ABSONANT CADENCE
EMERGENCE
Very heavy, technical death metal. A great production job and a ballistic delivery by the band makes this quite enjoyable. The singer growls quite a bit but he also changes up and does a bit of Snake (Voi Vod)-style crooning. Every riff is backed up with fine double-kick drumming courtesy of the blitzkrieg feet (how fast they play, not how much they stink) of Dominique Bilodeau. "Genocide" adds keyboards, which gives a nice texture. Crazy complicated riffs for all you displaced Metallica fans. Awesome. (2183 rue Vimy, Chicoutimi, Quebec G7G 3X3 Canada) Ian C Stewart

A CHEESE COMPILATION
Charlie McAlister and that damn banjo begin the festivities with "Wearing Glasses." Not a bad little rollocky tune. Callisto gets a decent groove going with "Smiley Face," a rocking Whining White Boy tune. Wham-O's "Hockey Liability" sounds like a lost Cage piece for broken guitars. Neener offers an acoustic guitar/girl voice emo track that'll do fine by me, even if the recording quality eats dick. Quicksand Mucus Love Triangle offers the dismal ode to frugalityness, "Pulling Change Out Of The Fountains At The Mall": something about 'hanging paper towels out to dry.' uh... George Willard offers the surprisingly decent "Nearsighted Lament": burning up your balls? What's that? Orange Cake Mix fires up the Casios and digital fx for "Summer Sunshine Girl": this guy kicks rectum, big time; swirly, breezy keypop. Can't say no. Locash offers the pleasant and atonal "Little Slim"= acoustic guitars and boy singer. (straight outta Locash? I thought I was the only one who saw CB4.) Magnolias Milan's "Dogfood Sandwich" is weird, the singer goes off on Mike Patton-style tangents and the guitar/drum machine shuffles is overtaken by rampant noise a few times. screaming, but...it's no big deal. Edith Preslar rocks a bit on their WWB (whining white boy) rocker "Crushed." This comp is a good cross- section of decent songs recorded shitely. Except Orange Cake Mix, which rules.
(Nearsighted PO Box 606 Slippery Rock PA 16057 usa) Ian C Stewart

ADOPT ME OR DIE
FINAL RECORDINGS
It's a funny thing about records, tapes and CDs, how a well-written or especially revelatory set of liner-notes can transform a mundane blob of music into--- a mundane blob of music with a vainglorious sense of history. And, in a twisted way, that's entertainment. Adopt Me Or Die, according to the gushing J-card scribe Pippa Legg, was an English collective of six experimental sound-artists (here I'm being unduly kind) who, over the course of fifteen years, produced a handful of very lo-fi recordings. This, their final recording, was recorded live in the course of one day in December 1995. A four-note ascending glissando is played over and over on a cheap plastic keyboard, various backing tapes are played at different speeds, reversed and otherwise manipulated, and someone bangs out a steady, thumping metronome beat on a five-gallon wastebasket. And that's all that happens for sixty agonizingly uneventul minutes. Nothing here of interest whatsoever. Adopt Me Or Die is to experimental music what Status Quo is to rock and roll--- that should tell you something! If masochistic, contact
(Daffadowndilly, Marleys, Manor Park, Minstead, Lyndhurst, Hants SO43 7FY UK) Thomas Sutter

AIRFRESH
MASSE MENSCH
This is fucking beautiful. Modern metal with a lovely and effective female singer, with great songwriting and potent riffs. If Phil Anselmo died and was replaced in Pantera by Dolores O Riordan. "Sometimes I Hate" opens the tape with the slightest hint of gloom-- and a chorus that never fails. If 4AD signs any more metal acts, Airfresh should be one. Great production, sexy singer, the lot. All but the title track are sung in English. "This Pleasant Smell" adds a hott bit of violin and is the moodiest, darkest track here. Were I the guy who picks out the bands for Lollapalloza, my next phone call would be to Germany. I kiss this band's collective ass eternally. Buy this tape. Three times.
(Stettiner Weg 27, D-74523 Schwabisch Hall, Germany) Ian C Stewart

AMBASSADOR 9 NINETY
THE MAKESHIFT CONQUEST split 7"
Ambassador's "Foundry" is oddly melodic for a song with so much screaming. Loud post-hardcore... "Contour" is a volumatic frenzy with more screaming and a jazzed breakdown in the middle. I bet these guys come away from their rehearsals spitting blood. And with sore throats that last a week. Mannequin Beach lives! The Makeshift Conquest, meanwhile, lights a fire under your ass with "Take Over." The duelling guitar parts are Sonic Youth. The whining singer takes it all somewhere else though. I like the sensitive part in the middle. The ride cymbal is mixed way too loud and there's no snare. Apart from that, this is a good single to kick ass to.
(Voice Of The Sky 1473 Neil Ave, Columbus OH 43201 usa) Ian C Stewart

ANCIENT RITES
ELEMENTAL/ASHE
A mysterious tape that you'd never guess comes from Texas. The two sides contain nine instrumentals with evocative titles ("Visionary Dream," "Toltec Path," "Decades Of Chaos," "Elder Gods"), based on complicated ethnic rhythms. The musicians are clearly very influenced by the most ethnic things by Dead Can Dance and, in places, by David Sylvian's ambient work. "Prophecy," in particular, sounds a lot like something from GONE TO EARTH. The recording quality is excellent and the whole thing is very good. Perhaps they could have layered more sounds in certain places which sound slightly empty, but the simplicity was probably intentional-- and it's the only thing that keeps them from sounding exactly like DCD. Makes me think of eerie rites of long-forgotten cultures, or sunsets in a Mexican desert (with some hallucinogenic cactus at hand, possibly).
(Ishnigarrab 10820 Stone Canyon #1222, Dallas TX 75230 usa)
Paola Sorrentino

...AND THE SCENE GOES ON 2 CD comp
fancy a bit of metal then? Disinter's lead vomitter seriously sounds like he's going to need an appointment at the ENT clinic soon. Vocalizing like that can't be good for your health. Which, of course, makes him the best singer out there right now. "Ravages Of The Nocturnal Sun" is heavy as hell and has two hundred thousand different riffs. Plus the previously mentioned Sumerias Fain on the mic. "I In Cerecloth" sounds like a cross between the Cure and Celtic Frost (finally!) musically, but our boy Sumerian doesn't change his puke-choked vocal style. Talk about fucking dichotomy. And remember, dichotomy will always be king. Pessimist sounds almost traditional with their double bass blasts on "Let The Demons Rest" and with that Cookie Monster vocalist. Quite fucking heavy but it's nothing you haven't already heard. October 31 gives 20 seconds of Yanni before letting rip with an Exodus/Overkill-styled piece of helldung. Bah! "The Fire Awaits You" is the stupidest thing I've heard since Savatage tried to do "Hall Of The Mountain King." Dismal. Meat Loaf in an Obituary shirt (ripping at the sides), with John Tesh (Testament pin on his lapel) on keyboards. I used to think it was a shame that more metal bands didn't use keyboards. But now I know how stupid it sounds. "evil shall have its day," indeed, girls. And it won't be long because next is the mighty Corpsevomit, turning in the slow, maniacal, "Battered, Stuffed And Stitched." The domination continues with "Nailed" and "Scores Of The Ripe Blade." Not as devastating as BASTARDS, but better than most. Circle's "The Day After" sounds like Joe Walsh with burped vocals. Their "Dreamscape" is no better. Actually, it's much worse and it sounds like total crap. I don't know who produced Circle, but I hope he's since been killed and had a song or two written about him. World Of Hate get on the scoreboard straight out of the box with nighttime sound effects on "Betrayel." But then they lose all yardage with a minute-plus guitar solo. They could go either way. Sure, the singer growls. That's good. But the songs also have lots of really weak, dumb riffs. All that syncopated hammer-on pull-off nonsense. Kreator anyone? Mystical Frost's heart is in the right place (a jar?)-- a one man (that's good) metal band (okay) with keyboards and a drum machine surgically attached to the guitar. Unfortunately Mr Frost recorded his tracks on his answering machine or something. The vocals block out everything else and the songwriting is pretty terrible. Of course, were there even ONE riff that didn't suck ass, I'd let my man off the hook because I always root for the underdog. But...um... tape the Disinter and Corpsevomit tracks and then smash this CD to pieces. Grind the pieces into a fine dust and send it to
(With Your Teeth 5953 N 10th St, Arlington VA 22205 usa)
Ian C Stewart

ANT-BEE
LUNAR MUZIK
The liner notes, in smudgy xerox reducion, are probably all baloney. This cassette contains the music of a creator whose growth ceased in 1968. It is guitar-twangly Beatlesque dittying interspersed with a few impressions of bits of Mothers albums, ca. 1968. 2 Beatles and 2 Mothers albums seem employed nigh exclusively as models for this collection. This may indicate that the creator here is approaching age fifty... Indicating stunted musical growth, and some sort of fantasy demanding a gesture of requition at long last, 2 or 3 decades. He may well have spent significant money on this. Billy--Jones?--smudgy--could have been in The Cyrkle, or The Critters, even The Shadows Of Night, or in many of the one-hit wonders of Disposable Boy bands during his probable hi-school years. That was a long time ago. No one is buying music like that now. Except oldies. "Lunar Muzik" sounds like a title Carl Howard might have invented. Is this a trick? Well, sorry there, er, Mister Jones. We hope you did not break into the kids' college fund for this project. (Glass Onyon PO Box 207 Carolina Beach NC 28428 usa) Tom Dark

APOCALYPSE BABYS
WHOOPS...APOCALYPSE BABYS! CD
hey! Do you like songs about punk rock!? Leather and spikes!? Um...
Both of you who are familiar with XTC's history will recall the pre-XTC Partridge/ Moulding combo The Helium Kidz, who played loud 'n fast songs about rocking and rolling and fighting on Saturday nights and innovative stuff like that. Apocalypse Babys are the Kidz reincarnated. At least Partridge's posse had youth on its side- the Apocalypse Babys are all going bald! What does this tell you about the music? Two-fingers-up snotty punk pop that wears its late-70s influences a little too seriously for my own personal liking. The disc has a good production, however, and the lyrics are delivered very earnestly. "What The Record Company Told Us," "I Don't Wanna Be A Nazi," etc. They mean it, maaaaaan. They should go whole hog next time and just do all Helium Kidz covers, at least they'd have my respect then.
(Smokin Troll 48 Llyn beuno, Bontnewydd, Caemarvon LL55 2UH UK) Ian C Stewart

ARCTIC ODYSSEY
NORWAY STRUCTURES
AO is Mark Steven Hillstrom. The tape is divided into two sections: Structureone-- "prisonersofumountainlore." I think this was made with a guitar but I'm not sure. Feedback tones/drones and harsh distortion coiling and developing into a pleasing haze of sound and noise. It ends with a sample of the 1938 broadcast of "War Of The Worlds" and booming string banging. Neat. Structuretwo--- "thelegendof sevenmercants." Phasing washes of static shifting up and down the frequency spectrum. Not complete sonic overload, just a nice sense of existence with the occasional interruption in the noisescape to keep one alert. Considering the title I'd call this the sonic equivalent of a mild case of snow blindness. Enjoyable and highly imaginative use of sound and noise.
(Fever Pitch 1108 E Capitol Dr, Appleton WI 54911 usa) John Gore

AVERNUS
A FAREWELL TO EDEN
Weird! Cool! A grand, forward-thinking metal project that takes its influences from all over the place. It's gothic, ethnic, ethereal, doomy, hardcore, and..um.. other stuff too. Taking cues from "Pandemonium"-era Celtic Frost and what little I know about Type O Negative. Female backing vocals, synths. Wow. "If I Could Exist" in particular kicks my ass. Finally! My kind of metal.
(PO Box 508257 Cicero IL 60804 usa) Ian C Stewart

AZALIA SNAIL
ESCAPE MAKER LP
Slightly folky guitar and female voice with a bit of delay on each for a hint of psychedelia. 4-track recordings translate to vinyl very strangely. A couple of these songs are really cool, very pretty and very together. The bits that throw me are where the vocals start to get lost and wander a bit. Generally a very interesting project. Flanger power! Some of the recording quality is very shady indeed, but when it's on it's on.
(Garden Of Delights 503 Kingsbury Rd, Erdington, Brimingham B24 9NJ UK) Ian C Stewart

BEATNIK FILMSTARS
BIGOT SPONGER HAIRCUT POLICY 7"
Herky jerky groove with Mark E Smith's more-eloquent eldest grandson on vocals. Surprise "ba ba ba" bit on the end. I like it. The choruses sound like Tears For Fears because the singer goes up into a falsetto! Bet I just made their day, saying that. On the flip, "Dogstar" throws in a changeup midway through. Guitar rock. Production is ace, just grubby enough to be interesting. Cool ending. "Pop Scum (lo fi version)" writes its own ticket with that title. Great song about being called pop scum, not giving a toss about war or peace or the news, just give us a music paper that we're reviewed in and we're happy. Songs about rock 'n roll are generally suspect, but this is SO much more. And anthem for a music-zine-digesting ho like me. Bring on the LP already! (PO Box 609 London HA1 4TT UK) Ian C Stewart

