Jandek - "Blue Corpse"

Here it is: The Way In. Blue Corpse is the most accessible Jandek record, the "easiest" to absorb, the most conventional, the most "melodic" and "rhythmic". Those words are in quotes because this is Jandek, where all standards of measure and comparison are next to worthless. Jandek is here joined by an anonymous man who sings on four tracks on the album, most notably on one of the most personal and emotional songs in Jandek's songbook, "I Passed By The Building". It sounds as if the man sings while Jandek plays acoustic guitar, and then for the rest of the tracks they switch. Which is to say that of the twelve tracks here, eight of them sound "normal", i.e. not like songs from previous records. There's a cover, of sorts, of the traditional "House of the Rising Son", but bearing virtually no resemblance to any version of the song previously and subsequently recorded. The acoustic guitar is the main instrument on this album, joined on a couple of tracks by a harmonica (except on "Harmonica", where it dominates for 4 atonal minutes and is then joined by a guitar and pained, wordless vocals) and drums, albeit briefly. "Your Other Man" and magnum opus "Only Lover" sound like they re different parts of the same song, featuring similar melodic (yes!) folk/blues patterns and rhythms. The two tracks also feature some of Jandek's most opaquely funny lyrics. Just what he is getting at remains oblique, like everything else in his discography: "Well you wouldn't believe it tastes like candy / gimmie a fork, yeah gimmie a fork / eat some potato" from "Your Other Man" or "You're a teenage runt with a lot of cream, Sparky" from "Only Lover". It is hard to say this about any other record from Jandek, but this record is fun, in its own peculiar way. Listen to his deconstruction of the blues on "Down at the Ball Park" and it is hard not to crack a smile. He knows what he's doing. The mistaken assumption that people make is that Jandek is not aware that the music he makes is so outside of any tradition. But careful listening shows that he is keenly aware and is trying to make music that can stand completely alone. He succeeds.

4 stars

Infinite Number of Sounds - "Time Wants a Skeleton"

Cleveland's genre-hopping Infinite Number of Sounds is a treat. Never content to settle into a single sound or vibe, they mark their own territory in the post-rock terrain with their debut album, Time Wants a Skeleton. Never deciding if they want to be a live rock band or laptop experimentalists, they meld the two approaches into an enjoyable, if slightly derivative musical experience. INS can be compared most easily to a more aggressive version of Chicago's Tortoise, most explicitly on "Exorcise w/o Air", which sounds more like a cover of that band's oeuvre than it does an original composition. But then there are tracks like "Tiny Spiders In My Hair", which mates a piano line reminiscent of John Carpenter's film scores to industrial percussion, dub guitar, and screaming metal vocals. It's a bit schizophrenic for just one track, and it is indicative of the entire record. There's just too much of a good thing on display here, which stops the record from being truly great. And that is disappointing, because this is a good record and with its unexpected twists that impart an anxious "what am I going to hear next" vibe, it is fun to listen to. Fans of the post-rock genre will get a couple of thrills out of this record.

3 stars

Asva - Futurist's Against The Ocean

For those that are paying attention to the doom metal scene, this release sells itself without one note being heard. Just look at who is involved and their pedigree: G. Stuart Dahlquist from Sunn O))) on bass, B.R.A.D. from Burning Witch on drums and vocals, and Trey Spruance from Mr. Bungle on guitar, piano and tubular bells. Rounding out the line up is John Schuller from Master Musicians of Bukkake on guitar, Jessika Kenney from Gamelan Pacifica on vocals, and Troy Swanson on organ. If that was not enough to get the salivary glands pumping, Billy Anderson is behind the producer's desk like he was for High On Fire, Sleep, and Melvins. For those familiar with the names, Asva's sound should come as no surprise. But where other avant-metal supergroups (Fantomas, for example, or Tomahawk) don't deliver on their promise, Asva makes a glorious heavy racket, removed from the regular tropes of the doom scene enough to make both this group and this album something really special. The opening track,"Kill The Dog, Tie Them Up, Then Take The Money" is the most conventional track, moving at a glacial pace, with guitars inching from one note to the next, almost as if the metallic drone of the amps were playing through the guitars, and not the other way around. But by track three, "Fortune", the ambience has taken over, and the metal melts away. Droning organ, loping bass, and spiders-on-the-fretboard guitar scrapings set the scene for Kenney's vocals. More operatic (think Diamandia Galas) than tortured (like Khanate's Alan Dubin), Kenney's pure tones are easier on the ear than the scene-standard barked whisper/growling. This leads right into the epic closer, "By The Well of Living and Seeing", which melds the ambience of "Fortune" and the droning assault of "Kill The Dog" to Kenney's multi-tracked chanting vocals and a guitar straight out of an Ennio Morricone score. It is a perfect summation of the album, and Asva's sound in general: operatic ambient western doom metal, to pin words on it. Recommended heartily for those interested in the avant-metal scene.

Shat - "The Best of Shat: The Cunt Chronicles"

There are bands that make funny music, and there are bands that try to but fail. Shat fails. Musically, Shat is a competent punk band, similar at times to System of a Down, early Black Flag, or Germs, to name a few. However, Shat's secret weapon is singer Jeff Wood. He is one of the most single-minded lyricists in recent memory, focusing his muse on bodily functions, sex, pornography, and sexually transmitted diseases. As a result, Shat is offensive in every possible way, from the album artwork (showing Wood with an assortment of blow-up dolls in various positions) to the song titles and lyrics. Over the course of its 65 tracks and 70 minutes, the album's relentless misogyny and fourth-grade locker room humor wear thin. Heard in small doses, Shat is mildly amusing. But the experience of actually listening to the album in its entirety is an endurance exercise. The joke gets stale, the repetitive lyrics begin to grate (most tracks are only the title of the song repeated ad nauseum, one in Spanish), and the guilty pleasure wears off, leaving only the guilt that time spent listening to this album could have been better spent doing almost anything else. Reading the track listing, it is hard to believe that someone would take the time to produce something this infantile, and then put their face on it and sell it. But at the same time, for those who bathroom humor appeals to, track titles like "Grandpa s Playing With His Penis", "The Whoremons", "Look At Those Breasts" or "Sex With Your Pets" amuse to no end. A great album if you're a twelve year-old boy who looks up dirty words in the dictionary, but not for anyone else. Interestingly, this may be one of the few albums that get held in higher esteem without hearing it.

1 star

Coil - "The Ape of Naples"

Listening to The Ape of Naples is a bittersweet experience. As the last album recorded during Jhonn Balance's lifetime, it serves as a final statement and summation of the band's multi-faceted career. Naples is much more of a "classic" sounding Coil album (in the vein of Love's Secret Domain and Music To Play In the Dark Vol. One) than more recent outings (such as ANS, Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil, or Astral Disaster). Ape is made up of recording sessions that date back to the mid-nineties, recordings done for Trent Reznor's nothing label, and more recent works that were still getting worked out in a live environment ("Triple Sun," "Tattooed Man"). Balance and Peter Christopherson are joined by the likes of Danny Hyde, Thighpaulsandra, Ossian Brown, Cliff Stapleton, and Mike Yorke, depending on the track. Which would lead one to the assumption that the album would sound dis-jointed, with a rotating cast of characters involved. The magic of Coil is that the album flows as smoothly as it does, not as if it was pieced together over the years and with different collaborators. The focus of the album seems to be (perhaps consciously, perhaps not) on Jhonn's beautiful and expressive voice. All tracks feature his vocals, notably the industro-goth of "Heaven's Blade," the twisted circus atmospheres of "Tattooed Man," and quite possibly the saddest song Coil ever recorded, a cover of BBC favorite Are You Being Served's theme song, "Going Up." This last is a highlight in the Coil catalog with Balance duetting with Francois Testroy, telling the listener that "it just is." The painful acceptance of this line encapsulates the experience of the album -- Jhonn is gone, we must move on and continue. The Ape of Naples is one of Coil's best albums and one of the best albums of 2005.

