Manda and The Marbles - More Seduction (Go-Kart)
www.gokartrecords.com

If you like your women warm around the edges and your music on the pop end of the spectrum, this reissue of Columbus, Ohio's Manda and The Marbles' second release (Seduction - 2001, Break-up) with four bonus tracks is the album for you. More Seduction is also more Go Go's, less Runaways…more Bangles, less Girlschool, and the Marbles have one of those great '80s power pop attacks reminiscent of Holly & The Italians (whose "I Wanna Go Home" is covered to great effect here), Nikki & The Corvettes, Martha & The Muffins, The Primitives, The Photos, and The Heaters. In fact, they can hold their own with the classic power pop riffage of male-dominated bands like The Pop, The Beat, 20/20, and Shoes. Perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay them is they are the 21st century Blondie: bubblegum hooks and power pop convertible music with the volume cranked to the max and the hair flowing in the breeze doing 90 mph down the freeway. Old timers may recognize the classic opening bass riff from "Public Image" on "Left Behind," which suggests that Manda has a great record collection and a commendable knowledge of power pop history. If only more of today's kids would do their (musical) homework, we wouldn't be inundated with so much copycat crapola.

This is Friday night, weekend music for hanging out with your friends, partying until dawn, and if there is any justice in the music world, this will be the soundtrack of the summer of 2003. Hey kids, burn all those loser No Doubt records and come check out the real deal. Easily the year's best release so far!

Buy If You Own: Chix who rock!

If Thousands - Lullabye (Silber)
www.silbermedia.com

From Raymond Scott's Soothing Sounds for Baby through New Age mystics Aeoliah and Michel Genest on up to the current crop of snorecore enthusiasts like Windy & Carl and Stars of the Lid, artists have been recreating the sonic equivalent of sleeping brainwaves for many years. (For those of you looking for a more familiar reference point, imagine the beginning of Pink Floyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" going on for an hour without Gilmour's classic four-note guitar break interrupting the flow.) Silber's own Aarktica had a stunning entry into the genre with No Solace in Sleep a few years back and they return to the sleep-inducing centerstage with this release. In fact, If Thousands (the Duluth, MN-based duo of Aaron Molina and Christian McShane) even include the following suggestion in their liners: "Please listen to this recording at as low a volume as possible to induce & aid in slumber.") Another nice touch is the medical warning sticker, "May cause drowsiness; alcohol may increase this effect" on the jewel case! The resulting subtle background hum (one lengthy track with index points) carries the listener on a magic carpet ride throught dreamland, with the occasional, distant, barely audible short story narration ("The Daylight and The Sun") and the mantric repetitive lyric of "We Miss Matt Terribly." 

Another Floydian reference is the sonar bleeps (from "Echoes") that quietly drift into the end of "He Had the Smell of Wyoming Sagebrush." And for a visual reference point to this amazing sonic exploration of inner space, imagine if in that old 60s classic sci-fi film "Fantastic Voyage," the scientists had been inserted into your temporal lobe and traversed the synapses in your brain exploring your unconsciousness in an experiment to discover the source of your dreams. That's one trip I'd like to take and If Thousands provide the spaceship. Like floating in amniotic fluid, kids from 96 days to 96 years will be soothed into a somnambulistic state of slumber - the perfect sleep aid, whether you're putting grandma or the new born down for the night.

Buy If You Own (BIYO): Windy & Carl, Stars of the Lid, Azusa Plane, Aarktica, Labradford, and other snorecore artists.

Clang Quartet - The Separation of Church & Hate (Silber)

At the other end of the sonic spectrum, we have the noisy Clang-ing and clattering of Scotty Irving (aka Clang Quartet) whose sophomore effort continues in the same percussive vein as his 2000 debut, Jihad, also on Silber.

I have to admit I'm not a fan of noise artists, let alone percussive noise artists, but the leadoff track, "Amazing Disgrace," with its excessive, guitar-driven beat is worth repeated listens. However, the same can not be said for "The Infidel Within," a spoken-word slice of life based on the 20-year-old legal pissing contest between Amway and Proctor & Gamble over the latter's alleged involvement with the Church of Satan and supposed donation of the company's profits to said church. The piece is interesting for about five minutes from a comical standpoint and DJs will get a lot of "dropin" mileage out of some of the excerpts, but it soon becomes redundant as it reiterates the same accusations over and over again and ultimately takes too long (about 9 minutes) to get its (admirable) message across, namely that too many people, be they Christian or otherwise, allow others to make their decisions for them rather than researching the facts and making up their own minds.

There is also some self-promotion via "Two or More Gathered in HIS Name Part 2" which includes some local TV adverts for Scotty's upcoming gigs, and "Hadephobia" uses clever wordplay to present a disertation on Heaven and Hell over a catchy riff that melds an old Carl Stalling cartoon cue with an inverted take on the melody line from Trans-X's "Living On Video." Another goldmine for DJs looking for some catchy dropins, although his open-ended question on the influence of Satan in professional sports (Duke Blue Devils, New Jersey Devils) fails to mention the most obvious choice, Buffalo Sabres' forward Miroslav Satan (albeit pronounced "Zhuh-tan")!

