Aiwa - Aiwa CD

This 17 track full-length cd shows the prowess this band has for capturing the dubbed-out atmospherics of their live d'n'b / hip-hop experience. Features a tribute to Abdel Halim Hafez. Released in Canada in 2005 by FACTOR.

"Awesome. Breakbeat reggae/dub or middle eastern songs. They fly along at a very fast pace, these are speedy! High-Energy is combined with rapping over the top, not gangsta-rap but smoothed out female or male vocals bouncing along with the beats. Cool instrumentation, authentic instruments that I have no clue of the names give this a real richness and depth. Very much party music, play this and it will be rocking at your shindig. Some of the songs are more sultry and slow, but always a lot of fun. The combination of fast break beats with a middle-eastern reggae feel is unique and works really well." (Don Poe)

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Sinebag - Pres de la Lisiere CD

on the second album "pres de la lisiere" sinebag focusses even more on the approach of a continous soundfield which was already part of the concept for "milchwolken in teein". on this record all fieldrecordings and compositions form one long track without interuptions. songs and soundrecordings are present in the same amount. this interweaving, an adaption of the surrounding everyday soundscape, is the aim of the field creation. the compositions feature mostly acoustic instruments - guitars, pino and organs form the basis of the material. these elements are processed and enriched by electronic synthesis. the titel "près de la lisière" (close to the border) reflects in several ways the contant of the record. it points at the nearness of the music to sound and the closeness of this album to no music at all. the cd is packed in a 8-sided digipack


"First, the packaging. Nice clean lines on the earth-toned multi-fold opening digipack. Very nicely designed and it makes me excited to hear what is inside. Field recordings are matched minutely with pensive and delicate music. Birds twirp and raindrops hit metal and acoustic guitar meanders through it tying it all together. Both types of sound, the natural and the acoustic, add so much to each other. Field recordings are OK, but only go so far in my opinion. Here, they are married to mellow guitars as if you were laying in the grass on a nice day and someone sat down 20 feet away and jammed with nature. Other field recordings are used, sounds like a drawer opening, shuffling around the house give the simple guitar a lot of basis. Beequeen did something similar on their recording The Body Shop, but in a much more complicated manner. Here it is stripped to the basics. Other times we have someone setting the table and dinner is cooking while a piano plays. Wonderfully delicate music."(Don Poe)

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Kompjotr Eplektrika - RedisetKompjotrAlleskla

triangleshaped trigger
a SONDMASKIN treat
irregular flicker
the RECCIRUUTHS beat
underneath travel on our TENTRAKTAIN
with REZTLEZZLEGZ dancing DIALEARS twist your brain
surrounded by GOATINGER
their bouncing is everywhere
EPLEKTRIMORPHED you settle down
in PHYRAMIDES to wear your crown
the illusion is DESTRUKKT and your feet are on the loose
find them at kompjotr eplektrikas VARKAUS

"An opaque white jewel case lands on my desk with a yellow sticker and weird words. What I am to expect? Something technical I guess. And, this is right. It sounds like synthetic engines coming up to speed and forming a rhythm, then the engine shift gears and fall in and out of sync. Cool, I like this instantly. Very trance inducing beats, I can imagine driving down the road with this very loud, fists pounding in the air. Could I dance to it I wonder. I would probably end up with epilepsy. Other tracks cut up songs and melodies into a Naked Lunch-esque melange of destruction and reformation. The beats still come through strong enough to feel that epilepsy coming on again. I dig this quite a bit. Good for the experimental beat satisfaction."(Don Poe)

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Various Artists - Broken Channel DVD+CD

Broken Channel presents sound and video interpretations on DVD and CD of the contemporary experience of surveillance, from a range of leading international artists working in sound and video. Featuring newly commissioned musical and video works exploring noises of dissent and visions through the shattered lens of CCTV and surveillance: Coldcut (Ninjatune) with assistance from Outerabongolia look at the police's monitoring of protest and protestors; Kampuchea (aka. Phonem, Morr Music) uses sound from an immigration office to construct a soundtrack with; Ultra Red (Mille Plateaux/Fat Cat) look at the protest at Quebec and on the USA/Mexico border from a participants perspective; Kaffe Matthews & Riz Maslen (aka - Noetropic-ntone) create discordant sound and image from the mute medium of CCTV; and Made (Gescom, Skam) & Battery Operated (C0C0S0L1DC1T1) look at how the control spaces of surveillance can be subverted to create radical new architectures and environments.


