CLOUD-ZERO TURNS 10!
This isn't a typo. Cloud-Zero, an email list devoted to the discussion of Legendary Pink Dots and related issues celebrated its 10th year in cyberspace on Thursday, December 7th. Alan Ezust began the list while in college at McGill in Montreal. After graduating and moving back to the US, the list moved to Suffolk University, but now has its own domain. Congrats on a decade of forward thinking, providing an excellent resource and linking fans all over the world. Cloud-Zero is truly a legend. It has been instrumental in LPD's success in the last ten years and has influenced many other email lists of underground music.

BAY AREA: FUTURE PRIMITIVE SOUNDSESSION
THURSDAY DECEMBER 14th, 2000 - Three rooms of music and art.
In the main room:

• TINO CORP (featuring JACK DANGERS and BEN STOKES) W/ DJ RADAR (Bombshelter)
• ROB SWIFT (x-ecutioners) and DJ DESIGN (FOREIGN LEGION)
• FAUST AND SHORTEE (THE CITIZENZ)
• DOC FU AND DJ ZEPH
• Live Painting By DEVIOUS DOZE
• Visuals by H-Gun Labs

THE VOTE THAT COUNTS
Voting continues in this year's end of the year poll. We're tallying your choices of favorite albums, songs, films, bands, people and other things. Please if you're going to vote, study all the questions and answer seriously. The voting will not close until December 31st, so you have time to fill it in. Results will be posted in January.

SENIOR COCONUT, "TOUR DE FRANCE/EXPO 2000"
Uwe Schmidt's Senor Coconut project is probably his most popular incarnation. This 12" has 3 versions of the Kraftwerk song 'Tour De France' and 2 versions of 'Expo 2000'. All but one of the songs are unique to this 12". There is the 'Merigue album version' of "Tour De France" taken from the 'El Baile Aleman' CD. You get 2 more verions of the song here as well: the 'Good groove's 501 Vocal mix' and the 'Good groove's 501 Instrumental mix'. All three versions break out of the tight confines of the pretend 'neo-Latin' music that the Kraftwerk cover record sticks to. This 12" is the only place you'll find his version of the recent Kraftwerk 'comeback' song "Expo 2000". there are 2 versions here: the 'Mambo Original' and the 'Mambo Instrumental'. Uwe Schmidt seems to excel at whatever he does. A few weeks ago I heard the second Flanger CD he did along with Burnt Friedman. Although I am not usually one for straight up jazz, that CD sounded crystal clean and somewhat unique in it's combination of traditional jazz and modern electronics. I can't wait to hear his Erik Satin project, which I've heard is his EasyMusic deconstruction act - kind of similiar to what Tipsy is doing. - Carl Thien

RYOJI IKEDA, "MATRIX"
A major tragedy of the last few years is the growing usage of computers as exclusive music listening environments. Kids are growing up in a world without experiencing true high fidelity, a life without listening to an uncompressed music source through a stereophonic amplifier with warm room speakers. It's all MP3 to them and why the hell not: it's free right? Ikeda is probably onto this, which prompted him perhaps to record something like 'Matrix.' Disc one, "Matrix [for rooms]" stretches about an hour over ten tracks. It absolutely cannot be experienced to its fullest intent without a relatively decent stereophonic sound system with appropriate space between speakers, placed well inside a room. Well who the hell are you to tell me how to listen to this? Track one: the pulses are established, elements fade in, space is established between the speakers. Walk around the room and hear pulses changing sequence or solidifying into one solid tone depending on where you stand and how you hold your head. Track 2: the wood on a coffee table starts vibrating, rattling a pen. Track three: pitches change, earlier tones fade out, this guy is either a fucking genius or I'm going crazy. Track four: where can I get some hallucinogenic drugs? Track five: blissful massaging of the inner ear. I think I'm going to stop here and reccomend that you try your own experience now. Think of this CD as a movie you buy on video or DVD to have at home, to watch every now and again, to entertain guests with (this disc does sound different if there's multiple people in the room versus being alone) or just to pull out on a Saturday afternoon between lunch and your evening plans. Do not, however, listen to this on your computer or in your car or anywhere 'convenient.' It demands your full attention. For fans of Ikeda's head bobbing, almost poppy rhythmic multi-tonal work, there's always disc two. ".Matrix" also features ten new tracks, a half hour of cleverly-crafted beat friendly gems, stylish and intoxicating. It is in no way less spectacular than disc one, both of which make this package well worth the wait and an excellent bargain for the inexpensive price. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• 0000000100
• 1111110111
• 1101111111