Scotty's intelligent rap on the title track sounds like a televangelist emoting to his flock, except he makes more sense and, while he comes across like a proselytizer, he's (presumably) tongue-in-cheekily parodying these self-righteous tube boobs, whose false prophesies and gross misrepresentations of the bible are self-serving at best.

The only downside is that all of Scotty's toys (saws, fans, musical crutches(!!), staplers, hockey masks with bells and finger cymbals attached, a cast from a broken leg, a TV with the mute button on "played" through a guitar pickup, and drums) tend to overwhelm the listener to the point of distraction. Now that he's percussed us on a few releases, maybe Scotty's next offering will feature his stand-up routine. He certainly has plenty of intelligent arguments to profer and an entertaining way of delivering them - maybe we need to hear him without his tape loops and home movies and objets d'art that go clang in the night. For now, though, The Separation of Church & Hate is a George Carlin album played over the soundtrack to a demolition derby.

BIYO: Einsturzende Neubauten, Faust, Fifty Foot Hose, and other metallurgists.

Kobi - Projecto (Silber)

A virtual who's who of the Norwegian underground have gathered together for an album of ambient, wyrdfolk atmospherics that was so similar to the If Thousands disk that I was already on the second track before I relealized the disks had changed! Feelings of "Waiting for Godot" or the other shoe to drop are invoked throughout, rattling this Western-trained mind of mine that expects a linear progression of sound as a "song" moves from beginning to end. The compositions here have no such structure.

John Lennon said (in "Watching the Wheels") that "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." To paraphrase the master somewhat, Projecto is what happens when you take  the music that doesn't get you from point A to point B and release it. A truly awe-inspiring, all-encompasing ambient work that, for once, actually captures the ambience, i.e., the peripheral sound in the room, the  bits between the bits. Further evidence that the best, most exciting and intriguing independent music today is emanating from our friends in the Northern circle.

Fans of found sounds, field recordings, and spooky atmospherics will find much to enjoy. In fact, "However, this feeling can be cultivated" (all of the titles read like sentences from a novel) is the perfect track to scare the neighborhood brats off the front porch on Halloween and would have fit perfectly on the "Blair Witch Project" soundtrack. Not an album that you will listen to often, but perfect for when the mood strikes you to listen to horror movie soundtracks.

One codicil, however. Patience will wear thin and tempers may flare by the time you reach "He turnes [sic] to welcome me, stretches out his hand" and "Marked time with his feet or moved his fingers," particularly the latter, which is simply a loop of noises and found sounds that can best be described as the aural equivalent of Chinese water torture. "We were surprised at the quantity and quality" consists of a recording of a rainstorm combined with what sounds like someone peeing in a toilet [and you, too, will be surprised at the quantity!], and water also plays a prominent part in "Riding her trainer bike in obsessive circles," which sounds like it could have been recorded on the shore of the North Sea.

In sum, like a wet dream that turns into a nightmare, Projecto begins like a bath in meringue and ends like a loop-de-loop roller coaster ride through your local sewer treatment plant. Harsh, challenging, and for the strong of stomach, ultimately rewarding.

BIYO: Origami Arktika, Kamielliset Ystevet, Skinny Puppy, Throbbing Gristle

Sondre Lerche - Faces Down (Astralwerks)
www.astralwerks.com

Norwegian orchpop from 19 year old Lerche (full name: Sondre Lerche Vaular), whose voice is a combination of Robyn Hitchcock and Al Stewart and whose tunes combine the bland pop trappings of Matthew Sweet and the fey pleasantries of Belle & Sebastian. In other words, the girls're gonna eat this shit up.

"Sleep on Needles"' driving beat and Bacharachian fadeout manages to work up a sweat and the theremin solo on "Suffused with love" adds a nice, unusual touch. The catchy duets with Lillian Samdal ("Modern Nature," "On and Off Again" and "Virtue and Wine") are among the more memorable tunes, with Bacharach's ghost hovering all over the latter track. As a matter of fact, High Llamas/Stereolab orchestra leader Sean O'Hagan arranged the strings on three of the tracks, giving the album a smooth, loungy vibe.

Overall, a promising debut and a pleasant diversion for fans of quirky, loungy orchpop.

BIYO: Robyn Hitchcock, Smog, Belle & Sebastian, High Llamas, Witch Hazel Sound

The Raveonettes - Whip It On (Crunchy Frog)
www.crunchy.dk

Well, 2002 was the year Scandinavian rock took the world by storm (half of my Top 10 were from the frozen north) and here we have the one country that had previously been left in the cold, so to speak. This eight track mini-album is here to prove that The Jesus and Mary Chain died for somebody's sins...and then moved to Denmark. Super-fuzzed guitars and "glorious B-flat minor" chords team up throughout, particularly on "Veronica Fever," which grabs an old Spacemen 3 riff and refuses to let go. In fact, everthing the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club tried to be but didn't have the tunes or talent to pull off is captured herein.

I've always insisted that Jesus and Mary Chain (aka, the Reid brothers) were onto something with their amazing amalgamation of Velvet Stooge riffage and Beach Boys melodies and many have tried to carry the torch, but The Streets are littered with the broken, battered bodies of failures like BRMC, The Vines, The Strokes, White Stripes, et. al., so it's good to hear somebody FINALLY get it right.

