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. Rock Music: art-rock/ avant-prog/ avant rock, electro-rock/ epic alt-rock, experimental rock, jazz-rock, kraut rock/ math rock/ post-hardcore/ post-rock/ space-rock, darkwave/ gothic/ ethereal, dark metal, hardcore/ metalcore/ noisecore, post punk and shoegazer/dream pop sounds. Other Orbits:Kozmigroov, avant / free jazz, dub, modern composition, improvised music and many other hybrids and musical mutations.
Age: I entered this world in 1970. A British Blogger.
2008 ALBUM RELEASES: 2008 FORTHCOMING ALBUMS
using rateyourmusic.com: 2008 Album Releases [Updated Regularly]
This information is updated on a continual basis.
[These dates apply to the UK and can change as record companies/distributors do have a habit of messing us around!]
The latest Mixing It show: Mixing It - 29 October 2004 is now available on listen again on the BBC Radioplayer.
Friday 29 October 2004 22:15-23:30 (Radio 3)
Presented by Mark Russell and Robert Sandall and featuring a session by the Australian trio Pateras/Baxter/Brown, consisting of Anthony Pateras (prepared piano and electronics), David Brown (prepared guitar) and Sean Baxter (percussion).
Plus tracks from the likes of State River Widening, Philip Jeck & Janek Schaefer and Martin Archer. # posted by DJ Martian 9:17 PM
This week's One World show is: Dedicated to John Peel
Show broadcast on Radio 1 on 1st November 2004 from 1 - 3am
Mr Psych
The One World team aka Mr Psych will be dedicating a special mix he recorded for the Peel show three years ago to the man himself. One World producer Paul Thomas will be taking us through some memories he had working with John from festivals like Sonar.
One World and the music it champions owes a great deal to John and the shows he broadcast from 1967 - 2004. # posted by DJ Martian 9:10 PM
30music.com a regularly updated music ezine. # posted by DJ Martian 7:29 PM
Some new releases listed in the weekly guide [via e-mail] from Manchester's music emporium: Piccadilly Records
[New releases listed for week of October 25th]
Bloc Party - Helicopter Wichita
cd single
The follow up single to the Top 40 hit "Little Thoughts", accompanied by an extensive UK tour, from the most exciting new band of the year.
Tim Bowness - My Hotel Year One Little Indian
Calling all fans of Bowie, Sylvian, Blue Nile, This Mortal Coil and the quintessential 4AD sound, Hammill, Walker, Drake, Tim Buckley, Eno, Marks Hollis and Eitzel, Massive Attack, Red House Painters and existential introspection set to a smorgasbord of 21st century beats - upbeat, downbeat or simply a heartbeat. That end result is one of the year's most original, personal and haunting records - embracing that Bowness-branded singer-songwriter / art-rock style but with a noticeably starker, intimate, gripping edge.
The Cuts - Cuts Birdman
Modern day psychedelia — coming right at you with lightning speed. The Cuts' self-titled LP is finally available on everyone's favorite digital format! The Cuts stand apart from any contemporary garage rock purveyors. Tough as nails, neurotic, simplistic, big, deep, catchy and devastating all at the same time. This album is a reissue of the band's debut record with original lineup, never before available on CD.
The Drama - Nothing Can Tear Us Apart Fierce Panda
The Drama are from Oakland, California, USA. They consist of Joe Gregory (vocals, guitars), Jess Gowrie (drums) and Chris Over (bass). They describe themselves as a 'dark rock band'. That much is true. This four-track ep – their debut release anywhere in the known universe – cannily brings together a clutch of their finest moments thus far. These four tracks capture The Drama at their most potent and paranoid. All crunching guitars and venomous vocals, "Nothing Can Tear Us Apart" is a grimly jubilant statement of intent from a blazing new arrival on planet rock.
Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - The Royal Society Island / No Death
"Royal Society" is the eagerly awaited follow up to 2002's "Horse of The Dog". Produced by Chris Goss and touted as Dave Grohl's favourite record, "Royal Society" is every bit the step up that Brighton's finest promised.
Matt Harding - Thinking In Fours Moshi Moshi
Matt Harding plays his own distinctive brand of electro-folk, that has been compared to everyone from Beck to New Order to The Beta Band. This EP features one track from his "Commitment" album along with five brand new tracks.
Help She Can't Swim - Fashionista Super Dance Troupe Fantastic Plastic
Help She Can't Swim are five young people from the South coast of England. "Fashionista Super Dance Troupe", their debut album is a terse 24 minute affair recorded in an energetic two week blast earlier this year. The album fizzes with energy propelled by a nods to the likes of Mecca Normal, Beat Happening, Huggy Bear and Sonic Youth.
Pinback - Summer In Abaddon Touch & Go
The third chapter in the Pinback story begins with their debut record for Touch and Go. "Summer In Abaddon" was recorded by the duo in Zach's home studio over the course of 2003, and truly captures Pinback's essence. Although it may seem like gentle pop music at first encounter, its brilliance is slowly revealed upon repeated listens. Songs are buoyant and lively at times, melancholy and dark at others, and always resonate with an underlying intensity.
Punish The Atom - Filthy Boy Retarded
The debut single from PTA, five young men from Nottingham whose lightning strike dynamics echo their PIL, Fall, Wire and Devo influences. Two versions appear on the single: "Filthy Advice" and "Filthy Boy". The latter a re-mixed version created by fellow Nottinghamian (if there is such a word! - you know what we mean.) Richard Warren aka Echoboy. Also slipped into the package is "For Your Pleasure": A two minute glam-punk romp inspired by Bryan Ferry, The Sweet and the Japanese transport system. It's a great statement of intent from a band that's already renowned for wrapping barbed-wire melodies around intense rhythms and rousing vocals.
State River Widening - Cottonhead Vertical Form
State River Widening's David Sheppard and Keiron Phelan paint evocative sonic landscapes with a vast array of instruments on this beautiful album which mananges to combine elements of post rock, americana, Philip Glass composition and electronica without any contrivances or difficulty. Almost wholly instrumental, save for Anne Briggs' folky wisdom on one track and the odd hushed voice elsewhere, it's a remarkable achievement. Vertical Form do it again.
Sucioperro - The Hidden Perils Of Dancing Adorno
New three piece Sucioperro (it's pronounced sooch-ee-oh-perro and is Spanish slang for 'dirty bitch') are currently taking the Scottish underground by storm. Comprising diverse musical influences from Tool to Talking Heads, Pearl Jam to Prince. Their vibrant, energetic and muscular sound is winning hordes of new fans all the time.
Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Sunburned Hand Of The Man Wabana
From Sunburned Hand Of The Man: 'we got news from the agency that someone raided the tape vault while we were pimpin' it live on the West Coast Alaska wedding procession'. Basically this is a semi official bootleg, and limited as hell release from the wigged out standard bearers of the USA's new folk / new weird americana scene. Do not expect to find this in the NME, this is like Faust, Can and Cluster getting down with the No-Neck Blues Band and creating some folk drenched acid fried psyche trip-outs. Highly recommended.
CD - ORE041CD
Very very limited edition CD release of this very rare and much sought after album.
Various Artists / Damaged Goods - The Cheap Sampler Volume 3 Damaged Goods
The third sampler from the Damaged Goods back catalogue this time featuring 28 tracks both new and old with three exclusives, Buzzcocks: "Don't Come Back" previously unavailable on CD. The Kitchen: "Legion Of Mary Team" previously unreleased. Honeyrider: "Cyberfriends Network" previously unreleased. A lovely eight page full colour booklet, 28 tracks all for the price of a maxi CD single. Artists include: Holly Golightly, The Ulcers, Buzzcocks, Shelleys Children, Fabienne Delsol, Armitage Shanks, Age Of Jets, The Kitchen, Honeyrider, Mikabomb, Cogs, Buff Medways, Singing Loins, Hard Skin, Oizone, Cuckooland, Manic Street Preachers, Revillos, and more!!!!
Les Georges Leningrad - Sur Les Traces De Black Eskimo Alien 8
Now operating as a trio, LGL are leaner and more dangerous than ever. Thanks to rigorous touring the band has never sounded so tight and energetic. This latest effort is without a doubt a catchier affair, boasting a number of potential crossover hits. It mixes elements of post-punk and noisy improv to deliver a completely unique hybrid.
