The Answer Is In The Beat

VXO: s/t EP 12″ (Vanity Press Records, 2018)

November 14, 2018 at 10:08 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

VXO: s/t EP 12″

VXO stole the show on Color Plus’ Vanity Press EP from late last year. Now she has her own EP on the label, and it’s their first release with an actual printed sleeve and cover artwork. Produced by Color Plus, the record contains six songs with beats ranging from furious jungle to detached club mutations, all with yearning, ethereal vocals floating over them. “Why U Call Me” is a junglist pop song, with mashed-up breaks and sweet, commanding vocals up front. Following two more abstract songs, “Picture Of You” features tightly programmed, shifting breaks winding underneath more reflective, solace-seeking vocals. Then “Flower” is more manic yet dreamy jungle breaks, reaching Goldie-level cathartic, escapist beauty. The EP ends with “Alcanzarme”, a Baltimore club-inspired jam with rapid, complex, yet delicate-as-a-flower vocals in Spanish. Super inventive release, cannot get enough of this.

DimeSack: DimeSack Says God Says Fuck You LP (Blak Skul, 2018)

November 13, 2018 at 8:41 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

DimeSack: DimeSack Says God Says Fuck You LP

This one wins a whole buncha stupid points for the title and cover art. The record itself is extremely anti-social garage punk with synths splattered over much of it, primarily played by the masked maniac known as DimeSack, except for drums by Tony Mangolassi (producer Anthony Manganaro). The third song is called “My Life Is Shit”, and that basically sums up the theme of this album. Most of the songs thrash by in a minute or two, but “Precious Blood” is slower and doomier. “So Fucked Up” has a bit of Cramps-y swagger, but clearly raised on hardcore. The album gets progressively more pissed off and unruly, and it just goes over the top in its pure vitriol; by the end it ends up being pretty refreshing (and also perversely funny).

Crush Collision 11/8/18

November 9, 2018 at 12:29 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

10:02 pm Stave & Grebenstein ~ Stirn
10:05 pm Craig Bratley ~ 99.9% (Andrew Weatherall’s 100% Remix)
10:11 pm Daniel Avery ~ Glitter (Jon Hopkins Remix)
10:16 pm Ron Morelli ~ Border Dust (202 Version)
10:20 pm Nick Klein ~ Pushing Your Luck
10:22 pm Carlos Giffoni ~ Erase the World
10:25 pm Bambooman ~ Ricochet
10:30 pm Kill Them With Noise ~ Gravity Well
10:35 pm D.Y.A & Johannes Albert ~ Floating Dub
10:39 pm Actress ~ Watercolour Challenge
10:42 pm Eric Copeland ~ Fresco
10:46 pm Mike Simonetti ~ Solipsism
10:51 pm Joey Beltram ~ Energy Flash
10:56 pm Reinhard Voigt ~ Drei Millionen Kölsch
11:01 pm Thomas/Mayer ~ So Mad
11:06 pm Eris Drew ~ Hold Me (T4T Embrace Mix)
11:11 pm Carlton Doom ~ Rot
11:15 pm Powell ~ Rudeboy, Let’s Funk
11:19 pm Basic Soul Unit ~ Light Out
11:25 pm Dan HabarNam ~ High Pass Rambo
11:29 pm Ouri ~ We Share Our Blood
11:33 pm Chris Liebing ~ Novembergrey
11:40 pm Kaczmarek ~ |||||||
11:44 pm Johanna Knutsson & Hans Berg ~ Klimax
11:50 pm Legowelt ~ Sark Island Acid
11:55 pm Bendik Giske ~ Adjust (Rezzett Remix)

