August | 2016 | The Answer Is In The Beat

Sally Shapiro: If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind 7″ (Fika Recordings, 2016)

August 27, 2016 at 9:07 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Sally Shapiro: If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind 7″

A decade after the release of Disco Romance (a very important album to my past, present and future for many reasons), Swedish duo Sally Shapiro have announced that they will no longer be making music together. This is their final single, and it’s every bit as gorgeous, bittersweet, catchy, etc. as any of their other classic songs. Similar to their last album, they’ve moved on from strictly trying to sound like Italo-disco, although the influence is still there. It’s a little more lush and live-sounding (relatively, it’s still electronic) and there’s vocoders peering through the shadows. The melody/structure bears a little bit of a resemblance to “Never Gonna Give You Up”, which might sound like a lazy comparison but I think it fits, it’s that sort of pop thrill, even if this song is way more subdued. I love how the title’s sentiment is so open-ended, as if they’re saying they’re always open to making music together again someday. Even if that never happens, they’re concluding an astonishing run. Aside from the perfect A-side, the B-side is an acoustic David Guetta cover. That sounds like something dredged up from the depths of YouTube hell, but it’s not bad. Stripped of EDM garishness and graced by Sally’s voice, it sounds like a decent little tune. The digital version of the single has 2 remixes of the A-side, which are decent but I prefer the original. Tommy ’86 brings the song to the dancefloor, while Ben Macklin’s is more subdued and I think I like that one better.

Futureslum: Crushed Flowers in Skeletal Hands tape (Already Dead, 2016)

August 27, 2016 at 8:37 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Futureslum: Crushed Flowers in Skeletal Hands tape

This is a continuous 38-minute montage of beats which sound like they were played on some sort of toy drum machine (complete with really cheap scratch effects) and then overloaded with distortion and feedback. The entire thing is repeated on both sides. It’s a toy hip-hop noise beat tape, or something. There’s only a few moments where it sounds like there’s a melody or voice poking through, but mostly it suggests what could be some monstrous tracks if they were fully developed with more instrumentation or vocals. However, they’re pretty explosive as they are, almost approaching DHR-level menace. Someone just gave me an old drum machine, this makes me want to try making the clunkiest beats I can come up with and just distort the hell out of them. Available on Bandcamp.

Khost: Needles Into the Ground – Deconstructed and Reconstructed by Godflesh (Cold Spring, 2016)

August 27, 2016 at 8:09 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Khost: Needles Into the Ground – Deconstructed and Reconstructed by Godflesh

Khost is a project of Birmingham’s Andy Swan, who used to be in Final with Justin Broadrick. I haven’t heard anything else by Khost, I have to admit that the presence of the name Godflesh is the main draw for me here. But holy hell, this is some of the hardest ripping Broadrick material I’ve heard in a while. “Inversion” is just searing and relentless. “Revelations Vultures Jackals Wolves” is so distorted that it chokes you. “Deathsset” is a new Khost track untouched by Broadrick, and it feels a bit less claustrophobic and punishing, although there’s more vocals and a bit more guitar-sounding guitar. It’s pretty good but Broadrick really brings his A-game here.

WMX: Complicit (Darkmatter Sound System, 2016)

August 27, 2016 at 7:57 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

WMX: Complicit

Incredible new FREE release from one of the absolute best guys doing dark noisy industrial breakcore right now. It’s basically a continuous 33-minute suite, starting out slow and pounding with some harsh breaks, then it speeds up and gets more exciting. “WORLD” is explosive. From there it never lets up, and halfway through “SAVE” it transforms from hardcore to speedcore for a few schizophrenic minutes before somewhat straightening out again. “IT” is a little slower after that near-seizure. Incredible release, this and his split 12″ with Bombardier both destroy. Also somehow I didn’t realize until just now that he’s in the industrial group Bestial Mouths, who put out an album on Dais Records a while ago and are now on Cleopatra.

Braeyden Jae: Fog Mirror LP + Braeyden Jae/Antlr’d: split tape (Whited Sepulchre, 2016)

August 27, 2016 at 7:18 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Braeyden Jae: Fog Mirror LP

The first vinyl release by Braeyden Jae following numerous tapes is just as cloudy, hazy, and sorta-reflective as its title suggests. Very heavy layers of static and crackle obscuring (or really enhancing) the melodic drones. Very blurry, very rough, very stormy, doesn’t give you a clear answer. “Obscured and Waiting” oddly enough ends up being one of the clearest songs here, letting its slow piano melody ring through. It mostly sticks to the same mood throughout, and it’s drenched and gloomy, maybe kind of confused, but it definitely holds my attention.