Hella / Dilute - Live Sickroom Records
As part of an ongoing live series, this double CD features Dilute and Hella, two innovative and unique bands, who have both been held in high esteem for their dynamic and intense live performances. Each CD has five tracks by one of the bands. Dilute, from Oakland, CA, produce wonderful soundscapes that literally resonate with soul fire. Melodies bubble and simmer punctuated at times by sparse, childlike vocals. Now residing in Sacramento, CA, Hella have blown away countless jaded hipsters with their intricate, winding spazz-core compositions. Zach Hill is a veritable animal on the drum kit while Spencer Seim's guitar work is equally impressive, as he bursts forth with a seemingly endless supply of pulsating, jittery parts that intertwine perfectly. File alongside: Pink & Brown, Lightening Bolt, Mogwai.
Lesbians On Ecstasy - Lesbians On Ecstasy Alien 8
The debut release from Montreal's Lesbians On Ecstasy. Since their inception a year and a half ago, L.O.E. have been rocking asses and minds across the USA with their slamming live shows. L.O.E. hijack the back catalogue of lesbian anthems, dragging them kicking and screaming out of the folk festivals and onto the drugged up revelry of the dance floor. They pillage shamelessly from the likes of Tracy Chapman and Melissa Etheridge, juxtaposing them against Tribe8 or Team Dresch, not forgetting the lesbian standards of The Indigo Girls and others. L.O.E. don't sample these artists, but cheekily reference their themes and lyrics, creating booty shaking dance hits. Styles range from electro punk to hard techno and straight-up pop.
Sweep The Leg Johnny / Rumah Sakit - Live September 9th 2000 Sickroom Records
Recorded live at legendary San Francisco club, The Bottom Of The Hill, this pair of discs, 13 tracks in total provides a snapshot of two inimitable musical forces at the height of their respective prowess. Rumah Sakit have distinguished themselves as a band that defies convention at every turn. A savage intercourse erupts between the reckless and the restrained. Disjointed and abrasive this is truly a band best appreciated live. For nearly a decade, Chicago's Sweep The Leg Johnny have toured and played with a passion rarely equaled. Their sound is solid as steel, yet almost incomprehensible in the depth of its subtlety. Pulsating rhythms hold the body mesmerized, while intertwining melodies and fragmented vocals resonate with a sense of desperate energy. File alongside: Don Caballero, Bardo Pond, Soeza.
Freeform Five - Strangest Things Ultimate Dilema / Atlantic
Freeform Five release their highly anticipated debut album "Strangest Things" on Ultimate Dilemma. You could never plan something like Freeform Five, they're a fluke, a happy accident, an affair of chances; they defy mathematical law. For a start, there are really only four of them; lynchpin producer, multi-instrumentalist and chief songwriter Anu Pillai and vocalists Cabba, Tamara Barnett-Herrin and Nick Decosemo. And the music they make together is the sum of four individual subsets of random circumstances, past phases and meandering paths up to this point. "Strangest Things" sees the four piece take on the dance floor, plus f*ck with the stereotypical album dynamic in producing some of the catchiest numbers you'll hear all year. Here brooding pensive melancholy sits comfortably next to four-to-the-floor club bangers, with a potential pop smash or two thrown in for good measure, without ever sounding muddled or schizophrenic. Proper electro-pop, electro-house and electro-rock'n'roll.
The Emperor Machine - Aimee Tallulah Is Hypnotised DC Recordings
Andy Meecham (aka Chicken Lips / Big Two Hundred) presents his debut album under The Emperor Machine guise. "Aimee Tallulah Is Hypnotised" fuses live and electronic elements and displays a true melting pot of styles and influences, seamlessly shifting through BBC Radiophonic Workshop style experiments, Italo / space disco, kraut rock and electro. There's an underlying cinematic sci-fi presence to these offerings, most prominent with the DR Who-inspired album opener "The TV Extra Band", the John Carpenter-esque "Dying By Wits" and "SH3A" and the War Of The Worlds like melodies of "Front Man" and "Brains In A Box", the album is also interspersed by Radiophonic enthused interludes "Erotic Hoverfly" and "Killed By A Truck". Joined here by Roger Johns (bass guitar), Jamie Parkes (violin) and Beebe (flute), Mr Meecham utilises his analogue synth collection and alluring array of vintage apparatus to devastating effect, and whilst delving into early 70s production techniques manages to carve out new avenues for the future.
The Hacker - Reves Macaniques Pias
"Reves Mecaniques" is the second album from French techno stalwart The Hacker. The Hacker is firmly established as one of the most dynamic of the new breed of French electronic producers, having enjoyed great success with Miss Kittin and the running of his own Goodlife record label with fellow founders Oxia and Alex Reynaud. This album is the follow up to his debut "Melodies En Sous-Sol" and is a significant honing of The Hacker's sound, embracing elements of hardcore and rave into his clinical, sometimes brutal techno and electro. He has made an album that treads a thin line between dark electronic rock / pop and techno, even going as far as producing a turbo-charged goth stomper with the inclusion of the single "Flesh & Bone" featuring Perspects, beautifully icy electro pop with "Masterplan" featuring Miss Kittin, and the 'alternative' anthem in-waiting of "Traces" featuring Mount Sims.
Robert Wyatt - His Greatest Misses Ryko
This is the first real definitive collection featuring 17 of Robert's greatest all-time solo material recordings to date and includes the much sought after and requested "Shipbuilding" which has never previously been on an album and has only been available as part of the EPs box set. Also includes his only other hit single from 1974 - "I'm A Believer".
Breather Resist - Charmer Jade Tree
Breather Resist have been pretty busy since their 2002 inception, with releases on Initial and Deathwish before Jade Tree saw their considerable potential and snapped them up. They've a lot to get off their chest. This album is a vicious catharsis of intense, raging, anguished vocals set against a searing backdrop of burning, heavy, growling rhythm guitar, illuminated by occasional dark flashes from the lead, and punctuated by tight as fuck timeshifts and fist in the face breakdowns. This is much less metal than savage hardcore - and it's utterly awesome...
Various Artists / Back To Mine - Carl Cox Dmc
Dance stalwart and much loved international DJ Carl Cox steps up to the "Back to Mine" turntables and shows a side to him that's never been documented before. All his musical influences are present from the old Caister soul weekender days through to blissed out modern day electronics. Includes Ramsey Lewis, Diana Ross, Harvey Mason, Bill Summers, John Handy, Loose Ends, Timmy Thomas, The Style Council, Black Science Orchestra, Coco Steel & Lovebomb, Leftfield, Sounds Of Blackness, 808 State, Jesus Loves You etc.
Various Artists / Life:Styles - Laurent Garnier Harmless
Frenchman Laurent Garnier began DJing at Manchester's Hacienda during the late 80s, setting up his own F-Communications label and becoming one of the world's best DJs along the way, able to drop sets that span house, techno and funkier stuff too. Here he digs deeper through his record collection to bring us this supremely eclectic set of tracks, taking in disco, funk, Kraut rock, reggae, latin, soul, jazz and more.
16 track blended CD. Extras include Van Morrison, George McRae, Liquid Liquid, Tom Browne and more.
Smith & Mighty - Retrospective K7
Rob Smith & Ray Mighty, the Godfathers of the Bristol sound, present their finest tracks, early releases, rarities, and some recent recordings. Before there was Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead and all that followed, there was Smith & Mighty, late 80s / early 90s perveyors of sound system soul. Starting off reworking some Dione Warwick classics by adding heavyweight reggae bass and stripped-down hip hop breaks, their sound influenced a generation of Bristol music makers and was an antidote to the over-produced soul sounds from over the pond.
Various Artists / Last Time I Do This For Nothing Illicit
A triple CD compendium featuring unreleased material from Deadly Avenger along with exclusive cuts from the Illicit archives. CD1 is titled "95", named after the year Damon Deadly Avenger started producing demos from his bedroom in Leicester. This album shows how the Deadly Avenger sound has developed over the years and acts as a blueprint for his debut album "Deep Red", comprising specially re-recorded versions of the early material on DC, tracks from the first two Illicit EPs plus exclusive demos, skits and previously unreleased tunes, all of which are available on CD for the first time. The second CD focuses on the "Battlecreek" series, Damon's attempt to recreate the old school hip hop battle records. He invited likeminded artists and friends to contribute tracks for the EPs which have become seminal records, and are a perfect representation of what happens when hip hop and the breaks collide. All three EPs are collected together here on CD for the first time. CD3, "Cast And Crew", is an attempt to represent all aspects of Illicit Recordings and the artists who have been involved with the label over the years, on one CD with fourteen tracks including Fatman Scoop's "Be Faithful", Chicago house-god Derrick Carter's remix of Deadly, the replayed recording of the Rocky theme "Going The Distance" (sampled on "We Took Pelham"), an exclusive Bronx Dogs track, and much more.