"Cops on Our Tail" is a surprising garage version of House of Love's "Shine On" whose coda, "fuck you, fuck you, fuck you" is no doubt directed to all the aforementioned wannabes. Right on, brother...right on, sister. In 1972, The Moody Blues went off in search of the lost chord. Thirty years hence, The Raveonettes have found it: it's B-flat minor and all eight tracks are recorded therein, making Whip It On a minor (chord) masterpiece.

BIYO: Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division, Garbage

The Hives - Barely Legal (Burning Heart/Gearhead)
www.burningheart.com

Opening up with a song that probably lost a bit in the translation, "a.k.a. I-D-I-O-T" combines The Dickies' comic sensibilities with the frustrated anger of West Coast hardcore gods, The Germs, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, and Flipper. "I'm A Wicked One" is a little more melodic in structure, an excellent take on prime Generation X. In fact, much of The Hives debut sounds like GenX sped up to 45 rpm.

So in a sense, we have the prime entry in yet another new musical subgenre: Generation Angst. Ingredients include vintage West Coast hardcore/speed metal that populated the soundtrack to "The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization" and the harsher elements of the UK punk movement like GenX, UK Subs, Vibrators. There's a major distinction between the Raveonettes, who are based in the Velvets/JAMC/Stooges garage ethic and The Hives, who are strictly of the punk generation. Loud and fast rules, so burn rubber baby right on over to your favorite retailer to pick up Barely Legal.

BIYO: West Coast hardcore (Germs, Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Black Flag), UK punk (Vibrators, Generation X, UK Subs, Lurkers)

Kinski - Airs Above Your Station (Sub Pop[CD]/Strange Attractors Audio House [2xLP])
www.subpop.com
www.strange-attractors.com

From the opening eardrum-buzzing drone of "Steve's Basement," it's clear that Seattle's Kinski have not let signing with indie major Sub Pop affect their output, so cries of "sellout" should cease and desist right now. Like all great head music, the tune slides by effortlessly  ... involuntarily ... subconciously, until five minutes in when the bombastic arena rock drumming of Dave Weeks awakens you from the doldrums and pulls you in to its sonic maelstrom. I'm even tempted to throw around a music critic's "three S's": sludge, Sabbath, and quickSand.  Ten minutes on, the bottom falls out and the song delicately and gently drips to its conclusion like blood dropping off the edge of a cattle prod.

"Semaphore" fastens a vice-like grip around the opening riff from the  Sensational Alex Harvey Band's "Faith Healer" and elsewhere Dave Brock and his Hawklords from outer space land their spaceship smack dab in the middle of "Rhode Island Freakout," although what all that superfluous heavy breathing at the end is all about, I have no idea. And speaking of other worlds, "Schedule for Using Pillows and Beanbags" crashlands from a completely different planet, 180 musical degrees from the preceding three tracks. This one is actually quite delicate, featuring a postjazz Tortoise sort of groove. About halfway through, the band's had enough of that shit and crank things up to Paik-like proportions and the you-could-have-knocked- me-over-with-a-feather sensitivity has yielded to testosterone-fueled, punch-me-in-the-stomach bravura. 

To allay any thoughts that this may be the sonic equivalent of a drill instructor taking up residence in your head, "I Think I Blew It" features a warm, keyboard drone, not unlike some of Tangerine Dream's soundtrack work. I'm thinking of the finale to "Thief," but other comparisons would fit quite adequately. And "Your Lights Are (Out Or) Burning Badly" does the same thing - lull us into a dreamy landscape where sitar-like guitar scrapings and electronics yield to the distinctive, gently plucked guitar lines that made Vini Reilly a household name in these parts. Unfortunately, this all builds to a wall of sound cresendo that made Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mogwai a must to avoid around here. Pretty, but way too derivative. More atmospherics bordering on New Age electronics make up "Waves of Second Guessing" and the whole package is wrapped up with a nice reprise, "I Think I Blew It (Again)." 

In sum, Airs Above Your Station has a little bit of everything that's sure to please a little bit of everyone. The band has chosen to split the release into the "noisy" side and the "quiet" side (the double album version nicely separates the two styles), so many folks are likely to only listen to half of the release. But they'll enjoy whichever side of the fence they fall on.

BIYO: SubArachnoid Space, Paik, Surface of the Eceon, Voyager One, Tarentel, Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor

Paul Weller - Illumination (Yep Roc)
www.yeproc.com

Funny chap, this Paul Weller. He dissolves the greatest British band of all time (that would be The Jam) to form a loungeful soul revue (that would be Style Council) and then decides he's better off on his own and starts making solo records (that would be Paul Weller). His Midas touch continues throughout his multiple careers in the UK, where nearly every release screams up the charts. (In fact, I'm writing this on the 20th anniversary of the greatest chart accomplishment of all time - something even The Beatles never achieved: upon the announcement that he was breaking up The Jam, all 17 of their singles were reissued. Thirteen of them made it into the Top 75, a feat which has never been dupicated.)

