SHITMAT Full English Breakfest Volume 1 (Planet Mu) 12" 8.98
We went on and on about the Shitmat record a few lists back. A massive buzzing electrified briars patch of ultra complex drum and bass, huge booming low end and sliced and diced hard ragga. So fucking good!! One of Andee's favorite records of the year by a longshot. So we were super psyched for this new series of five limited 12"s. Be forewarned, these 12"s are being reissued on cd eventually, but one track on each 12" will NOT be on the cd, and those are FIVE tracks you CAN NOT live without!!
Volume One is jam packed with that booming buzzing, speaker shredding old school jungle, new school drill and bass we love so much! FUCK YEAH!!

SHITMAT Full English Breakfest Volume 2 (Planet Mu) 12" 8.98
We went on and on about the Shitmat record a few lists back. A massive buzzing electrified briars patch of ultra complex drum and bass, huge booming low end and sliced and diced hard ragga. So fucking good!! One of Andee's favorite records of the year by a longshot. So we were super psyched for this new series of five limited 12"s. Be forewarned, these 12"s are being reissued on cd eventually, but one track on each 12" will NOT be on the cd, and those are FIVE tracks you CAN NOT live without!!
Volume two features the track "Day O," during which Shitmat takes the "Banana Boat Song" and turns it inside out and shreds it to ribbons adding crashing amen breaks and booming low end. Plus four more tracks of rolling pounding, stuttering drum and bass madness.

SHITMAT Full English Breakfest Volume 4 (Planet Mu) 12" 8.98
We went on and on about the Shitmat record a few lists back. A massive buzzing electrified briars patch of ultra complex drum and bass, huge booming low end and sliced and diced hard ragga. So fucking good!! One of Andee's favorite records of the year by a longshot. So we were super psyched for this new series of five limited 12"s. Be forewarned, these 12"s are being reissued on cd eventually, but one track on each 12" will NOT be on the cd, and those are FIVE tracks you CAN NOT live without!!
Another blast of all orignal (well, you know...) rumbling, pummelling raga dancehall gabber jungle insanity. Set your speakers for stun!

SHITMAT Full English Breakfest Volume 5 (Planet Mu) 12" 8.98
We went on and on about the Shitmat record a few lists back. A massive buzzing electrified briars patch of ultra complex drum and bass, huge booming low end and sliced and diced hard ragga. So fucking good!! One of Andee's favorite records of the year by a longshot. So we were super psyched for this new series of five limited 12"s. Be forewarned, these 12"s are being reissued on cd eventually, but one track on each 12" will NOT be on the cd, and those are FIVE tracks you CAN NOT live without!!
On the final volume, Shitmat indulges his goofy side (much like on his recent cd) by covering and junglizing tunes by The Archers, Trisha and the Blue Peter theme, as well as another 4 tracks of huge ragga dancehall gabber brutality. We can never get enough of this stuff!!!

SHITMAT Full English BreakfestVolume 3 (Planet Mu) 12" 8.98
We went on and on about the Shitmat record a few lists back. A massive buzzing electrified briars patch of ultra complex drum and bass, huge booming low end and sliced and diced hard ragga. So fucking good!! One of Andee's favorite records of the year by a longshot. So we were super psyched for this new series of five limited 12"s. Be forewarned, these 12"s are being reissued on cd eventually, but one track on each 12" will NOT be on the cd, and those are FIVE tracks you CAN NOT live without!!
Volume three's standout numbers are "There's No Business Like Propa' Rungleclotted Mashup Bizznizz," a totally fucked up take on Irving Berlin's classic show tune, and "Dis Dancehall Ting...", chopped up, and junglized version of Aled Jones' "Walking In The Air" as well as two other dancefloor destroyers.

SHITMAT Grooverider (Planet Mu) cd 14.98

SHITMAT Hang The DJ (Wrong) cd 15.98
We love Shitmat. A lot! As any regular reader of the AQ list must realize by now. But this new one sort of threw us for a loop. Shitmat was our go to guy for that blasting old school nineties heavy ragga jungle, bass bin rattling drum and bass, with super blown out synths, buzzing bass, and those hyper charged drum breaks. As we've said before, it's one of those sounds that we could listen to FOREVER.
Well, Hang The DJ starts off from a whole different angle. With a more mash-up vibe going on. In fact, the first few tracks could pass for Girl Talk tracks, with their million bits and pieces all cobbled together into a head spinning pop culture dance floor concoction. Well, once we got over our initial shock, we started to really dig it, sure it wasn't what we were expecting, but damn if it wasn't kicking our asses. Furious and freaky, skittering skipping and completely brilliantly baffling. Classic pop songs, old diva standards, heavy metal guitars, snippets of hip hop, and pretty much everything else under the sun. It began to almost sound like Girl Talk crossed with Venetian Snares. But the more we listened, the more we could hear the Shitmat sound. A bit obscured and all tangled up in there, but still that same cheeky sense of humor and flair for killer stuttery beats.
But about halfway through the disc something happened. The jungle returned, subtly at first, but soon, we were in full on dance floor destroying ragga jungle heaven, killer toasting, gnarled Amen breaks sliced and diced, huge drops, massive slabs of synth bass, some full on bursts of hardcore gabber...
And then before we knew it, it was gone, and we were back to stuttering skittering mash-ups, but suddenly it all made more sense. The next time through, those opening mash-ups sounded perfect butted up against those wild jungle tracks, and the jungle bits perfectly segued into the million-sample-a-minute freakouts, and all of a sudden, it seemed like we just might have ourselves a new fucked up electronic sort-of-jungle mash-up dance record....
MPEG Stream: "Badman And Robin'"
MPEG Stream: "Bloodclot Jungle Techno!"
MPEG Stream: "Jesus Was A Raver"

