The title track is an almost spooky exercise in synth/sequencer tension and dynamics: while eerie atmospheres of Mellotron go head to head with spiraling Moogs, dense, humming sequencer webs percolate along the surface, motile and mobile. The album's closer, "Sequent C," leaves the listener breathless, as black electronic clouds form and dissipate and the surrounding space becomes corporeal sound. PHAEDRA remains one of the seminal recordings of the electronic movement, and stands up--even years later--as an original, stunning piece of music.

Widely considered one of Tangerine Dream's masterworks, fallout from the sonic phenomenon that is PHAEDRA can still be found lingering in the ambient movement of the early '90s and in much of contemporary electronica. The aural architecture that the band built from scratch remains unparalleled. Tangerine Dream was truly ahead of its time--the four epic-length tracks on PHAEDRA revealed a band that fully understood-- and loved to manipulate--the complex array of knobs, dials, and switches that protruded from their synthesizer facades.

Tangerine Dream: Edgar Froese (guitar, organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, bass instrument); Peter Baumann (flute, electric piano, organ); Chris Franke (keyboards, Moog synthesizer).

Q (5/95, p.134) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...[a] remarkable achievement, given the then fledgling nature of synthesizer technology and the leading role therefore thrust upon the unwieldy and limited Mellotron..."


  Don't Stop CD
  by Annie
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Annie ran into some obstructions on the way to the release of her second album. Don't Stop was supposed to come out on Island well over a year before it was finally issued on Norway's Smalltown Supersound; Island had gone as far as releasing "I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me" as a single and video, as well as a cover of Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts" as a promotional single, but Annie and Island split, and Don't Stop finally surfaced with a different track list that included neither "Girlfriend" nor "Hearts." As on Anniemal, Don't Stop contains some of the catchiest, most clever dance-pop in circulation, highlighted by the fizzy "I Don't Like Your Band," one of three songs produced by Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Florence and the Machine). Nearly as ensnaring as "Chewing Gum," Annie's taunting, attitudinal wordplay is in top form, with "It's not you, it's your tunes" closely followed by a pointedly insincere-sounding "I feel bad."

The collaborations with Xenomania (five songs), Timo Kaukolampi (three), and Richard X (one) aren't as powerful. [Some copies came with a bonus disc which included "I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me" and some other material that originally leaked prior to the album's release.] ~ Andy KellmanQ (Magazine) (p.101) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The cutesy vocals on 'I Don't Like Your Band' and Loco's high gloss production are tailored for mass appeal.


  In The Hour Of Shadows And Whispers CD
  by Phil Klein
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Phil Klein is one of those rock-solid composer/producers whose greatest contribution to his own project is laying down smart keyboard riffs in all sorts of rhythmic patterns in order to showcase the sharpness of his better known compatriots. So while Klein is the ringleader for the electro-charging-meets-seductive passion palette of In the Hour of Shadows and Whispers (Positive), the true stars of the collection are Tom Coster and Marc Russo. A funky tune like "Night Stalker" opens itself up to each of these masters' strengths, a silky soprano melody with a slight improv opportunity for Russo and a spacy, in-the-pocket keyboard solo for Coster.

Klein allows Coster even more hypnotic leeway spraying the "Jungle Juice," but shows a more heartfelt side with the instrumental version of the title cut featuring Stef Burns' sweet acoustic charms. Unfortunately, Klein opts to complement this piece with a dreadful and dreary vocal counterpart which will do nothing except attract radio and divert everyone's ears from what is otherwise a highly eclectic, fun-filled affair. ~ Jonathan Widran

Personnel: Phil Klein (keyboards, bass synthesizer, drum programming); Morning & Jim Nichols (vocals); Marc Russo (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Alex Murzyn (soprano saxophone); Tom Coster (keyboards, bass synthesizer, drum programming); Rob Selznick (keyboards); Paul VanWageningen (drums); Karl Perazzo (percussion).


