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New Releases for date: 10/20/03
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ANTICON
Artist: ALIAS Title: Muted
Format: 2xLP Catalog
Number:		 ABR0036
Price: $13.00 Label: Anticon
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
Artist: ALIAS Title: Muted
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 ABR0036CD
Price: $13.00 Label: Anticon
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***alias is the humble and once unsung, seminal iron man of anticon-- an avenger of the producer/rapper type, whose music sounds his own at the turn of every instant. Former Live Poet and sole's oldest partner in rhyme, alias left Portland, Maine, to shed skin for his California wingspan. Composing music for his deepest shades, he drops his anchor as an irrefutable jack of all trades.

Part Brian Eno and part Kraftwerk, muted is akin to Boards of Canada or early Aphex Twin while maintaining some of the boom bap roots of hiphop. alias uses muted to explore (and at times parody) the "boundaries" between what is considered hiphop and what is considered electronica. Tracks exaggerate and underline these distinctions, but the approaches are so closely fused, it's not clear where one begins and the other ends.

Sonically, muted is a departure from early, sample-heavy, loop-based alias productions, instead relying more on his multi-instrumental talents on guitar and keyboard. The album's soundscapes are driven by chopped drums and laden with washy keyboards, eerie guitar chords, gritty fuzz and droney synths. muted demonstrates alias's compositional talent and his flexibility. He sounds equally at home providing the melancholy backing for Markus Acher's (The Notwist) plaintive, crooning on "unseen sights," as he does supporting the staccato raps of the pedestrian (anticon) on "the physical voice." The result is a moody, intimate and, at times, dark record that is both rainy-day contemplative and rhythmically menacing, all the while maintaining its cohesiveness.

COMMUNION LABEL / HAUSMUSIK
Artist: VILLAGE OF SAVOONGA Title: Live
Format: LP Catalog
Number:		 COMM59LP
Price: $12.00 Label: Communion Label / Hausmusik
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***The fourth and probably final chapter in the Village of Savoonga story happens to be a live album, recorded at the annual Hausmusik Festival in 2001. One of the final VoS live shows, it also happens to be (in the band's own opinion) one of their best shows ever. The material spans all three previous VoS releases, and shows the band's sound returning (full circle) to its initial incarnation as a soft/loud guitar group. Gone are the loops and ambient flourishes, as the live ensemble approaches the heights associated with Shellac and Slint.
  • This Bavarian collective features members from Notwist, Tied & Tickled Trio, Lalipuna, and about 74 other great German bands
  • A popular cult band with dedicated North American following, via three previous Communion / Hausmusik releases
  • This live testament to the greatness features seven completely different and redone versions of studio favorites
  • Reference points: Chicago, Louisville, Munich

    30-second RealAudio excerpts:

    [track 1]
    [track 2]
    [track 3]
    [track 4]
    [track 5]
    [track 6]
    [track 7]
GALAXIA
Artist: HIM Title: Lila
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 GLX19CD
Price: $9.50 Label: Galaxia
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***Vinyl released the week of 11/17/03.

This EP is a 21-minute companion piece to Him's Many In High Places Are Not Well album on the Bubble Core label. Doug Scharin on drums and Rhodes is joined on cornet by Rob Mazurek (Isotope 217, Chicago Underground Duo, and others) along with guests Christian Dautresme, Joe Goldring, Griffin Rodriguez.

Him started out as the solo recording project of Scharin, whose excellent drumming can be heard with Rex, June of '44, Out In Worship, Codeine, and others. At the Rexville loft in Brooklyn, using only a four-track, he laid down some seriously thick dub on the minimal tip, with a heavy emphasis on layered rhythms. A move to Chicago brought in some additional members for Sworn Eyes, which Stereophile magazine called one of the top 66 records to die for of all time.

