The Answer Is In The Beat

Illusion of Safety: Organ Choir Drone (No Part Of It, 2023)

March 19, 2023 at 1:29 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Illusion of Safety: Organ Choir Drone

Organ Choir Drone is edited down from hours of material recorded by Daniel Burke, including his first Eurorack modular synthesizers recordings, used for a performance with Shen Wei Dance Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. “Children of the Fear and Light” is where to start if you’re interested in hearing modular synths at their gnarliest, and it matches its title with swarming movements that bring to mind a giant radioactive insect monster from an old sci-fi movie, plus there’s the faint sound of chattering children near the end. “Organic Pistons” seems to be where the album title comes from, as it’s just a really beautiful, almost sacred-sounding organ piece. “Waste of Civilization” contains piercing, high-pitched frequencies throughout much of it, as well as scrambled masses of radio-transmitted voices, but much of the other synth work is more peaceful, so it ends up somewhere between serenity and confusion. “Black Helicopters” appropriately starts out with violently shredding/chopping distortion, then flows through various amounts of disorienting buzzing and droning, as well as gentler guitar manipulations that subtly trick the mind. “Groundswell Horns” is the longest track, at 19 minutes, and it starts out with some more higher frequencies and desolate wandering. Some slight glitching, rustling, and clicking emerges, making it feel like things are barely holding together and on the verge of collapse. The rest of the piece is a very slow, gradual build, bubbling and shifting until everything starts moving faster and more forcefully, drilling into the core at the very end. Once that’s achieved, there’s little else that can be done, so the brief finale “Blackout” is two minutes of a faint, sickly gnawing feeling until everything expires.

Death Factory: Vol. 3 (No Part Of It, 2023)

March 18, 2023 at 2:58 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Death Factory: Vol. 3

This CD contains four lengthy pieces by Chicago’s Michael Krause from a decade or two ago. This is bludgeoning death industrial that you just stare into the face of as it slowly consumes you. Opener “Manifestation of Fear (3rd Version)” is truly mesmerizing, the distortion just permeates your consciousness and the slow thudding fully draws you in. Then it turns into this sort of bleary horror carnival spectacle, and ends with a demonic jumpscare. “Feasting on Fear” is more of a cinematic junkyard soundscape that gets more scorched as it goes on. “…More Disturbing American Foreign Policies” applies some pretty mind-frying effects to a looped sample about Cambodia, presumably from a documentary or news broadcast. Finally, “Prophecy” is a massive, nearly half hour swarm that gets into some harsher, more piercing tones than the other pieces, but spaces out its more overwhelming moments.

Show #665 – 3/18/23

March 18, 2023 at 9:30 am | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

12:00 AM Infinite River ~ Track 3 ~ Prequel ~ Badman ~ 2023
12:06 AM Kelela ~ Holier ~ Raven ~ Warp Records ~ 2023
12:10 AM Arlo Parks ~ Impurities ~ My Soft Machine ~ Transgressive ~2023
12:13 AM Liv.e ~ A Slumber Party‽ ~ Girl In The Half Pearl ~ In Real Life Music ~ 2023
12:15 AM Nicolette ~ All Day (DJ Kicks) ~ DJ-Kicks: Nicolette ~ !K7 ~ 1997
12:20 AM Nia Archives ~ Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall ~ Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall ~ HIJINXX/Island ~ 2023
12:22 AM 4hero ~ Talk Around Town ~ Parallel Universe ~ Reinforced Records ~ 1994
12:27 AM A Guy Called Gerald ~ Cyberjazz ~ Black Secret Technology ~ Juice Box ~ 1995
12:32 AM Subjects ~ We Run It ~ No Other Way / We Run It ~ Deep Jungle Records ~ 2023
12:39 AM DJ Girl ~ When U Touch Me (feat. Lighght) ~ Hellworld ~ Planet Mu ~ 2023
12:43 AM Erika ~ Crystal Circuits ~ Anevite Void ~ Interdimensional Transmissions ~ 2023
12:50 AM DJ Black Low ~ Bo Mbali Leboh Palesa (feat. Dea Rebbedy) ~ Impumelelo ~ Awesome Tapes From Africa ~ 2023
12:55 AM A Positive Life ~ The Calling ~ Synaesthetic ~ Beyond ~ 1994
1:01 AM Illusion of Safety ~ Ripped Continuum ~ Organ Choir ~ Drone No Part Of It ~ 2023
1:06 AM Lonnie Holley ~ Mount Meigs ~ Oh Me Oh My ~ Jagjaguwar ~ 2023
1:10 AM Nabihah Iqbal ~ This World Couldn’t See Us ~ DREAMER ~ Ninja Tune ~ 2023
1:14 AM The Free Music ~ Al Qalb Mrayef ~ The Free Music (Part 1) ~ HABIBI Funk Records ~ 1976
1:18 AM Heather Trost ~ Frog and Toad are Friends ~ Desert Flowers ~ Ba Da Bing! ~ 2022
1:21 AM Lieutenant Pigeon ~ Home on the Rage ~ The Decca Years ~ 7Ts ~ 2023
1:23 AM Zoo Boutique ~ Happy Families ~ Musik Music Musique 3.0: 1982 Synth Pop On The Air ~ Cherry Red Records ~ 1982
1:26 AM They Might Be Giants ~ Become a Robot ~ Then: The Earlier Years ~ Restless ~ 1985
1:27 AM Fever Ray ~ Tapping Fingers ~ Radical Romantics ~ Mute ~ 2023
1:32 AM Death Factory – Manifestation of Fear (3rd Version) ~ Vol. 3 ~ NO PART OF IT ~ 2023
1:47 AM SILENT FLOOR ~ Aka Iro ~ Switch Records: Singles 1992-1997 ~ SWITCH RECORDS ~ 1992
1:52 AM Woob ~ Wuub ~ Woob 1194 (21st Century Remaster) ~ Bandcamp ~ 1994