SHITMAT Hang The DJ (Wrong) lp 22.00
We love Shitmat. A lot! As any regular reader of the AQ list must realize by now. But this new one sort of threw us for a loop. Shitmat was our go to guy for that blasting old school nineties heavy ragga jungle, bass bin rattling drum and bass, with super blown out synths, buzzing bass, and those hyper charged drum breaks. As we've said before, it's one of those sounds that we could listen to FOREVER.
Well, Hang The DJ starts off from a whole different angle. With a more mash-up vibe going on. In fact, the first few tracks could pass for Girl Talk tracks, with their million bits and pieces all cobbled together into a head spinning pop culture dance floor concoction. Well, once we got over our initial shock, we started to really dig it, sure it wasn't what we were expecting, but damn if it wasn't kicking our asses. Furious and freaky, skittering skipping and completely brilliantly baffling. Classic pop songs, old diva standards, heavy metal guitars, snippets of hip hop, and pretty much everything else under the sun. It began to almost sound like Girl Talk crossed with Venetian Snares. But the more we listened, the more we could hear the Shitmat sound. A bit obscured and all tangled up in there, but still that same cheeky sense of humor and flair for killer stuttery beats.
But about halfway through the disc something happened. The jungle returned, subtly at first, but soon, we were in full on dance floor destroying ragga jungle heaven, killer toasting, gnarled Amen breaks sliced and diced, huge drops, massive slabs of synth bass, some full on bursts of hardcore gabber...
And then before we knew it, it was gone, and we were back to stuttering skittering mash-ups, but suddenly it all made more sense. The next time through, those opening mash-ups sounded perfect butted up against those wild jungle tracks, and the jungle bits perfectly segued into the million-sample-a-minute freakouts, and all of a sudden, it seemed like we just might have ourselves a new fucked up electronic sort-of-jungle mash-up dance record....
MPEG Stream: "Badman And Robin'"
MPEG Stream: "Bloodclot Jungle Techno!"
MPEG Stream: "Jesus Was A Raver"

SHITMAT Killababylonkutz (Planet Mu) cd 14.98
Oh man, is this good! We've been going on and on about drum and bass, the amen break, all that late nineties jungle, and how we can never get enough. Well, we can't. And it seems like we needn't worry. Lately we've had reissues of classic Remarc stuff as well as that wicked Soundmurderer mix cd from a few months back. But as you know, we may love jungle, but we especially like our beats BIG and HEAVY and DISTORTED, so when we discovered DJ Scud and all that Ambush label stuff as well as Kevin Martin's Bug project, who took dancehall and infused it with spastic jungle rhythms and then distorted and twisted them into intense and abrasive, speaker destroying, head banging, dance floor clearing kicks to the head, we were SOLD. And as the beats got heavier and more twisted, and the hard dancehall got harder and harder we were in heaven. So here we have the latest and maybe greatest in a long line of digital hardcore style dancehall mashups, courtesy of one fellow called Shitmat. One thing to point out is that all of the tracks on Killababylonkutz are actually the same song, but it's a testimony to Shitmat's deft hand and skillful progamming that it took us a while to even realise that we were listening to really different versions of the same song! The toasting is hard and fierce, a raspy Jamaican howl, fleet and tongue-twisting, but over the course of the record, it's sped up and chopped up, slowed down and stretched out, so that if you weren't paying attention, you would really think the vocals on each track were completely different. And of course everything is buried in an avalanche of buzzing, spastic beats, tumbling all over the place, threatening to fall into utter chaos, complete noise, but always barely hanging on and slipping back into a wickedly catchy, prickly and pounding beat. Sonically, Shitmat twists his original "Babylon", into all sorts of shapes, a loping reggae dirge with buzzing bass and throbbing beats, all out splattery drill and bass, classic 4 on the floor hardcore jungle, and everything in between. Towards the end of the record, he lets things get a little goofy like mashing up the "Babylon" vocals to Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" and using what sounds like the theme from Benny Hill! Still fun but silly. But c'mon, who cares?!? It hardly matters since the rest of the record is so good, and so hard, and so heavy and so totally great! Fans of DHR, Alec Empire, DJ Scud, DJ/ Rupture and the like who have been itching for some more serious hardcore dancehall mayhem may find this stuck in their cd player FOREVER!
MPEG Stream: "Original Babylon"
MPEG Stream: "Rudeboy Babylon"
MPEG Stream: "Rough Babylon"

SHITMAT Killababylonkutz (Planet Mu) 2lp 19.98
One of last week's records of the week, now available on vinyl. Oh man, is this good! We've been going on and on about drum and bass, the amen break, all that late nineties jungle, and how we can never get enough. Well, we can't. And it seems like we needn't worry. Lately we've had reissues of classic Remarc stuff as well as that wicked Soundmurderer mix cd from a few months back. But as you know, we may love jungle, but we especially like our beats BIG and HEAVY and DISTORTED, so when we discovered DJ Scud and all that Ambush label stuff as well as Kevin Martin's Bug project, who took dancehall and infused it with spastic jungle rhythms and then distorted and twisted them into intense and abrasive, speaker destroying, head banging, dance floor clearing kicks to the head, we were SOLD. And as the beats got heavier and more twisted, and the hard dancehall got harder and harder we were in heaven. So here we have the latest and maybe greatest in a long line of digital hardcore style dancehall mashups, courtesy of one fellow called Shitmat. One thing to point out is that all of the tracks on Killababylonkutz are actually the same song, but it's a testimony to Shitmat's deft hand and skillful progamming that it took us a while to even realise that we were listening to really different versions of the same song! The toasting is hard and fierce, a raspy Jamaican howl, fleet and tongue-twisting, but over the course of the record, it's sped up and chopped up, slowed down and stretched out, so that if you weren't paying attention, you would really think the vocals on each track were completely different. And of course everything is buried in an avalanche of buzzing, spastic beats, tumbling all over the place, threatening to fall into utter chaos, complete noise, but always barely hanging on and slipping back into a wickedly catchy, prickly and pounding beat. Sonically, Shitmat twists his original "Babylon", into all sorts of shapes, a loping reggae dirge with buzzing bass and throbbing beats, all out splattery drill and bass, classic 4 on the floor hardcore jungle, and everything in between. Towards the end of the record, he lets things get a little goofy like mashing up the "Babylon" vocals to Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" and using what sounds like the theme from Benny Hill! Still fun but silly. But c'mon, who cares?!? It hardly matters since the rest of the record is so good, and so hard, and so heavy and so totally great! Fans of DHR, Alec Empire, DJ Scud, DJ/ Rupture and the like who have been itching for some more serious hardcore dancehall mayhem may find this stuck in their cd player FOREVER!
MPEG Stream: "Original Babylon"
MPEG Stream: "Rudeboy Babylon"
MPEG Stream: "Rough Babylon"

