Earthmonkey - Alms of Morpheus. Earthmonkey ‘alms of Morpheus’ (beta lactam ring). Now counting aside Wizards Tell Lies and the Wizards of Twiddly albums if there’s one release that we’ve found ourselves continually gravitating back to in recent times it’s the latest opus from Earthmonkey. Some time disciple of the extended Stapleton / NWW family, the monkey one has been freaking the collected minds and record decks of the wasted and wayward for several years now. ’alms of Morpheus’ sees him jet hopping to the farthest reaches of the mind mapped upon an axis where the straying strands of progressive, kraut, trance and psych converge to defy lazy categorization. An awesome two disc set of warping bliss fuelled out there groove, a perception filter altering odyssey that clocks in at over 2 and a half hours of sublime mood morphing mirages, its Floyd-y yet not Floyd-y if you get my drift (see the mellowed magisterial introspection of ‘larva lamp‘)- here you’ll find those token Floyd influences bleached and burnt upon a mindset informed by Tangerine Dream and Amon Duul II and while the mere mention of that hallowed trio may rightly have your appetites a whetted the Monkey isn’t rested there - just yet - for he blends a seamless hallucinogenic hybrid upon whose melodic matrix an truly expansive aural palette is filleted and filtered through a lysergic viewfinder whereupon elements drawn from the cosmic ambi-scapes of Bill Laswell (given its loose fitted subtle cosmic jazz indents), the more scenic trajectories of a youthful Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles (albeit cross matched with Neu especially on the scatterbrain kraut purged mutant psyche blues space funk of the middle eastern ‘mudskip moon stomp‘), the future sound of London, biosphere and above all the magic mushroom band dissipate, dilute and shape shift with such chilled out ease that you half suspect the blighter has been recorded in a walk in freezer rather than within the orbit of some new born star at the furthest point of view.
As said previously 2 discs, 2 and a half hours of trance like terra-formations sub divided into 19 interlocking suites whose enjoyment no doubt begs enhancement by the skinning up of a fat one - peppered with transcendental montages, lunar whispers and flavoured by lazy eyed lounge lilts (’break it down‘), fractious atmospherics (the fried flashback dark star dislocation of ’alms of mopheus’), wig flipped ’maggot brain’ freak outs rephrased by psychic TV (’hed phood 4 phat people’), vintage coiled motorik grooves the envy of klangbad and looped laid back funk strobes (as on the Ka Spell-esque ’new cheese’), ’alms of Morpheus’ has all the accoutrements of some recently discovered thought lost late 60’s acid head nugget. ’I’m just a naked man screaming here’ literally oozes retro from its very grooves whilst spiking your headspace with its kaleidoscopic brew of wasted wah wah’s, foot to pedal growling big bearded riffs and woozy head expanding electro swirls. Then there’s the trip wired concentric dream weaving mirages sumptuous freewheeling from the core of ’it’s down’ with its heavily intoxicating Australasian signatures sounding not unlike like a spaced out meditation with Sadar Bazaar, ‘moon loop’ era Porcupine Tree and Transglobal Underground in attendance. Personally we were taken by ’night blossom’ given its adeptness to straddle at once the ambient, trance and space rock camps, both sophisticated and demurring it imagines a streamlined syncopating sounds cape for a futuristic galactic highway of sorts as dinked by the collective morphing of an early career Yello and an ’Oxygene’ era Jean Michel Jarre. ‘alms of Morpheus’ is an epic voyage from which we suspect a few curious cosmic cadets won’t return from. Mark Barton/Losing Today losingtoday.com

