In Print

Quick note about some things I’ve published recently in print, which means there isn’t much to link to. … (1) I have a piece in the new issue of Make magazine (vol. 02) about these keen “piggyback” audio plugs that double your mixer’s inputs (10 bucks at RadioShack). Make is a great new quarterly magazine about do-it-yourself technology. More info at makezine.com. … (2) The new issue of e|i magazine, where I’m a contributing editor, is out (issue four, spring 2005). I’ve got a fairly good-sized interview with gregarious live-improv electronic-musician Thomas Dimuzio, which includes comments from some of his collaborators: Wobbly (aka Jon Leidecker), Chris Cutler (of Henry Cow) and Mark Hosler (of Negativland, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year). I interviewed Hosler in Dimuzio’s studio while they were recording Hosler’s first ever solo album, Thigmotactic. I also have a small heap of CD reviews in the issue: Aeroc‘s Viscous Solids (Ghostly International), Daedelus‘ Of Snowdonia (Plug Research), Egg‘s Don’t Postpone Joy (Mutek), Fibla‘s Lent (Spark), Freeform‘s Wildcat (Skam), Andrey Kiritchenko‘s Bees & Honey (Zeromoon), Laminar‘s Nozzle (Asphodel), Fabrice LG‘s My 4 Stars (Kanzleramt), Lunchbox‘s Anyways (The Agriculture), Milosh‘s You Make Me Feel (Plug Research), Mindmap‘s Plochy (AFE), Mouse on Mars‘ Radical Connector (Thrill Jockey), Rapoon‘s Dream Circle (X-ZF), Martin Siewert‘s No Need to Be Lonesome (Mosz), V. / Ultra Milkmaids‘ Drone + Unease (Zeromoon) and three various-artists compilations, BBQ Beets 2 (The Agriculture), Difficult Easy Listening (Nonplace) and Station (Ai). In brief, the key picks of that litter are the BBQ Beets 2 compilation of dub-seasoned downtempo, with tracks by David Last, DJ Olive and others; two delectable hodgepodges of fragments, the Freeform and the Daedelus; and the Aeroc, a moody soundscape as scary as any horror score. The least impressive of the batch is Mouse on Mars’ Radical Connector, which trades the group’s once glistening electronica for generic industrial pop. More info at ei-mag.com. All those pieces will eventually find their way onto Disquiet.com, the Dimuzio in an extended version, once the issue of the print magazine has been out long enough to have become fish wrap.