Braeyden Jae/Antlr’d: split tape

The split tape with Antlr’d is a bit different. Braeyden’s pieces are a bit more trippy and wobbly, but also more melodic, and with a little bit more of a propulsion to them. Still drenched in static, but there’s more light shining through (or sideways, or whatever). It’s gorgeous. Andtlr’d’s side is more lo-fi, with more tape hiss and more loop pedal trickery. The “Dream River Artifact” tracks seem to be a bit busier, even as they seem to stand in place and let effects wave around them. The second part is short and glitchy and playful, but sounds like it’s coming out of a toy instrument. The tracks titled “The Dark Between Stars” are much more still and contemplative, generally staring into the night sky with little movement.

Monogamy: Semifloral 7″ EP (Almost Halloween Time/Citizen of the World/Side Wound Worship, 2016)

August 27, 2016 at 4:10 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Monogamy: Semifloral 7″ EP

WCBN’s co-music director is moving to Chicago, but before he leaves he’s dropping off his first vinyl record. This is a fantastic slice of multi-tracked noise-pop, carrying on the spirit of Eric’s Trip and the Microphones/Mount Eerie for the current era of DIY music. Don plays almost everything himself, including a ripping sax solo, an incinerating guitar solo, and buzzy synths on the jammer “Twenty-Twenty”. “Low Morale” is a Casiotone For The Painfully Alone-esque chipper electro-pop anthem about being really depressed. “Finally Happy” is a devastating ethereal goth This Mortal Coil ballad/duet, and Don’s voice kind of sounds like Mark Hosler from Negativland here. Fred Thomas mastered this and recorded most of it, so of course it sounds fantastic. I’m not sure if this is officially out yet but it should be on his Bandcamp eventually.

