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!]
Xenis Emputae Travelling Band - 'Great Is The Gorse'
'Toadsman's Bell', Digitalis Industries, 2005 # posted by DJ Martian 11:37 PM
Kompakt is Today Mix CD by Superpitcher
Pitchfork report Superpitcher has put together a mix compilation for Kompakt titled: Kompakt is Today - due for release May 17th
The mix tracklisting:
01 Lawrence: "Spark" (Ghostly International)
02 DJ Koze: "Let's Help Me" (Kompakt)
03 Michael Mayer: "Lovefood (Matias Aguayo Mix)" (Kompakt)
04 Triola: "Leuchtturm (Wighnomy's Polarzipper Remix)" (Kompakt)
05 Oliver Hacke: "21:31" (Trapez)
06 The Psychonauts: "The World Keeps Turning (Highfish & Zander Remix)" (International Deejay Gigolo Records)
07 Nathan Fake: "Dinamo" (Traum)
08 Wighnomy Bros.: "Wurz+Blosse" (Kompakt)
09 Superpitcher: "Happiness (Lawrence Mix)" (Kompakt)
10 Max Mohr: "Old Song" (Playhouse)
11 Sebastien Tellier: "La Ritournelle" (Record Makers) # posted by DJ Martian 11:23 PM
Sonar 2005 programme
Manuel on ILM provides a news scoop on the line up of this year's Sonar festival: Sonar 2005 programme
2 MANY DJ'S (PIAS/BE) 2020 SOUNDSYSTEM (2020 VISION/GB) ALEX THREADGOLD plays SOUND-INK (US) CUT CHEMIST (WARNER/US) DE LA SOUL (SANCTUARY REC/US) DJ YODA (ANTIDOTE/GB) DJ99 / GUTTORM ANDREASEN plays WASABI (NO) ELLEN ALLIEN (B-PITCH CONTROL/DE) FERGIE (GB) GOODIEPAL (SKI-PP/DK) HOT CHIP (MOSHI MOSHI REC/GB) JAMES MURPHY (DFA/US) JAMIE LIDELL (WARP/GB) JEFF MILLS (AXIS/US) JOE ENGLISH plays NOISE FACTORY RECORDS (CA) JORIS VOORN (SINO/NL) LAURENT GARNIER (FCOMM/FR) LCD SOUNDSYSTEM (DFA/US) LE TIGRE (UNIVERSAL/US) M.I.A. (XL/GB) MARK ONE + VIRUS SYNDICATE (PLANET MU/GB) MISS KITTIN (NOBODY'S BIZZNESS/FR) MOCKY (FOUR MUSIC/CA) MOUSE ON MARS (SONIG/DE) MU (OUTPUT RECORDS/JP) NOAH23 (2nd REC/CA) PARAL-LEL plays BEE RECORDS (FR) PELLARIN & MYLLEAGER play STATLER & WALDORF (DK) PETER GEBERT plays LUX NIGRA (DE) RADIAN (THRILL JOCKEY/AU) ROISIN MURPHY (ECHO/GB) SIMON RUSSELL plays ROUGH TRADE SHOPS (UK) SÓLO LOS SOLO (DEL PALO/ES) SOULWAX (PIAS/BE) SUBTLE (LEX/US) THE BATTLES (US) THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (NO) THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS (VIRGIN/GB) THE DURUTTI COLUMN (KOOKY DISCS/GB) THE SOFT PINK TRUTH (ACCIDENTAL/US) TOWATOM (JP/DE) Showcases: ----------------------------- AÑO GASTRONOMIA presenta CUISINE CONCRÈTE (ES) MATTHEW HERBERT - PLAT DU JOUR (GB) ---------------------------- AREAL presenta ADA (DE) BASTEROID (DE) ---------------------------- AUTOPILOT PUBLISHING presenta FS BLUMM (DE) GUIDO MÖBIUS (DE) VERT (DE) ---------------------------- CIRCUS COMPANY presenta NÔZE (FR) SETY (FR) --------------------------- COMPOST presenta ALEX ATTIAS (DE) BEN MONO (DE) GENERAL ELECTRICS (DE) --------------------------- DOMINO with EAT YOUR OWN EARS presenta HOOD (GB) TO ROCOCO ROT (DE) --------------------------- ELETRONIKA BRASIL UNDERGROUND presenta ARTIFICIAL (BR) HURTMOLD + ROB MAZUREK (BR) M. TAKARA (BR) --------------------------- GET PHYSICAL presenta BOOKA SHADE (DE) DJ T (DE) --------------------------- GOMMA presenta HILTMEYER INC & TOMBOY (DE) MUNK (DE) WHOMADEWHO (DE) --------------------------- HÄPNA presenta TAPE (SE) --------------------------- M-NUS presenta MARC HOULE (CA) MATHEW JONSON (CA) RICHIE HAWTIN (CA) TROY PIERCE vs MAGDA (US-CA) --------------------------- PLATFORM MUSIC presenta DJSOS KROST (DK) EFTERKLANG (DK) PHARFAR & NED FLANDERS (DK) --------------------------- REGULAR presenta IÑAKI MARÍN (ES) JAUMËTIC (ES) --------------------------- STUDIO RAREKWAI/NOROSHI-BEATS FROM THE EAST presenta AFRA (JP) DJ BAKU+MSC (JP) DJ JIFROCK (JP) TATSUKI (JP) --------------------------- SUBTERFUGE presenta CYCLE (ES) --------------------------- THIRD EAR MADe IN JAPAN presenta REI HARAKAMI & SHIRO TAKATANI (JP) WORLD'S END GIRLFRIEND + BAND (JP) YAMAUCHI (JP) --------------------------- TYPE REC. presenta KHONNOR (GB) MIDAIRCONDO (GB) XELA & AEIOU (GB)
Official website for Sonar Festival that takes place June 16th to June 18th. # posted by DJ Martian 11:10 PM
Billy Corgan News @ Billy-Corgan.com relay the news that Billy Corgan will release an album titled: TheFutureEmbrace, on June 21st. Robert Smith provides guest vocals on a track.
Official Warner Bros. Records press release @ marketwire # posted by DJ Martian 10:53 PM
Neil Tennant's idea when compiling the CD was "To create a sequence of late-night listening music, Sequencing electronic, ambient, classical and pop music"
CD1 – Chris Lowe
Savage – Don’t Cry Tonight
Mr Flagio – Take A Chance
Klein and MBO – Dirty Talk
The Flirts – Passion
Matia Bazaar – Ti Sento
Justice vs. Simian – Never Be Alone
Queen – The Show Must Go On
Celestial Choir – Stand On The Word
Carl Bean – I Was Born This Way
Dusty Springfield – I’d Rather Leave While I’m Alone
CD2 – Neil Tennant
Fairmont – Traum
Harold Budd/Ruben Garcia/Daniel Lentz – Pulse, Pause, Repeat
Biosphere – Microgravity
Vladimir Martynov – Come in! 2
Vladmimir Cosma – Promenade Sentimentale (From Diva)
Etienne Daho – La Baie
Vessel – Tiny
Craig Armstrong – Laura’s Theme
Dettinger – One, Two, Three, No Gravity
Dusty Springfield – Goin’ Back
Hans Joachim Roedelius – Lunz
Edward Elgar – Sospiri
Jz-arkh – DDRhodes
Video Kid – Video Kid
Lobe – Movement
John Surman – At Dusk
Greig – Melodie ‘Melody’ (op 47/3) # posted by DJ Martian 10:42 PM
This week's flavourpill LONDONan email magazine covering music, art, and cultural events # posted by DJ Martian 2:28 PM
Terrorizer - April 2005 Issue
New issue of Terrorizer magazine is on sale tomorrow. Nile are on the front cover.