THE RED KRAYOLA, "BLUES, HOLLERS AND HELLOS"
Though the bright, streamlined bounce of first-track "Container of Drudgery (Never Had a Name)" seems to be crafted with almost excruciating precision next to last year's noise-saturated Fingerpainting, don't let the opening strains fool ya. The Red Krayola's new six song EP eventually flexes and fractures into the same smattering of electronic chirps and indifferently colliding rhythms and melodies that characterizes their other recent Drag City releases. Midway through the album, the spastic rhythms and synthesized squawking and burping commence. These moments are capable of producing the fear and agony of one confined to a room filled with two-year-olds and Fischer Price instruments. On "Is There," vocals, guitar, synthesizer, and drums all seem to improvise playfully with only the occasional nod to solidarity and structure. This isn't a problem in itself, but the same cryptic sing-song lyrics and compulsively spastic tapping that carry through most of The Red Krayola's albums now seem uninspired and more likely to induce nervous twitching than appreciation. Yet when the fun and bluesy instrumental "6-5-3 Blues" eventually breaks into chewy electronic twists, you can't help but feel the scattered moments of cohesion are worth (most of) the disarray. The last two tracks maintain this balance with flair. While 'Blues, Hollers and Hellos' may not be The Red Krayola's best, the more varied use of electronics makes up for some the inconsistency and you can't help but be grabbed when it's disparate elements come together just right. The slow "Magnificence as Such" rolls with cymbals and fuzzy, meandering guitars while Mayo Thompson's wobbly croon, "Still it slays me when I touch magnificence as such," may even produce pangs of tragedy and beauty in those who typically cringe. Yum. - Diane Lewis

samples:

• 6-5-3 Blues

ULAN BATOR "EGO : ECHO"
Ulan Bator is a French avante art rock trio who apparently take their name from the capitol of Mongolia. "Ego : Echo" is their third album and it was for the most part spontaneously created during 3 weeks of sessions last summer in Florence, Italy with producer and Young God Records head Michael Gira (SWANS, The Angels of Light). Ulan are all about tight and minimal, tense and repetitive guitar/bass/drum rock grooves - both noisy and subdued - as musical and (French) vocal passages become hypnotic head noddin' mantras. Add organ, piano, bow, keys, horn, tape loops, electronic drone, 'la la la' styled backing vocals and Gira's dry, crisp, clean and full production. Comparisons to Can, Faust (Jean Herve Peron contributes horns to 1 song), the Bad Seeds and Gira's own projects is inevitable as everything is sparse yet beautifully melodic and the sound and feel is similar, at the very least, in spirit. The 16 minute centerpiece "Let Go Ego" in particular provides the variety of most everything Ulan Bator do in one song with extensive stretches of drone, somnambulant sonic meandering, heavy rock out and lengthy coda chant. "Ego : Echo" is a dynamic rock record that resonates with passion and a sense of straightforward urgency. It's one of a handful of cool musical things lately from France and it fits right in with the rest of the Young God catalog. Up next from YGR are albums by Calla and Flux Information Sciences in January and the new Angels of Light album "How I Loved You" in February ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• Hemisphere
• Let Go Ego
• Soeur Violence

TEAM DOYOBI, "PUSH CHAIRS FOR GROWN UPS"
Can't say I'm terribly surprised that a label run by the Autechre folks would put out an EP like this. Team Doyobi's style is relatively remeniscent of an older, more squarish 4/4 beat-filled Autechre sound, yet the group explores more with melodic motives than Booth and Brown seemingly did back in "the day." The release is an eight track mini-lp stretching approximately a half hour. The music is enjoyable, bright and bouncey, with innovative usage of sampled and synthesized sounds tapping out the melodic rhythms. Fans of glitchy Mouse On Mars beat music will definitely be keen on this one as there's various video-game esque samples and over-processed primitive sounding analogue synthetics tossed in to color the tunes. As good as it is, however, it's nice to have it short and sweet. There's not an incredible amount of variety in terms of tempo change and feeling between the different songs, so something like this would be a bit heavy to digest had it been twice as long. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Push Chairs for Grown Ups
• Kitten Development
• Spidermonkey

