Manchester-based sound designer Andrew Diey has already shed theForeign Terrain moniker in favor of Black Faction after just threeyears and a handful of discs. Last year's stunning FT debut "LP 1" wasa soothing global audio travelogue comprised of over two dozen piecesof mild electronic ambiance and beats. "Internal Dissident Part 1" ismuch the same but does so with a lesser number of longer tracks (mostin the 6 to 10 minute range, 70 total) as sound effects, atmospheresand melodies are applied to relatively simple, yet very effective,electro beat box grooves. The dissident's journey parallels that ofDante's epic passage through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, "The DivineComedy". We begin in Diey's hometown but time and distance soon becomeirrelevant as we smoothly shift into other mindsets and geographiclocations. "Manchestique Concr³te" is a respectful head nod to thethriving local electronica scene, past and present. An early '90s IDMmelodic sensibility provides a lulling warmth as a slightly unsettlingverbal tick is conjoined to the rhythm. With "Virgil's Bridge" Dieyputs his commercial sound design skills to work with a virtualenvironment of otherworldliness and demonic voices. Most of the latterhalf of the disc once again pays homage to fellow Mancunian and friendBryn Jones, suffusing some of the trademark Arabic and electronicovertones and politics of Muslimgauze into the mix. In particular,"Sepia Indate" wails with regional instrumentation and "Afghan Frontv1.1" features sound bites of President Carter's condemnation of theSoviet Union attack on Afghanistan. "Widow Maker" brings the journey toa heavenly end as beautifully understated string/key melodies and beatsgradually build and break upon a sizzling canvas of static. Nice. Verynice. A 12" for "Manchestique Concr³te" will be out soon via Dal Riadaand Part II will be a live version of the album released as a limitededition LP, also by Soleilmoon.
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Aranos has been a very busy Bohemian bee the past few years havingreleased a 7" on Klanggalerie, a 10" on Beta-lactam Ring Records andseveral albums including art/music collaborations with Nurse WithWound. Here the Ireland based multi-instrumentalist mixes it up withMilwaukee's Jon Mueller and Chris Rosenau of Pele and Telecognac amongothers. Seven oddly titled tracks make up the 45 minutes on thisedition of 500 on Crouton Records (croutonmusic.com). "The Other is Bflat" sets into motion a hypnotic lullaby of small metallic objects,electronic swirl, delicately plucked guitars and long, bowed violinnotes. The next four tracks continue the flow with a background becomesthe foreground sort of mellow surrealism: orphaned snippets of ambientwash/drone, the clanking of clutter, mildly distorted scraped electricstrings, minor electronic discharge and brief piano flutter. Inparticular, "Thinking of Penis and Vagina" makes me think of a lightbreeze propelling a rusty swing in an empty park just barely withinearshot of a train yard. "Now Sparkling Ice" is apparently all Aranosand it sounds that way. It's a peculiar yet warm vocal and violin piecein which he accompanies himself both vocally and musically. The firsthalf of the final track "Boiled Pear" violently churns through binarygarbage over stray piano/banjo notes and a floating backgroundpresence, then quietly settles through the latter five minutes. Farfrom random and abrasive, "Bleeding.." is accomplished and verypleasant indeed. The sort of disc that demands to be played from startto finish and you lose yourself in. The packaging is a pretty fold-upwith equally surreal poetry upon the flaps. Get this while you stillcan.