SHITMAT One Foot In The Rave (Planet Mu) cd 14.98
The last Shitmat record was just a tad too ravey for us, when what we really want from Mr. Shitmat, is wild pounding ragga jungle. He's probably responsible for one of our favorite ragga jungle records ever, Killababylonkutz, a whole record of multiple version of the same dancehall jam, but holy shit did that one slay. Wild drill and bass, over the top toasting, bizarre samples, all chopped up and looped into chaotic careening slabs of junglized pummel.
Since Killababylonkutz, Shitmat has moved more and more toward straight up rave music, sometimes doing sort of mashup thing, other times going for the goofy retro angle a la the recent Zomby, record. No matter how much we liked all of those records, we couldn't help hankering for more of the hard stuff. Well, it looks like Shitmat heard our prayers somehow, cuz even with that title, this is the hardest most jungly record since Killababylonkutz and we've been going nuts.
Sure there's still plenty of rave-y jams, and mashup bits, but there's also plenty of wild chopped drum and bass, some serious chunks of ragga jungle here and there, even some toasting, and Shitmat lets his spastic programmed insanity run wild, spitting out dizzying tangles of impossiby complex drum jams, making even the cheesiest of dance grooves sound hard and heavy. The best jams are definitely the ragga jungle numbers, worth it for those 3 or 4 tracks alone, but like we said it's all pretty great, and makes for excellent listening even for the dancefloor phobic!
Awesome Cabbage Patch Kid cover art too!
MPEG Stream: "Clash and Carry (Old Socks Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Archaeology"
MPEG Stream: "Whitelabel Unity"

SHITMAT One Foot In The Rave (Planet Mu) lp 17.98
The last Shitmat record was just a tad too ravey for us, when what we really want from Mr. Shitmat, is wild pounding ragga jungle. He's probably responsible for one of our favorite ragga jungle records ever, Killababylonkutz, a whole record of multiple version of the same dancehall jam, but holy shit did that one slay. Wild drill and bass, over the top toasting, bizarre samples, all chopped up and looped into chaotic careening slabs of junglized pummel.
Since Killababylonkutz, Shitmat has moved more and more toward straight up rave music, sometimes doing sort of mashup thing, other times going for the goofy retro angle a la the recent Zomby, record. No matter how much we liked all of those records, we couldn't help hankering for more of the hard stuff. Well, it looks like Shitmat heard our prayers somehow, cuz even with that title, this is the hardest most jungly record since Killababylonkutz and we've been going nuts.
Sure there's still plenty of rave-y jams, and mashup bits, but there's also plenty of wild chopped drum and bass, some serious chunks of ragga jungle here and there, even some toasting, and Shitmat lets his spastic programmed insanity run wild, spitting out dizzying tangles of impossiby complex drum jams, making even the cheesiest of dance grooves sound hard and heavy. The best jams are definitely the ragga jungle numbers, worth it for those 3 or 4 tracks alone, but like we said it's all pretty great, and makes for excellent listening even for the dancefloor phobic!
Awesome Cabbage Patch Kid cover art too!
MPEG Stream: "Clash and Carry (Old Socks Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Archaeology"
MPEG Stream: "Whitelabel Unity"

SHITMAT & FRIENDS Gary Gruesome Remixes (Planet Mu) 12" 8.98
We've long been complaining about the dearth of "grime" in the States, so we were psyched to discover that the folks at Planet Mu decided to do something about it. They've been reissuing UK grime releases for the states, but this latest batch of 12"s offers up some grime / jungle hybrids as well as their own twisted take on dubstep and grime. And it kills!
AQ fave Shitmat whips up this nutty two step banger, with all sorts of pop culture detritus mixed in to a swirl of throbbing distorted grime, FAT fuzzy bass lines, pounding low end and all sorts of vocal fragments and electronic chaos.
Chevron takes the same track and stretches it out a bit, removing all the random sonic extras, turning it into a stripped down minimal skittery jam, sort of lo-fi with affected vocals, burping bass and skeletal grimy beats.
Finally Mu-Ziq turns the track inside out, chopped up and super spastic, stuttery and shuffly, a minimal grimescape, sounding creepy and intense and about to blow, like it might shift into some manic Squarepusher drill and bass at any moment but it never does leaving you tense and exhausted. Awesome.

SHITMAT / LADYSCRAPER Grungecore Volume 1 (Fukdup) 7" 6.50
There's been much talk about grunge around aQ these days. A lot of it has to do with the fact that a bunch of us just love grunge, STILL, and thus talk about it all the time. But beyond that, Andee recently dedicated an entire radio show to his grunge favorites, and this summer is the Sub Pop 20th anniversary celebration, which rumor has it, might entail a Green River reunion! And now there's this, the first volume in a proposed series called Grungecore. And the second we heard about it, we knew we needed it!
Gabber jungle dancehall electronic freak Shitmat, covering Nirvana's "Negative Creep"!!! As if that weren't enough, the flipside is some other crazed electronic tweaker taking on Nirvana's "Senseless Apprentice" (aka "Scentless Apprentice"). And if even that weren't still enough, every single 7" comes in a sleeve, hand sewn from actual flannel shirts! Holy shit!!!
So the Shitmat side is a killer. It begins with all this throbbing black ambience, weird rhythmic skitter, which explodes into a fierce relentless blast of gabber madness. But it no way does it sound anything like Nirvana. UNTIL, the vocals kick in, and then it fits, it sound so right, it wouldn't be hard to imagine Kurt Kobain fronting some band on DHR back in the nineties, the rhythm of the original is kept intact, with the little pauses filled with flurries of jungle instead of that moaning guitar, the howling at the end of the chorus processed into some fucked up digital scream. Only reminds us how much we love Shitmat.
The flipside is someone called Ladyscraper, and their version of "Scentless Apprentice" sounds nothing like the original, less of a remix, more of an interpretation. Huge chunks of throbbing sizzling synth, massive grinding bass, the beats are more like speaker shredding bolts of digital crunch, the churn and skitter and occasionally explode into impossibly dense tangles of digital glitch. The vocals are super distorted, almost black metal, the whole thing stops and starts, super convoluted, it's basically impossible to tell it's a Nirvana song, but that doesn't mean it's not awesome.
Each 7" comes in its own flannel sleeve, hand sewn, from various parts of various different flannel shirts. Some are sleeves, and have buttons or cuffs, others have parts of collars, a few have a strange mudflap that flops outside the plastic sleeve. Each sleeve has a Grungecore sticker affixed to the front and a FUKDUP label Sub Pop parody sticker on the back, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, the label on the 7" is hand stamped and hand numbered, and includes a photocopied insert with liner notes and rad high school drawings. WAY recommended.

