T Anti Matter Poetry

"Anti-Matter Poetry" may not be a creation that will inspire those in search of the new Yes or Genesis, but if you appreciate an artist using and utilizing modern stylistic details and taking cues from the current scene and applying them in an art rock setting this effort from German one man band T should be right up your alley. A fine and at times breathtaking album within this specific musical universe.

Known simply as "T", German multi-instrumentalist Thomas Thielen has been recording music as a one-man act since his time with the short-lived progressive rock act Scythe ended. This doesn't sound like a solo album, but much more like a group work, and one soon quickly moves away from the feel that this is the work of just one man to confronting the bleakness and darkness of this album. He is bringing in musical themes and influences such as modern Marillion, IQ, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel and Geoff Mann.

German project T is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Thomas Thielen, formerly of the German band Scythe, but now with a solo career that has been ongoing ever since he released his first album using the 'T' moniker in 2002. Thomas plays all the instruments, does the vocals, lyrics, engineering, producing and recording. The music is a mix between Steve Hogart-era MarillIon, No-Man, Pink Floyd and Radiohead. Some songs could've been taken from a Scyythe album but the most of them are too experimental for that band.

Culled from Johnson's albums for Mango recorded between 1978-1984, this is a distillation of work by the dub poet and the man who has perhaps been England's greatest contributor to reggae. While the great "Reggae Fi Peach" doesn't make it on here, and nor, even more surprisingly, does his excoriating immigrant tale "Inglan Is a Bitch," there are still plenty of gems in the album's 40 minutes, like "Independant Intavenshan" and "Sonny's Lettah (Anti-Sus Poem)," which might still stand as his best-ever track. Working in a sing-speak Jamaican patois, Johnson never pulls his punches, and why should he? He's seen plenty and experienced plenty at the hands of the English. The country might be his home, but that doesn't mean he can't see its myriad faults. The combination of Johnson's words and delivery with Dennis Bovell's production and leadership of the dub band is an almighty one-two punch, always going for the knockout blow, and the very best British reggae has had to offer: political, powerful, and penetrating.