Canadian compilation with 12 contemporary artists covering 12 older songs by French masters Francoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, France Gall, Brigitte Bardot, Dalida, Serge Gainsbourg, Michel Polnareff, Les Lutins, and Sylvie Vartan. The only of the contemporary artists you will recognize are The Fur Ones, who perform the most well known of Francoise Hardy's songs "Le Temps de L'Amour" ( #1) and Stereo Total, who do a super great cover of the Vartan song "Comme Un Garcon" (#12). Sandwiched between these bookends are a bunch of Canadian bands who do the songs justice. Montreal band Les Meteores do a wild cover of Les Lutin's "Je Cherche" (#10) that sounds like something Les Sexareenos would do. Outside of that track the action is much tamer, with the exception of Le Monochrome Orchestra's cover of Dutronc's Sur Une Nappe de Restaurant" (#11), which sounds very much like something Peter Dayton might have done on the 'Skin Tight' 12" he recorded after he left La Peste in 1980 here in Boston. My fave tracks by the Canadian bands are Gin Sonic's version of France Gall's "Laisse Tomber Les Filles"(#3), Le Monochrome Orchestra's version of Brigitte Bardot's "Harley Davidson", Ravel-Chapuis's version of Dalida's "Paroles Paroles" (#5), and Belleatec's version of Francoise Hardy's "Comment to Dire Adieu?" (#9). Each do more than just imitate the originals - they update them in really glorious fashion. I had thought that "Harley Davidson" was a cliche song to cover, but the version here is filled with vitality and life. The Dalida song is excellent as well. Faves: 1,3,4,5,9,12 )

Op:l Bastards are T. A. Kaukolampi, Vilunki 3000 and Tuomo Puranen from Helsinki, Finland. I think that this band is going to become very big in 2001. They are due to put out their debut CD this summer and already have quite a buzz about themselves. Like The Avalanches, Op:l Bastards put out a single on Rex Records, the low key XL Recordings imprint from the UK. It would be great if they could follow on the (well deserved) fast track to fame that The Avalanches have been enjoying. Op:l Bastards songs have vocals many times, and incorporate lots of styles including electro, pop, lounge, and dub. The band produce themselves, and do it quite well. "Scorpius" (A1) is an upbeat instrumental that has an 4/4 electro feel like something DMX Krew might do. Actually it has a tiny amount of treated vocal saying 'Scorpius', but it could even be a device sounding like a voice The song has a bright pop sound and uses a sound kind of like the sound scanners made in the original Star Trek series. The next song "Masqued Lover" (A2) is a vocal song kind of like a less beat driven Soft Cell song. "Sinulle (For You)" (B1) has an exotic sounding female wordless vocal that sounds like something Lily Banquette would do in Combustible Edison. Her vocal is doubled by a Jimi Tenor-esque keyboard part. "Money" (B2) is an instrumental that sounds like To Rococo Rot to me. Faves: A1,B1

7 songs by the UK band that sound like they are Elephant 6 devotees. There is only one straight out Christmas song ("Christmas Must Be Tonight"), but all the songs have the warm feeling of cozying up on a cold winters night in front of a crackling fire with friends. One of the songs "Nighttimesounds" (A2) is a dead ringer for the classic Go-Betweens song "Cattle and Cane" in several of it's parts. I also like the song "Her Departure" (B3) which has a really great sound that I don't want to compare to anyone. It is lazy sounding somewhat clumsily played charming pop with harmonies and genuine sincerity. From the Screen Prints website: "Screen Prints most recent release is a mail order only 10" on Earworm. It's Vol.4 of Earworm's Noises from the Darkroom series and is titled Christmas 2000. Tracks are Wrap Up Warm/Nightime Sounds/Heavenly Powers/Scarf//Christmas Must Be Tonight(cover version of a track by The Band)/Victoria Park/Her Departure." Faves: A2,B3

