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The Weekly Review (5 May, 06)

Hello all reading this. We have survived another week of hate mail and weird e mails to bring you yet another weekly update. If anyone out there does have a problem with us or something that we may have said in a review you have 2 options....

1) get a grip. It's only someone's opinion about a piece of music..... Go and spend your valuable brain time on some valid and just causes rather than wasting your time on a bunch of schmos like us. 

or

2) if our remarks about your favourite song/ artist are just too painful to bear then feel free to write in but explain to us why you're insulting us rather than just insulting us and not explaining why. That is both a waste of your time and ours.... Oh and also make sure you spell your e mail address correctly on the contact form cos that's just rampant  stupidity.....

Right.... that's my little rant over..... We ran out of lucky bags really quickly last week. We had just under 60 all made up and they sold out in about 2 hours. We were a bit short staffed this week so we didn't have time to make more up..... So give us a week or so and we'll mention it in on the site again when we've got a bunch all made up. Sorry about that but demand was much fatter than what we expected.

Here's some info about a British pop concert happening next tuesday

resonant & bearos present :
THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING + YELLOW 6 + EINSTELLUNG
Tuesday 9th May
The Flapper & Firkin, Birmingham
Kingston Row (off King Edwards Road). Birmingham. B1 2NU
Venue Tel: 0121 236 2421
Tickets : £4 Advance / £5 Door
Doors : 8-11pm
www.resonantlabel.com

And this week Stan the vegetarian eagle has been eating tofu mice to the sounds of.....

Jack Dangers- Variaciones Espectrales (brilliant CD on Bella Union from yonks ago)
The Paper Chase- Now You Are One Of us (forthcoming noisy fun on Southern)
Isis- SGNL05 (forthcoming noisy fun on Neurot)
Fleeting Joys- Despondent Transponder (shoegaze-tastic CD on Only Forever)
Carla Bozulich- forthcoming new album (the title eludes me but she don't half whine.... on Constellation)
Subtle- Wishing Bone (yep.... coming soon on Lex)
Fireworks Night & Mules new 7"'s on Organ Grinder coming soon (well good)
iLIKETRAINS- Terra Nova (forthcoming job on Fierce Panda)

Oh and we're still waiting on things like the new Graham Coxon single, Starsailor single, Phoenix single,  Hot Chip single, Boy Kill Boy 7" etc which should be here on monday!

In case you hadn't guessed it's Phil here with his reviews.... We've had our kitchen ripped out at home so I've been doing the washing up in the bath for the last week....... There's an inch of dust all over the house so every time I breath a coating of brick dust fills my massive mouth. It's rubbish being me......... Anyway something which may cheer up is this new 7" on Wrong by  those charming people Mully and Ladyscraper. It's in a quality mock wrestling sleeve which is my favourite thing about this record. Bang it on though and you have 2 tracks of raging insanity.... with Ladyscraper doing a rather bangy gabba-ish breakcore thing. Mully does a wobbly breakcore thing complete with bagpipes and a poo inducing bassline. If it's not all a bit novelty I'll eat my own head off.... Still it's mightily entertaining and it brought a big smile to my face..... As did the A Core 12" featuring breakcore tunes sampling The A team..... but it's the German A Team they've sampled...... crazy yah!

It's great Sonic Youth are still around. I've missed out on their recent output and am still wrapped in the delights of Evol & Sister which are yet to be bettered (in my opinion!)..... However when the distro called us up and said there's a limited Sonic Youth 7" of which there's only 500 and the tracks aren't on anything else I got most excited and got a truckload in..... So as I'm not familiar with the recent Yoof stuff I wouldn't know what this was like in comparison. It's much better than I thought it would be and it's reminiscent of a better produced tune off Bad Moon Rising or something. In fact the more I hear this the more it makes me want to dig out my old Sonic Youth records and go shake my head around my room violently (of course the rest of my body would be motionless.....)

And onto Matmos who are always good for a laugh. Their brand of electronic jiggery pokery is always worth checking out. Their last album (The Civil War) had some moments of total genius on. They sample everything they can get their hands on and for example some of the things they've used for this album are...... a toilet paper roll panflute, typewriter, live garden snails, cows, vacuums, vagina Vacuum cleaner (whatever they are but it's probably what it says on the tin...) and lots lots more. Anyway it's a sampletastic oddfest of quirkocentric noises interspliced with beats and melodies. On first listen it sounds quite bouncy and fun but looking at some of things they sample they manage to keep that air of sinisterism (that should be a word...) without even trying.

