Hello Bastards
Jade Tree Records 2310 Kennwynn Road Wilmington DE 19810

Le Feu du Tigre
Cuneiform Records PO Box 8427 Silver Spring MD 20907-8427

A cello-clarinet-drums trio who play highly melodic and rhythmically complex tunes. Yes, this is French prog rock. The drummer was in the amazing Etron Fou Leloublan (rough translation: The Mad Elusive Sheep Shit) and his presence lends a bit of that band's silly and obscure sense of humor. Other features include Tom Cora-like idiosyncratic cello playing, clarinet lines ranging from light folk melodies to skronkier improv stuff, and occasional preachy and almost painfully French-accented rants. Also an excellent cover of Skeleton Crew's Coca Cola. This is very intentional, careful music that manages to maintain an air of playfulness throughout. -Kitty.

Twelve Dusty Diamonds
Hillsdale Records PO Box 641592 San Francisco CA 94164

The Tiki Men's Twelve Dusty Diamonds chronicles the dark, dirty, raw adventures of a wave-loving surfer stranded in the desert. Armed with only some beer and a guitar, his journey is all about finding meaning in a waterless world.

Well, maybe I listened to it too many times, too late at night. Either way, this is one hella fine album of instrumental surf music. The Tiki Men combine undeniably catchy hooks with rough lo-fi production in an album which varies in mood and intensity, taking you from irreverent excitement to loneliness and despair, and back again. As the title suggests, this is a musical diamond in the rough- check it out.

-Lizzie Boredom

The World of Particulars...
Gadfly Records PO Box 5231 Burlington VT 05402

Singer-Songwriter from Boston. Urban folk may be the best description, but does it really matter? Not when you have a collection of such wonderful, lovely, cranky, introspective, self-mocking, catchy songs. The first track, "Shoebox Bird" is easily one of my top 5 songs of the year. It's an ironic, self-pitying song about how he has to save his girlfriend from herself and the possible fatal mistakes she might commit daily. He ends by telling us about the wounded birds he would take home in a shoebox and try to nurse back to health. The album is full of very different tracks that all work, including the manic and hilarious live track "Addicted to Stress" and the lulling title track that Dar Williams sings back-up on. This is the stuff. This is what I wait for; smart, poetic lyrics and a collection of songs that sound decidedly unique. -Kara Whacked

Appeal to Human Greed
Big Cat Records PO Box 2020 New York NY 10013

Five remixes of tracks from the Anatomy of Addiction album. If you're not familiar with God, they are a loose supergroup currently including Justin Broadrick (Napalm Death, Godflesh, Final, Techno Animal), Kevin Martin (Ice, 16-17, Techno Animal), Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow, The Work) and Alex Buess (16-17, Ice), among others, that use noisy sax and clarinet mixed with droning guitar and bass to create all sorts of industrial and prog that is sometimes as ambient as it is aggressive. In general, the remixes tone down the aggressive nature of the original tracks. Gold Teeth, remixed by Lumberjacks, is the most changed by taking out the guitar, bringing the snarled vocals to the front, and adding a laid-back hip-hop beat. Bill Laswell does his token job to Bloodstream mellowing it out and drowning everything in bass reverb. On All Fours is perhaps the least changed from the original as Justin Broadrick keeps the original herky-jerky structure and gives the guitar sound more of an edge. Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) does a remix of Tunnel. Quite an amazing EP. -Chanel

7"
Justin Pearson PO Box 178202 San Diego CA 92177-8202

Wow! One of the best hardcore 7"s I've come across in a long time. Formed of most of Struggle and a guitarist from Unbroken, Swing Kids leave us with only this to remember their short existence. Raging guitar thrash reminiscent of Econochrist, vocals and tempos like End of the Line. My favorite song, Disease, (a better-recorded version than on the Food Not Bombs benefit LP) starts off with upbeat bebop jazz, seamlessly blending into fast screaming hardcore, if you can believe that. Trust me, it works and it's amazing. The Joy Division cover, Warsaw, is great too.