The Residents - Commercial Album: 25th Anniversary Edition Mute
Re-release of the landmark 1980 album on CD to tie in with the issue of The Residents' "Commercial Album 25th Anniversary" Special Edition DVD. The group is now entering its fourth decade as faceless anti-stars, existing in the dim outskirts of mainstream awareness. During that entire time, they've consciously kept their origins and personal lives shrouded in mystery. The creation of this obviously contrived 'mystery' was one of the first decisions they reached after realising that they had become a group - something they define as an organism with a mind, will and direction of its own. The essence of this decision was to aggressively create a separation between their personal and professional lives. Anonymity was, and is, their only rule. They live by it to this day. Since, in 1980, the nature of their music prohibited access to pop radio, The Residents originally envisioned "The Commercial Album", as a reinvention of the Top Forty format. With this concept the group attempted to revolutionise the way popular music was heard.
Akufen / Freeform / The Rip Off Artist : Blu TribunL Inflatabl
Inflatabl Labl seem to delight in unlikely combinations. Here they get three top notch electronic producers to make four tracks each, in a style they're completely unfamiliar with....the blues. And the results are stunning. Akufen forgoes his house tendencies for a raw, glitchy shuffle,with the voices of the past rising like ghosts. Freeform (Skam) harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of world music to create something that is Deep South, Far East, nowhere and everywhere at the same time. And lastly Rip Off Artist (Tigerbeat6 / Label owner) focuses on the core of the blues: the guitar and the twelve bar chord progression, then splinters it into a thousand pieces, with rhythms that lurch and sputter, missing a beat here and there. Blues and electronic music would seem worlds apart, yet these artists have managed to fuse the two, turn it inside out...digitize...invert and subvert.
Efterklang - Tripper Leaf
Denmark's Efterklang are the latest signing to The Leaf Label. A ten-piece outfit including strings (Sigur Ros' Amina Quartet), brass, piano, percussion, electronics and choir from Greenland, Efterklang make intimate epic music.
Vauxhall 44 - Sub - I Inflatabl
Inflatabl's fourth release is Vauxhall44's first full-length album, entitled "Sub-I". The artist is Yuki Kiba, a Tokyo resident who began playing guitar at the tender age of fourteen. He has seen his share of go-nowhere garage bands, playing experimental rock, jazz, reggae and so on, and didn't start making computer music until he was twenty-one. Sounds like a typical kid from the suburbs, right? What we can't figure out is how this shy, deferential Japanese kid makes such fascinating music. Each track is constantly changing, sometimes jump cutting to the next big idea, sometimes gradually evolving through shifting elements that never play the same way twice. Superficially, there are techno and house elements to his tracks, but there are so many little details that the mind has no chance to wander. This makes "Sub-I" an uncommonly satisfying experience.
Various Artists / Where We're At
Small Town Supersound
Nine track label sampler at a budget price. Features all artists connected to the Smalltown Supersound label at present: Jaga Jazzist, Kim Hiorthoy, Lars Horntveth, Sir Dupermann etc. plus two new signings; Toy and Mental Overdrive. A perfect introduction to the Supersound.
Wax Poetics - Issue Number Ten, Fall 2004
Articles on Montgomery Express, Antibalas, Les McCann, Wattstax, Beastie Boys, Eddie Fisher, Melvin Van Peebles and Mingering Mike. An essential magazine that just gets better and better. # posted by DJ Martian 6:00 PM
Otto Von Schirach's music is indescribable -- much as a mini fire engine stuffed with circus clowns getting raped by a transvestite pencil sharpener is indescribable. Since his debut (2001's 8,000 B.C.) on Miami's electro/IDM label Schematic, the Cuban/German maverick has upended electronica with a warped (some say frightening) sense of humor and a very broad notion of what passes for music. Von Schirach, who seems to have a direct connection from his id to his mouse-clicking fingers to his constantly churning hard drive, is prodigiously good with his gear; he creates sublime, uncategorizable onslaughts (like Global Speaker Fisting and its predecessor, Chopped Zombie Fungus), and contributes to comeback albums from electronic music legends (his involvement with Skinny Puppy's The Greater Wrong Of The Right gave the album a startling, nu-school impact). And he does it all without missing a beat (pun intended).
We caught up with Von Schirach between legs of the Skinny Puppy North American tour (he's been opening for the industrial legends on every stateside stop), as he juggled promotional duty for the newly released Global Speaker Fisting and preparations for another trip with Cevin, Ogre and crew. Global, like his other three albums, is a marvelous amalgam of left wing electronica, hip hop, IDM, gabber and experimental techno; it's impeccably precise, full of dadaist whimsy (his lyrics, teetering on the verge of putrid absurdity, will nonetheless provoke belly laughs). Potty humor colliding with grand scale, electro-mathematics? This is the album Mr. Bungle will make after they reunite in 2032, only you get to hear it now. Then again, no one does it (or will do it) like Otto Von Schirach, who has an entire class of artistry all to himself. # posted by DJ Martian 2:42 PM
SPOTLIGHT...KEY NEW RELEASES [October 18th]
Key new album releases for October 18th [A more detailed release listing including other new releases, compilations and reissues - can be found further up this webpage.]
Ada - Blondie (Areal)
Arco - Restraint (Dreamy)
Beans - Shock City Maverick (Warp)
Carter Tutti - Cabal (Cti)
The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan (Kranky)
Deathprod - Morals and Dogma (Rune Grammofon) [Now available at Boomkat]
Dosh - Pure Trash (Anticon)
Elend - Sunwar The Dead (Prophecy)
The Haunted - rEVOLVEr (Century Media)
Husky Rescue - Country Falls (Catskills)
Jason And The Astronauts - The Mourning After Math (Unlabel)
Johann Johannsson - Virthulegu Forsetar (Touch) Cd/Dvd
Katell Keineg - High July (Megaphone)
Krisiun - Bloodshed (Century Media)
Les Georges Leningrad - Sur les traces de Black Eskimo (alien 8 recordings)
Losoul - Getting Even (Playhouse)
Minit - Now Right Here (Staubgold)
Peter Murphy - Unshattered (ViaStar) [US Import available @ amazon.co.uk]
Paal Nilssen-Love/Ken Vandermark - Dual Pleasure 2 (Smalltown Supersoud)
No Things - Coward / Trees (Blast First/ (petite) ) EP
Re - Alms (Constellation)
Rodney P - The Future (Riddim Killa)
Shitmat - Full English Breakfest (Planet µ)
Shur I Kan - Waypoints (Freerange)
State River Widening - Cottonhead (Vertical Form)
Subtle - A New White (Lex)
System 7 - Encantado (A Wave)
Tears In X-Ray Eyes - The Way We Live Now (Test Tube Records)
The Thing - Garage (STS)
Total Science - Good Game (CIA) 2cd
Turing Machine - Zwei (frenchkiss records) [US Release]
Ricardo Villalobos - thé au harem d'archimède (Perlon)
White Hole - Pink Album (KYO)
Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind (Sub Pop) # posted by DJ Martian 2:26 PM
SPOTLIGHT...KEY NEW RELEASES [October 11th]
Key new album releases for October 11th [A more detailed release listing including other new releases, compilations and reissues - can be found further up this webpage.]
