There's two types of people reading this electronic magazine: those who have heard of Neu! and those who actually own the bootleg CDs. If you're one of those who have heard of them and claim you don't know their music, you're most likely already familiar with their sound as it can be heard quite clearly in Stereolab, Echoboy, Legendary Pink Dots, Einsturzende Neubauten, Nurse With Wound, OOIOO, Couch, OMD, Wire, even early Smashing Pumpkins and the Blue Man Group, etc,... After two decades of compact disc technology, the timeless original three studio albums are finally officially available on CD. For those who own either the boots or the original LPs (heh), the treatment on these issues is well worth the wait.
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For those of you who own the bootlegs and are wondering if the upgrade is worth it, there are noticeable differences to consider. The overall sound of the reissues is much brighter and a lot of subtle nuances are more perceptible: voices and instruments are now apparent that weren't before.
Some call it skank rock. I call it lo-fi fucked-up laidback slackerrock. And it's brilliant. The Moldy Peaches are the best band you'venever heard. This album made me elated beyond all hope of coming back.It was a journey I'll gladly repeat if I should ever find my way home.Like the lo-fi Belle and Sebastian, Kimya Dawson and Adam Green craftjuvenile songs that are strangely catchy with great melodies andtwisted lyrics. And they're fun-filled, too! Mostly acoustic guitar anddrums with vocal trading and intertwining between Dawson and Green, allbadly recorded with lots of static, the Moldy Peaches' album ischock-full of youthful exuberance, adolescent angst, and bizarrehappenings. Songs end abruptly because the recording just stops. It'sjust a strange listen. There's even a ridiculous rap moment. And theycover "Little Bunny Foo Foo." It's just plain great. Often I laughed,because of the ridiculousness of the lyrics, but it's all incredible.It's a bit like the car accident you can't help looking at, but moreentertaining. There's really not much more to examine than that, thoughpsychologists would have a field day with those lyrics. Here's asample, from the album opener "Lucky Number Nine": "Bloody Mary Motherof God/Grampa's on the hobby horse again/Dampened broken pantschaffing/I'm running out of ethnic friends." Even when they approachoffensive material, like on "Downloading Porn With Davo," it just comesoff sounding like people singing about things just to try and provoke aresponse, or nonsensical gibberish set to music. Either way, you'lllove the result. If you don't, then who cares? These burgers are crazy.
Teutonic riotmaster Alec Empire rears his ugly head again on thisrelease, throwing down a new bag of tricks far removed from his bestknown work as titular head of teen-noise-pop-sensations Atari TeenageRiot. Here he dips into a grab bag pastiche of studio tricks to producea 62-minute slab of chunky hip-hop beats, some atypical noise guitarand the vocal stylings of MC El-P. Then again, since this release is 12mixes of the same song, it's better geared towards completists and DJ'sthan the general consumer public. The track itself is hard hitting asexpected - funky, menacing keyboards reminiscent of ATR's 'Waves ofDisaster', a nice cold feeling permeates this track even asunidentified electronic squee warms the brain and much head bobbing isinduced. The other tracks are all variations on this one theme:'Accapella mix', 'Hard Beats', 'Hard Beats and Voice' - you get theidea. The only real remix here would be the excellent 'No Wave Mix' - asubdued bit of tone generations, casio-style drums and squiggly 404action; and the 'Black Moon Mix' which is an excellent fucking mess -both of which would be great for those 3AM crank burnouts I'm sureyou're so fond of. Released in both the UK and the US so buy domestic.
Newcomer Mitchell Akiyama is the first release of Alien8's newsub-label, Substractif. On this, his first 'proper' album release, theMontreal-based Akiyama has assembled a library of field recordings, andprovided a complimentary score, at times with sampled, rhytmically andtonally restructured manipulations of the recordings. It's an excercisein a laptop-driven ambient dub soup, and at times the sounds have beenso far removed from their original state, that the toil in the processis almost entirely unnoticable. Don't take that the wrong way, however,it's a wonderful disc which has certainly grown on me incredibly. Thereisn't a piece of work on this album that doesn't take a fair amount oftime to evolve, however, so patience is essential to a listening.Akiyama is another case for my argument that greatness in electronicmusic can come from a understanding of organic music and composition,in that he allegedly comes from a jazz background. 'Hope' could easilybe like what a Pole album would sound like if Stefan Betke changed someof the stinking preset sounds for every track. It plays mind tricks ontracks like "Concentrate On One Leg" when the established beat breaksup at random places while a hypnotising throbbing tone never backsdown. Its unobtrusive beats, lengthy delays and a keen sense ofcomposition combine to make for a charming listen late at night withthe lights off and windows open while a cool breeze passes through onoccasion.
