It seems as though I’ve been getting a lot of jazz recordings to review lately, and I didn’t particularly think CHAIN D.L.K. was much into jazz. But, when you get a CD this good, you have to say something about it. (Besides, they want me to review everything that comes my way.) If you’re familiar with The Monks of Doom or Mike Watt, then you just might know who Rich West is. For the uninitiated, West is an avant-jazz (sometimes rock) drummer whose roots go back as far as Camper van Beethoven. Here, with group comprised of Bruce Friedman (trumpet), Lynn Johnston (saxophones, clarinets), Emily Beezhold (electric piano, Korg ms2000) and Dan Krimm (electric bass) West provides the percussive glue to hold this post-bop free-jazz ensemble together. West also throws in a bit of accordian for good measure, and probably also because he can play it. I’m not sure "Heavenly Breakfast" was the best title for what’s going on here. If your idea of a heavenly breakfast is five kids running amok at the breakfast table, cereal and milk all over the place, jam everywhere but on the toast and coffee percolating to the point of overflowing, then maybe it is. There is an incredible amount of free improvisation, and I’m not sure that all of it works, but when it does, it’s pretty engaging, of you like this sort of thing. There is a lot of contrasting dynamics, tonal shifts, and an undercurrent of tension in what West and his ensemble are doing here, and my gut feeling is that these guys area lot more savvy than they let on. West’s drumming is so sophisticated at times that it almost hardly seems to matter what anyone else is playing. And a good deal of the improvisation has that chaotic playfulness that comes across almost mockingly daring you to imagine where they’re going next. Sometimes the group seems to be in perfect sync in a groove, at other times in full-out frenzy, and still others where they are Sooooo far out, you just can’t fathom where they’re going. Crazy riffs gone wild seeming totally out of control, but then there’s always a grounding point they miraculously find their way back to, in sync, and ready to digress yet again. Some of "Heavenly Breakfast" is about as avant garde as jazz gets (and still be able to truly be called jazz). The individual musicianship is stellar, and when it comes together here on this recording as it often does, it’s a remarkable listen. Assuredly not for all tastes, "Heavenly Breakfast" might better be digested much later in the day.

Sometimes it’s difficult to categorize certain types of music, even when a cursory listening yields familiar impressions of other artists within the plethora of genres and sub-genres that milieu of our known musical universe. Let’s take the Ambient category, for reference. A purist might believe that in order for a recording to qualify as "Ambient", it should be quiet, unobtrusive background sonics. Brian Eno, the pop step-father of Ambient music is quoted as setting these parameters: " Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting. " Vague, but precise in and of its own accord. Ino order to accommodate forms that deviate from this definition, sub-categories were developed- Organic Ambient, Nature-Inspired Ambient, Dark Ambient, Industrial Ambient, Isolationist Ambient, et al. But when an artist mixes elements from these very fifferent sub-genres, how do you define that? Even more, how do you describe or even compare to known artists within the sub-genre, without giving a false impression of what music is really like? That is the dilemna with Dolmen’s "Terra Firma". It never really stays put I one subcategory, and perhaps that’s the reason for its eclecticism. Dolmen is a collaboration betweeen visual/sound artist Steven K. Smith and ambient/ installation artist Jason Sloan. Smith is from Cleveland, and Sloan from Baltimore. Just the fact that this project came together over the distance is amazing. (I also discovered they had a prior release in 2002 called "Ritual Awakening". As to the music, you will hear a LOT of different influences, yet "Terra Firma" comes off not as a melange of styles, but as a fairly cohesive whole work. The title track opens the CD, with a soundtrack-like quality that sets a mysterious, oblique mood. It does almost seem like it’s going to conform to the Eno definition of "Ambient", until the intense drumwork rises out of the echoey netherworld they’ve created. Once the percussive barrage begins about half-way through the track, its evident we’ve shifted gears into Industrial Ambient. As it continues to rise, just when you thought it couldn’t