The dark and spooky side of techno. Using glitches and dark melodies, an ominous feeling settles in. This CD and DVD set deals with surveillance, how you are always being watched and not usually for your personal well-being. Using snippets of voice from various Big Brother scenes to the NY Video Surveillance Players group to actual footage gathered on location(like the Mexican-American Border Patrol.) From bands I like such as Battery Operated and Made, who is connected with Gescom, to others I am unfamiliar with, like Ultra Red, the sound is technical techno, heavy with emotion but running from authority in sound. There is a CD and DVD here – the DVD is PAL formatted, but plays back fine on my computer, I am watching again as I type – there is a lot of content here! Some of the videos are straight footage dealing with difficult topics, to manipulated footage that starts 'normal' and then goes into the world of AutoCAD-like structure. Maybe these are the plans for your building, housed in the CIA basement for when they need to raid you.(Don Poe)

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Various Artists - Essays on Radio: Can I have 2 minutes

Crónica is proud to present: Crónica 020~2005 and Crónica 021~2005, our second compilation, and one in two volumes. This compilation comprises an audio CD + DVD release and, as merely compiling tracks is of no big interest to us (no matter how interesting the tracks may be), what we searched for was an unifying idea that could help to create a coherent collective composition, not only showcasing both the artists and the label, as well as providing the possibility for some meaningful work to be done. And though the concept of this particular release still revolves around the sound medium, we've decided to stress the media label tag a little further with a full DVD release. The dvd showcases video work specially produced for this compilation, from some of our artists and some special guests. Essays on Radio aims to comment on the sound medium, on the technology and the culture of radio. In the midst of media saturation, radio can easily end by being an overlooked medium, not only due to its lower visibility compared to most mainstream media but mostly because it is an un-visual medium. It is also one of the longer standing and of the oldest electronic media that is still alive, so the novelty factor is not a help. Radio was the first broadcast medium, as well as the first that was sound-specific and intangible. Historically, radio was the primary responsible for an awareness of sound that went beyond the strict scope of music. Radio is a saturated live medium, where much happens simultaneously. Having little or no control about the sources and the interferences during broadcast and reception turns radio into a medium where we can easily and objectively experience noise. Therefore, it was probably through radio that many first heard white noise. It was probably with a radio receiver that many first modulated noise as it was probably through radio that we experienced randomness along with the lack of control and indeterminacy. This theme was intended to provide the artists with a starting point to approach the work. Unlike we did in the previous compilation, there would be no audio sources provided to the artists beforehand. In this release, what we were looking for were not exercises on composing from shaping any given sound matter but rather on relating the musical pieces to this particular context: Radio. As a further way to coherently organize the CD, we asked all the artists to produce the pieces with a fixed duration. This symbolic length allowed us to fit work from some of the artists we released so far and a few selected guests and it also served as a strong structure binding all the compositions together. Given the fact that we are closing the 2nd year of Crónica releases, we proposed that all tracks should have the fixed duration of 2 minutes, exactly. Therefore the sub-title: Can I have two minutes of your time?


Yummy glitchy audio in a minimal vein is set to heavily effected video. A great package overall! Most of the pieces have different artists doing the video and audio - in other words the people making the music didn't make the video. The music is very sparse and, although done by many different artists, centers around pops and glitches without melody or rhythm, just hardcore experimental sounds. What makes this truly outstanding is the video element, though. These videos are sometimes computer animations, but not silly 3D images walking around in a house or anything lame like that, but simple lines drawing on similar to an old screen save, or an artistic mouse-clicking montage. Some of these make me think of the movie Tron. Other pieces use real footage, in one case video from Japan cut to the music, or another has a face bobbing around, effected in a clean manner, or one of the more outright entertainin ones of a dog and his shadow. Topping it off, one of my favorite artists, Frans de Waard, is here making an appearance with his band, Freiband. Overall, the minimal videos match perfectly with the minimal music. Nothing overdone, just clean lines with jarring music.(Don Poe)

