A new section, hurrah! The idea of this is to document and possibly review all of the CD's I've aquired this year. I'm starting off with a list containing fairly brief descriptions of everything since I don't really have the time to review them all properly. Hopefully future entries will be a little more complete.



The Bug vs The Rootsman feat. Daddy Freddy / DJ /Rupture



Six track split EP, 3 mashed up tracks from The Bug & The Rootsman pre-empting the next big thing in underground electronic music - Ragga! And 3 tracks from DJ /Rupture who continues his three deck journeys with some more ragga-esque beats and, well, noise.



t.A.T.u. - 200km/h in the wrong lane



Shut it! I like them... OK, some of the album does get a bit overly Eurovision (look at me jumping on the Eurovision comparisions already - how lazy am I?), but the Trever Horn produced singles and the fantastic cover of "How Soon is Now?" make up for that.



Mr Scruff & Seaming - Beyond



The nice people at ninjatune gave me this when I ordered my new record bag from them. Its well up to there usual high standards.



Kevin Drumm & Lasse Marhaug - Frozen by Blizzard Winds



I'm still not sure what to make of this, it's not music in the traditional sense. As far as I know its a recording of treated electric guitar and improvised laptop randomness. File under "different".



DJ Spooky featuring Killah Priest



Nine versions of one song do dilute the appeal of the original some what...



Manic Street Preachers - Forever Delayed



I only really got this for the latest single 'There By The Grace Of God'. I'll grudgingly admit the rest of it is OK.



Philip Jeck - Stoke



This is really good, Philip Jeck is best described as a turntabalist, but rather than the traditional vinyl gymnastics he deals with antique record players and long forgotten dusty old scratched records. The overall effect is one of the most hauntingly beautiful CDs I've purchased recently.



Hexstatic - Listen & Learn



The second in Ninjatune's Solid Steel mix series - plenty of old skool funk mixed with the labels traditional fondness for the genre.



Sonic Youth - Dirty (Deluxe Edition)



Re-release of what I think is there most successful album (I think) with all the B-sides from the era and a collection of rehearsal recordings of early versions of the songs.



Gold Chains - EP



I've only just recently discovered Mr Topher Lafata and I have to say I'm impressed. Proof that modern electronic music can be fun - contains the video for 'I come from San Francisco' and the Stereolab sampling 'Rock the Parti'. Highly recommended.



The Powerpuff Girls - Heroes & Villains



Frank Black? Bis? Devo? Surely this can't be the soundtrack to a kids cartoon show? Oh but it is - and great fun too...



Susumu Yokota - The Boy and The Tree



I really don't listen to this enough. The easiest way to describe this is as Ambient music, but the use of traditional Japanese samples and phrases mean it would be equally at home in the World music section of your local HMV - not that those heathens would stock it... probably.



Jay-Z - The Blueprint2: The Gift & The Curse



Another album I haven't got to grips with, mainly because it's too fucking long! Still I do admire Jay-Z, he's basically taken bragging to an artform.



Boards of Canada - Twoism



Not a paatch on there new stuff in my opinion...



Sonic Youth - Murray Street



Named after there studio which got destroyed on September 11th apparently. Like a fine wine they seem to improve with age.



Various - The Big Bash



I don't know why I still buy the NME, especially judging by this CD - full to the brim with the usual indie tosh the NME feel free to force on the readers. Still it's got The Streets, and The Clash so its not all bad news.



Matthew Shipp - Equilibrium



I saw Mr Shipp when Spring Heel Jack toured and he was amazing, mad as a fruit bat during the first half but I remember during the second half of the show when the rest of the players were just going, well... mental, for about five minutes he just stuck to a simple series of chords which would make you want to weep... Anyway I think this is his latest solo CD, free jazz but kept in check with some clever programming by FLAM.



Gold Chains - Straight From Your Radio



Pure filth, great!



Faultline - Your Love Means Everything



I'm a sucker for albums with names like this, it doesn't dissappoint.



Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Nocturama



Once again Darth Phil turns up for the party far too late - the beer's all gone and someones already puked up in the bathroom. Anyway, as you may have gathered Nick Cave has been someone I've always been interested in but this is the first album of his I've purchased. It's not as gloomy as you may think - OK, the first track is a bit melancholic, but the last track is a fantastic 15 minute long - well rock out!



Grand Theft Auto Vice City Boxset



Eighties cheese! Except it's not cheesy, it's just really good. There is just something about cruising around Woking while listening to Crockett's Theme which almost makes me forget the nineties ever existed.



Sophia - De Nachten



OK Darth Phil, someones holding a gun to your head - you have to choose one CD from all the ones in this list... No problem, this one easily.



So who the hell are Sophia? Well once upon a time there was a band called The God Machine they released a classic album called "Scenes from The Second Storey" (if anyone has a copy let me know), then just before the release of there second album the bass player tragically died of a brain tumour. This album was called "One Last Laugh in a Place of Dying".



Sophia followed were the band that followed, much more introspective, and even without knowing the circumstances surrounding there origins hauntingly beautiful, the sense of grief surrounding what they did was unavoidable.



De Nachten is the third album they have released, recorded live at the De Nachten festival in Holland and in my opinion there best. If I was to describe this in very simple terms the best I can think of is think of the start of The Scientist by Coldplay - now add a bit of country and then add in a string quartet. I feel like I'm diluting the appeal of this CD by describing it in these ways, but maybe I've intrigued someone enough into buying it. Right enough waffling, next!



Boom Bip - Seed to Sun



You know that car advert (or is it petrol?) with the horses charging through darkened city streets? The first track is used as the soundtrack to that... Part of the Anticon hip hop collective.



Themselves - The No Music



More anticon goodness, I think it's doseone's frankly amazing vocals and the production talents of someone from cLOUDDEAD. I guess it counts as a grower since it improves the more it's listened too.



The Soft Pink Truth - Do You Party?



I guess this could be counted as electroclash. But it hasn't got it's head stuck up it's arse, it's fun! Good God, I'm buying music that's 'fun' and not morbid or depressing - what has happened to me? Anyway it's from half of Matmos (who I like to think have always taken the piss a little - this is a good thing and should be encouraged), and Blevin Blectum does some great dead pan vocals on 'Make Up'... You have no idea who I'm talking about do you?



Wings of Desire Soundtrack



Yay! German Arthouse cinema. One of my favourite films of all time, helped enormously by this soundtrack.



Badawi - Soldier of Midian



Very middle eastern, very percussive and very very angry.



Electric Company - It's Hard To Be A Baby



I guess if there is such a thing as a typical Tigerbeat6 release this is it, pleasantly glitchy.



Unklesounds - Do Androids Dream Of Electric Beats



Apparently a rarity of huge proportions, bollocks! I bought this from the HMV in Oxford Street just after christmas when there were dozens of copies, and its still taking pride of place in HMV's nu-beats section on there website. Anyway, its a three CD mix, I suppose it's got a slightly housier feel to what UNKLE normally do, some very clever mixing in places, I especially like what they did with The Queens of The Stone Age's "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer".



Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes For Cash



My God he's getting lazy, still its going to annoy the crate diggers and its nice to finally get hold a copy of the remix of Curve's Falling Free



The Wire 20 Years 1982 - 2002



Nope, not the band, the magazine. Fairly difficult going but definitely worth it.



Scorn - Plan B



I don't think anyone understands bass as well as Mick Harris. Good to have him back.



Paws Across America



Tigerbeat6 compilation centred around Cex, Numbers and Stars As Eyes. Special mention goes to the track by Original Hamster - Notorious DSP gangster rap via the Apple Mac speech synthesiser.



Isis - Oceanic



Metal! Just very very good faintly atmospheric metal. Justin Broadrick from Godflesh has done a remix for them which definitely wins them kudos in my mind.



Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf



Not as good as there first album, but good to have them around. There aren't enough bands out there to recognise the need for a good old fashioned drug binge to make a decent rock album.



