The Answer Is In The Beat

WeFreeStrings: Love in the Form of Sacred Outrage (ESP-Disk’, 2022)

June 27, 2022 at 11:18 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Violist Melanie Dyer (Sun Ra Arkestra, William Parker, Tomeka Reid Stringtet) leads this string-based jazz ensemble, which has been active since 2011, and this is their second album. Three of the four pieces are written by Dyer, and they’re dedicated to civil rights activists. “Baraka Suite” is made up of six movements, and they flow together at an unhurried pace, but not in a lazy way. Michael Wimberly’s drumming stands out, and he does some intense solos, but the string playing is strong as well. “Love in the Form of Sacred Outrage [for Fannie Lou Hamer]” is the shortest and most immediately striking piece, with sharper, more angular movements and a greater sense of urgency. “Pretty Flowers” (by Baba Andrew “The Black” Lamb) is more graceful, with extended strokes, fluid pacing, and stunning interplay. Where the previous piece is frantic and alarmed, this one is more empathetic, and it feels like clearing one’s head after the shock of some terrible news. “Propagating the Same Type of Madness, that uh… [for Fred Hampton]” is richer and more dynamic, definitely tense but not full-on cathartic. The entire album is inspired, unique protest music which encompasses a wide spectrum of emotions.

Lewsburg: In Your Hands LP (12XU, 2021)

June 26, 2022 at 3:37 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Dutch Velvet Underground disciples Lewsburg return with a brief third LP which alternates between brief vignettes and very matter-of-fact mini-narratives. “The Corner” seems like a continuation of the Waldo Jeffers-style story that kicked off their last album, and “Getting Closer” is a further half-spoken reflection. This is definitely far from the rock’n’roll or pop side of VU, and it even seems to deconstruct the various aspects of the group that influence them, and focus on the specific ideas. The album’s final song, “All Things”, is a slow, violin-laced drone-out, yet it doesn’t get as intense as something like “All Tomorrow’s Parties”. It’s far more patient, and it continues in two parts, one by lead vocalist Arie and the second by bassist/percussionist Shalita. 23 minutes seems alarmingly short for an LP, especially for a two-sided one that plays at 33 RPM, but it says everything it needs to in that time, so not a moment is wasted.

Jones Jones: Just Justice (ESP-Disk’, 2022)

June 25, 2022 at 2:44 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This album of “spontaneous evocations” is played by the trio of Larry Ochs (saxophones), Vladimir Tarasov (drums), and Mark Dresser (bass), who have collectively performed as part of Rova Saxophone Quartet, Anthony Braxton’s group, and Ganelin Trio. All of the song titles have the word Jones in them, making this set feel like a family of sonic siblings. “Call of the Jones” has the most immediate bite to it, with furious bowed strings and feverish drums milling around the sax blurts. “Jones in the Sonar System” starts out more nebulous, then gradually gains some rapid bowl-like percussion, which catches the ear more than anything else. “Jones Free Jones” starts out with kind of a walking groove before it sort of washes itself in acid. “The Further Adventures of Miss Microtonal Jones” is a fitting title for the song that seems to be trying to stretch past physical boundaries the most.

OHYUNG: imagine naked! (NNA Tapes, 2022)

June 21, 2022 at 7:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This album’s porn spam-like title is highly misleading, as it’s one of the most creative, serenely beautiful ambient releases of the year. A huge departure from the artist’s previous noisy experimental hip-hop recordings, this one concentrates on lush, fragile loops, with very subtle alterations and drifting field recordings creating faint ripples which end up having a major impact. All of the exclamation marked titles are taken from a poem called “vegetalscape” by t. tran le, and the album does exude more of a playfulness than other ambient/minimal releases. Opener “my torn cuticles!” is the type of highly repetitive 16-minute loopscape that I would have no problem with if it continued for hours and hours. “i’m remembering!” is a series of evenly paced notes hopping gleefully in succession. “to fill the quiet!” is a gorgeous flow of static-laced waves, with melodic variation indicating that this is a living, breathing organism. “yes my weeping frame!” is an entry into the “long, rambling, repetitive piano spiral” subcategory. “philodendrons trail!” seems like it’s going to be a simple dripping, fuzzy sequence until the sounds become magnified and blown out of proportion. Lastly, the non-CD “releases like gloves!” hits the spot if you just need to hear a few simple notes repeated for an indeterminate length of time. It lasts 37 minutes, and it does slow down a little bit by the end, but put it on repeat and play it in the background and you’ll barely notice any difference as it approaches the end and loops back around.

