Last year three of my favorite 7's were on the Trondheim Norway label Myke Droner. They were Remington Super 60's 'Lost Kid', Safariari's 'O-cha o nomu', and EPA's 'Evergreen'. It seemed that everything on that hard to find label was great. This compilation collects 8 bands from Norway, including new songs from all three of those bands. It is a co-release of Blackbean and Placenta in the US, Automatic Kiss in Japan, and Cafe 2001. There are 2 songs each from Safariari, Micromars, Toyen, Remington super 60, EPA, & Skistar, and one song each from Anthony Rochester, and The Artist fromerly Known As Pasan. All the songs on this disc are exclusive to this release (to my knowledge). The sound is pretty consistent at early Stereolabby pop with male and female vocals and harmonies. I like seven of the songs a lot. Pretty much one of each of the bands songs, except for Remington Super 60, both of whose songs I like. Faves: 1,3,5,7,8,12,13

Club Hits is a 5 song EP of remixes of Contriva's songs. I have searched for Contriva's stuff on Monika. I still have not found the full length, but at least we now have something by Contriva. I really love The Quarks on this label, and I know that many people like Barbara Morgenstern who records for Monika too. As Monika has only put out a few releases it stood to reason that Contriva would be worth hunting as well. On this 12' we have the Jorg Burger autobianchi rmx of 'Mike (Next Time)' which sounds very much like Donna Regina. It is a vocal song with the same breathy/New Ordery sound that Donna Regina does so well. It is my second fave track on this. My fave track is the second track on the A-side, the Tom Thiel standbild mix of '8 Eyes'. This instrumental (all the tracks are except for the first one) has a really interesting set of sounds. It seems like a nylon stringed acoustic guitar playing chords was sampled and used as the basis for the primary riff. The track pulses in a most pleasing way. Besides these 2 faves is the iso 68 mix of 'Until Recalled', the superpitcher mix of 'Stuck', and the Jan Jelinek mix of 'On the Porch'. Faves: A2, A1

A label compilation for this Barcelona Spain pop label. The tracks vary from punky pop (White Flag, The Zeros) to Nick Lowe/Marshall Crenshaw styled straight ahead pop (Jon Auer, The Libs) to country-ish pop (Beachwood Sparks, Malibu Kids, Parkinson D.C.), to acoustic or piano pop (Damien Jurado, Posies, Swag, Dakota Suite, Doug Powell, Cappaquiddick Skyline, Carla Olson & Gene clark), Paisley Underground 'Three O'Clock' styled pop (Bikeride-#8), Rodan-styled post-pop (Skyward), to well produced somewhat psychedelic or electronic pop (Gallygows, Death Cab for Cutie, Mondo Fumarole - #9). Of the seven designations I split the 19 bands into, the only ones I like are the first three. The White Flag (#12) and Zeros (#13) songs are very good. The Jon Auer (#11) and Libs (#18) songs are surprising treats. The Beachwood Sparks (#3) song is great, but I've already had it ('Silver Rose') on their Sub Pop full length. Of note are Gallygows, the new band formed by the poeple in Posies, and Malibu Kids (formerly Ze Malibu Kidz). Malibu Kids are a side project -- Jeff and Steven McDonald from Redd Kross with Jeff's wife Charlotte Caffey (from the Go-Gos) and Steven's longtime girlfriend Anna Waronker (surely related to (granddaughter? i dunno...) Simon Waronker, one of the main guys at the original Warner Bros. record label whom Simon of Alvin and the Chipmunks was named after) formerly of that dog. I'm not certain, but I think this is the first song they've released. Their song is OK but not part of my faves list. Malibu Kids sound like they have been listening to Beachwood Sparks, or more historically, to Rank & File. Faves: 3,8,9,11,12,13, 18

The first compilation of this offshoot label of Paper Recordings. There are 2 songs each by six artists, plus a single song by Rune Lindbaek. Repap is the label that put out the great LP by Bobby Trafalgar from Sweden last year. Magnus had bought us that record on vinyl as part of his Satellite Records grant. There are seven songs on this 13 song disc that I like. I like both the Bobby Trafalgar songs (#'s 2 & 9). The first of these ('Daquiri') is from the LP but the Andy Votel mix of 'Hardballs' was only on a 12'. 'Hardballs' uses the bass part from Mission Impossible. I also like both songs by Lost Weight #'s 1 & 8). 'I Know' opens up the comp. It has samples of Dracula saying 'I know what that is' & 'that's music' (part of his infamous 'Children of the Night' speech when the wolves howl in the Transylvanian distance, from the first Dracula film). It is a downbeat instrumental with cool mood on it. 'Crazy Things First' is my fave song on the whole comp. It has a nice fender bass part offset by a wild fuzz guitar, vocal samples, and a flute sample from Jethro Tull. One of the songs by The Music Man 'Make 5' (#5) is a nice stacatto organ driven instrumental with a 4/4 beat. His other song 'Touch Me' (#12) is kind a
tech-house number which I like a lot. The final of my 7 faves would be the closing song, 0898 Dave's 'Birdman' (#13) which sounds like a Charlie McAlister song (you remember his great 'Mississippi Luau' LP on Catsup Plate Records with the great song 'Darla Came Down From Jackson', no?). Faves: 1,2,5,8,9,12,13

