25 June 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Maybe I just don't get it. German minimal glitch dub artist StefanBetke has always been getting high praises for his brand of easilydigestible electro noise, yet I find it quite boring and tedious.
 While electronic dub or minimalism can be inviting and attractive attimes, Pole has failed on his third album to present anything ofinterest. Clicks sound like somebody's playing with 1/4 inch plugs inrhythm while the intentional tape hiss sound is downright obnoxious. Isthis a joke? I'm honestly surprised people pay money for this! PerhapsI need to be coming down from a really heavy trip to enjoy it... Pole 3is simply an overrated underachieved reissue of both 1 and 2.

samples:

• Silberfisch
• Uberfahrt
• Strand

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25 June 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

I was fortunate to also find this in Barcelona at a reasonable rate.
 It's a German 2xCD release of exclusive tracks from Tortoise, Isotope217, Mick Turner, Bobby Conn, Pullman, Bundy K. Brown, Ken Vandermark5, Chicago Underground Duo, Freakwater and many many more. While it'san excellent collection of some of these bands finer songs and amust-have for any fan of these bands, I'm left wondering what's thepoint? Did this German 'discover' these bands? It's not as if theyhaven't been touring all around Europe for the last 5 years or more,really. I haven't seen it on this side of the water yet but I haveheard word that it is avaialble through various mail order outlets.Full with a big booklet with words in German (translated into English)and loads of pictures of bulls, it's a great bargain!

samples:

• Tortoise - Jetty 99
• Bobby Conn - The Whistler
• Mick Turner - Sunny Xmas Day
• Chicago Underground Duo - King Cobra

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11 June 2000

Jon Whitney with Andrew Shires

Albums and Singles

Perhaps there was a time that Geffen was pressuring Sonic Youth to make more hit singles, as it looks now, thankfully they have hopefully given up.
  Gone are the whiny rock chick antics of the early 90s Kim Gordon and the chord banging Thurston Moore. There's much more care and delicacy to the noise banged out, this could be the result of Jim O'Rourke's production and occasional playing on the record. Spoken and sung bits through the last part of the disc echo of Slint stuff. On the back is displayed the total time as 42:22. Perfect! We don't get to hear 15 minute long drones in a pop context. Sonic Youth are no longer trying to sneak noise in, they're using carefully constructed dissonance in an album which is arguably their best pop record (Musical Perspectives 1-4 aside) since Daydream Nation.

• Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)
• NYC Ghosts and Flowers
• streamXsonic Subway

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11 June 2000

Ross Owen Katz

Albums and Singles

Ku-ling Bros. is Stephen Mallinder and Shane Norton. The music is far more accessible than Richard Kirk's recent output, however it is easy to hear the late Cabaret Voltaire influence (see 'Plasticity'). Originally designed as a remix alias, Ku-ling Bros. now have two EPs available in addition to the new CD; 'Systematic Hipster' 12" vinyl (forthcoming) and 'Evolution Of A Dope Fiend' (OFFWORLD2).
Off World Sounds has some screwy catalogue numbers. For instance, Sassi & Loco's 'Bibleopoly' CDS (the label's first release) is catalogue number OFF1, while the various artists compilation, 'Cooking With Gas' on 12" vinyl is catalogue number OFFWORLD1. Furthermore, the CD version of 'Cooking With Gas' is catalogue number OFFCD3.
By the way, for those of you into Fila Brazillia you'll find the track 'Speewah' on 'Cooking With Gas'. Also worth mentioning is the various artist compilation 'Heat Electric'; available on 12" vinyl (OFFWORLD4) and CD (OFFCD5).
There is hope for all you mad trainspotters who have been attempting to round up all of the compilations that feature one of the four or five odd Sassi & Loco tracks. Rumour has it that Stephen Mallinder is planning to release a retrospective of the duo's 18 month studio output. The retrospective should feature 'Bibleopoly' and 'Orange Street' from the 'Bibleopoly' EP, 'Away Away', 'Tommy Roberts', 'Lost Loco' from the 'Trans Pacific Express' compilation, as well as other exclusive mixes.
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11 June 2000

Daniel McKernan

Albums and Singles

This ever-growing Britpop legend has come through once again, though with a few weak spots.
  After having heard the teaser single, "Legal Man," which is not available on this album, I was surprised at such a new sound and was curious to hear more of their new material. The single does not have the same feeling - that classic Belle and Sebastian mood - that the album does. The opening tracks, "I Fought in a War" and "The Model" show lots of promise, retaining the band's older styles and Stuart Murdoch's wonderfully emotional voice, but still moving forward. However, the third track, "Beyond the Sunrise," completely breaks the flow of the album with mellow acoustics and deep, funny sounding vocals. The album picks up again after this, with wonderful tracks like "Don't Leave the Light on, Baby," and "Family Tree." Some of the lyrics on this release seem a little sillier than previous albums, but for the most part they are still fairly classic B&S. There is an even mix of male and female vocals, and also a balance of dancey and sulky numbers. For the most part, this album, despite those few "flaws," is a really nice listen: quaint.

samples:

• I Fought in a War
• Don't Leave the Light on, Baby
• Family Tree

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11 June 2000

Daniel McKernan

Albums and Singles

The new subConscious compilation featuring (as the last one, "Paradigm Shift") an array of unreleased or revised tracks from cEvin Key and related artists.
  Download's "Toooly Hooof" is a remix from III, nice and danceable with Key's stylistic touch. A Duck, D.R. Goettel's solo project, delivers "Quakerz (Revision)," an awesome tune light years ahead of its time insofar as techno sounds go. The platEAU track is quiet and makes a nice ambient break in the beats. The Doubting Thomas track has their classic dancey, hard-hitting beats with wavery synths in the background. The compilation stops to beat the dead horse that once was Skinny Puppy by including "Rodent (Remix)," seemingly stuck in here merely to have the name dropped (an "exclusive, unreleased" track). Next is a new Tear Garden track ? a bouncy and touching tale of abuse, from "To Be An Angel Blind" sessions. Ryan Moore donated a somewhat predictable Twilight Circus tune. Philth's track, "Sanity Shovel," is a bit boring at first, though later picks up and is reminiscent of his last album, The Escapist. Floatpoint is Philth and D. Handrabur ? who together create a wonderful electronic sounding track, "Foundflap," heavy on the Eastern influence. "I Still Ate Here," from cEvin Key sounds like an outtake from the 'Music for Cats' album which didn't make the cut. Lustmord's "Infinite Domain" is an alternate version from an upcoming album, 'Metavoid,' which has me convinced enough to look forward to it. Off and Gone consists of the same people as Floatpoint, but thri contribution is a faster A Duck-style beat-driven track. While "Fate's Faithful Punchline," from Legendary Pink Dots is beautiful, this 'version' is all too much like the original ? with very little differences. Dead Voices on Air meets Dropstar for album's closer, "Rijn" -- it's a minimal soundscape with quiet, processed vocals ? much like other DVOA stuff of this nature. This compilation is really a great disc overall, as expected when dealing with 14 exclusive tracks from some really wonderful artists.

samples:

• A Duck - Quakerz (Revision)
• The Tear Garden - Things That Go Bump in the Night
• Floatpoint - Foundflap

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11 June 2000

Daniel McKernan with Jon Whitney

Albums and Singles

A lovely recording of the Dots show from 1994 in Amsterdam's Milky Way Club. Not the best quality, but surely not the worst for it being a live show. There is a nice blend of songs on here ? mostly their fav's from their live line up, from "Space Captain" to "A Crack in Melancholy Time." Edward and the band jam together and, even though heard on a stereosystem, bring forth an array of sinister tunes that can truly bring you back to their captivating live performances. This version of "9 Shades to the Circle," like their current tour's encore, strays lyrically from the Nine Lives to Wonder original, and at this show includes very haunting percussion effects and startling crashes that literally made me jump and rush to turn the volume down. "Premonition 13" gives chills with its bitter edged bite of captivating words and changing melodies. The version of "Belladonna" is acceptable, despite barely being able to hear Edward's voice. The original version of "Needles" appears here as well, and eerily comes and goes, fading into an quiet, awesome and completely awe-inspiring extended version of "Space Captain," which is a definite highlight of the show. The Milky Way was the first club they played in Holland and this concert was their final show before the club closed its doors.

samples:

• Space Captain
• Belladonna
• A Crack in Melancholy Time

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11 June 2000

Jon Whitney and Andrew Shires

Albums and Singles

The San Francisco-based group pronounced "Room Uh Sock Eeet!" reminds me of one of the best characteristics of some of my favorite bands' early days.
  They're tight and solid, have excellent melodies, energetic as all hell and recorded the album almost completely live. You have to when you're just starting out, living in an expensive city and short on cash. There's no tricks and gimmicks on this disc, you're getting a sound from the best live concert you could experience, with a minimal amount of correcting (if any) going on in post-production. Lots of melody, a tight knit with the rhythm section, bits of distortion and feedback and no vocals, this disc is a great release from the seeminly endless train of minimal electronica driving through your living room right now. For those who know who Tarentel is, the bassist used to be in them. Rumah Sakit has been brought to us by our charming and sexy friends at Temporary Residence.

samples:

• Bring on the Cobras
• Careful with That Fax Machine
• Wind & Wing

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11 June 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Ryan Moore makes it sound so easy. He's become a natural at the Dub Soundystem project.

Over the last five years, his progress has moved into utilizing more electronic and organic instruments while staying true to the ideals of old school dubmasters. Organs and pianos echo, sub atomic bass lines swirl mesmerizing any listener caught in its path, new chimes ring in (almost never heard before), drum beats remain simple and reverberate in loops which end perfectly. The feelings are still there of a desolate scene in a hot western ghost town, or driving for hours in the desert. Listening to this sometimes makes me wish I enjoyed pot smoking as I can picture this would be a great soundtrack to chilling out with meaningless conversation, passing the coochie on the left hand side. Gosh that sounds tacky!

• Fast
• Heavy
• Slicer

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11 June 2000

Scott Lundquist

Albums and Singles

What a grand idea. As opposed to the usual, overly done idea of having other bands remix songs, Matt Johnson's clever self has decided to have other bands cover (or "interpret") his songs. Even though it's not much different from a remix (now the interpreting artist sings as well), it's a refreshing idea. This single for ShrunkenMan starts with The The's original version. The first interpretation is by Daau, beginning with strings and some wind instrument playing the familiar tune from the original. In comes a piano, playing the recognizable hip melody. More beautiful piano follows as the song builds. Suddenly the song goes off with a new style. Cool drums and vocals take over, which are amusing. This half of the song hardly resembles anything of the original. I love it. The next interpretation is by John Parish. This version is all acoustic, much simpler and slower than the original. The final version is a dark, spooky interpretation by Foetus. I recognize this version as it was played as a prelude to their live concert I caught last month -- remembering that I didn't even recognize it until noticing some vaguely familiar lyrics. I like this interpretations concept, all the versions are great and very different from each other. If anything, the EP was a wee bit too short. Other than that, it was perfect and I'm very much looking forward to the next set of interpretations, which I believe will be for December Sunlight.
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