October | 2015 | The Answer Is In The Beat

Sindre Bjerga: Fugue States tape (Invisible City Records, 2015)

October 11, 2015 at 3:19 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Sindre Bjerga: Fugue States tape

Seriously warped live wreckage making improper usage of mutilated classic rock and reggae tapes, circuit-fried sampling instruments, and bizarre vocal antics worthy of Crank Sturgeon or Ghédalia Tazartès. You feel like you’re starting to melt and decompose and then you get jolted awake by shocking distorted telephone rings. It gets still and ambient for a while, and a lonely, decaying voice calls out via tape. Such a strange, disconcerting tape, I can barely imagine what attending these performances must be like.

Opaline: Open Source tape (Hacktivism Records, 2015)

October 11, 2015 at 12:03 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Opaline: Open Source tape

This guy keeps getting better and better. Now over a dozen tapes deep, Portland synth artist Hunter Peter Thompson seems to have an endless supply of bubbling, enveloping synth jams. Warm and soothing drones, but with inviting melodies that could be really laid back, atmospheric synth-pop tunes. This tape’s tracklist suggests coming back to a familiar place, becoming immersed and losing yourself, regrouping, and then departing. Listening to his many tapes continually brings back that feeling.

Ocean Charter of Values & Lung Cycles: split tape (Lily Tapes and Discs, 2015)

October 10, 2015 at 11:18 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Ocean Charter of Values & Lung Cycles: split tape

The OCOV side is some very drifty ambient folk, with distant pounding drums, still summer night air drone, and some lost-in-the-prairie vocals. The second side by Lung Cycles (the artist formerly known as Squanto) stood out to my ears more. Hissy drones played on cheap keyboards in public places during hot, humid days. Sometimes there’s some tape manipulations, adding some scrambled, alien-pitchshifted chattering voices in the mix, and sometimes there’s dogs barking or other incidental sounds. Very cheap fidelity, very hissy and flat-sounding, but it sounds like it was too hot and stuffy to worry about trivial things like that. The last track covers a very soothing keyboard drone with rain sounds and subtle tape manipulations. A really unique perspective on lo-fi tape drone. Free download on Bandcamp.

Boytronic: Bryllyant 12″ EP (Dark Entries, 2015)

October 10, 2015 at 10:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Boytronic: Bryllyant 12″ EP

Not familiar with this group, but apparently they formed in Hamburg in the early ’80s, released two albums and a handful of singles, and then their record label claimed rights to the name and put together an entirely different lineup of the band which recorded a few more albums. Anyway, Dark Entries just put out this EP of some of their early singles. The title track is included in two mixes, one of which features the track slowed down, the way Belgian DJ’s played it in 1988 at the height of the “new beat” movement. Playing 45s at 33 almost always makes them better, and this is no exception. The fact that this record plays at 45 RPM means that you can play it even slower and make it sound even sicker. The other two tracks on the record are entirely different, sounding like a Hi-NRG version of early Depeche Mode, and they’re awesome too, especially “Trigger Track”.

Gagakiriseye and Eye: Gagakiriseye 7″ (Thrill Jockey, 2015)

October 10, 2015 at 10:25 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Gagakirise and Eye: Gagakiriseye 7″

Who knows if the Boredoms will ever release new music, but this 7″ finds Eye fronting a Boredoms-influenced duo called Gagakirise. On “The Flash”, his vocals are alternately operatic and shrieking, and the music is anthemic, spacey, and destructive. It’s great fun. “Robobird2″ is very minimal and quiet for a minute and a half until it explodes with furious drum rolling and bursting, flaming guitars, as well as Eye’s wailing vocals. Lots of ideas packed into this short 7”, hopefully this is just a preview of something big to come later.

Hylidae: Intransitive tape (Dismal Niche, 2015)

October 10, 2015 at 3:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Hylidae: Intransitive tape

Spacey electronic pop created on hardware. Lots of elements of analog synth noise drone stuff, but turned into pop songs. Some of it’s kind of like Peaking Lights, but not quite as dubby (a little bit, but not a lot). The second side amps up the dance beats, with “NTHE” and “Unwound” sounding like something that could be cleaned up and released on DFA, but then it wouldn’t sound as good. The last two tracks are instrumental and zone out a bit more. Could be a name to watch. Name-your-price DL on Bandcamp.

