Thanasis Kaproulias has been quietly building an impressive repertoire of conceptual sound art releases for the past few years. Neuroplanets may perhaps be the most varied and complex release yet, by not only utilizing source material from four titans of the field (BJ Nilsen, Daniel Menche, Francisco Lopez and Mika Vainio) but also applying data from neurological and astronomical research into his compositions. The end product is something that sounds more like a collaboration where the original artists’ sound is measurable, but also Kaproulias' reworking as well.
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Reissued in mono, Dino Valenti's solo album is a heady mix of sparse melodic guitar and his idiosyncratic cocksure crooning, both benefiting from brilliant production that balances ego and echo.
The latest release from Matthew Bower’s Skullflower crushes all the competition. Making very rough rhythms and drones from slabs of noise, Bower has put together one titan of an album. The noise he evokes rakes out my ears like few others do.
Southern Lord’s reissue of Clown Alley’s classic album Circus of Chaos is very welcome. Never available on CD before, this album has long gone under the radar. While not completely fresh sounding after 20 years, the album still packs a powerful punch.
Dani Siciliano’s second album starts out well, but it has trouble maintaining both the momentum and the high standards set by the first couple of tracks. While her voice sounds better than ever, unfortunately the music doesn’t always do it justice.
Nikkie Van Lierop changes her look, her style and her name withvirtually every project she's part of. In the brief and inbredBelgian "New Beat" scene she was "Jade4U," singing and sharingcomposition and production duties in Lords of Acid and 101. Thenshe became the darling of European ravers as part of Digital Orgasm,Praga Khan's entourage, and the production company MNO. As"Darling Nikkie" she released a solo album with an ecclectic mix of'40s crooning, electronic dance and bare-faced spiritualintrospection. She either has a short attention span or a love ofvariety...whether all of this band-switching has helped her career,however, is up for debate.
Jazzfinger's openness to sounds and attention to emotion, minimalism and fluidity contradicts and even somehow incomprehensibly dismisses their defiantly lo-fi two-track sound.
I started keeping a list of random ideas and sounds in the newestKattoo record because by the fourth track, the record was already goingall over the place. I'm a huge fan of sample-based music and thekitchen sink approach to constructing records usuallyworks, but here it plays like a hackneyed collection of obviousinfluences that don't add up to anything greater.