Show #357 – 8/27/16

August 27, 2016 at 2:04 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:03 am Karantamba ~ “Ndigal” ~ Ndigal ~ Teranga Beat ~ 1984
2:12 am Levis Vercky’s ~ “Meca” ~ Angola Soundtrack 2: Hypnosis, Distortions & Other Sonic Innovations 1969-1978 ~ Analog Africa ~ 1969-1978
2:17 am Arthur Russell ~ “See My Brother, He’s Jumping Out (Let’s Go Swimming #2)” ~ Corn ~ Audika ~ 19823
2:23 am Sally Shapiro ~ “Skating in the Moonshine” ~ Disco Romance [2LP reissue] ~ Paper Bag ~ 2007
2:28 am Sally Shapiro ~ “If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind” ~ 7″ (new) ~ Fika Recordings ~ 2016
2:33 am Circles ~ “Nice Place” ~ Structures (new) ~ Bureau B ~ 1985-1989
2:40 am Suzi Analogue ~ “Don’t Clock NN” ~ Zonez V.2 (new) ~ Never Normal ~ 2016
2:43 am Suzi Analogue + Swarvy ~ “Smoke [DJ Earl Teklife Rmx]” ~ Love Affairz V.1 3Mixes ~ Never Normal ~ 2015
2:45 am DJ Earl ~ “That Block Bass” ~ mp3 ~ Bandcamp ~ 2016
2:54 am Alfred English (local) ~ “Extraction Console” ~ Piston (new) ~ Infinite Machine ~ 2016
2:58 am WWWINGS feat. EndgamE ~ “Gravity” ~ Meta ~ Infinite Machine ~ 2016
3:02 am Duran Duran Duran ~ “Whitey’s Ice” ~ split 12″ w/ Magus ~ Advanced Idea Mechanics ~ 2003
3:05 am Hitori Tori ~ “Dead Giveaway” ~ Breakcore Gives Me Wood 2016 (new) ~ Wood Records ~ 2016
3:10 am Pink Abduction Ray ~ “Now Get Cracking” ~ 15 Year Anniversary Compilation (new) ~ Darkmatter Soundsystem ~ 2016
3:14 am mediumPENIS ~ “Thizz Could Be Your Lucky Year (Haunted Gauntlet Mix)” ~ Days of Grace (new) ~ 5cm Recordings ~ 2016
3:21 am Eva Weishaupt ~ “Rex” ~ Patriot (new) ~ H.V.R.F. Central Command ~ 2016
3:25 am Datach’i ~ “Waveguiding” ~ System (new) ~ Timesig ~ 2016
3:29 am Arvo Zylo ~ “FUCK * 01” ~ Sequencer Works Volume Two ~ Rainbow Bridge/Forever Escaping Boredom/Crippled Intellect Productions/No Part Of It ~ 2015
3:37 am WWWINGS feat. HNRK ~ “Solarflare” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
3:39 am WWWINGS feat. Chino Amobi ~ “Aethereal” ~ Phoenixxx (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2016
3:43 am Jeff Mills (local) ~ “Spectroscopic” ~ Free Fall Galaxy (new) ~ Axis ~ 2016
3:46 am Feral ~ “WASP” ~ Nexus (new) ~ UNO ~ 2016
3:50 am Robert Lippok ~ “Close” ~ Open Close Open ~ Raster-Noton/raum ~ 2001
3:57 am VHVL ~ “0002” ~ evn (new) ~ Leaving Records ~ 2016
4:01 am Kyo ~ “A4” ~ Aktuel Musik (new) ~ Posh Isolation ~ 2016
4:04 am Bobby Krlic ~ “Coursing” ~ Almost Holy soundtrack (new) ~ Sacred Bones ~ 2016
4:07 am Scott Walker ~ “Boy, Mirror, Cars Arriving” ~ The Childhood Of A Leader soundtrack (new) ~ 4AD ~ 2016
4:09 am Race Bateman ~ “Pre-Flight Jitters” ~ The Algonquin Round Table of Noise Volume 1: Icarus ~ This Robot Runs On Abortions ~ 2015
4:12 am Throbbing Gristle ~ “A2” ~ Heathen Earth ~ Industrial Records ~ 1980
4:19 am Harmonia ~ “Ueber Ottenstein” ~ Live 1974 ~ Grönland Records ~ 1974
4:30 am Lucy ~ “Samsara” ~ Self Mythology (new) ~ Stroboscopic Artefacts ~ 2016
4:38 am Graham Repulski ~ “White Leper” ~ High On Mt. Misery ~ self-released ~ 2016
4:41 am Graham Repulski ~ “side A” ~ Contaminated Man (new) ~ Shorter Recordings ~ 2016
4:53 am Monogamy (local) ~ “Low Morale” ~ Semifloral (new) ~ Almost Halloween Time/Citizen of the World/Side Wound Worship ~ 2016
4:55 am Robert Burns Duncan (local) ~ “side A excerpt” ~ Politician/Masters of War (new) ~ self-released tape ~ 2016
5:00 am Peter Baumann ~ “Echoes in the Cave” ~ Machines of Desire (new) ~ Bureau B ~ 2016
5:04 am Delroy Edwards ~ “Tunnel Vision” ~ Hangin’ At the Beach (new) ~ L.A. Club Resource ~ 2016
5:06 am Tobacco ~ “Suck Viper” ~ Sweatbox Dynasty (new) ~ Ghostly International ~ 2016
5:10 am Prince ~ “Baby I’m a Star/Rock the House” ~ Naked in the Summertime ~ Hobo ~ 1990
5:18 am Hieroglyphic Being ~ “Nubian Energy” ~ The Disco’s of Imhotep (new) ~ Technicolour ~ 2016
5:22 am Factory Floor ~ “Upper Left” ~ 25 25 (new) ~ DFA ~ 2016
5:28 am Big Phone ~ “Selva Breakdown” ~ Selva City (new) ~ Green Orb Artifacts ~ 2016
5:38 am Crystal Castles ~ “Kept” ~ Amnesty (I) (new) ~ Fiction/Casablanca ~ 2016
5:42 am Exploded View ~ “No More Parties in the Attic” ~ Exploded View (new) ~ Sacred Bones ~ 2016
5:45 am Thee Oh Sees ~ “Jammed Entrance” ~ A Weird Exits (new) ~ Castle Face Records ~ 2016
5:50 am Angel Olsen ~ “Not Gonna Kill You” ~ My Woman ~ Jagjaguwar ~ 2016
5:55 am Marielle V Jakobsons ~ “Rising Light” ~ Star Core (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2016

