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DJ Martian's Page

Intro: A diverse music positive weblog for the discerning listener with an interest in creative artistic music across the contemporary sound spectrum: Goto New Content Section for DJ Martian's Page

Electronic & Dance Music: drum n bass/ jungle, electro, breakbeat/ nu skool breaks, industrial/ electro-industrial/ ebm, synth pop/ electroclash, techno/tech house/deep house/progressive house, psychedelic trance, IDM/ experimental electronics/ ambient/ glitch sounds/ folktronica/ downbeat, jazztronica/ electro-jazz, leftfield/ instrumental/ electronified hip-hop/trip-hop.
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ALBUM RELEASE DATE INFORMATION

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2009 ALBUM RELEASES: 2009 FORTHCOMING ALBUMS
using rateyourmusic.com: 2009 Album Releases [Updated Regularly] This information is updated on a continual basis.

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Friday, April 30, 2004

Next week's releases are reviewed @ Norman Records

# posted by DJ Martian 1:57 PM

Google Blog Search - Coming Soon?

WebProNews investigate the possibility/ growing evidence that Google are planning a Search Engine for blogs: GoogleBot Heralding Blog Search?

Also take a look at this Google URL, test [as noted by Abakus SEO]

To launch a Google blog search would make sense - as an answer to MSN's impending blog search, also Google is blog centric/friendly as of course it owns Blogger. Google has long understood the importance of spidering blogs regularly for uptodate topical content/ news/ new links.

Google's Mission:
>> Google
Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

In related news Google anounced this week it's intention of becoming a public company: as ZDNet UK News report Google's IPO seeks $2.7bn

# posted by DJ Martian 1:13 PM

The Guardian review John Abercrombie - Class Trip on ECM

# posted by DJ Martian 12:25 PM

The Guardian review Marillion - Marbles

# posted by DJ Martian 12:21 PM

Musique Machine review Joshua Treble - Five points fincastle

Joshua Treble is Tony Boggs, a man who makes some very nice music that should appeal to fans of Fennesz and Oval.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:58 AM

Pitchfork review Deathprod - Morals and Dogma on Rune Grammofon

Solo project from this member of the Norway-based experimental foursome Supersilent is claustrophobic, extremely dark and gorgeously horrifying.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:41 AM

Issue 21 of earplug

APRIL 29 - MAY 12

Earplug is a biweekly email magazine, delivering a handpicked selection of news, sounds, videos, and original features for the international electronic music community.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:16 AM

Cerysmatic Factory have details of the new Durutti Column: album Tempus Fugit.

It's available direct via mail order/ or at Durutti Column gigs NOW.

A full retail release is scheduled for late May according to Norman Records, whilst Darla suggest May 17th.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:18 AM

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Details of this week's One World show on Radio 1: One World: Black Grass/ One World Recommends/ DnB Mix

On this week's show One World features a Grass Roots Mix, our very own Annie Macmanus will be playing some of the hottest new tunes about at the moment, plus we'll have a drum n bass mix for good measure.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:32 PM

BW & BK report the latest Bloodbath news: BLOODBATH - New Album Named, Tracklisting Revealed

The forthcoming album has been titled: Nightmares Made Flesh, due on Century Media in the Autumn.

Bloodbath is an extreme metal side project that include members of Swedish atmospheric dark metal band Katatonia.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:18 PM

The Cure - The Cure

Billboard report that Robert Smith has announced that the forthcoming The Cure album will be self titled. The Billboard writer also describes some of the tracks and an initial tracklist is provided.

Provisional Tracklist: The Cure - The Cure

Lost
Labyrinths (working title)
Before 3 (working title)
Truth Goodness and Beauty
The End of the World
I Don't Know What's Going On
Taking Off
Anniversary
This Morning
Us or Them
Precious Advise (working title)
Jason #3 (working title)
The Promise
Going Nowhere

# posted by DJ Martian 10:57 PM

Billboard report rumours that Duran Duran are close to signing to Epic Records [part of Sony Music]: Duran Duran Eyes Epic Deal

# posted by DJ Martian 5:43 PM

Cactus World News - No Shelter

Cactus World News have finally made album their 1989 recorded album: No Shelter available for sale on their official website >> Cactus World News

TRACK LISTING:
Window To Your World / Taste of Mercury / Rebound / On The Run / Say Goodbye / Town Like This / Falling Sun / Sleep All Day / Volcano / Furious Love / Everytime / Memory Harbour

BONUS TRACKS:
City of Angels / Reconcile / Window to your World (demo version)

Originally scheduled for release in 1989, No Shelter was the much-anticipated second album from Cactus World News. However, just weeks before its release date, the ownership of MCA Records unexpectedly changed hands and the album was consigned to the tape library.

Red Coral is now proud to give No Shelter its first-ever release, continuing its series of re-mastered CD's for CWN. The digital re-mastering has once again been handled by Irish engineer Mary Kettle in Dublin, completing a job for the band which began
when she also assisted on the original recording sessions at Windmill Lane and Real World Studios.

This special release features a new track selection chosen by members of the band which expands the running order to 12 tracks (as opposed to 10 in 1989), as well as three bonus tracks from B-Sides and demos.

The artwork for No Shelter has been totally re-designed for this release and includes a full-colour 16-page booklet with new photos and a complete set of lyrics, alongside a detailed production credits section which reveals all the studios, personnel and various locations used during the recording sessions.

The producers who took part were as follows: Irishman Kevin Killen (Peter Gabriel, Elvis Costello, T-Bone Burnett); David Rhodes (Peter Gabriel's long-standing guitarist); New York rock-mix meister Ron St. Germain, and legendary American producer, Andy Wallace, who mixed Nirvana's Nevermind and produced Jeff Buckley's masterpiece, Grace.

Finally, each copy of No Shelter ordered through the official CWN website will be marked with a unique Embossed Stamp to confirm its status as a First Pressing collectable. No subsequent pressings will carry this stamp.

# posted by DJ Martian 1:52 PM

This coming Sunday, Future Sound of London are on the 6 Mix on 6 Music

The Future Sound Of London take control of the decks for this week's 6 Mix.

# posted by DJ Martian 1:40 PM

BBC Music review Marilyn Crispell - Storyteller on ECM

Third release on ECM for one of the most important pianists of our time, together with Paul Motian and Mark Helias.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:34 PM

MusicOMH.com review Marillion - Marbles

# posted by DJ Martian 12:17 PM

Terrorizer - May 2004

A new issue of Terrorizer magazine is on sale today, Swedish Metal band: In Flames are on the front cover.

Details of the current issue [119/ May 2004] of Terrorizer includes a free covermount CD:

'Fear Candy' 03
Exclusive tracks from Dark Funeral, Killswitch Engage, The Great Deceiver, Fear Factory, Textures and more!

# posted by DJ Martian 11:45 AM

Playlouder review Lali Puna - Faking the Books

# posted by DJ Martian 12:34 AM

Playlouder interview Polish electro-jazzers Skalpel

# posted by DJ Martian 12:29 AM

The Brainwashed Brain V07I16 - 04252004

This week's The Brainwashed Brain includes reviews of:

Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands
Young God

Black Ox Orkestar - Ver Tanzt?
Constellation

Manual and Jess Kahr - The North Shore
Darla

Keelhaul - Subject to Change Without Notice
Hydra Head

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
Sounds Familyre

# posted by DJ Martian 12:19 AM

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

The latest releases are reviewed by NYC's Other Music: The Other Music - Update

NEW RELEASES
Devendra Banhart
Erlend Øye (DJ Kicks)
Deathprod
DJ Signify
Ya Ho Wha 13 (reissue)

Keith Rowe & Christian Fennez
Glenn Branca (reissue)
Momus & Anne Laplatine
Keith Hudson (reissue)
Terry Reid (live recording from 1970)

ALSO AVAILABLE
Nurse With Wound

# posted by DJ Martian 6:58 PM

Barcode review SKINNY PUPPY - The Greater Wrong Of The Right

# posted by DJ Martian 3:12 PM

Barcode review Fennesz - Venice

# posted by DJ Martian 3:10 PM

themilkfactory.co.uk interview SCHNEIDER TM

Schneider TM is not your standard electronic musician. Since is first record, released in 1999 on German label City Slang, Dirk Dresselhaus has made a mark on the scene by mixing avant-guarde electronica and pop. In 2002, he released Zoomer, which brought his music to a larger audience thanks to its catchy tune and quirky approach, and with his most recent release, a collection of some of the remixes he has produced over the last four years, he demonstrates a strong ability to adapt to diverse situations. We caught up with the man to talk about his background, the impact that Zoomer had on his work, and his future projects.

# posted by DJ Martian 3:08 PM

themilkfactory.co.uk - May 2004

themilkfactory.co.uk deliver another fine selection of reviews. [The summaries below are from themilkfactory.co.uk e-mail/website, to see the full reviews go to the link above]

ALBUM OF THE MONTH
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
After a very prolific 2003, with two new albums and their first two albums re-packaged by Fat-Cat, the exhilarating Brooklyn-based Animal Collective return with their fifth album, and it seems they can't do no wrong.

REVIEWS
Æ - Bootleg
Stock, Hausen & Walkman member Andrew Sharpley teams up with female percussionist Emiko Ota for this hectic, yet fun project.

Asteroth - Songs From The Belfry
Making the most of minimalist sonic structures, Asteroth collects on Songs From The Belfry a series of stunning cinematic compositions that are at once complex and melodic.

Avril - Members Only
Fred Avril is a true outsider on the French electronic scene. On his second album, he introduces elements of live instrumentation to expend on his stage persona.

Blockhead - Music By Cavelight
Already responsible for producing a handful of albums and EPs for the likes of Aesop Rock, Murs, S.A. Smash and others, Blockhead finally unveils his first solo album.

Cinelux - Pardon My French Series #1
First in a series of albums aiming at promoting new French artist, this album sees post-rockers Cinelux confronting their inspired sound with that of remixers. An interesting debut.

Cocorosie - La Maison De Mon Rêve
Brooklyn-based sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady are CocoRosie, and La Maison De Mon Rêve is there first collection of offbeat folk/blues songs. Recorded in a small flat in Montmartre, Paris, this album is a confident piece of poetry.

Greg Davis - Curling Pond Woods
Two years after his stunning first album, Arbor, and following last year's contribution to Staalplaat's Mort Aux Vaches series, Greg Davis returns with another beautifully crafted slice of folktronica in which he explores further his soundscapes.

Funkstörung - Disconnected
German duo Funkstörung abandon their glitchy electronica to focus on hip-hop and introduce elements of pop.

Nitrada - We Don't Know Why But We Do It
Following a very promising first mini album, Nitrada returns with his first full-length record and allows others to alter his sound.

Proem - Socially Inept
For his fourth album, Merck founding member Richard Bailey, aka Proem, returns to the vast sonic spaces of his previous offering, Among Others, and develops further his beautifully laidback electronic constructions.

RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke
Two years ago, RJD2 ventured on his own with his first album, and instantly gained respect from critics and public alike. With his second album, he takes his sound further.

Craig Taborn - Junk Magic
A collaborator on Carl Craig’s Programmed project, Craig Taborn has remained discreet since his first album was released ten years ago. With this third album, Taborn presents a fascinating piece of work.

# posted by DJ Martian 2:56 PM

indieworkshop.com report on a new signing to the Hydrahead label: Jesu a band featuring 2 music legends: Justin K Broadrick and Ted Parsons

Hydrahead has announced the signing of Jesu. Fronted by J K Broadrick, (Godflesh, Techno Animal, Final, God, Ice, Napalm Death...), Jesu also includes Ted Parsons (Swans, Prong, Killing Joke, Godflesh...), and Diarmuid Dalton (Final, Cable Regime...). The label says Jesu has much to appeal to fans of Low, Swans, My Bloody Valentine and Pelican.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:47 AM

A release date of June 7th has been confirmed for the Junior Boys debut album: Last Exit on KIN records

Source: ILM: Junior Boys Release Date

Full press release @ KIN: Junior Boys - Last Exit

# posted by DJ Martian 12:20 AM

BBC Music review Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll

This is Album of the Week @ BBC Music, streaming sound tracks are also available.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:07 AM

New Releases @ Piccadilly Records

Some new releases listed in the weekly guide [via e-mail] from Manchester's music emporium: Piccadilly Records

Beta Band - Heroes To Zeros
Regal

Third time lucky for the Super-Scots, because this is easily their best album yet, by a mile. They've finally recaptured the other-worldly freed-up magic of their "3 EPs" and honed it into a proper (nearly!) rock album. Well it's less wacky, whistles'n'bells, and much more crafted and melodic. It also evokes ghosts of Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys and early Floyd, but it's still well left of conventional rock. Everyone in the shop loves this record (though I may have spoilt it a bit by playing it to death for a fortnight!) It's the revelling in the texture of sound and the playful experimentation that thrills. They're like kids in a musical toyshop. It's a detailed, inventive, fun-loving record that rolls all those weird, druggy, garagey, hippy, bonkers, charming late-60s sounds into one tasty, modern nugget. Got any joss-sticks, anyone?

Aroah - The Last Laugh
Acuarela

Aroah's (Irene Tremblay) second album is produced by Greg Weeks and is sung fully in English. Although once aligned with emotional snipers such as Mark Kozelek, Julie Doiron and Cat Power, it's now more diverse references rather than influences that we're looking at, artists such as Joni Mitchell and Townes Van Zandt.

The Blueskins - Word Of Mouth
Domino

Drawing on influences as disparate as The Buzzcocks, Led Zeppelin and The Yardbirds, The Blueskins debut album, "Word of Mouth", rips through two minute bursts of energetic controlled mayhem. Modern blues tinged rock'n'roll.

Color Filter - Silent Way
Pointy

Color Filter is an electronic pop co-operative from Tokyo headed by Ryuji Tsuneyoshi, a guitarist, composer, and award-winning nuclear physicist. Color Filter play blissful electro pop music utilitsing subtle drum'n'bass oriented beats. "Silent Way" features eleven new tracks and vocals from Yuki Nishimura, and has already drawn comparisons to the likes of Saint Etienne, Cocteau Twins, Stereolab and Broadcast.

Deerhoof - Milk Man
ATP

All Tomorrows Parties have licensed "Milkman" from Washington, Olympia's eternally chic Kill Rock Stars label, to coincide with the band being invited by Sonic Youth to play at this years All Tomorrows Parties festival. This album is their first to feature conventional songs, but fear not, they're still constructed in their typically unconventional manner.

Faun Fables - Family Album
Drag City

This is the third recording of "Faun Fables", the experimental balladry shaped by Oakland-based artist Dawn McCarthy. Her work unfolds in a visceral combination of music and theatricality she calls songtelling. The main instrument is her cathartic voice, framed by harmonically adventurous guitar. On this album, she is joined by Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, adding a bestiary of vocals, instrumentation and song collaboration. Other guest musicians contribute, as well, most notably Dawn's mom, sister and brother.

The Icarus Line - Penance Soiree
V2

Vocalist Joe Cardemone sings, spits, or screams into his mic with surreptitious pleasure over jagged, crunching guitars and erratic rhythms. Being hailed as the future of rock'n'roll by various music mags.

Christian Marclay / Thurston Moore / Lee Ranaldo - Fuck Shit Up
Victo

In Victoriaville's Colisee, a huge venue that normally hosts hockey matches, Christian Marclay was up there spinning discs as he's been known for doing since before DJs invaded the culture world. He was creating a wild sound world with records played forward, backward, in the cracks, or as trampolines for bouncing needles. He is also prone to break them into bits or fling them out to the audience, showing the greatest respect for his medium by reinventing usage. Flanking him were two rock stars - Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, the sonic conjurers of the mighty Sonic Youth - coaxing all manner of weird sounds from their electric guitars. Feedback rose and fell in heaving crescendos, drum sticks were inserted between strings, and for around an hour, a wall of beautiful noise was erected, then smashed to bits, with no pesky backbeats or melodies to upset the mesmeric abandon.

Thurston Moore - Piece For Jetsun Dolma
Victo

This album-length improvisation, recorded as it happened, is a beautiful thing. The three musicians (he's joined by Tom Surgal and William Winantare) get carried away by the power of pure sound and energy. This CD is the only document of something that happened once and will never happen the same way again. But you've got to be glad it exists!!

Plastic Crimewave Sound - Flashing Open
Eclipse

The debut album from the mind-warping leaders of Chicago psychedelia, Plastic Crimewave Sound. A gargantuan conceptual album that blends transcendental drones, fuzzed-out garage punk, power electronics, astral folk, and drift-away pop. Membership boasts the publishers of Galactic Zoo magazine, as well as bassist Mark Lux formerly of Temple Of Bon Matin. Limited edition pressing of 542 copies, pressed in fancy silver sleeves.

Various Artists / DJ Kicks - Erlend Oye
K7

Erlend Oye takes the DJ Kicks blueprint to a whole new level here, singing versions of songs over other instrumentals, as well as providing a smooth DJ mix. So you get him singing Jane's "It's A Fine Day" over his own "Sheltered Life", "Prego Amore" over Jolly Music's "Radio Jolly", "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" over Royksopp's "Poor Leno" etc. As well as these sung tracks, there's also a load of original tracks with no singing - Phoenix "If I Ever Feel Better", Alan Braxe & Fred Falke "Rubicon", Ricardo Villalobos "Dexter" etc.

Black Ox Orkestar - Ver Tanzt
Constellation

A moving debut from this new Montreal-based quartet. Filtering traditional European Jewish folk music through post-rock aesthetics, "Ver Tanz?" is an important record, revealing the roots and influences underlying much of the Constellation catalogue and making traditional Klezmer music accessible to a contemporary audience. Both formats come in lovely chipboard packaging and feature an 8 page booklet.

Ex-Girl - Endangered Species
Alternative Tentacles

From their distant homeworld of Planet Kerokero (via Tokyo), Ex-Girl returns to earth for another close encounter with their fifth full-length "Endangered Species". This musical missive is a concept album that ponders the conflicts between civilizations and the road that may lead to our extinction. Reminiscent of Japanese avant-noise bands like Melt Banana, Boredoms, OOIOO and Ruins, Ex-Girl spawns unpredictable, genre-twisting gems from sludgy pop to acappella to soaring prog rumination. Produced by avant-noise-guru Hoppy Kamiyama, "Endangered Species" is a superb introduction to the girls from Planet Kerokero for the uninitiated, and a fitting addition to the pantheon of Japanese noise prog.

Schneider TM - Reconfigures
Earsugar

A limited edition album of restyles and remixes by Schneider TM. Contains rare and unreleased mixes of Lamb, Lambchop, The Faint, Philip Boa & The Voodooclub, Ruby, Boss Hog and more.

Volcano The Bear - The Idea Of Wood
Textile

Is it rock? Is it folk? Is it sane??? Formed with the constant idea of being a group with uncompromising and boundless ideas, the quartet is utterly beyond classification. Drawing on the work of Robert Wyatt, Faust or This Heat, the music of Volcano The Bear is the perfect combination of music and non music, melodies and free expression. Filled with crackling electronics, rumbling percussion, unconventionally played guitars, manipulated vocal noises, distorted piano "The Idea Of Wood" is an ideal mix of primitive folk, art rock and filmic sound sculpting. Eccentric, hypnotic, mystic, but most of all truly incredible.

Various Artists / DJ Greg Wilson - Music Is Better 20-12-03
Music Is Better

Greg Wilson was one of the pioneering British DJs who helped popularise European and American electronic dance music from its inception in the early 80s. His club nights across the North West (Wigan Pier, at Legends and the Hacienda) and radio mixes on Manchester's Piccadilly station (no relation) pre-empted the house explosion and the UK Summer Of Love by fusing Italo disco, European electro and Manhattan / Brooklyn punk funk and Bronx hip hop. His triumphant return to Manchester clubland at the end of 2003 at Danny Webb's Music Is Better night quickly became legend. Luckily for those who weren't there, it was recorded and then re-edited in the studio for a pure, seamless mix. Featuring classics from back in the day as well as fresh cuts from the young pretenders (he has continued to feed on vinyl to this day), the set gets a very limited run on CD.

Various Artists / Bugged Out Presents Suck My Deck - Ivan Smagghe
React

Bugged Out! bring us their new 'Suck My Deck' series, set up to highlight the talents of the more cutting edge, up and coming names that regularly play their club nights. The series kicks off with Parisian DJ / producer Ivan Smagghe, resident at 'Kill The DJ' and half of Blackstrobe. He serves up a blend of bang up to date acidic electro-house that's sure to appeal to tech headz, house headz and electroclash fans alike. Features the likes of Sweet Light, Jamie Bissmire, Slacker, DK8, Zombie Nation, Scratch Massive, Random Factor, Cosmo Vitelli, Henry Goes Dirty etc.

Various Artists / Modern Wild Dub - Dread Meets Disco Punk Rocker Downtown
Echo Beach

Echo Beach follow Select Cuts "Wild Dub" compilation of original late 70s / early 80s punk-funk / dub-funk tracks with this bang up to date set of tracks inspired by that era. Includes Colder, Playgroup, Big Two Hundred, Chicken Lips, !!!, Radio 4, Outhud, Chicks On Speed etc. Includes liner notes by Mark Stewart ex of The Pop Group.

John Martyn - On The Cobbles
Independiente

The follow-up to 2001's "Glasgow Walker" finds Martyn, again, in fine form and extending his mini career renaissance. Churning, funky, weird grooves, top-notch production and guest spots from Paul Weller and (The Verve's) Nick McCabe, make this a standout set. This is only McCabe's second outing since The Verve split in '98 and he does his thing, two steps from heaven, whilst Martyn does his: pushing the envelope; forever blurring the lines between folk, jazz, rock and blues. It's a full, strong, classy record that demands repeated listens.

Claro Intelecto - Neurofibro
Ai

With two vinyl-only EPs behind him, Claro Intelecto AKA Mark Stewart is ready for his full length album, and what an album it is. The early promise of the "Peace Of Mind EP" and the latter brilliance on the "Section EP" are testament to the talent that Stewart has to wring emotionally-engaging electro music from cold, soulless computers and sequencers. Throughout the record, electronics pulse and mechanical rhythms evoke something more than the mere sum of their parts. And then there's just the good old-fashioned electro, house and techno sounds that are employed to new effect, drawing on classic influences from across the dance music spectrum, such as Autechre, Larry Heard, Cybotron and Drexciya. A very special release.
CD - AILP008CD
CD includes 4 tracks from the vinyl only EPs, including the stunning classic "Peace Of Mind" and "Chicago".

Various Artists / Anticon Label Sampler 1999 - 2004
Anticon

Anticon's editorial ear, Odd Nosdam, has selected, arranged and seamlessly blended / mixed a selection of tracks (33 of 'em!!) from Anticon's entire back catalogue for this bargain price five year retrospective. Featuring all the main participants in the label's output - Why?, Alias, Sole, Themselves, Sage Francis, Passage, Controller 7, Pedestrian, Odd Nosdam himself and more - this 80 minute mix shows the evolution of the label's avant hip hop output.

Various Artists / Gilles Peterson - Worldwide Exclusives
Talkin' Loud

Because Gilles lends such a unique credibility to artists, many choose to air their new productions on his show first. On this mouth wateringly brilliant collection, Gilles has hand-picked some of his favourite exclusive tracks recorded specially for his show, unavailable elsewhere and unique to this collection. Following on from the acclaimed "Worldwide" compilation series, which were released in response to the demand from his listeners, these tracks reflect the pioneering spirit of his show: There's broken beats and nu-jazz (NSM, Jazzanova Feat. Shaun Escoffery, Two Banks Of Four, Outlines, Umod, etc), hip hop / nu-soul (Ty, Eric Roberson), latin / latin-jazz (Nicola Conte, Deadline Vs Batacumbele), downbeat (Zero 7), soulful house (Peven Everett), jazz-funk and jazz (Roy Ayers, Build An Ark) and more (Matthew Herbert & Roisin Murphy)

Uusi Fantasia - Top Ten
Telle

Norway's Telle bring us another new signing, the weird and wonderful Uusi Fantasia. As with other releases on the label this duo make an eclectic, hard to pigeonhole mix of downbeat, weird disco, house, reggae and more. They've previously worked with compatriots Erlend Oye and Royksopp.

Various Artists / Straight Out The Cat Litter (Scoop Three)
Catskills

Originally out in 2002, Catskills reissue this collection of mostly unreleased tracks from their archives by popular demand (or perhaps the demand of finding one of the tracks on it is used on the recent iPod advert - Feature Cast's "Channel Hopping"). Includes funky breaks, lush downbeat and hip hop by Nobody, Capsule, Hardkandy, Pepe Deluxe, Zero Theory etc.

Wiley - Treddin' On Thin Ice
XL

Part of the late 90s Pay As You Go cartel, Wiley set up the Roll Deep Crew to spearhead the new inner city sound born from the ashes of UK Garage scene. Part dancehall, part garage, part 2-step, part jungle and part hip hop, this new style is raw, digital and minimal, with rapid rapped vocals spat out at 100 MPH. If you liked Dizzee Rascal, you're gonna love this too! Includes his massive track "Eskimo".

Various Artists / Zinc & DJ Friction - Bingo Sessions Volume One
Bingo Beats

47 tracks spread over two CDs, DJ mixed by old hand Zinc and newcomer DJ Friction with extra vocals by Dynamite MC, MC Eksman and MC SP. 80% are previously unreleased, so this is a fresh dubplate mix of storming drum and bass. Includes tracks by Dkay, Roni Size, Shimmon, Fierce, Zinc, Calibre, Sonic & Silver, Trinity, Loxy etc.

Fennesz - Venice
Touch

Fourth studio album by Christain Fennesz, his first since "Endless Summer" (Mego, 2001). His most accessible works to date, this album merges digital electronica and emotive melodics.

Helios - Unomia
Merck

Keith Kennif's debut album places the listener in a lush atmosphere sprinkled with piano, guitar, and a variety of downtempo experimental breakbeats. Subtle ambience, found sounds and treated acoustic elements escalate and wash over to create a harmonically dense and melodically rich environment.

Kang Tae Hwan Trio - Love Time
VHF

"Love Time" is Korean alto player Kang Tae Hwan's debut release; his trio includes Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple) and percussionist Ichiraku Yoshimitsu (known for his work in Omoide Hatoba). More minimalist than free jazz "Love Time" centres on Hwan's long circular tones. Active since the 1970's Hwan has recorded for Japanese Victor and DIW labels.

Kid Spatula - Meast
Planet Mu

New album from Mike Paradinas aka U-Ziq. A trawl of the DAT archives for lost classics and amazing heartflet electronic vignettes. Off-kilter melodies and subtle rhythms interact with abrasive, yet calming textures to create this more-ish follow up to Mike's last album as Kid Spatula "Full Sunken Breaks". This archive material dates from between 1994 and 1998.

Splintered / RLW - Split
Black Rose

A collaborative release in which Splintered utilise art damaged rock rhythms, guitars, loops, drones and metal percussion and allow enough room for RLW's source material. In contrast RLW has used Splintered's source material and totally remixed it with juxtapositions of abstract sound, ambient noise and beautiful sonic textures. A sound sculptor, held in high regard, RLW (Ralph Wehowsky) has been an innovator in the use of treated and deconstructed sound and the recomposition of source material for many years.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:02 AM

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Music webzine Junkmedia is back after technical web hosting problems.

# posted by DJ Martian 7:58 PM

Playlouder review The Beta Band - Heroes To Zeros

# posted by DJ Martian 7:18 PM

Alert: Woebot is on the Kosmsiche Show: Woebot

tune in to Resonance FM 104.4FM at 10pm GMT tonight [that should be BST / British Summer Time!]

# posted by DJ Martian 7:09 PM

This week's flavorpill LONDON a weekly email magazine covering music, art, and cultural events

# posted by DJ Martian 2:17 PM

The latest Breezeblock show is now available online: The Breezeblock Tracklistings

Breezeblock

This week Mary Anne Hobb brings you a headline DJ set from Müm plus tracks from Animal Collective.

Forthcoming Shows >>

3rd May
Edan in session

10th May
Tes live in session

24th May
F-Comm 10th Birthday Special Live tracks + Avril Mix and reports

# posted by DJ Martian 12:51 PM

Splendid review 2 outstanding albums today:

Dykehouse - Midrange

Introduced to the world through his glitchtronic laptop work on Planet-µ, Dykehouse has moved from faceless IDM gonk to head of the shoegazer revivalist pack with impressive ease. Sure, he's got a flair for sky-scraping, but the most amazing thing about Midrange is that Dykehouse wrote, performed and produced the entire record in his bedroom; you'll find no Abbey Road overdubs, hot-shot session musicians or fifty-piece orchestras floating in this seemingly infinite morass of crash and beauty. What you will find, however, is some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful rock music of the past five years, played by a man who sounds as though he's been beamed in from a loveless galaxy.