SHIZUO Fuck Step (Digital Hardcore Limited) cdep 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Beyond two-step, dark step, tech step, and hard step, Shizuo embodies his own mutant brand of drum 'n' bass... Fuck Step. This music is so fresh and vital it will get your blood going like Black Flag and the DKs did for that 35 year old who lives next door to you. (Hey hey now don't get defensive, Grampa, I'm over 30 too.)

SHIZUO High On Emotion (DHR) cdep 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Shizuo, one of the noise/breakbeat/punk standouts on the intense Digital Hardcore label (with a great 7" out on Grand Royal), releases this studio & live ep, 10 tracks of Berlin electronic mayhem.

SHIZUO New Kick (DHR) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of our favorites from Alec Empire's Digital Hardcore stable, with a new ep the title track of which is apparently a Cramps cover.

SHIZUO New Kick (DHR) cdep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of our favorites from Alec Empire's Digital Hardcore stable, with a new ep the title track of which is apparently a Cramps cover.

SHIZUO Sweat (Digital Hardcore/Grand Royal) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of 4 singles from Digital Hardcore Recordings, Germany's nastiest, most extreme hardcore techno label, issued here in tasty uninitiated-friendly 7" format by the Beastie's Grand Royal label. A cheap way to learn all about what the hell is going on.

SHIZUO Vs. Shizor (Digital Hardcore/Grand Royal) cd 12.98
The weirdest of the Digital Hardcore crew breaks out with his first full length. Unanimous store favorite. Includes his stellar Sweat single, and features some of the hardest, most distorted yet intelligent bass and drums this side of Panacea. Recommended (esp. the next time you're pissed off.)

SHLOHMO Bad Vibes (Tall Corn Music) 2lp 27.00
We don't care what the rest of the world says, we still love Witch House, or drag, or grave rave, or cave rave, or whatever you want to call it, we still can't seem to get enough of it, the murky slithery soundscapes of slo-mo rhythms, tarpit soul, slowed down vocals, everything wreathed in a cough syrupy haze, it's the perfect late night music, like a bastardized drug addled Portishead, which sounds amazing right? We've been particularly partial to the recent spate of groups crafting a sort of abstract soul, a minimal, washed out, woozy RnB that takes the tropes of the original sound and stretches 'em waaaay out and slows them waaaaay dooooown, the result being a blissed out sonic comedown, all lumbering shuffling beats, woozy washed out melodic swells, vocals alternatingly chopped and screwed or left to drift angelically amidst hazy clouds of druggy drift. Think How To Dress Well, Crypt Thing, D'eon, Holy Other, Dirty Beaches, Hype Williams and the like.
We had never heard Shlohmo before, and actually first discovered him via a recent local show featuring Water Borders, oOoOO, White Ring and other sonically similar soundscapers (think Witch House if you want, it's okay). Shlohmo definitely traffics in a similar sound. fans of any of the above mentioned bands, will no doubt dig Shlohmo as well, his sound leaning more toward the swirling slow motion melodicisim of Balam Acab or Clams Casino, the sound all slow strummed chords, wreathed in effects and layered beneath blurred vocals, occasionally deep and dramatic, but more often, a fluttery Prince like falsetto, spidery melodies, creepy rickety rhythms, slow motion stutters and woozy warble, those distinctly witch house-y female vox all layered into a sort of chordal thrum, the sounds here hovering mainly in some ethereal sun dappled Technicolor dreamworld, but once in a while the sounds gain momentum, and become darker, the sounds more caustic and crunchy, but even then, the vibe is more shoegazey and dreamily druggy, with the sound eventually slipping back into something much more drifty and ephemeral.
Gorgeous stuff. WAY recommend for fans of prettier dreamier drag (Balam Acab, Clams Casino, etc.)É
Packaged in a super swank full color gatefold sleeve, includes a download code as well.
MPEG Stream: "Big Feelings"
MPEG Stream: "Places"
MPEG Stream: "Anywhere But Here"

SHOGUN KUNITOKI Tasankokaiku (Fonal) cd 17.98
Wow!!! Most loyal AQ customers are pretty aware of our total love and adoration of almost all things Finnish, especially pretty much everything released on Finnish label Fonal. They just have not done us wrong yet. Islaja, Kemialliset Ystavat, Paavoharju, Es, the list goes on and on. And while for the most part their releases focus on the more murky free folk side of Finnish underground rock they have proven to be a label that isn't just about one 'sound' but instead are simply about beautiful music. Period. Whether it's random ethereal forest folk, dreamy drifty swooning ambience, or crunchy chaotic tribalistic clatter. Their latest release, from the Helsinki quartet Shogun Kunitoki, is further proof to that effect, and dare we say this might even be the greatest thing Fonal has released. Some of you may be shouting IMPOSSIBLE! And under different circumstances we'd be right there with you. But just listenening to Tasankokaiku has us thinking not only is it possible, it's damn near for certain. Color! So much vibrant color just bursting out of Shogun Kunitoki's instrumental onslaught. It starts out on fire and every song and sound just feeds the flame. It's almost as if Steve Reich and Terry Riley raised a child weaned on the BBC Radiophonic experiments, a young Rick Wakeman who grew up listening to the fuzzy guitarscapes of M83's Dead Cities, Red Seas... and the dreamy and propulsive instrumental jams of Stereolab, and thus cultivated a totally informed yet unique outlook and approach to music and music making. The sounds on Tasankokaiku are triumphant and assured, flickering then bursting, warm and so totally alive! Knowing how to perfectly use repetition to build momentum and then suddenly blast off to sparkling spaces that make you feel like you're being spirited away to a place that you've never been to but have always dreamed about. A sparkling glistening land of thick warm keyboards, hypnotic prog laced krautrockiness, Neu-infused soundscapes, basically a world populated by all the sounds that drive us wild. This is another one of those rare records that is an across the board unanimous AQ favorite. Everyone who works here loves it. We all hear different things too, besides the above mentioned bands, Andee hears bits of Goblin and Zombi and Heldon, Allan hears hints of Aavikko and Cluster and Circle, Irwin noticed a little Broadcast and even some Raymond Scott, but no matter what you hear, or what shades of sound reveal themsleves to you, the sum is SO much greater than its parts. A gloriously dense and warm world of fuzzy sound that we just can't stop listening to. No matter what music you've been obsessed with lately, this is one of those special records that somehow trumps whatever it is, straight to the top of your listening pile, elbowing it's way past all the other discs in your collection right into your cd player where it will effortlessly fend off any other records wanting to get in there. It's that good.
MPEG Stream: "Montezuma"
MPEG Stream: "Leivonen"
MPEG Stream: "Piste"

