Eleh / Pauline Oliveros: The Beauty Of The Steel Skeleton / Drifting Depths (Important Records) - LP originally released 2008

Discovered the works of Eleh through Jon Wozencroft; graphic design supremo, one half of Touch and currently Senior Tutor in Art and Design at the Royal College of Art. I attended one of his 'Sound seminars' one night; a darkened room with the lights out. Students sitting on chairs in a disorganised fashion. Jon playing records on a loud system punctuated by brief verbal anecdotes.

Oozing vinyl fetishism (heavyweight pressings, drop dead gorgeous artwork, limited numbered editions) means that getting hold of the actual records is a total bitch. It's as if the label print up severely reduced amounts so that the lucky few can boast about or eBay them. This was the first thing I managed to get hold of and its a split 12" with drone-queen Pauline Oliveros. Her contribution sounds jagged and manevolent; like Sunn O))) in suspended animation. But Eleh's slow tonal drift will do funny things to the enclosed space that you inhabit and piss off your neighbours simultaneously.

If you've not got the appropriate playback device and attention span, don't even bother.

Kim Cascone: Anti-Musical Celestial Forces (Storung) - CD originally released November 2009

Stunning release from Kim Cascone; an early pioneer in computer music and microsound. A single thirty-minute montage of spoken word narrative, DSP, radio interference and field recordings. Narratively engaging with some incredible sonic detail; the closing phases introduce middle eastern atmosphere to wonderful effect.

Unlike me to talk about anything thats upcoming, but excited that the Mancunian masters of machine code manipulaton (I know yr impressed) are about to release their tenth (count 'em) album for Warp. Entitled 'Oversteps', initial listens give me the impression that they've focussed more on rhythms that humans can follow. 'Accessible' is too easy a word, but the influence of hip-hop is ever more evident. I'll have an in-depth (as opposed to half-assed) review quite soon.

More information about the album (as well as the stunning artwork from the supposedly defunct The Designers Republic) and an upcoming tour can be seen at http://www.autechre.ws

Various Artists: 5 Years of Hyperdub (Hyperdub) - CD originally released November 2009

Hyperdub have always peddled a more sophisticated, intelligent strain of bass music. But that doesn't mean you have get over analytical though. On the contrary, this is 32 creative variations on how low-end theory can enrich your life. Cherry picking tracks for singular praise seems unfair but I'm gonna do it anyway.

King Midas Sound's (aka The Bug and Roger Robinson) low swagger opener is confident and brash, Flying Lotus goes back to bass-ics with a nice pair of 'Disco Balls'. Burial's contribution is comforting as ever and the fantastic 'Tarantula' by Zomby is a cheeky homage to LFO (best track on this compilation too). On disc two, Burial's two cuts sound nostalgic and even more melancholic with age. Zomby sounds like he's extracting futurist pop from a PS3, while Joker's 'Digidesign' is nothing short of astonishing.

That's not to say the rest is filler, I just didn't give it that all important second glance.

DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek: Solar Life Raft (theAgriculture) - CD originally released November 2009

Hella fun release from the doyens of outernational crate digging. A scattershot blend of dubstep, dub, dancehall and musique concrete (courtesy of Luc Ferrari). It's a geographically unrestrictive mix of 22 tracks over 55 minutes. For me the vocal tracks are the real stars; Pulshar's uncanny Scritti Politti impression on 'Mr Money Man' is my highlight. But the oddball vocal tics of Caroline Bergvall and the excellent distorto sleng-teng of Jahdan Blakkamoore come a close second. Like anything DJ /Rupture touches it's unexpected, thrilling and eclectic. Heck, you might even find yourself moving rhythmically to it!

Bruce Gilbert: Oblivio Agitatum (Editions Mego) - CD originally released October 2009

Post-punk heads will recognise Gilbert as being a former member of Wire, one of the most revered and seminal acts of the genre. Only recently appreciated their early work when I was given re-issues of their first three albums on heavyweight vinyl. At which point I had fun endlessly picking out which bits had been ripped off by indie bands. This isn't indie in the slightest, but instead continues his excellent solo work into exploratory electronics. Just think of every adjective to describe 'tense' and you'll be halfway there. A constant din of drone that continually morphs from the mechanical to the organic, containing textures that sound both alien and human. Manevolent music.

Managed to get my act together and deliver another podcast. I initially wanted to do a more house-inspired mix just based on things I'd picked up over the holiday period. But that soon went out of the window as a whole bunch of non house tracks soom demanded my attention. So there's a bit of weirdness / experimental stuff going on in the middle bookended by some house and techno.

You can get the tracklisting here.

Download the podcast: failcast009_160110.mp3
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Subscribe to the feed via iTunes / Podcast program: http://www.failme.net/failcast/index.xml.

