These guys are a bunch of Conservative nazis who hate freedom, women's rights, non-whites, and despise anyone who would question President Bush. I can't understand why they chose to make hip-hop of all genres to spew their hate-speech and pandering ignorance. They're still at the "burning crosses" stage of intellectual evolution, so logically they should be making bad garage punk or country. The sad part of it all is their beats are quite decent, and all are completely wasted by their words. Believe me, you will become dumber by hearing this garbage.

The enchanting debut from Husky Rescue, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and Helsinki native Marko Nyberg, gracefully slides from creepy folk-hop to electro-mod seemingly on a whim like an alt. country Beta Band, everything glazed in a Nordic chill. The core of the first two tracks "Sweet Little Kitten" and lead single "Summertime Cowboy" lies in the chemistry between the fast-paced-for-melancholy warm and fuzzy bass and the sweet sound of vocalists Emma Salakoski and Reeta-Leena Korhola respectively, those being my personal favs, but — stemming from Nyberg’s specific filmmaker influences — every track has a cinematic soundscape differing in subtle style but not mood. You should feel better after listening to Country Falls, more relaxed. That’s what good chill music does and this is surely that.

Husky Rescue’s refusal to adhere to strict genre labeling in lieu of mood also pays dividends on par with the work of David Lynch and Lars van Tier, two of Marko’s major inspirations from the medium of film. Some of the greatest movies don’t really have a classification as clear cut as comedy and action like American Beauty and the first Matrix, while the worst tend to be genres with films attached like the third Matrix and every Jennifer Lopez flick made, excluding The Cell, naturally. The older things get, a better definition of what they were we gain and so the transcendence of older influences, to find one’s niche and oneself becomes the standard of judgment for artists versus imitators. The artists that last, from The Beatles to Beck, are champions of reinvention; and so I believe Nyberg, with his mission statement far more complex than "I wanna rock," to be the real deal. Get in on Husky Rescue before it becomes fashionable. Has Catskills ever steered you wrong before?

Although this is the debut album by Joshua Mikah Abrams under the Reminder name, there are some pretty high hopes attached to it. The reason for this is Abrams’ impressive and ever growing list of collaborations, having contributed bass to albums by The Roots, Diverse, Tortoise, Sam Prekop, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and David Grubbs. Furthermore, Abrams comes highly recommended by Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73, Piano Overlord, Savath + Savalas, Delarosa), who released Continuum on his Eastern Developments label. However, despite the dense history Abrams has in indie rock, Reminder is the name he has designated for production of organically arranged, future-jazz-based downtempo and hip-hop. Well, I suppose “Now I Disappear” is technically drum and bass, but that’s just double-speed hip-hop anyway. Reminder’s cavernous lounge beats are pretty far from Prefuse’s glitch-hop. It’s often hard to tell which instruments are sampled and which ones are played by Abrams, or if it’s both. But even though the sounds are smooth, there is something about Continuum that is distinctly amateur. I suppose there’d be something of a transition period in coming out from under the shadow of so many great artists, so I’m quite interested to hear where he goes with this project. And under the rhymes of Thaione Davis, “Leave What You Came With” shows that Reminder is real close to being something truly special in the rich land of underground hip-hop.

Born out of a rich tapestry of electronica, reggae, and jazz/funk genres, drum and bass has come a long way since before it even had a name in the early nineties to the sports channel intro, car commercial power it is today. This is thanks in part to people like Andy C. Being as Andy has only ever released a handful of solo twelve inches (most of them in the previous decade), his contribution to the wide but thinly spread junglist movement has mostly been as a DJ and label owner. To this day, he’s continually voted the best DnB deej by Knowledge mag and the likes. When you get that big, you no longer have to buy records. People will flood you with complimentary white labels and even pay you to spin their tracks. So, while Andy’s umpteen years of mixing experience is never in question, his track selection represents a survey of the newest mainstream DnB circa 2006 –funky, techy, and a little hard/dark/fast– but it’s a survey built on the spirit of promotion and perk that Andy probably can’t take real credit for. I seriously doubt he has set foot near a dusty record shop in years. However, he is given some fine records from the likes of Chase & Status and the legendary Concord Dawn, both of which truly deserve the success inclusion in the Nightlife series provides, so some good should come from number 3. If you like mainstream DnB, this is your bananas.

Prepare to heed the hype yet again. Just over a year since the internet made The Go! Team's UK debut a substantial Western import success, Memphis Industries' lawyers have finally cleared the sample happy, sunshine pop-hop amalgam for proper North American release, now remastered with two former b-sides mixed into the final tracklisting. The samples causing the fuss have been inconspicuously altered (where's Negativland when you need `em?) losing nothing to the UK version. If you have any remotely indie friends, they should've tipped you off to this Brighton sextet long ago. If not, consider this your chance to still get cred by buying something you don't really need...when you think about it.

