Various (Fila Brazilia), Another Late Night

Amardeep Singh

CD REVIEWS SPRING 2001

Following are a series of CD reviews I did for WXDU DJs in the spring of 2001. The list of the CDs by category is followed by the actual reviews in no particular order (in a little while, I will go through and turn each entry on the list into a link to the review). I'm hoping that my posting of these will be a spur to actually writing some new reviews this spring.

CDs I still listen to (i.e., the really good ones) are underlined.

--Deep

LOUNGE/FUNK

Various. Quango: Music for a Global Culture. Quango.
Various. Traveler '01. Six Degrees Records.
Various. Motion: A Six Degrees Dance Collection.
P'Taah. De'Compressed.
Various. Café Del Mar Volume Seven.
Various. No Categories 2.
Jaffa. Elevator.
Various. Glucklich IV.
King Britt. King Britt Presents Sylk 130 Re-Members Only.
dZihan & Kamien. Refreaked.
Various. Mushroom Jazz 3.
Kudu. Kudu.
Various. Sounds Eclectic.
Various. Compost Community.
Tino. Tino's Breaks Volume 5 Dub.
Dubchek. Down Memory Gap Lane.
Various. DJ Smash Presents Phonography. Bluenote.
Soulstice. Illusion. OM Records.
Scapegoat Wax. Okeeblow. Grand Royal.
Various. Bassic Instinct No. 3. Stereo Deluxe.
Various. Modular States. Eighteenth Street Lounge.
Freedom Sold, Ten Years, Four Walls. Suckmyrecords.
Landslide, Drum and Bossa. OM.
Shantel, Greatdelay. !K7
Various, OM Lounge 5. OM.
Various, No Categories 4. Ubiquity.
Various (Fila Brazilia), Another Late Night. Kinetic.
Grand Tourism, Grand Tourism. CyberOctave.
Various, Compost One Hundred. Compost.

POP/ROCK

Takako Minekawa. Maxi On.
Stars. Nightsongs.
The Sensualists. Adaptations.
Adult. Resuscitation.
The Shipping News. Very Soon, and in Pleasant Company.
Unwound. Leaves Turn Inside You.
Kepler. F*** Fight Fail.
Nikka Costa. Everybody Got Their Something.
Various. Shirley Bassey: The Remix Album/ Diamonds Are Forever.
Khan, No Comprendo. Matador.

DANCE/TECHNO/EXPERIMENTAL

MJ Cole. Sincere.
Various. Henry Street Music/The Story So Far.
Matmos. A chance to cut is a chance to cure.
Mahogany Brown. Moodymann Presents Mahogany Brown.
Holger Hiller. Holger Hiller.
Various. The Drastic Jungle Project.
Polysics. Hey! Bob! I'm Your Friend!
Jake Mandell. Love Songs for Machines.
Richard Devine Lipswitch.
Various. Ars Antiqua Remixed.
2^nd Gen. Irony Is.
Mouse on Mars. Idiology.
DMS. DMS
Steve Fisk. 999 Levels of Undo.
Otto Von Schirach. 8000 BC. Schematic.
Scannerfunk. Wave of Light by Wave of Light.
The Orb. Cydonia.
Various. House of Distraction. Schematic.
Tipsy. Uh-Oh!.
Arling/Cameron. Sound Shopping.
Chapter 13, The World From Heaven. Saltwater.

WORLD/FOLK

Ravi Shankar. Genesis.
Ravi Shankar. Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000. Angel.
Ravi Shankar, Bridges. BMG.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Title: Bandit Queen Soundtrack.
Bellemou Messaoud. C'est Pas Ma Faute.
Ardavan Kamkar, Over the Wind. Traditional Crossroads.
Trilok Gurtu, The Beat of Love. Blue Thumb.
Various. Gypsy Carnival.
Moreno Veloso. Music Typewriter.
Gilberto Gil. Me You Them.
Various. Every Tone a Testimony.
John McLaughlin, U. Srinivas, et al. Saturday Night in Bombay: Remember Shakti. Virgin.
Various, Arabic Groove. Putumayo.
Richard Thompson. Action Packed: the Best of the Capital Years.
Sheila Chandra. This Sentence is True.
Natacha Atlas. Ayeshteni.
Amy Ray. Stag.
Antibalas Afro Beat Orchestra. Liberation Afrobeat Volume I.
Various, African Travels. Six Degrees.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, 175 Progress Drive. On Alternative Tentacles.

Various (Fila Brazilia), Another Late Night. Kinetic.

Nice Concept Compilation from British producers Fila Brazilia. In contrast to conventional DJ comps., which focus on a particular style (i.e., jungle, 2-step, etc.), this is essentially a mix-tape of rare, eclectic cool music that these guys wanted to put out. It works quite well. I like the seeming randomness of the order (Marvin Gayeà Brian Eno à Beta Band).

Various, African Travels. WB-Africa on Six Degrees.