I've really loving the last few Kranky releases. This new Greg Kowalsky CD is pretty lush. Seven tracks of long drawn out ambient drones which build up and fall back down again and then some more. Apparently one of the tracks is created partly with a broken floor heater. He can have mine cos it's legs have fallen of....Another of the tracks sources Isis but you really wouldn't know that unless you read the bumpf inside. Drifty floaty lovelyness.... sleep bobo music. Classy.

If you're a fan of David Attenbrough then you'll no doubt have seen the Planet Earth series that was on recently. The man can do no wrong in my book. Me and the wife are obsessed and we sit watching his documentaries over and over again.... If you wondered what the tinkly piano thing was that introduces the program it's in fact Sigur Ros and the Hoppipolla tune is being re promoted and it's now on numbered cheapy 7" limited to 3000 copies. It's a bit like To The End by Blur as well...... So there you go...... More David Attenborough documentaries please!!

Brand new Absentee CD on Memphis Industries and I still can't not think of Chris Rea. The singer here has the most gravelly deep voice. My mum smokes 80 fags a day I found out last week. Am sure this guy must smoke at least twice that...... each hour..... It's a  mature sounding rip roaring indie-a-thon with a gravelly voiced man singing in between smoking enormous packs of fags and chewing on razor blades. Who says we don't try and sell these things to you eh?

More fun action from Dance To The Radio this wek. After the sell out success of The Pigeon Detectives comes 2 brand new 7"'s.... The first one is the rather superbly monikered Shut Your Eyes and You'll Burst into Flames who do a scratchy sounding emo thing which I can see appealing to folks like who like both emo and scratchy sounding records.... (OK I'm tired now.... gimme a break). It's probably a bit like Burningpilot and old Derby faves Cable we think..... The other single is by Yes Boss which is a couple of dudes doing a grimey kind of thing.... in fact we all agree and think it sounds like a grimey version of The Streets... ie very white. Proper lo fi  diy bedroom affair though which is always to be commended and we think it's actually pretty good.

The Black Heart Procession are back... What a bunch of goths they are.... I'd never really thought about it til now but it's proper goth gear. I'm from Leeds. We invented goth..... so we know what all about goth..... alright. They're goths OK! The music on this opener really reminds me of a track from the last Blonde Redhead album albeit with Pall Jenkins being all Tim Burton all over it. The big goth.... I like this a lot mind you despite it being all gothy everywhere. It also features Jimmy Lavelle (Tristeza, Album Leaf) on a variety of instruments including a reverb tank whatever the cock one of those is. You know you're in for a quality listen with a Black Heart Procession album. I doubt they'll win over any new fans with this one but they'll keep their hoards of bat eating fans happy with this fun number.

I always start of Christ reviews with.... 'Christ is some dude who used to be in Boards of Canada but left to do his own thing and he's like the Pete Best of the electronic world'. Well I probably don't but thinking about it I think maybe I should. Because of his previous connections he's always been tarred with the Boards brush...... This new 12" called Vernor Vinge is as good or if not better than anything on the last Boards album. Nice slow paced melodic electronica with simple beats thus relying on the melody to make it stand up. Which is does in spades... Lovely indeed! 

And finally from me is an EP by The Aliens. Which you clued up folks will probably know as the new band from some people who were in the Beta Band. Which ones I really couldn't say.... It comes in a nice shiny sleeve and you get exactly what it says on it......music made by aliens..... It starts with a country thing sung by aliens..... well they sound like aliens..... After then it treads much more familiar territory with a bouncy 60's psychedelic poppy number, a Clinton esque (George not Bill....), a psych funk wah wah number and it ends with a tune that sounds like it could have fallen off The Patty Patty Sound EP had it been written by Pink Floyd. Very good indeed... Well I like the first track a lot.......

