LINDSTROM Call Me Anytime Remixes (Smalltown Supersound / Feedelity) 12" 11.98

LINDSTROM Contemporary Fix EP (Smalltown Supersound) cd ep 14.98
Nobody makes us move quite like Hans-Peter Lindstrom. His full length collection of singles It's A Feedelity Affair a year or so back quickly became an AQ favorite, with its spacey dance floor gems equally inspired by Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, Italo Disco and Loft-era party mixes. While we aren't usually the biggest fans of ep's with just a single and various remixes, this one is totally essential! Contemporary Fix is a new and way-beyond-infectious track from Lindstrom, and the folks he got to remix it are a testament to his superb taste and wide reaching vision. EYE from The Boredoms works some tribal psychedelic magic on his remix making the song burst with frenetic energy and drip with every color you could imagine. We have the feeling Black Dice would want to listen to this track in the studio for a shot of inspiration. The closing remix from Bjorn Torske is the perfect way to end this half hour party. Like Lindstrom, Torske is from Norway and is one of the innovators of the great Norwegian disco/house scene. Who says dance music can't be as engaging as it is pleasing? Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Contemporary Fix"
MPEG Stream: "The Contemporary Fix (EYE Remix)"

LINDSTROM It's A Feedelity Affair (Smalltown Supersound) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Beardo Disco? That's a term we have heard bandied about lately when referring to the new wave of mutated house/electroclash/indie dance-rock sounds of acts like Ratatat, Justice, and Norwegian duo Lindstrom and Prins Thomas. Whatever it means, we've been digging it a lot lately. Here Hans-Peter Lindstrom has parted ways with his former collaborator and given us a compilation of solo 12" singles from the Feedelity label released between 2003 and 2006. Arranging with maximal effect without overdoing it, Lindstrom takes cues from Italo Disco, Morodor electro, and Loft-era party mixes to give us a set that will keep us bopping through the holidays. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Fast & Delirious"
MPEG Stream: "Further Into the Future"

LINDSTROM Six Cups Of Rebel (Smalltown Supersound) cd 17.98
It's been a few years since we've had a proper solo outing from Lindstrom. While he's kept busy collaborating with folks like Prins Thomas, and Christabelle, we've been anxious to see what his new batch of songs would sound like. And we have to say we were psyched to discover him pushing his sound into some exciting new directions. While he was at the forefront of the whole 'beardo-disco' revival a few years back, it's refreshing to see that he isn't just making the same record over and over. In fact Six Cups Of Rebel is by far his most varied, ambitious, eclectic, and unique recording to date. We're reminded of a remix that Eye from The Boredoms did for Lindstrom a few years back and how possibly that may have informed some of the aesthetic of this album, as there is a newfound hyper-galactic-electro-prog sound going on in Six Cups Of Rebel that we are digging tons.
While it seems like all his colleagues have been studying up on the sound of classic Goblin recordings, we think Lindstrom may have also been digging deep into the world of Magma. It's the first Lindstrom record where it feels like he's finally let loose, ending up crafting a more fractured cosmic sound, reminding us of all those early Warp records by folks like Plaid, Mira Calix, LFO, Aphex Twin, etc. And then a track like "De Javu" which sounds like David Byrne, Holger Czukay, and 808 State jamming on an extended B-side of some white label 12".
Lindstrom mastered the space disco sound and it would have been so easy for him to make a really pleasing but static sounding cosmic disco record again, but instead he's pushing himself as an artist and taking risks that we think are pretty exciting.
MPEG Stream: "De Javu"
MPEG Stream: "Quiet Place To Live"

LINDSTROM Where You Go I Go Too (Smalltown Supersound) cd 16.98
It would be difficult to say that Lindstrom has finally come into his own, but it's really not his fault. Given the retro-modern angle of his entire project, it's not really even a good or bad thing. The sounds, the composition, the melodic structures, they're all questionably '80s. Not '80s like Giorgio Moroder or Daniele Baldelli - as most commonly referenced, but more like a blend of Jan Hammer, Rick Astley, and, like, Paul Lekakis? Sure, a little John Carpenter even. If you can overlook all the kitsch, the bizarre nostalgia for music that may or may not have really been necessary, then Lindstrom is your guy. This particular release shows him both more minimal and more maximal, restrained and indulgent. Each of the three tracks unfold slowly, releasing one arpeggiation after another, deftly resting upon various analog drum sounds and sampled percussive devices. The production is great as usual, and no doubt the guy must have an impressive collection of vintage synths, etc. So far as songwriting, it's suspiciously absent. As with the majority of his releases, the focus is on process, development, and a definite amount of abandon as a listener. Just sitting back and seeing where he wants to take you, which is more often than not just some '80s soundtrack. Sure, "I Feel Space" was a great track, and undoubtedly helped to spark the fairly recent explosion of space disco and gave people a strange justification to somehow openly talk about Todd Rundgren as a musical hero, or something. However, the promise of that single has largely fallen flat. Truth be told, this release is a better than his usual fare, but not really essential for anyone other than completists or huge fans.
MPEG Stream: "Grand Ideas"
MPEG Stream: "The Long Way Home"

LINDSTROM Where You Go I Go Too (Smalltown Supersound) 2lp 25.00
Now on vinyl!
It would be difficult to say that Lindstrom has finally come into his own, but it's really not his fault. Given the retro-modern angle of his entire project, it's not really even a good or bad thing. The sounds, the composition, the melodic structures, they're all questionably '80s. Not '80s like Giorgio Moroder or Daniele Baldelli - as most commonly referenced, but more like a blend of Jan Hammer, Rick Astley, and, like, Paul Lekakis? Sure, a little John Carpenter even. If you can overlook all the kitsch, the bizarre nostalgia for music that may or may not have really been necessary, then Lindstrom is your guy. This particular release shows him both more minimal and more maximal, restrained and indulgent. Each of the three tracks unfold slowly, releasing one arpeggiation after another, deftly resting upon various analog drum sounds and sampled percussive devices. The production is great as usual, and no doubt the guy must have an impressive collection of vintage synths, etc. So far as songwriting, it's suspiciously absent. As with the majority of his releases, the focus is on process, development, and a definite amount of abandon as a listener. Just sitting back and seeing where he wants to take you, which is more often than not just some '80s soundtrack. Sure, "I Feel Space" was a great track, and undoubtedly helped to spark the fairly recent explosion of space disco and gave people a strange justification to somehow openly talk about Todd Rundgren as a musical hero, or something. However, the promise of that single has largely fallen flat. Truth be told, this release is better than his usual fare, but not really essential for anyone other than completists or huge fans.
MPEG Stream: "Grand Ideas"
MPEG Stream: "The Long Way Home"