4.5 stars

Julian Cope - "Dark Orgasm"

In a way, you should be thankful. After what seemed ages, Julian Cope finally returned to releasing song-based albums, and two in one year, at that. But whereas Citizen Cain'd sounded under-produced but rocked harder than anything else in his catalog, Dark Orgasm barely ups the production, and falls flat on its face in the rock & roll department. Things that are most endearing to long-time Cope fans (for example, a sense for melodic pop, or his unique and beautiful voice) are A.W.O.L. on this album. There's nothing even close to a pop song present. Cope sings in a '70s-metal sneer (think Thin Lizzy or the Guess Who), which may be the type of singing that his voice is most unsuited for. An evocative instrument becomes here an annoying whinny. "Nothing to Lose Except My Mind" is indicative of the problems with this record. For unexplained reasons, crowd noise (massive, at that) is grafted onto the track. Guitars are turned very low in the mix, the bass is muddied, and the vocals are barely understandable. If the intent was to match the fidelity on mid-career Led Zeppelin, then it achieves its goal. Artistic intent or not, once the novelty has worn off, its just not a good song. Perhaps, with more work and an outside producer, it could have been turned into something great. Because there are seeds of a great song here. But no. These opportunities are missed at every infuriating turn. It's not all bad, though. Like any of Cope's solo albums, there are usually some diamonds hidden among the tracks. Dark Orgasm's great track is "I've Found a New Way to Love Her," which manages to harness a lo-fi production urge and contain classic Cope melodies. The Mellotron samples that appear in this song at loud volume continue to bring a smile to the face after repeated listening. And then there's "The Death and Resurrection Show," which occupies the entirety of the completely unnecessary second disc in the set. For 21 minutes, Cope and band embrace their prog rock tendencies and bash through a multi-part suite that sounds as if Spinal Tap's "Jazz Odyssey" had lyrics. How you process this will determine your enjoyment of the album.

2 stars

One Mile North - "Glass Wars"

John Hills and Mark Bajuk weave a gossamer web of melodic guitars and synthesizers on One Mile North's debut album Glass Wars. Like a minimalist Godspeed You Black Emperor! (admittedly their easiest comparison), the duo create gorgeous, meditative textures using very simple arrangements with very little production effects. Using simple reverb, Hills' guitars tell evocative musical tales of sadness, desolation, and devastation, augmented by Bajuk's restrained synth work. The duo mines a musical vein that can't be called post-rock (too simple), can't be called rock (it doesn't), and can't be called indie (its not hip enough). What Glass Wars is, though, is brilliant, beautiful, and moving. "Parents Arrive" could stand as indicative of the group -- a somber guitar line establishes itself, a Möbius strip of melodic ideas, adding and subtracting elements as it progresses, turning in over itself, buttressed by a droning synth pulse. With only the title to go on for context, the track evokes feelings of both the end of fun when the parents do arrive, and also the comforting feel of one's elders returning home. "Insides" appears in the second half of the album, and somewhat anomalously it contains the closest thing to percussion on the album. Again, Hills gentle fretwork is out front, but a glitchy something (looped vinyl scratching, maybe?) provides the forward momentum, like a lost B-side from Piano Magic. Something as simple-sounding as this album can't really be categorized; it stands outside of genre pigeonholing. Put it in the category of simply amazing. A quiet masterpiece in the tradition of the Durutti Column's best work, best suited for late nights and contemplation.

3.5 stars

Kohei Mihara - "Cocolotica"

Tokyo's own Kohe Mihara spins things up a bit in the trip-hop scene with this, his debut album, Cocolotica. "Cocolo" translates roughly as "heart, mind, soul, and spirit," which is an apt description of what Mihara puts into the grooves of this record. Cocolotica swings from start to finish, without a bum track anywhere to be found, and across an amazing variety of beats, vibes, and textures. "Imitatrix," the second track, sets up a shuffling beat with a jazzy keyboard vamp over it. Mihara takes this template and injects some booty-moving percussion into the track, but keeps the beat blunted, as it were, for maximum head-nodding. Matter of fact, this album is a serious contender for the title of best head-nodding album ever made. It sounds great in headphones, and the beats are uniformly and uniquely interesting, constantly changing, never just looping. There's a hazy/smoky vibe in the air, evoking the ideal college dorm room. Cocolotica's standout track, though, is "Agalychnis Callidryas," a beautiful tune that merges Boards of Canada's sense of melody with Ulrich Schnauss' skill with beats. It is almost unfair to single out only a couple of the album's tracks, because each track, while perhaps structurally similar to the others, is so unique and compelling in its execution. This is one of 2005's better releases, and hopefully the start of something great from Kohe Mihara.

4 stars

Phil Western - "The Escapist"

Escapist, Phil Western's first solo work, does not, on the surface, sound like it was produced by the same person who was responsible for parts of Hilt and Download. It's too "normal" in comparison. But Western (aka DJ Philth), stripped of his more out-there collaborators (like Skinny Puppy's CEvin Key) and working here mostly by himself (with several guests on various tracks) sounds completely within his element. "I No Really" shows Western's industrial roots, with its clattering, metallic percussion, deep house bass, and samples of a woman undergoing some sort of surgery. Several tracks later, deep into the second half of the album, he kicks out "Full Moon," a 12-minute homage to Krautrock/house. Most of the album sounds entirely electronic, but violins (from Dan Handrabur and Michael Louw) appear, as do submerged vocals from Barb Kennedy. "Pleasures Gained" features droning vocals from Western's over dark-ambient/shoegaze soundscapes, and ends up encapsulating the psychedelic/anything-goes vibe of the whole album. Ethnic percussion, effected guitars, treated vocals -- everything including the kitchen sink. Recommended for anyone lucky enough to find a copy, Escapist will age well and remain a surprising experience upon repeated listening.

3.5 stars

Alex Skolnick Trio - "Transformation"

Alex Skolnick made his name as a six-string guitar slinger in the Bay Area thrash legends Testament. Apparently fed up with metal, he quit the band, went to music school, and hooked up with a couple of jazzers (Nathan Peck on double bass and Matt Zebroski on drums), with the idea of doing exploratory fusion-jazz, using the heavy metal songbook for standards (and inspiration) and not the "regular" (or, it could be argued, "over-covered") classic jazz songbook. This, their second album, features radically reworked versions of Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, and Ronnie James Dio, evenly balanced with some original compositions. And while this album is very well played, with excellent performances from all involved (especially Zebroski's work on "IMV/The Trooper" and Skolnick's guitar on "Money"), the album as a whole comes off much like works by the Bad Plus, that is, a well-executed gimmick. That may turn some listeners off, but how many dyed-in-the-wool metal fans are going to tolerate even one minute of what Spinal Tap termed a "jazz odyssey"? And how many dyed-in-the-wool jazz fans are going to seek out the original version of Priest's "Electric Eye" to do a comparison with the version here? Probably not too many. If you're somehow either one of these two extremes, this album will probably work for you, both in the background and on the headphones.

3.5 stars

Rhythm Buddies - "Thunderbird Suite"

King Crimson's rhythm section, Trey Gunn (Warr guitar) and Pat Mastelotto (electronic drums) pair up for 45 minutes of fearless prog rock improvisation on Thunderbird Suite. Split into three sections for easy indexing, the suite is billed on the back of the CD as "no overdubs! No edits! No bs!" and appears to have been recorded somewhere around 2002, a fertile time for the Crimson boys, who were working on The Power to Believe at the time. Mastelotto sets up numerous drum loops with one hand while embellishing them with the other, as Gunn works his way through his pedals and processors, playing both bass and lead parts on his Warr guitar. Changing moods as it progresses, Suite covers the full range of sound, from near-ambient textures to full-on jazz fusion, to what could be classified as intelligent dance music. The happy interplay between them rewards active listening and multiple replays with its many layers of percussion and overlapping melodies. One hundred percent necessary for fans of King Crimson and highly recommended for everyone else, Thunderbird Suite is an excellent release from a pair of highly skilled musicians who also work under the banner of TU.

