- Bel Canto: White-Out Conditions (Crammed Discs/Nettwerk - 1987)
- Primarily interesting as a glimpse at the earlier work of Biosphere's Geir Jenssen. Lush Scandinavian Electro-Pop with a haunting edge. Anneli Marian Drecker's vocals are quite good, but, sound-wise, are uncomfortably reminiscent of (shudder) Ace of Base. "Baltic Ice Breaker" is particularly lovely in its bleakness and "Upland" is pure ethereal beauty.
- Beto Bertolini: Floresta Atlantica (Nature Net Recordings - 1997)
- Not music per se, but definitely ambient... as in ambient sound recordings taken directly from South American rainforests. 34 tracks including 71 species; mostly exotic jungle birds calling, crying, chittering, chirping... but also sounds of Brazilian frogs, crickets, etc. I suppose my only wish is that the tracks flowed together seamlessly... instead there are distinct breaks between each cut, which is useful for identification purposes (a handy look-up chart is included amongst the beautiful packaging). Not a cheesy new-age sound sampler and not a science project, if you're aching to hear the song of the eye-ringed tody-tyrant... this is the place!
- Controlled Bleeding: Gag (Materiali Sonori)
- Many 4-track recordings and alternate mixes from '85 to '89 by Paul Lemos, Joe Papa and Chris Moriarty. Pretty straightforward experimentalism (i.e. not a lot of processing/special effects). Sometimes prog-rocky, sometimes new-agey, often somehow operatic. Low-key beauty.
- Dead Voices on Air: Shap (Invisible - 1996)
- File under Difficult Listening.... echoing reverberation-drenched voices.. sometimes humming, sometimes just fragments. Distorted toyish horns and strings. Experimental, Spooky, Discordant, Repetitious... Often Annoying.
Titles like "godesandah", "geosceaft", "papa papa repe wax" are meaninglessly accurate in summing up the tracks. Parts of it are very interesting, others are just irksome.
It seems to do exactly what it sets out do though, so I can't Thumbs Down it. I'll just slap a "Use At Your Own Risk" warning label on it.
- Noise Unit: Strategy of Violence (Cleopatra - 1994)
- Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber (Delerium, Front Line Assembly, Synaesthesia, etc.) in yet another incarnation. The work here is closer to their FLA sound; Dance-able beats are mixed with dark electronics and heavily vocoded lyrics. Add song names like "Hate You Feel", "Carnage" and "Kick To Kill" to give it all a cartoony, quasi-evil feel.
Not necessary, but an interesting enough look if you're digging into the vast body of work produced by the hyper-prolific duo, especially if you want the more (American) "industrial" effect.
- perfume tree: a lifetime away (World Domination Recordings - 1996)
- A bit of a mixed breed... sort of a madrigal/rock thing. Ethereal female harmonies over hypnotic basslines, drumbeats and sometimes electric guitar. Somewhat melancholy, yet upbeat at the same time.
- Elliott Sharp: Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Yahoos (Silent - 1992)
- Sardonic social commentary and fine guitar work highlight this collection of avant-garde rock/funk/blues from E#, with contributions by Sussan Deihim, Eugene Chadbourne and others. Crazy... but then again, that's the point!
- a small, good thing: cool, cool water (Soleilmoon - 1996)
- I cannot hide my initial disappointment in this 33-minute CD-EP. Not that it's bad, mind you; it's just that I really was looking for another fix of those long, dusty slide-guitar strings moaning in the desert heat, a continuation of slim westerns. Instead, cool, cool water is, well... jazzy, and more airy, more sample-happy. The only real continuing threads lie in the re-use of some of the samples.
In it's own right, cool, cool water is musically interesting enough, and the twisted tales within are certainly amusing. If you want to see a different, jazzier side of a small, good thing then here's your chance. Just don't expect to be riding the same range as you do with slim westerns.
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