Label: Mute Format: CD Vince Clarke of Erasure and Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 could not be further from their ’80s adventures than they are here on this new venture. A gentle countdown leads into very soft Ambient electronics just short of sounding New Age. The tracks are named after […]
Yearly archives: 2001
77 posts
The Spitz, London 7 June 2001 The Spitz tends to look different every time I go there. Tonight it is a late arrival just in time to see Appliance play their version of Krautrock-inspired Electronica. Projections on small screens around the room show Rand McNally maps of the Great Lakes […]
Kosmische @ The Garage, London 31 May 2001 Beware all snow leopards; indeed all mammals were at risk of having their asses rocked Thursday at the Kosmische Club‘s presentation of Acid Mothers Temple. Once Southall Riot was done with their opening imitation of all that was Krautrock in a Nineties […]
The Social, Nottingham 30 May 2001 The first act were Floach, an electronics duo from ScoobyDooLand. With a table full of electronic contraptions that would have made Throbbing Gristle drool (and a hairstyle that would have frightened Dave Hill from Slade), they cooked up a glorious electronic rumpus. If Pierre […]
Label: Clearspot Format: CD,LP This ‘trio’ are in fact a sextet, including the brothers Marcus and Micha Acher who enjoy playing with the conventions of jazz and introducing dub and electronics alongside improvisation. The first track, “United World Elevator”, is a good example, starting in a fairly minimalist style with […]
Touch Format: 2xCD To call Substrata a good album is an understatement. It has been described as one of the finest Ambient albums of the Nineties. As far as I’m concerned you can scrub out the bit about the Nineties. Biosphere, a.k.a. Geir Jenssen from Norway, has created some of […]
Label: BMG/Volcano Format: CD, limited CD,MC Tool. Hmm. Can we forgive them? I mean, like, ever? After all, as the instigators of nu-metal, they are largely responsible for Limp Bizkit and Slipknot, all that big-shorted, high testosterone sports metal malarkey. Only there’s nothing remotely “sports” about Tool — no, they’re resolutely “old metal” imagewise – you […]
Label: Quarterstick Format: CD Spanning most of the musical history of Calexico, a band highly reminiscent of duo Joey Burns and John Covertino‘s previous bands Giant Sand and especially Friends Of Dean Martinez, this EP combines unreleased tracks with remixes of previously-released material, some European B-sides, and three CDROM videos […]
Label: Racing Junior Format: CD Salvatore popped down to Marrakesh from their Nowegian home to record Fresh, and from the opening twang of “Get The Kids On The Street, It’s A Party” things take on an electronic groove dimension which can only have been aided by the atmosphere of Morocco. […]
Electrowerkz, London 4 May 2001 Noise and gunge and digital Punk Rock descend on paintball hall Electrowerkz, and even if the night is also a launch for the No More Rock N Roll compilation, it really does have some stomping moments to put a writhe on the dead face of […]
Label: Planet µ Format: CD C(l)attery digital songs for cats from Mr Aaron Funk, Esq., of Winnipeg, Canada. Featuring an opener which sets the pace with eerie wails which don’t sound feline as such, but might once have done so, and they certainly make more recognizable guest appearances later. Dastardly […]
Label: Warp Format: CD,2LP Dammit, Autechre can still confound and confuse as much as they’ve ever done. Skims of the sound of the natural world meeting the digital and electronic mesh like no-one else has quite managed to acheive, despite the legions of followers who somehow get the sound but never quite the feel just […]
The Spitz, London 26 April 2001 The I/O event at The Spitz was a little bit of a nerd-fest (meant in the best possible way), as several generations of audio technophiles opened up their various laptop computers and let rip with the best in glitchry they could muster for the […]
Label: Lunar Format: CD The first and most obvious thing to say about this CD is that one should perhaps empty one’s bladder before attempting it. Here is a magical use of water as a sound source, the Main soundsource. Layers and layers of water, dripping, running, rippling, everything that water can […]
Label: Hypnos/Soundscape Format: DVD Somnium is one of those recordings which serves to illustrate the possibilities of DVD as a medium far beyond the mere shovelling of films, trailers and “interactive” biographical details onto a soon-to-be replaced medium. Remember how Big Black ironically referred to CD as The Rich Man’s […]
The Fridge, London 12 April 2001 Autechre play in the dark to an audience bursting the seams of The Fridge. The auditorium is packed, the crowd heaving without much dancing going on, and the beats are fractured into shapes that would make rhythmic movement something of an exacting chore. People […]
The Bloomsbury Theatre, London 6-7th April 2001 Perhaps if Billie Holiday had received nuptial visits from the spirit of La Cage Aux Folles and produced an offspring, that might explain how the universe has been blessed with Antony Hegarty. Perfoming live for two nights in London in support of Current […]
Label: Mute Format: CD, limited 2CD It occurs to me as I listen to this new effort by Nick Cave that I might like to have never heard of him. In fact I add up the years and it has been at least nineteen since I first did so. I […]
Label: Domino (Europe)/Thrill Jockey (North America) Format: 12″,CDS Some high-energy silliness from the Mouse On Mars folk, running straight at Garage with a wild yelp and a cheesy grin before folding it up into bouncy breaks and a full-mouthed wade through distorted vocals, better tasted on the full-length mix. Smartly […]
The Smell, Los Angeles, California 29 March 2001 The stages faces a room which cages a particular piece of modern art and the reflection is this: levelor blinds painted with barcode marks bracketed by (0) and (1) and a neon word consci divides ousness. White of the eye stares back […]