Mission of Burma - OnOffOn

OnOffOn stands up, Burma's unholy cerebral racket as relevant and as good as ever. This is going to be one of the best records of 2004

# posted by DJ Martian 12:44 PM

Dusted review Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands

# posted by DJ Martian 12:32 PM

Pitchfork review Superpitcher - Here Comes Love

# posted by DJ Martian 12:25 PM

Monday, April 26, 2004

New music blog to check: Mystery & Misery

# posted by DJ Martian 5:53 PM

BW & BK report the latest Madder Mortem news: MADDER MORTEM In Recording Mode, Studio Diary Available Online

# posted by DJ Martian 5:39 PM

New Book by David Toop: Haunted Weather - Music, Silence, and Memory

Details of a new book by David Toop and also double CD released in parallel. [info from a Mailing list]

Title: Haunted Weather - Music, Silence, and Memory
Author: David Toop ( http://www.davidtoop.com/ )
Category: Non-Fiction & Culture & Music
Format: Trade Paperback, 352pp
Published: 15/4/2004
Publisher: Serpent's Tail ( http://www.serpentstail.com/ )
ISBN: 1 85242 812 0

2-CD:

Various Artists - "Haunted Weather" 2cd
(cat.no. STAUBGOLD 52 / Staubgold Records, Berlin,
http://www.staubgold.com/ )

A double-cd compiled by David Toop, the author of the landmark book
of music "Ocean Of Sound", and released parallel to his new
book "Haunted Weather", published by Serpent's Tail. Features 33
tracks with a total running time of 2 hours+.

The double cd features a wide selection of artists written up in the
book, including Autechre, Oval, Matmos, Fennesz, Pan Sonic, Chris
Watson, Terre Thaemlitz, Alvin Lucier, Otomo Yoshihide, Christian
Marclay, John Oswald, David Toop/Max Eastley and many more.

"Digital technology has changed the ways in which music is perceived,
stored, distributed, mediated and created. The world of music is now
a vast and complex jungle, teeming with CDs, MP3s, concerts, clubs,
festivals, conferences, exhibitions, installations, websites,
software programmes, scenes, ideas and competing theories. In the eye
of the storm stands David Toop, shedding light on the most
interesting music now being made - on laptops, in downtown bars in
Tokyo, wherever he finds it.

Haunted Weather is part personal memoir and part travel journal, as
well as an intensive survey of recent developments in digital
technology, sonic theory and musical practice. Along the way Toop
probes into the meaning of sound (and silence), offering fascinating
insights into how computers can be used for improvisation. His wealth
of musical knowledge provides inspiration for anyone interested in
music."

Sleevenotes by David Toop (from the cd booklet):

"The tracks compiled for these CDs represent a selection of some of
the artists and ideas discussed in my book, Haunted Weather: Music,
Silence and Memory. Haunted weather is a metaphorical term I have
used to suggest a period of uncertainty, excitement and profound
change. The first ideas for the book came to me in a small club in
Tokyo in January, 2000, at a concert called Noise As Silence.
Musicians playing laptop computers and mixing desks were dotted
around the audience, some of them completely hidden from view, yet
all of them connected to each other within a web of sound. None of
them were identifiable through their sounds or actions; the
technology created an appealing sense of ambiguity. Then violinist
Tetsuo Furudate and vocalist Yurihito Watanabe attempted to enter
this improvisation with their more conventional instruments. The
difficulties of this clash were evident as their identifiable
humanity injected specifics of physicality, personality and musical
genre into the mix. A memory had intervened, as if to remind us
that radical developments in technology do not erase history.

Though the concert was frustrating for most of the musicians, I
realised that this event represented, in microcosm, the impact of new
digital
technology on established ways of making music. Computers allow
musicians to create new forms, though these are foreshadowed by
inventions and innovations from the analogue era. Sounds, no matter
how they are produced, have strange, unexpected resonances within
memory. Such echoes from the past emerge through the most
disorientating blitz of information. Despite their image as
instruments of alienation, digital tools can encourage new
relationships to place, community and communication. These new
relationships may not involve digital tools; they may simply suggest
new ways of listening to the world.

The issues raised during that Tokyo gig stayed with me, and developed
into other related questions: was live performance still relevant in
the 21st century; why is music still important; what is the role of
sound and memory in our personal development; why are so many sound
artists interested in the microscopic, or in audio events at the
edges of normal human perception; why has soundscape recording become
so significant; what is the place of atmosphere in listening; why is
silence so important; why do musicians want to improvise, or to play
at all in an era when computers can take over many aspects of musical
production?

Some of these questions are addressed by the artists I have chosen
for this compilation. Many of the tracks have an air of ambiguity
about them. The means through which they are made is not always easy
to decipher. Chris Watson's extraordinary environmental recording of
an Icelandic glacier has an intuitive quality and intense mood that
mirrors the precise yet highly emotional improvisation of Keith Rowe
and John Tilbury. Haco's performance, capturing the oscillating
sounds emitted by the electronic mechanisms of her computer, is not
so far from Alvin Lucier's recordings of sferics, natural radio-
frequency emissions in the ionosphere, caused by electromagnetic
energy radiated from nearby or distant lightning.

Sounds of audio environments captured by Peter Cusack, playing a tape
of a Thurston Moore guitar piece under a rail bridge, or David
Cunningham's installation of electronic feedback and noise gate,
exploring the audio characteristics of rooms , overlap with the sonic
walking tours of Janet Cardiff, Tacita Dean and Sarah Peebles, all
constructing personal narratives of the city with audio recorders.
New sound making devices, such as Sachiko M's use of the pure sine
tones in a digital sampler, or the controlled feedback produced by
Toshimaru Nakamura's no-input mixing desk, overlap with the extremes
of acoustic instrumental technique practiced by saxophonists Evan
Parker and John Butcher. There is a strong sense of the personal, in
which simple approaches document and transform sense impressions that
are otherwise unremarkable. Yuko Nexus6 compiles an ongoing private
diary with cassette tape, Kaffe Matthews explores room resonances
with a theremin, and Toshiya Tsunoda records environments by placing
microphones into resonators such as bottles. In these cases,
listeners can make discoveries about their own perceptions, rather
than assuming an exclusively passive role in relation to music. Just
as the sounds of helicopters, aircraft, air and water are blurred and
enlivened by Tsunoda's recording method, memories of the familiar are
buried under electrical storms of processing in the music of
Autechre, Oval, Matmos, Terre Thaemlitz and Fennesz, recovered and
reassembled through the turntable sampling of Christian Marclay and
Otomo Yoshihide, or, in the case of Jem Finer's Longplayer, extended
through use of the audio software program SuperCollider to last (in
theory) for 1000 years.

Silence forms the base line of much of this work, the first stage in
listening to the world. Electronic compositions by Ryoji Ikeda, Pan
Sonic, Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto are as intensely aware of
silence as the improvisations of Akio Suzuki, Derek Bailey and John
Stevens, or the quartet of Taku Sugimoto, Mark Wastell, Tetuzi
Akiyama and Toshimaru Nakamura. My personal awareness of silence, the
dynamics of collective playing, and the specifics of sound was
developed in the improvisation workshops devised and led by drummer
John Stevens in the early 1970s. As well as including an excerpt from
a live performance by one incarnation of his group, the Spontaneous
Music Ensemble, I dedicate this compilation to his memory."

- David Toop, London, February 2004.

# posted by DJ Martian 5:12 PM

Pitchfork review Lali Puna - Faking the Books

# posted by DJ Martian 12:50 PM

radioio radioioEDGE

An online radio station to check out: radioioEDGE part of a network of 24/7 web radio streaming stations, radioio

Included on their current playlist for radioioEDGE: Matthew Dear, TV on the Radio, Colder, Donna Regina, Sufjan Stevens, Howard Hello.

Other RadioIo stations, are based around sound themes: include: ambient, beat, jazz, 80s, rock.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:42 AM

Sunday, April 25, 2004

SPOTLIGHT...KEY NEW RELEASES [April 19th]

Key new album releases for April 19th [A more detailed release listing including other new releases, compilations and reissues - can be found further up this webpage.]

All That Remains - This Darkened Heart (Prosthetic)
AMute - A Hundred Day Trees (Intr-Version)
Steffen Basho-Junghans - 7 Books (Strange Attractors Audio House) [Import]
Black Devil Disco Club - Timing, Forget The Timing (Rephlex)
Thomas Brinkmann - Tokyo + 1 (Max Ernst)
Bus - Middle of the Road (Scape) [2003 Release, Now Available at Rough Trade]
Cadaver - Necrosis (Candlelight)
Donnasummer - The Unrelenting Songs Of The 1979 Post Disco Crash (Sonig)
Double U - Life Behind A Window (Sonar Kollektiv)
Edit - Crying Over Pros For No Reason (Planet µ)
Fear Factory - Archetype (Roadrunner Records UK)
Firewire - A Tribute To The Manzini (City Centre Offices)
Helios - Unomia (Merck)
Ima Robot - Ima Robot (Virgin) [UK Release 2004]
Iyunx Productions - Short Term Memory Loss (U Cover)
Kabuki - Signal To Noise (Combination records / Shellshock)
Arto Lindsay - Salt (Righteous Babe)
Martyr AD - On Earth As It Is In Hell (Victory)
Wim Mertens - Skopos (Crepuscule)
Mikrofisch - Gleichstorm / Wechselstrom (Schinderwies Productions)
Vinny Miller - On The Block (4AD)
Minimalistik Sweden - Standard Klickmusik (Mitek)
Noxagt - The Iron Point (Load) [Full UK Release]
Ölvis - Ölvis (Resonant)
Raison d'etre - Requiem for Abandoned Souls (Cold Meat Industries) [2003 Release, Now
Available at Rough Trade]
Ratatat - Ratatat (XL)
Seb Rochford Polar Bear - Dim Lit (Babel)
Skalpel - Dusty Tales (Ninja Tune)
Sluta Leta - Semi Peterson (Mego)
Spektrum - Enter The Spektrum (Playhouse)
Craig Taborn - Junk Magic (Thirsty Ear)
1349 - Beyond The Apocalypse (Candlelight)
To Rococo Rot - Hotel Morgan (Domino)
Tweaker - 2 a.m. Wakeup Call (Waxploitation/iMusic) [Import]

# posted by DJ Martian 9:32 PM

MetalReview.com give an astonishing review for Peccatum - Lost In Reverie

Lost in Reverie hardly even comes close to jazz, but is chalk full of experimentation, and it’s an experiment with highly successful results. What at first seems somewhat mismatched and jarring begins to make sense rather quickly. The odd jumble of industrial, darkwave, black metal and even trip hop proves to be expertly crafted; nothing is by accident.

[This album is released, May 25th on End Records]

# posted by DJ Martian 8:37 PM

Saturday, April 24, 2004

This Week's New Releases @ Boomkat

This week's new releases @ Boomkat - A Pelicanneck Online Music Store include:

ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Bitstream - One Third Standard Lux
Modern Love

Compiling some of Bitstream's rarest material to date alongside their most esteemed work, `one third standard lux' is a perfect starting point from which to establish the importance the brothers conner have had on the british electro scene over the last few years and is the first time any of these tracks have been available on cd. Originally brought to our attention by Skam DJ Rob Hall who had picked up their blinding and ultra-rare first EP `Monolith' on the fledgling Signal label back in 1999, Bitstream have been destroying every electro preconception and preset for well over 5 years. Their understanding of twisted percussive structures is governed and at times tamed by an intrinsic melodic quality that imbues some of their best work with a huge emotional reserve. Their love of experimental music (often citing penderecki and ligeti as influences) is also proudly on display, vocal treatments on the harrowing "lost cluster" and "madame resonance"showing this to most devastating effect, while the unadulterated crunchy euphoria of the classic "radiotherapy" acts as the perfect album opener. With a formidable catalogue of releases to date for labels like city centre offices and their own pylon recordings, bitstream transcend the confines of the electronic dancefloor through to a much broader spectrum of sound. "one third standard lux" is the definitive retrospective of that particular sound, a prelude to a new body of work due to arrive with a new album by the end of the year. Mighty. **tracklisting : 1/. radiotherapy 2/. retreat pod 3/.lost cluster 4/. incubator (extended) 5/. stream one 6/. stream 2 7/.speed of light 8/. madame resonance 9/.bionic hands of dj daddy longlegs part 1 10/.bass movements 11/. green beam**

ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Claro Intelecto - Neurofibro
Ai

The simple fact is that Techno and Electro albums don't tend to work. When they do, everyone sits up and takes notice. Think Derrick May's "Innovator" , Carl Craig's "More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art", Jeff Mills' "Waveform Transmissions", The Other People Place "Lifestyles of the Laptop Cafe', Psyche / BFC's "Elements" and most recently Ricardo Vilalobos' "Alcachofa". That's more than 15 years of Techno reduced to a handful of albums defining their moment, pushing the boundaries a little bit further. "Neurofibro" is one such rarity. An album that works from start to finish, taking in a myriad styles, paying homage to the masters and developing some new tricks all its own. Claro Intelecto first made an appearance in early 2003 - his remarkable "Peace of Mind" 12" fast becoming the most discussed dancefloor debut for years. The name for his hugely anticipated debut album `Neurofibro' derives from the nerve disease Neurofibromatosis - a set of genetic disorders which cause tumors to grow along various types of nerves and, in addition, can affect the development of non-nervous tissues such as bones and skin. It's a disease that has accompanied Mark Stewart throughout the recording of his debut album - and has ironically provided him with its perfect Techno title. The album is a masterpiece of continuously shifting mood and tempo - controlling the floor from the Theo Parrish paced deep house of "Percentages" to the piano-driven soundscaping of "Baudrillards Supper" to the crushing Warehouse acid of "Back" to the already classic sounding generic hybrids of EP hits "Chicago", "Peace of Mind", "Section" and "Contact". In the end all that's needed to describe where exactly this record fits in is one word : CLASSIC. Album of the year, no doubt. ** note that cd and vinyl tracklistings are different! on the cd you will find : 1] peace of mind 2] percentages 3] resonation 4] baudrillards supper 5] tria 6] mono 7] section 8] back 9] contact 10] you not me 11] chicago 12] nobody 13] your trophy **

Doctor Rockit - The Unnecessary History Of.....
Accidental

This will be Doctor Rockit's final release and includes music from 1996-2003, including deleted tracks from `The Music Of Sound' album, released by influential label Clear back in 1996. Its good to hear how well some of these classics have aged, finding the contrast between the hugely popular "Café De Flore" and the sheer House depth of tracks like "Cameras and Rocks" and the magnificent "Tape Measure". For deep blue soul music for the floor, as well as the romantically tinged electronic hybrid music that has been a Herbert signature of late - this is quite simply a wonderful compilation from the man's most inspired alter-ego. Full tracklisting is as follows : Cameras And Rocks, How Do You Do?, Hi-Speed Rockit, The S The E The 2 And The 3, Veselka's Diner, Tape Measure, Runner On Hastings Beach, Café De Flore, Hymnformation, Nicotine, Photos And Pebbles, Looprode, I Wish I Was and Granny Delicious. Lovely.

Grooves - Issue 13
Grooves
Mag // £ 4.99

It's the latest issue of one of the worlds most comprehensive electronic music magazines - with a cover story about digital music downloads plus features about Vladislav Delay, Funkstorung, Lali Puna, cLOUDDEAD, Slicker, RJD2, Felix Kubin and more. Theres a packed reviews section, plus a comprehensive look at all the latest music making gear. You know what to expect - an excellent read.

Helios - Unomia
Merck

The work of Keith Kennif, Helios is without question the most interesting new addition to the Merck rosta for some time. His blend of evocative electronic production and his stunning command of an array of acoustic instruments - most notably the piano, makes for a captivating listen through some of the 13 tracks on board. There are some overly familiar nods to the Boards of Canada on tracks like "Velius", "Suns that Circling Go" and "Clementine" - but when the tempo shifts and the electronic instrumentation is shoved over to one side in favour of more traditional instrumentation and unusual recording techniques, "Unomia" really shines. "Cullin Hill" is the first of these moments on the album - tinkling piano sketches echoing in the distance, while "West Orange" is a simply breathtaking display of classical composition dragged into stranger climes. As such "Unomia" has a split personality - veering from accomplished but ultimately safe electronic terrain to a wildly daring understatement of skill and heart-stopping musical ability. In other words - half this album is OK, the other half incredibly good. Buy now and start counting the days until the release of Keith's mind-boggling, awesome piano-led, non-electronic album for the Type imprint towards the tail-end of this year. Lovely.

Jason Forrest (Donna Summer) - The Unrelenting Songs Of The 1979 Post Disco Crash
Sonig

Jason Forrest, the artist you'll also now as Donna Summer, is a celebrity among electronic artists. He samples, deconstructs and reconstructs himself into a rage while driving audiences to the verge of madness. Forrest obviously knows his disco and his prog rock; he's a maniac who controls his machines with dreamlike competence. His knowledge of repertoires and styles seems boundless. He mixes the most trashy with the most beautiful and the most rocking elements of the disco-decade into lavish sets, which, believe it or not, are perfectly danceable. Samples sound as if they had been broken three times and patched up four times. Big band-like brass sections! Wild guitar solos! And, of course, always the disco, disco, DISCO! Wild and deadly fun.

Kid Spatula - Meast
Planet Mu

Much discussed double cd collection of over 30 outtakes and unreleased tracks from the man Mike Paradinas, aka Mu-Ziq, aka µ-Ziq, aka Kid Spatula, aka that bloke who's mates with Aphex and Vibert and runs the really rather tasty Planet-Mu imprint. Phew. "Meast" consists of material that dates back to the 1994-1998 period and is perhaps closest stylistically in places to his material as Gary Moscheles, Jake Slazenger and his collaboration with Rich (cornwall tank-driving goatee rich) - Mike and Rich. A total antithesis to his complex DSP'd mashups for last year's "'bilious paths'" album, "Meast " is a largely playful, loveable collection of electronic lullablies and feel-good numbers from an era when electronic music was more about escapism and fun than about digits, advertising and the spotting of the train. (eh?). Anyway, there are some fabulously messy and unnecessary moments across these two cd's but, largely, "Meast" is a life-affirming album that will take you back to that time when everything about electronica, or IDM as it came to be known (ickkkk), made you feel special and more in tune with the world than your mates who insisted on going to every Levellers gig in every university town across the country every bloody week. Hey - you were cleverer than them then, and you're cleverer than them now. Lovely stuff and excellent value - buy.

Klimek - Milk & Honey
Kompakt

Latest Kompakt ambient comes from Sebastian Meissner, resident of frankfurt/main. A conceptual artist, composer, sound designer and photographer, presents his latest project "milk&honey", after considered works for labels such as mille plateaux, beta bodega, sub rosa and cronica, reinstalling his klimek guise on kompakt. Meissner's works are mainly concerned with coincidence, which in case of klimek bases itself on the classic analog soundsource: guitar. slow motion soundshapes unfold into boundless width and contemplative silence. pictures, references, associations, predilections rove atop the imagination. "milk & honey" draws on the italian western and the classic roadmovie. Meissner rather refers to the country where milk and honey flows, which is reflected on the coverartwork and in the quicktime movie contained on the cd version. his photographs also form the raw material for the multimedia installations. this album sounds as if a lonely guitar - scattered to the four winds ^ escapes the ear. a perfect, suspenseful soundtrack for a sultry thunderstorm. Music for climatic disaster - and quite possibly the most absorbign release on Kompakt yet.

Schneider Tm - Reconfigures
Earsugar

A limited edition album of restyles and remixes by Schneider TM. Contains rare & unreleased mixes of Lamb, Lambchop, The Faint, Philip Boa & The Voodooclub, Ruby, Pulse Programming, Rechenzentrum, Boss Hog and more. Dirk's approach to Lambchop's 'The New Cobweb Summer' is a classic example of his 'versioning' technique. "I try to treat the songs as though they were my own songs and give them a Schneider TM dress." Recorded by Schneider in Lanzarote, this mix of 'Cobweb' is definitely a summer dress. After seeing Schneider TM perform, Lamb's Andy Barlow and vocalist Lou Rhodes asked Dirk to 'version' some of their material, the result being Schneider's remake of the Lamb track 'Wonder', a restyle that is exclusive to `Reconfigures'. ·Limited edition 3000 gatefold digipack CD & ltd edition 500 clear vinyl LP, both formats featuring different sleeve art. Lovely.

Sylvain Chauveau - Des Plumes Dans La Tête
Dsa

Sylvain Chauveau is a self-thought musician from paris, france. `Des plumes dans la tête', his third album, is filled with pianos, cello, viola, silences and digital clicks and shows a real cinematographic approach to music, with erik satie, claude debussy, guy debord and jean-luc godard as his guides. Chauveau exposes the rough beauty of piano music, and creates some fragile and melancholy compositions. If comparison have been made to yann tiersen, chauveau's music is more abstract and intensely beautiful. His album for Fat Cat last year brought this young musician to the attention of the more discerning, giving him the chance to support sigur ros on their 2002 european tour, and was one of the top 10 records of the year according to ryuichi sakamoto. Sublime music.

Thomas Brinkmann - Tokyo + 1
Max Ernst

This latest full-length excursion from Thomas Brinkmann follows his habitual reliance on concept - the focus here being the sounds and scopes of Tokyo. Having become known for his tight percussive structures and reliance on carefully edited loops - it's nice to see Brinkmann loosen up a little and explore more diverse and textured musical landscapes. Each of the pieces here revolves around a re-edited allignment of found sounds and urban field recordings - people filling the Tokyo streets, the subway system, arcade machines and even distant Western pop songs reconfigured and looped. "Tokyo+1" is quite easily Brinkmann's most diverse work to date - ranging from the straight dubwise house of "3 st. 2 Shinjuku" to the motorik looped noise minimalism of "Mamas" and "109 Competition". Recommended.

Deerhoof - Milk Man
A.T.P.

New album from hotly tipped Deerhoof, a 4 piece who hail from San Francisco. They are admired by Sonic Youth, Matt Groening and Stephen Malkmus who have all invited them to play ATP. All Tomorrows Parties have licensed 'Milkman' from Washington, Olympia's eternally chic Kill Rock Stars label. In keeping with previous Kill Rock Stars releases - which include Elliot Smith, Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney - Deerhoof adopt a fresh, original take on oddball acoustica - made possible by an intriguing cross-cultural band lineup.

Wiley - Treddin' On Thin Ice
XL

XL unleash the next big underground t'ing in the form of grimey beat and ultra lo-fi two step producer Wiley. Infamous for his General Midi style dubplates, some of which were beatless one sided 12"'s with a simplistic riff on, some of which contained the most blinding new music you've ever heard, and most of them exceedingly hard to get hold of outside of London . As well as the humorous yet badly formatted new 12" `Wot Do U Call It?' the album contains more of the heavy beats that Wiley rolls so well, and some other more mid tempo numbers. The brilliant `Pies' is a class Wiley track, ace toytown synths, proper ruff vocals and staggered r and b beats all stick together for a top flow, likewise on the title track which is a fine UK r and b cut, TOTP for the Wiley Cat? For the best example of the Wiley sound, check the dark and grimey opener `The Game' for a true to life urban soundtrack, fresh.

Pipi Skid - Funny Farm
Peanuts & Corn

The magnificent Peanuts and Corn label return with this new album from Pipi Skid (of Fermented Reptile & Farm Fresh)- his first solo work since 2001's `Friends4ever'. `Funny Farm' is a far more personal set, with a more private writing style, and none of the many collaborations that charactersed `Friends'. The only guest vocalist is Mcenroe, who also produced all tracks. His heavily politicised, frustrated-working-class spleen is given full vent here across a range of topical subjects, while themes of loneliness and isolation also reccur. Add these insights to Mcenroe's hypnotic loops designed to make heads nod, and you have an album that will be fighting Sage Francis and atmosphere for a place at the front of your collection. If you're a fan of Mcenroes work (and if not - you should be!) - check this out without delay.

Ty Feat Roots Manuva - Oh U Want More
Big Dada

The one man army meets the one man powerhouse as Big Dada delivers a unique clash of South London hip hop titans. The one and only Roots Manuva returns to vinyl as a very special guest on Ty's `So U Want More?' - a bruising re-work of one of the standout tracks from his critically acclaimed album, `Upwards' The cd features Oh U Want More? (original), So U Want More? (revox) feat. Roots Manuva, So U Want More? (refix) feat. Roots Manuva, while the 12" features Oh U Want More? (original) So U Want More? (revox) feat. Roots Manuva, Oh U Want More? (original instrumental), So U Want More? (refix) feat. Roots Manuva and So U Want More? (refix instrumental). Wikkid.

Various / Anticon - Anticon Sampler
ABR0031CD

Amazingly good value 33 track sampler from the Anticon crew, featuring past, present and future members of their gloriously rich, oddball, genre-defying family. Anticon's editorial ear, Odd Nosdam, has selected, arranged and seamlessly blended and mixed tracks from Anticon's entire catalogue from 1999 to 2004. His selections range from a song taken from Anticon's first proper full length, Deep Puddle Dynamics (featuring Slug of Atmosphere), to yet-to-be-released tracks from upcoming records by Passage, Sole, Jel, Pedestrian and Restiform Bodies. And for under £4, you can't go wrong. Buy!

Wax Poetics
Issue 8 - Spring 2004
Wax Poetics
Mag // £ 7.99

Latest and possibly greatest issue yet from this indispensable magazine that by now needs no further introduction. In this issue >>> an in depth and entertaining interview with Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse >>> Dante 'Express Rising' Carfagna's Left-Field Americana spot (a second mortgage is required if you want to buy any of the albums featured, especially now) >>> a feature on the vinyl collector's collector Joe Bussard (insane, The 78 King) >>> an interview with author and legendary jazz critic Nat Hentoff >>> an interview and career retrospective of the funkmeister Eddie Bo (the photo on page 60 is alone worth the shelf price of this mag)>>> on the hip and the hop, the interview for life, with DJ Premier - word Premo and the official Madvillain interview hosted by the man Egon >>> part 1 of Philip Sherbourne's guide to avant turntablism, this part featuring Christian Marclay >>> a guide to spoken word albums by Steinski >>> rounding it off an excellent afrobeat article, a James 'Blood' Ulmer interview and a Wilson Simonal life story feature. If that's not enough this issue's cover was designed by Ehquestionmark in the style of the Danger Mouse album cover, gold foil textures and all. Completely essential.

Black Ox Orkestar - Ver Tanzt?
Constellation

Moving debut album from this new Montreal-based quartet on the intriguing Constellation imprint. Black Ox Orkestar are comprised of members of bands as diverse as Godspeed You ! Black Emperor, Sackville and Silver Mt. Zion. Filtering traditional European Jewish folk music (mostly Hassidic) through post-rock aesthetics, Ver Tanzt? is an important record, both revealing the roots and influences underlying much of the Constellation catalogue and making traditional Klezmer music accessible to a contemporary audience. Along with Elizabeth Anka Vajagic's `Stand With the Stillness of This Day', this album marks the beginning of a new chapter in Constellation's history: a move away from the epic, instrumental post-rock associated so closely with the label into new but altogether more traditional territory. The album is available on CD and 180g LP formats, each in lovely chipboard packaging, and both featuring an 8-page booklet. Highly Recommended.

Brightblack - Ala.Cali.Tucky
Galaxia

Alabama acoustic porch folk blanketed in Marin County fog, this is the debut release for this collective fronted by songwriter Nathan d. Shineywater, featuring Rachel Hughes on haunted whisper of a vocal and acoustic piano, the instrumentation on this album complements Plush Canyon vocals. Paul Oldham engineered and helped produce some of the songs, he also played the bass guitar. Brother Will Oldham (Palace, Bonnie Prince Billy etc) even stopped by one day to sing a high harmony. Claimed influences range from My Bloody Valentine to the Grateful Dead's early records. The music is as friendly as it is stony, like a countrified galaxie 500 or Mazzy Star. There's even a little willie nelson-esque camp-fire ballad "old letters". Lovely

Calexico - Black Heart
City Slang

The wonderful title track is taken from last year's acclaimed album Feast Of Wire, and features a number of exclusive b-sides, including remixes by Gotan Project, Jazzanova, Wechsel Garland (Morr Music), iso68 and Panoptica. In addition, the CD includes an enhanced section featuring a live performance of Black Heart filmed at The Barbican in London during the Further Beyond Nashville festival in November 2002. · Lovely.

