LIAM FINN - The Nihilist (2014)

Review by: Alejandro Muñoz G
Album assigned by: Nina A.

From the heavy sampled percussion of “4 Track Stomper” to the moody dreamy “Miracle Glance”, from the piano-driven “Helena Bonham Carter”, to the kind-of-psychedelic “Snug As Fuck”, there’s certainly a significant diversity in terms of arrangement here. Some feature a lot of electronics while others use a more straight-forward rock approach. Another great thing about the arrangements are the little details, the little musical ornaments of the kind that you may not notice at first but then, when you pay attention to them playing in the background, you realize they’ve enhanced your listening experience. Interestingly, whatever form the arrangement takes, all the different tracks are built upon basic pop-rock songs.

The production is also generally good. It manages to accommodate the multiple layers of sound without making it too dense, and it keeps a certain evenness which ensures the album’s cohesion. The songs are not buried in the mix; the mix serves the songs. The noise never really becomes overwhelming nor tiring. However, I think I would have liked, at least in some of the songs, a more clean approach, especially regarding the vocals in the more intimate numbers. My biggest criticism is the length of some of the songs. They’re not really long when you look at their length, but they do feel like it. I feel most of them would be more effective if they were a bit shorter, specially the slow numbers.

Overall, the album is good. Very good. It doesn’t pretend to be particularly ground-breaking, neither does it seem as if it was aiming to recreate any retro sound. It’s just a solid album made up of well written catchy songs. Also, it achieves a great balance between melody and atmosphere. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to exploring Finn’s career. 

THE PINEAPPLE THIEF - Variations on a Dream (2003)

Review by: Viudas Tormo
Album assigned by: Roland Bruynesteyn

A tale of two halves, two hours of music separated in the middle by a hugely long song. 

All of this was made by and for people who liked the rock to progress.

Being myself not very much in line with them in the matter of taste I found really hard to connect with the emotional core of the album. For some moments I felt that it was going places, but most of the time the sound lacked personality. I felt that Radiohead, Muse and others bands that came to mind would be more interesting to hear in the field of peculiarity.

Overall, I liked it, but I failed to reach the climax that some others might do. Maybe I need more time. Or louder speakers.

VIRUS - Locura (1985)

Review by: Jonathan Birch
Album assigned by: Charly Saenz

My knowledge of Latin rock is limited at best, generally restricted to a few choice names that were popular in the 80s-90s. So it's no surprise that I had never heard of the Argentine New Wave band Virus. Quick research in their origins showed that they combined new wave sensibilities (synths) with Latin pop, and were most successful in their execution. So much like their contemporaries Soda Stereo, they were an important aspect in the evolution of Argentine rock music.

Because the language is Spanish, my understanding was restricted to the feel and atmosphere of the music, and each track on this album has a very romantic and danceable theme to it. It's very much a mid 80s sort of production, and from the opening track I felt myself transported to a South American club surrounded by scantily clad women and piles of cocaine.... Okay, a slight exaggeration, but it's very much music of its time and era. But in a way, the music feels very timeless as well. Each track has a unique hook that catches one's attention, whether it's some quirky keyboard chords (like the opening to “Pecados Para Dos”) or a driving drum beat with subdued guitar (“Destino Circular”). Because each track has that distinctive New Wave methodology of being slightly off beat, it reminds one of an Argentine version of Talking Heads or The Cars. Always bouncy, upbeat, and interesting. 

Of course there are slower, more introspective numbers like “Dicha Feliz”, which has layers of soothing electronics and a Pink Floyd-esque synthesizer solo. The bass is hypnotic, the drumming steady and yet punchy, and the lead singer does a fabulous job of keeping his voice silky smooth, and yet still has some character when he sings. He doesn't just sound like an emotionless disco robot like so much popular Muzak of the era.

“Mi Puedo Programar” has a David Byrne feel to it, another track highlight. However, it is the ending song that I feel has the most poignancy. Because I have the Spanish-speaking level of a three year old, I have no idea what the song itself is about. But damn if the singer doesn't have a lot of emotional conviction and resonance in his voice. “Imaganes Paganas” is a lyrical, almost haunting number with enigmatic dabbles of electric/acoustic guitar decoration and more synth, that covers the audio like so much sonic wallpaper. It's a charming end to a classy album.

In short, I couldn't recommend this enough to fans of New Wave and Latin rock. I may have to listen to this further with my dad, who is also a big fan of Soda Stereo and other Argentine bands. Thanks Charly!

