3:03 AM John Chantler ~ November Pt 1 ~ Even Clean Hands Damage The Work ~ Room40
3:05 AM Hiss & Hum ~ You’re The Worst/The Plague ~ You’re The Worst/You Deserve It [split tape w/ Fever Witch] ~ self-released
3:24 AM Steve Gunn + Mike Gangloff ~ Worry Past Worry ~ Melodies For A Savage Fix ~ Important
3:29 AM Stefan Wesolowski ~ What The Thunder Said ~ Liebestod ~ Important
3:37 AM Nils Quak ~ Tropic Spirals ~ Modular Anxiety ~ Umor Rex
3:43 AM Origamibiro ~ Sedimental Value (Aus Remix) ~ Shakkei Remixed [from Collection box set] ~ Denovali
3:47 AM Von Tesla ~ Null Hypersurface ~ Raised By Clear Acid ~ Boring Machines
3:53 AM Sculpture ~ Symbolic Molecule ~ Membrane Pop ~ Software
3:55 AM PHSNWSKY ~ Wrist ~ mp3 ~ Car Crash Set
4:03 AM William Tyler ~ Karussel ~ Lost Colony ~ Merge
4:10 AM Hydropark ~ War Order ~ 4th tape ~ Life Like
4:14 AM Future Death ~ Cornered ~ Special Victim ~ Bloodmoss
4:21 AM Signal Problems ~ Spectacled Bear ~ Signal Problems ~ pfMENTUM
4:27 AM Badbadnotgood ~ Since You Asked Kindly ~ III ~ Innovative Leisure
4:35 AM R.E.M. ~ Country Feedback ~ Unplugged 1991 & 2001: The Complete Sessions ~ Rhino
4:40 AM Mirah ~ I Am The Garden ~ Changing Light ~ Absolute Maginitude/K
4:45 AM Ed Schrader’s Music Beat ~ Weekend Train ~ Party Jail ~ Infinity Cat
4:47 AM Ergo Phizmiz ~ Mandrake ~ The Peacock ~ Care In The Community
4:50 AM Mr. Scruff ~ Deliverance ~ Friendly Bacteria ~ Ninja Tune
4:54 AM Evy Jane ~ Closer ~ single ~ Ninja Tune
4:59 AM Austin Buckett ~ Grain Loop 4 ~ Grain Loops ~ Room40
5:01 AM Saskrotch ~ Nintendo Breakz Volume 2 ~ mp3 ~ Bandcamp
5:24 AM Selector Catalogue ~ Reasonable Music ~ Hyperfocus ~ Fukdup
5:27 AM Alec Empire ~ Down With The Shit ~ The Destroyer ~ Digital Hardcore Recordings
5:33 AM Gas ~ Die Wand ~ Bleep:10 ~ Bleep
5:36 AM Plaid ~ Slam ~ Reachy Prints ~ Warp
5:42 AM Olekranon ~ Talin ~ Aphelion ~ Inam Records
5:46 AM Trans Am ~ Night Shift ~ Volume X ~ Thrill Jockey
5:50 AM Fear Of Men ~ America ~ Loom ~Kanine
5:54 AM Fennesz ~ Static Kings ~ Becs ~ Editions Mego
John Chantler: Even Clean Hands Damage The Work LP
Excellent modular synth music. Buzzy and swirling and all-encompassing. “November Part 2” is the noisiest and most psychedelic track here. “Dismantled Cabaret” is more spacey and sparkling. “Wollmar Organ” is an extended pretty (yet bracing) drone and “The Knight Firth” is less musical, more a bunch of fluttering, bubbling sounds.