FEATURES
STUDIO REPORT: MESHUGGAH STUDIO REPORT: CANDLEMASS NILE STRAPPING YOUNG LAD NAPALM DEATH SIX FEET UNDER FANTÔMAS CLUTCH RAMESSES CEPHALIC CARNAGE ANGELS OF LIGHT CURSED MODERN LIFE IS WAR THRALLDOM DIAMANTHIAN DEADBIRD THE PROVENANCE HARD OF HEARING: IN FLAMES DOA
BLACK METAL SPECIAL PART III: GLOBAL BLACK METAL: BRITAIN & IRELAND GLOBAL BLACK METAL: SCANDINAVIA GLOBAL BLACK METAL: AUSTRALASIA POST-BLACK METAL
FEAR CANDY 14 free CD
tracklist
Meshuggah 'Shed' Nile 'Lashed To The Slave Stick' Napalm Death 'Silence Is Deafening' Isis 'The Beginning And The End (Venetian Snares)' Cephalic Carnage 'Dying Will Be The Death Of Me' Overkill 'Love' Aborted 'Dead Wreckoning' Trivium 'Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr' Bleed The Sky 'Minion' Modern Life Is War 'D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.' Born From Pain 'Rise Or Die' Callisto 'Worlds Collide' With Passion 'Train Wreck Orchestra' Path Of No Return 'Holocaust' Zero Mentality 'Traitor Of My Own' Suicide Watch 'In The Mouth Of Madness' Grave Flowers 'Save Me Or Destroy Me' Thy Kingdom Come 'From This Day' # posted by DJ Martian 1:47 PM
Somewhere Cold interview Ulrich Schnauss # posted by DJ Martian 12:49 PM
This week's new releases @ Fopp # posted by DJ Martian 12:47 PM
Sunday, March 27, 2005
One World - Sunkissed Special
Radio show of the year so far ? Listen in...
This week's One World show on Radio 1 is a celebration of Norwegian contemporary music: One World - Sunkissed Special
Show broadcast on Radio 1 Monday 28th March 2005: 0100-0300
This week's One World features live music from the recent Sunkissed event which celebrated 100 years of Norwegian Independance and was held at Fabric in London.
All the artists involved hail from Norway so basically this week's show is a Norwegian music special.
The show swings right from the dark full on death metal of Turbonegro & Satyricon to the bleached icy soundscapes of Biosphere.
The line up features music & interviews from the following artists :
Turbonegro (live) Satyricon (live) Nils Petter Molvaer (live) Frost (live) Biosphere (live) King Midas (live) Xploding Plastix (live) Bugge Wesseltoft (live) Trulz & Robin (live) Magne F (formerly mags from AHA - live) Annie Doc L Junior Rune Lindbaek # posted by DJ Martian 11:25 PM
A new website & URL for Julian White's Rocklist.net
At the end of each year, critics & readers of music publications select their favourite albums and singles of the year.
Lists from publications including: New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Select, Q, Mojo, Rolling Stone, Spin, & Village Voice, various European publications and several independent fanzines from around the globe plus the complete John Peel Festive 50's are included on this site.
There are critic single and album lists from 1974 to 2004, pop poll results from 1952 to 2004, personal lists from critics including Dave Marsh and Robert Christgau plus All Time Best Film Soundtrack and Banned recordings. # posted by DJ Martian 5:09 PM
This week's The Freak Zone show on 6 Music features an interview with Tunng
Sunday 27 March 2005
Tunng, the band currently at the forefront of the Folktronica scene (of which we so love), will be dropping in this Sunday to talk about their debut album, This Is ... Tunng, which they released recently to rave reviews. # posted by DJ Martian 5:03 PM
I listened to tracks from this band on internet radio [Progressive Soundscapes Radio], an interesting yet strange mixture of Bauhaus, Legendary Pink Dots, The Cure, Fields of the Nephilim and Play Dead. # posted by DJ Martian 6:19 PM
Yahoo! Groups have a new look including the music section now branded as Y! Music Groups # posted by DJ Martian 2:20 PM
ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen Raster Noton
When Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto got together to record 2003's highly acclaimed "Vrioon", it probably hadn't occurred to them that they were single-handedly re-positioning minimal piano music at the head of the electronic food chain. Sure, Richard D James introduced his army of devotees to the works of Satie on his sprawling "Drukqs", but "Vrioon" managed to intigrate the discipline into something altogether new and unfamiliar. Coupled with the fact that it was impossibly hard to obtain in good quantity in this country and that it was released by the boundry-pushing design team at Raster Noton, "Vrioon" was cited as a classic more or less as soon as it hit the shelves, eventually championed by The Wire as the best electronic release in their coveted year-end poll. To imagine that a follow-up might match the transparent loveliness of the original, not to mention transcend its soul-searching beauty, would, at best, seem unlikely. And yet as soon as you hear the opening, lonely notes of the incredible "Aurora" you realise that the pair have once again realised an ambition to embed complex discpilines into a sound that's so unbearably archetypal and moving you can't imagine anyone even approaching it's masterful grasp of all things sublime. "Insen" finds Carsten Nicolai treating Ryuichi Sakamoto's cascading piano compositions with a surgeon's hand, embelishing notes and melody with a tapestry of digital emissions and breakages that seem to envelop the whole album with a reflective neon glow, becoming a vessel for all the emotions and memories each and every listener to this amazing work will no doubt find hard to control. "Insen" is not only a worthy sequel but a re-imagined companion piece to "Vrioon", an album that simply cannot fail to become one of your most cherished poseesions as soon as it's unwrapped. Incredible....
ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Gustav - Rettet Die Wale MOSZ
You know we like to keep our ears to the ground, so when we got word from our Berlin-based operatives that this album from the unfeasibly intriguing Gustav was starting to spread uncontrollably through to every cool record shop and listener across the country (literally, the place is absolutely buzzing with talk about this album, she had two shows in berlin on consecutive nights last week alone attended by pretty much every cool record label and promoter you could imagine, now starting to get airplay on the country's most influential radio stations) - we decided to check it out for ourselves. Gustav is the debut release from Eva Jantschitsch, a sort of alpine-electronic hybrid that sounds like a crackling log-cabin variation to Bjork's icy charms. She writes songs on her laptop, plays along on her trusted accordion and sings with the sort of inimitable fragility you cannot muster up any resistance to. With an origin in Austria, her songs are sung in various languages, sometimes English, sometimes French, sometimes German - but the appeal is completely universal. This is an intimate, ambitious, hugely personal album that will no doubt start spreading like wildfire over to these shores before too long, a magnificent debut that you should snap up immediately, just in time for the first spring blossoms. Gorgeous music....
ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Praveen - Backed By Spirits Neo Ouija
Having released music on a number of collectable and well-respected imprints, Praveen Sharma is at long last ready to deliver his debut feature-length release, this time for Neo Ouija. Although the sound here is firmly rooted in electronic music tradition, Praveen imbues each of the 9 tracks with a warm density and honesty that positions it at the polar extreme to `pre-set' IDM. The opener "Sad sad day" is filled with melancholy, and yet an overriding sense of expectation emerges as the presiding feeling. Music in this zone takes its time - `Float' could almost be a credo for this, settling down next to a fire with an approach that will be familiar to all lovers of Kompakt's Pop Ambient series. Its almost impolite when programmed bass and drums intrude on the sound settling like ash, but they learn to get along somehow. `Haze' relishes one of the more addictive melody lines of recent times, and `Melody' brings Praveen's main preoccupation centre stage - again expect nothing hurried, this is sedate, carefully unfolding music. Co-opting apparently dissonant frequencies into a coherent whole is the strategy on `Real memories', while `New Lovers' blooms into a soft utterance, a strummed guitar echoing the optimism of the title. `Please begin' shows that darker textures can function next to the pillowy ambient from Praveen, perfectly balanced by the delicate sound of a drumstick on cymbal. "Piano in a hurricane" ends a distinctive debut with not a whimper, but a gentle caress. Lovely....
Martin Siewert - No Need To Be Lonesome MOSZ
The first solo album release from Martin Siewart is a loose limbed (but flocculent) collection of Sunny-D electronics and live instrumentation which the man himself describes as "pop music, to a certain degree...". Opening with the slow build electronica of 'Just When We Thought It Was Safe', Siewert appears to have left his more abstract days behind as swirly digital fuzz and sharp cornered beats conspire to produce a sound not unlike that of Radiohead's 'Kid A'. Yet just when you thin you can see where it's going Siewart gets down to some jiggery pokery and demolishes the whole thing from within, slowly reintroducing elements until you bow out with a Theremin on one side and click and splutter debris below. From here we are moved to the barebones production of 'Attraktor' where flourishes of tight coiled rhythm bring to mind a less whimsical Minotaur Shock or a tipsy Donnacha Costello - it depends where you're looking from. Closing with the decadent atmospherics of 'Any Other Way to Go?', Siewert lets stuff fizz, things pop and rhythms grumble as he closes with 14 minutes of bleeping clunktronica. Very nice indeed....
Scanner - Reason By Heart, Sleep By Twilight Bine
"Scanner's music is both tiny and grand. it is like the delicate movement of a watch spinning through space. microscopic clicks, wood blocks and everyday sounds are painted over rumbling, dark canvases." the guardian newspaper, london. Scanner is recognised for his sensitivity to sound and space. Through a myriad recorded works, performances and installations he continues to explore a world that shifts between digital pop culture and visual arts. For "reason by heart, sleep by twilight" he has created a lucid-dreaming, insular world. Recorded exclusively for Bine music, this work is a tangled web of disturbed vocals, obtained who knows how, scrawling, spidery sounds wrap themselves sinuously around a central, muted rhythmic motif, that slowly draws you into a sleazed vision, reeking of Scanner's usual obsessions. Maybe some of you might share them....
Son Of Clay - Two Abstract Paintings Mitek
Son of Clay (known to his mates as Andreas Bertilsson) is a Swedish artist who on 'Two Abstract Paintings', his third full length release, takes the notion of aural morphology to its logical conclusion. Using sound as he would any other medium, Bertlisson has collated an anthology of captured auditory fragments that range from the rustle of dry leaves and shuffling paper, through to bird mimicking wind instruments and unconnected phone lines. Painstakingly constructed in what at first seems random distribution, Son Of Clay's 46 minute piece (divided into two untitled parts) recalls the early minimalist Terry Riley or the pioneering mathematical music of Peter Maxwell Davies and his employment of durational ratios, ciphers and magic squares. Slowly revealing itself as much more than the sum of its parts, time and concentration are rewareded with glimpses of sylphlike structures ebbing to the surface as Bertlisson concocts a miasma of conscious lulling soundscapes. With the only useful comparisons centreing around Oval or Fennez, 'Two Abstract Paintings' is likely to be a few steps removed from anything you've ever heard before and, whilst wilfully esoteric, somehow manages to be infectiously listenable. Accompanied by reproductions of over 20 photogram portraits of shadowy indefinable objects, Bertlisson has put together a work of capricious scope that whilst adamantly not light listening, is a thoroughly rewarding experience and tacit artistic document....
Tod Dockstader - Aerial Sub Rosa
With a CV as long as your arm, 73 year old Tod Dockster has done everything from writing and editing films at UPA Studios in the 1950's, leading the design contingent at Montreal's Expo '67 through to producing American TV films throughout the 1980's. You might therefore think that he'd view his 1990 retirement as an opportunity to put his feet up and spend some time with the grandkids. If so you'd be woefully wrong. Taking his new found wealth of time as a cue to build a home studio, he then started work on this 15 years in the making Aerial series, the first of which is released with box-set style packaging designed to accommodate the two future Aerial instalments. Entirely built around his passion for shortwave radio, Dockstader collected in excess of 90 hours of recordings all taken at night and comprised of jumbled cross signals and odd auditory fragments plucked from the ether. Opening with the drone of dissonant airwave prolix 'Song', Dockstader gradually allows elements to skim into sight and in doing so summons up a stiflingly crepuscular atmosphere that'll have you glancing over your shoulder all night. This kind of malignant placidity continues throughout and conjures up the impression of stumbling upon late night activity being broadcast for ears other than yours. Whilst you may believe this would shun you as a listener, it instead has the converse effect, pulling you down further into the mix as you seek to decipher the barrage of sounds on show. Is that a backward voice on 'Dada' or the sound of the sea on 'Harbor' and if so, who was broadcasting it in the first place? Prolific and uncompromising definitely, Tod Dockstader is so enthralled with his subject matter that he'll soon have you utterly submerged in his world....
