Mogwai 'Rock action' - A Mogwai album that clocks in at under 40 minutes, what ever next. More song based than earlier releases, though still recognisably Mogwai. Excellent stuff.

Rocket Girl - Eponymous 2CD box of early singles and outtakes on this rather cool indie label. The content verges from jangly and slightly quirky indie pop-through to blissed out ambience. Artists include Piano Magic, State River Widening, Transient Waves, Silver Apples, Low, Her Space Holiday, Experimental Audio Research, Gnac etc. This is a great compilation from a really interesting label. Highly recommended. www.rocketgirl.co.uk

Rothko 'In the pulse of an artery' - More 3 bass guitar and electronica ambience from Rothko. This is a mini-album clocking in at around 20 minutes, and is a great introduction to their unique sound.

Couch 'Profane' - Slightly more chilled out and minimal than previous outings from my favourite act on the Berlin Kitty-Yo label. Excellent example of the new wave of Krautrock that is currently exploding in Germany and being largely ignored here. Fantastic recording quality, as is the norm in this genre. www.kitty-yo.de

Acid Mothers Temple 'Absolutely freak out' - Totally bizarre double album from probably the finest Japanese Retro-psychedelic-Krautrock-noise band in the world… Worth buying for the kitsch retro-psyche cover alone. Off its box in more ways than I could ever describe.

Tony.

JW/Mana suggested some Bruford (Earthworks) recently on the "other" forum. I was only able to find one CD - "a part, and yet apart" in a local shop and liked it from the first hearing.

I would call it solid jazz without setting any real precedents. I find it interesting and relaxing nonetheless. Recommended.

I have also ventured into Balinese Gamelan music. The disk is "Balinese Music in America" by Gamelan Sekar Jaya. I really like the gamelan music in the movie soundtrack from "The Year of Living Dangerously" and more recently in the sound track from "Unstrung Heroes". The Balinese variant is a whole different kettle (pun intended)...much less accessible with some really schizoid rythyms.

I find myself lusting for some percussion lately (ala Dafos/Mickey Hart+Airto), perhaps with an African twist. Any suggestions?

I must check out RocketGirl. Gracias.

John

PS - Damn it, man...you never heard of Brand X? After all these years, they are still over the f**king top. My personal all-time top pick. Full tilt boogie, bro.

I remember seeing Genesis in London just after Peter Gabriel left. Bill Bruford on drums and a spare kit for Phil Collins who had taken over the singing duties. Good though Bill Bruford is, when Phil got on his drum kit too .... Shame he started singing all those soppy songs.

Piano Magic 'Low birth weight' - (Rocket Girl - Ltd edition of 500 repressed in brown vinyl). If Piano Magic were consistent you would not be able to shut me up about them. About a fifth of this album sounds far too like Coctaeu Twins / Lush for comfort, then there are a couple of stabs at electronica, but what is left is absolutely wonderful. Think of prime period Durutti Column (i.e. 'LC'), and throw in the vocal and slightly naïve charm of the Yong Marble Giants and that gets in the right ballpark. Excellent stuff.

State River Widening Self titled release, again on Rocket Girl. This nicely pressed slab of 180 gram vinyl contains some instrumental post rock with a slightly folky influence. Acoustic guitar plays a prominent part, and the whole has a nice relaxed feel. Both these records exude that elusive quality of being part of something, they bring back memories of how diverse yet focused Factory Records were at their early eighties peak. There is something going on in London at the moment, albeit in a quite quiet and delicate way, and Rocket Girl are definitely at its epicentre both as a label and retailer. If you don't buy either of these, buy the compilation CD.

Tool 'Lateralus' - Bought out of curiosity generated by the thread elsewhere On first listen there is definitely something to this, though I have to admit that a) heavy metal ain't normally my bag, and b) I can't get the above two albums off my turntable at the moment. 'Lateralus' seems on first listen to cover quite a few bases from almost ambient right through to Beavis and Butthead style head-banging thrash. Beautifully packaged. Will report back when I have given it a proper listen.

Tony.

PS The new Mogwai album I bought at the start of this thread is completely stunning. A fabulous album that I am finding incdedibly hard to remove from my CD player.

Anyone tried this yet?

Jonathan

i found it to be great driving music over the past week in England

Tarik

quote:

---

joy division released one 12" on a french label before the uk release if my memory serves me, is there a tony wilson connecton there- i cant remember much more than that.

---

There was a 33rpm 7” French release of Atmosphere backed with Dead Souls, it was on the Sordide Sentimental label and limited to about 1500 copies. Unfortunately I do not have a copy, though I have seen one. The recording of Dead Souls is available on Still and the Heart and Soul CD box set.