  It's Not Me, It's You CD
  by Lily Allen
Our Price: $14.75 CD / $9.99 MP3
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On her 2009 sophomore album, IT'S NOT ME, IT'S YOU, feisty English pop singer Lily Allen sticks with the strengths of her lauded debut, presenting a collection of songs lined with biting lyrics and catchy pop hooks. While Allen tones down the heavily accented British-isms found on ALRIGHT, STILL, she amps up both atmosphere and melody, resulting in "The Fear," a sweeping synth-pop number, and the dreamy "Who'd Have Known," both of which are enhanced by producer Greg Kurstin (The Bird and the Bee). Those concerned that Ms. Allen might be getting too refined can take comfort in the sassy (and slightly twangy) "Not Fair" and the cheerily aggressive "F**k You," tracks that reveal that, although she has matured, the cheeky vocalist isn't completely ready to play nice just yet. Though artists such as Katy Perry and Lady Gaga have circled Allen's turf, IT'S NOT ME proves that the petite performer can ably defend her territory.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.Rolling Stone (p.63) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t sounds fantastic. With producer Greg Kurstin at her side, Allen has gotten more musically eclectic, jettisoning the thumping rock-steady of ALRIGHT, STILL without sacrificing catchiness or dance-floor bounce."


  Rapper's Delight: The Best Of Sugarhill Gang CD
  by Sugarhill Gang
Our Price: $9.05 CD / $9.99 MP3
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Contrary to popular belief, the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" was not the first rap song. For much of the world, however, it represented the first exposure to the burgeoning style, consisting of stripped-down backbeats, sampled music clips, and half-spoken/half-sung rhymed vocals from performers known as MCs. And a fine introduction it was--over the eminently danceable bass line from Chic's "Good Times," rappers Wonder Mike, Master Gee, and Big Bank Hank laid down a rotating round of infectious, witty, quick-tongued raps. The hip-hop nation was born.

Rhino's best-of compilation brings together 10 additional tracks by the Sugarhill Gang, including the hits "8th Wonder" and "Apache." Like the breakthrough single, these tunes borrowed instrumental lines from popular songs and featured ebullient, call-and-response, party-minded raps, introducing a host of catch phrases and motifs that would become common currency for the next several decades.

Though the Sugarhill Gang was never as innovative as contemporaries Grandmaster Flash or Afrika Bambaataa, they nevertheless opened the floodgates to one of the most powerful and popular musical styles of the 20th century. The definitive RAPPER'S DELIGHT reads like a blueprint for the genre.


  Cross CD
  by Justice
Our Price: $11.65 CD / $9.99 MP3
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It could be said that electronic musicians have a tendency to obsess over sonic detail in a way that your average garage rock band may find hard to understand. The young Parisian duo Justice (Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay), seem, for the most part, unfettered by niceties such as sonic subtlety or restraint. Combining French-touch house with large doses of heavy-metal hedonism, the group's debut, CROSS, privileges rock's devil-may-care mid-range thrash over electro's low-frequency thump.

The album, in classic rave style, is all about colossal riffs. Whether through its swirling synth sweeps or pile-driving funk loops, CROSS has an insistent, torqued, vaguely druggy quality that's resolutely unsubtle. If the album embraced such high-octane thrills for its entire length, it would surely have overstayed its welcome. But Justice manages to pull out a corker of a pop-crossover hit with "D.A.N.C.E.," the album's first single. Instantly hummable, with its Sesame Street style sing-along chorus, the song is an ebullient, slightly nostalgic nod to '80s electro-funk. Reminiscent of another album that ignited a youth culture revolution (Daft Punk's HOMEWORK), Justice seem intent on winning a new generation over with their head-banging house music.

Justice's monster beats, massive hooks, thunderous drums, and near-religious determination to demolish dance floors cast them in a light no contemporary can catch. The group's US debut single, "Waters Of Nazareth" arrived in 2006 and solidified their sound: huge slabs of beats, brutal strings, and cathartic release. That record sets the stage for this, their debut full-length, boasting the already ubiquitous disco pop anthem "D.A.N.C.E.", which features the best English children's choir since "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2".


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