Various / Soul Jazz - New Thing! Soul Jazz
Wow! This dedicated exploration of the ancient to future movement in post-civil rights, post-Coltrane america sprawls luxuriantly over 2 discs, and there's never a false second on the entire album. From Alice Coltrane's reimagining of `A Love Supreme' with narration by Swami Satchinanda, Sun Ra's early `Angels and demons at play', Archie Shepp's raucous "Money Blues" with Joe Lee Wilson providing the vocal - there's spiritual and emotional highlights attained and surpassed on every tune. Soul Jazz have of course countenanced the Strata East catalogue with two compilations in the past, but this outstanding collection is set to usher in a whole deeper mining of the most special music that exists: Eddie Gale, Stanley Cowell, Art Ensemble, other names you won't have seen anywhere before - for afficionadoes or even newcomers and absolute joy. Treat yourself, this is unmissable music, whatever you're into - and watch this space for all the future spinoff projects. Highly Recommended....
Rothko And Caroline Ross - A Place Between Lo Recordings
An absolutely beautiful album, the most pleasantly surprising new release we've had in this year - a must for all lovers of evolved, inspired home listening music. With only Mark Beazley left from the original 3 bass line-up, Rothko has teamed up with Aberdeenshire's Caroline Ross for 'A Place Between'; a candidly intimate record structured around Beazley's bass and Ross' vocal and flute mastery. Opening with the thick and swampy bass of 'Traces of Elements', what at first seems head crushingly claustrophobic is soon revealed to be expansive and welcoming as Ross' supine vocals puncture the skin. As the song develops, Beazley's time spent collaborating with Japan's ambient maestro Susumu Yokota becomes clear to see with the closing minutes of 'Traces of Elements' indispensable to those who soaked up 2001's 'Grinning Cat'. 'Divided Lines' follows on with a darkly optimistic pairing of bellicose piano and leaden vocals, whilst 'An Open Breath' soars into a breathless lucidity. Although it would be easy to classify 'A Place Between' as dark hearted fragile folk akin to Bert Jansch, its many textures defy pigeonholing with 'The Only Way Out is Through' existing somewhere between several genres - this is intangibly delightful that's as moving as it gets. Wonderful....
Theodore - A Summer Has Never Been, A Winter She Fears Lo Recordings
A truly sublime handpicked album of miniature middle-of-the-night home listening gem, Théodore opens his debut album with the glockenspiel and music box grandeur of 'I Dreamt I was Throwing Stones At the Sea' which proves that Théodore is no po-faced Fridge wannabe. Constructed from a fusion of live instrumentation, samples and natural sounds, 'A Summer Has Never Been, A Winter She Fears' is both frosty and warm, precisce and diffused, half heard and blindingly clear and knitted together throughout by Théodores predatory instinct for what creates a cohesive whole. Whilst 'No Spring' is a stilted, almost atonal set of acoustic guitars and rupturing string fissures, 'Tree Wish' is a conversely shimmering collection of fluttering chimes and hypnotic rhythms that can't help but bring to mind the less abstract excursions of electronic music at its finest Elsewhere, 'Madam Ortance' treads a similar path to Leaf's Colleen, 'Montmartre' is a gloriously unsettling visit to a haunted Eastern Bloc fairground whilst 'Isobel' takes Sigur Ros-scope orchestration and under wires it with rancorous digital rumbles and pulsing, filtered synths. An album of utter melodious rectitude - highly recommended!...
Berend - Tagesthemen Kleckenplatten
In 2003 Berend Intelman founded the band Guther together with singer/songwriter Julia Guther. Guther's first album "I Know You Know" was released late 2003 on Morr Music. Kleckenplatten is a new label begun by the duo behind this album: "Tagesthemen" a german news programme presented on state TV: non-sensationalist, well researched information and a fixture in every german household. Context over this is much edgier fare than you'll recall from the Guther project, the music filled with energy, driving guitars, while string arrangements and choirs lend subtelty to the more reflective moments. The upbeat and catchy melodies never stray into pop shallows but stay with you from the first listen. At times Teenage Fanclub and The Strokes come to mind. Expect lyrical takes on contemporary news, comments on wars fought and the climate of fear and suspicion fostered by them. Berend seems trapped in the moment somewhere between resignation and rebellion, and yet still strikes an experiential chord with other tunes about relationships, the tried and trusted interplay of personal and national politics. Berend is a cornerstone of the Berlin music scene, and is supported here by his friends Carsten Diekmann on guitar, Christoph Schneider on bass and Daniel Klingen on drums. At times Teenage Fanclub and The Strokes come to mind. Moses Schneider, producer of well known German acts Tocotronic and Beatsteakes, added the finishing touches. Klecken is Berend's hometown, a village south of Hamburg: striving away from small town life but not looking back in anger, Berend seems to thrive on the energy of his new home Berlin....
Sam Prekop - Sam Prekop Thrill Jockey
For many, including myself, Sam Prekop's 1999 debut remains one of the most compelling and evocative records Thrill Jockey have ever released. The Sea and Cake frontman handpicked a backing-band to die for, featuring Jim O'rourke, Chad Taylor, Archer Prewitt and Josh Abrams, delicately crafting a blend of post-rock traditions and an airy brazillian melancholy inspired by Arto Lindsay. The result was at once life affirming and deeply introspective, brimming with the sort of songwriting confidence that allowed itself to expose vulnerability one minute and exuberance the next. This re-issue is long overdue, particularly with the number of enquiries we've had about it since it was last in print a couple of years ago. For a long time one of the most played records we've ever stocked in our shop, Sam Prekop definitely ranks as one of our desert island discs - if you're as yet unfamiliar with it, boy you're in for a treat. Huge recommendation....
Bizzy B - Science Ep Volumes Iii + Iv Planet Mu
PARTS 3 AND 4 NOW AVAILABLE ON ONE HANDY CD!! Another legend unearthed, Planet Mu follow up the blistering Remarc set with this ace COLLECTION from Bizzy B (Brain/Joker/Sub Base/Whitehouse) - a pioneer of junglist raves and hardcore pirate radio (Centerforce, Fantasy, Kool fm, Conflict). He's been releasing records since '91 and set up one of the most influential Hardcore/Jungle labels "Brain" which also released the debut material of Peshay , Zinc, and Marc Caro (Technical Itch) among others. Vol.3 features all new material from Bizzy B.and follows up Volumes 1 and 2 that came out in '93 and '94 respectively. What you get is some killer bass-heavy amen break driven darkcore tumblin' without a moments pause for breath. Part IV finds Bizzy pairing up with Equinox (Bassbin/Inperspective/Intasound) for the awesome `Merda Style 2004', bringing the 1993 original up to date with tearing Acid-Rain style amens and deep 808 bass kicks. `Fire' on the flip is another bass-heavy pitched down amen killer with evil distorted bass stabs that shudder with every bar while `Deep in my Soul' combines soulful female vocals with dub FX and `Strength' with a more jump-up flavour retaining the old skool vibes with nuff Mentasm and Outlander stabs. Heavy!!...