-fourfa

Cesaria Evora
Nonesuch Records 75 Rockefeller Plaza New York NY 10019

Evora has a rich melancholy voice with a rough edge that comes with age. Her singing has a bittersweet quality to it. Even if you don't understand the language, her sincerity will make you believe every word she sings; be it sad or upbeat, about every day life, or a political statement. -Ofer

Defiance of the Ugly by the Merely Repulsive
Relapse Records PO Box 251 Millersville PA 17551

You might think that a side project made up of Shane Embury (Napalm Death), Danny Lilker (Brutal Truth, Exit 13), and Scott Lewis (Brutal Truth) would put out some pretty aggressive grind, but Malformed Earthborn is far from that. Industrial-style loops and samples are the basis of the music with dancebeats, Godflesh-style guitar, and extremely distorted vocals appearing on various tracks. Some of the tracks (De Vermix Mysteriis, Cross of Victims) even remind me of Ghost-era Techno-Animal, as repetitious sounds that evolve slowly. By far, my favorite is Nailed Savior which has an extremely catchy metallic schwooshing sound in the midst of dancebeats and distorted vocals. Intoxicating Touch of Freedom sounds exactly like a cross between Dead World and Godflesh as it shares the "this will hurt someone" sample from the Dead World track of that name and the trademark Godflesh guitar sound. If you like lots of repetitious structures, this album is quite enjoyable. -Chanel

Destroy the Machines
Victory Records PO Box 146546 Chicago IL 60614

Earth Crisis made their reputation combining brutal metallic hardcore with extremely controversial, intolerant lyrics. Consider these gems from past records by these vegan straight-edge eco-warriors: "For the fetus, for the rat, for the cow, for the rat/ For innocent victims we will attack, we will attack" and "Poisoned tears fall from a corroding sky to a tortured earth... to end the enslavement and slaughter the antidote is veganism." This, their first full-length, is no less extreme: "Reject the anthropocentric falsehood that maintains the oppressive hiearchy of mankind over the animals," and my favorite, "Severed locks, doors wrenched from hinges... vivisectionists dragged into the street and shot as flames engulf the laboratory." Yikes. The thing is, like their past two 7<=s, the music is awesome. I heard they listened to nothing but Carcass before recording this LP, and it shows. It is metal. But metal in a good way- fucking powerful guitars, lots of double bass action, loads of heavy mosh and low-E chunk, and (thankfully) no guitar solos. And they've retained enough hardcore punk to be palatable to the political scenesters that might take their lyrics seriously. If you can look past the ridiculous lyrics, you'll find an enjoyable and extremely powerful record. -fourfa

Upstart Sounds PO Box 44-1418 West Somerville MA 02144

Robert Gordon put together this amazingly varied companion CD to his book of the same name, which celebrates the unsung heroes of the Memphis music scene. The compilation includes everything from snippets of radio shows by the legendary 1950s DJ Dewey Phillips to an ethereal synthesized composition by William Eggleston. In between, you get fine specimens of blues by the likes of Furry Lewis and Jessie Mae Hemphill, the good-time garage holler of Flash and the Memphis Casuals, punk scree courtesy of Drive Inn Danny, two songs about drunkenness, and liner notes that will not fail to educate and amuse you. With something for all tastes, the album is as essential as the book that preceded it. -Trixie

Pilot
Matador Records 676 Broadway New York NY 10012

If you like Superchunk, Pavement or Archers of Loaf, then be sure to check out the Flying Nuns. This three-member band rocks on this five-song EP. Bass, guitar and drums all kick into high gear on the opening song Submarine. All songs have hooks that bring you in and make your head bop up and down.

I think it's the interchange between the thumping beats and classic jangle guitar that keeps me interested. Frank, the second song has a thick heavy bass sound, while Shades is more of an all out rock feast. Shades is my personal favorite because you can hear the torment in Kevin Sweeney's voice (lead vocalist). "I'm just filled with hate," he sings over top of a thick-sounding Archers type of song.

Carousel of Freaks, the fourth song starts slower and builds nicely into a great pulsing song. The final song, Life On The Ground is a mid-paced song with good, thumping drums. "It's so nice to get along" sings Kevin on this, a great way to end a wonderful EP.

