Soundtrack Music- Real and Imaginary

John Baker- The John Baker Tapes Vol. 1
new review



Xela- In Bocca Al Lupo
new review

Helios- Caesura

I've been pretty on board with most of the stuff Type Records put out in 2008 (my mind's still not made up on Xela's latest and I recused myself from review the latest two from Svarte Greiner and Sylvian Chateau 'lest I become the official Type reviewer for PM). However, Helios's latest, and his work in general, just strike me as kind of flaccid.

Here's my PM review of Caesura

I can't help, but think some of this relates back to recent comments by Impostume on music listening becoming a product of who you are when you're listening to it (something critics try to run from). The album reminds me a bit of Manual's Ascend, which I f'ing loved with it came out. After five years of seeking this type of music, I encounter it pretty often now (as I mention in the piece, many times in indie films). So often that it has lost its appeal to me. Whether this is because this specific recording doesn't "hit" as well or whether it's me who has a new set of ears, I don't know that you can specifically fault the artist for being five years late to my party.

Slow Motion Suicide

Perhaps like most of you, I wasn't aware that Daft Punk had released a film two years back. It has just been released on DVD via Vice Records. It's not at all what you might expect, especially had you seen their anime Inter5tella 5555, for reasons detailed in my review here. Quite interesting stuff though, for those willing to brave the desert terrain.



More reviewing here for Grouper's new album, which is a really rare find. Didn't know what I was expecting when this arrived in the post, but I was definitely blown away when it came through the speakers. The unintentional sibling to Belong's fantastic Colorloss Record, Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill might just be the perfect pairing for a year-end superlative blowout.

On the non-authored-by-me front, there continues to be a great dearth of textual analysis emerging from the Dubstep scene. Notably in recent weeks, K-Punk's article on 2562 and the convergence of the scene with minimalism. The Quietus also has a nice review of the Bug's new album (a long awaited follow-up that more than lives up to its anticipation, which i will also be weighing in on in a few weeks) which explores the double meaning of the word "Dread", particularly how it pertains to the new school of dub (though it doesn't really talk about the album itself too much).