REVIEWS

von bondiesThis is a polished, occasionally anthemic, slice of 'indie' music cut from the cookie cutter template established in the mid-90s. The guitars are shiny and precise, the vocal chants have half an eye on the big stadiums, the drums are tight and energetic, the bass lines have that classic picked sound that's been around since the Pixies. The record overall reminds me a little of the Dandy Warhols, with its 'bohemian' poses and slick shiny surfaces. It is a sound that was getting old 10 years ago and now it's just so totally boring. There's no hint of a performance or feel of a group playing together in these polished tracks, everything is carefully placed and the moments of 'emotion' are so choreographed that they utterly fail at having any kind of impact. The tropes of 'indie' music are now so mainstream it's amazing that anyone still sees the point of copying the Velvets, the Pixies, REM or Nirvana (please no)? If bands do insist on copying this sound, they should at least have the balls to make it messy and exciting. Otherwise let's just leave it to Avril Lavigne. -- nick ilott

:: The Von Bondies/Love, Hate and Then There's You - Fierce Panda/Cargo

more moondogMoondog, otherwise occasionally known as the 'The Viking of 6th Avenue' is one of the most famous 'street musicians' of all time. For around 20 years he played his music on the streets of New York dressed in an elaborate costume including a horned helmet. His fans and musical acquaintances included: Charlie Parker, Igor Stravinsky, Steve Reich, Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa. Moondog invented and built an number of instruments specifically for his compositions including the 'trimba' a triangular percussion instrument and the 'oo' a kind of triangular harp. With this incredible backstory and the sense of theatre provided by Moondog's appearance and pronouncements it is difficult to approach his music with an open mind. Luckily, Moondog's music turns out to be as magical and confounding as the context that surrounds it. It is easy to hear the kinship composers such as Steve Reich or Philip Glass would have felt to Moondog's creations. The melodic lines here are clean, tonal and simple. Most compositions have a driving rhythmic feel and the overall impression is eccentrically modern. With a different kind of production, many of these pieces wouldn't sound out of place on a contemporary electronica compilation. The percussion is occasionally redolent of non-Western music, but there is a orderliness, a four-squareness, to the performance that somehow keeps things grounded in the streets of New York. The Moondog Monologue', with its rambling proto-hippyish spoken word associations ('I have just uttered a generalisation ... there is no such thing as up or down'), seems somewhat out of place among the carefully-crafted and short instrumental tracks that make up the majority of this disc, but does allow the listener a broader insight into Moondog's universe than otherwise would have been provided. Moondog's music is beautiful, strange and utterly essential. -- nick ilott

:: Moondog/More Moondog  - Honest Jons/Indigo

thomas belHolding the digi-pack of Toulouse's Thomas Bel debut didn't look too promising. The design looks a bit worn-out, like some neo-classical bullshit. The first sounds didn't push too much farther either, loops laying on each other, reminds me a bit of MAIM old stuff. hmm, something is not working here. BUT - and that's the greatness of this album, is that as long as you keep on listening, you getting sucked in. Like a Bella Tarr movie, it slowly developed, but strongly built, so it hunts you, and makes you play it again. And again. Bel use variety of loops, field reccordings, and acoustic instruments (guitar, cello) and create a minimalistic, floaty late-night haze. This body of work sounds like a combination between William Basinski's melancholic minimalism and Vincent Gallo's ascetic midnight songs. There is a nice contrast between the trimmed samples and the lingering of the live instruments, the hum of the amplifier and the vibration of the strings. For example on the Les Vagues track, a repetitive guitar pluck reverbing slowly through the track back and forth while shakers & crackers samples joining alongside, almost taking over. Through the middle of the records his vocals appears, increasing this melancholic nocturne, making this release a personal and intimate piece. --omer schwartz

