March | 2017 | The Answer Is In The Beat

Solypsis megapost

March 5, 2017 at 7:12 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Solypsis: Smoke Signals

I posted about a Solypsis tape last year after I saw him in Ann Arbor. He releases way too much music to keep track of, but a few of his recent recordings have caught my attention. Smoke Signals was one of two albums he released on Component last year. This one is focused on his techno side, with many tracks having upfront 4/4 beats which slowly become layered with noise and glitch. Other tracks are more fractured and blown out, eventually becoming more deconstructed and pulverized. There’s a few bits of industrial cyber-hip-hop, and lots of scorching noise techno. It’s an hour and a half long, and lots of the tracks go on for a while, so some of it feels like live jams. Some mindblowing feedback and flanging and other fucked up effects on tracks like “Painfully Tight”. So much to process, but yeah, it’s worth it.

Solypsis: Noise Is Natural

Noise Is Natural appeared on TRASHFUCK, and unsurprisingly, it is a huge, heavy slab of harsh noise. The album contains a lot of tracks that are under 2 minutes, but it’s actually the longer ones that leave a greater impression. Opener “Alone Time” has such a full, all-encompassing sound, and it moves around in all directions. And it’s just so huge and full-sounding. Other tracks are more lo-fi and transistor-y, so they don’t have quite the same impact. Then others like “The Shed” are more fragmented and seem to have a few things going on at once.

Solypsis & Catdog: Resisting Arrest

Solypsis also released a split album with Catdog called Resisting Arrest, on Legs Akimbo Records. The Solypsis tracks have more big, nasty, dirty beats and noise crunching. Some of it’s a bit closer to hardcore/gabber, but still somewhat streamlined in a way. “Millions of Splinters” sounds like just that, in the most overwhelming way possible. Catdog’s tracks take up the second half of this album, and they are absolutely the best material I’ve heard by him. Just a really solid mix of raggacore, atmospheric jungle, and breakcore obliteration. Tracks like “Who Dem Wan Sound” just bomb everything out of the sky.

v/a: Red Bolatiero tape (Teen Action Records, 2015)

March 5, 2017 at 5:08 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

v/a: Red Bolatiero tape

I didn’t even realize how old this tape was until just looking it up, but I might as well still review it anyway. I need to keep better track of all the tapes stacking up on my desk. Teen Action Records doesn’t seem to get talked about much, even though they’ve been around a while and released tapes by Emeralds and Bee Mask. They also seem to have slowed down their release schedule, and their website doesn’t even mention this tape. It’s still out there in the world if you look for it, though. Most of the artists are pretty much unheard-of, outside of the label’s catalog, but label regulars like S.C.O.A.M., Univac, and Hiss and Hum are present. The best tracks mix cosmic spaciness with heavy sludge, but not in a metal way, in a slow, enveloping dark drone way. The creepy backwards voices and starry melodies of Eezrah Mason’s tracks particularly stand out. Otherwise, some ominous pianos, and plenty of corroded filth distortion. The second side gets more doomy, and then eventually more noisy. There’s some rickety space techno in there somewhere too. And some circuit bent Speak N Spell at the end of the tape, which is never not fun.

Unikove: Curious Creatures tape (Hollow Eyes, 2016)

March 4, 2017 at 11:47 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Unikove: Curious Creatures tape

This one starts out sounding like it’s drifting up from a swamp, then it gets into sludgy heartbeats and grainy, disoriented textures. There aren’t many tracks but a bunch of them are kind of on the slower side, but not necessarily sounding like they’re slowed down or sluggish. There’s something steady and aware about them. Then the last track is more uptempo and clicky, and reminds me of a lot of Ryan Huber’s recent work. It ends just as unassumingly as it begins.

v/a: House, Disco, Boogie, And Other Oddities tape (Easy Bay, 2016)

