London bliss-rockers Kontakte continue their journey into the outer reaches of motorik rhythms and chimingly elevated guitar work with an EP which works around the theme in differing ways. “Superbug” itself boils over with tightly-wound energy, surging from twinkly psychedelic guitar melodies which dive off into shoegaze metal territory on a bedrock of cascading, [...]
Hailing from Hackney, The Cesarians have been packing out gigs for a while now, their frenetic live performances assuring them of a huge cult following (I thought I had a huge cult following once; unfortunately it turned out to be a typo. [...]
From the Comets on Fire school of sunshine-and-reverb-addicted, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink meltingpot psych come Crystal Antlers, the band with possibly the most unjustly off-putting name of the year. If you’re interested, the contest for the band with the most deservedly off-putting name of the year is currently a dead [...]
Israeli rock bands – I’ll bet’cha can’t name two. I’ve got a theory that countries with compulsory military service always have rubbish music scenes, because there just aren’t enough bored kids hanging around to start bands and go to gigs and buy records and [...]
Pan Sonic's extirpated crackle and hiss approaches the low end of dub with a fiercely deracinated edge, not so far removed from the stepping imperative as might perhaps be assumed from its harsh extremity. This is the sound of oscillators and radio noise in decaying mutual orbits, the capture and re
Pica Disk
This release is the first in the Jazkamer 2010 Monthly Series. A card accompanying the CD states: “One new Jazkamer album on Pica Disk every month of 2010. One year of music and anti-music.”
Perfomed by the two founders and regular members Lasse Marhaug and John Hegre, plus Jean-
Queen Elizabeth Hall
South Bank Centre, London
7th May 2000
It's City Slang's birthday - ten years old and going stronger than ever at the interface of good old-fashioned Post-Indie Rock, Country dispatches from the edge and exuberent German Electronica. Tonights show is the first London event,
The Klinker
The Sussex, London
20 September 2001
Well, The Klinker was its normal inchoate self: the irrepressible Hugh Metcalfe yelling "We start in ten minutes" as a half dozen apparently unrelated machine operators tinker with toy tape recorders, laptops, bits of wiring, large wineglass
The Underworld, London
15 July 2008
The first time I came across Part Chimp, a few years back, they were tipped as The Loudest Band in London, but now that the reanimated corpse of My Bloody Valentine has reclaimed that title with its rotting, maggoty fingers, Part Chimp have mellowed a little.
Irregular #5
The South Bank Centre, London
8th-10th April 1999
The last five to ten years have seen an exponential rise in the number of intriguing events at London's premier Arts Council-funded cultural centre on the South Bank of the River Thames, thanks to an innovative booking policy and th
Bobby Conn;
The Sex Hunter
Shim Sham Club, New Orleans
12th November 2000
Again, a third way around the world and this time for Bobby Conn. This is the Shim Sham Club, 615 Toulouse Street. A round of jokes on that one and 19,000 Heart Association convention goers available to egg it on ("Why a
Label: Creation Format: CD,LP
"The time to rise has been engaged" - REM
It has occurred to me on more than just this one occasion that giving our seers and soothsayers money to throw about is often not the best thing for them. Witness the fate of Roxy Music and Johnny Rotten, Jefferson Airp
Kranky
I have to admit I'd never heard of Disappears before this record landed in my lap, so I looked them up online. (Research, see? Professionalism and that. That's what seperates us real professional music writer types from the blogroll masses.) A noisy Chicago four-piece, refugees from the sa
The Forum, London
19 July 2004
