January 21–28, 1999

music

High Five

Albums we've been meaning to write about for, like, forever.

Autechre

Autechre

(Nothing/Warp)

This Manchester duo heats up cold and cool synth bleeps and melodic electronic loops with a full-on assault of spastic, manic and very digable beats.

Baby Ray

Monkeypuzzle

(Thirsty Ear)

Can't wait for the XTC album? Quench thirst for perky and quirky post-Beatles pop with Baby Ray's sweet and upbeat album Monkeypuzzle.

Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited

The Fluid Soundbox

(Mai Tai)

Stereophonic Space Sound brings instrumental surf rock into the '90s by fortifying their organ swells and twangy guitar leads with funky drum 'n' bass beats.

The Monorchid

Who Put Out The Fire?

(Touch and Go)

The Monorchid plays a distinctive blend of no-wave and emo-core. This posthumous release, lamenting the tired state of punk rock, ultimately asks "what went wrong?" in the most bittersweet and resonant way.

Various Artists

I Wanna Be Kate

(Brownstar)

Lesser known lights (the biggest name here is Syd Straw) rework Kate Bush's angelic ballads into scrappy folk songs, indie-rock tunes and jazzy hip-hop numbers. Don't be dismayed, Bush's compositions weather the changes nicely.