Footwork hasn’t been the same since DJ Rashad’s untimely death, but there’s still been some great releases (especially by other Teklife members and Indiana’s Jlin) and worldwide development of the genre. Following 2 Planet Mu albums and digital releases, Traxman joined fellow Chicago innovators DJ Clent and DJ Roc by releasing an album on Duck N’ Cover Records. The album definitely keeps with the spirit of the original, gritty footwork sound, not the Hyperdub one with more of a connection to the jungle, techno, and EDM worlds. Tracks on this CD such as “Boogie Woogie” have uptempo 4/4 beats and even breakbeats, and might have been produced a decade or go, it doesn’t specify the recording dates. “She Take It In The Face” is annoying, sexist, and easily skippable, but after that there’s plenty of intriguing weirdness, like the squirmy Mr. Oizo synths of “Taken A Trip U”, “Unstoppable”, and “Electro Tekk”, and the warp speed laser whip “Slash Time”. “Survive” features an oddly gospel-ish vocal sample and overdriven rave piano-like synths, and then the beats just push it over the top. The last few tracks dig up dusty old soul records from the closet for sample-mining purposes, and “We On Mars” sounds more sleepy and even melancholy than you might expect. Traxman has said that this isn’t a sequel to his Planet Mu albums, but it doesn’t really differ from them too much, it’s still from the same mind.
According to Discogs, so far this year, CDR has released 3 splits, an EP, and a 50-track album. This is all in addition to the hundreds of other releases he’s put out or been featured on since the late ’90s. Acid Waltz still seems to be the most recently released CD by him, thanks to AD AAD AT, who also released the dynamic split 12″ he did with DJ Topgear, which might be his best work to date. This album focuses on marring acid techno with his signature smashed-up Amen breaks and sometimes classical-inspired melodies (not really any anime samples on this album, as far as I can tell). There’s 2 “Acid Hell” tracks which appropriately take his sound into its most overwhelming level of intensity. Not to mention “Too Much Monster Energy”. But then there’s the softer, pretty tracks like “Fin” and both versions of “For You”. And the mutilated hardstyle of “What Is EDM”. You can grab (lo-bitrate) mp3s for free on AD AAD AT’s site, but the CD is well worth buying.
You know those signs that say “This is a good sign”? Maybe there should be a roll of tape that says “This is a good tape” for when I review cassettes like this. OK, maybe that’s a dumb idea, but this is still really good. Recorded between Austin, Seattle, and Dartmoor, UK, this is nearly a full hour of steely industrial techno made with an old guitar, a reel-to-reel tape recorder, a circuit bent Casio SK-1, found sounds, and nature recordings. Very kinetic machine music which sometimes feels a bit airy and thin (“Hask”) and other times has fat throbbing beats and distortion (“Ysel”). Still feels more like lo-fi techno than industrial, but there’s undoubtedly an industrial element/construction to it, and it flares up into spark-emitting noise and gets warped and noisy at times. After some more straightforward 4/4 tracks, “Inducer II” is more of a hollowed-out ticking mid-’90s Autechre thing, then “Brink” goes back to the hazy industrial pounding. “Down” is a brief beatless respite before the crackling ’80s electro-techno of “Flatland”. The tape-ending “Modulous” features the album’s most splintered, scattered beats; speed it up 50 BPM or so and it’s basically breakcore. Tape’s sold out, and you can’t have mine, but you can hear it on Bandcamp.
This one immediately grabs my attention with its dilapidated loops of reversed tablas and short-circuited buzzing. Eventually some tape-damaged vocals creep in, and it just gets more confusing and bewildering. The second track is more steady, but it gets more intense and befuddling, with weird bubbling sounds and delay. The third track starts with sparse voices and pulsing, then attacks with drilling electronic rhythm. The second side has more combinations of harsh pounding rhythms and eerie chanting voices which sound like they’re summoning something from the dead, or maybe being conjured up themselves. The final track sounds deceptively calm, then gets washed and fizzled away with more bizarre effects. The way the vocals sing in that distorted, tape-mangled moan somehow sounds so natural, even if it’s completely artificial and impossible without technology. Anyway, great album, check it out on Bandcamp.
