Anyways I think I'm getting old because I seem to have missed Yo Recuerdo, sixth full-length of Mexican minimal electronics professor Fax. Perhaps my general neglect of minimal electronic music was the subconscious reason, since I don't even remember seeing any news/reviews as well, or maybe it's totally impossible to keep up with the amount of music released these days. This disc on Static Discos is a top notch effort from Ruben Tamayo, who plays the guitar, bass, synths and does the programming as well.

Transcending his earlier more 4/4 minimal techno works this album has managed to fuse clicky electronic beats with ambient scapes, traces of shoegaze and melodies. The balance of these elements on Yo Recuerdo is outstanding with distorted guitars or warm reverby synth washes never scaring the casual listener while giving the serious listener a complex and emotive dimension to enjoy. Will suit your late night / early morning escapades without a doubt.

+ The Wire reports that three members of Tinariwen will be joining Tunng's UK tour in March.

+ Two new blogs specializing in jazzy beats on our blogroll. Jus' like music and Nutriot.

+ Top Songs by year on Favtape

+ Want this 4CD Boxset! Pregnant Rainbows for Colourblind Dreamers: The Essence of Swedish Progressive Music 1967 - 1979

+ WDR Rockpalast concert archive : Colour Haze, Bad Religion, Baroness, Okkervil River and more. Downside: it doesn't buffer when paused.

Ghost Box is one of the most cherished labels here at undomondo thanks to their nostalgic soundscapes and the hauntology inspired conceptualism which Juppe describes as "There is an element of nostalgia and attraction to the past but for us it really is the idea of trying to convey the feeling of things half-remembered from a fictional past or a parallel world."

Like the Guild of Funerary Violinists or Xenis Emputae Travelling Band and all things British, they're not just trying to build a record label but create an imaginary world in a parallel universe. That's why a Ghost Box release has never been just about the music, but the gestalt of ideas, art and aesthetics; which is totally against the way the commercial/consumer society works.

Their selective roster and attention to detail leads to this sporadic tempo, which leaves us craving for more music, that's what happened prior to the new Belbury Poly album as well, but after months of waiting, I've been listening to the Belbury album "From an Ancient Star" since a few days. I'm trying to like it and hype it to a great extent and declare it the best album of 2009 like we instantly did with The Advisory Circle release last year, but it's not happening.

I can't pinpoint what's missing from "The Owl's Map" perfection, but guesses would be the song placement; as the second half seems to work better than the first half and the few italo inspired electro tracks which sound a bit lackluster compared to their previous efforts. (From an Ancient Star & Remember Tomorrow). Minor issues yet this attention to them should signify our affection to Ghost Box.

Overall, it's another beautiful Belbury Poly album, there are minor flaws against the standard they have set, but it's still heads and shoulders above most of the music released these days. Also, don't forget the download only sampler "Ritual and Education" which showcases previous material and which inspired the Guardian's Alexis Petridis to write:

And so it proves. The music on both From an Ancient Star and Ritual and Education (a budget-priced downloadonly compilation that provides the perfect introduction to Ghost Box) conjures up what David Peace might call an occult history of 70s and early 80s children's television, the soundtracks of stuff invariably forgotten in who-remembers-the-Wombles? roundups: the station idents of long-lost ITV franchises; Schools and Colleges programmes; the grimy, low-rent British horror films that provided a cheap way of filling time until the Epilogue and attracted an unintended prepubescent audience thanks to the rise in portable bedroom sets; the public information films that suggested a flatly terrifying broken Britain, filled with people who spent their time Fooling With Fireworks, playing Frisbee near power stations and jamming the bare wires of electrical equipment into sockets with matchsticks.

The Awakening is a spiritual awakening taking place in the neosoul/hipsoul territory. The beats by Dilla, Madlib, Jneiro Janel, Muhsinah and Epps herself are extremely well crafted and laced with cosmic vibes, yet her spiritual lyrics and ethereal singing makes the album a non-skippable entity. Stacy's mostly singing on this album but we get to hear her rap on a few beats and it's always reassuring to hear street conscious positive lyrics as opposed to the manufactured self-referential pop music we try to avoid. There's not much ground to stand left against the market's demand and Stacy Epps is one artist to cling to.

@diplo, @erolalkan, @thesonicyouth, @kidkanevil, @daedelus_music, @dananananaykroyd,@thealbumleaf, @viviangirls, @imogenheap, @OlafurArnalds, @stonesthrow, @subpop, @tru_thoughts, @DAVID_LYNCH.

Ok, hit the jackpot now : @DiSMusicians and Musictwitters, and also add my twitter for undomondo updates and sparse updates about what to read on the net.

