PIXIES

Wave of mutilation · 4AD

It is difficult to figure out the blow the Pixies gave to the slumbering end of the 80s. 4AD label has a clear mind in who their treasure was, and won’t miss the return of the Bostonians. This way you can understand that a band with five records, already has two recompilations, this one the last. The present one includes 23 old songs, more or less following the chronology of the Pixies to better understand their greatest hits and two Side Bs recovered. That was how suddenly the Pixies placed us in a bluff between unknownmusic and new music, to after three minutes more or less give up the feel of jumping.

BLONDE REDHEAD

Misery is a butterfly · 4AD

You’d rather be the only one to know this record. But modernity, the bogey man with a hundred traps, has placed Blonde Redhead among the best. No wonder: two Japanese art students girls, led by the renown Fugazi productions, and the straight connection with Sonic Youth and their friends The posies. Mind it... Besides, when you are going to leave the record to the modern and metrosexual convinced people of the moment, you come across good and well-known tunes of lively and careful design. And Maki’s voice can transmit emotion ... no question about it, “Misery is a Butterfly” is an essential for you too.

THE BETA BAND

Heroes to Zeros · Astralweeks

Those who were used to being dissatisfied of their work have made theirs this new production, the ones who know best the rich and chaotic universe of the The Beta Band. We all share the same reality and in the content of this aggressive and musical work they have isolated war and so on and the crooked attitude of the leaders. The “Assessment” single for example, ends Spiritualised like erupting lava with a strong guitar and loaded with metals. Betamax fans have their essential in Steve Mason’s voice, but the samplers also bear importance while sometimes looking at The Flaming Lips nook.

THE STREETS

A grand don’t come for free · Locked on

Twenty-two-year-old Mike Skinner was on everywhere in 2002. Reasons, great “Original Pirate Material”, from the special ability this youngster has to make microscopic electronic toys. The disc has been among the most interesting of the year, and the new one has not been better. It has something (“Fit but you know it” is playful the way it’s been taken to the world of Nintendo the way John Lee Hooker played Riff), but it is difficult to find in the latter something we didn’t hear in the former. “Stay opositive” was said then. Let’s go for it, and to the ability to portrait human relations.