Manitu Rossi is living somewhere in italian countryside and have no links to outer world at all. His interests are focused mainly around music and scabrous aspects of catolicism. In 1983, he decided to channel his tastes into music form and founded this strange band (the name means "Manitu Scissors"). Some of his early works can be heard on "Saliva Calda" compilation tape produced for Rosa Luxemburg Corporation label in 1990. But, as result of fundamental and appropriate difficulties between band members, "Scissors" broke up and split. The new birth of the band came about after some years, and two new members were engaged - could I say "ingenious"? Well if they still need introduction that's it. Enrico Marani is one those musicians who founded T.A.C. (Tomograffia Assiale Computerizzata), one of finest and high-rated bands if italian underground movement. Enrico produced also the best albums ever recorded by T.A.C. ("Pioggia su Carne di Cavallo", "A Circle of Limbs" and "Hypnotischer Eden"). He is also a good photographer and designed some CD covers for many italian bands. The third band member is Vittore Baroni. In the late 70s, he was known as freelance musical journalist and worked with such magazines as "Rockerilla", "Velvet", "Rumore", "Sonora", "Neural" and many other. But his main goal was mail-art so he is best known as mail-artist and takes responsibility for Italy's inclusion in worldwide underground music scene. He developed a huge music archive and had close relationship with such people as Carl Howard (audiofile Tapes) and Rodolfo Protti (Old Europa Cafe). He produced 69 issues of his own magazine "Arte Postale!", and also had very acclaimed musical/plagiarist project Lieutenent Murnau (1980-1984). His label Trax, founded in 1981, was the international mail-art tribune for 7 years. Now he continues releasing books and records under his new trademark "AAA-Edizioni", and take his part in Le Forbici Di Manitu band. So what the music they play now? After such a pompous presentation, one can wonder if it's just a soft techno-ambient tunes. But that's it, especially having in mind that Disturbance label (techno-division of Minus Habens Records) was intended to develop this kind of music. I'm afraid that I have no enough competence to make a right judgement. Four long pieces are associated with West, East, South and North - so as far as the story goes, expanding amorphous horizons and massaging your ears with gentle pulsing downtempo rhythms...
Contact: AAA-Edizioni c/o Vittore Baroni, via C. Battisti 339, 55049 Viareggio LU, Italy
or Minus Habens/Disturbance c/o Ivan Iusco, via Giustino Fortunato 8/N, 70125 Bari, Italy

