summary 
Friday, 04 July 2003
Genuine reasons here for teary-eyed recollections, as most of the classic Magic Band reunite for an album to follow up recent live work at Glastonbury and Autechre’s All Tomorrow’s Parties. Sensibly they’ve stuck to quintessential tunes, ‘Circumstances’‚ ‘Click Clack’, ‘Moonlight On Vermont’‚ and other all time favourites. We get the classics, spanning the best of ‘Clear Spot’, ‘Trout Mask Replica’ and the more underrated ‘Spotlight Kid’, and ‘Lick My Decals Off Bab’‚ albums making for a thoroughly enjoyable listen. There still seems to be a genuine chemistry to the magical works of Drumbo, Rockette Morton, Mantis and Feelers Reebo, live to tape, raw as you like. Cheers!!
Friday, 27 June 2003
"Everyone Alive Wants Answers" is the haunting work of 26-year-old Parisienne Cecile Schott. Her debut album release, she has previously released a gem of a 7" single (Babies) on Active Suspension, which brought her to the attention of The Leaf Label. An effortlessly charming album, naive instrumentals filled with warmth , melody and soul, played on a broken music box, a glockenspiel or a guitar. The recordings seem pieced together from an array of field recordings and home tapes, melodies and aroma's slowly infused to create a homespun exercise in delicacy, beauty and a joyously moving appeal to nostalgic sensibilities and abandon. Gorgeous stuff, highly recommended.
Brand new album from Ui , who along with Tortoise were at the forefront of the mid-to-late 90's Post Rock scene. After a three year gap since the release of "The Iron Apple EP", Ui have made an excellent return to the public eye, and have come back with a brand new album of twisted, unpretentious instrumentalism. "Answers" sees Ui fusing jazz, funk basslines and percussion that's tweaked to make you move, New York styles! Recorded in 2002 in New York with producer Bryce Goggin, featuring new member Erik Sanko (Skeleton Key, Lounge Lizards, Yoko Ono, John Cale). Check.
The return of the man called Butterfly from the amazing Digable Planets. Sadly now it's 2003 and times change. Gone are the fuzzed jazz/hip hop politics of the two classic DP albums instead we have a new alias for Butterfly and a new lyrical flow. Half sung/half rapped the musical base is kind of retro/future hip hop r'n'b soul. I don't know what to make of this, maybe i'm too much in love with the Digable sound to take anything less. Ace digital production though!
Friday, 20 June 2003
Submerge distribution, the source for deep Detroit electronic music, launches this new enhanced cd magazine to offer a multimedia outlet for cutting edge music, technology, and culture. The inaugural issue (PC and Mac compatible!) features video interviews with Mr De (electrofunk) and Laurent Garnier, written articles on & interviews with Jeff Mills, Hi Tech Funk clothing, DJ 3000 (somewhere in detroit, motech, electrofunk), and DJ Dex (los hermanos, submerge). Plus a bonus new cut from Members of the House featuring Yolanda.
Third album from this Japanese trio consisting of Emi Nobuko (Drums) and Acid Mothers Temple duo Higashi Hiroshi (Bass) and Kawabata Makoto (Guitar). All the music on this four song / 66 minute album was completely improvised, and not over-dubbed. The sounds fall through different styles of head splitting walls of sonic noise, quiet introspective lulls and freeform freakouts. Tsurubami (pronounced without the T) make their live debut in the UK & Ireland this May / June as part of the ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE SOUL COLLECTIVE‚ tour with fellow collective members Pardons and Makoto Kawabata playing solo. Check.
Ned Oldham and company return with a new EP featuring new music set to four
murder ballads by thirteenth-century French rogue and troubador Francois
Villon - who killed a man in a fight, was a convicted robber, a college
student, and who was condemned to death and later pardoned
by King Louis XI. For troubador, read blues , man!
The latest from Philadelphia country and pop crooner Peggy Honeywell, and
another sweet album of heartfelt and heart-ached goodness. Ten
tracks of beautifully sung and written songcraft influenced by Kitty Wells,
Loretta Lynn, and Roy Orbison, and featuring assistance from from Dave Pajo (PAPA M),
Paul Oldham, her roommate Dew, and Brian Deck.
Friday, 13 June 2003
VARIOUS / CLEAN CUT RECORDS
Cut Your Teeth - Clean Cut Compilation
Clean Cut Records
CD // £10.99
Cat. Number: CCTLP001
A compilation related to the 10” by Asteroth / Knowledge of Bugs who both feature on this compilation of styles ranging from Indietronica to IDM to near straight Indie. None of the artists are known to me (except the aforementioned), yet there are some accomplished works on here. The Asteroth track ‘Lucid Dream’ though available on the 10” stands out as one of the best, The Knowledge Of Bugs ‘J Rok’ is a loop based dsp cut that develops well and has some ace high frequency sounds within, and also Los’s ‘Sontex’ is a euphoric electronica cut that has a summer edge that will surely find favour as summer descends, interesting new artists from this new label, check.