4 stars

The Detroit Escalator Co. - "Black Buildings"

Neil Ollivierra takes a more clinical approach to Detroit techno on Black Buildings, but don't take that as a negative. Whereas Soundtrack (313) was based on field recordings of the city, this album exists outside of any specific geographic location, breaking free of the limitations inherent in the "Detroit techno" genre. Black Buildings is a subtle and simply fantastic slice of late-'90s ambient techno. Simple keyboard lines establish and then interweave, gentle bass and beats rumble around in the low end, and the generally blissful ambience of the album slowly permeates the room it is played in over 70 minutes. "Gathering Light" is a highlight, with a gentle but insistent melody line repeating over a soft, luxurious bed of synth pads. This is an excellent release from an artist who really should release more material.

3.5 stars

Acid Mothers Temple SWR

Acid Mothers Temple SWR ("Stone! Woman! Record!," according to the artwork) is a different beast than the regular Melting Paraiso ensemble. Makoto Kawabata joins Tsuyama Atsushi, on bass and vocals, and Yoshida Tatsuya, who brings a jazz feel to the drums. The liner notes state that this was recorded in a single ten-hour-long session, but the record does not feel like something that was jammed out onto tape. Although 13 titles are listed on the back cover, the tracks segue into each other almost seamlessly, as if they were movements in a single piece, similar in structure to one side of Faust's Tapes. To wit, the post-math rock guitar soloing on "Good Buddha" blends into the slinky bass drone/groove of "Mecochin of Love." Atsushi's chanting on that track meets a solo flute (uncredited as to who is playing it) and morphs into the stomping tribal space music of "Bad Buddha." And so on, for exactly 60 minutes. First it's acid rock, then it's Beefheart in Japan, then freak-folk, then a head-shaking feedback assault. And of course, it's all great. The SWR lineup appears to be a one-off, but one would hope that they would record again, as this record is one of the most diverse and accessible offerings that exists in the extensive Acid Mothers canon. As such, it is highly recommended for newcomers as an easy in.

3.5 stars

Acid Mothers Temple - "Last Concert In Tokyo"

Bye-bye hi-fi. High fidelity, that is. For this, the umpteenth live release from Acid Mothers Temple, exists not as a less-than-perfect document of a raucous live show, but as the audio equivalent of the sludge that gets squeegeed from the floor after a raucous live show. Drums blur into static, the bass is occasionally audible, but the guitar is lost. The most prominent instruments on this recording appear to be Cotton Casino and Higashi Hiroshi's synthesizers. Pushing the tolerance of even the hardcore collector, Last Concert in Tokyo sounds like Merzbow, in that every "melody" is subsumed by complete noise and overdriven microphones. And that's a shame, because when Acid Mothers are on, they're on, and this sounds like a show where they were really feeling it. But it is absolutely no pleasure to listen to, for the low-quality mono recording and the annoyance of having four tracks listed on the back cover, but all are indexed as one long track. Avoid.

1 star

Acid Mothers Temple - "Minstrel In The Galaxy"

Minstrel in the Galaxy exists in another universe from the rest of the AMT catalog, being one of their most restrained and spacy releases. Joined by Oni and Pikachu, the two vixens from Afrirampo, on vocals, usual suspects Tsuyama Atsushi (on bass, vocals, and acoustic guitar), Higashi Hiroshi (on synths and guitar), Koizumi Hajime (drummer extraordinaire), and Kawabata Makoto (on guitar, bouzouki, sarangi, and tamoura) keep things very quiet. Sounding as if Scorn covered Pink Floyd's "Echoes," this record documents a rare exercise for the band. And a well-executed exercise, as well. Building over the course of its near 40-minute running time, the title track starts off in a cold, distant part of the galaxy, but slowly heats up, first with Hiroshi's keys, then Atsushi's Krautrock-groove bass, joined by Hajime's steadily more frenzied skins work and Makoto schooling the doubters with acid-drenched guitar soloing. And then, while you're not paying attention, the skies open and the band is in full freak-out mode that aligns itself with the sound AMT is famous for, before grooving back to Planet Earth. The record closes with a fantastic acoustic folk number, "St. Bel Canta," that again showcases a new face for the group, like interstellar psychedelic troubadours, in a way. A unique highlight in the extensive Acid Mothers catalog, Minstrel is recommended highly.

4 stars

Acid Mothers Temple - "Hypnotic Liquid Machine from the Golden Utopia"

Acid Mothers Temple aim for the title of Most Prolific Band Ever with this "single," yet another limited edition (1,000) and available only on tour. And "single" is in quotes because while consisting of only two tracks, this is AMT after all, so it tops out at an album-length 44 minutes of trademarked nutso-freakazoid psychedelia. Mainstays Kawabata Makoto, Tsuyama Atsushi, Higashi Hiroshi, and Koizumi Hajime are joined by second drummer Maruichi and Magic Aum Jiji, who is credited with Jew's harp and "erotic underground." The title track is a barely controllable beast, with two drummers fighting for rhythmic supremacy while everyone else solos at the same time. It is a totally raging, cacophonous freak-out noise until the middle section, where everything drops away except Jiji's bouncing-yet-droning Jew's harp, run through massive amounts of reverb and echo. And when the blood pressure has calmed and the sweat has started to dry off your mind, they all kick in again with Makoto just ripping his guitar strings to shreds, taking the Hendrixian guitar solo blueprint and burning it forever. Track two is a little more special, being a live jam/cover of Frank Zappa's "Willie the Pimp." For what it is worth, Makoto solidly apes Zappa's guitar tone and style, and whoever is on vocals does a serviceable Beefheart imitation. The track does suffer from low fidelity, but it only enhances the experience, lending it a bootleg ambience. For both music and wrestling geeks, this song is credited to Captain Bret Heart and Terry Funk Zappa. An excellent release, but it will probably be hard to find as time goes by.

4 stars

Clock DVA - "Sign"

Clock DVA is best appreciated in the context of Kraftwerk, such that the band takes the man-machine aesthetic of Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider and pushes it into a less romanticized, more clinical computer age. Through albums like Advantage, Buried Dreams, and Man-Amplified, Clock DVA evolved from an industrial-soul band into the true inheritors of the Kraftwerkian machines-make-music mantle. Sign appears to be their final and hence definitive statement, and it shows the evolution of the cyber-ideas that Adi Newton has espoused throughout his career. Man-Amplified sounded very cold and sterile; Digital Soundtracks less so. Sign, however, introduces a warmth and feeling into the sound, proving that machines are truly complete when they can feel emotion. "Signal" brings everything to the table, warm synthesizer tones and samples of NASA astronauts talking about the overwhelming emotions they felt on various Apollo missions. "Re-Entry" brings a guitar into the mix, further humanizing Clock's electronics through human hands. "Return to Blue" is the most human-sounding track on the album, perhaps in the band's oeuvre, with a melancholy vocal track and piano line. Sometimes it is forgotten that "techno" is short for "technology," but Clock always keeps that idea in the foreground. "Voice Recognition Test" and "Eternity" hark back to the Man-Amplified sound that Clock is most known for, with arpeggiating synths and an incessant beat. Casual fans of industrial and electronic music will want to pick this up, and it is essential for the discriminating techno-geek.

3.5 stars

Julian Cope - "Citizen Cain'd"

Well, it's not pop music, for those expecting such. Interpreter was the last pop-oriented album from Liverpool's psychedelic genius Julian Cope, in 1996. In the intervening nine years, it seemed like he'd turned his attentions away from music almost completely, especially after the release of his book The Modern Antiquarian. After that, it was year after interminable year of hearing only that a new book was on the way, or an ambient album (Odin) or some less-than-great Krautrock/glam-freakage (An Audience With the Cope) would appear, frequently to disappoint. Which, in some perverse way, is okay, because it makes the excellent Citizen Cain'd even better. This is shamanic pop music of the highest, most lysergic order, existing in a universe where the Stooges conquered the Top Ten and new wave never happened. Embracing lo-fi production methods, Cope and band summon the spirit that infused the first MC5 record -- a live, first-takes-only mentality. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the second track, "I Can't Hardly Stand It," which solidifies Julian's garage rock credibility, with a punky garage rocker that pays homage to Cope's heroes the Monks, who incessantly recorded with all the meters firmly in the red. "Dying to Meet You" is also a great rocker, with some invigorating guitar leads and a barely controlled Julian on vocals. "Feels Like a Crying Shame" opens the second half of the album with almost 12 minutes of pure rock groove, with nimble drums keeping time as the acoustic and electric guitars move in and around each other, building and building over the length of the track. This is rock-as-trance music. All in all, an excellent return to song-based songwriting from the Drude, a good entry point for people new to the man, or to those who may have (briefly) lost the faith. [This album was released on two CDs, running under a total 72 minutes. The reason given at the time from Julian was that the album was too psychically exhausting as one piece, and split it up. And while one can appreciate the artist's experience of listening to his or her own work, it's kind of inconvenient to try to listen to in its entirety.]