It's a point that's already been made, I'm sure, but there's at least something to be said for the otherwise abhorrent War Against Terror. Just look, or rather listen, to what's going on. As well as the politicisation of once-apathetic masses, the already-politicis
The Garage, London
9 April 2004
It's good to know Thrash is alive and well and kicking up a stir, and tonight The Garage is graced with a queue down the street and eventually with a venue full of The Kids, Heavy Metal or otherwise, almost visibly churning with excitement at the prospect of a ni
April 2000
I arrived at this gig a little late and in much overdone panic. First of all we were in South London, and more importantly, I had forgotten to pick up a blank tape to record this interview on. As soon as I located Arrington de Dionyso, which took about twenty seconds in the dimly
9, 15, 17, 21 October 2003
The South Bank Centre, London
The Mind Your Head festival for 2003 is subtitled "Exploring new meanings in sacred music", though this seems more of a loose thread connecting the line-up together somewhat tenuously. However, the intriguing double bill which opens the se
Trash @ The End, London
11 February 2002
The End is a fairly bad venue for a live gig. The room where Bobby Conn is playing tonight is wide but not deep enough to hold the capacity crowd who have sweated their way into the bar area to witness Chicago's favourite Judeo-Christian Edutainer develop
Minor Fall Records
This is an EP that really wants you to like it from the moment you see the sleeve. It screams “Hey, I'm friendly, we could hang out and play Swingball!” First off you get a really endearing picture of a smiling jukebox as the sleeve art, and then the CD itself is pretendi
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Casa Del Popolo, Montréal
16 September 2009
Another Alien8 extravaganza at Casa Del Popolo in Montréal: guaranteed visceral jiggling with nice folks who make confrontational music.
A pan
The Peel Sessions Live
Queen Elizabeth Hall,The South Bank Centre, London
19th March 1999
John Peel's here! John fucking Peel's here! And he's still the coolest old guy in England! For his Peel Sessions Live gigs, he's chosen to host a Digital Hardcore Night! AT THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL! Ho
Aalfang Mit Pfederkopf - Mezethakia Mukabalatt
Label: Aalfang Format: CD
Bit of a weird one, this - even by the usual standards. It consists of two tracks, the first ("Geschwärtzte Milch" - blackened milk) lasting four minutes long and sounding a bit like late Swans in strummy guitar instrument
Drag City
The foundations of rock music are built on strata that have long eroded for all but the most credulous. It was initially fun, sexual and swaggering; angry, rebellious and irreverent; energetic, spontaneous and irrepressible; extrovert, engaged and innovative. Decades of mishandling by
The Institute for Contemporary Arts, London
30 January 2008
Here is my ATP festival experience. I always seem to miss the bands that I wind up liking the most. So, having missed Fuck Buttons at The Nightmare Before Christmas I wasn't going to miss them again when they came to Ithe CA, and they mor
ULU, London
26th May 2005
Okay, here's the usual disclaimer. I'm not going to be objective. In the slightest. Michael Gira's been a hero of mine for many years now, and this was the first time I got to see him live. So forgive me if I don't give it the whole fair and balanced thing in the follow
Guinea Pig
The Buffalo Bar, London
16 March 2003
The Guinea Pig club's second outing finds the experiment being performed through the strange filter of Hyper Kinako, an Anglo-Japanese power Punk Pop band. As they've apparently got classical training to back up their skittish riffs and obscure l
Ka - Terrarium
Label: Jazzassin Format: 2x7"
The exquisite paper, smelling of the tire it represents on the cover - "Superior 2000". Confidence. The vinyl is clear - the speed at which it is to be played is not. So, this re view comes at you from 33 rpm.
