After some delightfully soothing and majestic electro from the last episode, again we descend into a pit of noise. Some good stuff this week though.

I have heard of Ghislain Portier for a little bit now and heard a few tracks from here and there. When I saw a new release on Ninja Tune, I had to get it. He combines some crazy rhythms and kicks, as heard on this tracks stuttering kick drum and layers some interesting gossamer wispiness on top of it. The CD bears repeated listening.

Whitelodge is from my neck of the woods. I was raised along the Northwest Florida beaches and these guys are from Panama City at the other end of the Redneck Riviera from my hometown of Pensacola. I have played clubs in this area for a long time. So often the experimental edge of music in this area leans toward the more hardcore and metal influenced weirdness (guilty as charged), with a bulk of music in the area being rather pedestrian "modern rock," whatever that means at the moment. It is great to hear a band from this area that makes such a successful foray into the world of more inspired noise. Twilight Vision is an excellent CD (I got mine from emusic) and has inspired me to start looking for their older releases on BetaLactam Ring.

Belong is an excellent guitar based ambent band originally from New Orleans. I played a couple of tracks from their first full length October Language and I really loved what they were doing. This new piece of vinyl (also available as a download from Other Music) is a collection of covers, sort of. This particular track is Syd Barrett's "Late Night" which I played before in the form of This Mortal Coil's version back in my bootleg days. But like the other tracks on the Colorloss Record, it is gutted to a outline almost, with a suggestion of the vocals barely audible. Very hallucinatory. There is another full length on the horizon I await with great anticipation.

I have been playing Chessie since the early days of the show, at first without permission and then early on in the cleared shows. I have been looking forward to this new release for quite some time. A little less ethreal than some of the early releases, it has a lot of energy and sounds great. I received enthusiastic replys from both of the members of the band when I asked for permission and am glad to be playing them for you again.

Steven Smith is the multiinstrumentalist behind Hala Strana and many other projects. This heavy slab of vinyl is an example of why I love a great vinyl release: excellent music with an ornate and artistic package. The tracks have a nice cross between drone and old school European melodies, as most of the releases by Steven Smith. This release is about to have a release on CD, so it should be more readily available.

Mirag is another project of the ultraprolific Matthen Bower, who I have played in both his Skullflower and Sunroof! projects. This two track CD is released on the Battlecruiser sublabel of New Zealand's legendary Celerate Psi Phenomenon label. Battlecruiser releases more metal oriented ambient projects which means Temple is a perfect fit for the label. Heavy, but mixed so distant that instead of bludgeoning it forms a tapestry of for the listener to get lost in. It reminds me of some Nadja releases and other Battlecruiser releases like Campbell Kneale's Black Boned Angel.

When I see a Latitudes release, I get it. Latitudes is a series of releases on the Southern Record labels where they give a variety of bands soe studio time and free reign. This release is by Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses, an underground band from London. Supposedly they have a cracking live show and this CD gives glimpses of it. Hopefully soon a tour will bring them side of the Atlantic.

Sightings is a Brooklyn band on the always reliable Load records. They are known for their underground noise that has mutated into a sort of post No Wave sound. Through the Panama is an amazing CD with a great sense of structure and arrangement that was missing when they were just brutally loud.

What more can be said about Acid Mothers Temple that hasn't already been said? Japanese masters of hippie noise, monstrously prolific and all over the map. Brazilian label Essence has rereleased two classic AMT albums and this particular track kicks off 41st Century Splendid Man Returns. Psychedelic guitars, washes of noise, everything that makes AMT the legends they are.

Listener Dan from Berkeley sent me some lovely music recently, and in the package was a 10" by the band Slicing Grandpa. I had seen a mini review of the 10" on Tiny Mix Tapes, but never heard it. Working in short bursts of sound, they have a tight complex pallette of noises. The band has sent a couple of their seven inches my way, so look forward to more releases from these guys.

Aan is a collaboration between two Finnish musicians with resumes that include Uton and Vapaa. This is an amazing collaboration with a CD-R and a collection of photos that makes for great listening. It is on another label that is almost always reliable, PseudoArcana from New Zealand.

Thanks for listening and feedback.