Logina - !Siam Acnun

[.] I would say that music is an enigma, and an evanescent enigma (tempus fugit), and that talking about that "foreign country" that all music is can be irrelevant, but also, and that's why we take the effort to do so, clarifying. Music is a pleasure (sometimes fun, sometimes passion) and is concert (that is, conflict, ceremonial fight, however dramatic) it is always a walk trough misunderstanding and the obscure. Sounds are not only symbols, they are acts [.] Llorenc Barber, "Los dioses muertos" !Siam Acnun is a residue of time, a frozen moment, retained, confined and now packaged. One of those instants that narrate the flow of time, that belong to time and whose picture we offer here. Nósac, oexe ram, aloiuqru, tiwokre, redbammocylop, are the personal reflection of the social irritation of a whole people that awakes from a deep and heavy sleep, of an induced hibernation. It is also the passion for the laptop and technology, passion and addiction. But it's above all the outcome of the work of a musician (Longina) with the cooperation of a couple of artists (Montse Rego and Roberto D.Bouzas), a collective (Flexo) and an optimist (Horacio G.) !SIAM ACNUN (!NIAGA REVEN - please read from right to left).

Dare I call this the best disc I have heard up to this point of the year? Maybe not quite, but for this style of music it is the best thing I have heard this year. Longina has sculpted sound into a slightly jazzy version of Plastikman. Now, I can say I dislike most jazz, so don't think this is a wailing sax-infused jam. There is just a little swing to some of the songs. But the minimal beats galloping along like the rhythm of a horse make me really excited. I have only listened to this at home and at work - I can't wait to get this in the car and blast it. Of course, the comment by my boss at my day job asking if this was music or the sound from outside the window was icing on the cake of describing this.(Don Poe)

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Freiband/Boca Raton - Product

Crónica is proud to present the fifth installment in the Product series with works by Freiband and Boca Raton. Freiband's "Replay" and Boca Raton's "Crop." are a pair of superb live-recordings made on March 25th 2004 at the Muziekcentrum as part of the Earational 2004 festival for electronic music and audio-art, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. Early 2004 Freiband was invited by the Earational festival to play a new piece based on the first CD 'Microbes'. When that was released everybody thought this to be the 'first laptop album' by Frans de Waard, but in fact it's the last 'non laptop album'. In the early days of Freiband, concerts were loosely based on sounds from the 'Microbes' album, played from mini discs and CDRs. To take the album onto the laptop was indeed a challenge, but in hindsight it proved to be the best concert by Freiband ever. Taking the small detailed micro-sounds, placing them in a new context add a lot of tension and new depths to the original material. Boca Raton's piece performed at Earational 2004 is the result of a series of experiments on Quadraphony and composing along it's six axes. On micro, meso and macro-level, the composition contains circulating or propelling sound, both in it's wave-shape as in it's structure over time.



A split disc between a favorite band of mine, Freiband, and another band I have never heard of, Boca Raton. Freiband is in good form from this live show(called Earational, of all things...) with minimal glitches and building waves of pops and clicks - very surgical and precise. This release has quite a bit going on for them, the sound is a little more full than their usual. Boca Raton is even sparser. spooky washes of pleasant hissiness, sounds alot like the drone based Coil. Very nicely done. Other tracks have a little more energy, as if the hissing hose was turned up and it is flailing all over the place. A very pleasant track has the ambience of birds chirping outside as other incredibly subtle noises and buzzes occur. As for seeing it live, it might have been a little slow, but for listening at home this stuff is quite impressive.(Don Poe)

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@c - Hard Disk CD

It is hard to point the start of these tracks, although we know when and where they were recorded, Aveiro, Vienna, Lisbon... but where did they really start? From our memories, they come from Porto, Berlin, wherever we performed, in public or not... With Alex, with Vítor and João... Always with Lia and her inspiring images! What we cannot say is that they are full improvisations. Although the composition is not prepared or scored, although there’s no rehearsal, the compositions grow with us. They are born at any given moment and then they develop their own history that we freeze here, at a given moment that is not however it’s end.