Friday, 06 June 2003
Sender's most sought after export unleash their debut album for Resopal - one for all you Kompakt heads to check out without delay!
Part Four. One of the finest and most original working bands in jazz today and
yesterday. Featuring John Zorn [alto sax], Dave Douglas [trumpet], Greg
Cohen [bass] and Joey Baron [drums]. Masadas music is an extraordinary
blend of up to the minute improvisation and an ongoing sense of jewish
history and artistic expression. A unique series in modern music. Now
available in limited numbers. All are recommended, dip in and enjoy or
splurge out and feel the depth.
Friday, 30 May 2003
A mixed bag of vertical laid back (indeed) dubtronic interpretations of the flavours of r'n'b, soul, hip hop and dub. Extra long playing time. The nice tracks flow from the new school dub of 'Universal Dub', to the Ursula Rucker inspired poetics of 'Le Sengre' and on to the People Under The Stairs joint 'Movin To The Beat'. Seventeen tracks.
Friday, 23 May 2003
Latest album from Force Inc. Part Drexciya, part Juan Atkins, part Global Communications, Tom Butcher, aka Codebase’s melodies and electronics are at once starkly futuristic and gloriously timeless. “Seek and Destroy” employs an ace analogue synthline and beatbox, a house-ish beat in the finest Detroit sense sets the tempo while twilight keys sequence themselves perfectly. “Cascade View” is another standout, an epic synth structure once again dominates, an overflow of warmth and crunch perfect for the drexciyan heads out there. Fans of the analogue sound of Detroit should check this out without delay...Ace.
Koby Israelite is a young Israeli musician living in London who enjoys
smashing genres together and grinding them into dust. Koby has absorbed
an astounding array of musics, and blends them together here in dynamic
and colorful musical world all his own. As complex and finely crafted as
Naked City, Frank Zappa or Mr. Bungle at their best, the music on Dance
Of The Idiots, Koby's debut recording, is a passionate exploration of
the Jewish experience. Cantorial Death Metal, Nino Rota Klezmer, Balkan
Surf, Catskills free improvisation. Features the woenderful Gilad Atzmon
on clarinet, baritone and tenor saxophones. You've never heard such
sounds.
Adachi Tomomi Royal Chorus is an experimental vocal group based in
Tokyo. Drawing upon influences as diverse as the Fluxus movement,
hardcore punk, contemporary classical, TV commercials, cartoon music,
Conceptual Art and more, Adachi's complex compositional miniatures are
filled with energy, imagination and a sly sense of humor. This stuff
really kicks.
ZAHAVA SEEWALD AND PSAMIM
Khad Gadya: A Tribute To Martin Weinberg
Tzadik
CD // £13.99
Cat. Number: TZA7177
Whether singing in Hebrew, Yiddish, Latino or French, Zahava Seewald is
one of the most accomplished and soulful vocalists in the modern Jewish
music scene. Following up on her very successful Tzadik debut AM
Gezint!, her latest recording takes a traditional klezmer repertory into
a dynamic world mixing gypsy violins and Kurt Weill cabaret. Dedicated
to the creative arranger/performer Martin Weinberg, whose premature
death robbed Jewish music of one of its guiding lights, Khad Gadya is a
passionate blend of tradition arid modernity.
A driving force at the heart of the much-acclaimed Kansai rock scene
since the late 1980s, Yamamoto's piercing guitar has energized some of
Japan's finest bands. From the spiritual madness of the Boredoms, the
psychedelic trance rock of Rovo to the quirky intensity of his own
Omoide Hatoba, Yamamoto's tastes and talents are as eclectic as the
bands he's played with. A new solo project from this elusive music
matter is truly a cause for celebration, and this CD is his best yet.
Sachi Hayasaka is one of Japan's most creative composer/performers, a
bandleader, arranger and soloist of great passion and originality. Her
beautiful sound and adventurous projects have made her, along with
Kazutoki Umezu, one of the busiest and most respected saxophonists in
Tokyo. For this latest project, she augments her regular ensemble with
some of Japan's best world beat musicians and an exciting African
drummer Wagane Ndiaye Rose in an eclectic blend of world music and jazz.
Minga is Sachi's most dynamic and satisfying musical statement.
Raz Mesinai is one of the most exciting of the younger generation of
electronica musicians. His newest project is an electro-acoustic
journey, an entire album devoted to the exploration of goatskins. Subtle
rhythmic modulations, a mysterious narrative of harmonics, knocks, bumps
and howls in the night. A masterpiece of both minimalism and maximalism.
Originally released in 1996, now available again. A giant of the
downtown ecstatic jazzcore scene, visionary power-percussionist William
Hooker takes you one step closer to the next dimension with 'Tibet'. Two
tracks with timings of 40:56 and 24:34. A drum, piano, guitar, sax
meltdown.
