El Senor Ciuf Ciuf

El Senor Ciuf Ciuf (Italian for a child's name for a steam train - chuff chuff) presents an intriguing proposition. The music is equal parts house music and Beach Boys style harmonies, all mixed up into a intriguing brew that brings Jamie Liddell, early Aphex Twin and the Flaming Lips in minds.

I Think I Saw A Dead Person Walking Yesterday is the best track from his debut EP, and much like Good Vibrations, it creates a series of mood-scenes, loosely connected with a common theme. It's stupendous.

You can download the entire EP, As Seen From Above released free over the intertubes by those pleasant people at 12rec.

I thought the EP was spoiled by the interminably long track The Unspeakable Chant Of A Collapsing Universe, which is nine-minutes of monotonous industrial techno-noise that sits at odds with the rest of the album. But that may be the entire point.

Bacanal Intruder

Bacanal Intruder is a Spanish gentleman by the name of Luis. He plays all of his own musical instruments - piano, melodica, harmonica, spanish guitar, double bass, anything lying around - and records the results into his computer and mashes the results up.

So much electronica released on the net is either repetitive, derivative house or a million and one ambient soundscapes, so it's refreshing and invigorating to hear such lively, imaginative, melodic music, all glitched up into a cocktail of rhythms and harmonies.

Modem is the title track from his release on Zymogen Records, and is an excellent example of his work.

You can download the following EPs:
Modem on Zymogen
Room-A-Tronic on So Soft
Herramientas Para Abrir Un Libro on Test Tube

Diane Cluck

1 of 2 guest posts from Manchester's Slow Joe

Diane Cluck - Countless Times (Important Records 2006)



Firstly, Diane Cluck's 'Countless Times'. Surprisingly, this album has been recorded in a much more low-tech manner than her debut. Her songs are phenomenally good and somehow seem to glide along that edge of doom and angst without ever being overcome by it. Comparisons are easily drawn to Nina Nastasia and Kristin Hersh's solo career, but I think this holds it's own through the quality of the songwriting and the garage atmosphere. The track I've sent is perhaps not the most reflective of the album style, but it's so gripping and strange, I can't stop playing it.

• Diane Cluck - My Teacher Died Mp3