:: Thoma Bel - The Birds are still the Monarchs - Annexia CD 07

hungermuzikThis is a collection of music videos created by friends and associates of the group Hunger, a duo from Hamburg. Their music is a cartoony lo fi mix of beats, cheap-sounding keyboards and the occasional squalling guitar. There is a audible jazz influence as well, often taking the form of squawking brass sounds or an occasional hint of swing in the beats. Everything is thrown into the mix from woozy disco, complete with sarcastic-diva vocals, to abrasive bursts of noise. Film music is another reference point and the video makers are given plenty to work from in terms of a varying sense of mood and texture. The videos themselves are an equally mixed bag, ranging from wonky animations to a couple of instances where someone has decided to just play an 80s computer game along to the music. With a little patience there are some thought-provoking pieces to be found here, but too often the video makers have tried to visually mimic the music too literally. Collage and a succession rapidly succeeding cuts can work well musically, but from a visual point of view end up just feeling faintly nauseating. The artists that have the confidence to juxtapose their own, often more contemplative, rhythms against the flurry of notes Hunger provide are altogether more successful. An edited collection of the more interesting videos here would be appealing. Unfortunately, on this DVD the best moments are obscured by the amount of sub standard material included. That DVD has broken my eyes! -- nick ilott

:: Hunger Musik Filme - hungermuzik.de/sozialistischer-plattenbau.org

rhiz.orgLast year the Vienna based venue ‘Rhiz’ was celebrated its 10th anniversary by compiling a selection of live tracks from shows spanning its first decade. For a live compilation the production is extremely good, sounding more like a studio album. The biggest draw on the compilation is, of course, the inclusion of Fennesz, an artist who is very much at the spearhead of the Austrian experimental scene. His effort explores familiar territory of burning granular guitars beams that seep through a mass of digital distortion. A number of the tracks on the compilation (Gustav, Bulbul, Dieb13 & Nitro Mahalia) are exclusives that have yet to be released on other formats, but aside from the Fennesz piece and the contribution from Pita the tracks were relatively weak and nothing really floated my boat. Both tracks come precisely in the middle of the album so may give you enough impetus to get to its end. I have heard only good things about the venue and their progressive set up of streaming all live performances on their website. Disappointingly though I’m sure this album doesn’t justifyingly encapsulate what has undoubtedly been 10 years of fine performances in the venue.  --simon harris

:: Rhiz/The Risk Of Burns Exists/10 Yrs Of - rhiz.org

balf quarryThe insolent slouch of the Magik Markers' music owes something to the Rolling-Stones-on-even-more-drugs vibe of Royal Trux, while the influence of their sometime-patrons Sonic Youth is also pretty obvious. But don't mistake these comparisons for a lack of originality; this duo don't sound self-consciously 'arty' and the guitars don't aim for transcendence in the manner of the best Sonic Youth tracks. Balf Quarry has a homemade cobbled-together feel that mitigates the (not infrequent) moments of self indulgence. The sounds are ramshackle and unpolished and there are few concessions to melody or hooks. Despite its uncompromising nature, the Magik Markers music is ultimately grounded in an extremely mutated form of rock and roll. This is rock and roll that you can't really dance to, bang you head to or drive to and I'd be extremely surprised if it was involved in many successful attempts at seduction. However, Bo Diddley's primal throb beats on at the heart of this music – powered by sex and death as well as rumbling drums and grinding guitars. -- nick ilott

:: Magik Markers/Balf Quarry - Drag City/Rough Trade

stuntItalian loopsmith Giuseppe Ielasi returns to his own label Schoolmap for the second of his Stunt EP’s. These EP’s have been a bit of a departure from his early releases on Hapna and 12k, which have seen him ditch the soft guitar electroacoustica in favor of the jittery, loop based works that were introduced on his recent album Aix on 12k. ‘(another) Stunt’ references the likes of Steve Reich or Jan Jelinek’s work with vinyl sourced loops repeating with polyrhythmic intensity against each other. The tracks remain extremely static with the interest lying in the way that the different motifs and loops align each time in subtly shifting ways. Ielasi has already shown a great skill for processing sounds in his earlier works as well as great compositional craft on his albums for 12k. The Stunt EP’s displays a sensitivity to rhythm, pulse and repetition that lovers of tape music and turntablists alike will recognize immediately. He shows great respect to the sound sources by leaving them untouched and whilst the album doesn’t reach the perfectionist heights of ‘August’ (which for me is his finest work), it shows an artist refusing to be fixed to a single style or genre and who is exploring his craft with increasing finesse as each album comes along. -- simon harris

:: Giuseppe Ielasi/(another) Stunt - Schoolmap/A-Musik