K.K.NULL: ABSOLUTE HEAVEN CD  EUR 15
Anthony Burnham, Metamorphic Journeyman: What have we come to expect from Mr. NULL these days? Gone is the overall harshness of the music, replaced instead by a amalgam of the extreme and the subtle. But always there's tension - never get too complacent when listening to his music - the lulling ambience can at any minute rip into discord, where high, grating pitches slash and tear at the very air. In a way, the long breaks from extreme noise are more alarming than an album-length full throttle attack - it's like having an enemy you can see, rather than one you can't. The noise is, as you probably expect from this guy, harsh and nerve-jarring, ripping the very fabric of consciousness apart with evil rapier-sharp talons of shining steel. And the ambience? Deep, dark, Isolationist passages with enough edge to give you no illusions as to who or what you're listening to. It's the hum of a great malengine, a factory machine built only for evil purposes, which gradually, insidiously, shows itself for what it truly is - a hissing, squealing, twisted and corrupted mass of cacophonous noise. And somehow, in a Sci-Fi, end - of - the - world kinda way, these lethal, out of control machines revolting against their original purpose, have a malign beauty to them.
Okay, so this is not what I'd call absolute heaven - after a hard, busy life, you might prefer somewhere a little more restful, less edgy and dangerous. The second, main track on this album is an interesting journey from harshness to passivity and back - and despite the coarseness of the sound, has hardly any edge. A good release spanning two totally different mood genres, and suggesting the divide isn't that wide!

SUSUMU YOKOTA: IMAGE 1983-1998 CD  EUR 10
Ian Penman, The Wire:"Previously known for his Techno forays, Yokota is revealed here as a studio alchemist of a very different stripe. If there´s a comparison it´s inevitably shortform Eno - when his music still had a sense of humour and absurdity. Maybe in Techno/Ambient land he´s seen things tipping over into Concept/overdub madness, and this is his reaction. Whatever. Image´s micro mood engineering is pure phantasmal pop, a compelling tour of musical dustworlds. It makes you itch to hear whatever ivory dice Yokota rolls our next."

SUSUMU YOKOTA: MAGIC THREAD CD 

"Though probably better known for his funked-up techno and house (and jazz, disco, drum & bass, etc), Susumu Yokota received fulsome praise for the Image 1983-1998 album released by The Leaf Label in1999. Magic Thread was actually released in Japan before Image, in a limited edition of just 500 copies on CD -- the very first release on Yokota's own Skintone label. Magic Thread has a more electronic feel to it than Image, but is still possessed of the plaintive melodies and haunting minimalist dynamics that made Image such an unexpected treat. After Ken Ishii, Yokota was the first Japanese techno artist to release music in Europe. Since then he has enjoyed a prolific career as both a DJ and recording artist, working under a host of pseudonyms, including 246, Ringo, Prism and Stevia. With his star currently very much in the ascendant in his native Japan and continental Europe, Yokota has begun to make an impression in the UK with his two most recent albums on Sublime, 1998 and 1999."

 

VARIOUS: SUBLIME (The Adolescence Compilation Pack) CD + CD-ROM  EUR 15
Forced Exposure: "Fantastic 3rd anniversary compilation of Sublime-associated artists. Packed in an oversize box with a large piece of foam keeping the 2 discs apart. The 2nd CD is a 3" CD-ROM which includes a live Flare/Dr. Y.S. video clip and interactive Sublime catalog. Features all new & exclusive tracks by Co-Fusion ("complex drum and bass, hinting at a jazz-trance fusion at times"), Dan Curtin, Max Brennan  (aka Fretless AZM), Da True B-Boy Descendant (new unit from 4-Hero's Dego), Rei Harakami (lush & elegant atmospherics), Prism, Why Sheep? (bizarre & out programming), Okihide , SK8, Dr. Y.S. and the Cosmic Drunkards (cyber-fringe drum 'n' bass from Yoshiro Sawasaki) & Flare (stunning new Ishii track)."

© Biophon Records 2006