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CD / ELECTRO SUN / Ubik / Storage
Electro Sun are a
band from Germany with a vocalist whose voice reminds me of Suran Song
(of the NJ band Suran Song In Stag) and Ann Magnuson of Bongwater. "Blossom
Red" (#1) starts off the disc, introducing the dissonant minor
key melodies played on cello, acetone organ, and drums which Electro
Sun use
as the bed under which the vocalist (who so uncannily recalls Suran Song)
maneuvers. "Blossom Red" has the same type of feel as Pink
Floyd's
"Set Your Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" and has true intensity
as the drummer's tom toms heat up the tempo. "Leave You Lying There"
(#5) is a ten minute song which has vocals that remind me of the final
part of the Patti Smith song "Radio Ethiopia" when she wails
in a twisted voice through to the songs conclusion. "Guardian
Angel"
(#6) is my favorite song on this seven song disc. It has a roller rink
styled organ and a good melody that pulls it out of the gloominess that
Electro Sun so comfortably inhabit.
Faves: 1,6
---Carl |
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CD / LUKE
HAINES / Christie Malry's Own Double Entry OST / Hut
The original
soundtrack album for the film 'Christie Malry's Own Double Entry' is
as much a Luke Haines solo album as a soundtrack disc. Luke Haines
is the leader of The Autuers, Black Box Recorder, and Baader Meinhof.
Each of those bands have released some amazing material, yet have never
enjoyed commercial success. I'm sure both the film and this record will
follow in that path, shame that it is. Fully half of this 12 song disc
are fully realized songs with lyrics and structure. The other half are
more typically soundtrack fare, though never typical in the hands of
Luke
Haines. Fans of The Autuers will love "Discomania" (#1), "Discomaniax"
(#6), and "England Scotland And Wales" (#10). Fans of Black
Box Recorder will find "How To Hate The Working Class" (#3)
like BBR with Luke singing. The two odd tracks that the disc offers
are
"In The Bleak Midwinter" (#2) and "I Love The Sound Of
Breaking Glass" (#9). "In The Bleak Midwinter" has a
church boys choir singing with Luke in a way that perfectly compliments
the song.
It is my unlikely fave of the disc - the song I passed over on first
listenings which eventually became my favorite by far. "I Love
The Sound Of Breaking Glass" is a cover of the Nick Lowe song
which was released as a single on Radar Records in 1978. The song became
Nick Lowe's signature
tune, and still sounds great today. Luke Haines cover of it is very Black
Box Recorder sounding. I like the track because it is a clever choice
of song to cover, but feel that the treatment of it pales next to the
original.
Faves: 1,2,3,6,9,10
---Carl |
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12" / JAZZANOVA / Reworks From Japan / JCR
Jazzanova are a German brazilian-jazz-fusion band best known for the
remixes they do for others, and for the label they run, Jazzanova
Compost
Records (JCR), a division of the widely known Compost Records. To give
you some info about them I didn't know myself, Compost tells us "Jazzanova
is a Berlin-based producer collective, consisting of the Jazzanova
DJ-team
(Jürgen von Knoblauch, Alexander Barck, Claas Brieler), Extended
Spirit (Axel Reinemer & Stefan Leisering) and Kosma (Rosko Kretschmann)".
These guys are heavily into deep jazz and modern beats". This
12"
has three remixes that Japanese artists Calm, Kyoto Jazz Missive, and
Yukihiro Fukitomi did for Jazzanova. The standout cut which defines
the
need to own this 12" is clearly Yukihiro Fukitomi's mix of "Coffee
Talk", a track which originally was recorded by Jazzanova for the
'Future Sound Of Jazz Volume 4' compilation on Compost. Yukihiro Fukitomi
is a man whose name can be found in the small print of many J-pop records
as programmer. The only release that he has on his own (that I know
about)
is the 'I Am' 12" on JCR. On this 12", "Coffee Talk" has
the cool feel of a Kruder and Dorfmeister track, slick female vocals,
and the effervescent life that characterizes the best J-pop records.
It
is a killer of a track.
Fave: A2
---Carl |
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CD / various / PET SOUNDS / RPM
This
10th anniversary sampler of RPMs back catalog offers much more than it's
$5.99 price tag would warrant. RPM's slogan is "by
collectors for collectors". They produce great quality re-issues
of impossible to find records and overlooked treats from the 60's
and 70's. I know that
RPM has touched my life by putting out several discs which have had profound
effects on my music tastes. RPM172 'The Go-Go Music of Mark Wirtz
Orchestra
& Chorus', RPM 173 'The Thriller Memorandum', RPM 193 The Tony Rivers
Collection Volume 1: Castaways', and RPM 194 The Tony Rivers Collection
Volume 2: Harmony Grass' have each touched my life in large ways. Each
are records I will advise you to buy right now through the RPM website
should you be so inclined. As for this disc, you can hear Tony Rivers
& The Castaways 1966 song "Summer Dreaming" (#11), plus
a 1970 song he recorded once he renamed his band Harmony Grass "Mrs.