LINDSTROM Where You Go I Go Too (Special Edition) (Feedelity / Smalltown Supersound) 2cd 16.98
This is a bonus deluxe reissue of Lindstrom's debut full length, which comes with an extra disc of re-edits of all the tracks from Lindstrom's beardo-disco partner in crime, Prins Thomas. We don't think this is entirely worth re-purchasing if you have already bought it once, but for those of you haven't already, you get an extra treat!
Here is what we said about the original:
It would be difficult to say that Lindstrom has finally come into his own, but it's really not his fault. Given the retro-modern angle of his entire project, it's not really even a good or bad thing. The sounds, the composition, the melodic structures, they're all questionably '80s. Not '80s like Giorgio Moroder or Daniele Baldelli - as most commonly referenced, but more like a blend of Jan Hammer, Rick Astley, and, like, Paul Lekakis? Sure, a little John Carpenter even. If you can overlook all the kitsch, the bizarre nostalgia for music that may or may not have really been necessary, then Lindstrom is your guy. This particular release shows him both more minimal and more maximal, restrained and indulgent. Each of the three tracks unfold slowly, releasing one arpeggiation after another, deftly resting upon various analog drum sounds and sampled percussive devices. The production is great as usual, and no doubt the guy must have an impressive collection of vintage synths, etc. So far as songwriting, it's suspiciously absent. As with the majority of his releases, the focus is on process, development, and a definite amount of abandon as a listener. Just sitting back and seeing where he wants to take you, which is more often than not just some '80s soundtrack. Sure, "I Feel Space" was a great track, and undoubtedly helped to spark the fairly recent explosion of space disco and gave people a strange justification to somehow openly talk about Todd Rundgren as a musical hero, or something. However, the promise of that single has largely fallen flat. Truth be told, this release is a better than his usual fare, but not really essential for anyone other than completists or huge fans.
MPEG Stream: "Grand Ideas"
MPEG Stream: "The Long Way Home"

LINDSTROM & CHRISTABELLE Real Life Is No Cool (Feedelity / Smalltown Supersound) cd 16.98
Lindstrom has been a major player in the last several years, offering up and ushering in a movement of modern disco inspired space-surfing jams. He's proven to be unafraid of switching things up, working in different settings and collaborating, as he has with folks like Prins Thomas and even The Boredoms. For his latest outing he's teamed up with a vocalist called Christabelle who has shown up from time to time on some of his earlier recordings, but this time the record centered around her vocals and the two have created an album of ten distinct songs that owe as much to disco queens like Grace Jones and Donna Summer as they do to soul/funk icons like Prince and Vanity 6, not to mention a big healthy does of vintage Italo-disco.
This is one of those records that when played has most folks assuming it's some amazing obscure early 80's disco-treasure. It's got that vintage cloudy and sequined sound yet it doesn't come off like some cheap and easy throwback. One of Lindstrom's greatest strengths is his ability to create such infectious grooves, and we tend to be more drawn to his tighter song based productions than his grandiose epic waves of sound like much of Where You Go I Go Too.
Christabelle and Lindstrom sound so perfect and perfectly balanced together. One never seems to dominate the other. The songs allow for passages that are total trademark Lindstrom, yet Christabelle's vocals lend a lightness and breeze that allows these songs to travel with an ease and freeness that past Lindstrom records were not quite able to reach. Sonically similar to what the folks in the Italians Do It Better/Johnny Jewel camp (Glass Candy, Desire, Chromatics, etc.) have been doing, yet somehow this comes off as a bit less self conscious and flows so smoothly and easily...
MPEG Stream: "Lovesick"
MPEG Stream: "Keep It Up"
MPEG Stream: "Let's Practise"

LINDSTROM & CHRISTABELLE Real Life Is No Cool (Feedelity / Smalltown Supersound) lp 17.98
Lindstrom has been a major player in the last several years, offering up and ushering in a movement of modern disco inspired space-surfing jams. He's proven to be unafraid of switching things up, working in different settings and collaborating, as he has with folks like Prins Thomas and even The Boredoms. For his latest outing he's teamed up with a vocalist called Christabelle who has shown up from time to time on some of his earlier recordings, but this time the record centered around her vocals and the two have created an album of ten distinct songs that owe as much to disco queens like Grace Jones and Donna Summer as they do to soul/funk icons like Prince and Vanity 6, not to mention a big healthy does of vintage Italo-disco.
This is one of those records that when played has most folks assuming it's some amazing obscure early 80's disco-treasure. It's got that vintage cloudy and sequined sound yet it doesn't come off like some cheap and easy throwback. One of Lindstrom's greatest strengths is his ability to create such infectious grooves, and we tend to be more drawn to his tighter song based productions than his grandiose epic waves of sound like much of Where You Go I Go Too.
Christabelle and Lindstrom sound so perfect and perfectly balanced together. One never seems to dominate the other. The songs allow for passages that are total trademark Lindstrom, yet Christabelle's vocals lend a lightness and breeze that allows these songs to travel with an ease and freeness that past Lindstrom records were not quite able to reach. Sonically similar to what the folks in the Italians Do It Better/Johnny Jewel camp (Glass Candy, Desire, Chromatics, etc.) have been doing, yet somehow this comes off as a bit less self conscious and flows so smoothly and easily...
MPEG Stream: "Lovesick"
MPEG Stream: "Keep It Up"
MPEG Stream: "Let's Practise"