Charles Barabé / Jean-Sébastien Truchy: Les Confessions II / Souvenirs Rompus, Oubliés Ou Ma Vie Réinventée split tape (Unit Structure Sound Recordings, 2015)

October 10, 2015 at 3:18 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Charles Barabé / Jean-Sébastien Truchy: Les Confessions II / Souvenirs Rompus, Oubliés Ou Ma Vie Réinventée split tape

Last year, Quebec composer Charles Barabé released “Insultes (hommage à John Cage)”, the most flat-out hilarious recording of the year, which set a computer voice reading negative YouTube comments about a performance of 4’33” to clattering, noisy drone. This tape is the first work I’ve heard by Barabé other than that piece, and it’s equally stunning for entirely different reasons. “Les Confessions II” is a dense, bracing, busy collage of street sounds (clunking footsteps, traffic, chattering) with saxophone flutters, modular synth noise, and later some guitar layers and I think a Fleetwood Mac “Albatross” sample. The modular passages are sizzling, messy, and brain-warping, and the way everything else is mixed creates such an overcrowding, all-encompassing effect. It is just simply astonishing. I haven’t heard Truchy before, and his side has a similar city-voyager type feel, although it’s not quite as dense or noisy surrealist. Lots of field recordings of public transit rides, and much more of a minimalist, spacious feel. It does eventually get into some eerie synth droning, and then some more piercing, rumbling, noisy tones. Then we get into a ring modulated trip accompanied by close-miked whispering in French, and then eventually landing into some nature sounds. A pretty interesting audio journey, but not as incredible as the Barabé side.

Earth/Vessel: earth/vessel tape (White_Reeves Productions, 2015)

October 10, 2015 at 2:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Earth/Vessel: earth/vessel tape

A strange, short interstellar voyage from Pittsburgh. Vividly cascading synths and broken, sputtering noise erupting at unexpected moments. There’s a trace of an other-galaxy dub influence, and a vaguely rasta-sounding female voice pops up a few times, only to be interrupted or diced up. A slight crunch of doomy guitar emerges on the second site. Some absolutely shredding delay on this tape. It all comes back to that cascading, quazared-out synth sound, making some place so alien sound so familiar. Available on Bandcamp.