EL OMBLIGO - Canción Psicotrópica y Jaleo vol​.​2

Review by: Tom Hadrian Kovalevsky
Album assigned by: Alejandro Muñoz G

There is an inky blackness in this record, haunting and angry and minimalistically carnivalesque. These sort of albums make sense at night, but only really at night. Secret textures are pulled out, almost bled out of the patchwork of the music. You want to dance, but you cannot. Shadows and echoes fall from each step you take, and each comparison one can make is swallowed whole into a sort of light-filled darkness. Grab out and reach your partner, they must surely be enjoying this as much as you! - but they’re not there, they have dematerialised into the darkness once more as something beautiful and intangible. 

As you draw back from the cold night air and the lights that whirl around you, you feel compelled to wonder whether or not your copy of Wave sounded like this. No matter. 

THE SOFT BOYS - Underwater Moonlight (1980)

Review by: A. A.
Album assigned by: Jaime Vargas Sánchez

The Soft Boys' Underwater Moonlight is a jangly post-punk record inspired in equal parts by The Byrds-style folk rock and whimsical psychedelia. Before listening to this album, I had the most passing familiarity with Robyn Hitchcock's solo work, whom I consider, succinctly put, a character.

The album, considered today an influence on the neo-psychedelia movement, has poppish stylings but the punk attitude is certainly not lost. The lyrics are drenched in surreal, sardonic imagery and mostly a biting take on the concept of love from the point of view of misfits who can't get any. Like on "Insanely Jealous", where Hitchcock sings:

The night is black and thick

I wander past your window

And I catch a cigarette thrown from a jewel encrusted hand

It comes on pretty quick

Exactly like a crocodile

In search of a mirage across the undulating sand

But I'm insanely jealous of you

Yeah, I'm insanely jealous of you

I don't know why the people want to meet

When all they know is that they'll breed like rabbits in the end

Cause ordinary people on the street

They never know

But if they can't be rabbits they'll be friends

Other tracks of interest are the ebullient "Positive Vibrations" (which throws in sitars for an interesting effect), the garage-rocky "Old Pervert", and the title track "Underwater Moonlight" with a jamming coda that in parts reminds me of The Cure's "Killing An Arab".

It is a relatively short album and, for the verdict, one I do not find awe-inspiringly meritorious, but certainly interesting, and maybe one to put occasionally on when I'm reading The Chants of Maldoror and need an extra dose of caustic surrealism.

THE YOUNG GODS - L'Eau Rouge (1989)

Review by: Mark Maria Ahsmann
Album assigned by: A. A.

The Young Gods are an industrial rock band from Switzerland that was formed in 1987. In 1989 they released “L’Eau Rouge”. Which is a delicious album. A rock album. 'Rock' as in 'Adrenaline Music for the Young, Courageous and Romantic’. And it kicks ass, as the saying goes.

Though not revolutionary in any sense it offers it’s very own and well balanced mixture of elements already known in industrial music.

The album is stitched together from samples. Sampled metal guitars (Motörhead meets Killing Joke meets Anthrax), Front 242 style pulsating beats, samples of various styles of classical music and, most uniquely, samples of fairground organs and accordeons as used in musette, middle European cabaret music and french chansons.

The album is extremely tastefully produced by fellow switzer Roli Mosimann, collaborator with Foetus in his cockrock-parody Wiseblood project and former drummer of the Swans. Both influences are quite obvious in their music. From Foetus they borrowed the samples of classical music, - in the vein of Stravinsky and Wagner & horror movie soundtracks strings. From the Swans the extremely heavy drum sound and sonic clarity. Traces of vintage NDW acts like Grauzone (also from Switzerland) and Palais Schaumburg can be heard too. And Laibach, by the way, a band that has the use of classical samples in common with Foetus. Also a band that never eschewed a martial drum beat when one was called for.

But The Young Gods didn't inherit the brutality and atonality that made the industrial predecessors mentioned at times so harsh and to some ears unlistenable. L'Eau Rouge is a very accessible album in which the various elements come together in a logical and organic manner. It is true that none of the elements mentioned are unique. The Beatles sampled fairground organs on “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” and Foetus did the same on “Finely Honed Machine”. Pig also used that sound on Hildelinde. Ah, and not to mention Tom Waits. Samples from classical music and horror movie soundtracks were, by the 1980's, all over the place of course. What sets the Young Gods apart though is the effectivity with which the band uses these elements in a heavy rock context. Without sounding overwrought or willfully experimental. And pretty much sounding like a missing link between Laibach and Rammstein, come to think of it.