This CD successfully showcases the latest, most interesting, phase of the never-ending saga of the western commodification of African music: the emergence, in London and New York at least, of clubs specializing in what people are calling Afro-digital. At its worst, the new sound is just bad house music with "euphoric" African vocals samples (i.e., Deep Forest blech). But at its best, here on this CD, you can hear a new balance of African percussion, vocals, and melodic structure with the possibilities of synthesizers and digital sequencing. This CD isn't, I hope, the last word in Afro-Digital, but it gets the party started. Standouts include the Masters at Work track, the Fela Kuti remix track, and Mabe Thobejane remixed by Gus Gus (a monster bass sound).

Grand Tourism, Grand Tourism. CyberOctave.

Hip hop, deep house

Smart ambient/ dark deep house from Paris; this has been in my CD player a lot lately. The first few tracks are dancy and upbeat, but as you listen further, the music begins to hypnotize with its preternatural smoothness. By the end of each listen, I find I've wandered into another mind-state altogether. For radio, I would suggest the more active, upbeat or vocals numbers. Some are smooth & groovy, others have haunting R&B-ish vocals by Terry Callier that slip into French every so often.

John McLaughlin, U. Srinivas, et al. Saturday Night in Bombay: Remember Shakti. Virgin.

John McLaughlin is one of those Michael Brook/Ry Cooder types -- a guy whose career has been devoted to playing with (and surreptitiously promoting) non-western musicians. This live CD is generally pleasant Indo-Jazz fusion. I find the first track, centering on McLaughlin's guitar, a little overbearingly "virtuosic." Highlights include tracks with Zakir Hussain.

Various, Arabic Groove. Putumayo.

Arab, rai, disco, party, R&B music.

Even as the middle east remains mired in perpetual war, the kind of Arab rock n roll/party music called Rai is gaining a new level of worldwide popularity. The reason, I think, is the lively rhythm and the unmistakable passion in the singers voices: Khaled is like the Arab James Brown… Natacha is Aretha… This is a Putumayo comp., which means it errs a little on the side of 'colorful authenticity' before 'smoking grooves'. And while it's not the best Arab comp. I've ever heard (compare to 1999's Arabesque), it is pretty enjoyable. So enjoy. Highlights include a groovy Arabic cover of Kool & The Gang's classic "Let's go Dancing."

Various, Compost One Hundred. Compost.

Jazzy European dance music, with a bit of a leaning towards House-y lounge. Compost is a (great) German label, and you can hear the German aesthetic here -- compared to your average Ubiquity or OM compilation, the sound is smoother overall, more about utopia and less about The City. Notable names here are: Truby Trio, Beanfield (also an OM artist), Amalgamation of Soundz (who are on just about every dance comp. under the sun), Kyoto Jazz Massive.

Trilok Gurtu, The Beat of Love. Blue Thumb.

Indian, African, fusion

This CD may be Trilok Gurtu's most successful fusion effort, and it's great cross-cultural ensemble work. At its best, there's a lot of life and liveliness here, in the vein of the A.R. Rahman (India's most important living popular composer/producer). There are also some things I have issues with. I mean, I'm no hybridity philistine or authenticity fetishist. I love Indo-African fusions, east-west fusions, etc. -- anything that sounds good and makes people happy… But there is at times a severe over-production problem here; the Angelique Kidjo and Salif Keita tracks have enough reverb to power California for a week. The Indian (Hindi) vocals tracks tend to work better, though they two are not immune to the scourge of reverb. But sometimes the fusion works: look for the Bengali love song with African rhythms.

Ardavan Kamkar, Over the Wind. Traditional Crossroads.

Persian, folk

Some excellent Persian classical music by a relatively young musician (in his early 30s); yet another sign that the arts have actually continued to thrive in Iran since the revolution. Ardavan Kamkar plays the Persian Santur like Johnny B. Good at the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

Ravi Shankar, Bridges. BMG.

Indian, classical, modern art music, George Harrison, Philip Glass

Some high points from Ravi Shankar's middle and later career, reassembled for this CD release. The tracks from Inside the Kremlin (1988) feature all traditional Hindustani (i.e., Indian with its parallel Muslim and Hindu classical music traditions) instrumentation and arrangements. The tracks from Tana Mana (Body and Mind) are a little more "modernized", with electronic elements (Ravi Shankar plays synthesizer in some cases, as does George Harrison). These tracks also tend to have a bit of a jazz orientation. Finally, Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass put out Passages in 1990, and three tracks from that album are here; I find them to be interesting compositions, but a little bland.

Khan, No Comprendo. Matador.

Weird, perverse rock

This CD strikes me as evil. The songs are all kind of psycho in that David Lynch/ American Dada kind of way. Biker rock guitar chords, large quantities of moog, theremin, and synths, and disturbingly aggressive lyrics add up to… something. Note the presence of Jon Spencer (more menacing than usual; much better than his recent Blues Explosion stuff), Julee Cruise, Diamanda Galas (if you like this, try her CD Plague Mass), Hanin Elias (of Atari Teenage Riot).

Various, OM Lounge 5. OM.

