I am not sure why Richard H. Kirk released this as Sandoz because it doesn’t really sound anything like previous Sandoz records, and, as I said in an earlier review, the man can’t settle a band name to save his life. As the title suggests, this is Kirk’s electronic take on dub reggae. The end result is fantastic. There are throbbing bass lines, disembodied Rasta voices, reggae samples and lots of digital bleeps and bloops. I have found that this a great record to play in the car during a slow drive at night in the big city. Don’t ask me to qualify that statement beyond me just saying that I once played this CD while driving late at night in the big city and I liked it. It’s a great mix of old and new sounds.

Since the demise of Cabaret Voltaire, Richard H. Kirk has had about a zillion solo projects all with different names. It’s a bit of a discographer’s nightmare. I’m all for the one band line-up, one name approach that Wire used (when the drummer left the band, they renamed themselves Wir). But, seriously Richard, just because you used an arpeggiator doesn’t mean you need to call yourself Arpeggio 13 or whatever. Anyhow, Sandoz’s (was he manufacturing generic medications while recording?) Digital Lifeforms stays much closer to mid 90’s Cabaret Voltaire’s sound than other Kirk solo efforts. This is dancy electronica with a laid-back feel and not quite as many distorted transmissions and found sounds one might expect from Kirk.

Rhino knows how to put together a great compilation and this 24-track “Best of” Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs is no exception. I already had this 70s “Best Of” record. I think all of those songs are represented here and there’s about dozen or so more without a stinker in the bunch (well “Big Blue Diamonds” is not that good, but I’ll give it a pass). There is also the added bonus of a nice thick booklet filled with detailed history and a few photos.

Another collection of analog synth laden songs from the members of Poster Children. This one feels a bit more focused and less sloppy than their debut EP. Still, these are loose, live feeling songs and not sequenced laptop tracks. I had always hoped that Poster Children would have incorporated more of this experimentation in their records too, but, alas, that never really happened. The CD includes a bunch of obsolete CD-ROM multimedia that crashes in a modern OS.

The Rutles make you realize just how unique, yet weirdly predictable the Beatles were. Although intended as a joke, the lyrics are not too far off the mark of actual Beatles songs. In fact, I may actually prefer most of these songs simply because they have a sense of humor about them. Stuff like, “Although I may not be a man of words, yeah, yeah” is just great. This CD makes me want to be a hair dresser, or two. I’d like to be two hair dressers.