Arrowheads: Lifeforce tape (Constellation Tatsu, 2019)

August 10, 2019 at 5:01 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Arrowheads: Lifeforce tape

This one immediately nails a sort of ’70s space rock synth soundtrack sound, with very rich synths and an appropriate amount of zoned-out melancholy. It’s really excellent, very instant-vintage sounding and very homemade rather than sterile and lab-produced. Even the brief, minute-or-two tracks that make up most of the album are bursting with passion. There’s too many astounding tracks on here to pick out highlights; it’s all amazing, really.

Corwin Trails: Wolf Songs Folk Songs LP (self-released, 2019)

August 10, 2019 at 4:30 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Corwin Trails: Wolf Songs Folk Songs LP

This astounding LP from Corwin Trails constructs highly melodic downtempo IDM from acoustic instruments and field recordings from Northern Michigan as well as India and Nepal. All of the percussion came from sounds captured in the woods, but it’s so crackly, crunchy, and fizzy that you might assume it’s laptop-generated glitch. The melodies are played using instruments including autoharp, bazouki, sarangi, accordion, and prepared acoustic guitar strings, and it’s all open and resonant, yet it’s extremely tightly arranged. There’s moments where the rhythms sound close to tabla playing (“Decomposition”, which reminds me of Decomposure, an artist who used to make IDM pop songs out of sampled household sounds) or gamelan (“In Search of”). It also sounds a bit like a musically focused version of the Books, meaning without the goofy samples. There are some samples and vocals though, especially on the second side. “The Absolute Irreversible Emptiness of Extinction” extracts Robert Redford’s voice from a Natural History Magazine record abot wolves from the early ’70s. The album ends with a longer piece called “An Old Oak Tree” which features ghostly vocals by Amie Simons, which seem to be about dealing with change. Fantastic, gorgeous, inventive stuff.