Electronic Music Composer - Abandon Music Planet Mu
Whilst the name Electronic Music Composer may sound like the kind of thing they gave away as prizes to slavering teens on Blockbuster back in the day, it is in fact the collaborative project of Ian Read and Eight Frozen Modules' Ken Gibson. Coming at you like a snarling electronic bison, EMC are straight at your throats with the rotating beats and acid dusted peaks of the dancehall influenced 'Everything New is Old'. Taking a leaf out of Bogdan Raczynski's less pink hued back catalogue, EMC keep things taut on the agitated rhythms of 'Submit Code' rattling through beat signatures as bubbling shards of electro assault you on all sides. For those who think Squarepusher has wussed out in recent years, 'Regional Carcas' will serve as a potent remedy, daubing fist fulls of shredded digital debris over the walls as a rising tide of crunching electro submerges the lot. Slowing down just long enough to catch breath on the bleeping souled 'Too Many Gringos Moving to the Neighbourhood', EMC then launch a beat of Plastikman relentlessness onto which they graft jittery vocals and some proper Ye Olde 808 action. Like a Fisherman's Friend enema, check!...
Various / Terminal Dusk - Crimson Terminal Dusk Records
Check this for a lineup - exclusive tracks from Soundmurderer, Shitmat, Chevron, Enduser, Doormouse, Eight Frozen Modules, Duran Duran Duran and loads more - 16 tracks for a bargain price! 'Crimson' is a journey through coagulated jungle, choleric gabba and GM electro with Terminal Dusk consummately leading the expedition. Kicking off the tour is the Happy Breakcore (if it didn't exist, it does now...) of Doormouse and 'El diablo en botas negras', wherein Looney Tunes are fed through the digital shredder and scattered over chaotic, hip-hop marshalled drums. Moving across the savannah at breakneck pace we are then alerted to the old school, techno troubadour of EmotionalJoystick and his grunt laden, snare-kick infused 'I Got the Hits and Party Jams Vol. 35'. With barely time to get out your binoculars it's time for Chevron's oasis full of amen breaks and vista expanding synth washes before we are thrust head first into Duran Duran Duran's 'TBI Theme' and it's no prisoner Gabba, so hard you'll need a helmet. Changing species we are treated tp the hip-hop breaks and refractory laced soundscapes of Rusuden on 'Thoth Breath', early 90's dark jungle of Enduser's 'Derminal Tusk' and Alec Empire taunting gabba on Shitmat's 'Soundclash@MyHouse'. Camp bound and with the sun setting behind us we come across the shadowy figure of Pale feasting on a carcass of choral interludes and spastic beats, topping off a wonderfully deranged trip. Ace.... # posted by DJ Martian 2:06 PM
LTM is proud to announce the first release on CD of the debut album by Gina X Performance, an acknowledged new wave/electro classic first released in 1979. Formed in Cologne, Germany, the core of Gina X Performance comprised charismatic Gina Kikoine (vocals and lyrics) and writer-producer-musician Zeus B. Held. Between 1979 and 1984 the group released four albums of cool arthouse electro-disco: Nice Mover, X-Traordinaire, Voyeur and Yinglish. Their classic 1979 single No G.D.M. was a club hit on both sides of the Atlantic and remains a cult classic thanks to electro/synthcore compilations such as Nag Nag Nag. Slinky second single Nice Mover is also an established favourite, having appeared on the Andrew Weatherall compilation Nine O’Clock Drop. As well as stand-out tracks No G.D.M., Nice Mover and Be A Boy, this new extended CD edition also features four bonus tracks: two remix versions of No G.D.M. and two rare cuts, Babylon Generation and Homage a BB. In 2005 Q Magazine’s electro-pop special rated No G.D.M. as “one of the most influential songs to come out of the Continent” – a fact made clear by even the most cursory listen to Ladytron, Goldfrapp or Miss Kittin and the Hacker. The CD features twelve digitally remastered tracks and runs for 60 minutes. The booklet preserves the original artwork from the 1979 album release as well as a detailed artist biography. Also available: X-Traordinaire (LTMCD 2453). # posted by DJ Martian 1:16 PM
Pause & Play's On The CD Front state that US epic rock band Longwave will release an album: There's a Fire on June 28th on RCA. The album is produced by John Leckie. # posted by DJ Martian 2:21 PM
It's the most radical, invigorating and heartening Britjazz album to be released so far this year and, even though it is still only March, it's certain to be close to the top of many end-of-year Best Albums lists in nine months time.
Polar Bear reflects the mega-eclectic, post-modern listening tastes of Rochford (who wrote all the tunes) and his colleagues, moving with equal enthusiasm through Björk and Beethoven, Pig Destroyer, Coltrane and his tenor legacy, Monk, Stockhausen and the ghost of Rip Rig & Panic. With some of Kurt Weill's crudely syncopated, rough edged, fairground-meets-cabaret pit band arranging aesthetic thrown in for good measure. It is jazz alright, 100% and no mistake, but with bongfuls of left-field electronica and mutant, rocked-up and pfunkified groove spicing the free-improv centred mix. # posted by DJ Martian 12:52 AM
CMN Tours present The Bays, Barbieri and Torn an English based tour in May featuring The Bays, Richard Barbieri [Japan / Porcupine Tree] and David Torn
Programme
A festival phenomenon and one of the hottest tickets on the live music scene in recent years, The Bays have attracted worldwide attention for their unorthodox approach to live performance. With no rehearsals or prior planning, they interact and improvise together completely spontaneously ‘like a DJ set that starts at around hip-hop speed, stops off at house and disco (traces of Fila Brazilia, Lemon Jelly and Bob Sinclair) and crashes out with drum'n'bass’ The Guardian 2005
For this unique tour they will be joined by two of their musical heroes, seminal US experimental guitarist David Torn (described by David Bowie as ‘The Yo-Yo Ma of electric guitar’) and keyboardist and founder of ‘80s cult band Japan, Richard Barbieri. # posted by DJ Martian 9:08 PM
SONIC ARTS NETWORK present Cut & Splice 2005: Dots and Lines a series of events in London in May and early June.
Sonic Arts Network and BBC Radio 3 are proud to announce the programme for the most ambitious Cut and Splice to date.
This year’s Cut and Splice presents DOTS AND LINES, a cluster of events that explore the idea of notation and the relationship between score, image, text and sound in electronic music and sound art.
What is Cut & Splice?