Show #464 – 11/3/18

November 3, 2018 at 1:24 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:02 am Dead Can Dance ~ Act II: The Mountain/The Invocation/The Forest/Psychopomp ~ Dionysus (new) ~ PIAS ~ 2018
2:19 am Julia Holter ~ Every Day Is An Emergency ~ Aviary (new) ~ Domino ~ 2018
2:29 am Swartz Et (local) ~ Saudade ~ A Living Thing (new) ~ Utter East ~ 2018
2:34 am Ian William Craig ~ The Last Wesbrook Lament ~ Thresholder (new) ~ Fatcat ~ 2018
2:36 am Oliver Coates ~ Perfect Apple With Silver Mark ~ Shelley’s On Zenn-La (new) ~ Rvng Intl. ~ 2018
2:45 am Kadhja Bonet ~ Wake ~ Childqueen Outtakes (new) ~ Fat Possum ~ 2018
2:51 am Heaters ~ Lysander ~ Suspended Youth (new) ~ Beyond Beyond Is Beyond ~ 2018
2:54 am Guttersnipe ~ God’s Will to Gain Access ~ My Mother the Vent (new) ~ Upset the Rhythm ~ 2018
3:05 am Guttersnipe ~ Tutti Frutti Chernobyl ~ Demo ~ Bandcamp ~ 2015
3:14 am Gnod ~ Uncle Frank Says Turn It Down ~ Chapel Perilous (new) ~ Rocket Recordings ~ 2018
3:21 am Star Period Star ~ When Where Exceeds What ~ Daylight Spending Time (new) ~ Jet Propulsion Records ~ 2018
3:24 am Orchestra of Spheres ~ Ata ~ Mirror (new) ~ Fire ~ 2018
3:30 am Alice Coltrane ~ Lord of Lords ~ Lord of Lords ~ Impulse! ~ 1972
3:42 am Kelly Moran ~ Water Music ~ Ultraviolet (new) ~ Warp ~ 2018
3:49 am James Heather ~ And She Came Home (Mary Lattimore Rework) ~ Reworks (new) ~ Ahead Of Our Time ~ 2018
3:53 am Volcano Radar ~ The Quark and the Jaguar ~ Paquito Libre (new) ~ Delmark ~ 2018
4:00 am Fareed Haque & Kaia String Quartet ~ Anxiety ~ New Latin American Music For Guitar and String Quartet (new) ~ Delmark ~ 2018
4:05 am Ben Chatwin ~ Helix ~ Staccato Signals ~ Village Green ~ 2018
4:10 am Papa M ~ Spiegel Im Spiegel ~ A Broke Moon Rises (new) ~ Drag City ~ 2018
4:23 am Low ~ Always Up ~ Double Negative (new) ~ Sub Pop ~ 2018
4:29 am Xavier Garcia & Lionel Marchetti ~ Dix-Sept ~ Machine Lyrique (new) ~ Radio France ~ 2018
4:35 am Fatima ~ Somebody Else ~ And Yet It’s All Love (new) ~ Eglo ~ 2018
4:38 am VXO ~ Picture of You ~ VXO EP (new) ~ Vanity Press ~ 2018
4:42 am Kasper Marott ~ Microworld ~ Keflavik EP (new) ~ Seilscheibenpfeiler ~ 2018
4:49 am Public Practice ~ Foundation ~ Distance Is A Mirror (new) ~ Wharf Cat Records ~ 2018
4:53 am ATM ~ Caliente ~ The Inglewood Tapes Vol. 2 (new) ~ Radical Documents ~ 2018
4:56 am Nkisi ~ VII ~ 7 Directions (new) ~ UIQ ~ 2019
5:02 am Colin Potter ~ Just Another Five Minutes ~ The Where House? ~ Dark Entries ~ 1981
5:07 am Ectomorph (local) ~ Crawl of the Cthulu ~ Stalker (new) ~ Interdimensional Transmissions ~ 2018
5:15 am Actress ~ Lost ~ Splazsh ~ Honest Jon’s Records ~ 2010
5:22 am Lone ~ Temples (808 State Remix) ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2018
5:29 am Devotional (local) ~ track 2 ~ The Three Paths (new) ~ self-released ~ 2018
5:39 am Beast ~ Staren ~ Ens (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2018
5:45 am Jlin ~ Anamnesis (Part 2) ~ Autobiography (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2018
5:49 am Portishead ~ Biscuit ~ Dummy ~ Go! Discs ~ 1994
5:54 am Makaya McCraven ~ Voila ~ Universal Beings (new) ~ International Anthem ~ 2018

Public Practice: Distance Is A Mirror EP (Wharf Cat, 2018)

November 1, 2018 at 9:04 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Public Practice: Distance Is A Mirror EP

WALL fell down before the release of their debut album, but Sam York has new returned with a new band also featuring members of Beverly. Public Practice’s debut EP is made up of four songs recalling post-punk groups like the Bush Tetras, with steady, even danceable rhythms and sharp lyrics. “Fate/Glory” starts out with some twisted guitar action, and the already alert rhythm picks up with a spike of energy towards the end. The more punkish “Bad Girl(s)” finds York confronting radical feminists, refusing to appear a certain way or hate all men. “Foundation” is more downtown post-disco-influenced, with half-spoken lyrics which artfully describe the demise of a relationship. “Into The Ring” pushes and pulls between forceful spoken words and sing-song duets, with confident lyrics alluding to bullfighting.

