May | 2016 | The Answer Is In The Beat

Rhys Chatham @ UFO Factory, 5/21/16

May 31, 2016 at 11:32 pm | Posted in Photos | Leave a comment

I spent the day in Detroit doing a bunch of things before heading to UFO Factory to see Rhys Chatham

Hello Records

TRIP METAL IS FREE

Ditto Ditto bookstore

Peoples Records

Cass Cafe

Lentil Burger @ Cass Cafe

McShane’s bus

a single word on the sidewalk

building near UFO Factory

Motor City Casino

intersection near UFO Factory

nice sunset

instruments on stage before the show

Electric Blvd Guitar Duo (Dion Fischer & Derek Stanton)

Shells

Rhys Chatham introduces his set

Rhys Chatham

Chelsea Wolfe @ El Club, 5/19/16

May 31, 2016 at 11:02 pm | Posted in Photos | Leave a comment

my first glimpse inside the newly opened El Club

A Dead Forest Index

Chelsea Wolfe

Show #344– 5/28/16

May 28, 2016 at 1:10 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:00 am Fit Siegel (local) ~ “Carmine” ~ 12″ ~ Fit ~ 2015
2:07 am Pet Shop Boys vs The KLF ~ “It Must Be Obvious (UFO Mix)” ~ 12″ ~ Parlophone ~ 1990
2:16 am Disco 2000 ~ “I Gotta CD” ~ 12″ ~ KLF Communications ~ 1987
2:23 am Sun Electric ~ “O’Locco (Orbital Therapy Part 1)” ~ The Orb and Youth Present Impossible Oddities From Underground to Overground: The Story of WAU! Mr Modo ~ Year Zero ~ 1990
2:29 am Windy & Carl (local) ~ “Awhile” ~ Drawing of Sound ~ Icon ~ 1996
2:35 am Holy Balm ~ “Fashion” ~ Activity (new) ~ Chapter Music ~ 2016
2:40 am Hologram Teen ~ “Marsangst” ~ 7″ (new) ~ Happy Robots ~ 2016
2:47 am DJ SCSI (local) ~ “Strictly 4 Da Jitterz” ~ The Ghetto Tech Seven EP (new) ~ Hard Beach Entertainment ~ 2016
2:50 am µ-Ziq ~ “Pangolin” ~ mp3 ~ Soundcloud ~ 2001
2:54 am DJ Paypal feat. DJ Earl + DJ Taye ~ “Dose” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Adult Swim Singles ~ 2016
3:00 am DJ Katapila ~ “Nkran Dokunu” ~ Trotro ~ Awesome Tapes From Africa ~ 2009
3:05 am Ata Kak ~ “Obaa Sima” ~ Obaa Sima ~ Awesome Tapes From Africa ~ 1994
3:10 am DJ Fatigado ~ “Toques De Terror” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
3:13 am Konono No. 1 Meets Batida ~ “Bom Dia” ~ Konono No. 1 Meets Batida (new) ~ Crammed Discs ~ 2016
3:17 am Deke Soto ~ “Last Derm” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
3:21 am Pearson Sound ~ “XLB” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
3:27 am Autechre ~ “Artov Chain” ~ Elseq 1–5 (new) ~ Warp ~ 2016
3:31 am Muslimgauze ~ “The Emir Of Aqua” ~ Izlamaphobia ~ Staalplaat ~ 1995
3:36 am Ennio Mazzon ~ “Hunting Souvenirs” ~ Pavement Narrows (new) ~ Discreetrecords ~ 2016
3:41 am Aaron Dilloway ~ “Studies the Stranglers” ~ split cdr w/ Nigel Baldacchino (new) ~ Throwing Voices ~ 2016
3:49 am Steven Stapleton & Tony Wakeford ~ “The Frightened City” ~ Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish ~ Robot Records ~ 1992
4:00 am Phi Bui ~ “Doubt” ~ Unnoticed Moments (eilean 96) (new) ~ Eilean Rec. ~ 2016
4:03 am Pale Dian ~ “In a Day” ~ Narrow Birth (new) ~ Manifesto ~ 2016
4:09 am Bloody Knives ~ “Reflection Lies” ~ I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This (new) ~ Saint Marie Records ~ 2016
4:12 am 50 Foot Wave ~ “Sun Salute” ~ Bath White (new) ~ Happy Happy Birthday to Me ~ 2016
4:15 am CE Schneider Topical ~ “Look At What Happened” ~ Antifree (new) ~ OSR Tapes ~ 2016
4:17 am Moth Eggs ~ “Puddle Jumper” ~ Adventures Away (new) ~ OSR Tapes ~ 2016
4:19 am Holy Fuck ~ “Tom Tom” ~ Congrats (new) ~ Innovative Leisure ~ 2016
4:23 am Gold Panda ~ “In My Car” ~ Good Luck And Do Your Best (new) ~ City Slang ~ 2016
4:27 am Foodman feat. Diskomargaux ~ “Mid Summer Night” ~ Ez Minzoku (new) ~ Orange Milk ~ 2016
4:34 am Dave Graw (local) ~ “For Carly” ~ Don’t Think About Departing ~ Bandcamp ~ 2015
4:43 am Matchess ~ “The Fog” ~ The Rafter (new) ~ Monofonus Press ~ 2016
4:49 am Deux Filles ~ “Silence & Wisdom” ~ Silence & Wisdom ~ Dark Entries ~ 1982
4:53 am Mark Pritchard/Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith ~ “Now:Now” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Infiné ~ 2016
4:59 am Puce Mary ~ “Night is a Trap II” ~ The Spiral (new) ~ Posh Isolation ~ 2016
5:03 am Immersion ~ “Shapeshifters” ~ Analogue Creatures 10″ (new) ~ Swim~ ~ 2016
5:06 am Peter Baumann ~ “Ordinary Wonder” ~ Machines of Desire (new) ~ Bureau B ~ 2016
5:12 am Bionulor ~ “Tangier” ~ Stary Pisarz (new) ~ Oniron ~ 2016
5:16 am Chris Dooks ~ “Malerwinkel Shortwave Séance” ~ Accretion Disc (eilean 08) (new) ~ Eilean Rec. ~ 2016
5:24 am Quiet Noise ~ “Teamwork is Paramount” ~ Music | Building | Music (new) ~ Audiobulb ` 2016
5:29 am David Jackman ~ “Ways to the Sea” ~ Up From Zero ~ Robot Records ~ 1982
5:39 am Cory Allen ~ “Fermion” ~ Spectra – Guitar in the 21st Century ~ Quiet Design Records ~ 2008
5:46 am Jon Hopkins ~ “Light Through the Veins” ~ Insides ~ Domino/Double Six ~ 2008
5:55 am Andy Stott ~ “Over” ~ Too Many Voices (new) ~ Modern Love ~ 2016