You can also stream the podcast straight off this page via SoundCloud:

Cindytalk: The Crackle of My Soul (Editions Mego) - CD originally released November 2009

Having recently endured the cinematic version of Cormac McCarthy's celebrated novel 'The Road' only a few nights ago. I can safely say that this uncontrollably bleak work from Scottish punk-rockers turned noise merchants Cindytalk would easily sit alongside Nick Cave's sparse soundtrack. In their lengthy history they've had close connections to the Cocteau Twins and on certain tracks you can totally hear the association; as if Liz Fraser was trying to battle computer detritus with piercing vocals. The jarring jolt from icy ambience to gentle piano to spoken word doesn't always work and whilst I cant profess to seeing myself returning to this album much. Their next few releases for Editions Mego should yield ever more creative exercises in isolation.

Russell Haswell: Wild Tracks (Editions Mego) - CD originally released June 2009

Taking a break from massacring speakers (try to sit through either of the 'Live Salvage' albums and tell me it didn't hurt), computer / noise musician Ruswell Haswell changes tack and delivers an album of field recordings. Sourced from his local area of Suffolk as well as Jamaica, it's a mixture of what sounded like a perfect English Summer and intrusive army manouveres.

The track titles are great: 'A Horde Of Flies Feast On A Rotting Pheasant Carcass (Extract)' should be doom metal whilst 'Exceptionally Loud Propane Gas Cannon Bird Scarer' is exactly that. My favourite by far is 'Jamaican Blowhole'. Sonically the most exciting track is 'Helicopter Trip (Edit)'....play loud for instant fun!

Easily the best CD packaging I've seen in a long time as well; encased in a Kidzbox (go and Google it), complete with fold-out A2 poster with colour pictures and recording notes. In some alternate reality, this would have been the standard packaging on all CD's.

Tu M': Monochromes Vol.1 (Line) - CD originally released June 2009

It was on their 2004 release for the Irish-label Fallt, the curiously titled 'Pop Involved [Ver 3.0]' that I discovered the joyous works of Rossano Polidoro and Emiliano Romanelli aka Tu M' (named after the painting by Marcel Duchamp, but you knew that). Occupying the same sonic space as William Basinski; this is intense, processed work that possesses an off-world beauty. Controlled use of decay and difussion results in four tracks of contemporary ambient music; from slow burn drone pieces to ghostly orchestration and looped guitar. An overwhelmingly emotional experience.

MFP: MFP (Non Standard Productions) - CD originally released November 2006

Blending enclosed space field recordings with pure synthesis, MFP aka Berliner Tobias Freund has fashioned an incredibly engaging work of experimental techno. It's the friction between the grainy acoustics of real life sounds against the clinical sheen of abstract electronics that provides the sonic pleasure. Exploration of tone and texture at both ends of the frequency spectrum might prove to be a bit dry for some, but I found it endlessly intriguing.

And whilst we're at it, everything that Non Standard Productions (the label Tobias runs with Max Loderbauer) have released has been worthy of merit / attention. From the outer-space isolation of nsi. to the reductive drum machine excursions of Odd Machine - a project collaborative with the likes of Ricardo Villalobos and Atom Heart.

Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto with Ensemble Modern: utp_ (Raster Noton) - CD / DVD originally released May 2009

A stunning release that easily trounces 2006's previous meeting on 'Insen'. This time they've roped in Ensemble Modern, hailing from Frankfurt; a group of 19 soloists with international origins. Working to interpret the exacting and detailed musics of both lead collaborators must have been a challenge (the extra's on the DVD provide a fascinating insight) but it results in expansive and immersive music. Minimalist string arrangements and Sakamoto's abstract piano work do battle against Nicolai's Macbook supremacy. The live performance on the DVD goes one further and introduces a remarkable visual translation of pattern / colour / movement to each piece. My favourite album of 2009.

Earth: Legacy of Dissolution (Southern Lord) - LP originally released March 2005

The beautiful artwork, heavy pressing and list of intriguing remixers meant that this is the only Earth record I actually own. Overdosed on this sort of stuff during the past year and I'm rarely returning to likes of Earth tribute band Sunn O))) (despite the excellent 'Monoliths and Dimensions' released in 2009). But this remix album has had trouble leaving my turntable since its release in 2005....

Jim O'Rourke's (ex-Sonic Youth) remix of 'Thrones and Dominions' extends the drone-like qualities of the original over 16 slow minutes, underpinning the guitar work with mid-range tones. Russell Haswell creates noise from pitching down the guitar. But Autechre's astonishing remix is surprisingly straight; more Sabbath than Sabbath, who'd have thought Metal ran through their network.

Autechre: Quaristice (Warp) - LP originally released March 2008

Autechre totally hit the nail on the head when they said it'll take a while to get to grips with any new work of theirs. I'm still gleefully dissecting 2005's 'Untilted' in my own perverse way. So almost 21 months after the release of 'Quaristice', I can just about muster up some pretty ineffectual thoughts. Twenty efficient ideas spread over 73 minutes, it seems immediate and strangely accessible. And just when I thought I'd nailed the narrative, they decide to release alternative takes. The download-only 'Quaristice Versions' ever-so-subtly tweaks everything, whilst the 'Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae' takes a more extreme approach and jettisons the whole thing to some alternate weightless universe. Hopefully they wont release anything until 2020, if only to let me play catch up.