Looking back on her fascinating but uneven back catalog, it struck methat the pixie-ish, world-weary chanteuse known as Little Annie "Anxiety" Bandez has pretty much always been at themercy of her producers. Throughout her career, the one constant hasbeen Annie's voice—that smoky, Marianne Faithful drawl andsardonic, campy delivery—but the sound settings in which her vocalshave been placed have been wildly variable, depending upon the producer. |
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Looking back on her fascinating but uneven back catalog, it struck methat the pixie-ish, world-weary chanteuse known as Little Annie "Anxiety" Bandez has pretty much always been at themercy of her producers. Throughout her career, the one constant hasbeen Annie's voice—that smoky, Marianne Faithful drawl andsardonic, campy delivery—but the sound settings in which her vocalshave been placed have been wildly variable, depending upon the producer.
24145 Hits
Om isn’t looking to approximate thebombast of their father band Sleep. Although Sleep made at least one epic-length stoner metal anthem, Om triesto jump right for primordial spiritual minimalism, composing albums from 20minute undulant bass and drum dirges, ridden by bassist Al Cisneros’ chant-singingof nonsense adjectives and Tolkienian compounds that are luckily not loudenough in the mix to rise into meaning.
8453 Hits
SubRosa continues to delve into the hidden history of electronic musicwith the fourth instalment in this series. This is the most accessiblevolume so far with less emphasis on pure noise, the compilers stickingmainly to less abrasive pieces and brooding electronic pieces from thelast seven decades.
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Fat Worm play quality organic post-Caroliner costume noise coming out of a state whereCaroliner won’t even play these days, Massachusetts(something about Puritan blood-rites on the land).
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Ben Vida takes no time in showcasing just how his music has evolved since the release of Green Inferno. When "Field on Water" begins, the skipping rhythms and tightly structured melodies come as a pleasant shock and as evidence that even the most obscure musical techniques can facilitate a beauty anyone can appreciate.
6100 Hits
This is the debut album from the Slovakian duo Poo. With a name like Poo I thought that the album was going to be toilet humour in the style of Anal Cunt, something that might be worth listening to once but ultimately shallow. My preconceptions were nothing but preconceptions, Poo make serious and highly rewarding music.
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Attention all fans of weak and painfully insipid music everywhere: Calexico has exactly what you are looking for. Where this band has previously excited and enticed with magical blends of southwestern spice and powerful American rock, they now wallow in some dismal land of monotonous acoustic balladry. It's sort of like listening to late Bruce Springsteen after falling in love with Nebraska, only more disappointing because Calexico has written way better songs than that guy.
8759 Hits
Hot on the heels of their excellent album Play, Larsen have released another superb release. Expanding their line up with some fitting guests, they now sound even surer of themselves. I can’t stop listening to this album; it is the best release from them yet. Larsen seem to have gained a confidence that was lacking before that has led to them composing some of the best music of recent years.
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New York's reclusive No Neck Blues Band joins Munich's veterans Embryofor their first recorded collaboration. The combined group functions asa well-integrated whole, stringing together an album that couldotherwise have been a mere collection of disparate elements, despite the improvisational approach, arrayof instruments, and both Western and non-Western rhythms andtextures.
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Betrayor sees Wolf Eyes members continuing to infect the CD-R marketvia another pseudonymous release, created by Nate Young. This, thefirst ever CD-R release on the infamous Fag Tapes cassette label, isapparently based on real instrumentation abuse rather thandeconstructing pure tones into scum sounds.
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Helping Hand is a tasteful album, Biyikli and Charrier have put enough into each track to make them exciting but don’t ever become overwhelming or overworked. They pace themselves and the album feels perfectly planned out to keep leading me on, letting me rest when I need to before grabbing me by the hand again. Despite this feeling of the album being laid out to keep the listener listening, the music still sounds entirely spontaneous and full of life.
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Raving techno beat silliness still reigns supreme in the hearts of some, and thanks to Marijke Jorritsma and Gregory Zifcak it isn't hard to see why. With the help of some old synthesizers and other modified equipment, these two are breathing life back into the acid and ecstasy fuelled heart of dance music.
8467 Hits
I listened to enough Frank Zappa and "experimental" music in the past to know that I typically hate bands that just talk or moan over their music. Even Captain Beefheart bugs me on that level, sometimes. Excepter, however, prove to be an exception to that rule. Paired down to a four piece, the group's sensitivity towards atmosphere and rhythmic dynamism prove to be more than winning qualities on Sunbomber and it was all recorded in just one hour.
8053 Hits
This compilation is a showcase of contemporary French rock and roll. My first impression from it is that France has just discovered an up and coming band called The Stooges. All the bands featured play dirty, fuzzy garage rock to varying degrees of quality. The Kaiser Fucks the New French Rock demonstrates two things: the French are capable of rocking out and any band can play this style of music but only a few truly rock.
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Contrary to what the title suggests, Jel's first solo full-length isn'tan overt political message (of any stripe), set to SP-1200instrumentation. While Soft Money isn't socially ignorant—it hits on anti-commercialism as well as theever-relevant war on terror—the Oakland-based producer instead letswhat he can do with the sampler take the stage. For most, it's a savvymove—there's plenty to occupy the right ears. But be warned: in thewrong hands Soft Money will be a snoozer.
6644 Hits
Last year Richard James released eleven EPs over the course of a few months. The Analordseries was gimmicky marketing at its best. It looked like James wasspreading himself too thin, quantity over quality. This CD is acompilation of what James sees as the best cuts from the series. It’snot that inspiring and marks a step backwards for James.
12020 Hits
There are no surprises here, but I don't suppose thelisteners of Growing are necessarily at the gates demanding precisely whatit is that the band's name teasingly implies: growth. This album could be The Sky's Run Into the Sea; it could be The Soul of the Rainbow andthe Harmony of Light. Up to this point, the realm of Elysian drones hasbeen well-trodden by this duo, but it doesn't hurt to retread some sweet-smelling fields or even lie down in the grass for a while.
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This Italian duo has recorded a good debut album but have cursed it with a terrible name. Judah are industrial journeymen, they aren’t setting the world on fire but at least they’re getting the job of writing enjoyable music done.
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As Wolf Eyes continue to swing between incredible ‘weird shit’ andtypical ‘black tar noise’ releases, their presently MIA member AaronDilloway is eclipsing his sometime cohorts. Under this new strictlycassette pseudonym, and many other aliases, he has been honing hisprevious abattoir dregs noise bursts.
11675 Hits
It's strange that near-legendary techno producer and Pure Plasticfounder Mark Broom feels the need to put out records on BPitch Control, a labelwhose buzzword, bandwagon status seems to have peaked in recent years. Explanation could be that the A-side of From London With Love is actually aremix of an out-of-print 7” track of Broom’s from last year on the UnxploredBeats label.
8824 Hits
