BARRY LYNN
Balancing Lakes - (2008)

Balancing Lakes is a collection of tracks recorded by Barry Lynn in the four years preceding his debut LP as Boxcutter, Oneiric. It’s a set that shows a talent already fully-formed, even if he doesn’t always seem too sure how best to use it. If the three Boxcutter albums are pretty eclectic, this takes the proverbial biscuit. Lynn seems happy to turn his hand to pretty much anything from the past 15 or so years of electronic music. If the tunes sometimes lack originality, they are never less than deftly created. And some are very good indeed.Things start on a dubby minimal techno kick with “Abort, Retry, Fail”, a fair indication of things to come. Second cut “Something With M In It” is an affectionate nod to the mid nineties Warp Artificial Intelligence sound – all muted beats and distant, melancholy synth washes. “LTI” takes that blueprint and gives it a harder late nineties edge. Both tunes are done exceptionally well. Sometimes the influences are a little too obvious. Even Richard James would probably think that “Leafy Imprint” was one of his! Elsewhere Lynn takes on drum and bass. “Loving Dub” is defiantly from the old school, while “Lattice Shimmer” has more of a gleaming, tech-step sheen and “J-Set Jogwheel” feels totally contemporary. “Early Reflection” is a stand-out cut – a stunning IDM track with a distressed, grubby beat. It’s easily as good as anything on the three Boxcutter records. The dub influences that are heavily featured on Glyphic are represented on Balancing Lakes. “Hayfever Dub” is pretty straightforward with little to distinguish it. “London Gear” sounds almost prehistoric with its scuffed jungle beats and time-stretched vocals – like it was beamed in from 1992. Anyone who enjoyed the three Boxcutter LPs will find a lot to love on this record. (dezji.wordpress.com)

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THE BATS
Daddy's Highway - (1987)

The Bats' first full album continues the early promise of their EPs and, with only the slightest deviations and changes since, established their sound for just about everything that followed. Robert Scott and company may not be the most willfully experimental of musicians, but when they're on — more often the case than not — their lovely, melancholic songs simply hit the spot. Kaye Woodward forms the perfect singing partner for Scott, while guest violinist Alastair Galbraith brings his talent to the fore as he has for so many other New Zealand bands. "Treason" makes for a good start to the album, but the real standout on Daddy's Highway is the surging "North by North." Featuring a fantastic Galbraith violin solo, it gives the band the opportunity to show its sometime hidden strengths for more energetic, nervous material. Scott's vocal performance is one of his best, and the quick, on-edge pace seems to get even more so as the song continues. Quieter songs unsurprisingly abound as well, from the understated sweetness of "Sir Queen" to the gentle keyboard-touched "Candidate." "Tragedy" is one of the best in this vein, ending in a disturbing low drone (or at least as much of a drone as the generally quick-length songs by the Bats allow for). (allmusic.com)

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THE RESIDENTS
Tweedles! - (2006)

Tweedles! is a disturbing look into the psyche of a clown wannabe and emotional vampire who uses sex to ruin the lives of others while somehow feeding his twisted needs and desires. On one hand, Tweedles (the clown) is utterly detached from his actions, matter-of-factly describing the shattered lives left in his wake and seeming to derive pleasure from it. On the other hand, he seems to understand that society sees him as evil, even if he doesn't quite feel that way himself. The songs and narrative explore this conflict. Thematically, Tweedles! looks back to the outright carnality of God in Three Persons, except it's at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum from the "Holy Kiss of Flesh". Musically, Tweedles! continues with the addition of acoustic instruments that were reintroduced on Animal Lover, with some really nice piano on the first couple tracks (of course, there are plenty of creepy synths and electronics throughout). Some of the songs feature the Film Orchestra of Budapest, adding an entirely new element to the Residents' sound. "Mark of the Male" (nice in-joke) makes use of some slamming beats and metallic guitars, and weaves the sound of the orchestra in and out. As usual, the songs seem deceptively simple on the surface, but the arrangements and orchestrations really show off the Residents' musical skills in surprisingly varied settings ("Susie Smiles" even has a bluesy element). Tweedles! is the Residents at their darkest and most disturbing, but is also one of their most rewarding albums from a purely musical standpoint. If you didn't already think clowns are creeepy, you will after listening to this.