The Beta Band - Heroes To Zeros
Regal

After a long journey of distillation from song concept through the final mixes, the self-produced 3rd album from The Beta Band has arrived. 'Assessment', the first single, features duelling guitars & blaring brass, & is the most loud, full-on rock they've ever recorded. Other songs include 'Out-Side', a tribal drum throwdown featuring dogs barking, seagulls squawking & trains chuffing. 'Easy' has got the funk, 'Rhododendron' is a beautiful instrumental. The organ-led & mantric 'Space Beatle' welcomes us to the church of Beta & the thrashy, phased 'Liquid Bird' gives it some softened up vitriol. Not quite recapturing the incredible charm and promise of the 3 EP's, but rather good nonetheless.

Tim Wright - Thirst
Novamute

Latest album from the underrated Tim Wright. Hailing from York, his first two twelves for Mute a couple years back found its way into many discerning boxes. Tim has picked up even further, as so many seem to have, on the innovations of the spiralling grime and 'what do you call it...'scenes. An apt enough question prompted when listening to this album, blending the cascade and pressure of ukgarridge with a savvy ear for a more electroid approach to breaks and beats. Toastie Taylor will be familiar from the latest single, the rest blends and bangs in convincing fashion. Explore...

# posted by DJ Martian 4:06 PM

Issue 3 of Keep On Magazine - is now on sale

KEEP ON MAGAZINE: ISSUE 3

Issue 3 has recently hit the shops and includes in-depth
interviews with Blaze, Nicky Siano (including some great
photos from the Gallery), Cosmo, Amp Fiddler, Kenny Hawkes,
Digs and Woosh, Stacey Pullen, Quantic, Alexander Robotnick,
and photographer James Lange. There's also the story of how
the first twelve inch records were made (taken from Tim
Lawrence's Love Saves The Day), a Sam Records boogie
profile, and an introduction to Drum Programming by Jay-J.
Plus a host of house, tech-house, broken beat, disco, funk
and soul reviews, listings, competitions and news.

# posted by DJ Martian 1:08 PM

JockeySlut.com have an interview feature with the psychedelic rockers Grand National

# posted by DJ Martian 12:57 PM

BBC Collective review The Beta Band - Heroes To Zeros

# posted by DJ Martian 12:53 PM

The Wire - May 2004

A new issue of The Wire is now available, featuring a themed issue: The State of Song - 60 eccentric singers and songs that break the mould.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:43 PM

This week's Jazz on 3 show on Radio 3 features Dave Binney live plus a history lesson on British improvised music and major label, CBS

Tonight we're looking back to a short period in the late sixties when label giant CBS decided to expand their horizons and throw their weight behind the British improvised music scene

# posted by DJ Martian 12:33 PM

The latest Mixing It show on Radio 3 features live tracks from Growing and Trans Am

# posted by DJ Martian 12:31 PM

Friday, April 23, 2004

Next week's releases are reviewed @ Norman Records

# posted by DJ Martian 2:36 PM

NME.com are several months late with the news that MISSION OF BURMA are returning with a new album.

However it is worth noting that the UK release of Mission of Burma: OnoffON is May 31st, i.e several weeks later than the US release date.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:02 PM

The Guardian review The Beta Band - Heroes to Zeros

# posted by DJ Martian 11:33 AM

Pitchfork review Craig Taborn - Junk Magic

# posted by DJ Martian 11:20 AM

Thursday, April 22, 2004

OMM Observer Music Monthly

Reminder, that the new issue of the Observer Music Monthly is available with this coming Sunday's Observer newspaper.

Next Music Monthly on sale: 25 April

Last issue of OMM: Observer Music Monthly

# posted by DJ Martian 11:17 PM

If I were an editor of a weekly music magazine this week's front cover would feature: Fennesz

This week's front cover choice features Fennesz, his new album: Venice gets a full UK release on April 26th on Touch records. [Having previously been available from some specialist stores since early March]

Info @ Touch Records

Touch # TO:53
CD - 49:13
12 tracks
UK release date 26th April 2004

"Venice" was recorded on location in the summer of 2003 and subsequently assembled and mixed at Amann Studios, Vienna in January/February 2004.

"Venice", the fourth studio album by Christain Fennesz, finds electronic music at a crossroads between its early status as digital subculture, and the feeling that there has to be something more, an emotional quality that rises above noise and moves towards melody and rapture.

Track listing:

1. rivers of sand
2. château rouge
3. city of light
4. onsra
5. circassian
6. onsay
7. the other face
8. transit
9. the point of it all
10. laguna
11. asusu
12. the stone of impermanence

Metacritic reviews for Fennesz - Venice

Touch records also have a selection of reviews for Fennesz - Venice

Reminder all tracks from the album can be streamed @ BBC website, for this week only.

# posted by DJ Martian 10:51 PM

One World - 4AD Label special

This week's One World Show on Radio 1 features: One World: 4AD Label Special

This week on One World, tune in for 25 years of the 4AD Record label - home to the likes of The Pixies, Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, Dead Can Dance, The Cocteau Twins, Throwing Muses, Mojave 3 and The Breeders to name but a few.

» One World

[Reminder, this show has a listen again feature - after broadcast for upto 7 days]

# posted by DJ Martian 9:11 PM

Musique Machine review Mayhem - Chimera

# posted by DJ Martian 6:37 PM

Dusted review To Rococo Rot - Hotel Morgan

# posted by DJ Martian 12:04 PM

Pitchfork review a Les Savy Fav compilation: Les Savy Fav - Inches

# posted by DJ Martian 11:57 AM

The Brainwashed Brain V07I15 - 04182004

This week's The Brainwashed Brain includes reviews of:

Matmos - Rat Relocation Program
Locust

Robert Lippok - Falling into komËit
Monika Enterprise

Lali Puna - Faking the Books
Morr Music

OOIOO - Kila Kila Kila
Thrill Jockey

Accelera Deck - Sunstrigns EP
Scarcelight

The Ramm:Ell:Zee - This Is What You Made Me
Tri-Eight Recordings

# posted by DJ Martian 12:07 AM

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

The latest releases are reviewed by NYC's Other Music: The Other Music Update

NEW RELEASES
Vast Aire
Lali Puna
Tape
Yesterday's New Quintet
Bulent (Reissue)
Ratatat

Vinny Miller
Gene Estribou & Jean-Paul Pickens (Reissue)
Architecture in Helsinki
Mitchell Akiyama
Bright Eyes & Neva Dinova

ALSO AVAILABLE
Keith Rowe & Christian Fennesz
Black Dice & Wolf Eyes

# posted by DJ Martian 11:31 PM

Playlouder review Automato - Automato

# posted by DJ Martian 11:20 PM

New Album in May: Cranes - Particles & Waves

Portsmouth's finest band Cranes have announced a new album: Particles & Waves

1. Vanishing Point
2. K56
3. Every Town
4. Here Comes the Snow
5. Particles and Waves
6. Avenue A
7. Astronauts
8. Far From the City
9. Streams
10.Light Song

'Particles and Waves' is the long awaited 7th studio album release from Cranes. Their first new studio release since the highly acclaimed 'Future Songs' album of 2001. Release dates to be confirmed soon!

Source: Cranes

According to this news webpage: it will be released in May: Cranes

Information @ DJPeanuts.co.uk an Amazon.co.uk affiliate, states a May 31st release date.

# posted by DJ Martian 1:58 PM

Marillion: Steve Hogarth on 6 Music - Freak Zone: April 25th

Marillion news:

Steve H will be interviewed by Stuart Maconie for 6music's Freakzone show on Sunday 25 April (show goes out 10pm-1am, Steve will appear in the 11pm-12am segment).

» 6 Music: The Freak Zone with Stuart Maconie

# posted by DJ Martian 1:05 PM

The Cure: Album Release Confirmed for June

Xfm report a release date of June 21st has been scheduled for the yet untitled album from The Cure

Yahoo Finance: PR Newswire have an official press release from I Am/ Geffen records, confirming this.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:14 PM

Goldfrapp are special guests on the Janice Long show on Radio 2

Thu 22nd (Wed into Thu) Janice is joined by Goldfrapp, hot from supporting Duran Duran.

[Note, this show has a listen again feature]

# posted by DJ Martian 11:52 AM

Strange Attractors Audio House have the press release info for Kinski - Don't Climb On and Take the Holy Water [Release Date: May 4, 2004]

# posted by DJ Martian 11:48 AM

MusicOMH.com review Fear Factory - Archetype

# posted by DJ Martian 12:05 AM

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

BBC Music review Sticks and Stones - Shed Grace on Thrill Jockey

# posted by DJ Martian 9:49 PM

BW & BK report the latest Marduk news: MARDUK To Enter The Studio This Summer

# posted by DJ Martian 8:55 PM

For my US readers: One Little Indian record label are re-releasing their back catalogue in the US: as reported: One Little Indian In America

including: a.r.kane [i and 69] and Diso Inferno [D.I. Goes Pop and Technicolour] re-issues today [April 20th]

# posted by DJ Martian 7:32 PM

The latest Breezeblock show features a DJ Mix set by Tiga: The Breezeblock Tracklistings

>> Breezeblock Next Week's Show:

26th April
Fatcat Records on the Block
Mum interview and mix

# posted by DJ Martian 5:53 PM

This week's flavorpill LONDON a weekly email magazine covering music, art, and cultural events

# posted by DJ Martian 3:28 PM

BW & BK report Japanese Avant Metal band SIGH - Prepare For New Album [with an early 2005 release date planned]

# posted by DJ Martian 3:10 PM

Ping-O-Matic: A New Service for Bloggers

Launched today: Ping-O-Matic

About: Ping-O-Matic

There a number of services designed specifically for tracking and connecting blogs. However it would be expensive for all the services crawl all the blogs in the world all the time. By sending a small ping to each service you let them know you've updated so they can come check you out. They get the freshest data possible, you don't get a thousand robots spidering your site all the time. Everybody wins

# posted by DJ Martian 2:36 PM

Orbital: Blue is the Colour !

Barcode report Orbital will release a new album on June 21st

The official Orbital website, notes that the album will be called the Blue Album.

The next Orbital album is finished and will be released on June 21st 2004 on Orbital own label - Orbital Music.

1. Transient
2 . Pants
3 . Tunnel Vision
4 . Lost
5 . You Lot
6 . Bath Time
7 . Acid Pants
8 . Easy Serv
9 . One Perfect Sunrise

The new album features a variety of collaborations including Sparks, Lisa Gerrard and Instrumental. More information will be released soon...

>> Orbital - Blue Album

# posted by DJ Martian 2:28 PM

Barcode report Capitol K will release a new album: Happy Happy on May 17th.

Full press release @ Capitol K

Happy Happy, the fourth release from Capitol K - and the first on self-run label Faith and Industry - is the follow-up to 2002's Island Row. It's the most fully realized of Capitol K's recordings to date: a home made, kaleidoscopic hybrid of precision electronics rendered boldly and beautifully live by an eclectic four-piece band; personal twists with a global perspective and psychedelic excursions interrupted by impromptu all-night parties in the parts of the city you can only reach by bike......

# posted by DJ Martian 2:23 PM

MusicOMH.com review The Beta Band - Heroes To Zeros (Regal)

# posted by DJ Martian 2:20 PM

Motorhead - Inferno

BW & BK report MOTORHEAD Album Title Confirmed and [set for June release]

# posted by DJ Martian 12:08 AM

New ELEND album in autumn

Elend are currently finishing the production of their forthcoming album
"Sunwar the Dead", scheduled for release through Prophecy Productions in
September 2004. The album will be the second part of a 5-album cycle. In
contrast to the transitional work "Winds Devouring Men" (the prologue to
this cycle released in 2003), the pieces of music featured on "Sunwar the
Dead" are the fastest and most violent ones ever written by the composers.
For the first time Elend have recorded with a complete classical ensemble
featuring strings, brass, woodwinds, orchestral percussion and female choir.

[Via PROPHECY productions e-mail]

# posted by DJ Martian 12:01 AM

Monday, April 19, 2004

The latest Cult of Luna news:

We will enter the Tonteknik Studio on the 22nd of April to start the recording of a brand new album. All the hours, days and weeks we've spent writing, arranging and compiling new songs, will finally be payed off. We are highly focused and determined to make our contribution to rock-history noticable. The album will be produced by our selves as usual. Expect it to be finished late June, and to be released later this fall.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:58 PM

The much delayed Bark Psychosis album: CODENAME: dustsucker is now due July 2004.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:54 PM

BBC Album of the Week is Fennesz - Venice

# posted by DJ Martian 11:22 PM

Stylus review Espers - Espers

# posted by DJ Martian 11:06 PM

New Releases @ Piccadilly Records

Some new releases listed in the weekly guide [via e-mail] from Manchester's music emporium: Piccadilly Records

Grand National - Talk Amongst Yourselves
Sunday Best

"Talk Amongst Yourselves" is the second single from this duo, driven by an 80s electronic synth line (which reminds me of early Depeche Mode!), it has a choppy rhythm guitar (kinda Nile Rogers / Bernard Sumner - possibly a cooler reference than DM?!) and harmonies that you'll be singing to yourself all day. Depending on which member of the band you ask, it's either about getting over depression or it's about puking up in a toilet after going motocross riding in Kings Cross! Either way, I love it - it's an absolute gem!

Icewater Scandal - No Handle
Social Registry

Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth volunteered to produce the bands first record at SY's Echo Canyon studio. These sessions are now available on Icewater Scandal's debut album "No Handle". This album further hones their musical instincts taking 60's experimental music a la the Dream Syndicate et al, and merging that with 80's exprimental indie rock. "No Handle" is at times muscular and other times cerebral, without losing any flair.

Ima Robot - Ima Robot
Virgin

Debut album from this LA five piece who play ridiculously joyful, synth-noise-pop with a heavy dose of Devo. Frenzied keyboard attacks merged with slower melodic synth-pop.

Vinny Miller - On The Block
4AD

"Breaking Out Of Your Arms" is a heartbreakingly fragile and disarmingly simple ballad, Vinny's fractured falsetto emerging from a haze of tape noise and bringing with it the gift for genuinely haunting, utterly surreptitious melodic invention that surfaces throughout the album. "Pigpen" is a dense, grindingly rhythmic explosion whose violence is barely held in check, and its stark emotional impact is as arresting today as Tim Rose's baying and bellowing on "Morning Dew" was forty years ago. Take these two songs together, and a picture starts to come into focus - of an unusually gifted singer who refuses to be content with stock manoeuvres. "On The Block" is the sound of a man pushing things as far as he can, constantly shifting away from the easy option - in short, there's a ferocious, driven playfulness at work. In all - an album which somehow manages to remain ungraspable. And just as it's difficult to know where to start, it's difficult to guess where it will finish. For now, though, "On The Block" is a tantalising postcard from unmapped territory.

New Order - In Session
Strange Fruit

This is a 10 track collection of Evening Session and John Peel stuff. There's 5 songs from 1998, their 'comeback' year, when they reclaimed their own past with "Isolation" and "Atmosphere". The former is chunky and rounded (as opposed to sparse and minimal) whilst the latter they play the same as they did (well you would, wouldn't you!). It's lovely to hear Bernard singing them. "True Faith" and "Touched By The Hand Of God" sound updated (from '87 to '89!) with balearic beats and trancey keyboards that wouldn't sound out of place on "Technique". There's 4 songs from 2001- 3 from "Get Ready", but it's the gorgeous "Your Silent Face" you'll want here. Finally, there's an enhanced section featuring a performance from John Peel's "40 Years at Radio One" party. The track they play is "Transmission". Nuff said.

Noxagt - The Iron Point
Load

Norwegian 3-piece Noxagt come at you with record #2. Bass, drums and viola configured for maximum damage to ear canals. This record swings hard, rocks like a demon and has some majestic dimensions. Billy Anderson (Melvins, Sleep) produced this slab with an eye for skull-burning bass crunk, artery bursting drum hits, and full spectrum viola rake. For fans of hard rock and swinging riffage, dirty crawl such as the Melvins, and single minded pummel like label mates / touring partners Lightning Bolt.

Olvis - Olvis
Resonant

Olvis' music inhabits an easily defined territory concentrating almost solely on warm, engaging guitar based instrumental pieces - very accessible but without being generic or staid in any way.

Puerto Muerto - See You In Hell
Fire

"See You In Hell" is the official follow up to Puerto Muerto's mind blowing debut "Your Bloated Corpse Has Washed Ashore". An album of epic proportions – "See You In Hell" is the bands finest hour drawing on influences ranging from the brash Clash-esque opener ("Atlantic City") thru the traditional Johnny Cash inspired honest americana of "Walking Boss" to the filmic anthem of "Stars".

Ratatat - Ratatat
XL

Ratatat are Mike Stroud (Ben Kweller, Dashboard Confessional) and Evan (co-founder of the Audio Dregs label and better known as the artist E*Vax). Mike left on tour, he was always leaving on tour but he had to, had to play music, had to make a living. Evan was often left alone to cook up new beats and make CDRs. He would mail them to Mike on the road, and he scattered them amomgst a thousand or so people around the world. People took to the sound, the buzz began. At the time they were called Cherry and everyone wanted to hear more, or better yet sing for them, but this was never going to be the case. Then Paul Banks from Interpol got a demo. He took to the sound, but he never asked to sing for them. He asked them to open for his band on the West Coast.

Suicide - Attempted: Live At Max's Kansas City 1980
Sympathy For The Record Industry

This primal duo recorded live at Max's Kansas City in 1980, never intended for commercial release, this 'no-frills' raw and wild punk ritual illustrates why suicide are among rock 'n' roll's consummate performers. Using only a 1950's rhythm machine and a cheap farfisa keyboard on their legendary and eponymous self tilted debut in 1977, Suicide are considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of today's electronica movement. This record released for the first time ever is nearly 80 minutes long and contains previously unreleased songs.

Tweaker - 2am Wakeup Call
IMusic

"2 a.m. Wakeup Call" is the highly anticipated follow to the critically acclaimed Tweaker (aka Chris Vrenna) debut "The Attraction To All Things Uncertain". It is an organic and compelling album involving surreal themes alluding to sleep, nightmares, insomnia and dreams. Enhancing the lush instrumentals are alluring vocal collaborations with guests including Robert Smith (The Cure), Will Oldham (Palace), Jennifer Charles (Elysian Fields), David Slyvian, Mellowdrone and others.

Twelve - First Album
Silber

The debut album from Chris Olley from Six By Seven. A slowed down experimental rock album with krautrock tones, beats and pulsing electronica with loops and guitar in the mix. The album explores all these genres but is finely honed and even pop in places.

Various Artists - DJ Kicks - Erlend Oye
K7

Erlend Oye takes the DJ Kicks blueprint to a whole new level here, singing versions of songs over other instrumentals, as well as providing a smooth DJ mix. So you get him singing Jane's "It's A Fine Day" over his own "Sheltered Life", "Prego Amore" over Jolly Music's "Radio Jolly", "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" over Royksopp's "Poor Leno" etc. As well as these sung tracks, there's also a load of original tracks with no singing - Phoenix "If I Ever Feel Better", Alan Braxe & Fred Falke "Rubicon", Ricardo Villalobos "Dexter" etc.

To Rococo Rot - Hotel Morgan
Domino

German artists To Rococo Rot return with their strongest album to date, Hotel Morgen, a brilliant showcase of their brand of minimalist and pulsating avant / electronic music.

Various Artists / Flow
Make Mine Music

16 new and exclusive tracks by Avrocar, Epic 45, Innerise, July Skies, Northern Lakes, Portal, Schengen, Yellow6 and Weyland. Make Mine Music is the record label run by the artists Portal, Yellow6, Schengen, Innerise, Weyland, Epic 45, July Skies and Avrocar. Each band is responsible for its own releases, with no other band or individual having any influence. Any decisions about the label are taken collectively and with full agreement of all band members. Any money that is made or lost by the label on joint ventures like compilation albums is divided equally. Crucially, each band supports the others by offering moral support and sharing advice, information and contacts. The label is based on the idea of strength through unity, and the wish to remain independent. This way, the music is recorded and presented exactly as each artist intends.

Spektrum - Enter The Spectrum
Playhouse

Arriving fully formed and perfect with their ultra-limited debut single "Breaker" (included here) back in 2001, the East End quartet caught the wave of the punk-funk / disco-not-disco revival. Claiming never to have heard of US groups like ESG, Liquid Liquid etc, they've carved their own loose limbed, sleazy, sexy future-retro sound out and pulled the rug from under the pastiche and slavish copy crowd. This LP also includes the singles "Freakbox", "Freefall" and "Kinda New" (the original mix, that was only previously on a free 7" with early copies of the twelve). Since we got sent a CDR back in late February (2004), "Enter The Spektrum" has taken up residence on our shop CD player, and is one of my fave LPs of the year so far. ESSENTIAL!!

Putsch 79 - Putsch
Clone

The Finnish duo of Sami Liuski (Bangkok Impact) and Pauli Jylhankangas present their debut full length on Holland's Clone. The influence of Metro Area goes without saying, but suitably enough Putsch 79's take on contemporary electronic disco is a much more Euro-informed sound. The Dutch underground has long been obsessed with the 80s Italo scene and that inspiration has clearly reached the miniscule Finnish outpost.

Various Artists / Creme Organization - You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!
Creme Organization

Holland's Creme Organization have been putting out wonderful combinations of techno, electro and disco for a while now and this double CD serves as an excellent round-up of their latest work, plus a wealth of previously unreleased tracks. The main CD features 18 cuts (nine unreleased) by peeps such as Bangkok Impact, Legowelt, Lolita Strap, Orgue Electronique, James White, Mr Clavio and more! The second CD is a 16 track mix by DJ TLR featuring even more all new and related Dutch electro madness.

Various Artists / Modern Wild Dub - Dread Meets Disco Punk Rocker Downtown
Echo Beach

Echo Beach follow Select Cuts "Wild Dub" compilation of original late 70s / early 80s punk-funk / dub-funk tracks with this bang up to date set of tracks inspired by that era. Includes Colder, Playgroup, Big Two Hundred, Chicken Lips, !!!, LCD Soundsystem, Radio 4, Outhud, Chicks On Speed etc. Includes liner notes by Mark Stewart ex of The Pop Group.

Trad, Gras Och Stenar - Gardet 22/6/1970
Subliminal Sounds

The first in Subliminal Sounds series of "Swedish Underground Archives". This series will focus on classic yet mostly unreleased recordings by known and unknown to mythical Swedish progressive / psychedelic groups from the 1960s-1970s. First out is the best ever recording from the legendary Trad Gras & Stenar (Trees Grass & Stones) recorded at the first ever Swedish out doors Summer hippie festival in 1970. The sound is just amazing: a stoned lysergic wall of acid guitars jamming away and never letting up, pounding bass, furious drums and mystical howling vocals.

Various Artists / The Psychedelic Experience Volume 3
Mystic

Volume 3 of this ultimate psychedelic 60s CD compilation series subtitled "Psychedelic Illusions". All material is taken from the rarest US 45s and appears for the first time on CD. Heavy fuzz guitar drug delirium and groovy crash pad meditations... The lysergic line-up consists of: Jimmy White & The Relations, Perpetual Motion Workshop, Steve Akin, Tears, Section Five, One Of Hours, Finnigans Wake, Crosstown Bus, Electric Company, Elastic Prism, We Who Are, Lawson & 4 More, Hinge, Flyhgt, Grapple, Inferno, Kensington Forest, Logic Circuit, Missing Lynx, Pompeo Stillo & The Companions, Renaissance Fair, David Santo, Scorpio Tube And Wild Things!!! All killers, no fillers! 70 intoxicating minutes.

Various Artists / The Psychedelic Experience Volume 4
Mystic

Digging deep in to the bottomless pit of ultra rare 60s 45s Subliminal Sounds came up with this treasure chest of incredible garage fuzz psych monsters for you. So it's trippin' time again and this CD's got the goods that will blow you're little mind to bits. The lysergic line-up includes: Captain Crunch & The Crew, Perpetual Motion Workshop, The Barber Green, Unsettled Society, Reverbs, Stonemen, Fox & The Roadrunners, Beggars Opera, Famen, Golden Grass, Peabody Hermitage, Barracudas, Them USA, Group, Wally Shoop And Fubar, Long Richard, Grapple, Inside Experience, Night Patrol, Mark Of Kings.

Lock And Key - No Fate
Deep Elm

Erupting from every direction with a barrage of rapid-fire drumming, crunching dual guitars and aggressive, striking vocals, it's instantly apparent that Lock And Key is a cohesive, single-minded, rock 'n' roll wrecking machine. Still, even in their most aggressive tracks, their true foundation lies in their ability to mesh ferocity with tried and true melodic sensibilities, exhibiting the band's range from tense to emotive to explosive in less than four minutes time. Recommended to Fans of: Hot Water Music, Small Brown Bike, Husker Du.

Jim White - Drill A Hole....
V2

White's latest masterpiece is an inimitable fusion of swirling atmospherics, southern gothic storytelling, sleazy beats and electronic-laced, outer-space alt-country. His vocals, rife with both dark musings & witty observations steeped in irony, are executed through a mixture of breathy whispers and sinister growls and are one of the most distinctive sounds imaginable.

Busdriver - Cosmic Cleavage
Big Dada

Busdriver is an ultra-intelligent, totally innovative and super-technical all-round phenomenal MC from LA. Originally conceived as a soundtrack to a film he never made, Busdriver hooked up with super-producer Daddy Kev (formerly main man at Celestial Recordings and general production giant) and D-Styles (Invizbl Skratch Piklz and Beat Junkies), and invited us to take a closer look at the "Cosmic Cleavage". Coming on like a cross between Kool Keith's Doctor Octagon and a TV continuity announcer, Bus Driver's flow spills over some crazed free-jazz and weird out beats.

DJ Spinna - Compositions2
Female Fun

Oooh - this is a bit of a special one! Six mouth-watering Spinnstrumentals that bridge the gap between summery hip hop, downtempo beatz and late nite soul. Absolutely luscious stuff that'll appeal to hip hop / nu jazz / downtempo / bedroom DJs alike... Just reeelaaaxxxx.

Various Artists / DJ Format Presents - A Right Earful Mix Tape Volume 1
Antidote

Brighton's DJ Format delves into his hip hop roots for this mix CD, digging out some early 90s classics, favourites, exclusives and throwing in some non-hip hop pieces too. Includes tracks by Abdominal & DJ Fase, Freestyle Fellowship, Madkap, Edan, Souls Of Mischief, Lord Sear, Ugly Duckling, The Brand New Heavies & Main Source, The Pharcyde, Little Barrie, The Upsetters, Gonzales etc.

Various Artists / Hip Hop Forever II - Mixed By DJ Jazzy Jeff
Rapster

Following on from Kenny Dope's mix, DJ Jazzy Jeff picks up the hip hop baton and runs with it, delivering his first ever official mix CD (vinyl version is unmixed). Includes tracks by Nas, Asheru, INI, OC, Missing Links, Jaylib, Phife Dawg, Gangstarr, The Beatnuts etc.
2xLtd CD - RR0024LCD - limited cheap price
Limited CD comes with mixed (23 tracks) and unmixed (18 tracks) versions

Various Artists / Blue Note Revisited
Blue Note

In keeping with its distinctive legacy of one foot in the past, one foot in the future, Blue Note open up their extensive vaults to a range of modern producers. More than simply a remix album, on "Blue Note Revisited" we find an aristically and geographically diverse crop of the best DJ / producers reinterpreting, reconstructing and re-contextualizing for today an assortment of gems from Blue Note's catalogue. Whether it's J Dilla, La Funk Mob or DJ Cam's hip hop treatment's of Brother Jack McDuff and Donald Byrd, DJ Spinna and Kenny Dope's house twists on Byrd and Bobby Hutcherson, Jazzanova or Bugz In The Attic's broken beat stylings on Eddie Gale and Gene Harris, Madlib, 4Hero, Osunlade and Kyoto Jazz Massive sticking close to the originals, or Herbert's avant-electro approach to Michael Petruciani, we find in all these creations the past, present and future conversing.

Skalpel - Skalpel
Ninja Tune

Debut LP from the Polish duo of Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo, who, although acclaimed at home, have remained virtually unknown outside their national boundaries. Brought to the attention of Ninja Tune by DJ Vadim, they now reach a deserved wider audience. Drawing on their Eastern European jazz herritage, they update the sound with complex beat making and sometimes playful sample based themes.

Various Artists / Fabriclive 15 - Nitin Sawhney
Fabric

Sawhney is one of the originators of the UK Global Fusion scene, and is always exploring new styles and ideas for his music. Here, he's given the chance to mix up a personal selection of favourites by other artists, and remixes of his own work. He seems to have made a switch in styles to nu-jazz and broken beats, as this compilation includes Koop, Phuturistix, and mixes by Seiji, 4Hero, Atjazz, Jazzanova, Darqwan etc, as well as some downbeat beats and pieces - Tosca, Craig Armstrong, and Global grooves - Niraj Chag.