This comp. is a little more upbeat than the last couple of OM Lounge comps. It's less a "lounge" vibe (i.e., sitting on couch in the dark, drinking Cosmopolitans) than a kind of dance-oriented jazz/groove (i.e., close dancing in a smallish room). I'm enjoying it… Highlights include tracks from Dzihan and Kamien, Landslide, and Trio Electrico.

Shantel, Greatdelay. !K7

Before he started recording this CD, German funk DJ/producer Shantel moved from Frankfurt (a 'square' town) to Tel Aviv, Israel. The change of scenery was clearly

inspiring, though there's nothing particularly Israeli or Mediterranean about this CD. What it is, instead, is a classic bit of neo-soul with elements of bossa, funk, and downtempo. Very, very cool.

Landslide, Drum and Bossa. OM.

Powerful, artful dance music from England. Unlike MJ Cole's recent full-length album, Landslide's Drum and Bossa isn't a mere collection of singles but a coherent album, from start to finish. The beats are tight, and the best of them are in the upbeat 2-step/garage vein (esp. 1, 2 6) that's been so popular lately Across The Pond. In comparison to a lot of that music, however, Landslide is less about "flash" and more about groove.

Various, No Categories 4. Ubiquity.

You could say that Ubiquity continues to be a beneficent force in the ionosphere of the groove. Or that they still have a lock on the demesnes of the kickin'. But you'd be wasting your time with such hackneyed idioms and solipsistic formulations. Highlights include some nice underground rap tracsk, great funk/hip hop beats, and salsa electronica.

Freedom Sold, Ten Years, Four Walls. Suckmyrecords.

Underground hip hop

Conscious hip hop from Houston. Freedom Sold's politcs are honest and straightforward, unlike, say, Dead Prez, who are a little overblown in their righteous rage. The rhymes and beats aren't flashy -- message-oriented rather than hook-oriented -- but they are solid. What might be surprising, however, is all the avant-garde collage/noise stuff -- pretty cool.

Chapter 13, The World From Heaven. Saltwater.

Sort of a reincarnation of Joy Division/New Order. In some ways, listening to this early 80s gothy electro is a guilty pleasure -- this style of music is really Dead and Buried. And yet, I find this particular resurrection, as simple as it is, kind of appealing. All the Sad Poets of Pop out there might appreciate this.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, 175 Progress Drive. On Alternative Tentacles.

Spoken word

Whether or not you think he's guilty of the crime for which he was sentenced to die 20 odd years ago, Mumia Abu-Jamal is the strongest argument against the death penalty I can think of. He clearly has a lot to say; executing him, I'm beginning to think, would be a senseless act of Absolute Censorship. Listen through this to see what you like: the majority of this is Mumia's voice (often doing stories for NPR from the late 1970s); there are also some decent rap cuts; and finally some poetry written "for" Mumia by various writers and advocates. A highlight for me is Bob Marley, who shows up on track

27.

Various. House of Distraction. Schematic.

Pokemon + deconstruction = Poke-construction. Excellent experimental techno, featuring new work by a number of artists recently (or now) on playlist: Delarosa & Asora, Jake Mandell, Matmos, Richard Devine, Otto Von Shirach. In many cases, artists seem to be reworking/remixing material by other artists. Everything is interesting.

Various. Modular States. Eighteenth Street Lounge.

Lounge, deep house, dub, Afrobeat

Elements of lounge, dub, hip hop, and house combine for an overwhelmingly "ah, nice" ambience. This is "lounge" the way Thievery Corporation is lounge: with a (huge, at times) bass kick and a slickness that makes things happen: gangsta lounge. Factually,

the Eighteenth Street Lounge is a styley nightclub in DC with very choosy bouncers, ridiculously well-dressed patrons, and a nearly endless line to get in. The upshot (perhaps surprising) is, the music is phenomenal.

Various. Bassic Instinct No. 3. Stereo Deluxe.

Quality global deep house/ world lounge/whatever-it-is/music goddamnit. Some artists here are mainstays of dance compilation hyperspace (Boozoo Bajou, Mo'Horizons),

while others are up-and-coming (Jaffa, Nicola Conte). One track has a great vocals cover of Billie Holliday's "The Child"), others drift towards 70s funk, soulful Brazilian batucada, reggae voals, Latin jazz, and tabla groove. Hyper-eclectic music for hypoglycemics.

Otto Von Schirach. 8000 BC. Schematic.

True madness. Von Schirach is an evil analog machinator possessed by digital editing spirits. The range of sounds and the pace of the editing in the mix here is dizzying, but what keeps you from zoning out (from overload) is the clear factor of control. Every sound is in place; crazy as he evidently is, Herr Von Shirach doesn't sacrifice overall song-structure or theme in favor of the noise/analog freak-out lurking just beyond the frame. The liner notes say it better than I can: "a location 8000 decibels away from the equator,/ where solar energy is absorbed unconsciously./ if not used correctly a human mind can be altered and trapped in trend." Consider your minds altered, kids.

