Håkan Lidbo

title:: Clockwise RMXS EP
label:: Shitkatapult Records

Taking a page from Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Hakan Lidbo has fitted his chameleon like sound to the beat of the mundane working life of Anne Frost (a restaurant worker) and John Lane (a banker).

The Clockwise-Rmxs EP includes the soundtrack to their lives seen through the eye of the soundtrack composer in Håkan Lidbo (and his various remixing partners, Simon Begg, Matthew Dear, and Sascha Ring) as his perspective changes in 6 different styled tracks, 4 bonus tracks, and an accompanying video short film called Clockwise.

Northwest Battle of the Bands Volume 4

various artists
label:: Big Beat

It's a no-brainer, if you like the other 3 volumes in this series, dig The Sonics, Don & the Goodtimes, and the Pacific Northwest 1960s garage rock sound, you should check out the latest volume of The Northwest Battle of the Bands.

It's really no surprise to listen and learn how great this compilation is, because Jerden Records was the place to be in the Pacific Northwest in the 60s. Even though none of this stuff gave the label the hit it so sorely needed, this is the stuff of garage rock collector's dreams.

Bugged Out! presents Suck My Deck: Ivan Smagghe

various artists
label:: React Records

Bugged Out! presents Suck My Deck: Ivan Smagghe is a much different affair than his other mix compilations. Where the first 2 comps and the stuff he has released as Black Strobe could easily be cut into the electroclash deck, this comp could best be described as hard techno.

My favorite track would be Moskow Reise, which gets a Black Strobe mix. It has an italodisco beat, but no happy cheesiness - just a coldwave pounding beat. In the end, I'm not crazy for this disc.

Trans-X

title:: Living On Video
label:: Unidisc Records

It would be real easy to trash this disc. It sounds like a goof that a current band would create in homage to the 80s. But Trans-X were real, and this disc has all you will need to hear from them in one place.

Living On Video is 77 and a half minutes of bliss for anyone who likes their tunes electronic, with beats, male/female vocals and a little fromage - kind of like DMX Krew.