It is as if one is standing at the roa
15th Anniversary Show
Queen Elizabeth Hall,
South Bank Centre, London
4th December 2000
As usual, I arrived at this show in a rush, a little late and with no idea of what to expect. Straight into complete darkness and tracked by lovely ambient sounds and an over-zealous usher trying to get me
Label: Chalice Format: CD,2LP
1. As I reclined in my sketchy little world and allowed the gasses to go to my head, I became overpowered with the notion that I was being carried away. Silly flashes of Communion-like images of alien beings lifting me and placing me against soft chrome and sprayin
Full Time Hobby
It seems like only a few months ago that there was an ill-fated, though entirely well-intentioned, campaign on popular young people's stalking tool Facebook for Malcolm Middleton's cheery doom and gloom singalong “We're All Gonna Die” (from the album) to be the Christmas numbe
Club Mesa Costa Mesa, California
19th December 2000
AA23 opened the night, and I thought they had some really, REALLY nice moments. but things did seem a bit sloppy and loose at points - especially with the excessive scratching (which when ON - was wonderful.. but less is more when it comes to s
The Astoria, London
7th September 2000
Ween are one of those bands who emboby the Indie dream, the American Dream even. Starting out as lo-fi geeks with too much time, dope and a four track recorder on their hands, they turned their undoubted talents to warped and wonderful ends over the last te
LA2, London
25th October 1999
Prepared and hyped for Atari Teenage Riot, I was ready to hear loud fast music. What a treat it was that the fun started long before ATR ever came on. Other girls have done this, face it, MANY other boys have done this too, but something just chimes right for Lolita
Crystal Antlers - Crystal Antlers EP
Touch and Go
From the Comets on Fire school of sunshine-and-reverb-addicted, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink meltingpot psych come Crystal Antlers, the band with possibly the most unjustly off-putting name of the year. If you’re interested, the contest for
93 Feet East, London
9 July 2001
"Bosses, They're all cunts, pricks wankers and shits - does anyone here like their boss?" Well, those were similar words to the ones I muttered when Simon Breed nearly trampled me in his stampede to the bar pre-showtime. He was allegedly referring to his boss,
Pacou - Symbolic Language Remixes
Label: Tresor Format: 12"
Once again, we can rely on Tresor to der the goods. Think Jeff Mills, think Adam Beyer. Pacou is in that vein, with a slab of tough minimal techno. Symbolic Language Remixes is a belting EP, nasty hard and fucking groovesome. It sweats
The Spitz, London
26 April 2001
The I/O event at The Spitz was a little bit of a nerd-fest (meant in the best possible way), as several generations of audio technophiles opened up their various laptop computers and let rip with the best in glitchry they could muster for the occasion. To a shift
Label: Ralph (America)/EuroRalph (Europe) Format: DVD, CD (soundtrack only)
There have been plenty of strange and powerful musicians and groups out there for many a long year. Captain Beefheart, Coil, Wesley Willis, Ken Nordine an so forth, each extending the realms of taste and disrupting th
Miriam de Waard - Voor Elise (an electronic welcome)
Label: Staalplaat Format: 3" CD
Rhythmic ratcheting enters from the fog and brings it along besides. Fuer Elise - but only the most familiar of the notes. Plinky bells tinker along, as if trying to catch up with its larger, more melodious brot
Pica Disk
The May edition of Jazkamer's monthly series starts with an almost twenty minute long drone track. It's very deep dark and with mellow synth sounds to start with, moving about in my headphones, almost without recognising it, the track creeps upon me, moving more, being more intense and
The Dublin Castle, London
16th October 1998
+Penthouse;
Stoke Newington, London
17th October 1998
There can be few experiences as strange or as wonderful as when Bobby Conn and band show up in town in a flurry of wigs, imposture and post-Glam Rock attitude. Truly an eventful, landmark kind of
Brigadisco
Instrumental surf music seems to be making something of a comeback this year, and a most welcome one too. I’ve recently thrilled to the live sounds of excellent Welsh twangsters Y Niwl on a couple of occasions and now the tide has just washed up this split 12” featuring two groups
Dakar & Grinser - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Label: Disko B Format: 12"
Those Electro funsters Dakar & Grinser are at it again, this time ripping into one of the most covered of all songs. It turns out that "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is a prime candidate for the drum machine and 303 pulse treatment.
