CAM, DJ Loa Project (Volume II) (Six Degrees) cd 15.98
Latest from this well-known French DJ. Jazzy, beat heavy mixology. Samples, scratches, live playing, guest vox...definitely more on the DJ Shadow side of things than the DJ Q-bert side (in the easy listenability vs. turntable acrobatics spectrum). Downtempo cinematic noir-ish hip hop grooves rub shoulders with more dance-floor oriented material.

CAN Sacrilege (Mute) 2cd 15.98
Why mess with a good thing? Seminal krautrockers Can are downright inspiring, apparently, and short of adding four-on-floor-beats to make an insta-dance track, you be hardpressed to ruin a Can song. 15 classic tracks are remixed by the likes of Brian Eno, Sonic Youth, The Orb, A Guy Called Gerald, Pete Shelley, U.N.K.L.E., Bruce Gilbert and others. Some drum'n'bass, some weirdo techno noodling, and more than a few quite interesting interpretations. Double cd for the price of one.

CANAVARRO, NUNO Plux Quba (Moikai) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gentle, melodic, electronic minimalism from this obscure Portuguese composer who originally recorded this album in 1988. It sounds so much like Jim O'Rourke's electronic experiments that O'Rourke had to release it on his new label - Moikai.

CANAVARRO, NUNO Plux Quba (Moikai) lp 9.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gentle, melodic, electronic minimalism from this obscure Portuguese composer who originally recorded this album in 1988. It sounds so much like Jim O'Rourke's electronic experiments that O'Rourke had to release it on his new label - Moikai.

CANEY, MORGAN & KAMAL JOORY Magic Radios (City Centre Offices) cd 14.98
Magic Radios opens with a gathering of electronics that buzz and crackle over the ebb and flow of a ghostly drone, but swiftly moves into the realm of warm horns and shufflin' drums ("3000 Miles"), then continues to melt into a range of other sonic terrains -- some more successfully than others. There's the beautiful, serene, acoustic song "Take My Light" rich with strings and almost choral voices, followed by a soothing, swaying downtempo track, then an exotica-tinged spacy number "Flyaway" with murmured vocals that fans of Air might find rather fetching. Overall, a somber, glimmering journey. Quite nice.
RealAudio clip: "Take My Light"
RealAudio clip: "3000 Miles"

CARDINI, JENNIFER Feeling Strange (Kompakt) cd 15.98
Feeling Strange is a fluid mixed set from Parisian minimalist proponent Jennifer Cardini. Yes, the minimalist techno gestures abound, with plenty of bleeps, bloops, and acid squiggles grafted onto that insistent technotic pulse; but Ms. Cardini doesn't just adhere to the Detroit / Berlin axis of electronica with some very nice transitions into some Moroder-esque arpeggiating disco and leftfield electro-pop. Static, Maurizio, The Hacker, Reinhard Voigt, Apparat, and Luisine are but a few of the selections. Adorned with the Kompakt seal of approval.
MPEG Stream: STATIC "Sometimes I'm Sad For A Few Seconds"
MPEG Stream: REWORK "Love Love Love Yeah"

CARETAKER Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom (V/VM Test Records) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Caretaker spins really old vinyl for the most part much slower than intended and affects the lugubrious pace with assorted warbly effects. This collage of slo-mo waltzes and antique crackles is punctuated by a spartan use of distorto-breakbeat-crunch. Released on V/VM's label and certainly follows the V/VM - Speedranch - Janski Noise aethetic of neo-dada electronica, yet presented with a very sad overtone. In the end this could easily be some gossamer soundtrack to a deep sea nature show or an alternate score to the ballroom scenes in "The Shining".

CARETAKER, THE A Stairway To The Stars (V/VM Test) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While V/VM has been unrelentingly releasing the dumbest, least funny jokes in electronica, the arrival of an album from The Caretaker is a welcome respite. This project -- which may or may not have anything to do with the members of V/VM -- has been the ONLY listenable thing released on the V/VM label since day 1! Like the aptly named debut "Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom," The Caretaker's "A Stairway To The Stars" digitally manipulates 1930's ballroom waltzes into occasionally dreamy, occasionally creepy atmospheres that blur the edges of the original vinyl tracks into somnambulant dronings. Aesthetically speaking, the only connection between V/VM and The Caretaker is found in the limited palette of effects cranked all the way up. While V/VM would use just a ring modulator on a Lionel Richie song for a really boring piece of post-irony, The Caretaker's overblown use of cathedral reverb turns those waltzes into something much closer to Troum. That said, there are a couple of tracks in which the ring modulator warbles far too often. Nevertheless, this is another album that will surely invoke references to those eerie ballroom scenes from "The Shining."
RealAudio clip: "Emptiness"
RealAudio clip: "Malign Forces Of The Occult"
RealAudio clip: "A Stairway To The Stars"