LINDSTROM & PRINS THOMAS II (Eskimo) cd 17.98
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas have become the go-to guys for modern cosmic disco journeys in sound. On their latest collaboration it sounds like they've been listening to a whole lot of Michael Rother's '70s solo records as II really taps into that airy, lightly spaced out and oh-so-breezy vibe. The cascading rhythms and stretched out breeziness also reminds us a lot of the great Sorcerer album from a couple years ago. While it might make for a perfect coming down record the morning after a night full of debauchery in Ibiza, truth is, this is a record that will definitely appeal to many folks who don't usually think of themselves as dance music minded, as these two Norwegians understand how to craft such lush and pleasing sounds with a surprisingly wide range of musical appeal. New age disco? A cosmic beach party? Rolling so smoothly and going down so nice, we don't care what it's called, the fact is it's damn good.
MPEG Stream: "Cisco"
MPEG Stream: "Flue Pa Veggen"
MPEG Stream: "Gudene Vet + Snutt"

LINDSTROM & PRINS THOMAS II (Eskimo) 4x12" + cd 34.00
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas have become the go-to guys for modern cosmic disco journeys in sound. On their latest collaboration it sounds like they've been listening to a whole lot of Michael Rother's '70s solo records as II really taps into that airy, lightly spaced out and oh-so-breezy vibe. The cascading rhythms and stretched out breeziness also reminds us a lot of the great Sorcerer album from a couple years ago. While it might make for a perfect coming down record the morning after a night full of debauchery in Ibiza, truth is, this is a record that will definitely appeal to many folks who don't usually think of themselves as dance music minded, as these two Norwegians understand how to craft such lush and pleasing sounds with a surprisingly wide range of musical appeal. New age disco? A cosmic beach party? Rolling so smoothly and going down so nice, we don't care what it's called, the fact is it's damn good.
MPEG Stream: "Cisco"
MPEG Stream: "Flue Pa Veggen"
MPEG Stream: "Gudene Vet + Snutt"

LINDSTROM & PRINS THOMAS Reinterpretations (Eskimo Recordings) cd 16.98
That Lindstrom singles album we reviewed a few list backs has been a consistent hit around here for those seeking some organic and engaging italo-disco inflected dance bliss. But what put Lindstrom on the dance radar was his earlier collaboration with fellow Beardo Disco Swede, Prins Thomas, who tempered Lindstrom's earthy Moroder-esque roboticisms with his love for seventies European cosmic space disco-rock a la Germany's Boney M. and France's Space Art and Cerrone. We never carried that early collaboration, but the two have recently gotten back together to remix a few of their early tracks into nine extended dancefloor burners, and extended is the key word as some tracks roll past the ten minute mark and one in particular is over 20 minutes. Good for parties where you want to keep a crowd nice and sweaty. But the nice thing about this is that the pair make a dance album that is great for casual listening too. It's not just all 4 to the floor beats. The reverbed piano, atmospheric guitars, ecstatic synths, and the subtle hints of vocals that comprise the bulk of the rhythm's melodic topping create an engaging and catchy listen as well.
MPEG Stream: "Turkish Delight"
MPEG Stream: "Boney M Down"

LINEA ASPERA s/t (Dark Entries) lp 15.98
One of the rare contemporary bands to be released on the ever exceptional Dark Entries label, typically known for reissues of classic and / or obscure minimal wave and post-punk electronics from the late '70s to mid '80s. But this is an album that's firmly grafted to the aesthetic that Dark Entries has honed through their fine curatorial ear; so much so that if we were told that Linea Aspera were some rare Sheffield band from 1981 featuring an undiscovered Anne Clark on vocals, we wouldn't be surprised one bit. The sequenced electronics, drum machines, and minimalist melodies are ice cold in their production thanks to the engineering prowess of Ryan Ambridge, who taps into the darker synth wrangling of Chris & Cosey, Psyche, Soft Cell, Human League, and even the Eurythmics in an experimental mood. That Eurythmics reference is furthered along by the full-throated vocals of Allison Lewis, whose poetics of despair and sexual miserablism are couched in the industrialist appropriation of neuroscience and various medical pathologies. There's a considerable amount of dark tension between the cold electronics and Lewis' vocals that really makes this record quite special and worthy of being included in the hallowed Dark Entries pantheon. To be completely honest, this is really what Xeno & Oaklander *want* to sound like if either of those Anglophiles could really rise above their well crafted electronic starkness. Kudos, once again to Dark Entries for introducing us to another great minimal wave find!
MPEG Stream: "Synapse"
MPEG Stream: "Fer-De-Lance"
MPEG Stream: "Malarone"

LINEAR MOVEMENT On The Screen (Minimal Wave) lp 24.00
This gem appears thanks to the folks at Minimal Wave, the label that has been digging deep, very deep into the realms of post-punk and new wave to uncover many a release that might have been lost. For those who have procured plenty of terminal obscurities from such blogspots as Mutant Sounds, No Longer Forgotten Music, or Systems of Romance, some of the reissues on Minimal Wave may be familiar. But these are no grey area reissues. Minimal Wave has assured us that they have taken great care to procure the rights for each of these recordings!
Linear Movement was a short-lived project by Peter Bonne that ran from 1982 and 1984, paralleling his work in the bands Autumn and Twilight Ritual. While neither of these projects mean much to us, his later project A Split Second was one we are quite familiar with, as one of the seminal Electronic Body Music projects alongside Front 242, Neon Judgement, and everything on Antler-Subway circa 1988. But given the earlier time frame, Linear Movement is a much more primitive affair, melding electro-pop to bits of post-punk disco grooves, amidst punchy synth stabs and occasional detours towards darker, somber arppegiations. Altogether, Linear Movement falls somewhere near the Bippp compilation that Ed Banger resurrected, Vince Clarke era Depeche Mode, and yes, early Front 242. Lieve Van Steerteghem is the female vocalist who pops up on perhaps the best tracks on the album.

