February 2002
APHEX TWIN
Drukqz (Warp/Sire/Warner)
Scored this used from Kevin at Cheapo (what a store). The graphics on the sleeve of the "new" Aphex disc – close-ups of a piano’s interior – make it evident what the upgrade has been for 21st century Richard D. James. The vault-dwelling tank-driver has incorporated the tinkling of the ivories into his digitally morphed tunes of whimsy and psychosis – both melancholic Satie chords and the percussive plucking of the strings themselves. It sounds lovely; otherwise, it’s curious how much the rest sounds like his early ambient stuff. But that’s OK, I always wanted more of that. And with this overgenerous double-CD helping, more is what you get. JD
File next to: Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1, Royal Conservatory massacre fantasies.
NIGERIA 70
(Strut – www.strut.co.uk)
With over 250 different ethnic groups making up its population, Nigeria hasn’t ever been the most peaceful of countries – numerous military coups, bloody civil wars and oil-fueled corruption have plagued the West African nation since independence in 1960 – but this cultural mingling has created some of the most kickass music of the last century. Lagos must have been a scary yet exciting place to be in the early ‘70s, as this compulsively listenable two-CD comp of deep African funk demonstrates. If, like me, you’ve been swept up on Fela Kuti and Tony Allen’s Afro-beat rhythm train, but don’t know where to get off next, this is your stop. There’s also some freakily wicked psychedelic rock moments lurking in here – check out Ofo The Black Company’s "Allah Wakbarr". JD
File next to: Nuyorican Soul, Studio One Rockers, best burned from a friend (thanks, Bill!)
THE HASSLE
Je M’Excuse
Not always the tightest live band (although even that doesn’t stop ‘em from getting the room on its feet), the Hassle’s debut EP finds this trio of new wave rock chicks in peak form. The beats are solid, the guitars fuzzy and the vocals are snarling promises of what could be if you were cool enough to get their attention. Not since Patty Donahue’s evil snicker after she coos "sucker" in the Waitresses’ "I Know What Boys Like" has anyone sounded so torturous and crushworthy as the Hassle ladies – and, unlike Ms. Donahue, they write their own lyrics. Smart, funny and sassy: Je M’Excuse is the soundtrack for a good time all the time. JH
File next to: The Shuttlecocks-latest great gal hope to break up.
MANITOBA
Tabby Cats For President/Canadian Jazz-Rock? Yo, Fuck That Shit! (Back To The Basics, MP3 bootleg)
If, as Keith Elam so eloquently dropped on wax so many years ago, "it takes the illest brother just to gain respect", then consider Dan Snaith diseased with honours. Up on Audiogalaxy at an ungodly hour, I’m looking online for a (ahem) "backup copy" of Start Breaking My Heart, only to find the mysteriously-titled "bttb x 177 1" and "bttb x 177 2". These tracks comprise a two-part DJ set done for some limited-edition German club-mix series called Back To The Basics (bttb). The Dundas Wonderboy works his magic once more, and it’s the bloody bizzomb, going from Lootpack to Lighthouse (yes, that Lighthouse) and back again. All else I’ll say is that the tracklist can be had at www.ewetel.net/marcus.maack/x/X-177.htm – the rest is up to you, my dear fellow plunderer…CFD
File next to: This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no foolin’ around.
MARTIN AMIS
The Information (first published 1995)
Famous offspring Martin Amis does what few of his ilk are capable of, being as good if not better than his dad. Similar to 1989’s London Fields, The Information mines what is becoming Amis’s favourite turf: modern London and its inhabitants. Focusing on the rivalry between two writers, schemes and strategems are hatched and botched by all and sundry, set to a backdrop of Amis’s view of modern living, that of family, pollution, abuse, murder, sex and the death of the novel. A complex writer, mixing ancient themes of man and his relation to the universe with the seven deadly sins. A great storyteller who renders his exquisite prose almost unreadable by the weight of punctuation. But for all his talents, Amis never manages to finish with a bang, building and twisting ‘til the catherine wheel splutters out with the force of a mispacked cherry bomb. NC
File next to: Terry Southern, David Mitchell.
Plastic is the coolest thing on the internet: a talk-radio format news and discussion website for those who otherwise wouldn’t bother with one, where earnest liberals rub shoulders with politically aware ironists and would-be hipsters, and all are judged equally by their peers (or those who got an overall rating high enough that they get to rate everyone else). Not only that, but the stories themselves are suggested by the readers. Unique points of view on such mundane topics as the Black Crowes pop up, and create uproarious and full-spectrum-of-articulation reactions. The depth of response is incredible. You can respond to comments, comment on those responses, respond to those comments... Whoever declared that the art of conversation was dead was as ill-informed as declarers of The Death of The Age Of Irony. BM
File next to: Liberal Arts, CFRB, interactivity at its finest.
The reviewers: Nora Charles (NC), Jonny Dovercourt (JD), Craig Fraid Dunsmuir (CFD), Joanne H. (JH), Buddy Milton (BM)