Playgroup - Playgroup (2001)

Playgroup es ,realmente, Trevor Jackson,activo miembro de la escena hip-hop británica,conocido bajo el nombre de Underdog.

A principos de la década de los 2000 funda su propio sello discográfico,Output Records, en el que grabaría gente como Colder,Dead Combo y otros artistas ,además de licenciar las referencias de DFA para Europa.

Aparte de su faceta de remezclador inició su propio proyecto,Playgroup ,recogiendo sus influencias de Mutant-Disco,Post-Punk,Hip-Hop,etc,en lo que se podría considerar un repaso general de la música de baile de los últimos 30 años.

Desgraciadamente,tanto su sello como su proyecto musical no han tenido continuidad ,a pesar de lo interesante de su propuesta.

Este disco se puede considerar un poco como avanzadilla de lo que dos años después sería el debut de Lcd Soundsytem, en este caso corregido y aumentado.

Destacan aquí las colaboraciones de Edwyn Collins,Katheleen Hanna (Le Tigre) o Gonzales.

En definitiva, un disco que merecía haber tenido más repercusión.
Quizá se adelantó demasiado a la moda Post-punk que desarrollarían con mejor suerte y resultados Lcd Soundsystem o The Rapture.

Disco 1:

1 Number One (feat. Luca Santucci)
2 Pressure (feat. Joi)
3 Front 2 Back (feat. KC Flightt)
4 Bring It On (feat. Kathleen Hanna)
5 Medicine Man (feat. Edwyn Collins)
6 Too Much
7 Make It Happen (feat. Kyra)
8 Surface To Air
9 Overflow
10 Fatal (feat. Sola)
11 Hideaway
12 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (feat. Shinehead)
13 Fourth Sex Baby (feat. Peaches & Gonzales)

Disco 2:Remix Disc

1 Number One (Black Strobe Remix) (feat. Luca Santucci)
2 Number One (Felix Da Housecatt Remix) (feat. Luca Santucci)
3 Number One (Chicken Lips Remix) (feat. Luca Santucci)
4 Number One (So Solid Crew Remix) (feat. Luca Santucci)
5 Front 2 Back (Todd Terry Remix) (feat. KC Flightt)
6 Front 2 Back (Fatboy Slim Remix) (feat. KC Flightt)
7 Bring It On (Par-T-One Remix) (feat. Kathleen Hanna)
8 Make It Happen (Soulwax Remix)
9 Make It Happen (Zongamin Remix)
10Make It Happen (Ewan Pearson Remix)
11Make It Happen (Midnight Mike Remix)
12 Overflow (Optimo Remix)

Allmusic,dice:"Most of the criticisms leveled at Trevor Jackson's rumpus-room collaborative unit called Playgroup have little to do with whether or not the record's achievement matches its intention. The gripes tend to direct rolling eyes and yawns at Jackson's well-documented connections and his "been there, read about that" cred sculpting, and they also take Jackson's misty-eyed view of a particular period in music -- one that just happened to be back in vogue around the time of their self-titled album -- to task for being dunked too deep in the River Nostalgia. Admittedly, Jackson's references and the imagery with which he dresses them can be a bit stifling. Without hearing note one of the album, the prime directive becomes obvious to those who know their history half as well as the man behind it. Just through scanning the credits and the artwork, it becomes abundantly clear that Jackson and his post-post-punk jackals are feasting upon the early '80s, a period when all sorts of crossbreeding was taking place between pop, disco, rap, reggae, R&B, and post-punk. A casting call of luminaries from this period contribute to the album (reggae producer Dennis Bovell, Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame, Orange Juice's Edwyn Collins), as well as a handful of likeminded artists whose careers started a little or a lot later (Le Tigre's Kathleen Hanna, the Happy Mondays' Rowetta, Luca Santucci). Playgroup's heart is in the post-disco clubs of New York City with the occasional trip to Jamaica -- or London's view of Jamaica, as the record's dub reggae dabblings recall similarly styled post-punks like the New Age Steppers. Most importantly, the teeming exuberance and freshness of most of these predominantly verse-chorus-verse pop songs means that -- without the albatross of the "what came first" mentality -- just about anyone who places a premium on rhythm and melody can enjoy the record for what it is. Did the artists and producers that inspired Playgroup do it better? Of course they did. Jackson would probably tell you the same thing. But despite its entrenchments in the past (and a couple bum moments), Playgroup is a fanciful, diverse, reverential, and well-executed romp. Don't fight it. Feel it. [Playgroup was originally issued in the U.K. in 2001." by Andy Kellman

Campag Velocet - Bon Chic Bon Genre (1999)

Campag Velocet es uno de esos grupos que fueron portada del NME, single de la semana y demás parafernalia y que quedaron en el más absoluto de los olvidos.