Black Devil - Disco Club EP
Rephlex

Well, you probably know the script by now 'cos this release has had so much press! Rephlex's PP Roy picked up a copy of the 1978 'Out' records original at a carboot sale for 20p, not realising what a rarity he'd found until he saw it going for £200 on E-Bay! He and the rest of the Rephlex crew were so impressed with the tracks on that twelve that they decided to make it available to a wider audience. All the different tracks listed use the same dirty, driving electro-disco rhythm, adding different vocals or instruments to give a unique feel. The SECOND TWELVE comes with a KERRIER DISTRICT mix, which cleans up and fattens the production, making it a must for the dancefloor. This release has had all the local disco heads in a total lather, so you know it's an absolute must.

Absolut Null Punkt - Live In Japan
Important

ANP is KK Null (Zeni Geva) and Seijiro Murayama (original drummer in Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha). "Live In Japan" sounds like an echoing chamber of stark, pummeling fusion combining strong elements of free jazz, heavy rock, industrial noise, glitch and free improvisation dynamics.

Edit - Crying Over Pros For No Reason
Planet Mu

Debut album from Los Angeles' Edward Ma. Following in the footseps of Prefuse 73, these tracks have been painstakingly sequenced, creating beautiful, often warm and soulful, glitched up hiptronica.

The Hafler Trio - Kisses With Both Hands From Gods Little Toy
Important

A long reflective drone piece from the Hafler Trio. Limited edition of 500 housed in deluxe 3 panel screen printed jackets.

Nurse With Wound - Angry Eelectric Finger (Spitch'cock One)
United Dairies

"Angry Eelectric Finger (Spitch'Cock One)" is the first instalment of Nurse With Wound's most ambitious project to date. It's a remarkable mixture of industrial and avant garde pop styles featuring Sonic Youth's Jim O'Rourke, ex Coil sound twisters Cyclobe, Kraut rock legends Xhol Caravan and San Francisco's weirdest pop combo Irr Apt Ex. Each artist has collaborated with Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton to create a 4-part suite of alarming freshness and originality. This is the first in a three part instalment.

Genesis P-Orridge & Astrid Monroe - When I Was Young
Important

As the world awaits the remarkable reunion of Throbbing Gristle and a subsequent studio album from the group, this surprise full length from Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV founder Genesis P-Orridge, produced by Astrid Monroe, has been slowly coming to fruition and it arrives with perfect timing. Deliberate and lushly orchestrated, the eccentric instrumentation swirls pensively around audio tracks created by Genesis P-Orridge almost as if P-Orridge was the leader of a more adventurous Portishead or possibly even Massive Attack. Dark and dreamy, "When I Was Young" is a surprisingly unique addition to the P-Orridge catalog. Packaged in a transparent silver zip lock bag.

Pelican City - Rhode Island
December First

Brian Burton (AKA Dangermouse) was behind this downbeat concept album recorded back in 2000, mixing soundtrack elements, post rock instrumentals and dark hip hop breaks.

Various Artists / Fat Cat Split Series 9-16
Fat Cat

17-track compilation from Fat Cat's widely-acclaimed split 12" series, from which many new artists have been discovered. Includes Matmos, Kid606, and David Grubbs. This CD-only release showcases material previously only available across the eight 12" singles from Split Series number 9 to number 16 - a period that spans nearly four years. Excepting the Matmos track (which is one of their greatest ever), this is the first time any of these tracks have appeared on CD. Includes sought after gems from Fennesz, Avey Tare (Animal Collective), Kid 606 and David Grubbs.

# posted by DJ Martian 10:54 PM

Drowned in Sound report London's post-punk band Bloc Party have signed a record deal with Wichita

[There were rumours they had signed to Beggars Banquet earlier this year, maybe that was a publishing deal, rather than full record company?]

# posted by DJ Martian 1:45 PM

Pitchfork have some further info on the forthcoming Mouse on Mars album: Radical Connector

# posted by DJ Martian 1:39 PM

Pitchfork review New Order - Radio One Sessions

# posted by DJ Martian 1:37 PM

Eternal Fusion on SpydaRadio

The latest show is now available @ SpydaRadio

Gary Fosster - "Eternal Fusion"

Playlist 16/04/2004 (This show will be archiveduntil replaced by new show)

Dr. Timothy Leary - 'The Tune In'
('Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out')

Crescent - 'New Leaves'
('By The Roads And The Fields', FatCat, 2003)

Squarepusher - 'Iambic 9 Poetry'
('Ultravisitor', Warp, 2004)

Múm - 'Oh, How The Boat Drifts'
('Summer Make Good', FatCat, 2004)

Espers - 'Travel Mountains'
('Espers', Locust, 2004)

Tyrannosaurus Rex - 'Strange Orchestras'
('My People Were Fair ...', Cube, 1968)

Sunburned Hand Of The Man - 'Gyp Hawkin'
('Rare Wood', Spirit Of Orr, 2004)

Gong - 'Brainwash Me'
('Acid Motherhood', Voiceprint, 2004)

Robert Miles/Trilok Gurtu - 'Loom'
('Miles Gurtu', Salt, 2004)

DJ Food - 'Fungle Junk'
('Recipe For Disaster', Ninja Tune, 1995)

Ozric Tentacles - 'Oakum'
('Spirals In Hyperspace', Magna Carta, 2004)

ZubZub - 'The Dalai'
('ZubZub', Self Released, Info from Rubbish)

To Rococo Rot - 'Sol'
('Hotel Morgen', Domino, April 19th 2004)

The Beta Band - 'Rhododendron'
('Heroes To Zeroes', Regal, April 26th 2004)

Skyphone - 'Mengpa-neel'
('Fabula', Rune Grammofon, 2004)

Plaid - 'Lilith'
('Not For Threes', Warp, 1997)

Blonde Redhead - 'Melody'
('Misery Is A Butterfly', 4AD, 2004)

Tortoise - 'On The Chin'
('It's All Around You', Thrill Jockey, 2004)

Animal Collective - 'Visiting Friends'
('Sung Tongs', FatCat, May 3rd 2004)

Sixtoo - 'Storm Clouds & Silver Linings'
('Chewing On Glass...', Ninja Tune, May 17th 2004)

Cerberus Shoal - 'Bouzouki'
('The Whys And Hows...', North East Indie, 2002)

Gong - 'Bazuki Logix'
('Acid Motherhood', Voiceprint, 2004)

Sunburned Hand Of The Man - 'Glass Boot'
('Rare Wood', Spirit Of Orr, 2004)

Bongwater - 'Folk Song'
('The Power Of Pussy', Shimmy Disc, 1991)

Nurse With Wound - 'White Light From The Stars In Your Mind'
('Man With The Woman Face', United Dairies, 2002)

# posted by DJ Martian 12:15 AM

Sunday, April 18, 2004

SPOTLIGHT...KEY NEW RELEASES [April 12th]

Key new album releases for April 12th [A more detailed release listing including other new releases, compilations and reissues - can be found further up this webpage.]

Beloved - Failure On (Golf) [US Hardcore Rock band] [UK Release 2004]
Black Dice - Miles Of Smiles (FatCat) EP
Joshua Burkett - Life Less Lost (Spirit Of Orr)
Crispy Ambulance - Power Blind Dream (LTM) [New Album]
Vladislav Delay - Demo(n) Tracks (Huume)
End - The Sounds of Disaster (Ipecac Records) [Import]
The Great Deceiver - Terra Incognito (Peacevile)
Khold - Morke Gravers Kammer (Candlelight)
Kid Kilowatt - 1996-1999: Guitar Method (Hydra Head)
Kylian - Lappi Inzoo (Toytronic) CD
Lali Puna - Faking the Books (Morr Music)
Kenny Larkin - The Narcissist (Peacefrog)
Manual With Jess Kahr - The North Shore: Bliss Out v.20 (Darla)
Momus & Anne Laplantine - Summerisle (Analog Baroque Records)
Múm - Summer Make Good (FatCat)
Murs - 3:16 The 9th Edition (Def Jux)
Joe Satriani - Is There Love In Space (Epic)
Squaremeter - Aswad (Ant-Zen) [Available at Rough Trade]
Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Rare Wood (Spirit Of Orr)
Surferosa - Shanghai My Heart (Versity)
Tahiti 80 - Extra Pieces Of Sunshine (Atmospherique)
Bugge Wesseltoft - NCOJ Film ing (Jazzland)
Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles (Tomlab) [Available through Baked Goods distribution] [Note different front cover art work]

# posted by DJ Martian 9:59 PM

This Week's New Releases @ Boomkat

This week's new releases @ Boomkat - A Pelicanneck Online Music Store include:

ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Firewire - A Tribute To The Manzini
City Centre Offices

Firewire are Frederic Stader -aka Din ST (Tresor), DJ Maxximus (Warp), Fever (DHR) and Carl Crack - the late founder member of Atari Teenage Riot (DHR). Frederic Stader and Carl Crack met sometime during the 90s in Cologne at a "Cosmic Orgasm" rave. Back then, Frederic was working on a project called "Fever" (later on DHR), Carl was the voice of Atari Teenage Riot. They got along well and worked on ideas together, on and off. Some years down the line, the idea of a common project became more and more important to both of them. They started recording. Then, in 2001, Carl Crack died tragically and infamously, the project ground to an unexpected halt. Frederic eventually picked up the pieces, vocal recordings and fragmented ideas to finish off this incredible set of tracks. A tribute to a lost friend. " A Tribute To The Manzini", a release which has been approved by Carl's family, is a short but intense journey through a long forgotten world of distorted soul. Something you would not neccessarily expect if you are familiar with both Frederic's and Carl's former work. From the haunting beauty of "Open Ur Eyes", via the disturbing, Acid-infected 2-step error of "4 Ever" to the monstreous intensity of "No Exit", each and every track remains a unique example of two exceptional musicians working together on something from deep within. An unusual release for CCO you might think. But this is another story. R.I.P Carl Crack.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
To Rococo Rot - Hotel Morgen
Domino

Tinged with the fact that we have long been To Rococo Rot obsessives here at the Neck, this latest album from the German three-piece (their first for the chart-topping Domino imprint) comes to us amid much excitement and anticipation. "Hotel Morgen" is quite easily the most accessible of all the TRR albums to date - softly developing a formula that started off so beautifully on their masterpiece full-lengther "Veiculo". The opener "Dahlem" sets the agenda perfectly with the loose sweeping drum machine modulations of Ronald Lippok, the free Bassline evocations of dubmeister Stefan Schneider (aka Mapstation) and the dis-articulated electronic tinkerings of the gifted Robert Lippok. The result is a sub-discoid post-rock instrumental anthem in slow motion, taking its time with build up and with the gradual introduction of all sorts of elements you wouldn't quite know how to place or describe. "Hotel Morgen" takes the notion of acoustic electronica deep into the realms of subtle experimentation and soulful soundscaping - with Schneider's basslines often grounding these loose-limbed tracks into more traditional post-rockish structures. As such, it's an album of sheer delight, exposing subtle aspects of production and hidden depths with every repeated listen. Highly Recommended.

Various / Studio One Studio One Dub
Soul Jazz

Quite a treat awaiting here for the unsuspecting reggae faithful - as always with Soul jazz chock full of a bunch of big tunes - but here in version form lies some of the freshest rhythms and most radical revisions of some of the greatest Studio One music. Essentially the works of Clement Dodd himself, ably assisted and in cases replaced by Sylvan Morris, the Dancing Operator, as he was known by bands of the day. Check the dub to Burning Spear's 'Swell headed', or 'Skylarking', 'No No No', 'Mr Bassie', 'Run, Run', 'Pretty Looks', 'Take A Ride' each and everyone a masterpiece in their original forms. Here: travel inner space with echo, full reverb, equalised, dropped in and out, twisted to perfection then wrinsed out, emerging wearing different colours altogether. The darkest and the absolute deepest in the series - naturally essential.

AMute - A Hundred Day Trees
Intr-Version

New on Mitchell Akiyama's wonderful Intr-Version imprint. Amute is Belgian artist Jérôme Deuson and this is his first full length album and it's a work of astonishing beauty and contemplative complexity that radiates warmth and maturity. Operating in the same field of sound as guitar soundform experimentalists such as Akira Rabelais, Fennesz and Keith Fullerton Whitman, this album is as fine as any work from that ridiculously talented array of talent. A lazy comparison would be the musical and drone like work of Fennesz, halfway between his cool vibed 'Hotel Paral.lel' and the warmer waters of 'Endless Summer'. In other places some of the more minimal work from Xela is felt plus a certain track named 'Landslips' sounds like a killer remix of Ligeti's 'Lux Aeterna'. Probably my favourite release on this label so far plus the packaging is simply gorgeous. Highly recommended.

Black Devil Disco Club - Timing, Forget The Timing
Rephlex

After all the hype about the original scheduled release, and then the rumours regarding the remixes, finally the much hyped 20p car boot record arrives from Rephlex. Now down to 3 tracks, the unearthed disco gems drop arpeggiator style onto the decks. `Timing, Forget The Timing' is pretty much a disco classic, killer pop and very analogue, with enough strangeness about it to warrant all the hype. Bubbling basslines and padded drums start the groove, the disco etiquette is adhered to with the strict construction and soaring synths, but there are weird noises, like the stabbing siren that loops for the break, and a certain quirkiness that isn't just the music, a very interesting track. Luke Vibert, meanwhile, takes his highly successful Kerrier District formula and delivers a rework of `Timing....' - killer pop music with a twist and a dash of acid added to the groove, Luke sets the arpeggiators running, cuts the vocals up and re-edits the track superbly, keeping it analogue with ace synths and tight with class disco drums. Snap `em up!

Edit - Crying Over Pros For No Reason
Planet Mu

Planet Mu has made a name for itself with its persistant persuit of new talent, this latest endeavour bringing to life the debut work of L.A's Edward Ma, aka Edit. The sound is a somehow familiar blend of acoustic "song" constructions developed with electronic means, but the delivery stands out for its intricacy and warmth. Album openers "Ashtray" and "Ants" play around careful guitar strums and post-rockish tendencies, interjected with vocal hiccups and loops more reminiscent of the man Prefuse 73. The instrumentation seeps through with a lo-fi, distant tinge - think of an instrumental version of Styrofoam's excellent last album for Morr Music for a frame of reference. Only album closer "Mildew" departs from the blueprint, instead opting for a more Tommy Guerero-esque strum of the lonely guitar in a relaxed, sunny manner. "Crying Over Pros For No Reason" doesn't necessarily add any new words to the electronic / acoustic vocabulary, but the language it employs is articulated with a lovely, heartwarming understanding of melody and construction that should be applauded and checked out by those of you who live life on the mellow side without delay. Lovely. **CD version comes with two bonus tracks**

Iyunx Productions - Short Term Memory Loss
U Cover

Latest album from Iyunx Productions (aka Yunx), returning to U Cover for another excursion into deep, soulful electronic music. "Short Term Memory Less" illustrates once again the intuitive take on melody that Yunx have been perfecting over the years - a love of Detroit Techno, ART-period Black Dog and the Artificial Intelligence era instructing their musical ideology with the right dose of warmth and emotional involvement thrown into the mix. "Yubble Yobble" is the perfect opener - a slight dub tinge operating in slow motion while all manner of strings, synths and drum sweeps do their thing beautifully. "Stung" meanwhile moves Yunx into slightly new pastures - a melancholy soundtrack in a BOC / early Ulrich Schnauss mould that may well indicate where Yunx are headed next. Check.

Olvis - Olvis
Resonant

The Resonant label seems to be fast making a name for itself as one of the most consistant leftfield / acoustic hybrid labels working in the UK today. Following on from excellent debuts by Borko, Stafrann Hakon and Sk/Um, Resonant look towards the unusual climes of Iceland once again for another fine discovery - Olvis. The music here inhabitsmore familiar territory, concentrating almost solely on warm, engaging guitar-based instrumental pieces - hugely accessible but without being generic or staid in any way. The first release of 25 year-old Orlygur Thor Orlygsson, this also features contributions from several leading lights on the vibrant Reykjavik music scene, but the album is essentially the work of one man; all written, recorded and played by Orlygur, with drums and synth added by his guests. There is a serene, twilight quality to "Olvis" that makes itself familiar from the first listen onwards - a cinematic glide of tracks will no doubt work its way onto adverts and countless film scores once discovered by the "right" people. In the meantime, keep it close to your chest. Wonderful.

Ratatat - Ratatat
XL

Ratatat are Mike Stroud (Ben Kweller, Dashboard Confessional) and Evan (co-founder of the Audio Dregs label and better known as the artist E*Vax). Mike left on tour, he was always leaving on tour but he had to, had to play music, had to make a living. Evan was often left alone to cook up new beats and make CDRs. He would mail them to Mike on the road, and he scattered them amongst a thousand or so people around the world. People took to the sound, the buzz began. At the time they were called Cherry and everyone wanted to hear more, or better yet sing for them, but this was never going to be the case. Then Paul Banks from Interpol got a demo. He took to the sound, but he never asked to sing for them. He asked them to open for his band on the West Coast. Check

Thomas Brinkmann - Tokyo + 1
Max Ernst

This latest full-length excursion from Thomas Brinkmann follows his habitual reliance on concept - the focus here being the sounds and scopes of Tokyo. Having become known for his tight percussive structures and reliance on carefully edited loops - it's nice to see Brinkmann loosen up a little and explore more diverse and textured musical landscapes. Each of the pieces here revolves around a re-edited allignment of found sounds and urban field recordings - people filling the Tokyo streets, the subway system, arcade machines and even distant Western pop songs reconfigured and looped. "Tokyo+1" is quite easily Brinkmann's most diverse work to date - ranging from the straight dubwise house of "3 st. 2 Shinjuku" to the motorik looped noise minimalism of "Mamas" and "109 Competition". Recommended.

Various / Fat Cat - Fat Cat Split Series 09-16
Fat Cat

Excellent 17-track compilation from FatCat's widely-acclaimed split 12" series, from which many new artists have been given a wider introduction to the listening public. This second compilation chronicles installments 9 through to 16 and includes contributions from Matmos (unquestionably their best EVER track - the mighty "Freak `N'You"), Kid606, David Grubbs, Dat Politics, Fennesz, Ultra-Red, Duplo Remote, Com.a, Christoph De Babalon, Process, Main, Alejandra & Aeron and more. This CD-only release showcases material previously only available across the eight 12" singles and is the first time many of these tracks have appeared on CD. Highly Recommended

Various / Transmediale Club Transmediale 04 [Fly utopia]
Data Error

Nice double cd package, compiled on the occasion of the Fourth Transmediale festival in Berlin with a mouthwatering lineup, check this: licensed in specially tunes from Dictaphone, Ellen Allien, Richard Devine, SCSI 9, Donna Summer, Justus Kohncke, Kevin Blechdom, T.Raumschmiere, AGF, Leafcutter John, Terre Thaemlitz, Masha Qrella, Safety Scissors, Tim Hecker, Farben, Murcof, Column One and so on! Stir in a whole bunch of unreleased cuts from the likes of Tarwater, Schneider TM, Dat Politics, 8Bit and a special head to head collaboration from Rechnenzentrum and the aforementioned Schneider TM. Most of you reading this should by now have something by some of these artists. What better way to remember a wintry Berlin, or discover some new sh*t?

Christian Marclay / Thurston Moore / Lee Ranaldo - F*ck sh*t Up
Victo

Christian Marclay, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo - "Feedback rose and fell in heaving crescendos, drum sticks were inserted between strings, and for an hour and change, a wall of beautiful noise was erected, then smashed to bits, with no pesky backbeats or melodies to upset mesmeric abandon." Recorded at the Victoriaville Festival on 5/24/99.

Genesis P-Orridge - When I Was Young
Important

As the world awaits the remarkable reunion of throbbing gristle and a subsequent studio album from the group, this surprise full length from throbbing gristle and psychic tv founder genesis p-orridge, produced by astrid monroe, has been slowly coming to fruition. The true identity of Astrid Monroe has been kept a secret from all parties involved in the release of this cd, but the production is a deliberate and lushly orchestrated mix of eccentric instrumentation that retains a strangely accesable quality. Monroe's sweeping production is a beautiful accent on p-orridge's deliberately understated vocals and lyrics. Packaged in a transparent silver zip lock bag.

Mark Dresser / Fred Frith / Ikue Mori - Later...
Victo

Dresser (who's worked most notably with anthony braxton, tim berne, john zorn and bob ostertag ) is an interesting choice and much more of a jazzer than Frith's usual collaborators, and it's his presence that distinguishes this record from the later death ambient trios of mori, frith and bassist kato hideki. Dresser's unabashed virtuosity on his instrument and his dark, resonant yet springy tone meshes beautifully with mori's rhythmic matrices, prodding funkily one second, dropping to a buzzsaw arco drone the next. He also provokes frith into more expansive gestures than on the death ambient material

Noxagt - The Iron Point
Load

Norwegian 3-piece noxagt come at you with record #2. Bass, drums and viola configured for maximum damage to ear canals. This record swings hard, rocks like a demon and has some majestic dimensions. Billy anderson (melvins, sleep) produced this slab with an eye for skull-burning bass crunk, artery bursting drum hits, and full spectrum viola rake. for fans of hard rock and swinging riffage like the dirty three, dirty crawl such as the melvins, and single minded pummel like label mates / touring partners lightning bolt. Mad sh*t.

Satoko Fujii / Tatsuya Yoshida - Toh-Kichi
Victo

Compatriots Satoko Fujii and Tatsuya Yoshida (of Ruins fame) thrillingly demonstrated the virtues of speed metal improv. The piano/drums duo threw itself headlong into a wild and bogglingly precise exchange of hammering percussion and jabbering voices - part battle, part hyperactive dance. a flawless composite of jumpcuts, the set spanned the musical map from hardcore and metal to boogie-woogie and tango, ending with a hilarious impromptu rendition of "the girl from ipanama". Check

Spaceways Inc. Vs. Zu - Radiale
Atavistic

Chicago stalwarts Spaceways inc. (ken vandermark, hamid drake, and nate mcbride) meet italian stallions Zu in a heavyweight jazz-funk-dub fight to the death. "Radiale" contains 4 originals by Zu, plus 4 stomp yr ass all the way till 4am covers of Funkadelic, Sun Ra & The Art Ensemble, with a cool digipak designed by scarful. "Radiale" features quartet and sextet recordings captured to 2" analog tape by shellac's bob weston. Check.

Thurston Moore - Piece For Jetsun Dolma
Victo

One 66-minute piece broken into 2 parts by the trio of Thurston Moore (guitar, amplifier, microphone), Tom Surgal (drums, perc.) & William Winant (drums, perc.). Recorded live at Victoriaville 5/17/96. Beautifully ignited sound waves ala the Klangfarbenmelodie... CD on Corpus Hermeticum. "The sounds on this disc are about colliding cultures. They are about Thurston Moore creating massive Bertoia-like sound sculptures that dangle ominously above the shiny pates of the massed cogniscetti while Tom Surgal turns his limbs into a riot of machine guns, and William Winant's percussion zyzzles through the air like sheets of burning napalm. There are moments when Surgal sounds like Jonathan Jackson power pumping his 12 gauge into a target range full of white cops' exploding heads. There are moments when Moore's guitar, amp and Japanese toys send huge resonant rainbow red arcs pulsing through the crowd's Kirlian clouds. There are moments when Winant's tympanic burling BECOMES a bridge into the hole of nada."

Tony Conrad / Faust - Outside the dream syndicate 30th anniversary
Table of The Elemets

Double cd in jewel case, includes unreleased material from the original 1972 sessions, digitally remastered for this release, features new liner notes by rolling stone senior editor David Fricke. Made over three days on a remote farm in northern germany, outside the dream syndicate -- Tony Conrad's historic 1972 meeting with rock visionaries Faust -- was the composer and violinist's debut album and an evelatory document of his central role in the birth of minimalism. Issued only in Europe, it was the first officially available record of Conrad's microtonal explorations, initiated in the dream syndicate in the early 1960s. This 30th anniversary reissue features a second disC of originally unreleased music from the sessions and restores outside the dream syndicate to its rightful place in history: as the vital link between early minimalism and the rock avant-garde and a gripping testament to the power and beauty of the drone. Highly Recommended.

Erlend Oye / Various - DJ Kicks
K7

New DJ Kicks from Kings Of Convenience's Erlend Oye, known as "the singing DJ" for his newfound talent for singing versions of other songs over instrumental records. It's an ability highlighted here to good effect as Erlend's warm and yet somehow detached voice complements his selection of soulful, minimal European house. Tracks come from Jürgen Paape, Cornelius, Jolly Music, The Rapture, Justus Köhncke, Jackmate, Röyksopp, Ricardo Villalobos, Morgan Geist and more.

Skalpel - Skalpel
Ninja Tune

Polish duo Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo have been making warm, crisp and complex beat-based music for a while now. It's just that they've been making it in Poland. There, they are among the best-known and most respected DJs and producers about, with even a Paszporty Polityki nomination to their name (the most prestigious culture award in the country). Beyond, they are virtually unknown. Until now, that is, and the release of their debut album by Ninja Tune. The pair came to Ninja's attention via DJ Vadim who had worked with them on one of his Eastern European tours. Drawing on Poland's rich jazz heritage Cichy and Pudlo have an unrivalled source of samples to tap and they tap it with consummate aplomb. The opening `High' combines sharp conga playing with spectral warbling and flute stabs, `Not Too Bad' is held together by a killer double bass riff, the single `1958' is kitsch dancefloor business, `Break In' lifts you up out of your seat and has you hanging above the couch, `Quiz' is garage-band jazz, `Behind The Curtain' is sublime road movie music. Lovely.

Busdriver - Cosmic Cleavage
Big Dada

This is at least the fourth album from the LA rapper Busdriver, but the first album to have a fair shot of capturing a slice of the avant rap pie, post Clouddead. Last heard (if you we're lucky enough) on the Weather album (Mush) with Radioinactive and Daedelus this album also feels like a continuation of the Awol One & Daddy Kev project 'Slanguage' also on Mush, no surprise then that D-Styles is behind the decks (sickness guaranteed) and the master Daddy Kev is on the boards. For some in the know the wild vocals of Busdriver can grate a little, an epitome of hyperactive rap but here his natural character shines through and the music is amazing. A total avant garde meets modal jazz blast, D-Styles drops some sick routines and the sample based music is the sh*t. Twelve tracks in total with the final inst track 'Staring At The Sun' being the ultimate winner, probably the finest hip hop meets free jazz track yet dropped. Another welcome surprise from Big Dada. Cold check.

DJ Jazzy Jeff - Hip Hop Forever II
Rapster

After Kenny Dope's legendary first instalment, DJ Jazzy Jeff comes correct with another set of rare classics. Classic hip-hop, hard to find jams and new favourites are all represented including a rare Eminem collabo with Three Six Five on this limited edition double CD (which includes mixed and unmixed versions). The deeply soulful organic funk of `The Magnificent' cemented DJ Jazzy Jeff's old-school credibility as well as his relevance in modern hip hop. Known as one of the best party DJs in the world,·DJ Jazzy Jeff's first official mix CD features Nas, Raekwon, Cypress Hill, Pete Rock, Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, Jaylib, O.C., Buckshot, Jeru Tha Damaja, J-Live and many more

DJ Spinna - Compositions 2
Female Fun

One of those records that appears and you think "ain't I got this Already?". Well for sure I know Volume 1, on some self release tip but released when, I digress. Possibly pressed up by the man like Roddy mcenroe for Female Fun (SOME OF THE FINEST INSTRUMENTAL HIP HOP ON PLANET EARTH SAYS I). Yes, it's a repress (original is clear vinyl). This is on DJ friendly black vinyl and is the crisp boom bap hip hop instrumental dopeness you'd expect from the man Spinna on his finest form. Tuck in! (Epilogue : just found my original copy, it's clear vinyl and was pressed up by Anticon's old 6 Month's distribution wing)

Zion I - The Collection
Penalty

This is the UK release of some choice tracks from Zion I's previous album 'Deep Water Slang', possible Oakland's Amp Live and MC Zion's best album to date - previously on Raptivism. Combining those tracks with previously unreleased and newly recorded tracks. This CD marks the launch of Rykodisc's urban division, Penalty recordings. Guests include, The Grouch (Living Legends), Pep Love, the UK crew >> Ty and Killa Kela plus Foreign Legion. Solid quality hip hop is guaranteed.