Those of you looking for Thalia to continue in the sound set forth byher former band, Come, are either going to be pleasantly surprised ormiserably disappointed in her new direction. I'd lay my money onsurprised. Listening to this record there was one immediate thoughtthat repeatedly came to mind: it's a shame this release will notreceive the great fanfare and praise and record sales it deserves.Thalia Zedek has a voice all her own. Throw out your Patti Smithcomparisons, as they're neither creative nor warranted. Thalia has thevoice millions would kill or die for. It's there, in its gorgeousscratchy beauty, in full effect on this, her first solo collectionwhich contains eleven tracks, three of which are covers (includingLeonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love" -- a wonderful choice andexecution). Where you think you've heard Thalia before, think again.This release, if nothing else, proves that no one really KNOWS Thalia,nor what she is capable of. Chris Brokaw is along for the ride, but heis not at all in that classic Come form. Very subdued is this music,and rightfully so. That voice demands it. But the best part of "BeenHere And Gone" is hearing Thalia the songwriter move to the forefront.By the time you reach "Back To School," the second track, mind you,you'll almost be haunted out of your skin by this music. Then you hearthe lyrics, and it breaks you. "Can you tell that sometimes I can'tforget that I'm alive?" Incredible. The arrangement is also fittinglyspooky, with viola and trumpet in the most amazing places in the sonicpalette. Sure, it's a far cry from Come, but it sort of had to be,didn't it? In bringing the sparser, quieter instrumentation to thesesongs, Thalia reveals herself for more than she ever has before, andthe listener is blessed for the experience. All in all a fine release,so listen for yourself, already.
It's simply amazing to me some bands can be solely instrumental — which, to a certain extent, limits them — but still sound original, and capture a beauty that few bands, instrumental or otherwise, can even approach. Pullman's last release, "Turnstiles and Junkpiles," was a beautiful pass at acoustic guitar arrangements for this quartet, with no other instrumentation like percussion or keyboards present. The songs were stunning in their beauty and collaboration: a real triumph for these four musicians from such diverse backgrounds. This time around, Tim Barnes joins the core group of Doug McCombs, Bundy K. Brown, Chris Brokaw, and Curtis Harvey, which means there are drums on a lot of tracks, and a general nod towards more atmospheric explorations.
This EP from Some Place Else, Finland is a pleasant surprise; thesamples are used in an entertaining way, voices are nearly hidden withsome decent percussion and the electronic soundscapes drift alongconstantly mutating.
I love Goldfrapp, don't get me wrong, but there's something that needsto change in the trend of releasing CD singles in this country.Remember the time when CD singles were appropriately priced around$4.99? Artists would give a few different songs in the best casescenereos and maybe a mix or two. This "Genetically Enriched" CD EPcomes at an unredeeming $9.99 price tag and features five completelyuseless mixes of "Utopia." It starts with a disappointingly alteredversion for the radio consumption (all they really did was add a couplesounds and recompress it poorly in the master) and ends up litteredwith four boring dance versions (yawn). They decided to toss in acouple versions of "Human" for good measure but left out the best mixby Graham Massey (808 State) so if you want to hear that one, you'regonna have to shell out another ten bucks for the import. The onlyredeeming features of this single are the brand new song "U.K. Girls(Physical)" which incorporates that terrible "(Let's Get) Physical"song and Calexico's 'remix' of "Human" which is really a stellar coverversion in Espanol, but that really doesn't warrant the price ofadmission. Maybe when the record labels stop dicking around the artistsand the consumers, they'll stop being referred to as dickheads. On amore positive note, Goldfrapp will be touring North America veryshortly. Dates -should- be posted at 
Picture if you will, Gary Numan crashing his car into Fad Gadget's newbuilding. While their debut release follows in the vein of tons ofother new electro artists (see Adult, Le Car, I am Spoonbender, andG.D. Luxxe), something about FischerSpooner reaches deeper than theaforementioned. While the Ersatz crew prides themselves on sterilityand acute repetitive execution of their concept from release to release(Nikola's photography, screen printed road-sign looking icons for bandlogos, etc), Fischerspooner's presentation is lush, sexual, andbeautiful. From the suggestive sleeve art of a man's face covered inpoppy seed-laden cum, to the inside of the gatefold with burnt skin andmeat, peeling makeup, and glitter. In addition, there are full-colorprints on an almost textured cold-press rough sleeves, while eachrecordlabel is also in full color, and featuring pictures of the cover starwith tubes, wild hair, floating underwater or in the air.
