Micromars
- title
International Pop Modulations
- label
AudioInformationPhenomena
- format
- CD
Micromars is a one person band from Norway playing (to use an easy, but woefully inadequate comparison) Stereolab-like keyboard/pop sound that is very well done and completely it's own. Perhaps The Crooner, the artist from Greece whose disc was added in the May 11 1999 gullbuy is a better reference point, except that Micromars is less 'easy' than The Crooner. Considering the low cost of this CD (released domestically in the US even though Micromars is an obscure artist with only one previous release, a 7" on the Japanese label Motorway), you really can't fault buying this for YOUR home collection.
---Carl, Oct.12, 1999
Stephan Schneider (who may be my favorite contemporary bassist) chose to leave Kreidler (whose first CD "Weekend" still sends me) to concentrate full time on To Rococo Rot. This Berlin band are so on-the-money that Tarwater better watch out that they don't lose Robert Lippok, who still is playing in Tarwater as well as To Rococo Rot. His brother also plays in To Rococo Rot, which is a trio of the Lippok brothers and Stephan Schneider. The 2 songs from the 'No Ordinary Cowboy' film ('Rocket Fuel'and 'Casper') are my faves this time out. No Ordinary Cowboy is an outer space documentary narrated by Star Trek's William Shatner.
4 newly recorded versions of the standout track from the EPH record, totaling over a half hour of new music, their first since the release of EPH. Fridge are so young and enigmatic, that bands like Mina and Fridge may easily grow into supermasters of new sounds as they evolve in the years to come. EPH was reviewed in the July 13 1999 gullbuy. As with their record and the 'Kinoshita Terasaka' 12" that came out before it, very attractive sleeve photos and layout, printed on a textured card stock.
The first 12" from this (up till now) 7" only label. The insert offers very little information except "please take time to play this loud". There are 2 songs on each side of this 12". The first song 'Frankholmes Drive' sounds like it has 2 time threads running through it. There is the droning Carnival of Souls organ, then the technology driven racing on top of it, giving it an unsettling effect. The second song 'Double Leopard' sounds like reading a book in a laundromat, with the single continuous tone of (maybe an exhaust fan?) in the background. On the B-side, the first song is Temporary Lid, which continues the dual time toyed with on the first song on the other side. The organ (I guess it's an organ-like synth) plays a pastoral tune while the over-time hypes out like a relaxed Aphex Twin. The final song, 'I'm In Control Here' gets it name (I presume) from the Outer Limits-like taking over of the song by a new thread as if your record player was hijacked mid-song, and at the end as well.
The follow up to the LP that 555 recordings released earlier this year, just released domestically. The Remote Viewer are two of the members of the Famous Boyfriend, a band which includes members of Hood. The two fellows recently left Famous Boyfriend to work exclusively as The Remote Viewer, playing their bedroom electronica. There are six songs on this 12" (3 per side). All are instrumental, varying from very quiet hauntings, to plunky pacman-esque declarations of machine joy.
When Germany's Die Sterne played in Cambridge (at Harvard Yard during a block party) I asked their manager what the best unknown band in Berlin was right now. He thought hard, then answered "Tied & Tickled Trio". "They'll be huge when their next record comes out". That record came out on the Payola label (I haven't heard it). This 12" is their latest release. It is a dance single as part of Domino's series 500 12"s. The A-side is a strong rhythmic song of odd percusives on top of a percollating bass and rock steady drum beat. There's a lot mixed into the broth - it's not very sparse or blank, it IS very ear-absorbing. The B-side is quite the jazz piece, with it's piano, sax, brass, upright bass, and up front drum: brushed hi-hat, side stick rim beat, and no bass drum.
2 exclusive songs by each of the bands. Jullander are from Hamburg. Their first song has a high level of intensity, with good interesting male vocals, sung in German. Their second song sounds like early Fridge with it's subdued sax part, or like many of the Kitty Yo bands. Billy Mahonie are a London band who have named themselves after a fictional character they made up themselves. They paly instrumentals, and have many singles and split singles (such as this one!), as well as a full length on Too Pure, whose releases are always very expensive on these shores. The 2 songs they have on this split single are very complex and cool, like if Husker Du did instrumentals in their prime. Now that I see that last line in print, I know that Metal Circus era Husker Du is a perfect frame of reference to understand what Billy Mahonie are about.
Laetitia and Mary of Stereolab sing dueling vocals from separate speakers on the A-side of this 7" only limited single. The B-side is a somewhat forgetable instrumental with psuedo strings, vibraphone, and harpsichord. 'Cookie Bay' should have been called 'Kitchen Sink', cause it contains every guest, trick, or sound but the kitchen sink to make it a hit. Jim O'Rourke plays on it, and John McEntire mixed it. It is a very good song, and catchy as all heck.