Incluso se habló de una "escena" de nueva psicodelia ,junto con Death in Vegas,Regular Fries y otros grupillos que no recuerdo.
Luego aparecerían Kasabian,una de las bandas más insulsas de los últimos años,saqueando todos los logros de este album y se harían de oro.

Es la historia que se repite.Existen casos a patadas ,unos más o menos sangrantes: Nirvana-Pixies (Aunque para mí Nirvana,no descubro nada, es uno de los grandes grupos de la Historia),Curve-Garbage,Joy Division-Interpol-Editors-etc,etc.

Puede que a Campag Velocet la imagen no les ayudase.Tampoco les hacía mucho bien esa tontería de escribir letras en "Nadsat" (especialmente en"Drencrom Velocet Synthemesc"),el idioma inventado por Anthony Burgess para "La Naranja Mecánica".Incluso la variedad de palos que tocaban podía desconcertar a más de uno ,aunque para mí fue su gran baza: Hip-Hop dislocado ("Bon Chic Bon Genre","To Lose La Trek"),psicodelia mancuniana ("Vito Satan"),ortodoxia shoegazer ("Skin so Soft") o Krautrock macarra ("Pike in My Life").

Después de cinco años de silencio,editarían un segundo disco "It´s Beyond Our Control",excelente también, pero sin el impacto del primero.Luego,separación y olvido.
Otra banda con muy mala suerte.

En resumen, es el típico "clásico oculto" que merece la pena redescubrir.

Allmusic,dice: "Equally admired and despised, Campag Velocet's debut is a mess. It's not easy trying to recapture that loose fit of Madhester with the sonic grain of a band grinding glass with busted molars, but Campag succeed just as much as they disappoint. More often than not, the arrangements regularly sound like they are eviscerating the very music scenes they're celebrating: Pete Voss ignites like an off-key Ian Brown getting beaten with Johnny Rotten's stick and there's a ping of rage waiting behind every twisted, preposterous verse ("Spin the bottle play sardines"). Just wait, though. "Skin So Soft" is "Gravity Grave"-era Verve coming home after a heady night of serial killing; "Vito Satan" rumbles along with -- face it -- one of the most understated hooks of 1999, but points eliminated for a sound bordering on Space Monkeys demos and titling songs with Oxford-educated porn star aliases like "Cacophonous Bubblegum."
by Dean Carlson

Biff Bang Pow! - The Acid House Album (1989)

Hay títulos engañosos.Aquí no vas a encontrar música electrónica y mucho menos "Acid".Lo que te vas a encontrar son melodías casi perfectas que destilan lo mejor de la música de los 60.

Pero es que el nombre del grupo no engaña: se trata de uno de los mejores temas de The Creation, grupo que da nombre al sello donde se editó este recopilatorio de singles y rarezas.

Se trata de la banda que formó su fundador, Alan MacGee.Precisamente por esto fue ninguneado por la crítica ,a pesar de que casi todas las referencias que editó su sello,Creation,tuvieron su reconocimiento y el del público,también.

Es hora de que se haga justicia a uno de las bandas más desconocidos de los 80 y que ,sin duda, alguna merecieron mejor suerte.

En The Acid House Album, aparecen los que son ,en mi opinión dos de los mejores singles de los 80:"There Must Be A Better Life y Love´s Going Out of Fashion" y otros a recuperar como "Fifty Years of Fun" y "Someone Stole my Wheels".

¡A disfrutarlo!

Almusic,dice: "Formed in 1981 by the leaders of the incredibly influential British pop label Creation, Alan McGee and Dick Green, Biff Bang Pow! crafted emotionally powerful songs and delivered them wrapped in a jangly, guitar-driven style that touched on folk-rock, British Invasion, and psychedelic pop sounds. Waterbomb is the definitive collection of highlights from their decade-long existence.

Produced and selected by the redoubtable Joe Foster, this disc illustrates just how wonderful the band was. There are at least three songs on here that should be considered classics of the era: "There Must Be a Better Life," which has one of the group's most dissatisfied and angry lyrics over a jangling, searching melody topped by one of McGee's finest vocals (which despite what many cloth-eared critics claimed are never anything less than good and are often quite moving), "Love's Going Out of Fashion," which rides ramshackle acoustic guitars and harmonica and careens like the Cure at their most pop (with McGee's vocals eerily similar to Robert Smith's), and the marvelous "She's Got Diamonds in Her Hair," a beautiful aching ballad that shifts from a low-key jazz-ish verse to a chorus that shines like, well, a diamond.