Movement special, all tracks by artists playing the festival this weekend. Sorry for the technical problems towards the end. Hour 1
10:02 PM Heathered Pearls ~ Precious Dive
10:05 PM Voices From The Lake ~ In Giova
10:11 PM Escort ~ Starlight
10:13 PM Metro Area ~ Orange Alert
10:17 PM Kero ~ Franklinfranklin
10:19 PM Skream ~ Bang That
10:23 PM BMG & Derek Plaslaiko ~ When Is She Coming Back (BMG Dub)
10:25 PM Sean Deason ~ 2030 AD
10:27 PM Ryan Hemsworth ~ Perfectly
10:30 PM DJ 3000 ~ Morning Bird
10:34 PM Move D ~ Hood
10:39 PM E-Dancer [Kevin Saunderson] ~ Feel The Mood (The Effects Mix)
10:44 PM Simian Mobile Disco ~ Cerulean
10:47 PM Tourist ~ Together
10:51 PM Jamie Jones ~ Summertime
10:53 PM DBX ~ Losing Control
10:58 PM Concept 1 [Richie Hawtin] ~ 4.1 Hour 2
11:03 PM Basic Channel [Moritz Von Oswald] ~ Q1.1 Edit
11:05 PM Michael Mayer ~ Pensum [A1]
11:09 PM Terrence Dixon ~ One Bedroom Apartment
11:14 PM Andres ~ New 4 U
11:17 PM Anthony Shake Shakir ~ The Fake Left, Go Right Plan
11:20 PM Underground Resistance ~ Punisher
11:24 PM Carl Craig ~ Science Fiction
11:31 PM Bonobo ~ Eyes Down
11:33 PM Kode9 ~ Black Sun
11:37 PM Octave One ~ The Symbiont
11:39 PM Floorplan [Robert Hood] ~ Never Grow Old (Re-Plant)
11:43 PM Adam X ~ Lost In Hell (Satanic Ritual Mix)
11:47 PM Kenny Larkin ~ Q
11:50 PM Jeff Mills ~ The Bells
11:52 PM Ed Rush ~ Bludclot Artattack
11:57 PM Optical ~ To Shape The Future
R.E.M.: Unplugged 1991 & 2001: The Complete Sessions
I’ll always have a soft spot for R.E.M., but I’m not sure I’ll always have a soft spot for R.E.M.’s soft side. This 2CD collection features all of the tracks from both their MTV Unplugged sessions, including the outtakes that didn’t make the actual broadcast. And this is definitely the side of R.E.M. that thousands of mediocre campus coffee-house folk-rock bands have been trying to emulate for the last 30 years. R.E.M. unplugged means plenty of mandolin, accordion and hand drums. Not that these types of instrumental flourishes are uncommon to R.E.M.’s albums, or unwelcome, but their albums are usually more eclectic and varied. This is two entire albums of R.E.M. sounding like that. And the first disc is from right after Out Of Time came out and conquered the world, so it has a lot of the forgettable deep cuts that nobody actually likes from that album. But it does have “Perfect Circle” and “Swan Swan H” and a bunch of their ’80s hits, and a weird beatnik instrumental (“Rotary Eleven”). The second disc is from 2001, after drummer Bill Berry left the band for health reasons, and the band had been relying more on drum machines and studio musicians to fill in the gap. This concert was ostensibly promoting their album Reveal, which was a decent but non-canon later-era album whose songs are mostly skippable. The only song they reprise from the first session is, what else, “Losing My Religion”. They also play “Country Feedback”, which the band always stands by as their best song (and, to my ears, has aged way better than expected), which includes a muffled “fuck off” which I’m assuming had to have been bleeped by the censors when it was broadcast. And there’s also a few ace album cuts (“Cuyahoga”, “Find The River”, “Electrolite”), and just a few more ’80s hits (“The One I Love”, “So. Central Rain”). For some reason, though, the sound quality on the second disc is a little grainy, it actually sounds like it was taped off the TV, which is kind of lame. Overall, it’s good to have these recordings if you’re a fan, but it seems like there’s been a ridiculous amount of R.E.M. live albums, best-ofs and reissues as of late, so it just seems like more product being pumped out in lieu of the band’s breakup.
What a coincidence that I end up reviewing 2 bands in a row whose names start with the word Hiss. Both seem to like field recordings, and both can maybe be somehow categorized as experimental/post-rock/drone, but Hiss & Hum is far more noisy and lo-fi and homemade. All of his tapes and CD-r’s are hand-assembled and feature his own spraypainting, cursive writing, and crossed-out text. The Live Broadcast CD-r is an album of late-night improvisations featuring field recordings, synth and guitar, and is dedicated to late-night spontaneous road trips to nowhere. It is recommended to be played louder than most people are comfortable with. 3 of the 5 tracks here are well over 10 minutes. “The Shield Around The K-Hole” builds up a cloud of guitar drone and then attacks it with a downpour of drum machine hi-hats. “Brain-Dead Chile (Slight Return)” has a ratty drum machine beat cha-cha-ing along, along with truly convoluted keyboard and guitar distortion. “Burqa” starts off deceptively pretty and chiming, then has another trudging beat and meandering guitar, then goes a bit wild, before smoothing out, going into some strange beeping, then taking some sort of strange late-night visit to a convenience store or something.