Age of Silence - Acceleration (Blackend)
Am/Pm - The Ends I & II (Dreck)
The Autumns - The Autumns (Bella Union)
Blueprint - Phenomenology (Golf) [Ex earthtone 9 members]
Peter Brotzmann / Friis Nielsen/Peeter Uuskyla - Medicina (Atavistic)
Chronomad - Sokut (Alien Transistor)
The Ex - Turn (Touch & Go)
Jake Fairley - Touch Not The Cat (Dumb Unit)
Tim Garland - Change of Season (Scirocco)
Growing - The Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light (Kranky)
Headman - Dance Modern (Timewarp)
Richard H Kirk - Meets The Truck Bombers Of Suburbia (Intone)
The Knife - Deep Cuts (Rabid) (R) [First Time UK Release 2004] [2cd / Includes Dvd]
Motormark - Chrome Tape (Digital Hardcore)
Myrakaru - Tammetoru (Expanding)
Stina Nordenstam - The World is Saved (V2)
vidna Obmana - Legacy (Release/Relapse)
Oceansize - Music for Nurses (Beggars Banquet) EP
Amanda Rogers - Daily News (2nd Rec)
Savath & Savalas - Mañana (Warp) CDEP
Michael J. Schumacher - Stories (Quecksilber)
Stereotyp Meets Al'Haca - Phase Three (Klein)
Superthriller - Superthriller 1 (Mint Music)
Tiefschwarz - Misch Masch (Fine) 2cd
Triosk - Moments Return (Leaf)
Vincent & Mr. Green - Vincent & Mr. Green (Ipecac) # posted by DJ Martian 2:22 PM
Khonnor is a 17-year-old wonderboy from smalltown Vermont, usa - who has somehow managed to craft the most startling singer-songwriter debut we've heard in years. with an uncanny maturity and a gleefully rebellious lack of regard for generic restraint, Connor Kirby-long has taken influence from the sonic disruptions and considered melodic dimensions of outsider heroes like Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke, Sonic Youth and even The Smiths.....all in between dodging maths class and fitting in his homework. Khonnor's early experiments stemmed from exceptionally original and unrestrained mixtures of guitar, twisted lyrics and abrasive electronic noise. Using only an old PC, a microphone from a 'Learn Japanese' boxset and a single low quality PC speaker, Connor creates something highly original - picking up the gauntlet thrown down by Fennesz on his now fully fledged classic 'Endless Summer'. Dreamlike digitally manipulated guitar disruptions and wavering synths form the foundation for most of the tracks, as Khonnor frankly and openly charts the ups and downs of teenage love, pocket change and lost hazy nights. 'Megan's present' breathes with a kind of plangent optimism, which may remind some of the finest moments in Mercury Rev's back catalogue. In a year when electronic music has been encroaching on the sensibilities of the pop world, where indie-electronic albums are no longer an oddity, Khonnor's music offers something different. The punk rock attitude, the seemingly innate understanding of distortion and electronic manipulation, the fresh and heartfelt emotion, the unhidden fragility and anticlimaxes of adolescence. This seventeen year old from Vermont, in his debut album, has compiled something so personal and original that its frightening to imagine where he might take us next. For the meantime, remind yourself of the gentle, complex inner vocabulary that engages the teenage mind and wonder at just how often it's managed to find _expression in something so fragile, flawed and oddly complete as this quite breathtaking debut album. "Handwriting" is a quite amazing debut, fitting that it's on john Xela and Stef Lewandowski's Type imprint. Essential purchase.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Styrofoam - Nothing's Lost Morr Music
For "Nothing's Lost" Styrofoam shows his gentle hand as both a writer, producer and voice - he sings on half of the album's songs himself - but the realisation of the recordings took many different routes. Markus Acher (Lali Puna/The Notwist) contributed guitar tracks for "Misguided" and "Make It Mine" while Lali Puna singer Valerie Trebeljahr also got involved, singing the song's chorus on the spot. Anticon artist Alias rounded things off for "Misguided", providing one of his rare rhymes while stamping beats for "Couches In Alleys" and "Make It Mine". Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service/Death Cab For Cutie, meanwhile, flew in from Seattle to join Arne and Brendon, as Alias is known to his friends, to develop four of Arne's initial tracks into fully fledged compositions. With Andrew Kenny from American Analogue Set, the production process went completely virtual. Arne (Brussels) and Kenny (NYC) logged on to iChat regularly to swap files and to discuss the steps to be taken to complete their song "Front To Back". Unlike his usual, subtle vocal delivery, Kenny went for an almost R'n'B style vocal in a very expressive and catchy falsetto, while Arne provides a mildly broken beat, sprinkling tiny acid licks all over the place. Last but not least Styrofoam asked Bent van Looy, singer of the hugely successful Belgian band Das Pop into the studio. Their collaboration is by far the most danceable contribution to this album. The cool, bubblegum pop feeling of this song is enhanced by a blatant, slightly retro octave bassline as well as the additional vocals of japanese singer Miki, whom Bent brought into the studio spontaneously. He met her the night before while she was performing live on stage with Munk, a neo funk punk band releasing on Gomma Records. Van Looy liked it so much that he just had to bring her along to the Das Pop studio. And it definitely paid! One of the strongest releases on Morr Music for some time.
808 State - Newbuild Rephlex
Repressed with much good sense and timing by those Rephlex folk, "Newbuild" is the definite UK acid techno album, a mastercalss in bleep constructions that every electro purist and acid freak in the known universe should own. "Flow Coma" alone ends any argument anyone might have about how definitive this album is, so if you don't know it or, indeed, any of the tracks here, now's your chance to get with the programme. Mighty.
Ammon Contact - One In An Infinity Of Ways Ninja Tune
Together with Daedelus, Madlib and the rest of the burgeoning L.A. post-jazz movement, Ammoncontact have been honing their immaculate hodge-podge funked-up productions to much critical acclaim and fanfare over the last couple of years. " One In An Infinity Of Ways" flows from track to track like one of Niño's legendary Spaceways radio shows, made on an MPC 2000 and an ASR-10, with a few keyboards and synths thrown into the mix. Prefuse 73 has labelled the music "machine funk", which isn't a million miles from where they're at, as long as you remember the playfulness which leads Carlos to claim that "Ammoncontact are all about having fun as well as trying to stretch the boundaries of hip hop." Throw in guests including Daedelus, sometime Scienz of Life and now KMD member Lil Sci, plus musicians from the legendary Build An Ark group and you have a record that just sells itself. Double dope.
Andrew Pekler - Nocturnes, False Dawns, Breakdowns Scape
One-time Sad Rocketeer Andrew Pekler returns to Scape with his second album "Nocturnes, False Dawns, Breakdowns", a far superior effort to 2002's rather mediocre "Station To Station". "Nocturnes..." revolves around a hazy jazz aesthetic, the clever-clever electronic adjustments and re-edits of yesteryear seem far removed from the dusty late-night tales told with such evocative charm across the 14 tracks on offer, even though everything you hear on this album comes from sampled sources. Pekler's love of late 60s / early 70s electronic fusion jazz always makes itself known, with the drums high up in the mix, accompanied by threatening keyboard clusters, often reminiscent of the open textures of classic Miles Davis records like In a Silent Way or Bitches Brew, even early Weather Report like 'I Sing the Body Electric'. A Very nice addition to the scape roster, highly recommended.
Der Zyklus (Dopplereffekt) - Biometry DUB
Much delayed and extremely anticipated first album proper from Heinrich Mueller, best known for his releases as Dopplereffekt, Arpanet, Japanese Telecom, Elektroids and more. The legend returns after more then a year of silence with new sound experiments from the Dataphysixs sound laboratories - a collection of abstract interpretations that veer from BBC Radiophonic Workshop experiments in sound design and effect processing (all with a biological theme), to the supremely killer dancefloor classic "Biometric" - a track that's already been hailed by many as one of the finest Drexciya-related productions, and you know that ain't taken lightly. Head back to the lab, the beat scientist has unfinished business with you. Ace.
Funkstorung - Isolated : Funkstorung Triple Media K7
BOOK + DVD
Book & DVD published in collaboration with award-winning design publishers Die Gestalten Verlag. Funkstorung launched a a visual remix competition with the release of their "Disconnected" album - the response bringing in 1,200 images from over 800 designers (11 of which have already been used in the original CD artwork). More than 40 directors from all over the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, America and the whole of Europe were involved in the production of the videos for the DVD. Housed here with this lush heavyweight book, the DVD features countless artwork pieces and video clips from artists both known and unknowm. Limited copies only.
Machine Drum - Bidnezz Merck
Machine Drum has always been the most high profile and in-demand artist over at Miami's Merck imprint - no wonder given the imapct his awesome "Now You Know" album made on its release some 4 years ago. Travis Stewart sticks to the Machine Drum agenda here, though dipping into some distinctly jiggy territory while he's at it. Past the glorious droned-out bliss of opening segment "Entrau", "Disa Bling" sets the agenda with a narrowly cut-up bboy flick through hiccup funk, Prefuse stylee, though with those trademark warm strings turning things fluffed-up and blue. "Stevie Bam Jackson", "Offs" and "Inner Outer", meanwhile, add the scuzzed up vibe that Dabrye has personalised in recent years - though they serve as a good reminder of how upfront and up to the minute Machine Drum's sound has been, not to mention influential. 22 tracks wide, deep, instrumental electronic hip hop shiznizz, ya'hear?
Ontayso / Sense / Tim Koch - Where Have You Been? U Cover
U-cover splits itself three ways for its latest release, giving more or less equal bandwidth to Ontayso (with a little bit of help from the Yunx possee), Sense and Tim Koch. Thankfully this isn't an overtly IDM affair, Ontayso opting for a dense and jazz-tinged variation on ambience, while Tim Koch plugs in his distortion pedal for some token experimentalism that works a treat. Sense delivers the sweet-smelling electronic soundscaping he's best known for, but all round its a cohesive collection of tracks that work a treat. Check!
