The Rubber Room column is a weekly look at recent and notable releases that don’t fall into the rubric of traditional reviewed material—namely 7”’s, 12”’s, 3” CDs, EPs, cassette-only, DVDs and MP3-only releases.

Wilco
Pre Bug Beauty (from The Wilco Book)
[The Wilco Book, 2004]

From a limited release featuring excerpts of studio noise, bumpkin-funk (“Barnyard Pimp”) and lo-fi nonsensical balladeering, “Pre Bug Beauty” stands out as a fully formed nugget of incredibly pretty pure piano gorgeousness. Giving Sparklehorse a run for their money this ancient clockwork and wooden beat wanders in and out of time with a gloriously old school chiming piano. Where A Ghost is Born was a little cold in places, this is a warm incredibly endearing piece of analogue which whispers silently about egress and loss.
[Scott McKeating]

Savath and Savalas
Manana EP
[Warp, 2004]

Scott Herren puts away the kids gloves and gets down to the work of actually engaging with the cultural material that he so aptly presented in Apropa't, instead of merely allowing the music to speak for itself as it once did. The result is a mixed bag of sonic cut-ups, reinventions and experimentation not unlike his similar companion piece for last year’s One Word Extinguisher. This time, though, he goes much further away from the perceived constraints of the moniker, giving fans that wanted Apropa't to have a bit more of a backbone something to chew on.
[Todd Burns]

Deftones
If only Tonight we Could Sleep (live cover)
[MTV Icon, 2004]

Deftones have been in love with, and have borrowed from, The Cure for a few albums now and finally they get to add this Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me classic from 87 to their bulging portfolio of moody covers. The original song’s tense burning obsession is turned up a dozen notches as Chino howls, yearns and begs through a strung out Smith soundalike vocal FX. With resident DJ / sampler on the synth sitar, there is plenty of room for extraneous bleeding down-tuned rhythm guitars to build an atmosphere that not even a handful of bum bass notes can ruin.
[Scott McKeating]

Deerhoof
Bibidi Babidi Boo
[Internet Only, 2004]

An internet-only release chock full of live songs? You get what you pay for, one supposes. No, the songs presented here aren’t bad. But, then again, you’ve heard them all before in nearly exactly the same way on the records. This time, though, you can download without feeling bad about it. The one track of note is “Queen Orca Wicca Wind”, recorded earlier this year, which appears to be unreleased. It follows the normal Deerhoof style, making use of minimalist guitars, with Satomi Matsuzaki mumbling over top for two and a half minutes. It’s, at the very least, worth the price of admission.
[Todd Burns]

Various Artists
Detroit Underground Vol. 3
[Detroit Underground, 2004]

Featuring tracks based on samples of Kero’s “Bent” as well as new compositions from Direkt Jive and DeLien, Detroit Underground Vol. 3 honours the spirit of the first volumes with five more equally challenging excursions. Warp artist Jimmy Edgar conducts a stunning master class in tightly coiled junglisms, while Direkt Jive (Chad Titian) sprinkles chilled glimmers onto breakbeat skitter and DeLien (Pete Greko) mixes synaptic funk with hip-hop. True to their name, the Dutch Funcken brothers kick up some serious steam, with pinballing beats breathlessly punching their way through dark atmospheres. Aside from Himawari’s “Flexiadeconstruction (Kero Remix)” (whose eviscerating squeals and pounding ammo firings are perhaps a bit too extreme), volume three continues the series in fine form.
[Ron Schepper]

Midnight Movies
Just to Play (B-side)
[Emperor Norton, 2004]

Sounding like a lost track from The Velvet Underground and Nico covered by Stereolab and polished by McEntire / Albini, “Just to Play” manages to totally overshadow its a-side. Kicking off like a John Carpenter OST the song’s open road menace, a driving martial rhythm and occasional punky guitars lead the song through several noisy peaks amid passages of menace and tension. While the guitars help it to sort of rage, the morbid deep-ish Nico vocals keep it firmly planted in a detached place.
[Scott McKeating]