Samuli Tanner has a suspicious and inscrutable way of doing things. Most notably, the band name, album title, and cover art here are all suggestive of ugly, misanthropic scuzz rock (definitely not oddball hip-hop influenced experimentalism from Finland). Then the album opens fairly straightforwardly (for about 30 seconds anyway), before quickly plunging down a rabbit hole of splintered surrealism. Also, this album is only one very long track, unless you buy it from him on tour, in which case it is 27 extremely short ones. Many of the tracks have police-themed titles, but I'll be damned if I can decipher any sort of thematic relation to the music. I am decidedly flummoxed.
Hotter than July. This week's episode has plenty of fresh new music by Marie Davidson, Kim Gordon, Mabe Fratti, Guided By Voices, Holy Tongue meets Shackleton, Softcult, Terence Fixmer, Alan Licht, pigbaby, and Eiko Ishibashi, plus some vault goodies from Bombay S Jayashri and Pete Namlook & Richie Hawtin. Solstice moon in West Midlands, UK photo by James. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!
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The collage of two headed cats, tigers and smiling trees on the cover of this album sums up the merriment contained in the music within. It is exciting from the opening seconds and engaging to the end, I have been getting more pleasure from this album than I had been expecting. Although song-orientated, the pieces meander and are allowed to expand without becoming self-indulgent or overbearing. The band is pared down to a trio here and as a result the music is full, strong and, in refute of the album's title, uncomplicated.
This live album was recorded at Faust’s own Avant Garde Festival at Schiphorst and is intended as a fundraiser for this year’s event. Although not the sharpest recording, the band is on form on this recording and give a powerful performance. A heavy mix of improvised jamming and fan favourites, this is an enjoyable and exciting live document. Also included is a live cut from Nurse With Wound at the same festival, icing on an already sweet cake.
On her fourth full-length album, Marissa Nadler takes a conscious step away from the folk purity of her earlier work, filling out her sound with full band arrangements featuring drums, bass guitar, and keyboards. The gamble pays off handsomely, and the indie-folk pinup girl and mistress of the murder ballad delivers one of her finest albums yet.
Austin, Texas's Balmorhea have garnered a quite a bit of well-deserved praise for their earlier work (Pitchfork managed to inexplicably compare their previous album to both Keith Jarrett and Arvo Part), but that did not deter them from making some very substantial changes to their sound. All Is Wild, All Is Silent is the folky chamber music sextet's first recording with a drummer and stand-up bassist. Notably, it sounds absolutely nothing like Arvo Part. I'm afraid something has gone dreadfully wrong somewhere.
This dubwise sideproject from the established Ninja Tunesmith seditiously defects from the singer-songwriter's last album under his primary Fink moniker. Yet unlike the icy-hot textures crafted by current kings of the sound Rod Modell and Stephen Hitchell, Fin Greenall's approach curves away from deep space revisionism while skewing more towards Rhythm & Sound's rootsy reverence. 
Released way back in the earlier part of 2008, I stupidly skipped over this improved reissue of a scarce and rarely discussed entry in the ever-expanding Nadja discography. Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff rearranged and re-recorded each song for this release, which is easily one of their most listenable and memorable releases to date.
While most of the recent releases from Tietchens have been Die Stadt’s archival releases and a few collaborations, this is his first full vinyl album in quite some time. As expected, it is a carefully nuanced series of pieces that fully reflects his clinical, yet inviting and engaging, take on abstract composition and sound art.
While she has already built up an impressive discography in collaborations with other artists, this is her first solo CD. This wouldn't be apparent from listening, because there is a great deal of maturity in the composition and structure of the two tracks that make up this album. Alternatingly chaotic and rhythmic, there is a lot going on in this complex disc.