Scapegoat Wax. Okeeblow. Grand Royal.

Enjoyable hip hop on Grand Royal. I think at least some of the rappers here are white guys, but they are fortunately free of Eminem-itis -- no wigger posturing or narcissism,

just a good time. The production is kind of old school & is pretty satisfying.

Soulstice. Illusion. OM Records.

The new San Francisco sound in full effect: Downtempo house, smooth and nourishing like a Fresh Samantha's beverage after either a long hike or a night of furious dancing. Gina Rene's voice is clear and bold, her lyrics rich with straight-up street wisdom.

And the music is tight: Soulstice is a real live band, not just some synths and a couple of hired studio musicians. Some tracks are low-key house (but always with live musicians), others are more like downtempo hip-hop.

Various. DJ Smash Presents Phonography. Bluenote.

Phonography is fresh -- though it is similar to Guru's "Jazzmatazz" projects, it is in fact cooler and more eclectic than Guru's various & sundry joints. First, you can't go wrong with Mos Def (track 2). Second, add in Nitin Sawhney, Salif Keita, St. Germain…

what you get is a level of globality and street vitality that's bound to bother the "jazz police" (read the liner notes). Note: DJ Smash established himself spinning and remixing Acid Jazz in the mid-90s (he showed up on a number of Ubiquity comps.).

Various. Traveler '01. Six Degrees Records.

Some of these tracks (3, 4, 6 I think) have been on playlist before, but the ones that have not make this compilation worthwhile. I'm especially enamored of the stellar State of Bengal remix the smoking Karsh Kale track, the Bob Holroyd/Dzihan & Kamien collaboration, and "Weather Girl" (sort of an interesting oddity).

Various. Quango: Music for a Global Culture. Quango.

Globality as a mellow breeze. I might rename this comp. "Music for a Global daydream." Mainly Caribbean, Indian, and Brazilian sounds (a little bit of a lopsided idea of the "global," I know. Blame it on London… blame everything on London).

Ravi Shankar. Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000. Angel.

Ravi Shankar first performed at Carnegie Hall in 1938! He was not a Sitarist but a dancer, part of a troupe that included his brother Uday. Indeed, Ravi Shankar has been active as a performer in the west, and for western audiences, far longer than virtually any other non-western artist. He's also been virtually synonymous with Indian classical music

in general and the sitar in particular -- in the West -- for more than 40 years. As a result of this extraordinary (yet somehow predictable) career-path, many Indians find it hard to get excited about Ravi Shankar. There are many (hundreds) of musicians in India of considerable talent, but they remain unknown outside the subcontinent. The man is a name-hog. And yet… And yet… he sure can play the sitar!

Artist: Polysics. Title: Hey! Bob! I'm Your Friend! Rock.

Truly manic Japanese happy-spazz-punk with some synths. Sounds like: Wire, Cupid Car Club, and maybe at times like Boss Hog. I don't know how the Japanese ever got stereotyped as conformist worker-drones with no individuality -- if youth music is any indication, the kids are all crazy. This music is like a big "bite me" directed at mainstream consumer culture. When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come? Chanting "Hey! Bob! I'm your friend!" That's how.

Artist: Antibalas Afro Beat Orchestra. Title: Liberation Afrobeat Volume I.

From what I gather, Afrobeat is emerging as the genre of party-while-you-protest music in New York and London. And I think it's great. Funky, intelligent, polyrhythmic -- and conscious. It's music that's based on the effort of creative collectives, rather than just a couple of overpaid rock star front-men who are manipulated by major label record execs. desperate to maintain their market monopolies. Antibalas (Spanish: "bulletproof") is a Brooklyn-based outfit carrying on Fela Kuti's flame. This CD is wonderful, everything you could ask for… but it just makes you want to be there live!

Mouse on Mars. Idiology.

Mouse on Mars may be the most intelligent of the "intelligent" RPM artists currently active -- they are smart without the scare quotes. The music is abstract (and yet playful), the content is ever-evolving, so they're hard to pin down; we're never sure exactly what's being deconstructed. Unlike the similarly theoretical DJ Spooky, however, MoM puts a lot of effort into putting out studio music that is at once listenable and challenging. One day I will go to Koln just to give them a box of Krispy Kremes (cholesterol from mars).

This particular MoM CD is less abstract than their other recent releases: it actually has some song lyrics (read them), and some real human voices (often distorted).

Unwound. Leaves Turn Inside You.

Even though Unwound has been getting artier and in some ways less accessible with each release, until now I've always been able to go there -- even their later work (i.e., Repetition, Civilized Society) has much of the power of alienated classics like Fake Train. But as of my writing this review, I'm not sure I can say that I really get this latest effort. "Leaves Turn Inside You" sounds at times like shoegazer pop (Ride and My Bloody Valentine), at times like a deep 1970s depression, and at times like the Unwound I know and love. Also, I'm not sure what I think of Justin T.'s voice when he's actually trying to

sing on key and melodically (I kind of want an "instrumental" version of this CD). I'll let you guys decide.