Earthmonkey - Alms of Morpheus (Double CD, Beta-lactam Ring, Pop/rock) Earthmonkey is Pete Bog along with a select group of other artists lending their talent and support. Up to this point in time, Bog is probably best known as a collaborator on several Nurse With Wound albums. For a Beta-lactam Ring release, this double disc set is surprisingly...musical. But even though, it's fortunately still several billion universes away from the filthy stench of any American Idol of your choosing. Actually Alms of Morpheus started to sound slightly normal to us on the first spin or two. But the more we listened we realized that there is so much subtle psychedelia in these tracks that it still lands squarely in the experimental zone. How to describe these tracks... Imagine taking the ideas from progressive rock bands from the 1970s and fueling them with industrial electronic ideas from the 1990s...while using recording techniques solidly seated in the twenty-first century. That only begins to scratch the surface in describing this unpredictable album, but it may give you some idea of what to expect here. Pete's music is complex and slightly crazy...and yet surprisingly listenable overall. So much to take in here that it's overwhelming to say the least. A delightful audio overdose for the mind and soul...an exercise in hypercreativity. TOP PICK.http://www.lmnop.com/2011-May-LMNOP-Reviews.html

Tecumseh - Return To Everything (CD, Beta-lactam Ring, Pop/rock) Fans of the obscure unite...Tecumseh is here to confuse and hypnotize. We're continually amazed at how many ultra-creative underground artists there are on the Beta-lactam Ring label. In case you're not familiar with the label--and you love obtuse crazy weird stuff--you should probably do yourself a major league favor and start dong some investigating. The text in the press release that accompanied this disc is some of the best we've seen...here's a quote: "The quiet blizzard of growling steel that appears is ferocious enough to draft hairline fracture maps upon the nearest bones." Now THAT is some great writing (!)...and it sure as Hell caught our attention. Return To Everything features three strange, moody, drony compositions. Not music in the traditional sense...but more like electronic soundscapes or obtuse soundtrack music to a really weird film. This is a short disc that lasts just under 27 minutes. Brooding and peculiar, this is definitely not recommended for the traditional music fan. As with all Beta-lactam Ring releases, the sleeve is absolutely stunning. Top pick.http://www.lmnop.com/2011-May-LMNOP-Reviews.html

Peat Bog—surprisingly not a nom de plume—is a frequent Nurse with Wound contributor, playing with Stapleton's Inflatable Sideshow on Rock 'n Roll Station, An Awkward Pause and other NWW classics. On his own, Bog records as Earthmonkey. His third full-length (and first in four years) is a monstrous double album that finds him in top form, assured and comfortable in his own skin. Nurse with Wound aficionados should recall that Steven Stapleton produced Earthmonkey's first album, Audiosapien, nearly a decade ago. That's not the case here—Alms of Morpheus is entirely self-produced by Peat Bog, without Stapleton in earshot (though his influence is felt in places). Bog's few outside collaborators are generally identified by first names in the liner notes, lending their appearances a sense of anonymity. In every practical sense, then, this is a full-fledged Peat Bog solo work. If he was ever perceived to be in Stapleton's shadow, Alms should reverse that misconception; its peaks are as powerful as Stapleton's best work. That said, Earthmonkey shouldn't necessarily be considered alongside NWW at all—this is a damn fine collection of songs in its own right. I'll be the first to admit that Alms of Morpheus is a daunting listen: nineteen sprawling tracks packed onto two discs, settling in at well over two and a half hours. Luckily, the length suits Bog's songwriting. He has a knack for letting his songs stretch out and develop fully; there's plenty of breathing room, and nothing ends too soon. The opener, "Scene not Herd," sets the pace for Alms—its danceable nature and foregrounded melody is akin to Underworld in a parallel universe, perhaps if Karl Hyde wrote on hallucinogens. The song places its emphasis squarely on the rhythm, by the way, which is important. At its core, Alms is a beat-driven album, its best moments anchored by pulsing, life-affirming rhythms full of precision and power, often as danceable as a Chemical Brothers A-side. Alms of Morpheus is well-sequenced, but given its length, it can be a lot to inge st in one sitting. Luckily, it functions well as a buffet of sorts, with individual songs heard piecemeal—an ideal format for the iPod Shuffle generation. There is truly something here for everyone, whether the paranoid vocal loop in "I'm Just a Naked Man Screaming Here" beneath a maelstrom of guitar psychedelia straight out of Julian Cope's record collection, the Middle Eastern-tinged guitar and Kosmiche vibes of "Glespie's Rheum," or the rollicking bounce of, well, "Bounce" that reprises the melody of "Scene not Herd" in fine fashion. (And this is only the first half.) Disc two kicks off with perhaps my favorite song of the bunch: "Night Blossom," a patiently unfurling web of gentle, Vini Reilly-esque guitar playing punctuated by a searing solo. From there, Alms spirals back into a maze of head-spinning guitar, Krautrock rhythms, carefully deployed samples and manipulated organic sounds. It's certainly of a piece with the album's first disc, give or take a few distinct tricks: the blissful, fiery guitar work of "Mothership" that recalls "Maggot Brain" for 21st-century noiseniks, for example. Toward the end, there are three freewheeling jams credited to Earthmonkey's Boom Band, including the aptly titled "Hed Phood 4 Phat People." (If there's one thing that can be said of Earthmonkey in general, it's that Peat Bog knows his audience.) The lifeblood of the record is "Alms of Morpheus," the longest and most ambitious piece on an album with no shortage of long, ambitious pieces. At 20 minutes, "Alms" is no less overblown and indulgent than Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton's royal wedding, but comes at a fraction of the cost—and, by the way, is a hell of a lot more fascinating. Naturally, it doesn't appear until two hours into the album. For those who make it this deep into Alms of Morpheus, the title track is a worthy reward, an abrasive encore for the fans who stick around 'til the end. brainwashed.com

