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His flavor is a choppity chopped up sonicbubblebath of abrasive beats, quick changes and obtrusive melodies.Many fans of Kid 606 shouldn't go without hearing this fella who's beenplaying in the same Macintosh-powered genre since before Kid could seeR rated movies legally. It's less comical but truly imaginative,talented and thrilling to listen to. Those with existing heartconditions be warned. 60 second sound clips truly don't do this artistjustice as each track has many different movements. Short attentionspan theater, indeed. Note: this disc was released with assistance fromForced Exposure and I've personally not seen it elsewhere...
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- Administrator
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![](http://brainwashed.combrain/images/backworldanthems.jpg)
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- Alan Ezust and Dan Levin
- Albums and Singles
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For me, most techno is just way too repetitive and irritating.Just because it has a really strong regular dance beat doesn't make itgood! Jean-Michel is an unfortunately confusing band name for this one-manmusical project by Thomas B?cker. It sounds very little likeJean-Michel Jarre, and people keep asking me what's the connection?French? New-age? Nope. Sometimes boppy and dancey, sometimesaggressive, and other times downbeat, blended in with some of the mostbeautiful acoustic guitar and restrained breakbeat you've ever heard.The build-up is long and gradual, but by the middles of the songs,you're drawn into it and there's no getting out. Some of the songs evenhave some jazzy improvisational interludes! 'Supernova,' one of themost brilliant pieces of trip-ambient-intelligent-techno I've everheard, is constantly changing and shifting, yet carrying through theentire piece a kind of energy, mood and melody that is quite appealing.Since the piece is so diverse, it is almost a crime to sample just oneminute of it, so I sampled two! I wish it was more widely available inNorth America; I'd tell everyone to buy it. Fortunately, a couple ofbig mailorder places do at least list it in their catalog now, althoughat very expensive import prices and with a "can backorder" status.
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![](http://brainwashed.combrain/images/twelfthofneverbubbles.jpg)
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![](http://brainwashed.comchicago/images/synesthesia.jpg)
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With vibrophone virtuoso Dylan Cristy and music enthusiast/drummer Adam Pierce at the production helm, this disc grooves more on a dub tip than anything else they've done—without compromising the intensity of the ever so prominent vibes.Bubble Core
A somewhat shocking pleasant surprise is the brilliantly executed cover of The Orb's "Towers of Dub." Hypnotizing and intoxicating, those into reverberated echoed dub a'la Twilight Circus and the swirling chiming melodies of vibes-heavy Reich-influenced Chicago bands will find something wonderful in this release. I truly adore it when a band can just jump into a laid back dub groove, and hold onto it as long as they please. Sadly enough, they will not hit Boston on their current US tour.
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- Thomas Olson
- Albums and Singles
- Thomas Olson
- Albums and Singles
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And someof them were actually pretty good, and some of them, for reasons knownonly to the Muses, just never made it to CD. There are a handful of oldfavorite records that I regularly hunt CD shops for, hoping that somesmall Lithuanian press will rerelease them on CD-- stupid things likeFlying Lizards "Top Ten", Nina Hagen's "Angstlos", and everything byGang of Four, which only came out a few years ago after lots ofsquabbling. But at the top of my Most-Missed-Records list has been apair of legendary albums I haven't seen in a long, long time. 17 yearsin fact. The year I graduated from high school the greatest albums inhuman history were released: "Our Solar System" and "Sing No Evil" byHalf Japanese.
You might've picked up some of their albums and wondered afterwards whythis crappy band has such a following, and so many albums, and why hiprecord stores continue to keep a 1/2 jap section. You might've evenseen the documentary ("The Band That Would Be King") chronicling theirrise to international fame, glory and rock immortality and concludedthey're nothing more than a joke. But odds are you never heard theirgreatest moments, which have been locked up and/or lost in the dustyvaults of the now-defunct 18,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 VoltsRecords until this happy, happy, day.
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Jad Fair never sounded better or more sincere than in these twobrilliant albums, which literally explode out of your speakers with analmost Rabelaisian frenzy of picked-on-nerd-anger and unrequitedhorniness. Music for sociopathic teens? Maybe. But these records areindescribably audacious and document a moment of unbounded, visceralcreativity that began with their mind-boggling first album, HalfGentlemen / Not Beasts, which was released, in consideraion of theiruniverse-conquering ambition, as a three album set. Lyrical andsincerely stupid, Half Japanese lay it all on the line in every song,recalling in their squealing half-assed obsessiveness The Shaggs, TheVelvet Underground and John Zorn... I can't say it's all worth buying,but I can unequivocally say that these two albums are musicalmilestones in their own geeky world. Come visit "Our Solar System" andrediscover your neglected inner retard.
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- Alan Ezust and Julie Geanakakis
- Albums and Singles
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Eugenia Houston's voice has its moments of heaven and hell. Mineraliaand Moonburn grate against the nerves with a very sad, nasal voicewhich is mixed too loudly. On the other hand, she sounds absolutelybeautiful in Luna Begets Mercury. Winter Marriage has a very charmingwoodwind arrangement. Lapis Philosophorum is a hymn with a marchingrhythm, and male vocals full of pageantry. After a certain point,however, it became apparent that many of the songs are variations on atheme, and with few exceptions, most of them just blend in with eachother indistinctly.
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- Alan Ezust and Julie Geanakakis
- Albums and Singles
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The discordant vocals, crashing cymbals, raw and repetitive piano line(IO's Departure), nauseating rhythms and vocal effects (TheseIllusions) detract from the kick-ass bass line and danceable rhythms ofother songs, such as Control. Miserere Mei and Shakespeare-penned FearNo More are stunning with their classical harmonies, very tastefulvoice processing, clean snyths, sharp beats and pretty piano. WindowsOf Their Eyes and Everything Alone, are pretty in their folkishsimplicity.. A wildly inconsistent album - incongruous as a machine inthe garden!
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
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"White Pepper"clocks in at less than 40 minutes with a dozen 2 to 4 minute songs. Themost shocking thing about this one is that it's not shocking at all. Ifyou're looking for "Push the Little Daisies" or "Piss Up a Rope" youcan forget it. The boys have either matured, made a conscious decisionto not be as goofy and experimental or maybe both. This is a singalongpop and power pop album for the most part with a heavy nod toward late60's Beatles. There's a few oddballs here and there: the light and airyCaribbean vibe of "Bananas and Blow" (only Ween would write a song witha chorus "stuck in my cabana, livin' on bananas and blow"), the speedmetal of "Stroker Ace" and the jazz rock ala Steely Dan (except itdoesn't suck) of "Pandy Fackler". The final three songs: "StayForever", "Falling Out" and "She's Your Baby" seem to be completelyirony free love songs, the former two with a country-esque flare."White Pepper" is definitely going to have some people scratching theirheads and likely bitching and moaning. Fuck 'em. This is a good album.Ween are currently on tour throughout the States.
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