4 stars

Robert Fripp - "November Suite: 1996 Soundscapes - Live at Green Park Station"

When Robert Fripp is away from King Crimson, truly magical things come from his guitar. In a solo context, Fripp presents Soundscapes, built on the tradition of Frippertronics, a mode of musical expression he pioneered with Brian Eno over the course of two albums in the 1970s, No Pussyfooting and Evening Star. Those early albums relied on actual physical loops of tape, adding new elements with each repetition. Such limitations no longer exist. Working here in the realm of one guitar, and many, many effects processors, Fripp produces tones and textures that one would not assume are coming from a guitar at all. In 1996, Fripp was invited to play in a converted railway station in Bath, England. For three hours he graced passers-by with his most easily classified as contemporary space music (such as is heard on the Hearts of Space radio show), deprecatingly described by Fripp as "bleeping and droning." In fact, its in the middle of these. A very gentle, almost ambient atmosphere slowly takes over any room that the album is playing in. Closer listening is rewarded -- there is a lot happening on a very slow schedule, similar to Eno's Thursday Afternoon album. This is a precis of the entire three-hour program that was presented, edited to include every note played, but not every repetition of the note, much like the early-'90s version of Philip Glass' Einstein on the Beach. This is definitely a release for fans of the guitarist, and for fans of space music in general.

4 stars

Thomas Fehlmann - "Good Fridge. Flowing: NineZeroNineEight"

Thomas Fehlmann is the Johnny Appleseed of the '90s electronic music scene. Through working with the Orb's Alex Patterson and Basic Channel's Moritz Von Oswald and producing Sun Electric and Eddie Flashin' Fowlkes, Fehlmann's signature can be found in a large amount of music at the end of that decade. Good Fridge is the summing-up of his activities in the decade of techno, crossing and cross-pollinating genres over the course of its 20 tracks. Straight-up dancefloor, dub, schaffel, ambient house; all are to be found here. And all are uniformly excellent, with a track-to-track mix that efficiently blends disparate tracks together into a seamless whole. Highlights include opener "Superfruhstuck," a bouncy dub-house track, the ambient bliss of "Hermosa," and "Schizophrenia," a collaboration with Von Oswald. Overall an excellent listening experience for fans of electronic music, and a decent introduction for new ears.

4 stars

Coil - "Stolen and Contaminated Songs"

Truly one of the highlights in an excellent catalog of work, Stolen and Contaminated Songs isn't even a proper "album," but a collection of outtakes from the Love's Secret Domain sessions. And what sessions they were to have such a wealth of superb material that was leftover. Showcasing Coil's diversity, the album veers from the orchestrated classicisms of "Original Chaostrophy" and "Corybantic Ennui" to the slow, mutant lounge shuffle of "Omlagus Garfungiloops" and the utter despair of "Who'll Fall?" The last track there is a highlight, a detuned guitar and phone line noises underscore a harrowing answering machine message from someone who's friend has just committed suicide. Haunting in its execution and utterly compelling. The peak of the album, and one of the band's best songs, "NASA-Arab," is placed in the middle of the album, and like the main pole in a circus tent, supports everything around it. Multiple swirling keyboard lines cross paths with a groovy bassline and the strangest syncopated drums on this planet. Close listening will bring about a trance-like state in the listener. This is a great album for people new to the magic of Coil, easier than Time Machines and better produced than Horse Rotorvator.

4.5 stars

Coil - "Unnatural History III"

The Unnatural History series attempts, much like Stereolab's Switched On series, to collect scattered EP and compilation tracks from throughout Coil's career. This one covers mostly early-'90s material, centering on songs recorded around Love's Secret Domain, but it also includes some rare tracks dating back to the mid-'80s. "First Dark Ride" and "Baby Food" are excellent long-form explorations into sound sculpture, not resembling "songs" per se, but atmospheres and textures. These are followed by the intriguing "Music for Commercials," 11 bits of incidental music used in adverts for products like natural gas, accident insurance, perfume, and analgesics. Peter Christopherson's background in commercial video production and album design probably played a hand in getting the work. Coil transcend any accusations of "selling out" by creating music that still has their imprimatur on it, but work in a commercial setting. Very unique and unlike anything else in the Coil catalog. Also included is "Feeder," collaboration with Chris & Cosey. One of the more creepy songs on the album, a solo piano and cello begin the piece but are buried under a wall of noisy dub effects and John Balance's unearthly vocals, only to re-appear playing a twisted slow waltz. In Coil's extensive discography, this is a standout, but probably not the best place for neophytes, who would be better served by Love's Secret Domain or Stolen and Contaminated Songs.

4 stars

Coil - "Live One"

In 2000, Coil shocked their fans by announcing a live concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This was to be, essentially, their first live performance, having had some abortive live shows in the very early 1980s. And so it was that on April 2 of that year, John Balance, Peter Christopherson, Ossian Brown, and Thighpaulsandra took the stage. What came forth was 50-or-so minutes of slowly undulating electronic drone, subtly shifting oscillating synthesizers and tapes of Thighpaulsandra's mother, opera singer Dorothy Lewis. Titled "The Industrial Use of Semen Will Revolutionise the Human Race," the concert is broken into three pieces, two of which, "Everything Keeps Dissolving" and "Chasms" make their debut appearance. "Chasms" evokes the spirit of early Tangerine Dream, with a melody and ambience that could appear as an outtake of Electronic Meditation. This set is not song-oriented at all, leaning towards the Time Machines album for source material and inspiration. It would be the first of a handful of times that Coil would appear so ambient. As such, Balance does not sing during this concert. The second disc documents a performance just two months later at the Sonar Festival in Barcelona, featuring the same three tracks but appending three new ones (two of which, "The Universe Is a Haunted House" and "Elves" make their debut here). Coil also adds William Breeze on viola to the group. His contribution is showcased on an ambient version of "Amethyst Deceivers" (which appears, incidentally, in four different versions over the course of the Live series), which is markedly different from its studio version. And whereas the first disc of the set is impeccably recorded, the second show suffers from a non-soundboard bootleg source tape. At times, conversations in the audience are audible, and there is some distortion as well. It should be noted that the first disc of this set was released previously, as a bonus CD for fans who mail-ordered Musick to Play in the Dark Volume 2. While probably not the first live Coil album to buy, this is a useful documentation of the beginning of this extremely short-lived phase.

3.5 stars

Coil - "Live Two"

Live Two, recorded September 15, 2001 focuses on Coil's more challenging, dissonant, and aggressive material they were producing at the time on albums such as Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil and the "Restitution of Decayed Intelligence" EP. Coil are at this point John Balance, Peter Christopherson, Thighpaulsandra, and Tom Edwards. Balance takes the spotlight as vocalist this time, appearing on all tracks. This is as opposed to Live One, where vocals were almost non-existent. The set features only one otherwise-unreleased track, the brutal electronic workout "What Kind of Animal Are You?." Balance rants and raves through this, at one point proclaiming himself a salamander, at others a dog. Make of it what you will, but it is compelling stuff. Coil resurrect "Blood From the Air," which dates back to Horse Rotorvator, in a new, almost lounge version. The set closes with the incredibly intense power electronics of "Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil," sixteen minutes of circulating drone and tortured vocals. This is unforgiving music, not for the timid, but rewarding for Coil fans and fans of experimental music.