Doug Scharin is a well-travelled man, having established himself as a consummate collaborator through tours of duty as a member of Codeine, June of '44, Directions in Music, and Rex.... This new Him album should however give Scharin the platform to push himself forward as an inspiring instigator as well as a backroom facilitator....With its galloping afro-beat percussion, hazy/lazy sliding guitars, blasts of New Orleans brass, and guest singer Christian Dautresme's wordless harmonies ... the beauty and imagination of the whole production stems from Scharin's ability to masterfully mould melodies from the shades and subtleties ... pushing his songs into fulsome, intercontinental rhythm reveries, gorgeous gliding space-pop, and stripped-down slow-melting jazz interludes.... [Him] extols the joys of crossbreeding tropical head-music with heart-stopping urban groove rides: an exemplary exploration of erudite sonic shape-shifting.
-Delusions of Adequacy

Artist: JET BLACK CRAYON Title: Experiments In The Space Metal Time Signature
Format: 12" Catalog
Number:		 GLX18
Price: $8.25 Label: Galaxia
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***This EP is the result of a request from Thomas Campbell (Galaxia) who came to some live improv shows Jet Black Crayon used to do on Sundays at Amnesia in San Francisco. He wanted the band to capture the drunken meandering vibe of those shows for this EP. At the shows Tommy Guerrero, Monte Vallier, Gadget, and Tim DeGaugh would usually do two sets of an hour to an hour-and-a-half, playing some Jet Black Crayon songs but mostly just making things up on the spot and rolling with them. The improvisations were atmospheric, and sometimes got heavy in a funk/soul sort of way. Experiments In The Space Metal Time Signature is Jet Black Crayon's favorite parts of a couple hours' worth of the studio recordings performed similarly.
OFF
Artist: V/A Title: Wig In A Box
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 OFF994
Price: $13.00 Label: Off
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***This is the tribute album to end them all!

Off Records and the two creators of Hedwig and the Angry Inch rounded up an inspired all-star cast including Yoko Ono with Yo La Tengo, Sleater-Kinney with Fred Schneider, Jonathan Richman, Robyn Hitchcock, Rufus Wainwright, The Breeders and many others, to participate in a Hedwig-themed charity album for the Harvey Milk School in NYC.

Hedwig tells the story of transsexual rocker, an East German immigrant whose sex change operation has been botched and who finds herself living in a trailer park in Kansas. The show, movie and music have been embraced by critics and audiences alike (including a stint on Late Night With David Letterman), quickly becoming something of a cult classic. New Line Cinema produced the movie and brought Hedwig to the big screen where it was eventually nominated for a Golden Globe and won several awards at Sundance Film Festival. Wig in a Box marks the first authorized post-Hedwig release; along with the amazing lineup, featuring several once-in-a-lifetime collaborations, a massive critical and fan following will make this record the event of the season.

PLANET MU
Artist: SUBJEX Title: Interstella
Format: 7" Catalog
Number:		 ZIQ078
Price: $4.00 Label: Planet Mu
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
Artist: VENETIAN SNARES Title: Einstein-Rosen Bridge
Format: 12" Catalog
Number:		 ZIQ076
Price: $6.75 Label: Planet Mu
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***A brand new single from hot-shit electronica artist AARON FUNK (aka VENETIAN SNARES) taken from his forthcoming Chocolate Wheelchair album. "Einstein-Rosen Bridge" combines drum'n'bass, early-'80s post-punk funk, sci-fi lyrics, mentalist synth sounds, and trumpets with Funk's 7/8 time jungle breaks. Includes two exclusive tracks on the B-side.
SCAT
Artist: SPEAKING CANARIES Title: Get Out Alive: The Last Type Story
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 SCAT57CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Scat
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***Multi-instrumentalist Damon Che and pals return with their third LP. Whereas the previous album exploded across two platters, Get Out Alive implodes, applying the ancient military tactic of maximum force. The 40 minutes of music on the album were culled from more than twice that amount of recorded material, and in a few cases were spliced into new arrangements. Although tremendous guitar noise is still to be found, about half the tracks also display a surprising nimbleness in the pop arena. The songwriting isn't traditionally structured, but the melodies are instant and human.