Show #506 – 8/10/19

August 10, 2019 at 12:23 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:01 am Algebra Suicide ~ Little Dead Bodies ~ Feminine Squared ~ Dark Entries ~ 1986
2:06 am Dorian Concept ~ Toothbrush ~ 12″ (new) ~ Brainfeeder ~ 2019
2:09 am Leech ~ Bit Rot ~ Data Horde (new) ~ Peak Oil ~ 2019
2:16 am Telefon Tel Aviv ~ What It Is Without the Hand That Wields It ~ Map of What Is Effortless ~ Hefty ~ 2004
2:21 am Oli XL ~ Flower Circuit ~ Rogue Intruder, Soul Enhancer (new) ~ Bloom ~ 2019
2:29 am Moby ~ LA15 ~ Long Ambients 2 (new) ~ Little Idiot ~ 2019
2:37 am Flame 2 [Burial and the Bug] ~ Dive ~ 12″ (new) ~ Pressure ~ 2019
2:43 am Scooby Dub & Atodamadre ~ Estacion en Curva (Deltatron Remix) ~ Estacion en Curva (new) ~ Hawaii Bonsaï Records ~ 2019
2:47 am Aircode ~ When It’s Said It Is ~ Dislocated (new) ~ TT ~ 2019
2:54 am Africa Express ft. Infamous Boiz & Moonchild Sanelly ~ Sizi Freaks ~ Egoli (new) ~ Africa Express ~ 2019
3:00 am Homeshake ~ Just Like My (TayePal Mix) ~ Helium Remixes (new) ~ Sinderlyn ~ 2019
3:05 am clipping. ~ Get Up (Terminal 11 Remx) ~ REMXNG ~ Bandcamp ~ 2016
3:08 am Patrick Conway ~ The Gardener (Brainwaltzera Remix) ~ Cobby & His Animals (new) ~ Fusion Diagnostics ~ 2019
3:13 am Precenphix ~ Methohexital ~ The Weathered Path (new) ~ Car Crash Set ~ 2019
3:16 am Pink Abduction Ray ~ Hurry Up Award ~ Undefined Fantastic Object (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2019
3:21 am Panacea ~ No Verve-2. ~ Brasília ~ Caipirinha Music ~ 2000
3:24 am Obsequies ~ Cell ~ Organn ~ Knives ~ 2017
3:26 am Seth Graham ft. Koeosaeme ~ Black / Yellow ~ Hint (new) ~ Mondoj ~ 2019
3:30 am PBDY ~ Eucalyptus & Lavender / So Help Me (DOG) ~ mp3 (new) ~ Brainfeeder ~ 2019
3:35 am Thomas Brinkmann ~ track 7 ~ Studio 1 – Variationen ~ Profan ~ 1997
3:39 am Panda Bear ~ Surfers Hymn (Actress Primitive Patterns Remix) ~ 7″ ~ Kompakt ~ 2011
3:43 am Carl Craig (local) ~ Angel (Caya Dub) ~ 12″ ~ Planet E ~ 2005
3:52 am Tres Demented [Carl Craig] (local) ~ Demented Drums Version ~ 12″ ~ Planet E ~ 2003
3:58 am Dan Curtin ~ A23 ~ Art & Science ~ Peacefrog ~ 1996
4:05 am Cylob ~ Diof ~ Cylobian Sunset ~ Rephlex ~ 1995
4:09 am Polygon Window ~ Iketa ~ Quoth ~ Warp ~ 1993
4:14 am Corwin Trails (local) ~ In Search of ~ Wolf Songs Folk Songs (new) ~ self-released ~ 2019
4:18 am GCTTCATT ~ Potlatched ~ AmpErase ~ Mego ~ 2001
4:20 am Neil Campbell ~ Mizzlefield Ploof Kingdom ~ 7″ ~ self-released ~ 2001
4:25 am Cultural Fog (local) ~ track 5 ~ NYE (new) ~ Hologram Label ~ 2019
4:30 am Andrew Tasselmyer & Patrick Spatz ~ Interior Current Number 1 ~ Interior Currents (new) ~ Constellation Tatsu ~ 2019
4:46 am Livingdog & Mike Johnson ~ 2 Take 1 ~ CRO$$ (new) ~ Constellation Tatsu ~ 2019
4:52 am Opaline ~ SR Reshape ~ Thought Texture (new) ~ Constellation Tatsu ~ 2019
4:55 am Dettinger ~ Repeater ~ Pop Ambient 2001 ~ Kompakt ~ 2001
5:01 am High Aura’d & Josh Mason ~ Black ~ Lower Yr Voice (new) ~ Whited Sepulchre ~ 2019
5:11 am Novisad ~ Sommersonnenschein ~ Pop Ambient 2002 ~ Kompakt ~ 2001
5:14 am Klimek ~ Ruined in a Day (Buenos Aires) ~ Pop Ambient 2007 ~ Kompakt ~ 2006
5:19 am Markus Guentner ~ track 5 ~ In Moll ~ Kompakt ~ 2001
5:25 am Clay Rendering (local) ~ Fire Is Fall’s Rose ~ 7″ ~ Hospital Productions ~ 2014
5:30 am Max Brand ~ Triptych ~ Electronic Voyages: Early Moog Recordings 1964-1969 ~ Waveshaper Media ~ 1964-1969
5:38 am Automatic ~ Calling It ~ Signal (new) ~ Stones Throw ~ 2019
5:41 am Throwaway (local) ~ Exotic Bird ~ WHAT? (new) ~ self-released ~ 2019
5:43 am Deadbeat Beat (local) ~ From What I Can Tell ~ How Far (new) ~ Arrowhawk ~ 2019
5:46 am Alluvial Fans (local) ~ Settle ~ Lag Air (new) ~ self-released ~ 2019
5:49 am Ryley Walker + Brett Naucke ~ Vocoder Divorce II ~ Wound ~ Carbon ~ 2018
5:53 am Brian Eno ~ At the Foot of a Ladder ~ For All Mankind (Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks (Extended Edition)) (new) ~ Virgin Records ~ 2019
5:56 am Grave Nature ~ The North Star ~ Ascending (new) ~ Flag Day ~ 2019

