February | 2016 | The Answer Is In The Beat

Christopher Riggs and Carl Testa: Sn (Gold Bolus, 2015)

February 20, 2016 at 8:04 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Christopher Riggs and Carl Testa: Sn

This CD documents a 40-minute improv session recorded at the intimate Firehouse 12 venue in New Haven, CT, right near my hometown, Hamden. Riggs plays prepared electric guitar and Testa processes it live, warping it far beyond the already highly unconventional manners in which Riggs plays it. I have to admit, previous Riggs recordings that I’ve heard just sounded too discordant to me and I couldn’t really enjoy them, but this recording sounds great. I think the fact that it’s an actual CD rather than a cassette might help. Apparently there’s a 5.1 Surround version available to download, which probably sounds even more mindblowing, if you have that kind of audio setup (I don’t). But anyway, the duo conjure up a multitude of bizarre sounds and then push them further out into space. Given that there’s only one instrument being played, it gets very sparse and then explosive and wild, with various scrapings, rumblings, and pluckings in between. At times there’s some harsh viola-like bowing, and some manic squiggly tones, and even some moments when it sounds like some lost voices are in the mix. Near the end it starts to imitate some exotic animal cries, with a cloud of effects giving it a haunted rainforest feel.

Petrichor: Mångata (Soma, 2015)

February 20, 2016 at 7:23 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Petrichor: Mångata

Another one that sort of creeps up on you, but it seems more vital the more you listen. I almost though it was a metal album when I first saw it, until I noticed it was on Soma. Very gorgeous deep-space ambient techno, with unobtrusive but carefully assembled beats and rich washes of wet, dubby pads. While there’s a copious amount of echo surrounding the sparse beats, it doesn’t quite feel accurate to lump this one in with dub techno. It feels like there’s much more of a focus on melody, and the tracks build up a lot more. There’s some progressive, underwater breakbeats and creeping chords which make the album feel like a more submerged version of labelmates such as Slam. Yes, it’s spacey and underwater at the same time somehow, although some tracks are a bit more grounded. Detroit and Berlin influences are alluded to, but the album is still in its own orbit.

Povab: Zarja (Offshoot, 2015)

February 20, 2016 at 7:10 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Povab: Zarja

Another unassuming CD that knocked me out. This one isn’t even on Discogs (but it is on Bandcamp) and I can’t find too much info about it, other than that it was going to be released on another label before Psychonavigation picked it up for one of their imprints. Whoever this artist is, some of these tracks build up intense machine rhythms and tear them to shreds, like the Somatic Reponses-esque “20”. Other tracks have more steady techno beats, but they’re still tense and kind of suffocating. Then there’s the more dancey, industrial-influenced tracks. But even these play around with the form, taking the beats from being danceable to half-time rhythms. Some of the drums are more explosive and bashy, and others are fizzled apart by acidic chemicals. And then other pieces are more ominous and barely have drums at all (piano-driven “110” is a gruesomely violent scene waiting to happen). So much detail, and every track sounds different. Don’t overlook this one!

Aris Kindt: Floods (Scissor & Thread, 2015)

February 20, 2016 at 6:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Aris Kindt: Floods

There’s a few CDs that have been sitting on my desk that came out of nowhere that I’ve been meaning to write about, and this is one of them. This is a duo including Francis Harris of Frank & Tony, and it’s way deeper, dubbier, and darker than their relaxed, blissful house tracks. Definitely some parallels to Dubchord and similar/related dub techno artists, but there’s something murkier and more decaying about this album. A bit more distortion, a bit more manipulated instruments lurking underneath, a considerable amount of subtlety. It creeps up on you with repeated listens, and it’s seriously great. There’s the upfront, bassy dub-techno pulse, but there’s wayward drifting sounds and some gorgeous, distant melodies. The duo threads a lot of seemingly alienated aspects together, but it’s remarkably cohesive.