Ontayso / Various - Remixed Reworked Vol 2 U Cover
Second volume of remixes for Ontayso, this time featuring a surprisingly tantalising lineup of contributors, among them : Pan American, Greg Davis, Multiplex, Tim Koch, Funckarma, Bauri, Abstract Knights and more. Both Pan American and Greg Davis tracks tower over everything else here, Mark Nelson opting for another beathless late night hum for his Pan American rework, while Greg Davis gets his guitar out for an uplifting, gentle post-folk number. Very nice indeed.
Pedro / Various - Fear and Resilience Remixes Melodic
Excellent lineup of contributors for this extended remix collection from Pedro - including reworkings from Prefuse 73, Danger Mouse, Cherrystones, Pedro himself and an epic, 21 minute masterful hodgepodge remix from Fourtet. The opener from Prefuse 73 delivers much as you'd expect, jazzed-up stutter jams with a violin-doused b-boy slouch, you know the score right? Danger Mouse gives it the mellow instrumental stylings, deploying the weight of its low-end to maximum effect, while the gargantuan Four Tet mix unfolds from the minimised orchestral glitches of its opening to a full-on Kraut driven space-jazz number worth the price of admission alone. Bargain pioce, vinyl limited to 900 copies for the world only, buy!
Rainstick Orchestra - The Floating Glass Key In The Sky Ninja Tune
Baku Tsunoda and Naomichi Tanaka have been working together as the Rainstick Orchestra for the last four years. They met when they were both DJing in a club in Tokyo and, as they lived near to each other, they began hanging out and trying to improve their musical skills by working together. By day, Baku is an Editorial Designer and Naomichi is a Systems Engineer. While Naomichi cites an early love of the music of Manchester as a formative influence as well as time playing in punk bands, Baku started out playing guitar and piano in both a Yellow Magic Orchestra covers band and a session group who played in the style of Maceo Parker and Funkadelic. What they create together, using guitars, piano, bass & sequencers, is a delicate `systems music' that gives a nod to the minimalism of Cage and Reich as well as echoing forms such as techno and jazz. Unsurprisingly, they both subscribe to the idea that music is "borderless". The result is another smokey, jazz-tinged burner that fits in with the Ninja catalogue perfectly. Very nice indeed.
Robert Henke (Monolake) - Signal To Noise Imbalance
Monolake's Robert Henke has already dipped his toes twice into more drone-based sound environments, once on 1994's "Piercing Music" and then again on 1997's "Floating Point" - both for his own Basic Channel affiliated Imbalance imprint. This latest effort, "Signal To Noise", spreads itself across three long and deeply absorbing digital drone pieces, largely inspired by a vist to the Joshua Tree national park in California earlier this year. Those of you looking for the post-techno machinations of his inspired Monolake project will wonder at the connection between his percussive output and these stripped down pieces, but the answer resides within the carefully destroyed and processed timbres that make up "Signal to Noise". Henke is a master of scene-setting, within the restraints of the drone-based pieces you start to sense he's pushing his sonic vocabulary further than before, away from the unique, though instantly recognisable, metalic beats of his Monolake alter ego he's found a breathless and slowly evolving musical vocabulary that takes it's time, reflecting on the scenery at hand in slow motion. If you found yourself left in awe at the dense hum created by the magnificent Deathprod, this album will send you off into that other-worldly dimension once again. Highly recommended.
Tanakh - Self-titled alien8
Third album from Jesse Poe's Tanakh project for the excellent Alien8 imprint, once again taking traditional singer/songwriter concepts and turning them inside out with layered drones, filters, distortions and slivers of clarity that peek out of the mix like rays of sunshine through dense clouds. This latest Tanakh lineup includes Pat Best (Pelt), Via Noun (Bevel), Peter Neff (Tulsa Drone), Phil Murphey (Broken Hips), Tom Brickman (Rattlemouth), Jeff Krones (Wckrspgt) with Jesse Poe chief at the controls. Each of the two cd's features one long track (an hour long on cd1 and half an hour long on cd2) - making for a slowly developing, dense, involving listen. Recommended.
The Soft Pink Truth - Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want..... Soundslike
One-half Matmos man and part-time knob twiddlin' genius for pixie-belle Bjork, Drew Daniel seems to be on a mission to camp-up his Soft Pink Truth project with every release. Gone is the cut-up micro-funk of "Soft Pink Missy", instead we find our man slapped up to the eyeballs with cheap makeup and a determination to get his mucho talented mates in on the act with 32 minutes worth of American hardcore and English punk cover versions (Crass, Minor Threat and Die Kreuzen amongst others). Hearing pseudo-plunderphonic genius Vickie Bennet (People Like Us) letting her hair down and giving mockney narration a go should be enough of an incentive for anyone to get on the floor, spark up and jack, while other contributions come from fashion icon and dresser to the stars Jeremy Scott, Dani Siciliano, and (who could forget) Blevin Blectum. Camp as t*ts and rather good fun, chekkk itt oooot.
Tim Hecker - Mirages Alien8
Incredibly rich, sumptuous new album from the increasingly staisfying Tim Hecker, layering his particular blend of organic ambience with slivers of piano, found sounds and the quiet hum of abandoned machinery. Playing counterpart to the processed acoustic emissions of Fennesz, Hecker takes a much darker route, only offering relief from the mass of textures he concocts with deep buried remnants of melody and light. As a follow-up to Mille Plateaux's sublime "Radio Amor", "Mirages" is an even more majestic album, striding with a confident heaviness further out into the wilderness, deep into the night. Amazing music.
Various / Rephlex - Grime 2 Rephlex
Onwards and upwards for the grimmmmmeeee posseee, given a second showcase on the Rephlex imprint with a spotlight on another 3 artists : Kode 9, Loefah and digital mystikz. Kode 9 is perhaps the best known of the bunch, particularly after those two blinding tens on Hyperdub. His four cuts here don't dig quite as far down as you'd hope, but the tumblin breaks more than make up for it, particularly on the prime cut "Dislocated". Loefah and Digital Mystikz, meanwhile, have graced the Big Apple rosta and are given 3 tracks each here to show off their wares. Loefah applies the edits to a distinctly asian vibe, particularly on "Bombay Squad", but it's left to Digital Mystikz to head further out to the darker edges of the pitch with some unusual percussive tumbles, mashed up noises and just the right dose of the low-end presha, dub styles. Good sh*t.
Various / Shitkatapult - Special Musick For Special People Shitkatapult
Ace, if rather expensive DVD release from Shitkatapult, signifying their 50th release and their 5th year anniversary. It contains 24 tracks combined with images, sixteen Shitkatapult artists from all over the place with interviews plus live concert footage from T.Raumschmiere and Das Bierbeben. AUDIO/VIDEO SECTION: RECHENZENTRUM / Der gruene Punkt / Rechenzentrum, MAGNUM 38 / Und? / Blackdata, ANAPHIE-STIC (FEAT. MISS TIGRA) / Throw me a bone / Daniel Thouw, APPARAT /Bolz /TRANSFORMA, ANDERS ILAR / Flakes Descent / Soft Citicen, Jason Macfarlane, BOXTYPE/ Whenever /Daniel Thouw, Bao-Nghi Droste, FENIN (FEAT. GORBI) /None of them/ Soft Citicen, Jason Macfarlane, PETER GRUMMICH / Fasern/ Kokoma, T.RAUMSCHMIERE / Noch nie | Nicht mehr/ D.Manns, M. Stotz, P. Gslz, PHON.O / Stop da Shotblocka / Phon.o, HAKAN LIDBO / Clockwise / Allan Gustavsson, DAS BIERBEBEN / Reproduktion / D. Manns, M. Stotz, P. Gslz, SAMI KOIVIKKO / Want some more / Teemu Raudaskoski, NAPOLI IS NOT NEPAL/ El Tractor / Ulli Bomans, KERO / Usb Urger / Shenanigans, GWEM/ FYMW / Alexandre Singh, BONUS VIDEO SECTION: ELASTIC HEADS / Kickin! / Anna Wagner, KYBORG / Minimal Explanation / Anna Wagner, BUS (FEAT. PAUL PM) / Dancehall Queen / Alexej, LIVE FOOTAGE of T.RAUMSCHMIERE, APPARAT, DAS BIERBEBEN plus 16 Interviews with Shitkatapult Artists BONUS AUDIO SECTION (additional Animations by Track & Field): MODESELEKTOr / Hasir (Live@Rex/Paris), LUSINE ICL / Seemingly, MOTOR / Din 10, RICHARD DEVINE/ Metval 72, QUASIMODO JONES /Rock'n Roll Dream. BONUS DATA SECTION All 24 Tracks as mp3-files to drag & drop on your hard drive.