LIPPOK, ROBERT Open Close Open (Raster-Noton) cd ep 16.98
Robert Lippok may be better known for his throbbing pseudo post-rock / electronica excursions with Tarwater and To Rococo Rot, but here he has turned to the laptop and the minidisc to construct his first release for Raster/Noton. At first, this has all of the trappings of the Raster sound: a few micro-second laptop samples revealing a simple play of click and pop. But then things find their way outside of that crystalline synthesis -- a gaggle of ducks quacking, door slams, Mahler. The effect is sheer yet textured, very lovely, fans of Oval will be pleased. "Open Close Open" is the eighth in the "clear" series from Raster/Noton and the second to come in this sleek prefab non-jewel case. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Open"
RealAudio clip: "Close"

LIPPOK, ROBERT & BARBARA MORGENSTERN Tesri (Monika) cd 15.98

LIQUID COP Data So Nice I Saved It Twice (self-released) cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Depending on which side of the fence you're sitting in the cd-r debate, one of the pluses or pitfalls of self-recorded and released cd-rs is that the artists may continue to expand or alter a work that they've already "released" - potentially resulting in some amount of confusion and/or disgruntlement on the part of the consumer. However, it may also be argued that another plus is the usually low price tag for some pretty great sounds.
That said, SF's Liquid Cop has released a full length cd-r hot on the heels of his Clear Album EP. Yes, it does include the tracks from that EP, however it isn't simply tacked onto the end "w/ bonus ep" style. No, the older tracks have all been interspersed among the new ones, making for an altogether new sequence of LC aural scenes. Fluidly integrating shades of playful exotica, glitch-y electronics, and soundscapes like a more minimal Milk Cult, Liquid Cop has composed twenty delightful collages from samples, field recordings, guitar, vocals and digital gleeps 'n' meeps. Very nice!
RealAudio clip: "Pet Yr Cat, Pet Them, Pet Yrself, Then Pet Me"

LIQUID COP The Clear Album EP (self-released) cd-r 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. NOTE: This ep is now included on Liquid Cop's full length self-released cd-r called Data So Nice I Saved It Twice.
An all too brief seven tracks of delightfully collaged samples, guitar, vocals and digital gleeps 'n' meeps from this SF gentleman. Light and playful, they alternately take a sip of lounge-iness, dip their toes in glitch-y, down tempo electronics, and venture gently into other soundscape terrain. A wee detail I found a bit disappointing was the disc's abrupt end, the final cut just stops. It was like being jarred out of a 12 minute daydream. Nonetheless, this is a very very warm and pleasing introduction to Liquid Cop!
RealAudio clip: "Prissy Goes To Beauty School"

LISA CARBON Standards (Rather Interesting) cd 16.98
Uwe Schmidt, a.k.a. Atom Heart, returns with the third outing in his Lisa Carbon persona. Like the previous Carbon release, "Standards" is a tweaked exploration of Brazilian Tropicalia and Bossanova from the unique Schmidt perspective. Not as skittery and irreverent as the Midisport release on Rather Interesting two years back, "Standards" is still plenty of fun -- and possibly a little more likely to subvert its way into your next cocktail party. It definitely has that ability to fuck with people's heads. It takes a little while, but eventually people dancing lightly in the store will suddenly stop, their soma smiles fading from their lips to be replaced by scrunched up their faces before asking: "what the hell is this?" As the CD progresses it seems to get a little further demented, starting with a little ditty in the middle that almost sounds like a lost outtake from Raymond Scott's "Soothing Sounds for Baby" project, a lounge midi-fied send up of David Bowie's "Space Oddity", and an excellent ersatz Perrey & Kingsley track.
MPEG Stream: "Bossandfunk"
MPEG Stream: "A Bailar El Tape-Charleston"

LITHOPS Mound Magnet (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Y'know those cans of pressurized air that you use to clean out the dust and crud that accumulates in your computer keyboard and other electronic devices? Well, Lithops latest album is sorta the musical equivalent... complete with that distinct fleetingly chilly fizz, mysterious chunks and gritty particles. Each track churns out slabs of glutinous squidge and igneous electronics cut with a dull blade.
Psst, in case you didn't know Lithops just happens to be another musical persona of one Mr. Jan St. Werner of Microstoria and Mouse On Mars fame. Maybe he shoulda called himself Mithops... just kidding!
MPEG Stream: "Opposite Of Windward"
MPEG Stream: "Stakes Barrier"

LITHOPS Queries (Sonig) cd 14.98
Lithops is the alter ego of Jan St. Werner, best known for his main outfit, Mouse On Mars. It's been a few years since he's made a Lithops record and it's actually sounds quite refreshing to our ears. There was a period of time a few years ago that it seemed like one couldn't walk down the block without being bombarded by IDM records from every direction. But hearing one of the most talented fellas of said genre doing what he's always done best is kind of hitting the spot right now. Songs that slowly weave in and out of themselves, orbiting in a lucid space that drifts and wanders so nicely. While other times building up to actual beats and rhythmic moments, with some of his trademark undertones that have made his work in Mouse On Mars so memorable. One of our favorite electronic releases in quite some time!
MPEG Stream: "Wackler"
MPEG Stream: "Tenson"

LITHOPS Turbino (Static Caravan) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Lithops is the solo project from Jan St. Werner (the mastermind behind Mouse On Mars), although he never lets anyone know that on any of the Lithops' releases. Constantly shifting abstract electronica that is much darker and less accessible than the relatively happy releases by Mouse On Mars. Comes with nice hand stamped (potato stamps?) covers!

LITHOPS Uni Umit (Moikai) cd 13.98
Originally only on German vinyl, Uni Umit was conjured by Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars and it sounds a lot like them too, if a little less beat-oriented. Lovely, painterly electronica squiggles. Released on Jim O'Rourke's Moikai label. Highly recommended.

LITTLE DRAGON Machine Dreams (Peacefrog) cd 16.98
We have been hearing about Little Dragon for quite a while now as lots of folks around here had seen them live and been blown away and kept urging us to check out their stuff and to see what an amazing presence their Swedish-Japanese singer has. Unfortunately, most of LD's releases where hard-to-track-down imports up 'til now, but luckily with the release of this newest album Machine Dreams we get to hear why all our friends were so excited about Little Dragon.
Machine Dreams is completely refreshing, bright and colorful electro-pop that eschews all the detached and cold cliches that so many in the scene rely on, opting instead for elements of soul, house, downtempo, and an overall warmth and sincerity of sound that really makes LD stick out.
Imagine a more uptempo and cheery Fever Ray, or if Lali Puna stopped navel gazing and reached their hands and hearts to the sky, or if Matthew Herbert got to produce a record for Gwen Guthrie! We hear wonderful hints of LD's influences too, everything from Massive Attack to Pizzicato Five, yet they manage to really shine with their own identity, displaying a really great range, from uptempo catchy dancefloor moments to more drowsy, sultry bittwersweet slow burners. We are feeling this so much!
MPEG Stream: "A New"
MPEG Stream: "Swimming"
MPEG Stream: "Never Never"