x.nte & Elevation: Singularity Fallout (Deathbysheep, 2022) + x.nte: Aggressive Stereo Sound (Kitty On Fire, 2022)

June 20, 2022 at 3:03 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Both x.nte and Elevation have maintained the chaotic, anarchist spirit of breakcore while introducing new elements, and for that they receive a lot of love around these parts. Singularity Fallout is 20 minutes of concentrated innovation, with each artist providing 2 solo tracks in addition to 2 collaborations between both of them. Both of the collaborative tracks brilliantly patch together drifting melodies and cacophonous, rapidfire breaks and noise bursts, ending up with some of the most broken, destructive music that still can be tied to the lineage of jungle and hip-hop. As jumbled and nonlinear as their music is, I find it soothing as well as stimulating all at once. x.nte’s “Wake Up” has a bit more of a consistent rhythm, and again it mixes a hyper tempo and shouted samples with soft, calming pads. There’s also opera vocals and ragga-jungle samples, and they make a strange sort of sense existing in the same track. The Elevation tracks include one that riffs on the Lyn Collins “bad sister” sample, letting its mind wander and throwing in a few harder breaks, but mostly keeping it steady and reflective.

The newest x.nte solo album is another brilliant collection of explosive tracks held together by the artist’s unique sense of logic. The breaks are often fast, abrasive blurs with airtight edits, yet they can still seem splattered and uncontrolled. Occasionally there’s some structural framing to the tracks in regards to which sections have more aggressive kick drums or other intense elements, but this is still far from DJ-friendly. Even the most mellow and transcendent track (“hearts”) isn’t afraid to throw in some lacerating noise-breaks. “rebirth” is simply a stunning expression of an aggressive moment, reflecting on a tense encounter and just bursting forth with concentrated fury. Yet this music never registers as strictly negative and joyless, the mixture of emotions is what keeps it engaging. It might be too random or discordant for a lot of people, but I get it entirely. Both x.nte & Elevation are true visionaries of the current breakcore scene.

v/a: GUKUBA – Presented By ANTI​-​MASS Collective x Never Normal Soundsystem (Never Normal, 2022)

June 19, 2022 at 10:53 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This long-in-the-making compilation is an exchange between East Africa’s ANTI​-​MASS Collective and Suzi Analogue’s Never Normal Soundsystem, creating hybrids of multiple styles of Black dance music and exploring innovative approaches to sound design. Several tracks arrange choppy beats into hypnotic patterns, with footwork in their DNA but still coming out quite different. Some tracks tap into the rhythmic density of jungle and breakcore while using African percussion instruments (Elevation x Authentically Plastic, No Eyes x Nsasi). No Eyes x Turkana’s track is just absolute breathless mayhem. The Safiyahh tracks mostly revolve around various styles of booming techno, and the Tayhana x Turkana one is closer to batida. Simply an incredible, groundbreaking project.

Golden Feelings: s/t (Impermanent Records, 2022)

June 13, 2022 at 6:56 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Moving beyond the subliminal drone-dub-noise of his previous work as Skin Lies, Dustin Krcatovich make his debut as Golden Feelings, creating music with meditative purposes in mind. The entire album is tuned to 432 Hz, but it’s not the kind of mind massage you’d expect from Steven Halpern, where the music is generally more of a sea of notes designed to heal and soothe rather than stimulate. This is plenty soothing, but it also has its tripped out elements, like all the backwards flowing and note bending during the dusky opener “Body Betrayal”. “Tripper John” also has some slowly dripping drum machines and softly blazing guitars in the spirit of early HNIA. “The Dregs of Me” is a darker, more sideways drift, with an eerie sort of tunneling noise beneath it. Little else compares to the way it levitates, but also feels invisibly ruddered. “‘To’ Is A Preposition” is the 20-minute conclusion, and while it’s the easiest track to zone out and do breathing exercises to, some brighter, hotter, more concentrated sun rays cycle through, especially near the end.