Personal project of Dust Of Basement's Birgitta Behr, Calan.dra released her first album early this year. WHERE DID YOU GO? has been a pleasant surprise because it has got a good blend of upbeat rhythms, dark melodies and introspective moments. Nothing revolutionary but the elements are well balanced and this is an important thing for every good "recipe". The CD contains ten original tracks as well as three covers (Einsturzende Neubauten's "Blume", Depeche Mode's "Photographic" and Sisterhood's "Rain From Heaven"). The music kinda darkwave-oriented with heavenly femal vocals: some moments are gothic oriented (you know, the ones with dreaming vocals, acoustic sounds and sad atmospheres) while others (like "Why" or "Empty Star") are more electro oriented. I think that Birgitta gives her best on the second kind of tracks because her voice is in contrast with the distorted guitars and the synth based sounds and this creates interesting moments. Unfortunately the gothic based songs are the 70% of the CD but the whole album is quite interesting anyway.

"Live at Molde International Jazz Festival" is the recording of the event which took place in Molde, Norway the 19th of July 2001 and the three tracks of the lenght of more of ten minutes each are a massive amalgam of electronica and noise, with some drum inserts on the first track and some guitar excerpt on the third. Merzbow needs no introduction because it's twenty years that Masami Akita attacks audience's ears with different form of noise. Instead Jazzkammer exists since 1998 but it's two members Lasse Marhaug and John Hegre have been active in the Norwegian club / noise scene from different years. The forty minutes of this CD are of no easy listening because massive amount of disturbing noises has been used. I can't tell you if I enjoyed these recordings because usually I use headphones to review CDs. The only thing I can say at the moment is: OUCH!

If you liked the last Autechre's E.P. titled "E.P.7" you'll definitively love this one! This is the first time I listen to Dither even if UREI is its 3rd album. Marc T. aka Dither created a charming CD which merge ambient electronic, ambient dub (a la Scorn) and techno extravaganza a la Autechre. Pratically, he took the best of each genre to make his own...smart, eh? Anyway (sorry for the joke), the ten nameless tracks of this CD create a sound which wraps you and leads you into his personal realm done of micro sounds, electronic rhythmical hiccups and dark tension. Thumb's up!

This is the second release in Sub Rosa’s Invisible Architecture series and it sees two masters of the "digital bleeps" manipulation cooperate. Christian Fennesz and Mika Vanio (one half of Pansonic) worked together in this new release recorded live in Brussels at the Kaaitheaterstudio the 29th of November 1999. The slowly evolving drones of ‘34 minutes 20 seconds’ are kinda chatartic and the duo build a deconstructed suite which has got two kind of treated noises: one part digital bleeps and contorted tiny instant metallic noises and the other one is made of kinda ambient sounds ... Here and there they also used buried melodies which make the suite a little more interesting. Mika Vainio’s solo piece ‘32 minutes 19 seconds’ is more subtle and fades in slowly with little volcanic like explosions along with hypnotic frequencies. The piece has got less sound interruptions (while the other one was a continuous stop and go of changing noises) and it grows slowly until it explodes into chaotic pads which suddenly dive into monotonous frequencies. An interesting work which request a certain concentration into the listening: you are warned!

Interlace was conceived almost ten years ago and has gradually developed. Other artistical engagements delayed the realization of the project until the fall of 2001. Subsequently the debut album Innuendo was written and produced during an intense three-month period. I don't know into what projects were involved Interlace's members but for sure they aren't newcomers of the electronic scene. Even if INNUENDO is their first release it's a mature one and contains ten intense tracks filled with tension and pain. Some symbols used on their graphics recalled to my memory the latest Fear Factory (also because the second track is titled "Soul Of A New Machine", just like F.F.'s first album) but this one hasn't nothing to do with distorted guitars and stuff... Interlace's music, to tell the truth, isn't striclty e.b.m. either: each track is a mid tempo one and has got a rhythmical linear structure. The thing that interested the band most seems to be the melody (the voice isn't treated that much and is well used) and the atmosphere they were able to create, betting, in this way, on their composition skills mainly. Did they succeed? Well, yes, even if in my opinion they used a similar structure to compose the songs: just a little bit of rhythmic variations and we would have the best electro release of the month.