Bulgaria's unique history and isolated geography has allowed the preservation of musical traditions that can be traced back to the various groups, originally from different areas of Europe and Asia, that would eventually form Bulgaria.
The first Bulgarian state was founded in 681. The country's musical culture was initially shaped by the interaction of three major etnic groups: the Slaw, the Proto-Bulgarians, and the remnants of the ancient Thracian population. In 865, came the arrival of Christianity and with it, the Byzantine chant.
From the late 14th century until 1878, Bulgaria was part of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire and for 500 years, Bulgarian musical expression was predominantly folk music. There, from the late 19th century on, there was a rapid development of national art music, mostly under German, Russian, and Czechoslovakian influence. After the socialist revolution in 1944, musical life was larger under the control of government and the political and stylistic rules of "socialistic realism" prescribed by it.
Since the pioneering efforts of Philip Koutev (who has arguably achieved the most beautiful and harmonic arrangement of Bulgarian folk music ever with "Polegnala e Toudora"), many Bulgarian composers hare used traditional music as a foundation for arrangements or as a stylistic tool-box for composition. Lacking the written tradition of Western art music, this process has given rise to a truly Bulgarian contemporary musical expression (with many parallels to the work of composers such as Charles Ives and Aaron Copeland in defining "American music").
Together with Ivan Spasov (one of the leading Bulgarian ethnomusicologists and composers), artists like Dimitar Dinev, Stefan Kanev, Anastas Naurnov, Zdravko Manolov, Stefan Moutafchiev, Peter Lyondev, Jul Levy, Petar Krournov, Nikolai Staikov and Krassimir Kyurkchiyski have honored their native traditional music by using its style and technical traits in their arrangements and cobtemporary compositions. Working with such rich tradition, the musical results are full and varied, ranging from avantgaide soundscapes ("Tapan bie") to pop and jazz-oriented rhythm explosions.
Tracing its history back to Philip Koutev's pioneering State Folk ensemble, the Bulgarian Women's Choir has become the main voice of this school of composers. Singers from all Bulgarian regions, with traditional and ethnomusicological training, plus a familiarity with Western art music, make-up the ensemble. Thus, they possess the power to combine the different timbres and techniques of traditional vocal music with the sometimes complex structures provided by arrangers and composers. Consequently, it is difficult to tell if they are a folk ensemble or a classical choir, in fact, they are more than both.
Bulgarian vocal music is traditionally performed by women - either two groups of singers ("Dragan i Slavei") or two soloists ("Jano, hubavo Jano"), sometimes alternating with each other. Singers are intimately attached to their songs; some traditional singers have memorized over 1500 songs. Also, the women of the Bulgarian Women's Choir have done their field work, collecting songs from older singers and proposing them to composers and arrangers.
Probably the most distinctive feature of Bulgarian folk music is its immense rhythmic and metrical variety, from adding to the common symmetrical meters like 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4, to irregular ones like 5/8, 7/8 ("Tapan bie"), or even 15/8 or 17/8, dance songs with changing meters being quite common. In the past, Bulgarian dance was accompanied mainly by singing, very rarely by instruments. "Tapan bie" vocally emulates the sound of the Bul- garian folk drum (tapan). In "Kalugerine", the monk beats his vocal-chord drum! The lively irregular rhythms of these songs are usually synchronous with the dance steps - easy to perform for dancers who sing themselves ("Ozdole Ide devoitche").
There is also a great variety in scales. Diatonic scales predominate, but some Bulgarian regions (Rhodope mountains) also feature pentatonic and chromatic scales with augmented intervals (reminiscent of ancient Greek and Thracian music). Also, intonation is variant ( "Jano, hubave Jano"), unlike modern Western "keyboard-style" temperament. For example, depending on whether the melody moves up or down, an interval can augment or decrease by a quarter tone.
In essence, there is no one "Bulgarian" folk music since musicial styles differ widely from one region to the other. The Thrace influence is found in the beautiful slow songs, sung with very resonant voices ("Jano, hubavo Jano"), as opposed to the metallic Bulgarian vocal timbre which is based on pure chest and throat resonance. Such "banquet" songs ("Thi vjater vee"), performed by a soloist with vocal or instrumental accompaniments, are slow and mournful. "Kalimanko Denko" is as beautiful as it is sad, a love song in its deepest sense. In sometimes epic dimensions (with more than 500 verses), these songs tell of past heroes, myths and legends, and loved ones who have passed away. They possess a highly improvisational quality, expressed by riched harmonics ( "Sestro Dobriano") and free rhythm. In "Mechmetio", Ivan Spasow departs from this base by using contemporary aleatoric technique and physically distributing the singers to create a breathtaking, largescale soundscape.
The Pirin and west-central Bulgarian regions have their distinct styles of diaphonic (two-voiced) singing, mainly based on drones (similar to the ison in ancient Byzantine chant ("Jano, hubavo Jano" and "Tri biulbiuia Pejat"). Also west- central Bulgarian singing uses parallel seconds (like the early medieval polyphony of Western Europe). Kyurkchiyski, by using and developing these elements in "Pilentze pee", produces an astonishingly modernistic sound.
Now, perhaps for the first time, Bulgaria has the opportunity (and the challenge) to develop a genuine music culture. After the long cultural, political, and musical journey Bulgaria has gone through, the moment has arrived for a self-conscious and open-minded dialogue with other cultures and peoples. The Bulgarian Women's Choir is one part of that dialogue...you can be the other.