Crush Collision 3/16/23

March 17, 2023 at 12:24 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

10:01 PM Vertical67 ~ Invisible Presence (Octo Octa remix) ~ Aura ~ 100% Silk ~ 2014
10:04 PM Well Being ~ Moon Valley ~ Pleasure Garden ~ 100% Silk ~ 2020
10:07 PM Watkins / Peacock ~ Love ~ Acid Escape Vol 3 ~ FREAKS ~ 2021
10:12 PM GemValleyMusiq ~ Dlala Drumo (KingsOfRoughMusiQ) ~ Music Wama Colourd ~ PSSNGR ~ 2023
10:18 PM Everything But the Girl ~ Caution To The Wind ~ Fuse ~ Buzzin’ Fly Records ~ 2023
10:21 PM Yin Yin ~ Nautilus ~ The Age of Aquarius ~ Glitterbeat Records ~ 2022
10:24 PM Weval ~ Everything Went Well ~ Remember ~ Technicolour ~ 2023
10:28 PM Xeno & Oaklander ~ Technicolor ~ Vi/Deo ~ Dais Records ~ 2021
10:32 PM Firedrill ~ Wow This Blew Up (While You Here Check Out My Fire Mix Mix) ~ Vibes Comp ~ Eat Dis ~ 2018
10:36 PM Spooky ~ Little Bullet, Pt. 1 ~ Gargantuan ~ Guerilla ~ 1993
10:42 PM DJ Call Me ~ Marry Me ~ single ~ Highlife ~ 2018
10:46 PM Argiflex ~ Bioluminestent Gene’s ~ single ~ Bandcamp ~ 2023
10:49 PM upsammy ~ Warm Puddles ~ Blue 03 ~ AD 93 ~ 2018
10:54 PM Barry Can’t Swim ~ Like The Old Days ~ single ~ Technicolour ~ 2022
10:58 PM Solomon Fesshaye ~ Save Our Place ~ Star City / Save Our Place ~ Ghostly International ~ 2022
11:02 PM Dino Lenny ~ Did This ~ single ~ R&S Records ~ 2023
11:09 PM Tension ~ Pure Black Skies ~ RV Trax, Vol. 5 ~ R&S Records ~ 2020
11:12 PM Wajatta ~ Marmite ~ Don’t Let Get You Down ~ Brainfeeder ~ 2020
11:17 PM Kelela ~ Contact ~ Raven ~ Warp Records ~ 2023
11:21 PM DJ Girl X DJ FLP ~ Operator (Dub Mix) ~ Weapons ~ Eat Dis ~ 2020
11:23 PM B.G.S. ~ Techno For Women ~ Techno For Women / Bisexual Techno ~ HRR ~ 2020
11:28 PM Vromm ~ Red Tuna ~ single ~ R&S Records ~ 2023
11:34 PM Orbital ~ Are You Alive? (feat. Penelope Isles) ~ Optical Delusion ~ London ~ 2023
11:38 PM Jayda G ~ Circle Back Around ~ Guy ~ Ninja Tune ~ 2023
11:41 PM Octave One ~ Tiers (Level A) ~ Tiers ~ 430 West Records ~ 2023
11:47 PM gum.mp3 ~ Love You Better ~ Riddim Seeker ~ Spectral Sound ~ 2023
11:50 PM Eliza Rose & M4A4 ~ Temptation ~ Shades of Red ~ Lobster Theremin ~ 2022
11:55 PM Duane ~ Real Witchu ~ The Brand New Dog ~ self-released ~ 2015