Hiss & Hum/Fever Witch: You’re The Worst/You Deserve It split tape
The other recent release he sent me is a split tour tape (limited to 28 copies) with Fever Witch. The two Hiss & Hum tracks here are entitled “You’re The Worst” and “The Plague”, and start out with meandering guitar which gets louder and noisier and driftier, and the two pieces bleed together, tied by a clinking drum machine which gets louder and more crushing, until the side ends. The real treat, however, is the Fever Witch side, which is fortunately up on Bandcamp for all to hear. Completely dark and ethereal funeral music, with spooky whispered voices, the doomiest chimes you’ll ever hear, and arresting banshee-with-piano wailing. At one point there’s even some Gregorian chanting and some weird lightsaber-like noises?!? I don’t know what all this is, but it’s captivating. I hope there’s more coming. There’s also this tape, which is still available in physical form.
There’s also a Hiss & Hum VHS out called Im//Perfect Color. I don’t have a TV or VHS player, but at least I can post this excerpt because it’s on Youtube:
Newest offshoot of Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Set Fire To Flames, and a collaboration with Kevin Doria of Growing and Total Life. This is way more on the ambient/field-recording/drone side of the GY!BE/Constellation spectrum, so don’t expect crescendo-core here. There’s guitar, synths, piano, and even occasional cello, but the guitars sound closer to bowed string instruments here. It’s eclectic and not strictly any type of music, but there’s plenty of rolling, droning soundscapes and slight distortion. And then there’s tracks like “Drake Motel / “9 Gold Cadillacs””, which is a minute-long glimpse into the life of two old folks playing harmonica and ranting about life. Seems like little comic-relief slice of life in between all the serious-sounding drone. “Ahhh-Weee Dictaphone” is a short recording from a scratchy, whirring dictaphone, which also begins the next piece. I’m assuming most people who hear this will probably be interested because of the GY!BE connection, but for anyone more interested in Growing, there’s a few moments on here that come close to that band’s gated, vibrating guitar sound, particularly the end of “Halo Getters”. “For The Transient Projectionist” is where it all seems to come together here: field recordings, digital processing, guitar drone, and creaking noise effects and ambience. “Test Recording At Trembling City” starts out with quiet, calm guitar tones, and then gets really alarmed midway through, before tapering off. “Beijing-Bullhorn / Dopplered Light…” ends the album with a distorted, decaying transmission which seems to just melt into nonexistence.
This Japanese psych-noise-rock band completely blew me away when I saw them at SXSW. I had no clue what to expect, and they completely tore the place apart. At one point, one of the guitarists came into the crowd and was a few feet away from me and I didn’t even notice because I was rocking out so hard! With such a stage (and crowd) presence, it seems hard for a band like that to really match that excitement on a recording, and sure enough, this album seems a bit more polished and restrained than I remember. Definitely not on the same level of weirdness and unpredictability as the Gezan album we got recently, which is probably one of the craziest albums I’ve ever heard. But what this album does prove is that this band actually knows how to write songs. Really melodic, complex, ecstatic songs, brimming with energy. Don’t expect to be drenched in crazy guitar effects all the time, but there’s plenty of those here. A bit of a dub influence too, including a guest appearance by Roger Robinson of Kevin Martin’s King Midas Sound project. “CC” features Jehnny Beth of Savages, and it the album’s screamiest, most metal track. “Mukaeni Ikenai” is a long, unexpectedly calm and pretty song, similar to the last song on the Gezan album, but this song isn’t quite so slow and heartbreaking. “Maki-Modoshi” is more revved-up, and has some incomprehensible fast mumbling vocals underneath the singing in the second half. “Ogosokana Ao” is a slow ballad with a ticking drum machine and ethereal vocals. Solid album overall, but this is definitely a band that has to be experienced live.
