★Astralwerks
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Continuing the twisted pop explorations of Here Come the Warm Jets, Brian Eno's follow up album, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), is more subdued and cerebral, and a bit darker when he does cut loose, but it's no less thrilling once the music reveals itself. It's a loose concept album about espionage, the Chinese Communist revolution, and dream associations, with the more stream-of-consciousness lyrics beginning to resemble the sorts of random connections made in dream states. Eno's richly l…
Before And After Science
Completing the essential quartet of Brian Eno's early vocal albums is 1977's Before and After Science. The first half is vibrant, rhythmically complex songs (No One Receiving, Kings Lead Hat etc) before slipping into gentle relective moods for the second half. Cluster's Moebius and Roedelius, Can's Jaki Liebezeit, Phil Collins, Robert Fripp, Fred Frith, Fairport's Dave Mattacks, Phil Manzanera etc are amongst the players.
Smiling Off
The boundary-shattering new single from sonic adventurers Black Dice features a diverse selection of remixes, plus the explosively rhythmic primitivism of the original version. Luomo (aka Finland's Vladislav Delay)transforms the song into a minimal house masterpiece, while the DFA throw down one of their inimitable dancefloor burners, and ZZ Pot (Matt Brinkman of Providence avant-noise conquistadors Forcefield) cooks up a sound collage at once brutal and beautiful. Something for everyone, and es…