Beast: Ens (Thrill Jockey, 2018)

October 28, 2018 at 6:18 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Beast: Ens

Koen Holtkamp’s Beast moniker makes its debut on Thrill Jockey with this gently riveting release. Much more rhythmic than some of his other work, these compositions sometimes feature drum machines backing his lightly swarming guitars and cosmic synth arpeggios. It’s super melodic and sounds bright and hopeful. “Color Feel” includes a diving-bomb whistle descending throughout a sea of pianos, and it ends up being more uplifting than unnerving. “Staren” is a bit more audacious, with deep drums booming underneath a complex arrangement of cycling strings (plucked and bowed) and synths. The album ends with the majestic sunlight waves of “For Otto”.

Rocket 808: Digital Billboards 7″ (12XU, 2018)

October 27, 2018 at 6:56 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Rocket 808: Digital Billboards 7″

Garage rock veteran John Schooley presents an entirely successful fusion of distorted rock’n’roll guitars and vintage drum machines. “Digital Bilboards” is somewhere in between 20 Jazz Funk Greats and either “Human Fly” or “Planet Claire”, but instrumental, and with heavier layers of swooping, tremolo-doused surf guitars. The B-side is a cover of Elvis’ “Mystery Train” which sounds halfway between Suicide and Digital Leather. I’m totally up for more of this.

ATM: The Inglewood Tapes Vol. 2 LP (Radical Documents, 2018)

October 27, 2018 at 6:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

ATM: The Inglewood Tapes Vol. 2 LP

Jokey drum machine punks ATM don’t divert too much from the sound of their first record on Vol. 2, but this one just happens to be a lot better. They still love singing and shouting in funny voices and fake accents, but they’re not as annoying this time around. The songs themselves are more creative, and honestly a lot more fun. After the trippy slow-and-loose disco of “No Time” comes the zippy “Rave Nature”, filled with distorted, echo-covered “Wooooooo!”s. “Sad Onion” and “Caliente” are both sung in overly zealous Spanish, while “Asco” alternates between Spanish lyrics and a fake British accent over a pleasant drum machine skip. Starry instrumental “MDMA Bliss” lives up to its title. “Poetry” is the album’s sophomoric low point, but it’s only a minute or so. “Slow Skronk” has a steady, minimal rhythm and barely controlled bursts of guitar feedback and trumpet. Everything here still sounds like it was recorded in a bedroom in one take, but the best of these songs just make more of a lasting impression than anything on Vol. 1.

