On their first album in seven years, the multinational power electronics band fronted by US legend Mark Solotroff manage to live up to the hype created from their less than prolific release schedule. Punishing, malicious, and appropriately deranged, Bloodyminded proves they have lost none of their potency.
Give us an hour, we'll give you music to remember. This week we bring you an episode with brand new music from Softcult, Jim Rafferty, karen vogt, Ex-Easter Island Head, Jon Collin, James Devane, Garth Erasmus, Gary Wilson, and K. Freund, plus some music from the archives from Goldblum, Rachel Goswell, Roy Montgomery. Rubber ducks and a live duck photo from Matthew in the UK. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!
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This EP pretty much picks up exactly where last year's fine Man With Potential left off, once again combining furiously thumping house beats with stuttering, skittering noise.  It is more of a tease than a substantial effort though, as it is basically just an amusing dalliance with the 12" single format, consisting of two versions of the title piece and a superior B-side.  Neither quite stands with the best songs on Potential and there is no evidence of a significant stylistic evolution, but Pro Style is an enjoyable distraction to tide me over while I await Swanson's next major work.
It has been a full decade since Drumm's last solo album on Mego (2002's massive and career-defining Sheer Hellish Miasma) and quite a bit has changed in the noise world since then.  While more modest in scope this time around (Relief is a 37-minute EP), Kevin's latest effort shows that an impressive evolution has occurred over those ten years, as he hits the perfect balance between his characteristic howling noise and his infrequently surfacing ambient side.  That comes as no surprise to me at all, but I was pleasantly taken aback by the sheer ferocity of Relief's noisy side.  Drumm is clearly not mellowing with age.
The most striking feature of z.e.l.l.e.'s debut CD is not its exceedingly low volume (barely audible music has become its own genre, so we should all have gotten past that shock by now), but its magnificent use of stereo seperation.
'The Lovers' first appeared on LP in 1984, side one was recorded at aconcert earlier that year while side two were all new tracks recordedlive for VPRO Radio in Holland. When the CD was first manufactured in1991, both tracks from the "Curious Guy" 12" single were included.While the disc is often not considered to be a truly bonafide LPDalbum, it contains some of my favorite LPD songs. The four songs fromside one had only ever appeared on compilation cassettes (if anywhereelse). The excitement about the band's current lineup can be observedsimply by the volume of material that surfaced in that year (whichincluded both 'The Tower' and 'Faces in the Fire') and here they wantedto treat the older tunes to a newer live arrangement. Side two startsand ends with the timeless emotional, violin and piano heavy classics"The Lovers" parts one and two. It also features the entertainingclassic, "Flowers for the Silverman" right in the middle. Thefeverishly catchy "Curious Guy" is cute and always a crowd-pleaser andthe disc ends appropriately with the complex 11½ minute opus"Premonition 16". Bonus bits for the new reissue include a restoredcover (which includes all five faces through the flowers), printedlyrics and a thumbnail for the 'Curious Guy' 12" release inside thetray.
'Island of Jewels' on the other hand is one of my least favorite LPDalbums. Recorded and released in 1986, it was the first full-lengthalbum recorded with Edward living in Holland and the rest of the groupliving in England. Incidentally, the album seems fragmented andunconnected, while the production seems rather sterile and thin. Theband sounds like a group of musicians not paying attention to eachother, all clamoring for attention without letting each other'sinstruments have a life of their own. It's somewhat painful to listento as the songwriting really isn't bad at all. Songs like "The Shock ofContact" and "Jewel in the Crown" would probably have benefitted from acompletely different recording approach. This reissue is probably oneof my favorite improvements on the other hand. The back cover has beenadopted from black and white images from inside the original gatefoldLP issue, photos have been included as well as lyrics—none of whichwere on the original PIAS CD release.
Charly McLion's musical career has extended over three decades and manygenres including rock and blues bands, Algerian Rai, commercial workand most recently, electronic. "The Nature of the Universe" is his solodebut and the 2nd release from Aachen, Germany based KingfisherRecords. McLion, born B?hel, composed these eleven 5 to 7 minuteinstrumental tracks with samples, guitars and keyboards. His music isof a Hearts of Space, electronic new age flavor that at times recalls"A Momentary Lapse of Reason"-era Pink Floyd and the solo work offellow German Michael Rother (ex-Kraftwerk, Neu!). Pretty piano andkeyboard melodies, mellow guitar soloing and accompaniment, lightprogrammed bass and beats and dramatic, sweeping waves of synthresonance are the primary modes of relaxation. Everything isintentionally easy on the ears and unobtrusive, just simply happy toslowly soothe. "Eye In The Sky" introduces a bit of EBM funkiness tothe rhythm while "Sunshine" drops a female vocal sample and bit ofSpanish styled acoustic guitar. Nice. With the sometimes staggeringamount of experimental music I listen to, it's good to put on somethingas straightforward yet enjoyable as this every now and then.
The title of the seventh cut, "Hassle Free Harmony", serves as anexcellent summation of the album in its entirety. Marc Bianchi returnsunder his HSH moniker with 'Manic Expressive', a release that iselegant, yet mellow and uncomplicated. From the three-minute stringarrangement of the opening track to the sweet and wispy vocals on "TheRinging in My Ears", the album blends an extensive assortment ofmusical sources, both organic and electronic. Melodically, the songsare aural decoupage: it's as if Bianchi gives the listener a sonicslide show, displaying bits and pieces of his favorite tunes by otherartists ("Dear Prudence" immediately springs to mind). The result,however, does not give the impression that these outside sources havebeen plundered, but rather form a charming homage. The juxtaposition ofan orchestral ebb and flow with subtle mechanical beats, hypnoticambient atmospherics and glistening guitar is handled with dexterity.Even when the otherwise humble songs surge with drama, Bianchi neverallows them to run amok. The orchestra pit warm-up that opens the firsttrack signals what is to come: the artistic and stylistic developmentof HSH since the previous effort, 'Home Is Where You Hang Yourself'.Break out the electric blankets; 'Manic Expressive' is perfectlistening for curling up in a warm bed on a snowy morning.
Stichting Mixer is a 2-year-old foundation for minimal electronic/acoustic music, it's goal "to start and stimulate initiatives which encourage the encounter between sound and other media". Its recorded output, from knowns and unknowns alike, is released through the Mixer label. This disc is the first release on CD, limited to 500 copies.