CARETAKER, THE A Stairway To The Stars (V/VM Test) 2lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While V/VM has been unrelentingly releasing the dumbest, least funny jokes in electronica, the arrival of an album from The Caretaker is a welcome respite. This project -- which may or may not have anything to do with the members of V/VM -- has been the ONLY listenable thing released on the V/VM label since day 1! Like the aptly named debut "Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom," The Caretaker's "A Stairway To The Stars" digitally manipulates 1930's ballroom waltzes into occasionally dreamy, occasionally creepy atmospheres that blur the edges of the original vinyl tracks into somnambulant dronings. Aesthetically speaking, the only connection between V/VM and The Caretaker is found in the limited palette of effects cranked all the way up. While V/VM would use just a ring modulator on a Lionel Richie song for a really boring piece of post-irony, The Caretaker's overblown use of cathedral reverb, turns those waltzes into something much closer to Troum. That said, there are a couple of tracks in which the ring modulator warbles far too often. Nevertheless, this is another album that will surely invoke references to those eerie ballroom scenes from "The Shining."

CARETAKER, THE Persistent Repetition Of Phrases (History Always Favours The Winners) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of Wire magazine's records of 2008, the Caretaker's Persistent Repetition Of Phrases was in fact, when we finally got to hear it, incredible. Gorgeous, hazy, mysterious, destined to be one of OUR favorites as well. Unfortunately, when we tried to order it, intending to feature it prominently on the list, we discovered that it was in fact so limited that it was already out of print, not to be repressed. Argghhh.
Thankfully, the vinyl version showed up recently, so we grabbed as many as we could, so we could shower it with the praise it most definitely deserves. CD only folks are shit out of luck, but for now (and we mean NOW, these are crazy limited too) we have the vinyl, so grab one before they disappear.
The Caretaker has two modes, slow shimmery gauzy ambience, and slowed down warped and blurred big band and jazz. Often combing the two into some sort of otherworldly slow motion spectral dream jazz. We've been joking that the Caretaker is sort of like the DJ Screw of the avant underground, seeing as he takes scratchy old jazz records and reworks them Philip Jeck style into, woozy buried drifts of jazz shadows and haunting otherworldly vocals. Most of the jazzier tracks, sound like the soundtrack to some super creepy dream sequence, a la the Shining, like when Nicholson finds himself in that bar filled with ghosts, you can almost imagine, a dusty old saloon, broken mirrors, cigarette burned tables, sawdust floors, a lone figure sitting alone, hunched over in a dark corner, while all around him, nearly transparent figures move about as if still alive, a ballet of phantom familiarity, spirits unaware that they've moved on, going on with the machinations of daily life, their essence flickery and indistinct, like an old filmstrip. And a filmstrip soundtrack is exactly what the music of the Caretaker evokes, warm, effusive, burnished, old timey, antiquated, the sounds are dark and woozy and and bleed together, blurring into fuzzy stretches of lost memory, of suspended time. The music here is the sound of faded old photographs, of old super 8 movies projected on a wall in a dark and dusty old room, of abandoned skating rinks, of boarded up windows, of black clouds filling a slate grey sky, of life slowing to a crawl, before ven more slowly fading away. Absolutely and utterly breathtaking.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.

CARIBOU Start Breaking My Heart (reissue) (Domino / Leaf) 2cd 13.98
The Torontonian artist Dan Snaith who now goes by the professional moniker Caribou used to prefer to be addressed by the name of a Canadian prairie province. Minor legal battles ensued with the elder musical artist Handsome Dick Manitoba claiming the name, and the rest is history. While Snaith was Manitoba, he released two terrific albums 2003's Up In Flames and 2001's Start Breaking My Heart which have now been reissued under his 'new' name, each with a bonus disc packed with extra material. Snaith has amassed quite an impressive body of work to date culminating in last year's very warmly received The Milk Of Human Kindness. Draws comparisons to fellow electronic popsters such as Jimmy Tamborello's select projects (Dntel, James Figurine, Postal Service) and the whole Morr Music roster (LaliPuna, Isan, Styrofoam), but incorporates a broader palette of more defined styles and influences. Swirling dreaminess occasionally drifting into jazzy and shoegazer territory. Always a pleasure!
MPEG Stream: "People Eating Fruit"
MPEG Stream: "Air Doom"

CARIBOU The Milk Of Human Kindness (Leaf / Domino) cd 16.98
If you dug the recent Yeti ep from this Canadian fella (Dan Snaith formerly aka Manitoba), you might be cravin' more Caribou right about now. Well, whad'ya know? His new full length just came a-flutterin' in. Dreamy electronic indie pop with plenty of nature themes -- lots of buzzy, chirpy, insect-y sounds and song titles include "Bees", "Barnowl", "Lord Leopard", "Hello Hammerheads" "Pelican Narrows" and of course the "Yeti". Amid the wildlife, he also fits in a respectful nod to the great electronic music innovator Morton Subotnick on the album's second track "Subotnick". Overall, he creates a soft, smudgey pastel hued scene in which he dabbles with dreamy shoegazer and cyclical krautrock influences to good effect.
MPEG Stream: "Subotnick"
MPEG Stream: "Hello Hammerheads"