Still, this isn't another dreadful Beach Boys rehash; this is a record for fans of the electric guitar. Just as Che's drumming in Don Caballero earned him a reputation as an original voice on that instrument, his guitar playing is just as developed and strikingly expressive (and he does play drums on half the songs, too). Get Out Alive doesn't shy away from the big rock moves, but also creates a world and sound of its own without trying overly hard. So you can hum along to it, play air guitar to it, get baked to it, or just turn it up and let your ears bleed. Or do all those things simultaneously.

Those interested in the more noise-oriented aspect of the band are encouraged to check out the Life Like Homes LP, which contains the original long versions of three of the songs, including all 27 glorious minutes of "Last Side of Town" (edited to six minutes on the new record).

Artist: SPEAKING CANARIES Title: Get Out Alive: The Last Type Story
Format: LP Catalog
Number:		 SCAT57
Price: $9.50 Label: Scat
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
TIGERBEAT 6
Artist: TOTAL SHUTDOWN Title: S/T
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 MEOW097
Price: $6.75 Label: Tigerbeat 6
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***San Francisco dive-bombing noise-metal jazz aggressors Total Shutdown are a five-piece bass-guitar-keyboard-sax-drums screecher band who flail through stop-and-start, minute-long, tantrum-like songs. Bernard Stollman, the guy who started ESP-Disk said, "There doesn't seem to be any point to it" or something, and even French people have made fun of them. Yes, French.

Total Shutdown are a part of the new herd of young groups informed by the discordant flare of no wave....[T]hey combine this perceptive ugh with a brand of destructo power nearly worthy of The Germs or early Boredoms. It's really a pretty ripe combination. -Byron Coley, The Wire

[R]ecommended for lovers of art/noise punk bands like The Locust and Arab on Radar. If you're looking for things like harmonies, pop-song structure and lyrics you can sing along with, you should probably go hide in a closet until this is over.... Total Shutdown attacks in a blur of pummeling guitars, unintelligible vocal hollering and out-of-tune piano bludgeoning, then withdraws just as quickly to muster their next assault. -GZ, splendidezine.com

Splattery jazz-core without macho attitude. Horns and a broken Casio poking up everywhere out of a bass/guit/drums whirlwind. Screaming, oh, yes, there is screaming. There is room to throw a rock and sometimes a boulder through the mix. Not a wall of noise-- it gets sparse. Songs, definite songs, but played so ferociously that you may think it's improv. Awesome moves from all members. Usually things are broken. Band members and audience members alike hit the deck. All in all, terrible fun.-Dave Broekema, lifeisabuse.com

WEB OF MIMICRY
Artist: ESTRADASPHERE Title: Quadropus
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 WOM13
Price: $12.00 Label: Web Of Mimicry
Release
Date:		 10/20/03
***Every band contracts Departure Album Syndrome at some point in their career. With Estradsphere, one has to ask what "departure" could mean for a group who never bothered to establish much of anything about themselves, other than capable and graceful navigation of any musical landscape, and the daily performance of feats unimaginable to most musicians.

On Quadropus, the band navigates terrain usually reserved for people who take themselves quite seriously. Who's kidding whom? These guys could eat most of the Downtown pros for breakfast. It's finally evident that the shameless flaunting of the inner-dork that has banished Estradasphere to the annoying joke bin is not by any means the end of the story. Not because the band is ever going to be considered cool or anything pathetic like that, but because how they craft their music has changed into something a lot more listenable. For instance, the ultra-electronic-sounding dub / drum'n'bass of "Dubway" is done entirely a capella. Their version of an old Greek Rembetica song stays pretty true to the original, even through the wall of guitars and double kick drum at the end. "Speck" is a nice and creepy ballad, like Mazzy Star doing a Nino Rota cover. Their ridiculous, Godzilla-sized, demented "funk" song "KKB" sounds like well over a thousand people playing at once. Sheer primal madness. The Bulgarian-influenced, crowd-pleasing "Hardball" is a tight-as-fuck trip down Estradasphere lane, only better than before. Also includes a video for "Body Slam."

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