March 4, 2017 at 11:22 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

v/a: House, Disco, Boogie, And Other Oddities tape

This came out a while ago and has already sold out two pressings, so I’m assuming people know about it already, but my copy’s been sitting on my desk for a while so I might as well get around to posting about it. It’s the first release on the Easy Bay label, and as the title indicates, it’s heavily inspired by ’80s funk, R&B, and dance music. Yes, there’s some 100% Silk-style deep house (but not lo-fi or outsider house), and some of it does get pretty out-there, such as the woozy, fuzzy synths on “Walk” by Ajukaja (a regular collaborator of Maria Minerva). Then there’s a borderline electo-swing track by Boogie Butter, and then on the second side it really starts to sound more like ’80s boogie instrumentals. There’s also an incredible Italo-influenced track by Cherushii (R.I.P.) which lives up to its title “Sunburst in My Sequencer”. Actually, listening again, it’s more house-y overall than I remember when I listened before. Anyway, you can still download it for free on Bandcamp.

Show #384 – 3/4/17

March 4, 2017 at 1:48 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

Hour 1
2:01 am Lusine ~ “The Level” ~ Sensorimotor (new) ~ Ghostly International ~ 2017
2:06 am Herva ~ “Meta Wave” ~ Hyper Flux (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2017
2:10 am Telefon Tel Aviv ~ “TTV” ~ Fahrenheit Fair Enough (reissue) ~ Ghostly International ~ 2001
2:14 am Kingdom ~ “Nurtureworld” ~ Tears In The Club (new) ~ Fade To Mind ~ 2017
2:17 am Sevendeaths ~ “Remote Sympathy” ~ Remote Sympathy (new) ~ LuckyMe ~ 2017
2:22 am Dennis Busch ~ “New Yor” ~ Total Youth ~ Pingipung ~ 2012
2:26 am Quarta330 ~ “Digital Lotus Flower” ~ Pixelated (new) ~ Hyperdub ~ 2017
2:32 am Conrad Schnitzler ~ “Lichtpunkte und schwarze Zeichen” ~ Filmmusik 2 ~ Bureau B ~ 1978
2:39 am Camp Candle ~ “Fogged Glass” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Manimal Vinyl ~ 2017
2:43 am Vagabon ~ “Minneapolis” ~ Infinite World (new) ~ Father/Daughter ~ 2017
2:46 am Staring Problem ~ “Lifelines” ~ 7″ (new) ~ Modern Tapes ~ 2016
2:50 am Hydropark ~ “Nonsense (Lymangrover Mix)” ~ untitled fifth tape (new) ~ Life Like ~ 2016
2:53 am Thundercat ~ “Uh Uh” ~ Drunk (new) ~ Brainfeeder ~ 2017
2:55 am Human Mirth Tube Unit ~ “MT-68_d_Chords” ~ SD10 ~ Squiggle Dot ~ 2016
2:58 am Five Star Hotel (local) ~ “Fluid K” ~ split tape w/ Machine Girl (new) ~ Visual Disturbances/Emergency Tapes ~ 2016
Hour 2
3:01 am Machine Girl ~ “Hidden Power (Phase δ)” ~ WLFGRL ~ Dred Collective ~ 2014
3:09 am Machine Girl ~ “Luciferian Live Version” ~ split tape w/ Five Star Hotel (new) ~ Visual Disturbances/Emergency Tapes ~ 2016
3:14 am Machine Girl ~ “Out By 16 (ACIDPUNKMIX)” ~ Gemini ~ Orange Milk ~ 2015
3:18 am BLÆRG ~ “Unremitting Oscillation” ~ The Stolid Membrane (new) ~ Immigrant Breast Nest ~ 2017
3:22 am Dedekind Cut ~ “Fear in Reverse 2” ~ The Expanding Domain (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2017