Tecumseh ‘return to everything’ (beta lactam ring). From the dark side of the drone, something wicked looms with brooding intent this way. Named perhaps after the Shawnee chief Tecumseh who legend has it cursed all presidents to be elected to office in a year ending with zero to die in office - 6 presidents succumbed until Reagan broke the spell. Well I say named perhaps - in truth there’s bugger all information to be had about Tecumseh aside the fact they are fondly referred to (by discog.com) as a doom metal ensemble from Portland who number three in their ranks (though on this occasion have expanded operations to invite along three acquaintances) and to date have issued two previous full lengths for Anarchymoon and important. Of prime interest one wouldn’t wonder to admirers of Kranky’s early career catalogue - and here I’m chiefly thinking Tom Carter and Growing - this set recorded some two years ago (March 2009 if you need to split hairs) is in essence one complete 25 minute suite split into three sub plots (does that make sense) - ‘when we loved’, ‘apophis’ and ‘oakca’ are their names / titles. Best experienced through headphones with the volume cranked up to the max so that you get the full added effect of feeling as though your at the epicentre of an Apollo jet system preparing for a countdown sequence. ’return to everything’ burns with unforgiving intensity, clearly informed by the loud / quiet noise axioms as laid to bare by New Zealand’s late 80’s underground scene - the Dead C, Bruce Russell and Roy Montgomery et al - the album opens playfully to what sounds like a psychotropic chime collage that soon dissipates to usher in mechanoid mistrals opening up communication channels and transmitting through the ether an intelligible language from across the deepest realms of the galaxy. From therein the onset of the hulking skull top lifting Roy Montgomery-esque stricken fuzz fired drone riffola takes centre stage endeavouring to pummel you out of existence with its primordial beatnik lunges, the leviathan like low end drone curvatures glower menacingly with white hot intensity only to withdraw and subside in a cavernous haze of celestial choral opines. The storm now having passed over brings with it the relative meditative calm of ‘oakca’ which for all its rasping frenzy an almost trance like sereneness prevails that’s indelibly tutored in a sand blasted archaic Tibetan like spiritual calm and which by our ears makes this release worthy of sitting betwixt your treasured full lengths by Robedor and that excellent John Mueller and Z’EV head to head from a year or so ago. Losingtoday.com

