Label: Warp Format: CD,LP How do I start talking about Jimi Tenor? He`s mates with Pan(a)sonic and certainly one of the most curious individuals I`ve come across of late – rumour has it that our Jimi likes to appear on stage on top of a white horse. A lot of Organism has a cocktail lounge Jazz Funk feel, rendered through Electro of course. This doesn`t go anywhere near summing our Jimi up. As I was […]
Label: Touch & Go Format: CD,LP Don Caballero are part of the recent contemporary phenomenon of American men with big guitars, no vocals and, thankfully, a sense of humour. Much of their musoid noodling would have been tarred with the Progressive brush in halcyon eras of wide trousers, big hair and expansive stage concepts but what Don Cab bring to the boot fair is their own brand of […]
![Chilly Gonzales and The Musical Truth [with numerous others] (live)](https://freq.org.uk/wp-content/themes/customizr/assets/front/img/thumb-standard-empty.png)
On The Rocks, London 10th December 1998 What does a New York Jewish MC from East Berlin sound like in soundclash mode with his East End muckers? Especially when set off by their apearance on a stage in a Shoreditch nightclub seemingly more frequented by stag and hen parties – complete with spangly paint and mirrors on the walls, and what looked a lot like a pole for […]
The Garage, London 6th December 1998 There are few enough gigs where all three acts are equally placed in their levels of enthusiasm, energy and sheer in yer face enjoyment, but tonight is one of those nights where the rush of machine noise goes from strength to strength. Bomb 20 is first up, a surprisingly reasonable chap by the name of David Skiba, who faces a rack of […]
Scratch The Blue Bar, London 2nd December 1998 Tonight`s first act is in fact a trio of buskers on the tube, ineffectually blasting each carriage with their 30-second cod-Mariachi on accordion, reeds and tambourine. Despite their earnest playing and impressive ability to walk along the moving carriage into King’s Cross Station and play at the same time, business is not good. Whether Karamasov would get any spare change […]
Label: D.N.W. Format: CD Despite being recorded live in Austria in January 1990, Vernissage has only just now received a release through Damo Suzuki‘s own record label (incidentally packaged in a neat gatefold corrugated card sleeve, for those who care). Perhaps ominously, it precedes a threatened seven-CD set of live recordings from 1986-90, though judging by this disc and the recent live tour, it may still be more […]
The Metro, Chicago 11 November 1998 There I was, freezing my proverbials off outside the Metro club here in da windy city. My cigarette was burning ridiculously quickly as the icy north breezes fanned it and made me all annoyed… but say la vie (as the French c’est). I was waiting in line to see a line up which included – in order of appearance – Twilight Circus […]
Label: Domino Format: CD,LP There’s been a slow evolution of the Third Eye Foundation sound going on for quite a while, as the feedback sculptures and harsh breakbeats of previous releases give way to a more accomplished digital sound. No less committed to the darker, eerie drones and clattery loops than before, You Guys Kill Me retains the edgy feel of releases like the unsettling Ghost album, but […]
Po Na Na’s, London 2nd November 1998 Po Na Na’s is a bit of a new venue in London, emerging from underneath a pub on the increasingly busy (musically as well as with traffic) Highbury Corner, and decorated in a faux-Moroccan style which actually suits the sounds emerging from The Third Eye Foundation‘s DAT player and mixer quite nicely. Matt Elliot tweaks levels and twiddles knobs to suit […]
Interference Union Chapel, London 30th October 1998 The cold snap is just hitting London in time for this event, set in the chilly North London church (OK, technically it’s a chapel, but it looks and feels more like a Gothic construction, all pointed arches and uncomfortable pews) which has played host to some of the best gigs of recent years. Fortunately the management have installed electric bar heaters […]
A Splendid Chaos 28th October 1998 Faust have been a legendarily chaotic group since their origins as a kind of experiment in the creation of an anti-rock band in the early Seventies. Nearly thirty years on they remain as surprising and unpredictable as ever, live or on record, as they have throughout their erratic career, as Antron S. Meister witnessed at their London gig at The Garage on […]
Label: 13th Moon Format: 12″ Taking one of the best tracks from Nocturnal Emissions and sticking it through the electronic mangle, Mr. & Mrs. Fiend embark on a high-octane blast through all the electro, techno, breakbeat and goddam’ rock machinations possible at once, topped off by Nik’s unchanged vocal style – demented. The amphetamine groove ASF have been on for most of their career seems somehow to be […]
Label: Duophonic Ultra-High Frequency Disks Format: Limited 2CD,2CD Stereolab have been known for their prolific releases on limited-run seven-inches, compilations and sundry other media – fortunately, they’ve also been very good at collecting their ephemera into neat bundles for those unable to find the original editions. Aluminum Tunes is Switched On Stereolab Volume 3, though quite why the extra name was needed isn’t clear. The two CD package […]
Label: Domino Format: CDS,12″ Exhibiting a kind of Bristolian faux-gangsterism with sampler firmly in cheek, Matt Elliott is definitely getting more proficient with the drum & bass these days. Still spooky and atmospheric, the use of choral samples on the title track recalls the early unsettling soundscapes of Current 93 but with a beat – which is a pretty damn good idea too. Religious art is probably best […]
The Dublin Castle, London 16th October 1998 +Penthouse; Stoke Newington, London 17th October 1998 There can be few experiences as strange or as wonderful as when Bobby Conn and band show up in town in a flurry of wigs, imposture and post-Glam Rock attitude. Truly an eventful, landmark kind of proceeding, where the atmosphere rocks by itself, and the band play on as if they were the only […]
Label: Asphodel Format: CD Love Is The Devil is a reasonably arty film about the traumatic love-life of painter Francis Bacon in the early Sixties, whihc despite may flaws is an engaging and occasionally powerful depiction of an alcoholic artist and his relationship with a young stranger who appears from the roof of his studio one night. Sakamoto‘s soundtrack, heard in the context of the film, is a […]
Label: Disko B/V2 Format: CD,2LP Adopting an international playboy persona to rival Yello‘s for its ridiculous embrace of the notion of artist as fantsatic sportsman, Bond-age lover and all-round suave entertainer, DJ Hell bundles together a collection of tunes which restore the front to upfront. From the paen to its author from a West Coast American female voice of “This Is For You” to the bizarre cover of […]
Label: KiffSM/PIAS Format: 12″, CDS Taking the only track from Kreidler‘s Appearance And The Park album to feature vocals, Mute‘s Daniel Miller adopts his Sunroof persona in collaboration with Gareth Jones to reconfigure the track in decidedly Eighties style – all arpeggiating FM keyboards and synth stylings – to initially amusing, then relaxingly suave effect, revisted on the slightly extended instrumental version which substitues analougue squiggles for the […]