Biff Bang Pow! always created a very adult brand of teen pop and always did it very well, as this collection shows. So if you were a fan of the band back in the day or are just finding out about the group from one of the bands like Comet Gain, the Tyde, or Lovejoy, who can be found trumpeting the virtues of Biff Bang Pow! to all who will listen, this is an essential collection that will knock you out."by Tim Sendra

Disco Inferno - In Debt (1995)

Un tema te puede arruinar tu percepción de un grupo.Puede hacer que lo rechaces y no lo disfrutes hasta años después.A mí me sucedió con Disco Inferno.

Con el número 2 de la revista Factory, "regalaban" un recopilatorio en el que venía el tema "Starbound" de Disco Inferno.Ese tema ,sacado de su contexto (su obra maestra,"D.I. Go Pop"), puede parecer un horror,así que era el típico que pasabas en el Cd y ,con el tiempo, lo cogí mucha manía.Hasta tal punto llegó la cosa, que me negaba a escuchar nada de esta banda.Y creo que no fui el único.

Gracias a los muchachos de Rock de Lux me perdí a uno de los grupos imprescindibles de los noventa y el que mejor ha sabido recoger el legado de Joy Division.

Pero,también, gracias a un amigo que me pasó este disco pude recuperarlos.

Nunca os fiéis de un sólo tema,( ni de Rock de Lux,of course) y ,sobre todo,cuando todo el mundo se pone de acuerdo en poner bien a un grupo, es que algo debe tener.

Como el título de este pedazo de disco,estoy en deuda con ese amigo.

Allmusic, dice:"In debt" is right -- as bandleader Crause freely admitted in interviews in later years, Disco Inferno's beginnings were so clearly inspired by such post-punk luminaries as the Durutti Column, early Wire and above all else Joy Division, that on first blush it seemed unlikely the band would go further than fine nostalgia. 

The surprising touch on this compilation of the trio's first single, album and EP turns out to be how quickly the band started to evolve its own distinct identity. 

The first two tracks, "Entertainment" and "Arc in Round," made up the debut single; from the crisp slam of the drums to the intricate, delicate guitar work and non-melodic singing, Disco Inferno's Joy Division fascination hangs so heavy it's almost the work of a tribute band. "Emigre," the original opening track for the first album, is buoyed by a powerful, immediate combination of sparse drumming, digitally echoed riffs and loops and hints of synth use; the inspirations remain clear but the song itself is much more their own, brought home with a killer guitar solo and drum break at the end. 

Similarly fine, soaring numbers such as "Freethought" and more ominous tracks like "Bleed Clean" ("...or does your blood flow in a mess?") mesh with intriguing side efforts like the primarily acoustic "Hope to God." The final four tracks, from the post-album EP, really sees the band take off; "Waking Up" is Disco Inferno's first total masterpiece, opening with an echoed bass note, astoundingly subtle percussion samples, then the deadly calm lyric "A sky without a god is a clear blue sky." "Fallen Down the Wire" rips along to a sudden, unexpected end after an increasingly fierce build-up. All in all, a striking starting point for what was to come next."by Ned Raggett

Flowered Up - A Life With Brian (1991)

Me encanta ir a tiendas de segunda mano.Es lo que denomino el "top ácaro".No hay mayor satisfacción que la de encontrar un disco que no te esperas y que estabas buscando desde hacía tiempo, en la tienda más absurda.
Justo cuando tienes las yemas de los dedos negras, salta la sorpresa.Y si ,además esta a buen precio y en buen estado, la satisfacción es doble.

Siempre que voy a algún sitio nuevo,trato de localizar las tiendas de discos.Esto ya cada vez es más difícil debido a la consabida crisis de la industria.Pero siempre hay alguna donde seguir buscando.

Este disco lo encontré en una de esas tiendas.No es que sea muy difícil de encontrar pero si vieseis al lado de que discos se encontraba, era uno de esos que no te esperabas y esa tontería me alegró el día.

Respecto al grupo, en su momento se dijo de ellos que eran la respuesta londinense a Happy Mondays.También representaban a esa clase obrera que el fin de semana iba a los bares y clubes a dejarse la pasta y el cerebro a base de alcohol ,pastillas y cocaina.