Hour 1
2:01 am Ryan Huber ~ “Kanab” ~ Kanab (new) ~ Inam Records ~ 2016
2:15 am Ulrich Krieger ~ “Trona” ~ /RAW:ReSpace/ (new) ~ XI Records ~ 2016
2:27 am Rangda ~ “Hard Times Befall the Door-To-Door Glass Shard Salesman” ~ The Heretic’s Bargain (new) ~ Drag City ~ 2016
2:35 am Infinite Body ~ “Empyrean” ~ Avolition (new) ~ Isounderscore ~ 2015
2:41 am Guido Gamboa ~ “side A track 1 and 2” ~ Saturday’s Notes (new) ~ Pentiments ~ 2016
2:46 am Pyrolator ~ “Inland 3” ~ Inland ~ Bureau B ~ 1979
2:49 am Venetian Snares ~ “She Married A Chess Computer In the End” ~ Traditional Synthesizer Music (new) ~ Timesig ~ 2016
2:53 am Die Partei ~ “Allerheiligen” ~ La Freiheit des Geistes ~ Bureau B ~ 1981
2:55 am Joey Anderson ~ “18 Arms” ~ Invisible Switch (new) ~ Dekmantel ~ 2015 Hour 2
3:02 am Brood Ma ~ “Molten Brownian Motion” ~ Daze (new) ~ Tri Angle ~ 2016
3:04 am Heliocentrics ~ “The Pit” ~ From the Deep (new) ~ Now-Again ~ 2016
3:10 am Odd Nosdam ~ “Sisters (Boards of Canada Remix)” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Leaving Records ~ 2016
3:13 am HEX ~ “Ruin Value” ~ HEX (new) ~ Liberation Technologies ~ 2016
3:17 am Dow One ~ “SURPLUS: design web, hege, third labor” ~ YOUTH WAGE SURPLUS (new) ~ Cairn Desk ~ 2016
3:27 am Zora Jones ft. Heavee ~ “Ruby Fifths [DVA Hi:Emotions Remix]” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Fractal Fantasy ~ 2016
3:32 am Akito ~ “Metamessage (Murlo & Famous Eno Remix)” ~ Metamessage Remix EP (new) ~ Sans Absence ~ 2016
3:36 am Micachu ~ “I Dare You (Demdike Stare Edit)” ~ Taz and May Vids (new) ~ DDS ~ 2016
3:40 am Matmos ~ “Ultimate Care II (the last 8 minutes or so)” ~ Ultimate Care II (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2016
3:48 am Shape Worship ~ “Zoned (Hecate)” ~ A City Remembrancer (new) ~ Front and Follow ~ 2015
3:56 am How to Cure Our Soul ~ “Night Climb to the Mount Analogue” ~ Luna (new) ~ Low Point ~ 2015 Hour 3
4:01 am BLÆRG ~ “Redundant Tautologies” ~ Redundant Tautologies (new) ~ Immigrant Breast Nest ~ 2016
4:17 am Wisp ~ “Prort Key” ~ Random Number… Colors Start ~ Moodgadget ~ 2004
4:22 am 食品まつりa.k.a foodman×Meuko! Meuko! ~ “Wan Wan Wan Wan (Vocal Version)” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
4:28 am Steve Roach ~ “Views Beyond” ~ Arc of Passion ~ Projekt ~ 2008
4:32 am holymachines x Aquiet ~ “Yt” ~ Image Version (new) ~ Average Negative ~ 2016
4:36 am Francine Thirteen ~ “13 Statements” ~ mp3 ~ Soundcloud ~ 2015
4:38 am Lightstorm ~ “Let Your Astral Body Fly” ~ Creation ~ Drag City/Yoga Records ~ 1977
4:42 am Invada Allstars feat. Anika ~ “99 Red Balloons” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Invada ~ 2016
4:46 am Pinkshinyultrablast ~ “The Cherry Pit” ~ Grandfeathered (new) ~ Club AC30 ~ 2016
4:51 am Heron Oblivion ~ “Faro” ~ Heron Oblivion (new) ~ Sub Pop ~ 2016
4:56 am SALES ~ “Jamz” ~ mp3 (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016 Hour 4
5:00 am Qluster ~ “Melpomene” ~ Lauschen ~ Bureau B ~ 2012
5:04 am Cavern of Anti-Matter ~ “Tardis Cymbals” ~ Void Beats/Invocation Trex (new) ~ Duophonic ~ 2016
5:17 am The Renderers ~ “A Dream of the Sea” ~ A Dream of the Sea ~ Siltbreeze ~ 1998
5:21 am The Renderers ~ “Seaworthy” ~ In the Sodium Light (new) ~ Ba Da Bing ~ 2016
5:25 am Thee Oh Sees ~ “Fortress” ~ 7″ (new) ~ Castle Face ~ 2016
5:30 am All Together ~ “The Oneness” ~ Ivan – Gavin (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2016
5:36 am Sarah Neufeld ~ “The Glow” ~ The Ridge (new) ~ Paper Bag ~ 2016
5:43 am Davey Harms ~ “American Raw” ~ Cables (new) ~ Hausu Mountain ~ 2016
