Brainwashed - Brainwashed.com

Aurora Borealis image from California by Steve

Look up

Music for gazing upwards brought to you by Meat Beat Manifesto & scott crow, +/-, Aurora Borealis, The Veldt, Not Waving & Romance, W.A.T., The Handover, Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri, Mulatu Astatke, Paul St. Hilaire & René Löwe, Songs: Ohia, and Shellac.

Aurora Borealis image from California by Steve.

Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!

BLACK LEOTARD FRONT, "CASUAL FRIDAY"

Sunday, 20 March 2005

Administrator

Music

DFA
This week brings three new slabs of heavy DJ vinyl from DFA Records,with this one by Black Leotard Front sounding the most adventurous tomy ears. "Casual Friday" is a massive 15-minute groove that starts outas ingratiatingly slick metropolitan disco and ends up asingratiatingly slick deconstructed electro-funk from planet weird.

THE JUAN MACLEAN, "I ROBOT/LESS THAN HUMAN"

Sunday, 20 March 2005

Administrator

Music

This new single from The Juan MacLean has the distinction of being theDFA label's first 10" release, even though the music itself is notterribly distinct otherwise. "I Robot" is a significant departure fromJuan MacLean's familiar brand of floor-filling electro-dance, most ofwhich had a live, analog feel.

By the End of Tonight, "A Tribute to Tigers"

Sunday, 20 March 2005

Administrator

Music

By the End of Tonight have been tagged with a variety of sub-genres intheir short existence: math rock, prog, emo, metal, thrash, post-rock.All of this labeling has resulted in the coinage some interesting andunique hybrids like "math-prog." Such intricate taxonomy can make anymusic critic both gag and delight at the same time but rarely doesjustice to a band's sound.

Venetian Snares, "Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett"

Sunday, 13 March 2005

Administrator

Music

From the ominous chords of 40-second opener "Sikertelenseg," a solopiece for untreated piano, it is clear that this is a very differentVenetian Snares record than any of the previous 11 albums Aaron Funkhas recorded. The titles appear, at first, to be some sort of prankstergibberish, a la Aphex Twin or Autechre.

Mogwai, "Government Commissions"

Sunday, 13 March 2005

Administrator

Music

Although any self-respecting, card-carrying Mogwai fan most likelyalready had access to these songs, Matador presents a collection of BBCsessions which document the trajectory of the band. Presented are somealternate studio versions of classic and perhaps not-so-classic Mogwaisongs recorded at the BBC's Maida Vale studios (except for "R U Stillin 2 It" and "Superheroes of BMX" which were, alternately, recorded atthe Hippodrome).

BOY IN STATIC, "NEWBORN"

Sunday, 13 March 2005

Administrator

Music

Towards the end of last year, Boston-area singer/songwriter andmulti-instrumentalist Alex Chen released his impressive debut disc, Newborn,under the guise of Boy In Static. An interesting note on this disc isthat Germany's Notwist had decided to release it on their fairly newAlien Transistor label, essentially getting Boy in Static in on itsground floor. From strummed and plucked guitar progressions and voice,Chen magnifies the depth of his songs by saddling them up withlaptop-inspired clicks and wave/signal manipulation, bass, cello andtasteful keyboard melodies, blurring the lines between pop andelectronic-based music.

NAGISA NI TE, "DREAM SOUNDS"

Sunday, 13 March 2005

Administrator

Music

This odd release follows closely on the heels of Nagisa Ni Te's recent album The Same as a Flower.It's odd because it's a 40-minute album containing only four tracks,all of which are re-recorded versions of songs from their back catalog.It's hard to work out just what motivated Shinji Shibayama and MasakoTakeda to record this brief album, other than a desire to liberatethese songs from their previously relatively minimal instrumentalpalette and their low-fidelity recording style.

Loren Mazzacane Connors/Christina Carter, "Meditations on the Ascension of Blind Joe Death Vol. One"

Sunday, 13 March 2005

Administrator

Music

John Fahey was a master musician, completely redefining the guitar andpioneering several styles that are distinctly and wholly his own. BlindJoe Death was a name he ascribed to a few tracks on his first album ofthe same name. John Fahey is Blind Joe Death and, as the sleeve of thisrecord suggests, Blind Joe is still very much alive. Loren MazzacaneConnors and Christina Carter (along with artist Conrad Capistran andByron Coley) have composed the first in a proposed series of duorecordings dedicated to the memory and work of John Fahey.

Mouthus, "Loam"

Sunday, 13 March 2005

Administrator

Music

Psychedelic music has been getting a lot of attention lately, but I'mhard pressed to find anything with such a tag to be truly psychedelic.The first side of this LP from the duo of Brian Sullivan and NateNelson was refreshing for that reason. A vaguely rhythmic series ofchoppy and sloppy hi-hat smacks and tom pops lays out the framework forvibrating guitar noise and deeply running bass hums throughout thefirst side of Loam.

TARWATER, "THE NEEDLE WAS TRAVELING"

Sunday, 13 March 2005

Administrator

Music

I have to admit that I'd previously never been a huge fan of Tarwater, despite their being an integral part of the German electro/pop scene with a direct connection to one of my favorite groups in the last five or so years: To Rococo Rot.