Slacker-ish lo-fi psych pop from Sterling DeWeese, formerly of several bands I’ve never heard of (Heavy Hands, Dirty Rainbow, Terrapin Gun, etc). Has sort of a Bevis Frond thing going on but without the guitar heroics. Mostly sounds like one guy doing everything, with a few friends helping out on some tracks, and the simplicity works to its advantage, as on the brief but catchy “Don’t Have a Plan”. “Easy Alibi” has some nice fuzz guitar and organ and big slappy drums. “Passing Into a Grey Area” feels like a brief part of a much longer psych jam. “Moth to the Flame” has more heavy, almost funky drums, sort of suggesting Can but not quite as superhuman. :Never to Late” starts with a vinyl spinback and pairs drum machines with live drums. “Up and Down” is a decent bummed out drifter singalong tune. “Ain’t the Same No More” has more drum machines and bottom-of-a-well echo. “Oz the Great and Powerful” is a bit weirder and more mystical, and sounds like something from a funky ’70s psych soundtrack, but with vocals referencing The Wizard of Oz. “The World’s a Mess” has a synth intro and outro, and is a scratchy fuzz-rock nugget with lyrics such as “The world’s a mess and I need a friend”.
I don’t have too much to say about this compilation other than that it’s free and there’s a ton of great artists on it, so it’s a must download. Berlin label, events series, and Noods Radio presenter Rec Room formed in 2013 and this is their first release, and it’s just a fantastic collection of forward-thinking club music. Ray Kandinski and Jana Rush appear early on with some gorgeous hybrid footwork, and in between them is an introspective but commanding IDM/techno track from excellent newcomer Xyla. CalvoMusic lets you know that Baltimore club music is still going strong in the 2020s, even as its Jersey and Philly cousins have gotten a bit more attention during the last decade or so. Cape Town’s Cajoux stuns with the Afrobass burner “TPC”, and BADSISTA’s track is as grand as always. DJ Lycox goes hardest of all with the stomping, chant-infused “UNIQUE”, and UR’s Mark Flash closes it out with the sublime “ONE WAY TICKET TO MARS”, yet again reminding me how much I miss clubbing in Detroit.
Like Krust’s albums, the first full-length by Crypticz elevates drum’n’bass to near-symphonic ambitions. Opener “Broadcast Feeling” lasts for a very tense, patient 12 minutes, only dropping breakbeats when necessary and featuring passages bathed in crackling static. Amy Kisnorbo contributes free-floating vocals on “Ocean Blue”, a fitting track title for a producer who creates these vast pieces that you can just soak in rather than dance to. “Lakutala (Version)” sits still and cave-like until a haunting flute and dub bassline emerge, then a hard “Funky Drummer” breakbeat plunks in and everything slowly rotates. “The Guided” is a chalice-bearing dub meditation, and “Journey Through the Rings of Saturn” propels through the milky way — its surging bass and galloping bongos seem to be building up to a locked-in d’n’b rhythm, but its sights are set far beyond that. “Nightshifter’s Groove” does drop some breakbeats in eventually, but it’s mostly carried by bongos and chasmic dub effects. “Lakutala” proper lands at the diced breakbeats that much of the album only hinted at, and it goes off, while still taking necessary time to pause and reflect. Some of the deepest, most ambitious drum’n’bass I’ve heard in a while.
Dylan Tidyman-Jones used to make laid back dream pop as FRONDS, but now he’s going by the name Polytherian. It’s generally in the same boat, though, kind of delicate but groovable. “Role Play” is quite elegant, the drifty guitar melody just keeps repeating and it gets to you (in a sad and beautiful way). “Intention” is slightly more lonesome ’50s-tinged. “Nightmares” is a short interlude, then “Casting Call” has minimalist organs, a tricky time signature, pulsating beats, and some trippy echoing synths. It has no lyrics and fades out when it sounds like it’s going to take off and do something more interesting. The first couple tracks on the second side flirt with Brazilian rhythms, with some touches of synth distortion and a weird but friendly vibe. “Fan Fiction” is kind of like a spacier, bubblier version of Woods. “Hymn” is quietly ambitious, shifting tempos a few times while shimmering dreamily. The album seems light and inconsequential at first but it does seep into your brain if you give it a chance.
Rotterdam quartet Lewsberg play a stripped down, straightforward but intellectual form of garage rock which seems to be influenced entirely by the Velvet Underground. The songs themselves aren’t quite as memorable, but the musicianship and especially Arie von Vliet’s deadpan vocals are spot on. The album even starts off with a Waldo Jeffers-type story, “Left Turn”, although this one wraps up in 2 minutes. “Cold Light of Day” and “From Never to Once” are easy highlights of the first side, and between them sit a calmer observation about drinking at lunch (or not drinking at lunch) and a somewhat meandering instrumental. “The Door” is slower and seems unassuming at first, but then erupts into the most unhinged, noisy guitar soloing on the record. “Through the Garden” has startling lyrics about suicide and dirty deeds, yet the music is comparatively upbeat, bounding along straight and narrow without tipping over. After a brief noise interlude and the hushed murmur of “Jacob’s Ladder”, “Standard Procedures” is another winding story, with a greater sense of mystery than most of the other songs. Halfway through, it switches down from a taut, steady rhythm to a delicate, minimal instrumental, decaying the album to a close.