Without sounding morbid too. Though I can't comment on the lyrics. My french is not good enough for that. I read somewhere that the title “L'Eau Rouge” refers to menstruation and I think that the track “Charlotte” is about female masturbation. But that's as far is my interpretation of the lyrics goes. However, “L'Eau Rouge” does not sound like it was created by a bunch of sickos. It just sounds too light, too accessible for that (but not quite Right Said Fred yet).

The album is consistent all the way. But there are some favorite tracks: the first track; the title song “L'Eau Rouge” opens in waltz time signature with the fairground organs and chansonesque vocals in place. Then it gets sprinkled with drops of classical sounding strings and just when you think it'll explode in a relentless 4/4 beat something completely different happens. That's a perfect opener. The second song, “Rue des Tempêtes” is a breakneck speed metal song, the best Ministry song the Ministry never did. “Charlotte” too uses the fairground organs in 2/4 time signature and with bits of accordeon actually develops into a very pretty song. And on “Les Enfants” the band uses the classical samples in an oragstic manner and to such a great effect that it has Laibach flat on it's back.

I have one complaint. The singer, Franz Treichler, is trying very hard to bellow and growl in the customary Foetus/Michael Gira/Nick Cave-in-his-Birthday-Suit manner and his voice is just not forceful and expressive enough to pull it off. So he relies on layers of echo but still doesn't really convince me that he's not a nice college-educated boy. Roli Mosimann should have advised him to develop his own style.

But all in all it was a pleasure to meet “L'Eau Rouge”.

BJÖRK GUÐMUNDSDÓTTIR & TRÍÓ GUÐMUNDAR INGÓLFSSONAR - Gling-Gló (1990)

Review by: Andreas Georgi
Album assigned by: Dinar Khayrutdinov

This is Björk’s “jazz album”, released in 1990, when she was still in the Sugarcubes. On this album she is accompanied by an Icelandic jazz trio. All the songs, but one, “Ruby Baby” (on the version I heard) are sung in Icelandic, making this the best jazz album sung in Icelandic (but also the worst) I have ever heard. 

Unfortunately this album has a number of weak points. First of all, while the trio is certainly quite competent and plays the music well enough, the music is honestly pretty much generic lounge music. There is not a lot to keep my interest. As far as Björk’s singing goes, she doesn’t vary much from her usual singing style, and fans of hers will certainly like it. There are a couple of songs which sound like children’s songs, like the title track (“gling-gló” evidently is “ding-dong” in Icelandic), and these are the ones i like the best, actually. To my ears, unfortunately, she is not really in her element here. Björk is a really unique singer and highly creative artist. On this album, by trying to fit into this lounge jazz setting, I find that she dampens the very things that make her singing interesting, both in the Sugarcubes and on her subsequent solo career. Subsequent to this she would embark on a solo career & would make a number of daring & experimental albums, which I personally find much more interesting than this one. Now if she were to do a project with more experimental jazz musicians, that might be a better opportunity to showcase her talents. 

So in a nutshell, I think serious Björk fans will appreciate this album, but for me it’s not more than a curiosity. It’s certainly not a bad album in any way, but it just doesn’t really grab my attention.

EELS - Eels: Royal Albert Hall (2015)

Review by: Jaime Vargas Sánchez
Album assigned by: Roland Bruynesteyn

Oh, great, a piano intro. And then a version of “When you wish upon a star”.  And a piano ballad. I’m already regretting putting the album on, since I had a bad night yesterday and I’m about to fall asleep. Why do alt-rock ensembles have this tendency to do boring sets when they want to seem important? I still remember a Smashing Pumpkins show I attended in 2001 – well I digress and I’d like to suppress that memory. Besides, Eels switched gears already. From piano ballad to country rock ballad. Yeah, not going to get whiplash any time soon.

Mr. Everett is addressing the audience. He’s focusing on how a lot of legends have played in the RAH. And about how he’s not allowed to play the pipe organ, so you know he will, besides, for all the talk about how only experienced people should play it, it seems everybody and his mother has played it. His speech took longer than any of the songs, of which he just started another. Look, Mr. E, are you trying to lull me to sleep or what? At this point I’d rather listen to a version of the Macarena rather than to another heartfelt ballad (well, I suppose it’s heartfelt, since your deadpan delivery doesn’t allow me to discern it). Great, another one, and called “My timing’s off” – you don’t say. Somebody should teach this guy something about pacing. Because “A line in the dirt”, while boring and clichéd, has a nice chorus melody, but after the onslaught of ballads this one feels as “oh Christ please not one more”.  