LITTLE DRAGON Ritual Union (Peacefrog) cd 15.98
Without a doubt one of the most creative and pleasurable groups making electronic tinged dance pop these days. What sets Little Dragon so far ahead of the crowd is that they are such innovative music makers as well as having the amazing talents of lead singer Yukimi Nagano, who really does have one of the most soulful and seductive voices around. Ritual Union is one of the most perfect electro pop albums of the year. The songs and sounds on the record let you go deep into you body. But it's not just a surface high that makes you shake it for a moment, but instead something you feel dig into you deeper and actually grab a hold of your spirit and soul. Like some of the best work that Herbert & Dani Siciliano made together, or if Prince in his prime teamed up with Lykke Li to make a record smart enough to want to spend intimate time with, yet fun enough to want to blast so loud when your friends are around. Colors, shapes and melody all swirling together into something so intoxicating, and so totally good for you. This is becoming our absolute summer jam!
MPEG Stream: "Brush The Heat"
MPEG Stream: "Ritual Union"
MPEG Stream: "Nightlight"

LITTLE DRAGON Ritual Union (Peacefrog) lp 21.00
Without a doubt one of the most creative and pleasurable groups making electronic tinged dance pop these days. What sets Little Dragon so far ahead of the crowd is that they are such innovative music makers as well as having the amazing talents of lead singer Yukimi Nagano, who really does have one of the most soulful and seductive voices around. Ritual Union is one of the most perfect electro pop albums of the year. The songs and sounds on the record let you go deep into you body. But it's not just a surface high that makes you shake it for a moment, but instead something you feel dig into you deeper and actually grab a hold of your spirit and soul. Like some of the best work that Herbert & Dani Siciliano made together, or if Prince in his prime teamed up with Lykke Li to make a record smart enough to want to spend intimate time with, yet fun enough to want to blast so loud when your friends are around. Colors, shapes and melody all swirling together into something so intoxicating, and so totally good for you. This is becoming our absolute summer jam!
MPEG Stream: "Brush The Heat"
MPEG Stream: "Ritual Union"
MPEG Stream: "Nightlight"

LIVE HUMAN Elefish Jellyphant (Matador) cd 13.98
San Francisco's fantastic live improv hiphop/jazz/turntablism trio, featuring the skills of DJ Quest of the Space Travellers/Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters, as well drum kit and double bass. Everybody loved their FatCat/Hip Hop Slam record "Monostereosis", and this is more of the same. Kinda like a more advanced version of the instrumental tracks on the last few Beastie Boys records, actually. Good stuff.

LIVE HUMAN Elefish Jellyphant (Matador) 2lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
San Francisco's fantastic live improv hiphop/jazz/turntablism trio, featuring the skills of DJ Quest of the Space Travellers/Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters, as well drum kit and double bass. Everybody loved their FatCat/Hip Hop Slam record "Monostereosis", and this is more of the same. Kinda like a more advanced version of the instrumental tracks on the last few Beastie Boys records, actually. Good stuff.

LIVE HUMAN Elefish Jellyphant (Matador) 2lp 16.98
San Francisco's fantastic live improv hiphop/jazz/turntablism trio, featuring the skills of DJ Quest of the Space Travellers/Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters, as well drum kit and double bass. Everybody loved their FatCat/Hip Hop Slam record "Monostereosis", and this is more of the same. Kinda like a more advanced version of the instrumental tracks on the last few Beastie Boys records, actually. Good stuff.

LIVE HUMAN Live (C.O.D.) cd 11.98
Live Human's previous albums never really did it for me, so this great album is a revelation. Here the groundbreaking trio of standup bass, drums, and turntables is *live*, recorded right here in their hometown of San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall in July 2001 (this after playing a sold out show at the Montreux Jazz Festival!) While they have been called "punk jazz" by some XLR8R reviewer on the back of this cd, you should know that there is nothing punk about the trio's sound -- although their deft improvisations have certainly been informed by the jazz tradition.
Live Human mixes warmly organic bass lines that are funky but not overly so, with percussion that is as breakbeat "funky drummer" style as it is carefully shuffling, staccato and delicate. The third equal element is hiphop DJ Quest's visionary turntablist style. While he does his fair share of athletic, textural scratching here (he even plays with the tense sound of a skipping cd, of all things), it isn't overdone, nor boring, nor predictable. He brings in just enough outside elements like women's voices, snippets of old hip hop classics, James Brown's "heuh!", etc., to prevent the "jazz" from imploding self-indulgently into itself, yet not so much that it becomes a sample-heavy smorgasbord. It is incredible how perfect Quest's instincts are for what is too much and/or not enough. I have to say that the turntablist skills demonstrated here are so seamlessly integrated with the bass and the drums that I can't help but think this is one of THE FINEST examples of turntablism I have ever heard -- he knows that the way to us listeners' hearts is not to showboat his virtuosic skills, but instead to bow to the demands of the music itself.
This is an awesome record that is completely worth your money. As if that wasn't enough, it is purposely being sold directly from the label to retailers for the express purpose of keeping the price down and, according to the liner notes, "cutting out many of the redundant music-industry middle-men that traditionally add nothing to the art but are happy to pocket more than their fair share of the profit (biiiiaaaatch!)."
RealAudio clip: "Fr-Fre-Fre-Fresshhhhhhh!"
RealAudio clip: "Breakbeat"
RealAudio clip: "Human til Inifinity"

LIVE HUMAN Monostereosis: The New Victrola Method (Hip Hop Slam) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
These popular local artists' album was previously only available as an import, now finally it's available as a domestic release! What we had to say about the import still applies: San Franciscans Kushin, Mathias, and Quest (DJ that is) come up with a kick ass 'new jazz'/turntablism/hip hop hybrid for their debut album. A couple of the tracks from their previous singles on Fat Cat pop up on the album which is loaded with wykked scratching, sikk beats, and phhat bass. Excellent!