Here's two tracks found via the Stones Throw twitter, a new track from Madlib's new Beat Konducta released today and an unreleased Oh No! track. They've also produced a vinyl figure of Quasimoto with Kidrobot. latest Unfold Radio Mix by Tru Thoughts' boss Rob Luis which starts with a Cut Chemist remix of Nat King Cole's Day in Day Out.

bohren und der club of gore - karin
fred bongusto - spaghetti a detroit *bossa nova version*
armando trovajoli - decisione
nicola conte - like leaves in the wind
byron lee and the dragonaires - working mood
burning spear - jordan river
recloose - solomon's alive
gza - shadowboxin (feat. method man)
j dilla - take it back (instrumental)
alain goraguer - au dela de la peur
elvis - crawfish pilooski
jef gilson - et malagasy chant inca
karl hector & the malcouns - followed path
juaneco y su combo - linda nena
roland bocquet - le flipper amoureaux, sans voix

+ Tipped by Brooklyn Radio Program Director Dan Martino we've witnessed a monster in the form of former BBC DJ Chris Read's The Diary which sees 28 years of Hip-Hop and 801 records crammed into 80 minutes skillfully. Other mixes by Metro Area, John Tejada, FreQ Nasty.

+ Deep soulful electronic house music on the Universal Vibes Podcast.

They've hit us first with the Grains inspiration Mix, which features, alongside 4 tracks from the album, various members of the Crosby, Still, Nash & Young gang alongside Jon Lucien and Joni Mitchell star of the time & space which inspired the album, Laurel Canyon.

Next up is a track off the first single "Same Sun" which will soon be out with additional remixes from nu-disco champ Prins Thomas and Quantec. The one we give away today is by the UK cratedigger extraordinaire Andy Votel of Finders Keepers fame.

PT. 1:

1 - Hell Vice (Pilooski Edit)
2 - Prinzhorn Dance School - Yr The space invader (Optimo Mix)
3 - Hypnosis - bormaz (Todd Terje edit)
4 - MGMT (holy ghost mix)
5 - blackjoy "mercurian dub 1)
6 - peech boys (terje edit)
7 - Holger Hiller/Pilooski
8 - august darnell (pilooski edit)
9 - Chaz Jankel - Glad To Know You (Edit??)
10 - David Rubato
11- LCD Soundsystem- 45:33 (PSKI REMIX)??
12 - Mickey Moonlight - Interplanery Music (Riton Mix)
13 - Tim Wright - Thirst (Luciano's Dancehall Remix)
14 - lulu rouge (pilooski mix)
15 - supermayer "hey hotties
16 - Discodeine - Joystick (Tomboy)
17 - SMD Its the Beat /Shit Robot

PT. 2:

1 - SMD Its the Beat /Shit Robot
2 - Kano - Its a war (S. S. edit?)
3 - S. Tellier - housemeister (siriusmo mix)
4 - LOP - Bathroom Gurgle ( Tomski & Fredboy Remix )
5 - Chilly - For Your Love
6 - Mr. Flagio - Take A Chance
7 - Dj Mehdi - Pocket Piano (Joakim Mix)
8 - Smith & Hack - Space Warriors
9 - Mr. Oizo - Positif
10 - discodeine "tom select"
11 - Mujava - Township Funk (Ashley Beedle's Africanz on Marz Re-Edit)
12 - Outlander - Vamp (mix?)
13 - oizo "patrick 1223
14 - LOP - Bears are Coming (Joakim?)
15 - SebastiAn - momy?
16 - LCD/Soulwax

Electronic

Xylos - In the Bedroom
Brooklyn five piece Xylos fuses tropical sounds with happy-go-lucky indie pop songwriting. You can download their debut 5 song EP on their band site. More Xylos on Deli Magazine.

Diego Bernal - Bring it on home
Exponential artist Diego Bernal is a San Antonio, TX based civil rights attorney who happens to be a beat maker on the side.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Old Panda Days
Don't ask me wtf "Old Panda Days" mean. Off Casiotone's upcoming album on Tomlab, this March.

Downbeat, Nujazz

Una Mas Trio - Son Montuno (Smoove Remix)

Una Mas Trio's first 123 on Agogo Records with the single Clear as Water feat. vocals by Bajka and remixes by Mo' Horizons and Hidden Jazz Quartett. 4 quality tracks on this one. Recommended.

The Jazzinvaders - Day by Day

The Socialized Jazz Beats series, compiled by Phil Martin, has number two out. Featuring tracks from The Jazzinvaders, Solo Moderna, Jaffa, Frank Montis, Diesler and The Houdini's, this compilation has a signature sound of nu-jazz, deep house and jazzy house. We've covered the first one here.