Cut & Splice is an annual festival of performance and exhibition that explores key themes and ideas in the history of art, technology and music. It is co-curated by the BBC and Sonic Arts Network and it takes place in May each year. Each year the festival showcases the work of the leading artists in the field of radical electronic music and digital sound art # posted by DJ Martian 8:09 PM
NewOrderOnline.com have an official Warner Music online streaming PREVIEW for all tracks from WAITING FOR THE SIRENS' CALL # posted by DJ Martian 7:49 PM
NewOrderOnline.com have info on New Order Day, Saturday March 26 on BBC 6 Music # posted by DJ Martian 7:42 PM
The following table displays the highest-scoring albums for the year in Metacritic's database with a minimum of 7 reviews.
currently at number 1 Arular by M.I.A # posted by DJ Martian 6:50 PM
New Electrelane Album
Too Pure will release a new album by Electrelane titled: Axes
Electrelane's recently completed new album, 'Axes', will be released May 9th (May 10th in the US). The follow-up to last year's 'The Power Out', the new album is the first to feature new bassist Ros Murray. The band are currently taking a breather but are planning live dates from April onwards. # posted by DJ Martian 6:23 PM
UK consumers are the biggest music buyers in the world, according to new figures released on Tuesday by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). # posted by DJ Martian 8:08 PM
The latest The Breezeblock show on Radio 1 includes tracks by artists as diverse as Vitalic [techno] to Bob Drake [Avant Prog] to Black Flag [US Hardcore Punk] to Tiefschwarz [electro-house] to Autechre [Experimental Electronics] to Alex Smoke [Tech-House] to Fantomas [Art Rock]
This is what BBC 6 Music should be more like ! # posted by DJ Martian 8:06 PM
Due to an unprecedented surge in demand for Deadwing at UK retail, and the disruption to manufacturing and distribution services over Easter, Atlantic Records are in the unfortunate position of being unable to supply all the orders for the album to make a March 28th release.
However, in order to give fans the chance to buy and listen to the album before the UK tour starts, we have been able to provide Amazon with enough stock so that they can still hold the March 28th release. Other retailers (HMV, Virgin, MVC, independent stores etc) will have the album instores from April 4th. Thus, fans keen to buy the album before the shows can go to www.amazon.co.uk and pre-order there. Pre-ordering in good time should enable the album to be despatched to arrive on the 28th March.'
Please note that this does not affect the full retail release date of 28th March in other European countries.
What a strange situation:
1. a major label unable to schedule the release of an album on time.
2. available at amazon.co.uk but not other retailers? a week earlier - that is NOT going to go down well with other retailers
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing is number 2 on the pre order album at Amazon UK and now they state an April 4th UK release.
Even stranger Porcupine Tree are still not on the BBC - 6 Music - Playlist the cloth-eared Q/ NME reading chumps ! Sack the lot of them for incompetence and ignorance ! # posted by DJ Martian 6:06 PM
Show broadcast on Radio 1 Monday 21st March 2005: 0100-0300 # posted by DJ Martian 5:30 PM
This week's new releases @ Fopp # posted by DJ Martian 5:28 PM
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Swarm of the Lotus have signed to Abacus Recordings an album titled: The Sirens Of Silence will be released in the Summer.
Swarm of the Lotus will appeal to fans of Botch, Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan.
Abacus Recordings announce the signing of Baltimore’s SWARM OF THE LOTUS!
With their devastating mixture of boulder-cracking riffs and subtle musical soundscapes, the four-piece made their mark most notably on the music world last year with their debut record When White Becomes Black. Brandishing an intensely heavy, down-tuned aural assault, it didn’t take long for overwhelming praise for the record to spread, including a feature in the most recent issue of Revolver. The band hit the road and pummeled audiences across the U.S. in support of the record while spending much of their time writing for their Abacus Recordings debut. Recorded at Godcity Studios with Kurt Ballou (Converge), the new record, titled The Sirens Of Silence, takes the band’s penchant for avalanche-sized cacophony to a whole new level. Mastered by Alan Douches (A Life Once Lost, Burnt By The Sun) the new album is set to be released this summer with massive touring planned throughout the U.S. in support of the record. # posted by DJ Martian 11:35 PM
Genesis report the delayed release of the new mix of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Due to various decisions about the world-wide release dates of 'The Lamb SACD' and some other technical issues a decision has been made to postpone the release of the SACD until much later in 2005. More news when we have it. # posted by DJ Martian 11:08 PM
Transilvanian black metallers NEGURA BUNGET have pushed back the projected release date of their new album, "OM", to this fall "due to delays with the composition and recording # posted by DJ Martian 10:45 PM
Nattjazz festival will be held in Bergen, Norway between May 24th and June 5th
Nattjazz (Nightjazz) is the longest jazz festival in Northern Europe and is arranged annually in late May / early June in Bergen, Norway. Nattjazz was founded in 1972 and is despite its age now stronger than ever. Every year more than 60 concerts are presented throughout the festival period. The main festival aerea is an old sardines factory which now contains several concert venues plus exhibitions, theatre, cinema and artists studios. This old factory is named USF Verftet (United Sardines Factory).
In addition the festival uses various other venues in Bergen, including a outdoor stage with free concerts in the city centre.
THE BORDERLINE EXPERIENCE
The music profile of Nattjazz spans through a wide range of styles, with a main focus is on modern jazz. During Nattjazz the borderlines between jazz, rock, ethno and electronica are explored and often whiped out.
» Abdullah Ibrahim (ZA) » Cloroform (N) » Django Bates Human Chain (UK/S) » Farmers Market (N) » Free Fall (US/N) » Henri Texier Strada Sextet (F) » Jason Moran Bandwagon (US) » Maja Ratkje solo (N) » Marc Ducret trio (F) » Matthew Herbert Big Band (GB) » Medeski, Martin and Wood (US) » Shining (N) » Silje Nergaard (N) » The Bad Plus (US) » The Thing (N/S) » Tord Gustavsen trio (N) » Vandermark/Marhaug/Nilssen-Love (US/N) » Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio # posted by DJ Martian 1:35 PM
Eternal Fusion - New Show Online [dated: March 20th]
ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Quinoline Yellow - Dol-Goy Assist Skam
Hard to remember just how long this album has been in development, though Quinoline Yellow has been on the scene for a good 5 years now with only scraps of material available for the consumption of his sizeable following. This debut album comes housed in exceptionally nice packaging that (with the cd edition) includes a gorgeous 32 page booklet featuring the carefully modified photographic work of one of Skam's better-known in-house deigners. Get past this and into the suitably crunchy lining of album opener "Sealed" and you get a perfect idea of where this album is gonna take you. "Dol-Goy Assist" unfolds through layers of squashed intricate electronic music of the highest order, a decimated beast of an album that takes in elements of industrial electro, melodic IDM and classic Skam soundtracking, chewed up and sput out as a brilliantly machine-modified killer. A classic Skam album through and through, play this extremely loud for maximum bass shuddering and sci-fi posturing. Ace....
ALBUM OF THE WEEK!
