Exposé Online » Issue 16

Date : January 1999
Pages : 80
Summary : Present Live, ProgDay '98, Djam Karet w/New Sun, Strange Days '98, Northside Label Overview, Ten Jinn interview, David Cross, Hugh Hopper interview, A Triggering Myth, Amon Duul Megafeature
Items found : 102

Adrian Belew - Belewprints: The Acoustic Adrian Belew Volume Two

The second volume of acoustic performances by King Crimson lead vocalist Adrian Belew is a different reading than Volume One from a few years ago. No bones about it, Belew is a gifted...

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(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-01-01)

Altered States feat. Otomo Yoshihide - Lithuania and Estonia Live

You want insanity and unpredictability? Look no further. This album consists of live recordings by this Japanese group from two different Baltic new music/jazz festivals and two tracks recorded for...  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ohman 1999-01-01)

Andy Summers - The Last Dance of Mr. X

What's this? Former Police-man Andy Summers fronting what is essentially a power trio? And with a backing band consisting of monster bassist Tony Levin and Gregg Bissonette on drums? Perhaps...

 » Read more
(Posted by David Ashcraft 1999-01-01)

Apogee - Sisyphos

Apart from his regular gig as guitarist of Versus X (see our review of Disturbance in #13), multi-instrumentalist Arne Schäfer has created a second disc (1995’s The Border...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Ash Ra Tempel - The Best of the Private Tapes

Ash Ra Tempel is one of the core founder bands of the German space rock movement along with Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. But the group has suffered from less stateside notoriety than those...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-01-01)

Azalia Snail - Escape Maker

Anyone remember when indie rock really was far-out and alternative? Welcome to the lo-fi, do-it-yourself world of Azalia Snail.  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ohman 1999-01-01)

Banda Elástica - Catálogo de Tiraderos

Banda Elástica seem to have been working largely in a genre of their own making down in Mexico; only the short-lived Nazca was anywhere close to what this band was doing. I say...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Bang on a Can - Music for Airports

Ambient music has come a long way since 1978 when innovator Brian Eno drafted his original experiment for use in large international airports. The intent was for passengers to feel good about...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-01-01)

Black Stage - Black Stage

This is a project featuring Keiji Haino (electric guitar, flute, harp, voice), Natsuki Kido (acoustic guitar), and Yuji Katsui (violin) that – despite its release date – was recorded...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Blackmore's Night - Shadow of the Moon

Well, if this album doesn't make you want to run barefoot through the heather I don't know what will. Former axeman for Rainbow and Deep Purple has joined with his Lady to create an utterly enchanting...  » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Body Full of Stars - Falling Angels

Mark Dunn seems like quite a colorful guy. The leader and main songwriter for English group Body Full of Stars writes spirited Afro- and British pop and has a vocal delivery full of English wit and...  » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

Box of Crayons - Colorblind Chameleon

This one took me several listens before I could even begin to pin it down enough to write a review. Covering a wide spectrum of art rock, Box of Crayons are certainly interesting. Their starting point...  » Read more
(Posted by Steve Robey 1999-01-01)

California Guitar Trio - Pathways

The third release from California Guitar Trio finds them on familiar ground and also stretching out a bit. Familiarity is served up on tracks where the trademark CGT formula is in full evidence:...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

Chöying Drolma & Steve Tibbetts - Chö

Fans of Steve Tibbetts, especially those who prefer the world-beat master shredder of Exploded View (1986) or The Fall of Us All (1993), might be a bit put off by this set, a...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 1999-01-01)

Chris Massey / David Castiglione / David Torn - Forever Sharp and Vivid

Torn again! This guy should need no introduction, he’s played with Jan Garbarek, Bill Bruford, Everyman Band, Andy Summers, Polytown, and has produced a number of exceptional albums under his...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Chrome - Retro Transmission