CARIBOU Up In Flames (reissue) (Domino / Leaf) 2cd 13.98
The Torontonian artist Dan Snaith who now goes by the professional moniker Caribou used to prefer to be addressed by the name of a Canadian prairie province. Minor legal battles ensued with the elder musical artist Handsome Dick Manitoba claiming the name, and the rest is history. While Snaith was Manitoba, he released two terrific albums 2003's Up In Flames and 2001's Start Breaking My Heart which have now been reissued under his 'new' name, each with a bonus disc packed with extra material. Snaith has amassed quite an impressive body of work to date culminating in last year's very warmly received The Milk Of Human Kindness. Draws comparisons to fellow electronic popsters such as Jimmy Tamborello's select projects (Dntel, James Figurine, Postal Service) and the whole Morr Music roster (LaliPuna, Isan, Styrofoam), but incorporates a broader palette of more defined styles and influences. Swirling dreaminess occasionally drifting into jazzy shoegazer territory. Always a pleasure!
MPEG Stream: "Jacknuggeted"
MPEG Stream: "Cherrybomb Part II"

CARIBOU Yeti (Leaf / Domino) cd ep 6.98
For a few releases this fellow (given name Dan Snaith) formerly went by the moniker Manitoba -- geography lesson: that's the Canadian province located between Saskatchewan and Ontario -- but he's recently switched over to the name of both a heavily antlered wilderness creature and a mountainous region in another province, British Columbia. Okay, now that classtime is over, let's move on to the music... this electronic-pop-trician has crafted a trio of tracks from playful but not excessively twee sounds that make you think he's been rummaging around in the toybox. But don't worry, none of the toys... oops, we mean sounds are gonna spring out and sock you in the nose. I mean, yeah, the live drums get a little rambunctious near the end of the title track as well as the third, but then it sinks back into his more typical mellowness with acoustic guitar plucking, and rounds from a lil' flute or recorder that's sorta like a mini ode to Wickerman. Furthermore, let it also be known that this has nothing to do with Amon Duul II's classic kraut-psych album of the same name. No, this is a much gentler beast. Dreamy, softly pulsing, gauzy and almost Christmas-y in its shimmery frosted chimey-ness! A promising prelude to his forthcoming album, The Milk Of Human Kindness (due out very very soon).
MPEG Stream: "Yeti"
MPEG Stream: "Boreal Forest Opper"

CARLOFASHION I Am The Crazy Hooverman (Hausmusik) cd 16.98

CARLOS, WENDY A Clockwork Orange (OST) (East Side Digital) cd 16.98
Not only is Wendy Carlos a pioneer of electornic music as we now know & love it. Her transformation from Walter to Wendy led to a new beginning in music making for Carlos. No longer was there just an academic and novelty approached to a new form of music(see "Switched On Bach"), but her music started to take a much more intense and focused eye. Haunting sounds, creepy melodies, something bubbling under the surface. Her work is most heard in film scores she has done over the last few decades..with this, her score for A Clockwork Orange being a seminal moment and a great place to start the voyage into the magical mystery of Wendy Carlos.

CASCONE, KIM blueCubism: Transcoded Audio Structures (Digital Narcis) cd 17.98
The ubiquity of the remix album has infiltrated the heady realm of the microsonic blip. The remix album of Kim Cascone's "Blue Cube" album (originally on Raster, remixed for Digital Narcis) could be defined in terms of the viral recodification of data from a pure form into a mutatation, with remixes from electron engineers like Pita, *O, V/VM, Robert Henke, Taylor Deupree, John Hudak, Quest, Bochum Welt, Testu Inoue, Dumb Type, Terre Thaemlitz, and Nobukazu Takemura. Most remix albums fail with a broad lack of aesthetic / qualitative consistancy. In keeping a rather small palette to chose from and the uniform desire to maintain the miniscule bleeps of Cascone's original work, the featured artists have done one (and one only) remarkable thing on this remix album in bringing a degree of consistancy to the album.

CASCONE, KIM / AUDREY KIRITCHENKO / ANDREAS BERTHLING / KOTRA Fourfold Symmetry (Nexsound) cd 11.98
This album features 14 tracks with various combinations of Andreas Berthing, Kim Cascone, Audrey Kiritchenko, and Kotra remixing each other's source material through digital means. Whatever the source material might have been is irrelavent, as the the end results on "Fourfold Symmetry" are a polite demonstration of the parameters of abstraction of the digital glitch, with a dedicated metholodogy that favors anonymity and anti-emotionality. For all of the rhetoric about the chance operations and coaxing of errors between the man / machine interface, this album is exactly what you'd expect: bristling collages of granular synthesis and digital feedback from Max / MSP patches toppling computerized droning fluctuations of sound.
A word of warning about the packaging for the album: Nexsound has given themselves an interesting folio envelope held together by tabs extending from one of the sides of the folio. This design works alright on something flexible like paper (which works just fine for the Moglass album) but this album uses a rigid plastic instead of paper that will tear after repeated usages.
RealAudio clip: "01 - Composed by Cascone, Sources by Kiritchenko"
RealAudio clip: "12 - Composed by Bethling, Sources by Kotra"