5:49 am James West (DJ Midi Mayne) ~ “Rush 2 Tha Rave” ~ Busy Night Time 1997 (new) ~ Bootleg Tapes ~ 2016
5:54 am Essaie pas ~ “Depassée par le fantasme” ~ Demain est une autre nuit (new) ~ DFA ~ 2016
This one sneaked up on me, I had it on my hard drive for a while and when I finally got around to playing it on Crush Collision last night, it clicked. It reminds me of the Mr. Fingers-isms of Khotin, but not quite as brazenly melodic. It’s way more subtle, with some of the edges blurred and hazy. Minimal, tech-y, a little dubby, but also a bit mysterious. Aside from the beat, the sounds in “Dissociation” all seem to be playing backwards, but it takes a few minutes for you to even notice. “Defensive” ups the classy dub-house-disco quotient. The opening title track is still the winner, though.
The third How to Cure Our Soul release is all about staring at the moon on a dark, bleary night, not exactly getting a clear view of the sky but trying anyway. The three tracks here are blurry and warbly but still aim straight for the heavens. They’re also pretty sparse and subtle, differing slightly throughout their durations. “Night climb to the Mount Analogue” is the longest drone at 15 minutes, and it’s the one that’s most likely to make the moon seem haunted.
Erik Waterkotte + Ryan Huber: …And Now They Are Gone CDr
Two new CDr’s have just arrived from RH on Inam Records. The one with Erik Waterkotte is the less limited of the two (at 80 copies), and it has fancier, screen printed packaging. The music is pretty different than Huber’s usual work; a lot of it is more hissing, scraping, and field recordings, and not as much in the way of beats or rhythmic drones. The first few tracks feel like they were recorded in a factory. “…antag: v” feels a bit more glitchy and computer-generated. The tracks that follow are more haunted drone. “…antag: vii” is pretty lovely; “…antag viii” is a repetitive, slow throb. “…antag: ix” is footsteps, buzzing, and the distant sound of something falling or knocking. The buzzing gets louder. “…antag: x” is another factory drone which seems like it’s going to build or change but it doesn’t.
Ryan Huber: Kanab CDr
The second CDr (and the more limited, and honestly better, of the 2) is named after one of Utah’s finest cities. This one only has 3 tracks, but the first one is a phenomenal 15 minute burner, with a thumping beat barely keeping afloat while churning feedback noise growls away on top of it. It’s hard to tell if it ends up crossfading to another beat, or if the one beat keeps going and shifting down a bit. Regardless, it’s hypnotic and goes on for a really long time and it’s incredible. “Lantern” sounds like harsh, ripping wind with a loop of some sort of chatter underneath. After the 4 minute piece ends, it abruptly shifts to “Red Gods, which has an upfront techno beat chattering away over a void-like drone. Really, though, the beat is what takes up most of your attention. Near the end, there’s some bubbly effects around the beat, and then the track actually has a proper ending where the beat deconstructs before dropping out entirely.
This year’s annual fundraising improv session went really well, Tyler Carr brought in a huge synth rig and set up turntables and delay pedals, and a few guests from Arbor Vitae showed up. It got off to a little bit of a late start (only 10 minutes or so) and it ended at 5AM, but here’s all 7 hours, along with photos by Mike Perini. Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3 Hour 4 Hour 5 Hour 6 Hour 7