After a lengthy hiatus, Helios Creed has returned with a new Chrome album. Having never heard a Chrome album before I cannot say if this is representative or not. I can tell you one major influence...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Clepsydra - Fears

Swiss quintet Clepsydra sport your typical neo-prog lineup of vocals/guitar/bass/keys and drums and on Fears they hold true to the neo-prog sound. Early Marillion comes to mind, especially on the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

Crises - Broken Glass

OK, another CD from Angular, yet another German Dream Theater clone. I thought the Germans liked Saga but I guess that was the good old days. Broken Glass covers all the requisite bases: James La...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

David Garland - Control Songs

David Garland is one of a rather small group of experimental singer/song writers. They are not cut from same bolt of cloth as, say, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell or James Taylor. Instead, Garland,...

 » Read more
(Posted by David Ashcraft 1999-01-01)

Die Anarchistiche Abendunterhaltung - We Need New Animals

Under this rather long and cryptic (!) name [Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung] is hidden a Belgian band operating in the same areas as Cro Magnon, Maximalist!, Ensemble Nimbus, Miriodor or Palo...  » Read more
(Posted by Jerome Schmidt 1999-01-01)

Die Knödel - Panorama

Well I thought the RIO movement was going trad. on us when L'Ensmeble Rayé's last CD hit the shelves, but now they really have gone and done it. Here is something you would expect to...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Edgar Froese - Ages

I know what you may be thinking: Froese's parent group hit the skids ten years ago. But have no fear as Ages is a 1978 classic-TD-era release. So where's all the rejoicing? I feel pretty...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Eleanor Hovda - Coastal Traces

Hovda is an important, yet little known composer who has been active on the contemporary music scene for over twenty years, mostly through live performances, scores for dance companies (of which...  » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Electrum - Frames of Mind

Here are three guys who love Rush and decided to record an album together of songs influenced by the Canadian trio. It's a scenario I've seen played out over and over (see Afterlife in...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

Elka Atanasova - Winds of the Rhodopes

Back in the early 90s, when the Bulgarian Women's Choir was making the rounds, a diminutive but fire-breathing 19-year-old violinist from the same country released this promising debut work....

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Faith & Disease - Insularia

The new Faith & Disease album is a continuation of the sound set forth on the Livesongs: Third Body album. That is slow, dreamy music, more similar in style to Mazzy Star than Dead Can Dance....

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Five-O-One AM - 21st Century Dream

Somewhere between Marillion (Season's End) and the SI label bands Lies Five-O-One AM. That is, song oriented pop with elements of prog. Combine that with WMMS's reputation and...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Fred Frith - The Previous Evening

Fred Frith has always been a very highly respected innovator and collaborator in various new music endeavors, and lately his talents have been sought out more and more for an ever broadening array...

 » Read more
(Posted by Rob Walker 1999-01-01)

G.P. Hall - Marks on the Air

This recording serves two masters. First, it presents soundscape artist G.P. Hall live on stage, and secondly, it demonstrates the binaural recording process. Binaural recording places two small...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

Gentle Giant - Out of the Fire - The BBC Concerts

English archive label Hux Records is slowly building an excellent reputation for having the best BBC tapes for re-release. Out of the Fire fits in nicely into their archive plans (alongside...  » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-01-01)

Gerard - Meridian

One of Japan's longest lived symphonic bands, Gerard has produced a long string of albums beginning with their eponymous debut in 1984, featuring an expanded six-piece lineup, which by the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Gerardo Nuñez - Calima

Calima is a collection of mostly guitar-led tracks in the flamenco style. The twist on this record is that there is a considerable amount of jazz influence as well. Nuñez is...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Grimes 1999-01-01)

Grobschnitt - Grobschnitt

Prog fans have been enjoying a renaissance of vintage prog re-issues. Albums that either never made it to CD or were transferred poorly to begin with are being released for your pleasure. Premier...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Grok - Bubbles

Grok is a rather interesting product of the ever-interesting New Zealand music scene. My first reaction to this album was that it reminded me of Sonic Youth (one of my all time favorite bands), but...