get more intense, it does. Sort of like Pink Floyd’s "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" without any concession to rock or pop music, in fact without any restraint at all. Probably not the best thing to listen to after dropping a tab of LSD. Then again, maybe that’s the kind of intensity you’re looking for. The next track, "Wishes That Weigh" is quite a different story. Mild percusion with breath-like drones and a subtle, simple series of notes, perhaps on muffled guitar. Very nice chillout from the intensity of the first track. "Bleedingbeginbegone" offers more in the way of drone, and encroaches on Robert Rich/ Steve Roach territory. Not a bad thing at all. It does reach a point of intensity, then subsides. Smith and Sloan are very adept at creating thick soundscapes that don’t just drift aimlessly along. A definite plus. "Heaven Smells Like Sulfer And Static" explores some of the nuances of lower frequency vibrations, and gradually morphs into a noisy, congested miasma that squeezes you through to the other side of a parallel universe. Maybe I’m being a bit too imaginative here, but I don’t know how else to describe it. You’re certainly not where you began with this one. The title "100 Miles From Home" treads into the "Nature-Inspired Ambient" subcategory, with the sound of a stream, birds, wind and the sustained, modulating moaning drone of some distant horn. There is also a little muffled guitar in the background. No description of the components of this track can really illustrate how sonically effective it all is. Marvelous. That track easily slides into "Red Stained Lips", a lazy little number that really might remind you of early Steve Roach. Not content to drift, Dolmen quadruple-time the percusion half-way through the piece adding some sonic variables that enhance the journey. By the conclusion, it all calms down on a could of filtered resonent synth drone. "Love Tonight Today" is perhaps the most tribal/ ritual piece on the CD, due to the percussion. It’s medium-slow with a most interesting mixture of thickening sonics off this duo’s pallette. It could have gone on for another ten minutes and I’d still be happy. Final track, "White Blood Of Blind Wisdom" is almost like too much of a good thing. The atmosphere gets really thick and noisy. The percusiion stops dead in the middle and it really begins to sound like a hellacious shitstorm. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it does. Obviously, my least favorite track.; I’m sure the artists had their reason for it. In spite of the last track, I’d still recommend this CD to the sonically adventurous. This CD has been compared to Zoviet France, Sigur Ros, Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Rapoon, etc., but it goes places none of them have ever gone before. The only question is, is this YOUR destination?

When I first listened to this CD, I thought it was just one band called Ignobile Vermine. Since the text on the CD cover is all in French, I admit I wasn’t paying too much attention. My first thought was, wow, kind of a diverse band here. After doing a little Internet digging, I found that this was a compilation CD of FIFTEEN different bands over nineteen tracks, all doing a tribute to some band I never heard of called Ptose. (There’s a long line over the "o" in Ptose, if that makes any difference.) My second thought was, "so who the heck is Ptose, and why have I never heard of them"? A little more digging, and I come to find that they’ve been around since 1979, and they’re France’s answer to The Residents, although they seem to have more musically in common with Renaldo and the Loaf than The Residents. That explains a lot of what I thought about the music I heard on the CD. Similarities to The Residents abound. Okay, but since I’ve never actually heard Ptose, all I have to go on is what I think of the music in general, and not how well these bands are "tributing" Ptose. That being said, let me tell you what I think. My sentiment on The Residents has always been mixed. I’ve heard and owned a number of their albums. I’ve seen them live. Some of their stuff can be great, and some amateurishly awful. The tracks on this CD seem to mirror my sentiments to a tee. Rather than go into the track titles, I’ll just focus on the bands. First up, LES HAUTS DE PLAFONDS. Their track is kind of a pop-pourri of a little melody and some schizzy backing tracks over a rhythm machine rhythmic background, which morphs into a different minimal melody with a little spoken word over it. Likeable enough, perhaps one of the more "normal" tracks on