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE Answering Machine Music (Tomlab) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released on the Cassingle label, the debut album from AQ fave one-man band Casiotone For The Painfully Alone now happily gets reissued on Tomlab (also home to his dreamy, sweet second full length "Pocket Symphonies For the Lonesome Subway Cars"). What can we say? It still gives us the warm fuzzies. If you require a more in depth description... here's what we said the first time around: Owen Ashworth has set his ruminations on the awkwardness of crushes and infatuation with rock stars to music. With just a couple of casio keyboards, a distortion pedal or two, and a 4-track, Owen's Casiotone for the Painfully Alone somehow succeeds, teetering between affected bedroom-rock naivete, and excerpts from a musical diary never meant for strangers' probing eyes. A recommended album for fans of early Sebadoh and Magnetic Fields, and especially the legendary early Mountain Goats cassettes.
MPEG Stream: "When The Bridge Toll Was A Dollar"
MPEG Stream: "Casiotone For The Painfully Alone Joins The Foreign Legion"

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE Etiquette (Tomlab) cd 14.98
Yaaay, a new album from our dear pal Mr. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone (aka Owen Ashworth)! Seems like it was only yesterday that his last full length Twinkle Echo was released, but it was actually 2003. Wow, time sure flys! Anyhoo, Etiquette picks right up where that album left off, even in the cover art department with another lovely, enchantingly odd painting by his pal Heidi Anderson. Tho' Ashworth might portray a perpetually bashful, lovelorn teenager in his lyrics and stage presence, the musical manner in which he conveys his heartfelt confessions and sentiments has blossomed and flourished with each subsequent album. Yes, his beloved trademark bedroom-y lo-fi quality of bittersweet valentines being played out on thriftstore-scored toy electronic keyboards still surfaces here and there, but the compositions have gotten increasingly ambitious. Indeed this is his most grand (but still unmistakably CFTPA) to date. No longer a one man band (or at least not for the time being), he has a bunch of friends joining in the musicmaking fun which certainly contributes a good deal to the breadth of the recordings. Lots of different voices singing and playing a much more varied array of instruments.
One thing tho' that we must take issue with is that while there are times and places when the phrase "menstrual blood" should be mentioned, a Casiotone song ("Love Connection") seems like the last place you'd want to hear it... sung. It sure made us hit the brakes and go, "Whoa!" Don't get us wrong, we're not squirmish, but when we spend the better part of a CFTPA album getting up to 'holding hands' speed, it's a bit of a nasty jolt to be reminded of that time of month. Maybe they should've taken a cue from the same song's later lyrics "Some things are best left unsaid"? Perhaps somewhat unfortunately that's also the album's final song. Ah well, just press 'play' once more. You'll be right back to the beginning again, and all will be well.
MPEG Stream: "New Year's Kiss"
MPEG Stream: "Scattered Pearls"

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE Etiquette (Tomlab) lp 14.98
Now on vinyl too! Yaaay, a new album from our dear pal Mr. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone (aka Owen Ashworth)! Seems like it was only yesterday that his last full length Twinkle Echo was released, but it was actually 2003. Wow, time sure flys! Anyhoo, Etiquette picks right up where that album left off, even in the cover art department with another lovely, enchantingly odd painting by his pal Heidi Anderson. Tho' Ashworth might portray a perpetually bashful, lovelorn teenager in his lyrics and stage presence, the musical manner in which he conveys his heartfelt confessions and sentiments has blossomed and flourished with each subsequent album. Yes, his beloved trademark bedroom-y lo-fi quality of bittersweet valentines being played out on thriftstore-scored toy electronic keyboards still surfaces here and there, but the compositions have gotten increasingly ambitious. Indeed this is his most grand (but still unmistakably CFTPA) to date. No longer a one man band (or at least not for the time being), he has a bunch of friends joining in the musicmaking fun which certainly contributes a good deal to the breadth of the recordings. Lots of different voices singing and playing a much more varied array of instruments.
One thing tho' that we must take issue with is that while there are times and places when the phrase "menstrual blood" should be mentioned, a Casiotone song ("Love Connection") seems like the last place you'd want to hear it... sung. It sure made us hit the brakes and go, "Whoa!" Don't get us wrong, we're not squirmish, but when we spend the better part of a CFTPA album getting up to 'holding hands' speed, it's a bit of a nasty jolt to be reminded of that time of month. Maybe they should've taken a cue from the same song's later lyrics "Some things are best left unsaid"? Perhaps somewhat unfortunately that's also the album's final song. Ah well, just press 'play' once more. You'll be right back to the beginning again, and all will be well.
MPEG Stream: "New Year's Kiss"
MPEG Stream: "Scattered Pearls"