http://everygreatsongever.tumblr.com Seven That Spells "Future Retro Spasm" - Seven That Spells - Terminus Est (Future Retro Spasm, 2010) When I started this blog, I specifically told myself that it wasn’t a blog about new music. There are a lot of those, some of them really good (no slight to any I didn’t link to in that series of three—they popped to mind). I think I just didn’t want the pressure, you know? This is a release valve, a place I can come to blow out as many words as feels appropriate about whatever I feel like talking about. And I don’t want to have to constantly be searching for things to feature here. So yeah, not a new music blog.
But Every Great Song Ever is a big tent, and ever includes right now, so every once in a while I might toss out something new that I think might be in danger of being overlooked (by whom is a valid question—let’s not worry about it).
You know who tends to get overlooked? Bands like Seven That Spells. Hell, I’ve been guilty of overlooking them—I got a promo of theirs once, saw all the naked ladies on the cover and filed it in the out bin (When you get about 400 physical promos a year, you do this because you have to. You can’t listen to all of it.). I wish I’d given it a spin, because this, from an LP they released earlier this year, just about caved my skull in when I heard it.
Other reasons this band might get overlooked: they’re instrumental, they’re Croatian, and they’re on Beta-Lactam Ring Records, which is a great label with a really loyal clientele that gets very little notice outside that clientele, in spite of lavishing their releases with some truly great packaging.
Anyway, this sounds like some unholy but wholly awesome mix of Mahavishnu Orchestra, mid-70s King Crimson and a collapsing star, and deserves an airing outside its home in Zagreb. Which, now that I mention it, has produced a lot of good hard rock bands—during the Yugoslavia years, Croatia seems to have maintained a real creative identity for itself. It has a good indie rock scene now, too—the Bambi Molesters and My Buddy Moose come to mind. Check Drugi Nacin for some kick-ass old-school Croat rock.
And these guys. Apparently, this band has featured more than 50 different members in its time. They were a quartet of bass, drums, sax and guitar here, and their interplay is just freaking molten.They do such a good job of bottling the tension in the arrangement and then releasing it in torrents. It pulls you along like undertow.
This stuff scratches a really specific itch I get now and then. I don’t really listen to a ton of heavy music, which is part accident and part by design, but now and then I need a sick odd-metered groove and a bit of bone-pulverizing bass. The feeling usually passes after blasting a few tracks like this. But it’s fun while it lasts.

http://psychemusic.org Volcano The Bear / La STPO: The Shy Volcanic Society at the Bear and Bird Parade (UK/F,2009)**** - Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records. Although both bands are musically not completely related, their approach, based upon constructive and imaginative improvisation, on this album there is a closer comparable perspective, both with their own aspects. Volcano The Bear never sounded so theatrical-architectural constructive, building up a kind of ritualistic event with peeping and bowed iron sounds with wind and wood instruments, some trumpet and voices and some intervals focuses, until the piece finds it’s conclusive idea like some kind of inspired middle eastern improvisation (oud,trumpet,rhythmic ideas,..). La STPO doesn’t break the mood, but only directs the music to a different chapter. Also they make use of bowed iron sounds, higher pitched tensions while adding a new fundament of electric guitars nearer to occasional metal, with guitars, and a lead voice, within a total, free and improvised music perspective. Weird oral submissions with real word layers are added, as one of the elements that keep the range of expressions from sonic mood meditation to free-bordered heavy rock. A strange experience, with visual becoming.

http://psychemusic.org Un Festin Sagital : Epitafio a la permanencia - Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records. For this kind of new music, you need to LISTEN, and have an ear to music ; then you can hear how this brilliantly built up music hangs so well together. If one could see images to the music it would be even more clear how descriptive and well arranged and produced this is. This is more than avant-garde, experimental music or rock music. This is highly constructive in its abstract score, while recognisable structures appear more often, as if in this filmic score man has its rightful place, not dominating, but participating. Spoken word, song, heavy guitar riffs, Magma-esque or classical vocal arrangements, acoustic guitar passages float more than once on top of more abstractly moving overtone keyboard harmonies, or other arrangements with different instruments, filmic but in an avant-garde impulsive way, calm and finding new structural combinations. Brilliant stuff !! The only thing I didn’t know yet after some listenings was : where exactly have I been and what brought all these different worlds together during this musical happening ? The whole complexity of hanging together contrasting elements is just leading to more listens.

