Mark Sandman – Sandbox: The Music of Mark Sandman [2004; Hi-N-Dry]

Released five years after the death of Mark Sandman, this collection provides two CDs’ worth of unreleased music by the Morphine front-man, along with a DVD compiling video footage of his performance in that and other bands. While Morphine’s usual line-up consisted of saxophone(s), drums, and slide bass, the songs of Sandbox expand from that jazz rock base into additional instrumentation, including electric and acoustic guitars, piano, banjo, more percussives, horns, and so on, while maintaining the sly humor and dark-toned romanticism associated with the singer.

While there might be an impression of these tracks (thirty-one in all) being material that was waiting for Morphine’s next album to see release, they’re identified by the liner notes as having been pulled from the archives of recordings throughout his career, dating back to the ‘80s. As such, production on all is fully finished, but the steady sense of character clarity to the music becomes even more impressive in that light. The particulars change, but there’s no real point at which Sandman seems to be out of his element, even when singing in Spanish (”Hombre”) or doing a disco pastiche (”Deep Six”).

As a posthumous celebration of his life and work, the collection does a fine job, showing how much more quality music Sandman had created and packed away as odds and ends. Subsequent collections were apparently planned, but only one of them (At Your Service) was released before issues with Rykodisc put an indefinite hold on the emergence of any others. For fans of Morphine and Sandman’s other bands, the material on display here is sure to be a welcome cache, showing off facets of his style that went underexposed (or completely unaddressed) on their studio albums.

m1dy – Freedom [2004; PORK]

On this four-track EP, m1dy deploys his usual blend of bass-pounding, intense drum machines, yelling, and syrupy synths, though the
stand-out track, “Crane” cuts that formula down to just the synths,
making for a glittery piece that could have been cut from a fantasy
RPG’s soundtrack.

Outside of that, the loops are lacking in hookiness, making the songs feel like cast-off extras. Something for devout m1dy fans only.

Bill Laswell & Grandmixer DXT ‎– Aftermathematics Instrumental (Rhythm And Recurrence) [2004; Sub Rosa]

With collaboration extending past the two main artists to a handful of guests on song-writing, engineering, and performance, this album freely mixes the turntablism of DXT(/DST) with Laswell’s instrumental funk. Splashes of weird humor (like a scratched-up baby coo) fuse neatly with the cool beats and vaguely sci-fi song titles (e.g., “Cut Virus”, “Phase Draft”, and “Scratch Code”), resulting in an odd (though faint) air of menace over the not-quite-dub. Despite the assortment of guests, the consistency of the style holds steady through the album’s ten tracks, as the fluctuations of samples, rhythms, and mood flow along with few bumps. There’s quite a bit of character to it, though no words are sung, and it serves as a nice demonstration of capabilities for those unfamiliar with the output of either of the main artists; solid background or foreground music.

Viktor Vaughn – VV:2: Venomous Villain [2004; Insomniac, Inc.]

In the second (and, so far, final) album from MF DOOM’s side-project of Viktor Vaughn, the rapper doesn’t do much to mix up his usual style, despite bringing in several guests in production, DJ, and rap spots. The main thing distinguishing it from other releases in his catalog is the squelchy glitchiness of electronic textures added to the songs, and a tendency to ramble on without sticking to the song’s meter. As a result of sticking to his usual MO, DOOM’s low-pitched delivery tends to get overshadowed by the comparative high-energy of the guest rappers, and (whether as a result of trying to emulate a younger mind-set or not) the choruses and line hooks end up mostly unmemorable.

The samples and scratching come closest to being the album’s saving grace, but even there, it’s low-impact stuff, for the most part, with few dig-ups that really stand out. The most consistent piece of quality lies in the backing beats, making it a bit of a disappointment that the instrumentals were never released. The lack of any reissues for the album since its original release aren’t exactly surprising in light of its content’s standing, but that’s had the unfortunate effect of driving up demand for a forgettable record.

Rammstein – Benzin [2004; Universal Music]

The first of this single’s four mixes is the album version, establishing a rather limp industrial rock base spruced up by harder bass swings and vocal excitement in the chorus, while the keyboards come and go with little engagement. What follows are remixes by Meshuggah (with the bass mixed much more prominently), Ad Rock of Beastie Boys (working in hip-hop backing beats), and Apocalyptica (integrating some of their cello). Though the twists are appreciable, none of the remixers can actually salvage the song from its own dullness, and the whole affair ends up feeling like a waste of time for listeners, and a waste of effort from the contributors.