From simonc Sent Wed, Oct 20th 1999, 15:25
hi y'all, since i just picked up the new copies of both muzik and nme here in the uk, thought i'd pass on the idm-related stuff from both of them.. Luke Vibert + BJ Cole single (?) "Drum+Bass+Steel" gets reviewed in On in NME - "surprisingly harmonious", but "involving Squarepusher's jazz fusion thing on the B-side is perhaps a gene pool too far". Does that mean Squarepusher remix or just influences? It's on Law+Auder btw. "Sunday Best Vol.2" on Sunday Best Recordings is out Nov.22nd and I mention it cos it's got an exclusive Lemon Jelly track and I haven't heard them mentioned much round here - I heard one of their 12-inches, which is frankly _amazing_ in a chill-out Air-but-different-maybe-better type way. Not totally idm, but totally worth watching out for - they also run a wicked club in London called Impotent Fury - they have a wheel with musical styles on (eg 'surf', 'deathmetal', 'Prince', 'teenybop'), and spin it every half-hour, and then play that style of music for a half hour :) Ovuca gets reviewed in NME albums - "Lactavent" gets 8/10, apparently he "brings a novel, e-number-crazed approach to the increasingly earnest discipline of electronic" (in other words, this is braindance - Rephlex are getting back to rave principles again!) Also, the V/VM "AuralOffalWaffle.." gets 8/10 - "the soundtrack to your life - if you live in a cracked sewage pipe under the M62", haha. I agree with its brilliance but I'm afraid in the end I found it brilliant but a bit unlistenable. Yeah, I'm a wuss, what of it? Also Spymania Allstars - "Welcome To Celebrity Fog Donkey" (best name ever alert!) get 8, with Spymania being branded "consistently astounding" and a final comment - "at time beautiful and moving, at others sick and wrong, but always headed in the right direction". Haven't heard it, but I dig the related Spymania stuff I've heard - although the whole 'we'll wear Jill Dando's killer's photofit masks for our photoshoot' was a bit on the sick side, I thought. :) There's a little Warp article in Muzik - Steve Beckett mentions they shipped 3,000 "Music Has A Right To Children" initially and it's now sold 60,000 - presumably that's UK only? Dunno. He also said they contacted Radiohead and Beck (!) to do remixes for "Warp 10+3", but a lot of people they contacted couldn't or wouldn't do it. Sorry I always go on about Warp/Rephlex etc, btw.. I guess they're what I relate too most and they're certainly what the UK press go on about most :) Oh, Tek 9 has a new album out (Dego from 4 Hero) apparently - "Simply" on SSR. 5 stars outta 5 in Muzik. Oo, new BT album has a guestspot from Kirsty Hawkshaw. Lemme swoon now. And as I've pointed out to CiM, BT's new label is called Headspace, unfortunately, but it's no relation to the techno/idm label of the same name. Doh. New compilation - "The Big Chill: Enchanted 01" sounds nice - Mr.Scruff, Fila Brazilia, Harold Budd, Amba (Tom Middleton). Mm, chillout. New Fila Brazilia album - "A Touch Of Cloth" - out 25th October, and they're touring the UK with a 6 piece band, same as played The Big Chill I think. Hull's best export! Oh, new album is out on Tritone, not Pork - new label I guess. The SolidSteel DJs (DJ Food, DK..) mention The Porn Theater Ushers in their Top Ten - top choice, they're the stupidestwackest hiphop I've heard in a while - yeh, I know 'the new De La Soul' is passe, but they're another candidate! Umm, and that's about it. Hope people appreciate the info. regards, h0l/simon. [http://www.mono211.com - xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx] ps - on a not entirely un-related note, I'm moving from England to San Francisco in a few weeks time (newjob+stuff!) - can any SF people on the list who're up on all the idm-related events in the city gimme a mail for a chat or to point me to good web-resources? [Mono211/Monotonik will continue as an online label, tho obviously the possible forthcoming CD/vinyl releases are stuffed up a bit by the move - I still have accomplices in the UK, though, so watch for md - "between gaps" on CD soon, all things being equal..]