 » Read more
(Posted by Steve Robey 1999-01-01)

Ground Zero - Consume Red

One could say without stretching the truth too far, that Consume Red (part one of the three part Project Consume) is basically an hour of pure thrash / noise experimentation,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Gualberto - Sin Comentario

Spanish guitarist Gualberto Garcia Perez offers up an instrumental album "without commentary" and lets the music do the talking. Gualberto first came into prominence with the group Smash,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Grimes 1999-01-01)

Hans Reichel & Eroc - The Return of Onkel Boskopp

Careful. This is Hans Reichel; not to be confused with another German experimentalist - Achim Reichel.  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Hawkwind - Distant Horizons

This is the first Hawkwind album with the new band and sets the tone for Hawkwind's entry into the next century (am I profound or what?). Fans will know the band has been losing members of...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Haystacks Balboa - Detoxified

This one came out around 1970, a one-off by a New York based band whose members weren't even listed on the LP jacket, and were never heard from again, so far as this writer knows. For some unknown...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Herbe Rouge - Herbe Rouge

This progressive group is of the sort that could only come from France in the 70s where a distinctive and idiosyncratic form of weirdness flourished.  » Read more
(Posted by David Ashcraft 1999-01-01)

Ivanhoe - Polarized

Can't get enough of that Iron Maiden? Check out Polarized. There is no doubt, as musicians, Ivanhoe are first rate. The singer, Andy B. Frank is very good, if he's a German singing in...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Janick Top STS - Système Solaire

Janick is back... The monstrous and legendary bassist of the 1973, 1974 and 1976 Magma issues his first solo effort, after years of session-work with variety singers and composing film scores. His...

 » Read more
(Posted by Steve Robey 1999-01-01)

Jeff Tarlton - Astral Years

I would bet money that Jeff Tarlton sleeps with a book of Kirouac's poems in his arms and Morrisons Van and Jim on his turntable (c'mon folks, it is so hip to have vinyl). Tarlton...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

John Fahey & Cul de Sac - The Epiphany of Glenn Jones

A promising collaboration between this Boston instrumental ensemble and the legendary avant-folk guitarist collapses under the burden of hero worship, hellish recording conditions, and incompatible...  » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

Jon Anderson - The More You Know

I knew there was something fishy about this CD when I looked at the song lengths - all are nearly identical.  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Jon Rose - The Fence

Continuing in the Musique Concrete experimental mode defined by Rose's last disc, The Fence is less an album of music than it is an aural documentary. In this case, Rose has chosen...

 » Read more
(Posted by Steve Robey 1999-01-01)

Jorge Reyes - Ek Tunkul

I must have been sleeping at Best-of-'97 voting time as this old favorite managed to slip right out from under my nose. Ek Tunkul was Jorge Reyes' very first (and best) solo recording from...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Kantata - Samsara

For background information, go dig up a copy of Expose #14, and find the review where I spent half a page trying to describe a CD by Iwan Fals. Here, the XTC/Sting/Cat Stevens-influenced...  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Lana Lane - Garden of the Moon

When one has to crank out fifty or sixty reviews per issue, you pretty much have to be listening to music at every possible opportunity, including hours spent at the so-called day job. Usually it's...  » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Land - Archipelago

In the 70s (or was it the 60s? I can't remember...) Jon Hassell came up with his Fourth World Music concept. Soon after, other folks began to carry on in the same general terrain. Michael...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Laren d'Or - War of Angels

The same veiled (an under-promoted!) Hungarian label that is teasing us with Talizman, and After Crying, now goes to the other side for a symphonic keyboard recording by Laren d'Or. A solo project?...  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

László Hortobágyi - Summa Techonologiae

While not well known in the States, Hungary's László Hortobágyi has for most of the 90s been making some of the most exciting ethno-electronic music available anywhere....  » Read more
(Posted by Robert Norwood 1999-01-01)