Minus the superfluous album version edit of "Awfully Deep," you've got one new song, one live-studio reworking of the near title track with a little help from Gorillaz collaborator Damon Albarn, and a remix of each. The Albarn/Lampeth Blues version benefits greatly from the Blur kingpin's addition of a brooding piano as well as Rodney's more contemplative delivery. Joseph Mount's Metronomy remix of Damon's jam takes the cut back to an early eighties cheese-funk which kinda misses the point but Diplo's remix of the previously unreleased "Seat Yourself" recovers to a more appropriate sludgy bangin' vibe. All in all, it's a worthwhile companion to the full length of the not quite same name.

I was extremely excited when I heard this album was in the works [in Dazed & Confused of all places] and that anticipation elevated unchecked for several months until now. Finally the album joining the Johnny Cash of hip-hop, Buck 65 and Sage Francis, the dangerously skilled and confrontational, with relative newcomer DJ Signify is here. It could just be my own high hopes bringing this album down for me but, although the creepy samples, scratching and fuzz doom of Signify’s beats create a thick atmosphere and both MC’s are their usual selves, not too much really stands out about this project considering the ingredients. It is by all standards a great trip-hop album as chill-ghostly as Portishead’s Dummy but it’s not mind-blowing. Instead of using this as a chance to push themselves and try new and daring things, Sleep No More basically comes off like a regular Buck 65 album with a more hellish overtone as opposed to his occasional fun side. But, then again, I did have pretty high expectations so those Lex Records fans unfamiliar with Buck’s work will fall immediately in love with this. It is still one of the best progressive hip-hop albums released this year.

Tom Jenkinson’s new one is certainly not for the light eared. Despite the often mellow pace and jazzy interludes, this CD often launches into a grating hell of catastrophic sound. When “50 Cycles” peaked, there was such an explosion of pure noise my flat became temporarily convinced Judgment Day had arrived: lamps cast shadow, chairs became flaccid, and my cat took out nine life insurance policies online, despite my protests that he really only needed one, before merging interdimensionally with a Smoking Baby® incense holder. He never was much into electronica anyway.
A relative departure from 2001’s lyrically intense Go Plastic, Ultravisitor is almost entirely an adventure in sound. Cascading synths roll behind a jazz-funk bass while fractured snares and the like accompany a truly gifted set of overworked, natural drums. The presence of well-timed crowd sounds give the album a sense of completion and comfort during an often bumpy ride. It also sucks the listener into a concert type feeling forcing one to pay more attention to the man behind the music and the creative process which helped bring this album to life as opposed to the dehumanized approach heralded by the likes of Kraftwerk.
As such, your enjoyment of this LP depends on your tolerance of generally menacing noise and patience during the many interludes. I, for one, find it to be a powerful, immensely enjoyable and moving piece of electronic art which should age well and influence many in the future.

With its slow building ambience, old world influences pillaging a list of bizarre and ancient instruments too numerous to mention, and frail vocals, Múm has produced a truly zen CD. As epic as it is fragile, there’s a touch of spaghetti-western-final-gun-battle score, over the top but in their own nice way quality to almost every track but cut with an Amelie softness. Most people’s enjoyment of this band will no doubt depend on what effect the lead vocals have subjectively. To some, she may sound like a broken-winged angel pleading for God’s help in line with a same Bjork dealing with Beth Gibbons’ emotions, but to others she may just be a little too Elmo or Robin, Kermit’s nephew, to break through to a new plane of depression and wonder. Or she could be both and that’s why you like it. It’s a musical yin and yang.

Some pretty profound post-rock from Thrill Jockey’s own Tortoise which features some of the most beautiful and poignant art in recent memory. The front cover is an awe inspiring sunset dying over a cascading waterfall and rapids yet overlooking this scene is a yellow helicopter perched next to a luminescent city while the back features a blurred rainforest beneath an overcast sky but blocking most of the sky is a huge projection screen with a better looking skyline beaming out of it. While the liner notes tell a story of life dissatisfaction and miscertainty in the 21st century and the songs are rawly titled, the Tortoise movement isn’t exactly taking the route their name would suggest. Instead of going slow and steady, they’re heading straight for the main vein. Musically, they try to match the grandiose beauty of their imagery and succeed quite handsomely at it. Bits of the Flaming Lips appear in “Crest,” occasional world music and Dark Side Of The Moon sounds appear leaving the mood fairly chilled yet urgent while the inventive guitar effects and production brings me flashes of the unrealized possibilities of Radiohead. Although It’s All Around You never reaches the sonic peaks of anything Mogwai have done, the contemplative vibe helps let the obvious anti-advancement juxtapositions set in. This is one to think about, think during, and, well, get!