Tetris are a Russian trio composed of Vlad Lozinski, Pasha Hotin, and Dima Rubenezhov. They play music somewhat similiar to Thievery Corporation. This CD is excellent. It is not a knock-off or imitation of the sound - it is a great listen all on it's own. My favorite song on the CD is "Bye-Bye Baby" (#2), which reminds me of Mr. Scruff's "Get A Move On" from the Fila Brazilia 'Another Late Night' compilation. It has 1920's sounding bebop mixed into modern beats with neat female vocals that remind me of the Messer Chups song "Midnight" from the 'Miss Libido 2000' CD. Messer Chups are also from Russia. The other song I like best on the Tetris CD is "Recordsman" (#7), which shows that like other Russian bands EU or Fizzarum Tetris has and knows how to use Russian vintage synths, though Tetris use them in a way that reminds me of the instrumental pieces that Fauna Flash do - cool sounding downtempo, not bedroom electronica. Even though I've only selected 2 songs as my faves" from this disc, I find that this whole CD is a great listen from start to finish with only one or two songs leading me to the next button before they're done. Faves: 2,7

The official document of the recent All Tomorrow's Parties shows, which took place in London this year on April 6, 7, & 8, curated by Tortoise. The songs on this CD are all unique to this disc, at least in the versions represented. All the tracks have an air of experimentation about them, though that is about all the solid tie you can find. There are tracks of hip hop, electronic, jazzy post-rock, and other forms of experimentation. My favorite tracks are the cut n' paste house of Prefuse 73 "Sh*tslime Garbage Can vs. My MP3" (#2), the 2:28 Broadcast instrumental "DOL" (#3), the understated almost Morphine sounding live Yo La Tengo song "Our Way To Fall" (#5) which was recorded at Irving Plaza in NYC on Sept. 25 1999, the incredible shifting sounds of Tortoise's 16 minute "Cliff Dweller Society" (#8), and the different version of Boards Of Canada's "In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country" (#10), the original version a track on their latest EP. The Sea and Cake song is strange, with an nterview about how he likes electronic music mixed right into the song. Calexico's song reminds me of The Dirty Three. Rick Rizzo & Tara Key's song reminds me of the Grateful Dead in a jam. Black Heart Processions' song sound splodding to me. On the hip hop side of things Mike Ladd has a pretty rockish shuffling song, Atmosphere rap in a fashio which sounds very typical to me, and Cannibal Ox feat. El-P have OK raps spread among pretty interesting sounds. To me Prefuse 73 stands hands above these three, though his stuff is not really rap. On the ultra-electronic side we have Autechre and Russell Haswell, though niether of their tracks really send me. Faves: 2,3,5,8,10

A triple CD set with 36 songs on it, 15 of which I personally find to be pretty keen. I listened to this set many times without ever looking at the artist listing so I could pick the songs I realy liked and not be influenced by the name recognition factor of several of the artists. Because of this I can confidently tell you that any song chosen as one of my faves is there by merit of it's sound alone, not how hip or happening they currently are or are not. On disc 1, Frank Bretschneider "Walking On Ice " (1,4), Deltidseskapism "Tanken Aterskapad" (1.6), Tomas Jirku "Pohdka" (1.7), and Geez n' Gosh (Uwe Schmidt) "012001" (1.9) have intersting sounds and move well. The 2 big names whose songs I did not like on this disc were snd and Farben. On disc 2 I love Kid 606 "While You Were Sleeping" (2.2), Reinhard Voigt "Personal" (2.3), Auch "The Animal Factor" (2.5), Rude Solo "Tight" (2.6), and Thomas Brinkman "0100" (2.10). The 4 big names whose songs I did not like on this disc were Vladislav Delay, Mikael Stavostrand, Antonelli Electr., and Donnacha Costello. On disc 3 I love Kit Clayton "Material Problem" (3.3), M-squared "Tone Exploitation" (3.4), Matmos "Keine Zahne" (3.6), Taylor Deupree "Clir" (3.7), Station Rose "Smoother Than Strange" (3.11, and DAT Politics "Hardwai" (3.12). The 3 big names whose songs I did not like on this disc were Twerk, Fennesz, and Pansonic. I have a friend who told me he had read that this CD was not asgood as the first 'Clicks & Cuts'. I have never heard the first one, but I know that it would be a shame to miss out on this disc. It is really inexpensive for a triple disc, and the 15 songs I have chosen make up one incredible CD. Being as I like somewhat upbeat and busy songs, your favorites may be completely different than mine. Bottom line is that I think this is a great set, much better than, let's say, the 'All Tomorrow's Parties' comp reviewed above. Faves disc1:4,6,7,9/ disc2:2,3,5,6,10 / disc3:3,4,6,7,11,12