LIVE HUMAN Monostereosis: The New Victrola Method (Fat Cat) 2lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
San Franciscans Kushin, Mathias, and Quest (DJ that is) come up with a kick ass 'new jazz'/turntablism/hip hop hybrid for their debut album. A couple of the tracks from their previous singles on Fat Cat pop up on the album which is loaded with wykked scratching, sikk beats, and phhat bass. Excellent!

LIVE HUMAN Monostereosis: The New Victrola Method (Hip Hop Slam) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
And it's here on vinyl, too...These popular local artists' album was previously only available as an import, now finally it's available as a domestic release! What we had to say about the import still applies: San Franciscans Kushin, Mathias, and Quest (DJ that is) come up with a kick ass 'new jazz'/turntablism/hip hop hybrid for their debut album. A couple of the tracks from their previous singles on Fat Cat pop up on the album which is loaded with wykked scratching, sikk beats, and phhat bass. Excellent!

LIVE HUMAN Orange Buch Monkey Flower (Fat Cat) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The second single on Fat Cat from Live Human, a San Francisco trio with turntablist DJ Quest scratching over a mellow funk of skittering jazzy percussion and stand up bass. A really good American version of Red Snapper!

LOCUST Wrong (Touch) 2cd 21.98
Two disc set. One of the discs is atmospheric layers of electronica of the not-quite-noisy noise flavor, as we have loved Locust for in the past. This is a cool soundin' disc, but it's meant to be played simultaneously with an accompanying CD wherein Locust's Mark van Hoen gets his pop on, as he is wont to do, and when he does pop we have to say we don't like him. Female vocals, you know the type, breathy and ethereal. So if someone gives you a $22 gift certificate, buy this and throw away the disc with the vocals. Happy Holidays!

LOCUST You'll Be Safe Forever (Editions Mego) cd 16.98
We always wanted to like those Locust records that came out in the '90s, with their alluring 4AD-inspired visual aesthetics and matching moody atmospherics, the sound a darkly silken electronica. Even though Locust's principal technician Mark Van Hoen had worked on the best Seefeel albums (and the underappreciated side project Scala), his work in Locust never really hit the mark. The baroqueness of it all seemed a bit too contrived. The female vocals that he was so fond of seemed superfluous as well. So when Van Hoen resurrected his career last year with a record under his own name on Editions Mego, we approached it with some skepticism, but thankfully that skepticism was unfounded as he finally delivered an album of what we always hoped for. The strengths of that album - the spooky atmospheres, the hypnotic sequencing, and those breakbeats which align so nicely next to the best from Boards of Canada - are reprised here on You'll Be Safe Forever, the first Locust album in nearly 12 years.
A somber tranquility eases through You'll Be Safe Forever, with its heavily reliance on swelling ambient synths, languid samples, dark-eyed kosmische vibes, and deconstructed pop motifs. Even when Van Hoen revs up things up on a track like "Strobes," the punchiness of crunched rhythms and taut arpeggiation dissolve within the hypnotic patterning from his female vocal samples and bleary-eyed drones. "The Washer Woman" with its painterly sequencing, skittering rhythm track and tone-bent melodies has all of the tropes of a great Biosphere track. By the end of the record especially on "The Flower Lady" and "Subie", Van Hoen hits those blunted notes of low-slung basslines and slow-motion grooves that would have been right at home on Mo' Wax back in the day. One of the finest electronica records of 2013 for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Strobes"
MPEG Stream: "Fall For Me"
MPEG Stream: "Just Want You"

LOCUST You'll Be Safe Forever (Editions Mego) lp 22.00
We always wanted to like those Locust records that came out in the '90s, with their alluring 4AD-inspired visual aesthetics and matching moody atmospherics, the sound a darkly silken electronica. Even though Locust's principal technician Mark Van Hoen had worked on the best Seefeel albums (and the underappreciated side project Scala), his work in Locust never really hit the mark. The baroqueness of it all seemed a bit too contrived. The female vocals that he was so fond of seemed superfluous as well. So when Van Hoen resurrected his career last year with a record under his own name on Editions Mego, we approached it with some skepticism, but thankfully that skepticism was unfounded as he finally delivered an album of what we always hoped for. The strengths of that album - the spooky atmospheres, the hypnotic sequencing, and those breakbeats which align so nicely next to the best from Boards of Canada - are reprised here on You'll Be Safe Forever, the first Locust album in nearly 12 years.
A somber tranquility eases through You'll Be Safe Forever, with its heavily reliance on swelling ambient synths, languid samples, dark-eyed kosmische vibes, and deconstructed pop motifs. Even when Van Hoen revs up things up on a track like "Strobes," the punchiness of crunched rhythms and taut arpeggiation dissolve within the hypnotic patterning from his female vocal samples and bleary-eyed drones. "The Washer Woman" with its painterly sequencing, skittering rhythm track and tone-bent melodies has all of the tropes of a great Biosphere track. By the end of the record especially on "The Flower Lady" and "Subie", Van Hoen hits those blunted notes of low-slung basslines and slow-motion grooves that would have been right at home on Mo' Wax back in the day. One of the finest electronica records of 2013 for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Strobes"
MPEG Stream: "Fall For Me"
MPEG Stream: "Just Want You"

LOCUST, THE & VARIOUS ARTISTS Well I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle (Gold Standard Laboratories) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally on cd! Originally released as a double 12": one record containing less than a minute's worth of the trademark sonic pummelling by San Diego's The Locust plus an ultra stunning etched b-side, and the other record filled with the same song getting all remixed and electronically fucked up by a variety of their friends, from Christoph De Babalon (a 109-second carnivorous nightmare) to Kid 606 (much more Kid than Locust) to Bastard Noise (a truncated 47-second splatter) to I Am Spoonbender (abducting us on an epic 6-minute Locust adventure), and others. The only disappointment with this cd version would have to be the packaging. Let's face it, visually the military green camo cd is no match for the twin toxic lime, etched vinyl attack, but if you need some good morning music...so much better than an alarm clock.