Foxy Digitali Artist: Expo 70 Album: Sonic Messenger Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records Rating: 10 Reviewer: Dave Miller Somebody throw a bucket of ice water on me! "Sonic Messenger" is a fallen comet that has left a crater in my soul, deepening my appreciation of Justin Wright's brand of psychedelia! Expo 70 has impressed us with each and every release thus far, but Justin Wright has graced us with an unparalleled offering. "Sonic Messenger" is by far his magnum opus. Everything that has come before has only been a taste of his true creativity. "Sonic Messenger" proves to be the telos, the fulfillment, of his work as far as I'm concerned. All of his other work points to this epic masterpiece, but only "Sonic Messenger" delivers the fullness of Expo 70's glory. It has the best of everything that makes Justin Wright one of the best artists of our time. The drones are as weightless as ever, evoking the hum of a spacecraft. The effects are as otherworldly as ever, like the emissions of a ray gun from some unknown planet. And the guitar is as poignant as ever, reeling like urgent transmissions of lost extra terrestrial life forms. This is absolutely mesmerizing…I think I've lost a few brain cells after listening to this thing so much. As Wright's label is called, this is no doubt a "Sonic Meditation." I love the light and flakey spaced out layers with flecks of unpredictable guitar magic. Mostly airy, but sometimes a bit fuzzy like a radio communication from Ground Control. Something absolutely must be said about its package format and bonus release. This could very well be one of the nicest package jobs I've ever seen. It definitely does justice to the tracks. Hardcover book-style with slick glossed photos of Wright doing his thing. Simply superb. I love the whole aesthetic of Expo 70. It's like some kind of 60's/70's space myth. Maybe it's because the whole vintage thing is cool, but both the vibe and the art have never seemed so fresh. Anyway, I'd pick this one up for the bonus "Infinite Macrocosm" CD alone. It delivers three more long tracks that make it a solid release in itself. It's also a stunner. "Sonic Messenger" is absolutely out of this world! I think Neil Armstrong would say, "One small step for [Justin Wright]; one giant leap for [drone-kind]."

www.musiquemachine.com Volcano the Bear & La STPO - The Shy Volcanic Society at the Bear and Bird Para [Beta-lactam Ring Records - 2009] Oh, this. This. This is a roaring, screeching, droning, clanking, yammering, blabbering, yacking, rattling, thundering, droning, whooping, booming, hollering, blatting, honking thing of beauty. All two halves of it.
First, there’s the Volcano the Bear half, and if you are not familiar with the Bear then I strongly recommend you educate yourself pronto. None other than Steve Stapleton of Nurse with Wound discovered and curated them. They’ve since been bewildering and fascinating people on multiple continents with a sound that channels any number of hints of musical styles through a shambling improvisatory framework. That’s precisely what they do on their tracks, where they invoke the gods and more than a few demons in a way that bristles hairs far coarser than any I might have. It’s exactly the kind of creepy séance-in-the-middle-of-the-dark-forest vibe that Harappian Night Recordings tried (and in my opinion failed) to summon on their own disc, and the Bear not only summon it but let it stagger around with blood smeared all over its chops.
I was not at all familiar with La Société Des Timides À La Parade Des Oiseaux, but after this disc I know now I’ve been missing out. They come on like the missing link between John Zorn’s Naked City (the sides that featured Yamatsuka Eye screaming and blabbering his happy little face off) and a bass-explosion fueled Magma side project. The level of nail-biting tension these guys generate over their six, eight, and nine-minute multi-partite squirm-scream-and-slam mini-epics is enough to fuel any ten Hitchcock films, and maybe a few Dario Argentos to boot.
The timing for me popping in this disc could not have been more apt. There I was, with this album in one hand—a split effort, with Volcano the Bear sharing time with La Société Des Timides À La Parade Des Oiseaux (something like “The Company of Wallflowers at The Parade Of Birds” if my command of high-school French isn’t screwing me over)—and in the other, the Los Angeles Free Music Society’s Unboxed compilation. There are more than casual comparisons to be drawn between VtB / LSdTalPdO and L.A.F.M.S.—not just the free-form way they devour their influences and spit them back out again in nigh-unrecognizable gobs, but the oddball humor, too. This whole disc is like one great big black joke that you don’t dare laugh at for fear of being cut to shreds for your insolence … which, come to think of it, is pretty funny all by itself. Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5 Serdar Yegulalp

