Collecting most of the 12" tracks from the past 3 years, Rhythm &Sound's s/t CD is the first since 98's Burial Mix collection"Showcase". Unlike that disc, which featured the vocals of Tikimanthroughout, this disc is primarily instrumental save for 1 track.Rhythm & Sound are part of the Berlin based contingent of minimalelectronic music makers, their specialty being lazy dub in varyingdegrees of fuzziness. Repetition is key as a limited palette ofbass/beats are treated with an equally limited palette of dub effectsfrom 6 to 17 minutes apiece. One thing's for sure - you need to be afan of the sound to be able to sit through the entire 80 minutes.Fortunately, the tempos and arrangements are varied enough to maintainmy interest. "Smile" features the heavily accented spoken words ofSavage which is fine but not as engrossing as Tikiman's more melodicsinging. "Mango Drive" and "Outward" are the most likely ones toconvince you to get up off the couch and move a little while the restare better suited for a ganja coma. Good stuff, but I prefer Rhythm& Sound's sound as a vehicle for Jamaican vocalists.
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Regular visitors to the Brainwashed message board might be familiarwith the name of industrial prog fiend Tim Jones. Now his cover's blownbecause The Brain can reveal that not only is he the one and moanlyPendro, but also a collaborator in noise with Triclops and productionassistant for the aural hauntings of Berkowitz, Lake & Dahmer. LikeBLD, Pendro releases have so far been CD-R's on Fflint Central, thelabel that Tim founded with longtime friend from Fflint Barry Williams."Peninsula" is particularly notable for including a good chunk of ahead on collision of roaring analogue synth and minidisc loops duringwhich Pendro almost blew the roof off at a Rotations night inManchester. Pendro's mind crumbling thick drones and piercing whistlesare bolstered to eye popping effect by some choice recordings ofbuddhist monks' gutteral chanting and what sounds like black waterswirling down the satanic plughole. This is my favourite noise fromFflint Central yet! The thick choking smog of this epic 'MasonicIncinerator' is preceded by what sounds like the looped distress callof an animated bagpipe beast called 'Flip' and followed by four moretruncated chunks of looping and loping Pendroism which inflitrate thedark camouflaged corridors of Faculty X and leave a trail of dancingmonkey droppings whilst the disembodied organ grinder grunts inectoplasmic fury. Whilst there is much wrongness in the unsettled beatsof Pendro, the closing 'Breizh Da Virviken' washes out the oddity insome eerie but calm cavernous ambient loop pools. 
Robert Henke's Monolake delivers the second full length album within ayear. "Cinemascope" couples 5 previously released vinyl tracks with 5others for a 66 minute continuation of Monolake's modus operandi:majestic, minimized, computerized groove. A glacial serenity isever-present, more so in terms of atmosphere than emotion, as soundsalchemically mix and tracks unfold and evolve. The shorter ones, overhalf the album, are very rhythmic and dance floor ready. "Ping" and"Cut" in particular neatly toss about bass and beats as though in ametallic tumbler. I'm duly impressed. But it's the lengthier andmellower, more environmental epics that are most impressive. "Bicom"binds dry iced hiccups to a mildly hip hop loop. "Ionized" isadequately named, gradually gaining and losing electrons of chargedsound over 11+ minutes. "Alpenrausch", commissioned for Switzerland'scultural symposium Migros Kulturprozent, cuts and pastes sampledvocalizations with glass bells. Monolake albums usually end with agorgeous ambient minded finale and "Indigo" is no exception as deepblue liquid drips and gathers amongst gently percolating bass. Verynice. Another new album is apparently due out early next year.
Cock ESP are very silly. The core duo of Emil Hagstrom and Matt Baconhave earned themselves some small reknown by donning fancy dress anddelivering very short random noise sets which usually end in some kindof violent chaos. After thrilling to the sound of Cuban screamer ElysePerez shrieking whilst cracking the bald skulls of drunken beach bumswith a gnarled stick of driftwood, they asked her to join them. Thetheme of this album appears to be the comedy of pain, as most trackssport corrupted cheesy song titles with one word obliterated by theword 'pain'. During the twenty minutes of quick choking noise burststhere is also a little violin, although you'd hardly know it, andFlying Luttenbacher Weasal Walter blows some honking clarinet blastsover six lucky maelstroms. If anyone out there is still mad enough tobe a V/Vm completist then you're going to need this, as the Edgelymasher does a mix up on the longest track, and brings his ownsaxalicious stamp of hacked pompous poptone plunder to the din of thescreaming Cock. Rushing through 18 splurges of ridiculous riot noise,Cock ESP kick up a racket that never sticks around long enough toirritate and after the first few tracks shows the kind of irreverentillogic that only a man in a donkey suit could really deliver. Withoutthe live show shenanigens, the Cock ESP experience is of courseincomplete, but there is a lovely collection of on stage snapshots onthe insert to help your earmagination along. If that's just not enoughthey'll be touring the US and Europe early next year. There are stillmore pictures and on the 
'62-56' was first to surface after that, materializing from Tigerbeat6in July. While it's billed as an Extended Play single, the disc haseleven tracks and totals over 45 minutes. What does separate it frommost album characteristics is the whole array of different styles Lanerchooses to let loose with, rather than limit himself to a coherenttheme. Here, Laner's unafraid to play with beautiful melodies,Kraftwerkian/Mousey punchy beat-friendly tracks, glitchy cutups andeven toy with the power of suggestion with the spoken vocals on thedisc's closer. There's even a rather interesting 15+ minute improvbetween Brad and other noteworthy local laptop owners Blectum fromBlechdom, Lesser and Kid 606 which would easily please anyexperimental-Stockhausen worshipping musique concrete fan.