Laura Vane & The Vipertones - Steam

Brighton based vocalist Laura Vane and her band The Vipertones are a new breed of funk & soul group that exist on the internet with Phil Martin & Ton Van Der Kolk from Holland playing the instruments on top of beats by Jonathan Radford aka Diesler from Manchester which in turn gets sung over by Laura. Contrary to all the distance it comes together brilliantly, their first debut out soon.

Indie

Mascot Fight - Play the Meathead Anthem
4-piece indie band from the UK, whose debut album got released today.

The Whitest Boy Alive - Island
The Whitest Boy Alive return for 2009 with their follow up album Rules released on their own label, Bubbles, out March 30th.

Future Clouds on Radar - Grass Feet
Austin-based Future Clouds and Radar is an eclectic art-pop ensemble headed by Robert Harrison.

Other

The Bran Flakes - Stumble out of bed
Six years after their last full release, Otis Fodder and Mildred Pitt are returning with another plunderphonics album on Illegal Art (Negativland, Girl Talk, Steinski).

Mamou Sidib]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:05:47 -0800 http://virb.com/undomondo/posts/text/1069011 http://virb.com/undomondo/posts/text/1069010 After going back to this song for three times during the day it became pretty obvious that the elegiac quality of J]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:05:47 -0800 http://virb.com/undomondo/posts/text/1069010 http://virb.com/undomondo/posts/text/1062684 UK's master of jazzy chords and broken beats Kaidi Tatham sees his long awaited sophomore solo album "In search of Hope" released on the Japanese Freedom School label. Kaidi is a prolific producer famed for being a member of the renowned Bugz in the Attic collective, one half of Modaji and 2000 Black among other outfits.

"In search of Hope" seem the West Londoner fill the gap between deep house/beat music with the thriving UK neosoul subgenre. P-funky bass, broken beats, soulful keys, strings and flutes galore, this one takes broken beat out of context and creates a home listening experience out of it while remaining dance oriented. A fresh approach to what we get for dance music these days.

You need time to work on your craft, you know. Lock the door, play some keys, play some bass, play some guitar. I just want to learn as many musical instruments as possible so when I take it live I can show people I'm a proper musician. I don't just want to be labelled "broken beat". I just want to be labelled a musician who can do all styles of music. I love all kinds of music. I'm a very funky person. I can play on house (records) and stuff and that's okay, but that's not me. I like variety in music; music that challenges me. On this album there's so much information crammed into it. Interview with Kaidi Tatham

Another review on Nutriot

+ 2009's All Eyes On by Simon Harrison incl. new acts s.a Landslide, Marc Rapson, RLP, Soundpieces etc.

+ Muxtape is back as a "minimalist platform for bands to promote their music and listeners to create mixes." The first artists invited incl. Of Montreal, Girl Talk, Dan Deacon and Reggie Watts.

+ Top 5 artrock bands in Indonesia, with free download albums.

Stephan Mathieu's Radioland was among the best albums this year according to Wire & Boomkat.

The album takes shortwave radio signals as its starting point, meaning Mathieu instantly invites comparisons with Tod Dockstader and William Basinski, but while there's often a grainy, hazed over murk to those works, Mathieu somehow brings a luminosity and brightness out of his sources. The opening trilogy of pieces (each named after an archangel) makes for an utterly absorbing half-hour sequence, each composition spanning an immersive ten minutes of analogue-mastered, carefully processed signals. Boomkat

Radioland has highly complex compositions, power and attention to detail yet I found the album lacking the qualities that'd keep me listening to it. It's too fuzzy and hard to listen for a long time but it's definitely a subjective quality. If you're into drone/micro music you should at least listen to the first part of this album once for the tracks named after the three archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

One of the most prolific artists, Machinefabriek had one of the better releases in 2008, Dauw. Discogs lists 28 releases in 2008, mostly CDRs and 73s yet his full length on Dekorder was the most talked about. Made using acoustic and electric guitar, turntable, sampler, dictaphone, piano, tone generator and laptop, this is not drone but this particular song has drony qualities.

Toronto based Aidan Baker, another prolific artist, sees out-of-print tracks in his career released on 2008's I wish too, to be absorbed. In some ways I liked this much better than his latest output by himself or as Nadja. 2CDs released on Important Records. Review on Brainwashed.

Taiga Remains is Alex Cobb of Students of Decay label. This particular one sees me going back and whenever I do that, I seem to be teleported to a Taiga forest, talk about how the name suits your music. Review on Raven sings the Blues.

Last but not least is the track that gives it's name to today's compilation. The Evil that never arrived by Stars of the Lid off their 2007 album, And Their Refinement Of The Decline.

image by vixen23