Expose Edward Ka-Spel – “O’er a Shalabst’r Tyde Strolt Ay” (Beta-lactam Ring Records mt048b, 2002/2009, CD) Edward Ka-Spel records and releases two basic types of solo music, songs and experimental music (collages, found sounds, and electronics). O’er a Shalabast’r Tyde Strolt Ay is an amalgam of both styles and it is hard to believe that it has been seven years since its release. The original release was in a standard jewel case. But for this reissue, Beta-lactam Ring has chosen a custom-made cardboard gatefold case that mimics the original LP issue. According to the web site, the music has been fully remastered by Randall Frazier at the Helmet Room studios, but for the life of me, I cannot detect a difference between the original and the reissue. Perhaps because the three tracks are so long (22:38, 11:34, and 11:50 respectively) it is difficult to note any variations, subtle or otherwise. The first song “An Ill Wind” opens with ambient rolling waves of sound that slowly evolves into one of Edward’s signature waltzes and ultimately an industrial collage of electronics and samples. “O’Riley’s Comet” is a more abstract piece with a repetitive beat of random sound bites, electronic squeaks, and reversed sounds. And the final track “Safer Than the Open” is a beautiful ambient piece with EKS providing eerie and wordless background vocals. The music grows on you like a sonic moss, but I would only recommend this disc to established EKS fans. – Henry Schneider

Expose Nadja – “Belles Bêtes” (Beta-lactam Ring Records mt170, 2009, LP) Nadja is the prolific duo of Canadian musicians Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff who create and play experimental, drone, ambient, shoegazer, and doom metal music. Belles Bêtes contains four Aidan Baker solo tracks: “Sand Like Skin,” “Beautiful Beast,” “Green & Cold,” and “Wound Culture.” All four tracks are variations of low rumbling drones, dark/dismal heavily processed guitar, drums, and noise to create walls of sound that could topple skyscrapers if played loud enough. There are whispered vocals and singing peppered throughout, but you cannot discern individual words. The assault on your ears is merciless and it would not be surprising if they bled. On “Green & Cold” the music is not so in-your-face and you can get some idea of singing and possibly a notion that it is not all ugly. For the collector, Beta-lactam has lovingly packaged the 180 gram vinyl as a limited edition of 500 in a heavy book bound sleeve. Moreover, if you are interested in a CD version, that will be available in November 2009. Not for the faint of heart, pregnant women, or tender ears, Belles Bêtes is a sonic assault on your senses that may not appeal to most listeners. – Henry Schneider

Expose Edward Ka-Spel – “The Painted River of Regrets” (Beta-lactam Ring Records mt169, 2009, CD) During the Legendary Pink Dots 2008 tour they were selling Edward’s The Painted Review of Regrets as a limited edition of 399 CDr copies. These were rapidly sold out and Beta-lactam Ring Records elected to reissue the music as a 180 gram vinyl limited edition of 500 copies. The vinyl comes in a full color book bound sleeve to preserve the quality of the record. The music is one long piece divided into two parts, one per side. This is Edward Ka-Spel at his most experimental. There are no waltzes or other song structures here. Instead, we have an instrumental soundtrack to an imaginary film that Edward worked on for over a year. This must be an outré and scary psychological movie, as the music flows from quiet ambient sections with the smallest of sounds to dissonant structures and heavily processed sonic sources. This is sad and contemplative music, much akin to Brian Eno’s Thursday Afternoon. When you consider Edward’s body of work, it breaks down into two basic categories: songs and poetry similar to the Legendary Pink Dots catalog, and avant-garde sonic experimentations. Painted River of Regrets definitely falls into the second category, so I would caution any fan that is not used to Edward’s experimental and dark side to approach this release with caution. Though it is an excellent composition and addition to his catalog, it may not appeal to everyone. – Henry Schneider