SHUAI Combat Noise (Crucial Blast) cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Our friend Adam who runs the super cool Crucial Blast label, has, for over 6 years now, been quietly (and not so quietly) putting out some of the coolest shit around. From crusty Finnish metal to droning electronica to sparse folk to brutal power electronics. This new series of cd-r's, limited to 100 copies and nicely packaged in oversized DVD cases will only be available via Aquarius records (unless you get them directly from Crucial Blast). So don't blow it...
One man band Shuai makes his noisy lo-fi electronica from a weird mix DHR style digital hardcore breakbeats, throbbing old school synths, blipping bleeping IDM, throbbing hardcore techno and some all out noise. Fans of DHR and meaner/harder IDM stuff should definitely check this out.
RealAudio clip: "Free Form Distortion"
RealAudio clip: "Surrender"
RealAudio clip: "Obey, Conform, And Consume"

SHUTTLE 358 Frame (12K) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SIDEWINDER Colonized (Mille Plateaux) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Final, Techno Animal) and Kevin Martin (God, Ice, Techno Animal) get together again as The Sidewinder to mix up some heavy modern lo-fi electronica. On the always-interesting Mille Plateaux label.

SIEWERT, MARTIN No Need To Be Lonesome (Mosz) cd 15.98
This actually came out a few months back but we've been waiting and waiting for more to show up in stock so we could review it...now they're here, so here goes: it's Austrian experimental guitarist Martin Siewert's new solo album, wherein he gets into more of an electronic pop thing than we've heard from him before. Has Siewert gone techno? Well there IS some poppy, techno-ish glitch blip stuff on here, and it's good -- but the two longest tracks (like, 14 minutes and 18 minutes) get into a droney, textural zone similar to the electro-acoustic improv work we've enjoyed by Siewert in the past. And one of these epics benefits from the live drumming of Tony Buck of AQ-faves The Necks! Also appearing on the album are prior Siewert collaborators Werner Dafeldecker, Patrick Pulsinger and Radian's Martin Brandlmayr (no slouch in the drumming dep't. either!).
MPEG Stream: "Just When We Thought It Was Safe"
MPEG Stream: "No Need To Be Lonesome"

SIGNAL Centrum (Raster-Noton) cd 15.98
Signal is the Raster supergroup/collaborative effort between Frank Bretschneider (aka Komet), Olaf Bender (aka Byetone), and Carsten Nicolai (aka Noto). Having set up an arsenal of laptops, black boxes, and oscillators, Signal's caustic electronics have produced a synthetic aural approximation of the Pantone spectrum of grey. Dessicated rhythms form terse electronic structures within layers of timestretched sinewaves and digital clickery. Nice work.

SIGNAL Robotron (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98
The latest chunk of clinical otherworldly, stark white dancefloor anti-funk from the always amazing Raster-Noton label comes from Signal, who we haven't heard from in ages, a sort of modern minimalist supergroup, featuring Frank Bretschneider (Komet), Olaf Bender (Byetone) and label head Carsten Nicolai (aka Noto), and you might think with that many cooks in the sonic kitchen, the result would be dense and messy and chaotic, but anyone even slightly familiar with these guys and this label know that nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, this is just as minimal and stripped down as anything we've heard from any of these guysÉ
But like much of the later Raster-Noton releases, the label's Ikeda-ish trademark super spare high end low end sine wave click and buzz has been tempered with bits of melody, subtle hints of groove, the result a strange alien robot dancemusic.
Beginning with a thick swirl of buzzing synth, almost like an electronic SUNNO))), the buzz quickly gives way to a glorious minimal skeletal funkiness. Where Chain Reaction took minimalism into a fuzzy, grungy underworld and wrapped it in murk and whir, these guys lay the whole thing out in a bright white space, all metallic edges and sanitized surfaces, a gloriously machinelike and propulsive future funk abstraction of techno created in some alien vacuum. The best part about this Signal disc is that in addition to all the stark minimalism and clipped robotic beats, they've also introduced some, well, maybe 'dirty sounds' might be the best way to describe them in this context, some air conditioner hum, some spurts of Geiger counter glitch, bits of blurry fuzz, smears of distortion and crumbling effects, some low end buzz that is chopped up into what almost sounds like metallic riffing. Rather than sounding out of place, they simply add more texture, more grit, make the music sound slightly more human and less alien, they also serve to highlight just how clinical and awesomely austere the beats and sounds are when those bits of buzz and hum drop out, a dramatic sonic shift that almost makes your ears pop. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Ermafa"
MPEG Stream: "Naplafa"
MPEG Stream: "Robotron"

SIGNAL Waves + Lines cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ultra minimalism from the three heads of Noton/Rastermusic - Olaf Bender (aka Byetone), Frank Bretschneider (aka Komet), and Carsten Nikolai (aka Noto) - whose combined effort is abstract digital sound structures based on the very simple clarity of sine waves and noise modulation.