Show #463 – 10/27/18

October 27, 2018 at 1:29 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

Back from vacation!
Mic break music = George Harrison: Electronic Sound
2:03 am Helios ~ Upward Beside the Gale ~ Veriditas (new) ~ Ghostly International ~ 2018
2:09 am Gavin Gamboa ~ Mareas ~ Mareas (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2018
2:22 am Beast ~ Color Feel ~ Ens (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2018
2:39 am Yamaneko ~ Unreachable Feeling ~ Afterglow (new) ~ Local Ation ~ 2018
2:44 am Ahnnu ~ Grouping ~ Parallax (new) ~ Leaving Records ~ 2018
2:50 am Driftmachine ~ Shift II ~ Shunter (new) ~ Umor Rex ~ 2018
2:52 am Hollie Cook ~ Dub Like Chocolate ~ 7″ (new) ~ Merge ~ 2018
2:56 am Amduscias ~ War On Venius ~ 7th Floor (new) ~ Space Hardware ~ 2018
3:00 am WEN ~ CURVE_RELAY ~ EPHEM:ERA (new) ~ Big Dada ~ 2018
3:03 am Lone ~ Smoke Signals ~ Modeselektion Vol. 04 (new) ~ Monkeytown/Ninja Tune ~ 2018
3:09 am EQ Why & Diamond Soul ~ 314 ~ Spring Steeze ~ Bedlam Tapes ~ 2018
3:11 am Stave & Grebenstein ~ Stirn ~ Live From Frankfurter Straße (new) ~ Standards & Practices ~ 2018
3:16 am Homeboy Sandman & Edan ~ Unwavering Mind ~ Humble Pi (new) ~ Stones Throw ~ 2018
3:19 am Them Are Us Too ~ Could Deepen ~ Amends (new) ~ Dais ~ 2018
3:29 am SRSQ ~ Only One ~ Unreality (new) ~ Dais ~ 2018
3:38 am Julia Holter ~ Voce Simul ~ Aviary (new) ~ Domino ~ 2018
3:45 am John Carpenter ~ Michael Kills Again ~ Halloween (2018) soundtrack (new) ~ Sacred Bones ~ 2018
3:48 am Machine Girl ~ A Decent Man ~ The Ugly Art (new) ~ Kitty On Fire ~ 2018
3:59 am Demdike Stare ~ At It Again ~ Passion (new) ~ Modern Love ~ 2018
4:06 am end.user feat. trash.eater ~ Cracked Mirror ~ Resurface (new) ~ Hands Productions ~ 2018
4:10 am JK Flesh ~ The Next Stage ~ New Horizon (new) ~ Electric Deluxe ~ 2018
4:16 am SCAM ~ Host ~ Vibrio (new) ~ DECISIONS ~ 2018
4:20 am Jasmine Infiniti ~ What I Need ~ SiS (new) ~ Club Chai ~ 2018
4:25 am Angel-Ho ~ Doll ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2018
4:27 am Sunareht ~ Call On Meht ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2018
4:36 am FRKTL ~ Eigenspace ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2018
4:43 am Jerusalem in My Heart ~ Layali Al-Rast ~ Daqa’iq Tudaiq (Minutes That Bother) (new) ~ Constellation ~ 2018
4:49 am Rotator ~ Labba Labba ~ 12″ ~ Broklyn Beats ~ 2006
4:53 am VXO ~ Why U Call Me ~ VXO EP (new) ~ Vanity Press Records ~ 2018
4:58 am Jlin ~ Kundalini ~ Autobiography (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2018
5:02 am Why Sheep? ~ The Answered Prayer (Speedball Mix) ~ Sublime the Adolescence ~ Sublime Records ~ 1997
5:14 am Alaska & Paradox ~ Uncertain Journey ~ Looking Back 3 ~ Looking Good Records ~ 2001
5:21 am Autechre ~ under BOAC ~ LP5 ~ Warp ~ 1998
5:34 am Cobra Man ~ Living In Hell ~ Toxic Planet (new) ~ Goner Records ~ 2018
5:37 am Jerry Paper ~ My God ~ Like a Baby (new) ~ Stones Throw ~ 2018
5:40 am Rocket 808 ~ Mystery Train ~ 7″ (new) ~ 12XU ~ 2018
5:42 am Marie Davidson ~ The Psychologist ~ Working Class Woman (new) ~ Ninja Tune ~ 2018
5:47 am Makaya McCraven ~ Holy Lands ~ Universal Beings (new) ~ International Anthem ~ 2018
5:52 am Low ~ Poor Sucker ~ Double Negative (new) ~ Sub Pop ~ 2018
5:55 am Jessica Moss ~ Fractals (Truth 2) ~ Entanglement (new) ~ Constellation Records ~ 2018

EQ Why & Diamond Soul: Spring Steeze (Bedlam Tapes, 2018)

October 7, 2018 at 3:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

EQ Why & Diamond Soul: Spring Steeze

Truly avant-garde footwork with torn-apart samples, glitching, static, scrambling, rhythmic turntable scratching, and of course the insisting, throbbing juke rhythms. Some of the most anarchic, rulebook-destroying footwork I’ve heard in a long time. So noisy and art-damaged and just plain hardcore. This should be way longer than 16 minutes, but it’s just pure concentrated power as it is. Name-your-price DL and limited cassette available from the label’s Bandcamp.

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