Prefuse 73 - Surrounded By Silence Warp
First album project for the 05' from Mr Scott Heron is here. (Please excuse the extended review, there's much to absorb here). 'Surrounded By Silence' (with the ill bad sex cover art) is another in Pre's personal self produced mind mixtape albums, mixtape as metaphor but each Prefuse album to date has felt like just that - makin' beats for life.... this time straight outta New York city. The album title (and some track names) suggest pointed social and political commentary added to the Prefuse 73 formula for strictly snappin' necks. 'SBS' is also a 21 trak sixty minute myriad style-bomb-clusta sucked through Prefuse's filterbanks with special guest flavour including hip hop heavyweights El-P, Ghostface Killah, Masta Killah, GZA, Camu Tao, Aesop Rock, Beans and more suprisingly Melodic's Pedro, Broadcast, NYC's The Books aka Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong and Kazu Makino from 4AD's Blonde Redhead. In addition to the still warm 'Hideyaface' the instant hip hop track to snaffle is 'Now You're Leaving' with Camu Tao - hyped Freestyle Fellowship inspired crazed rhymestyle with a killer rustic production shuffle. Prefuse's love of the jazz is in place on the crisp bouncin' vibraphone fuelled 'Expressing Views Is Obviously Illegal' and the lushed out modal electric piano chords gliding through the exit point of the beatbox cut 'Ty Versus Detchibe'. The sublime beauty of 'Appropa't' is re-ignited with 'Pastel Assasins', Claudia & Alejandra Deheza sounding not unlike Laetatia Sadier and the late Mary Hansen of Stereolab. La Correcio, Scott's collaboration with Nobody, drops a treat on 'Exchange' - just what you hoped these beat makers would deliver. The Blond Redhead joint 'We Go Our Own Way' is another highlight -lifted with splashes of acoustic drumming and Kazu's lovely voice that to these ears bring to mind Dani Siciliano and Roisin Murphy. The much discussed collaboration with New York's plunderphonic duo 'The Books' is just amazing. 'Pagina Dos' is like Prefuse jamming with the Beach Boys and John Fahey with altered vocal harmonics seeming to be inspired by Windowlicker. Later this year, like 'One Word Extinguisher/Extinguished' we are promised a sequel which will hopefully feature some of the Diplo hookup's.... then later still the political 'Piano Overlord' full length for Money Studies/Chocolate Industries. Plus did I hear right that the next Savath album will feature brazillian music god Jorge Ben? I'm trippin'. For the here and now pick up 'Surrounded By Silence' you will not be dissapointed....
Marco Passarani - Sullen Look Peacefrog
If you like synths, crisp and dry electro(nica) and a side order of punishing beats then 'Sullen Look' is gonna have you gagging in delight. This long awaited album from Nature/Final Frontier label boss Marco Passarani sees him turning his highly refined remix acumen and mashed-up electro pioneering towards a sound that's much more jackin' for the floor, suitable for his generous new hosts over at Peacefrog. Opening with 'Earth's Heat', Passarani states his intent through a set of pounding, low end beats replete with synth-strings and lucid electronica which happily strides across into the realm of 'epic' without losing its bite. Over on 'In My World', Passarani takes some computer loving electro and shows it the funk, coming out with a clutch of lazy scratching and rubber coated beats. Elsewhere Alexander O'Neil's 'Criticize' gets a re-jiggin, peppeed with a shotgun full of warehouse cheese fora grin-inducing remix, whilst the Blade Runner grandness of 'C-B-S Master Theme' consummately beats Anthony Rother at his own game. Finishing with the highly sought-after cheeky cut-up cover of the Jungle Brother's now renamed 'Rendez Vous At 2099', Passarani delivers an album so full of treats you'll know exactly what to do. Good sh*t - buy!...
Various / Audiobulb - Intricate Maximals Audiobulb
The process of becoming a respected electronica imprint used to involve a bare knuckle boxing match held after dark in secluded home county barns but, just like fox hunting before, the city folk have gone and banned it with new labels wishing to make a name for themselves now required to release a compilation instead. The Audiobulb label here scatters a handful of names you already know (Ochre, Robin Judge, Diagram of Suburban Chaos) amongst a load you probably don't (Oti, Autistici, Taavi Tuley, Claudia). Featuring something to please all electronic cognoscente's palates, 'Intricate Maximals' showcases minimal style clicks and fizz with Autistici's 'Nurture Nature', chopped vocals and drifting digital proclivity on Diagram of Suburban Chaos' 'So Gone (Ventramix)' and the lint-like, half captured crackle of Jan Jelinek through Robin Judge's 'Fall'. Elsewhere Taavi Tulev comes across like a less breaks obsessed Keith Tenniswood with the penetrating beats and giddy percussion of 'Tuhikli'. Check....
Various / Gigolo - International Deejay Gigolos Cd Eight
Gigolo
2CD //
International Deejay Gigolos reaches it's 8th compilation with a personal guided tour from DJ Hell around their recent 12"s and upcoming releases. Taking in everyone from Eric Prydz (yes that Eric Prydz) through to the Psychonauts, this is a mixed tour of the various sounds Deejay Gigolo have unfortunately watermarked over the past few years. Highlights include the phosphorescence cover of Green Velvet's 'Lalaland' by Daft Punk relation Play Paul, the raffish lustre of the Justice vs. Simian 'Never Be Alone' and XLOVER's 'So Blue', a glimpse at their forthcoming album. Other appearances come from Tiefschwarz, Kiko and The Model, 27 tracks in total across two cd's....
Isis / Various - Oceanic : Remixes / Reinterpretations Hydra Head
**includes remixes from Fennesz, Tim Hecker, Venetian Snares, Speedranch, Dalek, Thomas Koner, James Plotkin , Mike Patton and more!** 'Oceanic Remixes/Reinterpretations' sees a van load of disparate musical types sifting through ISIS' 'Oceanic' album and recasting the results to suit their vision. Kicking things off is Fennesz with 'Weight', a master class in minimalism even Phillip Glass would approve of. Starting off with a broad ambient wash, Fennesz slowly introduces fizzing circuitry and opaque production to conjure up a wildly successful tangle of textured abrasion that is followed up in similar style by Thomas Koner's 'Hym', a track which bears more than a passing resemblance to the slow build avantronica of Phonophani. Over on disc 2 Venetian Snares makes a typical entrance, kneeing you in the nuts and stealing your phone as a roughshod metal guitar rides along shotgun. Similarly, JK Broadrick takes some post-metal guitar riffs that Metallica would give an arm and a leg for these days then sets about assaulting your senses before easing you down with a supine closing three minutes. All over the place, but in a good way....
Steintryggur - Dialog Smekkleysa
The idea of percussionist led projects may induce cold sweats as you envisage mutiple drum-kits set up on stage, but Steintryggur only take their percussive backgrounds as a starting point on which to build layers of colourfully textured vocals and instrumentation. Comprised of ex-Sugarcube Siggi Balders and Steingrimur Gudmundson, Steintryggur kick off Dialog with the caliginous double bass of 'Sara Meets The Ancients' which through, a serendipitous collision of Mum-like Icelandic vocals and giddy percussive stlyings, comes off sounding like a GM modified Badmarsh and Shri. Elsewhere, 'Reel Faktor' raises the intriguing proposition of how a bagpipe heavy Bollywood remake of The Wickerman soundtrack may sound whilst 'Swung' cocoons you in a web of exultant jazz that is both esoteric and listenable....