Crush Collision 3/2/23 – Tears In The Club Edition

March 3, 2023 at 8:23 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

This was a special edition of the show. I played nothing but 10/10 classics, personal favorites, and foundational tracks. This is why I love dance music. Apologies for any distortion, shoddy transitions, the National Weather Service alert during the KLF song, etc.
Hour 1
10:01 PM Burial ~ Stolen Dog
10:05 PM Mr. Fingers ~ Can You Feel It
10:10 PM CeCe Rogers ~ Someday
10:16 PM Aly-Us ~ Follow Me (Club Mix)
10:19 PM Orbital ~ Belfast
10:25 PM The KLF ~ Last Train to Trancentral [The White Room Euro LP version]
10:31 PM Hugh Bullen ~ Alisand
10:35 PM New Order ~ Sub-culture
10:40 PM Sally Shapiro ~ Find My Soul
10:44 PM Opus III ~ It’s A Fine Day
10:49 PM The Future Sound of London ~ Papua New Guinea (12″ Mix)
10:53 PM Inner City ~ Good Life
10:57 PM South Street Player ~ (Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind? [12″ Club Mix]
Hour 2
11:02 PM Waajeed ~ Mother (feat. Steffanie Christi’An)
11:06 PM K Hand ~ Candlelights
11:10 PM Carl Craig ~ Dominas
11:15 PM Rhythim Is Rhythim ~ Strings of Life
11:20 PM Model 500 ~ Future (Vocal)
11:24 PM Drexciya ~ Bubble Metropolis
11:28 PM The Age of Love ~ The Age of Love (Jam & Spoon’s Watch Out for Stella Mix)
11:34 PM Rozalla ~ Everybody’s Free (Rave Mix)
11:37 PM Awesome 3 ~ Don’t Go (Kicks Like a Mule Mix)
11:41 PM Baby D ~ Let Me Be Your Fantasy
11:45 PM Liquid ~ Sweet Harmony
11:48 PM Moby ~ Next Is The E (Club Mix)
11:53 PM DJ Rolando aka the Aztec Mystic ~ Jaguar