This is a hard sound to describe. Not quite glitch, the sounds are more real, but they do borrow the shortness and scattered timing, not quite techno, there are no rhythms, a little electronic, but not electronica. Experimental, yes, but that implies holding mics up to crystals to get the sounds they emit or something equally wacky. This has the burbles and clicks you would expect to hear if your washing machine was set on soothe and you attached a contact mic up to it, then converted the sounds into an analog digital sound. Well, it is called hard disk - you could think of this as the sound of data being written to your drive, but the drive is not your normal magnetic drive but a large wooden disc in the middle of the forrest, data flowing up the cambium of the trees. Confused yet? Maybe. But this is a cool album, the sounds are minimal and sparse, but there is still a full sound here. Definitely a good disc to change the ambience of a room without dominating it. And I do like it, even though I can't describe it.(Don Poe)

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DJ_Methodikal - Alarmingly Lo-Fi

dj_methodikal is a one-man drum corps and supercomputer. dj_methodikal reads Martha Stewart Living on the can. dj_methodikal has two music degrees that say you suck. dj_methodikal wants dj spooky to kiss his bl*ck ass. dj_methodikal has mad sock cymbal. dj_methodikal is pissing with a boner. dj_methodikal is going to put a hurtin' on you.
"The eleven tracks on this fifty minute CD leaves the listener paralyzed in his chair - or down on the dancefloor. Breakbeats form the major part of this CD, with weird sounds flying in and out of the mix. This is heavy duty music." - Vital Weekly review

"djMethodikal's new release is so innovative and non-stop awesome, my car wouldn't let me stop playing it!" - defragmentation, invisible records

"about as listenable as your uncle herman's morning ass-spackle, and about as talented as that guy from jag panzer. the only thing this work has going for it is interesting album art, and a tongue-in-cheek sticker campaign. this music is beneath me, my mom, and yes, even YOU, jodie foster. turn it up, fuckpaste." - seismologist, NJ homewrecker


Aggressive and spastic - crunchy beats and funked out rhythms. Reminds me a little of Kid 606, without the massive attitude, due to the street attitude and slightly hip-hop feel. This isn't a rap album, though, it falls squarely in the electronic/techo realm. Maybe throw in a touch of the Digital Hardcore sound, what with all the distortion here, but way more complicated and full than those guys from Germany can do, and with far more swing. Definitely fun and good for a friday night blow-out. A touch of other instruments other than just computers sneak through here and there - John Zorn style sax appears subtly on a couple of tracks(how does zorn and subtle fit together, I dunno...) I really like the beats here - quirky as all get out and super motivating, distorted and tweaked till the cows came home. And, when you read the credits, you see the lucky bastard even has someone helping with catering, and, well, there are photos of someone eating donuts next to the credits, so I guess someone had to go to Dunkin' Donuts....(Don Poe)

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Celluloid Mata - Sable

Sable' offers 16 state-of-the-art rhythmic post-power electronics intelligent dance music. first longplayer on ant-zen. after having released on various other labels and last year's release 'acti-room' (act95) - with ultra milkmaids as well as the 'escaped from room 7' lp, 'sable' is the consequent follow-up to 'la connectique' which had been released on hymen as a 12".

Wow – super heavy beats that make me freak out. I jam hard to this disc. Beware if you are the car in front of me – I will ride you ass as I am listening to exciting music. The tunes here are somewhere between Autechre and Scorn. The beats aren't as complicated as Ae, but the use of reverb and echo on their 'hi-hat' sounds is similar, but the emotion is a lot stronger in this recording. Very dark and ominous songs. On one hand, you could say this is a little on the industro-rhythm side of things, but that would be unfair. So much of that stuff is crap that as soon as I see that label I cringe, but the machine-like pounding of the metal being stamped in this plant is god-send for anyone who likes unrelenting beats. Hard. Crunchy. Scratches the roof of your mouth beats. Their other album, Spectrum, is also amazing. I am now on a jihad to find all of their releases. You should be too.

Listen here This song is one of their softer ones.

Lakescene - Reality Flows

Reality Flows is the debut album from Cheltenham's Lakescene which features The Land of Nod's guitarist Ant Walker.Lakesecene draw on the stately twang of Godspeed You Black Emperor and the more understated musings of Labrdford and Mogwai, leading them on in their quest to put the many images and sounds that surround them, into an audibale format. 'Reality Flows' stimulates an all-encompassing desire to escape reality and live outside of its meandering melancholy, while at the same time drawing on the inner beauty of everyday consciousness.