Leo Küpper - Electro-Acoustic

You have to admit, with a title as academic sounding as this, one would not be unjustified in expecting a musical experience on the equivalent stimulation level of a botany lecture. That "new music"...  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Lhasa Cement Plant - I Am Providence

Recorded live at Terrastock ‘97, this New England based four-piece improvisational unit takes the listener on one crazy, forty minute, tripped up mind excursion. The building blocks here are...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Lili Haydn - Lili

It was February when I bought this on a whim, and it only took a few listens for me to revise my Best of 97 list to include it. Lili Haydn is a violinist of great talent. She’s apparently been doing...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 1999-01-01)

Love Spirals Downwards - Flux

Featured at last year's Projekt Fest in Chicago, the fifth release for this duo also happens to be this writer's introduction to them. Their music could be characterized as ambient electronic pop with...  » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Mani Neumeier & Peter Hollinger - Meet the the Demons of Bali

Wooaah, wait a minute, hold the phone, and just a cottin' pickin'... Mani has really done something different here! Some may remember the Privat CD reviewed last time. There, he took on every...  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Marcœur - m,a,r, et cœur comme cœur

One might suspect from the unusual title that this is not your usual fare. Indeed, Albert Marcœur is not your run-of-the-mill progressive rock musician, and while this writer can’t...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Maryam Mursal - The Journey

Maryam Mursal is a singer from Somalia now exiled and living in Denmark. Somali music, like the country itself, is a unique mixture of African and Arabic. On this release, Mursal approaches her...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 1999-01-01)

Masque - Third Ear/Third Eye

Third Ear/Third Eye is this brazen Japanese quintet's first CD release (following a couple of cassette releases in the late 80s, plus contributions to the Canterbury Edge and...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-01-01)

Moby Trip - NKU

Moby Trip is a trio from New Zealand operating in the retro-psych realm. The band features guitars, bass, and drums, with the guitarist doubling on keyboard programming, and vocal duties shared by...  » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Monolith - Monolith

At first listen this k/b/d band delivers up derivative progressive rock of the highest order. However, I discovered that a good chunk of this was written in 1977, nearly predating the sound they lean...  » Read more
(Posted by Dean Suzuki 1999-01-01)

Mushroom - Alive and in Full Bloom

"Krautrock, psychedelic and Jazz influences” or so it states in a large orange label on the CD cover. I saw this band open for Kevin Ayers in San Francisco so I was already familiar with...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Niacin - Niacin & High Bias

The cover of the first Niacin shows the venerable Hammond B3, a creature of legend. So you get an idea what you are in for. Who is Niacin? I think this would be called a "pet project"...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Norma Tanega & Mike Henderson - HybridVigor

Despite the presence of guitarist Mike Henderson, this disc sounds nothing like Djam Karet. Rather it is a pleasant if unspectacular acoustic excursion combining the talents of Henderson with...

 » Read more
(Posted by David Ashcraft 1999-01-01)

Nukli - The Time Factory

Nukli is a psych-rock band who have a fairly long history peppered with only a few, rare releases. Having spent a good part of the 80s gigging in England on the festival scene with the likes of the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Olov Johansson - Storsvarten

Olov Johansson plays an ancient instrument called a nyckelharpa, which is related to the violin and hurdy-gurdy, and is traditional is Sweden, though not much played in the current day. It looks...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 1999-01-01)

Outer Limits - Misty Moon

Musea continues to unearth the most unknown and rare albums from the annals of obscure progrock history. Outer Limits were a pretty original Japanese band from one of the darkest times in prog...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Pelt - Técheöd

Here we have three ambient tracks from a not-so-dark trio on the indie VHF label. According to the label website, the title of this album is pronounced "Tay-hoood," but I'm still not certain what...  » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-01-01)

Pink Filth - Seventeen Bubblegum Smashes!