YO LA TENGO, "DANELECTRO"
Following the energy from this year's spectacular full-length offering, "And then Nothing Turned itself,..." Yo La Tengo have come up with three pleasant new instrumental gems. The group called all three songs Danelectro and coupled them with a remix of each to round out the CD EP. A short but sweet hip-hop variation is brought to the table by somebody who goes by the moniker of Q-Unique, while a rather intense jazzy cut, spliced and over-layered version has been treated by San Fran's Kit Clayton. My favorite however would be the 11+ minute electronic sunshine reinterpretation from Nobukazu Takemura. In my opinion, while Takemura's work was in no way 'cut out' for him, he did have the prettiest source material to work with. While I'm fond of Yo La Tengo's LPs and this EP, these songs might sound rather out of place on an album from the group known for their vocal pop rock material. There's something that's somewhat indescribable about the brightfulness of the melodies themselves, it's almost as if they possess a certain Holiday spirit. Perhaps this EP was intended to be a Christmas-type release from the NY threesome. I'm not aware of this yet I'm not convinced otherwise. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Danelectro 1 (Q-Feel mix)
• Danelectro 2 (Nobukazu Takemura mix)
• Danelectro 3 (Kit Clayton mix)

HIGH LLAMAS, "BUZZLEBEE"
It's tough to try to talk about a release from the High Llamas without mentioning Stereolab, but when you've got Sean O'Hagen leading a chorus of girls singing pretty "la la"s combined with airborne melodies, loads of chimes and vintage organs, comparisons are as unavoidable as the moose standing in the middle of the highway as you barrel towards it at 65 miles per hour. I quite like this disc however. It provides an excellent Sunday brunch soundtrack, hungover as the bright sun bleeds in through the blinds. "Here, honey, how about a tall glass of orange juice with some fresh new High Llamas?!" Never too abrasive and not incredibly repetitious, the tempo and feel for nearly all of the songs strike a wonderful emotional chord. The album's sound features a gentle blend of vibes and processed guitars with a fondness of late 1960s soundtrack music. I appreciate the variety of instrumental, male and female vocal tracks as it does somewhat break up a certain monotony that would be there had they not done it. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Get Into the Valley Shop
• Tambourine Day
• New Broadway

ECHOBOY, "VOLUME 2"
Talk about variety, the second Echoboy album of the year once again follows a seemingly multi-genre'd blueprint as Volume 1. Richard Warren, who goes by the name of Echoboy has gathered another ecclectic collection of nine self-recorded self-produced delves into audio experimental pop influenced rock tunes. Whether it echoes early 80s electro pop a'la Peter Schilling's "Major Tom" or 90s analogue synth retro, Warren's energy is fiery and relentless, his talent as a songwriter and musician is undying. Some songs carry a feverish pulse, with a utilization of guitars and vintage keyboard sounds not entirely unlike good old Suicide or Trans Am. When the slower paced tunes creep through the speakers, the music is never less saturated. The usage of various organic drums with electronic drum machines, guitar filters, bass lines and special effects . Echoboy's loved by critics and adored by college DJs all over the world, I assume because it seems like the guy's a rabid music fan like the rest of us, and hasn't decided to make a 'band' to only focus on one style. If I only had one complaint about Echoboy, it would be that this guy has way too many limited edition singles and EPs of which many tracks will probably be lost, never to see the light of day again. Brilliant asshole. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Telstar Recovery
• Sudwestfunk
• High Pitch Needs