There are more.

He says “It’s over”. Thank God. Not that the pace picks up a lot, but at least the songs have a bit of a lilt now. Well, the last song from the first CD, “Fresh Feeling”, is a dance number. Nice.

Let’s change CDs.

Hey, uptempo! I had forgotten what that was. “I like birds” has a bit of a late 50s / early 60s vibe, which is always welcome. More ballads. Mr. E could have a nice career in Broadway. More classic pop vibe. And some very well crafted melodies along the way – more in the instrumental parts than in the vocal melodies.

There is one song called “I like the way this is going”. I don’t. Especially since two songs later comes “Last stop: this town” which is basically the same song or at least the same guitar arpeggio. BTW, Mr. E, stop reminding me every 15 minutes that you are in the Royal Albert Hall. The RAH has been used for pop concerts for quite a long time now. In these days, that you play at the RAH just means that you are not big enough to fill the O2 or Wembley.

And he just butchered “Can’t Help Falling In Love”.

See? He’s at the organ.

Doing nothing of importance.

Roland, you owe me two hours of my life back.

DEREK BAILEY with MIN TANAKA - Music and Dance (1997)

Review by: Dinar Khayrutdinov
Album assigned by: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

‘Music and Dance’, this one is called, and it isn’t a lie – there is music and there is dancing on this record. So, it must be some groovy stuff to get your ass moving then, something like Boney M or KC and the Sunshine Band, right? Wrong. Indeed this is music with dance, but both of these art forms are pushed to the very limits of their conventions (or maybe even beyond that). Or, let me translate the previous sentence to English: this album is basically 53 minutes of one guy drawing out weirdest possible sounds out of his guitar and another guy stomping on the floor and occasionally panting (cause that’s what dancing on an audio record sounds like, if you were curious). However, let’s get to basic facts.

Derek Bailey is an avant-garde guitar player who is considered the leading figure of the free improvisation movement, which basically means there is absolutely no logic and rules to the way he plays his guitar beyond the logic and rules he puts in it himself. On this album he is joined by Japanese dancer Min Tanaka, who does with his body what Bailey does with his guitar, meaning that he also breaks all possible conventions and just dances the way he thinks (or feels) appropriate.

And… this is probably all you need to know. The rest is there, on this record – Derek plucking the living hell out of his guitar, making it scream, squeak, shriek, creak and even meow, and Min dancing (yes, it’s him on the album cover, stark naked and pummeling against a wall). The other sounds present are the raindrops drumming on the roof (which is why the first five tracks are called Rain Dance), some outside sounds like passing cars and random noises, and coughs from the audience. And nothing more! So, looks like there is every reason to dismiss this album as a bunch of pretentious crap, as about an hour of nothing pretending to be something, if not for one thing. IT SOMEHOW WORKS.

This album is hypnotic, atmospheric and mysterious, and the utterly minimalistic sound collage it creates has some twisted brilliance about it. On repeated listens I began noticing that even the seemingly random sounds (like rain tapping against the roof) play an important part in the whole experience – Bailey actually utilizes every foreign sound and makes it his own. If you listen carefully, you begin hearing strange patterns in the dissonant sounds of the guitar, and you wonder whether these patterns were intended by the musician or they just formed by coincidence, with the help of your imagination. Speaking of which, this is one record that tickles with the listener’s imagination a lot. The whole “let’s leave the mic on and record everything” thing does make it incredibly atmospheric, which means it is very easy to picture everything in clear detail (yes, that’s why the dancing actually works here). First you see the guitar guy and the weird nude dancer in the small studio and the rain behind the window, then the guitar sounds become more and more dense and frantic, and you start seeing things beyond that – stars falling, Earth turning around its axis, weird alien creatures on distant planets or whatever else your imagination allows you to see. So, in the end, does it really matter whether this sounds like ‘normal’ music and dance or not? For me it doesn’t, because whatever it is, it took me places I’ve never been to.

MACINTOSH PLUS - Floral Shoppe (2011)

Review by: Alex Alex
Album assigned by: Tom Hadrian Kovalevsky

In the young days of capitalism, I imagine, a pioneer capitalist, a Steve Jobs of the time, entered a castle after a castle and bought them, a technique totally unknown at that time because he had nothing as opposed to all the reality the castle owners had in the form of the servants, the paintings and the ghosts - and yet all that reality could be condensed into a pitiful handful of round golden, or later not so golden, or, even later, not as much round as rectangular, objects that carried no human nature in them but could easily absorb one.

