The Answer Is In The Beat

Kittin + The Hacker: Third Album (Nobody’s Bizzness, 2022)

March 31, 2022 at 9:43 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Back in action after two Dark Entries-issued collections of lost tracks, Kittin + The Hacker return with their first album since 2009. Neither artist stopped putting out quality solo work, but this release just compounds the fact that they’ve always been on top of their game. Far removed from the electroclash hype circa 2001, this is just a solid collection of minimal synth, EBM, and electro tracks with tough, no-nonsense beats and inimitable vocals. “La Cave” and “Ostbanhof” deliver tinny drum machines, doomy synths, and spoken verses, while “Retrovision” is closer to technicolor Detroit electro, with fearless vocals nodding to Aphex Twin (“Selected ambient always works”). “Purist” is more of a longing club anthem, fusing house and Italo-disco with maybe a dash of Gina X. What might have been lumped in with a retro movement two decades ago now just sounds masterful and timeless.

Soul Message Band: Live at Blue LLama (Blue LLama, 2022)

March 28, 2022 at 5:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Chicago’s Soul Message Band performed two sets at Ann Arbor’s swanky Blue LLama Jazz Club on January 31, 2020. This album, released by the club itself, captures performances from the evening, including compositions by Grant Green, Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentine, and others. Chris Foreman’s B3 organ playing seems to serve as the trio’s lead vocalist, and its rich tones dominate pieces like Green’s “Matador”. Smith’s “Midnight Special” begins with a lengthy gospel-ish organ solo and some indistinct stage chatter, then the rhythm section of guitarist Lee Rothenberg and drummer Greg Rockingham join in for a relaxed blues groove that slowly strides along for more than ten minutes. Again, the organ soloing seems much flashier and more involved than the other parts. Louis Bellson’s “Easy Time” is played slightly faster, but is in a similar mode, although the guitarist gets a little more time to shine. The band stretches out for 13 minutes on Slide Hampton’s “Frame for the Blues”, with Foreman providing a big finish. Finally, Turrentine’s “Minor Chant” is one of the set’s most upbeat performances, and the band just sound like they’re radiating sunshine for the entire song.

Social Rhythm: Love On Another Planet EP (Oblivious Transfer, 2022)

March 19, 2022 at 4:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This is the second release on Oblivious Transfer, a label and art collective equally inspired by sci-fi comics, rave culture, and “otherworldly cryptography”. These are d’n’b-adjacent tracks which drift spacily, but provide a shock of rave NRG when necessary, like the hoover attack during “Holding On”. “Fictional” would be super mellow if it wasn’t for the break where it all disintegrates in the middle. The other two are more breakbeat-heavy, with “Loving Sum” being closer to ecstatic, but “Eternal Love” is actually surprisingly melancholy.

Colpitts: Music From the Accident (Thrill Jockey, 2022)

March 18, 2022 at 7:03 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The artist most famously known as Kid Millions was in a car accident in early 2018, which severely injured his back and left him unable to work for several months. This album is an interpretation of the aftermath, starting out with no drums (his primary instrument) and feeling highly disconnected at first. “Bread” is a synth-led piece which flitters back and forth with no set rhythm, expressing a very “where am I?” state, waiting for everything to shift back into clear focus. “Up and Down” begins with a slow, sparse trudge of drums, which then multiply and overlap, sometimes falling in sync and sometimes lapsing behind, while modular synths bubble and hiss, with one very colorful splash adding a burst of life. Jessica Pavone guests on “Recovery”, and her microtonal viola winds around Colpitts’ scurrying free jazz drumming, while synths drone in a nearly tanpura-like fashion around them. It just feels like an astounding rebirth, breaking free, free, free, rediscovering one’s love for life all over again.

v/a: Continuum-z (E-Beamz, 2022)

March 17, 2022 at 8:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Functioning somewhat like a state of the current neo-jungle scene, this is a can’t-miss selection of stellar breakbeat tracks. While lush vibes are abound there’s plenty of tracks that twist the paradigm. Filter Dread’s “Neon Horizon” could be a more straightforward d’n’b roller but it’s bent way out of shape, with very disrupted beats and bass that hits in fat, bell-shaped bullet points. DJ Cosworth’s “MTX in the RS” is just out of control, hitting you with the most explosive breaks after dramatic pauses. DJ Decay’s “Let’s Talk About That Trust Fund” mangles a mess of breakbeats under thumping kicks, and while it seems highly discombobulating, it’s arranged in a highly effective way that makes sense when you listen. Dwarde & Tim Reaper do jungle techno with suspenseful horror pianos, and DJ One Time’s track is a wobbly leftfield bassline side trip. Code 23’s “Dissipated” is maybe the most tear-out jungle smasher here, with all the atmospheric, euphoric synths and ecstatic soul diva vocals in place. Zoo Look’s “Rush” is more bleepy, ravey electro than jungle, but still fits into the continuum.

Corporeal Face: The Upward Spiral (Acroplane, 2022)

March 16, 2022 at 7:53 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Total hands-in-the-air rave which has a big beaming smile on its face, and maybe a bit of a smirk at the concept of normal life. It seems like the modern hardcore producers have refined this style of music so that the cheesier, more gimmicky sampling of the early ’90s incarnation of this music is mostly absent, and that the more effective, pleasure-center-hitting elements of the tracks are present. (I’m not talking about more shitpost-y mashcore artists, I mean the types of producers doing more legit hardcore revivalism on labels like Sneaker Social Club.) This one has a nice balance between the more head-in-the-clouds ecstasy moments and the slamming mentalist breaks and Hoovers. The more junglistic “Shake Your Brain” is the highlight, though “What a Trip” takes the plunge further into madness.

Hooverian Blur: SNKRX09 (Sneaker Social Club, 2022)

March 15, 2022 at 8:09 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Lead track “Square Jazz” has one of those basslines that would just make you feel gooey when it’s played on a loud enough sound system, and the breakbeats and spacey synth noises just compound this into foolproof club elevator. “Sirens” is a solid breakbeat tune, but a little repetitive and feels more like a B-side. After that are two mixes of “Old Gold”, Hooverian Blur’s excellent single from 2 years ago which unabashedly flashes back to the rave era, with bits of “Vamp” and “Valley of the Shadows” stuck in. Low End Activist’s mix starts out with tricky electro beats in the beginning, then absolutely slams some distorted breaks in later, while stretching the sample of the lady recalling being in a long dark tunnel. There’s also a more ambient mix that just focuses on the flickering, glittering synths and squirming bass.