Crush Collision 2/18/16

February 19, 2016 at 8:54 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

This was a special fundraising edition of Crush Collision. Me and Tyler Carr tag teamed and played nothing but Detroit records. We also got silly with the Kaoss Pad during the mic breaks. Enjoy!
Hour 1
Hour 2

Skin Lies: Stimulus Regression tape (FM Dust, 2016)

February 14, 2016 at 2:14 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Skin Lies: Stimulus Regression tape

Skin Lies is former WCBN DJ Dustin Krcatovich (DJ Danny Glover’s Kid, Actual Birds, Mall Mutants), who currently lives in Portland. His new project is way different from the noise/folk/pop/rock of his earlier stuff, this is more swirling cosmic experimental sounds. It’s still noisy and lo-fi, and it still sounds like something that belongs on a cassette tape, it just occupies a much different head space than before. Plenty of Fripp & Eno guitar textures and loops, and lots of early Cluster/Kluster in here as well. The tape is bookended by longer pieces which flow and progress with entrancing rhythms and goopy sounds and tape manipulations, then in the middle there’s 3 shorter mood pieces, of which “Reversal of Fortune” is the most serene. “Interlude/That River Is In My Way” is a long, 2-part epic which seems to get more ominous and haunting as it progresses. This tape is an exciting new start from someone who’s been at it for a long time. Up on Bandcamp now.