3:25 am DJ Rashad x DJ Spinn x Taso ~ “Royal House VIP” ~ Teklife Till Tha Next Life Vol. 2 ~ Teklife ~ 2015
3:30 am Earthen Sea ~ “Apparent Lushness” ~ An Act of Love (new) ~ Kranky ~ 2017
3:33 am Arthur Russell ~ “Home Away From Home (Andy Stott Refix)” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Modern Love ~ 2017
3:37 am Evan Caminiti ~ “Possession” ~ Toxic City Music (new) ~ Dust Editions ~ 2017
3:43 am Johan Agebjörn & Mikael Ögren ~ “Motor Stop, 6km to Suoyarvi” ~ We Never Came to the White Sea (new) ~ Spotted Peccary ~ 2017
3:46 am Offthesky ~ “Halcyon Blurr” ~ Silent Went The Sea (eilean 38) ~ Eilean Rec. ~ 2016
3:52 am Visible Cloaks ~ “Bloodstream” ~ Reassemblage (new) ~ Rvng Intl ~ 2017
3:55 am Oxykitten ~ “PBCWHBMN&S” ~ Gleeking the Cube ~ self-released ~ 2016
3:57 am On Fillmore ~ “Bota Fogo” ~ Happiness of Living (new) ~ Northern Spy ~ 2017
Hour 3
4:00 am Black Deer ~ “67 Fallout” ~ Fascinating Holiday ~ L.I.E.S. ~ 2016
4:05 am I-f ~ “Theme From PACK (Extended 12″ Version)” ~ 12″ ~ Interdimensional Transmissions ~ 1999
4:12 am Jega ~ “ZX82” ~ Call Super: Fabric 92 ~ Fabric ~ 1995
4:15 am Bleaching Agent ~ “Operai” ~ Vectors 3 (new) ~ Power Vacuum ~ 2017
4:21 am Caracoa ~ “Blood of Deception” ~ New Middle Passage (new) ~ Inam Records ~ 2017
4:24 am Architectural ~ “5ª# Opera” ~ Metropolitan Opera (new) ~ Architectural ~ 2017
4:31 am Kandodo McBain ~ “Pelagic Deep Blue Haze” ~ Lost Chants/Last Chance ~ Rooster Rock ~ 2016
4:39 am The Beau Biens (local) ~ “Times Passed” ~ 7″ ~ Malibu ~ 1967
4:42 am Vaguess ~ “Life’s Long Enough” ~ Guilt Ring (new) ~ Sinderlyn ~ 2017
4:43 am R. Stevie Moore & Jason Falkner ~ “I H8 Ppl” ~ Make It Be (new) ~ Bar/None ~ 2017
4:46 am Tobin Sprout ~ “A Walk Across the Human Bridge” ~ The Universe and Me (new) ~ Burger Records ~ 2017
4:49 am Stef Chura (local) ~ “Spotted Gold” ~ Messes (new) ~ Urinal Cake Records ~ 2017
4:51 am Bonny Doon (local) ~ “Lost My Way” ~ Bonny Doon (new) ~ Salinas ~ 2017
4:56 am Froth ~ “Contact” ~ Outside (briefly) (new) ~ Wichita ~ 2017
Hour 4
5:01 am Ibibio Sound Machine ~ “Joy (Idaresit)” ~ Uyai (new) ~ Merge ~ 2017
5:04 am Pick a Piper ~ “Nikko” ~ Distance (new) ~ Tin Angel ~ 2017
5:09 am Throwing Snow ~ “Recursion” ~ Embers (new) ~ Houndstooth ~ 2017
5:15 am Moiré ~ “Secret Window” ~ No Future (new) ~ Ghostly International ~ 2017
5:20 am Octo Octa ~ “Move On (Let Go) (De-Stress Mix)” ~ Where Are We Going? (new) ~ Honey Soundsystem ~ 2017
5:25 am Person of Interest ~ “Boost The Whip (I-95 Mix)” ~ 12″ (new) ~ Future Times ~ 2017
5:33 am Vasudeva ~ “CSPAN” ~ No Clearance (new) ~ Skeletal Lightning ~ 2017
5:38 am Grails ~ “Tough Guy” ~ Chalice Hymnal (new) ~ Temporary Residence Ltd. ~ 2017
5:42 am Brokeback ~ “The Strollers’ Memorial” ~ Illinois River Valley Blues (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2017
5:45 am Mind Over Mirrors ~ “Glossolaliac” ~ Undying Color (new) ~ Paradise of Bachelors ~ 2017
5:49 am Noveller ~ “Corridors” ~ A Pink Sunset For No One (new) ~ Fire ~ 2017
5:52 am Bing & Ruth ~ “Flat Line/Peak Color” ~ No Home of the Mind (new) ~ 4AD ~ 2017