- Vladimir lvanoff, November 1993
Contact: Jaro Medien GmbH, Bismarkstr. 83, 28203 Bremen, Germany

The history of this band goes back into past, when the words "KGB" and "antisovetic propaganda" still had the power which is lost nowadays. The opposition of authoritarian regime and dissidents were at the cornerstone of art, and LPM was at the top of the developments. It was formed in Lwow (Western Ukaraine) in early eighties by Vladimir Surmach, Maxim Vasilenko and Alexei Lugin. There also was many other people involved - you can see full background story on their website. But despite of the illegal status and living on the underground edge through many years, all early recordings were carefully preserved and lately reissued on CDs. This new album was entirely recorded during 2000-2001 with the help of russian, ukrainian, polish and danish musicians. Highly acclaimed polish label Obuh Records is known for widespread and quality taste, it promotes all types of music from folk to avantgarde. All Obuh releases have great artwork and remarkable design - out of standard but holding an irresistible sign of ephemeral beauty. This one is no exception - an informative booklet includes the detailed information about tracks and authors. "Le Plastique Mystification" is derived from a method for the transformation of cultural, scientific, philosophical, historical material, human knowledge and human experiences of present times, times which modern philosophers and art critics have named the postmodern period, in subjective and eclectic forms which allow us to qualify related phenomena in accordance of the level of our consciousness, and use them when process of collection experience is complete. LPM musicians have searching spiritual support in various religions, russian theosophic heritage, humanistic values, ecology, futurism, art of pre-rafaelites and many other sources - so you can expect for more than simply one more ideology-based propaganda. The music itself is very strange though - everything is slow and drenched in melancholy. Sometimes painful and ponderous, music is inflated by jazzy turns, waltzing lullabies, shivering and whispering voices, a sort of romantic overtones somewhere deep in your mind. But every time it will return you to the sad and desperate place. The variety of acoustic instruments has its proper influence, adding some profound elegancy, the living feeling, the expansion of perception bounds. Simultaneously with this album, Obuh Records released solo album by Maria Zakharova, female ukrainian poet, which voice you can hear also in LPM songs.
Contact: Obuh Records c/o Wojcek Czern, P.O.Box 338, 20-950, Lublin 1, Poland
or Le Plastique Mystification c/o Vladimir Surmach или Kundalini Studio

Romantic can be explained as the specific state of soul, when the ordinary things turns to be beautiful. "Corrumpate" calls to the most obscure and perverse sides of consciousness, to destructive and dirty thoughts, rebuild the system of values and places the obscene things on the pedestal of excellence. From your own insanity to the total climax of modern society, it will lead the spirit to highest point of sacramental loneliness simultaneously. 15 compositions of ambient noise layers, voices, street musicians echoes, old cinema fragments - all drowned in the debris of overwhelming electronic waste. Like the old song from the broken vinyl record of your long passed youth.
Contact: Pure/RRRecords, 151 Paige, Lowell MA 01852, USA

Water always had a special point of interests for the composer of all sorts. Think "En Attendant Cousteau" by Jean-Michel Jarre or "Hydrophonies" by Asmus Tietchens, or what can be more close to you. Scott Gibbons is active from time immemorial, with his long running one-man project Lilith. Four remarkable albums was released in the time lapse of recent 10 years, all dedicated to acoustic phenomena exploration. The first one ("Stone", Sub Rosa 1992) uses rolling stones as a source for triggering emotions, the more recent "Redwing" (Sub Rosa 1995) was created from air and filled with thrilling atmosphere by thick sub-bass drone. The title of "Imagined Compositions for Water" speaks for itself and represents the main idea of composer - to produce unusual sound effects and constructions without synthesizers and computer processing. The original recordings taken directly from natural surrounding (rivers, ocean, waterfalls) and was treated only by analogue/digital filters. The other methods are derived from pre-digital era of recording technology (speedback and direction variation, mixing, looping, continuous overdubbing etc.). The working material was originally recorded on Ars Electronica festival (Austria, 1997) and during the concerts at Comandini Theatre (Italy, 1998). But who knows how many days of travelling, pursuit, field recording, sampling was gone before something appeared to be completed? The hard work is all about the hidden potential of inorganic nature life. All tracks have a detailed descriptions, and I was wondered if someone else is able to get such an impressive outcome with the improvised means. The overall feeling is very dynamic but strict - it can be even frightening. It's like the stark techno track, frozen in water which become ice. The microstructure of sound seems to be composed from thousends compressed particles. No single element appears at foreground, but the combination of them all amplifies every second of expanded time. In fact, this excursion into the synthetic world is the best metaphor for the imagination energy - the coldness of underwater stones, impetuous force of sea-current or the sunlight reflected from the smooth surface of splashing water. All these things have their own sound equivalent.
Contact: Disques Hushush Inc. or Lilith c/o Scott Gibbons, 320 S.Leitch Ave, La Grange IL60525, USA

