You'll find the usual Cologne suspects on the list of Dankes in the notesthe latest Joe Zimmerman release. But as the cover art (a circle oftraditional Teutonic dancers caught in a mid-air leap) visually suggests, themusic is brighter and poppier than the output of most his A-Musik labelmates.Like much of Sclamm's previous work, 'Augenwischwaldmoppgefloete'(Eyeswipeforestflute or somthing like that) takes a flighty, melodic bent,sounding more like a video game soundtrack than any type of hip pomo pastiche:it's more Alex Kidd than Kid 606. (Actually, the opening track"Konfliktfickfahig" is more Super Mario than Alex Kidd). This aesthetic senseof unity and seamlessness is what characterizes most of the Cologne crowd andsets them apart from imitators, and Schlammpeitziger takes it even further withan almost naive simplicity of bouncy rhythms and Casio bleeps. Rather thansounding pedestrian, it's refreshing to the ears. If you liked any of hisearlier stuff, you'll dig this one.
May the Fourth brought four exciting new podcast episodes! Episode 689 features music from Chris Corsano, Sarah Hennies (performed by ensemble 0), Melt-Banana, Kristen Gallerneaux, Carlos Giffoni, Zola Jesus, Naemi (with Zoe Darsee), Pollution Opera, Weston Olencki (feat. Jules Reidy), and Drumloop. Episode 690 has Mahogany, Susanna, Caribou, Fennesz, Simon Fisher Turner, Windy & Carl, HTRK (remixed by Loraine James), France Jobin, Explosions in the Sky, and Limpe Fuchs. Episode 691 features Louis Carnell & Laraaji, Sunburned Hand of the Man, JARR (Jon Attwood (yellow6) and Ray Robinson (Wodwo)), SUN (Andi Haberl), Richard Chartier, thisquietarmy, Zeena Parkins, Earth, Akira Kosemura & Lawrence English, and Edward Ka-Spel. And Episode 692 has Angelyne, KÁRYYN (remixed by HAAi), MXLX, Esplendor Geométrico, Spoonfed Hybrid, Kristin Hersh, Moon Diagrams, Bitter Wish, Seabuckthorn, Danny Paul Grody Duo, The Green Kingdom, and Gabbarein. Fornes gård in Hegra, Norway photo by Eirik.
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Jake Trusell's firstfull-length release through Varunee compiles two of his 12" singlespreviously issued on his own Bliss Recordings label. The disc howeveris divided up into three sections: Roots consists of the songs"Carrot," "Radish," "Turnip," and "Beet." All of which are somewhatmedium paced, musically conscious, beat heavy gems. Wreck is the nextsection featuring four lengthy decontructed dub-influenced serene,hypnotic numbers. Remix rounds out the collection, featuring Jake's ownremix of "Percussive Wave" from the 'Wreck' portion and an outstandingglimmering remix of "Carrot." [Hey Vat-boy, when's the next fuckingalbum???!!] What separates Jake Trusell from many of the other viciouselectronica upstarts is his ability to incorporate fine melodies intohis interplay. All too often electronic beat-oriented artists will gofor the cutthroat dancefloor stuff which will be forgotten once thehangover clears. Young Trusell here appears to be more focused onmaking albums for listening and pulling from the shelves to hear longafter the current trends are forgotten.
Every thirtynothing andtwentysomething was a teenager once, many were in their youths in the80s and weren't exposed to good music for a long while. Hence, manyfans of indie rock, post-kraut, electronic and other stuff that broughtyou to this website were into very bad popular metal in the 1980s. Mostare too embarassed to admit this private and personal matter, exceptfor the Fucking Champs (formerly known as the ch43p5). "IV" rings inwith a sound all too familiar, thankfully the worst part of the 80smetal (the makup and lead singer) are left out of their formula. What'sleft are pure, raw steaming wanky guitar power and drum solos, readyfor the Yngwie Malmsteen fan we left behind. Look for them on tour withPole and Red House Painters next spring. 
