With deck chair, knotted hankie and i-Pod at the ready, Gutterbreakz is off on it's summer hols. Will be back in August.

Reading material: I found a tatty old Penguin paperback at the local summer fare for 10p; "Penguin Science Fiction", edited by Brian Aldiss, first published in 1961. A tasty selection of vintage SF short stories by the likes of Asimov, Aldiss and 'up-and-coming British author' J.G. Ballard, who's "Track 12" explores the theme of micro-sonics:

"...a curiously muffled, spongy noise, like elastic waves lapping a latex sea. The rhythms were huge and ungainly, overlaid by the deep leaden wheezing of a gigantic bellows."

Wonderful stuff. Ballard would've made a great music journalist, eh?

Listening: A selection of tunes doing the rounds here;

!!! - Dear Can
Amen Andrews - Jungle Bunny
Arthur Russel - The Platform On The Ocean
Blondie - The Tide Is High
Chris Clark - Lord Of The Dance
The Cure - Boys Don't Cry
Detroit Grand Pubahs - Tig o' Bake Fitties
Drexciya - Dehydration
Felix Da Housecat - Ready To Wear
Four Tet - Unspoken
Front 242 - W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G.
Kristuit Salu - Usually (actually)
Metal Boys - Carbone 14
Miss Nicky Trax - Acid In The House
Mr. 76ix - 2nd
The Orb - The Land Of Green Ginger
Outkast - Roses
Pan Sonic - Mutator
Plastic Man - The Music
Prefuse 73 - Perverted Undertone
Ron Trent - Altered States
Slaughter Mob - Black Hole
Suburban Knight - The Art Of Stalking
Team Shadetek - The Fax
Tortoise - DJed
Wagon Christ - Shadows

Okay, I'm off.

Love y'all,

Nick G.

RESULTS OF THE CABARET VOLTAIRE YAHOO GROUP'S ALBUM POLL

****

We're a pretty lively bunch over at the Cabs Club. I thought the results of our little poll might be worth a wider audience, especially for anyone thinking of exploring the Cab's back-catalogue or looking to plug those gaps in their collection. Thanks to Jay D for compiling the votes.

So here we go...

1. The Crackdown - 91 points

2. The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord - 78 points

3. Micro-phonies - 71 points

4. Code - 46 points

5. Red Mecca - 44 points

6. Drinking Gasoline - 43 points

7. Plasticity - 36 points

8. 2X45 - 35 points

9. International Language - 31 points

10.Eight Crepuscule Tracks - 30 points

11.Groovy, Laidback and Nasty - 27 points

12.The Voice of America - 25 points

13.The Conversation - 20 points

14.Mix-Up - 16 points

15.Drain Train/Pressure Company - 14 points

16.Body and Soul - 11 points

17.Original Sound of Sheffield 83/87 - 10 points

18.Listen Up with CV - 8 points

19.Hai - 5 points

>20.Methodology - 4 points

>20.Live at the Hacienda - 4 points

>22.Colours - 3 points

>22.Living Legends - 3 points

>22.Technology: Western Reworks - 3 points

>25.Original Sound of Sheffield 78/82 - 1 point

>25.1974-1976 - 1 point

No points for 'Live at the YMCA', 'Live at the Lyceum', 'Percussion
Force' or 'Conform to Deform'.

For anyone who's interested, my own Top 10 votes were thus:

1. THE CRACKDOWN (the first CV album I ever bought - and my
introduction to underground electronic music c. 1984. All roads
lead from here...)
2. THE COVENANT, THE SWORD...(impacted on my psyche with such brutal force - don't think I'll ever recover)
3. THE VOICE OF AMERICA (the greatest Watson-era album imho.
Paranoia never sounded as good as this)
4. PLASTICITY (the first of the 'ambient trilogy' still the best - a high-watermark of '90s IDM)
5. CODE (side 1 is PERFECTION. Can you believe those journos slagged it off at the time? wankers!)
6. 8 CREPESCULE TRAX (I've tried to avoid comps/anthologies, but
this is just too good to miss out.)
7. DRINKING GASOLINE (maxi-single? double-EP? mini-album? who
cares - 'Big Funk' rocks!)
8. MIX-UP (easy listening for the hard of hearing)
9. RED MECCA (a great album only let down by the mixing in places)
10. 2x45 (would've scored higher, but 'Get Out of My face' outstays
it's welcome)