Atmosphere was then released as a 12” on Factory, initially with the remix of She’s Lost Control as the A side, not B side, these had black not white labels, and are a massively better sounding cut than the normal UK 12” (it is not a different recording, just a different cut). This is a fantastic sounding piece of vinyl, though unfortunately seems very rare, I have only ever seen two copies, of which thankfully I have one. Many of the standard copies with Atmosphere as the A side are very dark red if you hold them to the light, just like the first pressing of Unknown Pleasures (I have recently noticed shops charging more for these).

The only relatively new releases I am personally aware of are the official release of the bootleg Preston 28th February 1980, this is nicely packaged in a gatefold sleeve and cut on purple vinyl, though sonically is pretty poor. File under collectors / completists only. The BBC Sessions has recently been released as a low quantity pressing on 180 gram vinyl. I must get one of these before they all vanish.

The Joy Division recordings I would most like to see get a nice clean official release is the whole of the RCA demo session. This has surfaced as a whole range of bootlegs in the past, usually credited to Warsaw and sold in a very similar sleeve to Unknown Pleasures. There are a couple of tracks included on the (very good) Heart and Soul box set. This Warsaw album is effectively Unknown pleasures minus Martin Hannett’s input, and is a very interesting document, though (despite what the three remaining members of the band say) Hannett’s contribution transformed it into IMHO one of the best albums ever recorded.

Tony.

The sonics are very good, the bottom end giving the SBL's a good workout. Some of the songs are fairly good, and others are 'creepers' - they grow on you. Overall I rate it about on a par with Ultra - for some of you that'll be enough for you to buy it, for others that'll be sufficient to leave it in the racks. Q's review is pretty much spot on.

Having found myself in the strange position of posessing all of their material (it sort of crept up on me), I find I'm not elated, not disappointed. Depeche Mode nutter-fans with more than 5 albums already will find this a good album.

Rico - all your base are belong to us.

quote:

---

joy division released one 12" on a french label before the uk release if my memory serves me

---

on Sordide Sentimentale, right? (These were studio tracks produced by Martin Hannett, can't remember the exact A- and B-side.)

For what it's worth, I survived two years of university hell in rainy central Pennsylvania with healthy doses of Magazine and Joy Division.

As for Depeche Mode--merely a shadow of their former selves since Alan Wilder left--I'd recommend the Recoil records instead; Liquid, features Diamanda Galas and Nicole Blackman with the usual sonics (he'd make a great soundtrack guy, as would the rest of the Mute clan).

Dave Dever, NANA

Les Bains Douches

released 23-April 2001

The second in a two-part series of vintage live Joy Division recordings, Les Bains Douches is infinitely superior to its myth-deflating predecessor Preston Warehouse February 28, 1980--an album of fluffed notes, all-round confusion and equipment failure, seemingly released to convince us that the unimpeachable Joy Division were human after all. But this is much closer to the well-defined legend. Nine of these tracks are taken from a quality FM broadcast of Joy Division's show at Les Bains Douches (some converted Turkish baths, apparently) in Paris, December 1979, wherein the cavernous detachment of the Unknown Pleasures album is replaced by the brutal, confrontational post-punk urgency of their live sound. A flurrying "Disorder" is panic personified, Peter Hook's bass is as ground-shaking as an earth tremor and Steve Morris' hissing, snipping drums--shorn of producer Martin Hannett's huge, dereliction-implying echo--aren't so much in your face but boxing your ears. Six further tracks--taken from shows in Amsterdam and Eindhoven in January 1980 and first aired on Dutch radio--aren't quite up to the standard of certain tapes in underground circulation (the Amsterdam stuff seems slower, Ian Curtis a little punch-drunk) but for the Paris material alone, this is Joy Division's ultimate "radio, live transmission". --Kevin Maidment

I guess this means my "has anyone.." = no. I'll order it and let you know what I think.

Cheers
Jonathan

For more recent(ish) Broof, you can do lots worse than check out B.L.U.E., or Bruford-Levin Upper Extremities. There's an eponymous studio CD and a double live, BLUE Nights, both either available at DGM as above or in North America head for Tony Levin's site. Both discs are superb, being a sort of clash of jazz, rock and avante-garde with some truly inspiring work. Aside form the obvious rhythm section you get Chris Botti on trumpet and David Torn on guitars, loops and wierd noises. Not really for the faint of heart, but if you're feeling slightly adventurous then hugely recommended.

Pete.

PS, Bill/E-W will be at Pizza Express, Dean St., London from 20-24th June. I've seen them live twice and enjoyed myself a lot both times. They're on tour in the US right now, with dates and more info here...

[This message was edited by Pete on TUESDAY 29 May 2001 at 10:56.]

Beautiful country...but I can understand your weather reference.

John

CMU/Pittsburgh

It is full of energy, if you already have five different versions of Love will tear us apart - get it. Less and maybe not so important - certainly not a first dip into Joy Division - IMHO the version of Insight is worth the admission price for the whole album - but then I just love that track.

Not(as I think Tony L rightly said suggested it was) so much of a collector only as the Preston stuff - as it does have a new dimension and energy. But for the more than occasional dallier.

Jonathan