SIGUR ROS Gobbledigook (Kompakt) 12" 13.98
Sigur Ros on Kompakt!? It kind of makes perfect sense. Especially as this is remixes of their great lead off track from their latest full length, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endlanst. Their Iceland buddies Gus Gus (and newly members of the Kompakt family) do a really nice job bringing Sigur Ros into techno/dance territory and Thomas Fehlman's mix take it to a whole other deep German techno state of sound.

SIGUR ROS Sven-G-Englar (Fat Cat) cd 10.98
More proof that you should never believe anything that NME or Melody Maker has to say about music. Praised by the UK asskissers at NME as the next thing to follow up Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sigur Ros does attempt to orchestrate lengthy passages for a large ensemble. But, instead of the psychic wastelands of Godspeed which soar with a grandiose majesty, Sigur Ros soaks their orchestral rock in a heavy-handed, melodramatic goop that is inexcusable. The CD has twice as much material as the vinyl!

SILO Alloy (Swim) cd 17.98
Silo are a Danish trio who boastfully proclaim their allegiance to Metallica, yet sound nothing at all like metal. Instead, the group takes a post-rock approach, with metronomically tight, cyclical rhythmic patterns of guitar, bass, drums, and electronics, not dissimilar to the AQ-endorsed sounds of Fridge, Village Of Savoonga, and Circle. While the sounds on "Alloy" certainly pleasant enough, we'd like to hear Silo someday incorporate more of punch (metallic or otherwise) into their almost ambient rock hypnosis.

SILVANIA Delay Tambor (Stereophonic Elefant Dance) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Polyrhythmic pop-electronica from this Spanish duo who got a stellar line-up of remixes from Locust, Scorn, Autechre, Seefeel and Scanner.

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO Attack Decay Sustain Release (Interscope) cd 11.98
Attack Decay Sustain Release, is surprisingly the first full-length album released by London based production/ DJ duo, Simian Mobile Disco (James Ford and Jas Shaw), though a slew of SMD remixes and catchy dance fueled singles like "Hustler" and "I Believe" have been in heavy rotation throughout various DJ/dance internet blogs and mixed in night clubs far and wide for a few years now.
When considering the beginnings of SMD, one wouldn't assume they started as half of the psych/folk rock outfit, Simian, which saw considerable success though the two weren't exactly comfortable with the direction of the group. Seeking a more "electronic party music" approach the duo left Simian to delve into the DJ/production game, soon building a reputation with production and remixes for artists like AIR, The Klaxons, and Arctic Monkeys. We've all been anxious to see how a full album of SMD material would hold up against the numerous comparisons to the releases of French electro outfit Justice (listed a few lists back), and Kitsune's Digitalism. Basically, the question is, who will be the next Daft Punk!?
Well, we think it's safe to say there are similarities though A.D.S.R. definitely holds its own, being a bit more vocal and progressive. This is a brilliant collection of dance tunes, though not terribly long (10 songs all together), its a quality over quantity approach, with varied tracks that are constantly stimulating. Every song here is well crafted and instantly memorable with catchy synth choruses drowned in effects, every synth melody put in its right place. A lot of variation in this album. The more club oriented tracks like "Sleep Deprivation" are dense with randomly filtered bleeps, bloops, and dominant kicks, and "Tits & Acid" filled with quirky, burbling sequencer lines, ecstatic sweeps and washes, and the occasional chopped and filtered vocal edits.
Then there are the more poppy tunes (but good pop) like "I Believe" reminiscent of Kraftwerk with a crisp, wobbly bass and a super catchy synth chorus (a personal fave, minus the vocals) and, "It's The Beat" featuring vocals by Ninja from The Go! Team. Then there's "Scott", an amazing, dreamy, electronic composition, similar to that of early synth pioneers like Jean Michel Jarre or Teddy Lasry. Best yet, it's all recorded on analog machines, to steer clear of the more techy, programmed sound.
Overall, an electrifying album indeed!
MPEG Stream: "Tits And Acid"
MPEG Stream: "I Believe"
MPEG Stream: "Scott"

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO Fabriclive 4.1 (Fabric) cd 17.98
While we love and appreciate the music of Simian Mobile Disco, created of course on all analog equipment with sights set on a flashing dancefloor, it's really the incredible DJ skills of Simian Mobile Disco that impresses us the most. A few of us have seen them play their sets before and it really was some of the best dancefloor/DJ action we've ever experienced. So we were super excited about their entry in the Fabriclive series.
This should really be used as a template/textbook for all aspiring dancefloor DJ's. SMD are masterful at mixing both the obvious and the obscure, the expected and the very UNexpected. From disco to four-on-the-floor techno, rife with great peaks and valleys with great twists and turns throughout, this is a mix made for playing loud or as the soundtrack to the kind of party that involves bodies moving with reckless abandon. Who else could somehow sneak in Raymond Scott, Moondog, and Moebius/Plank/Neumeier into a mix featuring Hercules & The Love Affair, Plastikman and Tomita and make it all flow so effortlessly? There is a danger sometimes with DJ's playing show-off with their record collections, but Simian Mobile Disco really utilize their great taste in music for maximum dance floor effect. They would be the perfect group to DJ a Daft Punk after party! Aspiring DJ's get out your notebooks cause school is in session!
MPEG Stream: "Sisters Of Transistors - The Don"
MPEG Stream: "Hercules And Love Affair - Blind (Serge Santiago Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Moondog - Suite Equestria"
MPEG Stream: "Plastikman - Spastik"

SIMONETTI, MIKE Capricorn Rising (Italians Do It Better) cd 13.98
It's been a long and interesting road for Mike Simonetti since his days as a hardcore/punk fixture in the '80s and '90s New York scene. Booking shows at places like Mars and running one of the more diverse and cool labels to emerge out of the hardcore scene, Troubleman Unlimited. With that label he put out amazing records by everyone from Erase Errata to The Rye Coalition to Shotmaker to Wolf Eyes to Tussle. Then as he started to DJ and widen his appreciation of post-punk and dance music, he launched Italians Do It Better, the label that helped put the space disco revival on the map with folks like Glass Candy and The Chromatics.
There's no doubt Simonetti is an amazing taste maker with awesome and varied taste (he even orders lots of black metal from us!) but we weren't really sure what to expect from his new solo outing. With Capricorn Rising he's created a record that wonderfully splits its time between dance floor ecstasy and darker prog like meditations. Imagine M83, Junior Boys and Zombi all jamming together. Aside from Glass Candy and Chromatics, most of what Italians Do It Better has released tends to be more focused on singles and not so much a thought out album. We love how Simonetti has taken this opportunity to create an suite of songs that has a running theme and irresistible aura and makes for an engaging listen from start to finish.
MPEG Stream: "Capricorn Rising"
MPEG Stream: "The Third Of The Storms (Featuring Sam Sparro)"
MPEG Stream: "Dust Devil"

