new releases

[a house that burns down every night for you <woiccare@clutx.clarkson.edu>]

a few new releases have come along that i thought some of you love-
hounds might be interested in hearing about.

1. _balkan_ (virgin records): the soundtrack (more or less) for enki
bilal's film "bunker palace hotel." it consists of music either written
by phillipe eidel and arnaud devos or traditional pieces arranged by
them for the radio-sofia ensemble - another chorus of bulgarian women.
the liner notes describe them as "slightly more penetrating and less 
smooth than the `voix bulgares' we were used to." as my cd player is
on the fritz, i haven't listened to this yet...but it does look good.
virgin sneakily sub-titled the cd "les voix bulgares de l'ensenble
radio sofia" and imitated the packaging of the les mystere des voix
bulgares volumes to capitalize...

2. his name is alive - _livonia_ (4ad): everybody is comparing this
michigan based outfit made up of william defever (elvis hitler!),
karin oliver and angela carozzo to the cocteau twins and this mortal
coil. personally, i thin this comparison breaks down as the resemble
area and louise cooper much more in their style: very primitive and
simple arrangements of guitars and electronics is that moody vein.
the two girls sing on separate tracks and defever does pretty much
all the instrumentation. ivo watts-russell did all the remixing for
this release, which is very much a 4ad record.

3. skinner box - _the playhouse_ (bobok/toxic shock): kinda in the
hetchy hetch vein. for those of you who that does not help, half the
speed on caterwaul, but every bit as powerful. skinner box is essen-
tially julianna towns who does everything except the guitar feedback
according to the liner notes. a bit noisy but still very listenable,
_the playhouse_ completely blows away her first excellent release of
a few years back. again, rather primitive arrangements, but unlike
his name is alive, there is melody and full production. the music might
grate on the nerves at first, but its worth the effort.

coming soon: dead can dance! (as soon as i buy it!)

woj