Morning troops Maggie here.... at ease First off we have this great pop tune on 7" from Cannonball Jane. A wierd hotch potch of influences and spices. Sometimes latin, sometimes funky, often Bond theme. Kate Bush dancing with The Go Team when she wasn't being too squawky and spiritual...You know I'm gonna put this on again to fill my hungry ears. Can't really pin it down. Its too dirty to be Bond actually.. distorted... maybe if Columbo was an action hero... no a female Bond... Miss Marple in her younger sexy days special weapon knitting needles. Yeh this is sharp and cutting. Jolly good start to a day.... let it be the tune to get you out of bed... put you in a good mood... b-side very St Etienne

Next up I have The Somatics CD single on Engine Room Records entitled Elemental which was hand delivered to the towers by their female lead singer . One time post lady next time haunting us with this very interesting sound chunk. Well produced indie, some interchanging of beats, rhythms, hooks and unexpected chord changes. It's reaching to be a grand ecstatic stance into a glowing dusk sun, as it melts behind a sand dune. Soundscapes played along side classical indie rock. The last song is also special with great female/male interplay going on like a fine Wayne Rooney to Michael Owen one-two before it gets slammed home. Ok maybe a bit more like Peter Crouch to Marcus Bent.. but that's still a goal even if its scuffed off a knee.... Its got all the guitar, organ, drums, bass you'd expect but she's the unexpected spice on the rock beans on toast.... ok just got another CD single from The Somatics called Did You Ever Love Me?... its about some geezer feeding some girl some lines to get her into bed... of course he didn't mean it he's a fucking rat like all of them. She should be furious. In fact she has reached an anger plateau on the 2nd song... a real monster belter... I think on the cover she's strapped the said geezer to a tree and shot him.. so maybe not that angry.. after all he cant help it.. it's in his genetic make up to lie and cheat.. we are all slaves to our hormones...

Hey next up I have in my hand a very amusing cover of a 7" single from A TRAK called Knuckle Head. The image is loads of geezers in baseball caps.. but hang on those aren't faces.. they're knuckles.. full fists in hats with all the caps spelling out A-TRAK Simple yet quirky and effective which is exactly how i would review the tunes. Scratching and sampling the likes of James Brown rule the day here. never stops moving like a slippery fish. Kinda old school (did i really say that... damn) ok skool... but its a happy moment.. Its just got Phil dancing as he opens mail so that must be some sort of review... B-side features Obscure Disorder on the mic. Scratch it up, I'm itching like a mangy street dog fresh from a back alley gang bang..

The Sun Aint Gonna Shine Anymore sang Scott Walker in the 60's... and this times he REALLY means it. Tackling such cheery topics as Elvis's dead twin, the execution of Mussolini and Milosevic this is a sober and brooding affair. Its theatrical doom. Sometimes a bit Jeff Buckley sometimes pretentious.. (thespian ipod music says Ant) but theatre is pretentious.. it's acting. It's difficult but I reckon could be rewarding in a dramatic way..... anyway let me leave you with a quote from his booklet. "Sometimes i feel like a swallow, a swallow which by mistake has gotten into an attic and knocks its head against the walls in terror" ... and I think I will write that for the Gate of Norman towers...

Next i have The Delays new single Hideaway... given to me as a punishment I think cos I said I liked one of their singles. Its called Hideaway but this time they didn't hide hard enough I reckon... boom boom ...you'll love it!!

Here is a 7" single called Sandstorms by the Viking Moses. I'm kinda melancholy in general today so this is the sort of thing i would put on if I were at home. Peaceful simple Acoustic guitar, piano, american voice. Spacey.... really nice...The b-side is a cover of Dolly Parton's I will always love you. Trouble with this is the amount of times this is done on X factor or programmes like that. I'm waiting for it to finish and that bitch Simon Cowell to make some sassy remark like.. "you should be on stage.. the next coach leaving town". If you can get over this then it's really good.

Next we have a 7" single from Autokat on Akoustik Anarkhy Recordings (my spell checks going crazy here). Sounds quite familiar this. Can't put my finger on it... I'll describe it. Indie strummy guitar, drums, base, vocals (he hangs onto his words... yeh you know it). Like everyone....If you like that sort of thing then you might like this... sit on my fence.

Next we have a 7" by The Lodger on Angular Recordings. I like this guys voice, it's a voice that you'd have as a mate. Its got that Morrissey's Manchester feeling of hopelessness and poignant pain associated with a failed relationship... pass me the tissues...Its called Let Her Go and I reckon he's better off without her... a good pool of creative juice for him... the b-side starts with a cruel ripoff of Coldplay's Yellow, but then the chorus kicks in and its quite a tender job. Like an honest tommy singing about his loved one pissed up in the rain in some technicolour film. That's the general feeling.. undislikable

Now a 7" on Fierce Panda by The Architects called Under The Pines with a nice woodland front cover. It doesn't feel very organic though.... feels a bit locked inside a concrete studio. The b-side is a bit Ian Brown.. bit this bit that etc...