the CD. Second track by BOSCO really reminded me a lot off The Residents "Fingerprints" album. More intense drum machine (The Residents as I recall in their early days tended to use played percussion) a buzzy repeating synth bass line, and call & response vocal chanting with a chorus of lower vocals vs. a higher falsetto vocal. Nonsensical perhaps, but still kind of engaging. This may be one of the better tracks on the CD. Has a real vintage Residents feel. LAURENT PERNICE & PAKITO BOLINO are up next with a chaotic noise-driven piece of insanity with some pretty wacky loops avant piano, and a slew of changes that get more interesting each time you listen to it. I’m no real noise fan, but it’s well worth wading through. These guys pack a lot into 3:46. KLIMPEREI have three tracks on this CD. The first begins with a melancholic guitar based melody just seems to peter out once it gets going. The second is a bouncy little circus-style number that reflects Residents style whimsy in the melody with harmonium and guitar juxtaposition. Nice little piece. The last track by them is just a 46 second idea, is cute, but lacks development. Next band, LA SOCIETE DES TIMIDES A LA PARADE DES OISEAUX begins their track with an odd glockenspiel melody, some low woodwinds and ominous guitar staccato picking and scraping. Over that a raspy voice intones, "Here come the boogey-man, he’s going to call you... .". Drums come in and the guitar beefs up, the vocals get more intense and frenetic as the song gets progressively stronger and louder. Very much like Tuxedomoon on a rock-bender with Winston Tong fronting on vocals. Avant rock enthusiasts may like this track very much. I thought it was a little derivative. SERVOVALVE follows with a long, repetitive sequenced synth track that throws some odd percussive elements, processed spoken word, other synth sounds, etc. There just wasn’t enough here to sustain my interest over six minutes. Following that comes LEFDUP ET LEFDUP. This is a pretty cool track, maybe the closest thing to Industrial rock on the entire CD. Real drums (as far as I could tell, or great programming) saxophones, intelligible spooky sort of goth vocals, goofy melody line, but very likeable. I’ve changed my mind, may THIS is the best track on the CD. DELETED follow, and they have two tracks on the CD. Their first track sounded like a melted down jazz orchestra from the 20’s playing some melodic blues riff. Their second track is bit more avant rock in instrumentation and unfortunately ends too soon. They have potential. NORSCQ have the longest track on the CD at 8:23, but not the best in my estimation. I never was much of an "experimental guitar" fan, but if you are, you might enjoy it. To me, it tends to sound like an endless tuning session, and someone that just can’t play. I admit that I just ended up skipping ahead on this track, and it did develop into something with guitar squawks over a bass riff, but for me it was just too much, too little, too late. PIERRE BASTIEN ET MECANIUM was up next, with a creepy, creaky, wheezy little track about a ghost. I wouldn’t doubt the majority of the sonics here were made from violin and saw. Quite inventive. PALO ALTO featuring EMIKO OTA follows. It’s probably what you might expect from a Japanese experimental music artist. Ota has a fair amount of credentials on the experimental music scene, and although the track comes off with a lot less whimsy than the bulk of the material on this CD, it makes for some diversity. Some nice juxtapositions on this one. CHAZAM is up next with a percussion heavy track, thrumping bass line, silly synth lead and chanted vocals in French. Some overdriven lead guitar adds to the mix. Nothing special here. PHONEME offers an eerie little downtempo instrumental synth ditty punctuated by white noise stabs and a low processed vocal at the very end. Nice. TOUPIDEK LIMONADE use a kazoo throughout their track along with recorder, bass, guitar and percussion. Although it sounds like one of the less developed tracks on the CD, it at least brings back some Residents-style whimsicality. DRAGIBUS do the same song as BOSCO did earlier with less effective results. The CD closes out with NON FINITO ORCHESTRA doing a medley of Ptose songs and it certainly sounds like an appropriate ending for this CD. Extremely well done insanity. Maybe THIS is the best track on the CD. Maybe I should go back and listen to the whole CD again. No, on second thought I think YOU should listen to the CD. Available through Musea Records and definitely recommended to Residents fans and fans of avant rock.