Autechre - Draft 7.30



The world needs groups like Autechre, I like the way they sound slightly alien, how there beats don't really make sense. Having said that there are a few tracks here that vere off into almost hip-hop territory.



Spring Heel Jack - Oddities



I'm not sure what to make of this, after the Amassed and Masses albums it does seem like a bit of a step back for them - I doubt anyone else would see it that way though.



The Ravonettes - Whip It On



Short, Sweet and very rock'n'roll - in a very 50's sense. Completely inappropiate in this day and age - yeah!



2 many DJ's - As heard on radio soulwax pt.2



This has been re-released recently but with all the photographs on the CD scribbled out - odd. Anyway, its a compilation and contains some of the most inspired mixing you will ever hear.



Club Transmediale 03



A free CD from the Wire magazine. Lot's of very pretensious electronic music - some of which may be German.



Domino 03



Another freebie from The Wire. I think it's a label from Belgium this time



The Mad Capsule Markets - 010



Oh god, it's a concept album - but, its from a bunch of mental Japanese metallers so doesn't make a huge amount of sense thankfully. Very fast and noisy - but once again not quite as good as there last album.



David S. Ware Quartet - Freedom Suite



Nice.



DJ BrokenWindow - Parallel Universe #1



Simple concept really: take two songs, one mainly instrumental, the other mainly vocal, mix them together et voila! DJ BrokenWindow's trick is to vere towards the more obscure end of the musical spectrum. German Techno vs Sesame Street? Seems to work.



~Scape - Showcase



Yet another Wire freebie, Germany this time.



Gus Gus - Attention



Hmm, a bit disappointing really - can't really say anything about it.



Alice Coltrane - Universal Conciousness



It's funny really how a CD so steeped in spirituality can appeal to a heathen like me. Some wonderful string arrangements complement Alice's Harp and Organ playing beautifully.



The White Stripes - Elephant



Unfortunatly the hype has got to me a bit and I find it difficult to really like this album. However, I can appreciate the purity of this album, everything is stripped back to the basics: guitar, drums & vocals - nothing extra is added since it's just not needed. And I have to admit Jack White is a mighty fine guitar player.



Beans - Tomorrow Right Now



Beans used to be part of the Anti-Pop Consortium, damn shame they split up.



System Of A Down - Steal This Album!



OK, it's just a filler really before there next proper album, but it's a lot better than most groups manage.



Yabby You - Jesus Dread 1972~1977



More religious music? I'll be renouncing the ways of the dark lord before you know it... Anyway, some righteous dub reggae, very good for the soul.



The Wild Bunch - Story Of A Sound System



Mix CD and accompying booklet about the Bristol sound system who would later spawn Massive Attack. I look at this as more of a historical document than anything.



Derek Bailey - Ballards



Derek Bailey is what can only be described as an experimental jazz guitarist, he's been making music for decades, using a fairly unique plucking style of playing. This CD contains his meditations on what are apparently various jazz standards, interesting.



Undercover Cuts



A free CD I got with a hip hop magazine whose name escapes me, some great stuff on it: Vadim, Gamma, Mr Lex and lot's of other artists I'm not familiar with I'm afraid.



Coldplay - The Scientist



Being the music snob that I am I just can't bring myself to buy the Coldplay album - especially when the likes of Sophia (probably the closest I get) are criminally ignored. Still, I can't resist this tune, it may be the simple understated piano riff, or lines like "you don't know how lovely you are" appealling to the hopeless romantic in me, but I love this song.



Muggs - Dust



Cypress Hill's producer goes all Pink Floyd? Who would have thunk it? OK-ish...



Main - Transiency



A CD that I feel is best half listened to, not entirely sure I like it.



Antipop vs Matthew Shipp



Apparently the last recording of the Anti-Pop Consortium, and what do you know! They've teamed up with my favourite Jazz Pianist. Very Good



Rough Trade Shops - Counter Culture 2002



To be honest I only got this because it's got a track by The Bug (Killer - in case you're interested), but the rest of it's pretty good - I guess this is because it's been compiled by some of the most discerning music fans around, the employees of Rough Trade...