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE Pocket Symphonies For the Lonesome Subway Cars (Tomlab) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
AQ's sweetest pal Owen Ashworth moved from SF to lo-fi pop haven Portland, OR a short time ago. And we've dearly missed his quiet, but completely passionate enthusing over our mutual pop faves -- in particular, Young Marble Giants. The minimal, sweet music that he creates under the moniker Casiotone For The Painfully Alone is certainly lo-tech and lo-fi, but totally high on shy boy romance and earnestness. 'Pocket Symphonies' (released on German label Tomlab) maintains the intimate bedroom recording feel of his debut 'Answering Machine Music'. Owen's soft vocal delivery once again really brings to mind the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, but also Mike Donovan of SF's Church Steps, with the barely audible, almost spoken, hesitant vocals, programmed drumbeats and occasional static-y casio-noise bursts... or, I imagine, Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields, Sixths, etc) as a young schoolboy. If you haven't seen Owen play live, you're missing a precious experience, this big bespectacled boy behind tiny synths, one heel shyly pivoting left and right to keep time. Super simple but with an undeniable catchiness. Sixteen fragile'n'pretty, electronic toybox heartstring pullers.
MPEG Stream: "Lesley Gore On The TAMI Show"

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE / FOX PAUSE split (Stationary (Heart)) 7" 5.25
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We just got these brand new Casiotone For The Painfully Alone 7" records straight from the man himself! It's a split 7" with his pal Sara Han aka Fox Pause. His side has three of his wonderfully doleful heartache tunes with his trademark deep boyish near-spoken delivery and his comparatively spritely percolating Casiotone rhythms and melodies.
Her side has four much more peppy twee songs. She sings in the opposite end of the octave range from him. High, sugary sweetness.

CASSERLEY, LAWRENCE & SIMON DESORGHER Music From Colourdome (PSI) cd 21.00

CASSETTEBOY Carry On Breathing (Barry's Bootleg) cd 21.00

CASSETTEBOY Dead Horse (Barry's Bootlegs) cd 17.98
Not sure what it is exactly that makes Cassetteboy manage to sidestep being nothing more than an overplayed bad joke, but there is most definitely SOMETHING. Most mashups, cut ups, Negativland style wacky plunderphonic records get played out in no time at all, the sort of records you -maybe- put on a mix tape now and then or throw on at a party, but ultimately they end up at the bottom of some pile gathering dust. But we find ourselves listening to Cassetteboy all the time, over and over, and laughing our asses off. Random bits of dialogue, movie clips, all manner of music, and lots of immediately recognizable voices, all chopped up and mixed up and re-assembled into super snarky, bitter, fuck the world sound snippets and song fragments, rife with anti-social sentiments, anti-government propaganda, some truly messed up Harry Potter porn, a crazy funny, awesome anti-Streets track, and all manner of perplexing non-sequitur humor, and loads of peurile silliness. Just give the sound samples a listen. If the Harry Potter clip doesn't make you laugh out loud, well, then this is probably not the record for you, but if it does, then you are in for a treat, as there is plenty of stuff even sillier, more outrageous and way more offensive.
MPEG Stream: "Lambonaise Tonight"
MPEG Stream: "Clever Girl"
MPEG Stream: "Gownday"
MPEG Stream: "Saltgrain"
MPEG Stream: "From This Day On"
MPEG Stream: "Yer Little Pipedream"

CASSETTEBOY Mick's Tape (Antidote / Sanctuary) cd 19.98
As much as we feel like we oughta hate this stuff, Cassetteboy are just so good at their schtick that we can't seem to get enough. This is a bit like Negativland, only with that dry British humor and a much wider self deprecating streak. Most bands who do the whole cut and paste, spoken word taken out of context, weird sound bites over dance music thing end up sounding stupid and like they're trying way to hard to be funny and cool and hip and still somehow failing miserably. Cassetteboy on the other hand, sound like they're just fucking around, and thus there's no hipster weight to what they're doing, but the stuff they're doing is so perfect, and so funny, we can't help but dig it. Cassetteboy sound like blokes you'd want to have over, and sit around listening to crazy fucked up music. Mick's Tape is indeed a mix tape, made up of CB's wacky and sometimes tasteless chop jobs, turning innocent speeches and silly folks songs and instructional recordings into laugh out loud nasties. Then some bizarre and random actual songs (Ivor Cutler, Curtis Mayfield, Ramsey Lewis, Astrud Gilberto, Fennesz, Happy Mondays, Fela Kuti, Shalamar) as well as somekiller tracks from MF Doom, Jaylib, and Squarepusher. It's basically the ultimate aQuarius mix, tons of insane weirdness and laugh out loud silliness, some killer classic tunes, some super dope hip hop, some way out experimental noise, all woven together into a somewhat cohesive but joyously chaotic whole!
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEBOOB "This Woman Stinks!"
MPEG Stream: IVOR CUTLER "Good Morning, How Are You, Shut Up!"
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEBABY "Cobblers"
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEBOTHERED "C U In Court"
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEBELLYUP "Gopher It"
MPEG Stream: CASSETTEZZZZZZZZ "Hoes Down"

