ARANOS CHECKS OUT
Word has arrived from Ireland that Aranos can no longer accept checks in foreign currency - according to his bank - for the Santoor Lena Bicycle special edition CD with Nurse With Wound. For details and tips, check the news section of that page.

GODSPEED NYC
While godspeed you black emperor! are taking a much needed break from the long touring road, two shows will be held at the Knitting Factory to benefit the Anthology Film Archive on August 10th and 11th (Thursday and Friday). For more information and tickets, check out www.knittingfactory.com before it sells out!

ISSUES WITH THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
Okay, well things have been a bit hectic again lately, Danny the Associate Editor and villanous buff sidekick has headed back home and a weekend in NYC will set anybody back. That said, I don't want to keep people waiting any longer for this week's issue of THE BRAIN so it's going up somewhat unfinished. There are sound samples and a ton of reviews still to wade through including the revolting new Jimi Tenor CD and the bizarre new Kid 606 CD EP but those will have to wait until next week. Heck, I'm too tired to even do the sound samples tonight for the skimpy week as it is. Please check back in a few hours to see if the sound samples have been uploaded, otherwise enjoy the issue as much as possible.

"OHM: THE EARLY GURUS OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC 1948-1980"
"OHM" is an ambitious 3 CD compilation that collects tracks from 42 electronic music artists between the years 1937 and 1982. Its purpose is to serve as an introductory primer to the history of electronic music, a single resource that brings together work from most every field, location, technology and period. Included are many of the names you would expect: John Cage, Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Raymond Scott, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Holger Czukay, La Monte Young, Klaus Schulze and Brian Eno. Better yet are all the remaining names you and I may not know. The variation and history is almost overwhelming as the music is created for a variety of reasons and through a variety of means. Traditional composition is achieved via new methods and all new ideas and fields are created through the avant-garde of experimentation. The machines include theremin, tape recorders, oscillators, primitive computers and synthesizers and numerous other inventions. Their masters use them to speak many different languages: cut-ups and collage, drone, soundtrack, noise, speech synthesis, ambient and other indescribable genres. It really is amazing how human and contemporary much of this music still sounds today ... you would have a difficult time discerning much of today's minimalist and experimental artists from their decades old predecessors. After one listen of the entire set, two things become glaringly apparent: 1) nearly all music of the past few decades owes an enormous debt to this pioneering work 2) the possibilities are fascinating and endless. Purists may complain of omissions (usually due to legal reasons) and that 15 of the tracks are edits, but the 3 discs are filled at nearly 74 minutes apiece, are in rough chronological order and definitely serve as an introduction. The 96 page booklet is incredible with 50 b/w pictures of artists and instruments, brief essays by Brian Eno, Robert Moog, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, Thurston Moore, Peter Namlock, David Toop and Bill Laswell, and comments on every single track, many by the artists themselves. Very ambitious indeed but Ellipsis Arts and producers Thomas Ziegler and Jason Gross have succeeded. And at a price of $30 - $35, this is a steal. "OHM" is without a doubt essential for anyone who considers themselves a fan of electronic music ... past, present or future ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• Hannah Marcus - Looking for Space
• Paul Lansky - Her Song
• Jon Hassell - After the Charm
• Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte
• Oskar Sala - Concertando Rubato
• Pauline Oliveros - Bye Bye Butterfly
• Terry Riley - Poppy No Good

MARK KOZELEK, "ROCK AND ROLL SINGER"
What a tease! While the fans still wait with baited breath for that Red House Painters full-lengther "Old Ramon," we are tossed a reasonable selection of table scraps. This is indeed that AC/DC tribute he's been threatening fans with for years. The seven songs consist of three AC/DC cover tunes, "You Ain't Got A Hold On Me," "Bad Boy Boogie," and the title track. In addition to that, "Find Me, Ruben Olivares" from last year's Shanti Project appears as well as a Rachel Goswell-free version of "Around and Around" from the John Denver tribute out earlier this year. For the most part, the short disc is more low key than RHP albums in that it is literally just Mark and his acoustic guitar. Gone are the big loud booming guitar noises that add to the dynamics of past full-lengthers. Intereting to note: the covers both for this and the John Denver tribute both echo of old 4AD RHP covers. - Jon Whitney and Daniel McKernan

samples:

• Rock 'N' Roll Singer
• Find Me Ruben Olivares
• Bad Boy Boogie

"TRAVELS IN CONSTANTS 7, 8, 9"
The latest round of the Travels in Constants series from Temporary Residence Limited has been shipped out and I can't say how amazing this series has become. Unfortunately I probably shouldn't be saying much as, well, if you didn't pre-order them by May, you won't get them. On the positive side, there's chances that these musical releases will see the light of day again on future releases from the bands themselves, unfortunately the Travels in Constants series is subscription only. This time around, volume 7 stars Will Oldham as Bonny Billy as he performs a select 7 cover tunes including PJ Harvey's "Better Than Anything" and John Phillips' "Somebody's Sleeping." Volume 8 features three new innovative introspective pieces from Paul Newman, while Volume 9 is an imaginary soundtrack for "The Exit Letters" as performed by Low. Low's recording is quite different than nearly all their previous works - it's entirely instrumental and features strings and other 'scoring' instruments. These series are phenomenal but you have to be on the ball if you want to hear them. The next set should include more incredible stuff, even a Mogwai one is planned. For more information, see www.temporaryresidence.com. - Jon Whitney