LE CAR, "AUTO BIOGRAPHY"
Also with a fondness of vintage analogue keyboards and rockin tunes is this defunct (?) Detroit duo. Herein lies 23 tracks recorded between 1996 and 1998, pulled from various out of print 12" and EP releases. Le Car's automobile has been retrofitted with analogue keyboards, but it drives quite smoothly and is exciting to show off. Pounding beats and catchy melodies throughout the disc make it entertaining, enjoyable and a true hit with your friends. With songs like "Flame Job," and "Malice" visions of Human League and Heaven 17 dance in the head while tracks like "Audiofile Five" echo early melodic 808 State, undersaturated in effects and gear however. 'Auto Biography' serves as a great collection as well as an excellent reference point, as both members have jumped into other moving vehicles, Adult and Perspect. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Flame Job
• Audiofile Five
• Motorway Sparks (GD Luxxe mix)

SCHNEIDER TM, "BINOKULAR"
This is the first release of Dirk Dresselhaus (schneider TM) since his 'Moist' full length was licenced for UK release by Mute from Germany's City Slang Records. He has made this 6 song mini-album in collaboration with KPT.michi.gan aka Michael Beckett (who usually joins schneiderTM as part of his live band), and Japanese artist Hanayo http://www.hanayo.com/ (her site has a lot of fun things to look at). Hanayo is a very interesting person based on a look around her site. She provides the vocals (another first on any schneider TM release) on 2 songs" "Onnanoko" and "The Light 3000", which is a cover of The Smiths song "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out". Pretty neat, huh? In fact it is. I loved the Moist album and I like this a lot too. The first song on each side are busy instrumentals, the second song on each side are quiet instrumentals, and the last song on each side are the vocal tracks. - Carl Thien

THE REMOTE VIEWER, "SURFACE SHAKE OFF YOUR CARES" EP
"Part of the 'Atom Series', a series of limited vinyl only releases by Atomic Recordings favourite new artists from around the globe" informs the website. Atomic Recordings is a Belgium label, The Remote Viewer is a Leeds UK band formed by 2 ex-members of Hood who also used to record as The Famous Boyfriend. The music is 4 instrumentals that are electronic and slightly somber in tone, kind of like an early morning/late night ISAN. Atomic Recordings was also associated with 'In The Fishtank', the series that released the collaboration between The Ex & Tortoise, and a Guvner disc as well. 'In The Fishtank' captures exclusive Amsterdam recording sessions by touring bands. 'In The Fishtank' is run by their dutch distribution company 'De Konkurrent' with Atomic Recordings taking care of the vinyl. The Remote Viewer also have a new 12" out on Domino Records as part of their resusitated 'Series 500' 12" line. - Carl Thien

CUBISMO GRAFICO, "TOUT!/SOUND FOR ESCAPE"
Cubismo Grafico is Gakuji Matsuda: DJ, remixer, and musician, born Feb. 12 1970, known to his friends as Chabe. He lives in Tokyo and is one of the top male J-pop artists around today, along with Pizzacato Five's Konishi Yasuharu, Mansfield's Masanori Ikeda, and Losfeld's Masashi Naka. Pizzacato Five have been around for a long time and are the modern fathers of this sound, but it is only recently that male vocalists are breaking out into popularity. Until recently artists like Yukari Fresh and Takako Minekawa were the new faces and voices. Cubismo Grafico, Losfeld, and Mansfield are almost a united force to me. They have similiar palettes and are all very classy and clever without being pretentious. Pizzacato Five's Maki Nomiya has just put out her first solo album on Readymade records. Soon Konishi Yasuharu's first release as Punch The Monkey will come out. He may join this group of J-pop artists and take his rightful place on top of it all - we'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, there are some great releases to enjoy at home, and this is one of them. I really love the song "Trip To Rio". It is not a bossa or samba song like it's title would imply. It is super upbeat with a female Japanese "rapper" doing the type of vocal I like best in J-pop. It is a non-threatening "Yo" type street tough that reminds me of a miniature dog yipping. Of the 15 songs on this CD 9 are less than two minutes long. On one of the short songs ("Ya-Ya!") Yukari Fresh guests, on another ("Tonight You Belong To Me") Hideki Kaji. The 6 longer songs pull their weight completely though. The song "Fairytale Of Escape" is the acid test to tell if you like this whole sound at all. The song is so perfect that if you do not like it you can rest assured that you need not check out any of the other J-pop I'll ever mention. It is an awesome song that Chabe must be very proud of. I can't wait till he tops it on future releases! - Carl Thien