También tenían su "Bez", un tal Barry Mooncult, que salía al escenario disfrazado de flor gigante.
Pero en el momento de la verdad, el disco supuso un fracaso de crítica y de ventas.El motivo fue una producción demasiado floja que no reflejaba para nada la energía de sus directos.

Tras editar uno de los Maxis más importantes de la escena ,"Weekender" fueron despedidos de su compañía y se separaron.
A finales de los 2000 hubo un intento de reunión pero se vio truncado por la muerte por sobredosis de su carismático cantante, Liam Maher.

De todas formas y a pesar de su producción creo que este disco capta perfectamente el espíritu festivo y hedonista de la época.Y como propina ,en el archivo para descargar, he incluido la versión larga de "Weekender".
¡A disfrutarlo!

Modern English - After The Snow (1982)

Dedicado a mi hermano,sin rencores.

Hay veces que uno no se entera de nada.Descubres un grupo por casualidad y luego resulta que uno de sus discos contiene uno de los singles más vendidos de los 80.Todo gracias a un anuncio de Burger King.

Ahora podemos comenzar el debate de cuántos anuncios han destrozado la credibilidad ,para cierto sector del público, de unas cuantas bandas.

Se me ocurren: Dandy Warhols, Moby (Bueno, este tío era ya bastante sinvergüenza),The Clash,Peter Björn and John...
La cara que se te queda cuando tu grupo preferido es el politono de la choni de tu vecina del primero es de abrigo.

Ya sé que algunos anuncios tienen que llevar música.Y propongo una idea:¿Por qué no poner música de grupos un poco más odiosos y ya comerciales de por sí?.
Se me ocurren: Muse,Tokio Hotel,Jonas Brothers...

Lo importante de este disco es que aparte del tema en cuestión ,"I Melt with You" hay una pila de temazos indiscutibles,como "Life In The Gladhouse","The Choicest View" o "Tables Turning" y que pese a que han pasado casi 30 años,suena como si hubiese sido grabado hace nada.

Allmusic,dice: ""I'll Melt With You" will forever be the one specific moment that's Modern English's place in pop history, but the album it came from, After the Snow, isn't anything to sneeze at. Indeed, in transforming from the quite fine but dour young miserabilists on Mesh & Lace to a brighter incarnation who still had a melancholy side, the quintet found exactly the right combination best-suited for their abilities. Like contemporaries B-Movie and the Sound, Modern English used punk and post-punk roots as a chance to introduce a haunting, beautiful take on romance and emotion, while the contributions of Stephen Walker on keyboard helped make the album both of its time and timeless. That said, the secret weapon on the album is the rhythm section of Michael Conroy and Richard Brown, able to shift from the polite but relentless tribal beat clatter on the excellent "Life in the Gladhouse" to the ever more intense punch of the title track, the album's unheralded masterpiece. None of this is to denigrate the contributions of singer Robbie Grey and guitarist Gary McDowell. The former's seemingly mannered singing actually shows a remarkable fluidity at points -- "After the Snow" again is a good reference point, as is the fraught, slow-burn epic "Dawn Chorus" -- while McDowell works around the band's various arrangements instead of trying to dominate them. Some songs, like "Face of Wood," even find Modern English -- often dogged with Joy Division comparisons early on -- predicting where New Order would go before that band got there itself. Still, "I Melt With You" is the main reason most will want to investigate further. A perfect pop moment that didn't have to strain for it, its balance of giddy sentiment and heartfelt passion matched with a rush of acoustic and electric guitar overdubs just can't be beat." by Ned Ragget

Gene - Rising For Sunset (2000)

Durante muchos años no me han gustado los discos en directo.
Siempre me han parecido falsos: suelen estar sobreproducidos,los aplausos del público apenas se deberían escuchar...

Por otra parte la mitad de los conciertos a los que vamos tienen la calidad de un "pirata"-voces ocultas por un bajo,que es lo único que se oye-lo cual amplifica la sensación de estafa de un disco en directo.Jamás vas a escuchar a tu grupo preferido con esa calidad.

Yo creo que es también un trauma infantil: Mi primer contacto con los discos en directo fue el "Alchemy" de Dire Straits.Quien haya escuchado este disco sabe a lo que me refiero.Y no sólo es que el grupo de Mark Knopfler ya de grima de por sí, si no que ,además, alarga los temas hasta la extenuación,provocando que la tortura sea doble.