BETTER RED THAN DEAD CD comp
What happens when some rich kids from California get bored? They buy a lot of studio time, form 15 punk bands and musically complain about how annoying it is that no one is as cool as them. A couple of good (but still quite pretentious) cuts on this, such as Larry's Unit, which sounded like Phish doing a riff on Sting (and despite that I still liked them), The Travellin' Misanthrope Circus Of Lunacy, which somehow reminded me of the sublime Wolfgang Press, and Ebony Brown who gets the laugh out loud award for "Necrophiliac Nymphomaniac Pyromaniac Sex Fiend." "Tell me, do you think fucking burning dead people is wrong?" The rest of this is not very good, holier-than-thou nerd punk pop with heavy nods to Descenendants and Dead Milkmen. There's even some stinky whiteboy rap ranking down there with the worst of the Warlock Pinchers stuff.
(Mishap Prods 500 Marion Ave, Ben Lomond CA 95005 usa)
C Reider

BILGE PUMP
Kinda groovy noise rock or weirdcore. Sorta reminds me of a more melodic punky version of Candiru.
(PO Box 000, Cardigan Centre, 145-149 Cardigan Rd, Leeds L56 1LJ UK) Bo Peep

BLACKMAIL
FEMALE IMPERSONATOR CD5
Blackmail is a three-piece metal band. Each of these songs is a five-minute epic with about a thousand different parts. "Female Impersonator" goes into a ballady bit (the chorus) just one minute in. I'm not sure what the lyrics are supposed to be about, maybe something is lost in the translation. But it would appear that the singer is in love with a drag queen. That alone makes Blackmail the most openminded band in heavy metal. "Demons Hide" has a fairly heavy, crunchy groove and vocal harmonies on the chorus. "World Of Misery" is straight-up hard rock ca. 1987 complete with the staccato quarter note bass line and screaming whammy-harmonics. The productions is very good. Assuming they haven't already found their audience, Blackmail may have trouble competing in the marketplace with such divergent material on a single. It's a lonely abyss between Pantera-town and Poison-ville. And metal fans are not generally known for being open to both. Let's hope Blackmail already has that sussed, because I was entertained. (Ekehojdsgatan 8, S-426 68 V. Frolund, Sweden)
Ian C Stewart

BLOOD COVEN
DARK HARMONIES
Ohio's answer to Entombed. Decent grinding death metal with the usual Swedish touches. Multilayered screaming, overdigital bass solos and crisp drums. Midtempo and fairly enjoyable. The guitar leads aren't too bad, no real attempts at showboating. Decent metal. Not too trendy, all things considered.
(7390A Fox Mill, Mentor OH 44060 usa) Bo Peep

BOERGER
Oh boy, free form poetry over experimental/avantgarde arrangements. Dig the fake audience applause (uh, that was fake applause, wasn't it? Please say yes). A sometimes-confusing collison of various styles, some playing at the same time. Fans of Eugene Chadbourne might like this. The singer (?) Johnny Boerger is 72 (!) years old, the age of his partner C. Lockhart is unknown, but hey that's what makes the cassette underground so much fun: everyone is invited to the party. This tape is just crazy enough to grow on me. Listening to this is like watching TV and listening to the radio at the same time, mesmerizing at times, like watching something grotesque, both repulsive and amazing at the same time. Anyone seen the movie "Eraserhead"? Kind of like that.
(1041 Seton Ave #A, Cincinnati OH 45205 usa) John Gore

BONGZILLA
MIXED BAG 7"
"Lighten Up" is a slow, menacing track that kicks ass. The guitars sound appropriately sludgy. The overall production is real nice. "Smoke Like The Wind" is slower and more menacing. There's a melodic, distorted bass bit that I like a lot. The vocals have been processed through a meat tenderizer and the song starts and stops a lot. The bass gets all the action. The breakdowns sound a lot like Black Sabbath. Scary. (Rhetoric PO Box 82 Madison WI 53701 usa) Ian C Stewart

ERIK BONNET
SECRET GARDEN EP
Mr Bonnet scores immediately with that great tape cover. Let this be a lesson to you losers who insist on hand-writing your tapecovers for that "handmade feel": a rad set of chickie buns is what it's all about. BUTTS. NOT ART. Remember that. Fortunately for Erik Bonnet, his songs are also very good. "Je Prie" is neato synth pop that sounds a bit like an old George Michael song. Cool. "Secret Garden" would've been better sung in French. The lyrics are kinda silly and the singing isn't so great. Good song though. "Reviens Moi" is an acoustic ballad with synth strings. Not unlike INXS. Me like. The production is excellent and Erik Bonnet has definite pop star potential. Just keep those butts up front and everything will be fine.
(bp 420, 57143 Woippy France)
Ian C Stewart

BILLY JOE WINGHEAD
INCIDENT AT MAP GRID 36-80
This here's a live recording of BJW, delivering their usual beer-soaked, Mojo Nixon style of rockin'. Not bad for a boombox-on-top-of-the-soundboard recording, but not exactly studio quality. Um...rockin'. Rock rock. Live. yeah.
(Ecto Tapes, 5912 NW 62nd Terr, Oklahoma City, OK 73122 usa)
Ian C Stewart

ALZO BOSXORMEINYI
OUAGADOUGOU
Alzo's histrionix have already been called Fall-style in a previous issue of AUTOREVERSE so I'll refer to one Quayle Smithers, nut historian, quoted in the insert: "wild hallucinogenic underpinnings...It tastes like a mixed drink left out overnight." Sure, okay. Alzo shouts his meandering monologues tunelessly, while his buddies Finn McCool, Sal Amoniac, George Willard, Stix Martini, Will Simmons and Nile Rogers (collectively know as the Acid Achievers) support him by droning and strumming and pounding and plucking with aimless intensity, all in glorious no-fi. Each side of the 60 minute tape runs out abruptly. On "Watching Birth," he gleefully admits "I talk because I like to hear myself speak, I need to get some attention, it's like eating, it's like sexual gratification." It works best when Alzo has a sort of theme to his meanderings, like in "the 4th Dimension," where he describes his sideline of turd fortune telling at $5 a dump, a practice he expects will be more lucrative than the band is. On "South Street Station" he meets a girl from Sweden, ends up weirding her out so she stops returning his phonecalls. "I wanted to write this song because I never wrote anything about romance that worked. I didn't want you to think I was a homosexual." This seems to be a preoccupation of his. The highlight is "Insanity Discharges," in which he starts with a leaf falling and free associates his way through a tale of a girl who likes animals but doesn't like possums, and has a deep desire to torture people but can't bring herself to do that so she tortures the one thing she doesn't like. You had to be there. Alzo's signature tune though has to be "Nietzsche On A Saturday Night," in which he spends his free time reading one of his favorite authors and indulging in other masochistic pursuits, like putting a leather belt very tightly around his waist and rolling around in broken bottles. He muses about near-hanging himself with a string from Sal's bass, in search of the ultimate pain thrill. There's also a live, furiously acoustic version of "Nietzsche," recorded on Arlington Cable's Slumberparty TV show, in which the band just barely manages to get through it without cracking up. Wow! It is like a mixed drink that's been left out overnight. With a cigarette stubbed out in it. If that's to your taste, then indulge.
(Nut Music PO Box 5033 Herndon VA 22070 usa) River Pearl

BOYS' ENTRANCE
IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR CD
Cute rear cover: a bare butt, a pink rose, inviting rectal copulation. We expect gay party music. I put this CD
on twice; the second time, volume on "kill." It's a mix of dance and metal idioms spanning back further than the Eurythmics into, I detect, even the Moody Blues. Plus roughly 2 or 3 condoms full of punk icing. While no title stands out, each represents a good show of a near-miss. I entertained the notion of offering to produce this act. I'd do so humorlessly. I'd:
Fire whoever it is that can't keep a beat; order Cain, the lead singer, to spend 3-6 months in intensive vocal re-training; I'd sit the band down for a psych session to find out just how "gay" they are-- because if that's the vehicle by which they mean to sell their sounds, they're not making the lyrical posturing sound like very much fun. There are no personal twists to all the come-on terms. Or to the anger. I'd recall all copies of this CD, take each song back to the studio, and not let them back out until I knew they'd climb the club charts. At this listening they won't. They could.
(Ear Music 5120 N Kenmore #2S, Chicago IL 60640 usa) Tom Dark

KJETIL D BRANDSDAL
HUDEN MIN FORSVANT 7"
An enjoyable slab of one-sided vinyl from Induce Records in an edition of 100 copies with no repressing. We have sampled bits repeating over and over again with a haze of static noise and percussion adding to the soup, producing the sense of naptime on a warm Sunday afternoon daydream. I liked it.
(Induce Records 21 Farnsdale Rd, Knaresborough HG5 0NY UK)
John Gore

DANIELE BRUSASCHETTO
PATURNIE 7"
whoa! "Schiavo" is ART-DAMAGED beat-noise. There's a big fat drum machine beat overlaid with what sounds like a broken guitar and a bored vocalist. Is this a lost jam between Laibach and Sonic Youth? "Noioso" is a heavily-processed freakout jam for guitars and drums and singer/yeller. "Moments" breaks out the synthetic beats again, adding live bass, strange percussion and scary samples. Quite spooky. "Return At Home" uses the broken guitar and a digital delay for percussion. Awesome.
(via Scotsllaro 71, 10155 Torino, Italy) Ian C Stewart

BUBBY GIRL
COYOTE SPINDLE 7"
This hot single kicks off with "Tunnel Fantasy," a large lumbering chunk of song with big crunchy gits and a slowly sassy female singer. Sexy without being too sweetly sappy. Other side "Stroke" is more melodic and less pissed off, maybe even almost radio friendly, occasionally speeding way up with punkish drums. Yummy. This stuff kicks bootyville.
(Boom Berneatha 2365 Orange Ave, Costa Mes CA 92627 usa) C Reider

BUR MONTER
DEMO 12/96
Exceedingly enjoyable dark ethereal moody near-goth with a pretty-voiced female singer. All four songs kick ass, it's just lazy for me to say that they sound like the Cranes, but... well. The recordings are just rough enough to make it sexy and the music is well-written. I am green with envy that my tapes don't sound like this. I especially liked "13 Layers Of Heaven" (the evil twin of Pop Will Eat Itself's "16 Different Flavors Of Hell"?). I'll be on Bur Monter's jock for many moons.
(Eilethyia PO Box 97902 Raleigh NC 27624 usa) Ian C Stewart

WAYNE BUTANE
EAT SHIT AND BARK AT THE MOON
Awesome! Hysterical cut ups. An hour of insane, random crap that'll go straight to your Beavis and Butthead nerve and do a little dance. I'll never look at Johnny Mathis or Art Linkletter the same way again. Meticulously assembled from millions of sources and then reassembled, collage-stylee for the funniest shit I've heard in ages. Devastatingly fucking funny, I can't recommend this any more highly. One of the best tapes I've heard in ages.
(Flaming Canine 603 N Orange St, Mesa AZ 85201 usa) Ian C Stewart

DON CAMPAU
OUTTAKES AND RARE TRACKS
"Hmm." I thought as Don Campau's "Outtakes & Rare Tracks" lapsed into a fuzzy hiss at the end of my first cursory listen. "That was a little eclectic." Luckily, the second time through, my eyeballs wandered over the expanatory text within the liner notes and my brain clicked--"oh." A compilation spanning 1974-1995 (okay, so there was only one track from the 70s), but still, quite a feat. Well, could I venture to say that Don Campau finesses this time lapse by mix-matching essential elements and that this is what makes "Outtakes..." such an interesting compilation? Take his inspired lyrics, for example. Imagine, if you will, the territory: eerie enunciations of "Golden Empty" directed at what I imagine to be so-called punk teenagers (incidentally, a song to which I would like to send out to my little brother and especially his obnoxious clone friends), the abrupt mouthed endings of "redeem me now", and the biting irony of lyrics like "shower the world with your love" off of the track "pure love". I am perplexed over this incredible mixture of creepiness, mockery, and simplicity. This is all further fine-tuned with wild guitar musings ("No One Knows" comes to mind), the sing-song jangly perfection of the sweet "Two Minutes", and the haunting, sitar-like eastern-slanted wanderings in "First Improvisation." It makes for a strange collection, but definitely one that sits well with this palate. (Pop! PO Box 8864 Canton, OH 44711 usa) Laura Ballay

RAY CARMEN
DUET YOURSELF
A tape from the appropriately named POP! Productions. This is very well written, well recorded, straight ahead pop music. Jangly guitars, nice melodies, a light, smooth voice. At times I feel the music needs a shot of strange-- like Belew's tweaked guitar popping up (pardon pun) in his own rather accessible music-- but otherwise this stuff is great. Write Ray NOW, people. You can't go wrong.
(POP! Po Box 8864, Canton OH 44711 usa) C Reider

CHUTES + LADDERS comp
Skip all the BS on this tape (there's a lot: Soapbox Racers, Frookie and the Jammies, Gum Tree, Little Jupiter, The Botanists, all seem to have the same vocalist-- the kid can't sing, I'm King Diamond by comparison) and there's some decent WWB (whining white boy) and WWG out-of-tune-rock from The David Hasselhoff 5, Simon Joyner, Boy Genius (Casio curepop, yeah), Tim Wanish, Cane, Neener ("Mushroom Gurl," rad girly piano ballad), my fellow Cowtowners Moviola, Wrist (for the cello, not the bullshit vocals) and The Azusa Plane. (Cactus Gum 8932 S 45th W Ave, Tulsa OK 74132 usa) Ian C Stewart

CINDER SKIN
SUNKEN
extreme technoise stuff. Sludgy, de-tuned guitar, jerky drum machine and a distorted-yelling vocalist. Not happy music. "Cadaver Man" is a broken robot monster thing, a techno zombie tottering around with arms outstretched, yelling incoherently. The whole tape rumbles at any playback level. "Introspection" is a bit of a soundtrack to a nightmare. Disturbed and grumbly.
(CMD 3841 4th #266, San Diego CA 92103 usa) Ian C Stewart

