Bill Morrison
Decasia: The State of Decay (Plexifilm DVD release from 2004)
Decasia was created by Bill Morrison as part of a large scale symphony with projections commissioned by the Europaischer Musikmonat for the Basel Sinfonietta in 2001. Composer, Michael Gordon, created a decaying symphony and Bill Morrison edited old decaying celluloid film to the resulting work. Gordon's symphony is decaying by detuning instruments and bending notes, giving the music cacophonous and discordant feeling. The film work is processed only by time and manipulated only by slowing down the frame rate, however, the otherwise untreated source material, mostly taken from black and white news reels found archived at universities. The work is simultaneously haunting and glitchy the ghost of the past cling with all their might to the unstable celluloid while time slowly and steadily works to erase any trace of their existence. The result is very hallucinatory, abstract and totally gripping. Interestingly, after seeing this film, I better understand what L.I.F.T. is saying with their new project "Film is Dead, Long Live Film". - Marinko Jareb
File Next To: Rentals from Suspect

Cities In Dust
Night Creatures (Paper Bag, www.paperbagrecords.com)
The cover of Cities in Dust's debut album "Night Creatures" is adorned with images of beautiful naked women: chalk white in complexion with all imperfections and wrinkles carefully airbrushed away. There's gotta be a metaphor in there somewhere... somewhere. Clearly cut from the post-punk mold, Night Creatures is absolutely relentless and completely capable of giving listeners a swift kick in the ass. Whether it's the galloping beat on "My Secret" or the violent guitar riffage in opening track "TV." The only downside to having everything cranked all the time (and the album is mixed LOUD) is that by the end of the 11 tracks, the overall effect is a bit dulled. Also, a lot of the tracks tend to blend into one and it is only after about a half-dozen listens that one is able to easily distinguish the songs from each other. If Cities in Dust can build on their existing sound and diversify, they can further elevate what seems to be an already blossoming career. - Jon Sohn
File Next To: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

The Classic Brown
Down With Fun (Independent, www.theclassicbrown.com)
The Classic Brown comes from a long line of artists claiming to be from "Torontopia", and compare themselves to Metric, Stars and Feist etc. (ed note: somewhere, Steve Kado weeps.) I will try not to fall into that trap. Songwriter/vocalist Stacey Brown is blessed with a voice that sounds almost adolescent at times and is filled with a strange spark of innocence. The songs behind her range from minimalist girl-with-guitar/girl-with-piano tunes to full-band-rocking-with-drums-and-fuzz-guitar. The melodies are catchy as hell (please refer to "Rally Song and Hit Parade") and when the drama is turned on (the moody "Proud Private, Give Leave"), it's powerful without being overblown. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, Down With Fun is a quick listen with a special kind of charm that lures you in and squeezes you tight. - Jon Sohn
File Next To: Stars, Feist

The Darns
What It All Turns Into (Independent, www.thedarns.com)
Life is not easy when you're constantly downsizing. The Darns, however, manage to make the most of it. What started as a sprawling 8-piece family affair (2 brothers, 3 cousins and more!) evenutally squeezed down to a (relatively) more compact quintet. Taking the mixed bag approach, The Darns approach the pop-rock format from all angles. Album opener "Bright Black Daisy" and bright spot "Happy People Die" have a bit of funk inflected on them. "Inside My Lungs" does the post-grunge thing with the wall of roaring guitars and "Move to the Moon" is the slow-building epic. Meanwhile, hyper-active (and slightly bent) track "Chance Encounter," featuring lyrics: "You bit me on the neck... I felt the blood trickle down my chest, and then I had to kill you," conjures up images of vampires in tight jeans. However some songs, like the crawling "Waking Up" (which by the way drops the least convincing f-bombs ever) don't seem to go anywhere. What It All Turns Into is a decent enough debut but it is marred severely by its tracklisting. The album's two weakest tracks are 2nd and 3rd on the disc and the best tracks are at the very end. With some re-ordering, this could've been a very good album. - Jon Sohn
File Next To: Meriwether, Better Than Ezra

Dday One
Loop Extensions (Needlework, www.needle-work.net, distro by Statik)
At a time in music history when everyone is going deeper and deeper into the digital domain, Los Angeles native, Dday One has managed to keep his production techniques simple. Sticking with turntables, a sampler and a stack of vinyl collected over 15 years of digging through dusty stacks, Loop Extensions is an album reminiscent of some of the best from the Ninja Tune and Mo' Wax catalogues. Unstable Material pt.2 features vocals from Subtitle, Awol One, Existereo and Metfly, but the otherwise instrumental affair reaches its heights in the headnod effect, designed deep inside these forward thinking hip hop grooves. - Marinko Jareb
File Next To: ill beats

North Of Summer
Broken Telephone (Independent, www.northofsummer.org)
You can tell from the beginning of Broken Telephone's opener "Lost Track" that they like to operate on a grand scale. They make use of a big spacey sound and successfully juxtapose it onto a steady diet of folk and blues flavoured rock. Vocalist Timothy Kingston somehow manages to channel Bono, Thom Yorke and Axl Rose all at once -- which is a big part of North of Summer's larger-than-life sound. Fortunately they manage to avoid the typical pifalls of having such lofty ambitions and don't get too bogged down. "Big Ol' Rock" cuts loose with a great piano riff and surf guitar while "Hey, Moses" skips merrily through puddles of big-band blues, beatnik poetry and punk rock. The greatest strength of Broken Telephone is its ability to shift gears seamlessly and without warning, making it very difficult music to pigeonhole, but lots of fun to listen to. - Jon Sohn
File Next To: Spacehog, The White Stripes

Various Artists
Hail The DJ (Inhumanz Recordings)
Hail The DJ, according to the liner notes, is a collection of mash-ups, mixes and blends from the hottest "talent" working in the clubs today. Despite the names associated with this record, the tracks on this album are some of the weakest examples of DJ work one can imagine. There are thirteen uninspired mixes of loops from top 40 rock tracks with average breaks and rap a cappella's laid down on top. While some may speak of the "creative genius" of the DJs who created these new mixes of classic tracks, the music here is highly predictable and boring. I'm sure that in the right environment these songs would tear da roof off da club but otherwise, it's just an example how easy it is to re-edit classic club hits to make a newer, lamer version of the same song, but with the riff from Smells Like Teen Spirit thrown on top. The most interesting thing about his CD is that BPM-ed MP3s are included with the audio, making this album Serato, Final Scratch and I-Pod ready. Despite the music, at least the producers of this album are conscious about how DJs and music fans are using and listening to their tunes. -Marinko Jareb
File Next To: the garbage bin