Automato - Automato
City Slang

Featuring eleven tracks, the album mixes up 70's funk and soul, a solid amount of early 90's indie rock, organic hip-hop beats and syncopated lyrical exploration. Reference points are as likely to be Andre 3000 as David Axelrod, Can or Common, The Pixies or Pete Rock. Produced by production mavericks the DFA, currently spearheading the New York dance punk revolution with bands such as The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem (and most recently NERD remixers and Liquid Liquid producers). Check.

Calexico - Black Heart
City Slang

The wonderful title track is taken from last year's acclaimed album Feast Of Wire, and features a number of exclusive b-sides, including remixes by Gotan Project, Jazzanova, Wechsel Garland (Morr Music), iso68 and Panoptica. In addition, the CD includes an enhanced section featuring a live performance of Black Heart filmed at The Barbican in London during the Further Beyond Nashville festival in November 2002. · Lovely.

Vinny Miller - On The Block
4AD

It's difficult to know where to start with Vinny Miller. In certain circles he's already acquired semi-legendary status - after all, he managed to spend the best part of five years signed to 4AD without delivering a note of music to the label. ·`Breaking Out Of Your Arms' is a heartbreakingly fragile and disarmingly simple ballad, Vinny's fractured falsetto emerging from a haze of tape noise and bringing with it the gift for genuinely haunting, utterly surreptitious melodic invention that surfaces throughout the album. `Pigpen' is a dense, grindingly rhythmic explosion whose violence is barely held in check, and its stark emotional impact is as arresting today as Tim Rose's baying and bellowing on `Morning Dew' was forty years ago. Take these two songs together, and a picture starts to come into focus - of an unusually gifted singer who refuses to be content with stock manoeuvres. `On The Block' is the sound of a man pushing things as far as he can, constantly shifting away from the easy option - in short, there's a ferocious, driven playfulness at work. And just as it's difficult to know where to start, it's difficult to guess where it will finish. For now, though, `On The Block' is a tantalising postcard from unmapped territory. Lovely

Spektrum - Enter The Spektrum
Playhouse

For once the hype is completely justified. After many years on the live circuit and after three successful but underground 12"s on their own Spektrum label, this four member band have signed to Playhouse for their fourth single 'Kinda New' and this, their awesome debut album. If you bought and love any of their previous 12"s then you'll need no further recommendation from me, check the spot on review in the April 2004 issue of 'The Wire' magazine if you need a second opinion. Versions of all the single tracks feature plus enough new tracks for the completists - that's fourteen tracks in total plus a bonus version of 'Freakbox' on the CD issue. Lola Olafisoye's vocals send the shivers down your spine and slap you in your face at the same time. The percussion is killer - a amalgam of programmed beats and live drums with wild percussion segments - demented genius at one with the recent ACR 'To Each' reissue on Soul Jazz. The whole sound is brought together by the classically trained multi instrumentalist Gabriel Olegavich who seems to orchestrate the band in a similar fashion to Matthew Herbert. Sick, sexy, funked to the max and downright dirty. Very highly recommended.

# posted by DJ Martian 2:46 PM

Saturday, April 17, 2004

New Series of Later..with Jools Holland

BBC Press Office announce Later... with Jools Holland returns with 150th show

>> BBC TWO, Friday 7 May 2004, 11.35pm-12.35am

# posted by DJ Martian 6:33 PM

Friday, April 16, 2004

This week's Mixing It features an interview with Tim Gane of Stereolab

# posted by DJ Martian 11:12 PM

BBC Collective review Skalpel - Skalpel on Ninja Tune

# posted by DJ Martian 11:08 PM

JockeySlut.com have a feature on Lali Puna

# posted by DJ Martian 5:58 PM

Tiny Mix Tapes review the new Noxagt album [Norway's answer to Lightning Bolt] Noxagt - Iron Point

# posted by DJ Martian 5:25 PM

BBC Collective has a new design. exchanging views on new music, film and culture

# posted by DJ Martian 5:21 PM

BBC News report on Marillion's web marketing campaign: Web fans boost Marillion single

Rock band Marillion look poised to enter the UK top five with their new single after a sustained campaign among fans on their website.

# posted by DJ Martian 4:59 PM

Next week's releases are reviewed @ Norman Records

# posted by DJ Martian 1:54 PM

Homelands 2004, Saturday 29th May

The other big dance music festival in the UK for 2004 is: Homelands 2004, Radio 1 will also be covering this event.

# posted by DJ Martian 1:36 PM

Creamfields - Headlining: The Chemical Brothers

Radio 1 have details of the initial line up of the Creamfields festival: Chemicals at Creamfields

The Chemical Brothers will be headlining this year's Creamfields in Liverpool.

Radio 1 Events page: Creamfields 2004

# posted by DJ Martian 12:40 PM

Terrorizer Magazine

Advance notification of what to expect in the next issue of Terrorizer magazine:

In Flames | NWOBHM 25 Anniversary Celebration | Orange Goblin | Nattefrost | Death Angel | 1349 | Isis | Fear Factory | Dismember | DragonForce | Kataklysm

ON SALE END OF APRIL 2004

# posted by DJ Martian 12:09 PM

Details of the latest issue of Mojo magazine. Another boring front cover, as if the world needs another John Lennon feature.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:48 AM

Stylus review Sunburned Hand of the Man - Rare Wood

# posted by DJ Martian 11:15 AM

Pitchfork review two Simple Minds reissues:

» Simple Minds - Reel to Real Cacophony
» Simple Minds - Empires and Dance

# posted by DJ Martian 11:12 AM

This has been updated: Brainwashed Releases

a listing of recent & upcoming electronic/experimental/etc. releases brought to you by feedback monitor and brainwashed

# posted by DJ Martian 11:09 AM

Simon Reynolds has announced the title of his forthcoming post-punk book: RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN

Please inform us - when it's due to be published !

# posted by DJ Martian 12:55 AM

Rune Grammofon - Update

The latest Rune Grammofon news:

The new Arve Henriksen album, "Chiaroscuro", is set for Norwegian release on May 24.

Other releases later in the year include Scorch Trio and Nils Økland, possibly Alog and/or Phonophani. More information to follow.

[Alerted via It's a Trap]

# posted by DJ Martian 12:47 AM

Thursday, April 15, 2004

If I were an editor of a weekly music magazine this week's front cover would feature: Fear Factory

This week's front cover choice is Fear Factory, who release their crushing intense album Archetype on Roadrunner in the UK on April 19th

Superb review @ RiftRock Fear Factory - Archetype

# posted by DJ Martian 11:42 PM

Issue 20 of earplug

APRIL 15 - APRIL 28

Earplug is a biweekly email magazine, delivering a handpicked selection of news, sounds, videos, and original features for the international electronic music community.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:30 PM

Cuneiform Records: Update

Cuneiform will release new albums from these artists on May 4th:

HENRY KAISER AND WADADA LEO SMITH: YO MILES!
PIP PYLE'S BASH
SOFT MACHINE
UNIVERS ZERO
UNIVERSITY OF ERRORS
GARY WINDO

Also, the latest news from Cuneiform Records including:

Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic
Raoul Bjorkenheim
The Claudia Quintet
Deus Ex Machina
Djam Karet
Paul Dunmal and Mujician
Hamster Theatre
Hugh Hopper
Miriodor
Nebelnest
Richard Pinhas

# posted by DJ Martian 8:33 PM

DanceFrontDoor relay the latest Bjork news: Bjork records songs for new album

# posted by DJ Martian 8:22 PM

The latest releases are reviewed by NYC's Other Music: The Other Music Update

NEW RELEASES
Funkstorung
On!Air!Library!
Patrick Wolf
DJ/Rupture Vs. Mutamassik

Born Heller
Dead Moon
Dilated Peoples

ALSO AVAILABLE:
Vladislav Delay
Mogollar (Reissue)
Gene Estribou & Jean-Paul Pickens

# posted by DJ Martian 8:15 PM

Splendid review Guapo - Five Suns

# posted by DJ Martian 11:20 AM

A9.com

Amazon.com have launched a new general web search engine: A9.com

It is powered by Google, plus Alexa.com and Amazon.com book related info content.

CNET News.com report Amazon unveils search tool

The search site touts a novel design that lets people sift through Web search results, store and view their own search history, and find book information from Amazon related to query terms.

# posted by DJ Martian 10:56 AM

The Brainwashed Brain V07I14 - 04112004

This week's The Brainwashed Brain includes reviews of:

Tortoise - It's All Around You
Thrill Jockey

MÚM - Summer Make Good
FatCat

Gys - Art D'Echo
Component/Zero G

Junior Boys - Last Exit
KIN

Junior Boys have created an impressive debut album that goes on my shelf right next to Violator, Dare, and Architecture and Morality

Fabric 13: Michael Mayer
Fabric

Rammellzee - Bi-Conicals of the Rammellzee
Gomma

# posted by DJ Martian 12:02 AM

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Jonathan "Roadrunner" Richman is a special guest on 6 Music: Andrew Collins - Teatime show tomorrow afternoon.

# posted by DJ Martian 10:37 PM

Xiu Xiu start a European tour today, however only one date is listed for the UK - May 14th in London.

Xiu Xiu are signed to a US record company 5RC that doesn't release albums in the UK, apart through retailers that sell imports. Also they are signed in Europe to a German label - Tomlab - that doesn't promote/ or have proper distribution in the UK.

Therefore Xiu Xiu still have an extremely low profile in the UK, they could do with a separate record deal for the UK - if I were a 4ad A & R manager - I would sign them instantly.

# posted by DJ Martian 5:56 PM

BW & BK report Red Harvest are on course to release their next album in September. They have just finished studio recordings in Oslo and will mix their album in Sweden in May.

# posted by DJ Martian 1:20 PM

NME.com promote the fact that Morrissey is on the front cover of this week's NME: MORRISSEY SPEAKS TO NME!

[by the way the forthcoming single 'Irish Blood, English Heart' rips off guitar sounds from The Chameleons, and also sounds similar to the epic rock vibe of Interpol]

# posted by DJ Martian 12:48 PM

Grooves - Experimental Electronic Music Magazine - Issue 13

Advance notification of what to expect in the next issue of Grooves Magazine

Issue # 13
Coming Soon!
» Electronic Music's Online Future
» Funkstorung
» Vladislav Delay
» Asmus Tietchens
» cLOUDDEAD
» 100+ reviews

# posted by DJ Martian 12:40 PM

Tiny Mix Tapes review Sunburned Hand of the Man - Rare Wood

# posted by DJ Martian 11:49 AM

2003 Music: Mega Best Albums List

NYC's Downtown Music Gallery music store present: Bruce Lee Gallanter of Downtown Music Gallery's Reference and Recommended Lists for 2003

It is finally done and BOY! did it take a great deal of work!
Here are eight lists of discs released in 2003 for you to look over. I suggest that you print up a copy if you can, so you can check it out when you have some time, there will be some printed copies in the store as well.

The big list (Avant/Downtown/Prog) has nearly 500 titles (jeez) and is alphabetical. It is essentially a reference list of nearly all the "interesting" discs released last year.

[Found via: Avant Music News]

# posted by DJ Martian 11:36 AM

Stylus review one of 2003's finest albums: Mu - Afro Finger and Gel

# posted by DJ Martian 11:27 AM

Dusted review Blithe Sons - Arm of the Starfish

# posted by DJ Martian 11:26 AM

Pitchfork review Adem - Homesongs

# posted by DJ Martian 11:12 AM

New Releases @ Piccadilly Records

Some new releases listed in the weekly guide [via e-mail] from Manchester's music emporium: Piccadilly Records

Crispy Ambulance - The Powder Blind Dream
LTM

The brand new studio album from cult post-punk Factory Records band Crispy Ambulance. Produced by Graham Massey of 808 State / Biting Tongues fame, "The Powder Blind Dream" is the third studio album from the Crispies, following on from "The Plateau Phase" (1982) and "Scissorgun" (2002). The album comprises eleven new songs and was recorded in Manchester in June of this year. An old friend returns in the guise of the ARP Odyssey synth, which featured heavily on their classic 1982 debut album and gives the new album a sharp retro-modern feel.

John Wilkes Booze - Five Pillars Of Soul
Kill Rock Stars

The five pillars chosen were Melvin Van Peebles, Tania Hearst, Albert Ayler, Mark Bolan and Yoko Ono. The result is a brutal, stream-line celebration and often lament on soul. Included in this reissue are additional field recordings, audio references and over 8000 words of detailed liner notes explaining each Pillar's importance.

Kid Kilowatt - 1996-1999: Guitar Method
Hydra Head

Featuring members of Cave In, Converge and Eulcid, Kid Kilowatt is a musical whole unlike any of its parts. After letting "Guitar Method" languish on the crowded shelves of Hydra Head HQ since early '99, they've finally blown off the cobwebs and set it free. Within you'll find astral marches, full-release anthems and total indie rock bliss!

Lali Puna - Faking The Books
Morr Music

Spectacular and hotly-anticipated third album from Lali Puna, furthering their sometimes kitsch Stereolab influences and electro-pop derived melodies.

Matt Marque - Nothing Personal
Truckstop

Marque uses a combination of hip hop beats, acoustic guitar and narcotic hooks to lay the foundation for this groundbreaking, sophomore release from this Chicago native. Think a slicker, tonally mellow version of Beck's "One Foot In The Grave" with electronic beats and loops of live instrumentation combined with the short simple pop approach ala Guided By Voices.

Picastro - Red Your Blues
Monotreme

Picastro are from Canada have received much praise for their broodingly beautiful, melancholic sound scapes, in which cello alternates with frontwoman Liz Hysen's submerged, murmured vocals. Picastro's string-laden dynamics share a kinship with the music of fellow Canadians Godspeed You Black Emperor, as well as the Dirty 3 and Rachels.

Rivulets / Marc Gartman - Split
Tract

Rivulets (main-man Nathan is a member of Low's Chairkickers' Union) deliver three brand new, never-heard-before tunes alongside two alternate versions of the song "Cutter" originally found on last year's "Debridement" album. Marc Gartman (a permanent member of Pale Horse And Rider) delivers five songs that get in your blood stream and turn it to ice, reminiscent of the more sombre numbers from Pink Floyd, moody and wonderful.

Surferosa - Shanghai My Heart
Versity

Debut album from these charismatic Norwegian synth-pop-punks.

Tacoma Radar - No One Waved Goodbye
Andmoresound

Tacoma Radar's album highlights a melancholic minimalism reminiscent of Low and Galaxie 500. Demonstrating the importance of restraint, the band play with economy - each note carefully considered to perfectly complement the breathy intimacy of vocal delivery.

Tahiti 80 - Extra Pieces Of Sunshine
Atmospheriques

"Extra Pieces Of Sunshine" is a companion piece to the last Tahiti 80 album "Wallpaper For The Soul". An eight-song mini album, "Extra Pieces.." rounds up various B–sides and rarities and moulds them into a cohesive album.

Tindersticks - Working For The Man
Island

From the moment they announced themselves, way back in '92, with handmade, arty sleeves and a record full of drama, mystery, horns and strings ("Patchwork"), Tindersticks were a world apart. Far from the familiar, yet strangely inviting, theirs was a defiantly indoors-world of missed romantic opportunities, betrayed commitments and tender words unspoken. Musically moving through sweeping cinematics (with shades of John Barry and Ennio Morricone: they never lacked ambition this lot!), a bit of old Leonard, a little bit of country, a lot of old soul, the one thing they've always had is style. And Vic Reeves be damned - I'm not saying 'in the style of a club singer', I'm talking about a musical maturity and a detailed love of sound and words. Sartorially it was suits, but musically it was the desire to create their own world, doomy for sure, but always sophisticated. This compilation (from '92 to '99) is the perfect way in.

2xLtd CD - 981687-8 limited cheap price
This limited edition includes a bonus disc of B-sides and rarities.

Various Artists / Cherrystones - Hidden Charms
13 Amp

Brought to us by David Holmes' 13 Amp label and Cherrystones' Gareth Goddard (who's already brought us the ace "Cherrystones Rocks"), this is a mind boggling collection of psych-funk, garage-punk, glam, sleazy rock'n'roll, soul music! It should have been sub-titled 'In hommage to the wah-wah', because nearly every track is laced with that most tastily textured mind-bender of an FX pedal. It was only invented in '67 and given to one James Marshall Hendrix to play with, so I'd put most of this music as coming between '67 and 1970. It's dance music of the day: druggy, funky, disorientating and uplifting. Apart from Ennio Morriconie and (erm...) Cher (doing an unlikely and quite amazing cover of Dr John's "I Walk on Gilded Splinters") you've probably never heard of this lot - I hadn't! And there's the thrill: like the "Nuggets" and "Pebbles" compilations, here's 16 more crazy, imaginitive, carefree gems, too freaky for mass consumption. And all the better for it.

Joshua Burkett - Life Less Lost
Spirit Of Orr

Second album from a quiet pillar of Western Massachusetts free music community, now available in easy to obtain CD format. As part of the burgeoning homemade psych-folk movement, Burkett has worked with Shrin, Vermonster, Wormdoom and Borb amongst others as well as sat in with Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Tower Recordings, Six Organs, and Crystallized Movements.

Manual With Jess Kahr - The North Shore
Darla

The North Shore" is a near pure ambient album though it still has melody and composition. The sound is a combination of the introspective moods of Eno's classics "Ambient 4" and "Plateau Of The Mirror" and the beauty of the Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd's "The Moon And The Melodies", however, it is clearly and uniquely Manual-esque. This doesn't have the shoegazey guitar or beats we've heard on Manual's previous work. Still, it will more than please those familiar with his previous records and is Manual's most cohesive and mature work to date

Zu & Spaceways Inc - Radiale
Atavistic

Chicago stalwarts, Spaceways Inc. (Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, and Nate Mcbride) meet Italian stallions Zu in a heavyweight jazz; funk; dub; skronk fight to the death. "Radiale" contains four originals by Zu, plus four stomp yr ass all the way till 4am covers of Funkadelic, Sun Ra and the Art Ensemble, with a cool digipak designed by Scarful.

Trapdoor Fucking Exit - Be Not Content
No Idea

Brilliant and innovative Swedish hardcore whose intricate, frustrated, raging sound is lent unaffected subtlety by acoustic guitars, sax and piano lines - giving it overtones of Drive Like Jehu, Trail Of Dead and At The Drive In.

Beloved - Failure On
Golf

An awesome, furious and precise debut which switches effortlessly between alternative rock melody and pulverising, passionate hardcore breakdowns. Heavy, melodic guitars and a vocal style alternating between sweetly voiced harmonies and bloody throat screaming are propelled by shifting, driving rhythms - a devastating release from one of the most promising hardcore outfits to emerge in recent years. Don't miss.

Fire Divine - It's All A Blur
Deep Elm

This, their debut, features roaring guitars teeming with an array of songful textures and drums with hammer, stomp and bite to spare, with vocalist Ian Musgrove, a singer who can instill incalculable passion into a song with absolutely no pretense. Bleeding guitar streams, melodic mayhem, amalgamating bullet-train rhythms, low-key strumming and mid-tempo fireworks. Cross-genre appeal to fans of indie, emo, hardcore and punk music.

Richmond Fontaine - Post To Wire
El Cortez

Combining elements of punk, country and folk music, the members of Richmond Fontaine provide a compelling backdrop for the heart wrenching tales of lead singer Willy Valutin. His Carver-esque lyrics bring a vision of the West which is both vital and compelling.

4Hero - The Remix Album
Raw Canvas

Marc Mac and Dego have long been at the forefront of the broken beats / nu-jazz scene, and before that the drum and bass scene with their influential Reinforced label (bringing through talent like Seiji). The exacting comlpexities of drum and bass beat building, and their love of 70s jazz-funk meant they were never going to be also rans in any field of music they were part of. Here we get a chance to look back at some of their seminal remix work, and more up to date stuff too, including Nuyorican Soul, Metalheadz, Courtney Pine, Ultra Nate, Shade Of Soul, Terry Callier, Shaun Escoffery, Marcos Valle etc. This collection also includes a whole set of hard to find remixes of 4Hero themselves, from the likes of Masters At Work, Jazzanova, Marcus Intalex, Exemen, DJ Spinna, King Britt, Metalheadz, New Sector Movements etc.

Various Artists / Michael Reinboth - Soul Elektrisch
TrusttheDJ

The Jazzanova / Compost man provides a mix of his favourite tunes, including loads of our faves too, such as Clyde's "Serve It Up!", Putsch 79, Tiga, Sidewinder, 2Day & 2Moro plus a load of Compost goodies.

Biggabush - Biggabush Free
Stereo Deluxe

New (April 2004) album from Glyn 'Bigga' Bush (ex Rockers Hi-Fi and the man behind Lightning Head) on Stereo Deluxe. It's a dubwise concoction of styles, taking in hip hop, mellow breaks, easy grooves and of course plenty of dub. Includes the single "Acid Fly", "Throwdown" and the original of "Deep Eastwood".

Various Artists / Weapons Of Mass Creation
Hospital

Another fresh set of exclusives from Hospital! Includes tracks by London Elektricity Vs Nu:Tone, John B, Konsta, Danny Byrd & Adrock etc. Play from Fabio, Grooverider, Goldie, Gilles Peterson, Mr Scruff etc.

Ennio Morricone - Molto Mondo Morricone Volume 3
Royal Ear Force

A 20 track compilation of Morricone scored tracks for late 60s / early 70s Italian films, including one previously unreleased track. The films may have been of B-movie quality, but the music lives on, taking in mellow bossa, filmic funk and easy grooves.

Ennio Morricone - Mondo Morricone Revisted Volume 1
Royal Ear Force

18 track collection of tracks scored by the legendary Italian film music composer, dating from the late 60s / early 70s.

Ennio Morricone - More Mondo Morricone Revisted Volume 2
All Score Media / Royal Ear Force

Another round up of Morricone's work, taking in tracks from 'Citta' Violenta', 'La Cosa Buffa', 'La Donna Invisble', 'Maddalena', 'Un Uomo Da Rispettare' etc circa the late 60s / early 70s.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:43 AM

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Billboard have some vague details of the next Interpol album, scheduled for a September release.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:28 PM

Also coming up on Warp the new album from !!! "Louden Up Now" will be released on 7th June.

including their sensational nine-minute single "Me and Giuliani Down By The School Yard (A True Story)"

# posted by DJ Martian 11:23 PM

The latest Breezeblock show on Radio 1 feaures: DJ Hell

This week Mary Anne brings you a mix from International DJ Gigolo boss, DJ Hell.

>> Now available to listen on demand, check the Breezeblock Tracklistings

# posted by DJ Martian 11:11 PM

Two Lone Swordsmen - NEW ALBUM ANNOUNCED

Yep, Keith Tenniswood and Andy Weatherall have finally recorded a new album.

Playlouder report the excellent Two Lone Swordsmen will release a new album: The Double Gone Chapel on Warp on May 17th.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:04 PM

Stylus review Mum - Summer Make Good

# posted by DJ Martian 4:24 PM

This week's flavorpill LONDON a weekly email magazine covering music, art, and cultural events

# posted by DJ Martian 2:14 PM

Jumping Fences: An Assemblage of Music Lists, Reviews, and Song Lyrics Links

You may remember a website called: Jumping Fences well it's sprung back to life. It is divided into Critics best albums lists and JF lists, from 1990 onwards.

[On a personal note, JF's music interests, trad US songs based Indie Rock of the Magnet Magazine type / Singer-Songwriters/ Alt.Country etc - don't match mine - However the website is well put together and worth a plug.]

Also, take a look at the cheeky way - they have added content - "song lyrics links" to rank well in search engines.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:23 AM

SPOTLIGHT...KEY NEW RELEASES [April 5th]

Key new album releases for April 5th [A more detailed release listing including other new releases, compilations and reissues - can be found further up this webpage.]

And One - Aggressor (Metropolis)
Apparat - Shapemodes (Neo Ouija)
Ayro - Electroniclovefunk (Omoa Music)
Gregg Bendian - Interzone (Atavistic) [Import available to order at Amazon.co.uk]
Glenn Branca - Lesson #1 (Acute)
Uri Caine - Dark Flame (Winter & Winter) [Available at Rough Trade]
The Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour (Rough Trade)
Dynarec - User Input (Delsin)
Rob Ellis - Music For The Home Vol. 2 (Leaf)
Wechsel Garland And World Standard - The Isle (Staubgold) [Available at Rough Trade]
Kill Me Tomorrow - The Garbageman And The Prostitute (GSL) [Now available at Rough Trade]
Kylian - Lappi Inzoo (Toytronic) [Vinyl EP]
Matmos - Rat Relocation Project (Locust)
Minus Story - The Captain Is Dead... (Jagjaguwar)
Alexander Neilson And Richard Youngs - Ourselves (Vhf)
Neulander - Smoke And Fire (Disko B)
Orphx - Circuitbreaking (Hymen)
Picastro - Red Your Blues (Monotreme)
Putsch '79 - Putsch (Clone)
Steve Roach - Fever Dreams (Projekt) [Import available to order at Amazon.co.uk]
Todd Rundgren - Liars (Sanctuary)
Scarling - Sweet Heart Dealer (Sympathy For The Record Industry) [UK Release Date]
Scarlet's Well - The Dream Spider Of The Laughing Horse (Siesta)
Spaceways Incorporated - Spaceways Inc. VS. Zü: Radiale (Atavistic)
Tortoise - It's All Around You (Thrill Jockey)
Traject - Strengir Hrynja (Spezial Material)
Weevil - Drunk On Light (Wichita)

# posted by DJ Martian 12:12 AM

Monday, April 12, 2004

dense promotion, Berlin

Some forthcoming releases are profiled @ dense promotion

AMUTE - A Hundred Dry Trees [CD intr_version]
ANDY MOOR / YANNIS KYRIAKIDES - Red v Green [CD Unsounds]
CM VON HAUSSWOLFF - Three Overpopulated Cities... [CD Sub Rosa]
DANIEL MENCHE - Skadha [CD Antifrost]
GIARDINI DI MIRO - Hits For Broken Hearts And Asses [CD/LP 2nd Rec]
HOLKHAM - Komatta Saru [CD/LP Expanding Records]
JASCH - Shimmer [CD dOc]
JOHN BUTCHER - 13 Friendly Numbers [CD Unsounds]
JON MUELLER / BHOB RAINEY / JIM SCHOENECKER - s/t [CD Crouton]
JON MUELLER / JASON KAHN - Papercuts [CD Crouton]
MICHAEL WERTMUELLER – die zeit. eine gebrauchsanweisung / Entleibung (Part 1, Part 3) (Kompositionen) [CD Grob]
MITCHELL AKIYAMA - If Night Is A Weed And Day Grows Less [CD Sub Rosa]
MOTION - Every Action [CD 12k]
PEKKA AIRAKSINEN - Madam I'm Adam [2CD Love Records]
TONY BUCK / AXEL DOERNER - Durch Und Durch [CD TES/Vitamin]
V.A. - CHILDREN OF MU [2CD Planet Mu]
V.A. (compiled by DAVID TOOP) - HAUNTED WEATHER [2CD Staubgold]
V.A. - OPERETTE / TAPE OPERA REMIXES [CD cubicfabric]
VENETIAN SNARES - Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding [CD Planet Mu]
VLADISLAV DELAY - Demo(n)tracks [CD Huume]
Z_E_L_L_E - rjctd : : nw [CD cubicfabric]

# posted by DJ Martian 9:56 PM

Splendid interview Icelandic band Múm

# posted by DJ Martian 9:48 PM

Dusted review Thuja - All Strange Beasts of the Past

# posted by DJ Martian 9:45 PM

Sunday, April 11, 2004

The Big Chill Festival - Eastnor Castle

Radio 1's Blue Room have the line up for The Big Chill festival.

The Big Chill Festival returns to Eastnor Castle, Malvern Hills, Herefordshire on the 30th, 31st of July and 1st of August 2004 and we can exclusively reveal the full line-up is as follows:...