Ritchie" (#24). Unfortunately it is not one of the best Harmony
Grass songs, in my opinion. A super Mark Wirtz song is here: the 1965
song "A
Touch Of Velvet, A String Of Brass". What a song! One of the songs
I love on this disc is from a disc I have not seen around lately. It
is
Twinkle's "Golden Lights" (#6). I hope to find this disc soon,
because "Golden Lights" is a great cut that has me thinking
that the full CD must be great. I also like The Rocking Vicars "Dandy"
(#12). It is a beat styled track recorded in 1966 by the band which Lemmy
played guitar in. The one cut on this disc which I really love and know
nothing about is the 1968 track "Time Traveller" (#17) by Frazer
Hines. Glenda Collins 1963 girl group song "If You Gotta Pick A
Baby" (#4) completes my personal list of faves from this 25 song
bargain comp. Your list of faves may be entirely different!
Faves: 4,6,9,11,12,17
---Carl |
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CD / various / POP SHOPPING / Crippled Dick
A collection
of German commercial jingles from the 60's and 70's. Each of the tracks
here was known by it's twenty second or so appearance in a TV or radio
spot. On this disc each song is presented as originally recorded in full
length. What you end up with is an amazing mod view of easy listening/pop
culture with plenty of beat. The compilers at Crippled Dick really deserve
a hand for putting this together, so awesome are the final results.
There
are cars from Ford ("Ford Capri 2", Ford Taunus") and
Opel ("Opel Commodore" and "Opel Record"), chocolates
by Tobler, candy ("Minikillers"), Nescafe, and kitchen appliances
("Moulinex"). Not to leave out my favorite song here, the
ode to Nordwest Schuhe (shoes) "Swinging Nordwest" (#4).
It has male and female vocals, sounding like The Free Design crossed
with Stereo
Total. There is an instrumental version of the song later in the disc
(#23) as well. Completely incredible. The song "Nescafe Calypso"
(#17) sounds like Robert Mitchum in leiderhosen. The 2 versions of "Minikillers"
(# 7 & 20) are bizarre tracks with a girl being taunted by a monster
offering her candies; sounding like she is more aroused than scared.
Kitchen
appliances have never sounded as cool as they do in the 2 versions of
"Moulinex" (#5 & 26). This compilation is a fun ride that
does not have any songs which are boring or out of place. That in itself
is pretty special for a 28 song comp trawling the depths of such specialized
waters. Quite nice.
Faves: 4,5,7,13,15,17,20,23,26
---Carl |
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2xCD / various / ANT-HOLOGY / Ant-Zen
Ant-Zen
is a division of Hymen Records specializing in "Industrial
music, chilling ambient, technoid rhythms, and power electronics".
The label is based in Lappersdorf Germany. The sound on all 28 of the
cuts fits perfectly into the definition Ant-Zen give themselves above.
It sounds like all the cuts were recorded in the same place using similiar
production values. Everything has a "wet" sound which compliments
the material. Many of the pieces have samples of dialog or speeches.
In
general the songs on the first disc sound 'harder' than those on the
second disc, many having industrial vocals in the fashion that Throbbing
Gristle
or the recently reviewed Storm Bugs used. Any of the cuts on played on
air would contribute to an interesting radio show. The stuff here has
an identity. As I started trying to pick my favorite songs I realized
that every song on both discs was pretty good. That point aside, my
faves
were Moata Omen's "Ash Nazg" (A1), Imminent Starvation "Tentack"
(A2), Noisex "The Day After" (A3), Hypnoskull "Rhythmusmaschine"
(A6), Das Schreckenskabinett "The Black Lodge" (B6), Ah Cama
Sotz "The Howl Of The Werewolf" - uses horror movie dialog
to great effect (B9), and Hybryds "I Walk Alone" (B13). If
all these names are new to you (as they are to me) and you are looking
for
a handle on all this, I could picture Pineal Ventana sitting comfortably
on the Ant-Zen roster.