CINGHIALE
HOOFBEATS OF THE SNORTING SWINE CD
I like free jazz, but sometimes there are too many voices speaking at the same time. Cinghiale (Italian for "the wild hog") consists of Mars Williams (tenor, alto, soprano saxes, b flat clarinet) and Ken Vandermark (tenor sax, b falt and bass clarinet). In my mind the best improvisation is where the musicians not only express themselves but also respond to what the other musicians are doing. I also believe that this is where the best jazz comes from, akin to the give and take of conversation. And the best conversation is where you have two or more people speaking who are passionate about what they are saying. This is exactly what we have on this CD. This is the jazz idiom stripped of all nonessentials (ie-- drums, bass, whatever) revealing the shining jewel of "Music." And as in all passionate conversations there will be times of joyous harmony and rancorous dissent. Mars and Ken speak to us and to each other, sometimes soothingly, sometimes cacophonously, sometimes humorously, sometimes seriously, but always with interest. I'll be listening to this for a while. (Eighth Day 3120 W Sherwin Ave, Chicago IL 60645 usa) John Gore

COLD CRANK
KUNG PAO KITTY CD
hyperactive, aggressive, fun, uptempo punkish rock with great, catchy songwriting that doesn't take itself too seriously. Total jumping-around-the-room-in-your-best-sequinned-g-string-mugging-in-the-mirror-top-volume-yelling-along type shit. "Call It What You Want" is swampy garagey spy-movie music. "Green Means Go" is a punchy, happy/angry singalong. The band's own production job is clear and cool. The title track has an extra-tasty chorus (including the "kung fucking pao!" bit) and a fun, affected vocal bit. If I had friends and a car, we'd probably drive around rocking this disc full blast inbetween slugs of warm Mountain Dew and Ice-T tapes. (Drastic Plastic PO Box 4908 Seattle WA 98104 usa) Ian C Stewart

CONFLICT BURNING
TWO FOOT TALL JERK
A CRUTCH OF TONE split CD
quite an odd pairing here. Conflict Burning is an emo-core band that rocks like a house and writes good songs too. The songs themselves are arranged for optimum impact, especially "Gravity Feed," which kicks fucking ass. The bass and drums carry the verse and then the guitar jumps in on the chorus, it's like fuckin' magic, bro. "Jerking Off To The TV" has a bass solo. Awesome. "Free To Do As You're Told" sounds pretty fucking cracked. In a very good way. And don't forget to give Lemmy his bass sound back. He's getting too old for this shit. Two Foot Tall Jerk is three guys with some toys and digital fx doing sound experimentation. The punk rock version of Big City Orchestra. "Hourly" comes on like a broken machine while "Impractical" is a nice strummed bass/guitar feedback/ percolating percussion piece that's way the fuck out there. It's a weird combination of bands, which just makes it that much more punk rock.
(Burnt Music PO Box 121 Clementon NJ 08021 usa)
Ian C Stewart

THE CONSPIRACY
STEVE ANDREWS
KING ARTHUR'S COMING split
The Conspiracy does a fine bit of moody songwriting with drum loops. "Where Will It Take You" blows the dust off the old "funky drummer" loop and layers on the synths over that. Lovely! "She's Not The Wild One" is a groovy bit of easily-digested songsmithing. The bass and drums groove along with a bit of guitar comping. "Corner Shop" continues similarly, with beautiful synth sounds and great writing. Yum. Steve Andrews' side is the usual rock 'n roll stuff. Pentatoic, blues-based singing over typical rock guitar chord progressions. Andrews wheels out his son Isaac (aged 11) for one song, the almost-techno/reggae "I Wish." Cool. The techno dance mix of "Sound Of One" is the best of Steve's songs here. Interesting mix of styles from some scene veterans on this split tape. (Bliss 68 Barlich Way, Lodge Park, Redditch, Worcs B98 7JP UK)
Ian C Stewart

CORVALIS
MY SHOES ON WRONG
Lo fi. Skipping record. Guitar noise. Then some tinny, rambling jangle guitar. This seems to be revelling in its own mediocrity. Nice packaging though.
(Shelter Records 1562 Pandosy, Kelowna BC V1Y 1P4 Canada)
C Reider

DEPRESSOR
pissed off drop-D riffing with distorted bass and drum machine. The singer growls. Depressor are very angry. "F.I.L.T.H." just goes off lyrically. Rape? Sexism? It sounds like Godflesh. "Chunks" --great title. Angry vegetarian rant which has me saying "Preach on, Brother Cooper." Angry veggies are my kinda people. This tape is kinda old but you can still get with it.
(PO Box 472007, San Francisco CA 94147 usa) Ian C Stewart

DOC WOR MIRRAN
SLOWER CD
lovely slow ambience. Synthetic chording with swirly sound effects. "Slow #8" is a wide expanse of night with someone banging a big pie pan in the distance. "Slow #10" has dramatic flourishes and volume swells. Definite Hearts Of Space shit, which I enjoy immensely.
(Ebus Music Bottenhorner weg 37, 60489 Frankfurt/M. Germany)
Ian C Stewart

DOWN UNDER GROUND
Break out your denim jackets, heavy metal is alive and well and living in Australia. This comp goes to great lengths (about 70 minutes worth) to prove it. Yes, all of us "in the know", as it were, are fully aware that metal is the next big retro thang, (that's Kate Moss in the Maiden tee), but that doesn't change the fact that if you're not a pimple-faced, white 16-year-old, the majority of the stuff is slightly difficult to identify with. There are some decent things in the genre, but unfortunately, most of the New Zealand/Aussie bands on this comp remind me of those guys I knew trying desperately to make some sense out of their guitars, playing out of 15-watt amps while sitting in their dank, ill-lit, Ratt poster-adorned basement bedrooms, still pissed off that their mothers made them cut it right when it was getting good in the back. There are a couple of different approaches here: Closed World Assumption has a damaged, grunting, grinding slab of crunch that, surprisingly enough, makes great use of a didj! Spine Of God sticks out as Ministry clones, sort of out of place. Many of these songs struck me in a very odd way. Why, Ignite, did you use that chord progression, why? Did Venom do beer commercials? Oh well. Credit for conviction.
(Toan Prods PO Box 775 Petersham NSW 2049 Australia) C Reider

DR ZAIUS
MICROSCOPE 7"
betcha didn't know J Mascis' grandson lived in Anchorage. The a-side is alternamoneyrock with all the trappings. Doubletracked vocals, loud hi-hat, etc. Very not bad. In the land of the b-side, "Front Yard" would benefit from a quick remix. Back those BULLSHIT vocals the fuck off and put the handclaps on top (double 'em again first) and maybe get Kevin to enunciate so it doesn't sound like "funtch jarred." b-2, "Melody," just sucks. Bad move. I'm waiting for the full-length before talking any more shit about Dr Zaius, they could tighten up and really kick my ass. Probably not a lot of producers in Anchorage who could pull it together though...
(Feckless PO Box 90941 Anchorage AK 99509 usa) Ian C Stewart

EEL O
THE AFTERBIRTH OF COOL
It's always a sunny day when my man Eel O, veteran tape networker and wellknown soundterrorist with the bands Teen Lesbians And Animals, Kustom Kar Kommandoes, and currently Billy Joe Winghead, checks in with a fresh K7 of his trademark audio collages. An experienced DJ, Eel O keeps the mixes jumping with looped samples from old Latin/Cuban jazz records providing the beats on several tracks. Naturally there's a slew of well-chosen movie soundbites to play with your head, weird electronics to keep the atmosphere ever-changing, and some nice theremin accompaniment on three pieces by Johnnie Manson. Dannie Grillie also helps out with his guitar, and Steve Jones adds bass to good effect. Imagine if Lee "Scratch" Perry was brought up in the Midwest rather than the Carribbean, with an even wickeder sense of humor, and you'd begin to get some idea of the territory being explored here. We're talking major dub vortex! Tape trades encouraged. (Ecto Tapes, 5912 NW 62nd Terr, Oklahoma City, OK 73122 usa) Thomas Sutter

ELK
HUNG
I was all set to rip this Elk tape a new asshole. But then the acoustic guitar came in. ... and I read the song title "Boiling Your Girlfriend's Underwear," and thought I should give Elk a second chance. Another chance to be un-tedious before I fire up the great big tape-eating machine I keep out back called The Equalizer. Unfortunately... even after a third chance, HUNG is still tedious. It doesn't get any easier to listen to as it drones on. The recording quality sucks ass, as I'm pretty sure Mr Elk will attest. And it's not very interesting either. Oh sure, they tucked the tickley and beautifully funny "I Like Cabbage" away at the end of side one, but it's too short and too late to save this tape from a watery grave in the commode. If the next one is this tedious, it's The Equalizer for Elk.
(Kylie 11 Shelley Rd, Bath BA2 4RJ UK) Ian C Stewart

EVOLUTION CONTROL COMMITTEE
THE TELEVISION WILL NOT BE REVOLUTIONIZED VIDEO
Here we have a slide-based selection of eight music videos from ECC. They really didn't make that much of an impression on me. The songs were of the sample cut-up, steal-this-lick kind of thing where you take bits and pieces of things and stick them together to see what happens. By the way, the puppet show for "The Acid Family" will surely set the art of puppetry back a hundred years. Most of my reactions were "What the ....!?" So if that's what they were going for, you did it guys! I did enjoy the additional live prepared-piano "To Kill A Piano" performance from 7/4/94 at the end of the tape, though.
(PO Box 10391 Columbus OH 43201 usa) John Gore

EYES TO THE BLIND
lo fi source recordings. Sounds like a guy in a warehouse under some busy train tracks throwing big sheets of metal around. Slowly. For a long time. Exceedingly minimal darkambience.
(Fever Pitch 1108 E Capitol Dr, Appleton WI 54911 usa)
Ian C Stewart

FATHER
DANCING MAJOR
"Dancing Major" starts off like a proper song by a proper band, but by track 2 ("the Faggot Halls"), Father degenerates to manual drum machine antics and overwrought vocals. "In My Lo Fi World" seems to imply that all this gnarliness is intentional. So I won't rag on their bullshit recording job anymore. It's all a bit noisy and the occasional melody that leaps out sounds like the greatest thing ever made, but it passes quickly and soon it's back to the indistinct duh-nuh-nuh-nuh nuh nuh nuh nuhhhhs of before. So there you go. Some bits are good, some bits are dull; just like life. It doesn't sound like a broken refrigerator through a digital delay pedal so you'd never guess it was from (Kylie 11 Shelley Rd, Bath BA2 4RJ UK) Ian C Stewart

FINAL
urge / fail 7"
This week's solo Justin Broadrick single features the usual improvisatory drones and feedback. Broadrick's solo work allows him to step out from under the GODFLESH godhead and just get down to working with the raw materials of solo guitar sonics. There's very little guitar playing on this single, mostly it's just feedback and rumbling. It's atmospheric and spooky and not very good for getting romantic with the ladies. And while it's sexy and fun and comes in an impossibly limited edition (obviously), it's not exactly required listening. More for the Broadrick collectors (that would be me) than the casual listener.
(Fever Pitch 1108 E Capitol Dr, Appleton WI 54911 usa)
Ian C Stewart

FINAL EXIT
NAPALMED split
Remeber Animal on The Muppet Show? Final Exit is the Japanese version. FE is my first exposure to the Japanese noise/rock scene and if they're representative of the scene, I'm hooked for life! (Any artists from Japan reading this should consider that a blatant request for free samples.) Their side of this split tape is separated into studio and live sections. the delivery is basically the same in both sections although the live section is better recorded. Various musical styles (reggae, rock, jazz) interrupted frequently by spasms of screaming chaos. I couldn't stop laughing. (Sorry Ian, I'm keeping this one.) The live section was much more enjoyable. something tells me this band is best seen live and in person. They certainly sounded like they were having more fun than is right for any human being. Almost worth the airfare to japan. Napalmed presents us with two pieces of processed feedback with an interesting melding of voice and feedback squeal. What makes this project interesting for me is the way the feedback and voice sometimes become indistinguishable from each other. Enjoy!
(Y Records 3-720-4 Hibarigaoka Zama City Kanagawa 228 Japan) John Gore

FLOOR
GODDARD / SLUGTHROWER 7"
"Goddard" is pissed of riff action for one guitar, drums and movie samples. The guitar is fucking menacing and the groove is relentless. "Slugthrower" is a one-finger riff over a cymbal-heavy midtempo drumbeat with super-reverbed vocals way the fuck off in the distance. Damn you wicked Floor guys! Let your singer out of that reverb sewer! That's mean! Toughness. Probably not a lot of smiling during the recording of this single.
(Rhetoric PO Box 82 Madison WI 53701 usa) Ian C Stewart

FRED FRANTIC
SAMPLER
OK, so the packaging threw me. I saw the name "Fred Frantic," and all the anarchy symbols everywhere, and the fact that it was all handwritten in ballpoint pen and I thought I was in for some kind of punk tape. I popped it in and heard the beautifully sad, acoustic "Too Many Late Nights," expecting it to turn into loud, distorted noise, but it didn't. It's actually some great, catchy folky acoustic music with hilarious lyrics (you can just imagine the words to "Irritable Bowel Syndrome") and some funny short poems. There's a great sad spoken word piece called "Our House," the reggae "I Married A Stone Circle" and the rockin' "Junction 17." The songs get a bit repetetive at times, but this tape was entertaining from start to finish.
(24 Marshfield Rd, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 1JX, UJ) Ken Miller