LOCUST, THE & VARIOUS ARTISTS Well I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle (Gold Standard Laboratories) 2x12" 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Quite a package here. Two 12"s (note: if you're one of a lucky few, they will both be on marbled green vinyl... if not, it's one green and one black for you.): San Diego's The Locust do one of their trademark under-60-seconds sonic assaults, and then it gets all remixed and electronically fucked up by a variety of their friends, from Christoph De Babalon (a 109-second carnivorous nightmare) to Kid 606 (much more Kid than Locust) to Bastard Noise (a truncated 47-second splatter) to I Am Spoonbender (abducting us on an epic 6-minute Locust adventure), and others. With stunning etched artwork on one of the sides, to boot!

LOEFAH The Goat Stare / Root (DMZ) 12" 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

LOEFAH Voodoo (six6six) 12" 11.98

LOEFAH / DARQUAN Sukkah/War 12" (Texture UK) 12" 12.00

LOEFAH / DIGITAL MYSTIKZ System / Molten (Tectonic) 10" 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two of the leading lights in the dubstep underground team up for this killer slab of modern digital dubbed out bliss. Unlike the spastic over the top manic energy of grime, dubstep is way more laid back, spare and sparse, like a modern more junglized version of African Head Charge or Twilight Circus. The same sort of synth sounds and digital production, lots of King Tubby echo, but more sleek and space aged.
Digital Mystikz spit out a super abstract, stripped down blown out shuffle, with weird distant keening siren-like high end, and fuzzy low end squelches that sort of rumble and wobble dizzily.
Loefah counters with some super druggy modern dub, a dubstep steeped in the sounds of classic old skool dub, but given a glitchy stuttery makeover. A super minimal, ultra hypnotic rhythm, swirling synths drenched in reverb and echo-ed into oblivion. Huge loping grooves drenched in thick clouds of outer space bong smoke. Awesome.

LOHMANN, ULF Because Before (Kompakt) cd 17.98
Much like his contributions to Kompakt's aptly titled compilation "Pop Ambient," Ulf Lohmann's "Because Before" teeters dangerously close to the corny aspects of electronic ambient music, but manages to infuse enough interesting and puzzling sounds into his lighthearted proceedings to skirt the whole New Age curse. Samples of chimes and bells emerge within Lohmann's wholly digital production of warm ambient washes that are often very similar to the seminal ambient recordings of Brian Eno or Gas' "Pop" album. Yet, Lohmann fragments those sounds though weird clipping delays and looping structures that intentionally stop short of being fluid. The end result is sort of like Christmas music at the mall with the tape warbling from age or wandering the mall at Christmas, completely high.
RealAudio clip: "Because Before 5"
RealAudio clip: "Because Before 9"

LOHMANN, ULF Before (Kompakt) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The "Before" LP is the vinyl companion disc to Ulf Lohmann's "Because Before," with the a-side of the album presenting edited versions of the filmic ambient loopings found on the CD. The b-side has a huge unrelenting Mike Ink techno stomp that is nothing like the Pop Ambient sounds from the a-side or the CD version. To quote Kompakt, this untitled piece is a "rectanglebasslinemonstertrack" and is one of those Kompakt floorfillers which doesn't quite sound right at either 45 or 33: it's too fast at 45, and the bass is too muddled at 33. I guess that's what the pitch control is for.

LOLITA STORM G F S U (Digital Hardcore / Fatal) cd 22.00
Lolita Storm as the actualization of Alec Empire's sexual fantasies? Or the DHR equivalent of Fuzzbox? Maybe. This all-girl quartet is constantly barking out pogo-punk semi-melodic recitations like "I want a meat injection" or "just give me hot lips, wet pants." Not really the most subtle of sexual innuendos, but explosive Amen / drum & bass breaks and squalid noise bursts do bury the lyrical inadequacies deep underneath the trademark electronic-punk hostility we have grown to love about DHR.

LONE Galaxy Garden (R&S) cd 19.98
Killer new record on the resurgent Belgian electronic imprint R&S, here we have the latest from Matt Cutler, better known as Lone. "Galaxy Garden" Is a hyper-colored blast of glistening funky as hell UK two-steppin bass muzik! Some real frenetic, overly radiated glow in the dark, brain-melting recontextualized 'ardkore, ravebrained madness!!! Kinda like the sugar addicted, hyper active step brother of Burial (the one you chain up in the basement for fear that he might dance a hole into the kitchen floor).
Cutler's jams have always been very unique, and always super colorful and tripped out ("Coreshine Voodoo" is the quintessential example that comes to mind, released on the "Echolocations" ep in 2011 on R&S), but with "Galaxy Garden" the vision is complete. The songs are all meticulously layered affairs. Pristine synth sounds meld with shuffle steppin riddims, all dreamy and hypnotic, reverberated into the ether and catchy as hell. One of the elements that separates Cutler's music from other bass music makers is his intensely rhythmic and incredibly ear-wormy melodies. As heard throughout "Galaxy Garden", the melodic phrases extend and develop over the rhythmic tumult, floating above and carrying the sound further into a heavenly futuristic zone. Take for instance, the 4th cut "Lying In The Reeds", starting with a warmly analogue synthetic hypno-arpeggio outlining the progression, multilayered melodies weave into the song's fabric, building layer upon layer of blissed out texture and hooky melodies till about 1:40 in the drums drop out and a MOST beautifully enveloping pad swaddles your earholes and swirls about your mind, rippling sonic teardrops ping ponging from left to right, then the beat and bass kick back in just in time to bring you back to the groove. A space-bound jam for certain. Another standout track is "Crystal Caverns 1991", which also happens to be the lead single. Running at a frantic 140 bpm pace, this cut is an absolute brain melter! A torrent of hand percussion, aquatic synth squelch and psychotic RAVE stabs come together in a 5 minute flurry of future FUNK! All held together by Cutler's incredible melodic knack, and propelled by seriously HEAVY bass. This is the kinda music we imagine hearing piped through the subway system of some utopian city of the future! The perfect soundtrack for bullet train commuting. Or like a way more far out and bass heavy soundtrack to F-Zero, you remember? For SNES! A wondrous, glowing sound to cruise with through the twists and turns of some gleaming digital autobahn!
The rest of "Galaxy Garden" follows suit. All the sounds melting and dripping and incredibly melodic, and the bass and drums heavy and propulsive. Lone's jams are like Oneohtrix Point Never on dancefloor steroids, or James Ferraro if it was more about function and less about concept (not that we really mind concept)... this is just beautiful, comic underworld SYNTH MAGIC! Trancey, warm and enveloping, fiercely rhythmic, and about as far out as any modern day New Ager so-and-so can claim to be. Lone just happens to aim his psychedelic, utopian-glow transcendence at the dance floor... and we love him for it! Double LP version includes a cd of the album! RECOMMENDED!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Lying In The Reeds"
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Caverns 1991"
MPEG Stream: "Raindance"
MPEG Stream: "Earth's Lungs"