3.5 stars

Coil - "Live Three"

Coil's Live Three is a show from Bologna, in 2002. At the time, Thighpaulsandra was on leave from Coil, touring with Spiritualized. In his place, John Balance, Peter Christopherson and Ossian Brown brought in Mike York and Cliff Stapleton. York's Hurdy Gurdy and Stapleton's Breton Pipes bring a wonderful new element to Coil's sound, a subtle feeling that everything is slightly unstable or askew. This time, three otherwise unavailable tracks appear, making this album essential for fans. "Anarcadia: All Horned Animals" is a ritual invocation to the muse, a dark-ambient beginning to the show, similar to the "Zwolf" EP by Coil's alter-ego ELpH. "Sick Mirrors (Version)" is a tribal percussion piece with Middle Eastern melodies and Balance's signature spoken-sung vocals. "Backwards, " the title track to the lost album that was to appear on Trent Reznor's nothing label, is a great groover, with a bouncing bassline and an absolutely ranting Balance in full-command of the stage. Of the unreleased tracks on all four live tracks, this is the best. Definitely worth picking up for both casual and hardcore fans.

4 stars

Projekct Four (King Crimson) - "West Coast Live"

ProjeKct Four, the final "fractalization" (but, enigmatically, the third to be performed publicly) of King Crimson, is mainstay Robert Fripp, Trey Gunn, Pat Mastelotto, and Tony Levin. Where ProjeKct One (subtract Mastelotto, add Bill Bruford on drums) ventured deep into space-jazz territory, and ProjeKct Three (again, subtract Mastelotto from the ensemble, but this time add no one) explored the improvisatory possibilities of the power trio; ProjeKct Four is a full-out stomping, raging beast of a band. The bulk of the album is one long track, "Ghost," split into eight distinct sections, four of each acting as bookends of the album. Obviously improvised, the collective falter occasionally, but for the most part skip across genres with nimble acuity. Gunn and Fripp trade solos, Mastelotto creates percussion loops on the fly with one hand while playing around a beat with the other, and Levin holds everything together with one of the fattest bass tones he's ever recorded. "Deception of the Thrush" appears as well, and it's a fantastic rendition, easily outstripping Crimson's version on the "Level Five" EP. Fripp's solo on this track, which is beautiful on other renditions of the song, is truly breath-taking here. Add Levin's groovy bass and Mastelotto's slow pounding to the mix, and this easily becomes of the best tracks produced by any of the Projekcts. While the accusation of "noodling" could be leveled at any of the Projekcts (One, especially), ProjeKct Four is probably the least noodly of them all. For Crimson fans, this is an essential purchase, for everyone else, you could do a lot worse. This is excellent stuff.

4 stars

Projekct Three (King Crimson) - "Masque"

For the uninitiated, here's the story again: Robert Fripp decides to break up the six-man, "double-trio" configuration of King Crimson into smaller units to improvise in a live setting around the country in various permutations of membership. ProjeKct Three, which existed for a one-week tour of Austin Texas in 1999, included Fripp on guitar, Trey Gunn on touch guitar and talker, and Pat Mastelotto on "electronic traps & buttons," i.e., electronic percussion and loops. As represented on Masque, they were quite a beast to behold. Combining the space of ProjeKct One and the full-on rage of ProjeKct Four (both featuring Tony Levin, natch), Masque starts out with the skronk of "One" and then navigates through 12 more untitled but numbered tracks, through the furthest reaches of improvised rock music. Truly, these three individuals, working as a unit, produced some of the most revelatory live rock & roll being produced in the late 1990s. Incorporating Fripp's patented soundscapes and gentle, searching bass from Gunn, "Two" is a subtle groover with an excellent solo from Fripp. While the aim of the ProjeKct was to research new material for Crimson to use when it reunited (as it did, in 2000 for ConstruKction of Light), Three does not appear to contain much that turned up on that album, except for "Nine," which is an embryonic version of "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum." Compared with the final live show of ProjeKct Three that was released as part of the King Crimson Collector's Club series, this CD must fall a little short, but only for the reason that Mastelotto edited together aspects of different performances to create new tracks. As such, the album is not a true representation of what the band sounded like live, but is still excellent.

3.5 stars

The KLF - "Waiting For The Rites of Mu"

This disc comprises the soundtracks to two short films created by Jimi Cauty and Bill Drummond, aka the KLF. First is "Waiting," a 42-minute "ambient video" where not much happens. Not much happens on the soundtrack, either. Snatches of KLF/Justified Ancients of Mu Mu material, Jimi Hendrix, church choirs, and much more all appear in the mix. But, divorced from the visuals of the film, there appears to be no coherence, no reason for the sounds that appear to appear when they do. When compared against the ambient house classic Chill Out, this is the red-headed step-child, unwanted and unloved. The second track is the soundtrack to The Rites of Mu, and appears to be narrated by Martin Sheen, doing his best to ape his narration from Apocalypse Now. Again, elements from previous KLF / JAMMS tracks appear in the mix, but in a more musical fashion than "Waiting." Ominous synths and a woman's choir underscore a tale spun by the narrator of a journalist traveling to the Isle of Jura to act as participant in the mysterious "Rites of Mu," which resemble something taken from The Wicker Man. Not for casual fans of the KLF, and probably not for fans who haven't seen the films these are the soundtracks for; this album remains a small disappointment when compared with the rest of the brilliant catalog that Cauty and Drummond have created, both together and apart.

2.5 stars

"Monsters Robots and Bug Men"

Post-rock was still somewhat young when Monsters, Robots and Bug Men came along, and this compilation, subtitled "A User's Guide to the Rock Hinterland," is a real peach, showcasing bands from all over the musical map that somehow magically fall under the "post-rock" umbrella, from the shoegazing of Bowery Electric, Bardo Pond, and Jessamine to the mutant-dub of God and Godflesh, to the ambient drift of Flying Saucer Attack and Labradford. And while continuously mixed, the track order is mildly schizophrenic. But that's the point. In a post-rock world, the sunny psychedelic pop of Mercury Rev's "Everlasting Arm" can meld seamlessly into Flying Saucer Attack's dark-ambient "Feedback Song." Stereolab's motorik mantra "Les Yper-Yper Sound" can slide into Cul de Sac's Can homage, "Doldrums" and no one bats an eye. Nor should they. Attempting to condense a genre that encompasses everything into 155 minutes is a thankless task, but this album acquits itself admirably. While the compilation suffers from the fact that all of its tracks are readily available elsewhere, this is a great introduction to the genre.

3.5 stars

Tony Fink - "Mayowulf"

Detroiter Tony Fink, shedding his grunge-band past, makes a major leap into the singer/songwriter mainstream with Mayowulf, his first solo effort. He is joined by a host of Detroit scenesters such as Jamie Monger and Scott McClintock from the Great Lakes Myth Society and Adam Walker from the Twilight Babies. Fink's accomplished acoustic guitar work is enhanced with guests on harmonica, bass, drums, synthesizers, bowed handsaw, and a 1970 Volvo for percussion. Showing maturity both in its music and in its lyrics, this is an album that speaks of an aging sensibility, an awareness of the passage of time and its broken hearts, hopes, and loves. "Becoming Petrified" brings the theme to light, with its opening stanza, "I am the light in the rain/I am no stranger than pain/I am a startling whisper/I am a cold blooded shiver." Fink's mournful vocals soar over a delicately plucked acoustic guitar and Nate Bynum's bass. "Strung-Over, Hung Out" is another track with a similar theme. It's a song of regret about binging on alcohol, and the ramifications of one's actions. "I know its getting bad when I can't make it to work til eleven/I don't even think I crashed until quarter to seven." But the tone of the album is not a sad marking of the passage of time, there's a definite charm in the grooves. "Skankz Need Jesus" tells the story of a man who had his heart broken by a less-than-perfect woman who needed some religious counseling. Of course, in Fink's vernacular, its much funnier. "The Rest You Want" begins with a mile-a-minute rap about waiting tables before changing into a driving guitar, bass and drum jam, reminiscent of Julian Cope's "Kolly Kibber's Birthday," topped off with a Spanish trumpet line from Ryan Nolan that kicks the track into the upper reaches of godhead. "Estelle," which follows, begins with Fink summing up the previous track with a spoken "that was great" before plucking a simple acoustic melody that is picked up by Bynum's banjo and percussion created by hitting various parts of Fink's car. Yes, it's a love song to a car, and with the subtle word play, becomes one of the highlights of the album. Mayowulf is an excellent example of a songwriter having found his feet and heading out for a long walk to use them.