FURNACE
I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive about listening to this tape, considering their previous attempts at being Skinny Puppy, but what the hey. Side one: remember that soft pinging sound on the USS Enterprise? Well, get rid of all the dialog and other exrtraneous noise and turn it up loud and you have side one. All of side one, over and over again. I'm not saying that it's bad, especially if you want something that won't interrupt your concentration. If you want to zone out after a hard day's slog at Mickey D's, this will also do the trick. Side two: this is another mesmerizing side-long track, this time with a soft pulsing beat and bass drone for support. A nice soft pillow of sound for those times when your body is exhausted but your mind refuses to follow. Could this be the heart-beat of the new machine? No matter, since it doesn't last long. The scene changes with the addition of a high-frequency sound and static field fading out to a drum pulse accompanied by machine sounds and feedback. Doctor, I think the patient is dead.
(Ishnigarrab 10820 Stone Canyon Rd #1222, Dallas TX 75230 usa) John Gore

FUXA
PIVOT / OCEANZOO 7"
Here we have a piece of blue vinyl by a band I'm not familiar with but whom I liked by the end of the second side. The first side, "Pivot," has a pleasantly strumming (but partially out of tune. Was this on purpose?) guitar accompanied by a hollow electric tone to add harmonic color. Not too exciting but enjoyable nonetheless. The second side, "Oceanzoo," is much more interesting. Guitar, bass and drums quietly playing behind a sonic bed of heavily reverbed sounds. Like sitting with your eyes closed listening to a crowd combined with street traffic in a tunnel. An enjoyably subdued atmosphere. Notice I didn't use the other "A" word?
(Mind Expansion 24683 Rensselaer, Oak Park MI 48237 usa) John Gore

FUXA
ORANGE CAKE MIX split 7"
Randall and Ryan aka Da Fuxa Posse let it rip with "Clearless." Need I say that it's beautiful? Subtle drum pattern and rhythm guitar beneath some slowly whirling Moogs and a lite guitar melody. Exceedingly lovely track. Jim Rao dons the Orange Cake Mix garb for "Crisp Lettuce" and "Fast Food Part 2." The first is a nice bit of delayed guitar and breathy male vocals. Add a dancey drum loop and you'd have a super Cocteau Twins single. "Fast Food Part 2" is sarcastic. Guitars and movie samples, it's a bit of a throwaway after "Crisp Lettuce," but we'll let that slide. Cool.
(Astro Lanes PO Box 725161 Berkley MI 48072 usa)
Ian C Stewart

FUXA
STANDING UNDER U 7"
Lite, uptempo, breezy near-pop. The lack of low end on this song gives it a retro feel. Like if muzak got really cool suddenly. On the flip, "Second Abductions" has spacey blips and shortwave frequencies over a gurgling Moog bed. Soothing and exploratory. On glow-in-the-dark vinyl.
(Astro Lanes PO Box 725161 Berkley MI 48072 usa)
Ian C Stewart

FUXA
VERY WELL ORGANIZED CD
More space rock from the genre's most prolific duo. "At Your Leisure" opens the disc with a mellow, melodic groove. "Witness To Natural Invention" puts the listener in the passenger's seat for a UFO abduction. "Pangaea" has an eastern sort of vibe, very low key. "Outer Drive" is more gurgly groove action. Pink Floyd minus the crescendos? Extremely pleasant mind music. Fans of Stereolab or any of the lounge music that's making the rounds again should investigate.
(Mind Expansion 24683 Rensselaer, Oak Park MI 48237 usa) Ian C Stewart

GIRLBOY GIRL
"Strip and Sell" has nice dynamics and the f-word! Well produced guitar pop that rocks a bit. Not unlike Ride (RIP). "Feeder" is a great instrumental with an excellent bass line and nice rocking feel. The songwriting is nice. "Run Rabbit Run" adds a cello or something for extra texture. Wonderful! Recorded on Ace Frehley's birthday!
(42 Howard Rd, Bristol BO3 1GE UK) Ian C Stewart

GLORIOUS MOODMEN
APOSIOPESIS
Hey, you know the person on the cover of this tape looks exactly like my girlfriend. That's pretty weird. I hope she's not hiding something from me. The music is great, scary, grinding noise with eerie spooken word vocals and found-sound industrial rhythms that would make Throbbing Gristle proud. It's really well-constructed with recurring themes and dramatic pauses, building up to cathartic moments of distorted cacophony. I haven't listened to it enough to be able to attach the conceptual titles like "Mitch Miller's Death And Bad Stuff Singalong" with their respective songs, but the long piece called "Lubbock (the day the music lied)" is excellent and icludes a really funny treatise called "noise philosophy" and a great rhythm-based piece called "Regeye." I just hope my girlfriend's not some kind of Moodmen groupie.
(818 N Dekum St, Portland OR 97217 usa) Ken Miller

GOSSAMER
THE ZERO DECADE
Very early 80s style goth stuff, sucking unabashedly at the teat of The Cure. The usual genre grouping of keyboards, moody/chiming guitar, echoing vocals well-designed to hide the weaknesses of the singer's voice. "Constant Pain" features the unfortunate lyrics "just keep wishing that I'm dead." Aside from the derivative nature of the musc and one unforturnate foray into a much-too-high register for the singer, this isn't awful goth. With maturity they could be something other than the local Robert Smiths of their town.
(I.D. Records PO Box 13618 Whitehall OH 43213 usa)
Christiane Knight

THE GREAT BRAIN
SATAN SUPERMAN 7"
These guys must've taken a masterclasss in Asskicking since their last record, because they went from college-boy-doodah to mix-tape-opener in one step. Side A is the strident, remarkably clear (and wonderfully titled) "Satan Superman." It features a heady, midtempo torso and a downshifted instrumental bit on the end. It rocks like two bitches and a Camaro. "Dotbuster" lets rip on the flip. All rockin' indie rock rockers will like this. I did too.
(Sonic Swirl PO Box 770303 Lakewood OH 44107 usa)
Ian C Stewart

HARLAN
COLLECTIVE SOUNDS
My man Harlan Lyman is one crooked mule. This exhausting 90 minute cass is a breathless collection of mini jams from this frenzied loon. Meth-induced drum playing with damaged guitar chugging alongside. The ideas are nonstop, as soon as the groove is documented on tape, quickedit to the next one. The pacing is Lumpy Gravy-esque, a musical passage plays partway until it is rather suddenly interrupted by another musical passage, or snurking noise, or rambling random voice clip. Lots of talk radio samples. I love talk radio. I really wish some of the ideas presented here were in a more refined form. ...Harlan's brain is highly imaginative, but he seems to lack the patience to focus his work. That aside, my opinion is that this guy is highly cool. Don't be a total fuck, write Harlan before he supernovas. (Rt 3, Box 221, Cumberland VA 23040 usa) C Reider

MARK HARRINGTON
TALE OF TWO CITIES
One man does everything, straight ahead guitarish rock with some hooks tossed in. Mark's singing is kind of an acquired thing (and I am one of those people with a soft spot for horrible vocalists) but even I thought it was too much at times. To the songs: "Catherine" had a couple of nice hooks and I like the transitional bits where everything goes all soft and softer. Kind of odd line about being "bound and gagged" before the soft bits I liked. "Blood Bond"= no. The music is overwrought and the choice to sing it like you are the high priest of darkness is a silly mistake. The tape takes a negative turn at this point. The title track has nice, relaxed, easy flowing music that underscores some more of Mark's singing. Last track is a remix of "Catherine" done in 1980s style. I like this version better than the tape-opener. It has less holding it down and seems simpler and quicker to the point. This tape is well done and I think I'd like it more if I could get by Mark's choice of singing a few of the songs the way he does. This is about half and half, half reservations, and half pleasure.
(250 Holmes Ave, North York ON M2N 4N1 Canada)
Uistean O Connor

DOUG HARRISON
PERMANENT PRESS
DIMENSIONS DEMO 93
PP is noisy, percussive, experimental, rhythmic, dark, tribal. Loads of banging and loose wire-flapping noises. Alicia Funeral rocks the mic for a tasty bit of cooing and narration on several tracks. Doug's song "The Undertaker" is an amazing experimental cock-rock dirge. Gene Simmons fronting Neubauten with all the lights out. Awesome. There are a few gloomy folk songs on the end, just Doug and an acoustic guitar. That's the bits I like best, along with the Alicia tracks; but the whole tape is pretty damn hot.
(PO Box 5501 Richmond VA 23220 usa) Ian C Stewart

HARVEY'S RABBIT
LOVE IS THE LAW 7"
Tight, moody + melodic. That's a good equation for a single, I reckon.
The title track recalls Crime And The City Solution with a better singer. The slide guitar bits are hauntingly neato. "The Lodger" is uptempo by comparison, but the lyrics are still quite unhappy. In a good way. I'll be interested to hear the album. Very good single.
(Rotator PO Box 2000 Aylesbury Bucks HP22 5WA UK)
Ian C Stewart

HAZEDOUS TV VIDEO
Extremely long compilation of live performance videos by underground metal bands, with segments between the videos by your host Ed Warhead. Ed does a long series of sub-cable access quality skits and scenarios which are all kinda silly. The tape is good for learning about the metal underground but not so good for great acting and skit-writing. Features Tom Dark's favorite band Defecation among loads of others. The videos are good, it's cool to see the bands doing their thing live. But the shit between the videos is kinda depressing. It's more good than bad, but not by much. (1271 Enderbury #5, St Louis MO 63125 usa) Ian C Stewart

HEAD TROPHIES
IN EFFIGY
Here's a real treat for fans of dark electronica, a new C60 the Vancouver-based recording project called Head Trophies. The first track, "Peace Gun," instantly sets your toes tapping with a lively drum pattern; as melodic, yet burning analogue synth lines glide in. For once, here's a home-taper who can not only program a variety of fascinating rhythmic shifts within the course of a single track, but who can arrange layers of synths, sequencers, gritty-sounding samples and found vocals (among other aural events) into genuinely captivating mini-symphonies, most of which run the length of standard pop songs. For points of reference I'd call to mind the first two albums by The Human League (you know, back when they were interesting!), "The Voice Of America" by Cabaret Voltaire, or even "Leichenschrei"-era SPK---all mandatory listening for you neophytes out there. We're talking a dark universe of sound here, encapsulated in fifteen tracks of chilling pleasure. (Wayne Freno 310-8740 Selkirk St, Vancouver BC V6P 4J4 Canada) Thomas Sutter

HEMDALE
EXHUMED
IN THE NAME OF GORE split CD
Death metal with an unholy fixation on our own John Gore! Man, they cover every single Kirchenkampf track ever! If only... Hemdale explodes with a blast beat on "Delicious Gory Fun" (John Gore tastes good? I knew he was funny, but delicious too! Wow.) and relentlessly performs the sonic equivalent of a man being devoured by large machinery. tick tick tick BOOM eeeeeeiiiyaaaaaugghgggghh wuuuooooAAAAAAAGH etc etc.
"Bathing In Mucus And Bile" is the 'slow' song. Well, the intro anyway. "Tasty Hemorrhoidal Tissue" wobbles on hyperspeed legs. Hemdale's drummer could probably fly if he had little wings on his feet. Awesome. Exhumed go off completely on "Horrendous Member Dismemberment" and change tempos about 60 times before the singing even starts. Blast blast riff growl blast blast blast thrash thrash mosh blast blast Kerry King solo blast, etc. "Bone Fucker" and "Necro Transvestite" continue similarly and presumably are not about John Gore. This disc is some high-lariously sick shit. (Visceral PO Box 1142 Mentor OH 44601 usa) Ian C Stewart

HORNSWOGGLE
BITE THE WAX TADPOLE
I was mentally nodding off during "Tadpole"'s three Side A tracks. Some short wave hums and roars are sharply contrasted with a slide whistle or maybe a plastic recorder-- something with a cheap, squealy sound, like a tortured mourning dove. Then the hums are calmer, the whistling more grating, and the bird being tortured is a seagull. Someone mumbles some things about living in the past, the middle-aged family man, spending too much time making money. Next in line are echo chamber voices both speeded up and slowed down, with wind chimes, spooky noises and other gimmicky effects. The flipside revived my fading attention with a sample of eerie carousel music, garnished with slowed-down bells and goblin-like smacking and chattering, like the denizens from the freak show running the midway. I started to nod off again listening to some Hornswoggle having a boring coversation with his girlfriend, something about frying up tostadas. She apparently doesn't know she's being taped, but you can hardly hear her anyway. "Was kinda mean really," the guy admits afterward. Kinda tame actually. Fortunately there's a big finish built around New Testament-type intoning, layered with spacey noises, a sample of what may be an anemic car horn, and yes--chirping birds.
(Oral Gestation Artefacts PO Box 20587 St Louis MO 63139 usa)
River Pearl

JOHN HUDAK
TALL GRASSES
"Dolby C is recommended," says Hudak. "However, playing at low volume and adjusting treble will significantly reduce background noise. Recorded September 1994, Bloomsville NY." Side A consists of "normal speed recording from two adjacent microphones," and Side B is "adjusted speed recording with reverberation." Dolby C or not, does it really matter? What we have here is an audio ink blot. I'm not sure if the title means that these are recordings of tall grasses blowing in the wind in scenic upstate New York or what, but it sounds like rats gnawing at the mircrophones. No wait, it sounds like the background microwave radiation from the Big Band. I think. Whatever it is there's about 60 minutes of it and at the end of each side there's a pleasant bit of country folk guitar that Hudak apparently didn't tape over completely. Your move.
(184 Columbia Hts #1D, Brooklyn NY 11201 usa) River Pearl

