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Random Stabbings Part 2

  Tobias

Jamie Lidell "Multiply" (Warp Records)
In music as in life, there’s always a joker in the deck.  Play Jamie Lidell’s newest for anyone and quiz them afterward, go ahead – most likely the listener will assume they just heard Smoky Robinson and Otis Redding guesting on a Stevie Wonder album from the early 70s.  The punchline: Lidell is a honky who can magpie just about any of history’s great R&B singers (up to and including Al Green) and all of the album’s cool-breeze sounds were choked out of a synthesizer.  From the "I Wish" power-funk of "When I Come Back Around" to the title track's contented "Dock of the Bay" slow-burn, Lidell co-opts Motown and erects a generational bridge that will appeal to grandma at a musical level while leaving twentysomething Wired readers wondering aloud what type of software Lidell uses. CD includes a video of Lidell's concert at London's Royal Festival Hall. www.warprecords.com

Project Pitchfork “Kaskade” (Metropolis Records)
Cartoonishly spooky and profoundly 80s, “Kaskade” could easily have been the soundtrack to the first Fright Night film (see “Beautiful-Logic-Strings” for Exhibit A).  Project Pitchfork’s singalong old-New-Wave resurrects the better things about Depeche Mode and Simple Minds while maintaining a fetish-club element that stands apart from other German electro-clones thanks to singer Peter Spilles and his Ozzy-as-Psychedelic-Fur intonation.  Reagan-era influences are all over the map – “Echoes” pays knees-bent tribute to Sister of Mercy’s “Victim of Love,” which of course couldn’t be more relevant these days. Running a more industrial gauntlet, “The Future is Now” bonds the slamming drums of newer Nine Inch Nails to Reznor’s earlier faux cries for help.  www.metropolis-records.com

Leak "Redemption" (Stateart Records)
Since noise albums can never suffer from too much attention to structure, Leak should gladden most followers of the genre with their diligence.  The first few minutes of the album are mixed so low that one has to crank the volume in order to discern desolate moonscape tones, but keep one hand on the volume knob – all at once you’re assaulted with industrial crashes and booms that casually morph into the sounds of a tank rolling over a field of TV sets before everything settles into varying shades of static.  The mating call of a titanic alien reptile follows, giving way to chimes punctuated by low sitar.  The remaining ad-libs include distorted carnival music, a fork tapping a plate and other groovy look-what-I-founds. www.stateart.de

Mind in a Box “Dreamweb” (Metropolis Records)
Gorgeous futurepop concept album built around a hazy tale of alien abduction. There’s a distinct 80s influence in much of what’s coming out of the techno underground (and rock in general) these days, but Mind in a Box takes that sound and raises the ante – by no means do they commit misdemeanor theft of prog riffs or resort to unstable half-hooks.  Between narratives recorded with Martian distortion you’ll be treated to some of the sexiest, most subtle dance-electronica alive, the Eiffel 65-ish “Lament For Lost Dreams” leading the pack with the relentlessly slick “Out of Time” right at its heels.  Sensual, zen-inducing, and quite possibly the best Euro-electro you’ll hear in 2005. www.metropolis-records.com

By Eric W. Saeger

Indie label releases, spaghetti sauce recipes and silly questions are always welcome.  Email ericsaeger@mindspring.com.