Artist: Amy Ray. Title: Stag. File Under: Rock.

Melodic rock partly produced with the Triangle's own Kaia Wilson. The first track on this CD is, or ought to be, an instant folk punk rock classic. I'm not exaggerating: I think "Johnny Rottentail" is a brilliant treatment of the misery society inflicts upon kids -- an acoustic anthem up there with Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Dylan. It's a song about

demonization, the kind of social violence that produces punk (punk = creative counter-violence). In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that Amy Ray was in the Indigo Girls (thanks to Steve G. for pointing this out to me), but this sounds nothing at all like her old band. Giver her a chance. Overall my favorites here are the songs that deal explicitly with gender/sexuality issues.

Artist: Natacha Atlas. Title: Ayeshteni.

Dreamy, passionate -- my favorite Natacha Atlas album to date. The electronic beats are there to encourage us to dance, not to overwhelm us with their "modernness." The production is pretty straightforward (Laswell has left the building), and if you look at the liner notes, you'll note that most of the drum programming, scratching, etc., is done by

Arabs… how is it therefore properly "western"? (Bigger questions: What's in a name? What's in a beat? ) I can't speak for all such efforts, but I can vouch for this. It's organic fusion: Arabic rhythms that will fill up your speakers with movement.

Sheila Chandra. This Sentence is True.

The first Sheila Chandra CD I've ever liked. At least for the purposes of this CD, she (and her producer) have eschewed her overly pretty, new age sound for a bit of avant-gardist experimentalism.

Arling/Cameron. Sound Shopping.

The best description I can think of for this CD is m -zack. That's right: m -ziq + musack. Lounge music as a glamorous consumerist utopia, and it's only partially ironic. Think: Audrey Hepburn in sunglasses and a nice white scarf, trapped in some anesthetized, post-human content, infinite happiness suburban highway-movie-mall-fast food cycle. This would mix very well with Tipsy -- but if you listen to it too much (as I have been), it will make you want to put on some Fugazi just to feel normal again. (As I did -- Repeater!)

Dubchek. Down Memory Gap Lane.

Jamaican Dub for the post-Tricky generation. Though the architecture of the music is generally similar to old dub in the vein of Lee Perry and Mad Professor, the production values here are totally different -- better (the bass sound is sick!). More importantly, Dubchek's songs are all real songs, with personal and emotional significance. Compare to old dub, where the lyrics are generally either rastafarianism or a weak stoned spirituality. No weed or "Zion" here… just soul, spirit, creativity. This rocks.

Nikka Costa. Everybody Got Their Something.

These days, we often describe some CD or other as "funky," but do we really know what that means? I often think the funk has left the building. Though it's far from hopeless:

when Nikka Costa is on, it's Goddess Funk -- the kind of sound that makes your heart jump out of your chest, stand up, and do a little dance. When she's not, she might as well be k.d. lang.

Tino. Tino's Breaks Volume 5 Dub.

Breakbeat meets retro dub -- part of an ongoing series by a Cuban DJ named Tino. This should appeal to people who liked Lionrock's "Rude Boy Rock," though this is a lot more mellow and dubby. Unlike most dub music, the majority of the tracks here

are upbeat and danceable -- literally dubby breakbeat.

Various. Compost Community.

This is roughly the same formula as we have been seeing on many recent OM comps. But this week I'll skip the redundant neo-hyper-jazz lounge philosophizing: if you liked Glucklich IV or any of the recent OM Lounge CDs, you'll probably dig this.

Look for reggae lyrics over chillout beats, mellow drum n bass tracks with Brazilian percussion, uptempo grooves, Latin flavor.

Various. Sounds Eclectic.

This is the live radio station comp. to end all others! Well, ok, it's a well-funded NPR station in Santa Monica (KCRW), not a scrappy DIY college-radio station. Their sound engineers, I imagine, actually get paid to record these artists (props to Ross Grady!)... Still, quite an amazing selection here. Highlights include Beck on a soulful/country tip, Bebel Gilberto, Stars, Patti Smith, Yo-Yo Ma, and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Kudu. Kudu.

Soulful b-girl jazz vocals in the vein of Morcheeba, Esthero, and Jill Scott. Sylvia Gordon's vocals on this CD are quite nice, and the songs often work quite well in that emerging "Ejazz" genre. (Drum n bass sounds quite nice when you have live drumming and live bass!) Also, the lyrics here are pretty fresh ("You bring out the animal in me/ the cannibal in me").

Adult. Resuscitation.

Sophisticated techno-pop with an 80s New York electro feel. To my ear, it's a slightly manic cross between Devo, Ladytron, New Order, and the Make-Up. Adult is at times wry and ironic (i.e., "cool"), and at others strangely moving (sort of goth); I like the merging of relationship blues material with the theme of technology. The standout track is "Hand to phone": "She talks to you in monotone/ Why can't I come over?/ Hand to phone/ Hand to phone…"). Plus, they are incredibly chic!

Richard Thompson. Action Packed: the Best of the Capital Years.

