I was excited when Frank Tovey's booking agency emailed me asking about suggestions or recommendations for concerts in North America. I had been a fan of Fad Gadget for nearly 20 years and have never even dreamed of seeing him live. The best thing I could think of was to contact people who owe their entire careers to this man. So I dropped emails to the bands (and booking agent of) The Faint, Adult and I am Spoonbender, but sadly got no response.

Tovey could very well possibly be one of the most important pioneers in post-punk electronic synth music. While he may have not sold as many units as label mates Depeche Mode or contemporaries like Human League or OMD who had to change their sound to top charts, he was demonstrating that synth music didn't always have to be happy pop anthems and love songs. Unlike Gary Numan or Kraftwerk, he didn't paranoiacally or idealistically fanticize a future world ruled by robots and computers, which has completely worked to his advantage, giving his songs an amazing timeless feel. While his tunes were undoubtedly catchy, futuristic pop anthems with sinister lyrics, his live performances were raw and vicious, often ending with large amounts of blood loss and paramedic assistance.

In a time where Fischerspooner can sign a ?2M recording deal, Tovey was poised for a strong comeback—he had been recording new material and played a number of shows in the UK and Europe. Unfortunately, the exponentially growing scene of these modern groups may never truly understand how much they really owe to Tovey. There's a nice picture accompanying a short obituary at mute.com as well as some recent live pictures at the French web site, fadgadget.free.fr. He will be missed. -

It's always weird writing about friends records. Papa M stayed with meon September 9th last year following the show with Pullman (Bundy K.Brown and Dave Pajo in the same room, it was once thought impossible).It was a Sunday night and I remember staying up and talking with Daveand his band partner for a bit. We may have had breakfast at theinfamous Arlington Diner around the corner the following morning.Monday night was their gig in NYC and they ended up staying overnightin Brooklyn. Tuesday morning, the western world changed forever.

What we have here is a very important and amazingly entertainingartifact of early 1980s Icelandic post-garage rock and roll. It's nosurprise that Purrkur Pillnikk was invited at one point to tour openingup for The Fall, as lead singer Einar Orn Benediktsson (you mightrecognize his name as the -OTHER- singer of the Sugarcubes) fronted atactfully sloppy yet feverishly energetic rock band with bizarrescream/spoken storylike words.

There are no rules against having fun in the field ofcritically-acclaimed electronica. On Mouse on Mars singles, the duodefinitely let their hair out and try to have as much fun in as littletime possible.

The first in a line of long unavailable HNAS LPs is finally availableon CD. Originally released in 1987, this was the fourth album releasedby Christoph Heemann, Dr. P. Li Khan, and Andreas Martin as HirscheNicht Aufs Sofa and is a must have for any current or future fan.

As last week's issue of "The Brain" went live, the folks at Other Music were moving all the stock from the Boston store back to NY. The unannounced departure of Other Music Boston is about as bittersweet as their shocking arrival, 16 months ago.

In the four years since their last album, 'Shrink,' the members of this German group have kept active with numerous other projects, including two astonishing albums from Lali Puna; two incredible full-lengthers and a remix disc from Tied and Tickled Trio; plus notable LP, EP and remix releases from Console; and various appearances on others albums. 'Shrink' was probably such a phenomenal pop/post-rock electronic jazzy breakthrough that I may have been expecting something similar. 'Neon Golden' has far exceeded my expectations, however.

Director Doug Pray has easily made one of the most entertaining documentaries since his own 'American Pimp' and possibly the most entertaining musical documentary ever. 'Scratch' explores the hip-hop world of the DJ and turntablism (sorry, no Otomo Yoshihide or Thomas Brinkmann here), with interviews of legendary superheroes Afrika Bambaataa, DXT (Herbie Hancock's "Rockit"), Jazzy Jay (Soulsonic Force), and GrandWizzard Theodore (who many point to as the inventor of the scratching) as well as some of today's superstars Mix Master Mike, Q-bert, DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, and Rob Swift.

Hard to imagine I have been completely blown away by two incredible movies this weekend but it happened. The film is the first motion picture from young writer/filmmaker Richard Kelley and takes place in a rural Virgininan town in the month before the Presidential election of 1988. Donny Darko, the middle child of three is being medicated for emotional issues after burning down some house.

Longtime NWW fans are going to be very very very pleased with thisalbum. Shaved down to a mere duo featuring Steven Stapleton and ColinPotter, this is almost a tribute to the more ambient and free-formearly to mid-period Nurse with Wound.

The debut Morr Music release from this quartet of Danish wanna-becosmonauts takes the form of a marvelous six-track EP.

The latest release from Thomas Weber's Munich-based 'ShimmeringCollective' is somewhat of a crossover between the previous twofull-lenthers recently issued in North America by Temporary Residence.The six-song EP continues with Weber's love of both organic jazz/improvand affinity for electronics, almost split down the middle between thecollective playing and Weber's solo electronic journeys.

This has got to be the worst CD I have ever listened to ten times in arow. Strange but true, this disc of juvenile adventures on cheap18-year-old keyboards in late night bedrooms is fucking terrible yetsomewhat addictive.

Come Organization's second anthology collection may not be as lengthyas the double CD first volume, but it is of equal importance. Thematerial picks up where the last one left off, pulling music from 1981and 1982 including Come's entire album 'I'm Jack,' most of thecompilation, 'Für Ilse Koch,' as well as two pieces from MaurizioBianchi's 'Weltanschauung' LP.

The multi-talented German instrumentalist has followed-up last year's'Beyond Repair' LP with this somewhat dull EP on Morr. Once again,organic bass guitar and guitar riffs are looped alongside somewhatslow-driving 4/4 instrumental electronics.

UK-based label Vertical Form have failed on a number of planes withthis compilation. First off, I don't ever want to see another promo CDshow up in my mailbox without a cover, artwork, a tracklisting, ornotes to go along with it. This compilation has received a ton of spinson my players at home, work and inbetween, but up until now I haven'thad a goddamned clue as to who's on it.

In the 21st century, audio preservation and restoration will become ahot topic. I believe it's going to be a struggle as copyright owners(both private and corporate) will be the main factors of lettingmusical works die. I fear history will only be recorded for the mostpopular icons of the most popular western music genres. Thankfully,there's a small number out there who aren't willing to accept that.These first three CDs in this series exemplify what I consider'guerilla preservation'. The music that appears on these compilationshas been mastered from both 16mm prints and first-generationvideotapes, illegally, with a host of mysterious credits.

Generally, most US released EPs make a reasonable amount of sensewhereas a number of UK-issued EPs (with two parts, each for $10 andrarely featuring more than one exclusive track) leave me feeling pissy.Thankfully this release follows that convention more closely. Thelatest from Slicker is a follow-up to last year's 'The Latest' with theoriginal LP version of the title cut plus five other tracks of remixesand other songs.

If you've always wondered what it would be like for the madman behindMagnetic Fields to score a dramatic gay independent feature film,here's your answer. However, if you're looking for the new MagneticFields album, this isn't it.

Most people reading this haven't had much exposure to Gordon Mumma, ifany. I can't exactly blame them however as very few recordings are inprint or easy to come by. However, a full article has surfaced in TheWire recently and Tzadik has just released this collection ofrecordings from 1963-1985.