Little Fyodor is that one of the strangest musicians whose names came across my life not once or twice, but I never had a chance to listen to the music they play. Apparently, they became a kind of myth, so there's no wonder that I often get surprised when this long awaited rendez-vous occurs. So where are the proper words to describe this eccentric, vigorous, friendly furious, impetuous showman - I believe he was hailed from the generation of american "free art" successors. The mental clown? The sad comedian? The provocative thinker/songwriter, aesthete and poet... the words that means so few. By the way, he admires the literary talent of our great countryman Dostoyevsky - so much that he indebted to him his name. Fyodor is active since the early 80s, he was (and still does) making semi-monthly program on KGNU, community radio from Boulder (Colorado): "Under The Floorboards". It's devoted to the avantgarde music and antisocial sentiments, how he use to say. Then he was a part of mysterious experimental band Wall Of Genius, released over 30 tapes during the relatively short period 1983-1986. Did you heard any of them? After the band breakup, Fyodor continued with music and recorded one single "Slither" and two albums - "Beneath The Uber-Putz" and "Idiots Are Closer To God" (vinyl LPs, now also available on CDR format). The new CD is, well, a little outdated, because it was released 1994 with the kind help and courtesy of musicians from The Apples, independently, but that's it! I'd like to imagine that Fyodor lived in USSR for a 30 years ago - then he will be obviously the favourite of students and marginal intellectuals. But he is American and lives in Denver, together with his old mad female assistent known as Babushka (grandmother in Russian). The idiotic image is the best thing one can recall to express the personal frustration and sarcastic view of life which make a sense in his songs. You can see Fyodor as the bad-taste parodist of rock stars, or the perverse love-story character (the rumours says, that Fyodor met Babushka on The Haters concert). Fyodor's voice is damn pretty natural, he also plays guitar and get some support with another instruments played by Babushka - bass, drums and keyboard. Nothing breathtaking here, but yet a good case to rack your brains over.
Contact: Little Fyodor, 3277 Raleigh St., Denver, CO 80212, USA

Well I always considered our planet as only real noise universe. Francisco Lopez is working in the field of environmental music since early 80s, and his works are ranging from shear radical anti-structural noise of various small life forms to ultra minimal broad-band noise often reduced to silence. "Belle Confusion 969" was recorded at various locations like forests of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Costa Rica and featuring one long track of evolving noisescapes. Extreme amplitudes followed by extreme velocities, sounds dissolving and gathering together like worms. "Untitled #89" is next part of ongoing series of untitled albums, started from "silent" Drone Records EP. This one is more atmospheric, and starts after 1.5 minute pause. Very minimal, but intense "natural" noise, evolving from silence to peak and then back from peak to silence. This work have strong hypnotic quality - if you're able to listen carefully and attentively, you'll find yourself in the state of flux. Currently Lopez is very prolific composer - watch for his new works released via Staalplaat and Linea Alternativa.
Contacts: Sonoris, 28, rue du Parlement Ste-Catherine, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
Or, 13 Osward Road London SW17 7SS, UK
Francisco Lopez, Apartado 2542, 28080 Madrid, Spain

Former members of Le Tetines Noires with their debut CD, released with the help of Paul Kendall who has also produced some bands from Mute Records catalogue. Well, the music is more electronic/experimental than their previous project, it's freaky and funny, but sounds too much like french version of Nine Inch Nails to me. Of course, noone should miss the outstanding design of CD in transparent jewelcase, the sound engineering is brilliant, the songs are rapidly moving, the rhythms are pumping out... Maybe people who appreciate french rock will be definitely satisfied with this CD, but I can recommend this album only if you are curious what's going on in the french alternative rock scene.
Contacts: Naive, 9 rue Victor Massй, 75009 Paris, France
or LT.NO web page