Crush Collision 8/8/18

August 9, 2019 at 8:25 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

10:00 pm Soj ~ Killabill
10:04 pm HIDE ~ Girl on Girl
10:06 pm Mary Yalex ~ Here and Nowhere Else
10:08 pm DC Salas ~ 10401800 (Fort Romeau Remix)
10:13 pm Mr. Stiff ~ Tools To Subdue
10:15 pm Chris Carrier ~ Positive Distraction
10:20 pm Recondite ~ Silk
10:24 pm Martin Buttrich ~ Northeast
10:29 pm Eliphino ~ NSPG
10:32 pm Locked Groove ~ Oscillate
10:38 pm Tetelepta ~ Flash
10:42 pm Bloody Mary ~ Chemical Jam
10:46 pm James Welsh ~ Hammers (Hodge Remix)
10:51 pm Crooked Man ~ Echo Loves Narcissus
10:54 pm James Burton ~ Feel the Pressure
10:57 pm Lord Leopard ~ Global Dance Beat
10:59 pm Vince ~ Namechanger
11:03 pm Ilana Bryne ~ Mmm Mmm Mmm (Ciel’s Sigh O’ The Times Rework)
11:09 pm FaltyDL ~ Ill Bent
11:13 pm Huey Mnemonic ~ Vibrations Radio
11:19 pm No Moon ~ Where Do We Go From Here?
11:21 pm PTA ~ 09
11:26 pm Eric Cloutier ~ Eleutheromania
11:31 pm Anastasia Kristensen ~ LXR Jam
11:34 pm ADT ~ Relief
11:39 pm AnD ~ Belong
11:43 pm P.E.A.R.L. ~ Moral Standards
11:47 pm Vladimir Dubyshkin ~ Soviet Film
11:49 pm Ciel ~ Hipwrecked
11:55 pm Finn ~ I Know I Know
11:57 pm Textasy ~ Acid Eater

Lithium Enchantment: Vital Signs/Reaching For You tape (Illuminated Paths, 2015/2019)

August 4, 2019 at 7:07 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Lithium Enchantment: Vital Signs/Reaching For You tape

Bringing two older releases briefly back into circulation (only 25 copies of this tape exist), this is a travelogue of memories, possibly of parks, cycling trips, and seasonal getaways. These tracks were recorded around 2003-2005, so the whole thing feels like a secret that’s largely been kept in someone’s basement for ages, only to be brought out on rare occasions, and only for people who would appreciate or understand it. The brief tracks and woozy synths make this feel like an early BoC release for sure, but there’s more of a lo-fi snap to the drum machines on tracks like “006 (Momentary)”. “Poplar Accel” is closer to vintage Mo Wax, with lots of rapidly shuffling drum breaks and a mixture of tense and laid back vibes. “C” is playful, rotund, and simple, and the wistful “Cloud Station” is way too nice to only be 48 seconds long. The longer tracks are all on the second side, and while some of them develop a bit more, there’s also a few extended ambient reflections. Still, “Great and Small” is an amazing energy burst of Mike Paradinas-style synth melodies and fill-heavy electro drum machines. “Lakeside Park” is a fairground ride unto itself, with vivid, Sunday afternoon melodies and tempo shifts which keep it from getting too comfortable, but it lets you down easy at the end.

Will Brooks: Flump EP tape (Illuminated Paths, 2019)

August 4, 2019 at 5:53 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Will Brooks: Flump EP tape

Pretty excellent batch of Shlohmo-type bad vibes that feel good. “Toggle” and “Scope” both have grainy guitars; the first is at a crushed tempo while the second is a bit more upright, and a bit closer to Tycho. “Hello, Again (The Elephant Trees Remix)” is sort of a lost lo-fi trance-pop song, with just a vague Burial aftertaste. The cassette features bonus track “Sanctuary”, a guided temple meditation with a drum machine.

