January 31, 2020 at 6:24 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Rocket 808: s/t LP
Rocket 808’s 2018 debut 7″ was a very pleasant surprise, making vintage drum machines and twangy, distorted guitar riffs sound like the most natural combination in the world. Now we have a full album of the stuff, and it’s another motorik cruise through a Western desert landscape filled with big neon signs which have been flashing nonstop for decades. Early on, he covers Suicide’s “Ghost Rider”, seemingly getting the most obvious comparison out of the way quickly, and simultaneously beaming the song into the past and the future. However, he doesn’t sing on much of the album; the focus is more on Link Wray-inspired guitar shredding. “Digital Billboards”, the A-side of the previous single, still sounds like the Cramps recording an instrumental demo with a drum machine, and much of the other songs follow this lead. The other cover is a synth-punk update of Ersel Hickey’s rockabilly chestnut “Goin’ Down That Road”, with a dilapidated drum machine slap matching the song’s “boom-chick-a-boom” refrain. Following the similarly racing (but slightly slower) instrumental “Black Test Car”, Rocket 808 joins the elite club of bands with self-titled songs on a self-titled debut album. “Rocket 808” features acoustic drumming along with the 808 pulse, as well as a brief guitar/drum freakout.
January 28, 2020 at 7:23 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Rabbit Ears: Should Be Fine 7″ EP
Detroit trio
Rabbit Ears play instrumental rock which is sort of in the nexus of surf, garage, and spy themes, but not beholden to one particular style. They could be part of a soundtrack to a suspenseful movie, but they also work perfectly well as stand-alone songs. They play around with time signatures here and there, particularly on the first two songs, but it’s never unnecessarily complicated. The B-sides continues in the rough surf-ish mode, with “Shadow Creep” having some bluesy guitar riffs and “Rabito” sporting the record’s only vocals (it’s just a shouted exclamation of the song’s title). Pleasant stuff all around.
January 25, 2020 at 3:18 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
The Moonset Production Company: s/t
This one was handed to the radio station by the artist, but there’s barely any information about it online. The few pages that turn up when searching the project name also turn up the name Othercast, perhaps that’s the name of the artist, or label? Anyway, all that really matters is that this an incredible assemblage of lost transmissions, ghostly voices, and rave flashback beats. A lot of it brings to mind the Ghost Box aesthetic, but “Tonight’s Program” is more overtly techno-influenced, with old-time radio announcements popping up like speech bubbles over breakbeats and exuberant synths. The sounds dissolve into memories and scrambled signals during the interludes, but they’re summoned back to life with the more beat-driven tracks. A Balearic guitar riff emerges near the end of “One Moment Please”, then the more abstract “sky circuitry” sounds like a brief dip into Nurse With Wound’s nightmarish universe. “We Apologize for the Continued Interruptions” has more crunch to it, particularly due to the slowed-down jungle breaks, but the rest of the album doesn’t quite get as heavy. This is an absurdly good album that just seemed to materialize out of nowhere, I can’t imagine this one’s going to stay obscure for long. Lovers of all things hauntological will be instantly in love with this one. Also, the CD version contains a short unlisted bonus track that isn’t on the
Bandcamp download.
January 25, 2020 at 2:37 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Special Request: Zero Fucks
Paul Woolford released no less than 4 Special Request albums last year, with the back-to-basics hardcore of
Vortex receiving the most applause and club play. He’s saved the hardest (and best) of them all for last, and
Zero Fucks is indeed the most IDGAF thing he’s released. While all his other albums were released by Houndstooth, this one was a
Bandcamp freebie, and it’s easy to hear why — there’s bootleg edits of Jay-Z and Travis Scott songs here, which might’ve prevented their release through an official label. Brief soundbytes from Francis Bacon and David Lynch are included, attempting to explain the chaotic nature. The highlights are absolutely vicious “Spectral Frequency” winds frazzled breakbeats up for a long stretch, until it all breaks through and slams out, taking no prisoners. Others like “10 Missed Calls for the Reload” and the deceptively soft (at first) “Quiet Storm” follow the time-honored formula of deadly jungle tracks laced with tender R&B samples. “Elysian Fields” has probably the biggest contrast between sweet, chiming melodies and bash-your-skull breaks. And in case “10 Missed Calls” weren’t enough, “Timelapse/20 Missed Calls” is an extended VIP which pushes it further down the long, dark tunnel. Closer to a mixtape than a standard album,
Zero Fucks nevertheless finds Woolford firing on all cylinders.
