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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.

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Matthew Shipp, "Nu-Bop"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Nate Smith

Music

So - Matthew Shipp knows how to play traditional jazz and fusion. Whichis to be expected, because what good is a free-jazzer who can't swing?But that doesn't stop 'Nu-Bop' from being pretty boring.

Grandpaboy, "Mono"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Rob Devlin

Music

The Replacements, arguably one of the best rock bands ever, have alwayshad rumor and innuendo surrounding them. One story tells of the band,upon hearing that Twin Tone, their first label, was going to re-releaseall their old LPs on CD, fooling that label's secretary into lettingthem in the vault. They then stole any master tapes they could find andthrew them in the river. Secretly, they hoped that the tapes would washup on the banks near Prince's house, where he would find them, listen,and change his musical direction.

Nagisa Ni Te, "Songs For A Simple Moment"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Rob Devlin

Music

Shinji Shibayama has a bit of a legacy in the Japanese music community.First, his work in the bands Nagisa Ni Te and The Hallelujahs earnedhim recognition as a superior singer/songwriter. In addition, he is thefounder of the Org label, responsible for the most well-knownexperimental Japanese rock music of the '80s. This release, onGlasgow's Geographic imprint, is meant as a retrospective ofShibayama's music, released around the same time as Nagisa Ni Te's newalbum, "Feel," was released in Japan.

Lovesliescrushing, "Glissceule"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Administrator

Music

Finally returning from an unbearably long six-year hiatus, Scott Cortezand Melissa Arpin-Henry of Lovesliescrushing release their third albumof complex and lush gossamer guitar-based ambience. The band departedfrom the Projekt label to join up with the Conneticut-based Sonic Syrup(on which Cortez has released material under his Astrobrite moniker).

TANYA DONELLY, "BEAUTYSLEEP"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Administrator

Music

I really couldn't bring myself to like Belly. I could never understandhow Tanya could go from writing songs like 'Green' and 'Honeychain'—andbeing a beautiful, if edgy, foil to Kristin Hersh's life-affriming butbarely controlled mania—to doing bland indie-rock pap and appearing onMTV all the time. Plus—she hasn't acquitted herself well over theyears: her solo debut 'Lovesongs for Underdogs' passed by like a45-minute Breeders b-side. And now she's writing songs about being amother. It doesn't look so good for Tanya. Well, actually it does—she's finally come into her own, and'Beautysleep' could easily sit along Hersh's 'Sunny Border Blue' or'Hips and makers' as the finest non-Throwing Muses work since theybroke up.

Templegarden's, "Done Rooms"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Administrator

Music

This album very pleasantly surprised me. I was a little skeptical coming into this album since 'Culture vs. Nature,' the earlier Templegarden's album, fell quite flat for me. And I've become very skeptical of Ant-Zen lately, since they have not been releasing quality material lately. But the extremely talented collective behind this multi-faceted act (Andrea Börner of Morgenstern, Andreas Schramm of Asche, Tim Kniep and Phillip Münch of Synapscape, along with some others) pulls through with a wonderfully deep ritual-ambient album.

Cruelty Campaign, "Distressed Signals"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Administrator

Music

Cruelty Campaign is one of the newest signings to the ever growing andincreasingly more popular German label, Tesco Organisation. TheCalifornian duo emerges from a Hollywood milieu and this backgroundlends a cinematic quality to the recordings of mostly found sounds,such as the subtle rhythms of Roger Karmanik's refrigerator.

"Subsnow 02-02"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Administrator

Music

This album was produced in conjunction with Tarmvred's North American "Subsnow" tour, and features Tarmvred as well as a host of other acts, most (or all? I think?) of whom he played live with on this tour. It's a very strong compilation with only a few weak tracks throughout, and would make an excellent purchase for industrial/electronic/IDM/whatever fans.

Somatic Responses, "Dying Language"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Administrator

Music

These prodigious musicians from Wales have gained quite a reputation thus far, and with this newest album on Ad Noiseam, they have managed to carry the torch yet again. However, they seem to suffer from the same old problems, but do manage to innovate as well.

ExOrder, "War Within Breath"

Sunday, 10 March 2002

Administrator

Music

ExOrder is the power electronics side-project of underground darkambient heroes Inade. 'War Within Breath', released on the excellentMalignant Records, is mostly a reissue of a long out of print cassetterelease, 'Law of Heresy', with some unreleased and live tracks thrownin to round it out.