Another 7" now from Architecture In Helsinki on Moshi Moshi Records. Quite a cheeky pop record which reminds me lot of Video Killed The Radio Star. Would fit into some cardiganed indie disco well. B-side is a Rah Teeti remix of the a-side which is called Wishbone and its even more cheeky.. female type singing in the style of Grease the movie. A bit End of the World by REM too...So much cheek it wants popping.. cheeky pop!!!

Now i have a very manly picture disc .. all black and white with scruffy writing...Its a 7" from The Drones called Shark Fin Blues. Very apt for an Aussie band. Sounds like a raucous drunken David Bowie. All distorted and energy filled. It's funny how simple and powerful music can be at the same time. The drummer is never off his symbols and the guitarist is using his axe as an electric cock.. I shouldn't like it .. but I do.. the b-side ain't bad either.. maybe cos its nearly home time and I'm excited... wont blow your mind but will keep your head banging in the mean time...

Oink!!! Greetings from planet Ant. Kicking things off this week with some maxi rave action courtesy of Ceephax Acid Crew. Who do you reckon would win in a fight between Teletext Ecstasy Posse and Ceephax Acid Crew??? 'Hardcore Esplanade' is the follow up to 'Hardcore Wick' from a few months back and its on a similar tip. Jenkinson junior seems to have dropped the retro acid style that made him Aphex's favourite artist in favour of a more uptempo breakbeat hardcore sound with tons of cheeky fills and edits. You get 7 tracks in all bursting with dancefloor energy. I dare say if Lord Brian were in the building he'd be throwing some shapes and contorting and manipulating his body into all manner of unspeakable twisted poses. This would wreck most dancefloors for sure. 12" on Bugklinik.

Schengen have a new CD limited to just 100 copies on Make Mine Music. 'The Beijing Of Our Career' covers a wide variety of techno styles from sinister off beat stuff to melodic lush electronics with some really cool vocal samples. 'Just So' is a delay drenched dubbed out piece ala Chain Reaction. Delight (One Breath remix) is really quite haunting with the muti-layered female vocal / harmonies. Imagine Seefeel, Aphex Twin and Basic Channel all mixed up into one big electronica melting pot.

And now for something completely different (oversized novelty foot falls from sky and splatters me.) 'Field Recordings EP' features 4 artists magically squeezed into the grooves of one itty bitty lickle 7". Ambrose Tompkins, Yellow Kid with Matthew Wood, The Rawkus Beeston Empire and Mitch & Murray. This is basically a tidy little compilation of acoustic singer / songwriter stuff that sounds like it's from the 60's and leans toward the more depressing side of things. On Regularbeat Recording Co. Out of Liverpool.

Finlands purveyors of No-Wave guitar action Echo Is Your Love have a new album out which is a split release between an astonishing 4 labels. 'Humansize' is their fourth full-length and consists of eleven tracks in all. This is quite infectious, catchy dreamy indie pop and post punk. The rhythms are tight and the basslines on here in particular are very good. There are some more aggressive and angry moments on here too and the mix of male and female vocals has real attitude. Digi-pak CD only.

Wickeed. A new DMZ offering. I'm hoping this is gonna be a good one as the last release from the Digital Mystikz left me wanting more. Ah, I recognise this instantly, it featured as a dubplate on the ace 'Dubstep Allstars vol.2' by DJ Youngsta on Tempa. This is a really minimal cut with a rasta vocal saying 'Ancient memories' which coincidently is the title of the track. Amazing. The approach here is really quite subtle with little bits creeping in and a really simple bass line. On the flip is a Skream remix which has him upping the tempo slightly and bringing the bassline to the forefront and right up in the mix. Typically dark with super crispy percussion and some added futuristic sounds. Will fit snuggly in your dubstep collection.

The Black Dog now only consist of original member Ken Downie and some other chaps. There is big debate as to who was the innovater in their original line up as Plaid went on to become fairly successfull while Downie just kind of lurked in the shadows but still works under the Black Dog Moniker. Their sound has certainly changed since they took up residence on Sheffield's Dust Tracks label You can hear traces of the trademark sound in there but at times they sound like a totally different artist which I suppose in essence they are. We'll they've got a release out this week on Glasgow's Soma label. 'Riphead EP' is 3 deep techno cuts built for smokey dancefloors at 4am. The highlight for me is 'Mental Ward Sleep Machine' which makes me think of being lost in the strobe lights. If you've not heard any of their recent output then this is well worth a listen but inevitably doesn't come close to the genius of 'Spanners' or 'Bytes'.

