Remember when you'd rush out and buy all the new releases (even by unknownbands) on Factory, Mute, 4AD or some other ultra-cool indie label becauseyou felt they'd earned your trust? Well, may I recommend Dreamy Records?Dreamy is home to the brilliant bands Arco and Tuesday Weld, whoserecordings are fragile, understated and almost painfully intimate. Andlyrical is a way that seems utterly radical in the face of our current top40 plastic teen pin-ups and rap-metal cartoons. Like his labelmates,artist/author/musician Kirk Lake can spin an epic poem from the smallestgesture; with this disc, however, he's left his bedsit for a little strollout into a wider world. If you like your dreampop melancholic and largelyacoustic, you'll love the first half of the album—songs like "A BeautifulEnding" and "Nothing to No One" are Glider-perfect. The second half is moreadventurous: Fantastic cuts like "The Wedding Song" and "The Adventures ofan Abstract Detective" recall The Flying Lizards' brilliant aural hi-jinksand reveal Lake's inner dada; while "Morphology" and "Everyday Lingers"cruise boldly down David Lynch's lost highway.

Well-known for his work as Shinjuku Thief/Filth, Darrin Verhagen wascommissioned to create the soundtrack to a Chunky Move dance production, andhas released the resulting material as Hydra, a limited edition EP on theAustralian Dorobo label. A quiet snowfall of digital noise, Hydra is bestexperienced through headphones. Combining remixed elements from both hisprevious solo album, Soft Ash, and label-mate Alan Lamb's Night Passage,Verhagen's work on this EP is nearly subsonic: ultra-minimal blips andrumblings with delicate, scratchy ambient atmospherics, only occasionallybursting into barrages of full-on noise. A nice addition to the Dorobocatalogue - grab it while you can!

samples:

• Prelude
• Carnage
• Seduction: Asphyxia

I wish folks like Jason Molina would stop burdening their songs with rogueH's dropped into words that don't want or need them, such as "The badluh-huck tastes / of the darkS" from the new Songs: Ohia album. It'scondescending and annoying -- and we can blame ol' Will Oldham for making itfashionable again. Having typed this, I'm happy to tell you that GHOSTTROPIC is mostly engaging enough in its funereally paced way to overcomesuch a ridiculous vocal mannerism -- less of which is noticeable on GHOSTTROPIC than on previous ones. Gourgeous, langorous low-end guitar linesslither through Molina's ballads, here and there touched by shivery organ,leaden piano rumblings and rattling percussion. The horror mounts one lethalbeat at a time in songs like "The Body Burned Away," as ritual bells chimein the distance. And though there are too many goofy bird sound effects onthe gorgeous instrumental title track, its unexpectedly lush vibes-and-pianoduet chases away the gloom. At least for a second.

Remember bringing homeScorn's "Gyral," "Ellipsis," or "Evanescence" and being absolutely inlove with the sound? Following the medium-well release of "LogghiBarogghi" there wasn't much excitement with the Scorn name affixed tothe product. Mick Harris pursued other avenues of sound sculpture whichhave all been fairly decent while releases like "Zander" or "Whine"weren't anything you'd pull from the shelves to listen to all thatoften. But then, almost out of nowhere, Scorn is back through Ant-Zen'sever-growing Hymen imprint. The four-song "Imaginaria Award" EP wasreleased earlier this year giving me faith and hope for something goodbrewing. When "Greetings from Birmingham" arrived, I was as thrilled asthe kid who finally gets his Luke Skywalker action figure he alwayswanted. "Fuck, yeah!" Scorn indeed does rule again, with powerful harddub and metal influenced beats screaming from the speakers. "PLAY MELOUD" the music shouts in my ear. I follow the orders and am not letdown. Thanks Mick, we missed you.

samples:

• Still On
• Flap
• Closedown

Intransitive Recordingshas given us a souvenir of a non-existant wrap-party for the firstseries of recordings from this discriminating label. "Variious" alsofunctions as the start of series two for the label. Featured recordingartists on the set include a Richard Chartier, *0, Pimmon, Mark Behrensand Brume. The music is for serious listeners only with a serenemesmerising headphonic contribution from Taylor Dupree to an auralrollercoaster by John Waterman, cut and processed field recordings byJustin Bennett to a sea of radio waves from Michael Prine. Chicago'sown Kevin Drumm's bit sounds like electronic mice scurrying through anunderground train station while an improvisational noise track fromlabel-owner Howie Stelzer and Boston-based electronician Brendan Murraywas pulled here from a live in-store recording at the local TwistedVillage, and that's only the beginning! Exploring various avenues ofimprovisational and calculated sound textures, Intransitive hasessentially been taking audio snapshots of movement. With this in mind,this 2xCD set is much like a photo album featuring some of thephotographer's most favorite pictures. With all Intransitive releases,this disc is limited and I'm predicting it will be a much sought afteritem before long.