I imagine a language in which “I have” can be totally omitted from any sentence. However dazzling at first, having passed a pre-intermediate level exam we firmly understand that “I got me a Macintosh Plus computer” is both an attack and a defense, a means of buying the castle by the owner herself to keep everybody out and to be ahead of time forever.

Alas, here's the problem of cyberpunk – it is not an art of the future, neither it is a commentary on the present (for art can not be a commentary, sports are) but a pitiful attempt not to sell, not to sell by keeping “I have” visible, paradoxically, by hiding it, as if “I have” does not mean “I have acquired from what little was there before”. The “Gravity's Rainbow” is a badly written book but it resembles a book so very much, being ten times thicker than your average one, the lady got herself a Macintosh Plus so, please, do not attempt to rob her of her belongings in a dark corner of a newly erected Berlin Wall.

Belongings all belong to an airplane crash scene. While flying we are free to choose the music to hear from the selection given. We are free (especially those who fly often and, which might be less evident, by the same airlines) to realize that the selection given is given to us for reasons other than we first thought they were. The people who do not fly, however, do not give a shit about random Japanese characters with which the on-board safety instructions are written (just to make the aircraft passengers think they can be safe once they manage to translate what's written, for they do not know it's not real Japanese, to keep them busy till their deaths,  that is). Those people who do not fly, they stand in the field with their mad dogs and their idols of Satanic nature watching the next airplane crashing and they will not be chasing for the remnants of Macintosh Plus computers but will be EATING ALIVE IN THE NAME OF SATAN THOSE WHO HAVE SURVIVED THE PLANE CRASH.

ELEFANTE - El Que Busca Encuentra (2001)

Review by: Charly Saenz
Album assigned by: Jonathan Birch

God knows (and probably my neighbours, when I swear from my window during their “patio parties”) that I’m not really into Latin melodic pop. There’s a fine line between that and the total disaster of radio-friendly artists which I won’t even mention. In that sense, this record has been a challenge. Fortunately there’s quite good taste and musicianship here (a great guitar work, in fact). So what’s not to like? Well the forced latin-vibe and some extra cheese melodic attempts like “Gordito Tracks” or “Milagro de Amor”, or “Asi Es La Vida” (or “Amores prohibidos”) don’t work for me.

On the other hand there’s stuff which is very good pop, like “De la noche a la mañana”, a perfect song, with Bunbury vocals and the right amount of romanticism, full of hooks and classic tones. Or “Vamos” which screams Los Heroes del Silencio to me as well (and that is always good of course). “Sin Pedir Cuentas” is more rocking, and has a nice break in the middle. Of all the romantic stuff, maybe “La Que Se Fue” is the one that stands out, to my personal concern I can’t help but fall for it, it’s some kind of cheese that you can’t avoid and the guitars and keyboards are really tasty, once more.

In summary a record that is not offending to my ears which is much to say, considering it’s on the border: I’d happily listen to this on the radio instead of that crappy Arjona guy. Geez I promised I wouldn’t mention him. Well, promises are not made to keep.

CROSS RECORD - Wabi-Sabi (2016)

Review by: Eric Pember
Album assigned by: Dinar Khayrutdinov

This album is a descendent of the Mazzy Star vibe. If you know that band, you pretty much know what this album sounds like. The record kinda bored me at first, but started gripping itself into me about midway through. I’m not sure how often I’ll come back to this, but it’s worth having in the collection.

HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUE NOTES - Wake Up Everybody (1975)

Review by: Syd Spence
Album assigned by: Lex Alfonso

Ah just look at that gorgeous album cover with its proud nubian earth warrior! He’s ready to defend the beauty of nature. He’s not gonna take no guff from any big polluter. No, he’s going to fight for you and me and all of us here on this pale blue dot. WHAT A GREAT COVER! 

Naturally when I first set my eyes on this beaut, my mouth instantly started salivating. I was certain this album was going to be some psychedelic soul like Undisputed Truth or Funkadelic. I mean how could it not, when it features a jolly green giant with a flower in its afro??? So I was really disappointed when I put this on and got really overorchestrated pop soul, that was so damn prevalent in the mid 70s. WHY THE HELL didn’t they just get Harold Melvin in a dapper suit, sweating next to microphone? Are you telling me there were more Funkadelic fans than Isaac Hayes fans in 1975??? 