Friday, 16 May 2003
In 1960, an astonishing jazz ensemble was convened by Swiss pianist George Gruntz to create a soundtrack for the Hannes Schmidhauser film Mental Cruelty. The group included bebop innovator Kenny 'Klook' Clarke on drums and Belgian saxophonist Barney Wilen, two of the most swinging and sensitive musicians on the planet. Though the dark, lyrical, mysterious soundtrack was initially released on a 10-inch EP, legal difficulties led to its being recalled, and the few copies that were sold became incredibly valuable collectors items. Now, for the first time, the session is issued … Read more
MERZBOW / LUKE VIBERT / HRVATSKI / VARIOUS
Ikabana : Merzbow's Amlux Rebuilt, Reused and Recycled
Important Records
CD // £11.99
Cat. Number: IMPREC-016
A wonderful collection of loose interpretations of Merzbow's best album of recent times 'Amlux'. A very wide range of artists come with eclectic variations on Masami's deadly noise chaos. Some remixes seem to completely steer in an opposite direction like DJ Spooky's surprisingly fresh turntabalist blast. Twenty nine remixes deep here are just a sample - DJ/Rupture >> chopped beat scientifics with cello plucks and noise tweaks - Kim Hiorthoy >> pop gabba noisecore (surprisingly), Bola >> ace lush but dark-ended ambience leading int… Read more
Now on CD with mad video action and multi-shmedia. The devious duo are back with their sonic gadgets and the illest-fitted suits in the west. Stoloff & Hopkinson use machines to create music that would have been implausible in the 20th century, yet is immediately familiar, witty, human and not quite right. Layered beats, intricate sounds, rich melodies and french lyrical flow blended with a unique grasp of reality. A mish-mash (mackanwalla) based loosely around 3 tracks, 'Idead', 'Dual' and 'Woodpecker' plus five bonus snippitets.
Concept album from Dave Paul's Bomb label. Twenty nine tracks from amongst others, Azeem, Foreign Legion, Abstract Rude & Tribe Unique, Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf. Main tracks, skits and interludes. Welcome to the hip hop school.
Friday, 09 May 2003
Brand new collection of dope instrumental hip hop vibrations from Living Legend associate Elusive. This brings together eighteen tracks, all untitled with developed but sparse samples overlaying crisp beats and kick ass rhythms. Some funky, some raw then cinematic or withdrawn. Dope for wrecking over on two turntables or givin' the chat to or simply cool for bumpin' headphone pressure while you walk the bad streets in yo' hood (or something). Give it a go if you dug the Joe Beats joint and want more of the same goodness.
Friday, 02 May 2003
After the success of their Xmas e.p. (‘You Can’t Fool Us”) and a handful of live shows as a 20-piece snowflake orchestra replete with bobble hatted carol singers and a full horn section, They Came From The Stars (I Saw Them) finally get to unleash their debut album for Lo Recordings. Compiling released and unreleased singles (none of which have been previously available on CD) from the band in one conglomeration of pop and sonic mongdom plus the excellent ‘Starburst’ from their Xmas EP and crowned with the ‘Holy Mountain’ adventure culled from their rare split 12" with The Sonic Catering Band on Peripheral Conserve records.
Haley is a vocalist, guitarist, pianist and organist who performs
regularly throughout the midwest. Her music is hard to categorize,
settling somewhere between cowpunk, slowcore, folk and rock. '...The
Size Of Planets' features 13 tracks of original material incorporating
all of these elements into a style of Haley's own. Born in Manitoba and
raised in Rapid City, SD, Haley moved to Duluth, MN only one year ago
and has since established herself in Duluth's expanding music scene as
well as abroad. She has been playing music since she was 3 years old and
has been writing as long as she can remember. A very nice CD halfway
between Hope Sandoval and Lucinda Williams.
Friday, 25 April 2003
What is it about Iceland? there's clearly something about the air, the water, the chill or good cheer. 'Tomatar' opens the album with finely spun mesh of drone-based strings, 'Lummur' adopts a more electropop stance to bouyant melodic effect. 'Bonetrix' treads lightly alongside the river marked 'melodic dsp' and manages not to fall in. 'Tasco' is a crunchier beauty, imagine the melodic charms of The Remote Viewer with a more urgent tempo, then spin through 180 degrees. A largely enjoyable album which reveals still further the surprising musical depths flowing in the currents of icelandic music. Fo… Read more
One of the great free jazz archaeological finds of recent years: Three lost tracks from the 'Nipples' sessions. Dateline: Germany, 1969. The legendary lineup: Peter Brötzmann and Evan Parker (saxophones), Derek Bailey (guitar), Fred Van Hove (piano), Buschi Niebergall (bass), Han Bennink (drums). Brötzmann has always mentioned more material, but thought it had been discarded long ago. But in 2002, FMP founder Jost Gebers discovered a reel of material, recorded by both the quartet (without Bailey and Parker) and sextet incarnations, in the FMP archive. Here, then, for the … Read more
Friday, 18 April 2003
Three tracks of the most destructive and distorted rock music that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the title, heavy rock somewhere between Acid Mothers Temple and High Tide, 2 of the tracks are over 15 minutes long, quite funky in a rock way, though a little too loud for these ears.
