ELECTROLOUNGE ARCHIVE E-G
NuJazz TripHop Ambient Dance

The horn section from Brit cinematic hip hop outfit The Herbaliser step out for this neo Latin lounge outing. Here, Ralph Lamb and Andrew Ross create a lush, percussion filled easy listening experience.

Upbeat tracks like "Glider Girl" and "Las Chicas" perfectly capture the neo groovy vibe. Ross and Lamb aren't afraid to slow things down, as is apparent on tracks like "Love Letter" and "The Affair." And they capture the '60s soundtrack mood on "Cable Car" and "The Hypnotist." King Kooba collaborator Melissa Heathcote contributes a wonderful vocal on the final cut.

All in all, a truly solid disc for cocktail hour.

Eddie the Rat's Food for the Moon Too Soon (Live at A.T.A.) is atypical of Score, Baby! Then again, Eddie the Rat is atypical of any music you're likely to read about outside of experimental music circles. Pete Martin, who hails from San Francisco, describes Eddie the Rat as the house band for the "Church of the Ongoing Construct." He also says that it isn't a band, but a conceptual ceremony-in-action, made up of a continually changing player rotation.

That said, I can safely describe the music on Food for the Moon Too Soon as an amalgamation of sounds, both musical and "non-musical" (i.e. talking, seemingly random noises, sirens, etc.) -- all of which is organized in cut 'n paste musical arrangements. The problem with this explanation is that it really doesn't tell you, dear reader, what the music sounds like. Eddie the Rat is sure to appeal to people who enjoy all things avant garde ("number nine, number nine" -- need I say more?) My only disappointment with this live performance, is that I'm sure it's more interesting in person. Guess a trip to SF is in order!

[  to the top, baby!  ]

Fans of Seksu Roba and Tipsy are almost guaranteed to enjoy Elektrotwist, a Euro-dj duo who excel at creating retro-hip grooves out of beats and samples. The liner notes offer tribute to many famous, infamous and little known stripteasers (Tempest Storm, Lili Saint-Cyr, et al). Clearly, there's plenty of burlesque in the Elektrotwist sound; but to get the complete picture, add on nuances of film noir, surfin' spy sounds and z-grade movie cues, resulting in a surreal, psychadelic and deeply funky sound. Dialogue snippets ("Prostitution has now become a dangerous kick...") punctuate churning sax and vibe loops ricocheting within pulsating bebop and breakbeat rhythm beds. Tracks such as "The Smurfer", are almost Zen-like, seeming to offer an infinite repetition of rhythmic simplicity made all the more effective through multi-track complexity.

Chicago's Emperor Penguin has probably broken up, but I hope not. The group(?) recorded at least three full length records including Shatter the Illusion of Integrity, Yeah!, Extreme Gaming and Mysterious Pony. Each has its peaks and valleys, but when the Penguin is good, it's very good.

"How Y'all Feel?", the opener on Shatter the Illusion... is a good example. Combining a pounding minimalistic rock rhythm backed by chirping frogs, the track chugs merrily along until an anonymous hard rock singer asks who, in his boisterous audience, likes the taste of alcohol, responding to their cheers with a hearty "AL-RIGHT!" There's something gratifying about hearing the most basic rock 'n' roll cliche (substance abuse is fun!) celebrated in a new context -- that of the bedroom cut 'n' paste producer.

Elsewhere, Emperor Penguin explores a wide swath of musical styles such as hip hop, rock, lounge, funk, musique concrete and electronica. Offering just one sample track is unjust, but two hardly offers a complete picture. Sometimes the tracks feel overly fragmentary and undeveloped, but just as often the pieces come together for a satisfying headphone experience.

The latest Fantastic Plastic Machine represents a somewhat new direction for Tomoyuki Tanaka, FPM's main man. Instead of exploring lounge beat and exotica, the Japanese DJ composer is up to soul and house.

Pumping rhythms predominate, but the melodic invention is always present, making for a memorable listening experience.