Um. This is not Pink Floyd, it is Pink Filth. The name is not only a clever pun to fool high school stoners into buying the album (if they could find it in any store on this planet) but it also is...

 » Read more
(Posted by Robert Norwood 1999-01-01)

Praise Space Electric - Mushroom Jazz

This is progressive rock with a groove. The title Mushroom Jazz is actually a pretty apt name, as this is not too stylistically far away from Acid Jazz. Weird analog synth sounds, funky...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ohman 1999-01-01)

Robert Fripp - The Gates of Paradise

Here is the next installment in Robert Fripp’s ongoing Soundscapes series, except this one is surprisingly dull. Here we have a full length disc on which Fripp explores precisely one (1)...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Ruins - Vrresto

Vrresto is classic Ruins as we’ve come to know them over the last eight or so releases, a high intensity power duo of drums, bass and operatic vocals that is often compared to Magma...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Satoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura - South Wind, Looking out the Window & A Song for Jyaki

Pianist Satoko Fujii and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, belong to a new genertaion of jazz performers and composers whose holistic approach to music seeks to expand the technical resources...

 » Read more
(Posted by Rob Walker 1999-01-01)

Saviour Machine - Legend Part 1

I first glimpsed a newsletter by this band at Progfest 95 (or was it '96?), and to be honest I thought it was some form of hate group and didn't give it another glance. The singer was bald,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Sensitiva Immagine - E Tutto Comincio Cosi...

Here is one that Edison Records (RIP) of Japan spared no laudatory word on when it was first reissued by them back in the early 90s. Marquee's encyclopedia claims its origins as a cassette release...  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-01-01)

Serah - Senegal Moon

Serah is an American born composer and singer who has lived in both Africa and France. Her material straddles the boundaries of new-age, world music, and pop, and this is her fourth release. The...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Shigekazu Kamaki - Magatama

Some may remember Kamaki from his days as the finger-blistering axeman in Mr.Sirius, others from his own jazz-rock band Kehell — still together and gigging fairly regularly. Magatama...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Spirit - 1984

Be warned, this is not an authorized release — not even close. What we have here is (a) one track ("1984") recorded live in Bremen in 1969 (no further details...), (b) the entire...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

ST 37 - Spaceage

From somewhere between deep space and Austin, Texas comes ST 37. The band is Dave Cameron, Carlton Crutcher, Joel Crutcher, Cisco Ryder G, and Scott Telles. They remind me of Space Ritual...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Steve Roach - On This Planet

The last time I had the pleasure of seeing a Steve Roach live show was late in 1996 in Sacramento. Steve's continuous two-hour long set was one of his finest moments for me; the finale of the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 1999-01-01)

STS - Système Solaire

Jannick is back... The monstrous and legendary bassist of the 1973, 1974 and 1976 Magmas issues his first solo effort, after years of session-work with variety singers and composing film scores....

 » Read more
(Posted by Jerome Schmidt 1999-01-01)

Susanna Lindeborg's Mwendo Dawa - Enter the Outloop

Swedish band Mwendo Dawa inhabit the spacey jazz realm that also serves as home to Weather Report and Earthworks. Saxophonist Ove Johansson is the primary composer, and it is his sound on the tenor...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 1999-01-01)

Synergy - Electronic Realizations, Sequencer, Cords, Games & Audion

Synergy is, of course the name of the ongoing electronic music project of keyboardist / engineer / producer Larry Fast, also known for his work with Peter Gabriel, Nektar, and numerous other bands...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Synthetic Block - Synthetic Block

Synthetic Block is not a group, but a cleverly-monikered front name for one-man Connecticut synth battalion Jonathan Block. And quite frankly, this is one of the most exciting one-man homemade...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ohman 1999-01-01)

Tatsuya Yoshida & Ron Anderson - A Is for Accident

This duo of Yoshida on drums and vocals and Anderson on guitar and vocals, is rather in the style of Ruins, the group which Yoshida a led, along with various bassists, and occasional guitarists....