January 25, 2020 at 11:10 am | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment
2:03 am Danger Room (local) ~ Jazz (we don’t got) ~ Rick Owens Prank (Funny!!1) (new) ~ Safa Collective ~ 2019
2:25 am Jeff Parker ~ Go Away ~ Suite for Max Brown (new) ~ International Anthem ~ 2020
2:31 am Pulse Emitter ~ Cloud Refuge ~ Swirlings (new) ~ Hausu Mountain ~ 2020
2:37 am Jessica Ekomane ~ Solid of Revolution ~ Multivocal (new) ~ Important ~ 2019
3:01 am Thyme Lines ~ Thyme Vibes (1) ~ Geodesists (new) ~ Constellation Tatsu ~ 2019
3:05 am Tangerine Dream ~ Grind ~ Sorcerer soundtrack ~ MCA ~ 1977
3:07 am Ross Goldstein ~ Bas-Relief ~ Timoka (new) ~ Birdwatcher ~ 2020
3:13 am The Moonset Production Company (local) ~ Sky Circuitry ~ The Moonset Production Company (new) ~ self-released ~ 2019
3:15 am Wolff Parkinson White feat. Becca Stevens ~ Mitred Sun ~ Favours (new) ~ Colonel Beats Records ~ 2020
3:19 am Machine Drum ~ Thanks Very Much ~ Now You Know ~ Merck ~ 2001
3:24 am Pretty Boy Crossover ~ Skip Rope ~ Doubledown ~ Merck ~ 2003
3:29 am Metamatics ~ Pro Leash Crease (Rewired by Ilkae) ~ Rewired In My Manor ~ Hydrogen Dukebox ~ 2002
3:36 am viivitelly ~ Longing for the Future ~ The Placenta Family Tree Volume 12 ~ Placenta Recordings ~ 2017
3:40 am Fou-Rieux ~ Tricomyrmex Destructor ~ The Placenta Family Tree Volume 13 ~ Placenta Recordings ~ 2017
3:44 am df0:BAD ~ Fevered ~ Absolete (new) ~ Cock Rock Disco ~ 2019
3:48 am Squarepusher ~ Nervelevers ~ Be Up a Hello (new) ~ Warp ~ 2020
3:54 am Enduser ~ A Black Box (Brooklyn Version) ~ Fold (EP) (new) ~ Sonicterror ~ 2020
4:00 am Pixelord ~ Amen ~ Hyperboloid 2020 (new) ~ Hyperboloid ~ 2020
4:05 am Hunter Lombard ~ Phos ~ Slow Foam (new) ~ Schloss ~ 2019
4:10 am Analemma ~ Plunging Asymptote ~ Locus Error (new) ~ трип ~ 2019
4:15 am Pod Blotz ~ Life Like an Electric Surge ~ Transdimensional System (new) ~ Dais ~ 2020
4:19 am Recondite ~ Equal ~ Dwell (new) ~ Ghostly International ~ 2020
4:25 am Georgia feat. Shygirl ~ Mellow ~ Seeking Thrills (new) ~ Domino ~ 2020
4:30 am Dub Taylor ~ Circular ~ Forms & Figures ~ raum…musik. ~ 2001
4:38 am Windcatcher ~ Fallen ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2013
4:44 am Heretoir ~ Trümmerwelten ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2009
4:47 am Abesse2/084 ~ Distant ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2011
4:50 am Nachtreich ~ In Gedanken ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2010
4:56 am In the Abyss ~ Endless Destruction (2008 Demo Version) ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2008
5:00 am Need to Ctrl ~ III ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2016
5:02 am Zuriaake ~ God of Scotch Mist ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2007
5:10 am Shroud of Distress ~ Life Underestimated (Re-Record Version) ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2013
5:18 am Black Reaper ~ Entrance of Acausal Chaosophy ~ Hate And Elegy For 10 Years ~ Pest Productions ~ 2015
5:24 am The Innocence Mission ~ On Your Side ~ See You Tomorrow (new) ~ Thérèse Records ~ 2020
5:28 am Ezekiel Honig ~ Seaside Pastures part 2 ~ Surfaces of a Broken Marching Band ~ Anticipate ~ 2008
5:35 am Oval ~ Oxagon ~ Scis (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2020
5:39 am Holy Fudge ~ No Error ~ Deleter (new) ~ Holy Ef Music ~ 2020
5:41 am Marco Bailey ~ Energized ~ Rudeboy ~ MB Elektronics ~ 2004
5:46 am Metamatics ~ Heddon Zara Spook ~ Project Unison ~ Neo Ouija ~ 2000
5:52 am Metamatics ~ Toy Toy ~ Spook Tinsel Shoal ~ Hydrogen Dukebox ~ 2000
January 24, 2020 at 11:55 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
df0:BAD: Absolete
Revisiting breakcore’s early Amiga and tracker days, this is a set of vicious breaks and sinister chiptune melodies using vintage equipment twisted to its limits. Bitcrunched, mangled breakbeats and chase-scene game music butt heads, resembling a soundclash between Abelcain and Bit Shifter. Chipbreak that’s out for blood but maintains a sense of cartoonish glee. “Ataripr0n” is a bit more happy-go-lucky, but the likes of “Fevered” and “Amiga Blood Circus” are more fiendish and head-battering, while “Better Find Out” is a gabber-rave knockout. All of this is extraordinarily fun and refreshing.