samples:

• Taylor Dupree - _doClip
• Jos Smolders - Frequenzen
• The Brutum Fulmen - Dusk
• Brume - Coltraine Colony

Conveniently packaged on a small extended-play single are four tracks from the best all-girl group since Wham! Contained herein are three B-52s covers, "Give Me Back My Man," "Song for a Future Generation," (both on 'the Un-Releases') and "Strobelight." A fourth track, "The Chixmachine" is original and new.

While this is probablyone of the better Download releases, nothing with the Download name hasmade any lasting impressions on me. The first album, 'Furnace' was arather lukewarm release and is by far my favorite. On 'Effector,' theproduction job is excellent, very clean and crisp. Unfortunately, whileCevin Key has strongly developed some excellent instrument sounds, themusic essentially lacks momentum. In the true sense of going nowhere,by the end of most songs, the melodies haven't varied one bit from thebeginning. I've almost completely given up hope until the 6th track,the disco-bass influenced "Chrysanthemum" breaks the theme ofpost-Autechre drivel. I'm thrown back, rather shocked that I'm actuallyturning the volume up, trying to get the most out of the experience,but close to the two-minute mark, I'm finding myself bored. Much likethe rest of the album the beats are fine, but where are you without agood motive? What's on TV tonight?

samples:

• Chrysanthemum
• Ayahuasca
• Vagator

Jarboe returns with her second self-released album, the fifth to date ofher solo career. In the past two years she has continued to develop asa person and artist through world travel and numerous new collaborationsand projects, such as a live performances with the new The Living Jarboeband and an in depth, interactive web site. This disc is actuallyvolume 1 of an eventual 4 under the "Disburden Disciple" title. Jarboeconsiders the first post SWANS album "Anhedoniac" her 'disease' albumand this one the 'healing' album. Both seem to me to be part of thecathartic, exploratory process of re-birth and growth, a further movingaway from the music, image and love/hate issues of her past. Most songshave a guitar/bass/drums band based core interjected with bits of MiddleEastern flavored percussion, loops, piano and strings. And, of course,the voice. The many poetic voices and moody personas that Jarboeconjures and unleashes from within ... from the starkly beautiful to thedownright frightening. Overall the album is fairly quiet and restrained,in a good way, save for a raucous rock and roll outro for "Bound" and ablood curdling scream finale for "Scarification". The mid-section of thealbum (most notably "Kiss of Life", "Under" and "The Seance") veers offinto more 'artsy' areas with theatrical lyrical/vocal passages and soundeffects - the relative low points in my opinion. "Consume Me","Scorpion", "Forbid" and "Forgive" provide the more gentle moments withpretty voices and lush guitar atmospheres. "Dear 666" features aslightly acidic voice set against the intriguing slow motion interplay ofrough around the edges guitar and bass lines. "Scarification" and "PureWar" are both primal in feel with the vocals and percussion groove at theforefront, the latter also embedded with field recordings from Israel."Disburden Disciple" is everything you'd expect from Jarboe: a genuinelyunique and richly varied listening experience that will take much time tofully digest. This is the result of someone successfully carving theirown path and thankfully sharing those results with others.

samples:

• Bound
• Dear 666
• Forbid
• Scarification

Ok, I admit, the new godspeed release might not be the bestnew album of the year. However, it may just be the best album of theyear.The material released on 'Lift Your Skinny Fists' isnothing new to me. Instead, through live mp3s that have beencirculatingaround on the internet and via CD-Rs distributed by the band's mailinglist,I've heard the vast majority of the music collected on the two discs.While itcould be said subsequently that the disc is nothing more than anofficialrelease of already known songs played during their more recent tours, Ihaveto interject that the versions presented here benefit from their studiorefinement and the great production. More than their first album, thisalbumsshows the band's maturation and missing are the long, stark ambientsegmentswhich may have seemed like filler between the bands more dynamicmoments. The album starts off with the franglais title track "levez vosskinny fists," a benefitingoverture to this collection of these tracks, which are both symphonicandexpansive in nature. Perhaps the album's most remarkable moment occursat thebeginning of the second disc, when the wailing guitar of "Monheim"seems tohauntingly filter across a stark background and eventually build into amilieureminiscent of "Moya," from last year's 'Slow Riot' ep.Another highlight is "World Police," which shows the band at their mostfundamental, finding equilibrium and running with it, consuming intheir pathall the dynamics and rhythms the band members can muster. Even if youhave themp3s, caught them on their recent tours, it is highly recommendedthat you pick up this document of this innovative band coming to age.