# posted by DJ Martian 10:14 PM

This Week's New Releases @ Boomkat

This week's new releases @ Boomkat - A Pelicanneck Online Music Store include:

ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Lali Puna - Faking The Books
Morr Music

"Faking The Books", Lali Puna's third album, is a maverick display of pop sensibilities applied to a world gone wrong. The band have already provoked glowing responses from the highest-profile listeners - adored by Radiohead, championed by Andrew Weatherhall, re-arranged by Bomb The Bass, backed by Radioactive Man, remixed by Two Lone Swordsmen and closely followed by an ever-expanding ripple of admiration from a now substantial body of fans. A band made up of members from projects as central to the guitar-pop scene as The Notwist, Tied and Tickled Trio, Console and more. And when you receive support at that level (reaching a peak with the release of their last album "Scary World Theory") - where do you go? For Lali the progression came with confidence : the amplifiers turned up,the instruments plugged in, the voice placed higher up in the mix and the storytelling edged closer to our confused, lawless, modern version of the world. "Faking The Books" explores the musical fusion of raucous instrumentation and layered, soothing production, directed with a pop conviction that isn't afraid to mix vintage synths, vocal effects, garage drum workouts, detroit strums, carefully arranged strings, electronic bass drums and a homage to all the bands that have paved the way for such diversity - you know, the one's that have made the current crop of guitar-pop heroes role-models for a new generation. "Faking The Books" is a brilliant guitar-pop album, rich with a textured depth of songwriting and delivery that is over-run by a resigned melancholy that for some miraculous reason still manages to makes you smile and nod your head in keeping with the most memorable kind of pop. Magic.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Vladislav Delay - Demo(n) Tracks
Huume

Welcome back Mr Delay. Yes, you've grown your hair and had a right old laugh playing for the chicks with your loved-up house monster Luomo, slapping on the glitter and taking a break from the deep side we all admired and loved you for all those many moons ago. "Demo(n) Tracks" is really quite a wonderful return to form from a producer who is quite obviously capable of applying his skill to any musical challenge laid down before him. Carrying on from his groundbreaking material for Chain Reaction and Mille Plateaux, this is actually the second release on his own Huume label, the first being his first ever 12" - the "Kind Of Blue" EP from all the way back in 1997. 13 tracks present themselves here (each given an utterly unpronounceable Finnish title) - digesting and evolving the sound of spacious sub-dub emissions into a masterwork of sculptured instrumentals and triumphs of warm minimalism. "Kasvot Uivat" is a perfect example of Delay's ability to extract immense emotional engagement from a barely-there sliver of suggested melody and neon tones. "Kohmeessa Alt" is more overtly dubbed-up, although compared to the most recent work of contemporaries Pole, Deadbeat and Kit Clayton - we're once again striding on positively bare terrain......and it's all the better for it. The album ends with the ambitious "Kainuu", which hints at where Delay's production savvy may take him next - giving the breathless atmospherics a rude awakening with jazz lounge samples floating in and out of the mix with an expert narcossis that you just can't quite decipher but that sounds absolutely, totally sublime. "Demo(n) Tracks" is one of the finest emissions in this particular sub-genre for absolutely ages, a masterpiece of minimalism and atmosphere that fans of everyone from Mike Ink's Gas project, through to King Tubby, through to Brian Eno and Basic Channel will adore. Huge recommendation.

Black Dice - Miles Of Smiles
Fat Cat / DFA

Clocking in at a total running time of 28 minutes, this release will please and confound fans and critics alike, as the black dice prove once again that whatever they tackle, it is on their terms only. `Miles of Smiles' was originally created for the poetry of sex art exhibit in tokyo and finds the band exploring a musique concrete-like world of chance and surprise. The flipside `trip dude delay' has been a live staple for many years. The EP heads into more psychedelic territory and will appeal to fans of Sonic Youth, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fennesz, Liars, Animal Collective & Boredoms. Messy and strangely compulsive, recommended.

Kylian - Lappi Inzoo
Toytronic

Now available on cd. Toytronic return to the fray with minimal fuss and the first offering from new signing Kylian. Fractured IDM is the order of the day once more, the opening segment of "Lappi Inzoo" abruptly interrupted by some nonesensical filtered gibberish, presumably spoken in Kylian's native Finnish tongue. Once that's out the way some classic Aphex cartoon fairground melodies take over into splatterd, sped-up electroid percussion (actually sounding remarkably like classic Voice Stealer beats) and a cascade of analog-driven appregiated melodies. "Tak-Ap" is much more dense and robust, a downbeat arrangement of heavy bass beats and stretched percussion that works much better than the opener - in toughest style. "Eerikson" on the flip is most reminiscent of Gimmik's first EP with its distorted arrangement of cut-up edits and childlike rewinds - once again in that cartoon stylee. A bit messy but adequately crunchy to jack to. Limited copies only - as is always the way with Toytronic.

Manual (With Jess Kahr) - The North Shore
Darla

Jonas Munk's much-loved Manual project has reached it's most mature and understated form with "The North Shore" - a truly engrossing collection of ambient pieces in the finest traditions of Brian Eno's most important work or Harold Budd and The Cocteau Twins awesome "Moon and the Melodies" album. Having explored a more overtly sweet sound for his two excellent Morr Music album's and work for Static Caravan, Munk's collaboration here with fellow Limp band-member Jess Kahr dives deep into an ocean of warm tones and beatless harmonies. Rich with understated melody and layers of sparkling sound, each of the 7 pieces here moves on from the next, overflowing with echoes of distant bells, hushed voices and endlessly expanding weaves of vast strings and tones. "The North Shore" omits the shoegazey guitar and beats we've heard on manual's previous work, instead opting for a more restrained encounter with music of the heart. Lovely.

Mum - Summer Make Good
Fat Cat

Múm return with their third full album after the genre defining and blissed out 'Yesterday Was Dramatic Today Is OK' and the Fat Cat debut 'Finally We Are No One'. Now trimmed to a trio after Gya left to concentrate on her cello playing, the other twin sister Kristín now takes the full spotlight for the vocal duties. Musically darker (to reflect the times, no doubt) the trio, sometimes expandable to a quintet for live duties, still manage to make beautiful music from a seemingly randon patchwork of toy instrumentation and analogue trickery. In fact the electronics that were such an important feature of their debut album have all but dissapeared leaving instead the natural resonance of aged instruments and glowing wires. Recording in an isolated lighthouse in Iceland has added extra drama to this record, imbuing the music with some classic cinematic references - imagine music for a fairytale sequence in a Von-Trier film or the dark playfulness of Krystoff Komeda's soundtrack work for Polanski's early classic 'Cul-De-Sac'. The vocals can sometimes gnaw a little (ala Sigur Ros), so delicate and cutesy but this is countered by the killer musical backdrop. Fan's of Múm's previous albums will love this , special in that it grows in stature with every play. Highly recommended.

Slicker / Telefon Tel Aviv Remix - Knock Me Down Girl
Hefty

Slicker is John Hughes - recording artist, owner and driving force behind the bustling Chicago based label Hefty Records, home to Telefon Tel Aviv. "Knock Me Down Girl" is the first song taken from Slicker's imminent, pan-global, soul-jazz album "We All Have A Plan". "Honest" and "organic" are key words used by Hughes when describing his music. On this EP, "Knock Me Down Girl" finds John fusing electronics & beats with accessable songwriting, enforcing the future roots vibe that he strives for thoughout the entire new album. Vocal duties are provided by Khadija Anwar, who as a fourteen year old, fronted the Sugar Hill funk outfit mid-70's, reissued recently as part of the Aestuarium Chicago One stop triple pack we hold so dear. Dan Boadi, the Ghanian vocalist and musician, who graced the second Aestuarium release, also provides guest vocals. Not to mention instrumental backing by other special guests including Joshua Eustis of current darlings Telefon Tel Aviv, Wendell Harrison - Detroit jazz legend of the Tribe collective amongst others. With the album due to land in about a month, the twelve provides a nice warm-up for the real meat of the full length. This four tracker features the original version of "Knock Me Down Girl", an instrumental version, as well as remixes of the title track Hefty's new japanese signing `Spanova' and label mates Telefon Tel Aviv.

Various / Nonplace - Difficult Easy Listening
Nonplace

This new compilation from Burnt Friedman's long dormant Nonplace imprint brings together an array of artists known and unknown for a collection of pieces that aims to reflect the brief set by its title. Featuring new and exclusive material from Beige, Atom Heart (Atom TM), plus Burnt Friedman himself working with the Nu Dub Players and Jaki Liebezeit - there's also some good new work from unknown players Shank, Swaai and the exotically titled Lycheelassi. Nonplace has traditionally explored the points where electronic music cuts across stylistic junctions with lounge, exotica, dub and funk, ultimately leading to a sort of neo-easy listening that fits in brilliantly with the concept behind this nice little collection. Highlights come from Beige and their demented hiccup funk on "Explosions", the NU Dub Players with the staggered smokey jazzcore blissout of "Designer Groove" and the awesome latino glitch of Atom's replicant rumba rockers and their "La Vida Es Liena De Cables" - a bit of a return to form from Uwe schmidt following his senor coconut blowout. Nonplace have definitely carved out their own little nieche for music of this sort - if the generic blend appeals to you, look no further.

4 Hero - The Remix Album
Raw Canvas

or.. the best of the Talkin' Loud years to date. A humungous double CD (check, 24 tracks) reflecting Marc and Dego's trip to a lighter side of drum n bass, jazz and broken beat after their awe inspiring early hardcore days. There's much genre defining stuff here, many tracks that are classic's to the Gilles Peterson worshippers. Here's just a few of their remix bombs, 'I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun' (Nu Yorican Soul), 'I've Known Rivers' (Courtney Pine), 'Love Theme From Spartacus' (Terry Callier) and 'Twisted' (Ultra Nate). On CD#2 a collection of remixes of 4-Hero tracks from artists such as Bugz In The Attic (there mix of 'Hold It Down' is one of the best broken beat tracks of the last few years), Jazzanova, M.A.W., New Sector Movements, Spinna and many more. Nearly forgot to mention the best track on this comp, Scarface 'I Seen A Man Die', the 4-Hero mix is so dope even though in the office we slightly prefer the instrumental version on the original 12". A very welcome collection.

Murs - 3:16 The 9th Edition
Def Jux

Murs the emcee, the Living Legend and the killer storyteller finally drops his hyped up and amazing hip hop pimp odyssey for Def Jux. Production comes from the hotly tipped 9th Wundah fresh off his showcase bootleg remix of the Jay Z's 'The Black' album. This album brings the best out of Murs after the slightly underwhelming 'The End Of The Beginning' set. First off check 'Bad Man' then onto '3:16', two killer tracks that would blow up if given half the exposure as the usual MTV (c)rap. The next outright killer on an old school rolling tip is 'Trevor An' Them', check the chopped drums and the looped guitar hit - a bad late eighties throwdown. Taking more lyrical influences from Digital Underground is the dope 'Freak These Tales', a bittersweet soul sexrap bomb. Then on a classic Big Daddy Kane tip is 'H-U-S-T-L-E', 9th peeping a Prince Paul vibe. Tight assed, ten tracks 33 mins. Pretty perfect hip hop for the club or your crib. Buy it.

# posted by DJ Martian 2:43 PM

Friday, April 09, 2004

Legendary Avant Metal band Celtic Frost Recording New Album..Again

BW & BK report the latest news on Celtic Frost

... Fischer speaks about the recording of the band’s forthcoming album which has been four years in the making. Fischer, alongside original bassist Martin Ain, drummer Reed St. Mark and Fischer's longtime song writing partner and APOLLYON SUN cofounder/guitarist/producer Erol Unala have just entered the studio to record the tentatively-titled Probe opus - the official followup to 1990’s Vanity/Nemesis.

Tom G. (Warrior) Fischer...
"We've written material for about two albums and we've canned all of it! That material is never going to come out. We have an album together that we're fairly happy with. It has gotten much darker. We have all had difficult times in our lives while working on it. The music had a very wide bandwidth to begin with, but there was also a lot of light music, happy music and that's all totally disappeared. It is totally gone, the album is so black…it isn't your easy-listening, elevator music album. There's some electronic stuff on there, there's going to be some music as on Pandemonium (1987) or To Mega Therion (1985). There's going to be classical material; if all goes well there will be two classical pieces. Some songs that are new wave and gothic, like we had in the 80s. There's just a whole lot of very dark hard rock on it, very Frost but more modern, more cutting-edge.”

# posted by DJ Martian 5:38 PM

BBC News: report on the Tears for Fears comeback album Album review: Tears For Fears

Pause & Play On the CD Front are now listing Tears for Fears - Everybody Loves a Happy Ending - as a June 1st release [therefore Monday May 31st for the UK?]

# posted by DJ Martian 5:21 PM

Mouse On Mars - Radical Connector

According to Pause & Play On the CD Front a new Mouse on Mars album will be released August 24th

Thrill Jockey list this as an upcoming album: Mouse On Mars - Radical Connector

# posted by DJ Martian 5:09 PM

Elbow are special guests on ROCKET SCIENCE with Marc Riley on 6 Music tomorrow afternoon.

Elbow will be in the studio talking and playing

# posted by DJ Martian 4:58 PM

This coming Sunday, Tom Middleton will be the guest DJ on The 6 Mix on 6 Music

AKA The Jedi Knight, The Sound Of The Cosmos. The 6 Mix is honoured to welcome one of the world's finest DJs. In demand for remix work all over the world he is currently working on a project with Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr. His new album The Trip has been hailed already as one of the albums of the year. He will be taking us through his influences and playing an exlcusive half hour club mix from 8.

# posted by DJ Martian 4:50 PM

Progressive Ears have started an Album of the Year 2001 Poll

# posted by DJ Martian 3:24 PM

Advance notification of The Freak Zone on 6 Music, this Sunday 11th April

>> Special Guest will be Mike Oldfield

>> Eddi Fiegel will be talking about Vini Reilly and The Durutti Column in Specialists' Corner.

# posted by DJ Martian 1:31 PM

Tiny Mix Tapes review Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks

# posted by DJ Martian 1:25 PM

BBC Music review Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour

# posted by DJ Martian 1:19 PM

BBC Music review Jacob Young - Evening Falls on ECM

ECM debut for Norwegian guitarist, here with a band including star drummer Jon Christensen

# posted by DJ Martian 1:18 PM

Stylus review Adem - Homesongs

# posted by DJ Martian 1:10 PM

BW & BK report PARADISE LOST In Talks With New Drummer

# posted by DJ Martian 1:05 PM

Tool - working on new album

BW & BK report TOOL Commence Work On New Material And New DVD

MTV.com report Tool Hammer Away At New Album

# posted by DJ Martian 1:02 PM

Pitchfork review William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops I-IV

# posted by DJ Martian 12:33 PM

A campaign for Underground House music has started: Underground House Music on Radio 1

Since the demise of the super club and the big room sound there has been
a noticeable resurgence of quality Underground House Music and events
across the UK. Even here on the Internet the Underground House Community
is making its mark with our Undergroundhouse.net website becoming the
largest house music community and listening station on the net with full
support of the music industry within just two years. All despite the
fact that this music is often not considered mainstream enough for a
regular national radio audience. This is all about giving proper
exposure to quality, Underground House dj's artists and labels who have
earned it with a consistent commitment to quality, forward thinking
music. This isn't about what has the best PR or what is perceived to be
popular; this is about the best in Underground House music getting the
respect it deserves.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:19 PM

Thursday, April 08, 2004

Next week's releases are reviewed @ Norman Records

# posted by DJ Martian 2:11 PM

The latest releases are reviewed by NYC's Other Music: The Other Music Update

NEW RELEASES
Deadbeat
Modest Mouse
Tortoise
Superpitcher
Konk (Compilation)
Antietam

Cloud One (Reissue)
Story of P & P Records DVD
Lansing-Dreiden
Shearwater
Matmos
Carla Bozulich

ALSO AVAILABLE:
Kitsune Midnight (Various)

# posted by DJ Martian 12:50 PM

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

If I were an editor of a weekly music magazine this week's front cover would feature: Lali Puna and To Rococo Rot

This week's front cover choice is a German Double special featuring, Lali Puna and To Rococo Rot

Lali Puna release their new album Faking the Books on Morr Records on April 12th.

Splendid review Lali Puna - Faking the Books

To Rococo Rot release their new album Hotel Morgan on Domino Records on April 19th.

Splendid review To Rococo Rot - Hotel Morgan

# posted by DJ Martian 11:42 PM

TV on the Radio

According to DJ John Kennedy on London's Xfm 104.9, TV on the Radio - have just signed a UK deal with 4ad records.

A UK tour will happen in June - no doubt the album will get a full UK release then.

>> TV on the Radio

# posted by DJ Martian 11:22 PM

IQ - Dark Matter

English art-rock band IQ have named their forthcoming album: Dark Matter due in May. Strange yet Stunning front cover artwork.

# posted by DJ Martian 9:15 PM

Curve Compilation

Just received an e-mail news alert from Music Non Stop, regarding a Curve Compilation

We are pleased to bring you full details on the brand new limited edition double CD from Curve. 'The Way of Curve' comes packed with all of their hits plus rarities, remixes and unreleased tracks. Please note that this is a first run exclusive European limited edition therefore please pre-order quickly to secure your copy!

CURVE - The Way of Curve - Anxious

Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia - a.k.a.Curve - burst onto the indie scene in the early 90's mixing dance, rock and gothic influences with a dark pop edge. Now, "The Way Of Curve" delivers a definitive multi-label retrospective of Curve tracks covering their entire career. Released as a European only LIMITED EDITION, housed in a stunning metallic finish digipak it collects 31 tracks spread across two discs featuring their 5 Top 40 hits, fan favourites ( as voted for in a recent internet poll on curve.co.uk ) plus rarities, remixes and unreleased tracks, including - "Falling Free" ( Aphex Twin ), "Coming Up Roses" ( Kevin Shields ), "I Feel Love" ( cover of Donna Summer classic ) and "What A Waste" ( feat Ian Dury ). For fans and newcommers alike, "The Way Of Curve" presents a truly essential collection from a truly unique band.

Full Tracklisting CD ONE :
01. Ten Little Girls
02. Coast Is Clear
03. Clipped
04. Die Like A Dog
05. Horror Head ( Remix single version )
06. Fait Accompli ( Remix single version )
07. Missing Link
08. Superblaster
09. Pink Girl With The Blues
10. Recovery ( Original Mix )
11. Chinese Burn ( Osborne mix )
12. Coming Up Roses ( Osborne Mix )
13. Hell Above Water
14. Want More Need Less
15. Perish
16. Nice and Easy

Full Tracklisting CD TWO :
01. On The Wheel
02. Triumph
03. Arms Out
04. Sigh
05. Mission From God
06. Today Is Not The Day
07. Low And Behold
08. Nothing Without Me
09. What A Waste ( with Ian Dury )
10. Falling Free ( Aphex Twin mix )
11. Chinese Burn ( Lunatic Calm mix )
12. Coming Up Roses ( Kevin Shields Mix )
13. I Feel Love
14. In Disguise
15. Sinner
Released 17th May 2004. Cat No : 82876613612( 8 ).

# posted by DJ Martian 7:33 PM

New English Psychedelic Rock Band... Grand National

Grand National are a band picking up some airplay on 6 Music, with a new single: Talk Amongst Yourselves that has a distinctive hybrid sound. [released next week: April 12th]

Take Kraftwerk synths mix with Pink Floyd Circa 1975, the vocalist sounds like vintage Squeeze and the basslines remind me of that psychedelic dance-rock groove of Happy Mondays and Stone Roses, or New Order at their most rocking.

There is a lot of dross playlisted on radio, but this definately stands out as a big radio hit.

Grand National are signed to Rob Da Bank's [of Radio 1 's Blue Room fame] record label Sunday Best

Grand National's debut album is out late May

Grand National - Kicking The National Habit

Track Listing:

1. Drink To Moving On
2. Talk Amongst Yourselves
3. Playing In The Distance
4. Boner
5. Peanut Dreams
6. Cherry Tree
7. Coming Round

On a side note whoever designed that website needs a good shaking down, hideous bright colours that are more at home in Nursery School and....a ghastly mid screen scrolling bar - WHY !

Designed by a mad graphic artist living in a world where Usability and Information Design are alien concepts.

Anglo Plugging have a biography for Grand National and info for their debut album

...Their debut album Kicking The National Habit is as luscious and lacerating as it can get: "Drink To Moving On" features ringing guitars and some pleasantly laid-back singing from La that sounds like Sting in a trance. La came up with the bittersweet melody - "It's a cross between New Order's 'Regret' and The Flaming Lips' 'Race For The Prize'," he explains - while holidaying in India with his then-girlfriend. Rupert added the rhythm track back in his Tufnell Park flat. "La waffles to my music," says Rupert, pithily summing up Grand National's modus operandi. "Talk Amongst Yourselves" has deep harmonies, an electronic synth line, and choppy rhythm guitar that is pure Bernard Sumner via Nile Rodgers of Chic. "It's about getting over depression," explains Rupert. "No, it's about puking up in a toilet after going motorcross riding in Kings Cross," contradicts his partner. Adds Rupert, a bit more sensibly: "It's about the internal dialogue that stops you doing shit in your life." "Playing In The Distance" was described by Uncut magazine as like "'Roxanne' meets 'Born Slippy' with Alan Rankine of Associates on keyboards." It's also got the best trumpet solo on a pop record since Teardrop Expodes' "Reward" and a lyric - "we're not caving in" - that is quintessential Grand National philosophising. "Boner", a brilliant blast of neo-ska that betrays a love of The Police, The Specials and The Beat, is "about that ghastly 3pm feeling." Last track on what would have been side one is "Peanut Dreams", one of the first songs La and Rupert wrote after "Playing In The Distance". The bassline and guitar are like some dream meeting between Dr Dre and Joy Division.

"Side two" kicks off with "Cherry Tree", an ode to one-night-stands with a huge pop chorus, a guitar sound that recalls early-'80s The Edge and a lyric that goes, "Baptise my fries and capsize into everything/I stole your berries..." Huh? "It's a surreal way of saying, 'Let's get nuts deep'," explains Rupert, adding: "Sorry, mum." "Coming Round" is another hit single from a parallel universe where decent - i.e. weird, accessible - pop music gets in the charts. "Daylight Goes", about "getting someone you know out of the doldrums", features what sound like kettle drums, a Peter Hook-esque low-slung bassline and a bizarre reference to the actor Richard Harris. "North Sound Off" suggests the direction The Police should have taken after their best album, 'Regatta De Blanc'. Finally, "Litter Bin" - about "watching a mate go nuts" - is exquisite: imagine AR Kane and Talk Talk jamming in pop heaven, all shimmering guitars and aching chord changes.

It's a gorgeous coda to what will undoubtedly be regarded, in 12 months' time, as one of the key recordings of 2004. Just grand.

# posted by DJ Martian 7:12 PM

Ima Robot will finally release their 2003 US released debut album - in the UK on April 19th on Virgin.

>> Metacritic reviews for Ima Robot - Ima Robot

# posted by DJ Martian 1:33 PM

Kerrang reaches 1000 Issue

This week Kerrang reaches it's 1000 issue.

It started as an initial Heavy Metal offshoot of Sounds magazine back in 1981, in the early years of it's existence Kerrang was a monthly, then fortnightly mag, then switched to a weekly format in 1987.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:49 PM

Pitchfork review Blockhead - Music by Cavelight

# posted by DJ Martian 11:00 AM

New Releases @ Piccadilly Records

Some new releases listed in the weekly guide [via e-mail] from Manchester's music emporium: Piccadilly Records

Weevil - Drunk On Light
Wichita

Debut album from Weevil. Gorgeous swirling melodies, with lovely harmonies, acoustic guitars, cut'n'paste drums, backward loops and a whole host of other electronic atmospheric noodling. Add to that, occasional My Bloody Valentine guitar bursts, and you've got one stunning debut album!

Carla Bozulich - I'm Gonna Stop Killing
DiCristina Stair Builders

Carla Bozulich (leader of the defunct Geraldine Fibbers) extends the thread of her well received "Red Headed Stranger" full length (released in 2003). This mini album contains two songs from "Red Headed Stranger" (one a duet with Willie Nelson), new explorations of music from that album, and seven unreleased live tunes, including original stuff from the Geraldine Fibbers and Scarnella, a Neil Young cover, a Marianne Faithful cover, and some world class improvisations.

Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll
4AD

Classic Cocteau Twins album re-issued by 4AD, with it's original tracklisting, remastered by Robin Guthrie and featuring repackaged artwork.

Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Last Vegas
4AD

Classic Cocteau Twins album re-issued by 4AD, with it's original tracklisting, remastered by Robin Guthrie and featuring repackaged artwork.

Comets On Fire - Field Recordings From The Sun
Sweet Nothing

"Field Recordings From The Sun" is not a psychedelic album in the manner of cheap guitar effects and gentle meanderings served with an oil light show. It is an aggressive attack on a fragile reality, a peeling back of the skull above the brain and a transmigration of the senses to a universal location of beer drunk joy and overwhelming white heat in thundering, all consuming sound.

The Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour
Rough Trade

What a lovely surprise. I had these down as a sweet, poppy Roses / Las / sixties obsessed pop group (all completely commendable, of course) but the opening track "Wanderlust" with mock steel-drums, pulsing electronica, and the nearest any man has got to sounding like (The Cocteaus's) Liz Frazer, blast The Delays into another orbit altogether. This is 80s lush dream pop. And singer Gary Gilbert has an incredible, freed-up, androgenous falsetto (remember David McAlmont?) that, when married to rich, chiming guitars and reverb-swimming special FX, produces a blissed out swoon of a record. Certainly those Teenage Fanclub style classic reference points are all present and correct, but there's such a colourful array of sound and so many clever, fun-loving touches that we're whisked away from the slavishly studied and into the unfettered zone marked "Outstanding Pop." It's heaven sent.

Drew - Songs From The Devil's Chimney
Source

It's all happening on the Isle of Wight. Ok, there were the world famous late 60s festivals, the famous-in-our-shop Bees (can't wait for their imminent 2nd LP!) and now this, the debut record from Drew Kennett. He's a singer-songwriter with a home-made, rustic vibe. It's a little bit early Floyd, a little bit Neil Young. Maybe Badly, maybe Nick Drake are in there too. These are gentle, unpretensious songs from the heart. Warm and tender, simple and true.

EZT - Goodbye Little Doll
Monitor

EZT is Colin Michael Gagon, he has played on vertually every Will Oldham release to date. A touring and session player over the last eight years for Drag City luminaries Smog and Will Oldham (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy), EZT has finally stepped out on his own, creating something undescribably splendid. Produced by Bill Callahan (Smog), EZT's debut contains neck breaking melodies and hooks from some place you ain't ever seen.

Kaito - Band Red
Blast First

"Band Red" was recorded at The Sickroom in their home town of Norwich, co-produced by Owen Turner of Magoo and re-mastered at Abbey Road. They play distorted, fuzzy post punk guitar songs with a nod to both Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine.

Kill Me Tomorrow - The Garbage Man And The Prostitute
Gold Standard Laboratories

Kill Me Tomorrow produce what you might call 'noir wave'; a sort of new wave / no wave, gothic tinged, industrial, electro post punk. Often compared to classic bands like the Fall, Joy Division and Sonic Youth, KMT have frequently been lauded by critics for their hyper futuristic experimental approach to composition and style. This is raw, and art damaged electro punk!!

Mary Lou Lord - Baby Blue
Loose

A native of Salem, Massachusetts, Lord moved to London to study audio engineering after attending Boston's Berklee School of Music. In London, she performed with her acoustic guitar constantly in subways and on city sidewalks, interpreting the songs of artists she loved: Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake, to name a few. Upon returning to Boston, Lord caught the attention of indie label Kill Rock Stars, for whom she went on to record a series of singles and EPs. She garnered immense praise not only from critics, but also from such notable fellow artists as Kurt Cobain, Elliott Smith, and Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill. In 1998, Lord released her one and only major label recording, "Got No Shadow'". "Baby Blue" marks Lord's return to record-making after a three-year hiatus and this new outing finds Lord backed by a full band for the first time since her 1998 release.

Metal Urbain - Anarchy In Paris
Acute

The collected late 70's releases from France's seminal synth-punk pioneers, including several unreleased tracks and extensive liner notes.

Carina Round - The First Blood Mystery
Animal Noise

Timely reissue of the debut album from Birmingham's Carina Round, which received huge critical acclaim upon release in all the broadsheets.

The Servant - The Servant
Prolifica

Following on from their three track debut EP, this hotly tipped band who combine the traditional rock line up of guitar, bass and drums with clever electronics release their debut album.

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
Rough Trade

This is wonderful! Sufjan has created another stunning album, by blending pastoral folk songs, with a whole host of unusual instrumentation, including electric piano, xylophone and glockenspiel that at times are reminiscent of Philip Glass, occasional bursts of frantic but melodic banjo, and various brass and woodwind instruments and the whole thing is held together through out by some stunningly simple acoustic guitar and fragile, half whispered vocals.

Sultans - Shipwrecked
Swami

"Shipwrecked" is an amalgam of simplistic chord thuggery and late 70s power pop sheen. Immersed in the sounds of the Nerves, the Saints and The Ramones, the Sultans reinvent themselves as lovesick vermin.

Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Rare Wood
Spirit Of Orr

First commercially available compact disc release from Sunburned Hand Of The Man. They garned near constant coverage in The Wire in 2003, with a much lauded cover feature in August. With this album the Sunburned Hand Of The Man unleash their singular collective spirit into the common marketplace. They are at the forefront of the burgeoning 'new weird Americana' movement, taking elements of folk, psychedelia, acid drenched weirdness, avant garde music forms, krautrock (ala Can / Faust) and creating a whole new otherworldly sound and scene.

Tortoise - It's All Around You
Thrill Jockey

"It's All Around You" finds Tortoise doing what they do best; building and rebuilding upon melodies and rhythms with their own remarkable touch. Written largely in the studio, "It's All Around You" was crafted over the course of a full year, and allowed Tortoise the use of John McEntire's Soma Electronic Music Studios in serving not just as a state-of-the-art recording facility, but as a compositional tool as well.

Weird War - If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em
Drag City

First cultivated in Washington DC, Weird War was originally conceived as an umbrella organisation, consolidating disparate radical elements into one potent and possibly dangerous product. From these bold experimental origins, Weird War, has been streamlined into a fierce and singular fighting unit with the core members, who include Ian Svenonius and Michelle Mae from the Make Up.

Accelera Deck - Sunstrings EP
Scarcelight

Following close on the heels of last years "Ipsissima Vox" album, Accelera Deck (aka Chris Jeely) delivers a 30 minute EP of maximalist / minimalist guitar feedback sonorities. In much the same way a split speaker created a fascinating 'new' guitar sound, Jeely's digitally clipped guitar ponderings lend a unique character to his playing. At times the guitar oscillates freely, notes are bent and shaken, new clusters emerge, loops spiral out of control, and feedback overwhelms.

Black Dice - Miles Of Smiles
Fat Cat

Two exclusive tracks, heading into more psychedelic territory, this EP is a self-contained work clocking in at just under half an hour, selling for the price of an EP. Black Dice are signed to DFA in the USA, contemporaries include Sonic Youth, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fennesz, Liars, Animal Collective & Boredoms. The band cross over into unexpected areas, gathering acclaim from everyone from NME to The Wire, plus style and arts based press and broadsheets.

Mum - Summer Make Good
Fat Cat

it's been a two year wait for Iceland's Mum to follow up their acclaimed debut LP "Finally We Are No One", but the anticipation is finally over with the release of "Summer Make Good". More cinematic than its predecessor, and undeniably darker in tone, this LP is as playful, narrative and dynamic as it is melodic and emotive. Seamlessly blending live instrumentation and electronic / programmed elements, Mum produce a wealth of sonic texture, with instrumentation including melodica, glockenspiel, accordian, keyboards, trumpet, viola, bowed musical saw, pump organ, Chinese harp and banjo!

Various Artists / Music Is Better Volume One - Manchester Vs Helsinki

Compiled by Danny Webb (one of our newest staff members!), who also organises the "Music Is Better" club nights in Manchester (but not Helsinki!), this CD features a range of new talent from the electroclash, punk-funk and electronica scenes. Includes ANIMAL, Bynatone, Bleep, Alcohell, Nu Science, A Maze, Boys Of Scandinavia, Roger, Komplexi etc, making it a perfect introduction to some of the most vital new talent on the scene.

Neulander - Smoke And Fire
Disko B

This is the debut album from John Peel favourites Neulander - they even made it into his Festive 50! Neulander are another one of those globe-spanning electro-pop outfits, with tracks recorded in New York, but having a singer (Korinna Knoll) who's definitely European. Musically, the tracks are on a subtle, well constructed, electronic tip, while lyrically they have a quaint, other-worldly feel.

Various Artists / Back To Mine - Richard X
DMC

There's an inevitable electro-pop vibe to Richard X's selection, and he's included some inspired choices here from both past and present: I Monster's Sheffield Hammer-easy-pop "Who Is She?", Jona Lewie's massive pop hit "You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties" (I never noticed at the time that this was electro-pop, maybe because EVERYTHING in the early 80s was electro-pop), Pete Shelley's "Homosapien" (played on a loop at alt-gay nights when I first came to Manchester in 1984), Trans X "Living On Video" (maybe a step too far, Richard...), John Carpenter's influential "Assault On Precinct 13" theme, Heaven 17's brilliant "Let Me Go", SYD Feat. Nancy Fortune's "Discomanic" and more.

Lucien-N-Luciano - Blind Behaviour
Peacefrog

Lucien Nicolet's mixed Swiss and Chilean identity shows in his wonderful music, mixing up a blend of deep techno and electronica with elements of South American rhythm patterns. With previous releases on Klang Elektronik, Perlon, Transmat, Lo-Fi Stereo, Cadenza and Buchstueke you know he must be doing something very good - if you listen closely you'll hear touches of Carl Craig, Autechre, Kraftwerk and Manuel Gottsching in his work. Includes the single "Alain Brito". We've been playing this CD loads in the shop and I strongly recommend it!

DJ Hell - NY Muscle
International Deejay Gigolos / Motor / Universal

Hell's second LP is a darker vision than 1998's "Munich Machine", and shows a more mature vision to his recordings. Mixing up minimal tech-funk grooves and fierce electro-punk, "NY Muscle" includes guest appearances from Suicide's Alan Vega (in typically distorted good voice), Norway's Erlend Oye, James Murphy (The DFA), Billy Ray Martin etc.

Ayro - ElectronicLoveFunk
Omoamusic

The first album from Matt Chicoine's (AKA Recloose, of course) Omoamusic imprint sees his Detroit protege push the envelope. Just as Recloose's own productions thrived under the influence of Carl Craig, so too has Jeremy Ellis (that's Ayro) reaped the benefit of his benefactor's experience. Jazz-funk and techno run in his veins and this future vision manages to fuse to them together in hitherto unrealised manners. Soulful joints such as "Burning Brightly" will be confirmed as a future anthem. Vikter Duplaix's flirtation with rock seems aneamic against the extreme Prince hero-worship of "Hope That Spings From A World Of Pain" (with John Arnold's fearsome guitar). And we're off again on a rollercoaster ride of scary techno breaks and sweet soul! Included on the end is his technofied remix of Jazzanova's "Days To Come" as a bonus. This is good, very good.

4Hero - The Remix Album
Raw Canvas

Marc Mac and Dego have long been at the forefront of the broken beats / nu-jazz scene, and before that the drum and bass scene with their influential Reinforced label (bringing through talent like Seiji). The exacting comlpexities of drum and bass beat building, and their love of 70s jazz-funk meant they were never going to be also rans in any field of music they were part of. Here we get a chance to look back at some of their seminal remix work, and more up to date stuff too, including Nuyorican Soul, Metalheadz, Courtney Pine, Ultra Nate, Shade Of Soul, Terry Callier, Shaun Escoffery, Marcos Valle etc. This collection also includes a whole set of hard to find remixes of 4Hero themselves, from the likes of Masters At Work, Jazzanova, Marcus Intalex, Exemen, DJ Spinna, King Britt, Metalheadz, New Sector Movements etc.

Various Artists / The Big Chill Classics
Universal

To celebrate ten years of The Big Chill events, from its humble origins at the Union Chapel, to the full multi-stage camping weeknder it is now, Chill-master, Pete Lawrence, compiles and sequences this 33 track trawl through some of their fave tracks. It's an eclectic set of tracks, taking in easy listening, downbeat, soul, nu-jazz, electronics, soft-rock and classical, with the emphasis (obviously) being on mellowness: The Fifth Dimension, Lambchop, 4Hero, Osibisa, Lemon Jelly, Doctor Rockit, Bill Withers, Fleetwood Mac, The Korgis, John Barry, Roy Ayers, John Martyn, Ulrich Schnauss, Plaid and much more!

DJ Marky & XRS - In Rotation
Innerground

Sao Paulo's deck master and studio wizard get together to bring us this wonderful set of melodic drum and bass rollers, mixing in deep soul, jazz, latin, electronics and even turning their hands to house on "Tijuana Frogs". Includes the singles "LK", "Moments Of Lust" (with Vikter Duplaix), "Breeze" (with Cleveland Watkiss) and "Sunshine (Touch Me)" with Jenna G and MIST. Stick this CD on and let the sun roll over you....

Theo Parrish - Extended Boundaries
No Horizons

Fully authorized by Theo himself and previously only available in Japan, this 73 minute mix CD is taken from a live gig during his 2003 DJing schedule (maybe the Plastic People gig?). Kicking off with his incredible mix of DJ Genesis, it includes loads more disco and deep Detroit bombs, such as THAT Loose Joints edit, Ann Clark, Peven Everett and loads of Theo originals.

Bochum Welt - Kissing A Robot Goodbye
Device

With a large back cat of Rephlex released material, Gianlugi Di Costanzo is one of Italy's premier electronica producers and his latest work is this eight track album for Datathief's Device label. The scene is still his robotic ambient muzak, but with roomier spaces in-between, less of the frenetic electro beats and a much more relaxing approach.

Rob Ellis - Music For The Home Vol. 2
Leaf

Instrumental and electronic piano led music from 1994 to 2003.

Matmos - Rat Relocation Project
Locust Music

The dynamic hybrid electro-rock duo Matmos strike again hot on the heels of last year's celebrated Matador full length "The Civil War" with this zany, completely mesmerizing two track contribution to the Met Life series of field recordings and ingenious sound responses. The Matmos boys stretch an ominous canvas with the bare sounds of an incarcerated rat ensconced in a friendly trap and paint an unlikely response. "Rat Relocation Project" is a heavily elevated, gleeful electro-rock epic that combines Matmos' patented blend of humour, drill & bass with cinematic prog reminiscent of the cult fantasy sci fi film "The Fantastic Planet".

Richard Youngs & Alexander Neilson - Ourselves
VHF

This was originally recorded in Glasgow 2003 as a one hour special for broadcast on London's Resonance FM but turned out too good to leave in the ether. It is the first collaboration between VHF mainstay Richard Youngs and percussionist Alexander Neilson. The music here represents something of a return to the extended psychedelic mania of mid 90s outings such as "Asthma And Diabetes" and "Enedkeg". This is some stunning improv psychedelic whooosh!!

# posted by DJ Martian 12:07 AM

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Westworld.com interview Avant-Prog drummer Dave Kerman, who has recently set up ReR USA.

# posted by DJ Martian 9:07 PM

This week's flavorpill LONDON weekly email magazine covering music, art, and cultural events

# posted by DJ Martian 5:32 PM

Eternal Fusion on SpydaRadio

The latest show is now available @ SpydaRadio

Tuesday 6th April 2004

Playlist:

Gong - 'Bible Study'
Nurse With Wound - 'Space Funk With Springs'
Gong - 'Olde Foole's Game'
Pink Floyd - 'Green Is The Colour'
Nick Toone - 'Silverspeed'
Glenn Branca - 'Lesson #1 For Guitar'
OOIOO - 'Sizuku Ring Neng'
Tortoise - 'Dot/Eyes'
Frank Zappa - 'Zomby Woof' (Live)
Paul Rose Band - 'Con Trick'
Cyann And Ben - 'I Can't Pretend Anymore'
Sigur Rós - 'Ba Ba'
The Blithe Sons - 'Foam'
Skalpel - 'Theme From Behind The Curtain'
Ken Nordine - 'Flibberty Jib'
Pharoah Sanders - 'Balance'
Scatter - 'Adventure-Equation'
Gong - 'Makototen'
Dave Skipper - ' Spumescent'
Mountain Mirrors - 'Agent Orange'
Nick Toone - 'Spacehopper'
Dub Syndicate - 'Private I'
Meat Beat Manifesto - 'Fromage Dub'
Deadbeat - 'Steady As A Rock'
Ghost - 'Images Of April'

Next Show: TBA!

# posted by DJ Martian 5:31 PM

The latest Breezeblock show is now available to listen: Breezeblock Tracklistings including:

This week the Generation Dub DJs and MCs from Leicester unleashed a torrent of fierce drum and bass

# posted by DJ Martian 2:08 PM

Monday, April 05, 2004

Splendid review Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands

# posted by DJ Martian 9:36 PM

John Peel - This Week

Details of this week's John Peel Shows on Radio 1

Tues 06 Apr: CEX at ATP

Weds 07 Apr: The Bays live at Maida Vale

Thurs 08 Ar: Kid 606 at ATP

# posted by DJ Martian 9:24 PM

Prefix mag interview Colder

Colder, Again
Marc Nuygen Tan's post-punk audio/visual side project

# posted by DJ Martian 8:47 PM

The Brainwashed Brain V07I13 - 04042004

This week's The Brainwashed Brain includes reviews of:

Black Dice - Miles of Smiles
DFA

Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Cicadidae
Temporary Residence

AGF - Language Is The Most
Quecksilber

# posted by DJ Martian 12:01 PM

Pitchfork review Radiohead - Com Lag EP

# posted by DJ Martian 11:51 AM

The Durutti Column are in session on 6 Music tonight: THE EVENING SEQUENCE - with Tom Robinson

# posted by DJ Martian 10:14 AM

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Splendid review the new Sigur Rós ep Sigur Rós - Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do

[This is a US only release on Geffen]

# posted by DJ Martian 10:16 PM

OUTBURN #25

Just published the new issue of Outburn magazine.

# posted by DJ Martian 6:39 PM

From this week onwards Stuart Maconie takes over the Freak Zone on 6 Music: STUART MACONIE - Freak Zone

>> The Freak Zone

# posted by DJ Martian 5:49 PM

SPOTLIGHT...KEY NEW RELEASES [March 29th]

Key new album releases for March 29th [A more detailed release listing including other new releases, compilations and reissues - can be found further up this webpage.]

Accelera Deck - Sunstrings (Scarcelight) EP
Adem - Homesongs (Domino)
Fred Anderson/Hamid Drake - Back Together Again (Thrill Jockey)
Autamata - My Sanctuary (RG Records)
Beanfield - Seek (Compost)
Blockhead - Music by Cavelight (Ninja Tune)
Dark Funeral - De Profundis Clamavi Ad Te Domine (Regain)
Deadbeat - Something Borrowed, Something Blue (scape)
DJ Marky/ Xrs - In Rotation (Inner Ground)
DJ Signify - Sleep No More (Lex)
Docnuke.Com (Otto Von Schirach) - Petroleum Peep Show (Rice & Beans)
Ehlers / Suchy / Hautzinger - Soundchambers (Staubgold)
Funkstörung - Disconnected (!K7)
Greyboy - Soul Mosaic (Ubiquity)
Charlie Haden/ John Taylor - Nightfall (Naim)
Stafraenn Hakon - í ástandi rjúpunnar (Resonant)
Peter Hammill - Incoherence (Fie)
Horsepower Productions - To The Rescue (Tempa)
Susie Ibarra - Lakbay (Tzadik)
In Flames - Soundtrack To Your Escape (Nuclear Blast)
Paul Kalkbrenner - Self (Bpitch Control)
Kataklysm - Serenity in Fire (Nuclear Blast)
Kiuas - Winter In June (Rage Of Achilles) EP
Lucien & Luciano - Blind Behaviour (Peacefrog)
Madvillain - Madvillainy (Stones Throw /Play It Again Sam)
Mayhem - Chimera (Seasons of Mist)
Mountain Men Anonymous - Krkonose (My Kung Fu)
Noxagt - The Iron Point (Load) [US Import] [Available at Amazon.co.uk]
Operator - Os 1.1 (Benbecula) EP
Persephone - Atma Gyan (Trisol)
The Rammellzee - Bi-Conicals Of The Rammellzee (Gomma)
The Remote Viewer - You're Going To Love Our Defeatist Attitude (City Centre Offices)
Hironobu Saito - Remaining 2 Per Cent (Fresh Sound)
Soulfly - Phrophecy (Roadrunner)
South - With The Tides (Sanctuary)
Superpitcher - Here Comes Love (Kompakt)
Syndrone - Salmataxia (Merck)
The Young Gods - Music for Artificial Clouds (Intoxygene) [An Ambient Album] [Available at www.younggods.com]

# posted by DJ Martian 12:49 PM

This Week's New Releases @ Boomkat

This week's new releases @ Boomkat - A Pelicanneck Online Music Store include:

ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Traject - Strengir Hrynja
Spezial Material

Spezial Material return with this dense electronic debut from Gisli Thor Gudmundsson, otherwise known as Traject and last seen on Ai's excellent "Station" compilation. The emphasis here is on robust, icy, deeply icelandic electronic fragmentation, inevitably bringing to mind Autechre at their most condensed. "Water For Muddy People" unfolds and opens the set with aquatic emphasis, slowed-up layers of percussion that take their time settling down with a discernable groove, a cacophony of drenched noises and soundscaping making for a hypnotic, trance-like listen through digital oceans of sound. "Chkal" is killer - a rotating snap of shattered beats and hammered strings orchestrated in the darkest tradition of IDM - a squashed haze of melody and beats littered with a sparing scatter of voice and distant MC rhymes. Awesome. Fellow Icelandic operators Einoma step in with a remix of `She Said...' - overflowing with a dark, brooding, swirling arrangement of strings, clicked beats and metallic percussion underpiined by a semi-conscious undulating nightime-deep bassline. Fans of Autechre's EP7 and the more dancefloor focused Gescom will find much to admire here - Spezial material continues to build its impressive and highly collectable catalogue. Deep

Various / Creme Organisation
You bet we've got something personal against you
Crème

Now available on double cd! Featuring exclusive cuts from Legowelt, Beta Evers, Raheem Hershel, Orgue Electronique, Luke Eargoggle, Bangkok Impact and more makes this an impressive compilation from the deep-in-disco Crème Organization. Raheem's track stands way out, the crunchy and dirty feel to the beats and the slow build up over length of the track makes for a classic old school acid cut that's really swinging by the end. Also check the deep and lush analog goodness of Spoiler Jugend's `Theme from...', it's probably the longest cut on the comp, with ace arpeggio's and a deep atmosphere, that treads way deeper than the superficial Bangkok Impakt cut, `Daily 4 Minutes' which sounds like it came from a bad Korean gameshow in the 70's. Legowelt's `Into The Storm' which originally came out on the Japanese only 12" Holland Ferox, is a fine example of his finest work - fat analog synths, a very solid beat, and a perfect Legowelt vibe across the cut which makes this a worthwhile compilation from the prolific Crème Organization, check!

Accelera Deck - Ipsissima Vox
Scarcelight

Accelera deck returns with is second release in as many weeks, this time heading towards involving guitar synthesis and electronic variations a la Fennesz. Heartfelt guitar performances and luminous synthetic noises are fed through a digital kaleidescope of varied intensities and colors, creating a fearless exploration of frequency and nuance. With extreme attention to timing and detail, Ipsisima Vox finds beauty in the patient deconstruction of each sound and resonance; electronically processed beyond concrete recognition. Lovely.

Deadbeat - Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Scape

The second offering from Montreal's Scott Monteith, aka Deadbeat, for the Scape imprint, "Something Borrowed, Something Blue"" is another sublime study of microscopic rhythm structures and dub variations from a man who cut his first album from the same cloth as that Pole used so well for his groundbreaking debut six years ago. Produced in homage to his recent marriage (hence the title), the album also contains an effortless romantic undertone that's built around simple piano notes, effervescent textures and an unusual percussive character (crickets chirping, space echoes fragmenting) that's in turn startling and humerous - a rare feat in the ever-serious world of electronic music. The epic "Head Over Heels" is quite possibly the most overtly romantic and groundbreaking piece on offer - a haunting elevation of strings and solitary piano lines counterpointing the delays and bass modulations of the dub scope with beautiful assymetry and feel for heart-stopping nuance. "Requiem", meanwhile, dusts off the bassline legacy of Sly and Robbie at their most devastating and goes for the dub jugular with utmost depth. In all, a worthy follow up to Deadbeat's excellent debut - further studies into the nether regions of dub and its fractured worlds of possibility. Lovely.

Dynarec - User Input
Delsin

Finally available on cd with 5 bonus tracks!!! At last the massively anticipated Dynarec album drops from those tech hungry boys at Delsin, and an absolute stormer it is too. Those of us looking to fill the huge gap left by the sad departure of the Drexciyan partnership need look no further. Check the opener `Complex Data' with its crisp minimal drums and bright synths shining through, the noises preciously shaped and tweaked and delivered into the track with full force. Or maybe you need it a little tougher? `Primary Color' retains a solid 909 electro beat that gives way to vintage Drexciyan synths, backed with warm Detroit strings and filtered flecks that spatter around the beat as the track crams full with drops and edits, drumfills and tweaks that make it a club destroyer. Also check `Frequency Analysis' for its flanging monster of a bassline that sets the mood, lots of analog action in the synths and percussive effects, and an ace stop/start string that evokes vintage Detroit electro, class. There are 11 tracks in total, all superbly crafted deep electro excursions that may or may not be the work of an established elctro force. Either way - Dynarec have just delivered the first essential electro album in quite some time. Killer

Front 242 - Geography
Alfa Matrix

Much-anticipated re-release of front 242's groundbreaking early 80s debut album comes in a deluxe dvd box with second disc of 19 previously unheard early tracks, demos, and alternate versions. Instead of simply remastering, the complete album has been re-assembled using original tapes and remixed with current technology while retaining the spirit of the classic version. Also includes an extra track `he runs too fast for us' which was left off the original LP due to time restrictions. Without doubt, ths is the final word on one of electronic music's most influential and enduring cult albums, which set the trend that eventually morphed from new beat through electronic body music to industrial techno. viewed in the light of today's thriving electro revisionism, `geography' is probably more relevent now than when it first appeared.

Matmos - Rat Relocation Project
Locust

The dynamic hybrid electroid plunderphonic duo Matmos strike again hot on the heels of last year's celebrated matador full length `The Civil War' with this zany, mesmerizing contribution to the Met life series of field recordings and ingenious sound responses. The matmos boys stretch an ominous canvas with the bare sounds of an incarcerated rat ensconced in a friendly trap and paint an unlikely response. Rat Relocation Program is a heavily elevated, gleeful epic that combines Matmos' patented blend of humor, drill & bass with cinematic undertomes reminiscent of the cult fantasy sci fi film the Fantastic Planet. Mental.

Orphx - Circuitbreaking
Hymen

Circuitbreaking was inspired, in part, by learning more about how different groups around the world are trying to address the negative impacts of economic globalization. There are samples here and there from protests, speeches, and films that touch on this theme . The arrangement consists of thematic, melody-driven pieces punctuated by precision experimental electronics that range in timbre from the textural calamities of Akira Rabelais and Autopoieses' noise patterns to the tone-pulse configurations of Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai's microtonal minimalism.

Rob Ellis - Music For The Home Vol 2
Leaf

Three years since the release of the first volume of Music For The Home, Rob Ellis returns with his second solo album. Where the first Music For The Home consisted almost entirely of pieces created and edited inside a computer, this album includes many piano pieces recorded live. A self-taught pianist, Ellis's idiosyncratic approach to composition has drawn comparisons to the work of Messaien, Reich and Cage among others. The album also utilises domestic recordings and concrete techniques, notably on the remarkable `Church Opposite' which uses the sounds of church bells to startling effect. Another great piano-based album for 2004, one for fans of Steve Reich, Satie, Ligeti and John Cage. Recommended.

Putsch '79 - Putsch
Clone

Debut full length from Putsch '79... an album laden with joyous grooves made for the hips as well as the mind, and all the product of two guys from the extreme north of Finland, toiling through 24 hours without daylight making musical sunshine to entertain themselves. Sami Liuski (aka Bangkok Impact) and Pauli Jylhänkangas are two young producers finding their muse in the vintage sounds of decades past. Rolling motor city techno and electro with new york disco and chi-town house into a european hybrid, glitterball city! Check.

Alexander Neilson And Richard Youngs - Ourselves
Vhf

This was originally recorded in glasgow 2003 as a one hour special for broadcast on London's Resonance FM but turned out too good to leave in the ether. It is the first collaboration between Vhf mainstay Richard Youngs and Octuped (so it sounds like) Percussionist Alexander Neilson (currently working with big-band scatter). Thee music here represents something of a return to the extended psychedelic mania of mid 90s outings such as "asthma and diabetes" and "enedkeg". Ace imrpov psychedelic whooosh.

Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Rare Wood
Spirit Of Orr

First commercially available CD from Sunburned Hand Of The Man. They absorbed near constant coverage in The Wire in 2003, with a much lauded cover feature in August. After several false starts, the Wood is ready. With this stroke the Sunburned Hand Of The Man unleash their singular collective spirit into the common marketplace. They are at the forefront of the burgeoning "New Weird Americana" movement, taking elements of folk, psychedelia, acid drenched weirdness , avant garde music forms, krautrock (ala can / faust) and creating a whole new otherworldly sound / scene. Recommended.

Neulander - Smoke And Fire
Disko B

Having been listed by John Peel in last year's prestigious Festive 50, Neulander are back with their hugely hyped debut album. Neulander write strong and defined songs whilst using deconstructed electronic arrangements. The music and the voice mesh together creating a timeless and almost ancient quality. The lyrics seem to suggest Russian poetry colliding with an abstract and personal response to the confusion of 21century media culture. A drum machine, 2 keyboards, a cello, a boy and a girl in gigantic baroque luscious minimalist overdrive.

Picastro - Red Your Blues
Monotreme

Picastro have received much praise for their broodingly beautiful, melancholic sound scapes, in which cello alternates with frontwoman liz hysen's submerged, murmured vocals. Picastro's string-laden dynamics share a kinship with the music of fellow Canadians Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as well as the Dirty 3 & Rachels. The band have played shows with them both aswell as Smog, Elliot Smith and Cat Power. Band members include Owen Pallett (The Hidden Cameras), Evan Clarke (burn rome in a dream), Zak Hanna (bush league, ex-pecola) and Rachel Mcbride. Recommended.

Tortoise - It's All Around You
Thrill Jockey

The fifth Studio album from Tortoise finally arrives following months of speculation regarding it's direction and possible new sound. The lineup of the band reads like a who's who of the post-rock and avant-jazz scene that Chicago has nurtured over the last decade - featuring members of Eleventh Dream Day, Slint, Brokeback, Isotope 217, Bastro, Gastr Del Sol, the Red Krayola, the Sea and Cake, King Kong, Toe 2000 and Tar Babies to name but a few. "It's all around you" opens with its two strongest tracks. The classic, melancholy title piece opens the set - awe inspiring with its skittering percussion, trademarked vibraphone and gut-wrenching hooks that sound like vintage, heart stopping Tortoise. "The Lithium Stiffs' is up next - notable for the sublime vocal contribution of Kelly Hogan (the band's first vocal collaboration since their debut album), all midnight rhythms and layered slivers of voice that make for music that is at once introspective and vastly cinematic. Other highlights come with the slighty Morricone-esque "Crest", the downcast headnod immersion in electronics and beatsof the excellent "Unknown" and the brutally robust percussive engine on "Dot/Eyes". Much like their other four albums (their debut perhaps excluded), "It's All Around You" feels a little over-long despite its relatively modest 45 minute timespan - but dipped into with careful selection the album contains some of the bands most riveting music to date. Recommended.

Ayro - Electroniclovefunk
Omoa Music

Debut full length from the Detroit vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with Carl Craig, Recloose and Alton Miller, breaking out as a solo artist with the underground anthem `let this' in 2001, and going on to remix the likes of jazzanova, fertile ground and john arnold. Recorded mostly in his bedroom with a collection of vintage keyboards, `electroniclovefunk' is raw, experimental and eclectic, traversing soul, jazz, house, techno and gospel, an album of warm analogue chords and lush polyrhythms alongside sweet vocals and jazz improvisation. First time available on cd

Superpitcher - Here Comes Love
Kompakt

After his huge underground hits 'Heroin' and 'Yesterday', and several sought after cuts for the Kompakt Extra and Total series, including a simply massive cover version of Eno's 'Baby's On Fire', Axl Superpitcher's debut album looks like defining a massive year for the Cologne label. With Kompakt currently the toast of the Fabric crew and sundry glitterati, Axl's blend of easy going pop inflection, svelte hermaphrodite grooves and accessible house for dancing could easily cross over to the more main stream dance audience. His songwriting perhaps has a ways to go, and there's an ill-advised cover version of 'Fever' - but these gripes aside this is as commercial as anything, and almost an inevitable fixture in cooler dj's boxes. Lovely

# posted by DJ Martian 10:11 AM

Saturday, April 03, 2004

themilkfactory.co.uk - April 2004

themilkfactory.co.uk deliver another fine selection of reviews. [The summaries below are from themilkfactory.co.uk e-mail/website, to see the full reviews go to the link above]

ALBUM OF THE MONTH
Fennesz - Venice
Returning three years after the stunning Endless Summer, Christian
Fennesz continues to shape up beautiful ethereal soundscapes into
compositions that are at once experimental and totally accessible. Not
to be missed.

