It's all sitting in a folder marked 'Unlistened Music' on my external drive. As you can see I'm working backwards, alphabetically speaking....

Utabi: Manchurian Candy (AD AAD AT) - CD released March 2004

Annoyed that I missed this when it came out on release. The way it was presented ensured it stayed in the pile, in the corner, of the room, for years. Well as it turns out, I haven't heard anything this joyous from the electronica stable in ages. Utabi's brilliantly titled 'Manchurian Candy' (....geddit?) continues Ad add at's fine tradition of nurturing 8-bit electronic pop music from far-flung corners of the world. Saccharine fuelled melodies and stop-start inflected rhythms reminiscent of Aphex at his most playful moulded over 15 different permutations. The last track ('Cassia Angustifolia') expands the scope by adding trombone, melodeon and guitar to the mix. Maximum fun.

Upland: Upland (Jester) - CD released March 2004

It's thankfully short, but this just sounds too much like Autechre to be critiqued on its own merit. There are moments where it does move into areas that the Mancunian duo haven't. But the obvious similarities are too great to ignore.

Uniform: Not a Word (Ad Noiseam) - CD released May 2003

The most interesting thing about this album is the history that lead member Wajid Yaseen has had. Hailing from the north of England (Manchester) with Asian origin's. His interest in electro and thrash led him to the industrial scene since the mid-nineties. He flirted as bass player for agit-pop ethno types Fun-Da-Mental before launching his 2nd Gen project. This resulted in several interesting records for NovaMute. Now we have Uniform.

From what I can recall of his 2nd Gen stuff, it seems to follow in a similar vein. Moody / brittle / harsh, nothing is presented naturally; diffusion, distortion and decay are viral. Difficult to say if its an album I'll revisit, the overwhelming sense of despair suggested by the musical palette nearly did me in before I'd finished it on the first listen. The track titles also give some indication as to the state of mind of the creator; 'Dying at a yes or no', 'Tick bastard tock' and 'Torn Hands' are just some of the gems. Although my personal favourite is 'You idiot, that's a girl's bike'.

I'd probably suggest you skip this and go for the Planet Mu released 'Protocol', which has vocal contributions from Lydia Lunch, Suicide's Alan Vega and Dalek.

Transparent Sounds: Emotional Amputation (Electrix) - CD released 2002

My interest in modern/retro electro really started to tail off when artists started to think they could master the art of the dance album. The most effective electro acts as a quick fix; melodies that pierce with beats that are rhythmically so rigid, you'd be physically stiff after 10 minutes. So trying to push that into the realm of the long player doesn't really work. Not totally without merit though, couple of the numbers could have made up a half-decent EP.

Tortoise: It's all around you (Thrill Jockey) - CD released 2004

On paper I'm meant to like Tortoise and I liked their first few releases. That one with the long, pretentious title and then some nifty remixes from Autechre and their nice covers and lofty intellectualism. Plus they looked arty and were American and arty. But after that it didn't work out between us, stuff released was patchy and I was bored by them and post-rock (which I renamed roast pork). Then I saw them live at Camden's Koko and it was all good again. But then the records started to sound a bit rubbish and that one on Warp wasn't good (except for the track that had the harmonica on it).

This is one is OK though.