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Surprises are nice, especially musical ones. And that’s exactly what William Shatner's Has Been is: a wonderful surprise.
Sometimes you almost forget how good a CD was, when it has been sitting in your collection for quite some time. For me, the Bulgarian vocal group Ера Квартет is one of these rediscoveries of late.
I’ve already said all the good things I thought about Larsen’s Rever and Play albums. In between the two CD’s, the band released a collection of tracks called Musm, that they compiled for their 2003 US tour.
With the growing success of bands such as Isis and Neurosis, it was only logical that many bands would try to follow their footsteps. Some of them good, many of them mediocre. The question is: where does Buried Inside stand?
Who has heard of Die Welttraumforscher ? Not me, not you. So we should be thankful to Staubgold for sharing one of their songs with us via the label’s Tempo Technik Teamwork. The song was the highlight of the comp.
After the brilliant Songs For The Deaf Josh Homme returns with the long anticipated Lullabies To Paralyze. This time without co-songwriter and bassist Nick Oliveri. Actually, long time collaborator Mark Lanegan doesn't do a lot either except for the smooth intro This Lullaby and some background vocals. No worries. Josh can do QOTSA easily on his own. I might say: this could be their best album so far.
After two poor electronic albums from Japan reviewed in a week, I was hoping for something better. This one is once more Japanese and electronic, it’s a little better but still not giving me much satisfaction.
Second disappointing electronic music album from Japan of the month. Am I jaded or what?
This 7” comes on such thick vinyl that my needle keeps touching it, even if it’s up. Along with artwork by every printer’s nightmare Stephen O’Malley (Sunn0))) a.o.) that has extra varnish and a metallic ink on top of full-colour and one must come to the conclusion that there’s a lot of love in this project.
I’ve always been a fan of the releases on Plop, bar Gel:’s second album. Four releases later, Pola is another minor letdown.
To say that the new High on Fire album was expected by many is an understatement. Many metalfans fell for Surrounded by Thieves and those who didn’t were left bemused by the thundering live performances the trio produced over the last two years.
Two years ago, I wrote my admiration of Larsen’s music in a review of their Young God released Rever album. They are back in early 2005 with another magnificent work, inspired by… Autechre.
Two years after Owliness, Beequeen is back with a new, easily available full-length.
Another Kid606 project. Yeah ! Well, not really yeah ! The last few 606 music I heard was rather disappointing. But anyway, Flössin is centred on Christopher Willits, and that is good news.
Reuber is back with his third solo album, a psychedelic collage fest that will put you in a very good mood.
The return of what I always described as the 'Watchtower of doom' because of the highpitched vocals and complex and technical songstructures shows that those two elements have been mellowed down a bit in the last 10 years of inactivity.
Unsung heroes. Forgotten ones. Out of favours pioneers. Music history is full of people who for some reason failed to be remembered. Thanks the Lord, there are people and labels who dedicate themselves to bring back to life distant memories. Acute records is one of those, and a few month after Glenn Branca’s Lesson n°1, they allowed me to discover a band that I had never heard of: The Prefects.
In the dark days before Christmas Duncan Patterson's (ex-Anathema, Antimatter) Strangelight-label releases a limited edition of 1,000 copies of Anathema-guitarist Danny Cavanagh's tribute to singer-songwriter Nick Drake. The timing is perfect.
The promise made by all-female fourtet Electrelane with their 2001 debut album Rock It to the Moon landed them a record deal with indie label Too Pure. This allowed them to record their sophomore album The Power Out under the guidance of sound engineering wizard Steve Albini.
Blood Box’s second release conjures up truly breathtaking imagery and atmosphere. Blood Box is the solo project of Michael JV Hensley, one half of the well respected dark ambient band Yen Pox.
Hot on the heels of the odds and sods e.p. called Here Comes that Weird Chill, Mark Lanegan finally "hits the city" with his latest full length gem entitled Bubblegum.
The 20th century composer Edgard Varèse stated he liked brass because they are ‘full of sun’. Jóhannsson’s followup to his rather sad solo-debut Englabörn proves that point.
One of the good surprises of 2003 came from 31knots and their interesting (it had been such a long wait...) math-rock. They’re back with a 5 track ep on Luxemburg’s Own Records.
It's safe to say that Brazzaville's first three albums went by virtually unnoticed by a large group of potential fans. Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3, Asva) decided to help spread the word by releasing this compilation on his Mimicry-label.