ICE NINE
PSYCHOLOGY AND EXTREME VIOLENCE 7"
Anyone who samples The Young Ones better have their shit together. You're talking about sacred terrain there, butthold. Fortunately Ice Nine rip the lid off a case of whoopass on this single. Their sound lurks in Goodale Park and feasts on the innards of joggers at night. A bit of speed, a little sludge and a lot of scree. "Smoke, Fire, Mud." That's what they sound like. If Bob Ross used them to paint with, he'd try to beat the devil out of his brush (his preferred method of drying paintbrushes) but Ice Nine don't give up that easily. This record, like its cover, is demonic and icky and beautifully nasty. Note to Rhetoric: chill with the b.s. drunkpunk crapola and put out more Ice Nine recs.
(Rhetoric PO Box 82 Madison WI 53701 usa) Ian C Stewart

INHUMAN
death metal! Drum machine! Drop-D guitars! Growling vocals! Mildly gore-rific lyrics ("Crack The Casket"). It shouldn't add up, but it does. I like this a lot. The drum machine sounds oddly human. Sounds like the same one Godflesh had. The riffs are tough and the production is good, so even if this isn't the most innovative act in the world, they do a good job of rocking my meager little world.
(229 B SE 121, Warrensburg MO 64093 usa) Ian C Stewart

INTER
PRODUCT
awesome guitar pop. A British Soul Asylum/Replacements with great songwriting. The tunes are energetic and brillinatly executed. I like the verse of "Cherry Red, Electric Blue" and the whole of "Sticks And Stones." "Boss Grasshopper" is a bit moody-- excellent vocal harmonies. Extremely enjoyable.
(29 Busk Crescent, Cove, Farnborough, Hants GU14 0BL UK) Ian C Stewart

INTERFERENCE PATTERNS
TINTY MUSIC
split cassette single
IP "Leviathan": Four minutes and forty seconds of pure, unadulterated, drum banging with what the credits call a violin being played or I should say scratched in a whole new way. I actually enjoyed this piece a lot. What would totally click, is hearing this particular song as the background for some sort of performance art thing with strobe light, painted bodies with sheer pieces of fabric flailing around. That my friends, would be perfect. Nothing is cooler than actually being able to visualize performances when you hear a piece of music. Tres cool. TINTY MUSIC: "Slip Mode" Very cool. Entrancing, if you will. Every art student's dream of a first tape. It reminded me (kind of) like something you would hear in a really twisted Twin Peaks montage (a total compliment, trust me). Sometimes music is cooler being the most basic thing, no vocals (except for the opening sentence) and no overpowering guitar crap. I would love to hear more of this stuff, I also must mention the performance art thing again. I'm telling you, I can taste it here, kids. This tape rocked my boat.
(Tinty Music P.O. Box 85363
Seattle, WA 98145-1363 usa) Chrissy Taylor

KAFFEINE
YOU HURT ME STUPID
Wow! This sucks! A singer and a guitar player with Ye Olde Boomboxe in the corner. Riffing away for nobody. Is this supposed to be heavy metal? The "lyrics" seem to be off the top of the guy's head as there are recurring themes of doing chores and leaving home. What a waste.
(4124 E Kellis Ct, Springfield MO 65802 usa) Ian C Stewart

LESS THAN JAKE
CRASH COURSE IN BEING AN ASSHOLE 7"
punk rock versions of a bunch of bullshit old songs. The Outfield (do I win a prize? Didn't even look at the press kit!)'s "Your Love" gets full speed polka treatment. Some of the lyrics have been tampered with to make the song about masturbation, or perhaps I'm projecting?... "Teenager In Love." Um... "Freeze Frame" adds horns for a total ska vibe. I'm sure J Geils and Magic Dick in particular are sitting in a recovery home in greater Boston, laughing their asses off over that one. Good production, lively arrangements and I know The Outfield will appreciate the first black ink on their ASCAP statements in years.
(Rhetoric PO Box 82 Madison WI 53701 usa) Ian C Stewart

LONELY
A soundtrack for manic depressives. Virginia Astley's Dreams or a quiet Mourning Cloak. Swirly chimey childlike ethereal peace on "tomorrowsyesterdaystar" and "talking to the owls and butterflies." Dissonance only adds to her charm as she slips gently into her cracked alterverse on "quiet weekend." Precious and delicate in its edginess. (Garden Of Delights 503 Kingsbury Rd, Erdington, Birmingham B24 9NJ UK) Christiane Knight

LYSERGIC ICE PICK
DISTURBED
This cassette is proudly self-labelled "Parental Advisory: Some Lyrics May Be Of EXPLICIT NATURE." That gets attention but explicit doesn't necessarily mean interesting. Paul J Daoust is responsible for everything here: the writing, the recording, the mixing, the producing, the engineering, the editing, the insert design and the photography. That gives him total freedom to drone on about his tedious erotic fantasies, for instance on "Swoon"-- his homage to Long Dong Schlong. He seems to have a schlong for Maddona (sic), Alannis Morissette and especially Shirley Manson, lucky her. (I thought maybe she was Charlie's mom, but I guess she's some supermodel.) For variety there's a toe-tapper about stepping in brains and getting it all over his Adidas ("Squoosh Went Your Brain"). "Toxic Mother" is probably the most tolerable view into Daoust's little world, vaguely amusing in a burned-out sort of way, but it's not enough. Syd Barrett and Roky Erikson had way more fun getting acid-damaged and Toddio's self-absorption is more entertaining. Lysergic Ice Pick is sonic acid, invading your brain and ears, melting it into the grey slush to be scraped off your Adidas.
(Lysergic Records PO Box 1569 Toledo OH 43603 usa) River Pearl

THE MAJESTIC TWELVE
UFOS ARE REAL
This cassette features rippling electronic soundscapes by the Seattle-based recording collective The Majestic Twelve. Although twelve different people are identified as participants in this project, only one "Dr Detlev Bronk" (yeah, it's gotta be a pseudonym) is credited with actually playing instruments (which include Korg synthesizer, organ, sampler, bells and tape manipulation). I suspect that most of the members of M12 simply provided vocal samples which were woven into the mix. Contact with extraterrestrial life is the theme which links all twenty of the tracks on this tape. Most tracks are propelled by lush digital pulses and sequences, with reverb-drenched voices splashing across them. Surprisingly, there is little development or change within any given piece; once a sequence is initiated, it carries on unwaveringly until the track ends. While this approach would usually signal death by boredom for me, for some reason the tape works as a whole, perhaps in the same way that an Erik Satie piano piece establishes an irresistable terazzo of limited, yet strangely beautiful aural gestures.
(Inklab PO Box 4126 Seattle WA 98104 usa) Thomas Sutter

LE MANIFESTE DE L'ART DISCRET
BEWARE THE JABBERWOCK!
"Jabberwock" is Jermoe Noirez's brainchild. With a little help from his inital-only friends, the whole thing is an original and fresh bit of performance art, enhanced by a heavy reliance on wind instruments. On "Codex C.O. 23," M. Noirez plays alto and bass recorders in a pastoral interplay that's quite lovely. Then it's on to flute, clarinet, "prepared" guitars and fishbone-stuck-in-the-throat vocalese on "Un Attroupement de Glues du Nuit." JN gets all self-parodying on the minimal "Bibi Est Venimeuse" with distant sounds of children, and the childlike "I Hate Postmodern Music" with its evocation of some bizarre children's show. There are two performances recorded live at a place called L'Agglomeration: "Le Grenier" and "Les Grandes Ombres Du Nord." The first simulates an agitated orchestra tuning up in a random accumulation of squeaking, scraping and plucking, with a table for pounding on. "Les Grandes Ombres" is a sly, Fellini-esque commentary on a cocktail party of piano, electronics, winds and murmuring, with clinking glasses for punctuation. On the title track, JN really goes to town with synthesizer, flute, toy trumpet and voice. He recites Lewis Carroll's poem like it's a quest on some alien worle, progressing into a lengthy improvisation of soundplay with the nonsense words. He even throws in Alice's comment after reading the poem: "'It seems very pretty,' she said when she had finished it, 'but it's rather hard to understand.'" I got it, even if Alice didn't.
(1 Allee des Chataigniers 78480 Verneuil France) River Pearl

TH MIGHTY OCASEK
LITTLE MISSILES
Mixed bag of rough recordings. About half of Th Mighty Ocasek's songs, for acoustic guitar, bass, occasional drums and vocals-- sound like they were rehearsed. The rest are very hastily rendered. Would've benefitted from a few more tries, especially in the vocal department. The instrumental bits are best, especially the rockingish instrumental on side two. Cool. I would've enjoyed a whole tape of that.
(Cactus Gum 8932 S 45th W Ave, Tulsa OK 74132 usa) Ian C Stewart

LASSE MARHAUG
G-HORSTURZ
INFERNO 7"
This is a mail collaboration by Marhaug and Horsturz. Wall to wall noise, shredded sound and squealing sonorities. A soundtrack for the colliding of galaxies. Get it if you're into that kind of thing.
(View Beyond Records PO Box 35, 34901 Stribo Czech Republic)
John Gore

MARY THROWING STONES
GERTA
If I was trapped in Utah with some early Butthole Surfers and Scratch Acid to listen to, some cheap instruments to play with and a whole lotta mushrooms-- well, you get what I'm saying. A lot of this, especially the live stuff, reminds me of the noise I used to make in my basement when I was 20. Think squealing guitar, insane rumbling, trash can percussion, sampled random madness. "Correction Beguiled Corruption" sounds like a treasure trove of typewriters. On the opposite end of the spectrum, "Dodo" is a straightforwardly psychedelic percussive droning. Limited appeal. (369 E 900 S #150, Salt Lake City UT 84111 usa) Christiane Knight

CHARLIE MCALISTER
HOME AND FAR AWAY
exceedingly lo fi recordings. Acoustic guitar, drums, banjo, weird casio and voice color McAlister's songs. A couple of them are excellent, "These Dreams" and "Ode To A Dead Shopping Center" particularly, but the majority seem like filler. Weird spoken interludes--- it's like eavesdropping on a guy who likes to talk to himself. Rough but not entirely without merit. (Nearsighted PO Box 606 Slippery Rock PA 16057 usa) Ian C Stewart

MISSED IN DIARY
DISSOLVE CD
When does the next song start? Put this CD on and I swear to you no matter where you forward it to, it sounds the same! And not in a good way either. I really wanted to like this band. I've heard a lot of good things about them. They feature regularly in lots of goth zines. Don't let that fool you: this band is a perfect example of the modern oxymoron of "mainstream alternative." Like Rush gone gothic. (Eye Records PO Box 20401 Detroit MI 48220 usa) Christiane Knight

MJB
UNSHINE 1989-1992
15 songs from 5 separate tapes. This tape kicks off with the short burst of female voice of "Manifesto" and then wanders all over the place from there. This collection is sort of like roaming through a stack of memories, good and bad, but at least Michael J Bowman has enough ideas to fill up a tape with his thoughts. "Cocktail Time" has good guitar work and a catchy piece of playing and that is a combination that comes around a lot on this tape. A few times, though, Bowman puts effects on his voice and I think I would've preferred less of that and more of just his voice, plain and simple voice only singing. At times with nods to the past, at times not, this is straight ahead no filler, capturing pieces of years onto tape.
(11 Orchard St, Cold Springs NY 10516 usa) Uistean O Connor

NEW BAD THINGS
GIRL AFRAID
SLOW CHILDREN PLAYING DISKOTHI-Q split 7"
NBT's "No Pass/No Fail" is lo-fi modern rock. It's a bit happy too. The snare drum sounds like crap but apart from that I have no quarrell with this track. Whining White Boy Rock with a sax, can't argue with that. Girl Afraid's "Boy Enough" would probably rock like a bitch were it recorded more carefully. Good song, crap recording. Oh well. SCP's "25 Cents" has a fairly potent groove for Whining White Boy Rock although the singer sounds a bit poncey. Diskothi-Q's "Finisher Jam" is about working with a photocopier that won't comply. The story of my life. Not a bad song but next time they should write about job integrity faults or having to program exceptions. Do a concept album.
(Clunker 373-B Sooy Place Rd, Vincentown NJ 08088 usa)
Ian C Stewart

NEXT RADIO
THE ESCADRILLE
...it's fun to find out what it's really like in space...NOT that this is
a bad tape or anything, but it is one that definitely has its highs and
lows: the highs being that it is completely diverse, and it ranges from
whispy, goth-based tunes to more techno-rave pump-up-the-jams type of
songs; the lows being: it sound like someone's little brother stole their Casio keyboard and recorded over stuff. Other than that, it was a fairly cool listen. Next Radio say it themselves on the back of the tape cover: "Toe-tapping, new space rock anthems." I agree one hundred percent. I still haven't been able to figure out if they're more like Pink Floyd in the Ummagumma days, or more goth oriented like a techno Sisters or Bauhaus. "Pressure Points" and "Flutterby" were two songs that really stood out from the others. Tory Z. Starbuck has got himself a cool vocal sound which he should flaunt a little more. The band as a whole is quite eclectic, but in a silver-wearing, baggy jeans, striped shirt kind of way. This is a cool tape for the most part, don't get me wrong, and I'm sure
tons of people will dig it. I just don't see myself running to dub them on my next mix tape for the car.
(Regicide Bureau 8701 Crocus Lane St. Louis, MO 63114 usa) Chrissy Taylor