"Low key music, but with a definite tilt to the odd. But, it isn't something you notice right away. Overall, ya might think it is like a quieter Tortoise or Moqwai, but then Lakescene's unique style becomes apparent. Tweaked melodies have the sounds of waves and a slightly out-of-tune music box. An ominous tone starts to rise and, what makes this really spooky, is a slowly looped voice that says only 1 word which is indecipherable, maybe "Hand....Hand....Hand." The baby is allowed to sleep well though as the floating guitars bring in sweet dreams. That is all in just a couple of minutes in a song called "Fear of Surprise." One of my favorite uses of voice on this CD is a sample that says "Listen to this sound," and you expect something instantly obvious and blatant. Instead, the song melts your head into a warped vision. Lots of small things are mixed in here to create an odd evening. Cool and unexpected!"(Don Poe)

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Longstone - Static

The new mini-album features seven brand new Longstone studio recordings. The new material inhabits the world between intelligent thought-provoking electronica and twisted motorik melodies. Longstone have been compared to classic krautrock acts (Kraftwerk, Cluster) as well as more recent mavericks (Autechre, Kriedler)


"Really cool electronica grooves make me really excited about this album. With a tempo ranging somewhere in the middle to totally rocking tracks that you will blast at full volume in the car, these 2 guys manage to weave intricate patterns of melody that playfully trade the forefront back and forth. Intricate rhythms emanate from the speakers with well-placed samples. Golden artwork of gears and mechanisms on the front give you an idea of the sound, as well. Technical and mathematical placement of sounds – very electronic sounding pieces that the people in the videogame Tron would listen to."(Don Poe)

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Thighpaulsandra - Rape Scene

"Rape Scene" is the third studio album from THIGHPAULSANDRA and follows on from the hugely successful "I Thighpaulsandra" and "Double Vulgar" albums that were released on Coil’s own legendary Eskaton label. Both albums that literally go way beyond genre categorization.Thighpaulsandra is also a full-time member of both Coil and Spiritualized and also is one-half of the Queen Elizabeth project with Julian Cope as well as being a former member of Cope’s group. "Rape Scene" also features Spiritualized bassist Martin Schellard and Rocketgoldstars Sion Orgon. "Rape Scene" features three lengthy, intriguing, pieces of around fifteen minutes. "Joyful Misuse Of The Gomco Clamp", "The Busy Jew" and "His Lavish Showroom."


"This is difficult music, as Laurie Anderson would say. The 3 Long songs contained here within combine electronics with some of the thought processes of Krautrock/Psychedilic rock, soaring to new dimensions. Thishpaulsandra has also played with Julian Cope with wonderful consequences, Spiritulized, and is now also a member of one of my favorite bands, Coil. Ya gotta love the cover – 3 styles of sit-down toilets in a stark room. This album seems more serious, determined and darker. Minor keys constantly shift and evolve into new sounds. Although these songs are long, you never feel as if you are in the same song as they move all over the place. There is a little singing by TPS, but less than his other albums. Very strong tunes with confidence. This album crosses so many genres everyone will find something they like, be intrigued by what they don't understand, and be amazed with Thighpaulsandra's talent."(Don Poe)

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Hop-Frog's Fatwa - The Silk Road

"Music for Minefields (and the children who play in them)" The Silk Road is the first project from the musical collective hop-frog.  This work was recorded under the name hop-frog’s fatwa, a project intended as a guerilla action against the upbeat, positive, and highly overproduced “World Music” of late, yet retaining the members’ passion for musical traditions of various cultures.  The album is set in an alternate near-future in which the characters find themselves on an endless journey along an ancient silk trade route.  Many obstacles and states of mind are experienced, including encounters with countless mutant variants of the next generations of “smart” mines and their victims.  It is a barren wasteland in the East where artists deemed “decadent” are banished to, able to survive by taking jobs such as clearing minefields by hand.  This is a metaphor for the treatment of artists in a society dominated by corporate totalitarianism, as well as cultural blandness and unchecked materialism.  It is also ironic since artists have been forced to flee from the same region by oppressive forces in recent times.  The journey along the Silk Road is an examination of the creative process.  The characters are finally able to see the world with pharmaceutical-free clarity, and are able to endure the creative process with all its explosive pitfalls and rewards.