The compilation from Stefan (Pole) Betke's label ~scape. All 10 of the artists have a sound that is somewhat connected to the minimal dub sound of Pole. The comp starts off with Gramm, who sounds very much like Pole. Gramm is Jan Jelinek, who recently put out his 'loop-finding-jazz-records' CD on ~scape and who remixed one of the songs on Contiva's 12' reviewed above. There is a Vladislav Delay song (#2) and a To Rococo Rot w/ I-Sound track (#4). I-Sound is the NYC guy who runs the Full Watts 7' label with DJ Scud. There is a Kit Clayton track, a Pole cut (of course), and a track by Burnt Friedman & the nu dub players (#10). I like the Thomas Fehlmann (#8) track with it's almost traditional dub sound. All the cuts are pretty interesting. Listening to a Pole record all the way through can be a bit same-y, but listening to the 10 variations on a theme presented on this disc is a gas. Faves: 2,4,8,10

The first (of 3) records by this funky lady who was once Miles Davis's wife. Her stuff is street tough, and sounds like it would be in a streetwalker scene of a movie like 'Across 110th Street', in a world of pimps and hustlers. The first song ('If I'm in Luck I Might Get Picked Up') is raunchy and dirty - not with language, but with sound. No wah wah guitars here, just funky bass, sizzlin' organ, picked guitar doubling the bass, and taut solos ...and her voice, the most powerful instrument of the record. Her voice sounds in turn like a female version of Mark Erdody from Kudgel - like possessed Linda Blair singing the calypso number in Beetlejuice - like Jim Dandy in Black Oak Arkansas, or like a sexy thing that's dangerous. Many of Miles Davis's band members play on this disc. Neal Schon (who went on to be in Journey, then Bad English) is one of the guitarists. Faves: 1,5,7

The second of her 1970's records. As with her first record all the music is written and arranged by her. 'He Was A Big Freak' (#2) has the same kind of crazy vocal as my faves from the first record, but 'Shoo-b-doop and cop him' (#1) has the same energy without her voice going into the stratosphere at all. 'Git In There' (#5) reminds me of Sly and the Family Stone with the male voice mixed in with her. 'They Say I'm Different' (#6) has incredible lyrics. These 2 records show me how naive I was thinking Rufus with Chaka Khan's 'Tell Me Something good' was the only dirty wild funk. Betty Davis is like a Janis Joplin version of Chaka Khan. She is over the top and pure quality. I am really glad that these reissues turned me onto to this artist who I may not have heard otherwise. Faves: 1,2,5,6

Yukari's first record is the last one that we needed at WZBC to complete our collection of her stuff. This is the release that contains her signature song 'Yukarin Disco' (#4) with Hideki Kaji playing guitar. This record also has 2 versions of one of my very favorite Yukari Fresh songs 'Yukari n' Bass'. The first version (#2) is the most rocking she has ever gotten on any track with guitars and vocal distortion - almost like Citrus. The second version (#9) is more electronic and Jpop-y. The last of my four faves on this disc is the original version of 'Raymond', a song which received great treatment on the 'Cityrama' CD we have at WZBC. At the time I reviewed Cityrama for the gullbuy I had never heard this version and thought 'Raymond' was exclusive to Cityrama. I just recently was talking to someone who told me he was very intop Jpop and then mentioned Takako Minekawa, Pizzicato Five and Kahimi Karie as his faves. I love the new Japanese Pizzicato Five CD, but none of those artists have ANYTHING on Yukari Fresh, except way more exposure. Faves: 2,4,8,9

For some reason Providence RI is experiencing a blindingly creative period for music and art right now. There are the no wave styled bands fathered by Arab On Radar and currently led by Lightning Bolt, the art/show space Fort Thunder, and now the hardcore broken beat music of Pleasurehorse, which is Sean from the band Landed. This 12' has 2 long instrumentals with DJ Scud styled beats that are guaranteed to put you ill at ease unless disorientation is what you are seeking. The A-side ('Purly Gait') has a sound on it that reminds me of the death ray in War Of The Worlds. 'Pearly Gates', the B-side, mixes the ideas of The Normal's 'Warm Leatherette' and a CD skipping, to jarring effect.

This EP has three long songs (18 minutes total) that are must haves for fans of the bands. You get one song each from Losfeld (Masashi Naka), Cubismo Grafico (Matsuda Gakuji), and Montparnasse (one of the guises of Masnori Ikeda, who also records as Mansfield). All three of the songs are exclusive. There is a short French spoken intro to the EP, which is billed as 'Escalator Records presents every method imaginable soundtracks'. There really is a Polly Maggoo film - it came out in 1966 and was directed in France by William Klein. There are many samples lifted from the film among the three songs. There are also samples of other songs you will recognize in the stew. Losfeld samples Steve Miller, Cubismo Grafico samples The Vaselines 'Polly's Lips', Montparnase samples Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and the song 'That's the way (Uh-huh Uh-huh) I like it'. Although I love all three songs, my fave of the three is the Cubismo Grafico song 'Polly's Kiss' (#3) Faves: 2,3,4