NO PIGEONHOLES LIVE ON KKUP
Another Don Campau project. This cassette contains a wide variety of styles and recording qualities culled from live radio performances. We have the first live broadcast by Eric Muhs in 1986 and the 1995 rebroadcast of a high school punk band called Surrealism. Highlights inlude Eric Muhs and Myles Boisen's "Improv," "And Your Fat Wife" by Mystic Nick and an incredible If, Bwana piece. Lots of good stuff here. One complaint. Don, do you really want me to believe you can't afford high bias tape?
(Lonely Whistle PO Box 23952 San Jose CA 95153 usa) John Gore

obO
FUT! CD
FUT! II LP
WEIN'T DACKER DOWN 12"
amazing mellow techno/trip hop/acid jazz instrumental type shit. Big ass grooves with live bass, sax and a bit of flute. There's some sparkly keyboard action too. The jams are obese. FUT! is a compilation disc and many of the cuts appear in remixed form on the vinyl. There's not one dud anywhere among the over 2 hours of music. On FUT!, "Slide Burn I + II" opens the disc with 8 minutes of soothing trip hop. The beat doesn't come in for almost four minutes, but when it does... oh lordy. It rides the groove for another five before fading out. Ahhh. "Forelash (Beated)" is more of the same. "Major Keyhole" dispenses with the beats and lays down some extra crispy sax and Rhodes piano for that ass. "Peep It" sounds like a lost Barry Adamson soundtrack piece. "Curl (Unfinished)" features a surprisingly tasteful bit of human beat box action, which is a feat unto itself. "Tempt-Eyed" closes the disc with an umptempo groove. Like Ultramarine but even slower and mellower. Wake up to obO and not even a surprise nuclear attack could fuck with your day. Absolutely flawless.
(Tush PO Box 8684 London N9 0RZ UK) Ian C Stewart

THE ORIGINAL MIND
FROM BARD TO VERSE
lo fi psychedelic rawk. Long instrumentals with wah-wah guitar solos. A funny blues-tinged song about a cheatin' woman called "The Whisper." I've never listened to the Greatful Dead and I hope they don't sound like the Original Mind because if I ever liked the Dead it would be a dark day indeed. I would be forced to impale myself on the nearest lightpost, naked, with a big Dead flag flying out my butt. And then where would we be? The recording quality is a bit shite in spots; particularly the instrumentals, which sound like they were done on a boom box. Otherwise very enjoyable, especially "(Free) Love Radicals." (Spinning Lionel PO Box 397, Swansea SA2 7YB UK) Ian C Stewart

THE ORIGINAL MIND
SMILE ALL THE DAY CD
3 song cd that I wish I never listened to. "Smile All the Day" kicks it off with a way too happy sunny retro British and multi-instrument fest that sounds truly awful to my ears. "Nine Day Wonder" starts out funky dance style and goes downhill when Mr. Annoying Singer takes over. Ugh! "Valley of Shadows" is more time warp backwards that makes me breathe out relief I wasn't around to hear this when it came out the first time.
(PO Box 397, Swansea SA2 7YB UK) Uistean O Connor

OUR GLASSIE AZOTH
Four experimental/noise pieces on occult/alchemical themes. First piece: "Our Glassie Azoth" (azoth is the alchemical dsignation for mercury, assumed to be the first principle of all metals); high pitched squealing, feedback and dreamy synth textures combined to produce a pleasant trancy effect. Like getting your teeth drilled under gas while listening to extremely loud muzak reflected off a glass window. Second piece: "Weirdstone" (the "weird" is an archaic usage concerned with or controlling fate or destiny); the same high pitched squealing, feedback and synth textures treated differently, much thicker in texture, going for sensory overload. The third piece "Cthonic Meditation" ("Cthonic" comes from classical mythology dealing with the deities, spirits, and other beings dwelling under the ground); trancy synth-feedback / static sonic overload is effectively accented with percussion (can you tell I like this tape yet?). Fourth piece: "Iosis" (combination of Io and Isis, both mythological figures representing fertility); pulsating sonics mixed with processed birdsong producing a very pleasing aura of melding realities. The sonic equivalent of a nature dreamscape distorted by a pulsing space warp.
(Alphanemoon PO Box 22 Lampeter, Dyfed SA48 8YD Wales) John Gore

OXCD CD comp
Thirteen bands from Oxford, England. Some of these songs are quite excellent--namely Thurman's "Famous," Arthur Turners Lovechild?'s "OOOWEEEOOO," the Candyskins' "24 Hours" and the Daisies' "If I Was Barry White." Everything here is well-produced modern rock. I didn't care for Beaker so much, nor Blue Kite. The best was saved for last (no, not that "U Are My Sunshine" crap on track 99 or whatever it was): The Egg "Get Some Money Together/Shopping." Beee-yooteeeeeeee. Sexy uptempo New Order-type shit. Very very nice. But even the worst of these bands is pretty good.
(Rotator PO Box 2000 Aylesbury Bucks HP22 5WA UK)
Ian C Stewart

P.A. SKINNY
STELLAR 7"
"Chill Out"/ "Bandage"
This band has its shit together. All that's left if for the lawyers and advertising executives to make them famous. "Stellar" has a Cracker "Get On This" groove. On the b-side, "Cosmetic Tower" is all spunk and glitter. On the tape, "Chill Out" is low-key by comparison, but I like it best. "Bandage" has handclaps, so obviously it rules-- good chorus, too. Excellent production and a poncey-voiced singer. The songwriting is good too so PA Skinny should have no problem getting onto the cover of NME before you write your next 4-track masterpiece, little man. (Transmitta PO Box 9681 London N22 5LQ UK) Ian C Stewart

PLANET CAKE
NIBBLE
Zappa-influenced funky rock. "MF Mini" is a great song, the chickie singerette sings "I...got a motherfucking Mini. And it's fine." A new twist on the plague of bass-slappin' whities that ruled the US in the early 90s (Limbomaniacs anyone? Mindfunk?). I like Planet Cake a lot better. Bass/drums/ clean guitar and sax with alternating male and female vocalists. 3 fun songs.
(5 Edward Ave, Nottingham NG8 5BD UK) Ian C Stewart


POPE JOHN PAUL THE THIRD
I liked this tape from the moment Pope JP goes into a sharded, rocked up, silly "oi" shouting (I hope it was being shouted as a joke or my whole review might be different) version of Elvis Costello/Brodsky Quartet's "I Almost Had A Weakness." Fake blues comes next with some good hurtin' with the Pope's past. Some lyrics from the song "Hello": "Hello I'm a Christian, I'm horny all the time, hello I'm an artist and when I puke it's art." The next song ("Bootysaurus Rex") is an attempt (take-off?) at old style Beastie Boy wannabe whiny raps with bad sound quality full of braggin' and more braggin'. This tape is all over the place and that's a good thing, folks. "Why" is soft and goofy Circle Jerks style circa RepoMan dinner scene right before Dick Rude's punk rock buddy gets vaporated from the glowing trunk mystery and then the song goes noisy raging chaos. Another winner is the angry fuzz voiced rap "Cliche." Ryan, Joshua and Adam are what home recording are all about to me, they sound like they are having a damn good time.
(500 Marion Ave, Ben Lemond, CA 95005 usa) Uistean O Connor

POST PRANDIALS
HIGH WIRE NONET CD
There's an old joke that goes "Jazz is just five people playing different songs at the same time." To the person who doesn't listen to jazz very often, I guess that's a reasonable observation. This CD is actually nine people playing different songs at the same time. No, I think "different songs" is to overestimate this CD. It's nine people warming up for over an hour. The worst thing about it is that you keep expecting them to start playing a song, but they never do. Improvised bleats of sax, drum rolls, synths and guitar riffs all at the same time, without any rhythm, melody or harmony. In a way it sounds like Negativland's A BIG 10-8 PLACE but without all the interesting parts. Or perhaps stuff that Sun Ra would edit out. There are three equally boring and identical movements that sound like what would happen if you made 16-track recordings of separate people trying to learn how to make sounds with various instruments without being able to hear each other at all. Music that can be made by anyone is a great idea, but that doesn't mean it's fun to listen to.
(1953 65th #2E, Brookyln NY 11204 usa) Ken Miller

REALM IN DREAMS
BILGE PUMP split flexi
RID from Greenisland, Northern Ireland presents us with an irritatingly off-the-beat drum machine meandering with dark string chord progressions repeating incessantly and bird song added for your enjoyment. Didn't do much for me because it didn't seem to go anywhere, having no underlying structure, just sounds thrown together haphazardly. I'd like to say here for the record that I hate the crappy fidelity of flexis. Frankly I don't know why anyone would use it since it costs about as much as regular vinyl to make, but maybe that's not the case in the UK. Bilge Pump (from Leeds) puts guitar/bass/drums over hand-manipulated, tape-recorded vocals. A strange presentation and it's over too quickly.
(Induce Records 21 Farnsdale Rd, Knaresborough HG5 0NY UK) John Gore

KIM ROHRBACH
SIX MORE SONGS
Is she sick yet of being called the female Mark Kozelek? Hope not. 'Cause she is. And that's not a bad thing considering the consistent beauty of Kozelek's output. Rohrbach's vocal delivery and fluctuating acoustic guitar strumming are a lot like Kozelek's were on "Down Colorful Hill." And I'm not going to say "wow, the drummer sure sounds like that guy out of Red House Painters too" because...well, it is the drummer from Red House Painters. Cool. Bass by Christian Rice-- so it's quite a rhythm section. "Other Difficulties" is RHP-mania. Gentle acoustic guitar and upright bass thrumming with minimal drum action. Fucking awesome. The production is great and these songs are extremely touching and personal. "No Messages" starts like RHP's "Have You Forgotten" but the rest of the song is a pissed-off breakup rant. "I feel like throwing the phone against the wall." Nice. "The Colma Skies" is a lovely, soft song. I love Rohrbach's songs for the same reasons I love Kozelek's. How pathetic is that? (1356 S Van Ness #202, San Francisco CA 94110 usa) Ian C Stewart

EUGENIO SANNA AND EDOARDO RICCI
THREE IMPROVISATIONS
From the venerable city of Pisa comes this short (only 20 minutes) but intense cassette of free improv. Eugenio's main instruments are his electric guitar and voice, while Edoardo holds forth with also sax, bass clarinet, voice and trombone. This is just what I was hoping for: crazed, uninhibited and absolutely gleeful playing. After a long day of being forced to listen to classic rock radio at my workplace, this bursts forth like a fountain of champagne for the ears. One may listen to this cassette repeatedly and pick up on new details each time, which is half the fun of listening to non-idiomatic improvisation. The three tracks here were recorded live in Florence on 11-10-96--- yep, they're fresh, in more ways than one. Both players are veterans of the European free music scene, having collaborated with Steve Lacy, Milford Graves, Phillipp Wachsmann and a host of others. Eugenio writes that these three pieces are part of a longer work which will soon be released, so there's already something to look forward to in 1997! (via Berlinghieri 12, 56127 Pisa, Italy) Thomas Sutter

SCARVE
SIX TEARS OF SORROW CD
Progressive death metal! More time changes in the first 4 seconds than the Cure's entire output combined! Super-chugging riffs, screwy VoiVod timechanges and a vocalist that growls and croons. This is beautiful. "Liquefied Silhouettes" is the tough and tight opening track. "Shelly's Dead" has a rad groove and more chugging guitars. "Torn Underneath" has some great riffs and huge chordings. The production is excellent and Scarve definitely has their shit together. Awesome.
(28 rue Paul Bert, 54220 Malzeville France) Ian C Stewart

THE SCROUNGERS
Old school-sounding punk with what sounds like drum machines. Nice overloaded bass. Oi sounding vocals. Like England's Vengeance (RIP) only faster.
(PO Box 356 Brunswick, 3056 Vic Australia) Bo Peep

THE SCROUNGERS
My favorite agitated Aussie one-man-band Macka (AKA the Scroungers, Thee Pretensious Bandname, etc) returns with another collection of pissed-off punk songs. The instrumentation is weird: distorted bass, drum machine and vocals. But the effect is rather like the band Morphine in that you don't even notice the absence of guitars really. Mostly we're treated to hard-strummed fast punk rock but "The People's Opium" veers into postpunk Killing Joke-style territory. "Proudly Australian Made" is uptempo punk. Who knew life in Australia was so annoying?
(PO Box 356 Brunswick, 3056 Vic Australia) Ian C Stewart

70 GWEN PARTY
HOWARD HUGHES 7"
Not a cover of the RIDE b-side (good guess, though. I didn't know you were into shoegazer stuff), not a cover of the song by Rasputina, "Howard Hughes" is a lo-fi Pop Will Eat Itself beatbox-guitar samples-distorted vocals-feedback side. The b-side "Dangerous Concentrations Of The Media Power" isn't very danceable and lays on the vocal samples (courtesy Dennis Potter, who's apparently not happy with the BBC. Bloody ungrateful sitcom writers). A noisy, messy, black-clad affair which people who enjoy long, typewritten rants and essays and lists and cajoling in place of glossy record sleeves will benefit from. That's me.
(Snape PO Box 221 Hounslow TW3 3ND UK) Ian C Stewart

SKIPPER
WE'VE GOT IT ALL 7"
Uptempo modern rock with a singer whose voice sounds exactly like Paul Heaton (from Beautiful South. You should read NME once in awhile). The title track sounds not unlike the Housemartins. "Heroine" is a beautiful ballad. Wholly reminiscent of Morrissey or Beautiful South. It's lovely. "Grateful" rocks like a pop group. Great vocal harmonies. This single is kind of old but excellent nonetheless.
(Icarus 37 Broadlands Court, Wokingham Road, Bracknell, Berks RG12 1PJ uk) Ian C Stewart