CASSETTEBOY The Parker Tapes (Barry's Bootlegs) cd 16.98
The newest exercise in plunderphonia comes from merry old England in the form of Cassetteboy! Taking cues from People Like Us, Negativland, Tape-beatles, and John Oswald, Cassetteboy excel in the art of making people say naughty things. As such The Parker Tapes is probably not the best disc for those who don't enjoy the baser and more puerile forms of humor (or channel surfing style editing.) But for those who do revel in such things, Cassetteboy is the best source for your plunderfix. Unlike most of the artists who work in the realm of media reappropriation, Cassetteboy is decidedly un-musical. Which isn't a rib against them. Though there are bits of music sampled in the course of events, it's the narrative of television and radio voices that are the primary focus of Cassetteboy's wrath. The 98 tracks crammed onto this disc don't lend themselves to much in the way of instrumental interludes. But goddamn is this stuff funny, from subtly changing Bowie's lyrics to "here I am shitting in a tin can.... and farting in a most peculiar way...." to Bill Gates admitting that Microsoft gets in to schools to control our kids... to an awesome monkey themed montage to... well, you get the idea. Relentless and stupidly brilliant. EVERYTIME this is played in the store, customers are either silently chuckling, laughing uproariously or coming up to find out what the hell we're listening to! This is the party cd/mix tape/answering machine message record of the year!!
RealAudio clip: "[Track 24]"
RealAudio clip: "[Track 38]"
RealAudio clip: "[Track 51]"
RealAudio clip: "[Track 58]"

CAT FIVE On The Rise (self-released) 12" 14.98

very very limited pressing of 300!

CATANI, PATRIC 100 DPS (DHR Limited) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Can't say that any of the EC8OR records have anything for me. But when EC8OR's Gina and Patric are working independently of each other, the results kick ass. Patric's latest assualt features an arsenal of 'Amen' breaks shattered into high velocity shards of spastic snares and devestating bass. Digital Hardcore junkies will be most pleased!

CATANI, PATRIC 100 DPS (DHR Limited) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Can't say that any of the EC8OR records have anything for me. But when EC8OR's Gina and Patric are working independently of each other, the results kick ass. Patric's latest assualt features an arsenal of 'Amen' breaks shattered into high velocity shards of spastic snares and devestating bass. Digital Hardcore junkies will be most pleased!

CATANI, PATRIC Attitude PC8 (DHR) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
EC8OR leader Patrick Catani's newest solo album, "Hitler 2000", although now re-named (for cd release) "Attitude PC8" and with much of the 'wacky' Hitler artwork removed, is a huge pounding slab of distorted breakbeats and straight-up noise. Brutal and catchy and funny. Kind of like a tagteam match between Lesser, Alec Empire, Kid 606, and Merzbow. It's hard to believe that this stuff can keep getting harder and more distorted and more fucked up, but it does. We're still waiting (hoping?) for a domestic release on this one, for now here's the import.

CATANI, PATRIC Snuff Out (DHR) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another Digital Hardcore militant, better known for his work with EC8OR.

CATANI, PATRIC Snuff Out (DHR) cdep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another Digital Hardcore militant, better known for his work with EC8OR.

CATFIVE American Military Operations (self-released) 7" 5.98
In 2001 East Bay's Catfive released a good record filled with unlikely samples -- Fela-style afrofunk, Brazilian batucada, lounge, moments of dub, scratching that sounds like a twisted harmonica -- that worked so well atop a mix of beats and groove. The new 7" is somewhat timely -- a pro-peace, anti-war message -- but as such is maybe a little too predictable, featuring samples of Bush I and II, other politicians, journalists, Elvis, etc. Negativland is funnier, but Catfive's hearts are certainly in the right place. The B-side is a cool gimmick, though. It plays backward -- i.e. the needle starts in the middle and works its way outwards. It's a bunch of cartoon / old movie / tv samples with a similar political bent as side A, but without added music. On transparent red vinyl.

CATFIVE Kataphonics (Hip Hop Slam) cd 14.98
Remember that amazing Milk Cult record from last year? I'm liking this Cat Five record for the same reasons: it's a winning combination (a bit lighter than Milk Cult) of unlikely samples mixed together in a very accessible, headnodding fashion. Every sound or sample works both as a percussive and a melodic element, whether it's Fela-style afrofunk, Brazilian batucada, lounge music, moments of dub, scratching that sounds like a twisted harmonica, or silly film clips, it all works well, like a hip hop gig filmed in 1920s madcap silent film style. Or DJ Shadow's ditzy younger cousin or something. Cat Five are from East Bay, headed by the guy otherwise known as Balanceman (who released an album on Deluxe). A nice surprise!
RealAudio clip: "Linkage"
RealAudio clip: "Shadrach"
RealAudio clip: "Travelite"
RealAudio clip: "Run 2 the Jungle"

CATIVO 3 Seconds is Now (Force Inc. / Position Chrome) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Easily the most pop oriented & dancefloor friendly release for the catastrophic drum & bass label Position Chrome, Cativo lightens the mood set by Panacea & Problem Child for a melodic drum & bass album jack-knifed with tense two-step swing beats.