(new), on the other hand is Laner's contribution to Fällt's 'InvalidObjects' 3" CD series. If I've learned anything from Raster-Noton, it'sthat I never need to buy all the albums in a series ever again.Especially with 'Invalid Objects' where the series consists of 24releases, all priced over $10 here in the USA. Only 250 of each discwas pressed, however, and the series includes the usual gang of idiotslike Pita, Scanner, Kim Cascone, and Richard Chartier. This timearound, I only bought the three I cared about (this one, V/Vm andPimmon) instead of wasting my money on piles of crapola like the 20' to2000 disappointment. Laner's contribution consists of 14 one-minutelong tracks, ranging from low sub-frequencies, frighteningly loudabrasions, live drums, tone bursts, electronic twitters, playgroundrecordings and orchestral samples. It's entertaining and no lessendearing as his other releases, as with each track running right intoeach other, completing the whole more like one intricate 14-minute longtrack. At the end of the day, however, it's not something I'd pull forfrom the shelves frequently.
Tigerbeat6 released "Greatest Hits" in October, but the cover andpromos were being passed around before September 11th. Unlike any otheralbum which bears the same name, this one features reconstructions by ahost of friends as opposed to collecting old, previously releasedthings. Perhaps it's quite appropriate the cover features a collapsingbuilding, as the "remixes" on this disc are completely reformed piecesfrom the bricks supplied by the Electric Company, himself. (Of course,the back should probably include the new building erected in itsplace.) In addition to the proverbial TB6 posse, re-erectors includePhthalo's Phthalocyanine, Tom Recchion, µ-Ziq, Geoff White and thenotoriously erect Leafcutter John. The erections [you were waiting forme to use that word] aren't a clever display of genre-straddling likethe conventional remix record, but do showcase the reinterpretivestyles of each artist. Like the broken record sounding Pimmon track,the acoustic guitar loops of Electric Company himself. Okay, so it'sreally just a remix album, but it's very nice to listen to.
It's rather difficult to believe Jimmy LaValle of the popular hardcoreoutfits Swing Kids, The Locust and GoGoGo Airheart is the same Jimmy ofTristeza or the elegant and introspective project, The Album Leaf. Inany case, this follow-up to the successful 'An Orchestrated Rise toFall' further focuses the stylistic intentions of its predecessor. 'OneDay I'll Be On Time' captures the haunting yet simple instrumentalbeauty found in much of the work of Brian Eno on 'Another Green World'or 'Before and After Science' (the songs "Wet the Day" and "The Sailor"being distinctively Eno-esque, particularly as regards LaValle'skeyboard work). From sparse, hypnotic electric piano melodies todelicate (but never flowery), ambient guitar pieces like "Storyboard"(not to mention those songs which combine the best of both theseworlds, such as "The MP"), the album is replete with a sincerity thatis so lacking in many otherwise talented artists' work. However,although it is sparse, this is not to say it lacks depth. LaValle'ssongwriting seems crafted with the utmost care. He plays nearly all thevast array of instruments, as well as doing the bulk of the recordinghimself. It is likely that these elements lend 'One Day' its intimacy.In a match that is hardly surprising, The Album Leaf (which featuredLaValle with assistance from fellow members of Tristeza) has justcompleted a recent tour opening for like-minded moody songsters SigurRÑs.
If at all possible, try to ignore the astonishingly poor name of thisband. Try also to set aside your (certainly justified) misgivings aboutthe album's inaccurate Grateful Dead reference for a title. Now, if itisn't too much to ask after you've done the aforementioned superhumanfeats (and I must congratulate you if your mind remains at all open,but the true test is yet to come, as you'll soon see), please look pastthe fact that the first song on this CD is titled (are you ready?),"Buckle Up Scully, I Believe Chuck Here is About to Take Us on a Rideto the Abnormal". Still there? Goodness gracious. What on earth couldhave prompted this actually-quite-good Greek quartet to make so manyastoundingly poor naming choices is truly beyond my ken. Their albumdeserves better, because it is worth listening to. Titles, after all,are secondary to the music, but one must wonder about why a band wouldwant to represent themselves so. 
Based on my first encounters with Ambarchi’s work, I have always associated him with the abstract, post-rock tinged world of experimental guitar noise and drone. However, following up his recent Audience of One album, this album continues his transition into more "song" oriented work, and brilliantly so. Simple, but hypnotic in its execution, it a taut, dramatic 30-plus minute single track that grabbed my attention immediately and has stood up strongly ever since.
Much ado has been made about its two hour duration, and Michael Gira's assertion that The Seer represents the culmination of the entire Swans discography, which is not to be disregarded. From the monolithic, visceral guitar stabs, to the dark, folk hued melodies, and dissonant, deconstructed samples and loops, it all appears here, sometimes within the same song. Thankfully, it does not come across as a conclusion, but the culmination and self-actualization of a long, unparalleled career.
Currently only available as limited edition CD-R (though there are plans for a regular CD/vinyl release soon), these three soundtracks for short films of Derek Jarman have provided Stephen Thrower and Ossian Brown plenty of inspiration following their superb album Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window of last year. Some of the same textures and moods are revisited but it is already possible to hear that Cyclobe are developing creatively at an unprecedented rate. Between Wounded Galaxies… and this, they have completely met, exceeded, and destroyed any expectations I may have had of them.
