Some really great albums come out today. One of my favorites gets reissued today. "Quique"  by Seefeel gets reissued today in a delux "redux" edition by Too Pure. This album was originally released in 1993 by that same label. It has been out of print for years and very hard to find. Since I sold my own copy years ago, I am very happy to see it coming back into print. I managed to resist those high prices on Ebay and hoped that it would some day be reissued.  And with a whole extra disc of bonus tracks. The reissue includes the original tracks:

Climactic Phase 3, Polyfusion, Industrious, Imperial, Plainsong, Charlotte's Mouth, Through You, Filter Dub and Signals.

and the tracks on the bonus disc are:

Clique, Is it Now?, Filter Dub (Low Pass Remix) [or Filter Dub (1-01 Mix), Come Alive (Climactic Phase #1), Time To Find Me (Alternate Desk Mix),  Charlotte's Mouth (Avant Garde Mix), My Super 20, Climactic Phase #3 (Overnight Mix) and Silent Pool.

This album came out at a pivotal time for techno and ambient music. Seefeel provided the perfect bridge for me to get into techno. I had been listening to lots of shoegaze music like Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine. This album had the feeling of those albums but also with a brand new exciting feel to it. The guitars were not as loud and the music had a soothing ambient feel to it. The vocals were not the focus and many songs were simply instrumental. The amazing "Polyfusia," a compilation of earlier eps was released the next year in 1994. Seefeel formed in 1992 in London. The band is made of of Mark Clifford, Sarah Peacock, Justin Fletcher, and Daren Seymour. After the band signed to Warp in 1994, their sound became even more electronic as the guitars disappeared.

The Discovery channel has recently been showing the nature documentary Planet Earth. I have become a bit obsessed with this show and have watched most of the episodes. For those of you who have missed it, or those without cable...the series will be released on DVD this tuesday 4/24.  This series was first broadcast on the BBC in the UK in March of last year. It was narrated by the great David Attenborough. This DVD release includes the original David Attenborough narration. For the Discovery channel U.S. broadcast the narration was replaced by Sigourney Weaver. Some nature "Attenborough" purists are very upset about this change. I think Sigourney's voice is perfect and she does a great job. This series is absolutely amazing. The shots captured will seriously take your breath away. The show is also broadcast for High Definition. In addition, the DVD will be issued as a Blu-Ray and HD DVD. It is seriously making me consider get a High Definition TV and DVD player. But even for those of us that still have the basic set up, the show is worth investing in.

These shows were the kind of shows broadcast on PBS in the 80s. My dad watched these shows quite frequently and I was often forced to watch them as well. Although, I quickly became interested in the shows as I realized how awesome they were. This was a world you could not quite see at your local zoo. It was amazing to see these environments that I would never see up close and personal. The earth we live on is so vast and interesting. The animals on it so intricately connected. But most of all, what made me obsessed with these shows, was the narration by the great David Attenborough. There is something about his voice that draws you in to the world he is describing. He often was actually there in the shots interacting with the environment and animals. In this recent series, there is no interaction. It is simply beautiful shots on land and in water with perfect narration.

One of my favorites has recently been upgraded to a special edition DVD. Nightmare on Elm Street is of course available in a great box set with all 7 films and a bonus disc.  There is a commentary on the first film and the bonus disc has some great stuff. But this release of the film is really great. The entire film has remastered picture and sound. It also includes some awesome documentaries. "Never Sleep Again" - the making of the film, "The House that Freddy Built" - documentary on New Line cinema, and "Night Terrors" - the origins of Wes Craven's nightmares. Also includes a great audio commentary with director Wes Craven, stars Heather Langenkamp and the great John Saxon, and cinematographer Jacques Haitkin. The DVD also includes alternate endings and a fun trivia game to play. This is enough extra stuff to make your purchase of this DVD totally necessary. But it also includes "InfiniFilm" interactive features.  You can watch the film normally or with pop-up prompts. The prompts allow you to access great extra bonus footage and trivia.

Nightmare on Elm Street was originally released in 1984. Wes Craven was already becoming famous for his horror movies. He already directed "The Last House on the Left," "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Swamp Thing." Nightmare one Elm Street was not  the first horror franchise series. Halloween was already well on its way with 3 movies and Friday the 13th was on to its fourth. But there was something special about Nightmare on Elm Street. The villains in Halloween and Friday the 13th were basically serial killer types basically acting out on their revenge issues against teens who had sex. However Freddy Kruger was different. But again it dealt with revenge. He was a child molester and killer burned alive by a group of parents. He had some how come back to haunt the children of those parent in their dreams. But he could actually kill them in their dreams. The kids must learn to "never sleep again" or battle Freddy in their dreams.

I'm a big fan of the reissues. So many of my favorite albums from the 80s need a good remastering. It's also always fun to rediscover your old favorites with new bonus tracks and added video content. The packaging is also usually redone and made all fancy. This last couple years has seen the reissue of the entire Depeche Mode catalogue. Last month we just got the latest two reissues,  Black Celebration and Construction Time Again. The only thing left is Ultra and Exciter. I don't think they will be reissuing Playing the Angel since it did just recently come out for the first time.

First up is Construction Time Again. This album was originally released in 1983. This was their third album, following A Broken Frame. It was always easy to remember the order of the early album because construction obviously follows something that is broken! While they had started to make an impact in the U.S., they were still not to the point of playing stadiums quite yet. This album has a slightly more industrial feel to it. It includes more samples than their albums had before. This album included some of my favorites, "More Than a Party", "Everything Counts" and "And Then..." Alan Wilder had joined the band as a full time member at this point. He even wrote the environmentally friendly song "The Landscape is Changing." He joined Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, and Andrew Fletcher. Depeche Mode were now the band they would be all the way through Songs of Faith and Devotion. All of their albums were really their own thing. And they all still hold up today. They were breakthrough at the time and are still influencing bands today.

So last week was a bit busier and next week will again be super busy. But these things come in waves. Just two albums coming out today worth talking about. I will not be wasting your time talking about the new Avril Lavigne. So I am totally impressed with this dude: it seemed like he was off taking a long break for a while, but then he put out a great new album a couple years ago, With Teeth. It kind of surprised me.

And now Nine Inch Nails is back with a new one already Year Zero.  Trent Reznor basically is NIN. He has been creating music for us for almost 20 years now.


2007 is actually the 20th anniversary of Trent's appearance in Light of Day with Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett. You might need to watch it again to catch him in a bar scene playing keyboards in "The Problems." Michael J Fox and Joan Jett are like the rock and roll bar band Carpenters as a brother and sister band called the "Barbusters." Gena Rowlands is amazing as always as their mother. Joan Jett is not only a rocker but a single mom in the movie!



Trent started his career with the brilliant album Pretty Hate Machine on TVT records, an album that basically invented a whole new type of music. It also had a huge influence on many bands. I know many people who still regard it as one of their favorites. He made industrial music that was more accessible and catchy than most. The songs actually kind of flowed and had lyrics that made sense. His albums are always dark and futuristic. This new album will for sure not upset any of his fans. Year Zero is dark, intense and brilliant.