Meanwhile, over here in America, he couldn't get arrested and has to cancel several mini tours due to poor ticket sales. Like a younger version of Ray Davies (whose songs he has covered), his charm and appeal is an utterly British taste that Americans will likely never acquire. Which is a shame, because he has quietly, yet steadily released some of the catchiest, soulful, well crafted pop of the last decade (this is his ninth solo release, including live and greatest hits packages, and he's got at least a couple of album's worth of bonus material spread across many EPs). Unlike Stevie Winwood or Peter Gabriel, artists who had more success on these shores as solo performers, Weller's US releases seem destined for the cutout bins, left to rot alongside the equally brilliant solo work of Anglophobes Graham Parker, Julian Cope, John Cale, etc. So while people fall all over themselves to buy the latest elevator music from Phil Collins or bachelor pad Muzak from Holiday Inn reject, Elvis Costello, Weller, et. al. are floundering in a sea of anonymity. Hopefully (but doubtfully), Illumination will change all that.

"Going Places" grabs your toes and won't stop tapping until it's done, one of those quietly charming singles that folks like Michael ("Wildflower") Murphy and Endland Dan and John Ford Coley released to great acclaim back in the 70s. The rocking "A Bullet for Everyone" marries an Elvis Costello-like vitriolic delivery with a heavy, glammy backbeat (think "Spirit in the Sky") which uses Paul's backing band, including Steve Cradock (guitar) and Damon Minchella (bass) from Ocean Colour Scene and longtime drummer Steve White (brother of Oasis drummer, Alan) to good effect.

The horn loop that kicks off "It's Written In The Stars" lets us know we're in for a heavy dose of Northern Soul, right down to the Booker T. organ rides. "All Good Books" combines religion AND soul for a smooth, Harold Melvin-meets-Curtis Mayfield groove, and "Who Brings Joy," "Bag Man," the title track, and "Now the Night Is Here" are teary-eyed ballads that Weller drops in to all his records, while "Spring (At Last)" offers a short, mellow instrumental break and features Aziz Ibrahim on sarod and tamboura.

Noel Gallagher has never hidden the mentoring role Weller has played in his career, and pays him back with interest as often as possible. Here he (along with new Oasis guitarist Gem Archer) drops by to play drums and bass on "One X One," which admittedly would have slipped through the cracks unnoticed were it not for their participation.

The kids just love Weller, and Stereophonics' vocalist Kelly Jones co-writes and duets with Paul on the bluesy "Call Me No. 5" - think John Lee Hooker with a chip on his shoulder. "Standing Out in the Universe" opens with a riff reminiscent of Thunderclap Newman's "Something In The Air" and then deteriorates downhill into a mediocre, "soul song with a message" complete with wailing background banshees (Carleen Anderson, Jocelyn Brown) that threaten to turn it into one of those dreadful late-period T. Rex nightmares. Ugh!

The US release appends three "bonus tracks," the best of which is the ripping yarn, "Talisman" the hardest hitting, rockingest (read "best") track on the record, although the childlike, catchy, pop of the Donovanesque whimsy that is "Push Button, Automatic" is a bit of fun.

So while it's unlikely to gain many new fans (a shame), Illumination is Weller's best solo release, went all the way to #1 in the UK, and is the perfect place for the curious to start learning the music of one of the finest songwriters of his generation.

BIYO: Stevie Winwood, Julian Cope, Graham Parker

Typical music industry bullshit detector: Hot on the heels of Weller's most successful solo release ever, his UK label, Independiente dropped him. Presumably, sales weren't big enough to please the beancounters, or someone decided that Paul's fanbase has been saturated and the expected increase in sales figures did not materialize.

Steffen Basho-Junghans - Rivers and Bridges (Strange Attractors Audio House)
www.strange-attractors.com

Instrumental acoustic guitar music is perhaps the most pan-generic style of music, having practitioners from folk, blues, classical, New Age, jazz, and rock. In recent years, German guitarist Junghans (the "Basho" is adapted from his guru/mentor, Robbie Basho) has been quietly releasing some of the finest entries in the genre, and nowhere is this more apparent than on this, his third full length. Combining elements of all styles, from the folky melodicism of Nick Drake ("Hear the Winds Coming") to the intricately ellaborate sidelong "The River Suite", B-J brings a warmth to the instrument with these emotional performances, avoiding the cold, clinical, "gee-whiz, listen to this" trappings that an album of acoustic guitar performances can often degenerate into.

Cultists who are more into this music than I am will have fun playing a little game of "name that guitarist," and I can imagine the more upper-crusty clerks around the world (i.e., the High Fidelity-type elitist snobs) slapping on "The Tacoma Bridge Incident" and waiting for one of the rackbrowsers to enquire "Is this the new John Fahey?"

This is very visual music, with titles providing a springboard to a daydream of the listener's self-composed images: "Rainbow Dancing" evokes images of tranquil, post-storm blue skies and children dancing in a field beneath rainbows stretching across the horizons; "Autumn II" is tentative and syncopated, as nature attempts to ward off the onset of fierce, cold winters, desperately clinging to the warmth of the summer. Autumn is a transitional season and B-J's piece follows its syncopated opening with a smooth, fluid finale, as if nature has accepted the changing of the guard. As such, the piece brilliantly encapsulates the emotional turmoil that everyone experiences when faced with the inevitability of change.