SIMONETTI, MIKE Capricorn Rising (Italians Do It Better) lp 13.98
It's been a long and interesting road for Mike Simonetti since his days as a hardcore/punk fixture in the '80s and '90s New York scene. Booking shows at places like Mars and running one of the more diverse and cool labels to emerge out of the hardcore scene, Troubleman Unlimited. With that label he put out amazing records by everyone from Erase Errata to The Rye Coalition to Shotmaker to Wolf Eyes to Tussle. Then as he started to DJ and widen his appreciation of post-punk and dance music, he launched Italians Do It Better, the label that helped put the space disco revival on the map with folks like Glass Candy and The Chromatics.
There's no doubt Simonetti is an amazing taste maker with awesome and varied taste (he even orders lots of black metal from us!) but we weren't really sure what to expect from his new solo outing. With Capricorn Rising he's created a record that wonderfully splits its time between dance floor ecstasy and darker prog like meditations. Imagine M83, Junior Boys and Zombi all jamming together. Aside from Glass Candy and Chromatics, most of what Italians Do It Better has released tends to be more focused on singles and not so much a thought out album. We love how Simonetti has taken this opportunity to create an suite of songs that has a running theme and irresistible aura and makes for an engaging listen from start to finish.
MPEG Stream: "Capricorn Rising"
MPEG Stream: "The Third Of The Storms (Featuring Sam Sparro)"
MPEG Stream: "Dust Devil"

SINGH, CHARANJIT Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat (Bombay Connection) cd 17.98
Now available on compact disc!!! The vinyl version was limited or something (perhaps being repressed), but now that this is on cd, and we've got plenty, we can make it Record Of The Week! As it should be, since it gets played here at least several times a day.
This is so absolutely brilliant and bonkers, that when we first heard it, we thought it must be fake, some modern day Rephlex artist putting everyone on, taking the piss, with a "raga-techno" album supposedly from the early '80s. But, no joke, this is the real thing! In 1982, Charanjit Singh, a famous Bollywood composer (he was featured on Sublime Frequencies amazing Bollywood Steel Guitar compilation), had a plan to translate ancient traditional Indian classical ragas to the synthesizer. Using the very synths that would later define Acid House (Rolands TB-303 and TR-808!), Singh unwittingly created a proto-acid masterpiece, before the techno genre ever existed. Since only a hundred or less copies were made originally, this release was mostly a rumor since its creation. We vaguely remember Drew Daniel from Matmos talking about it on Pitchfork, a couple of years back, saying someone should reissue it, but we weren't ready for how incredible and ahead of its time it sounds. Imagine if Kraftwerk (or even Oneohtrix Point Never) started composing music for a Bollywood Rave. Or imagine a more raga-inspired take on another proto-acid classic, Manuel Gottsching's epic E2-E4. While the "disco" rhythms are fast and frenetic and don't really vary that much between tracks (they're not really disco beats per se, but more akin to acid's trancey bounce), the synth flourishes and squelches of the raga over the top are soaring and floaty, making the tracks deliriously hypnotic. Capturing acid house's lysergic transcendence but with an outsider's economy that refuses to date it specifically to the era. We guarantee there is not another release quite like this one in your collection. Highest Recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Raga Bhairav"
MPEG Stream: "Raga Madhuvanti"

SINGH, CHARANJIT Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat (Bombay Connection) 2lp 29.00
Finally repressed on vinyl and back in stock!
This is so absolutely brilliant and bonkers, that when we first heard it, we thought it must be fake, some modern day Rephlex artist putting everyone on, taking the piss, with a "raga-techno" album supposedly from the early '80s. But, no joke, this is the real thing! In 1982, Charanjit Singh, a famous Bollywood composer (he was featured on Sublime Frequencies amazing Bollywood Steel Guitar compilation), had a plan to translate ancient traditional Indian classical ragas to the synthesizer. Using the very synths that would later define Acid House (Rolands TB-303 and TR-808!), Singh unwittingly created a proto-acid masterpiece, before the techno genre ever existed. Since only a hundred or less copies were made originally, this release was mostly a rumor since its creation. We vaguely remember Drew Daniel from Matmos talking about it on Pitchfork, a couple of years back, saying someone should reissue it, but we weren't ready for how incredible and ahead of its time it sounds. Imagine if Kraftwerk (or even Oneohtrix Point Never) started composing music for a Bollywood Rave. Or imagine a more raga-inspired take on another proto-acid classic, Manuel Gottsching's epic E2-E4. While the "disco" rhythms are fast and frenetic and don't really vary that much between tracks (they're not really disco beats per se, but more akin to acid's trancey bounce), the synth flourishes and squelches of the raga over the top are soaring and floaty, making the tracks deliriously hypnotic. Capturing acid house's lysergic transcendence but with an outsider's economy that refuses to date it specifically to the era. While we only have the double lp, there will be a cd release sometime in the next month or so. But don't sleep on the vinyl too long as it's highly limited, and we guarantee there is not another release quite like this one in your collection. Highest Recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Raga Bhairav"
MPEG Stream: "Raga Madhuvanti"

SINGH, TALVIN Anokha: Soundz of the Asian Underground (Island) cd 16.98

SINGH, TALVIN Ha (Island) cd 22.00
Brand new Talvin Singh record. Follow up to 'OK' which everyone seemed to love. More of the same. Modern electronica laced with tablas and sitars giving it a very 'eastern chill out lounge' sound. Nice. Expensive import. No word on a domestic release yet.

