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!

Low, "The Great Destroyer"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

It's difficult for a band with ten years and a solid reputation of having a signature sound to take a bold step without feeling the repercussions. While The Great Destroyer is shockingly different for a Low album, rest assured that all the elements people have grown to love are still in the mix. The first three songs rush the album in with a fierce tempo—much faster than what Low are expected to do—and layered fuzzy organs and chunky guitars over thumping rhythm lines and buried acoustic guitars.

Nurse With Wound, "Drunk with the Old man of the Mountains"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

In the post-World Serpent world, it's refreshing to see a tastefullooking, properly packaged, elegant layout on a Nurse With Woundrelease which isn't completely driven by capitalism or auctionable (oreven questionable) "special" editions.

Oh No, "The Disrupt"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

Longtime hip-hop journeyman Oh No's long awaited debut full-length isvibrant, musically diverse, and best of all refreshingly-gimmick free.The son of a jazz trumpeter and a soul/jazz composer, Oh No was signedto Stones Throw nearly five years ago, in no small part due to hisprolific older brother Madlib (of Madvillian, Jaylib, Lootpack,Yesterday's New Quintet and Quasimoto fame).

Mike Cooper, "Reluctant Swimmer/Virtual Surfer"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

Mike Cooper has been making music far longer than I've been alive. Hebegan his career as a folk-blues guitarist and singer-songwriter in the1960s, moved on to working with London's most prominent improv groupsin the 1970s, and in the 1980s and 1990s he gradually began toincorporate greater experimentation into his music. In contrast to manyartists who grow tame in their old age, Cooper, now in his sixties, ismaking the most adventurous music of his life.

BEEQUEEN, "THE BODYSHOP"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

I would never have expected a group like Beequeen to record an album like The Bodyshop.The duo of Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar first became associatesbecause of their mutual love for The Legendary Pink Dots, and since1990 they've been recording and releasing (quite prolifically) asBeequeen.

LARSEN, "PLAY"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

Despite being a fairly straight-forward instrumental rock unit, Larsenhave nonetheless willfully cultivated a hopelessly enigmatic image forthemselves. Everyone has heard the story of how M. Gira came to producethe Italian group's second album Reverby now, and while the story might well be total bullshit, it hassuccessfully perpetuated an air of mystery and intrigue around theband.

Johan Skugge, "Volume"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

"Bring Me On" begins the album with some quality Force Tracks stylevocal tech house, adorning guest Laura Delicata's hypnotically effectedvoice with airy pads and funky bleeps. Delicata returns a few songslater on "Decandence," the album's first single and certainly worthy ofsuch treatment.

Zbigniew Karkowski/Antimatter, "KHZ"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

The second collaboration by Karkowski and Xopher Davidson (Antimatter)is a masterful work that rewards any patient listener with slowlyunfolding layers of analog hum and buzz. The CD consists of one 45minute piece, and this format suits the work well, as this kind ofpiece needs to develop slowly over a long period of time. The first 13minutes are calm, and consist of low end rumbling and quiethigh-pitched tones.

Bibio, "Fi"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

This album is aptly titled, as the 17 tracks it contains sound neitherhi nor lo fi. Stephen Wilkinson's debut release as Bibio is made up ofa mixture of muffled field recordings, well-recorded live guitarplaying, and ambient drones. Although individually these elements aresuccessfully executed, the finished product could have been more fullyrealized.

Hood, "Outside Closer"

Sunday, 23 January 2005

Administrator

Music

Around the time of Hood's Rustic Houses, Forlorn ValleysLP and their "Filmed Initiative" single, the band evolved from writingshort and brilliant pastoral odes into writing longer and digressiveelegies. Effectively, Hood changed from late afternoon ramblersmarching from pub to pub into long trail through-hikers. There is morejazz than noise in their songs these days.