Anyways, the music is overproduced with all these tacky hollywood strings which make the whole thing sappy as all hell. WHERE IS THE RHYTHM IN THIS ‘R’N’B? If i wanted Disney music, I’d put on the Mary Poppins soundtrack and not a soul record. Though, with that said, this album does have one all-time classic on it, which is “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. If you are at all a fan of Western media, I guarantee you’ve heard this track in some movie somewhere, but I guarantee you’ve only heard the chorus and not the totallity of its six minutes. It begins with this haunting electric piano and then Harold (what kind of soul singer keeps Harold Melvin as his stage name???) starts pleading slowly and then BAM, we get to the galloping disco chorus where Harold goes "AH BABY MY HEART IS FULL OF LOVE….” It’s pretty orgasmic. It’s a shame the rest of this album doesn’t have that soul-disco awesome going on. 

Overall you should probably skip this record and get Harold’s greatest hits or maybe a movie soundtrack that features “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. 

VIRUS - Agujero interior (1983)

Review by: Nina A.

Album assigned by: Justo Barreto

With a name that makes me feel unclean and a bang of 80s synths and a rockabilly rhythm, Argentina's Virus make their entrance on their third album - Agujero interior, which apparently translates as inner hole. Contrary to what the band and album names might lead you to expect, the album sounds as cute and as synth-laden as any early 80s offering - with the appropriate amount of hooks here and there and the correct vocal aesthetic on part of the vocalist Federico Moura. Almost everyone on the credits list, in fact, is called either Moura or Serra, and I have to say there is that vague warm and familiar feeling about this record - whether it stems from this band being the local town heroes or indeed a very nice tight-knit family. 

Even so, this record doesn't really explore the depths of human emotion (or at least it doesn't musically sound like it does) and doesn't appear to challenge the listener too much artistically. Among the moderately quirky up-tempo rockers of the first half and the mid-tempo rockers of the second half, the gentler almost-ballad "¿Qué hago en Manila?" stands out, and as far as I was able to ascertain it deals with the usual subject matter of gentler ballads - being in love, falling in love or looking for love, or indeed sighing about love. 

In the end, I'll confess to you that most of the rest of the songs on this album I can do with or without, but I do indeed appreciate the nice qualities of the song "¿Qué hago en Manila?" (the original recipe "¿Qué hago en Manila?" that comes forth on the track list rather than the estrade-suitable karaoke version which serves as an album closer), even if this makes me a generic mushy.

ORBITAL - In Sides (1996)

Review by: Charly Saenz
Album assigned by: Eric Pember

This album is pure Electronica, without major risks or surprises but lots of energy and a mission. Mostly instrumental, magnificent bass lines and decorating synths flourish here and there. It kicks off with “The Girl With The Sun In Her Head”, a title that already indicates one of the strong intentions of the album, that is Ecology. Yeah Greenpeace and all. 

“Petrol” with its birds effects is quite clear in its message too, the beat is heavily repeated but the song is slightly shorter. 

The piece that stands out in the album, is “The Box”, a multi-part song, with some welcome subtlety, will gradually grow on you with its pulsating bass and the little details here and there. Engaging electronica.

“Dŵr Budr” works on some effects that evoke water with some ominous sound that slightly grows and turns momentarily into a vocal theme. Another long song with a ritual dance bit in the middle, that becomes something else at about the 7 minute mark, loses a little focus but it’s a highlight in any case.

“Adnans”,  some sort of tale about robotic flower blossoming in terms of sound, has a background melody that should be more prominent. In the second part some ethereal harmonies take over, and were it not for the drone drums it could be a bit of Alan Parsons Project in the wild.

Not much to say about “Out There Somewhere”, a song that is perfect for a Sports Program intro. 

A good electronica album that won’t surely disappoint any fan of the genre.

JILL TRACY - Diabolical Streak (1999)

Review by: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Album assigned by: Alex Alex

The ambience is smoke-filled cabaret

And the cliches are all present.

The vocals: breathy, seductive -- 

Yer typical sultry Femme Fatale --

Nightclub bass and cocktail piano,

All wrapped up in an indulgent hush.

Lucky Old Jill Tracy

Trapped forever in an old film noir 

I think I’ll pour myself a bourbon

And join her.