Robert Lippok: Open Close Open 12″ EP (Raster-Noton, 2001/reissue raum, 2016)

August 26, 2016 at 9:01 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Robert Lippok: Open Close Open 12″ EP

To Rococo Rot’s Robert Lippok originally released this CD EP on Raster-Noton in 2001, and now flau sub-label raum is giving it a long-awaited vinyl issue with a bonus track. In some ways, it sounds similar to what you’d expect an early ’00s clicks’n’cuts release to sound like; at times it seems to be suspended in mid-air while little bubbles and micro-dots form in place of typical percussion. “Close”, however, sounds like a lost Fenn O’Berg session, with cinematic strings surrounded by fluttering, chirping glitches. The bonus track exquisitely surrounds pianos with decaying waves of static, ending with what sounds like people playing at a beach. A nice hidden gem, good choice for a rediscovery.

Crush Collision 8/25/16

August 26, 2016 at 9:31 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Hour 1
10:01 pm Jago ~ “I’m Going to Go (Plant Mix by Frankye Knuckles)” [first ever Frankie Knuckles remix! his name was spelled wrong!]
10:09 pm Zwischenfall ~ “Sacred Time”
10:14 pm Expansives ~ “Life With You”
10:20 pm Dylan Cameron ~ “In Pain”
10:23 pm Mike & Rich ~ “Vodka”
10:27 pm Randomer & Cadans ‎ ~ “Anchor”
10:31 pm Igor Tipura ~ “Dwams (Lauer Remix)”
10:36 pm Paul Woolford ~ “Heaven and Earth Part 1”
10:39 pm Tensnake ~ “No Fool”
10:44 pm Just Jace ~ “Sidestep”
10:48 pm Jónó Mí Ló ~ “Coney”
10:54 pm Jeff Mills ~ “Rabid Star Clusters”
10:56 pm John Tejada ~ “Integrator”
Hour 2
11:01 pm Sias ~ “Milk Harbour”
11:07 pm Paul Mac ~ “More Time”
11:11 pm These Hidden Hands ~ “SZ31X71”
11:14 pm J.C. ~ “Hator”
11:18 pm Factory Floor ~ “25 25”
11:22 pm Suzi Analogue + Swarvy ~ “Touchinthebottom (Ezrakh Dub)”
11:23 pm Altern 8 ~ “E-Vapor-8”
11:28 pm Jonny Oso ~ “Unknown People’s All Right”
11:34 pm Alex Smoke ~ “Dust (Tessela Remix)”
11:40 pm Truss ~ “Wonastow”
11:45 pm WMX ~ “IT IS”
11:50 pm Ansome ~ “Bad Blood (Perc Remix)”
11:55 pm Vapauteen ~ “Fully Automated”

v/a: 15 Year Anniversary Compilation (Darkmatter Soundsystem, 2016)

August 21, 2016 at 10:56 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

v/a: 15 Year Anniversary Compilation

I just listened to the new Breakcore Gives Me Wood comp, and while there’s some really fun stuff on it, a lot of it tends toward the more jokey mashup style of breakcore and too much of that (nearly 3 hours, to be exact) can be really tiring. A lot of it isn’t really different than what people were doing a decade ago. I still love it, by all means. But this new Darkmatter Soundsystem comp is way more refreshing. I feel like these artists are pushing the limits more and doing much more forward-thinking things than just bashing out 400BPM gabber kicks and chopping up metal samples. Some of these tracks are more glitchy and IDM/industrial-ish, there’s some awesome acid-core (Minion!), and even the more straightforward drum’n’bass tracks still sound really fresh. Pink Abduction Ray’s tracks are hyper combinations of juke, grime, and hardcore. Poxxe goes for the gut (and the face, and the heart, and the lungs) with his 7-minute dismemberer “Black Ice”. A few tracks mix sad/pretty melodies with absolutely terrorizing beats. The WMX tracks are hard industrial techno that fit in with the whole L.I.E.S. outsider dance thing. Darkmatter will always be a name to be trusted, and this is an absolutely essential FREE download.

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The Answer Is In The Beat