Kosmische Club @ The Garage, London
8 June 2002
Circle look worryingly like they're going to play pub-Rock covers of Judas Priest - but fortunately nothing could be further from the truth. Finland's finest space rockers (with the emphasis on the rock) have all the churning drive of Hawkwin
The Social, Nottingham
30 May 2001
The first act were Floach, an electronics duo from ScoobyDooLand. With a table full of electronic contraptions that would have made Throbbing Gristle drool (and a hairstyle that would have frightened Dave Hill from Slade), they cooked up a glorious electronic
The Cesarians - Flesh Is Grass/Woman
Imprint
Hailing from Hackney, The Cesarians have been packing out gigs for a while now, their frenetic live performances assuring them of a huge cult following (I thought I had a huge cult following once; unfortunately it turned out to be a typo. When
The Kosmische Club
Upstairs At The Garage, London
28 July 2001
For the Kosmische Club's fifth birthday, the party hats, balloons and banners have been brought out to celebrate half a decade of putting on one of the best clubs in London, if not the country and possibly the world. A touch of
Family Vineyard
While improvisation and social activity are natural bedfellows, improvisation and relationship can be a trickier proposition. It’s a reasonable – albeit vaguely fundamentalist – argument to say that familiarity is antithetical to improvisation; the former is about learned r
The Slimelight, London
1 November 2003
The Pressure Point, Brighton
2 November 2003
The Legendary Pink Dots return to their founders' home country after an absence of a good few years is always a welcome event - that they then play two gigs in a mini-micro tour is an added bonus. First surpris
Mind Your Head
Royal Festival Hall, London
1 October 2002
Following an introduction which emphasizes the psychedelic nature of the selection of musicians and bands from Glenn Maxx, the South Bank Centre's mastermind for the Mind Your Head season, Coil emerge on stage bathed in UV light, their
Welcome to Freq.
Freq was founded on 1 April 2008, and the main focus of Freq for the last decade and more has been on the bastardized forms of music which are polluting Millennial culture so nicely - the forms which offer innovation, eccentricity and unashamed noise. Resistance to the pervading
David Pajo;
Robin Guthrie;
Pole;
Labradford
Queen Elizabeth Hall
South Bank Centre, London
24th June 2000
This year's Festival of Drifting sees each participant playing all in one night as a national tour, as opposed to the previous two years when performances were spread out over the cours
The Spitz, London
24th July 2000
First off, any further mention of the fact that Dry & Heavy are a Japanese Reggae band can largely be dispensed with; so they are Japanese, not Jamaican. Well, there are Reggae and Dub groups from all over now - the Czech Republic, the Basque Country, Texas e
The Peel Sessions Live
Queen Elizabeth Hall, The South Bank Centre, London
3rd June 1999
The ongoing, haphazard selection by John Peel for his live Sessions continues with the welcome return of Stereolab to live performance after an absence of a year or so. Peel comperes in his usual style, jov
Stop The Panic
The Spitz, London
28th February 2000
O! if all nights out could be so entertaining! A New Orleans style jam session set up between avuncular B.J. Cole (occasional collaborator with Spiritualized) and chin-pierced Electro Bohemian Luke Vibert (sometimes Wagon Christ and Plug) and
Thrill Jockey
Wow, this is a really different kind of Trans Am album. But wow in general, too, it's also a pretty fucking great album. The first thing that struck me about Thing was its soundtrack-like quality. At points it is more like a vision of Blade Runner rather than the electro rock we
The Underworld, London
10 and 12 February 2008
The day after a chunk of Camden Market burnt down, Southern Lord's finest black metal act touch down in The Underworld. Thankfully the conflagration was at the other end of the High Street, so the gig continued as scheduled with the only hint that s
Label: Music Video Distributors Format: DVD (Region 0, NTSC)
Blind Eye Sees All is a true classic of the live music video genre, and now receives a long-awaited DVD release via those thoroughly hardworking people at Music Video Distribution. So why is it essential? Apart from featuring the world'
The Dublin Castle, London