 » Read more
(Posted by David Ashcraft 1999-01-01)

The Feck - The Feck

The Feck is a four-piece from Milwaukee, and while no instruments are listed with the names per se, it sounds like we have two (or three) guitars, bass, and drums/percussion operating in that...  » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

The Gathering - Mandylion

I've heard this group mentioned in the same breath as The Third and the Mortal, so I decided to check out one of their releases. Hailing from the Netherlands, The Gathering is Rene Rutten...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

The Hosemobile - Six Foot Hater

This heretofore unknown four-piece from Cookeville, Tennessee, employs sophisticated (brilliantly so) rock driven compositions with plenty of mood shifts, meter changes, and insanely clever...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

The Spacious Mind - Garden of a Well Fed Head

Good things are supposed to come to those who wait, and that is certainly the case with this, the fifth release from Sweden's Spacious Mind. Originally recorded in 1996, this LP-only issue...

 » Read more
(Posted by Chris Snow 1999-01-01)

Thinking Plague - In Extremis

Thinking Plague is yet another stunning product of the prolific revolving cast of characters that have brought us the 5uu's, U Totem, and other projects. This particular configuration is led by...

 » Read more
(Posted by Steve Robey 1999-01-01)

Thinking Plague - In Extremis

It's been way too long since we've heard a CD from this group, although, fortunately, we get them in bits and pieces from other groups in the 5uu's circle. In This Life was one...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 1999-01-01)

Thinking Plague - In Extremis

Nine years since their last album, Thinking Plague is back with a vengeance. Their music is angular, drives hard and is laden with a complex and brilliant precision, one that combines the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Thinking Plague - In Extremis

In this album, where one can find all the ingredients of the American new rock and free jazz scenes, we also discover the musical embodiment of an exceptional label, Cuneiform. This large line-up...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jerome Schmidt 1999-01-01)

Tim Hodgkinson - Pragma

This is a disc of difficult music since the listener must have the discipline to hear the "big picture" and not get caught in a scattering of perceived dissonant ideas. In the composer's own words:...  » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-01-01)

Tony Geballe - Native of the Rain

I was lucky enough to catch Geballe in his opening slot on the recent California Guitar Trio tour. Just one man and his twelve string guitar, an abundance of creativity and invention, and some...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Various Artists - A Bead to a Small Mouth

Each track on this compilation integrates spoken text and sound manipulation, with results both mysterious and captivating. On "A New Dress" Nurse with Wound layers shifting, hypnotic metallic...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 1999-01-01)

Various Artists - Electroacoustic Music Vol.1 - Russia 1997, Disc 1 & 2

Interestingly enough, this excellent – what should be a 2CD set – is packaged as two separate discs with almost identical covers. Only the careful eye will note the small red "Disc...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-01-01)

Various Artists - Soundscape Gallery 2

On the heels of last year's excellent ambient anthology comes a new gallery from Lektronic Soundscapes, a second overview of what is still a unique and inventive genre. There are not as many...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike King 1999-01-01)

Visible Touch - Forgotten Land & Vienna

They're called Visible Touch though they have nothing whatsoever to do with 80s Genesis or any Genesis for that matter. Think instead of all those great 80s hair-farmer bands: The Scorpions, Judas...  » Read more
(Posted by Pam Thompson 1999-01-01)

When - Prefab Wreckage & Gynt

When is essentially a solo vehicle for Lars Pedersen (half of The Last James duo) in which he explores dark ambient realms. It's pretty hard to believe that this is the same guy who worked on...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 1999-01-01)

Yochk'o Seffer - Magyar Etno

Magyar Etno is a collection of mostly solo pieces by this renowned jazz saxophonist. Seffer creates melodies in the folk style of his native Hungary, and uses these as starting and...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 1999-01-01)