LET

AFX
CHOSEN LORDS
More squitchy twitchy anti dance smleaugh from the main man of squitchy twitchy anti dance smleaugh. Me likey "PWSteal.Ldpinch.D", remind me to shout that one out at his next gig.

ALIEN VAMPIRES
EVIL GENERATION
Dark electro. All synthetic. The riffs might've originated on guitar, maybe not. The vocals sound like Dani Filth. And with trax like "I Fuck Nuns", "Fake Blod is For Cunt", the influence seems apparent. "Satanic Propaganda (SNTF Rising)" even takes the fun out of devil worship.

HERB ALPERT'S TIJUANA BRASS
WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS REWHIPPED
Allstar remix project that would've been much cooler about ten years ago. Still, this could've turned out much worse.

Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung
DOMESTIC WILDLIFE
The first song is like experimental orchestral jazz classical progressive rock. "Rabbit Eye Movement" is a gorgeous piece of orchestra... pop? Track three sounds very much like the middle eight of "21st Century Schizoid Man" for woodwinds, bass and drumset. Pretty cool.

CAMP
ICONOGRAPHY
Weird. Dance music beats, new wave guitars & keyboards. Disco basslines. And fey, disaffected vocals. I didn't mean it was weird. I should've said SWEET. "If I Were a Cat".

THE COMMERCIAL HIPPIES
IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT
Nine tracks that merge into one long hour of dull trance.

DATACH'I
SHOCK DIAMONDS
Weird-ass noises treated rhythmically. Quite a few of them. But not a beat or melody in sight.

DESTYNATION
RISING UP
Wow. Judas Priest crossed with Foreigner.

DRAGON LORD
THROUGH THE TIME
Um. Pass. Man, I wish these guys were kidding.

ENDRONE
THE SINS WITHIN
Detuned boy band emo death metal.

ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW
BEFORE THE BLEEDING SUN
Melodic, orchestral black metal with catchy choruses. That can't be.

FANNY
SHOEBOMB HURRICANE
There's a Venetian Snares remix on the end. Need I say more?

JACK JOHNSON
CURIOUS GEORGE
Dull, offensive, Santana-esque acoustic guitar driven Top 40. And it's cheesy.

TIM KOCH
FAENA
This guy operates solely in the realm of the snarky song title. All 17 trax are steeped in snark. Musically, it's instrumental electronica of various descriptions. My favorite, "Seven Ate Nine" has a nice drum groove over melodic synth stuffing. Tim Koch, a subtle & palatable version of Aphex Twinkie.

LOSCIL
PLUME
Now THAT's what I call subtleatmosphericambientronica. Now I'm getting misty-eyed for the old days of Future Sound Of London. Awww.


MEDIAEVAL BAEBES & MARTIN PHIPPS
THE VIRGIN QUEEN
If this is a soundtrack, the movie sounds awesome. You know the Baebes's deal already.

NARNIA
ENTER THE GATE
If you have to be a Euro power metal band with keyboards, and no one is suggesting you do, I guess you could do worse than this. Bruce Dickinson-worship vocals, Maidenish riffs. The only wildcard on the first cut is the wildly inappropriate Journey (ca. 1981) keyboards. Which I like. Recommended for Iron Maiden fans who always wished Jonathan Cain would've joined.

OAKENFOLD
A LIVELY MIND
Semi-terrible stadium dance hitz. Maybe I expected more from Oakie cokey. But I don't know why.

SAMBASSADEUR
COASTAL AFFAIRS EP
Oh my god, musically, "Kate" gets it so right it's right. Acoustic guitar, bloppy bass, wispy female singing. Kind of like Magnetic Fields meets the Cure and/or New Order. Highly melodic.
All four tracks are like that. Fucking excellent!

SEPULTURA
DANTE XXI
I've never been a fan. I wrote them off as latecomers to the death metal game in the early 1990s. So fuck knows what their records sound like. This one is pretty brutal in spots. "Dark Wood of Error" has nice meaty riffs. ""City of Dis" starts like Celtic Frost, then thrashes out for a bit. Then it's kind of groovy. "Repeating the Horror" has a decent melodic element. Is
"Still Flame" a bonus track? It sounds like a heavy metal Portishead cover.

SPEKTR
THE NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE
I know Cronos likes to refer to Venom's music (often mid-song) as 'black fucking metal', but I think this is real black fucking metal. It's scary, there are no grooves, you can hear keyboards in the distance, the drums are recorded & mixed strangely, and the vocals are terrifying. Plus, "The Violent Stink of Twitching Terror." Hands down. Black fucking metal!!

THIEVERY CORPORATION
VERSIONS
This shit is fucking awesome. 18 songs, give or take, are given the full Thievererrey biz. And, put it this way, my two favorite songs are their Versions of trax by the Doors and Sarah McLachlan. I know, I know. Shit is DOPE! Soundtrack of the century. The Fear of Pop cut is cool, as are Herb Alpert and Gilbertos Astrud and Bebel. WICK'd!