Various / Sonar - Sonar 2004: Motors Running Sonar Music
Another double bill from the revered Sonar festival - two cd's showcasing the "sonar by day" and "sonar by night" stages from the 2004 festival. The "Day" side echoes from the dreamy folk and electronics of Juana Molina and Sketch Show to the newly explored territories of Fibla and Balago, the first of these journeys continues sedately, traversing colourful landscapes and embracing the juggling acts of carioca sounds from Instituto and Sabotage, hip hop from Buck 65, Beans, Botanica del Jibaro, Jaylib, decktrickery from Kid Koala as well as the white glove experimentation of Ryuichi Sakamoto and the jazz flirtations of Dani Siciliano. The "night" CD features Hell and Tiga, Agoria and Tim Wright, Dave Clarke, Matthew Dear and Paul Nazca sustaining the pressure. Its left to the mighty Deathprod of Rune Grammofon to round off this unassailable roster. A fitting tribute to the giant warehouse nights of Sónar.
Various / Sonig - Irregular CD Volume 1 Sonig
Mouse On Mars keep on pushing their Sonig imprint to the nether regions of strange sounds and outsider music, this latest cd compiling the last three twelves onto one handy cd. The players are : Schlammpeitziger (remixed by Wevie Stonder, Vert, Andreas Dorau and Electronicat), Jason Forrest (aka Donna Summer, with 5 cuts of sample-squeezing dusted mentalisms) and Wevie De Crepon (featuring their monumental raved-up Bollard loving anthem "Ton Wah" in both German, English and Acappela versions, plus a handy remix from Mouse on Mars themselves and even a "Build Your Own Bollard" kit). Good stuff.
Various / Toytronic - Everything Is Green Toytronic
Just in case you thought the Toytronic label had left us in midflow, here's a budget priced sampler of what's to come from this most collectable of imprints - and at a rediculously cool price too. What you get here is 80 minutes of music across 18 completely exclusive tracks from the likes of Abfahrt Hinwil, Gimmik, Ochre, Num Num, Maps and Diagrams, Cultek, Low Profile Society and all manner of new names you may well be hearing a lot more of in the near future. £4.99? What you wating for hombre's?
Wang Inc - Woods Roads Context
"woods roads" is the second full-length album by italy's bartolomeo sailer, known for his releases on mouse on mars' sonig label among others. Inspired by a recent road trip across the pacific northwest and the surreal psychological landscapes in the films of kubrick and jarmusch. 'woods roads' proves to be an intriguing, enigmatic journey through a maze of highways. a steady, understated techno pulse runs through much of the album, like painted lines in the centre of the road - moving from under the headlights into the shadows. Sometimes the rhythm is engulfed by mysterious melodies, ambient, but more unsettling than soothing, the textures of 'woods roads' hypnotizes, imparting a false sense of security. whatever you do, don't fall asleep at the wheel!
Lesbians on Ecstasy - Lesbians on Ecstasy Alien8
Unusual release for Alien8 this, you can discern from the title more or less everything you need to know about this album : camp, militant, trashy, political, delivered with menace and (hopefully) a pinch of salt. The band is fronted by loveable spazz fruity frankie on vocals. bernie bankrupt supplies the samples, laptop noodling and keyboard lines, while véronique mystique rocks out on the monster bass. jackie the jackhammer brings the beats on electronic drum pads and live drums. Yikes.
Antonio Ferrera - Masada Tzadik
Featuring: john zorn, dave douglas, greg cohen and joey baron. Finally a chance to see one of the greatest modern working bands up close and personal. Filmed with an intimate three camera shoot by antonio ferrera, a close friend of zorn and a long time cameraman for the documentary masters the maysles brothers, this beautiful DVD captures the band performing a passionate set of music at their home base in the lower east side, Tonic, back in the summer of 1999. This is masada as no one except maybe the band itself has ever experienced it. Filmmaking at its most exciting, bringing you right into the heart of the action - a must for every Masada / John Zorn fan. Dvd extras: 2 extra performances from 2nd set.
Flossin is a new project finding Kid 606, Christopher Willits and Hella's Zach Hill turning their combined attention to the traditional "Band" lineup, working out a way to mess with the formula, making as much noise as possible in the process. Willits is normally involved with much more beautifully minimal sounds, but his guitar takes centre stage here, with the kid sitting at his laptop while Zach Hill attacks his drums with much improvised enthusiasm, building the recognisable heavy rolls of his Hella project into the loud mix.The finest thing about "Lead Singer" is the sense of sheer abandon and loose-limbed fun that fills every moment here, very little structure or intellectual constraint getting in the way of pure adrenaline-fuelled instrument bashing and an almost unnoticable flick of the DSP's. Really good fun.
Greg Davis - Somnia Kranky Records
Full CD album on Kranky to accompany the magnificent 'Diaphanous' EP released on Lux Nigra last week. Following on from the sugar-coated post-folk loveliness of his "Curling Pond Woods" album for the Car Park label last year, "Somnia" is a much more stripped down and subtly evolving affair, basing itself largely on carefully emitted drones and slowly transforming sound pieces. The album sees a fusion of drone-based work recorded over the last three years interwoven with teasing hidden harmonies, melodies, frequencies and rhythms from an electric sonic pallet. Greg's music fits in perfectly with the Kranky aesthetic, presenting an outward beauty that isn't completely in focus, demanding further inspection for a full appreciation of its depths. It's music like this that makes you want to slow down the pace of life, paying attention to all those fine details that life emits moment by moment, all those things we fail to pick up and digest in all the rush. Hugely absorbing work from an artist that seems to be improving in leaps and bounds with every release - a big recommendation
The pioneer creator of the rhythm unit, the master of the game piece and one of the most dynamic drummers in the downtown scene square off head to head in duo and trio improvisations. Two full sets of music are presented here, beginning with a brilliant set of Duos by Ibarra and John Zorn, who have been working together for many years. Both surprising and inevitable, the second set features the historic musical meeting of Wadada Leo Smith and John Zorn, and was one of the improvisational highlights from 2003's month of zorn. Striking and radical sculptures of sound and silence from three generations of improvisational masters. File under: avant garde/jazz.
Various / Dust To Digital - Where Will You Be Christmas Day? Dust to Digital
Following up last year's life-altering Goodbye, Babylon gospel box set, Dust-to-Digital is back with something great for the madness ahead. Based on Dick Spottswood's popular radio show in Washington, D.C., the cd is beautifully presented with inlays and is chock full of rare christmas influenced tunes. ... Babylon revealed the prismatic nature of gospel, this new album shows many sides to Christmas -- from Vera Hall Ward's inspirational a capella to Leroy Carr spending the holiday in jail. Artists featured include the sizzling wit of Butterbeans and Susie, Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, bluegrass heaven in the shape of Fiddlin' John Carson, Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers, and nuff blues credentials from Kansas City Kitty, Lightning Hopkins, Buell Kazee, leroy Carr, Lead Belly and the mighty Bessie Smith. There's calypso class from the Lords Executor & Beginner, hawaiian xmas music, an awesome early latin cut from Los Jibaros, and even a raunchy hillbilly version of 'jingle bells' from Maddox Brothers and Rose. Exactly my kind of thing, and just the job for antidoting the amount of corporate slurry we're all gonna be force fed these next few months. 24 Recordings from 1917 - 1959. Amazing stuff.
Hangar 18 - The Multi Platinum Debut Album Def Jux
Hangar 18 bubbled away as part of the Atoms Family alongside the hugely acclaimed Cannibal Ox. Their debut fits into the Def Jux sound whilst retaining a personality all of its own, featuring the killer jiggy stomp of `Beatslope', one for you Cannibal Ox heads, razor sharp.
Noah 23 - Jupiter Sajitarius 2nd Rec
I know there's no need for introduction this amazingly upfront and hyper canadian emcee after the killer 'Chicken Pox' 12" did it's damage at the start of this dismal month of October. Now the album's here and it's a truly awesome hip hop adventure. Noah's early albums on his own Plague Language label were wicked albums but at times fell a little close to an Anticon clone-a-thon and the usage of drum n' bass breaks didn't work all of the time. Thankfully this album is where the true character of this artist breaks out in a future/retro style also reminiscent of Boston's finest Mr Lif, Edan and Insight. 'Lizard Lion Eagle' is simply sick, a boom fast rap track that rocks like's Lif's 'Return Of The B-Boy' and Insight's 'Time Frame', the scratch cut up's on Roxanne Shante's "we came here tonight to get started to cold act ill and get retarded" give you the extra kick. A massive introduction. Next >>> 'Photo Soul Decay' a killer soul flecked head nod jam with a hyped lyrical attack and 'Old Earth' get's twisted with rusted drums, bleep throb melodics and a mumble bass flow. Sixteen varied dope tracks in total. Produced by the next breed of canadian hip hop production dope pushers Orphan, Bishop Orange, Naval Avatar, Madadam, King Champion, Paul Fava & Varick Pyr with scratching by Marmalade, phew!!! After The Dream Warriors, after Buck 65 and Sixtoo, after mcenroe and the p&c clan this is your next stop to canadian hip hop nirvana. 1 2 check!!