REVIEWS
Ascoltare - Visceral Vendor
Released on newly formed Tripel Records, Ascoltare's first album
is an interesting collection of complex electronic constructions
combined with superb melodies. A very promising debut.

Autechre & The Hafler Trio - æ3o&h3æ
This collaboration between two monuments of the electronic scene is
likely to appeal more to fans of the Hafler Trio than to Autechre's,
yet, given time, this album reveals some superb emotional
structures.

Deadbeat - Something Borrowed, Something New
Apparently chronicling the nine months leading to Deadbeat's Scott
Monteih wedding, Something Borrowed, Something New has an organic
watery theme running through its ten tracks.

Dykehouse - Midrange
Those expecting a continuation of Dykehouse's 2001 debut are in
for a shock with Midrange. Far from the complex electronic structure
of its predecessor, this second album by Michigan-based Mike Dykehouse
celebrates the shoegazers of the early nineties with a sound
reminiscent of Slowdive, Ride or Curve.

Jem Finer Gtr / Jem Finer & Andrew Kötting - Visionary Lanscapes
Two very different albums from former Pogue Jem Finer. On GTR, he
nurses an interesting link between his guitar and computer, creating
dense soundscapes, while on Visionary Landscapes, he dissects the work
of filmmaker Andrew Kötting.

Kid Spatula - Meast
This third Kid Spatula album collect some of Mike Paradinas's work
recorded between 1994 and 1998 and demonstrate the progression and
diversity of his style.

Múm - Summer Make Good
Poets of the electronic scene, Múm return following the departure
of Gyða Valtýsdóttir, with there third album. Here they dig
deeper into the emotional soil of their music to extract its very
essence. Stunning.

Schneider Tm - Reconfigures
Schneider TM returns with this collection of remixes done for a wide
range of artists, from Pulseprogramming or Lamb to Lambchop .

Telefon Tel Aviv - Map Of What Is Effortless
Second album for new Orleans-based Telefon Tel Aviv. Here, the duo
ditch arid forms of electronica for warmer, more accessible
compositions. This is not all coffee-table music though…

Throbbing Gristle - Mutant TG / The Taste Of Throbbing Gristle: A
Beginner's Guide To The Music Of Throbbing Grislte
Pioneers of the industrial and electronic scenes. Throbbing Gristle
re-emerge this year, first with Mutant, a collection of remixes, then
with a compilation retracing some of TG's best moments. Both albums
provide an ideal point of entry for the band's work.

Urban Myth & Steve Beresford - Live At The Friends Meeting House
Live At The Friends Meeting House documents an evening of improvised
music between Urban Myth and guest Steve Beresford.

# posted by DJ Martian 8:55 PM

Mixing It

The latest Mixing It show features a session from Nobukazu Takemura and Child's View band, plus tracks from new albums by To Rococo Rot, Jack Rose and Icarus.

>> Mixing It

# posted by DJ Martian 1:18 PM

Michael Senft in The Arizona Republic writes: Progressive rock is back

# posted by DJ Martian 12:38 PM

Bullit Magazine

Bullit magazine, has not made it to Issue 3.

Investigating their website redirects to Bullit "folder" and their webpages on a PR site has been wiped by their PR agency.

They learnt absolutely nothing from the collapse of Bang, that a bland generalist consumerist rock monthly - that offers nothing distinctive - simply will not survive.

All these failed magazines of recent years have forgot the magic ingredients of stong opinions by writers, ability to set your own agenda as a magazine, writers that know what is going on - both historically and now, long overview articles, high aspirations for music.

These magazines got it right: Zig Zag [in the 70s/ early 80s], Underground [in 1987/ 1988], The Lizard [early/ mid 90s] and Melody Maker - particularly in 1987/ 1988 and Sounds in the mid to late 80s.

The Wire magazine is the only diverse magazine in the UK that aspires to the challenge in 2004.

Sure, there are other interesting magazines such as Knowledge [drum n bass], Jazzwise [jazz & beyond], Terrorizer [mostly Extreme/ Dark Metal], - but they service well defined niche audiences.

# posted by DJ Martian 12:11 PM

Uncut Magazine

The webmonkeys at IPC Media finally update the Uncut website.

>> Uncut - This Month

It's another issue that is blatantly targeted at Over 40s, Eric "Mr Classic Rock Clapt-out" Clapton. Next Month, Paul "Mr MOR Macca" McCartney is trailed on the website, with the the current print issue also trailes Pink Floyd - The Final Cut story.

[Re: IPC Media, these days NME is more blatantly targeted at Under 20s, and Uncut's core profile is definately targeted at older Over 40s classic rock demographics, compared to Uncut of circa 2000]

# posted by DJ Martian 11:24 AM

Friday, April 02, 2004

Issue 19 of earplug

APRIL 1 - APRIL 14

Earplug is a biweekly email magazine, delivering a handpicked selection of news, sounds, videos, and original features for the international electronic music community

# posted by DJ Martian 8:16 PM

Next week's releases are reviewed @ Norman Records

# posted by DJ Martian 8:12 PM

BBC Music review Julian Arguelles - As Above So Below

Gifted UK saxophonist/composer adds strings to his customary octet line up in this second album for the Provocateur label.

# posted by DJ Martian 6:00 PM

BBC Music review post-rock sounds from France: Cinélux - Cinélux

# posted by DJ Martian 5:58 PM

BBC Collective interview Skalpel

Ninja Tune’s Skalpel bring Polish jazz to the world.

# posted by DJ Martian 5:55 PM

Playlouder report New Order are working on a new album with the production help of Steven Street, John Leckie and also ...Brian Eno. Expected release late 2004 or 2005 - depending on how fast they progress.

# posted by DJ Martian 5:41 PM

The Guardian review Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour [this is the sort of the album that is likely to make the Mercury Music Prize Shortlist]

# posted by DJ Martian 12:39 PM

Almost Cool review Tortoise - It's All Around You

Also reviewed by The Guardian

# posted by DJ Martian 12:32 PM

Clinic - Winchester Cathedral

Pitchfork report that Domino Records have announced the release date of Clinic's forthcoming album: Winchester Cathedral as August 23rd.

# posted by DJ Martian 11:26 AM

Thursday, April 01, 2004

If I were an editor of a weekly music magazine this week's front cover would feature: Tortoise

This week's choice features Tortoise, who release their new album It's All Around You, on April 5th.

Metacritic reviews for Tortoise - It's All Around You

# posted by DJ Martian 11:40 PM

Measure

Just published a US Indie-Rock biased review of 2003 music: Measure: 2003 A Year In Music

available to order @ Insound

Spread across 200 gorgeously designed pages, this is the definitive "Year in Music," as told by the aurally obsessed. Featuring articles from 40 of the best independent rock publications -- including Punk Planet, Skyscraper, and Venus -- Measure celebrates the year's most compelling artists, including Broken Social Scene, Cat Power, GBV, Manitoba, Prefuse 73, Sufjan Stevens, and the Wrens.

BEN FRENCH | CO-DIRECTOR provides an overview of Measure @ Nude as the News

# posted by DJ Martian 11:10 PM

This week's One World show on Radio 1 features Barry Peters Presents.../ South By Southwest Special

[looks like another Mixed Bag of a show, One World is slowly losing it IMHO, back in 2002 and 2003 their shows were a lot stronger.]

# posted by DJ Martian 10:31 PM

Kinja - New Blog Portal Launched Today

Excellent news, I just found out my blog content has been syndicated @ Kinja - Music

You're reading the music digest, which contains the newest writing from weblogs picked by editors at Kinja. This content changes frequently, and new sites are regularly added...

Nick Denton introduces Kinja

About >> Kinja and the people involved @ Kinja

Kinja is a weblog portal, collecting news and commentary from some of the best sites on the web. Visitors can browse items on topics, everything from food to sex. Or they can create a convenient personal digest, to track their favorite writers.

New York Times report on the beta launch of Kinja today.

[If you are not signed up with New York Times, read it via the link on Google News]

Kinja users can also create their own customized personal digest of blogs to monitor.

A quick reminder of additional XML/RSS readers, that you can use to track blog posts that have Atom XML or RSS feeds:

>> Bloglines
>> My Yahoo [currently in RSS Headlines Beta for My Yahoo Users] Note, Yahoo now also supports the Atom XML format that Blogger uses.

[On a side note I highly recommend you sign up for My Yahoo - I am a recent convert to this service and the personalisation portal features are superb. There are some music related options to choose including: reviews, releases and charts]

# posted by DJ Martian 8:59 PM

New Releases @ Piccadilly Records

Some new releases listed in the weekly guide [via e-mail] from Manchester's music emporium: Piccadilly Records

Adem - Homesongs
Domino

Hotly tipped as one to watch in 2004 Adem steps into the light with "Homesongs" - his stunning solo debut for Domino. In contrast to the experimental project, Fridge (with Keiran Hebden aka Four Tet), Adem literally found his voice for these subtle folk-inflected and emotive songs: it's a warm, weary, cosy thing, too! But these are proper songs, not too dissimilar to a more fractured Badly, or Turin Brakes' weirder, non-mainstream, other-worldly pieces. The sound is refreshingly unique, D.I.Y bedroom electronica mixed with folksy whimsy. There's a plethora of percussive clicks, chinks and tinkles and a musical toyshop vibe with glockenspiel, harmonium and anything basically that comes to hand. There's hints of early Floyd, Tim Hardin, maybe Nick Drake, definately Sparklehorse. The songs do filter through the playful, hazy exterior. You can feel the love of sound, love of song that's gone into this record. Wer'e going to love it too.

Ativin - Night Mute
Secretly Canadian

An intentional homage to the world of horror literature and film, "Night Mute" is Ativin's ten song exploration into the themes of death, hopelessness, and fear. On it, the band has created a concise and harrowing sonic vision rooted in their trademark foundation of dirge and repetition of the guitar/guitar/drums, relishing in the deconstruction of their own music. Echoes of Durutti Column, Unsane, Tones On Tail, Keiji Haino, and Organum can be heard throughout.

The Blithe Sons - Arm Of The Starfish
Family Vineyard

"Arm Of The Starfish" is the fifth full-length release from the outdoor wandering The Blithe Sons. Performed mostly in coastal environs on acoustic and battery-powered instruments, the sound of waves, wind, tide pools, seabirds and shifting sand plays an active role in these minimalist folk atmospheres. Incorporating 12-string cuatro, acoustic guitar, dulcimer, banjo, harmonium, percussion, toy amplifiers, wood flutes, thai mouth organ, violin-uke, casio and Donaldson's mysterious vocal utterances, "Arm Of The Starfish" evokes haunted shorelines, windswept cliffs and vast undersea caverns.

The Boxer Rebellion - In Pursuit
Poptones

All hail the shoe-gazers' return! Dreamy, drony swathes of sound ghost around an enormous chorus, but look-out: there's even a proggy time-change that would do Oceansize or Elbow proud. Epic, powerful stuff.
CDS - MC5088SCD
The CD single includes "Outerspace" and "Empty".

Burd Early - Mind And Mother
Western Vinyl

"Mind And Mother" brings together lush electronic musical atmospheres with a mellow and melodic rock backbone. The album begins with the track "How Far" droning triumphantly to a rock-steady beat. "What follows is the alternately wild and reflective track "Warm Blood", with it's crackling guitar. The cold metallic rock of "Blackdot" will make you feel trapped behind your eye lens, only to be set free again by the gentle fusing of slow country and electronic warbling in "Undoing The Day". On the instantly catchy "Fertilizer Waiting To Happen", Burd Early sings with an almost Pavementesque crooning about our inevitable fate. The title track, "Mind And Mother", follows a tender groove that sets the heart aflutter with its alluring melody.

Envy - All The Footprints You've Ever Left And The Fear Expecting Ahead
Rock Action

For over 11 years, Envy have been creating an intense fusion of ferocious, teeth-gringing, screaming hardcore and reflective ballads: think somewhere between Yaphet Kotto and Mogwai, at their most extreme. Kerrang! described this new album as 'painful listening but magnificent all the same'.

Friends Of Dean Martinez - Random Harvest
Glitterhouse

Based in Tucson, Arizona, Friends of Dean Martinez feature past and present members of Giant Sand, Calexico and Naked Prey. Friends Of Dean Martinez continue to follow the chosen path: There is still some sleepy desert exotica in their sound and some of those cinematic Morricone-isms, but the emphasis are evocative, experimental moodscapes, occasionally kissed by feedback and tasteful noises/electronics created by vintage instruments like theremin and optigan.

Haymarket Riot - Mog
Thick

Recorded by Steve Albini, Haymarket Riot are one of the most exciting and invigorating bands in the Chicago underground today, taking over where bands like Big Black, Jesus Lizard, Tar and Pegboy left off, it's gritty post-punk that's dangerous, not predictable. The band master in intense dynamics, complex arrangements and pristine detail. A sense of angular song structure and sterling technique mixed with aggro tendencies exemplifies their driving sound.

Simon Joyner - Lost With The Lights On
Jagjaguwar

In over a decade of artistic exploration, Simon Joyner has never been content to make the same record twice. "Lost With The Lights On" is Simon Joyner's ninth full-length album, and it is a sprawling document in the grand tradition of the post-Dylan singer-songwriter epic, a dramatic addition to Joyner's diverse and uncompromising collection of songs and stories.

Now It's Overhead - Fall Back Open
Saddle Creek

Featuring Andy LeMaster, member of Bright Eyes and producer/owner of Chase Park studios (with David Barbe of Sugar). Also featuring Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink of Saddle Creek's Azure Ray. Features contributions from Michael Stipe (REM) and Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes). At once celebratory, frustrated, and heartbreaking, the music of "Fall Back Open" is diverse without being stylistically inconsistent. From dark, beat-driven sensuality to bright, country-tinged melodies, the band's epic tones and distinctive vocals provide threads of unity that run throughout.

Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage
Cloud

Long awaited re-issue of the Olivia Tremor Control's ambitious, highly influential second album from 1999. Perfect symphonic pop songs in an elaborate tapestry of tape manipulation, free jazz, and electronics. Guest appearances by The Apples (In Stereo) and Neutral Milk Hotel.

Phoenix - Alphabetical
Source

Right, first of all I have to say that Phoenix "United" is my favourite album of the last five years (at least!) so I was understandably wetting my pants when I found out that there was a follow-up coming out... Well we've had this one on heavy rotation in the shop for the last three weeks and the good news is that they still cut the mustard! It may not instantly grab you quite as much as the first one did but after five or six listens it really pulls you in! Looking set to take the coveted Piccadilly BBQ album of the year award for 2004, and as we always say - there's no higher honour than that!

Richmond Fontaine - Winnemucca
Cortez

Combining elements of punk, country and folk music, the members of Richmond Fontaine provide a compelling backdrop for the heart wrenching tales of lead singer Willy Valutin. His Carver-esque lyrics bring a vision of the West which is both vital and compelling. Bleak characters occupy the songs, ready to break out of the prison everyday life has brought them. Wistful pedal steel, melodic bass, jazz inflected drumming and ringing electric guitar serve as the only escape from Richmond Fontaine's songs.

The Sound - The BBC Recordings
Renascent

CD1 features two session from 1980 and 1981. CD2 features two concerts originally broadcast in 1981 and 1985.

Southern Culture On The Skids - Mojo Box
Yep Rock

North Carolina's Southern Culture On The Skids are back with "Mojo Box", the band's first recording since 2000s "Liquored Up And Lacquered Down" and their first release for Yep Roc Records. "Mojo Box" combines their trademark elements of rockabilly, surf, country, blues and more for as irreverent and enlightening a record as the band has ever assembled. For fans of the Cramps and Rev Horton Heat.

South - With The Tides
Sanctuary

This new album encapsulates all the epic spirit found in their first album but also captures the raw energy of their live shows in 12 tracks of beautifully spun timeless pop.

The Waterboys - This Is The Sea
Chysalis

Remastered two CD edition of this Waterboys album from 1985 featuring the classic "Whole Of The Moon" track. The second CD features 14 additional recordings!!!

Stafrann Hakon - I Astandi Rjupunnar
Resonant

Second UK release from Stafrann, following "Skvettir Edik A Ref" in Autumn 2003. Though this is his second UK release, it was actually recorded and self released in Iceland before "Skvettir..". Musically, the two albums inhabit the same territory - glacial, widescreen post-rock soundscapes, at once emotive, engaging and affecting - but if anything the music herein is more organic and mellow than on "Skvettir Edik A Ref".

Konk - The Sound Of Konk
Soul Jazz

Subtitled 'Tales Of The New York Underground 1981 - 1988', this coollection brings together the classic Konk recordings of the 1980s, from their releases on labels as diverse as Rough Trade, Sleeping Bag, 99 Records, Les Disques Du Crepuscle and Celluloid. Formed by avant-jazz head Dana Vlcek, Konk soon became part of the no wave / post-punk scene that was mushrooming around Lower East Side of Manhattan clubs and bars like Save The Robots, the Mudd Club, Danceteria, CBGB's, Tr 3, Max's Kansas City etc in the late 70s / early 80s. Taking influences from afro-beat (Fela Kuti, Manu Dibango, King Sunny Ade), early hip hop (Grandmaster Flash, Funky 4 + 1 etc), jazz, funk and later electro, Konk created their own unique sound. With original releases of these tracks going for silly amounts, this LP is a must for all fans of the New York post-punk scene.

Chicken Lips - Extended Play
Kingsize

Fantastic second LP from Andy Meecham (AKA Sir Drew, Big 200, Emperor Machine) and Dean Meredith (both formerly of Bizarre Inc, extra fact fans). This is a wicked selection of dirty dubby disco and low slung punk-funk style grooves, with a real 80s feel. It's like some lost LP made in New York circa '81 or '82. Includes the singles "He Not In", "Wind Ya Neck In" and "You're Playing Dirty". Essential.

Throbbing Gristle - Mutant TG
Novamute

This is the first time the influential 80s experimental / industrial / electronic outfit have EVER allowed anyone to remix their work! Producers who were already big fans of TG's work were chosen to rework tracks - Carl Craig, Two Lone Swordsmen, Motor, Basement Jaxx's Ratcliffe - as well as TG members Carter Tutti. The result is a 00s take on the bands original music, taking in electronica and techno along the way.

Various Artists / Famous When Dead III
Playhouse

Along with France's Kitsune imprint, the always indispensible German Playhouse label bridges the gap between electronic house and electroclash, dishing up tracks that wouldn't sound out of place on either dancefloor. Here they delve through their recent back catalogue and dish up a selection that covers acid house, electroclash and techno by the likes of Spektrum, Rework, Isolee, Villalobos, The Visitors, John Tejada & Arian Leviste, Khan Feat. Julie Cruise, Glove Feat. Julia W, Captain Comatose, Acid Test etc.

Various Artists / Punk Disco Beat Vol.III
Punk Disco Beat

The third release in this beloved series of punk funk archeological digs present two tracks from early 80s girl punk groups, Honey Bane's "Guilty (Dub)" and the German band Malaria, whose "Your Turn To Run (I Will Be Your Only One)" (AKA "New York Passage") was a massive track on the NYC scene.

Peter Hammill - Incoherence
Fie

"Incoherence" is Peter Hammill's 26th solo album of completely new sung material. Peter has been noted for his words (and his care with and for them) since the beginning of his 36 year long career; in this continuous 42 minute song cycle his lyrics examine instances of language failing to work or to communicate...the impossibilities of words, where meaning, logic and intention fall apart into incoherence. The musical backdrop to the lyrics is kaleidoscopic, based on Peter's keyboards and guitars with violin, saxes and flutes. Percussion is completely absent. The arrangements move jaggedly from floating improvisations to full orchestrations to full-on riffs, reflecting the paradoxes, the dead ends, the cliff-hanging inconclusions of the lyrical content.

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
Harvest

This was the last proper Floyd album. To continue using the name after the guy who wrote 95% of the music and all of the lyrics had left, was a joke. It was their follow-up to "The Wall" (albeit a 4 years later one!) and it's cut from much the same cloth. It flows together perfectly, is supremely melodic and lyrically really evocative. Just incredibly powerful and emotional music. For this 21st-anniversary remaster they've included the one-off single "When The Tigers Broke Free". It was originally used to trail the film of "The Wall" and is a perfect bridge between the themes and sounds of the 2 albums. Fittingly, it's not just been tagged on at the end, but slotted in as track 4, subtley enhancing the original Side One, for us bods who were there the first time round. With 3D sound (dogs bark, footsteps shuffle, radios chatter etc.) and lush segues, this is a good old-fashioned (no-one's talented enough to make them nowadays!) Concept Album: a continuous suite of incredible music. Heartilly recomended.

Planes Mistaken For Stars - Knife In The Marathon
Deep Elm

The follow up to their debut had more emphasis on relentless hardcore rage, while still keeping a tight rein on the chaos, if that isn't a contradiction. A brilliant, personal, moving and entirely convincing mini album, well worth your time and money.

Planes Mistaken For Stars - Planes Mistaken For Stars
Deep Elm

Sublime debut from a band with an excellent name, characterized by heartfelt, inspired melodies constructed around blazing or delicate guitars and hoarse, effecting vocals. A modern classic.

Madvillain - Madvillainy
Stones Throw / PIAS

MF Doom and Madlid's leftfield hip hop opus finally drops, featuring the singles "Money Folder", "Curls" and "All Caps" plus more out-there raps and breaks. Medaphoar, Quasimoto, Wildchild, Viktor Vaughn and Stacy Epps all come along to join Doom on the mic, as Madlib drops some of the most disturbed backing sounds of his career (he even samples Daedelus at one point!), milking his B-movie samples and impenetrable rhythms. With short hits and a quickfire tracklist, "Madvillainy" is an explosive and schizophrenic experience, the most complete Madlib hip hop production since Quasimoto's "The Unseen".

DJ Signify - Sleep No More
Lex

This collaboration with Buck 65 and Anticon's Sage Francis has the feel of some cerebral horror film, right down to the dead flesh (I think) inner sleeve photos, leaving the listener (well, me at any rate) feeling a little bit uneasy.

Dual Control - Left Or Right
Grand Central

Dual Control's sound has big bass lines, hard beats, scratching by DJ Styles, layered horns, strings, organic sounds and samples of real vocals and instruments. On "Left Or Right" they've produced an album that embraces their love of different types of music - hip hop, soul, funk, dancehall etc.

Greyboy - Soul Mosaic
Ubiquity

"Soul Mosaic", Greyboy's fourth LP was recorded ten years after the release of his Ubiquity debut, "Freestylin'". It's a boundary breaker for him as it includes full vocal songs which add a new soulful dimension to his music. Greyboy's trademark West Coast funk, hip hop and broken beats are enhanced by numerous collaborations with vocalists like Sharon Jones, Ricci Rucker, D-Styles, Mainflo, Bing Ji Ling, Bart Davenport and producers like Quantic and Mike Andrews ("Mad World" / Donnie Darko) to make this one PHAT album. Includes the singles "Genevieve" and "Got To Be Love".

Various Artists / Definitive Jux Presents III
Definitive Jux

This is the most comprehensive overview to date of where Def Jux is at and is going, with more tracks, artists and sounds than the previous two compilations. The label's founding & flagship acts are in abundance here, with brand new / exclusive tracks from EL-P, Aesop Rock, RJD2, Murs and Mr Lif (as The Perceptionists with Akrobatik and Fakts One). New or recent signings Hangar 18, C-Rayz Walz, SA Smash, Rob Sonic, Despot and 4th Pyramid all feature as well, showing how diverse yet consistent the label is.

Various Artists / Kenny Dope - Break Beats
Dope

Kenny Gonzalez blends 37 (count 'em!) classic breaks and beats together in a marathon DJ set from his Brooklyn Dungeon. Here's just a few of the featured artists; The Meters, Dennis Coffey, Jacksons, Trouble Funk, Sessomatto, Juice, Kraftwerk, YMO, Marvin Gaye, Dexter Wansel, James Brown, Booker T, Archie Bell.... the list is (almost) endless!

Beanfield - Seek
Compost

Since original Beanfield man Tobi Meggle left, Jan Krause has hooked up with sometime Truby Trio and Fauna Flash keyboard player Michael Mettke for the follow up to "Human Patterns". The duo are joined by Ernesto, Bajka and Marzenka on vocals. Whether it´s jazz or soul, futuristic electronica or broken beats, on "Seek" Beanfield combine the ultra-traditional with the sound of now. This sample-free album has live instruments melting into digital sounds, soulful vocals meeting computerized grooves and a few quirky acoustic shorts as well.

Blockhead - Music By Cavelight
Ninja Tune

The debut album from New Yorker, Blockhead, who's had production credits for the likes of Aesop Rock and Slug of Atmosphere. From the anti-fanfare of opener "Insomniac Olympics", through the elegaic strings and slomo disco-bass of "Carnivores Unite" on into the two-minutes-to-midnight atmospherics of "You've Got Maelstrom", the spread out reggaephonics of "A Better Place", and right on up to the flute and eastern violin anomie of title track "Music By Cavelight", this is a record that establishes its own emotional space and holds it from start to finish. A sublime slice of avant hip hop.

Various Artists / Midwest Funk
Jazzman

Following the critically acclaimed "Texas Funk" album from 2003, "Midwest Funk" is an additional collection of rare, collectible and previously unreleased funk 45s! This time collectors Malcolm Catto and Dante Carfagna drove 1000s of miles across the endless cornfields of the American Midwest, a vast expanse of farm land that covers the region between the Rockies in the West and the Appalachians in the East, in search of that elusive rare seven. Luckily, not only did they avoid the tornadoes, but they also found some incredibly rare 45s and some amazing unreleased master tapes too! Includes tracks by The Us, Markus Kelly & The Impassions, Harvey & The Phenomenals, Wanda Davis, The New Establishment In Soul, The Chefs, Dayton Sidewinders, Messengers Incorporated, The Personations And Organization and other similarly named outfits!

Deaf Center - Neon City EP
Type

The debut release by Norwegian duo Deaf Center, is a six track mini album of sophisticated soundscapes, warm melodious collages and occasional break-heavy post rock.

Funkstorung - Disconnected
K7

Funkstorung return with a brand new LP for 2004. Featuring vocals by Louise Rhodes (Lamb), Tes (Lex), Enik, Mark Bombastic and Sarah Jay, "Disconnected" is their most accessible LP to date, incorporating melodic electronica, glitchy instrumentals, electro-jazz (with Jazzland's Nils Petter Molvaer) and hiptronica.

The Rammellzee - Bi-Conicals Of The Rammellzee
Gomma

The Rammellzee was looking for some fresh musicians who could help him to record a soundtrack for his 'Gothic futurism' universe, and he'd met the Munich based Munk guys in 1999 when they licensed a track from him for the "ANTI NY" compilation, so they seemed like perfect partners for his vision. This LP represents a futuristic development of the original No Wave and proto-electronic attitude – the angry, superenergetic NYC rawness of the early / mid 80s up against an international new school of leftfield producers. Includes the single "Cheesy Lipstick".

# posted by DJ Martian 7:54 PM

Mission of Burma will be special guests on 6 Music - Tom Robinson tonight.

Today, we have a very special live session from seminal post-punk band Mission Of Burma. The Boston based group made their biggest impact in the early '80s with a number of releases, most notably an EP whichfeatured their calling card, That's When I Reach For My Revolver.

[Reminder, this show has a listen again on demand feature]

# posted by DJ Martian 4:29 PM

Playlouder review Kid Spatula - Meast

# posted by DJ Martian 1:58 PM

The latest releases are reviewed by NYC's Other Music: The Other Music Update

NEW RELEASES
Jack Rose
Black Dice
Joy Zipper
Phoenix
Casino Versus Japan
Sunburned Hand of the Man
Murs
The Clientele

A Certain Ratio (Reissue)
Hits and Misses (Various Artists)
Antifamily/Difficult Fun Comp.
Comsat Angels (CD Collection)
Amp Fiddler
Suicide (Live at Max's Kansas City)
Metal Boys (Reissue)

# posted by DJ Martian 1:50 PM

This Saturday, Lard [Marc Riley] makes his debut on 6 Music: Rocket Science with Marc Riley

# posted by DJ Martian 1:37 PM

Pitchfork review Fennesz - Venice

# posted by DJ Martian 1:22 PM

A new music blog to check: Music Chamber

a music blog that is new to me: I'm so sincerr who also has this 2004 music blog: Music - 2004

# posted by DJ Martian 1:12 PM

Music writer/ editor Everett True has started a blog: Plan B Magazine - Everett True's Blog

Meanwhile ET intends to launch his new rock music mag: Plan B in June, this will be the successor to Careless Talk Costs Lives

# posted by DJ Martian 1:07 PM