Vamos, que era escuchar unos aplausos al principio de un disco para que los sudores fríos y las convulsiones comenzaran.
Esta sensación se fue mitigando con el paso de los años.Ahora puedo disfrutar de ellos pero tiene que haber una condición: que haya visto al grupo en directo.

A Gene los vi en la primera edición del Festival de Bencássim y lo recuerdo como un pedazo de concierto: exactamente igual que este.

Allmusic, dice:"What better time for Gene to release their first proper live LP? Having temporarily suffered a profile hit in the U.S., after A&M put the kibosh on the band's third LP, Revelations, why not head for Los Angeles and sell out three nights at the legendary Troubadour? And, with Gene's confidence in their on-stage proficiency obvious, why not pump the shows out via live webcast for the rest of the wired planet to hear, and release it as Rising for Sunset? Capital idea! They exhibit muscle some might be surprised by. Most of that is still down to guitarist Steve Mason's dexterity and aggression on his six strings, like the ghosts of young Weller, Marr, Townshend, and Marriott all in one player. But there can be no denying the band as a whole just "rises" to performing like it is their home-field advantage. Through it all, singer Martin Rossiter shines with the unusual conviction of such ultra-seriousness in such a natural ham. Bolstered so well by Kevin Miles' strident basslines and Mason's swelling chords on the chorus of "London Can You Wait," he not only manages the delicate balance of distress and distaste, but towers over his poignant words (the death of a loved one). The crowd shrieks as one incredibly well-developed melody meets another sparkling arrangement over such an array of styles, as demonstrated by the twinkling new tune, "Rising for Sunset." Overall, this feels more like a greatest-hits than a 14-song document of a typical live set. By the time the fifth song, "Mayday," closes, it's easy to conclude that this band should be hailed as the finest pop stylist in the world. The second half is surely no letup; that's when all the epics come right after another. It's almost too much to take, climbing three mountains in a row, going from "Speak to Me Someone" into "Olympian" into "You'll Never Walk Again." So how smart are they to tone it down for the final movement, the brand new "Somewhere in the World"? Yet even here, they can't help but leave you with one of the most heartbreaking ballads of torture, of horrible romantic loss, one could imagine. Even in their quietest moments, Gene can uproot your nervous system and draw you helplessly into their severe human dramas. Oh, the humanity!" by Jack Rabid

Monaco - Music For Pleasure (1997)

El Tiempo pone a cada uno en su sitio. Nuestro querido Alberto de Mónaco ha pasado de ser el "mariposón" número uno de las monarquías y cortes europeas (recordemos que hubo un momento que se le relacionó con "Pipe"), a ser un marido fiel con boda por todo lo alto en la capital monegasca.Y es que la gente con sus comentarios no sabe el daño que puede hacer...

Lo mismo pasa con este disco.Me acuerdo que cuando fue editado:le cayeron palos por todas partes.
La antaño influyente revista Rock de Lux lo despedazó sin piedad.Y ¿por qué? Por ser continuista con el legado New Order.Vale, es cierto que podrías hacer un disco con los diferentes proyectos de los miembros de New Order ( Electronic,Bad Lieutenant,The Other Two,Revenge..) y apenas sabrías diferenciar qué tema es de quién.

Pero nos daba igual porque cuando no había New Order ,queríamos más temas.Y si el sucedáneo venía del proyecto madre pues mucho mejor.

Para mi siempre ha sido el argumento para defender bandas como Gene,Interpol y un largo etc.
Y me refiero a grupos que han empezado con unas influencias claras pero han desarrollado un sonido propio posteriormente.Nuevamente el sambenito de "los nuevos Smiths" o "los nuevos Joy Division" puede hacer mucho daño...

Lo importante es que este disco tiene dos temazos como "What do you want from me?" y "Sweet Lips" y que el resto mantiene el tipo muy dignamente.

Para mí un pequeño clásico. Digan lo que digan...los demás.

Allmusic, dice:" Monaco is quite different than Revenge, Peter Hook's previous side project from New Order. Where Revenge was a heavy, occasionally industrial, reworking of New Order, Monaco is a more pop-oriented affair. Hook and his collaborator David Potts still give the music a cool dance underpinning, but the intention of the duo is to marry the tuneful craftmanship of Britpop with modern sonics. Surprisingly, most of their debut, Music for Pleasure, works. Although Potts' contributions tread too close to Oasis territory for comfort, Hook's songs are melodic, concise and catchy -- he hasn't sounded quite so fresh since the late '80s. There are still a few dull moments scattered across the record, yet Music for Pleasure remains a thoroughly enjoyable listen." by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Magazine - Rays and Hail: 1978-1981 (1987)

Recopilatorio de una de las mejores bandas de post-punk.