Finally, the short, delicate "Epilogue" calmly and gently ends our journey, reminiscent of Jorma's "Embryonic Journey." An emotional, evocative listening experience.

BIYO: John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges, Ben Chasney, Pat Orchard, Nick Drake, Robbie Basho, et. al.

Cul de Sac - Death of the Sun (Strange Attractors Audio House)

No strangers to outre guitar music (in act, they recorded an entire album with Fahey), Cul De Sac return following a 3½-year absence with the weirdest release in their catalogue. Yawning violins, static electricity, chock-a-block tape loops, distant operatic voices from a scratchy, 70-year-old 78 RPM, and a Valco acoustic resonator guitar all fed through a food processor and served up as the blue-plate special called "Dust of Butterflies" signifies that Cul De Sac's seventh album is a directional sidestep from their traditional linear, guitar-based, Eastern-flavored, psychedelic krautrock. Newest member Jake Trussell's melodica even adds an eerie aura to the track, which ultimately is reminiscent of the pan-ethnic work of multi-instrumentalists Cerberus Shoal and the  Magic Carpathian Project. 

The pretentiousness of a title like "Bamboo Rockets, Half Lost in Nothingness, Searching for an inch of Sky" is somewhat redeemed by Jones' meandering Coral sitar superimposed over ex-bassist Michael Bloom's Peruvian rainforest field recordings, although only percussive freaks will stay away from the skip button during Jon Proudman's 8-minute drum solo on "Turok, Son of Stone." I'm sorry, but nothing is more boring in this day and age than a drum solo. It was boring when Ginger Baker, Carl Palmer, Peter Criss, and the dueling Deadheads were doing it, and it's just as boring today.

The ethereal, nebulous "Bellevue Bridge," however, creates a haunting ambience where guitar and cymbol interplay (!) interlaced with Trussell's toy piano and Jones' field recordings of the actual Nebraska bridge itself create a marvelously exotic image of young kids playing on the bridge - perhaps diving, fishing, skimming stones, trainspotting, etc. Recapturing childhood innocence is the order of the day.

So for a musical Luddite like me who shuns and quest-shuns tampering with perfection, I can't say I'm overexcited about this new direction. It's an interesting experiment, certainly an anamolie in their discography, and perhaps after eating six buckets of vanilla ice cream I'd be willing to give chocolate a try, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. With a soundtrack album due next, it will be a while before we see where Cul De Sac's sound progresses, so while not entirely successful, this release will plant a seed of curiosity in this listener's ear and certainly make their next regular release highly anticipated. That's not to imply this is totally without merit. Actually, the individual members mention in their liner notes that this was intentionally designed to keep them amused - to avoid being formulaic. I happen to like the formula they have established, placing them alongside SubArachnoid Space, Kinski, Paik, et. al. as some of my favorite psychedelic guitar bands. But if you like bands that take chances, wonder what The Residents would sound like if they recorded psychedelic music instead of show tunes, are a fan of the Elephant 6 collective's quirky weirdness, and you believe "change is good," then this may be worthy of your attention.

BIYO: Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bablicon, The Residents

the Iditarod - the River Nektar [reissue] (BlueSanct)
www.bluesanct.com

Haunting, medieval madrigals ("Meadows"), avant-garde folk (although Timothy Renner hadn't coined the term wyrdfolk yet, this is what he was referring to when he did), experiments in found sounds, field recordings, tape loops ("Dictation and Transcription"), and brief instrumental sorbets to cleanse the palette as the various moods and styles pass by ("Helms A'Lee," "Servants Serve," "East Ring Dell" "The Lorelei," et. al.) abound on the reissue of this Providence, RI duo's debut album (originally issued by Hub City in 1998), complimented here by an additional half hour of bonus material. Carin Wagner's fragile vocals tiptoe a fine line between singing and speaking the lyrics and occasionally crack under the mounting tension. "Gold Berry White" is vintage Patti Smith ca. her Horses' tone poems, while most other songs are delivered over Jeffrey Alexander's gently plucked, occasionally syncopated, yet undeniably folky guitar lines, sort of like Nick Drake with a nervous twitch.

Wagner's vocals are often hushed to the point of a whisper (as on "Boat"), encouraging the listener to lean inwardly towards the speakers to catch every nuance. "Providence," the album's highlight, features an interesting vocal approach that combines Melanie, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Joan Armatrading over the album's most linear melody for a gentle, almost swaying folk ballad. "Mariner" incorporates the traditional "Greensleeves" melody to add to the haunting sorrow of this lovely ballad, and the live version of "Garden" which closes the original album also features a forlorn, childlike melody sure to bring a tear to the eye. I can also imagine myself sitting in a cozy coffeehouse next to a crackling fire listening to Carin's lilting, simulatenously crackling voice delivere this heartfelt tale.

Most of the songs are very short (under three minutes, with several clocking in under two), suggesting the Iditarod are here to speak/sing their piece and get on with it, a refreshing  outlook in today's tediously drawnout experimental world.

