CDs/Malu van Leeuwen
SWANS: The Great Annihilator (Young God)
MICHAEL GIRA must be the most depressed individual in=20 the galaxy. “I am insane,” he intones on I am the Sun,=20 with Jarboe warbling somewhere from the third ring of=20 Saturn. Still, if Gira ever cheered up, scores of Swans=20 devotees would sink into irreversible melancholia. Why=20 overseas critics only gave Annihilator three out of=20 five stars is a mystery, because it’s definitely worth=20 four and a half — losing half for the most=20 pretentious, boring album cover ever conceptualised.=20 Great drumming from Bill Rieflin, visiting=20 extraterrestrial from Ministry, though.
GOD: The Anatomy of an Addiction (Big Cat)
SONGS to crush your skull to — an unrelenting sonic=20 onslaught, totally unforgiving on the human ear. Tracks=20 On All Fours and Voodoo Head Blows just about sum up=20 God’s approach to aural savagery. A demonic bassline=20 grinds into two screeching saxophones, guaranteed to=20 have you reaching for them Grandpa powders .=20 Exhilarating and pulverising are words that spring to=20 mind: Anatomy is controlled delirium on a one-way trip=20 to hell. Album of the millenium.
BOOTSY’S NEW RUBBER BAND: Blasters of the Universe=20
THE only person ever to outdress Jean-Paul Gaultier,=20 Bootsy Collins is Mr Funkster himself. Blasters is a=20 double CD disguised as a tribute to Funkadelic guitar=20 guru Eddie Hazel, but actually it’s half trad funk,=20 half ambient grooves and two-thirds bizarre. Some kick- ass cyberfunk, some real duds and a large dose of=20 cartoon buffoonery make up Bootsy’s truly odd universe.=20 As the man says, you need a Funk Express Card for this=20
SHELLAC: At Action Park (Touch and Go)
World-famous for his loathing of the CD format, Shellac=20 frontperson Steve Albini finally gives in to non-vinyl=20 freaks and grudgingly releases Action Park on disc –=20 which means that, hey, we can now buy Shellac CDs in=20 South Africa. Big deal. It’s substandard Albini fare,=20 nowhere near the feedback vinyl scratchiness of Uranus=20 (you read correctly). Even genius has its moments of=20 mediocrity, and this is one of them.
NINE INCH NAILS: Closer to God (Interscope)
NIN did have a life before the Natural Born Killers=20 soundtrack, but nobody cares any more, least of all=20 NIN’s Trent Reznor. You know what they say about=20 separating the men from the boys, the size of their=20 toys … well, there are some very big toys here.=20 Closer to God has nine cuts, most of them remix=20 workouts of the title track, and all bias aside, it’s=20 … Intense. Hard. Violent. Mindblowing.
SCORN: Evanescence (Earache)
HOW can two people make so much noise? Easy, if you’re=20 Mick Harris (ex-Napalm Death drummer) and Nick Bullen,=20 and one of your best friends happens to be Bill=20 Laswell, of Black Arc experimental ambient dub acclaim.=20 Titles such as Falling and Dreamspace suggest a certain=20 weightlessness, and in a sense you can expect just=20 that: layers of trance-ient noise, hypnotic, almost=20 sepulchral. A strong contender for album of the=20 millenium number two.
CDs available from Top CD, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Hit Parade
1 THE FALL: Cerebral Caustic (Permanent)
2 BELLY: King (4AD)
3 SLEEPER: Smart (Indolent)
4 GOD BULLIES: Kill the King=20
(Alternative Tentacles)
5 THROWING MUSES: University (4AD)
6 BLACK DOG: Spanners (Warp)
7 SABRES OF PARADISE: Haunted Dancehall (Warp)
8 SPIRITUALISED ELECTRIC MAINLINE:=20
Pure Phase (Dedicated)
9 APHEX TWIN: Classics (R&S)
10 AUTECHRE: Amber (TVT/Warp)
Based on sales at Video Plus, Berea Centre, Durban