JOANNA NEWSOM - The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)

Review by: Roland Bruynesteyn
Album assigned by: Viudas Tormo

This music at first sounds like a mix between nu-folk by Bonnie Prince Billy and ECM chamber pop. Joanna is a classically trained harpist and it shows in the unconventional choices she makes. She also plays the piano, but on the whole this sounds a little less technically advanced.

Although the instrumentation and the melodies are rather sparse (and very light on percussion), the album is all over the place stylistically, so the album is more varied than you would think. But she’s also a singer, and there I have a problem. She sounds like Kate Bush (high almost soprano voice) mixed with Joni Mitchell (jazzy attitude, somewhat snarling delivery) both channeling their inner child. Or think Ricky Lee Jones on hydrogen. While I generally admire goofiness if coupled with obvious talent, this CD can only be enjoyed in small quantities at a time by me.

Most are in singer songwriter mode, but a nice song like This side of the blue I could easily imagine being sung as a ballad by Jon Anderson. Three little babies is very painful to the ears and had me laughing at the fact that it’s actually been released. In a gospel setting it would be great for Aretha, in the actual folk setting it would fit Fairport Convention, in a country setting Johnny Cash could make it sound great, but this version is horrendous.

All songs would improve immensely, to the point that the cd can actually be enjoyed, if they had been sung by a more natural, professional and pleasant voice like Norah Jones or Carly Simon. Of course, this would be less original, more middle of the road, and it could even show some other inadequacies in the music that now are drowned in the effect the voice has on the listener, but for me Joanna’s voice on this album (I have another album by her, Have one on me, where it seemed less prominent) seriously hurts its entertainment value.

Sometimes having an original voice is not just ‘not enough’, it’s too much. Being talented and daring must count for something however, so I would urge you to listen for yourself if perhaps YOU can overcome MY problems with this release…

FUSHITSUSHA - Fushitsusha (1989)

Review by: Roland Bruynesteyn
Album assigned by: Tristan Peterson

Never heard of them, and now I have, I’ll never forget them.

CD1, track 1 (Acchi, I think), A slow bluesy Neil Young / Crazy horse song. I hesitate to call their playing ridiculously bad or too sophisticated for my taste. The singing is pretty bad  though, and badly recorded as well. The song is way too long. Lukewarm interest to put it mildly: hmm, what have I done to deserve this?

CD1, track 2 (Ango), more of the same. Now I like my droney music, whether it’s of the krautrocky Faust/Can (or perhaps Magma?) variety of the 70’s or the more psychedelic droney music of the 00’s like Ozric tentacles, but this is going nowhere. The guitar player has a signature sound I guess, but the bass player and the drummer sound nothing special (and they are buried deep in the mix). What they lack in melody they sadly also lack in intensity: it may sound intense, and intensely focused, at first, but very soon you realise (or rather, it occurred to me) that this is a gimmick, exacerbated by the primitive recording technique.

CD1, track 3 (Suki ni Sureba li), has a nice poppy singalong chorus that makes you want to dance and . . .  oh no, who am I kidding? It’s more of the same, really. It’s a lot more quiet and less threatening. The beginning sounds like it could have been a King Crimson improv ca. 1974 (but with Belew vocalising, thereby strangely making it sound a little Pink Floydish), not bad at all. To be honest, if this was the first song, I would feel different about Fushitsusha; I like this song!

CD1, track 4 (Todokanai) Suki ni Sureba li 2.0, with added harmonica, or so it sounds. A little more up tempo drumming half way through, but this remains listenable.

CD2, track 1 Fuwafuwa: Very slow, but hiding underneath the noisy loud guitar there is actually an almost European pop song, melody-wise. Think Aphodite’s child, only with more guitar and less keyboards.

CD2 track 2 Nattan janai. Well, if you think Arc by Neil Young is loud and distorted guitar, try this! I think you can best compare it with a compilation of all the power chords at the end of all the Who songs played live in 1970 by Pete Townshend, just before he ruined his amplifier.

CD2,track 3 Maigo. During the song the tension builds up nicely until it all ends in a noise fest. If we stretch the definition of the word ‘technical’ to its utter limits, we could call the guitar playing on this track a little more technical, but a doubt remains: is this guitar playing the way of the future, or is it a three year old?

CD2, track 4, Koko starts like some of the long live tunes by Ween in their earlier days, but without the musicality. Not the brown boognish, but bland Metal Machine Music-like. Seven minutes in, it gets quieter, somewhat of a relief, getting back to that 1969 Pink Floyd vibe. I like this part immensely, but mostly because of what I had to endure before. When it gets louder, after 12 minutes or so, I still like it, he has a nice guitar sound going on there. Way too long, but ultimately the best song on the album.