After a few singles and compilation appearances, a full length from theMiami-based duo of Josh Kay and Romulo Del Castillo has finallysurfaced. The dark, glorious sounds strike up imagery of being in anunderwater bell, sharing the space with numerous swimming creatures.Ambient soundscapes color an otherworldly scenery, with melodiesproviding a gloomy yet peaceful feel to that land. Never for once dothe ambient moods sound boring, however, as the bright melodies oftenbecome one with the rhythms. Other unfamiliar sounds merge with heavilyblurred and filtered beats, constantly in a state of change. Thepatterns they make with them are original and catchy, and change oftenenough to keep your dancing fun. After bring disappointed with theTakeshi Muto, I was a little wary about getting this record, but aftermany listens, I'm amazingly pleased. Fans of their other releases mightbe a little struck by how much the duo has matured into creating acollective full-length concept.
The overuse of the term "IDM" is increasinly irritating, given it'squite rare any of the stuff lumped into that category is intelligent,dancable or even music for the most part. Hence, the appearance ofthis, a 41-minute auditory reaction from everybody's favorite SanFranciscan electo jester. When I hear the title, "Mensa Dance Squad" Ipicture a crew of super nerds basing dance moves on formulas andequations. One of the ironies of the Mensa organization is that memberssimply test well and have to pay for their membership status, much likethe "IDM" category, it's all a bunch of bullshit. This is appropriatelypriced as an extended play single, as it's not got the conceptual tieslike Lesser's last full release, 'Gearhound'. Hit play on the compactdisc and instantaneously you're flooded with a perfect score forgetting trapped inside a video game machine on the fritz. The first sixtracks are all choppy stuttery post-gabber 1-2 minute songs, with titlevariations on "Mensa", strung together nearly seamlessly. Is thisintelligence or is Lesser just taking the piss outta the scene? Eitherway the tracks are fun, incorporating various elements of prettiness,static, signal noise and goofiness. The next three tracks are all newstuff, tied together with appropriate crossfades, but clearlydistinguishable from each other, the first being a vigorous energyburst, the second being a subdued cleaner melody, the third being arough abrasion not entirely unlike moments off the 'ConstantShallowness' CD from Coil. The disc is rounded out by the CD appearanceof Lesser's track from the European tour split with 606, "EpicAct/Awful Way to Go" (which shreads that obnoxious Faith No More trackinto little pieces) and a 9+ minute "Mensa Dance Squad" gabber-dubremix from 606 himself.
It's always fascinating to look back on a band's recording catalog andsee how much they've changed since those early days, especially whenthey put out a new CD that's superlative to anything they've put out.Unwound used to have a reputation as a Sonic Youth rip-off, usingguitar distortion and minimal vocals and building to an overpoweringcrescendo. It was almost dadaist in design: noise for noise's sake. Tohear a band that used to attack their instruments as much as theyattacked basic song structure forego most of that tradition in favor ofhaunting melodies neither abrasive nor pedestrian is impressive. Truethere are moments of noise, and these songs can really crank it up anotch. But most of the noise has been relegated to atmospherics, andthe songs have a more definite structure this time around. JustinTrosper really seems to have grown into his voice, as well, and thedouble-tracked vocals in areas are really quite lovely. "Leaves" is anambitious set, containing two CDs of new music with multimedia content.The multimedia selections are music videos of a sort, for "RadioGra" onCD1, and for "Scarlette" on CD2. The "Scarlette" video is animated,where the "RadioGra" video is compiled footage of whale rescues. Ineither case, the music is entirely appropriate for what you're seeingonscreen, the way good videos should be (if there are such things).Overall, "Leaves Turn Inside You" is a pleasant surprise, packed with alot of punch. If you've hear Unwound before, but haven't been listeningfor awhile, it might be a good idea to try this release out. Trust me:you will be impressed.
