Hit To Death In The Future Head

Top/ Fordlândia (4AD, 2008) is an album by Icelandic-born musician, composer and producer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Jóhannsson is a co-founder of Kitchen Motors in Reykjavík, the art organization/think tank/record label which specializes in instigating collaborations, promoting concerts and exhibitions, performances, chamber operas, producing films, books and radio shows based on the ideals of experimentation, collaboration and the search for new art forms. Jóhannsson (born 1969) founded the Apparat Organ Quartet in 1999, who have played various European festivals to great acclaim. He has also produced and written music with artists as diverse as Marc Almond, Barry Adamson & Pan Sonic, the Hafler Trio and Magga Stina, among others. He has written music for theatre, documentaries and soundtrack music for several feature films. Jóhannsson is a member of the Icelandic electronica supergroup Evil Madness. Jóhannsson's album Englabörn was re-issued on 4AD in 2007. Bottom/ Let Love In is the 8th studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1994 on Mute. The song "Loverman" was covered by Metallica on Garage Inc. and Depeche Mode's Martin Gore on Counterfeit. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock band with multinational personnel, fronted by Nick Cave. In March 2008 the Bad Seeds released their 14th studio album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, inspired by the Biblical story of the resurrection of Lazarus of Bethany by Jesus Christ. The album received excellent reviews.

Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp

La Cantina (Narada, 2006) is an album by Lila Downs. Lila Downs (born 1968 in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca) is a Mexican-American singer. She performs her own compositions as well as tapping into native Mesoamerican music of the Mixtec, Zapotec, Maya and Nahuatl cultures. She was also heard in the soundtrack to the Julie Taymor movie Frida in a song, Burn it Blue, that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song. Other songs that she performed on the soundtrack are "Benediction And Dream," "Estrella Oscura," and "La Llorona." Other movies with a Lila Downs song are Tortilla Soup, Real Women Have Curves and Fados by Carlos Saura. Downs is currently based in Coyoacán, a borough of Mexico City. On September 2, 2008, Lila Downs released Shake Away (Manhattan Records), an album of new material as well as a few cover songs, including "I Envy The Wind" by Lucinda Williams and " I Would Never" by the Blue Nile. Downs also collaborates with artists like La Mari from the band Chambao and Enrique Bunbury from Héroes del Silencio.

Ethereal Reverberations

Top/ Lovetune For Vacuum (Pias, 2009) is Soap & Skin 's debut album. Boomkat's album review reads: "Eighteen-year old Austrian chanteuse Anja Plaschg makes a startling debut with this set of complex, often very maudlin goth-folk experiments. As you can see from her cover photo, Plaschg has a bit of a Tess Of The D'Urbervilles vibe to her, and based on this image and the presence of ghostly ballads like 'Extinguish Me' and 'Sleep' it would be all too easy to start suggesting she's a European equivalent of Marissa Nadler, but far from it, tracks like 'Turbine Womb' and the wonderful 'Marche Funebre' are far more experimental, bringing to mind a cross-pollination of Antony & The Johnsons' most sonically ambitious material and the electronic carve-ups of AGF. 'Cry Wolf' supplies another clearcut highlight, casting abstract, clockwork percussion alongside piano and woodwind, while the vocals howl in a fashion that's every bit as lupine as the title would suggest. Highly recommended."
Bottom/ Resist (Moksha Recordings) is the 2001 debut album from Kosheen, a British trip hop, drum and bass and rock group based in Bristol, England. The name of the band is a combination of the Japanese words for "old" (古, romanized transliteration ko) and "new" (新, shin). Resist was heavily promoted in the 2002 edition of the Nokia Game. A short loop of "Harder" could be heard from all parts of the game's virtual world. Their third album, Damage, featuring the single "Overkill", was released in 2007.

French Kissin' in the USA

Top/ Sonic Clinique is a series of exclusive DJ-sets unleashed last summer in New York by Music Curator Max Chavanne of Sonic Nurse. Fat mixes woven throughout the Nurse's August 2008 residency at midtown Manhattan's Cafe 50 West blended genres in a typical Sonic Nurse fashion, ranging from "A Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins to XL Recordings' Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned by electronic act The Prodigy (middle). Highlights included TV on the Radio, the White Stripes, LCD Soundsystem, Santogold, Interpol and Stereolab, among others. On August 14, along with Coltrane-meets-Radiohead saxophonist Martin "MKellz" Kelley trio performing live, Sonic Clinique #3, dubbed "Purple Hayes," paid tribute to the late, great Isaac "Shaft" Hayes (1942 — 2008). Max Chavanne has described the Sonic Clinique sets as a "sensual counterpoint to the glitterball glamour of The City". While Cafe 50 West is located right in the heart of the Flatiron district between 5th and 6th Avenues, he claimed that the inspiration for the soundscapes came from "mostly hanging out in the Lower East Side, Brooklyn and Coney Island," mixed with "picking up what The City is laying down," including "visions of the infamous King Khan and the Shrines [note: a Berlin-based garage rock and psychedelic soul band] throwing bananas at the audience at the McCarren Park Pool Parties in Williamsburg" and "endless strolls along the Hudson Riverwalk with Golden Doodle puppy Deuce", with "healthy doses of glitch and IDM thrown in the mix". One insider at the National Underground called the Sonic Clinique series of events "always right-on, often beautiful, sometimes haunting and occasionally kick-ass". More Sonic Clinique events are rumoured for 2009 in NYC, although no dates are confirmed yet. Bottom/ Back of Sonic Clinique flyer reads: "The In Sound From Way Out! Sonic-Nurse brings his clinic to Cafe 50 West. Come get a shot of his Audio Adrenaline and expose yourself to his healing sounds!" Limited edition B&W flyer courtesy onclicknyc. Design by Laura Weber, Berlin. Cafe 50 West, 50 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010

Pumping On Your Stereo

Bottom/ "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" is the first single from English rock band Supergrass' sixth album, Diamond Hoo Ha (Parlophone, 2008). Middle/ Including "Pumping on Your Stereo", Supergrass' eponymous third LP Supergrass (Parlophone, 1999) was nicknamed the "X-Ray album" because of its cover which featured layered X-ray images of the band members' heads. The band's main musical influences are Buzzcocks, T.Rex, the Jam and The Kinks. Characterized by fast, three-chord, guitar-based, catchy tunes, Supergrass's jubilance and musicality have influenced many new artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs and The Vines. Top/ "Hush Boy" (XL Recordings, 2006) is the first single from Crazy Itch Radio by critically acclaimed UK electronic dance music duo Basement Jaxx.

Guided By Voices

Medúlla, meaning "bone marrow" in Latin, is an album by Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician Björk (One Little Indian, 2004). It is almost entirely a cappella and constructed with human vocals. However, the vocals are sometimes processed or sampled. Medúlla features beatboxing, choral arrangements and throat singing, and appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.