17th April 1999
Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, Mr. Quintron is a genuine musical eccentric - but more on him in a moment. First up was partner Miss Pussycat and her amazing puppet show. Presented from inside a pink and glittery puppet booth, Springtime In Yeahsvil
Po Na Na's, London
2nd November 1998
Po Na Na's is a bit of a new venue in London, emerging from underneath a pub on the increasingly busy (musically as well as with traffic) Highbury Corner, and decorated in a faux-Moroccan style which actually suits the sounds emerging from The Third Eye Found
Anal;
Ash Ra Tempel;
Brain Donor;
Coil;
Julian Cope;
Groundhogs;
Kid Strange;
Queen Elizabeth
The South Bank Centre, London
1st-2nd April 2000
Since this two-day festival in the South Bank Centre is essentially Julian Cope's entry in the venue's largely excellent series of Mini-Meltdowns
Corsica Studios, London
2nd May 2007
Looking like refugees from several different bands who all met up in a jail cell after a drunken night gone horribly wrong, it's north London's finest pirate bar band Owlls, and they really should be playing in Tortuga in the 17th Century rather than Elephant &
(Dirter)
Hmm. Nurse With Wound. Nurse With Wound, Nurse With Wound, Nurse With Wound. What to say? Writing about Nurse With Wound is like trying to nail a jellyfish to the fourth wall. After what seems like over nine thousand albums of surrealist sound sculptures, Stephen Stapleton (and partners
The Mean Fiddler, London
27 April 2003
I'll be honest: I went for Peaches. Her 93ft East show last year was one of the most bacchanalian gig experiences I've had in recent years, a benevolent riot of loud, fired sexuality and abandon. But, truth be told, I'd really enjoyed the lyrical audacity /
Pica Disk
The Monroe Doctrine is the March edition of Jazkamer's 2010 monthly abum series. This CD is a 30 minute track with full on noise rock free jazz improv beat hysteria. Performers are the regular four piece of Gross, Hegre, Marhaug and Drønen. Beautiful artwork by José De Diego.
To ma
The Bloomsbury Theatre, London
6-7th April 2001
Perhaps if Billie Holliday had received nuptial visits from the spirit of La Cage Aux Folles and produced an offspring, that might explain how the universe has been blessed with Antony. Perfoming live for two nights in London in support of Curre
Thrill Jockey
Are Tortoise feeling their age? Beacons of Ancestorship, their sixth album and first album proper in five years, is littered with references to age. Ancestorship is a reasonable pointer, with Tortoise being the ancestors of course. And the title "Prepare Your Coffin" is pretty expli
Imprint
If John Peel were still with us today, he would undoubtedly love Monkey Island. Straddling the aesthetics of his own Dandelion label and his beloved Ron Johnson Records, this Hackney-based group may be the hitherto undiscovered (and indeed unsearched for) missing link between Stackwaddy a
Royal Festival Hall
South Bank Centre, London
25th October 2000
Faust were originally asked to improvise a live score to F.W. Murnau's classic expressionist retelling of the Dracula story for an outdoor vampire film festival in Germany a few years back. For some reason the promotors asked them
The Tape-beatles - Synthety No. 5: Good Times
Label: Staalplaat Format: CD
Stepping to an appropriately martial, mechano-deconstructed beat, The Tape-beatles' Good Times weaves a mix of political speech snippets, training-film educational banalities deleivered with the wooden certitude of a rigi
The Garage, London
7 May 2002
There's been a fair amount of good press come Bobby Conn's way since he last visited these shores in February. Appreciative album and live reviews in the national papers. A full page photo (wearing a lurid 80's shellsuit) and enthusiastic write-up from Ted Kessler in t
Rachel's - Selenography
Label: Quarterstick Format: CD
Rachel's may be the logical conclusion of the tradition of Tortoise and Slint. This is not to say that they sound like either of these bands, but rather that one may trace an evolution in contemporary American music from a highly developed N
Pure Pop For Now People
Along comes the latest release from PPFN, the label run by Joachim Gaertner of German psyche/kraut powerhouse group S/T, and it's another that explores the territory somewhere on the borders of electronica and a peculiar concept of pop music. As with most of PPFNs releases