4.5 stars

A Silver Mt. Zion - "This is Our Punk Rock Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing"

Things just keep getting bigger with A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. This album, their third, sees another incremental change in the band name, and a bump in membership. Though still the core septet from their previous effort, they are joined this time by a 22-member choir. So, with the change in the makeup of the band comes a change in their sound. And on This Is Our Punk-Rock Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, A Silver Mt. Zion have finally gotten huge. Opening track "Sow Some Lonesome Corner So Many Flowers Bloom" moves the group out of the shadow of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and into their own. The choir take the front of the stage, singing simple "fa-la-la" lyrics in a dramatic melodic progression, expressing a purpose in ways that Godspeed has only hinted at. Halfway through the choir stops and are replaced by a guitar and violin duet that swims in the melancholy waters of the first album, before erupting into a majestic climax with a full band. Whereas in the past the band has refrained from really delivering on a build-up, here all caution is thrown to the wind and it is comparable to the highest peaks of the GYBE! discography. The remaining tracks all feature Efrim on vocals, his cracked voice recalling Will Oldham's Palace, with an Appalachian folk vibe running throughout. Granted, this would be folk music of the saddest sort, but paired with a Quebecois' hopefulness in place of American despair. This Is Our Punk-Rock is the most satisfying and rewarding album that A Silver Mt. Zion have delivered.

Mark Van Hoen - "Playing With Time"

One of the more underappreciated artists in the British electronica scene, Mark Van Hoen states his case for the defense of the genre with Playing With Time. Firmly in the late-'90s lush-ambient sound (that he helped establish through his work with Seefeel, Scala, and Locust), the album is a collection of generally short tracks (all but two under five minutes), each with a distinct mood. Perfectly sequenced, the album begins with "Real Love," featuring the heavily processed vocals of Holli Ashton (who appeared on Locust's Morning Light album) over a sparse dark ambient background, highly reminiscent of early Seefeel. While not continuously mixed, the tracks have distinct ebb and flow between them, carrying one over to another while simultaneously having distinct beginnings and endings. An ambient piece will be followed by a more beat-oriented track, and then something in between. The album closes with a majestic trilogy, "When Tomorrow Comes," "Love Is All" and an unnamed track. "Tomorrow" is a majestic keyboard / faux-orchestral piece, and fades seamlessly into "Love Is All," the other track on the record with vocals, this time from Lisa Millet. Van Hoen treats the vocal with heavy echo, delay, and other DSP effects to weave a tapestry of true subtle, shimmering beauty. The untitled closing track places the listener in ambient territory staked out decades previous by Brian Eno. Composed of several simple piano loops and a simple electronic bassline, the track is set in motion and allows the loops to play off and against each other over the course of its 30 minutes. This is a good album for newcomers to electronic music, as it is melodic, danceable, and chilled out, all in the space of 78 minutes.

4 stars

Solarus - "Empty Nature"

Solarus is a chance for Namanax's Kipp Johnson and Bill Yurkiewicz to leave behind, for a moment, their wall-of-noise power electronics and step into what sounds like a Scorn cover band. Empty Nature is steeped in the detuned, bass heavy, slow dub of Mick Harris' project, and does not distinguish itself from its contemporaries in any fashion. The entire album is glacially paced, with echo-treated bass and what sounds like Kraftwerk's drum machine set to "boring." The appearance of mixer and producer James Plotkin livens things up, and a spoken word sample appears to give each track some means of distinguishing each from another. The credits to the album indicate that Yurkiewicz is responsible for vocals, but where those are on the album is open to question. "Whipspawn 2" is one of the more enjoyable tracks, but ruined by the sample "we will live in labor camps, we shall toil, and sweat, and die," which is repeated six times, as if the intent is to stop you from chilling out to the record, and to bum you out. The closing track, "Sunyata," however, is a real treat. Clocking in at over ten minutes, and without a buzz-killing sample in it, Johnson's bass finds a groove and Plotkin picks out a gentle melodic progression that recalls some of the Edge's early atmospheric work with U2. It seems that around the time of this release, electronic dub was around every corner, but so few of the artists made any impact (the aforementioned Scorn, Twilight Circus Dub Sound System), and most of the genre's albums are now relegated to the used bin at specialty record stores. This is one of those. For those who can't get enough minimal electronic dub (and own the Scorn discography), this is one worth picking up, otherwise you can safely pass.

Pink Floyd - "Early Singles" (Bootleg)

Early Singles does not strike the casual fan as something worth searching for, as the track listing is markedly similar to an official Pink Floyd release, the singles CD included with the Shine On box set. However, two things set the official release apart from this bootleg. Early Singles drops "The Scarecrow," the B-side to "See Emily Play,"" and adds two true lost gems, the Barrett-penned "Vegetable Man" and "Scream Thy Last Scream." "Vegetable Man" marks the beginning of the end of Syd Barrett as a coherent songwriter, with depressingly mundane lyrics ("In my paisley shirt I look a jerk/And my turquoise waistcoat is quite out of sight/But oh oh my haircut looks so bad") and an off-time vocal line. But at the same time, it's a real scream to hear the band run completely off the rails, especially considering how tightly composed their tracks would become in the near future. "Scream Thy Last Scream" also features a familiar Barrett trope, that of the guitar following the vocal line in the verse, and an instrumental middle section dominated by Rick Wright's keyboards. Both tracks beg the question -- just who thought these would have been commercial singles? Apparently no one at the label, as they were pulled from release and were never issued. While being markedly uncommercial for the time, they were massively influential to the lucky songwriters who found bootlegs of them at a young age (think Robyn Hitchcock, for starters). Also of note on Early Singles is the Wright penned "It Would Be So Nice," a perfect slice of forgotten late-'60s pop, comparable to nothing else in the Floyd catalog, and one of the only tracks that "Rick Wright" got sole writing credit for (the other being the ponderous and ultimately forgettable "Paintbox"). Be aware, the sound quality on some of the tracks is quite rough, and in places the sound of vinyl crackles is audible.

3.5 Stars

Masters of Reality - "Deep In The Hole"

2001's Deep in the Hole is a return to form after 1999's creative cul-de-sac, Welcome to the Western Lodge. Deep brings together seriously driving stoner rock ("third man on the moon," "shotgun son"), chilly blues ("roof of the shed"), and some Sabbath-y sludge ("Scatagoria") into a statement of purpose that matches the band's classic Sunrise on the Sufferbus. All the classic elements are here -- obscure and funny lyrics ("now I am a cat/what you think about that/ nerve unraveller"), precise vocal harmonies, and the trademark guitar of Chris Goss. Paired down to a duo of Goss and Surgery's John Leamy on drums, the band is joined by Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri, Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan, and many others. Always one of America's most criminally underappreciated bands, Masters of Reality here bring their A-game to the plate, with solid songwriting (compared to Welcome), and strong performances. "Counting Horses" could be one of the great lost the The songs. The title track evokes the spirit of the Doors collaborating with Dr. John. Highly recommended for fans of stoner metal (Queens, Kyuss, etc.), and a great way to discover the peculiar genius of this wonderful band.

