getting near to the end of the year...



The Soft Pink Truth - Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Soft Pink Truth?

The Soft Pink Truth is actually half of Matmos, the band who tend to be remembered for sampling plastic surgery operations and for being Bjork's backing band, Matmos can at times be very conceptual whereas The Soft Pink Truth are slightly more interested in booty shaking it would seem. Not that there isn't a concept that binds this album together, there is - basically it's an album of cover versions of old punk/hardcore tracks done in a funky disco-esque way. I have to admit to not being very familiar with most of the songs here, but the cheesy garage version of Minor Threat's Out of Step made me grin. This is a fun album, sort of a submersive getting ready to go out clubbing with a bunch of girls in glittery make up kind of way.



Shockout Volume 1

This is from Tigerbeat6's ragga/dancehalll off shoot hence is full of all the usual subjects such as The Bug, DJ /rupture, Kid606. In some ways it's similar to the Two Cultures Clash I got a while a go in that it's mainly Western producers working with 'proper' dancehall MCs. However this time it works much better since the gloves seem to be off on this CD, the producers pussy foot around instead laying down some rough dirty beats, and the MCs aren't exactly holding back either. It's not all violence though, the compilation is bookended by a couple of sweet Dub numbers.



Converge - You Fail Me

This got a good write up on Brainwashed.com, and they have connections with Old Man Gloom and Isis so I thought I'd give them a go. The CD starts off innocently enough with a fairly standard quiet intro before heading off into Dischord-esque hardcore. It's not long though before things start getting a lot more angry, verging into grindcore territory at times. Couple of interesting songs in the middle of the CD, the title track contains some of the most intense uses of an electric guitar you'll hear this year. The next song does a good job too by providing a calmer gentler counterpoint to the previous songs fury. A loud noisy CD, not recommended for anyone who relishes too many quiet moments.



Kid606/Cex - Oh so now you fuckers wanna dance!

You have to love that title! OK, so the Shockout CD was underground producers doing dancehall, this one is a couple of underground producers getting down and dirty for some booty shaking mixes. Suprisingly the Kid produces the most straightforward mix; Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z rub shoulders with Autechre and Kid606's own beats. It's great fun, just stupid dance music to shake your ass to, and at a pleasantly non-manic pace. Cex get's a bit more technical, more chopping up of beats and processed vocals still good fun though. Highly recommended for the gym...



Sophia - Collections:One

A collection of odds and sods from the criminally over-looked career of Sophia, to pay for there string quartet to go on tour with the rest of the band. I've mentioned this band before so I won't go into there history, suffice to say that this is an essential purchase to any fans of the band. It mixes older material with newer stuff that was deemed a bit too experimental for People are like Seasons (or which may have been recorded afterwards). A couple of the tunes are bit iffy, the cover of You Only Tell You Love When Your Drunk doesn't really work for me ,even though the sentiment does - and If You Want A Home just doesn't seem finished to me. However, besides those two blips the rest of the album is excellent and gives me hope that the next Sophia album could be a bit special. I've been listening to the song Easy (If you want me) pretty much constantly since I've got it, and the next song is absolutely classic Sophia which reminds me why I love this band so much. Anyway, this one may or may not get a proper release, in the mean time you can order it here.



The Wire Tapper 12

More pretensious nonsense from The Wire ;-). In all seriousness I haven't really listened to this enough to form an opinion, but if I don't write something here this post will never get published!