What a joy! Hideki Kaji has been putting out stuff for ages. He even had a duet with Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne years ago. Even so, I think that this EP is my favorite ever of his releases. In the great Japanese fanzine Beikoku Ongaku there was an interview of Chabe (Cubismo Graphico) and Hideki Kaji together. This EP has Chabe on it, and sounds very close to Cubismo Grafico as well. In fact, I would consider this a 'must have' for any fans of Cubismo Grafico. In the past Hideki Kaji was very guitar oriented pop which reminded me a lot of the US 1980's band Game Theory. Yukihiro Fukutomi, who has out a 12" called "I Am" on Compost Records, appears on all 4 songs. The EP starts off with "My Love, My Milk", which immediately marks itself as very different sounding than Hideki Kaji's earlier records. It is a Cubismo Grafico sounding song driven by an acoustic guitar, keyboards, choice embellishments, and his vocal. The background vocal sounds like John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band's "So This is Christmas". There are even shaken bells to strengthen the feel. The last song on the EP is any instrumental version of this track. Gakuji Matsuda (alias "Chabe", Cubismo Grafico) plays on "Disco Madonna" (#2) and "The Great Party" (#3). He co-produced #3 as well. If you are a fan of Jpop as I am, you will enjoy this immensely, as there are not many Jpop records that make it to these shores. This EP is a great thing to buy. It is twenty minutes long, so you actually get good value for your dollars as well. Faves: all

I know very little actual fact about this band, except that they are fronted by Rachel Kozak, who runs Zhark Records and who records as Hecate. The record is a 24 minute 9 song affair with a radical sound based on lots of car and hot rod and TV related samples, with wild music and singing. Thunderinas would seem to be in the same group as Chicks On Speed, Lolita Storm, or Ping Pong Bitches, but somehow The Thunderinas are all their own, as they throw a dose of The Scissor Girls into their sound, which none of the others do. The Thunderinas sound reminds me of being at a carnival at night and screaming as you go around in a particularly fast and furious ride. Here is the info I have been able to find: From the Zhark website: "The Thunderinas are 3 girls who came together on Friday the 13th of August 1999, in Switzerland, the ultimate combination of trash sensibilties, and hi-tech female mania. The members are...Caro Spill (Robotiniks X-ing, Extra Holy). This woman is the master of detuned guitar riffs in the band Robotniks Crossing and also now working on her own solo material which will appear on the House Wreckers Foundation as well as other labels, such as Lux Nigra from Berlin. Caro's schedule is usually filled with creating special make-up effects for the stage/video clips/movies as well as figuring out new software to explore her own sound. If you are in need of the coolest experimental make-up effects..." From the C8 http://www.c8.com site: "The Thunderinas mount twisted soundscapes ontop of the rotten foundation of rock'n'roll - with forward driving rhythm and damaging sub-bass this combination is sure to blast - as they just did with their first live performances in Berlin and Karl-Marx-City!" Faves: 3,7,8

What a cool EP! I had my eyes on this for months, but it wasn't until Sleazenation named it single of the month in the May 2001 issue That I bought it. I am quite glad I did. This CD combines two 12" singles so it is a real value as well. There are three remixes of "No Tears", two remixes of "What Use", plus the original Tuxedomoon versions of both songs. The CD comes to 34 minutes total length. "No Tears" is a wild song that sounds like (to use two Boston bands) Rick Ocasek of The Cars singing for The Girls. The Girls may be Bostons best ever art band, with Human Sexual Response strong contenders as well. The Girls released the must-have 'Reunion LP' in 1986. Robin Amos of The Girls went on to play in Cul-de-Sac. Back to Tuxedomoon. In 1978 I bought their "Joeboy" b-w "Pinheads On The Move" 7" on Tidal Wave Records. It was (and is) amazing and made 'far out' bands like Devo look totally normal by comparison. They were a band from San Francisco that made punk/art/electronic pop that was instantly likeable, yet almost impossible to get a grip on, so far out were their ideas. It is a well publicized fact that Gigolo Records owner DJ Hell cites Tuxedomoon as his favorite band. That has been a major confirmation to his credibility in my book! Hell remixes "No Tears" under his real name (Helmut Platzgumer), as do Continuous Mode, and Adult. The Adult mix is more like a remake, with the female vocalist of Adult redoing the vocals in her distinctive style. As great as Adult's version sounds, it doesn't stand out - it only sits comfortably in this EP as every cut is so great. "What Use" is remixed by Heinrich Mueleer, and Ectomorph. Niether of the original versions sound particularly dated. The vocals in "What Use" sound a lot like Roxy Music. Faves: all