It's some time that I was waiting for a new Punx Soundcheck release. Their double album released a couple of years ago amazed me (see my review and my interview with them), so I was willing for more. This new E.P. contains two reworked tracks coming from their debut album (the night versions of "Idiot crowd" feat. Boy George and "In the dark" feat. Steve Strange) plus two new ones featuring Marc Almond (now is explained at full the reason of calling this E.P. THE LEGENDS), with one of his passionate performances on "Saint now" (a 4/4 sensual dance mid tempo) and Linda Lamb (she's active as a solo performer and did also a 12" on Gigolo Records as well as being active with the Silures) on "Flowerpower" (an electro mid tempo that sounds like an electronic march with the sexy vocal performance of Linda, aided by Marc Almond on some duets). As usual Punx Soundcheck did a good work and if you loved their previous release for sure you'll dig this one also.

Jazz has gone through many changes in these many years, from Dixieland, the Big band, to Bebop, to Fusion, to Hard Bop to Free Jazz and everything in between and everyone has their favorite in this most malleable of forms. What makes it jazz? The instrumentation? The beat? Does it really matter? To purists it certainly does, the conservation of traditions and forms are set in history and easily demonstrable. But musical forms never stand still in my experience and definitions thus must change as well. With all that said the producers of this eleventh compilation from Germany find themselves unapologetic in their use of the word jazz to describe what they are about. They do take it upon themselves to precise the definition with a category called "advanced dance music" thereby I believe expressing the central theme of the importance of the beat. In these tracks we find all manner of musical expression building on a "jazzy" beat loop. So if the music is built on jazz rhythms is it still jazz, no matter what else is layered on top? After all, Jazz is no stranger to mixtures of beat and non-Western culture. As with all compilations there will be tracks you like and those you don’t, but that’s the fun of compilations. There’s a chance you might discover something that opens up the chakras.

There’s a time for in-your-face and a time for subtle and Gregor Trescher knows how to use both. Ostensibly meant for the dance floor there’s more going on here than meets the ear and headphones are a definite advantage. Good variation on the beat, little details that put twitching tails on the pulse certain to throw your neurons into firing position. Don’t get me wrong, there’s everything you expect from dance music here, the obligatory deep bass to vibrate the body into ecstatic trembling, the short melody lines, the bubbly synth sequences. But I get impression that something more is aimed at than simply making music to wiggle your butt.

George Pappas is the keyboard player or the renewed Real Life incarnation. The Australian band had a huge success in the 80's with "Send me an angel". Alien Skin born in 2004 when George felt the urge to free his personal musical vision that couldn't be fulfilled with Real Life. Lover of the 80's electronic wave genre George made a beautiful album. A CD that the first time I listened to it made me file these ten songs under "night music". As admitted by George himself Martin Gore's songwriting affected really much his musical taste and songs like "It doesn't matter (I want you)" or the following "Gloomy Sunday" are proving this influence. Even if a certain influence is evident I'd like to say that this doesn't affect the value of Alien Skin's songwriting or his way of choosing sounds and arrangements. It's more like George is sharing with Martin the same music path. Let's go back to DON'T OPEN TILL DOOMSDAY songs then... Night music. What do I mean whit this term? Well, you know, listening to these tracks you have the sensation of being surrounded and culled by sounds but at the same time there's a certain dark mood that permeate the whole atmosphere. Melancholy isn't the only main thing on this album as on tracks like "Dust to ashes 1945" or "The spirit is willing" there's a driving upbeat rhythm that make them ready to be remixed and used on dance clubs. I'm glad that George sent me his album because I found it melodically catchy and musically reach. We'll discover something more about it into the upcoming interview with Alien Skin. Always here at CHAIN D.L.K.

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Second release I review from Sweden on the same label of Audrey and let's say the target is similar too, infact this again soft indie melodic music with a strong pop cut. If compared to Audrey it's quite evident September Malevolence have a stronger rock accent from the drumming to the "post-emo" guitars driven tracks, yes, "emo" is the keyword in someway infact they have reminiscences of what happened when bands like Jejune, Braid, Tristeza, Sharks Keep Moving went straight for the indie rock route and I'd say they did it giftedly back then, but September Malevolence follows more then decently. They have the infamous explosion here and there but everything is way softer and more poppy, consider they could be appealing for a listener both listening to Elliott Smith and Mogway and sure Appleseed Cast, since as I've said they're quite dynamic but at the same time even when exploding they're still really soft. Some melodies are really catchy and differently from many bands playing this style they don't get boring after the fourth or fifth listening (I write that to show you what a good reviewer I'm!) and above all they can sing damn well and they don't have that cheesy "I'm gonna break out and cry" way of singing a la Bright Eyes that makes you wish the singer deserves to get kicked in the ass by a bunch of skin heads morons. Physical indie rock well played and again perfectly produced if you're an indie popster the label is having its say.