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Dinner Is Ruined Elevator Music For Non-Claustrophobic People (Sonic Unyon) Dinner Is Ruined head chef Dale Morningstar moves a little further out there with each album, beginning with 1993's Love Songs From the Lubritorium through '94's Wormpickers Brawl up to this debut for the Sonic Unyon team. Here the world catches up with Morningstar's free-associative (and mostly instrumental) compositions for tape, banjo and whatever else is lying around, while the man himself keeps time with the beatscapes of the day. 7.5/10 (Chris Yurkiw) Jean Derome Je me souviens: Hommage à Georges Perec (Ambiances Magnétiques) Taking inspiration from the musical references that lace French gamesmith Georges Perec's book Je me souviens, musique actuelle heavyweight Jean Derome sets aside improv for a lovingly researched tribute to a pastiche of styles popular in France during the '50s and '60s. Derome satisfies his short attention span by tearing through nods to Boris Vian, Yma Sumac, Jacques Tati and the Ink Spots. We get the satisfaction of hearing a human sampler. 8/10 (Chris Yurkiw) Guh Flog (Unmanageable) Well-grounded left-brain jazz from these troublesome Torontonians. The fluctuating membership of Guh mirrors the schizoid diversity of reference points on this disc. Moody, meaty and at times even menacing, Guh hopscotch from delicate march ("Prelude") to hellbent cacophony ("Mental Mantle"). Bonus points for the unprecedented move of making the bagpipe bearable. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) Barbara Manning 1212 (Matador)
S.F.'s Barbara Manning is portrayed as the one in the wings before your Liz Phairs, Jales and Lisa Germanos stormed the stage in '93, but in '97 she simply sounds surpassed by her confessional femme peers. Sure, there's a nice surf 'n' turf subtext brought by the Giant Sand rhythm section, some tasteful arrangements (trumpet, cello, Moog), and record-collector covers (Richard Thompson, Tom Lehrer, Neu!), but this is nothing we haven't heard too much of--before Manning finally decides to write some songs at album's end. 6.5/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
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