Show #505 – 8/3/19

August 3, 2019 at 3:32 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:01 am Cultural Fog (local) ~ 2 ~ NYE (new) ~ Hologram Label ~ 2019
2:07 am Khruangbin ~ Mary Always ~ Hasta El Cielo (new) ~ Night Time Stories ~ 2019
2:09 am Joey Molinaro ~ LA Siren ~ Tale of the Lovelorn Outlaw (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2019
2:13 am Fire At Work ~ Post Matter ~ Neurosmasher (new) ~ Monolith Rec ~ 2019
2:18 am Alio Die & Lorenzo Montanà ~ The Closest Place To The Soul ~ The Threshold Of Beauty (new) ~ Projekt ~ 2019
2:31 am Ant’lrd ~ Shoulder-Width Apart ~ Extra Domicile ~ Baro ~ 2013
2:34 am Tim Walters ~ Don’t Forget to Breathe ~ Fission Cuisine (new) ~ Aural Films ~ 2019
2:38 am Dean Hurley ~ In Knowing ~ Anthology Resource Vol. II: Philosophy of Beyond (new) ~ Sacred Bones ~ 2019
2:42 am Kryssi Battalene ~ Blazing Star ~ Wound: A Guitar-Centric Compilation ~ Carbon ~ 2018
2:47 am Storm Ross (local) ~ The Inevitability ~ Home (new) ~ Already Dead Tapes ~ 2019
2:57 am Russian Circles ~ Kohokia ~ Blood Year (new) ~ Sargent House ~ 2019
3:04 am Eartheater ~ Infinity ~ Metalepsis ~ Hausu Mountain ~ 2015
3:08 am Cross Record ~ Hollow Garden ~ Cross Record (new) ~ Ba Da Bing ~ 2019
3:10 am Tycho ~ Into the Woods ~ Weather (new) ~ Mom + Pop ~ 2019
3:14 am Lithium Enchantment ~ Poplar Accel ~ Vital Signs ~ Illuminated Paths ~ 2015
3:18 am Will Brooks ~ Toggle ~ Flump EP (new) ~ Illuminated Paths ~ 2019
3:23 am Delicate Instruments ~ Fading Away ~ MEM-1 (new) ~ Shewey Trax ~ 2019
3:31 am Föllakzoid ~ III ~ I (new) ~ Sacred Bones ~ 2019
3:34 am Preacherman ~ Tell Me Why ~ Universal Philosophy ~ Luaka Bop ~ ?
3:38 am Kool Keith ~ Holy Water ~ Keith (new) ~ Mello Music Group ~ 2019
3:41 am Show Me the Body ~ Badge Grabber ~ Dog Whistle (new) ~ Loma Vista ~ 2019
3:43 am Tyvek (local) ~ We’re Back ~ Changing Patterns of Protective Coating (new) ~ self-released ~ 2019
3:45 am Deadbeat Beat (local) ~ The Curve ~ How Far (new) ~ Arrowhawk ~ 2019
3:50 am De Lorians ~ Himalia ~ De Lorians (new) ~ Beyond Beyond Is Beyond ~ 2019
3:54 am Gauche ~ Pay Day ~ A People’s History of Gauche (new) ~ Merge ~ 2019
3:56 am Prince ~ Holly Rock ~ Originals ~ Warner Bros. ~ 1985
4:03 am Thomas P. Heckmann ~ 05:08:72 ~ Raum ~ Mille Plateaux ~ 1999
4:08 am Negativland ~ Discernment ~ True False (new) ~ Seeland ~ 2019
4:13 am Converter ~ Blast Furnace ~ Blast Furnace ~ Ant-Zen ~ 2000
4:16 am Crank ~ Gisshiri ~ Wanton Phenomena ~ Mille Plateaux ~ 1998
4:21 am Tactile vs Scorn ~ Intervention 4 ~ Recurrence & Intervention ~ Rawkus ~ 1996
4:26 am Atom Heart ~ Crane Spotting ~ Real Intelligence II ~ Rather Interesting ~ 1996
4:32 am Mitchell Akiyama ~ Mort Aux Vaches ~ Mort Aux Vaches ~ Mort Aux Vaches ~ 2004
4:37 am Proem ~ Until Here Robot ~ Until Here for Years (new) ~ n5MD ~ 2019
4:42 am Komet ~ 2 ~ Manhatten ~ Noton (20′ to 2000 series) ~ 1999
4:46 am Múm ~ The Ballad Of The Broken Birdie Records (Ruxpin Mix II) ~ Documenta ~ Agenda ~ 2002
4:51 am Greenbank ~ Layabout ~ Rotating the Square ~ Benbecula ~ 2003
4:55 am Pulse Patrol ~ Moon Unit ~ Alba Absurdia ~ Alba Absurdia ~ 2002
4:58 am Global Goon ~ You Set My Face On Fire ~ Family Glue ~ Audio Dregs ~ 2004
5:02 am DJ Nate ~ Just Be Truu ~ Take Off Mode (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2019
5:05 am John Beltran (local) ~ Expecting Rain ~ Americano ~ Exceptional ~ 2002
5:10 am Norma Jean Bell (local) ~ Feel What I Feel ~ Come Into My Room ~ Peacefrog ~ 2001
5:14 am Infiniti ~ Never Tempt Me (Thomas Fehlmann Remix) ~ One To Three. Overflow; Ninenine/nd ~ Apollo ~ 1999
5:19 am Dave DK ~ Prism ~ Lights and Colours ~ Moodmusic ~ 2007
5:25 am Susanne Brokesch ~ Rehearsal Part 3 ~ Sharing the Sunhat ~ Disko-B ~ 1997
5:29 am Crank ~ Heftibag ~ Heftibag ~ Mille Plateaux ~ 1999
5:36 am UNKLE featuring Ian Brown ~ Be There ~ Be There single ~ Mo Wax ~ 1999
5:41 am Throwaway (local) ~ Vanity Block ~ WHAT? (new) ~ self-released ~ 2019
5:44 am Sam Hooker (local) ~ Moving in the Way ~ On the Water (new) ~ self-released ~ 2019
5:48 am Erik Griswold ~ Fallingwater ~ Yokohama Flowers ~ Room40 ~ 2018
5:51 am Grave Nature ~ Azimuth ~ Ascending (new) ~ Flag Day ~ 2019