What to make of it? It’s certainly different, quite challenging if you’re willing to listen with an open mind. My main problem is that it’s too intense to use as background music, and at the same time too monotonous to listen to in concentration.

2 8 1 4 - 新しい日の誕生 (Birth of a New Day) (2015)

Review by: Nina A.
Album assigned by: Syd Spence

"A collaboration between Vaporwave producers Hong Kong Express and t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, ２８１４ is a project that creates cyberpunk-esque, dystopian yet psychedelic and relaxing ambient soundscapes. Drifting off into a daydream is hard to avoid as each track flawlessly flows into another, each with its own unique atmosphere." says a description of this record on youtube. Yeah, well...

… Well, let's look at what we have here. "Birth of a New Day" may be a vapourwave cyberwhatever something but to the untrained ear it basically contains about three varieties of soundscapes. The opening track, Recovery, is more hustly-bustly than most of the others, and I'd go as far as guess that this is not yet the birth of a new day but the conclusion of the old day. And if visions of a late-night timelapse of a busy Asian city play in my mind, it is mostly because this is what is vaguely advertised on the cover. Oh and because of the sirens and traffic noises. Obviously.

The second track is called "Distant Lovers" but it more reminds me of that background music they play in a planetarium while a someone with a pleasant voice and excellent diction asks rhetorically whether we are alone in the universe. So what kind of distance are we talking about here? Is this a metaphor? Are aliens our distant lovers? I don't know. I also don't know whether I have accidentally started listening to F♯ A♯ ∞, so this is your second type of soundscape - a F♯ A♯ ∞ urban dreamscape soundalike, possibly with some public transport samples thrown in for good measure.

And already the following track "Shinjuku Golden Street" displays the third type of soundscape we have on this album, which I have decided to call "the sophisticated urban teahouse / art shop background music". Seriously, the samples are the same. And the percussion. I've heard this thing in a fancy teahouse in Sofia around 2005, I am sure of it. Well, okay, maybe the dreamy psychedelic and relaxing ambient soundscape was slightly less layered and therefore less psychedelic but the essence is surely the same.

Halfway through the album I start thinking of a quote from one of Isaac Asimov's apparently lesser known novels - "The End of Eternity" - in which Noÿs adjusts "the controls of a musical instrument that played soft and complicated strains out of its own creative bowels by striking notes and chords in a random manner: the randomness weighted in favor of pleasant combinations by intricate mathematical formulae. The music could no more repeat itself than could snowflakes, and could no more fail of beauty." Now obviously this sounds like a bit of an overreach even if we assume that the advanced science of the future can make it possible but it does outline what I feel about the music on this record here: I am sure that this beauty has been arrived at by meticulously planning out and expertly timing sounds and samples, in other words, a considerable artistic effort. But why then is a fleeting moment of human warmth ultimately destroyed in my mind by the following rote sampled sound? 

But let me quote another thought I found in the youtube comments (by someone writing as timeparadox888): "The night train back from work. You look at the passengers around you. A man covered head to toe in mechanical body modifications sits to your left, fiddling with a display set into the flesh on his forearm. To your right, an anxious extraterrestrial, its antennae curled back in discomfort at the heavy scent of humanity filling the air. Across the aisle, a wide-eyed child of indeterminate gender watches intensely as the sleek blue android next to them polishes its own detached leg. And holding the child's hand, an old woman, modestly dressed with an unaltered figure, appearing, in general, out of place in her surroundings. She peers straight ahead at nothing in particular, her face fixed in an expression of longing. You put on your headphones."

So apparently this music is capable of inducing tumblr-feels in some people. You know how I know? Well, this person used a descriptive sentence without a verb, a ton of superfluous but evocative adjectives, some annoyingly overused keywords, and decided to address some unspecified "you". I personally give up on any implication that futuristic would have to mean bodies with machine implants and extraterrestrials with antennae.

Meanwhile, the three types of soundscape that I've outlined above have flawlessly flowed into each other more than once and we're back to a hustle-bustlier sound for the birth of a new day, that seems to in this case get born as gradually and in as a gracefully uneventful fashion as the way in which the sun makes its ascent into the sky each morning.

And the reason I quoted other people so much in this review is that I have nothing in particular to say about this predictably pleasant and pleasantly predictable electrofest. Apart from the fact that letterspacing latin lowercase characters and numbers is kinda pretentious.