There are excursions into other music styles. Junglized Latin beats make tracks like "Paragon" leap out of the speakers.

The arrangements on "Love is Psychadelic" and "On a Chair" seem to be a nod to Prince.

Possibly a disappointment to fans of the earlier, retro-based sound, but a strong outing nonetheless.

Interview with Tomoyuki Tanaka on For the Record.

Fast Asleep is the first new work by Funki Porcini (aka James Bradell) since the Zombi e.p. in 2000 and the first full length since The Ultimately Empty Million Pounds in 1999. With only two other full length discs under his belt since 1995, Funki P. is clearly not prolific. Still, his work is generally of high quality and worth the wait.

Funki P.'s brand of cinematic breakbeat is on full display here. Like his Ninja Tune label mates DJ Food, Amon Tobin and the Cinematic Orchestra, Porcini loves to combine throbbing bass with jazzy drum breaks and atmospheric textures.

The mood on Fast Asleep is more along the lines of his first outing Hed Phone Sex or its follow-up Love, Pussycats and Carwrecks than the more aggressive ...Million Pounds. The tempos are slower and the compositions more hypnotic. This is sure to be on a number of Top 10 lists.

As an added bonus, Fast Asleep boasts a "VDV" disc of amateur-shot minimalistic music videos. Highlights include "The Great Drive By," "The Big Sea," "Atomic Kitchen," "16 Megatons" and "Ritmo de Jazz."

Italian nu-jazz combo Gabin plays it cool on their AstralWerks debut -- not that it's a bad thing, because they do it rather well.

Melancholy reigns on the opening track, "La Maison." A repeating piano line, synth wash, tinkling chimes and jazzy beat come together like the soundtrack for a wistful jewelry advertisement ("Show her you care... with diamonds" it seems to say). By the time the hand harmonica comes in, you can practically smell April in Paris. European sophistication hasn't sounded this sexy since... the last downtempo record landed in my CD player.

Perhaps I'm being a bit hard on Gabin. Truth is, they do the nu lounge pop thing very well, with great panache. There's even a fun modern take on Duke Ellington's "It Ain't Got A Thing, If It Ain't Got That Swing." In short, it's a mix of instrumentals (some with guest Blue Note jazz saxophonist Stefano di Battista) and guest vocal spots featuring Joseph Fargier and Aria Carril Oblois (including a track that sounds like Gabin's bid to do a Bond theme song).

All told, Gabin is atypical of AstralWerks usual electronica fare, occasionally inspired, but just as often a bit ordinary.

Here's a text book example of cheeky big beat sampledelica. Gent kicks things off with a reworking of "Arriva La Bomba" and keeps the beat going through a dozen or so dancefloor-pounding tracks, each boasting a least a couple terribly obvious retro swank samples that have already turned up on records by Dimitri from Paris, et al.

It's true that the shelf life on this kind of thing isn't very long -- someone out there must think it's "so five minutes ago" -- but it's still pretty tasty. Play it at your next party, but not at the one after it.

Goldfrapp is named for vocalist Alison Goldfrapp, one of pop's most promising chanteuse and Felt Mountain is her impressive full length debut.

Created with keyboard wizard Will Gregory, Felt Mountain is Teutonic in its seriousness and monumental in its emotional drift. Falling somewhere between Kurt Weill, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, the compositions have an undeniable cinematic quality.

Goldfrapp sings a bit like k.d. lang, a bit like Bjork, a bit like Eartha Kitt (and weirdly like Billie Holiday on one track due to the production). Her lyrics are fairly obscure, sometimes pretentious and silly, other times strangely poignant. They're closer to poetry than to conventional pop lyrics. Occasionally, she whistles, hums or yodels, lending the recordings a childlike haunted quality.

Gregory's keyboard, string and brass arrangements are absolutely stunning. Music this beautiful isn't likely to attract a wide audience, but it's just as well. Goldfrapp is a rarefied delight in a world of disposable pop garbage.