All Music Guide Philippe Petit "Henry the Iron Man" CD. Review by François Couture In his short liner notes to this album, Philippe Petit writes: "I dreamt that Shinya Tsukamoto was working on a blurred remake of Eraserhead, and I was to soundtrack the grotesque mutation of Henry into an 'Iron Man'." That is the starting point of this album, a dreamy, gloomy, tortured imaginary soundtrack made from (mis)treated turntables and samples. On his records, Petit is usually surrounded by collaborators (hence the mention "and friends" tagged to his name on most of his solo albums), but not this time. Outside help is limited to faithful compadre and fellow Strings of Consciousness member Perceval Bellone on sax and EWI, plus some Chinese sounds provided by the duo FM3 for the delightfully awkward, clumpy, faux-exotic anticipation-feeling "In Tokyo Henry Spencer Is Fine." "Salaryman's Dream" (20 minutes) starts off with a great patched-up theme of skipping vinyl, then recedes into the nether regions of tone arm dismemberment, the turntable (Petit's instrument of choice, which he plays in a surprisingly physical way) seemingly undergoing Henry's projected mutation. After the aforementioned Asian interlude comes the final track, "Lady in the Radiator Meets the Fetishist" (13 minutes), where a guitar-like growl gets subdued while Bellone honks his way through a deliberately twisted sax solo. As an aural journey, Henry: The Iron Man is quite an achievement, despite overlong passages in the two long tracks. This album is also an opportunity to really focus on Petit's work and experience his creativity and original techniques.

BabySue Aidan Baker - Songs of Flowers and Skin (CD, Beta-lactam Ring, Progressive) The press release that accompanied this disc made us laugh for two reasons. First, because it conjures up a new genre we had never heard of before ("doomgaze"). And second because when it started talking about "songs" there was an immediate explanation (i.e., "yes, songs"). [Anyone familiar with the abstract and often non musical releases from the Beta-lactam Ring label will get the joke.] So here we have what is, perhaps, the most musical release we've yet to hear from this provocative independent label. As you might guess, even though these are real songs...they aren't the kind that the average music listener can grasp onto. Slow, hazy, slightly psychedelic...Aidan Baker songs are dream-like in nature and decidedly unconventional. Six songs...sixty minutes of music...perplexing and ultimately strangely inviting. Some of these pieces have weird addictive qualities..."

BabySue Nadja - Under the Jaguar Sun (Double CD, Beta-lactam Ring, Progressive/experimental) In an age of throwaway CDs...if you're like us you're a sucker for great packaging. And you'd better believe that the folks at Beta-lactam Ring are probably the best out there in terms of interesting and incredible packaging. This release is interesting in so many ways...where to begin...? First off (as we already hinted)...the packaging is superb. These two discs are housed in a great cardboard sleeve with four foldouts which reveal some really cool impressionistic artwork...plus each is housed in its own nifty little cardboard sleeve. Each disc can be played and appreciated by itself...but the discs were also recorded/created so that the listener can play both at once for a completely different experience (reminiscent of The Flaming Lips' legendary Zaireeka album). Under the Jaguar Sun is peculiar to say the least. Some of the tracks are musical in some ways...while others are almost purely random and experimental. The first disc ("Tezcatlipoca") is the louder of the two...while the second ("Quetzalcoatl") is more of an ambient type experience. Hard to compare this band's music to anyone else...except, perhaps, other artists on the Beta-lactam label. Killer stuff...mentally challenging and often rather spooky... TOP PICK.

Sept. 10, 2010: "BlRR is the best fucking record label." - Your Mom