The Answer Is In The Beat

Throwaway: Hand That Takes (FPE Records, 2022)

August 29, 2022 at 6:49 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Throwaway’s brief second album is a reaction to being trapped in a death cult society that forces its citizens to constantly work without any guarantee of success or compensation. People are just producers, mannequins, faceless and nameless figures. “Glitch Mob” is about being stuck in a video game with no chance to win, with hope that some sort of computer bug will reset something or prevent certain death. Kirsten Carey’s voice recklessly jumps octaves and challenges the dissonance of her guitar playing. She laughs in derision during “Kyubabe”, and attempts to fix a sinking ship with duct tape on “Cute Frankenstein”. A news bulletin in Japanese introduces “DINOSAUR.”, a menacing anthem about being driven to panic of a degree that smashing and eating everything seems like the only recourse. The appearance of an actual dinosaur(-costumed human) during the band’s live performances elevates it into a manic, dramatic spectacle. The lengthy “Six” has several sections that gradually speed up and get heavier, expressing several stages of mounting anxieties. If you’re on the verge of just losing it, you’re already well prepared for Throwaway.

The Paxton/Spangler Septet: Ugqozi (Eastlawn, 2022)

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

John Paxton and RJ Spangler, both of Planet D Nonet, a Detroit group that performs music from multiple eras spanning the history of jazz, turn their focus on African music on this album, which is named after the Zulu word for inspiration. Additional players on the album include members and collaborators of NOMO, the Sun Messengers, Tribe, and others. The release starts out with the joyous fanfare of “You Ain’t Gonna Know Me ‘Cos” by Mongezi Feza. Most of the other tracks are significantly longer, affording the extensive cast of musicians more room for soloing. “Part of a Whole” (written by Caiphus Semenya and recorded by Hugh Masekela in 1972) has a slower, easier, more laidback groove, but it’s still tightly performed and emergetic. “Lwandle’s Lullaby” was written by Salim Washington, who guests on the album and wrote the liner notes, and it’s one of the more reflective and lush-sounding performances on the album. Fela Kuti’s “Water No Get Enemy” similarly feels a little stretched out and unwound a bit, it’s not as punchy as the original, but it’s still highly faithful to the original; Alex Harding, who was in the Fela! musical, guests on baritone sax. Miriam Makeba’s eternal jam “Pata Pata” is given a spirited instrumental reading with some post-bop soloing. Finally, Abdullah Ibrahim’s “Jabulani – Easter Joy” starts out in an almost New Orleans-style horn procession before rapidly switching to ripping free jazz.

Rabbit’s Eye: The Damage Was Terrific (FPE, 2022)

August 27, 2022 at 2:31 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This album documents a live improvisation by Greek quartet Rabbit’s Eye shortly after they formed in 2018. Much of it is sparse and sporadic, but still a bit nervy, and the musicians will break into a more pointed, alarmed convergence of sounds at a moment’s notice. “Secret Spell” has a somnambulant feel and pace before it coalesces into a sort of loose march. Then “Circus Dance” is a more chaotic, stop-start flurry of rushing drums, delicately scraped yet caustic violin, crunches of guitar feedback, and haunted vocals interpreting all of these currents and vibrations. “Seven Turns at Midnight” is the longest piece and it leads itself down a haunted procession, like some sort of detached Jandekian free jazz. “Of Dark Corners” starts with percussive rolling and ticking, which seems to function like a book of matches being struck, as it gradually stokes into a bonfire of sound. A lot of the other, shorter tracks are a lot more subtle, and don’t feel as much like events, but rather connective sequences. Seeing this in person might’ve been an intense, heart-racing experience. As an album, it requires much patience, but if you’re in the right mood, it can be trasportive.

John King & String Noise: Centripetal Light (Gold Bolus, 2022)

August 23, 2022 at 7:44 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

String Noise is an entirely appropriate project name, not because the musicians (violinists Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris) are attempting to make harsh noise, but because their compositions, which explore different techniques based on chance as well as determinate forms, embrace dissonance and clashing dynamics. “Centripetal Light” features arrangements of three simultaneously played pitches, often arriving at glorious, hair-raising clashes. The somewhat more Kronos-like “Triple Threat” is more of a structured improvisation, culminating in busier sections where the violins seem to be chasing each other around the room. “Klepsydra I” organizes rhythms, durations, dynamics, and timbres by chance, and it ends up being the quietest, least intrusive piece of the four, yet it’s still too eerie to slip away into the background, unnoticed. “Triple Helix” is an electronically treated piece containing chance-determined electronic alterations of the composed acoustic sections. This, of course, helps the music move in different sonic dimensions, adding more of a digital crush and 3D spatialization, sometimes adding barbed distortion or making the sounds closer to a didgeridoo. It lasts for 20 minutes and doesn’t particularly have a clear beginning or end, just sort of fizzling out as if it’s about to segue to another section, so it feels a bit more like a generative experiment than a performance, but it’s essentially both, and it might be String Noise at their most adventurous.

Luis: 057 (Schwyn) (AD 93, 2022)

August 18, 2022 at 9:08 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Returning to his long-abandoned Luis alias, DJ Python channels his IDM and breakbeat influences on this swell EP for AD 93. Opening track “timmy chalamet” (with Lis Dalton) is a dead ringer for Boards of Canada, except the kids sound more sinister. “or anyone said it” is reminiscent of ’90s intelligent techno, with broken beat patterns and floating, eerie melodies. After the brief ambient cloud drift “yoonito”, “we still or nah” has similarly light, detached melodies over a slipshod garage beat. “jack anderson” is just absolutely blissful ambient breakbeat rave, it simply takes you to another place. So gorgeous.

Fausten: Mercenary (Acroplane, 2022)

August 16, 2022 at 7:34 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Former Ad Noiseam act Fausten returns with a new EP of steel-plated industrial sound sculptures. “Cathedral” deviates from the beat structures, instead taking a frightening, queasy detour through a suspicious stretch of a forest. “Jour De Gloire” is a vast, lumbering robo-beast constantly on the reload. “Mercenary” is hard yet finely pointed, with the “pop” sounds at the end of some of the bars setting it over the top. With heavy Scorn vibes throughout, the EP ends appropriately with a rework by Fret, one of Mick Harris’ other projects, mixing thudding post-Aphex beats with heavy waves of industrial dread.

Kloke: Cosmik Connection Vol​.​ 2 (Unknown to the Unknown, 2022)

August 11, 2022 at 8:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Unknown to the Unknown recently started a series of atmospheric jungle records, and following Tommy the Cat’s first volume, Australian producer Kloke steps up. He’s released music on Coco Bryce and Tim Reaper’s labels, and this is easily up to their quality level. “Crystal Caves” has holographic synth swells, but also pummeling breaks at just the right moments. “All Around” is a more reflective, filter-breaky tune that revolves around your mind and practically beckons you to stop and look around without actually sampling that Ferris Bueller quote. “Dreams” is a more Timeless-style percussive storm, with a lovely rinse-out. Finally, “Rhythm Equation” sparkles and glides without kicking into overdrive.