Faves: A1,2,3,6 B6,9,13
---Carl |
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12" / PIGEON FUNK / Proptronix
Pigeon Funk is a collaboration between 2 Oakland CA electronic artists-
Kit Clayton, and Sutekh (Seth Joshua Horvitz). This five song 12"
was described to me as "analog soul funk", alluding to something
akin to Thomas Brinkmann's Soul Center project. There are only slight
vocal samples on this, so I would make a different comparison, probably
to tech-house. I will say that any of the songs would fit on one of
the
International Deejay Gigolo compilations. The tracks have a slight electro
feel to them, and zip along on upbeat breaks. From the insert on the
12"
and the sleeve photos I can deduce a story about this collaboration:
It seems that Kit Clayton and Sutekh live in the same house, and that
they
allow pigeons to roost on their house. The insert is a copy of as letter
their neighbors left for them asking them to clean up the messes left
by the pigeons. The neighbors point out that dust from pigeons feces
is the leading source of the human disease MAC (microbacterium aviary
complex).
I imagine that the 2 artists had a kick with that, as one of the major
tools in the electronic arsenal is their MAC powerbooks. This 12"
doesn't really have any standout tracks, but I think it is my favorite
thing I've heard from either of them, influenced no doubt, by their
apparent
love of birds. The back sleeve shows them each cutting out a set of letters
from construction paper spelling "pigeon funk", which they
assemble on top of the pigeon mess to compose the photo which makes
up the front
cover. "Fly The Coop" (B2) has sounds which (I believe) started
in the throats of the pigeons which roost there.
Faves: A1,A2,B2
---Carl |
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CD / various / POPSHOPPING MIXED UP / Crippled Dick
A seven
song EP with mixes of songs from 'Pop Shopping'. Three of the tracks
justify the existence of this, while the four others leave an indication
as to why this is not a full length remix LP. Pizzicato Five's Konishi
Yasuharu has the luck to get to mix my favorite song from 'Pop Shopping',
the ode to women's shoes "Swinging Nordwest" (#1). Even left
alone it is a killer cut. Put into his hands it becomes a bouncing dance/singalong.
NYC DJ Ursula 1000 mixes "Ford Capri 2" (#2) into a much longer
tracks than the original. It slinks and slithers with a library music
70's feel. Underground Berlin artist Mimok does great work to "Ford
Scampi" (#4), making it bounce around between a cool horn signature,
samples of cars and dialog, and a human beatbox on top of the brushed
drumkit. The rest of the tracks are fine, but don't do anything special
for me. They sound like they could have come from anywhere, and don't
take enough advantage of the unique material they originate from.
Faves:
1,2,4
---Carl |
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CD / various / PUNCH THE MONKEY! 3 / Readymade
It is
strange that I always have such a hard time writing about the J-pop discs,
even though they are clearly my personal faves of all the stuff I review.
Maybe it is because they have such an identifyable sound and aesthetic
that it is difficualt not to write the same thing for each new disc
being
added. So here we have the third installment of the 'Punch The Monkey!'
30th anniversary remixes. I have not been able to find the second volume.
When I do, I will buy it! This volume has names that are all new to me
except for the track mixed by Yasuharu Konishi of Pizzicato Five. The
disc starts off with my favorite song the Readymade 440 mix of "Lupin
The 3rd '97" (#1) by DJ Yoshio. It is a vocal harmony fest with
all the zing and appeal of the "Swinging Nordwest" song on
the Crippled Dick 'Pop Shopping' compilation. Plenty of vocals, plenty
of twists and
turns. Yasuharu Konishi 's Readymade 524 mix of "Theme From Lupin
The 3rd 3" (#3) is a wild ride that has multiple elements which
find an unlikely balance in the chaotic stew. The 'We Love Lupin III'
mix of
"Theme From Lupin The 3rd 3" (#4) by DanceMan & The Bandman
is not as crazy as the song before it - it stays rooted in a tambourine/snare
beat while hell breaks loose on top, making it rank as one of my faves.
The Cyche-Outs 'Club mix' of "Toward The Patrol Line" (#5)
is a dancefloor ready electronic track that has a young female vocal
saying
"Hey!" or laughing while a sample of a character from the show
talks about freedom, enforcement, and the space patrol. It is a big
departure
from the countless homages to Lupin that this series offers in spades!
Manabu Iwamura's 'Cinema Edit' mix of "Samba Temperado" (#7)
brings tuneage not far removed from the themes to 'Bewitched' or 'I
Dream
Of Jeannie' put through the Japanese blender, then taken out onto NYC's
Broadway as a brass marching band giving it's all for the Macy's Thanksgiving
day parade. Finally Toshiya Arai gives the '80 a fool's paradise mix'
of "Lupin the 3rd '80" (#10) which features a glockenspiel
and brass band playing over mad marching band drumming with a latin
flair.
Faves: 1,3,4,5,7,10
---Carl |
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12" / various / ZOD.01 / Zod
Records
A seven song sampler from this broken beat label based in Milwaukee.