SLINK MOSS
PHANTOM STRANGER CD5
If Nick Cave finally got that American vibe he so covets down once and for all, he'd sound a bit like old Slink Moss. Sounds like the theme to "Rawhide." It's a one-song promo thing. You've definitely heard this before. Pro production, guest appearances from former rock stars, etc etc. Not offensive or anything but didn't exactly set my nuts on fire either.
(Rattlesnake 1507 E 53rd St #615, Chicago IL 60615 usa) Ian C Stewart

SLOW CHILDREN PLAYING
BUMBLEPUPPY split 7"
SCP's "Nothing Is Okay" rocks more than the average WWB track and the production is okay. The singer (again) is a bit of a ponce but he can carry a tune and he has his own style. Bumblepuppy's "Hausfrau" is about resisting the urge to get piercings. It has a jerky groove and a slightly inane guitar part. I like the backing vocals and the distorted guitar bits-- basically everything but the singer's voice. WWB power!!!
(Clunker 373-B Sooy Place Rd, Vincentown NJ 08088 usa) Ian C Stewart

SNAKEBITE CITY FOUR CD comp
Modern, young guitar pop. Standouts are Bis, Gink, Wact, the Perfect Circles, Showgirls and Big Boy Tomato. The stinkers are few. This comp is an excellent in-road to the current state of affairs in guitar pop UK. The great Skipper track "Grateful" puts in a welcome appearance here. If anyone else remembers the Heartthrobs (Elektra? 1990? signed in the great Madchester rush? Anybody??), some of them have regrouped as Angora and they have an utterly shite track about clothes here. Tripe. Fortunately the majority of these bands are excellent. Snakebite City Five is out now. Get with this now.
(Bluefire PO Box 16 Aldershot GU12 5XY UK) Ian C Stewart

LINDA SMITH
I SO LIKED SPRING
These are light, popish ditties with lyrics that are poems written by someone named Charlotte Mew in 1916 and 1929. Really nicely recorded acoustic guitar, tambourine and keyboard arrangements with multlayered vocals. This would be great if it were not for the face that it takes itself a bit too seriously and the vocals are a little off-key at times. The music is interesting, though, and without the vocals it would probably be a great tape. I find the lyrics a bit pretensious and boring, much in the same way I find "Wuthering Heights" pretensious and boring. So if you like Bronte (an Anne Bronte illustration from 1839 decorates the cover), you might like this tape.
(Shrimper PO Box 1837 Upland CA 91785 usa) Ken Miller

STELLALUNA
@ DIVINITY 5 CD
As I looked at the cover of this cd by Stellaluna, I expected some dark-as-caves goth music, but nothing was further from the truth. Stellaluna plays guitar based music that is harmless in a light pop sort of way. Rob Robison wrote these 16 songs and they are all well recorded but at times cross the border into blandville USA. I did like the simple and slow "Evangeline" and "the Great Divide." The lyrics are not very good on a few of the tracks--"Feathers & Fur" and "Vain Women" to name a couple. Stellaluna surprised me in a good way by not giving me goth when I don't like goth all that much, but after I listened to them a few times I realized that that kind of surprise is not quite good enough to win me over.
(PO Box 1614400-A, Lafayette, LA 70508 usa) Uiestean O Connor

STUPID...TO...THIS?!
Ahhh, true home tapers at their weirdest. Noisy nonsense from the bleary-eyed ranks of recreational drug users and psychotic freacks, including Gang Of Pork, Sockeye, Edith Bunker's Demonized Vomit Insurance and the Mtv-staple Hemorrhoy Rogers (best song title: "Take This Dog And Shove It"). There's also a bunch of songs from the Sockeye tribute WE SUCK WORSE. It's total lo-fi punk with rough music and lyrics that sound like they were made up on the spot, and goddamn if it ain't entertaining as hell!
(Burping Turd Cassettes & Lawn Ornaments PO Box 282 Lancaster NH 03584 usa) Ken Miller

THE SWEENEY
WHY? 7"
uptempo, extraordinarily well produced modern guitar pop. The singer has his own style too, as seems to be the style in the current crop of post-BritPop bands. "How Can I Be Sure" slows things down on the flip. Swingy rocking type thing... it's good. I like this stuff.
(Rotator PO Box 2000 Aylesbury Bucks HP22 5WA UK) Ian C Stewart

CHIP SYMONDS
THE RAINBOW CONSPIRACY VS. THE WAR TOILET MENTALITY
Poor Chip Symonds! In a previous issue of this here publication, editor Ian gave Chip's tape ADOBE RIDE (band name Life Trip) a bad review. I feel your pain, Chip. I really do. Imagine the gall of a music critic writing something critical! In reaction to this review (as he mentions in the liner notes and in a brief audio intro), Chip compiled some of his recordings from 1984-89, I presume to prove that he can do music that isn't as cliche'd as Ian made out in his review. While the whole dedication to AUTOreverse theme is questionable, the tape itself isn't so bad. The first song (dedicated directly to Ian) is "Brain Anus" and it sounds like a couple of 12-year-olds doing a Motorhead cover in the downstairs apartment, using equipment their mothers bought them out of a Sears catalog. Please ditch the tambourine!!! It gets better from there. The rest of the cass is a sort of a throwback to the 1960s, a little surf, a little beatnik, a little rock. Most of it is pleasant stuff. "Tree Of Power" starts off like an out-of-tune UMMAGUMMA-era Floyd tune and then detunes into something far more dour and bitter. Okay. (Soundport PO Box 4233, Greensboro NC 27404 usa) C Reider

BOB SZYMANSKI
Uh... I hate songs about rock and roll, so suffice it to say the first tune of four on this cassette, "Rock And Roll America" was embarassing, to say the least. The second cut, "Because I'm Shy" is an electric country song about a guy who wanted to meet a girl he liked but couldn't because--- say it with me--- "I'm too shy!" (Somebody please shoot me in the head! Good thing I live so far away from California. I really hope he's not singing about meeting his wife. I'm really trying not to be too nasty. Honest.) The third piece is "The Radio," a guitar-accompanied ditty about life and music on the radio. The final treat on this exasperating object is an exercise in the obvious: "If You Take Drugs, You'll Die." I appreciate the sentiments but this is way, way, way too preachy for its own good. A case of the heart being in the right place but not the art. Sorry Bob.
(6688 Dalitz Dr #191, Hydesville CA 95547 usa) John Gore

THE TERMINALS
MEDUSA / SCARECROW 7"
"Medusa" starts off with a drum beat with bass followed by a free form violin for sonic spice. A voice is then added, but what a voice; slowed down and scary. A screeching guitar line is added to this stew producing an eerie effect. "Scarecrow" presents us with distorted guitar playing three guitar chords over and over again accompanied by a 60s-sounding organ, drums and bass. The vocals are reminiscent of The Residents but in a much darker vein. The Terminals are obviously not trying to be too particular in their playing, instead going for a sense of foreboding and darkness. At times reminds me of early Pink Floyd freeform doodling. And that's a compliment, by the way. (Roof Bolt Recordings Box 3565 Oak Park IL 60303 usa) John Gore

THE BIGGER THE GOD
VARIETY CD
Existing at the crossroads of Pulp, Suede and the Smiths. TBTG's songs are grand, guitar-driven pop with a wordy, distinct vocalist. Great songs, great production. About half of these songs could be huge hits, the other half are okay...the disc is a bit long at 15 songs, but every group should be so lucky to have the curse of having so much good material. I like "Shagged," "Cow," and "Unbudgeable" especially, but the ballads were quite good as well. A bit like Morrissey/Marr's finer moments. Well done.
(Outdigo Ste 1, Second Floor, 65 George Street, Oxford OX1 2BE uk) Ian C Stewart

THEE PRETENSIOUS BANDNAME
SPOT THE MISTAKES
Eight enjoyable rock/punk instrumental pieces without the ego of having a lead guitar player making a fool of himself. The ensemble is the important thing here and they play together very well. Finally somone who doesn't give in to the need to fill the void with horrible vocals and inane lyrics just for the sake of having them. The drums are sometimes replaced, sometimes augmented by a drum machine. TPB also shows inventive harmonic and rhythmic sense. With the right label these guys could go far. Any takers out there? Forget about the lyrics, guys. You're doing great as it is.
(PO Box 356, Brunswick 3056, Vic Australia) John Gore

THREESKIN
ONE LESS THAN FORESKIN
One from the archives of current members of Capt. 3 Leg. Dual vocalists going off over a tight, grind-happy metal band. I don't know who Bob Blesh is, but after "Bob Blesh Is God," I'm on his jock too. The recording quality sucks dick, it sounds like every track was bounced about six times, with no Dolby. It's no prob though because the material rules. These guys should've been on Visceral Productions. And "Drunk People Suck" rules too.
(Jack Mackerel Productions 713 Grace St, Ottumwa IA 52501 usa) Ian C Stewart

THY SINISTER BLOOM
FRAGMENT SUNCRY; A SCENTED MEMORIUM
Beautiful atmospheric doom metal. The two epic tracks are over 20 minutes each. TSB is a cross between The Cure and Cathedral (finally!) and Jeff O'Reilly's voice occasionally jumps up from the doom depths into a Geoff Tate range. "Thy Temperate Veil/A Vanity Loss" starts off with some guitar atmospherics before firing up an awesome dirge. It's about 12 BPM and it's more depressing than tomorrow's USA TODAY. I love it. Viva doom!!!
(31 Glentow Road, Whitehall, Dublin 9 Ireland) Ian C Stewart

TODDIO CD
"The main goal Toddio and myself tried to achieve while writing and recording this work was to have fun," says Toddio's collaborator (and apparent brother)Tim. And so they do, in a quasi-tuneless, cathartic sort of way on this EP. "The lyrics are things that really happened or were felt," says Tim. " 'Plop A Trailer Down', 'Fish Heads,' and 'Love & Murder' were written in 1990 while Toddio was spending time in a mental hospital in Kentucky." "Trailer" is a lament for "the working poor...nothing to live for, no end in sight." With a nod to the Barnes & Barnes novelty song, Toddio's "Fish Heads" is a lament for his fish, who perished while he was out of town: "If you can't relate go away, die then just like my fish." In "Love & Murder" he's obsessed with, yes, love and murder. "She's So Sweet" and "Toddio's Revenge" date from 1988 but evidently Toddio's mental stability wasn't much better back then. In the first, he's rapping on downers about love in a world of UV rays, acid rain, carbon monoxide and other delights. "Revenge" is Toddio at his campiest with a monster-movie soundtrack of metacynicism. "Safe sex, job security, clean environment, nuclear disarmament...I just want to consume everything in this world...for all the children to take care of all the shit I messed up before I die."
Toddio's emoting may be in fun but it's convincing. Meanwhile, Tim provides some dark electric guitar, bass and drums, all sympathetic to the vocal anguish. And hey! There's a bonus track: Radio Montage. 3:10 of samples mostly taken from WLAC in Nashville. Talk show hosts, evangeslists, maybe Andrew Dice Clay, stuff from Body Count's "KKK Bitch," rantings about pop music, a veritable stew of hypocrisy.
(Todd Blain 4871 Hyde Rd, Springfield TN 37172 usa) River Pearl

TOOFLESS 7"
"Bitter Pork" is a drumless white boy rap thing with guitars. "Toll Collector" is some WACK white boy rap with drums and a bass line. "Didn't Get Any" is a long sound-experimentation piece. There's a song in there under all the cut-ups, I think. "Bertha Kids" is the lamest WWB rap here-- acoustic guitar and bass with a toy keyboard. Sounds like they're not even trying.
(Model Rocket 382 George St, NB NJ 08901 usa) Ian C Stewart

TOMORROW NEVER CAME II CD comp
Darkwave: it's a gothic reinvention of the new wave music of the early 80s. Seems like a great idea. Looks great on paper. Most of these groups are from Germany but they sing in English and it sounds kinda silly. Sprockets, anyone? E-Craft's "Play My Game" sounds like Front 242, period. Dynamic Masters have the music part down, but the vocal delivery is abysmal. Their "Fire" is a thumping techno track with the dumbest, whiniest vocalist I've heard in a long time. "Modern Babylon" sounds like a rad old Erasure or Depeche Mode track. The vocals are mixed lower and there's a female backing vocalist that really saves the day. This should've been their only track on this disc. An Unknown Command's "Truncheon Reign" sounds slightly, vaguely like Human League's "Sound Of The Crowd." Nova Galaxie Robotnik offer more of the synths/samples/live drums mixture that I enjoyed so much in the last issue of AUTO. The Caves are missing the new wave elements but their "Expectant" is certainly dark. And lovely. And I'm not just saying that because of the godly chorused fretless bass action either. Piano, live drums, several guitars and Robert Smith's sulking offspring on vocals make this the best song on the disc. Venus Fly Trap lends a bit of techno-infused guitar rock on "Pulp Sister." Atropine gets all Laibach on "Suckled Earth": slow, cinematic and menacing sample frenzy. In Absentia's "The Undead" sounds like Nitzer Ebb after the prozac runs out. Bilder Ohne Rahmen's "Der Traum" is a touching piano ballad. Simorgh rounds out this disc with some light industrial mayhem. The Caves are good and there were a couple other moments that were good, but there's a lot of utter crap on here too.
(Soundbuster PO Box 25 D-74039 Heilbronn Germany) Ian C Stewart

TORTURE CHAMBER
GRUNTSPLATTER
BISECT split
Torture Chamber does distorted sound fuckery. Low frequency sound assault complete with Hitler samples and instructional speeches on various aspects of warfare. Sequenced synths provide some semblance of order, but the rest of the action is a bit chaotic. And ungodly harsh. MAN. Gruntsplatter's Scott Candey is also the sole perpetrator behind Cinder Skin, so you know you're in for some scary shit on his side of this splitter. "14FI" starts off all mechanized and overdriven like most of the Cinder Skin stuff. "Beneath The Landfill" is pure guitar sonics. Give your ears 90 minutes of hell.
(Crionic Mind 3841 4th Ave #266, San Diego CA 92103 usa) Ian C Stewart

