This is the third album from the wonderfully eclectic Barbez. Mixing mainly eastern European traditional music with cabaret, avant garde and straight up rock Insignificance is both unique sounding yet it sounds utterly familiar. A less than standard instrumentation and an immensely talented singer make for a gem of an album. |
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This is the third album from the wonderfully eclectic Barbez. Mixing mainly eastern European traditional music with cabaret, avant garde and straight up rock Insignificance is both unique sounding yet it sounds utterly familiar. A less than standard instrumentation and an immensely talented singer make for a gem of an album.
6339 Hits
I don't really give a damn about psychedelic free association or extended mind jams. Typically all any of that adds up to is a mess of strange guitar solos and warped sounds bouncing of each other, all in an attempt to sound like a German group from the 70s. Luckily the Finnish employ that nasty word in a completely different manner and, in the case of Lumottu Karkkipurkki, the music is closer to bizarre, alienating sound collages than anything produced in the '70s with a guitar and acid.
7430 Hits
At first I thought Calla's third album was good but before long I’ve come to think of them as the sort of band that owns the entire Low back catalogue but didn’t pay attention when Low's class was in session. Collisions is an ultimately bland record, not bad enough to warrant the master tapes being destroyed but certainly not interesting enough to make new listeners want to discover older albums.
6680 Hits
For Still Valley Mirror mainstays Andrew Chalk and Christoph Heemanncollaborated with Jim O'Rourke between May, 2002 and January, 2004.Much of Mirror's output has suffered from prohibitive pricing and/orfrustratingly limited runs but thankfully CD re-issues such as these can bring the music to more masses.
7627 Hits
I turned on to Bpitch Control around the Berlin 2001 compilation, which at thetime was the only available CD release besides its counterpart, Berlin 2000, the first label sampler. The things that first drew me to the label were its punker-collective ethos,reflected in the sleeve designs and the prideful futurism and homogeneity ofpresentation, and the glistening, urban mash-up of their aesthetic, injectingseams of industrial grit, glitchist abstraction, and flashy homage to passétechno and trance classics into the sleek German electro sound.
7708 Hits
The latest album from ADULT. is a fun collection of punchy electro tracks. Gimmie Troubleis more polished than previous releases and ADULT. sound more sure ofthemselves now that they have expanded to a trio. The album stumbles alittle but could be the start of something bigger and better from them.
7673 Hits
Up until this release I've never liked Aaron Dilloway's solo material. It's always seemed a little too keen in 'going for the all out 100% sick assault' as opposed to any gradients between that and anything less than pitch black. This release sees a ditching of density in favour of a little cheap subtlety putting it up there with the best of his work with Wolf Eyes, if not amongst the best of 2005's total Noise output.
12600 Hits
Matthew S. Waldron's releases are more like captured events than bits of recorded material. This may be the result of his chosen methods of construction or it may be the product of the information and systems that feed his non-philosophy. Several interviews reveal him to be a deeply passionate individual whose music serves as an (irrational) extension of his beliefs and thought processes; this is made quite clear on Perekluchenie. He unveils a wrecking ball of written, spoken, and musical dialogue both immersive and fascinating, a complete package of reflection and strange association.
9820 Hits
It would be easy to not give Brakes a second chance. The Englishfoursome have all the tics and tendencies that make me want to paintthem with the “British Post-Punk” brush and move along. Spiky guitars?Yep. Pissed of vocals? Check. Record released by Rough Trade?Obviously. But there's something else here that won't let me do awaywith them just yet.
6698 Hits
Carrying the same amount of silence, space and field recordings as itdoes accessible melody, this single forty minute piece is a patchwork ofplaces and memories. This is an album that journeys through differenttimes, styles and moments in real time stopping off every once in awhile to take in the view.
7169 Hits
Showcasing two hard to find collaborative projects of the late Jhonn Balance, Griefis a beautiful and moving tribute to the man. Funereal statues shot inblack and white on both sides of the picture disc set the tone of themusic etched into its surface.
8140 Hits
I have to admit the first listen of this album left me thinking, "Whatthe hell was *that*?" With thin vocals and dreamy, disjointed lyricslaid over distorted guitar, hip-hoppy beats, and the occasional sample,this release is something Beck might do after a week or so of sleepdeprivation.
6680 Hits
I must admit to being rather dismissive about much of the current waveof so-called "free folk," and certainly I've also been guilty ofdeclaring much of the music it has produced as being the product of aninsufferable scenesterism. However, I've also been among the first to praise the truly worthyexamples of the genre, and this new release by The One Ensemble ofDaniel Padden clearly demonstrates that amazing work continues to comeout of the new folk zeitgeist.
6392 Hits
This two-CD set contains the now-defunct band's second (and last) albumand an EP of, well, odds and ends, and both CDs are filled with themusical equivalent of cotton candy: sweet, soft, and fuzzy with nonutritional value to speak of, but it's sure fun to eat.
7104 Hits
Rollie Pemberton (aka Cadence Weapon) isn't just another 19 year old MC / producer looking to provide the world with explicitly commercial hip hop to soundtrack international youth culture. He also isn't looking to strap himself stylistically to the back of MF Doom, Cage or Slug to get his dues as this self produced independent debut ignores both the obvious underground and overground.
6955 Hits
Beingthe last night of the year I'm making preparations to head out, andthere are few better soundtracks to doing exactly that than this year's release from Phon.O,which is easily one of the best party albums of 2005. The sounds are dirty, fat, meaty, big, and bouncy: exactly what thedoctor ordered for a year that seemingly had a lot of more cleaner,quieter, introspective releases at the forefront of everybody'sminds.
8432 Hits
It'seasy to dismiss Ladytron: they rode the high wave of electroclash andcrashed with a stinker of a sophomore album during the electroclashbacklash that swiftly made everybody forget who Fisherspooner andPeaches were. The first two songs on their latest album, however,are powerful enough to lay waste all prejudices.
6753 Hits
After reviewing Vega, I was sure that Andrew Chalk had some new tricks up his sleeve. Albums like Fall in the Wake of a Flawless Landscape and Over the Edges were dynamic by virtue of their tonal range or through the use of multiple layers shifting throughout the record. Vegasaw Chalk working with the subconscious, slowly pulling it apartthrough slow spatial manipulation. Here, Chalk centers his attention onthe guitar and develops a series of meditations that gives his musicnew depth.
11152 Hits
Miwon’sdebut for City Centre Offices comes at just the right time of year forme, when a contemplative, quiet record of subtle melodies and soothingrhythms is just what I need to complement the freezing rain andice-covered trees.
7338 Hits
When the only complaint I have about a record is that it's far, far tooshort, that's got to be a good thing. This collaboration betweenJessica Bailiff and Rachel Staggs could go on for another hour and I'dbe more than happy to get lost in it.
5571 Hits