Richard Thompson is a songwriter who puts a lot of grit and honesty in his writing. He goes less for elegiac lyrical frills than Bruce Springsteen did in his early work, but there is at times a similar mournful intensity (i.e., Thunder Road =? 1952 Vincent Black Lightning [track 3]). In terms of genre, this retrospective comp. shows Thompson

to have become less a folk singer and more an electric rock dude in his solo career, but his style remains straightforward, earnest, and generally very non-commercial (there are a couple of exceptions here and there).

Matmos. A chance to cut is a chance to cure.

Lipobeat! Rhinoplasty Records… This CD was recorded using sounds from surgery (and other medical/clinical operations) performed on actual human beings. That alone makes this a brilliant piece of conceptual art (aligned with a whole slew of contemporary artists who are working with biotechnology). While it is at times disturbing to hear the sounds of machines altering the human body in various ways, Matmos never goes for the gross-out, horror-movie vibe. Nor is listening to this like having a cavity filled: the beats are very nice. If you want to forget the medical context and listen to this for 'pleasure,' you can.

Various. Mushroom Jazz 3.

Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz series is growing on me. Maybe that's just my own taste, or maybe it's me aping fashion… But I think it's hard to argue that the music in this series has just gotten much better. Even the weak tracks here could make good ambient music, but the best, most actively funky cuts, could induce you (and your audience) to "get your funk on" in a serious way.

Tipsy. Uh-Oh!.

More fun from Tipsy. (By "fun," I mean: frenetic boppy exotica.) Some of the tracks here were on their Christmas EP "Hard Petting." If you have a sense of humor and you can remember exactly where you were the first time you heard "The Girl from Ipanema" on the local Easy Listening radio station, you'll likely find this profoundly enjoyable.

MJ Cole. Sincere.

The hype around this is pretty huge. Sincere is, to my knowledge, the first full-length 2 step Garage CD to come out in the U.S. I like this despite the hype: M.J. Cole is an amazing producer throwing down some explosive two-step beats. Most of these

cuts will get people dancing even if the DJ is asleep at the wheel and the venue is some goddamn Philistine Franklin St. sports bar.

dZihan & Kamien. Refreaked.

This remix CD is quite good; it almost makes the "original" dZihan & Kamien CD, which came out last year, obsolete. The beats are tighter and the bass is deeper… there's just more there there. The signature dZ & K signature sounds are still in the mix (for instance, the beautiful polyrhythmic Turkish percussion), but the remixes bring a heavier grooviness that I really like.

King Britt. King Britt Presents Sylk 130 Re-Members Only.

Intriguing pesudo-retro loungey pop wearing designer glasses (see photos of 'His Majesty' inside). More specifically, look for elements of old school hip hop, soul, electro, funk, disco, and lounge combined for a very ambitious overall pop soundscape. The liner notes don't lie; it's all very 1980s, except better produced than most commercial R&B of that era. If taken in at the proper volume (i.e., loud), this will totally take you back to 1983! (might be disorienting to DJs who were toddlers at the time). My favorite is the cover of the 80s classic "I can't wait."

Various. Glucklich IV.

Boy, do the Germans know their Latin lounge music! This is about the swinging-est thing with Umlauts I've ever heard. Thick, boppy beats and samba -- strong echoes of the

recent Jazzanova remix compilation. This is sunny afternoon music that goes down smooth… And you don't have to leave a tip!

The Orb. Cydonia.

"I'm flying." It gives me great happiness to say that The Orb are back (now as "Orb") with a really excellent piece of work. Luckily, and a little surprisingly, it sounds similar to earlier Orb -- maximalist, psychedelic dub verging on global deep house. Highlights include Indian flute sounds, housey dub tracks, familiar surrealist poetry. At their best, The Orb is oceanic, subspace dub-ocalypse.

Scannerfunk. Wave of Light by Wave of Light.

This reminds me a lot of Philip Glass and Steve Reich, though the music is overall both less repetitive than true "art music." It is also beat-based, which for me makes it easier to listen to in some ways. The dense, hypnotic synths create a sense of movement and growth. Meanwhile, the orchestration varies subtly but constantly -- there's always

something new in the mix to listen for. I find the clipped, random vocals sampling (see #2 esp.) especially interesting. All of it was produced by/with some kind of custom software called "Metasyth." Quite an achievement.

Jaffa. Elevator.

There seems to be a new genre emerging. A mixture of trip hop, deep house, and lounge, I want to call it: deep lounge. [Perhaps that's narcissistic? Sorry.] Eighteenth Street Lounge meets Luv n Haight records meets… are you feelin' me? Anyway, this CD

is cool, though it verges on being overly ambient.

Steve Fisk. 999 Levels of Undo.

At times, this is mindblowing. More often, it's funky geek music: Big, heavy low-end beats are cut through with analog tweaking.. This CD actually has eight covers, withdistinct artwork for each track. And see the instruments Fisk is playing: "mellotron, Optigan, ARP 2600, Big Briar Theremin" etc.