Nacidos como una escisión de Buzzcocks,Howard Devoto fue su primer cantante, pronto abandonarían el punk más clásico de temas como "Shot By Both Sides" a composiciones más complejas como "Permafrost" o" You Never Knew Me".

La guitarra de John McGeoch daría el toque definitivo a unos temas ya redondos de por sí.
Como curiosidad cabe destacar que Los Nikis harían una versión de "A Song Under de Floorboards" ,titulada "La Canción de la Suciedad",en su impactante "Marines a Pleno Sol".

AllMusic ,dice:"The definitive single-disc collection of Magazine, a perfect starting point for the neophyte, Rays and Hail covers the three years of the band's existence with highlight after highlight on display. Devoto's mastery of a lyrical and musical approach that wedded chilly paranoia with explosive punk and post-punk energy -- as suspicious of emotion as Wire or the Gang of Four, yet at the same time more accepting and obsessed with emotion than most others at the time -- resulted in a series of jawdroppingly grand songs. Such compositions as "Feed the Enemy" and "Because You're Frightened" showcased the balance well, not to mention the excellent performances of such bandmembers as John McGeoch on guitar and Barry Adamson on bass. The only real rarity per se is the original single take on "Shot By Both Sides," one of the many landmark tracks Devoto and Pete Shelleywrote in early days together, and which, in Magazine's hands, become a fierce statement of intent. The incorporation of keyboards, in particular, helped give Magazine its smart edge, Devoto sounding both commanding and distanced on such tracks as "Back to Nature" and "A Song From Under the Floorboards" as guitars and queasy synth tones meshed to create weird, alien atmospheres. "The Light Pours out of Me" may well go down as Magazine's most epic, evocative song among the well-known numbers, McGeoch's guitar hitting truly dramatic heights as the relentless rhythm pounds forward. However, the inclusion of "Permafrost" on this collection makes for what could arguably be the band's most stunning moment. With Devoto's at once blunt yet evocative image of a relationship of some sort stretched beyond a breaking point captured in the lyrics, all that the music needed to do was capture the same disturbed vision. That it did, featuring a slow trudge rhythm treated to sound flat and unnatural, Adamson's fretless bass sounding warning notes as it goes." by Ned Ragget

The House of Love - A Spy In The House Of Love (1990)

Recopilatorio de Caras B de una de mis bandas favoritas.
The House of Love se formaron en 1986, firmando por Creation Records.Allí lanzaron alguno de los singles más importantes del indie de esa epoca.Así mismo editaron un primer Lp homónimo que es ,por derecho propio, un clásico.
Aunque yo siempre he preferido el segundo, el de "la mariposa" que es donde el genio compositivo de Guy Chadwick, líder de la banda,explota en temas como "I don´t Know Why I Love You" o "Shake And Crawl".
Aquí no llega a ese nivel,ya que se trata de descartes pero junto con temas más de relleno, brillan otros como "Love IV" o "Baby Teen".
Imprescindible para completistas de esta banda.

Allmusic,dice: "Chapter one: Label spends enough money on record to make a third-world country queasy. Chapter two: Record flops financially, despite its artistic triumphs. Chapter three: Label realizes financial failure of record and panics. Chapter four: Label raids band's vault and puts out hodgepodge collection cheap to help recuperate from newly incurred monetary woes. A Spy in the House of Love compiles a decent but scrapped single circa '88 ("Safe"), a handful of dolled-up tracks from the scrapped follow-up to their debut, and scraps from various ditched sessions. See a pattern? Though it sounds like a recipe for rotten cranapple pie, HOL despot Guy Chadwick was quick to toss off anything that wasn't top-rate, and occasionally his BS detector was a little off. In fact, "Marble," which comes from the initial sessions for the band's second album, was quality enough to find a spot on the band's best-of that came out eight years later. There are scattered bright spots ("Scratched Inside," "Ray") and moments where the band sounds like they're just plain bored ("Cut the Fool Down" and the appropriately titled "No Fire"). The "Love" songs (Parts II-V) peak through every other track on the second half. They veer from bluesy, stream-of-consciousness shreds to half-finished howlings and decent instrumentals. Certainly one of the least/last links in the House of Love chain, your time and money might be better spent hunting down one of their many wallet-sinking singles (like the one with a cover of the Chills' "Pink Frost" or another with a take on Cream's "Strange Brew"). A second volume of Spy is definitely called for, as the average House of Love fan's wallet sank deeper than Guy Chadwick's cheeks while scurrying for their three-part(!) singles. [The U.S. version of A Spy in the House of Love bizarrely plugs the second album's version of "Shine On" betwixt "Cut the Fool Down" and "Ray."]by Andy Kellman