Nothing Says I Love You Like Breakcore IV @ Far House, 2/13/16

February 14, 2016 at 1:23 pm | Posted in Photos | Leave a comment

Matt Demmon

Khrysalis

Matt Demmon

Zwaken

Bubblegum Octopus

Watabou 60/40

Show #331 – 2/13/16

February 13, 2016 at 1:54 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:03 am Benny Boeldt ~ “Have a Pizza” ~ 8 of Cups (new) ~ Carpark ~ 2016
2:07 am Amnesia Scanner ~ “AS CRUST” ~ YouTube (new) ~ 2016
2:10 am Wench ~ “Sick” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
2:12 am Color Plus ~ “Consideration Edit” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
2:16 am Joey LaBeija ~ “HateFuck” ~ Shattered Dreams (new) ~ Purple Tape Pedigree ~ 2015
2:20 am Imaabs ~ “Voy” (by request) ~ Distancia ~ NAAFI ~ 2015
2:24 am Cruel Boyz ~ “Umeqo Emagqomini (dub mix)” ~ Gqom Oh! The Sound of Durban (new) ~ Gqom Oh! ~ 2016
2:32 am Petrichor ~ “Louba” ~ Mångata (new) ~ Soma ~ 2015
2:36 am Pedram ~ “Lex (XXXY Warehouse Jam Remix)” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
2:41 am Mr. Fingers ~ “Qwazars” ~ Mr. Fingers 2016 (new) ~ Alleviated ~ 2016
2:48 am Khotin ~ “Baikal Acid” ~ Baikal Acid (new) ~ 1080p ~ 2015
2:54 am Cardopusher ~ “Cult 91 (3 AM Mixx)” ~ Manipulator (new) ~ Boysnoize Records ~ 2016
3:01 am Aris Kindt ~ “Braids” ~ Floods (new) ~ Scissor & Thread ~ 2015
3:04 am Betonkust & Palmbomen II ~ “24×33” ~ Center Parcs EP (new) ~ 1080p ~ 2016
3:09 am Chrome Sparks ~ “Moonraker (Pascäal’s Inner Mix)” ~ Moonraker Remixes (new) ~ Future Classic ~ 2015
3:13 am Euripides ~ “Melancholy Days” ~ KX 2015 (new) ~ KX ~ 2015
3:20 am LNS ~ “Sh” ~ Maligne Range (new) ~ 1080p ~ 2016
3:24 am Somatic Responses ~ “Life Cycles” ~ Folding Space (new) ~ Hymen ~ 2016
3:28 am Brood Ma ~ “MONACO” ~ P O P U L O U S ~ Quantum Natives ~ 2014
3:34 am Dead Fader ~ “Hyp 30” ~ Hyp 30 ~ Robot Elephant ~ 2015
3:38 am µ-Ziq ~ “Fucked Off Again” ~ Aberystwyth Marine ~ Planet Mu ~ 1997
3:41 am Cardopusher ~ “At the Same Time” ~ Hippie Killers Don’t Mind Jah Conversations ~ Peace Off ~ 2006
3:44 am Catdog ~ “Yoga Pants Suicide” ~ Culture Jamming Vol. 1 (new) ~ Placenta Recordings ~ 2016
3:47 am Traxman ~ “Slash Time” ~ Slash Time – The Album (new) ~ Duck N’ Cover ~ 2015
3:50 am Dreamcrusher ~ “Myrtle Ave-Broadway” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2016
4:00 am Infinite Body ~ “Slow of Heart” ~ Avolition (new) ~ Isounderscore ~ 2015
4:05 am Internet Goddess Shinatama ~ “Presence In The Midst Of An Unspoilt Forest…” ~ The Unified Consciousness ~ Dream Catalogue™ ‎ ~ 2015
4:09 am Paul Jebanasam ~ “search another 3Hφ˙ = lose you i), place i=0 doubt I V (φ) am ∝ exp( √ 16π to meet you again pm² P φ” ~ Continuum (new) ~ Subtext ~ 2016
4:25 am Davey Harms ~ “Trapped in the Grid” ~ Cables (new) ~ Hausu Mountain ~ 2016
4:34 am Allen Ravenstine ~ “Star Crossed” ~ The Pharaoh’s Bee (new) ~ ReR Megacorp ~ 2015
4:38 am Skin Lies ~ “Friday Vibrations” ~ Stimulus Regression (new) ~ FM Dust ~ 2016
4:48 am Fred Thomas ~ “Vassar” ~ Minim (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2016
4:49 am Jimbo Easter (local) ~ “Buy Colored Lights” ~ 1-sided 7″ EP (new) ~ Terror Trash ~ 2016
4:50 am Ramones ~ “Cretin Hop/Listen to My Heart/California Sun/I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You/Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World” ~ The Cretin Hop: Live Broadcast From the Second Chance Saloon February 1979 ~ Let Them Eat Vinyl ~ 1979
5:00 am Dusted Lux ~ “A Horse in the Orchard” ~ Neverended ~ Preservation ~ 2014
5:04 am Coil ~ “Backwards” ~ Backwards ~ Cold Spring ~ 1996
5:10 am Povab ~ “60” ~ Zarja (new) ~ Offshoot ~ 2015
5:14 am Solvent ~ “King Vincent” ~ New Ways ~ Suction Records ~ 2014
5:20 am Essaie pas ~ “Retox” ~ Demain est une autre nuit (new) ~ DFA ~ 2016
5:24 am Void Vision ~ “Hidden Hand” ~ Sub Rosa ~ Mannequin ~ 2014
5:31 am Ray Sammartano ~ “Looking Glass” ~ Through the Chronos Lens (new) ~ self-released ~ 2015
5:35 am Tyler Carr ~ “Baby Fundraiser (long version)” ~ mp3 (new) ~ WCBN ~ 2016
5:39 am Jesu/Sun Kil Moon ~ “Fragile” ~ Jesu/Sun Kil Moon (new) ~ Caldo Verde ~ 2016
5:45 am Tortoise feat. Georgia Hubley ~ “Yonder Blue” ~ The Catastrophist (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2016
5:49 am Pharoah & The Underground ~ “Primative Jupiter” ~ Primative Jupiter ~ Clean Feed ~ 2014

Crush Collision 2/11/16

February 12, 2016 at 9:14 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

WCBN’s fundraising marathon is now live! PLEASE DONATE to keep Crush Collision and every other program on the air!