CAURAL Stars On My Ceiling (Chocolate Industries) cd 14.98
Chicago musician makes an entire album of abstract beat driven trip hop. Nice, especially the first track's strong start, but missing something, perhaps either [1] an MC, or [2] anything to set it apart from the 8 thousand other folks who make music like this. Pleasant listening but not original enough for these ears.
RealAudio clip: "All These Todays Just Melt Into Tomorrows"

CAUSTIC WINDOW Compilation (Rephlex) cd 15.98
In 1992, Richard James issued a handful of mysterious singles under the moniker Caustic Window, all the while maintaining his vangarde reinterpretations of UR acid trax and post-rave breakcore with occasional detours into chimingly playful melodies topping eerie drones and shuffling rhythms. Given the timeframe when these tracks were created, they have a lot more in common with the first chapter of the Aphex Twin album Selected Ambient Works Volume One. Caustic Window has often been sited as the most abrasive of the Aphex Twin side projects; and while there are some numbers which Alec Empire clearly used as a springboard for his Digital Hardcore ethos, there's plenty of lilting electronica for the Boards Of Canada crowd. Of course, all of the original Caustic Window singles disappeared very quickly, and reappeared about 10 years ago on the self-evidently titled album Compilation. That set went out of print, which brings us to the modern day where the Rephlex has reissued this material once again so that Richard D. James' electronic brilliance can continue to tickle our ears and rattle our bones.
MPEG Stream: "Joyrex 14"
MPEG Stream: "Cordialatron"

CAUSTIC WINDOW Compilation (Rephlex) 3lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CAVENDISH SANGUINE Strange Alloys, Rare Earth (Fflint Central) cd 9.98
It's that time again. When Richard James (aka Aphex Twin) drives his tank home and holes up in his big 'ol bank/bunker and draws the shades in fear. When Autechre sit on their fire escape, listening to the mysterious strains of the latest Fflint central release drifting across the city, pondering whether it's time to just throw in the towel and head down to the pawn shop and get rid of all their gear. When Boards Of Canada realise that their days are numbered and people will only let them make the same record so many times. Our favorite electronic underdogs return to show the world how it's done. And just how well it can be done without a budget or a video or magazine ads or a bunch of pats on the back from other "electronic musicians." This latest Fflint missive is the newest release from the mysterious Cavendish Sanguine. Taking elements of all the above mentioned bands, mixing in all sorts of abstract noise and random weirdness and coming up with some of the most compelling and beautiful experimental electronica we've heard. The sound this time around is slightly more 'rock' than past releases. Not rock in the traditional sense, not even remotely, but more in the sense that it sounds really organic and is less a seemingly random assortment of sounds, and more a semi-structured set of parts and songs, that at times sound like it could definitely be a band, and not just a solitary figure hunched over a keyboard in a dark corner. Mysterious and sing songy Krautrock, jangly and noisy, rambling and shambolic, gives way to shimmery skree, melodies shifting and eventually splitting apart and forming new more abstract melodies. Chirping birds and gutteral Orc-ish vocalisations over a bed of keening chimes and high end swells. Abstract IDM is deconstructed into even more abstract beats, shuffling and skittering beneath shifting chords and slabs of minor key sound. Rich sheets of dense sound, layers of sweet ambience, and the metallic hum of excited strings, eventually becoming clipped and static, a hypnotic looped rhythm over accordions, crowd sounds and more bird calls. As always, amazingly good, completely baffling and totally original.
MPEG Stream: "Hyderus"
MPEG Stream: "Bronze"

CAVENDISH SANGUINE Truculence (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
Another installment in Fflint Central's campaign to take over the world. Or if not the world, to at least annoy the fuck out of your neighbors! For those of you just tuning in, Fflint is a small cd-r label run by a couple of guys in the UK, who manage to put out some of the best experimental electronica we've ever heard. I'm still amazed that Warp or Lo or someone hasn't just snapped up the whole Fflint stable. Cavendish Sanguine is one half of the two man Fflint empire, and 'Truculence' is record number three. Cavendish seems to fall more on the ambient side of all things FFlint. But ambient in no way means wimpy or new age. This is tough challenging stuff. Dark drones and clattering music concrete, super distorted synth washes and ear shredding white noise, pulsing rhythms and stuttering far away melodies. Abrasive and raw, but warm and hypnotic at the same time. Cavendish (and the rest of the Fflint artists for that matter) seem to have really found their own sound, a sound that allows them to go all over the map, without sounding like the millions of laptop jockeys out there, and more importantly always sounding uniquely Fflint. Highly recommended as always!
RealAudio clip: "The Clouding Of Judgement"
RealAudio clip: "Rictus"
RealAudio clip: "Azeotrope"
RealAudio clip: "Quack Nostrum"

