Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones drink tea and discuss some new releases. Cabaret Voltaire - Kora! Kora! Kora! (Shiva) www.shivarecords.com Mr. Smith: Well, this is exciting. A new Cabaret Voltaire release after all these years. Mr. Jones: This might be the most excited I’ve ever been. Ever. Although it’s not a proper Cabs release is it? Mr. Smith: I’m afraid not. It says here on the press release that it’s a “cut-up and clubbed-to-pieces collage of key cuts from the platinum-selling debut album by the Maori club phenomenon called Kora”. Mr. Jones: Who? In other words, we wait over ten years for a new Cabaret Voltaire record, and all we get is a fucking remix album. Ever felt like you’ve been conned? Mr. Smith: Yes... and no. I like what they’ve done here. The elements that are pure Cabs are hard-as-nails. The electronica and industrial funk bits make this a worthwhile enterprise, and if it gets Richard H Kirk back in the studio, then it’s got to be a good thing. Mr. Jones: You’re half right. I can’t get on with this for a couple of reasons, the foremost being the source material - which I’ve not heard in its original form you understand - sounds, on this, like a dodgy handbag house 12” from 15 years ago, but you’re definitely right about Kirk getting back in the studio. He’s always had a worldview worth taking notice of and we need him making records again. Mr. Smith: There are rumours that we could hear something new next year... 23 Skidoo - Seven Songs (LTM) Mr. Jones: Another blast from the past. It’s about time this was reissued. Mr. Smith: Those good people at LTM are responsible - this is the original album plus half a dozen bonus tracks - I think LTM are reissuing all the albums, but we’ve only got the first one. Mr. Jones: I remember it well. I liked The Cabs and I liked 23 Skidoo as well. There were a lot of bands mixing up black music influences with their post-punk and new wave, and a lot of them were genuinely innovative... including 23 Skidoo. Dub and funk were their main building blocks, but the northern industrial griminess they mixed in gave it a malign edge... if not properly scary then certainly dark and a little malicious. Mr. Smith: I remember more singing... Mr. Jones: I think that came later. They didn’t really have a natural singer in the band, though when someone did step up, on tracks like “Iy” or the single, “Last Words” it’s rudimentary, but good. It works just as well when they add sampled voices... the old biddy railing against popular culture, sex and everything else she doesn’t understand on “Porno Base” is just as appropriate... especially when it deteriorates into squeals and gobbledegook. Black Carrot - Drink The Black Carrot (Tin Angel) www.tinangelrecords.co.uk Mr. Smith: A local band for local people. Mr. Jones: They’re from Market Harborough... but close enough. We saw these last year with Damo Suzuki at a rehearsal studio in Leicester... a fine night. There’s a buzz in Leicester at the moment, which is probably down to the millions of records Kasabian have sold, but the bands that are coming out of the city - and county - aren’t what you’d expect. There’s been a tradition of avant-garde and proggy weirdoism for a while now, thanks to the chaps at Ultima Thule, Pickled Egg Records and not forgetting, Volcano The Bear. Mr. Smith: Jeremy Barnes of Hawk And A Hacksaw fame was here for a bit as well. Mr. Jones: That’s right.. he was part of Songs Of Norway, which was connected to Volcano The Bear. Mr. Smith: And where do Black Carrot fit in? Mr. Jones: They’re rapidly becoming an important band... and you can plainly see where they’re coming from. The main singer’s got a fierce David Thomas yelp, and there’s a whole host of post-punk influences in amongst the Krautrock and agit-prog. Mr. Smith: Pere Ubu and This Heat spring to mind... Mr. Jones: They do, but this doesn’t feel derivative in any way... though it doesn’t sound like the future either... Intermission To Saturn - Recordings From Intermission Control Vol. 2 Intermission To Saturn - Go To Lord Shiva He May Need You (Home Learning Institute Of Poland) www.myspace.com/intermissiontosaturn Mr. Smith: More strange signals from outer space. Mr. Jones: Or “Leicester”, as the locals call it. Actually, this might be the true acid-fried, proggy sound of multi-cultural Leicester. Look at the list of instruments on Volume 2: Sitar, Electronics, Guitar, Tampura, Harmonium and more Electronics... this is space rock... if psychedelia had been invented in Gujarat. Mr. Smith: There’s an argument that the Beatles invented psychedelia after visiting India. Mr. Jones: The only thing these two CDs have in common with the Beatles is George Harrison’s sitar all over Revolver. But these two discs are completely different. Volume 2 is purer in sound... instruments are recognisable and it’s all very accessible. On the other hand, the Indian influences are much less obvious on the Lord Shiva album... instead it’s full on... set the controls for the heart of the sun... with electronics, cut up radio samples and phased distortion to the fore. Very pleasant once you’re past the truly nasty static on the first track. Mr. Smith: Good handmade packaging. Mr. Jones: They’re building a proper identity. I imagine the CDs are fairly limited, though from what they tell me, they’re going to be available for download everywhere soon. Globo - (Globo’s) This Nation’s Saving Grace (Comuse) www.globo.org.uk Mr. Smith: I’ve not heard The Fall album for ten years at least, though it used to be a favourite. Mr. Jones: It’s an iconic Fall album... it’s brave taking it on like this. Though they’ve stripped it back to basics and rebuilt from scratch. Clever. Mr. Smith: I can’t say I properly recognise the songs. I think if I was listening to this blind, I wouldn’t have suspected anything until the chorus of “Spoilt Victorian Child”. Mr. Jones: But it never sounds like The Fall even when you do recognise the song. Have they been doing this to all their albums, or anyone else’s come to that? It’s a grand concept, taking a classic guitar album and re-doing it in such a different way. I know it’s been done before, but there’s usually more than a whiff of irony. This seems to be smirk free. Mr. Smith: What I find really interesting is that the synthesizers they use sound so old that it reminds me of something Thomas Leer would have been involved in five years before The Fall album was released. Mr. Jones: You’re right, it’s like a 1980 cover of a 1986 record. Next