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BLUE MAN GROUP
Audio - (1999)

Blue Man Group's debut album, Audio, reflects over a decade's worth of musical and theatrical innovation. While its whimsical, visually involving stage performances have been popular since the early '90s, the group waited to make an album until it could find a recording space large enough to house its unique instruments, which include walls of drums, networks of plumbing pipe, and different lengths of vibrating fiberglass rods. Audio incorporates all of these instruments, along with baritone guitars, Hungarian cimbaloms (which are similar to dulcimers), and Chapman Sticks, into 14 eclectic instrumentals. These songs were written specifically for Audio and have never been performed at a Blue Man stage production. Though the spectacle of the group playing its sculptural, surreal-looking instruments is absent from the album, the complex, resonant sound of Audio is engaging enough on its own. In fact, the swooshing of the sword poles on "Utne Live Wire" and the fluttering angel poles on "Endless Column" sound even more alien without the visual accompaniment. Some of Audio's pieces ("Drumbone," "PVC IV") spotlight a specific Blue Man-made instrument, while others ("TV Song," "Club Nowhere") display the group's avant-garde pop sensibilities. "Rods and Cones," "Cat Video," and "Opening Mandelbrot" are other standout tracks from Audio, an album that proves the Blue Man Group is as innovative in the studio as it is onstage. (allmusic.com)

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CLUB FOOT ORCHESTRA
Wild Beasts, Kidnapped, And More - (1993)

Anyone interested in the early history of the Club Foot Orchestra can hardly do better than to snap up this CD. Included are all tracks from their first two hard-to-find Ralph Records releases, plus a pair of tracks that only appeared on a very obscure sampler of bands that played the avant-garde Club Foot in San Francisco. The first and last track are from the compilation, and both are bit raw thanks to the widely varying skill levels within the band, but nevertheless they're exciting and show the potential of the group. The tracks from Wild Beasts are numbers two through eight, and they show the band energetically mixing swing, post-bop, lounge music, and dashes of rock. On most tracks the brass creates a melody and counter-melody, with unorthodox percussion and minimal guitar. The guitarist in this case is Snakefinger, so what guitar listeners do hear is elegantly played, but while he shapes some of the tunes unobtrusively, he's not a featured player here. The best track from those sessions, "Suerte de la Noche," mixes mariachi-style trumpet playing, Cuban percussion, klezmer saxophones, and ties it all together with a martial-sounding theme. It's an unimaginable combination that works perfectly, and it's captivating. The tracks from Kidnapped have slightly different personnel and a bit more rock in the mix, though it's a rather twisted sort of rock. There are even vocals on a few tracks, such as the whimsical Latin/ska fusion of "They Say Over There." Snakefinger died suddenly just before this album was recorded, so two other musicians played his guitar parts. They're both good and work well within the framework of this ensemble. The pairing of Wild Beasts and Kidnapped on one CD is very apt, as after these releases the Club Foot Orchestra became more focused on music for silent films, which demanded a more melodramatic, fractured style. Wild Beasts, Kidnapped, and More documents a band with a unique style and intriguing harmonic ideas. (allmusic.com)

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JOHN ZORN
Naked City - (1990)

The violent cover photo (which shows a man after he was shot dead) sets the stage for the rather passionate music on this John Zorn set. With guitarist Bill Frisell, keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, bassist Fred Frith, drummer Joey Baron, and guest vocalist Yamatsuka Eye making intense contributions, altoist Zorn performs his unpredictable originals, abstract versions of some movie themes (including "A Shot in the Dark," "I Want to Live," "Chinatown," and "The James Bond Theme"), plus Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman." The stimulating music rewards repeated listenings by more open-minded listeners.

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CASPAR BROTZMANN MASSAKER
Home - (1995)

After initially coming to American attention with Koksofen, the trio achieved a slightly higher stature with Home, consisting of a re-recording of five earlier tracks in a new series of sessions. Einstürzende Neubauten member and sometime Brotzmann collaborator F. M. Einheit helped produce Home, ensuring the band's combination of abstract artiness and crunching electricity would come through in a big way. The sound didn't change in particular, but in terms of blunt power the Home recordings can be considered the best, and they certainly don't sound anything like an attempt to hit the mainstream. Tempos are still low and ponderous much of the time, the whole pitch of the album sounds shifted towards the bass, and Brotzmann's own guitar work feels like sludge coming through another layer of same. Far from being a criticism, though, this is a definite recommendation. "Tempelhof," sharing its name with a Berlin airport, is one of the best monster rock tracks ever, a perfect calling card for the Massaker's abilities. After a slightly softer but still ominous start, Brotzmann kicks in with a charging, simple but deadly guitar line, accompanied in fits and starts by the other two members. Brotzmann's half-quavering half-rampaging vocals add to the unnerving feeling of the piece, which gets a touch lighter halfway through before kicking in again. "Massaker" itself is just as strong, an avant-feedback clang of a number with plenty of noisy sludge reshaped into new and strange ways. If drawing a connection between Brotzmann and his father's work sometimes forces the issue a bit much, "Massaker" is definitely a number that shows where it can lie. The other two long cuts, "Hunter Song" and the rolling "Bohmen," along with the shorter intro piece "The Tribe," fill out this challenging and rewarding album. (allmusic.com)

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