| #534 |
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2000 |
Year 2000 In Review There were a lot of good records this year, but none really exceptional or groundbreaking. Maybe 2000 was the year of the holding pattern as various micro-genres jostled for supremacy against a overwhelming tide of Eurotrance. Still, the best of the pack are as follows – Cinematic Orchestra’s amazing debut album was matched by their continuingly beautiful remix work, most notably the awesome reworking of DJ Krust’s Re-Arrange and Faze Action’s Moving Cities. Amon Tobin’s Supermodified was a sleazy morass of dense bass notes, and Tom Tyler’s 50s sci-fi-meets-70s b-grade sounding Asleep At The Switch brought new life to the DC label. Conjoint’s second album, Earprints for Source was full of some lush vibraphones and analogue edges but managed to slip by grossly unnoticed by everyone. In the ever expanding post-rock world, the Constellation label delivered lots of treasures, especially the long awaited new Godspeed You Black Emperor album, which, despite its more traditional approach was still a great release; and the exquisitely melancholy Godspeed side project A Silver Mt Zion. Also excellent, the debut from Unagi Patrol on New York’s Carpet Bomb, and David Holmes’s Bow Down To The Exit Sign. In the more electronic leftfield, the release that towers above for the year was the compilation put together by German label Morr Music called Putting The Morr Back Into Morrisey. This was also the year of the drum’n’bass re-issue, and, on the whole, the best d&b related releases appeared in the darker end of the 2-step garage world with solid 12s from Zed Bias and DJ Zinc. The honour of most over-rated d&b release goes to Bad Company. On the local Sydney front, Infusion’s rocking mix of Purdy’s Tyrannikal, the much anticipated Deep Child debut EP, new drum’n’bass tracks from V-Tek, and Ukiyo-E’s snappy post-rock 7” were among the best in a year in which local releases continued to grow exponentially. Unfortunately despite the plethora of top demo tracks from various people there were too many local compilations that emphasised quantity over quality. Best reissues – Patrick Forge’s Alice Coltrane compilation Astral Meditations; the continuing excellence and diversity of the Soul Jazz label; and a great six-part series spotted by DJ Grimace called Psychedelic Sitar Headswirlers. Best older releases that blew up in 2000 – Buck65’s album of self-conscious, witty and quite odd hip hop album Vertex which was out on tape in 1998 I think and still sounds ultra-fresh; and Atom Heart’s fabulous covers album Pop Artificelle which was originally out on 1999. Best unsolicited thing I got in the mail – the locally made photocopy zine, Keychain Crapfanzine with the little toy soldier which was chock full of interesting interviews. Happy New Year and don’t miss the special Opera House events coming up in early January. Check www.snarl.org for details. Freaky Loops finally has a venue, too, Bondi Pavilion on March 25th . . . . Yellow Peril  Goto
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