First off, I owe these guys a big apology. I promised them a review well over a year ago, and due to circumstances ended up taking an overly-long hiatus from the reviewing biz. Now that I’m back in the grooves, let me give them the critical eye they certainly deserve. Bizarre Musik Machine is a duo out of San Antonio, Texas, a tough town to make it for most any band. And I’m sure that making dark music there really puts you at a disadvantage. Be that as it may, Yayumi (Vocals/Keyboards) & Gino (Guitar/Sequencing) deserve a lot of credit for trying. Probably the easiest comparison is early period Cocteau Twins with more easily decipherable vocals. Plenty of that shoegazing echo & ?verb to the guitar with drum machine keeping the rhythm moving along. Unlike some bands who consciously try to mine the retro-80’s vibe of bands like te Cocteaus, Joy Division, The Cure, et al, Bizarre Musik Machine are different enough to make you take notice. While Yayumi doesn’t possess a stellar set of pipes, she still has enough quality to keep you enthralled for at least 35-40 minutes. And from what I’ve seen of her visually, she’s almost got an interesting appearance, in a Bjork kind of way. Gino’s no slouch as creating the proper aural atmosphere either, even though sometimes his guitar work seems a bit meandering. Still, to my knowledge, there’s NOBODY doing just this kind of thing now, to my knowledge. (Then again I could be wrong, but of there is another band taking this path, I certainly haven’t been exposed to them. Most of the tracks on the CD are pretty good, but the most memorable one is titled "Silent Regrets" will really take you back to the early 90’s, the heyday of the ?Madchester’ and Shoegazer scene. If 4AD is still signing bands, Bizarre Musik Machine is one they definitely ought to look into. With some better production, this duo has the potential to carve their own niche (and maybe even write their own ticket) in the Goth n’ Dreampop music genre. Their website is definitely worth a visit, and while you’re there, BUY a copy of their CD. Don’t wait for them to become famous, because then it’s only the label that makes the money on product, and they really could use your support.

Sphere Lazza, I remember that name from the early 90’s techno-industrial music scene. I can’t remember what they sounded like then, but listening to "Ultimate Abyss" kind of brings it all back home. Fast (150 bpm fast!), energetic techno-industrial with great dancefloor potential, spoken word samples, effective programming and on-target vocals. Pared down now to the duo of David Trousdale (vocals) and Tony Spaz (programming) these guys may just have the goods to revive the flagging techno-dance genre. "Ultimate Abyss" is a one-hook pop song that makes its point with laser-like precision. You get three mixes on this maxi-single and they’re all good enough to not want to hit the skip button. (I’ve kind of become jaded and skeptical about ANY CD singles that offer weird, screwed-up remixes of songs that were better left as the original versions. Seldom are they innovative or listenable enough to warrant spending your hard-earned $$ on rehashes of three, six or nine versions of the same track. Maybe Djs find them useful, but for the most part, they’re a waste.) The good thing about this maxi-single (which is really more of an EP in my estimation) is that you get FOUR more songs that don’t sound like carbon copies of the title track. For one, they’re a good deal less frenetic, ranging from 118 to 140 bpm, but no less well executed. You get an even better sense of just how good Trousdale’s vocals are for the material, and how good the material is when compared with a lot of drek you find out there these days. For some reason, these guys remind me of a more electronic Chemlab, not a bad thing at all. They have plenty of pop sensibility but manage to keep away from the shallow depths of mainstream murk. Track #6, "Distance" has a retro-80’s vibe that recalls bands like the Psychedelic Furs and OMD while still maintaining a future-pop orientation. All in all, this CD gets a big "thumbs up", definitely worthy of purchase, and should be on club Djs "must play" (at least now and then) roster. Welcome back, Sphere Lazza!