reviews

paul hartnoll - The Ideal Condition: One of the now defunct Orbital brothers goes it alone. The best parts remind you of Orbital, and the worst kind of put you to sleep with his new found appreciation for symphonic pieces. Notable guest appearance by Robert Smith on the album's second single, 'please'.



frank zappa - Buffalo: FZ is a genius. That being said, much of his work is way beyond the realm of comprehension and/or enjoyment of the casual listener. This is a double live disc from a show in Buffalo, NY in 1980 and features rising axeman, steve vai. Perhaps with the knowledge that he is indeed playing for a crowd of people in the real world, here we find frank quite accessible, and just when you begin to get lost, he gets your attention and brings you back along for the ride. Phish owes a good portion of their career to this man's stellar showmanship & musical prowess.



the clientele - God Save the Clientele: God save the listener from falling asleep at the wheel when listening to this in the car. It's too bad because I dug their last release.



pilote - Pop Will Make Us Free: Intelligent down tempo stylings never disappoint.



spank rock - Fabriclive 33: These guys absolutely suck as rappers, but they make a compelling mash-up with tracks from a wide and seemingly unrelated range of artists such tangerine dream, daft punk, yes, hot chip, yello, simian mobile disco, kurtis blow, and dozens more.



ralph lawson - Fabric 33: Superb mostly deeper tech house.



ellen alien - Fabric 34: Just the type of mix you'd expect to hear from ellen, very minimal techno tinged house with a slice of thom yorke thrown in for good measure.



mark farina - House of OM: More bouncy chicago house with random vocal samples of scientific sounding records from the resident cream of wheat. Has a bit more depth than the relentless thump on his M.O.S. Sessions disc.