4.5 stars

Skinny Puppy - "Doomsday: Back and Forth Vol. 5"

Skinny Puppy reunited for a one-off reunion concert in 2000, five years after the release of The Process, the death of keyboardist Dwayne Goettel, and the breakup of the band. The question of whether founding members Ogre and Cevin Key could pull off the Skinny Puppy live experience without Goettel is answered on Doomsday, a record of their concert at the Doomsday Festival in Dresden Germany. The duo acquit themselves nicely, performing all the "hits," "Worlock," "Testure," "Dig It," "Tin Omen," and others in a manner which reveals new textures and details while retaining the excitement and meticulous production of original studio versions. Ogre's voice is in fine form throughout, and Key's electronic backing tapes and live electronics are precise. Missing, however, is any new material, or anything from The Process (apparently due to copyright restrictions and not artistic choice, as two tracks from the album were played at the festival). As a live greatest hits album, Doomsday is recommended, especially for someone new to Skinny Puppy, and longtime fans as well.

3 stars

Projekct One (King Crimson) - "Live at the Jazz Cafe"

In 1997, the six-member King Crimson did not break up, but broke apart and reformed into four distinct groups, titled Projekts One through our, with the aim of generating material to be used and reconfigured when Crimson officially restarted. Each had a different grouping of the six members, and each its own unique character and sound. Projekct One consisted of Bill Bruford on drums, Tony Levin on bass, Trey Gunn on touch guitar, and Robert Fripp on guitar. Projekct One's existence was limited to a four-night stand at the Jazz Café in London, with all four nights of music being entirely improvised, without the band even rehearsing together. This album represents a band-picked "best" of those four nights, and while comparable to the power of the King Crimson brand name, stands as its own unique animal. Some tracks call to mind the 1973-era Crimson ("4 i 1"), others the 1980s version ("3 i 2"). But tracks like the near-industrial "4 ii 2" or "2 ii 4" (decipher the track names if you please) point to the direction that Crimson was about to take with its subsequent album The Construkction of Light. "2 ii 3" is a standout track here. It's a gentle Fripp soundscape piece, with a beautiful solo, reminiscent of some of his more ambient work with David Sylvian. As part of the very worthy Projekcts box set, this is the highlight, something that fans of Crimson should seek out. It's also excellent for fans of the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants sound of live improvised music.

3 stars

Main - "Transiency"

Main has always been an exercise in minimalism, and Transiency continues the exercise in a most clinical fashion. Robert Hampson, formerly of drone rockers Loop, appears to have completely forsaken the guitar as his instrument. In fact, he seems to have forsaken all instruments. Transiency comprises four short pieces, totaling less than 20 minutes, and appears to contain found-sound samples that run through some extensive digital signal processing. All traces of melody or rhythm are forsaken, left behind in the digital detritus, and what is left behind sounds more like something that was music, but is no longer, similar to the isolationist ambience of Lustmord or Indicate, Hampson's project with Jim O'Rourke. While not musical in the traditional sense of the words, for those with more avant-garde tastes, this fits the bill.

Sun Electric - "30.7.94"

Recorded live at Orstedparken, Copenhagen on the date specified in the title, Sun Electric switch gears from their previous albums Kitchen and Aaah!, to present a completely ambient, mostly beatless musical environment. Whereas earlier records had presented lush synths and electro beats, and future releases would feature drum n' bass beats with a side of ambient, this album presents full-on sumptuous ambience in the vein of Global Communication's 76:14 or Brian Eno's Ambient 4: On Land. Tom Thiel and Max Loderbauer are completely at the top of their game here, effortlessly generating and mixing loops for over 60 minutes into a seamless tapestry of sound. Repeating keyboard motifs, subtle percussion, and a sample from "A Hard Day's Night" are joined together in the meticulously constructed "Castor & Pollux," the highlight of the concert. This is truly an ambient classic, one of the greatest of the genre, and an excellent place for those new to ambient music to start.

4.5 stars

Nurse With Wound - "Spiral Insana"

Spiral Insana is one continuous piece of music, indexed over three tracks (on the compact disc), with 20 track titles listed on the cover. Such is Steven Stapleton's Nurse With Wound. And it's just as well, because the music inside, more ambient and user-friendly than on other NWW outings, is still just as surreal and avant-garde as the rest of the catalog. Here, Stapleton and guests Robert Haigh, David Jackman, and Chris Wallis mix bowed piano, percussion, a radio, loops, and what is credited on the sleeve as "stuff" together into an hour-long collage of mashed-up sounds, jarring juxtapositions, buzzsaw distortion and even a pipe organ. If that sounds disorienting, that's because it is, both in description and execution. Nurse With Wound has always had a unique sound and vibe on their records, and Spiral Insana carries on in that tradition. While not as ambient and single minded in tone as the drone masterpiece Soliloquy For Lillith or as jarring as the industrial dada of Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella, Spiral Insana is as good a place as any to start with the Nurse With Wound catalog. Like the proverbial box of chocolates, you're never quite sure what you're going to bite into.

2.5 stars

Kruder & Dorfmeister - G Stone Book

Kruder & Dorfmeister, the shining stars of the downtempo scene and owners of the G-Stone label, celebrate the first ten years of their label with the deluxe release G Stone Book, a compilation CD and a 336-page book of photos, essays, and tour diaries. Not a true label best-of (how can it be without "Original Bedroom Rockers" from K&D's landmark G Stoned EP?), G Stone Book is a sampler of various side projects of the duo, such as Kruder's Peace Orchestra, Dorfmeister's Tosca, and the duo's solo releases. Some tracks from other G Stone artists are featured as well, especially the creeping trip-funk experience of Walkner-Moestl's "Shades." There's no rare material present; every track is readily available on other releases, making this release something for newcomers looking for that nonexistent full-length K&D record. While this compilation is not for the punters looking for some rare grooves, it nevertheless is an adequate compilation of some excellent trip-hop and acid jazz from two of the masters of the genre.

3 stars

William Basinski - "Disintegration Loops III"

William Basinski probably did not intend to make a requiem for New York City on September 11, 2001, but in a monumental coincidence, he has. On that morning, Basinski was transferring some analog tape loops that he had created in the 1980s into a digital format. What he found while playing the tapes is that because of their age and the instability of magnetic tape over long periods of time, the tape itself was literally disintegrating. Each time he would play the loop, bits of iron oxide would fall from the tape and the music on it would sound more fragmented during the next repetition. "dlp4" is the more compelling of the two: a simple piano and string melody is mangled by the forces of time and entropy, decaying by the end of a short 20 minutes into fragments of sound emerging only to be suddenly cut short and replaced by complete silence. It is the true sound of deconstruction, the slow but relentless death of beauty over time. "dlp5," clocking in at 52 minutes, is a much simpler orchestral melody than "dlp4," and decomposes in a subtler manner. The music becomes more and more muddy as it loops, with less overt damage to the tape. Remarkably, the piece retains its structure until the very end of the piece, where the melody truly begins to fracture and become consumed by silence. While structurally similar to the rest of the Disintegration Loops series, this volume is more accessible than the others.

The Bionaut - "Lush-Life Electronica"

Just as the Cologne, Germany, sound was picking up speed, Jörg Burger, under his Bionaut alias, released Lush Life Electronica and set a new high watermark for the IDM scene. The album is perfectly described by its title, with lush and lively synthesizers, groovy beats, and a gentle trip-hop/trance vibe that works both on the dancefloor and in the living room. Like Please Teenage! or Lubricate Your Living Room (which grabs several tracks from this release), Lush Life Electronica is easy-to-swallow techno. "Second Hand Furniture" encapsulates the Bionaut sound in a single track -- a simple keyboard and bass motif repeated with brushed drums and gentle melodic flourishes. "The Recipe" recalls Burger's work with Mike Ink under the Burger/Ink moniker, with a pulsing bass and subtle evolving synth pads. Whereas some Burger-related projects fall into the house category (the Modernist) and others into the avant dance category (Burger/Ink), the Bionaut releases, this one in particular, are excellent examples of the minimal techno scene.

