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In the last book of his Politeia (Republic), Plato tells the tale of Er the Pamphylian, who is slain in battle, and whose body is found ten days later without a trace of decay. On the twelfth day, as he is lying on the pyre, he awakens back into life and recounts what he has seen on the other side.
The kings and queens of all things speed/ noise/ grind/ punk/ pop are back with their fifth studio album, sounding better than ever. And if you’ve been lucky enough to witness one of their live performances of their recent American and European tours, you know that, after 10 years, there is still a lot of fuel in the tank…
Legendary Japanese Experimentalist KK Null releases Atomik Disorder (on Neurot), his 7th full-length of the year. Be careful, it’s going to hurt…
One of the unsung heroes (or lightweight soldiers, depends on how you see it) of Ninja Tune, DJ Luv claims some more exposure with his second full-length, this time under The dorkestra moniker.
It’s Bucketheadland’s 13th anniversary! In the second anniversary year we get to visit Bucketheadland again. By melting guns and tanks and using the metal for building new rides and attractions we get to see a lot of new stuff!
Vicnet is the project of a young french designer who indulges in retro electro-pop. 80’s revival again, but at least not as annoying as electro-clash.
Four studio rats from Switzerland get together and record an album under the name of Monno. An interesting clash between abstract experimental music and punk. However, the end result is quite tepid.
Once upon a dream. A man came to me and said “you shall listen to math-rock”. From his worn-out leather bag, he took a few CD’s and put them on the floor. When I woke up, all sweaty and stinky, the presents were still around. Written on the covers were unfathomable names such as Don Caballero, King Crimson, Slint, Cheval de frise. And when I listened to the CD’s one after the other, I got scared… Weird structures, endless time signature changes… Aaaaargggh! Aaaaarrrgggghhhhh!
The tektonic doom-unit Khanate drops their second album and you can only stand in awe of the immense power that this quartet generates. As slow and destructive as drifting ice the album completely crushes everything on its way.
These days, Russia means imprisoned oligarch, war in Chechnya, Vladimir Putin, very rich people, extremely poor people. But there is more to it: Russia has its fair share of talented musicians. Roman Belousov is one of them. He has just released his fourth full-length under his Novel23 alias.
Second album for the swedish band, featuring 10 tracks of nice and catchy power pop.
Ulver have always had a soft spot for conceptual works. In that respect, their latest ep is their most conceptually rigorous release ever.
Originally planned for a september 2002 release, well over a year later, Estradasphere finally released their 3rd opus: Quadropus. With the drummer-‘problem’ still unsolved the now quartet got help from former drummer Dave Murray and Theo Mordey.
Belgium also has Sludge bands. Blutch was noticed by many for their crushing performances during their European trek as opening band for Bongzilla. They also happen to be releasing their second full-length, Fra Diavolo.
OK, no need to have you waiting much longer… The first Grails album is quite simply amazing. Coming from Portland, Oregon, they sound universal.
From the country of Nick Cave and Dirty Three comes Sodastream. A minor revival is their third full-length, and while it’s not musically similar to the aforementioned artists, it is equally gorged with emotions.
Most evil band name ever. Period. And we’re not talking black metal. We’re talking pop. Not regular pop. Very noisy pop. Send this CD to Dubya and you will see. He is going to hate the name. Then, he will listen to the CD and think it’s another unconventional weapon belonging to the Ayatollahs. You have yourself another war…
The books released their first album Thought for food in June 2002. It was hailed by an unanimous press as one of the best releases of the year. And rightly so: it truly was something else. Of course, a few people think they are way overrated and were looking forward to their second album, just to slag it off. Hmm I guess that now that The books are better known, people who loved the first CD will think this one is rubbish. Let’s just have a look so that I can make up my mind…
Some of today’s most interesting musicians in experimental music today are Germans around forty: Ekkehard Ehlers, Harald Ziegler, Frank Blumm and Stefan Schneider among others. Most of them release albums on Staubgold. Joseph Suchy too.
Anathema does not seem to have Lady Luck on their side. Besides all the troubles within the band and the family (which has become almost the same these days, with 3 Cavanagh brothers in the band), their (doom)metal-past prevented them to break through to a different, and maybe bigger, audience. Strange, because the emotional rock that Anathema writes these days could easily appeal to people who like the 'emotional rock' by bands like Coldplay and Radiohead.
One year ago, the masters of all things mathcore disbanded and released their swansong in the form of the Anthology of dead ends ep. 22 minutes showcasing why Botch were held in such esteem by so many people between 1993 and 2002.
Until quite recently, JOMF were known only of a little group of connoisseurs but since they were chosen as cover stars by The Wire last year, it has become very difficult to avoid them.
'Does humour belong in music?' It's an old question and many people seem to disagree with Frank Zappa, the man who made an album by that name. I think it does, like it belongs in life, as music reflects life. Not necessarily real life: imagination is life as well. Fantasy, history, future or the current, it doesn't matter.
04th of October 2000, Jester Records unleashed on an unexpecting world the news that Carl-Michael Eide (aka Czral) had just formed a band retaining “the visionary components of (one of Eide previous bands) Ved Buens Ende”. Many fans of VBE bowed down and cried. Too good to be true. Alas, they didn’t know they would have to wait for almost 3 years before actually getting to hear the album…. Worth the wait?