"Middle eastern sound sources, like tabla, make this a really rich experience. But, while some of the songs have a middle eastern slant with chanting vocals and flavor, this is a much more experimental release. Weird sounds are warped from their instruments over the middle eastern tracks, and other tracks are just sound manipulations in a trance-inducing manner. A beat with reverb and delay permeates many tracks. Of course, I think of Musimgauze from the use of similar instruments, but this is far more artful and interesting. Where Muslimgauze would pummel you with repetition, each track evolves and has motion and change with Hop-Frog. Less dancey and less distortion, with far more effort and ideas, as well. This is music for the smokey hash bars of Morocco, tweak out and forget you are on earth. Challenging and interesting."(Don Poe)

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Various Artists - Live at Dakini Nights

Live at Dakini Nights" (DAK2113) is s compilation documenting the artists who've played at Dakini Nights over the past 5 years. The tracks aren't live recordings -- most of the stuff we recorded off the P.A. was too hot -- but rather studio recordings representative of what the artists do live. Nine all new and exclusive mixes.


"An ethno-ambient/electronica compilation spanning many years of recording, from 1999 to 2004, this richly decorated gatefold digipack delights right from the start. A stringed indi-instrument starts off relatively traditionally and quickly builds into an electronic piece with a wide variety of ethnic instruments. Very cool. These songs are very upbeat - you could dance to these and be lost in your head. What makes these unique is that they are not flat 4 on the floor beats but syncopated, complicated and delicate rhythms. An exciting release for those who dig new takes on techno. In fact, you can't go wrong with and of the releases on the Dakini label. Some are beatier, others are more 'authentic' but they are all enjoyable."(Don Poe)

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Adham Shaikh - Fusion

Canadian-based Adham has been one of our favorite ambient producers for a loooong time. Starting with his 1994 album of deep Indian-inflected ambient "Journey To The Sun" (Instinct), we've watched his production and composition skills grow with each release: "Drift" (Instinct, 1996), "Ekko" (Interchill 1998), and "Essence" (Sonicturtle, 2002). But if there's one thing that remains constant, it's Adham's unique ability to blend live elements with the production and detail of studio music. "Fusion" may be his best blend yet: tracks like "Krishna Raga" and "Flying Beyond" mix long, flowing solos on Indian instruments like bansuri and sitar with hypnotic, percussion & bass-driven grooves. "Dubfire" shows a more ambient side, with soft gamelan-like phrases and glistening synths echoing out in a wash of dub delay. There's even a phat breakbeat-dub remix of "Infusion" (from the "Manna Medicine" comp. or Liquid Sound Design), featuring the clean, spacious guitar phrasings of Tim Floyd. All in all, an album that's perfectly pitched between the "jambient" of Jairamji and the tighter, club-haze electronica of Makyo.

"Imagine a more authentic Loop Guru; middle eastern beats and instrumentation set to dancey beats. This is not as aggressive as Muslimgauze, and there is a lot more melody and activity to this music as well. This could be on the edge of new-age to a degree, it is so happy and has such real sounds that the digital crowd wouldn't be able to create this. The production values here are spotless - clean instrumentation and fancy effects/reverb/echo and so on bring this recording from original on-location recordings and into a hip club in downtown New York. From dub to upbeat tabla-esque stuff, there is a lot of energy here. In fact, you can't go wrong with and of the releases on the Dakini label. Some are beatier, others are more 'authentic' but they are all enjoyable."(Don Poe)

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Matthew Devereux - Tap Tap Tap

Involved in music since 1990, Matthew has been producing electronica as well as staying active as a vocalist for "The Pale." Following on from his solo EP, Matthew Devereux keeps up the pace with the release of his debut album, showcasing his blend of quality electronica.

"Band Electronica. Full instrumentation and very pretty melodies. Although it is only 1 fellow, there is a richness to the production. Ethnic inspired flavors spice this up, from flamenco styled guitars and other fancy stringed instruments to jazz basslines to something similar to a sitar. Also, find samples from the likes of Deniro "Here is someone who stood up" and a variety of other more subtle sources. There is a great openness to the songs, they are all different and stand up well on their own, put them all on the same album and you have a very strong release. Although more in the mainstream of electronica than the sounds you would hear on the latest Autechre, this still isn't watered down like Moby. Pretty tracks by a talented fellow."

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