Cultural Fog: NYE (Hologram Label, 2019)

August 2, 2019 at 9:38 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Cultural Fog: NYE

Documenting a New Year’s Eve gig by the improv trio of Claire Cirocco, Emily Roll, and Fred Thomas, this CDr contains 7 untitled tracks of sporadic, echo-slapping drums and layered synth clouds and vibrations. Roll’s heavily delayed voice often floats upward like bubbles, but it’s hard to tell what’s on her mind. Melodies and disconnected rhythms converge, and things get strangely miniature around track 4. But then 5 has wider, more piercing synth vamps and more somnambulant vocals. 6 is an uneasy reflection on the passing year, then 7 holds the energy together for another moment before it vanishes.

Crush Collision 8/1/19

August 2, 2019 at 9:01 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Do not sleep on this tomorrow night!

9:01 pm STL ~ No More Words (Sebastian Mullaert Remix)
9:09 pm Kresy ~ Hangover Horns
9:15 pm Western Edges ~ Very Good on the Rushes
9:17 pm Takahisa Mitsumori ~ 4 A.Y. (DJ Sodeyama Remix)
9:23 pm Desert Sound Colony & Baby Rollen ~ Beta Burner (A Sagittariun Re-Dream)
9:28 pm Föllakzoid ~ II
9:38 pm Edward ~ Mental Dive
9:50 pm Klein Zage ~ She’s Out There
9:53 pm The Juan MacLean ~ Zone Non Linear (Massimiliano Pagliara Remix)
9:59 pm Cherushii & Maria Minerva ~ Out By Myself
10:02 pm DJ Haus ~ Turn the Box Up (VONDA7 Fox Out of the Box Remix)
10:07 pm Reset Robot ~ Idiolect
10:13 pm Tatira ~ Ghosts of Fall River
10:16 pm XGLARE ~ Plexus
10:18 pm Simulation ~ Canceling/Smoothing
10:23 pm Lorenzo BITW ~ Aurelia
10:27 pm Turning Jewels into Water ~ Talang (PlayPlay Remix)
10:30 pm Antwood ~ Club Dread
10:33 pm Doctor Jeep & Fixate ~ Dorado
10:38 pm Soundbwoy Killah ~ Burning
10:42 pm Textasy ~ Mystique
10:46 pm Special Request ~ Fahrenheit 451
10:50 pm Davis Galvin ~ Loudspeaker Situation
10:55 pm Maruwa ~ 31 Seconds
10:59 pm Floorplan ~ Never Grow Old (Mark Broom Dubplate Mix)
11:04 pm Mella Dee ~ Natural Unrefined
11:09 pm Jason Patrick ~ TimeFlex
11:14 pm Ellen Allien ~ Korpermaschine
11:21 pm Perc ~ Driller
11:27 pm Outlander [NOT the one who did “Vamp”] Don’t Recall Using Teletransportation
11:32 pm Modig ~ Latissimus (Blawan Remix)
11:39 pm Thomas Bangalter ~ What to Do
11:42 pm Tymon ~ Haunted Shipyard
11:47 pm ? ~ STAUB 004 A3
11:50 pm Modeselektor ~ Prügelknabe
11:52 pm Dax J ~ The Drome (SE1)
11:55 pm F.U.S.E. ~ Train-abuse

Tim Walters: Fission Cuisine (Aural Films, 2019)

August 1, 2019 at 6:45 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Tim Walters: Fission Cuisine

Last year, Tim Walters released a pretty exciting album of electro-shocked noise, which he made using analog synths and old SuperCollider coding. This album is heavy on analog synths, but it sounds vastly different — much friendlier, more melodic, and more driving. Opener “The Zen Gun” starts out sparse and creaky, but it surprisingly blooms into a space fighter pilot odyssey, chugging along with cosmic synths and light but propulsive beats. Tracks like “Constitutional” and “The World of Wool” are filled with the sort of childlike melodies that countless IDM artists were creating around the beginning of the millennium, but without the overt technical precision or glitch overload. There’s also ominous drone pieces like “Don’t Forget to Breathe” which fulfill the “scene from a spooky movie” quota, while others like “Connoisseurs of Human Folly” are more RPG interstitial scene music. The overall mood is more playful and adventurous rather than dark and heavy, but it does have its ponderous moments.

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