Phi Bui: Unnoticed Moments (eilean 96) CDr (Eilean Rec., 2016)

May 27, 2016 at 3:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Phi Bui: Unnoticed Moments (eilean 96) CDr

Falls somewhere between fragile loop-based ambient and crushed, eerie abstract hip-hop/illbient. Lots of samples from scratchy records, acoustic instruments, birds chirping, unnerving strings, children singing, operating warbling, and clanging metallic instruments. Beats show up on some songs, but not all. When they do, they’re often creep low to the ground and feel like they’re weak and carrying too much and about to topple over and spill everything. A very haunting, original release.

Ennio Mazzon: Pavement Narrows (Discreetrecords, 2016)

May 27, 2016 at 3:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Ennio Mazzon: Pavement Narrows

This one opens with harsh, swarming noises which remind me of Astral Social Club, but then the rhythm comes in and it goes in a different direction. Harsh organ drones and scrambled feedback, but also slow, pulsating beats. There does seem to be a reverence to melody, as well as suspenseful pacing, but it’s still intense and blown-out and overpowering. During the lengthier “Masu”, things fall apart and then start phasing back together. The album is filled with flying sparks and shrapnel, and “Salmon Run” is particularly bruising. There’s calmer moments, too, but for a lot of these tracks you might want to wear a helmet while listening. It’s incredible, though.

DJ SCSI: The Ghetto Tech Seven EP 12″ (Hard Beach Entertainment, 2016)

May 27, 2016 at 3:29 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

DJ SCSI: The Ghetto Tech Seven EP 12″

Here’s an unearthed bit of Detroit techno history. DJ SCSI only released one record in 1997 on electro/ghettotech label D-Bass Records, but the mysterious artist recorded more tracks afterwards, and this EP gathers 4 of them dating from 1997 to 2002. Mostly minimal but busy grooves, with some choppy Bmore-ish breakbeats, and also some electro bounce to it. “Lapdanz” is faster and has some sporadic vocal samples as well as a smidgen of a fat bass tone. “Strictly 4 Da Jitterz” is a faster, more space-age electro track with a racing rhythm created expressly for dancing (of course), pausing a few times to catch breath. A fitting record to kick off DEMF weekend (although I’m skipping it and going to Trip Metal Fest instead).