As to the bonus material, "Move" is a pretty acoustic guitar instrumental and "Sylvia Jean," not one of Carin's better vocal performances, nevertheless features interesting instrumentation. A lovely cover of Donovan's "Lullabye of Spring" is augmented by sound effects of chirping birds, adding a corny, but enjoyable air of virtual reality to the sentiment of the changing of the seasons. It doesn't quite rise to the level of the bazouki players in that old Monty Python cheese shoppe sketch, but you get the idea. 

Two nice additions are the live version of "Boat" and the original studio version of "Garden," giving the listener an excellent opportunity to compare notes and fully appreciate how the Iditarod transform their compositions for the live setting. And the long out-of-print cover of Eno's "Fat Lady of Limbourg" indicates the couple would be prime candidates for any upcoming tribute albums to today's more esoteric artists.

BIYO: Stone Breath, In Gowan Ring, Fit & Limo, wyrdfolk

Pip Proud and Tom Carter - Catch A Cherub (Emperor Jones)

This round-the world collaboration between Charalambides' guitarist Tom Carter (Austin, Texas) and Australian Pip Proud looks great on paper. Pairing a 21st century avant guitarist with an eccentric musician/poet/burnout from the '60s is inspired casting. Unfortunately, paper doesn't talk. Even worse, Proud does. Over and over and over again. The story goes that Pip sent Tom some stories over which Carter added his guitar accompaniment. What we're left with sounds like the psychotic ramblings of a urine-stained street bum. Imagine Moondog crossed with Aqualung.

I'm not in the least interested in spoken-word albums set to music, and this one doesn't work on either account. If you're a fan of Carter's occasionally astounding experimental fretwork or a Charalambides completist, you'll be too distracted by the Roky Erickson-meets-Syd Barrett oxymoronic anecdotes to ever get through the entire disk. I tried...I really tried to give this a chance. But Proud's often unintelligible, heavily-accented stream-of-conscious nonsequitors lost me midpoint every time. Save yourself the time and money and don't bother trying to figure it out on your own.

Avoid.

Laika - Lost in Space - Volume One (1993-2002) (Too Pure)
www.toopure.com

A two-disk overview of the first decade of this highly underrated electronic chill-out duo (Margaret Fiedler and Guy Fixsen, both ex-Moonshake, accompanied throughout by John Frennett and Lou Ciccotelli) is a handy catchall for completists, particularly disk two, which features a couple of remixes (Maxwell House's one-man groove machine on "Prairie Dog" and Jack Danger's "favourite-ever remix" on "Looking for the Jackalope"), a live track from Italy ("Red River"), several b-sides ("Lie Low" and "Lyin' Goat"), and a few Peel Sessions ("Jackalope," "Badtimes" (complete with hilarious new made-up-on-the-spot lyrics), and "Go Fish"). The first disk includes highlights from their four full lengths and is an excellent overview for newcomers who may recognize the name, but not the music. Informative, self-penned track annotations are another bonus, revealing more about the band's mindset during the creation and recording of the music than an entire ream of press clippings.

Highlights include the hypnotic, techno-bordering-on-acid-house metallic sheen of "Sugar Daddy," the crunchy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside dichotomy of "Breather," wherein Fiedler's sexy, breathy vocals coo and woo over the industrial shuffle beat in the background - perhaps "Heavy Breather" would have been a more appropriate title? A chill out classic that leads into "Coming Down Glass," a sexy Tom Tom Club mix with a heavier bassline that actually recalls David Essex' "Rock On!" The story behind the song is a sick reminder to stay out of the phone booths in NYC's Grand Central Station, but you'll have to pick this up to enjoy it.

Some tracks, like the dull, repetitive "If You Miss" will only appeal to fans, as will the Bongwater-goes-techno "Bedbugs," apparently used in a couple of straight-to-video films and an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer!" Although I must give kudos to Fiedler for her spot-on Ann Magnuson impression, which is apparent throughout and can be distracting if you're a big Bongwater fan Laika me. "Go Fish" suffers from a technical glitch that the couple decided to leave in - they forgot to mute one of the vocal tracks, rendering the resulting round-like (as in "Row Row Your Boat") rap session unintelligible, which is what should have happened to the fucking foul-mouthed piece of hip-hop shit called "Beestinger," a new track about Bill fucking Monica. And I would have preferred more singing from Fiedler instead of all her spoken word rapping on "Uneasy," although the director's pretentious description of the video is priceless! Admittedly, as during the ridiculously lyricked "Shut Off/Curl Up" (taken from perverted loveletters from a couple of Margaret's college boyfriends), I thought I was listening to the Lords of Acid, but the hypnotic, chill-out grooves are quite relaxing more often than not, and the material is much stronger than "Laika-minded" groups, such as Black Box Recorder, Air, et. al. Two hours of low impact techno chill-out music is probably too much for one sitting, the water is certainly fine enough for more than an occasional dip into the first decade of Laika's not unpleasant romantic cha-cha and ambient techno/trance music.

BIYO: Bongwater, The KLF, The Orb, Chill-out music.

