ANOTHER LIVING LEGEND JOINS BRAINWASHED
Gordon Mumma has been a pioneer in the field of electronic music since the 1950s. Often employing circuitry of his own design, Mumma has collaborated with folks like John Cage, Merce Cunnigham, and David Tudor. He also co-founded the notable Sonic Arts Union with Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier, and David Behrman. After many years of professorship, Mumma is now enjoying a very productive retirement that is seeing both old and new works published and sought-after. The new website has been created and will be maintained by killer web design extrordinaire Jesse Niemenen.
Look for an interview in the next issue of ND magazine as well as an exclusive unreleased track on the "Brain in the Wire" CD disc B, and a possible new CD on John Zorn's Tzadik label.
[Check out Chris Hill's review of "Studio Retrospect" from an earlier issue of The Brain from this year.

VOLCANO THE BEAR JOINS BRAINWASHED
One of the most exciting experimental rock bands to emerge in the last few years needed a home and people who cared, the new website has been designed by Jon and will be maintained by Chris McBeth. It's still in the rather skeletal stages now but should be full with sound samples and an even more comprehensive discography due soon. The group is working on some new material now due to surface early 2001, and with any luck they'll also be on Brain in the Wire disc B!

THE BEAST OF 2000
Two more weeks to vote in the Brainwashed Best of 2000 poll. The voting closes December 31st on albums, songs, films, bands, people and other things. Once again we ask for your careful attention in this as we will count all the serious votes and toss all the ones who voted for one album and nothing else! Please read the questions and answer seriously and if you're not sure, come back later! Results will be posted in January.

M², "KOPYRIGHT LIBERATION"
With almost no down time from cross-continental touring and releasing albums as Panacea and Disorder, Matthis Mootz has released this scarcely limited mini-LP on Ant-Zen. Limited to 680 copies, "Kopyright Liberation" is built from sources from the now legendary Kopyright Liberation Front, a.k.a. the KLF. While this 40-minute mini-LP is rather tributal in nature—with track titles "Trancentral," "Ru Con," and "Reefer Spin,"—a scattering of micro elements have been recycled in an entirely new surrounding. The record strays from the more minimalistic tendencies of the first two m² [pronounced and sometimes listed as Squaremeter] releases (three if you consider Brasilia). Mootz weaves an intricate tapestry of low end rumblings, NASA beeps, clicks for measure and tempo marks, and speech samples with spacious effects. For a man known in the drum and bass world for his lengthy intros, some of these songs can take up to six minutes before every individual element introduced begin to play with each other. This could possibly be my favorite Squaremeter release to date. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Kopyright Liberation
• Transcentral
• Ru Con

"DOCKING SEQUENCE: BSI CAMPAIGN VOL. 1"
This is what all various artists compilations should be like: 70+ minutes of nothing but solid, exclusive tracks reasonably priced at $12 post paid. "Docking Sequence" is the fifteenth release and first compilation from Portland, OR based label BSI Records. The cd (and double LP which features 4 extra tracks) brings forth just about every flavor of (mostly) instrumental, modern dub imaginable - digital/analog, programmed/live, hip hop, noise, ambient, experimental, whatever - from peoples, places and studios worldwide. Names that will likely draw you in are Muslimgauze, The Rootsman, Twilight Circus and DJ Spooky, but the playing field is evened out by the full roster. Black Faction brings the Afghan front to Manchester with mellow Middle Eastern backgrounds and smooth beats. Sweeping strings and bird calls permeate a brief but stunning untitled Muslimgauze track. He-Man growls ragga styled vocals over string sample stabs and snare rhythm on "Killer". Phase Selector Sound lay down an indelibly deep ambient bass groove with "Sky Cup". Sound Secretion's "Perpetual Next..." is an onslaught of scratching, cut-up rap samples and massive beats. Drifting female sighs are the perfect touch to J-Boogie's laid back "Gemini Dub". Alpha & Omega conjure up King Tubby with generous helpings of melodica in "Wicked Man Drop". Twilight Circus present an even deeper mix of "Depth Charge" from the recent "Dub Voyage" album. Raz Mesinai's (aka Badawi) "Excerpt from The Unspeakable" is a tense stringed nightmare. Onry & Oldominion's "Jezebelian" begins and ends with a hilarious list of shout outs and a super smooth sample and double MC flow sandwiched in-between. Otaku's "Patterns.." slices and dices with serious drum 'n bass fills. And last and least, the oh so over hyped DJ Spooky wraps things up with a rather drab dub collage. Altogether "Docking Sequence" is a crossbred success. As much as I'm looking forward to a 2nd volume, I need to do some catch up on many of these bands back catalogs first ... - Mark Weddle

samples:

