Strategy

Albums
Bird Show
CacheFlowe
Caroline
Considerate Builders
Dday One
DJ Olive
Dub Tractor
Jimmy Edgar
Exillon
Four Tet
Guitar
Halma
Landesvatter
Don Limpio
Mariel Ito
Matinée Orchestra
Maximo Park
Mikkel Metal
Ms. John Soda
Music A.M.
Naing Naing
Nightmares On Wax
No Move. No Sound
Pillow
Ghislain Poirier
Prefuse 73
randomNumber
Rec_Overflow
Mike Shannon
.tape.
Wechsel Garland
Zucchini Drive

Compilations/Mixes
Check the Water
Futurism Ain't Shit
Idol Tryouts Two
I Love Techno
Kiki
Machine Drum
Steve Porter
Satoshie Tomiie
SRL
Quality Elect. Music

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
aitänna77
Jonas Bering
The Blow
Cepia
Clipd Beaks
DaFluke
Direwires
Drop the Lime
Florent
Honig/Packard
Infinite Scale
Midwest Product
Mufo
Office-(R)6
The Orb/Rice Twins
saidsound/Krilll.minima Scorn-Fury
Solenoid
Miles Tilmann
K F Whitman
Why?

Ms. John Soda: Notes and the Like
Morr Music

If nothing on Notes and The Like rocks quite as hard as No P. or D.'s “Go Check,” the new album is still a more than satisfying follow-up to the 2002 debut by Stefanie Böhm and Micha Acher. The duo's style hasn't radically changed—the focus is still firmly on breezy electro-pop—but the sound is instrumentally bolder, with chamber strings adding supple depth to songs like “A Million Times” and “Line by Line.” Naturally, Böhm's candy-coloured voice is the band's signature element but it's also a remarkably versatile instrument; note, for example, the contrast she so effortlessly effects between a distorted muffle and breathy whisper in “Sometimes Stop, Sometimes Go.” Throughout the album, the group reaffirms its love of New Order bass lines and sprechsang (“Scan the Ways”) while further perfecting its command of driving electro-pop (“No.One”) and poignant balladry (“Plenty Of”). Put simply, resistance is futile when dreamy hooks and Böhm's sweet vocals work their infectious magic on cuts like “A Nod On Hold,” “Hands” and the beatific “A Million Times.” Fans of Lali Puna's Scary World Theory and The Notwist's Neon Golden could legitimately regard Notes and The Like as a natural complement.

March 2006