ARTICLES
Ten Questions: Fat Jon
MUTEK 2006

ALBUMS
65daysofstatic
A Cloud Mireya
Ambarchi and Ng
Another Elec. Musician
Derek Bailey
Band Ane
Barzin
Black Gold 360
The Blow
Boduf Songs
Childs
Darc Mind
Dosh
Duopandamix
Fat Jon & Styrofoam
Liam Gillick
Shuta Hasunuma
Tim Hecker
Ilkae
Jack's Son
Richard Jäverling
Jazzkammer
Junior Boys
Last Days
Hanno Leichtmann
Luomo
Mandelbrot Set
Mountaineer
N.Phect & Dizplay
Part Timer
Karsten Pflum
Benoît Pioulard
Plus Device
+/- {Plus/Minus}
Relay
Saroos
Seht
Shedding
So Percussion
Sybarite
Trio Vopá
Marshall Watson
Weather Report
Donato Wharton
Christopher Willits
Xela

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
ESL Remixed
Four Tet
Garnier & Craig
Ginglik Saturdays
Michael Mayer
Henrik Schwarz

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Colleen
Delano and Xpansul
Detritus
Ed Devane
Eskimo
Feathers
Goldmund
Ezekiel Honig/Graphic
Ezekiel Honig
Eliot Lipp
Robert Lippok
Alejandro Lopez
Evan Marc
Porter & Carr
Sebastian Russell
Somone Else
Spaceships & Pings
SplitEP3
Simon Whetham

The Blow: Paper Television
K

Earlier this year, Audraglint and Holocene jointly issued the superb 12-inch The Love That I Crave and, though it was credited to The Blow (Jona Bechtolt and Khaela Maricich), what really recommended the release was the involvement of remixers Strategy and Caro. The Blow's Paper Television now shows the group is just as deserving of attention in the absence of others' contributions. Partners since 2004, the duo crafts seductive and eccentric electro-pop drawn from multiple traditions (soul, new wave, and doo-wop, for starters). Opening with a “My Sharona” stab, “Pile of Gold” quickly shifts gears once the group's most distinctive element, Maricich's silky smooth voice, enters. Other highlights include “Pardon Me,” whose funky synth-pop should be bleeping out a car radios everywhere as I write, and “Parantheses,” whose ‘50s skipping beats are crowned by delectable hooks and clever lyrics (“When you're holding me / We make a pair of parantheses / There's plenty space to encase whatever weird way my mind goes / I know I'll be safe in these arms”). The songs are succinct (shades of earlier eras, Paper Television's10 songs weigh in at a svelte 30-minutes) but what also sets the duo's music apart are the unexpected details and left turns, like the lovely a cappella coda that caps “Fists Up” and the marching band snares that sweeten the funky throb of “The Long List of Girls.”

November 2006