Various. Every Tone a Testimony.

Sounds and voices from the African American tradition. There are some very rare (and interesting) recordings of speeches and poems here, but I'm personally most impressed by the musical selections. Look for Leadbelly, Paul Robeson, Muddy Waters, and Elizabeth Cotten.

Gilberto Gil. Me You Them.

Music for a film (yet to be released in the U.S.). Very eclectic Brazilian music, anchored by Gilberto Gil's powerful voice. Not exactly "bossa nova" -- many of the songs have slide guitars and accordians, and use time-signatures from tango and other genres. Overall, I like this a lot on the strength of the vocals alone, even though the lyrics aren't translated in the liner notes.

Various. Shirley Bassey: The Remix Album/ Diamonds Are Forever.

Shirley Bassey has a very sexy, brash, and perhaps even slightly sleazy voice in jazz vocals, somewhere beneath Eartha Kitt and Marlene Dietrich, but in the same vicinity. Hailing from Wales, UK, Bassey is famous for singing the themes to several James Bond flicks in the 60s. She's in style again because of her vocals on the Propellerheads' 1998 cut "History Repeating" -- a big band classic if ever there was one. Unfortunately, the Propellerheads track here isn't so hot. Other tracks make up for it, however.

Various. No Categories 2.

More mellow funkiness/jazzy grooviness/swinging salsa/kickin hip hop from Ubiquity. There's some fine music here, including some standout acid jazz/trip hop, latin jazz, classic funk, and underground hip hop.

DMS. DMS

Trumpet-heavy electronic music from Illinois or thereabouts. A strong electro-jazz sensibility here (later Miles Davis; Herbie Hancock); the electronic elements tend to show influences from the usual suspects (i.e., Squarepusher). Some of these cuts are much more listenable than a lot of other experimental RPM -- perhaps it's the softening/

humanizing jazz influence?

Various. Café Del Mar Volume Seven.

Many reviews of postmodern lounge music (including some of my own) nervously play down the seemingly dangerous similarity of Lounge to Elevator Music. But on this CD, that's really impossible. It's mellow, it's ambient, and it's really not very edgy or transgressive at all. In fact, this music would be quite nice to hear in elevators, airports, and parking lots! But… But I sill like it. Think: Thievery Corporation, OM comps., etc.

2^nd Gen. Irony Is.

Wajid Yaseen comes out of the same London drum n bass scene that Gave birth to Asian Dub Foundation and Talvin Singh, but his debut CD sounds nothing at all like those other artists. This is, oddly, British-Asian (Indian) industrial music. Personally, I don't think it's all that good... Ah well.

Moreno Veloso. Music Typewriter.

Music by the child of one of the greatest Brazilian composers and singer-lyricists of all time. With Gilberto Gil, Moreno's father Caetano invented the Tropicalia movement (bossa + rock) in Brazil in the 1960s. Moreno continues that tradition on this CD. At its best, Music Typewriter exhibits a tenderness and intelligence on par with Moreno's father's best music. There are also influences from contemporary English and American

bands: the vocals (sometimes) sound like Radiohead, while the lyrics have the ironic playfulness of Pavement (when they're not unabashedly romantic).

Various. Ars Antiqua Remixed.

Apparent fusion of classical forms with electronic beats/ Production. The approaches vary: some of the artists simply Sample opera vocals or pipe organ sounds over ambient beats; others use classical (generally baroque/Bach-esque) melodic styles in their synth arrangments. Overall, not so much direct fusion, as a kind of haunting -- of

the electronic by the classical (see esp. track 4 on this).

Richard Devine Lipswitch.

Low-brow review: Skip the boring/abstract sound-textures! Play the mind-boggling analog beat madness tracks (try listening with headphones on for the crazy stereo FX…

or watch the dials in the MCR). Lipswitch is only matched by early Squarepusher or Quake II (that's right, the video game, mofo) for sheer assaultive joy. I want to hear this on the radio all the time, blasting out of the speakers of ex-punk rockers' cars.

Ornette Coleman is famous for, among other things, making a statement by putting a Jackson Pollock painting ('White Light') on the cover of his epochal 'Free Jazz' LP. But the links between the formal experimentation in Pollock's abstract expressionism and Coleman's revolutionary kind of jazz have remained merely suggestive and largely

unhistoricized. In hindsight, it seems that perhaps Ornette is better read as a jazz post-impressionist than a technical postmodernist, though this is, of course, debatable. Still,

if anything contemporary does approximate true expressionism in avant-garde music, Richard Devine's Lipswitch must be it.

Various. Gypsy Carnival.

Gypsies (or 'Roma') are a people who've wandered thousands of miles, spreading out all over Europe and western Asia. A million and a half Roma were killed in camps in the Holocaust, yet there are no museums or monuments for them anywhere. They continue

to be pains-in-the-butt for governments who want them to develop a 'work ethic' or get the hell out. In short, the Roma are the original crusty punks, except their music is actually listenable. This comp. showcases the Gypsies' very lively and distinctive

musical traditions, which in western Europe have fused with Arab/Spanish traditions such as Flamenco. In the eastern European songs, there is a sense of drama and passion that can be deeply affecting at times.