TRANCE LUCID
ARISE CD
There is a special place in Hell reserved for Yanni, Kenny Gee-it's time-to-curl-my-hair-again, Andreas Wollenweider, Wynton Marsalis, Sting, John Tesh, George Winston, David Lanz, Klaus Schulze and Trance Lucid honcho Dave Halverson. By crikey, even the name Trance Lucid is appallingly banal, right up there with "the Starland Vocal Band." This CD contains what I would classify as "EZ-2" music: EZ-2 play, for anyone with an iota of guitar chops; EZ-2 listen to, perfect for brain-massaging affluent white capitalists at the end of another stressed-out day spent horribly mismanaging our planet's resources. Imagine all the plastic trees that had to be melted down to make a thousand copies of this compact disc! Shudders! Rock without the roll, jazz without the soul. (Say, that rhymes! I can take over Bono's day job now.) On the upside, this is a very professionally-recorded, polished-sounding instrumental album, the musical equivalent of cubic zirconium. It seems pretty at first but there's nothing of real value here. I'd bet that several thousand people around the world would be willing to spend their unearned cash on this album. Once he gets signed to Narada, Hearts Of Space or Windham Hill, Mr Hallverson will be well on his way to having a PBS special filmed live in concert at Red Rocks. Can the world be as sad as it seems?
(Altra Mix 9648 Olive St Rd, Box 348, St Louis MO 63132 usa) Thomas Sutter

FRANCO TURRA
COMPLIMENTI
Franco Turra first came to my attention by way of his contribution to the XTC tribute tape SKYLACKING with "Erba." This was a root-and-branch reconstruction of the classic "Grass," in Italian, yet! What a fabulous rearrangement, evoking images of European peasants recreating (and possibly procreating) in a village square. Doublets and jerkins abounded... While the European peasants come out to frolic again in COMPLIMENTI, the most noticeable influence on these new tracks is XTC circa SKYLARKING and ENGLISH SETTLEMENT. "Serpente Di Qual Che Giorno" displays these influences proudly, particularly in the use of acoustic instruments and percussion. And it also includes a coda that wouldn't be out of place on a Dukes Of Stratosphear album. And Franco is the only vocalist I've heard who can successfully take on Andy Partridge on the vocal gymnastics parallel bars and still sound original. Bellissimo. But wait, Franco has also been listening to the boys from Mount Temple Comprehensive also; "Mica Tu"evokes pleasant (?) memories of U2's ACHTUNG BABY. Certain moments grate, however; "Una Gran Costanza" sounds too much like the Pistols doing "Stepping Stone" (watch them vocal cords, Franco...). The exclusive use of Italian lyrics is an obvious impediment to international success (sad, but true) but Franco has the compositional and arranging talent to produce a cracker of an instrumental album that would undoubtedly have wide appeal. And if he's stuck for an English-language lyricist, he can always give me a call. Or maybe he'd better off with somebody good... All in all, on the basis of COMPLIMENTI, we certainly won't be kicking Franco Turra out of bed for eating crackers.....
(via Castiglione 91, 40136 Bologna Italy) Daniel Prendiville

VAFFAN COULO
DI-GYMRAEG YNG NGHYMRU 7"
Welsh postpunk anyone? The title-track-A-side sounds like Wire bemoaning the way Welsh bands often sell out by singing in English so non-Welsh-speaking folk can understand them. Oddly enough, on the very next track Vaffan Coulo sell out by singing in English on "Rich Woman Will You Marry Me," and "OJ Simpson." "Rich Woman" is an extra-large pogo number with the lyric "job satisfaction must mean being a porno star." Oh lordy. "OJ" proves nothing except that this stupid topic has escaped no one. Despite the mundane matter at hand, the song is an entertaining country-style rave up like the Dead Kennedys' version of "Rawhide." Kinda cute but I prefer the Welsh shit. Moral: don't sell out.
(N Redfern 10 Trem Yr Wyddfa, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2ER Wales) Ian C Stewart

VOCODE
MATRIX CD
This is pure 80s new wave, new romantic retro. The vocal delivery reminds me of OMD. First off let me say that I didn't like this CD very much. Don't get me wrong, there are good things to say about it. They had interesting sounds and I appreciated the fact that they left spaces for the sounds to shine through. And they actually did some interesting drum machine programming, unlike some bands that just turn the thing on and let it go on its merry way through an entire song with nary a change. What killed this for me was the singer (isn't that always the case? Listen up all you Mtv wannabes). Oh, he's alright for a time but after awhile his voice starts to grate on you. Another problem is that the songs are almost all in the same key. The vocalist sings around the same five notes on every song rendering the tunes (what there are of them) the same for each song. By the sixth tune I was hitting the skip function on my CD player after about one minute. Not a good sign. If they'd just concentrate on fixing the monotony of the vocal lines they'd have something.
(Sonique Records PO Box 91 Maryland Line MD 21105 usa)
John Gore

VORTICE CREMISI
Hard-hitting melodic rock. Not quite heavy metal, they're on a similar plane to Pearl Jam or Alice In Chains, etc. the English lyrics don't always work ("Garden Of True"?) but the music is competent and aggressive. "Today" has some very nice dynamics and the drummer gets a bit of double-kick going. The singer does a decent approximation of an American accent. Not terribly original, but very earnestly played.
(Massimo Di Prenda via Monte S. Michele 3, 60124 Ancona Italy)
Ian C Stewart

WARSER GATE
ALL MY HATES, ALL MY HANGUPS LP
Raw rock action. "Blind Side Of A Calling Card" has a slow pimp groove to it. The guitars get some cool licks going. "World Free Of Clique And Pretension" is uptempo dirty rockin'. Snarly, early Stones-in-leather Brian Jones vibe. "Dig Deep For Hollow Ground" has a stumpy groove. It works. "Draws You In" is a Stooges-style slow track. The guitars on "Buffers Retro-sit" sound thirty years old. Vintage, maaaaaan. Quite enjoyable.
(Rafter 206 Westdale Lane, Gedling, Nottingham NG4 4FT UK)
Ian C Stewart

WARSER GATE
LOADED & SHAKEN 7"
Side A is a rushed swing which sounds like LOOP-- a grubby windtunnel of guitars and noises and a hint of psychedelia. You know the sort. Sounds like three bucks, etc. "In Yer Face Didn't Fit" continues similarly and reminds this empty brain of the Doors. It's that singer, man. Not his voice as much as how he uses it. The single does rock a bit. And sounds distorted at any level. Not bad. (Induce Records 21 Farndale Rd, Knaresborough, N Yorks HG5 0NY UK) Ian C Stewart

WARSER GATE
REVERED LIES PART 1
Throw the Flaming Lips, Gene Loves Jezebel, and Nirvana into a musical blender, and I'm sure Warser Gate is bound to come out in a nice, big, frothy, mass of alterna-punk. This by far is the quintessential "go to your favorite smelly, old, sticky-floored cheap beer kind of club" to go see these guys. It seems like it would be their perfect gig. They're loud, raw, and definitely talented. This was a great tape from beginning to end. It has that pissed-off, UK feel to it, which makes it cooler. "Generation Wipeout" was the first song, and let me just say it full-on rocks. It seems so rare these days to hear something that is cool all the way through. They're like a Snickers, yeah, just like that they satisfy. Kev Flynn has got some vicious vocals happening here. I'm picturing this leather-clad punk boy with purple Docs. The whole band seems to fit together perfectly. I would definitely recommend checking them out and I know you will, so here's a few songs you should listen to: "Shuskm Jupit," "Digger's Paradise," "Submerged Ego," and "Figurehead."
(41 Kenrick Rd. Mapperley Nottingham NG3 6HQ UK) Chrissy Taylor

WAY OUT: THE SOUND OF UM! comp
whacked-out noize shit. Expose Your Eyes go static-crazy on the purely-static "Acceptance Feature." Children At Play's "Sandhopper In A Storm" is feedback processed through a digital delay. Melancthon "Different Kind": Sunday morning Gregorian chants mixed with boombox recording of someone's new casio noodling with a silly voiceover. The other 20 tracks on this seemingly endless tape drove me up the fucking wall like nothing else this month. You have no idea. Okay, Kylie: you win. I'm a pussy.
(Kylie 11 Shelley Rd, Bath BA2 4RJ UK) Ian C Stewart

WHO MOVED THE GROUND?
GOOD QUESTION CD5
extremely melodic guitar pop. "Mother" is well-served by the dual-vocalist action. It has a snazzy post-Madchester shuffle to it. "Subject To Change" has a late-Smiths swing and a nice vocal harmony. Too much percussion though-- more than one cowbell or woodblock in a song makes it sound like a novelty record. "Truth" starts off a bit like the godly Chameleons, then cops a light reggae groove. This should've been track 1. Very pleasing stuff.
(42a Park Rd, Farnborough, Hants. GU14 6LG UK) Ian C Stewart

WHO MOVED THE GROUND?
IF PLEASURE WAS ILLEGAL CD
From the first vigorous acoustic strums of the title track, it becomes apparent that staying seated during this CD5 will be an impossibility. Deleteriously delerious guitar pop with a sickeningly catchy chorus. "Hail Mary" is 2 1/2 minutes of jumpy, wordy singalong punkpop. Usually the type of thing to get launched out the window at a passing bus, but WMTG? do it right. Skip the skathetic "4 Steps" and head back to the airpunching pop of the title track, which was thoughtfully tacked on to the end of the single in its full-length form. If it's airpunchingly good once, it's airpunchingly good two times and I mean that.
(Riot/Clone PO Box 2795 London NW10 9AY UK) Ian C Stewart

THE WRATHFUL AND THE SULLEN
SAD AND GRAVE
I quote the credits: "David Noir: sequencers, samplers, sound manipulations, aural coloration and concept ideology. An Anonymous Florentine Suicide: passages, chants, mood alterations and creative deceptions," no less! After such a remarkable display of pomp one would expect good music. Et alors? In four "songs" that all sound exactly alike, the Florentine Suicide recites sad and gloomy lyrics in a near monotone, clearly trying to sound like someone who has just dug himself out of his grave without smudging his precious Gothic makeup or his black nail lacquer. The background is all "ethereal" atmospheric sounds, distant drum machines (so distant he must have left them in Florentine), cries, whispers, and a rather irritating echo. The whole thing is very stylish and very boring. Background music for goths. Which is a pity because The Anonimo Suicida Fiorentino actually has a very beautiful voice, and his happy pal creates fascinating sounds. Instead of wasting their potential by desperately wanting to sound like Diamanda Galas' little nephews, they should have written proper songs, things with rhythm and a tune, something more commercial. (I can clearly imagine the disdain and horror on their pale faces.) Now that would have been very, very interesting. (Ishnigarrab 10820 Stone Canyon #1222, Dallas TX 75230 usa)
Paola Sorrentino

YAK BRIGADE / TWERP
I didn't love this tape, but I did like it-- a lot more than I expected to. The artist known on the A side as Yak Brigade starts off with a burst of percussion and shouting like a train bearing down on you; then it turns to more angularly melodic almost-pop; and so it goes, a study in creative cacophony. He jumps from "Have, Have, Have"--a tornado of guitars and electronic shrapnel-- to "Canaan's Bathroom," delicious, jangly Old Testament nonsense about being led to the chose bathroom, "you will never need to clean its surfaces, for every surface will be clean, and you'll never need to defog the mirror, for every mirror will be clean..." "Holka Polka" mutates a real polka into pure punk. "South Of Tuluatin" is a nightmare ice cream man arguing with an insect electric guitar. "Still, Still, Still"'s bass and guitar prowl the still of the night in a full moon electronic folk nocturne. "Tornado Warning" serves up loopy, aggressive buzziness, and "Mean Xylophone" is 14 seconds of rabid toy xylophone, based on a song from ... the Captain and Tenille?!! Can't say I know that one. YB/T's Twerp personality dominates the other side, continuing the montage of sly pop and manic madness. His vocal is at times downright introspective, as on "Lope With Me." he beats out a Ramonesian "1, 2, 3, 4" to launch "Rock Out Persephone" and "Vacuum Cleaner Noise. Yeah, it does sound like vacuum cleaner noise, but better. "Down With Twerp" must be YB/T's catharsis-- seven minutes and 48 seconds of alternating toy xylophone, random hammering and piano banging, shouts of "down with Twerp," all seemingly related to Twerp's insert anecdote about doing time on the high school football team.
(Catsup Plate PO Box 303 Swarthmore PA 19081 usa)
River Pearl

YEN POX
HOLLOW EARTH 7"
The playable side of this one-sided single sounds like traffic on wet pavement in a wind tunnel. scary/mellow bit of howling noise as well. Beautiful dark ambience.
(Cohort Records 247 Sullivan #403 Oshkosh WI 54901 usa)
Ian C Stewart

ZOINKS!
THE GAIN split 7"
The Gain: if Perry Farrell couldn't hit the high notes. band: indistinct. Like it not much. How did they make a 33.3 spinner seem to take so long? Gosh I hope Zoinks! are better. Oh it's over now. I'd rather see Zoinks! live, but only for free beer. There are 24 exclamation points in their press release. Also of note, the words "rock," "pop" and "punk" each appear twice. Wow!
(Rhetoric Records PO Box 82, Madison WI 53701 usa)
C Reider