Show #664 – 2/25/23

February 25, 2023 at 4:04 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

12:00 AM Kelela ~ On the Run ~ Raven ~ Warp Records ~ 2023
12:05 AM Meftah ~ Pay It Forward ~ Life-Like EP ~ Musha Publishing ~ 2022
12:08 AM Resavoir ~ Plight ~ Transmissions From Total Refreshment Centre ~ Total Refreshment Centre/Blue Note Records ~ 2023
12:15 AM Yo La Tengo ~ Miles Away ~ This Stupid World ~ Matador ~ 2023
12:23 AM Faten Kanaan ~ Votive ~ Afterpoem ~ Fire Records ~ 2023
12:26 AM Hannah Jadagu ~ What You Did ~ Aperture ~ Sub Pop ~ 2023
12:30 AM Léa Sen ~ Dragonfly ~ You Of Now, Pt. 2 EP ~ PTKF ~ 2023
12:33 AM Frankie Rose ~ Had It Wrong ~ Love as Projection ~ Slumberland ~ 2023
12:36 AM Liv.e ~ HowTheyLikeMe! ~ Girl In The Half Pearl ~ In Real Life Music ~ 2023
12:37 AM Harrison ft. Kadhja Bonet ~ Float ~ single ~ Last Gang ~ 2023
12:40 AM Madison McFerrin ~ (Please Don’t) Leave Me Now ~ I Hope You Can Forgive Me ~ MADMCFERRIN MUSIC ~ 2023
12:43 AM Mikado – Par hasard ~ Musik Music Musique 3.0: 1982 Synth Pop On The Air ~ Cherry Red Records ~ 1982
12:47 AM Passion Polka ~ Juliet ~ Musik Music Musique 3.0: 1982 Synth Pop On The Air ~ Cherry Red Records ~ 1982
12:51 AM The Passage ~ XOYO ~ Musik Music Musique 3.0: 1982 Synth Pop On The Air ~ Cherry Red Records ~ 1982
12:55 AM Erik Wøllo ~ Le Paysage ~ The Shape of Time ~ Projekt ~ 2023
1:00 AM Trace & Nico ~ Amtrak ~ Torque ~ No U Turn ~ 1997
1:06 AM Meemo Comma ~ Bubble Bag ~ Loverboy ~ Planet Mu ~ 2023
1:10 AM Poisonfrog ~ Musical Thing ~ JBDUBZ Vol. X ~ Juke Bounce Werk ~ 2022
1:14 AM Bogdan Raczynski ~ bogdanraczynski.com/sweet-98 (2) ~ bogdanraczynski.com/sweet-98 ~ Bandcamp ~ 1998
1:21 AM Orbital ~ The New Abnormal ~ Optical Delusion ~ London ~ 2023
1:26 AM Kenny Larkin ~ Wires ~ Azimuth ~ Warp Records ~ 1994
1:30 AM Derrick May ~ Drama ~ Innovator ~ Transmat/R&S Records ~ 1990
1:34 AM K. Hand ~ Motor ~ Detroit History, Pt. 1 ~ Tresor ~ 2001
1:39 AM Dave Clarke ~ Tale of Two Cities ~ Archive One ~ Deconstruction/Bush ~ 1996
1:45 AM Doctor Jeep ~ Prisma De Luz ~ No Pare, Sigue Sigue ~ Tra Tra Trax ~ 2022
1:49 AM Human Mesh Dance ~ Moonflower ~ Hyaline ~ Instinct ~ 1993
1:54 AM Spooky ~ Orange Coloured Liquid ~ Gargantuan ~ Guerilla ~ 1993

Applesauce Tears: Artifacts (Black Cottage, 2023)

February 12, 2023 at 9:55 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Applesauce Tears: Artifacts

The newest album from Atlanta’s Applesauce Tears adds more of a post-punk edge to their synth-heavy psychedelia, particularly on the opening track, “Dressed for Fortress”, with its commanding, driving bassline. “It’s Us Against the World (It Always Has Been)” sounds familiar, like it’s the theme to a teen drama I haven’t seen in ages. “Eurasian Girlfriend” is a distant, jazzy reflection and “Her Purse Falls and Everything Scatters” switches from clicky IDM-style rhythm to a more aggressive post-rock gale. “It Was God While It Lasted” is one of the more relaxed, breezy selections here, but “When Sleep Spoke to Hera” is a tense track that starts with slow, crawling trap beats and wispy, shivering synths, then explodes with flair and color later on. “The Wam Ebrace of a Mediocre Poet” is a further fusion of jazz noir, trappy drum machines, and gnarled guitar riffs. “Bent Like Winter Grass” is a truly pretty, gauzy song enhanced with strings, and “Another Piece of the Puzzle Goes Missing” retains strings but slathers then on top of a more of a late ’90s-style funky electronic beat, which would be fit for a movie trailer without them. “The Way We Weren’t” is more of a good-time jam with siren synths, ethereal vocals, and I think maybe even some slide guitar.

Bruce Licher: Exploratorium (2006/deluxe reissue by Independent Project Records, 2022)

February 11, 2023 at 6:34 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Bruce Licher: Exploratorium

Bruce Licher of Savage Republic and Scenic recorded these pieces on a 4-track in 1997 and originally released them on a limited 3″ CDr mounted on a 12″ sheet of heavy card stock letterpress. This is a proper CD reissue with a lengthy bonus track, but still containing fancy packaging, including postcards for each track. The original tracks are gliding space rock guitar solo excursions, with “Going Home” being the most awestruck, conveying a feeling of blissfully travelling at light speed towards one’s destiny without having the slightest notion of danger. “The Penstemon Field” is a much more dramatic and melodic piece which (to me) approximates a devastating trek home through the rainy streets at night. “Number 09” is vastly different than the other tracks, though it was recorded around the same time. Instead of guitar-based drifting, this is a wild synth expedition, with legions of echo and delay making the sequences feeling like they’re constantly crumbling and rebuilding, stretching a prismatic fortress throughout space.