Sybarite – Nonument (4AD)
www.4ad.com

Like Steve Reich conducting the Penguin Café Orchestra (“Secropia”) or Vini Reilly leading Tortoise, Xian (pronounced “Christian”) Hawkins’ fourth full length release is a cool, jazzy cocktail that will please lounge lizards and space age bachelors everywhere. The typically enigmatic Vaughan Oliver/v23 packaging that adorns most 4AD releases is a bit cumbersome and overwhelming, but perfectly suited for the antiseptic electronics within. The precise, Kraftwerk-ian sound collage that is “Renzo Piano” sounds like one of those old Carl Stalling/Raymond Scott assembly line sound tracks accompanying a Warner Brothers cartoon, while “Water,” (one of three tracks with vocals) has a syncopated dancebeat that’s about as easy to dance to as vintage Talking Heads – imagine David Byrne with a nervous twitch dancing with himself. Being born on Leap Day, “Leap Year” had a promising fascination for me, but it’s basically a stuttering, syncopated New Order retread, and while Brooke Williams has a pleasant enough voice (“The Fourth Day” and “Fresh Kills”) that might normally add a little warmth to the proceedings, Xian’s metallic universe and scratchy, wax-cylinder sound fx robs her tracks of all emotion. “Three Sided” ends matters on a down note, like cascading waterfalls on one of those newfangled Yuppie contraptions designed to soothe and scintilate. Too disjointed to be Easy Listening music, yet somehow too alluring to be elevator Muzak, Hawkins’ metallic TKO is as soothing as knockout drops. Quirky…edgy… robotic. It’s like trying to fall asleep after downing a pot of expresso – your body is willing, but your nerves are too shattered to relax.

BIYO: Tortoise, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Kraftwerk

Saint Etienne – Finisterre (Mantra)

A band that refuses to die, I thought they had disbanded after Sarah Cracknell started releasing solo albums. But here they are, back with their eighth proper release in fifteen years (there are over a dozen remix and greatest hits (re)packages) and it’s more of the same: delicious, 80s-styled, electronic disco, a la Pet Shop Boys (“Action”), Human League (“Amateur”), Abba-meets-the-Spice Girls (“Soft Like Me,” featuring Wildflower), New Order (“Shower Scene”), Trans-X (remember “Living On Video”? It gets a new life here as “New Thing”) all delivered in that luscious Cracknell voice, smooth as velvet…like a reincarnated Karen Carpenter. It’s all a veritable night on the town at Studio 54 with dancing divas, mystic shivas, nose candy, balling in the bathrooms, bright lights, disco mirror balls, etc. Nevermind that “Language Lab” seems more suited for that after hours chill out room (or an Ennio Morricone love scene) or that “The More You Know” tries to be both The Cure and Joy Division at the same time, and by all means, please ignore the pretentious spoken word ramblings of Sarah Churchill on the title track (which manages to namedrop Donovan, Barrett, AND Bauhaus!?) and the between-track bon mots delivered like pronouncements from God (or the Moody Blues) and just lay back and groove, baby, groove. It’s shagadelicious, baby!

BIYO: Other St. Etienne releases, '80s white disco/British electronic dance music.

The Delgados - Hate (Mantra) 

Incredibly prolific Scottish twee-popsters The Delgados return with another collection of warm and fuzzy pop tunes, heavily orchestrated and occasionally over-modulated ("The Light Before We Land" almost had me worried I'd have to shop for new woofers and tweeters before the disk ended.) Not as coy or perverse or pompous as fellow countrymen Belle & Sebastian, Arab Strap, and Mogwai respectively, these dozen string-driven things are most closely related to the current kings of orch pop, Kent, Ohio's Witch Hazel Sound. One annoying setback throughout is drummer Paul Savage's distracting habit of beating the shit out of his drums like some reincarnated Peter Criss, rendering his backbeats totally unsuited for the accompanying material, as on "Light Before We Land," "All You Need Is Love," "Drowning Years," the coda on the overlong "Child Killers," "Never Look At The Sun," you get the idea. It's like hiring Keith Moon to play drums on a Nick Drake album. One thing that has always annoyed me (as mentioned in the Cul De Sac review elsewhere in this issue) is attention-grabbing antics of some drummers. Just shut up and keep the back beat. Like great film directors, the sign of a good drummer is their ability to be unobtrusive.

"Drowning Years" sounds like a boring Matt Keating outtake sung by Bernie Sumner and the rest of the album is more of the same, alternating between fey orchestrations (blame producer Dave Fridmann, who also succeeded in transforming Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev from leading psychedelic popsters into this generation's Mantovani), ear-pounding drumming, and generally dull pap tunes, rescued every now and then by the tracks sung by Emma Pollock, whose Isobel (Drugstore) Monteiro-like vocals almost made me forget about that incessant pounding, particularly on "Coming In From The Cold," the album's catchiest tune and my early choice for the leadoff single. And somewhere under all that noise that sounds like the Battle of Britain coming out of your speakers rests "If This Is A Plan," complete with hummable melody lines and vocals that remind me of another Scottish band of yore, The Proclaimers.

Finally, as if to acknowledge that that horrible racket trying to pass for drumming is something us Yanks want to hear more of, we're blessed with a couple of US-only bonus tracks. Whoopdy-do! The topper is "Mad Drums," which probably should have been the title of the album.