• Muslimgauze - untitled
• Sound Secretion - Perpetual Next
• Onry & Oldominion - Jezebelian
• Phase Selector Sound - Sky Cup

KREIDLER
The eponymous third full-lengther from Kreidler is almost a futuristic nod to the innovators of 70s Kraut Rock. The disc is nearly all instrumental, save two tracks with vocal contributions from artful indie clown Momus and Argeninian pop star Leo Garcia (not to be confused with the Dominican baseball player, professor, Wyoming politician, classical guitarist, or Salsa dance instructor). The quartet is down to a trio since their bassist departed as his side project, To Rococo Rot become more of a main outlet. The bass lines are beefier than ever however, and whether the songs are serene throbbing electronic easy listening gems like "Bewitched", a Can-like vocal tunes as "Mnemorex" or a Kraftwerkian hook-based ditty like "Do It", the production is slick and inviting. Kreidler's tunes are pretty damned catchy and their generally jovial feel suggests these Germans are undoubtedly having fun. Put your laptops down and start having fun. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Mnemorex (with Momus)
• Do It
• Beauties

BOARDS OF CANADA, "IN A BEAUTIFUL PLACE,..."
After a year full of unpronounceable non sequiturs masquerading as album titles, Boards of Canada bring us the most aptly named release in ages. "In a Beautiful Place out in the Country" is exactly where Mark Eoin and Mike Sandison intend to take you with this new EP, and they succeed admirably. The material here has the same elements that "Music Has the Right to Children" and "hi scores" did: big, slow, chunky hip-hop beats, staticy synth washes, bittersweet melodies, buried samples of children playing and laughing. But the gorgeous melodies and hypnotic beats that seemed to be verging on childish joy now and then in their two previous releases seem more contemplative, nostalgic, almost wistful if not actually melancholy. These gentle songs are more of a flip through a scrapbook stuffed with pictures of your favorite beautiful place out in the country when you were a kid than an actual visit. "Kid for Today," starts out with a gentle, soothing beat that's reminiscent of rain falling on a roof. Soft, wispy synths and a gorgeous melody, full of that analog goodness. A scratchy voice mumbles something at us. It's like being inside on a rainy summer day, watching puddles accumulate. "Amo Bishop Roden" is a filtered, almost vanishing synth loop with an even more wistful murmur fading in and out above it. Now and then we get a subsonic thump that propels the song forward. The ticking-clock drumline thickens into static, then vanishes into a whirlpool. The title track is definitely the stand-out here. A chilly organ line develops slowly, we hear the sounds of children laughing, and one of those chunky beats comes in to fill the background. A momentary halt, and then a heavily processed voice murmurs something melodic and incomprehensible in the voice of a sedated Speak-N-Spell. Then everything begins blending together...
Finally, there's "Zoetrope." This sounds just like one of those short interlude tracks from "Music..." that I wish went on for a year but stopped after a minute or so. I'm not even sure how to describe it. Gentle chords move up and down a keyboard in rolling waves, not a bassline or beat or synth wash in sight, but it just gets more and more wonderful. It's been much too long since their last release, and at less than 25 minutes, this is not a long EP -- but if everything they do is as achingly beautiful as this, I'm willing to wait for another two years. - Alex Krieger

samples:

• Kid for Today
• In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country
• Zoetrope