-Scotty M.

Intoxicated Man
Mute Records 140 West 22nd St New York NY 10011

Couchmaster
Mammoth Records Carr Mill 2nd Floor Carrboro NC 27510

One of New Zealand's finest bands are back with an excellent indie, well almost indie (Mammoth Records), pop record. It's been a few years since we've been blessed with the Bats trademark jangle guitar sound. Couchmaster has them returning to their traditional big hook, upbeat sound on songs such as Afternoon in Bed and Land O Lakes.

Most of this effort is spent on light pop ballads like Around You Like Snow or ShoeShine, which will have you tapping your feet as they plow along with lead guitar getting the preference and a standard rock beat keeping the pace. My personal favorites are Chain Home Low and Knowledge is Power. Chain Home Low is a great campy song with bits of violin effects and French horn blending nicely with the guitars. On Knowledge is Power, the Bats get bold and say "Damn" a few times. It's a fun song filled with excellent, intelligent lyrics. Overall this effort is a welcome return.

Another interesting song is Smorgasboard, which sounds like a Smiths song. You expect to hear Morrissey chime in at any moment, but it turns out to be a short instrumental. If you like safe, light pop music with intelligent, well thought out substance, then this is the record for you. Couchmaster has 17 tracks, totaling 52 minutes of pure entertainment. If you enjoy this record, then be sure to check out other artists in the New Zealand scene like The Clean, The Chills, Look Blue Go Purple and Chris Knox. -Scotty M.

Vakio
Blast First available through: Mute Bank Mail Order 429 Harrow Road London W10 4RE

Hummmmm-m-m-m-mm-mm-mmm- m-w-m-w-m-w. Thk-k-k-k-thkk- k-hum-thk-k-k-k-hum-hum-hum. Buzzzzz. S-k-s-k-sssk-sss-k-k-sss-k-k. MMMMmmmm k k k k k-k k k k k-k. Take early Kraftwerk and excise the few melodic elements. You're left with a series of beeps, hums, burbles, and of course, scratches from playing those old LPs for twenty years now. There you have Panasonic, the soon-to-be-litigated-out-of-their name group from Finland. Most of their instruments are homemade and of course, analog. Some tracks, notably the monotone and duotone hums can be quite irritating when played at high volume. The buzzscratch-buzz tracks are suitable for accompaniment to your morning shave. And as the tempos of some tracks increase, you'll find yourself doing whatever it is that you're doing at twice or thrice the normal speed. Better than Muzak, this CD. Sheer brilliance!

-Gabe

Inedit Maison des Cultures du Monde 101 Blvd Raspail 75006 Paris France

If I had to name my favorite album for 1995, this would be it. Batak Music is a collection of traditional music of the Batak people, who live on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. This mostly instrumental music usually accompanies ritual dancing, and it's performed by various ensembles that include deep, resonant gongs, tuned drums, metal percussion, oboes, and sometimes lutes, xylophones, and flutes. The diversity of sound and mood is extensive and ranges from slow, hypnotic processionals to the controlled abandon of spirit possessions. Layers of sound and rhythm create intricate, shifting webs, intense and bewitching. The accompanying liner notes satisfy the inevitable curiosity that arises from a first listen, but you'll have to listen many, many more times before you're sated. -Mary

Backsaturday
write to: Prolapse Info c/o Turk 47 Avenue Road Extension Clarendon Park Leicester LE2 3EP

This is the second simmering cauldron of Scots angst from this group. They've toned down lead ranter Mick Herrick's heavily accented and difficult to understand proclamations here (too bad), but more than made up for what would be the resulting lack of tension by the strengthening of the rhythm section, particularly the bass. Even on the restrained parts of this CD, the bass is churning with a restlessness seldom heard since the heyday of The Birthday Party and Joy Division. It's those simple, relentless riffs which really give this album an edge, even upstaging song titles such as Radio Drown Therapy and Every Night I'm Mentally Crucified (7000 Times). -Gabe