After the critically acclaimed "Wild Dub (Dread meets Punk Rocker)", Select Cuts is back with a new proposal for what obviously was conceived as or later became, a series. The follow up "Modern Wild Dub (Dread meets disco punkrocker downtown)" collects a bunch of underground avantgarde-disco-dubbers from fine outlets such as Warp, On-U Sound, DFA, !K7 including Colder, Playgroup, Big Two Hundred, !!!, Chicks on Speed, LCD Soundsystem, Twitch, Radio 4, Outhud, The Ruts, Chicken Lips, G.Rizo, whose styles range from funky disco to dub and trip hop... Altough it is a decent record and a valuable collection that takes a snapshot of a specific music scene often overlooked, I am afraid I must admit that I don't think this is up for the challenge when compared to its predecessor and perhaps has a lesser historical value, and I don't really see anything punk or punkrock in this... Linernotes by Mark Stewart of Popgroup.

Chicago-based female-fronted trio Flutter is riding the wave of popularity after the discreet success (both in their homeland and abroad) of their "Toys in Coin Machines". They cleverly call it «subversive candy-coated political electropop», which is pretty much as close as you can get to describe their sound. I can't get over how west-coasty it sounds, hype and hyper-active synthetic clash-pop with ethereal and naughty vocals, socio-political lyrics, queer/goth aesthetics and nightclub-friendly attitude.The tracks sport really well-produced synth-pop with hints of drum'n'bass breakbeats and a very admirable drive for sonic experimentation. Of course the key selling point here is the very sexy vocals (somewhere along the lines of Veronica Ciccone with a more ethereal approach, falsettos etc). You'll be instantly sold to her charm. The Chicago/Nebraska-run indie-label Alphabasic has made it their quest to introduce this trio to the world. The CD also contains a multimedia track with video clip and the user name and password that you will need to access the secret room of their website (which contains unreleased photos, lyrics and b-sides in mp3 format). Smart, sexy, happy, beautiful.

Synth-pop at its best is what Null Device offer us! As some of you might now I am not a great lover of synth-pop (Maurizio is really the man on the team that handles the genre), but Null Device have a really original way to portray their style and port their message. The key of their sound is integration. Their synthetic music for synthetic people intertwines with influences of middle eastern music, electronica, rock and breakbeats. Their instrumentation includes a healthy dose of electronic devices coupled with percussions and traditional instruments such as classical strings, rai instruments, flutes etc. Hence, this will be the cup of tea of all those people who are entertained by a nice blend of Depoche Mode, New Order, Delirium, Taha, Khaled, Faudel, Peter Gabriel, Mesh, Ganymede, Brave New World, Gary Flanagan, Muslimgauze, Gary Numan etc... After their remix for Distorted Realty's record on Nilaihah and their spot on the famous Cohaagen "Living On Video" synth-pop-only DVD, this was the natural progression for Null Device. Welcome to the world of multi-cultural cross-boundry multi-temporal moments!

Refined sounds and electro experimentalism with quiet female vocals are waiting for us from this pre-release of the first Neulander album. Formed in 2002, one half of the Neulander duo isn't new to musical experiences. In fact, Adam Peters has got a long career as producer. He also did the orchestral arrangements for Echo & The Bunnymen and produced Siouxsie & The Banshees, Triffids and Lloyd Cole to name few. Korinna Knoll is originally from Austria and she met Adam in New York in a salsa bar on the lower east side of Manhattan. SMOKE + FIRE is their first full lenght release as previously they released only a 10" "Sex, God + Money" which was a sort of anticipation of the album as it was containing four out of ten songs of this CD. Musically they remember me a sort of clash between My Bloody Valentine (because of their mid tempo songs, tense but never fast), Lush and Human League. With this reference points, because of my my tastes, I'd give them five stars but I feel something is missing. Korinna's voice sometimes lacks of pathos and Adam's mimal arrangements aren't enough to keep up my enthusiasm. For example the ballads "Just There", "Sometimes" and "People's Love" have got the same atmosphere and to be honest are a little tedious. Tension is missing and I definitively prefer tracks like the opening "Sex, God + Money", "Girl Out Walking" (which is also also a kind of ballad but with a certain tension which intrigue me), "Flying", "Blue Party" or the "Schauspieler"'s experimentalism. I can say that I'm saving half of the album and is my humble opinion that with a little more power this would be a good one...

Dutch project I-F (the Parallax Corporation, Cocadisco) presents an original new face of the electro-clash movement. Teletransporting the sounds of the eighties, bypassing the ninetees and joining the new millennium's sinister new found joy for abstraction and sharp edges. Dazzling minimal electronic patterns with gentle injections of noise, leisure retro computer music and vocoders that remind of the Kraftwerk, beats that remind of Afx, technopop acidity that reminds of every single trip you've ever taken when listening to funky electro (without or without the use of pills). "Fucking Consumer" came out on their own label ViewLexx but is brought to the wide public by the attentive german label Disko B. The last track even gives you some vocals with G.D. from LA's Christian Death. So next time you want something oldie and yet fresh check out what's pumping in Den Haag, and you'll find that space invaders are among us and they're all smoking grass!