10th full-length from IDM duo Plaid, who have been at it for 25 years now. This album doesn’t really deviate from their signature sound, but it sort of streamlines it; there’s only 9 songs here and the album’s 40 minutes go by pretty quickly. The duo’s signature intricate melodies and erratic but not overblown beat production are still intact here, and there’s a few danceable moments. “Oh” opens the album with a partially acoustic number, featuring vocals, autoharp and mandolin. The next 2 songs sort of merrily skip along, but “Nafovanny” has a vibrating bassline which is a slight bit sinister. “Slam” has a bit of a Kompakt minimal shuffle beat. “Wallet” has clear melodies and glitchy beats, maybe the most BoC-esque song here. “Matin Lunaire” has a simple synth-pop melody and straightforward beats. “Tether” has kind of a festive melody and minimal but lively beats. “Ropen” has slower, more spaced out beats, also a little bit BoC-ish. “Liverpool St” is really fruity and twinkly, with chiming bells, tooting flutes, sugary strings, and clappy, tambourine-shaking beats.
3:03 AM Olekranon ~ Blackprint ~ Aphelion ~ Inam Records
3:06 AM Lens ~ side B ~ Redreamed Reality ~ Tailings
3:17 AM Aaron Dilloway & Kevin Drumm ~ track one ~ I Drink Your Skin ~ Hanson
3:23 AM Black William ~ Nauric 2 (recorded live in Los Angeles June 2009) ~ Nauric/Naural ~ Tailings
3:32 AM Hiss Tracts ~ Halo Getters ~ Shortwave Nights ~ Constellation
3:37 AM Remnants ~ End Of Shuttle Program Pt II ~ Elusive Infinite ~ Tailings
3:49 AM Odeya Nini ~ Tapestry Of Synonyms ~ Voice ~ pfMENTUM
3:55 AM Velvet Holmes ~ side B ~ tape ~ Tree Tapes
4:06 AM Plaid ~ Nafovanny ~ Reachy Prints ~ Warp
4:10 AM Top-Down Dialectic ~ side B track 1 ~ tape ~ Tailings
4:15 AM Tobacco ~ Creaming For Beginners ~ Ultima II Massage ~ Ghostly International
4:18 AM Icons ~ Lost In Music ~ Emotions With Intellect ~ React America
4:24 AM Selector Catalogue ~ Going To Berlin ~ Hyperfocus ~ Fukdup
4:29 AM Xenon Field ~ Hypervelocity ~ Xenon Field ~ Binary Records
4:35 AM Marc Ribot Trio ~ The Wizard ~ Live at the Village Vanguard ~ Pi Recordings
4:42 AM Bo Ningen ~ Mitsume ~ III ~ Stolen Recordings
4:48 AM La Sera ~ Fall In Place ~ Hour Of The Dawn ~ Hardly Art
4:50 AM Brave Radar ~ Out Of Reach ~ Message Centre ~ Fixture Records
4:52 AM Fear Of Men ~ Vitrine ~ Loom ~ Kanine
4:55 AM Makthaverskan ~ Volga ~ II ~ Luxury/Run For Cover
4:58 AM Lost Here… ~ What Are All These Machines For (I Miss My Bed At Home) ~ Hospital Music ~ Fur Tuxedo
5:01 AM Dark Lights ~ March Bonus ~ Dark Lights ~ Fur Tuxedo
5:06 AM White Suns ~ Fossil Record ~ Totem ~ The Flenser
5:11 AM Gezan ~ Haru No Hiza ~ Katsute Uta Toiwaretasore ~ Important
5:19 AM Fennesz ~ Liminality ~ Becs ~ Editions Mego
5:29 AM Jonas Reinhardt ~ Destruction Of A Ghost ~ Ganymede ~ Constellation Tatsu
5:38 AM Oneohtrix Point Never ~ Need ~ Bleep:10 ~ Bleep
5:41 AM WLISPS ~ Terrible Plans… ~ Plurals ~ Impko
5:46 AM Dhow ~ Captus ~ Amara ~ Inam Records
5:49 AM Dorval & Devereaux ~ Melting Time ~ Dorval & Devereaux tape ~ Moon Glyph
5:53 AM Pulse Emitter ~ Longing Thresholds 1 ~ Planetary Slace Synth Hypnosis ~ Metal Postcard
The Answer Is In The Beat 