January 10, 2021 at 3:23 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Time Being: An Ocean of Time
from the space music duo consisting of Jourdan Laik and the considerably more prolific Philip Wilkerson. Generally, this is the sort of slow-moving but richly textured ambient music which seems determined to dissolve the boundaries of time. Much of it is similar to Steve Roach’s relaxing space-scapes, while acoustic-sounding melodies pop up during others, with some moments sounding closer to Forrest Fang. The last 3 tracks are long space epics, and there’s not much else to say other than that this is good to relax, dream, or meditate to. “Momentary Illusions” sounds like it has guitars similar to Slowdive’s
Pygmalion.
January 9, 2021 at 4:27 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Slikback: ///
For certain fans of experimental electronic music, Kenyan superpower Slikback releasing 60 tracks within a week was one of the major events of the year. He later played several of these tracks during his blinding set as part of
Nyege Nyege 2020, but they’re just as powerful by themselves.
/// is particularly fascinating, and has some of his most fiery work overall. He’s impossible to box into one style, but there’s beat rushes similar to footwork (“FIO”, “WAXFIGURE”, “WEINASSETS”), speedcore with African drum rhythms (“WA1023”), and experimental pieces that sound like amplified sharpening knives (“DESCEND”). With a handful of exceptions, all of the tracks are short, and some of them are acknowledged as being sketches rather than finished works, but even as rough snapshots, they demonstrate an enviable level of creativity. The second third has a stretch of tracks that seem like trap, but add heavier details, switch tempos, combine with other club rhythms, and ultimately just become something else. Tracks with STSK and Swordman Kitala (the skeletal dancehall cut “CARDIBLACK”) show his inventive approaches to producing rap as well.
Slikback: /// II
has a few more collaborations and remixes/edits of other artists. It’s also a bit shorter and feels more outtakey than the first part, to be honest. It also leans a bit harder on trap-style beats, which I’m not really the biggest fan of. But there’s still more than enough interesting material to make it worthwhile. Tracks like “NCPA” are intense enough to be gabber but have their energies directed differently, and I appreciate stuff like that. “RUKIA” is one of the definite highlights, accelerating from footwork with scattered ribbons of voices. “HEADLESS” is one of his better club tracks, and his Bamba Pana remix is a somewhat more functional club-tooled version of the hyperspeed singeli sound.
January 8, 2021 at 6:57 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Monogoto: Partial Deletion Of Everything (Vol 1)
The
first release by the trio of Ian Hawgood, Porya Hatami, and David Newman is a 35-minute piece titled “Iuxta Mare [deletion 5]”. While all flowing down the same stream, the piece melds a lot of different sounds and approaches, from acoustic plucks to tattering effects and modular synth textures, and it sounds both carefully assembled and dreamlike happenstance. The decaying downward swoops and the intricate reversed notes, among other sounds, all give this one some character. It also floats far away from where it starts and goes through lots of changes which are hard to pick out individually — no hairpin turns, just subtle, constant evolution. It unmistakably sounds like a collaboration, as there’s such a wide range of ideas that one person seemingly wouldn’t have come up with on their own, but it’s a cohesive one that promises more paths yet to be taken.
January 7, 2021 at 8:18 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Coco Bryce: Ma Bae Be Luv EP
Much like fellow Dutch producer FFF, Coco Bryce is one of the leading lights of the neo-jungle scene, yet he’s actually been mashing it up in a bunch of different styles for decades. His two recent EPs on Lobster Theremin both feature tracks that are warm and comforting but still have a dark side to them. The cartoon artwork on the labels fit, but it’s still sincere rather than jokey or ironic.
Ma Bae Be Luv starts off with a Supremes-sampling title track, which is cuddly enough, but “Blue Tile Lounge” and “Smoke Screen” are a touch darker, with the latter crossing acid synths with hardcore breaks and Reese bass. “Get Shwifty” has heavier beat choppage and some punchdrunk horn samples, and just a little more junglist fire than the other tracks on the EP.
Coco Bryce: Deep Into The Jungle EP
is ruffer and darker from the beginning, with “Flight Six Six Six” built around samples of a doomed flight, and the synths a bit more warped and menacing. “Vegan Library” isn’t so heavy, and quite delectable, but “Deep Into The Jungle” is filled with crickets and swarming breakbeats, and a child’s voice saying “I wanna stay in the jungle!” “Only When I’m Dreaming” floats rather than crushes, and sums the EP up nicely: this is jungle for dreamers rather than roughnecks.
January 5, 2021 at 7:22 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
brin: Homescreen Glow
Formerly known as Ant’lrd, brin (Colin Blanton) physically and virtually collaborated with several artists on his latest release for Leaving Records,
Homescreen Glow. Matthewdavid, Dustin Wong, and Brian James Griffith are among the musicians who contributed beats, loops, and samples, and while there’s enough variation to make this seem like a long-distance collage project, it’s consistent enough with its own singular form of sound-warping. Sweet melodies mix with extremely jumbled rhythms and serrated glitches, but aside from an upfront anti-cop sample at the end of “Monarch”, much of this is quite friendly and fantasy-like. Tracks like “Guava” and “Glidewear” definitely have some Orange Milk-like hyperrealist vibes, mixing vaporwave textures with whirlwind beats that are basically like juke repeatedly tripping over its own feet. “Elastic Garden” is like that but a bit more spaced out and coherent. While much of it is frenetic, it blisses out a bit with the 9-minute sparkle-space journey “Another Portal” and the much bluer and more serene “Lost in the Glow”. Just an amazingly original and refreshing album.
January 2, 2021 at 12:06 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Max Nordile: Building a Better Void LP
Max Nordile’s
latest LP is part junkshop collage and part untethered, unrestrained songwriting. His voice nervously creaks out from under porch floorboards as traffic whirrs by, and a gang of mutant ducks peck at some broken instruments for the first time. Compared to other pieces here, “Site Traffic Prolonged” is like a poignant, heartfelt ballad sung by a groundhog. Others like “Milk mtn” are discordant chaos emitted by beings struggling to break free from their captured, restrictive states. The second side is mainly taken up by the longer, more freeform “Diligent Pores”, which is sort of an EAI/free jazz party scene. Finally, “Wispy” is a brief, abstract folk ballad which seems to barely hold together yet sounds too deliberate to have just been bashed out incoherently.
« Previous Page
The Answer Is In The Beat 