60 Watt Shaman/Spirit Caravan, "Darkness and Longing."   60 Watt Shaman and Spirit Caravan come oozing out of a nasty clogged drain pipe to bring us their version of doom and gloom like the masters themselves, Black Sabbath. They are not exactly like Sabbath, but not unlike them, either; just another arterial connection that feeds into their forefathers' black highway to cranial torment. Spirit Caravan bring us the vita-mix of Sabbath and Soundgarden and 60 Watt Shaman have that nasty Black Sabbath sound and feel. Available on MIA/Teepee Records.   -Steve Weatherholt.

Abuse, "Bolted."   This jabañero- and demonsbrew-fueled crunchy brutal death avalanche of voodoo evil is very reminiscent of Necrophagia or a more brutal, faster Crowbar. Perhaps it would be on par with a pumped-up Pantera playing heavier death with an understandable death metal vocalist. This is the kind of music Richard Ramirez would thoroughly endorse. Available on Repulse Records.   -Sabrina Wade-Haines

Christdriver, demo CD.   Christdriver have come out with a three-song demo with the hopes of trying to gather some label interest. This demo is more doom-laden industrial sludge from the purveyors of black. Christdriver pack a hell of a punch that can't be matched by anybody in Seattle, and would make Roger Waters proud with their cover of "Comfortably Numb," where they put some sewer sludge in all the right places. Produced and recorded by Eschaton Music.   -Steve Weatherholt.

[Click here to read Steve's exclusive interview with Christdriver.]

Limp Bizkit (featuring Methodman), "N 2 Gether Now."   Quiz, hot shot: what do you get when you put Limp Bizkit, Method Man, and DJ Premier together on the same track? A hit, stupid! "N 2 Gether Now" is packing dance floors like money falling from a disco ball. This much ass-shaking hasn't been seen since MTV's Spring Break '99.

Fred Durst may have the whole b-boy essence down pat in the video for this single, but he gets a D+ for his lyrical content. The only thing that keeps him from getting the big E is his enthusiasm and effort. Meth on the other hand delivers like he's recently been reborn. No doubt he realized the importance of not coming off whack on a primo track, and instead delivers a Source Magazine Hip-Hop quotable type effort.

Built around an underwater-sounding harp-n-snare foreground and nicely filled in by a murky bass line, this track is a best of both worlds, star-studded crowd pleaser. It's so infectious your ass will be wigglin' out of control like a bear with an itch rubbin' up against a tree. Let's just hope for you Limp Bizkit fans out there, they can continue their magic in the year 2000. Available on Interscope Records.   -Cecil Beatty-Yasutake.

Germany label Noton presented an experimental series of releases last year to coincide with the arrival of the 21st century. Called 20' to 2000, these discs were released once a month for the calendar year and each presented a different experimental/minimalist approach to the question of what the cutting edge of music is at the end of the 20th Century. If you haven't already committed yourself to all twelve, eP would like to present you with a quick reference chart to help you decide which singles need to be in your collection.

January	Komet	Slowly squelchy.
February	Ipo Vaisanen	Staticy squelchy.
March	Ryoi Ikeda	"99 tracks of sine waves on the wall...take one down..."
April	coH	Gentle drones.
May	Beytone	Drop tones and their echoes.
June	Senking	Gloriously aquatic beat ambience.
July	Thomas Brinkmann	Classic Brinkmann. Repetitive minimal techno beats.
August	Scanner	Vocal-tinged ambience.
September	Noto	Minimal glitches and pops.
October	Mika Vainio	Rhythmic static and noise (watch those first two minutes!).
November	Wolfgang Voigt	Two versions of Köln-style ambience: with beats and without.
December	elph	Spooky ambient soundscape as only Coil can provide.

eP favorites were June, July, August, and December, though every month was an interesting perspective on the future of electronic music. These are limited so snap them up while you can.

Speaking of Brinkmann and Scanner, the two collaborated on a split 12" from Force Inc. Two tracks named "Adria" and "Blind," they explored the mixture of traditional elements from both artists. Thomas Brinkmann has an incredible ability to take a repetitive four-on-the-floor techno beat and gradually alter it over the course of a record so that the final beat structure is totally different than the beginning and you can't remember the changes happening. "Adria" is fleshed out with vocal samples from an intercepted military aircraft transmission and "Blind" begins with the distant echo of that same aircraft as it roars off the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, then subsumes that growling thunder beneath Scanner's take on the Brinkmann structure. Two great tracks that are hopefully just a teaser of more collaboration to come.   -Mark Teppo.

[Click here to read Earpollution's exclusive interview with Pitchshifter.]

President Fetch, "Super Heroine Blonde" (7").    Denmark's President Fetch have been around since 1987. With two releases under their belt, they have toned down the punk/hardcore. In its place they have filled the holes with a fuller, more mature and polished punk rock sound that's clean and very energetic driving punk. These guys may not have many releases, but they are all very accomplished musicians. Check out Gearbox for more President Fetch info. -Steve Weatherholt.

The thing that separates Premier from rap music-producing peers is his turntable wizardry that when combined with his considerable production talent is breathtaking, mesmerizing, and pure hip-hop. A simple fluttering movement of the wrist starts what for the next three minutes and some odd seconds is serious head-noddin' musical pleasure. Speaking of which, where did I put that chiropractor directory anyway?

A swing beat bass line keeps you in time as Primo layers his musical cake with some chopped-up xylophone loops and perfectly timed scratch work. Turntable-manufactured vocal snippets like "hardcore," "real ill," and "I'm internationally known" dominate the chorus setting the perfect tone for the hip-hop's finest poet to bless the track. His delivery is perfect, vocals fluid, and his rhymes--to borrow a phrase from the fellas at ESPN--are "restaurant quality." (And in this case, I'm referring to the restaurants that don't print the prices on the menu.) Rakim delivers yet another lyrical stepping stone on the seldom-traveled path of greatness. Available on Universal Records.   -Cecil Beatty-Yasutake.

Various Artists, "New York Rocks," Carbon 14 Fanzine Issue #15.   This little dittie comes in Issue #15 of the Carbon 14 fanzine. Bring us back errr, some of this is new live material to the lost days of '70s New York rock 'n' roll. Included here are cuts by some of the biggies: The Dictators, The Toilet Boys, Jayne (Wayne) County (where are the Electric Chairs?), and The Master Plan. If you had missed out on a pivotal slice of great music, you were either too young, at the wrong parties, or gearing up for the Reagan festivities to come.   -Steve Weatherholt.