If you're into futuristic Detroit electro then check out the Urban Tribe 'Clinical Trials' EP on Rephlex. 'Biohazard 17284' has that sinister synthetic paranoid sound that Dopplereffekt pioneered in the late 90's complete with robot vocal. It's not a happy 12" this, in fact it kind of paints a picture of a bleak future. Track titles like 'Class Warfare' help reinforce the vision of cities burning and droids rioting. 'RNA Hope' is great with its squelchy synth and classic Detroit electro sound. I'm pretty sure Kenny Dixon Jnr and Shake are responsible for this and their only other release as far as I know was their split EP with The Other People Place on Clone. Fans of Drexciya etc will be feelin' this one.

Yet more electronic gubbins for you courtesy of Worcester stalwarts Planet Mu with two CD's. Japan's Guilty Connecter previously had a 7" out which I think may have been his debut release. 'Beats, Noise and Life' explores similar territory i.e noise, ear splitting white noise and experimental drones and industrial sounds. If you're into Merzbow and extreme noise stuff then check this out. I really thought Shitmat was a one trick pony with his breakcore stuff but with his new 'Ambient' album (under the name of Kyler) he's proved me wrong. 'Pur Cosey Tales' is not earth shatteringly innovative but its really well done and there are some real moments of beauty. The perfect tool for chilling out at home after a hard night at the local breakcore mashup party dancing at 500mph like a total baffoon.

We have a hand numbered 7" on Too Pure which is an edition of 500 copies with stamped sleeve. There is a note inside telling you to register your numbered copy online with your location and the personalised message scrawled on the sleeve. It all sounds a bit Big Brother to me but I'm sure there is some clever reason for doing this which is far too clever for me to understand. It's by Shooting At Unarmed Men who are an outfit born out of the ashes of Mclusky. 2 cuts in all of off-kilter angry shouty indie. Be quick as these will fly out.

Agent Blue after having a major label release on Island have returned to indie label Fierce Panda for a second single. 'Out With The New' makes me think of a heavier slightly uptempo, more punky Hard-Fi. The flipside is slightly reminiscent of Bad Manners in places. Apparently this was overseen in Liverpool by Mike Crossley (Arctic Monkeys). This 7" is limited as ever....

You have to respect Mudhoney, they've been at it a while. They were at it long before the 'Grunge' explosion of the 90's and are still around long after. They've always just done their thing really and always done it really well. 'It Is Us' is no exception, its really quite catchy . The flip has a blues influence in there and has some additional horns which surprisingly work well. This is probably not going to win them any new fans but longtime fans in plaid shirts with greasy long hair and collectors will lap it up like flies on doo-doo. On Sub-Pop.

We have a breakcore / mashup / extreme electronics compilation just in on Go Away Recordings. 'Come Back. Volume 1' features Spetac, Xlan, Lakker, Herv, Amoebazoid, Solypsis, DJ Floorclearer, DJ Rainbow Ejaculation and Sausage Forest which is the funniest artist name I've heard in ages. Its a huge cut 'n' paste samplefest mashing up Eddie Grant, Bounty Killer, heavy metal riffs, the Tetris theme etc with pummeling industrial gabba beats and spliced amens. Much of it is dark but there's a fair few less serious moments on there to that will appeal to those of you who are into the Wrong Music, Death$ucker and Adaadat stuff. There's even a sample from Button Moon in there. Totally crackers and very entertaining.

Mentions..... Kelman have a CD single out of organ fueled numbing indie which i think could be their 2nd single???.......Check out the cheapy Static Caravan 7"s in this week.... mazeltov I say.... full of nutrient enriched goodness..... Also we got more of that Larrikin Love debut CD single in from Young & Lost Club.... the last batch flew out so be quick and one person so dealers can sod off.......check out the cheapy Matmos CD's this week as well just to get you excited about their new album (see above...)....... check out the lovely Clapping Hands and Active Suspension stuff..... mmmm..... National Forest have a new 7" out on Faith & Hope which seems to be a decent ole thing. Sounding like a cross between early Mercury Rev and The Chap on Lo...... We got some Monsieur Gainsbourg dbl 7"s in featuring tracks by Franz Ferdinand & Jane Birkin, Cat Power & Karen Elson, Jarvis Cocker & Kid Loco and Nina Persson (from 24...) and Nathan Larson.... expensive but limited and well sexy....

Thanks
team NORMAN xx