The Answer Is In The Beat

W00dy: My Diary (self-released, 2019)

October 13, 2019 at 3:42 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Astounding new EP from an artist pushing breakcore/complex beat music forward. Based in Pittsburgh and associating with artists like Five Star Hotel and Machine Girl who have been covered extensively on this site, the producer’s tracks are a whirlwind of blown-out breaks, slivered vocal samples, and elevating tension. These tracks all seem to swirl and collect elements rather than jump from one section to the next, so they gradually get deeper and heavier. Incredible anxiety party music. Don’t miss out on this.

v/a: Om Unit Presents Cosmology – Dark Matter 3xLP (Cosmic Bridge, 2019)

October 13, 2019 at 3:16 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The incomparable Om Unit presents a wide-ranging compendium of contemporary bass music. Tracks by artists like TMSV demonstrate that legit dubstep is still alive and well, which is a relief to me because I think the golden era of the genre is unbeatable and I’ve been revisiting a lot of it lately. There’s also a Proc Fiskal track which is a bit more dubby and less gonzo than the stuff he’s usually known for. J:Kenzo’s track seems to lurch towards drum’n’bass but it’s also a slow, smoked-out dub, and producers like Rude Operator and Vromm tip closer to d’n’b while remaining sort of grey area. The James Blake-sampling track by Margari’s Kid is a low-key stunner, the breaks sneak up on you at the end. Crypticz’ 12-minute epic “Chrysalis” takes a long time to develop, with Amy Kisnorbo’s weightless vocals providing a bit of guidance, and the breaks go a bit haywire without overpowering anything. Most of this album is suspenseful and restrained, providing space for meditation but moving forward as necessary.

Soundbwoy Killah: Halcyon Daze 2xLP (Sneaker Social Club, 2019)

October 13, 2019 at 2:22 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This album starts out with a sample of a rave being busted by the police, and it continues in the mode of surprisingly subdued tracks rather than full-on peaktime bangers. There’s melancholy garage (“Wanna Hold U”), bassy ambient (“Tom Loves to Rave”), and rootsy dubstep (“Loiner Dub”), but it all seems somewhat hindered from club ecstasy. Even when the album reaches full-on jungle, with the track “Heartbeats”, it seems strangely hollowed out, with long stretches of stillness and cries from the void in between the thundering breaks. It kind of seems like an album for people nostalgic about going to raves, but too old to actually go to them without feeling exhausted after 2 hours. That is me entirely (last weekend I had to sit down an hour into LTJ Bukem’s set at Marble Bar in Detroit, even though it was absolutely amazing), so I feel like I get this album.

CDX: Lion Cuts tape (Doom Trip, 2019)

October 13, 2019 at 1:46 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Tim Thornton makes frantic, circuit-bent improv electronics as Tiger Village, but his work as CDX is far more melodic and rhythmically structured. These songs have the classic sort of pretty/sad melodies and snappy electro beats of all the best IDM, with moments that are a little more dancefloor-friendly (opener “Friends”) or closer to palm tree racing video game soundtracks (the choppy yet chill “Tiger Breaks”). One track is co-credited to Tiger Village, but it sounds barely more unhinged than the others. “Five Short Arguments”, however, ends the album with a blast of scattered breaks and heavy bass, breaking out of the contemplative mood of most of the other tracks.

Inutili: New Sex Society (Aagoo, 2019)

September 26, 2019 at 8:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Italian group Inutili perform long-form psychedelic improvisations which often seem like they’re drifting far away from anything resembling a path forward, yet at the right moment they just all snap together and form this enormous superpower of heavy, monstrous rhythm and noise. This time out, they’re joined by saxophonist Luca Di Giammarco, who elevates their sound into a bit more of a spiritual realm. This is still improvised rock rather than free jazz, though, and the rhythms to tracks like “Rooms” still have a psychedelic swirl to them. “Seeds (Japanese)” is a bit more hypercharged, and the riffs and sax blurts continually bounce off of each other until it all builds up to an ecstatic frenzy, and then it sets its way onto the shining road ahead. The group never stick to the same tempo for too long, and it switches through multiple sections of various intensities. The four songs in the middle of the album are all under 10 minutes, and they mostly keep up the intense parts of the songs, with some lyrics making prominent appearances, so they seem like the band’s most focused songs. “Tiny Body” even manages to boil the band’s essence down to a minute and 43 seconds. By the end of the album, the group seem much closer to the Castle Face nexus of prog, garage punk, and psych rather than the endlessly rambling jammers they might’ve seemed like initially.

Blue Jeans: Adult Hits (Life Like/Bobo Integral, 2019)

September 22, 2019 at 7:26 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The second album from Ann Arbor indie pop group Blue Jeans was released early in the year as a cassette by Life Like, followed shortly by a vinyl pressing, thanks to Spanish label Bobo Integral. It’s pressed at 45 RPM, so the 10 songs all go by pretty quickly, but the combination of strong, sweet melodies and snarky lyrics ensure that this one leaves a lasting impression. The album’s #1 smash hit is “We Hate the Summer”, a sort of shut-in’s surf anthem, celebrating autumn as the fairest of the seasons. “Adult Hits”, a rejection of the trappings of nostalgia, is a close second. “Ricola Horns” is the one song with more of a beachy drift, but not too much since they’d rather stay inside. While there’s some bitterness expressed through songs like “Apology Rejected”, “Friends & Lovers” ends the album with a ray of sunshine and gratitude.