Christina Carter - Living Contact Kranky
Third in a series of Charalambides-related reissues from kranky, following 'Unknown Spin' and Tom Carter's 'Monument' album."Living Contact" was originally released as an extremely limited CDR by Wholly Other in 2001 and is another in a seemingly endless list of incredible albums brought to life by the Kranky label this year. "Living Contact" is simple and ageless, you can't quite place where or when these distant, bare songs could have possibly been recorded. It's a mark of Carter's unique songwriting ability and the undefinable recording process that the simple chord changes and tape hiss manage to evoke so much feeling with so little at hand. A wondrous listen, it's getting to the point where more or less everything on this incredible label should come with a "buy on sight" tag attached. Highly Recommended.
Diefenbach - Run Trip Fall We Love You
Excellent post-rock modifications from Diefenbach, offsetting the formula with some nice electronic touches and a penchant for 60's psychedelia that comes across surprisingly well. Diefenbach operate particularly well at the more hushed end of the spectrum, the downtempo tracks here are very good indeed. Check.
Githead - Head Git Swim
Githead are Colin Newman (wire, immersion, oracle) on guitar & vocals, Malka Spigel (minimal compact, immersion, Dictaphone, oracle) on bass & vocals, and Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) on guitar & vocals. In their short existence thay have crafted an original, somehow familiar style that combines rhythmic tightness with interweaving guitars, and insistent punchy basslines with deadpan vocals, their lyrics being constructed from random extracts of spam e-mail. Actually very good, worth it for the sound of Scanner giving it some cockney singing styles alone. Check.
Gravenhurst - Black Holes In The Sand Warp
Prior to this new mini album, Gravenhurst's debut hadn't been subjected to a full sit down listening by this pair of reviewing ears - after hearing bits and pieces, lately their contribution to the excellent Dead Man's Shoes soundtrack, i was quite fresh to this record. After checking 'Black Hole...' i'm more than keen for an extended sojourn with 'Flashlight Seasons'. Cynics may have been questioning Warp's sidestep into folk country, but when the material's this good i for one can quite understand. While the whole world may be going bonkers over The Earlies, Gravenhurst's rather less psychedelic and if anything more understated approach slips quietly under the radar but goes down with ease. Nick Talbot's vocal is the prime reason: simple, clear and unpolluted with mannerism - its an impressive instrument and lends volumes to the tunes on offer. Anyone prepared to cover Husker Du's 'Diane' has got be all right in my book.
Mountaineer - Sleep and me Sommerweg
Henning Wandhoff's second album will probably be the first time most of us have come across his persuasive brand of alt-country. Based in Hamburg, this is the follow up to "Sunny Day" which we will certainly be tracking down after this album has increasingly been making its way to the player these last few weeks. From chamber works to band sessions, there's a homespun charm to the folk tunes, tropicalia and americana ephemera which seeps from this record - reminding us of some of the best early Lambchop moments in their evident personality. Nice echoey rooms add a cosy feel to the melodies, pedal steel always gets me, and the extra touches of mellotron, banjo, organ and soft, easy rhythm loops lend a similarity to the horizontal JJ Cale albums i hold so dear. Well worth the effort, one of the nicest surprises of the year for me, a truly magnificent album.
The Castanets - Cathedral Asthmatic Kitty
Gorgeous, open-ended avant-country tinkering from Asthmatic Kitty's excellent Castanets, the work of Raymond Raposa with help from some of the finest San Diego musicians, including members of black heart procession and asthmatic kitty's own liz janes. The castanets create music that is both epic and intimate - from somber love ballads to haunted tales of frustrated redemption, the delivery is potent and devoid of cliché or sentimentalism. echoes of the the velvet underground, no neck blues band , and the delta blues harness a strain of ancient americana that even today pulses through a subdivided and paved landscape; the result is what raposa calls "derailed country psychedelia." backed by the enchanting angelic voice of newcomer bridgit decook and recorded mostly in a secluded cabin in the northern california woodlands, cathedral illuminates architecture where faith and doubt clash in an often ambiguous search for the divine. Lovely.
Playgroup - Reproduction Peacefrog
DJ, designer, producer and Output Records head Trevor Jackson shares his finest remix moments, with 16 tracks from some of clubland's most recognisable names. ·`Reproduction' features a plethora of Trevor's reinterpretations of club classics, including Soft Cell's `Mono Culture', Radio 4's `Dance To The Underground', Yello's `Soul On Ice' (previously unreleased), plus exclusive remixes of his own material and many more. Full Tracklisting : Nylon Pylon - Pushin' Radio 4 - Dance To The Underground Chicks On Speed - Wordy Rappinghood Louis Austin Feat. Peaches - Grab My Shaft Sinema - In Your Eyes Revtone - Everpresent Playgroup - Behind The Wheel Soft Cell - Monoculture The Rapture - I Need Your Love Chromeo - Gangsta Captain Comatose - Price Gun Baby Trash Palace - Sex On The Beach The VCR's - Get On Andrea Doria - Bucci Bag Playgroup - Bring It On (Version) Yello - Soul On Ice.
Snax - From The Rocking Chair To The Stage Mental Groove
Debut album from the Khan / Captain Comatose affiliated Snax, suitably popped-up for the mental groove imprint. If you're into Mocky and his sleazy P-Funk beats, hi-energy Disco, romantic electric songs and Glam-Rock grooves, you'd be well advised to check this out. # posted by DJ Martian 5:59 PM
Friday, October 29, 2004
BBC Collective interview Diefenbach # posted by DJ Martian 7:59 PM
Labels france have a press release for the forthcoming M83 album: Before the Dawn Heals Us due for release late January 2005.
[below is the French to English translated text by Google]
The adventure of M83 symbolically began with the new millenium, in Antibes, in the room of ANTHONY GONZALEZ, teenager impassioned of.... Leaving just a few months spent within a group of pop noisy influenced by SONIC YOUTH and MOGWAI, ANTHONY acquired of one synthé, a sampler and a numerical tape recorder 8 tracks. In solo, it is devoted to the electronic music and sends its first tests to a handle of labels. It is Gooom Disques, a young Parisian label, which answers the first and signs the incipient project. M83 becomes a duet little of time afterwards with the arrival in reinforcement of NICOLAS FROMAGEAU, the guitarist/beater of above-named the first group of ANTHONY.
With them two, they record a first album éponyme, which thanks to its freshness and its undeniable melody qualities, gains all the votes in the French musical press in 2001. A disc which poses bases, still timid, its M83, but are freed already from its influences. At the time of their the first two concerts with the festivals Aquaplaning and road of the Rock'n'roll, the same year, they confirm all the hopes: their live formula manages to extract humanity from their machines. They will connect with Sonar (Spain), the MEG (Montreal)...
In ÒO2, Gooom signs a deal licence with Labels/EMI in order to be able to give to the project the means of its ambitions. ' Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts' is recorded with the autumn 2002 and is announced like a first turn in the career of M83. A more radical disc, where tablecloths of synthés saturated and sharp guitars intermingle around melodies haunted by the phantoms with the German rock'n'roll with the Seventies. With his exit, this second opus is systematically compared with ' Loveless ', mythical the fourth album of MY BLOODY VALENTINE. A very flattering comparison but ever asserted explicitly by the duet. In echo with the movement ' Shoegazing ', whose MY BLOODY VALENTINE was the head of file, the foreign press, never miserly about neologisms, speaks about ' Screengazing '.
Once again, it is thus under the congratulations of the press and a growing public of fans that ' Dead Cities... ' is born in April 2003. But maintaining it is England which packs for the music of these young French. The NME at the head, the album and the singles are covered with praises. The live version grew rich by a beater and a bass player for a format resolutely more rock'n'roll that before. At the time of their second English round, they record their first radio session for the BBC (crowned by a resumption of SONIC YOUTH). Profiting from the attention paid for a few years with an electronic scene however in loss speed, M83 has become one of the rare French groups to export itself successfully.