CAVENDISH SANGUINE Vitriol Crusts (Fflint Central) cd-r 9.98
Full length number two from the mighty Cavendish Sanguine (1/2 of the demented team that run the awesome UK fucked-electronic label Fflint) and it's just as good as we've come to expect from everything they put out. CS was always the moodiest, least abrasive member of the Fflint stable, and 'Vitriol Crusts' continues along the same path, taking the swarming buzzing and muted electronic skree from their previous release, and stretching it out and warming it up making this a great drone record, albeit a peculiar one. Warm waves of fuzzy hum blossom into peals of Skullflower-like high end epiphanies, stuttering hiccupping samples beat against each other until they become a sort of underwater drum-roll-drone, and melodic tones shift effortlessly making for some dark and dreamy (but still creepy) ambience.
So good.
RealAudio clip: "Hall of Tendrils"
RealAudio clip: "Plague"
RealAudio clip: "South Stack"

CD_SLOPPER SaskieWaxi (Or) cd 15.98
Cd_Slopper is the collaborative work of Mego contributers Oswald Berthold (of Farmer's Manual) and Florian Hecker. "SaskieWaxi" features both a musical program and an HTML-executable element of text / graphics / etc. The musical format is certainly informed by both Hecker's and Farmer's Manual's previous work -- non-linear collages that instantaneously dissolve any rhythmic proclivity the two may be pushing for. At first, the two appear to be using an archaic version of 8-bit sound software (or at least emulating this clunky means of making collage work), but throughout 44 very short tracks, Cd_Slopper gradually reveals more complex fragments, blisters, and shards of sound. Pretty whimsical stuff. Like the latest work from Microstoria or Pita.
I'll admit that I gave the CDrom portion only 30 minutes or so, but each attempt to view / install the software of the visual data resulted in the computer acting all funny (opening up the wrong programs, not finding the proper html link, or simply crashing). I'm reminded of so many art gallery exhibitions of "internet art" which find the computers always in a similar state of disarray... making me wonder, [1] is that what is supposed to happen (thus, making a really lame comment about the nature of computer glitch), [2] is the artist just a bumbling idiot, or [3] did the last viewer try to download some porn, thereby fucking up the system? In any event, I'm not impressed with this portion of the evening's program.

CELLULOID MATA Mix Oscillations (Noise Museum) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As Celluloid Mata only has a few very limited releases, their name probably won't seem as familiar as those who have been asked to remix them... nevertheless, you should expect to see their name popping up in the near future as their dark atmospheric breakbeats resemble all of things Skam. These remixes range from the electro fuckery of DJ Speedranch to James Plotkin's mutant electonica / prog rock and Drahomira Song Orchestra's clubby throb.

CELLULOID MATA Sable (Ant Zen) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Celluloid Mata "Sable" is a dark (almost industrial) electronica album heavy on the distorted breakbeat crunch and the harsh electronic collage. Definitely for the Meat Beat Manifesto / Scorn crowd.

CEU s/t (Six Degrees) cd 16.98
Now domestic! This former import-only CeU album (originally released in 2005 on the Sao Paulo based Urban Jungle label) is now available here in the States courtesy of the Six Degrees label. The lovely Brazilian singer whose full name is Maria Do Ceu Whitaker Pocas draws easy comparisons to Bebel Gilberto, and will surely appeal to her labelmate's fanbase. At once sultry and fresh-faced, CeU's breezy, smooth groove of samba, dub and electronica laced with delicious horn and percussion accompaniments evokes gorgeous, warm summer evenings. Ah yes, the calendar might proclaim that it is April, but while this soulful, chill-out album is spinning it's a steamy August night in Sao Paulo.
MPEG Stream: "Lenda"
MPEG Stream: "10 Contados"

CEX Maryland Mansions (Jade Tree) cd 14.98

CEX Oops, I Did It Again! (Tigerbeat6) cd 14.98
Oops! It's the second full length from hyperactive emo / hip-hop / IDM whizkid Rjyan Kidwell. That's right, I said emo. In addition to the fluffy pop-laced hip-hop beats and whimsical sonic landscapes, Rjyan busts out his acoustic guitar and cries out all Tim Kinsella style. Of course, as on "(You're) Off The Food Chain", this is downright silly. But on tracks like "First For Wounds" and "I Said It Knowing Full Well I Had No Intention Of Doing It", the inclusion of guitar works wonderfully, somewhat reminiscent of the latest Fourtet record or (vaguely) Arab Strap. And like most hip-hop records, we could certainly do without the silly skits. Without them, I'd put "Oops" up against the likes of Boards Of Canada or early Autechre.

CEX Role Model (Tigerbeat6) cd 12.98
From Kid 606's label comes the newest album from nineteen year old kid Cex, who you may happily file next to those other bedroom electronica madmen such as Kid 606, Lesser, and Aphex Twin. He might even be a bit too young, as the material on this disc is more like perfectly executed homework rather than a wellspring of new ideas. For fans of Aphex Twin, Autechre, Kid 606, etc. Includes a Dismemberment Plan remix!