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
Autechre - Peel Session 2 12"/CDEP (Warp, UK)
Mind Over Midi - Reworks 7" [Mind Over Midi remixes of tracks by Bugge Wesseltoft and Lorenzo's Head Odyssey] (Beatservice, Norway)
The Orb - Once More 12" [promo with exclusive mixes] (Island/Universal, UK)
Rapoon - Cold War: Drum and Bass 2xCD (Cacciocavallo/Soleilmoon, US)

TUEDAY
* Organum - Submission CD [reissue] (Complacency)

FRIDAY
Sachiko M - Detect CDEP (Antifrost, Greece)
Various - Where Stalks The Sandman CD [with Kim Cascone, Don Falcone, Karen Anderson, and Doug Erickson and Ray Peck] (Noh Poetry, US)

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.

MAGNETIC FIELDS PEFORM 69 LOVE SONGS
For two nights in a row, loads of folks made their journeys, some near and some far, through the blistering cold temperatures to witness Stephin Merritt and company perform all 69 Love Songs. Both nights sold out long ago at the classical-style Somerville Theater in the Boston area. On stage in addition to the four core musicians were the three guest singers who appear on the albums. For the first night I witnessed something rather unexpected. The performances seemed a bit sloppy, the songs perhaps unrehearsed enough, the sound was lacking and voices were flat all around. On top of that it seemed the audience was made up almost entirely of Beavis and Buttheads who would giggle every time a cuss word was uttered on stage. Unfortunately the first half of the 69 Love Songs (yes they were played in order of the 3xCD set) include many of my favorite songs. I enjoyed the first night's ending as Future Bible Heroes' synthesist and local yawn-worthy dj Chris Ewen walked out onto the stage and hit 'play' on the CD player, Stephin sang "Promises of Eternity" Karaoke style as the rest of the members of the group filed offstage individually. Very community-theatre. "How do they get away with it?" a friend of mine asked me, referring to the fact they can sell out two nights in a large capacity theater and perform like that. Shrugging my shoulders I pointed to the fact that the songs are easy to identify with and endearingly honest yet cynical. The second night however was a completely different story, it seemed as if everything magically fell into place. The performances were excellent, the sound was pefectly balanced and the group members were well-connected with the music and the audience. The folks on stage, who truly look like a family played well off each other and didn't rely exclusively on the strength of the songs themselves as much to carry the night. The performance didn't end with the last love song however. For an encore, the group came back on stage and did a wonderful rendition of John Cage's 4'33" although it seemed as if nobody in the audience knew it was a cover. Folks in London are lucky enough to get the treat, two performances (four nights) of all 69 Love Songs coming up in January. Hopefully the entire group will be in attendance. - Jon Whitney

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM
It's a good thing that I haven't filled out the survey for the best stuff of the year yet, because now I can honestly say I can add this film to it. I must admit I was worried that this film would be too MTV-generation, but the quick camera shots, center stage sound fx / score, and creative photography made this film all the bit more intense and entertaining. Ellen Burnstyn's role of the television slaved mother turned speed addict was a performance actors dreams are made of. Her character's physical and emotional transformation from start to finish of the film was absolutely intense. Jared Leto's role as her son was excellent as well, along with his strung out girlfriend and best friend, played by Jennifer Connelly and Marlon Wayans, respectively. The film was bold in its portrayal of these four main characters and how their lives were ruined over the course of three seasons by compulsion and drugs. It was unsettling, uneasy, yet I couldn't remove my eyes from the screen. It was impossible as every single second, every image on the screen would make for a perfect picture. In no way is there a happy ending, everything is destroyed, everybody loses. It's most definitely more of an anti-drug propaganda film than Trainspotting. A requiem is more or less a song for a funeral, and "Requiem for a Dream" was truly a thrilling modern nightmare. - Jon Whitney

SUMO WRESTLERS & SAILOR MOON
Maybe it's best I don't understand what this website is saying. Be sure to turn your sound up, however. www.os.xaxon.ne.jp/~rini/sailor/sumo/

[Editor's note: the stuff in question doesn't reflect any other contributing writer's contributions at this point.]