This album collects tracks recorded between 2015 and 2019 by various formations of the Phoenix-based group, essentially a vehicle for songwriter/shouter/musician James Fella. Contributors include Paul Arambula and members of No Babies, Filthy Grin, and other groups. It might not be a proper album recorded by a steady lineup, but it could pass for one, as Fella has a pretty consistent vision for his brand of Swell Maps/The Fall-esque noisy post-punk; the detours and freakouts all seem like part of the plan. Some tracks featured shorted-out electronics, and “Nowhere with Arambula” is skronky rat’s-nest free jazz. “Discard If Expired” starts out like a song but then gets constantly unwound, backed up, slipped out, and filed down, then returns to the ragged rhythm as if nothing happened. “R&S Holdings”, dedicated to featured bandmates Ricky Martyr and Sean Nieves, is a manic, heavy jam filled with vocals blown out and scattered by effects. After some more heat-damaged garage rock, “11 By 17” is another short swarm of improv jazz noise, then “Berlin’s Saat L’Lite” overlays a driving, kind of peppy rhythm with dissonant scraping and police radio transmissions. The extraneous noises go away, but then even stranger voices gargle and beatbox over the music.
Last month, Tim Reaper simultaneously released a Special Request remix EP and a new 12″ on Lobster Theremin, and while they’re both excellent, the record of originals is the one I’m most excited about. Longtime resident DJ at Blog to the Oldskool, he’s displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of jungle, particularly the atmospheric darkside stuff from the mid-’90s, and he’s been astoundingly skilled at producing music mirroring that style. “Anytime” does the always fulfilling trick of building up a blissful, sun-soaked atmosphere and torpedoing it with vicious Amen breaks. “Who Run It” is more of a breakbeat rave track with stomping beats, a few shocks of hardcore fury, 2 Unlimited samples, and a few more calming passages. “Teletext” is the killer, with firebombing psychedelic breaks and eerie synths which my ears are easily tricked into thinking are angelic choral voices. “Give It 2 Me” is more early ’90s hardcore that teeters on the throes of ecstasy but also glimpses into a portal of darkness for a few moments (watch for that ghoulish laughter).
Two years ago, the founder of Japanese label Murder Channel published two volumes of a book covering the history of breakcore, tracing its roots from hardcore and industrial, as well as influences from death metal, ragga, IDM, free jazz, mashups, and rave music which became parts of the story over the years. Photos and easily translatable Japanese text are available to view here and here. Additionally, the label released a soundtrack on Bandcamp filled with new and unreleased goodies from several longtime favorites from the scene. An unreleased, unfinished Dev/Null remix of Duran Duran Duran from 2007 appears near the beginning, starting out with a buildup similar to the sound of hardcore during that era, then just going off the rails for the rest of its duration. OVe-NaXx reaches even further back for his 2003 track, which sounds a little rough and demo-y but its ecstatically sweet melodies and his inventive ways of contorting beats render the track a success. The genre’s evolution is traced with more elaborate, dramatic tracks by Ruby My Dear and Stazma, and there’s an all-too-rare appearance by Twenty Knives, who does a sort of gothy indie rock song with breakbeats and possibly a theremin. Electromeca does his usual dense jigsaw distorted hiphop-core, this time with shreds of static-riddled radio pop songs. Aaron Spectre continues his recent run of some of his best work ever, and Gore Tech and FFF similarly keep raggacore blazing in the 2020s. There’s another recent Bandcamp breakcore comp that I downloaded that I’m going to get around to reviewing soon which feels like more of an update of what younger producers in the scene are doing, but this is a quality example of how the ’00s/early ’10s school is holding up.
MoMA Ready debuted his Gallery S project early last year with an eclectic album of breaks, house, and hardcore which instantly ranked with his best work. The project’s newest album is possibly even better, with a greater emphasis on euphoric jungle that seems to conceal some inner darkness and loneliness. Swift and choppy but natural-sounding breakbeats and smooth builds, sighing pads, mysterious vocal samples. It gets rougher during the second half, which is where it starts hitting me that this is the best album I’ve heard so far this year. Super intelligent, kind of mystical without going too deep, truly inspired but also just easily enjoyable as a collection of fresh jungle tracks.
2-13-21
Coco Bryce ~ Get Shwifty
Don Zilla ~ From the Cave
Nihiloxica ~ Choir Chops
Nazaré Pereira ~ Maculelé
Mulatu Astatke & Black Jesus Experience ~ Lijay
Ahya Simone ~ Frostbite Remix (Asmara meets Tapiwa on Planet Kizomba)
The Koreatown Oddity ~ My Name Is Dominique
Asa Tone ~ Perpetual Movement Via Jungle Transport
Butcher Brown ~ Hopscotch
Keleketla! ~ Crystallise (J Saul Kane Remix)
386 DX ~ Anarchy in the UK
Algebra Suicide ~ Summer Virus Night
Swansea Sound ~ I Sold My Soul on eBay
Von Hayes ~ Quarantine Dreams
The Notwist ~ Where You Find Me
The Bug ft. Dis Fig ~ Levitating
The Answer Is In The Beat 