July | 2016 | The Answer Is In The Beat

Pivotal: Operation Sound Invasion tape (Visual Disturbances/Emergency Tapes, 2015)

July 4, 2016 at 12:55 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Pivotal: Operation Sound Invasion tape

No excuse for not getting to this one sooner. Five Star Hotel-affiliated Emergency Tapes/Visual Disturbances has been releasing an astonishing amount of work exploring rhythmic noise, juke, breakcore, grime, and all manners of intense, all-consuming sound. This is a dangerous, deadly, paranoid transmission from a top-secret bunker. Five Star makes an appearance, right after the raggacore-leaning “Nightmare Dive”. Even the tracks doing the deconstructed post-club thing are spiky and breaky. This one has too many angles to describe in detail and doing so would ruin the sense of surprise and shock anyway. A must-listen at Bandcamp.

Copley Medal: Teskind tape (Prime Ruin, 2015)

July 4, 2016 at 12:22 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Copley Medal: Teskind tape

Once again I’ve accumulated dozens of tapes that I haven’t gotten around to reviewing because I just don’t have time. This one is dark industrial droning with a few shafts of light peering out of the wreckage. The way the A-side gradually gets lighter and more hopeful is pretty spectacular. Second side isn’t as epic, but it gets into an odder, more minimalist space. The artwork has several panels, nice design, heavy paper. Listen on Bandcamp.

Brain Machine: Peaks 2LP (Emotional Response, 2016)

July 3, 2016 at 2:59 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Brain Machine: Peaks 2LP

First thing I thought when I heard this was “Steve Roach disco”. It has the Berlin school arpeggios, but there’s also more of a sense of meditative space to it, and it’s rich and lush and mystical. But then there’s techno beats. It has a pretty wide range between drifty and more rhythmic tracks. Some tracks are deep space documentary soundtracks, others sound more like the work of a Krautrock band venturing into the outer limits. It venture pretty far out, but you can still find your way home.

Rutger Hauser: self-titled (AD AAD AT, 2015)

July 3, 2016 at 2:33 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Rutger Hauser: self-titled

More rock instruments than a typical AD AAD AT release, but it’s still noisy and cut up and chaotic and makes little conventional sense. Still, the drums and guitars snake a path through the shrapnel of intense, sloppy digital manipulations. There’s jazzy elements, and also Nurse With Wound-like surrealist editing and sound design. Sometimes there’s slivers of what sounds like polka records venting through. Some of it’s thrashy, a lot of it’s covered in static. Then there’s quiet moments with birds chirping. It’ll disorient you. It’s totally worth it.

Kreng: Camino soundtrack (Lakeshore/Invada, 2016)

July 2, 2016 at 10:35 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Kreng: Camino soundtrack

Kreng is a Belgian artist who’s made several dark, haunting experimental ambient albums as well as soundtracks to theater pieces, and now he’s doing film scores. Whatever this film is, its looks super violent and suspenseful, with lots of knives, and the music fits that. He brings an intense sound design aspect to his work, filling some tracks with more noise than you expect from a typical soundtrack. But then there’s a lot of more sparse, calm pieces. There’s also lots of sudden stabs and attacks. Definitely glad this guy’s making a living doing proper soundtracks like this.

Spectres: Dead (Sonic Cathedral, 2016)

July 2, 2016 at 10:31 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Spectres: Dead

Not familiar with Spectres themselves, but this is a collection of mostly abrasive rhythmic noise remixes which seem to have some sort of base in a form of non-mainstream rock music. On some track, it seems like the actual semblance of music has been scrubbed out, leaving only noise and throbbing rhythms. Other times, there are vocals and guitars still present, but it’s deconstructed enough to not sound like a proper song or a proper band. And then other songs emphasize techno beats. “Family (Oliver Wilde Remix)” and “Sink (“Factory Floor Remix)” do this while chopping the vocals and guitars up very finely. “This Purgatory (Blood Music Remix)” and “Mirror (Giant Swan Remix)” have beats, but also lots of messy, choppy clanging noises. “Lump (Gramrcy Remix)” is faster and more hypercharged. “Sea of Trees (Richard Fearless Remix)” starts out with steady bumping kick drums and droning, but then develops some nice fuzzy synth melodies. The last few tracks sound more like the works of a rock band, but “Sea of Trees (Andy Bell Remix)” has the vocals completely backwards, not unlike when the Stone Roses played around with backmasking. “This Prugatory (Stuart Braithwaite Remix)” has clearer vocals, coming closer to recent Wire, but the guitars are mostly replaced by shimmering synths.