Show #663 – 2/11/23

February 11, 2023 at 2:40 am | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

It’s WCBN’s fundraising drive! no show next week because of our annual Night of Noise!!!!!

12:02 AM Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad with Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison ~ Black Census ~ JID016 ~ Jazz Is Dead ~ 2023
12:06 AM Keith Kelly ~ And Then It Was ~ Departure ~ Edgetone Records ~ 2022
12:11 AM Kelela ~ Missed Call ~ Raven ~ Warp Records ~ 2023
12:14 AM Yo La Tengo ~ Fallout ~ This Stupid World ~ Matador ~ 2023
12:19 AM Applesauce Tears ~ It’s Us Against the World (It Always Has Been) ~ Artifacts ~ Black Cottage ~ 2023
12:23 AM Parannoul ~ Insomnia ~ After the Magic ~ Topshelf ~ 2023
12:27 AM Eric Ghost ~ Secret Sauce ~ Secret Sauce ~ Jazz Room Records ~ 1975
12:34 AM Liv.e ~ Wild Animals ~ Girl in the Half Pearl ~ In Real Life ~ 2023
12:38 AM Bruce Licher ~ Going Home ~ Exploratorium (Extended) ~ Independent Project Records ~ 2006
12:43 AM Joe Chambers ~ Caravanserai ~ Dance Kobina ~ Blue Note Records ~ 2023
12:47 AM James Brandon Lewis ~ Send Seraphic Beings ~ Eye of I ~ Anti/Epitaph ~ 2023
12:51 AM Sebastian Rochford & Kit Downes ~ Even Now I Think of Her ~ A Short Diary ~ ECM Records ~ 2023
12:55 AM Hollie Kenniff ~ Momentary ~ We All Have Places That We Miss ~ Western Vinyl ~ 2023
1:00 AM Bent Arcana ~ Misanthrope Gets Lunch (Live) ~ Live Zebulon ~ Castle Face ~ 2022
1:07 AM Little Simz ~ Heart on Fire ~ NO THANK YOU ~ Forever Living Originals ~ 2022
1:10 AM Dezron Douglas ~ Coyoacán ~ Atalaya ~ International Anthem ~ 2022
1:14 AM Young Fathers ~ Be Your Lady ~ Heavy Heavy ~ Ninja Tune ~ 2023
1:17 AM Meg Baird ~ Wreathing Days ~ Furling ~ Drag City ~ 2023
1:21 AM El Ten Eleven ~ Not Even Almost ~ Valley of Fire ~ Joyful Noise Recordings ~ 2023
1:27 AM François de Roubaix ~ Le Cubisme, Les Tableaux ~ Du Jazz À L’electro 1965 – 1975 ~ Pucci Records ~ 1975
1:31 AM Jad Fair & Samuel Locke Ward ~ Love Is In Charge ~ Happy Hearts ~ Kill Rock Stars ~ 2023
1:34 AM Coco Bryce ~ Campari ~ 12″ ~ Meditator Music ~ 2020
1:40 AM Legowelt ~ D33p Amiga Jungle ~ A Philosophy of Tracking ~ Nightwind Records 2022
1:44 AM Laraaji ~ Kalimba 4 ~ Segue To Infinity ~ Numero Group ~ late ’70s

Meadow Argus: This Old Rotten Barge tape (Tynan Tapes Temporal, 2023)

February 5, 2023 at 11:54 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Meadow Argus: This Old Rotten Barge tape

The newest Meadow Argus tape is the project’s most evocative recording yet, making the listener feel like a stowaway on a haunted ship on the path to total disappearance from civilization. The album extensively incorporates field recordings run through a delay pedal, with the first stretch of the first side taken from the banks of the Ohio river under a bridge, while a spooky backwards voice bleeds through from the other side of the master tape. Then there’s “It’ll heal over”, taken from a hospital hallway while being wheeled in for surgery. The echoed voices, unsteady tape quality, and wavering melodic loop all present feelings of displacement, not being able to believe any of this is happening, not being fully there. “Just like the skim that shines across the humps and the swells of the tide waters”, which takes up all of side B, is a bit calmer, with samples taken from an aquarium lapping up against the patient organ droning. There’s sounds of children being amazed at the sea life, and some distant playing and shrieking which gets twisted and whirled into the stream. Some unexplained explosions which sound like cannon blasts are audible near the end, yet that part feels like a memory rather than a document of something actually occurring.

Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.