Jake Mandell. Love Songs for Machines.

Experimental synthesizer music from somewhere. The beats are consistent,

and though they tend to run pretty fast, are soft-edged and listenable, and

not very dance-y. The cyclicality of many of the tracks reminds me of

Orbital's Middle of Nowhere (a great CD in my opinion). Not highly original

material -- call it creatively derivative.

P'Taah. De'Compressed.

Nice loungey trip hop/downtempo/acid jazz on Ubiquity. Lots of live drums and live (jazz) bass, so try some different tracks. There are strong samba (Brazilian) influences in some places. A couple of these cuts have been on other Ubiquity comps.

Various. Motion: A Six Degrees Dance Collection.

Six Degrees has put out a lot of great dance music over the past two years -- and this is some of the best of that crop, mostly in remix form. Note the fresh Dzihan and Kamien cut (6) and the Bebel Gilberto cut.

Various. The Drastic Jungle Project.

I'm not sure whether to like this attempted fusion of hip hop and jungle, two genres that usually work better by themselves, Aphrodite being the honorable exception to the rule (call it the "Same pants, different dance floors" rule). Or, the problem may be that a lot of these tracks sound like 1995… maybe you'll hear it differently?

Highlights include Kool Keith, Bahamadia, Hive, Jeru.

The Sensualists. Adaptations.

Largely remixes from their first CD; the sound is something like 4AD meets Air. The vocals remind me of Lush, and His Name is Alive, but the production is very techno with traces of hip hop in places. Fresh! The songs are affecting and the beats are congenial, if not mind-blowing.

Bellemou Messaoud. C'est Pas Ma Faute.

Beautiful Algerian music: vocal melodies similar to Cheb Mami or Khaled, only without the manic rock/dance energy. Messaoud plays the trumpet damn nicely (the vocalist's name is Ourad Houari). Some songs are in French, some in Arabic. All are soulful and real… Marvin Gaye in Algiers. Why I love Rai: The spirit of life, love, the voice of the people. Rai is rock n roll.

The Shipping News. Very Soon, and in Pleasant Company.

The 24 hour diners in Louisville are all insane. Abstract waitresses paint Omelettes and deposit them in cryptic boxes, the sound of the Rock To Come. The state flower of Kentucky is a guitar, strummed in a contemplative sort of way, angling towards yet another deferred climax.

Kepler. F*** Fight Fail.

I've had this CD in my pile for a long time. Every time I put it on, thinking ok now I'll review it, it makes me too depressed to write anything. There are some powerfully personal moments, and some that (when I'm feeling objective) seem kind of forced.

Stars. Nightsongs.

This is beautiful electro-pop geared for real indie-rock satisfaction. Certainly Everything But the Girl and Portishead are reference points here, but the lyrics are often more wry, less introspective and moody than EBTG or P-head. For instance, the first track starts with a quote from the great decadent French poet Beaudelaire (ambitiously self-conscious literary allusion… or simply pretentiousness?). The sound may be too 'derivative' for some people, but I for one can always use more sweetness 'n' synth in my life. Go Stars.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Title: Bandit Queen Soundtrack.

All the cuts are very short. But brevity is both a blessing -- other Nusrat CDs often have very long tracks -- and a curse -- this isn't really Qawwali so much as ambient music, with Nusrat occasionally making some (interesting) noise.

Holger Hiller. Holger Hiller.

Strange German electronics. The sounds/beats are pretty heterogeneous. Some cuts are very experimental, glitchy, and out there (Microstoria), while others could work on a dance floor…

Ravi Shankar. Genesis.

Film music with Ravi Shankar (aka the Will Smith of the Sitar) at the helm. Seriously, though -- homey had a way with the North Indian raga form. The strings are like butter in his fingers.

Mahogany Brown. Moodymann Presents Mahogany Brown.

Raw underground house from Detroit with a strongly Afro-American Community orientation. That might sound strange, given that house music is hardly 'from the streets' anymore -- but that's what Mahogany Brown is after. The production is a little simple relative to more commercial house (it's a little like indie-house music), but I like that.

Also nice are the great, soulful jazz solos.

Various. Henry Street Music/The Story So Far.

Phew, this is a lot of house music! If even a little part of you can deal with the Party Formerly Known as Disco, you will dig this compilation of 7 years worth of NYC 12 inch vinyl. Most run between 110 and 140 BPM -- not too hard and not too soft.

Liberal use of disco and funk breaks… controlled sampling… these cuts generally avoid 'diva overdose' syndrome. MUCHOS.

Takako Minekawa. Maxi On.

Japanese women kicking more experimental indie pop butt. This is a little less Stereolab-ish than the other Takako Minekawa CD I've heard (Fun 9). But it's equally entertaining, and a lot more complex, both melodically and in terms of orchestration/production (think Bjork). Also, check out the interesting (English language) lyrics!