V/A-Wap100 We Are Reasonable People (1998)

Este recopilatorio fue editado como conmemoración de las 100 referencias del mítico sello de Sheffield.
En él participaban algunos de los artistas y bandas más reconocidos del sello en aquel momento.Destacan las colaboraciones de Broadcast,Nightmares on Wax o Two lone Swordsmen.
Rarezas,demos y algun tema exclusivo componen este interesantísimo recopilatorio.

1 Squarepusher / AFX - Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid
2 Boards of Canada - Orange Romeda
3 Broadcast - Hammer Without a Master
4 Plaid - Ilasas
5 Autechre - Stop Look Listen
6 Nighmares on Wax - Fishtail Parker
7 Jimi Tenor - Wear My Bikini
8 Plone - Plaything
9 Red Snapper - 4 Dead Monks (Original Demo)
10 Mira Calix - Umchunga Locks
11 Two Lone Swordsmen - Circulation
12 Mark Bell - A Salute to Those People Who Say Fuck You


Allmusic dice:"We Are Reasonable People is a select handful of the European upper crust furnishing electronic rarities to the label that made them famous. Warp Records has the cream of the crop to choose from, even if some of that cream has clotted from oversight. All of these selections are previously unreleased, and considering the wide variety of styles on the disc, there truly is "something for everyone." "Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid" is such a memorable high point, it's a wonder this track wasn't saved for the finale. Two of the most accomplished trendsetters, Tom Jenkinson and Richard D. James, combine their abilities for the first time as Squarepusher and AFX, respectively. Pools of mercurial ambience float above rocky landscapes of blistering rhythm tracks, sputtering toward an acid refrain and such spatial disorientation that it pulls the chair right out from under you. An act this tough to follow is rightfully handed to Boards of Canada, whose "Orange Rhomeda" is a magical pinwheel of found digital beats and naïve bytes, an early taste of a duo who would be Warp's next big thing. From here the terrain gets uneven. Although high points are aplenty, listeners might be checking the clock once or twice along the way. Broadcast's "Hammer Without a Master" drones along in burnt electro-waltz/rock waves, and Plaid contributes a sound sculpture that pulses with cascading icicles of synth and a syncopated, chugging drumbox. The indifference intensifies as glitch music superstars Autechre strain to deliver even a shred of the human element for "Stop Look Listen," typing out trigonometric beats and a stray melody. Next, an upbeat Nightmares on Wax grooves conservatively with "Fishtail Parker," a mid-budget tapestry of keyboard funk. From here, the ball passes nicely to Jimi Tenor, who digs into his zoot suit jacket pocket for a slick set of licks on "Wear My Bikini," a jazzy arrangement of downtown-cruising horn/synth riffs and head-bobbing beats. Another abrupt shift in mood comes from Plone's "Plaything" -- disturbingly innocent. It's like easy listening for stuffed animals, featuring bubblegum keyboard leads and a swishing, carefree beatbox. Following this, Red Snapper (black belt of the live groove) unearths the moody "4 Dead Monks (Original Demo)." The upright bass snarls and paces back and forth in a cage, the snares slither and pop, and a lone trumpet adds a fog of crime noir. Two Lone Swordsmen deliver "Circulation," which gurgles menacingly along the floorboards like restless plasma with a curfew. Weatherall and Tenniswood keep a half-dozen elements under close surveillance, letting them breathe slightly before locking them up again. Rounding out the CD, Mira Calix and Mark Bell both deliver pounding, up-tempo industrial showcases; the latter closes out the disc with extra crunch and a keyboard lead that shifts mathematically to the left with each repetition. The energy almost compensates for its structural simplicity. With such a plush assembly of music at its fingertips, Warp pats itself on the back with this release. Rightfully so, for not only staying afloat in the ever-expanding sea of electronic music, but for riding the crest of it." by Glenn Swan

Moose-Sonny and Sam (1991)

Imprescindible recopilatorio de los tres primeros Ep´s de esta banda inglesa.Inicialmente enmarcados dentro del movimiento "shoegazer" pronto lo abandonarían,convirtiéndose en una excelente banda de pop.
Cabe destacar temas como "Suzanne" o "Jack" que se erigen por derecho propio en clásicos del indie de principio de los 90,aunque otros como "This river will never run dry" se asemejan más al estilo con el que continuarían su carrera en discos como "Honey Bee" o "Live a Little ,love a Lot".¡A disfrutarlo!

