BROTHER EGG: Billy Bartyıs Brains EP (Jalopy Grotto) Mom says: ³That one has real singing on it. Thatıs refreshing.²

CLUB 8: Missing You: the remixes (March) ³I really like this one. It seems like it should be cheesey because itıs really overly poppy, but not too saccarine. At first all you hear is the rhythm and words, but the rest is nice too.²

EMPEROR PENGUIN: Extreme Gaming (My Pal God) [a song starts with a sample that says, ³Can you imagine where youıll be in the year 2000²] Mom says: Iım trying to imagine where Iıll be. The year 2000 is kind of let down, like turning 21. Itıs still the same. Today is the Chinese New Year [2/4/00] I like this, Itıs actually musical and you can understand the lyrics--well theyıre not really lyrics though.²

MICHAEL FAKESCH: Marion (Musik Aus Strom) Mom says: ³Sounds like creaking springs on an old bed, but a little melodic.²

FRENCH PADDLEBOAT: Conversions in Metric (Scratch) Mom says: ³Definitely rhythmic. If you like rhythm youıll like this one, but Iım not a big rhythm person. It just makes me nervous.² ISAN: Salamander (Morr Music) Mom says: ³It has nice bass, kind of repetitive, and a little on the boring side. Too subtle maybe. Subliminal music.²

ISAN: Salamander (Morr Music) ³It has nice bass, kind of repetitive, and a little on the boring side. Too subtle maybe. Subliminal music.²

JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER: Fig. 5 (Road Cone) Mom says: ³Sounds like when the subway breaks down, echoey and subterranean.²

THE MAKE UP: Save Yourself (K) Mom says: ³Interesting. I like the instrumental parts, but his voice isnıt quite in sync. Itıs hard to label, but it sounds like he canıt quite grasp the singing.²

MENıS RECOVERY PROJECT: Bolides Over Basra (Load) Mom says: ³This is more in the category of noise. Okay... I donıt get it.²

BARBARA MORGENSTERN: Fan No 1 12² (Monika) Mom says: ³Itıs cheerful, wake-up music, mostly all I hear is the beat. It sounds like a rapping R2-D2.²

MOUSE ON MARS: Niun Niggung (Thrill Jockey) Mom says: ³This is the most melodic thing youıve played for me so far. But then thereıs that distortion that comes in, but itıs a nice distortion, not a weird one. Now the melody disappeared and it sounds sort of ska or something. It sure changes a lot. I wonder if a lot of this electronic music has a time signature. It has all the normal elements of music, but itıs all distorted and put together in a new way. Theyıre name fits because you canıt quite imagine a mouse being on Mars.

OCTANT: Shock-No-Par (UP) Mom says: ³Interesting. I was just thinking about how we saw Back to the Future the other night, where Michael J. Fox is playing guitar at the prom. He starts playing all these Chuck Berry riffs with all the distortion and getting crazy and everyone just stops and looks up at him. So he says, ³I guess you guys arenıt ready for this, but your kids are going to love it.² Thatıs how I feel. Iım not sure I get it, but it has lyrics right?²

PLONE: For Beginner Piano: (Matador/Warp) Mom says: ³Sounds like Japanese organ music. Is it Japanese?²

SACK & BLUMM: s/t (Tom) Mom says: ³Itıs like youıre standing outside in nature when you can see the stars. Very peaceful, out there in the stratosphere.²

NOBUKAZU TAKEMURA: Scope (Thrill Jockey) Mom says: ³Iıd have to listen to this some more to decide if I like it.²

• • • • •

ISAN'S REPLY to MOM's REVIEW:
please let your mum know that despite the fact that she thinks we're boring and she likes Mouse on Mars better than us, we bear her no ill will :-)
best,
robin isan

MOM'S REPLY:
I was so tickled to see that they actually read my review but then I felt terrible that I may have dissed them in a public forum. You know that you only play a very small sample of one of their tracks for me and I have to make my comment on that one little exposure. Maybe I should get copies of entire CDs and listen to them over a longer period of time!! Anyway I do appreciate that they don't hold it against me. Lovely chaps. (Dad says I can't worry about that and have to keep my professional objectivity.)
Love,
Mom
p.s. (I think it's cool that Mouse on Mars initials spell MOM)

E*ROCK's REPLY to MOM:
Yeah, right, like I'm going to let you borrow my favorite ISAN CDs for a month! Anyway, that would ruin the point of Mom's Reviews: that is hearing a song without any knowlege of what it is, what the artwork looks like, and getting a pure reaction from an "outsider" of what the music sounds like on a quick first impression. ...plus Mom is the person who used to say "turn down that racket! it's not even music, just a bunch of noise..."