Not recommended.

Elevator - Dark Light (Bluefox)

Somewhat of a concept album which takes its title literally, the debut offering from this Canadian band is actually two mints in one: Side A (the "Dark" side) is all gothic heavy metal posturing with tracks that sound like Hawkwind ("You're A Deep Dark Hole"), speed metal ("Black") and Black Sabbath "Stranded Traveler.") Leader Rick White delivers everything in slow motion, basso profundo gothic vocals, sort of like Fields of the Nephalim or something off the old Cleopatra Gothic box.

Side B (the "Light" side) pulls a 360° in a desperate attempt to get "High," which is overburdened is all trappings (chimes, pedestrian lyrics of the "I'm so high in the sky/Where's the floor, etc." variety) with no substance. "The Endless Winter," the album's best track, improves the proceedings with its Byrds-like psychedelic pop guitar lines and "Been a Long Time" is a fluffy confection with a light, jazzy vibe that ultimately reminds of St. Etienne-meets-Belle & Sebastian.

Rick's wife Tara takes vocal honors for "Full Moon Song" and her pleasant, haunting Annie Haslam-inspired soprano is perfectly suited for the subject matter. So having heard both sides of Rick's muse, I suggest he drop the heavy metal, doom and gloom posturing and stick to the poppy side of life on future recordings.

Kinski/Paik/Surface of Eceyon - Crickets and Fireflies (Music Fellowship)
www.musicfellowship.com

The second release in Music Fellowship's split CD series gathers together several of the leading lights of psychedelic instrumental music for a predominantly successful foray into the ravages of the grey matter in between your ears. Seattle-based  Kinski's cumbersomely titled "Keep Clear of Me, I Am Maneuvering With Difficulty" is the perfect soundtrack for your next dip into the sensory deprivation tank as the collection of bloops, blurps, and bleeps sounds like either a couple of mating dolphins or the soundtrack to "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." It would also be perfect background music if someone decided to remake "Fantastic Voyage," as the various chimes and tinklings recall those red and white blood cells glistening in the blood stream.

Unfortunately, about halfway through, an overreliance on distortion pedals renders the second half of the song a sonic headache. Maybe the song is constructed backwards: it should give us the headache first and then mellow out and send our intrepid explorers through the amniotic fluid to excise the cause of our discomfort at the end.

With "Spanish Holiday," Detroit's Paik admirably demonstrate they are the perfect band to provide the next Ennio Morricone film soundtrack. If you are a fan of the lush, romantic solos liberally peppered  throughout Morricone's western collaborations with Sergio Leone, you will enjoy this as much as I did. By song's end, guitarist Robert Smith assumes the persona of his namesake and there is an aura of Disintegration-era Cure hanging in the purple haze, although, at 14 minutes, it’s a few minutes too repetitive and long. Their other contribution, "Eva" is another ominous, psychedelic soundtrack piece, like a heavier Stars of the Lid.

The album ends with "Concert of Stars" by Surface of Eceyon, which is the guys from Landing banded together with a couple of friends, including Yume Bitsu's Adam Forkner. This is a lighter, mellower departure from the sound on last year's Strange Attractors Audio House debut, The King Beneath The Mountain, which will probably appeal more to Landing than Yume Bitsu fans. It's the most ambient of the tracks herein, Eno-esque if you will, and will certainly satisfy the jones of any Windy & Carl, Labradford, Landing, and Stars of the Lid aficionados. Perfect for your next trip at, I mean, to the local planetarium to gaze upon the majesty of the universe.

BIYO: Any of the artists involved; psychedelic instrumental bands

Fabulous Disaster - Panty Raid (Pink & Black)
www.pinkandblack.com

San Francisco's tattooed love girls, The Fab D's (not a bra size) combine the gorgeous Beach Boy-inspired pop harmonies and melodies of Tuuli with the crunchy, punky attack of The Donnas and The Runaways (whose drummer, Sandy West recently joined them on stage) on their second album. It's one of the year's best, and will have you headbanging through "Next Big Joy Ride" and pogoing yourself silly to "Painkiller," with Johnny Ramone-styled buzzsaw guitars from Lynda Mandolyn spinning wheelies around the rhythm section of drummer Sally Gess and bassist Mr. Nancy (neither of whom I'd like to meet in a dark alley), who propel the 14 short (most around 2:00) tracks forward at breakneck speed. Up on top, Laura Litter's cutie-pie, little girl vocals shout anthems about death, broken relationships, heroin, booze, pills, and Elastica songs on the radio!

Occasionally, as in "My Addiction" and "Bi-Polar," she drifts a little too close to Gwen Stefani for my interest and the band admittedly sounds like No Doubt with balls (which, being lesbians, they'd probably enjoy the comparison), but "Short Fuse" is a refreshing, potty-mouthed Joan Jett-styled "fuck you,"  and "Don’t Wanna Sleep,” “Yesterday’s Gone” and "Hey Girl” are warm-hearted, big beat rockers. In sum, a rare treat in this world of punk rock posers: a band that the kids into Good Charlotte and the traditionalists who still listen to their old Ramones and Buzzcocks albums will enjoy with equal passion.

BIYO: Punk Lolitas

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