Borrowing the title fromHafler Trio's "Four Ways of Saying Five," this tribute CD from Hushushis divided into four equal 15 minute parts and arranged alphebeticallyby artist. Featured here are Aube, Lilith, P.A.L. and Propeller. Thefour selections are both tributal and derivative. Much like HaflerTrio's work, all are very spacious, intoxicating, compelling anddreamlike, pulling the listener into a trance and then yanking the rugout with a sudden change. They are cold-calculated and devious,everything is intentional. These pieces are in no way easy to digestnor do they rest well with the listener, which make them all the morefascinating, much as Hafler Trio's work. Perhaps this is why I've saton this disc for months now without saying a word. Listen to the tracksand judge for yourself.
Volcano the Bear returnswith their second full-lengther, this time without the help of StevenStapleton. "The One Burned Ma" is a collection of 4-track recordingsand is truly stellar in parts, downright bizarre in others. What wouldyou expect from a surrealist rock band? Violins, organic samples,electronic fuckery, unconventionally played guitars, creepy melodieswhich might make more sense on hallucinogens, this one's got the works!Each song gently glides into the next making it quite an adventurouscollection which is allegedly a compilation of 4-track recordingsspanning four years. The disc was released on the small, NY-based Misalabel, yet it still has the emotional support from the World Serpentcrew. Don't miss this group on the road in the US right now as I haveno idea what to expect. Dates are posted at the 
As if Low haven'treleased enough music this year, Tugbot releases this single of threenew songs in the UK this week. "Dinosaur Act" carries the title with asong the group has been performing around the country recently, soon totouch down in Europe. Most definitely the most muscular track on thedisc (others might say 'the strongest') the song jumps in louder andmore distorted than what the Low sound is used to possessing, but oncethe vocals begin and song develops, it's clearly nobody else."Overhead," the middle child is by no means a mediocre track, butclearly rests between the strength of the other two. It's a thunderousLow track where it seems as if the glorious vocal harmony has beenyanked from its original music, and dropped in a sea of sounds echoingand building off each other. "Don't Carry it All" ends the disc withone of those Low tunes you can't believe a young group came up with - asong which could easily be destined to become a rock and roll standardfor years to come. Once the disc ends however, I can't get this damnedsong out of my head for the rest of the day. Small but powerful, thisis one of my fave singles of the year.
It's a neat concept, a 3"CD featuring nearly three hours of music compressed in MP3 format. Thevarious artists featured here include Christoph De Babalon, KimCascone, Oval / Frank Metzger and Pimmon. Throw the disc into thecomputer (since most people reading this are probably most listening tomusic on their computers these days) and use the web page interface tonavigate to listen to each track,... The music has been compressed atvarious frequencies, all of which, (according to the notes) maintainthe original CD sound quality. Perhaps with this type ofcomputer-generated electronic minimal music this is correct, but itwould be interesting to compare sounds on a big stereo withuncompressed music in a CD format. Another neat concept with this isthe interface in which you can play these tracks: nearly every artist'sname has a hyperlink to their home page while the tracks they providewill begin playing when clicked on. The downside is that after eachtrack you have to go back and click something new. There's no option tomake a continuous play (unless you simply load all the songs into yourmp3 player directly from your computer). Portability with this releaseis of course completely shot, but think of it this way: music can befun to explore again! Remember the days of buying records, bringingthem home and throwing them on - you had to be there to enjoy themusic, so you were provided a big lyric sheet, loads of big pictures,etc... While cassettes were the portable media, CDs pretty much killedthe magic of vinyl for most consumers. I hope this is the beginning ofa series, one which may feature more diverse acts than chin-scratchingemail checking laptop fuckers. For more information, check out 
It's been nearly a yearsince the first issue of this, I Am Spoonbender's second CD. The vinyledition of this extended-play single comes in a 3-sided 2x12" set. Boththat and the first-edition CD are limited to numbers under 1,000. Now,Vancouver-based Mint Records brings us these 6 tracks to keep ourbreath sparkling fresh. I've become truly addicted to this CD. Theproduction brilliantly combines toyful electronic and driving rocksounds into a heavenly rhythmic mishmosh. Clever melodies and lyricsare all too remeniscent of a time in the 80s when pop music was createdfor the sake of making something sound good, long before wanky guitarsolos, macho vocals and tired chord progressions took over. A surprisegem on the disc is a parody of Berlin's "The Metro" where the singerbellows "Where do all the words go?" Pop is good, pop is fun, and thisis the real sugar - there's no saccharin here, baby.
