CANED & ABLE
Smoke…
MD631
Malicious Damage 2008
11 Tracks. 47mins22secs

Caned & Able is the multi-faceted project of Patrick ‘Trickster’ Bird and Martyn Savigar, with additional contribution from drummer Chris Bell and former Siouxsie & The Banshees guitarist John Klein, who once shared stage space as part of eighties glam goth punk band Specimen, and singer Anna Jacyszyn, and the attentive listener will also spot John Peel, Marc Bolan and Billie Holliday visiting from beyond the grave.

Smoke…, released on Malicious Damage, is a vastly eclectic collection which establishes unlikely bridges between densely layered trip hop, psychedelic pop, hypnotic ambient, dub and indie rock. As soon as one begins to feel comfortable in a particular setting, the pair swiftly change pace and direction to establish an entirely different décor, starting all over again and again. Continue Reading »

BEATUNDERCONTROL
Cosmic Repackage
MD632
Malicious Damage 2008
09 Tracks. 49mins56secs

Swedish bassist Ulf Ivarrson has, in the thirty years he has been around, taken a variety of musical paths which have led him from punk to rock, pop, techno and dub. He first appeared on the music scene in 1981, aged just fifteen, with Swedish outfit The Quiet, where he met drummer Christer Björklund, with whom he has since played very regularly. After leaving the band in 1983, he went on to play with a variety of formations, including rock band Sky High, in 1991, and Swedish world music group Hedningarna, in 1996, before setting up his own project, Beatundercontrol, with which he went on to experiment with electronic instrumental music, combining it with elements of dub, jazz and ethnic music. Ivarrson released his first album as Beatundercontrol, The Introduction, in 2003.

While Ivarrson hasn’t remained inactive since, it is only now, five years on from his first output, that he returns, this time on British imprint Malicious Damage, with Cosmic Repackage. Continue Reading »