Sobre Moose,Allmusic dice:"Not so much underrated as unheard, Moose grew up in Britain's distortion-heavy shoegazing movement of the early '90s but soon shed the fuzzy wash of their compatriots to embrace a clean, acoustic-based style -- inspired by '60s icons Burt Bacharach and Tim Buckley as well as jangle merchants like the Byrds and R.E.M. -- that still relied on the intense guitar effects which characterized the band's early works. Moose was formed in early 1990 by the songwriting team of Kevin (K.J.) McKillop and Russell Yates (Yates had appeared in an early incarnation of Stereolab), plus drummer Damien Warburton and bassist Jeremy Tishler. The group signed to Hut Records (also the British home of Smashing Pumpkins and the Verve) in 1990, and began recording with producer Guy Fixsen (later of Laika).

After the release of three EPs during 1991, both Warburton and Tishler left the band; Moose then added drummer Richard Thomas and the brothers Fong, Lincoln on bass and Russell on guitar and sometime production. Hut Records had just formed an alliance with the major label Virgin, which condensed Moose's past material onto a seven-track EP, Sonny and Sam. (It served as an American primer for the band, but proved to be their only major-label stateside release.) Hut financed a full-length album, ...XYZ, in 1992 and recruited Mitch Easter for production and Dolores O'Riordon of the Cranberries for harmony vocals on one track. The album sold poorly, however, and Hut dropped the band by early 1993. Not fazed in the least, Moose came back with the Liquid Make Up EP for their own Cool Badge label. Its leadoff track, "I Wanted to See You to See if I Wanted You," was a charming piece of pop, their best single yet. Signed to Belgium's Play It Again Sam Records, the band released their second album, Honey Bee, in early 1994. It wisely included a different version of "I Wanted to See You to See if I Wanted You," but Moose appeared to be verging on overkill with yet another carbon-copy version included on the Bang Bang EP several months later. Perhaps signalling a stall in creativity, third album Live a Little, Love a Lot was released with no attaching single, though the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser did lend her vocals to one track. Four years later, Moose reappeared with an album (High Ball Me!) released on the English Nickel and Dimes as well as on the American Le Grand Magistery."

Bowery Electric-Beat (1996)

El seguno disco del duo neoyorkino se caracteriza por un acercamiento a los ritmos electrónicos a los que se lanzarían totalmente en su siguiente disco.En un principio puede resultar algo monocorde pero una vez que te introduces en él es totalmente adictivo.
No es un trabajo inmediato pero el esfuerzo merece la pena.

Allmusic dice:"Somewhat bizarrely, Beat received a large amount of critical buzz over its supposedly groundbreaking fusion of hip-hop/techno rhythms and the band's older dream pop stylings. Anyone who had heard Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine or a fair amount of Chapterhouse's material probably had some things to say about that judgment, while in turn many dance mavens saw the band's efforts as already terribly outdated in terms of general sonic approach. Set all this aside and concentrate on enjoying Beat in and of itself, though, and the fine qualities of both group and album come through quite clearly. Bowery Electric may not be on the cutting edge, but Schwendener and Chandler aren't pretending to dwell there. The title track sets the album's tone from the start, an open-ended guitar drone from Chandler later accompanied by Schwendener's low-key bass and distanced singing matched with a crisp drum loop. Variations on this basic formula throughout Beat: slight rhythms are sometimes more prominent, sometimes buried, guitar lines are clearer here or more heavily produced there -- but taken as a whole the release is quietly intoxicating. Standouts include "Fear of Flying," with a strong guitar scream/wash from Chandler and a more upfront bass/drum combination, and the thoroughly but beautifully zoned out "Black Light," which features a rare Chandler vocal and an enveloping delay-pedal-produced atmosphere. Notably, the drumming on the latter track is more in line with, say, early Pink Floyd or Slowdive rather than the loops used elsewhere. Both performers are incredibly undemonstrative throughout the album -- Beat works best as something either totally concentrated on or left running as ambient music; a party record this isn't. At times Bowery Electric eschew percussion entirely, to lovely effect: "Under the Sun" is a brief but dark piece, a low bassline providing the only forward motion." by Ned Ragget