Darkel, according to the sticker on the front of the cd, is a solo album by JB Dunckel of Internationally acclaimed electronic pop duo Air. You may remember them playing "Sexy Boy "on Top of the Pops a few years ago, with a band that included about 15 session guitarists all playing at once. Moon Safari was a big selling album, but the follow up, 10.000 hertz didn't quite make the grade.

The music here is really not a far cry from what Air where up to. Electronic drums, lush synthesized sounds and vocals saturated with FX filtered through a French accent. From the first track, the ghost of tubular bells haunts the synthesizers and the album is possessed with the sound of long dark nights

alone in the studio. There are some lighter moments, "Some Men" is a classical piano ballad. A sweet love song by a man who is exactly where he wants to be. "Beautiful Woman" is another track where love is in the air. At times the music does sound a bit like one of those new age meditation tapes with pictures of angels on but there's enough of JB's personality in each track to keep you interested. Tracks like "At the End of the Sky" and "Tv Destroy" offer opposite ends of the scale here. From easy listening piano to slow burning electro punk. Punky guitars and swirling synth solo's sit happily next to each other amonst a mix of dark, romantic, brooding, moving and incredibly sexy sounding songs.

I really hope this album continues to grow on me. (It does get better every time I hear it.)
My only real complaint is that it seems to be over too quickly. A few more instrumentals in the vein of the last track would have made this a fantastic journey indeed. It would be a real shame to see this album lost in the bargain bin as it is brimming with delightful imagery and well crafted electronica. Perfect for a winters evening, warmed by candlelight and the arms of your lover.

Review by Andy Jesse
www.darkel.info

If you’re feeling sinister … a 4th album of black-hearted nu-blues from “self-taught visionary” Guy Blakeslee – friend and tour-companion to the likes of Devendra Banhart, Cat Power and Will Oldham. Inspired in equal part by Timothy Leary, the Tibetan Book of the Dead and Delta-Blues legend Charley Patton – ‘Prayer of Death’ is creepy in its authenticity – very raw and borderline unhinged in places. He mines an unclassifiable, noisily-distorted source that could quite easily be labelled as sparse post-punk blues OR neo-folk OR doom-psych OR pretty much anything you like really. These are spooky nu-blooz mantras – not for everyone, but with enough peculiar charm to lure in fans of the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Velvet Underground. As the frequently-homeless Guy himself says: “I remind myself every night to present a glimpse of something crazy, fucked-up and real.” With ‘Prayer of Death’ he’s certainly done that.

Review by Tom Leins
www.entranceband.com

Last month I drew everyone’s attention towards Fierce Panda’s unexpected lurch into Screamo territory with the debut single of Welsh scream-teens The Blackout. Now, hot on its heels is a mini-album – the assertively-titled ‘The Blackout The Blackout The Blackout’. Again, it’s accomplished stuff – six gleaming batches of Funeral For A Friend-shaped alt.metal that are sure to raise their standing still further and shift shitloads of copies along the way. Suffice to say – I’m still slightly troubled by the Fierce Panda connection … after years as inspired hit ‘n’ miss indie tastemakers, why the sudden shift? Answers on a post-card please. This U-turn is even more surprising than the bombastic, crooned stadium-rock duet that The Blackout have recorded with Ian Watkins of LostProphets fame. Anyway, any sniff of indie-crossover potential that I imagined last time around is inaccurate – The Blackout are far

too metal for indie-kids and a little bit too boring for me. 5/10

Review by Tom Leins
www.myspace.com/theblackout