3 stars

John Carpenter - "Halloween: The Best of John Carpenter"

Director John Carpenter is one of the few filmmakers who score his own films. From Assault on Precinct 13 up through Ghosts of Mars, Carpenter has filled out his films with his signature lo-fi (but high-quality) theme music. This disc covers his early film career, with themes and cues from Halloween, Dark Star, Escape from New York, and Big Trouble in Little China, among others. "Escape from New York" sounds like an early-'80s Tangerine Dream with its keyboard arpeggios and ominous vibe. "Big Trouble in Little China" is more upbeat, with guitar synths playing an Eastern-tinged riff over a driving bassline. Of special note is "Halloween," the supreme horror movie theme, with the classic piano line that is just as scary without the film's visuals. The disc contains two completely unnecessary remixes of the Assault on Precinct 13 title theme, which sound only marginally different from the original. The full soundtracks for each of these films are far superior, but this is a decent collection for someone just looking for highlights.

2.5 stars

Gescom - "Iss:Sa"

Released the same day as Autechre's Draft 7.30, the Iss:Sa EP from Gescom sounds not like outtakes from Autechre's album, but outtakes from the same sessions. And that's fine, because Sean Booth and Rob Brown, the Autechre boys, are also major players in Gescom. The album starts off promisingly with the title track, firmly in the IDM vein, featuring a squelching hollow-sounding bass, minor-key synth pads, and no cohesive melody. "Tangle III" has nice (albeit confusing) syncopation between the bass and the signature Booth/Brown hip-hop beats. "Tr2a" brings full-on glitch, with beats sounding like Akufen, off kilter but not off base. "Slow Acid" features a straightforward beat and bassline warping in on itself as electro keyboards make it funky. "Megamix," the nearly 15-minute closer, has a nice atmosphere, but it changes into a plodding stomper with minimal melody, and is not the best way to round out what feels like an overlong EP. Not the best place for beginners, this release is for completists only.

Coil - "Live Four"

Coil avoided playing live for so much of their life that many fans had given up on the possibility of seeing them perform in public. That all changed in 2001, and Coil released a series of four concert recordings, documenting the evolution of the live Coil experience. Live Four, recorded in Prague and Vienna in 2002, features the best sound quality of the series, and a compelling performance from John Balance, Peter Christopherson, Thighpaulsandra, and Ossian Brown, also known as Ossian Sex Shop. The album begins with a one-two punch: the incantatory "I Am Angie Bowie (Sine Waves)" leading into "Last Rites of Spring," which is filled with creepy synths, lurching and glowering like a malevolent spirit finally made flesh. The piece rotates around itself, never really seeming to progress, but constantly is turning in on itself. "Are You Shivering?" continues the creepy synth vibe, descending violins or hurdy-gurdies channeling the spirit of Norma Desmond at the end of Sunset Boulevard. The highlight of the concert is "Amethyst Deceivers." It has a spacy atmosphere, all bouncing-ball bass and tinkling piano. Ossian's hurdy-gurdy also plays in well on the track, directly leading to the climax of the piece. And surprisingly, they do a spectacularly moving cover version of "Bang Bang," written by Sonny Bono and sung most memorably in a previous version by Nancy Sinatra. This album is a highlight not only of the Live series, but also of the Coil catalog.

4.5 stars

Clock DVA - "Digital Soundtracks"

Clock DVA's Digital Soundtracks is another step in the progression of the band's signature cybertronic electro sound, moving away from the funereal dirges of Buried Dreams and toward the techno sonatas of Man-Amplified. The album was recorded in between the two but was released after Man, and further illustrates the changes that were happening both for electronic music as a genre and for Clock DVA. This album is the logical progression of the cyborg-as-musician concept that Kraftwerk abandoned when they went on hiatus during the 1990s. Precise keyboard and drum loops interweave and cycle around each other, as Adi Newton explores the interface between man and machine in a lyrical context. This is illustrated in "Cycom," a sweeping cinematic track full of epic synthesizer washes and Orwellian/technology-oriented samples. While most tracks are highly repetitive, Clock DVA manages to carefully walk the line between compelling music and an endless cycling of loops. Some tracks work well on the dancefloor, but this album as a whole is more suited to a pair of headphones late at night. For those interested in the more robotic-sounding period of Clock DVA's career, this is a good place to start.

4 stars

"All Tomorrow's Parties Vol. 3 - Autechre Curated"

The key to this souvenir from the All Tomorrow's Parties festival from 2003 is in the second part of the title, Autechre Curated. The tastemakers of the avant-garde electronic music scene have brought together a collection of artists from different schools of modern music who are, like Autechre, pushing boundaries and exploring new realms of sound. This series of collections from the festivals has only been getting better (see Volume 1.1, 2.0, and even the excellent 1.0 for more), and this release again expands (it's a double disc this time) and improves upon what has come before. Autechre have professed their love of hip-hop, which is well represented with contributions from Public Enemy, Masters of Illusion, and Dr. Dooom. The IDM scene is also well documented; tracks from Bola, Disjecta, Baby Ford, and others (including Autechre themselves, and their alter ego, Gescom). And Jim O'Rourke holds the torch for the avant-garde with his contribution, "Call Up on Your Sisters," along with tracks from O.S.T. and Pita. The selection of artists cannot be doubted. This is the strongest of the ATP compilations yet in that the artists involved are all searching for what is next with their sound, and their experiments are for the most part successful (although, to be fair, Anthony "Shake" Shakir's drum'n'bass sounds a little tired, and Hecker's DSP/glitch weighs in on the uninspired side). For those not familiar with the electronic music scene as it stood in 2003, this compilation provides an accurate and engaging snapshot of the time as it was, and will become essential as that time passes by.

3 stars

13th Hour - "Demons and Angels"

In the liner notes to Demons & Angels, there is a quote from Meister Eckhart, "If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see demons tearing your life away. If you've made your peace, then the demons are really angels, freeing you from the earth." And this is perhaps the best framework through which to view this album. Jason Snell (aka 13th Hour, Bombardier) has created a collection of dirty electro-industrial beats and bass that may initially be perceived as ugly, noisy, and violent. But, submitting to the power of the record, making one's peace, as it were, the beauty underneath the surface rises, and is a wonder to behold. And like most hardcore breakbeat artists, it sounds great loud. Opener "Pandora's Box" is a remix, of a sort, of Venetian Snares' "Intense Demonic Attacks," and sets the mood of the record off right, with its crashing metallic percussion and descending bass riff battling each other for the high ground in the mix. The album contains no lyrics, but there are samples from which to grasp at Snell's intent, such as the ever popular source for ominous samples, Apocalypse Now, which provides Martin Sheen's existential musings from the beginning of the film as a lead-in to the highlight of the album, "Less Than Zero." The intense, driving rhythm of the track echoes Brad Fiedel's main theme to The Terminator, but updated for 2002 with a little hardcore drum'n'bass action thrown into the mix. Recommended for fans of Venetian Snares and Pan sonic.

3 stars

Acid Mothers Temple - "St. Captain Freak Out and the Magic Bamboo Request"

This time out, the Acid Mothers Temple collective tackle the concept album, or more accurately, a trip-opera as the band have called it. It "follows" the adventures of St. Captain Freak Out, but finding any sort of story line in the sonic soup within is impossible. Even song titles are of no help, but "A Bamboo Is as Close as Miss Trout to Mashmallows" and "Maggot Head Cheese" provide some provocative imagery. Musically, the band is in full flight, with full-on performances from Koizumi Hajime on drums and third-eye guitarist Kawabata Makoto on all types of stringed instruments. But the band's attack is hindered by a substandard and somewhat muddy mix. "Maggot Head Cheese" is an overpowering piece, with the entire band in backs-to-the-wall freakout mode, but everything sounds indistinct, the bass sounds overloaded, and only the cymbals and wah-wah guitar rise above the sonic mess. It's a shame that a band this extraordinary sounds so under-produced and unfocused on this album. There is some stellar material on here ("Dead Man Is Smoking," "Sweet Lucille or Lick My Milk Off, Baby"), for those with the patience to sift through 70 minutes of sludge to find it. Those versed in the Acid Mothers Temple experience know just what to expect here, but for others, there are easier roads inside. This release does have some of the best cover art, being an Acid Mothers-centric version of the Sgt. Pepper's cover, as appropriated by Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.

2 stars