September listening

A fair bit of stuff this month, most of it not getting the listening space it deserves due to my being on holiday in China and Japan. Still, the resultant financial shitstorm generated by that little trip should see me housebound for a good while – at least until traveling (budget class all the way) to Stockholm to see The Residents at the end of November.

HASYMO – Rescue cdep – another trailer for the upcoming album, released before The City Of Light as far as I can gather.

HASYMO – HAS/YMO – a not inexpensive Japanese double DVD release of a live television concert from earlier this year (or last year, my reading of sleeve notes in Japanese leaves everything to be desired)

HECTOR ZAZOU/SWARA – In The House Of Mirrors and HECTOR ZAZOU/KATIE JANE GARSIDE – Corps Electriques – both reached me posthumously, since the mighty Zazou died in early September at the tragically early age of 60. RIP, Mr Zazou. ‘Corps’ is one of his more mellifluous pop collaborations, beautifully produced and electronically textured – but unfortunately largely forgettable. ITHOM though, is a triumph, Zazou visiting his talents on the Indian subcontinent for the first (and now, sadly, last) time to gorgeously melancholic effect.

CLUSTER – Berlin 07 – erm… still not listened to this, but imagine that it’s exactly what I’d expect.

THE RESIDENTS – The Bunny Boy – their best ‘regular’ album outing for a while (though I wish they’d get around to releasing an album of lengthened instrumentals from The Sandman Waits set). Should make for a good live show, where apparently there’ll be a ‘companion’ album available from the merchandising stall. Am enjoying the Bunny Boy web series on YouTube too.

ROOTS MANUVA – Slime & Reason – UK hip-hop ‘veteran’ on form. Nice mini-album of dubs attached.

FUJIYA & MIYAGI – Lightbulbs – is it just me, or does the law of diminishing returns apply here? As the band hone and simplify their sound towards more ‘commercial’ territory, they’re getting less and less interesting. Damning with faint praise, this is ‘okay’.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Basic Replay – finally got around to buying this little treasure, a Basic Channel label reissue of some dub classics.

SNORKEL – glass darkly – yet another (when will I ever learn) album bought on the strength of comparisons with Can’s classic Ege Bamyasi album. Which, I do realise, generally tends to mean any collection of tracks on which instrumental meandering is underpinned by adventurous but highly rhythmic percussion. This isn’t at all bad as this ‘genre’ goes.

LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY – Repentance – better and more adventurous than I’d expected, producer Andrew WK explores some of the techno/dub territory Perry’s previously delved into – but to much better effect.

Picked up a few more goodies in Tokyo, including reissues of two old CLUSTER cds, Curiosum and Grosses Wasser, AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE Visions Of A Psychedelic Africa, three of the Staalplaat MUSLIMGAUZE limited reissues – and YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI‘s classic Neuromantic album, which has been getting an insane amount of play since a friend burned me a cdr of it a few months back.