Jeremy Ellis - The Lotus Blooms Ubiquity
Best musics yet from the man like Ayro now firmly entrenched at Ubiquity. This album is the kind I wish Ubiquity would deliver more often. Jazzual detroit business not so heavy on the vocals instead mainly concentrating on some cool dancefloor workouts and deep soul drenched stoners. There is a very obvious knod to the school of 4 Hero on 'These Passing Days', elsewhere you get tracks that feel like a purer jazz based revision of the Innerzone Orchestra album. An oddball track that would appear to retro electro heads is 'Lil' 808 Thing' which booms like 84' Cybotron, well Jeremy does have a detroit legacy to follow on from. Best ubiquity artist album in a long time....
The Perceptionists - Black Dialogue Def Jux
By the initial sound of it 'Black Dialogue' is another slow creeping hit for Def Jux as I would expect considering how much I like 2/3 of the members who make up The Perceptionists. 1/3 of my dream Boston hit squad Mr.Lif finally returns to full album territory a full three years after the so dope 'I Phantom'. Joined here by the scratch deejay and producer Fakts One who blessed the same album with nuff joints (inc. 'New Man Theme', still tha' joint) - completing the triangle is emcee Akrobatik. The album's sound is hard stompin' beats with half bragga and half political rhymes, the undercurrent samples keeping the vibe fresh throughout. Check the dirt bass infiltrating 'Let's Move'. Two El-P produced joints follow, both serious fire - 'People 4 Prez' floats deadly on a river of dark soundtrack funk blasts and 'Blō' add's serious Fakt's One scratching, ill. There's always room for a Bush diss track and 'Memorial Day' delivers large style. Guest's include Phonte of Little Brother, Guru, Camu Tao and even Humpty Hump - one for the ladies and one for tha jukkies....
Dalek - Absence Ipecac
Finally available on cd. Thunderous new album from Dalek, once again refining their unique blend of industrial strength hip-hop and avant rock...musically somewhere between El-P, Cannibal Ox, Public Enemy, Techno Animal, Swans, Anticon and My Bloody Valentine. Darkness guaranteed, luscious gatefold doublepack on Mike Patton's Ipecac imprint....
A Silver Mt. Zion - Horses In The Sky Constellation
A Silver Mt Zion are a seven piece multi-instrumental group who count three of the founding members of god speed you black emperor! amongst their ranks. 'Horses In The Sky', their fourth long player, further develops the Mt Zion sound; a soupy mix of bellicose atmospherics, alt.college vocals and doughy guitars. Almost choral at times, 'Horses In The Sky' looks to Celtic folk, traditional Turkish music and heavily layered guitar dissertations in the style of Mogwai to achieve an album that rewards your perseverance. Vinyl copies only for now - cd version available soonish....
Mia Doi Todd - Manzanita Plug Research
Mia Doi Todd may or may not be a new name to you - though she's a musician and singer that's not only already managed to work on material with artists as well respected as Dntel, Ammon Contact, Nobody and the like, but has also released a handful of albums for labels as big and scary as Columbia. "Manzanita" is her first record for Plug Research - a natural choce for an artist with an obvious of shining material from the underground. Mia Doi Todd has crafted a collection of quixotic and enigmatically arranged songs which are happy to reduce things down to piano led acoustica ('Muscle, Bone & Blood') or draft in a full backing band to supplement her enchanting voice with the rock-steady, reggae inflected shrug of 'Casa Nova'. The Nick Drake comparison is at its most acute on the album's foundation stone 'The Last Night of Winter' which injects it's leftfield folk outlook with flourishes of orchestration and a beating rhythm that is shot through with optimism whenever it threatens to become moribund. 'Manzanita's' opens with the fantastic Bert Jansch influenced 'The Way' which allows Dia Todd's heartfelt vocals to be paired with their antithesis; brooding, churning instrumentation that builds to a thrilling conclusion, whilst 'What If We Do' displays this album's large crossover potential brilliantly. If you enjoyed Emilianna Torrini's fabulous "Fisherman's Woman" album a couple of week backs, make sure to check this album out without delay....
Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak Of It Again K7
Just when you thought the NYC funk scene led by James Murphy et al had produced everyone it could, along come Out Hud with 'Let US Never Speak Of It Again' the follow up to 2002's 'S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D.'. With members of LCD Sounsystem and !!! populating their ranks, Out Hud certainly have some heritage in the DFA hierarchy but rather than pump out another Liquid Liquid tribute, Out Hud have instead decided to look back to the 1980's synthcore scene for inspiration. Opening with the pounding funk bass of 'This Just In', Out Hud then career wildly down the electro-pop freeway on 'It's For You' as synths erupt like fireworks and Phyllis Forbes puts in a Stygian vocal performance reminiscent of a more restrained Karen O. Elsewhere 'One Life To Lead' is a freshly minted electro-funk classic that merges axe-wielding bass and a chorus so addictively spiky it could take on daytime radio, 'Old Nude' adopts the swagger of Seelenluft and plunders Aphex's 'Girl/Boy' strings whilst 'The Song So Good They Named It Thrice' takes shades of Dr. Who, Le Tigre, The Moonflowers and early 90's rave then moulds them together into a paint blistering whole. Very very cool....
Angels Of Light - The Angels Of Light Sing "Other People" Young God
Michael Gira's Angels of Light return with 'The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People'', a collection of 12 buoyant acoustic guitar led songs that range from the porcelain fragility of 'Destroyer' through to the almost Bryds like sunshine pop of 'Lena's Song'. By giving both the vocal and acoustic guitar 20/20 vision in the mix, Angels of Light hinges heavily around former Swans front man Michael Gira, often imparting his performance like a nursery rhyme (see particularly 'The Kid Is Already Breaking'), Gira is the kind of voice that once adjusted to becomes almost confessional in its intimacy allowing him to even get a way with some spoken word on closing track 'Jackie's Spine'. Backed up by a welter of precision tooled instrumentation from Brooklyn avant-rock mob Akron/Family that ranges from the mandolin and cello through to saxophones, Casio's and slide guitars, 'The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People'' is packed full of Heavinly, sometimes heavy suprises....
Skugge & Stavostrand - Humla Onitor
Minimal and Mitek sound great together and on the evidence before us, really belong together. The system of these Swedish Producers is far from limited to minimal means, indeed they head away from dogmatic genre-fixes - the production here is hot and if you get in the groove, extremely sweaty. Stavöstrand has established himself over the last few years as a key player - stealthing through a subtle blend of releases for Force Inc and Mille Plateaux and beyond. Together the deadly duo fashion an altogether quite fresh vision of techno, spiked with de rigeur cut ups and a buoyant attitude. Two eps have passed somehwat under the radar, but check this now and we think you'll agree these guys are well, hectic, still they manage to find a balance which puts booty straight on the dance floor. Chucking out traditional structures, cleverly choosing to opt for a flow of small (and big) changes and developments which takes the songs to unexpected levels, twists, turns, and flips, up and down and back again.. Imagine a supergroup-set-up with the Detroit legend Anthony "shake" Shakir duking it out with Matthew Herbert in cut and mangle mode - and you`re most of the way there. Impressive.... # posted by DJ Martian 11:28 AM