Show #311 – 10/10/15

October 10, 2015 at 2:40 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

Mic break music = Earth/Vessel: self-titled tape on White_Reeves Productions
Hour 1
3:01 am Black Wing ~ “Death Sentences” ~ Is Doomed ~ The Flenser ~ 2015
3:07 am John Carpenter ~ “Night (Zola Jesus & Dean Hurley Remix)” ~ Lost Themes Remixed ~ Sacred Bones ~ 2015
3:11 am Oneirogen ~ “Collapsing” ~ Plenitude ~ Denovali ~ 2015
3:21 am Deafheaven ~ “Come Back” ~ New Bermuda ~ Anti- ~ 2015
3:30 am Crowhurst and Intestinal Disgorge ~ “Bouquet of Gore” ~ The Devil’s Experiment ~ Bandcamp ~ 2015
3:32 am Gavin Gamboa ~ “Rain Dance” ~ Take Me To That Place Where I Know Nothing ~ Bandcamp ~ 2015
3:34 am Khaki Blazer ~ “Vibrato Rap” ~ Moontan Nocturnal ~ Hausu Mountain ~ 2015
3:36 am Mute-Tiny ~ “Baby Baby” ~ Resistance ~ Seagrave ~ 2015
3:42 am Grischa Lichtenberger ~ “cl vb 2_v2” ~ La Demeure; Il Y A Péril En La Demeure ~ Raster-Noton ~ 2015
3:46 am Arrows ~ “A6” ~ Voyage ~ Crash Symbols ~ 2015
3:51 am Yppah ~ “Separate Ways Forever” ~ Tiny Pause ~ Counter ~ 2015
3:56 am Machinedrum ~ “Le Ol Skool” ~ µ20 ~ Planet Mu ~ 2011
Hour 2
4:02 am Yabby U ~ “Rock Vibration” ~ King Tubby’s Prophesy of Dub ~ Blood & Fire ~ 1976
4:08 am Dub Syndicate with Lee “Scratch” Perry ~ “Dubaddisababa” ~ Echomania ~ On-U Sound ~ 1993
4:13 am Pan Ron ~ “Jom Nor Trocheak” ~ Groove Club Vol. 3: Cambodia Rock Intensified! ~ Lion Productions ~ ?
4:16 am Jen Shyu & Jade Tongue ~ “Bloom’s Mouth Rushed In” ~ Sounds and Cries of the World ~ Pi Recordings ~ 2015
4:21 am White Out w/ Nels Cline ~ “Imperative” ~ Accidental Sky ~ Northern Spy ~ 2015
4:27 am Easily Suede ~ “Easily” ~ Role Player ~ Bandcamp ~ 2015
4:37 am Charles Barabé ~ “Les Confessions II” ~ split tape w/ Jean-Sébastien Truchy ~ Unit Structure Sound Recordings ~ 2015
4:56 am Matchess ~ “But Their Chains” ~ Somnaphoria ~ Trouble In Mind ~ 2015
Hour 3
5:02 am Tyler Powell ~ “Soft Sadness” ~ Outgoing Messages ~ Dismal Niche ~ 2015
5:10 am Hylidae ~ “You Don’t Say” ~ Intransitive ~ Dismal Niche ~
5:14 am Helvetia ~ “Pink Finish” ~ Dromomania ~ Joyful Noise ~ 2015
5:18 am X_X ~ “Ghosts” ~ Albert Ayler’s Ghosts Live at the Yellow Ghetto ~ Smog Veil ~ 2015
5:23 am Franck Vigroux & Matthew Bourne ~ “Radioland” ~ Radioland: Radio-Activity Revisited ~ Leaf ~ 2015
5:27 am Barbara Morgenstern with Robert Lippok & Justus Köhncke ~ “Übermorgen” ~ Doppelstern ~ Monika Enterprise ~ 2015
5:32 am The Field ~ “Cupid’s Head (Gas Ambient Mix)” ~ Pop Ambient 2014 ~ Kompakt ~ 2013
5:42 am Noah ~ “Flaw” ~ Sivutie ~ flau ~ 2015
5:46 am Julia Holter ~ “Night Song” ~ Have You In My Wilderness ~ Domino ~ 2015
5:50 am Phaedra ~ “Blackwinged Night” ~ Blackwinged Night ~ Rune Grammofon ~ 2015

Crush Collision 10/9/15

October 9, 2015 at 9:12 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Hour 1
10:01 pm John Carpenter ~ “Vortex (Uniform Remix)”
10:04 pm Botany ~ “Bad CGI”
10:10 pm Moiré ~ “Let Down”
10:15 pm Max Cooper ~ “Arc”
10:22 pm Coma ~ “Poor Knight”
10:26 pm Princess Century ~ “Domestic”
10:33 pm African Head Charge ~ “Stebeni’s Theme”
10:36 pm Aphex Twin ~ “Noddy”
10:39 pm Chevel ~ “The Windrunner”
10:43 pm Detroit’s Filthiest ~ “After Hours (125BPM Mix)”
10:46 pm Gary Martin ~ “Galaxy Style”
10:49 pm Esteban Adame ~ “Rise & Shine (Mark Flash Remix)”
10:54 pm Victor Santana ~ “The Triggerkey Day”
10:57 pm Modern Heads ~ “Beginning (Donato Dozzy Remix)”
Hour 2
11:03 pm Killawatt ~ “Excessive Hyperbole (Mønic Version)”
11:08 pm Ø [Phase] ~ “The Maze”
11:16 pm DJ Deep & Roman Poncet present Adventice ~ “Exsurgence (Main Mix)”
11:19 pm Aphex Twin ~ “Octave Nob”
11:22 pm Argy & Mama ~ “Without Me (Alan Fitzpatrick Remix)”
11:26 pm Dantiez Saunderson, KPD, Ann Saunderson ~ “Another Day (Bjëlo Remix)”
11:31 pm Space DJz ~ “Ground Hog (MB Dub Mix)”
11:34 pm Mørbeck ~ “Future Super Kid”
11:40 pm DJ Hyperactive ~ “Lightspeed to Oblivion”
11:44 pm Elecktroidz ~ “Kilohertz”
11:48 pm Skanfrom ~ “England”
11:51 pm Helena Hauff ~ “Piece of Pleasure”
11:56 pm µ-Ziq ~ “Pride”