The first release of French label Tricatel's monthly 10" series. Tricatel is a label run by Bertrand Burgalat, who also produced April March's last full length 'Chrominance Decoder'. On this 4 song release, 'Glucide' is a new instrumental version of Chrominance Decoder's 'Sugar', and 'Ningette' an instrumental of it's 'No Parachute'. Both are Bertrand Burgalat originals and have great production with horns, bells, and sounds that fellow Frenchman Andre Popp would have been proud of, on top of that fat soundtracky 70's styled Fender bass. Of the remaining 2 songs, the swinging rocker is the new April March / Los Cincos collaboration song "Magic Ass", and original she wrote with San Diego's Los Cincos. This song is not on the album she recorded with them for the Smypathy for the Record industry label in 1998. It's a really great song, probably worth the price of this 10" alone. Then there's the main song, the first song on the a-side ("Mon Ange Gardien"). It was recorded in the same sessions as the Chrominance Decoder CD, and is a silky smooth pop chanson that sounds so familiar that it could be a cover of one of the ye-ye masters.

Cover of the 1998 international hit by the Daft Punk-related French band Stardust. The Bartlebees play the song with full sincerity and turn it into their own. There are 2 versions on this 10": a 3:38 lengthed 7" edit and a 6:24 lengthed 12" edit. Can't ever say as I've heard the original, but both these versions are great. The Bartlebees even goof on their own German accents by titling the song "Musik Sounds Better Wiss You!" on the label. Nice!

12inch from this downbeat duo from Hull. Fila Brazilia play instrumentals like a jazzed up Thievery Corporation. Actually, they sound better than that makes them sound, though the comparison still holds. From Pork Records site: "Variously described as 'vanguard artists', 'prolific Hull posse' and 'top remixers about town' Fila have been an integral part of the rise to prominence of Pork Recordings from its humble beginnings in 1991. Back then Porky was working in Bass Records in Hull and by chance he played an Underground Resistance black label at 33rpm instead of the intended 45. It sounded great and thus was born the blue print for the Pork sound. Porky approached Steve Cobby, who at the time was signed to Big Life as one half of Ashley and Jackson and the two of them produced Spokane by Spokane. This was quickly followed by a collaboration with Dave McSherry on the track Mermaids, which was Fila's debut release. And the rest as they say is history. Six highly acclaimed albums have followed: Pork 014 Old Codes New Chaos, Pork 027 Maim That Tune, Pork 031 Mess, Pork 037 Black Market Gardening, Pork 045 Luck be a Weirdo Tonight, & Pork 055 Power Clown".

Second 12" by Gonzales, and his first score on the UK charts. (From the Kitty-Yo site) "Chilly Gonzales doesn't play by the rules, but certainly has a master plan. He's a Canadian born Jew who resides in a bombed-out TV station in East Berlin and imagines himself as a Super Villain, taking over the world through his music - as he says on the LP "music is mind control". His album Gonzales Uber Alles, which followed his tongue-in-cheek O.P. Original Prankster EP, is released on Kitty-Yo and is a dazzling mash of hip hop, chanson and electronica". On this 3 song 12", the title song is a strong tune that justifies the attention being lavished upon him, almost Babybird-ish, while the second song on the A-side is a Morricone-ish instrumental like something from 'A Fistful Of Dollars' with it's harmonica/melodica theme and reverb guitar. The lone song on the B-side spreads out nicely and is funky and urban.

First single from the new "Boxing Hefner" LP is a remake of a song from the first Too Pure 10" Hefner put out in collaboration with Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch a few years ago. The new version has the punch, clarity, and pace that Hefner's increased proficiency and access to studios have brought them. The B-side has petal steel guitar used to good effect, a nice stun guitar break, organ, and even a bit of what sounds like "Get Carter" styled harpsichord. All this over and under the title of the song repeated plus a few stanzas of lyrics in a catchy melody tune. "Boxing Hefner" is a compilation of a-sides, b-sides, rarities, and unreleased songs by Hefner. The b-side of this 7" remains unique to this single (it's not on the comp). As the song is no toss off this 7" is a pretty good thing to own. The CD version of this adds another unique song called "Fear" which I haven't heard.

Isar 12 are a Munich band who have a sound not too far away from another Munich native: Andreas Dorau. Isar 12 are a bit more relaxed than him though. They are more of a electronic Bartlebees (also from Munich) with male and female vocals and a great sense of melody and tuneage. This white vinyl 4 song 7" follows a 7" on Japan's Motorway Records and several appearances on compilations, including the RO 3003 comp which kicked off Bungalow's reign of 'club pop' and introduced new German bands to the world.

2nd single by the London band Lolita Storm. They are 2 girls who show a strong influence of Chicks On Speed and Cobra Killer in their sound. They sound like an updated version of Skinned Teen with their cheer-like melodies and short one minute songs. To pin them down further they have a less tuneful approach than Chicks On Speed and a more musical cleaner sound than Cobra Killer. They are not just a rip off of anybody, and this single (to me) comes off even better than their first 7". If they keep things different enough from song to song and come up with interesting song topics they could do well this Summer, I'd bet.

Alejandra Salinas is one half of the NYC label Lucky Kitchen Records. Her and her partner are reputed minidisc freaks who have an ear for capturing sounds that they can use on later projects. Alejandra used source material really close to home: in fact from her home, when she was growing up in Spain. She used to make cassettes of her singing with her Grandmother, and of family conversations, or fun events like parades. On side 1 of this 10", these tapes are collaged into a 10 minute piece of people speaking and singing in Spanish, and of ambient sounds like the aforementioned parade. On side 2 she has 4 experimental pieces that are made from the source tapes, but have been tweaked into listenable modern pieces like a lo-tech musique concrete verion of Berlin's Pole.