THE CLIENTELE, "SUBURBAN LIGHT"
The band that has wowed collectors and critics alike has compiled their first 7" single releases onto one charming compact disc. The disc collects their recordings which stem back to about 1998 but omits the tracks which appeared on this year's earlier CD EP release, "A Fading Summer." It also adds a couple new, previously unreleased songs. The Clientele is one of my favorite new groups to emerge in the last couple years. Their music has a heavy feel of 60s indie-pop. The sound is melodic with a basic usage of drums, guitar and bass. Primitive home studio electronic gear gives a sort of charm that translates well to their original vinyl releases. Subject matters revolving around rain, darkness and love, clearly displaying the group can only be English, almost dreaming of a day when they could have easily filled the opening slot on a mid-60s UK tour of Gerry and the Pacemakers. With songs as sugar sweet as "(I Want You) More Than Ever" and "Saturday," prolonged listens may result in dental work. The instrumental competancy of the group is something that is witnessable in their live performances, while the members can be observed with playing unobtrusive melodies using the entire fretboards of the stringed instruments. Bass lines are melodic and gentle, as James isn't copping out by playing root notes of chords while the drummer has an undeniably talented balance of control and subtle delicacy. Charming ballads and blissful love songs are not a bad thing if they're done with sincerity, and I think the group are doing a fine job of mastering the art. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• (I Want You) More Than Ever
• Saturday
• Reflections After Jane (All the Dust and Glass)

TROUM, "SEN"
The latest release from Staalplaat's prolific Mort aux Vaches series comes to us from the German drone outfit Troum. Much like their previous incarnation Maeror Tri, Troum are masters of the slow progression, be it in terms of intensity, volume, style, or all three, as in the case of this release. Sen, which consists of one hour-long track, begins quietly with delicate reverberations and soft metallic ringing: sonic architecture so subtle that one might not even notice the gradual accumulation of the duo's trademark sound. Troum's skill as artists in field of drones truly lies in their ability to craft them with such beauty. All too frequently are we besieged with power electronics artists who employ this technique in ways that are either overwhelming or boring. By layering dones with wistful electronic spirals, Troum lends them an undeniable prettiness. It isn't until twenty-five minutes into Sen that these almost gossamer soundscapes give way to the throb of a translucent beat, which in turn melts into rhythmic patches of distortion as the album takes on creepier, harsher textures. These twists and turns are, however, not ungraceful in the slightest, but dissolve into one another with fluid ease. Finally, stripping down to a solitary, nearly inaudible echo, Sen fades to an end just as gently as it began. - Jessica Tibbits

samples:

• Excerpt 1: 24:33-25:37
• Excerpt 2: 41:49-42:53
• Excerpt 3: 57:45-58:45

SAD ROCKETS, "TRANSITION"
The transition has indeed been made from the hip yet relatively obsure Chain Reaction label in Germany to the international powerhouse known as Matador for this, the third full-lengther from Andrew Pekler, a.k.a. Sad Rockets. While the output may be labeled as a medium-paced modern dub hybrid, the inputs are almost completely organic, remeniscent more of the older school masters than many glitchy electronic contemporaries. Tunes range from scratchy spy movie themed bits to funked out game show thinking music with vibes and sampladelic rock steady dub ditties. The Uzbekistan-born, California-raised Berlin resident proudly shows off his talents as a composer, pianist, guitarist and producer, roping in friends to fill out the occasional role of drummer or violinist. "Transition" took almost two years to record and is a solid record album, worthy of recognition as working music, chillout tunes or the perfect soundtrack to a low-key gathering of friends. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Heavy Mata
• Wrongs of Fall
• Sad Rocket's Rock Steady