It is however only a little more than one year later than M83 leaves to the attack the USA After the single ' Run into Flowers' (with very noticed remix of Jackson), ' Dead Cities... ' leaves in licence at the prestigious label Mute (itself precursory in its time of the first synthetic jolts with FAD GADGET, DEPECHE MODE, NORMAL THE...) in North America in July 2004. Carried by an increasing word of mouth, the disc receives a fulgurating, directly returning reception, the week of the exit, in electronic Signal 20 music of Billboard.
Meanwhile, Anthony recovered only to work for the third album from M83. NICOLAS left towards new musical adventures in solo (It currently prepares an album for Gooom) and the rhythm section joined its group of origin at the end of ' Dead Cities Tour '. A separation carefully, almost natural, moved by divergent musical desires and a will to go from front, out of the compromise. The desire also for each one for taking up a personal challenge.
' Before the Dawn Heals Us' is thus still, in more than one way, an opposite course in the course to M83.
An opposite course followed by a great jump, as ' Moonchild proves it ', in own way of opening. Its M83 is always there but it matured, was packed considerably. It took much width and is authorized today new figures, epic flights, more ambitious arrangements. Composed between March and May 2004, always in Antibes, it was recorded during June in a detached house, reconverted in studio, in full shift beaussoise (with the place known as of "Fairy") by ANTOINE GAILLET. For the first time, it is a beater and a bass player who ensures the rhythm section, instead of machines. On the other hand, as on the preceding album one finds neighbors of the Gooom label among the intervening musicians: the parts of orchestra (cords, coppers, toms of orchestras...) were recorded and arranged in Montreal by Canadian MONTAG. BEN OF CYANN & BEN lends his voice to ' Farewell/Goodbye' to the sides of the American singer LISA PAPINEAU. But the album also opens to new collaborators as the American actress KATE MOLAND who lends her voice to very cinematographic ' the Bus Chase Terror' and the very young (between 9 and 13 years) chorus of the small singers of St Louis pose splendid vocal flights on four titles. The whole will be finally mixed, always by ANTOINE GAILLET, with the Sun Studio in Paris at the end of July.
The result clearly installs M83 like one of the French groups most promising of these last years. Extremely of the international recognition of its predecessor, ' Before the Dawn Heals Us' is an album ambitious, rich, melody, been useful by a production with the height of the changes occurred these two last years in the young life of ANTHONY (23 years). It definitively establishes M83, name of a remote galaxy, in our daily newspaper: that of children having grown feet on ground, but the head elsewhere.
Tracklisting from Labels france email:
'Before the Dawn Heals Us':
1. Moonchild
2. Don't Save us From the Flames
3. In the Cold I'm Standing
4. Farewell / Goodbye
5. Fields, Shorelines and Hunters
6. *
7. I Guess I'm Floating
8. Teen Angst
9. Can't Stop
10. Safe
11. Let Men Burn Stars
12. Car Chase Terror!
13. Slight Night Shiver
14. A Guitar and a Heart
15. Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun # posted by DJ Martian 1:42 PM
Earplug is a bimonthly email magazine, delivering a handpicked selection of news, sounds, videos, and original features for the international electronic music community. # posted by DJ Martian 1:20 PM
DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs of 2004
The results are in:
100 - Mark Farina
99 - Roland Van Gelderen
98 - Andy Farley
97 - Darude
96 - Marco Bailey
95 - Lisa Pin-Up
94 - Zinc
93 - DJ Shadow
92 - BT
91 - Rank 1
90 - Proteus
89 - James Lavelle
88 - Nic Fanciulli
87 - Seb Fontaine
86 - Remy
85 - Chris Fortier
84 - Armand Van Helden
83 - Ronski Speed
82 - Derrick Carter
81 - Casmic Gate
80 - DJ Vibe
79 - Anne Savage
78 - Dave Pearce
77 - Benjamin Bates
76 - Miss Kittin
75 - BK
74 - The Tidy Boys
73 - Felix Da Housecat
72 - Aphrodite
71 - Flash Brothers
70 - Junior Jack
69 - Kat Tracid
68 - DJ Hercio
67 - 2ManyDJs
66 - Victor Calderone
65 - Michel De Hey
64 - Max Graham
63 - DJ Rush
62 - M.I.K.E (PUSH)
61 - DJ Luna
60 - Slacker
59 - Matt Hardwick
58 - Fergie
57 - Dave Seaman
56 - Lee Burridge
55 - UMEK
54 - David Morales
53 - Plump DJs
52 - John 'OO' Flemming
51 - Fatboy Slim
50 - Adam Bayer
49 - Mistress Barbara
48 - Satoshi Tomiie
47 - Jeff Mills
46 - Pete Tong
45 - Laurent Garnier
44 - Richie Hawtin
43 - Nick Warren
42 - Marco Carola
41 - Gabriel and Dresden
40 - Danny Tenaglia
39 - Above & Beyond
38 - Blank & Jones
37 - Dave Clarke
36 - James Holden
35 - Bad Boy Bill
34 - Sven Vath
33 - Yoji Biomehanika
32 - Markus Schultz
31 - Adam Freeland
30 - Lisa Lashes
29 - Lady Dana
28 - Johan Gielen
27 - Mauro Picocko
26 - Andy C
25 - Eddie Halliwell
24 - DJ Dan
23 - Chris Liebing
22 - Erick Morillo
21 - Steve Lawler
20 - Danny Howells
19 - Taul Pall
18 - Benni Benassi
17 - Roger Sanchez
16 - Marco V
15 - James Zabeila
14 - Judge Jules
13 - ATB
12 - Sander Klienenberg
11 - Carl Cox
10 - Deep Dish
9 - Paul Oakenfold
8 - John Digweed
7 - Christopher Lawrence
6 - Hernan Cattaneo
5 - Ferry Corsten
4 - Sasha
3 - Armin Van Buuren
2 - Paul Van Dyk
1 - Tiesto
Source: from Tech-House Mailing List # posted by DJ Martian 1:02 PM
Mary Anne was musically probably the closest to John Peel on Radio 1 in the past decade. There was a mutual respect/ admiration between them plus a shared love of noisey rock music and a diverse range of electronic and dance music. Mind you Mary Ann has a clear sense of genres, whilst Peel frequently commented he had difficulty in understanding where one genre started/ ended. # posted by DJ Martian 5:04 PM
Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost answers questions about the new [forthcoming] album. # posted by DJ Martian 4:42 PM
The London News Review provide a creative tribute to John Peel: ACME Heroes: John Peel # posted by DJ Martian 11:30 AM
So many tributes to John Peel to read through, NewsNow have a newsfeed: NewsNow: John Peel # posted by DJ Martian 11:04 AM
This week's flavourpill LONDONan email magazine covering music, art, and cultural events # posted by DJ Martian 10:53 AM
The Performing Rights Society launch New Music Award for British Music
PLAYLOUDER report on the launch of a New Music Award
The PRS Foundation for New Music has launched a significant new arts award, intended to recognise the finest innovators and talents in Britsh music today.
What Do We Support?
In a nutshell, PRSF is looking to support music creators, performers and promoters who are involved in creatively adventurous or pioneering musical activity.
It does this by offering a wide range of funding schemes for new music activity. Below you will find a summary of the funding schemes currently offered by the PRS Foundation.
You may have seen PRS Foundation for New Music logo on sponsored music tours advertised e.g in The Wire .
If you look at the ethos of PRS Foundation of New Music it is very similar to that of John Peel's - focus on new music and creativity.
IMHO it would be appropriate if John Peel's name was attached to this award. # posted by DJ Martian 12:14 AM
John Peel passed away on Monday 25th October. This week, to celebrate John's life and the massive contribution he has made to UK music, we're going to be playing Peel session tracks from the archives.
If you have a favourite session track that you'd like to hear from the past 37 years of John's career please request it below. We'll do our best to play them over the next few nights. # posted by DJ Martian 6:00 PM
the john peel sessions details of every Peel session since 1992, upto the end of 2002. # posted by DJ Martian 5:35 PM
Some new releases listed in the weekly guide [via e-mail] from Manchester's music emporium: Piccadilly Records
[Releases for October 18th]
Arco - Restraint Dreamy
When London trio Arco released their debut album "Coming To Terms" in 2000 it won widespread acclaim, and Arco were inevitably compared time and again to Belle And Sebastian, Low, Red House Painters, Nick Drake and Mark Eitzel. Arco have continued ploughing their own sweet furrow in their own sweet time, and now, four years after "Coming To Terms" they release their 2nd album. 11 more songs of desolation and consolation, 11 more stars glittering in the firmament - and every note and every word with its own role to play in the unforgettable whole.
