This is one of those cats always on the periphery of the cool stuff in broken beat for my money. Great production, cool collaborations, but just a little close to the wallpaper. Still, it depends when I’m listening - sometimes I think it’s hot. Anyway, go to Thermostat for my review of Mark de Clive-Lowe’s Tide’s Arising.

On other news, it’s been a while since I posted - almost two weeks! - I’ve been up in Queensland for work and generally having far too little time to be able to post on this thing. I didn’t even do my radio show last week, I hope it went well, but I’ll be back this week. More details soon.

These records won’t necessarily reward hours walking around head in your headphones listening, but that’s not to say they aren’t cool.

Wodonga via Melbourne lo-fi tape looper and gay pride chanter Alex Vivian (Always) has a seven inch ‘album’ out, produced by Sean Bailey (Lakes), on the marvellous Chapter Music (review here).

Rather than Jamie Lee Curtis’s character in Halloween, Jamie Lloyd is a Sydney househead with a couple of 12 inch singles in general circulation through Future Classic (review here).

LISTEN:
Jamie Lloyd - Movin’ In (Brennan Green mix)
Jamie Lloyd - Night Panda

Oh yeah, and this week’s Join The Dots (on FBI 94.5 tonight from 9 ’til 11) is all about dubstep, deep house and Oz Rock.

Georgia Anne Muldrow’s debut EP on Stones Throw is one of the more interesting/fascinating things I’ve listened to in ages. Difficult to pin down, musically challenging and deliciously soulful, it’s a record that shouldn’t just slip past.

Read my review at the Cyclic Defrost blog and listen to her song Larva (click the record sleeve).

Two albums I’ve been digging lately, though it took me a while to get my thoughts down. Yoko Solo’s thing is soundtracky breakbeat with a Chemical Brothers/Com.A kinda vibe.

Yoko Solo - Infinite collapse pt. one: I blew it (infinite undo)

Macromantics - Conspiracy (Yoko Solo remix)

Kero’s fat new package of crunchy electro came out on the newly defunct Neo Ouija, and Kero’s own website really sucks, especially for a producer who doubles as a designer, so it’s not clear whether the record’s still available. Actually, the best place is Kero’s myspace page. Read about both at Stylusmagazine.com.

This week, on my radio show JOIN THE DOTS I’ll be playing new records from Mapstation, Loose Fur, Sonic Youth and Barbara Morgenstern, as well as tracing a line from Tarwater to Saddleback through to Pole and Blastcorp. From 9 ’til 11pm Tuesday night on FBI 94.5 in Sydney.

If you’re into ‘new wave of new wave‘ bands like These Animal Men, S*M*A*S*H and Elastica, then you really ought to check out a band with the very unlikely name of Santa Dog. They are totally inspired by one of my favourite bands from that mid-90s scene, Echobelly (who’ve actually just reappeared with a brand new myspace page, which one’s the real one? ).

Anyway Santa Dog have released three EPs in just over a year and my review of the latest one - Belle De Jour - is up at Stylus. They’ve been pretty busy sending out their CDs to bloggers and it’s paid off with, if not quite a landslide, then at least quite a buzz of reviews and posts.

Santa Dog - Rosa (taken from the Belle De Jour EP)
Santa Dog - Chemical (new re-recorded version, originally on the Chemical EP)
Santa Dog - Delicate (new re-recorded version, originally on the Delicate EP)

I’m not usually one for multiple reviews, but I’d written one and then got asked to do another one, so there it is.

One of my favourites from last year, and lots of other people’s too, now-18-year-old Plagne’s debut album Idle Bones is a whimsical bit of post-musique concrete ’60s pop. In a good way. Concise review at Cyclic Defrost, longer one at Stylus.

Listen up!
Francis Plagne - Clouds Collect
Francis Plagne - The Subsequent Fire
Francis Plagne - One Day I Woke Up Quay

The new Koolism album is out, well not exactly, but review copies are out and about. At 15 tracks, it could have done with about a two-thirds chop, but the rest is typically hot. Check my review at Cyclic Defrost.

Nothing compares with the intoxicating sound of great musicians. The seventh album from Melbourne instrumentalists, the Dirty Three, distils the emotional range of their tempestuous early work into 19 short tracks. Although individual members have worked with singers (Nick Cave, Will Oldham) in the past, this is the first time for the band, and Cat Power singer Chan Marshall’s soft, but steely voice appears like a slap in the face.

After 13 years, this isn’t the angry old trio with the raw distorted violins and swelling explosive finishes. Warren Ellis’s violin tone is still effortlessly riveting, but like Jim White’s newly relaxed drumming and Mick Turner’s shimmering guitar, it sounds contented.

My review of Dirty Three’s seventh album Cinder at stylusmagazine.com.

Several new reviews for the next issue of Cyclic Defrost. A mixed bag to say the least. Thumbs up to ex-Londoner now splitting his time between LA and Sydney Steve Spacek and New York DJ Daniel Wang, down to Brisbane duo Statler & Waldorf.