NEW RELEASES - NEW YEAR 2001 - SHEET 2

ACIDFUCK – “Songs Of The Succulent Beatnik”

(M&E 570 ☼½ 60)

New daddy, Kev Trundley, heads back with more mind-battering din from the quaintly named Acidfuck. What are you going to tell your son about your musical career in the future then, Kev? Won’t even be able to tell him the name of the band till he’s 21, eh? Oh dear! J So, has fatherhood mellowed him? Is he now putting out gentle MOTR lullaby sounds? In a word, no. It’s still savagely chopped samples, percussion loops, very experimental in nature, synths, noises et al. This is slightly less dance orientated than their earlier releases, bit more chilled, though it really boots it in places. So, drop an E, pull up your hood and dance like a complete pratt. You know the movie “Human Traffic”? Acidfuck are the road-works. Enjoy!

TERRI B. – “Wrap Me In Your Skin”

(CDR 42:40 ☼☼½ Stone Premonitions, England)

When not gracing The Rabbit’s Hat, Terri likes to experiment with that golden voice of hers in solo works. Following a couple of well received cassette albums on M&E, we figured it was time to pester her about a CDR, and here it is. Effortlessly, she flits back and forth from one diametrically opposed style to another, to use a phrase that annoys the hell out of my PC’s grammar-checker! From the strange atmospheric “2001” opening, into a light piece of psychedelic jazz (hmmmn, nice), all slow and moody, kind of Sade meets Pink Floyd. Experimental backings with sparse piano and Spanish guitar, a track called “Floating” that has you doing just that. There’s a beautiful cover of Hoagie Carmichael’s classic, “Georgia”, takes you back to the speakeasy and the joys of prohibition, some classy jazz guitar too, but then they do have some ultra-talented people at Stone Prem. For Geordies. J That “Ménage A Trois” song is on here too, Japanese pizzicato guitar, always reminds me of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dragonfly”, sigh. Harmony and style, the Mamas & Papas meet Mike Oldfield. Well, honestly, Terri is very imaginative, not easy to quantify stuff like this, so bear with me! Julie London sings “Phantasmagoria”, what more can I say? Although Terri’s work playing with The Rabbit’s Hat is really tremendous, I’d love to see her play with herself more often.

THE CONSPIRACY – “The Ghost E.P.”

(CD 22:05 ☼½ Jar Music, Germany)

Ooh, this comes in a very stylish tin case, like that. Now, people tell me I’m quite unfairly hard on this band (not just Duncan, really!) from Devon in the deep south. Well, the more I see of their progress, the more I’d have to agree people are probably right. To be honest, it’s more a personal taste thing, coz they are much better than I’ve ever really given them credit for. Sorry, Dunk. No more cracks about Ashley from Coronation Street, promise, just serious reviewing. No, honestly. This is a lovely little collectible, particularly in that nice round tin. It opens with “Blue Angel Agenda”, a sort of subterranean Britpop with piano, violins and mixed tempos, topped with a vocal worthy of The Kinks. Next up, we’re onto Leonard Cohen with a nice bit of Ry Cooder slide guitar thrown in. Neil Young on swamp-rock! Track 3 gives us some bizarre lyrics about throwing pumpkins at old people, sounds fair to me. “Ghost” is kinda moody, bit of female backing vox (which works well), acoustic guitar, stylish. Then finally, it’s Ramones-a-go-go for a punked up piece of fun to finish on a high note. Never a band for the conventional approach, they often surprise and I honestly can’t recall anyone who has bought one of their albums from us (and they were top selling band on M&E one year) ever saying they didn’t enjoy it. So there ya go, Dunk, I’ve finally done a fair review for you! Now if you wanna do something for me in return, put “Where Will It Take You” on your next CD, okay!?

DELPHIUM – “Heart Full Of Hate”

(M&E 573 ☼½ 40)

Well, we rather enjoyed the work this lot did with Mimetic on the Fario / Feardrop CD, plus I noticed they came from my home town, so I tracked them down and invited them to join up with us. And they have, fools that they are. They? Well, it’s Jonathan Forde really. Nice to know I’m not the only weirdo in Camberley anyway. J But innit strange that you discover a band from your hometown via a French release with an artist based in Germany? Small world. But I wouldn’t like to walk it. And he knows Al X too. Well, Delphium make some wild noises, rock drums and heavy bass blend with grating elektroid noize, sinister and nasty with some effectively processed samples. Did I say heavy bass? Make that evil bass! A gothic synth-orchestral plays music for bad dreams, don’t reach for the cheese at bedtime! Sonic earbleed on housebeat shuffle, loops and analogue dirt blasts, yet a centred cohesive thing gives you something to cling too when you get scared. Like a ladder to hold on to, stretched across a bottomless abyss. Fingers getting tired yet? It’s a long way down. “Curiouser and curiouser” said Alice, heading for the electronic vortex of doom…

EYE – “Politics Can Be Fun: Volume 1”

(CD 42:56 ☼☼ Blatant Propaganda, Australia)

Ooh, I would not want to be an Australian politician with this lot around! Talk about critical! Eye rip them to shreds, mercilessly, especially the cruelly amusing sample of their Prime Minister repeating “obviously I’m deaf to the views of the voters”! Hey, don’t worry, we have a PM in this country like that too. And in America, they have one that took a month or more to elect! And you reckon I’m slow doing the M&E News? So this is what Eye do when they’re not dressing up as the Grim Reaper and climbing the Parliament building in Canberra. Um, I’m telling. Thomas Dolby on modern teknoid, no wonder Bob Hawk retired. Actually, I say “modern”, but there’s quite an 80s feel to this album, albeit with slightly more sophisticated technology than the Human League drum machine. This is like a heavy Depeche Mode, noisy bursts, savage attacks on anyone who dares stand for office, Tubeway Army synths and Fatboy Slim rhythms with Gary Numan on vox. This is a concept album, indeed it is, but not of the 1970s dippy hippy variety, trust me. Very “street”, pounds along, vocals like the Thompson Twins with a bad head cold. And the final track, “Transnational Corporations Own 90% Of Australia But Pay < 8% Of The Tax” is a work worthy of special mention, a stinging tax statement sung by robots, nuff said. Yes, the Ozzies have come a long way. They can’t beat us at Rugby Union, but they are much better on Aboriginal issues nowadays. Much better to see them lighting the Olympic flame than as bait for shark fishing.

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