp, UK)

TUESDAY
Cassandra Complex - Wetware CD (Metropolis, US)
Faith & Disease - Beneath The Trees CD (Projekt, US)
Ravenous - Phoenix CD (Metropolis, US)
Steve Roach & Byron Metcalf - Serpent's Lair 2xCD (Projekt, US)
Ravenous - Phoenix CD (Metropolis, US)
Sensational - Beat Rhymes 12" (Matador, US)
Snog - Relax Into the Abyss CD (Metropolis, US)
Various - Electropolis II CD (Metropolis, US)
Xorcist - Insects and Angels CD (Metropolis, US)

WEDNESDAY
Metamatics - Midnight Sun Pig CD/2xLP (Dot, Sweden)

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 NEW YEAR
Comparisons between Bedhead and The New Year are going to be inevitable, so it might as well be here that someone presents the first one. In some ways the songs are much different from anything Bedhead ever did, in others, you'd think they picked up right where they left off. I don't think any similarity to Bedhead could be a bad thing. Matt and Bubba Kadane still write thoughtful songs, often in odd time signatures, and the guitars still ring out like bells and are easily listenable. Some Bedhead fans might miss the mighty crescendos; others, the slow, orchestral gems, but that's not to say the songs are unadventurous or unchallenging. They still manage to find the line between conventional listenability and new ground in that familiar way. You listen to these songs and realize no one else writes (or perhaps could write) this kind of music, and then you're happy these guys are back in a band making that music. The set opened with a straightforward rock song, moved to a familiar syncopated march, intertwining the guitars and then on to deliberate songs that still manage to come out of left field. The set finished with two songs you wouldn't expect—the first, a near jam with the bass and lead guitar virtually doubling one another, and the last, an airy, rolling number with just the right amount of organ. They graced us with an encore from the Macha Loved Bedhead EP, "Hey Goodbye." Matt admonished the unusually respectful Dallas crowd that the band was "really out of songs." Hopefully, that's just for now. - Jonathan Hooker

DRUMS AND TUBA
What's most impressive about this band is their presentation. As though it were a lesson in multi-tasking, guitar player Neal McKeeby plays sometimes two Stratocasters at once—one's slung around his neck for the rhythm, and another in a stand, so he can either fret or slide the leads on the neck with only his hand strength. These aren't the easiest leads and rhythms to play either. The crowd was agape at his dexterity. The tuba player, Brian Wolff, plays the bass-line on his tuba, obviously, while sampling McKeeby and the drummer, Tony Nozero.
They played much more mellow songs than the shows of theirs I'd seen in the past. Guitar lines ranged from plain funk to tumbleweed-style honky tonk. They'd meet with samples and noises from your favorite space rock band, but that turned out to be a nice touch. They can play in mellow grooves and then launch into complete freak-outs. Much of the set was newer and mellower material. The first time I saw them, Wolff used an old typewriter for chromatic percussion. Somehow, he'd time it so that the bell and return would meet at the end of a certain measure. He was sampling this and playing tuba at the time. This time around, they were less focused on experimentating with non-instruments than trying to manage a bit of musical genre at one time. - Jonathan Hooker

DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL
I can't explain it - www.nosepilot.com. Thanks to John Beck for this one!

Indeed, one of the best albums of the 20th Century...