Hour 1
10:02 pm Lord RAJA ~ “Renaissance Endo”
10:04 pm NY*AK feat. Ian Blevins ~ “Xager”
10:08 pm U.S. Hard / Contemporary ~ “Dakota’s Line”
10:13 pm Positive Centre ~ “Angular Beautifault”
10:17 pm Ricardo Donoso ~ “Gallicinium (Spaces Remix)”
10:22 pm Tarrida & Dincsoy ~ “Alone (Dub)”
10:26 pm Severed Heads ~ “Lamborghini”
10:28 pm Illum Sphere ~ “Second Sight”
10:34 pm Davey Harms ~ “Island Rind”
10:39 pm Joey Anderson ~ “Blind Light”
10:45 pm Lance Neptune ~ “N4”
10:49 pm Okzharp ~ “Glonet”
10:52 pm Mikron ~ “Medika Combine”
10:57 pm Rommek ~ “Beyond Desire”
Hour 2
11:02 pm Ontal ~ “Spasm”
11:07 pm Mark Broom ~ “Frontline (Robert Hood Re-Plant Remix)”
11:11 pm Psyk ~ “Balance”
11:14 pm Sigha ~ “Demonstration”
11:18 pm Lucindo ~ “Act 133”
11:22 pm Jock Club ~ “Controlled Area”
11:26 pm Zadig ~ “The Stellar Hunter”
11:30 pm Makaton ~ “Cold Black Heart”
11:32 pm Stanislav Tolkachev ~ “Follow Me”
11:36 pm Figure-Ground ~ “Figure-Ground 03”
11:38 pm Underworld ~ “Cherry Pie”
11:45 pm The Advent ~ “Mononix”
11:50 pm Jodey Kendrick ~ “Wind of Jack”
11:54 pm Personable ~ “Cris Rose”

Local Music Show 2/10/16

February 11, 2016 at 12:11 am | Posted in Local Music Show | Leave a comment

Hour 1
9:01 pm Ingrid Racine (local) ~ “Fourths” ~ Concentric Circles (new) ~ Ingridracine.com ~ 2015
9:09 pm Billowing (local) ~ “Société D’Éclairage” ~ Modifications D’Éclairage (new) ~ Life Like ~ 2015
9:16 pm Matthew Daher (local) ~ “Drip Drown” ~ Dwelling Lightheartedly in the Futility of Everything ~ self-released ~ 2015
9:22 pm Fred Thomas (local) ~ “Amerikan Apparelle” ~ YouTube (new) ~ 2016
9:24 pm Persona (local) ~ “Cycloid” ~ Uptight ~ Simulated ~ 2000
9:27 pm Clay Rendering (local) ~ “Sight From Up Here” ~ Snowthorn (new) ~ Hospital Productions ~ 2015
9:34 pm Deepchord (local) ~ “CMOS Therapy” ~ Ultraviolet Music (new) ~ Soma ~ 2015
9:42 pm Cyrano Jones (local) ~ “LIVE IN WCBN STUDIO!” ~ Local Music Show (new) ~ WCBN ~ 2016
Hour 2
10:13 pm Deepchord (local) ~ “Melange” ~ Ultraviolet Music (new) ~ Soma ~ 2015
10:14 pm Nausea Valley (local) ~ “Outer Space” ~ Blood On the Spaceship ~ Toothless Eyeball Records ~ 2014
10:15 pm Jimbo Easter (local) ~ “Rum Rubbish” ~ 1-sided 7″ EP (new) ~ Terror Trash ~ 2016
10:17 pm Morsel (local) ~ “Wreck” ~ I’m A Wreck ~ Small Stone ~ 1997
10:23 pm In Door Park (local) ~ “Diver” ~ In Door Park ~ self-released ~ 2002
10:29 pm Godzuki (local) ~ “track 3” ~ Free Wade ~ Time Stereo/Go Sonic ~ 1996
10:32 pm His Name Is Alive (local) ~ “Where Knock Is Open Wide” ~ Mouth By Mouth ~ 4AD ~ 1993
10:35 pm Füxa (local) ~ “Main Sequence Diffusion / Photon / Lajolla” ~ 3 Field Rotation ~ i/Mind Expansion ~ 1995
10:41 pm City Center (local) ~ “Cloud Center” ~ City Center ~ Type ~ 2009
10:49 pm Aaron Dilloway (local) ~ “side A” ~ The Beauty Bath LP ~ Hanson ~ 2014