Atsuhiro Ito: Live (Edition Omega Point, 2016)

July 2, 2016 at 7:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Atsuhiro Ito: Live

Two performanced by a Japanese experimental artist who plays a huge fluorescent light instrument called the optron. There must be a visual component to these performances that’s missing from the recording, but what’s here gets pretty intense. It takes a while to build, though. It sounds pretty lo-fi and kind of distant, with lots of buzzing and hissing. Both pieces eventually develop into throbbing rhythmic noise which almost approximates a weird form of techno. It seems like he’s using limited resources, like a no-input mixer or something, but he gets a lot out of what he’s using. The first performance ends up at a fast, almost gabber-speed beat (not as heavy) but the second has a more relaxed industrial techno beat, and there’s another dimension to it, thanks to guest artist Miclo Diet. Very exciting falling-apart junky improv electronics.

Show #349– 7/2/16

July 2, 2016 at 1:35 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

Hour 1
2:01 am Sand ~ “Helly Copter” ~ His First Steps ~ Rotorelief ~ 1972
2:13 am Les Rallizes Dénudés ~ “Strung Out Deeper Than the Night” ~ France Demo Tapes ~ Bamboo ~ ?
2:19 am Steve Moore ~ “The Truck” ~ Cub soundtrack ~ Relapse ~ 2015
2:22 am En ~ “Mendocino Nature Rave” ~ City of Brides ~ Students of Decay ~ 2015
2:32 am Floating Points ~ “Kuiper” ~ Kuiper (new) ~ Luaka Bop ~ 2016
2:50 am BadBadNotGood feat. Sam Herring ~ “Time Moves Slow” ~ IV (new) ~ Innovative Leisure ~ 2016
2:55 am DJ Shadow ~ “Depth Charge” ~ The Mountain Will Fall (new) ~ Mass Appeal ~ 2016
Hour 2
3:00 am Mala ~ “Looney” ~ Mirrors (new) ~ Brownswood Recordings ~ 2016
3:04 am Naphta ~ “Copy Rider” ~ Long Time Burning ~ The Fear/Ruff Revival ~ 2007
3:10 am CDR ~ “Bレァk” ~ Acid Waltz ~ AD AAD AT ~ 2015
3:13 am clipping. ~ “Wriggle” ~ Wriggle (new) ~ Sub Pop ~ 2016
3:17 am T_A_M ~ “Midgar” ~ single ~ Tuff Wax Records ~ 2013
3:21 am Bjarki ~ “Midi 14-AUG2” ~ “Б” (new) ~ трип ~ 2016
3:28 am Arad ~ “Waveswimmer” ~ Particles and Waves (new) ~ Electric Deluxe ~ 2016
3:34 am IXTAB ~ “Aluxes” ~ Alea (new) ~ Bezirk ~ 2016
3:41 am Ancestral Voices ~ “Sleepless Ritual (Samuel Kerridge Remix)” ~ Night of Visions Remixes Part 2 (new) ~ Samurai Horo ~ 2016
3:47 am Driftmachine ~ “Sans Soleil” ~ Colliding Contours (new) ~ Umor Rex ~ 2016
3:53 am Erik Satie ~ “Gnossienne 3 (Murcof Version)” ~ EP.01 (new) ~ Infiné ~ 2016
Hour 3
4:00 am Christine Ott ~ “Danse Avec La Neige” ~ Only Silence Remains (new) ~ Gizeh Records ~ 2016
4:04 am Kreng ~ “I Want to Make a Toast” ~ Camino soundtrack (new) ~ Lakeshore ~ 2016
4:07 am Mirrors for Psychic Warfare ~ “CNN WTZ” ~ Mirrors for Psychic Warfare (new) ~ Neurot Recordings ~ 2016
4:12 am Spectres ~ “Mirror (Robert Hampson Remix)” ~ Dead (new) ~ Sonic Cathedral Recordings ~ 2016
4:16 am Phantom Forth ~ “Caroline” ~ The EEPP ~ Dark Entries ~ 1984
4:20 am Vallens ~ “Devour” ~ Consent (new) ~ Hand Drawn Dracula ~ 2016
4:26 am Stargazer Lilies ~ “Personal Autumn” ~ Door to the Sun (new) ~ Graveface ~ 2016
4:32 am Atsuhiro Ito ~ “At Hara Museum 2009.09.13” ~ Live ~ Edition Omega Point ~ 2009
4:39 am Jerry Paper & Easy Feelings Unlimited ~ “Kill the Dream” ~ Toon Time Raw! (new) ~ Bayonet ~ 2016
4:42 am Rutger Hauser ~ “No Bears” ~ Rutger Hauser ~ AD AAD AT ~ 2015
4:44 am Hanno Leichtmann ~ “Reiter” ~ Nuit Du Plomb ~ Karaoke Kalk ~ 2006
4:50 am Negativland ~ “The Copyright Law (Part 1)” ~ Negativconcertland ~ Atomic Novelties ~ 1993
Hour 4
5:00 am Tarentel ~ “Open Letter To Hummingbirds” ~ Paper White ~ Temporary Residence Ltd. ~ 2005
5:06 am Mark Kozelek ~ “Something Stupid” ~ Sings Favorites (new) ~ Caldo Verde ~ 2016
5:09 am Super Thing (local) ~ “4-Low” ~ Super Thing (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
5:16 am Sunburst ~ “Matatizo Nyumbani” ~ Ave Africa: The Complete Recordings 1973-1976 ~ Strut ~ 1973
5:20 am Ryan Huber ~ “Etonian” ~ Comoros (new) ~ Inam Records ~ 2016
5:23 am Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland ~ “Merkur” ~ Transport (new) ~ Tresor ~ 2016
5:29 am Vivenza ~ “Partie 1 -Réalité De L’Automation Directe” ~ Réalité De L’Automation Directe ~ Rotorelief ~ 1983
5:37 am Conforce ~ “Time Space Continuum” ~ Presentism ~ Delsin ~ 2015
5:42 am Snakepiss (local) ~ “Growth” ~ Knives (new) ~ Chambray Records ~ 2016
5:45 am MV Carbon ~ “I Ran From Her Voice” ~ The Sun Will Turn On You (new) ~ Discombobulate ~ 2016
5:49 am Plaid ~ “Yu Mountain” ~ The Digging Remedy (new) ~ Warp ~ 2016
5:53 am Fiona Brice ~ “Glastonbury” ~ Postcards From (new) ~ Bella Union ~ 2016
5:56 am Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith ~ “Arthropoda” ~ Ears (new) ~ Western Vinyl ~ 2016