Moth Eggs: Adventures Away (OSR Tapes, 2016)

May 27, 2016 at 3:07 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Moth Eggs: Adventures Away

Moth Eggs is the solo lo-fi bedroom pop project of one Francis Carr Jr., and it’s perfectly at home on OSR Tapes along with people like Zach Phillips (whose “Better As Billy” is covered on this album), Chris Weisman, and Joey Pizza Slice. Carr’s songs sometimes have the angularity of Phillips’, especially tracks like “Puddle Jumper”, but they’re overall closer to bubblegum power-pop, with some nods to glam, classic rock, surf, etc. “Cartoons” has high-pitched alien vocals and cartoon sound effects, and helps set the animated, childlike tone for the album. “Tele-Kiss” is another excited, gee-whiz pop anthem. “Silver Sandz” is longer and slower and definitely not as cheerful. “Low Voltaage Angel” is also around 6 minutes and is riddled with sound effects, mysterious voices, and curious melodies, recalling a more chilled out Cloud Becomes Your Hand. Carr definitely does not have a professionally trained singing voice, so his exuberant but off-key vocals can get kind of grating, but there’s a decent amount of ideas and his gleeful try-anything spirit carries the release.

CE Schneider Topical: Antifree (OSR Tapes, 2016)

May 26, 2016 at 10:23 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment

CE Schneider Topical: Antifree

CE Schneider Topical is the duo of Christina Schneider and Zach Phillips (formerly of the astonishing Blanche Blanche Blanche), both of whom appeared on the most recent Jib Kidder album. Both of them wrote the songs (alone and together), but Schneider wrote most of them and sang them all, in addition to playing guitars and drums. Phillips plays a considerable amount of instruments, including some rusty Wurlitzer organ. The songs are generally under three minutes and have the sort of sophisticated arrangements and offbeat charm as BBB, but with less of that group’s dry sarcasm. A few songs such as “Look At What Happened” and the vulnerable “Seeing Eye People” echo BBB’s more sentimental moments, and songs like “Totally Masked Out” contain the type of wordplay Phillips is known for. “Female in Images” balances twee sing-songy vocals and screwy guitars, and “I Think I’m Dead” is a scrappy, catchy, morbid singalong. A few tracks such as “No Eyes Too” and “Roadside H.O.X.” feature the type of minimal arrangements that made BBB’s early albums recall the minimalism of Young Marble Giants. It’s an excellent, varied record and is further proof that Phillips and OSR Tapes are responsible for some of the best lo-fi weirdo pop of the moment. Listen on Bandcamp now.

Bloody Knives: I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This (Saint Marie Records, 2016)

May 26, 2016 at 7:35 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Bloody Knives: I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This

Bloody Knives are an Austin-based group whose name makes their intentions clear. Their sound is harsh and violent, recalling shoegaze at its noisiest (Psychocandy, Skywave) as well as the most aggro industrial. They do have their dreamy moments though; the vocals aren’t distorted screaming, they’re often kind of drifty and sighing, and the guitars also float and soar as much as they scorch and singe. Most of their songs are fast and frantic, even approaching punk tempos on songs like “Buried Alive”, but there’s also a few (relative) breathers such as “Static” and 2-minute interlude “—–“. The group’s overwhelmingly loud sound is harsh and crushing, but they still leave ample breathing room. They’re absolutely gory compared to most other shoegaze bands, though.

Thee Koukouvaya: This Is The Mythology Of Modern Death (Saint Marie Records, 2015)

May 22, 2016 at 5:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Thee Koukouvaya: This Is The Mythology Of Modern Death

Usually Saint Marie Records is a home for dream pop and shoegaze, but this is entirely different. Shapeshifting electronic music which is ambient and reflective one moment, then hypnotic and dancey the next. “The Magnetic State” is calm and mysterious, with a gorgeous sunset of synth pads and softly tapping beats, but the electronics simmer and almost overheat by the end. “Anacaona” gets us firmly in n5MD-type melodic, atmospheric IDM, with mutating glitch beats and big, stratospheric melodies. “Chicago Warehouse Party 1995” is exactly what its title implies, with a big stomping beat, although it might be too melodic and the bass is too wub-wubby for 1995. “Drunk Machine” is a shimmering, dubby halftime stumble. After the brief factory scan of “40.207958 74.041691”, “Phantoms In The Last Age” is another slow, somewhat dubstep-ish track with all sorts of eerie screeching in the background, and even a few dolphin-like sounds popping up from the surf. “Prismatic Sun” is one of a few songs on here to bury some vocals in the fog, but it works really effectively here. “A Life In A Portolan Chart” is another drifting afternoon daydream landscape with strong yet calmply placed beats, and then more mysterious vocals (possibly in Greek?) as the songs lulls to a close. The whole album is really nice, I wasn’t expecting it to sound the way it does so it surprised me.

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The Answer Is In The Beat