MICROSTORIA, "MODEL 3, STEP 2"
Jan St. Werner (of Mouse on Mars) and Markus Popp (of Oval) have cooked up a third offering of glitchy, cryptic ambience for us, this time without all the rhetoric about music as software and digital revolutions in musical composition. "Nine excursions into the world of downtempo speedcore," as Thrill Jockey's webpage puts it, but to me it sounded like the drones and rumbles that were so fascinating on Mouse on Mars' "Instrumentals" providing an unappreciated undercurrent to Popp's software-generated quirks, bleeps, and glitches. Now and then it resembles a fully realized orchestral work mangled into utter unrecognizability by its composers' computers.
Your reaction to "model 3, step 2" will no doubt be determined by your attitude towards Popp and his studies in computer-generated incoherence. If you're the chin-stroking type who plumbed the fascinating depths of "94diskont," "Dok," and "Ovalprocess" and came back hungry for more, then this will probably prove rewarding after a few listens, or at least briefly interesting. "Dok," the result of another Popp collaboration (with Toyko's Christophe Charles), shimmered with an organic beauty that fails to materialize here; likewise, the weird sonic explorations and occasional thematic coherence that made Microstoria's "INIT DING" worthwhile just aren't apparent. The result is neither compelling nor essential. - Alex Kreiger

samples:

• Glocky Bit
• Fakeshift
• Soso Sound

TOSCA, "SUZUKI"
Richard Dorfmeister teamed up with Rupert Huber for a fine selection of loungey trip-hop worthy of prancing around with bell-bottoms in. Sure, something like this can sit very well along with Kruder & Dorfmeister projects like Peace Orchestra, but the difference in this one is more emphasis on a deeper soul. Female vocals are introduced in the form of samples to give it a little more human and less mechanical spirituality than the typical white German electro dubtacular sound. If it were 1992, this would be labelled as "chill out room music." Serene and galactical, this would provide a great soundtrack to lying in your room with your friend or lover, staring up at the glowing stars stuck to the ceiling. Illegal substances optional of course. - Jon Whitney

samples:

• Orozco
• Doris Dub
• Ocean Beat

We know that sometimes these CDs are somewhat challenging to find, which is why we have a RECOMMENDED STORES section which can be used to obtain nearly everything available on the site.

TUESDAY
Various - Knottel Remixed 12" [original track by Zorn, remixed by Multipara, Geiom, Artificial Duck Flavour, Arovane, Frederik Schikowski, Biochip C. and Thaddi] (Lux Nigra, Germany)

For a more comprehensive release schedule stretching far into the future, please check out the NEW RELEASES brought to you by Greg and Feedback Monitor.

DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR?
James and Andy of V/Vm wake up one morning to find a lifetime supply of pudding in their cabinets, Andy's car is missing and neither can remember what happened last night. An answering machine message is left by their girlfriends, the twins, played by Mira Calix and Andrea Parker, bitching them out for the mess they made last night and how they forgot it was their anniversary. Now the two are screwed because they can't find their car with the anniversary gifts they bought for the girls. On their journey into the town Wendy Carlos tries to run over Andy, Colin Newman and Malka Spiegel try to run over James. They meet up with their old friend who's played by Andrew Mackenzie. From there, the three drive to get some Chinese food, where Takako Minekawa gives them hell on the drive-through intercom. After a small incident, Mackenzie takes off and leaves the two to try to piece everything together. A hot girl from school, played by Bettina Richards sees the two on the street, flirts with Andy as her boyfriend and some other thugs (played by the Isotope fellas) show up and threaten to beat our two heroes up. A run in with a transgendered girl played by Riz Malsen (Neotropic) at a strip club adds another twisted piece to the ever-growing puzzle, while an Asian tailor, played by Masami Akita hooks them up with hip Addidas outfits with magical pockets.
Upon leaving the shop, the two are abducted by the Add N to (X) folks who play a gang of underground nerds trying to communicate with space. This is where it gets weird: the Add N to (X) crew (who later torture the main characters by playing some of their music) inform them that they need the Continuum Transducer to save the universe. Once our heroes break free from the nerds, Chicks on Speed show up also wanting the treasured Continuum Transducer. But it gets even more bizarre: Stefan Betke and Florian Hecker also appear in the film, claiming to be the keepers of the Continuum Transducer and well, the rest of the story has young James and Andy running around, trying to get the car and save the universe and figure out what happened last night. Honest!- Jon Whitney

LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY SHOPPING?
Still don't know what to get for Aunt Clara, Jeanine the faithful office administrator or your roommate Chuck? They could all use a gift from Divine Interventions, now with a whole array of holiday-themed objects. Give them the gift they'll use over and over and over again!

Beautiful.