MUSLIMGAUZE "NEW SOUL - REVERBERATION REMIXES"
I could probably review a new Muslimgauze cd each week at the rate they're released! This is the very latest remix disc, Bryn Jones re-visualizing 26 minutes worth of French psychedelic spacerock band Reverberation. "Blue E." is a rather generic house music loop with a smattering of Middle Eastern dialogue mixed in. There's very little in the way of a Muslimgauze sound in this one and it unfortunately drags on for nearly 8 and 1/2 minutes. "Nite Time - Praying Time" is my favorite with a hypnotic mix of chants, guitar, scratching and staggered rhythm. "Autogyre (Rocket Mix)" is more aggressive with a squelchy bass line and uptempo jungle-lite beat, background voices and wailing siren. "Space Goes On" is about the same as the previous track, though a bit more cut-up and once again too long at 7 and 1/2 minutes. "Free Your Soul" is the nearest to pure Muslimgauze with a big dub bass line and distorted and volume swelled bleeps and sweeps. But, it's only 2 and 1/2 minutes and not all that interesting. Altogether "New Soul", like most of the other remix discs, is disappointing. It seems that neither the soul of Reverberation or Muslimgauze comes through adequately. Even the most ardent Muslimgauze fans, like myself, won't be spinning this one very often. Future remix and collaborative works include the new 2 track Bass Communion v Muslimgauze EP out now and "Abu-Dis", a 2 cd remix collection of others' tracks (including Talvin Singh and Luke Vibert) due this September/August ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• Blue E
• Nite Time Praying Time
• Free Your Soul

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
Mindfield General - Generalisation CD/2xLP (Skint, UK)
Jimi Tenor - Out Of Nowhere CD/LP (Warp, UK)
Various - Invisible Soundtracks Macro 3 CD [with 310, Bass Communion, Beige, Broadway Project, Druckwelle, Rob Ellis, B Fleischmann, Freeform, Manitoba, Ian Masters, Lee Norris, Op:l Bastards, Oskar, Pan American, Kieron Phelan & David Sheppard, Susumu Yokota] (Leaf, UK)

TUESDAY
* Appliance - Six Modular Pieces CD/LP (Mute, US)
Carbon Cube - Carbon Based Life Form CD (indie, US)
DMT - Little Dog Music CD (Stray, US)
Hank and Slim - The World Turned Gingham CD (Soleilmoon/Caciocavallo, US)
* Mr. Oizo - Last Night A DJ Killed My Dog 2x12"/CDEP (Mute, US)
People Like Us - Lassie House/Jumble Massive CD (Cacciocavallo/Soleilmoon, US)
Stephen Philips - Natural Environments CD (Dark Duck, US)
Boyd Rice - The Way I Feel LP (Cacciocavallo/Soleilmoon, US)
Various - Heroes and Villains: Music Inspired by the Powerpuff Girls CD [with Cornelius, Devo, Shonen Knife and more] (Rhino)

WEDNESDAY
Ken Ishii - Iceblink CD (Sony, Japan)

FRIDAY
Remote Viewer/Tristeza - split 7" (Jonothan Whiskey, UK)

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.

DIAMANDA GALAS
On Saturday night, the audience at Joe's Pub in NYC saw a woman who over the years has gained complete control over everything in her environment. The control she has over the piano and voice is astounding Galas pushes through the songs, belting out her best renditions of the old soul hits, "My World is Empty Without You, Babe" and "Dark End of the Street" as well as old gospel favorites like "See That My Grave is Kept Clean." What's astounding to me is that over the years of seeing Diamanda perform, her shows have become less theatrical - but more intense. In 1991, it was the Plague Mass, she was covered in blood and naked from the waist up. In 1993, it was half Plague Mass, half The Singer, with her alone at piano doing various old gospels and 60s tunes. This show was just her in a nice dress, with one spotlight shining on the piano and her. Her voice was extremely intense, of course, but there was an extreme eeriness to it all, especially when she put on a piano loop and stepped to the front of the stage with one small light illuminating her face as she wailed incoherantly with her dark eyes staring into the crowd. After about an hour and twenty minutes, she stepped offstage, but the crowd stood, clapping and cheering, for nearly two minutes until she reluctantly did one more song. Then, again, the crowd would not stop their aplause until she came out to bedazzle us one last time. A truly rivetting show, bringing many in the audience to tears. - Jon Whitney and Daniel McKernan

X-MEN
While growing up, I read a few of the X Men comics, even watched a few of the animated television shows, but wasn't that big of a fan. After watching this film, I'd like to know more about the X Men, which unfortunately this film didn't really answer for me. However, once again it exceeded my expectations. I was surprised to see a good story though. It seems in the near future, the next step of human evolution is taking place. These mutants are becoming more and more common, but still a rare breed. There is a political bill that is trying to get passed permitting mutants to register so that the average public is notified of who they are. The good mutants are against it because they don't want to feel as if they're outcasts, the bad mutants are against it because they want to take over the world. That's basically the story line. The special effects were outstanding as well as the fight scenes. Patrick Stewart was outstanding as Dr. Xavier as was Ian McKellan as Magneto. Fans of the X Men will love it, non fans, like myself, will enjoy it very much but will have to wait till the sequel for the rest of the answers. - John Beck

THE DEAD POOL - WHEN YOU KNOW YOU'RE FUCKED
The best source for tracking the companies who are most fucked has been established. Check out fuckedcompany.com. See who's really fucked and why, vote for your picks and watch the demise of the companies fall before you like lemmings.

Thanks for the compliments. We'll be adding sound samples for many many more things in the upcoming weeks and will hopefully have online buying sooner than that.