Lots of things have happened since we came up with the idea to make something about the ‘Americans’ just one year ago. By this time some of the artists have become rather popular. Kid 606 is releasing records on many labels all over the world these days. Phthalocyanine will do some stuff on Mike Paradinas’ label Planet µ. Matmos is working with Bjork, and Kit Clayton and Jake Mandell are now part of the family as well. So more and more, this compilation has become an interlude, a look at all the different developments in a country where musicians sometimes have nothing in common with their brothers here on the old continent. Some of them, like Casey Collier (a.k.a. Buug — he’s done about ten CDRs full of music, everything worth being released), are living in small towns far from the rest of the world- – just doing their music every day. Some, like Casey Rice (a.k.a. Designer — who’s normally mixing post-rock bands like Tortoise), are well known in the indie scene. And then there’s guys like Lesser, who used to play in a Metallica cover band. There is no typical similarity between all these artists, nor is there a typical American style to their music. It’s quite a long way from tracks like Alejandro and Underwood’s Aphex Twin remix (they’re erasing an Aphex track), to the nice pop of Lowfish. Find out what we mean when we talk about different attitudes. Artists include: Kit Clayton, Fingernail, Multicast, Electric Company, Matmos, Lesser, Electric Birds, Blink Blink, Marumari, Blitter, Kid 606, Buug, Phthalocyanine, Alejandra and Underwood, Designer, Sutekh, David Kristian, Lowfish, Slicker, Lexanculpt, Jake Mandell, Cathars, Hrvatski, Timeblind, Datach’i, Cex, Solenoid, Halo Vessel, Rook Vallade.

Sympathen (Electroversion)