LONE Galaxy Garden (R&S) 2lp 29.00
Killer new record on the resurgent Belgian electronic imprint R&S, here we have the latest from Matt Cutler, better known as Lone. "Galaxy Garden" Is a hyper-colored blast of glistening funky as hell UK two-steppin bass muzik! Some real frenetic, overly radiated glow in the dark, brain-melting recontextualized 'ardkore, ravebrained madness!!! Kinda like the sugar addicted, hyper active step brother of Burial (the one you chain up in the basement for fear that he might dance a hole into the kitchen floor).
Cutler's jams have always been very unique, and always super colorful and tripped out ("Coreshine Voodoo" is the quintessential example that comes to mind, released on the "Echolocations" ep in 2011 on R&S), but with "Galaxy Garden" the vision is complete. The songs are all meticulously layered affairs. Pristine synth sounds meld with shuffle steppin riddims, all dreamy and hypnotic, reverberated into the ether and catchy as hell. One of the elements that separates Cutler's music from other bass music makers is his intensely rhythmic and incredibly ear-wormy melodies. As heard throughout "Galaxy Garden", the melodic phrases extend and develop over the rhythmic tumult, floating above and carrying the sound further into a heavenly futuristic zone. Take for instance, the 4th cut "Lying In The Reeds", starting with a warmly analogue synthetic hypno-arpeggio outlining the progression, multilayered melodies weave into the song's fabric, building layer upon layer of blissed out texture and hooky melodies till about 1:40 in the drums drop out and a MOST beautifully enveloping pad swaddles your earholes and swirls about your mind, rippling sonic teardrops ping ponging from left to right, then the beat and bass kick back in just in time to bring you back to the groove. A space-bound jam for certain. Another standout track is "Crystal Caverns 1991", which also happens to be the lead single. Running at a frantic 140 bpm pace, this cut is an absolute brain melter! A torrent of hand percussion, aquatic synth squelch and psychotic RAVE stabs come together in a 5 minute flurry of future FUNK! All held together by Cutler's incredible melodic knack, and propelled by seriously HEAVY bass. This is the kinda music we imagine hearing piped through the subway system of some utopian city of the future! The perfect soundtrack for bullet train commuting. Or like a way more far out and bass heavy soundtrack to F-Zero, you remember? For SNES! A wondrous, glowing sound to cruise with through the twists and turns of some gleaming digital autobahn!
The rest of "Galaxy Garden" follows suit. All the sounds melting and dripping and incredibly melodic, and the bass and drums heavy and propulsive. Lone's jams are like Oneohtrix Point Never on dancefloor steroids, or James Ferraro if it was more about function and less about concept (not that we really mind concept)... this is just beautiful, comic underworld SYNTH MAGIC! Trancey, warm and enveloping, fiercely rhythmic, and about as far out as any modern day New Ager so-and-so can claim to be. Lone just happens to aim his psychedelic, utopian-glow transcendence at the dance floor... and we love him for it! Double LP version includes a cd of the album! RECOMMENDED!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Lying In The Reeds"
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Caverns 1991"
MPEG Stream: "Raindance"
MPEG Stream: "Earth's Lungs"

LONE PIGEON Schoozzzmmii (Whizz Kidzz) cd 14.98
You can certainly tell that the multi-faceted man behind Lone Pigeon had a hefty hand in the formative years of Scotland's Beta Band (FYI: L.P. mainman Gordon Anderson was one of the founding members of B.B. who originally went by the moniker The Pigeons). Much like his former band, Lone Pigeon's witty crafty pop is capable of both lifting your spirits and bringing you down (in the best possible way!). It also mines the gamut of musical styles ('60s pop, psych, folk), but the actual execution of the songs can also be more shamblingly lo-fi than the much more grand endeavors of B.B. As if controlled completely by whim, songs will trail off or stop abruptly, instruments will jump in loudly and then meander. Vocals tumble into (we assume unintentional) haphazard distortion. Anderson's voice often affects a sleepy, tousled John Lennon-ish-ness, and there's definitely more evidence than of the degree of Beatles admiration that's going on here. A side note: We searched high and low for the titles to the sixteen tunes on the cd, but to no avail. Maybe they forgot?! You'll just have to go online and do a little sleuthing for yourself (as we did!). If you do, you'll discover that the name of the album's highlight (in our opinion) is the breezy, sentimental "Sallyzimmerman". You'll also find out that these songs were recorded prior to those on his last full length Concubine Rice.
MPEG Stream: "Boats"
MPEG Stream: "Sallyzimmerman"

LOOPER The Snare (Mute) cd 15.98
It definitely seems like things have gotten somewhat darker and a bit weightier in the Looper camp by the sounds of the slowly swaying late night grooves emanating from this new album. No sweet electronic pop here. No playful percolating beats. This is much more heavily soul influenced, very sultry. Former Belle And Sebastianite Stuart David affects a dusky talk-sing much like that of Daniel Ash (Love And Rockets) or for that matter the dude from Fischerspooner. And as a result, any minute we expect the diva to appear, but no! Luckily we are spared by the gentle introduction of Karn David's lovely voice. Take the vocals away, and this could very well be the rough backing tracks for Destiny's Child... well, maybe not quite. Overall, it's a haunting, noirish affair and quite a smooth shift in musical mood for Looper. Also features recent Belle And Sebastian departee Isobel Campbell on cello and brass-blowing man about town Mick Cooke on flugelhorn (he's also performed with the Mojave 3, Snow Patrol and Gentle Waves).
RealAudio clip: "Sugarcane"
RealAudio clip: "Peacock Johnson"