There are tracks by Venetian snares, Noize Creator, Emotional Joystick,
Resuscitate The Battlemaster, Doormouse, Fanny,
and DF1/Destro. My favorite tracks are Venetian Snare's "Ichidh"
(A1) and Fanny's "Carousel" (B3). All the tracks are the new
style of hardcore currently called "broken beat". It is music
that recognizes that the so called digitasl hardcore of Atari Teenage
Riot quickly became almost conservative in the monochromatic nature of
it's continual barrage. Broken beat artists truly have a disconcerting
sound by using computers to generate beats that could not exist in nature,
and providing jarring changes that either will rev you up, or send
you
running for the "off" button. To me both Fanny and Venetain
Snares offer the most interesting tracks here because they have used
sound
samples over their broken beats which keep me listening. "Ichidh"
has dialog from a classic horror movie and "Carousel" has sounds
of people riding a carnival ride.
Faves: A1,B3
---Carl |
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CD5 / Kieth Fullerton Whitman / 21:30 for Acoustic Guitar / Apartment
B
Kieth Fullerton Whitman is the Bostoner who records as Hrvatski.
This EP is quite far from the sound that Hrvatski produces. It consists
of 2 pieces he recorded in October 1999 for the NYC computer music event
'Invisible Cities'. The tracks remind me of Robert Fripp's 'Frippertronics'
phase. They are quiet and subtly change during their ten minute length.
He made the tracks with a realtime playthrough system he designed
which
combines acoustic guitar with a Macintosh G3 laptop. In the same way
that 'The Soccer Girl EP' was an ambient diversion for Kid 606, '21:30
for
Acoustic Guitar' is a break from the hardcore that Hrvatski usually produces
to the love of all his fans.
---Carl |
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CD / Kate Mosh / Dynamo / Killer
Pimp
Kate Mosh is the latest release from Panacea. As he has
in the past, 'Dynamo' is a Panacea disc recorded under a different
name.
The music is harsh electronic sludge, tones twisted and torn between
the devices and the amp. The cuts are clever though. "The Fire
This Time"
(#3) has a vocal trapped in the cage of it's sonic slaw. "Lifelines"
(#5) takes an almost cliche disco sound and makes it jump through hoops
of Pancea's invention. "Crawford's Theme 2" (#7) has severely
overmodulated mush rolling over a clackity clack rhythm track like
the
blob smothering a house. The disc has 12 new pieces that are not miles
away from the only other Panacea disc I've heard, the 'Hanayo in Panacea'
CD reviewed in the May 15, 2001 gullbuy. While many contemporary electronic
artists go for a clean type of sound involving digital silence between
tones, Kate Mosh reminds me an instrumental electronic version of the
80's Boston sludgecore band Kilslug. This is the first release on the
new Killer Pimp label started by WZBC DJ Jon Whitney. Jon is also the
owner of www.brainwashed.com, a much visited site which has an online
webzine and hosts the websites of many bands featured in past and future
gullbuys.
Faves: 3,5,7
---Carl |
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CD / Nik-L-Nip / Room-Filling
Sounds
As I first listened to this CD it was like a time warp
back to the heyday of mid nineties indie rock. I wasn't sure it was
a trip
I was willing to take! Nik-L-Nip were a band from Bryn Mawr PA that put
out a single and a few appearances on split singles. They consisted
of
Mark Powell on guitar/vocal and Lara on drums/vocal. Lara Cohen was an
indierock queen who worked as an intern at the Kyhber Pass Pub, wrote
a zine called 'Runt', then later 'Oh, Oh Cheri'. She became 'the face'
for the blossoming indie scene.. Mark Powell worked at the well known
record store Repo Records in Bryn Mawr PA. This CD was put together by
WZBC DJ Patrick Rands. He knew Nik-L-Nip during the period that he
went
to school and played guitar in another PA band, Driver UFO. In fact Patrick
plays drums on one of my favorite songs on the disc, "Exhilarama"
(#6). Through his love of the Nik-L-Nip's songs and his small edition
label 'Room-Filling Sounds' this CD was born. The disc has 8 songs.
The
sound of Nik-L-Nip reminds me of a band I used to like from Scarsdale
NY, Pumpernikel. Playing is incompetent, yet quite the richer for it.
Vocals are both male and female. Lara's vocals at times sounds like those
of a little girl. The music can get really abrasive, or can be rooted
in an acoustic guitar and minimal drum kit. As I said, at first I was
ready to dismiss this whole CD as simply 'time capsule' material, but
as I relaxed into it I came to really like "Running Fast and Drunk"
(#4), "Exhilarama" (#6), I Hope I Never Hear From you"
(#7), and "George" (#8)
---Carl |
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