samples:

• Gathering Storm
• World Police and Friendly Fires
• Monheim
• Antennas To Heaven

Boy am I in a weirdposition with this disc. First off, I'm thinking, "Am I the only onewho doesn't find it great any more? The formula has been used by theseguys for four albums and the songs aren't getting any stronger at all."From the first few songs (try 11) I feel strangely like I've heard thisentire album before. In fact if anything, it seemed as if this grouphas completely run out of ideas. Most of the songs start up incrediblypromising but become way too repetitive all too soon, going nowhere inthe end. But I listen on, remembering that I have liked their albums inthe past, and this group does indeed put on an incredible live show[hint: if they ever get off their asses and do a proper tour ratherthan small industry showcases, they might gain some fans outside of thecritic community]. The kitch-and-moog combo has become stale this timearound, and loads of extra session musicians hasn't seemed to help. Nowthat you've hoarded all this vintage analogue gear, learn how to writesome good songs with it, folks! The saving grace almost arrives at theend with the epic closer "The Regent Is Dead," and I'm thinking "wow,one great song!," but it's already too late. They pull the old "let'sthrow in 10 minutes of blank space after the song's over" routine,completely ruining this album for me once again. Sorry folks, you'rejust not 'cute' anymore.

samples:

• Brothel Charge
• Kingdom of Shades
• MDMH (Miami Dust Mite Harvest)

Anti-Pop Consortium are the NYC based MC trio of Beans, Priest and M.Sayyid and producer/engineer Earl Blaize. "Tragic Epilogue" is theirdebut, 3 years in the making, and is obviously the product of learnedmen - former art students and serious hip hop fans who've paid theirdues in the underground spoken word and writing scenes. Anti-Popdon't seem concerned with the mainstream but they do expose all ofit's weaknesses out of necessity. Old school influence embraces theafter-future, musically and lyrically, to create something I've neverquite heard anyone do before. The complicated, tongue twisting rhymesof each MC calmly flow out of the speakers in a mind numbing yet beatprecise manner and may at times require a dictionary, thesaurus and afinger on the rewind button to decipher. Topics are far from limitedto the usual MC-isms and the occasional disses make most every otherdis you've ever heard sound generic in comparison. Blaize's productionis a fittingly sparse foundation of melody, low end and beats rich withalien atmospheres and interstellar sound bytes. Think minimal hip-hop.Think New York City. Think intelligent, imaginative and uniquely odd,minus the usual contrived genre cliches. "Tragic Epilogue" might bechapter one of the future of hip hop, or at least I hope it is. Thedigipack includes sharp liner notes by Greg Tate and a bonus cd-romwith some software and a slick quicktime video for "Sparadic" by 75 ArkRecords (75ark.com) label mates Encore. Also available from Anti-Popare remix singles for "Lift" and "What Am I? / Laundry".

samples:

• Laundry
• Lift
• What Am I?

You'll find the usual Cologne suspects on the list of Dankes in the notesthe latest Joe Zimmerman release. But as the cover art (a circle oftraditional Teutonic dancers caught in a mid-air leap) visually suggests, themusic is brighter and poppier than the output of most his A-Musik labelmates.Like much of Sclamm's previous work, 'Augenwischwaldmoppgefloete'(Eyeswipeforestflute or somthing like that) takes a flighty, melodic bent,sounding more like a video game soundtrack than any type of hip pomo pastiche:it's more Alex Kidd than Kid 606. (Actually, the opening track"Konfliktfickfahig" is more Super Mario than Alex Kidd). This aesthetic senseof unity and seamlessness is what characterizes most of the Cologne crowd andsets them apart from imitators, and Schlammpeitziger takes it even further withan almost naive simplicity of bouncy rhythms and Casio bleeps. Rather thansounding pedestrian, it's refreshing to the ears. If you liked any of hisearlier stuff, you'll dig this one.