This is the latest in a series of CDs presenting one live performance from each stage of the Fall's more-than-25-years-long career. Most of the tunes on "Live in Zabreb" come from the "Extricate" album of 1990, a point in the Fall's life when they were past the angular, percussive post-punk scream of their classic albums (such as "Hex Enduction Hour") and were moving ever-closer to repetitive techno-rock.
What a great influence Weezer have had on the youth music scene. Their fun-sounding geek rock was almost revolutionary to most kids (who unfortunately had heard nothing like Weezer before) when "Undone: The Sweater Song" hit the radio and television airwaves. And now the kids influenced by Weezer and the like are starting to record music.
The first track on Tom Jenkinson's new album, 'Go Plastic' seems to dojust that. "My Red Hot Car" begins like a soft-core porn featuringraver-style actors.The stars would spend a lot of time fucking with the compostition ofnaked break beats, use a lot of pitch bending for flair, and maybe evenshow blatant disregard for melodic structure that pleases one's ears oreven that which exists at all.This disc is rife with thin beats and whack bass sounds (that's rightacid basslines reprasent in 2001!! yea-eah. no). When listening, watchout for unfulfilling "break" sections and boring melodies that soundlike the portamento-style hijinx of DR. Dre a la 'The Chronic', minusthe "it being good" part. A few tracks on the CD are decent, like thethird track, "Go! Spastic". Tommy gets into a really nice breakbeatmashup but you may end up turned off as I was by the acid bass thatbegins the track and the thin, icky breakdown at around the two minutemark. I'd like to dance to this track at its finest moments but aroundfour mnutes, there is a gross reverb used and it detracts from mereally feelin the track as a whole. 
Don't let the sticker on the front steer you away, just because thisdisc might be 'outtakes' from their last album's sessions, in no wayshould it -not- be considered a bonafide Ida album. In fact I'm goingto step out on a limb and say I even like this better than 'Will YouFind Me' as it almost speaks more direct and honest, with lesspost-production coloring and more in-studio risks taken. Low on the popsongs and high on the personal stories, the opener "Let's Go Walking",along with "Arrowheads" and "So Worn Out" cut right to the chase whilethe delicate beauty of "So Long" and "Ocean of Glass" are nothing lessthan heart-melting. Whether it's the girls or the guys taking the leadvocal tracks, the pitch perfect melodies and harmonies are alwaysstrong. Typical Ida, right? But then there's instrumentalimprovisational gems like "Ignatia Amara" and "The Braille Night" thatremind us Ida aren't just some of the better singers/songwritersaround, but are also quite diverse player/composers. My fave trackremains "Blizzard of '78," for both the power and drive but thesentimental historical value for a Bostonian like myself. Strangelyenough the lyrical content of that track (listed as "Blizzard of '78")makes more sense to be named "The Braille Night" (listed as track 7, ableak instrumental track which would be more suggestive of the blizzardthat seized the nort east 23 years ago). Either way it's a mighty fineoffering, which, as an 'outtake record' flows together better than manyalbum releases by others. Now let's get that f'ing Insound tour supportCD back into print.
Sonna are addictive. Extremely so. After hearing the first track onthis release, "The Opener," I immediately had to hear it again. Andagain. Five times later, I hadn't even heard the second track and Iwanted more of the first. Bizarre. I'd never heard Sonna up until now,and I can say if this album, their debut full-length, is highlyanticipated, I can see why. This is music you put on when you have workto get done that absolutely can't hold off on it any longer. In thesesongs you hear both the yin and yang simultaneously, so while workingyou are constantly stiumlated to finish your goal because it isnecessary, all the while thinking about the doom of failure. It's afascinating listen. A friend once remarked to me, "How can you listento all of these indie-rock instrumental bands. They all sound the sameto me." Recently at a party I hosted, I played Sonna in my room and heheard them, immediately remarking how different they sounded from allof the other bands I listen to. This is a testament not only to howunique Sonna are, but how easily one can grow to love them. Variedtempos, instrumentation, and levels keep the listener guessing, but notenough to think it a different band entirely. Tracks are on the longerside, but not too long that they bore the listener. I found the buildon the second track, "Low and to the Side," to be one of my favoritemoments on the record, as the cymbal crashes get louder and louder andlonger and longer. Then they stop suddenly as the guitars play the lastfew notes of the song. And what little vocals are present complementthe music wonderfully, adding to the charm of the record. The pressrelease says this band will certainly grab fans of Tortoise, Papa M,Codeine, and Yo La Tengo. I couldn't agree more. I am a fan of allthose bands, and now I'm a fan of Sonna. Worth a listen or twelve.