SINGH, TALVIN OK (Island) 2lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Singh's now legendary status is much deserved--reknown for his tablas playing skills, his production for other artists, and his dance club "Anokha" that brings the sounds of the Asian Underground to the dancefloor. His new release (for now, only in beautiful limited edition double vinyl packaging) proves that he is every bit deserving of his status. Part dance music (from anywhere between London and Bombay), and part film soundtrack (from anywhere between London and Bombay) this record takes you on an amazing journey with 23 guests artists, the Madras Philharmonic Orchestra and a whole choir along for the ride--includes notables Bill Laswell, Ustad Sultan Khan and Ryuichi Sakamoto. This is Marc's new favorite record. Out on cd November 3.

SINGH, TALVIN Remix Album (Island Japan) 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SINGH, TALVIN Traveller (Island) 12" 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One song from the famous Talvin Singh, one of the major forces responsible for the whole sitar'n'bass scene. This is one song from his upcoming album, along with remizes by 4Hero and Kid Loco.

SINGH, TALVIN / CHAURASIA RAKESH Vira (Sona Rupa) cd 13.98
The title of this album "Vira" translates to 'Brotherhood", and although these two men are not related by blood, they certainly are connected in music. These recordings are of a single completely improvised performance by Singh on tabla and Chaurasia on flute. It's actually mostly Chaurasia on very new age-y flute. Singh is present much less, and his performance is completely unlike his solo electronic Anokha material. Decent, but I can't help thinking that this is the kind of typical music usually playing in yoga studios when you're bent over in downward dog, wishing they'd put on Boards of Canada instead.
RealAudio clip: "Meeting "
RealAudio clip: "Heaven"

SINGLE UNIT Family Of Forces (Jester) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Song title of the week: 'antlers! antlers! antlers!'
Single Unit is a Norwegian visual artist that also makes some truly freaked out electronic music. 'Family of Forces' is his exploration of hardcore, electronica, and metal! Well, sort of metal, at least moreso than most of the more recent Jester offerings. Imagine a black metal record, a Mr. Bungle record, or even a Zappa record, chopped to pieces and reassembled into some sort of insane electronic video game music with sampled chugging metal guitars, industrial roars, and all manner of bleeping and blipping, that form hypnotically hiccupping plunderphonic metal or maniacal droned out washes of bells and hums and whirring feedback! Partially composed, partially improvised, Single Unit mixes buzzing chiming childlike lullabies with technical and impossibly unplayable experimental metal ala Melt Banana, Meshuggah or Strapping Young Lad. Weird and GREAT.
RealAudio clip: "Moving In Caves, Enter Abstract"
RealAudio clip: "5th Cumming"
RealAudio clip: "Tremolo Confidence"

SISTOL s/t (Phthalo) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This NON-cd-r release from the outsider electronica label Phthalo is the work of Vladislav Delay, recording here as Sistol. After his exemplary Chain Reaction releases, this Finnish technician tightens up his techno minimalism to terse glitchy noises within rigid beats, certainly for fans of Thomas Brinkmann.

SISTOL (VLADISLAV DELAY) Remasters & Remakes (Phthalo / Halo Cyan) 2cd 14.98
We had thought that Sistol was more or less a one-off project for Sasu Ripatti, the Finnish electronic producer better known as Vladislav Delay. The pioneering label Phthalo released an eponymous album back in 1999 as one of the first properly replicated discs after a slew of hand-duplicated cd-r releases. But for whatever reason, Sistol has resurfaced with this reissue of that 1999 album, buttressed by a second disc of remixes. Where Vladislav Delay's work has been a rather painterly smear of granular abstractions dotted upon a loose definition of the Chain Reaction rhythmic sensibility, Sistol has all of its sprockets engineered for a finely tuned precision. It's a very skeletal techno sound here, with a 909 kick drum pulse driving every track without much use for snares or hi-hats. Within this monophunk pulsation, Ripatti scatters small patterns of wooden electrical clacks and pings that again eschew most everything that could be construed as a melody. The insistence of the rhythm and the accretion of the pixel points settles into some curiously infectious grooves, although we'd be hard pressed to find this working on a dancefloor given how incredibly minimal this stuff is. The more austere moments of Thomas Brinkmann definitely come to mind as do the Wolfgang Voigt productions as Studio One, recorded about the same time as these cuts.
The bonus disc of remixes features John Tejada, Mike Huckaby, DMX Krew, Sutekh, Alva Noto, and like-minded techno types fleshing out Sistol's hyperminimal tracks with smooth Detroit / Berlin syncopations and darkened cybernetics. Given how minimal Sistol's work was, adding anything else completely changes the complexion of the original. Nevertheless, there are some mighty fine techno cuts to be found here. The noted exception to the techno offerings can be found in the remix from Ike Yard (yes, the recently reformed bleak No New York band with zombified leanings towards Cabaret Voltaire sounding very much like an updated version of themselves).
MPEG Stream: "Hac"
MPEG Stream: "Kojo"
MPEG Stream: "Nuomo (Ike Yard's Metalli Tulitta Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Keno (Mike Huckaby S Y N T H Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Hac (Alva Noto Remodel)"

SIXTOO Chewing On Glass And Other Miracle Cures (Ninja Tune) cd 15.98
It's been a little while since we heard from Sixtoo, and in the meantime he's somehow found his way on to Ninja Tune which considering his new direction isn't all that bad a match. Chewing On Glass is Sixtoo's attempt at making a real record, with composed and played music, using real players and real instruments. Sure it's all tweaked and chopped in the ol' computer, but this still definitely sounds sweetly organic. Gorgeously spaced out, laid back and slightly creepy downtempo hip hop flecked electronica ala Endtroducing. Warm and languid Rhodes piano, stuttering sleepy beatscapes, spy movie strings, big booming live drums, huge thumping basslines, occasionally late night and jazzy, but always dark and funky. Sounds a bit like a DJ Shadow record on Anticon. Tons of liner notes, all unfortunately very dry and technical and of very little interest to most of the headz who just want to throw this on and chill out. Guest vocals on one track from Can's Damo Suzuki, who whispers, and sort of speaks (apparently improvising in the studio) along with a fierce hiccupping, super-reverbed rhythm over a dark sultry backdrop of ambient fuzz and sinister buzz. So good.
MPEG Stream: "Old Days Architecture"
MPEG Stream: "Snake Bite"

SIZE, RONI/REPRAZENT In The Mode (Island) cd 16.98