Free download from Jason Forrest’s Cock Rock Disco, which still functions as a netlabel and occasionally releases incredible things on Bandcamp, such as this.
January 23, 2020 at 9:01 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Wolff Parkinson White: Favours
Jochen Rueckert is a jazz drummer, but he doesn’t lay a finger on his drum sticks when he makes electronic music as Wolff Parkinson White (a project named after a heart disease he’s lived with). Instead, he programs hyper-complex rhythms and harmonics with rapidly changing time signatures, often involving quarter-tone scales. On his
Bandcamp, he recommends Venetian Snares’
Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding as well as releases by Vytear and Binray, and this greatly points to his direction — highly intense breakcore and IDM that doesn’t actually use breakbeats, and has no signifiers of rave or club culture. Yet as precise, angular, and sometimes menacing as these tracks are, they’re not gigantic, deeply layered slabs of sound. They’re like a vast, intricate network of wires buzzing at light speed, but there’s plenty of space left between them. On this album, he partially fills that space with a variety of guest vocalists, perhaps most surprisingly including Norah Jones (although she once played in a band with DJ /rupture, so she has at least one other connection to the experimental electronic world). For the most part, the vocals drift smoothly over the electronics — they usually don’t try to imitate the convoluted rhythms. There are moments when Rueckert scatters and dices the vocals, though, particularly “What’s True” and “We Are All Dispersed”. I’ve always appreciated when breakcore/glitch artists manage to incorporate more “musical” or pop-influenced elements and vocals into their work and actually manage to make it work instead of sounding gimmicky. Venetian Snares has done it a few times, maybe you could count Squarepusher’s “My Red Hot Car” (if that doesn’t push the edge of irony), the one album by About approaches that territory… otherwise, good examples are few and far between. Of course Björk has been singing over unconventional rhythms for ages, so that also seems like a precedent for this direction. Anyway, I think it’s pretty obvious that I really appreciate this album. Breakcore and IDM have always been close to my heart, and I love the nerdishly complex side of the genres as much as the more melodic side, so it’s fascinating to hear an accomplished jazz musician approach this realm and make something as human as it is hardcore.
January 22, 2020 at 10:34 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Danger Room: Rick Owens Prank (Funny!!1)
Closely related to Ann Arbor art-rockers Satan Face, Danger Room is a basement-dwelling noise act deconstructing rock and jazz forms. Released on Christmas, this tape starts out with some hissing and buzzing before someone starts mangling a guitar, and then an oscillator, or tape deck. Some overdriven guitar effects piledrive everything into the ground for a moment, and a lengthy track called “Reverse Cuomo” is filled with demonic screaming, seemingly in direct tribute to Masonna. It would be hair-raising if the piercing feedback and tape manipulations didn’t throw it all into the realm of the absurd and hilarious. HWAHHHHHH!!!!! The second side is taken up by “Jazz (we don’t got)”, which has wailing reeds snaking through hissing synth eruptions. It gets noisy and chaotic, but not in the same ripping-your-brain-from-its-stem way as the first side. There’s measured stretches, and more primal screaming, and more piled-on freak-outs. It also takes a long time to finally die off.
January 22, 2020 at 10:02 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Ross Goldstein: Timoka
Ross Goldstein (of Devin Gary & Ross, with Gary Panter) released more of a psych-pop album on Northern Spy a few years ago, but this is something totally different. Using a Mellotron only, he’s recorded an instrumental suite which could easily be arranged for a full orchestra and used as a soundtrack to a particularly haunting movie. It’s not all “Strawberry Fields Forever” flute warbling; there’s lots of slow-moving, suspenseful strings, ominous pizzicato notes, and dramatically paced timpani and cymbal rolls. A few moments like “Lunar Day” sound like brief bits of orchestral pop stretched out into longer thoughts, but then there’s darker mood pieces and cues like “Pink Broom” and the more ambitious, creaking “Bas-Relief”. It all maintains a distinctly low budget feel, but for one artist using such a limited palette, it has an impressively wide scope.
January 20, 2020 at 11:58 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Jessica Ekomane: Multivocal LP
I haven’t yet witnessed one of Jessica Ekomane’s quadraphonic performances, but turning this LP way up gives me a sense of how transportive they must be. It seems simple on the surface — steady pulse in each speaker being generated with a millisecond’s difference in tempo, gradually interlocking and falling out of sync and forming strange, complex bent polyrhythms — but it just scrambles my brain to hear it all play out. So much seems to going on, all of these rays of sound are darting out and rapidly circling and returning at the same time, but when they’re close to being in sync it all just feels like it’s actually really simple and direct. I feel like I could just bounce around this head-vortex forever.
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