Crush Collision 6/30/16

July 1, 2016 at 12:47 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Hour 1
10:01 pm Aphex Twin ~ “CIRKLON3 [ Колхозная mix ]”
10:09 pm Alexander Robotnick ~ “Freaker”
10:11 pm Earl Jeffers ~ “Pleasure Signal”
10:14 pm Cliff Lothar ~ “100 Dollars (12″ Mix)”
10:17 pm Contours & Yadava ~ “Pistachios”
10:19 pm Liam Geddes ~ “Pray To Watch”
10:22 pm Conforce ~ “Blue Note”
10:26 pm Felix Dickinson ~ “Rock in Your Socks”
10:30 pm Indoor Life ~ “Lullaby (Quaid’s Digital Fantasy Remix)”
10:33 pm Rudolf C ~ “Pisces”
10:36 pm Christian Jay & Crump ~ “GG3”
10:39 pm Recloose ~ “On & On”
10:42 pm Ripperton ~ “Michelada”
10:46 pm Brain Machine ~ “Alpha Moon”
10:49 pm Avondlicht ~ “Disintegration Patterns (ANIK Remix)”
10:52 pm Pedestrian ft. Maribou State ~ “JNT (Ross From Friends Remix)”
10:55 pm Troy Gunner ~ “Slack in the Noose”
10:58 pm LMYE ~ “Cali 76”
Hour 2
11:03 pm Greg Kozo ~ “You (I:Cube Remix)”
11:07 pm Buck ~ “Atmo 003”
11:09 pm Luke Solomon & Johnny Rock ~ “Groovin to LA (DJ Fett Burger & Jayda G’s Cascadia Mix)”
11:13 pm Miajica ~ “Der Schlosser (Engyn Remix)”
11:16 pm Figure-Ground ~ “Reality by Proxy”
11:19 pm Joasihno ~ “Wondrous Sibling”
11:21 pm Arad ~ “Sliding Ladders”
11:27 pm Bloody Mary ~ “Make Space in Your Life”
11:30 pm Vessels ~ “Vertical (Gordon Remix)”
11:34 pm Basic Frame ~ “Age”
11:38 pm Vohkinne ~ “The Heretic”
11:41 pm IXTAB ~ “Anouk”
11:44 pm Doppio ~ “Carnival”
11:47 pm DUOLO ~ “Cryo”
11:49 pm Atlas ~ “Calm”
11:56 pm Aleksi Perälä ~ “UK74R1406090”