The Answer Is In The Beat

v/a: Infrastructure Facticity (Infrastructure New York, 2016)

November 20, 2016 at 10:13 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The first full-scale compilation from Function’s Infrastructure New York label is far more than what I was expecting it to be. I was assuming “techno compilation, cool, nbd” but it’s darker and deeper than that. Not entirely dark, though. Campbell Irvine’s opening track starts out tense and shivery but it eventually opens up, and keeps blossoming. Vatican Shadow’s track is typically brooding. Rrose’s track bounces off the walls, and seems charged by something radioactive. It isn’t until Cassegrain & Tin Man’s track when we get to proper, straightforward techno. A lot of the tracks are functional club cuts, sometimes with some acid, but then there’s more detached, spacey tracks like the ones by Post Scriptum or Efdemin. Function’s own “Low Lights & Trick Mirrors” is more bright and Detroit-y, and definitely one of the best tracks. “Colwyn Bay” by Function and Inland is similar, but longer, less upfront, and more IDM-y, and it’s also a highlight. The album ends with Silent Servant’s “End/Optimism”, which is a 2-minute hissy outro, but the title at least suggests that it’s meant to be positive. Also, it’s worth noting that the vinyl version has extended mixes of most of the tracks compared to the CD, stretching the total length to over 90 minutes.

AGF: Kon​:​3p>UTION to: e​[​VOL​]​ution (AGF Producktion, 2016)

November 20, 2016 at 9:47 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Bzzzzzzrrrrrrpppt<<<thhhhhhhhxxx\\\\\\\ffffvvvv&&&&!!!!! AGF has released dozens of albums of weird glitch-poetry, and honestly most of them haven't made an impact on me. This one, though, was a giant electrifying jolt. I listened to this pumped up loud in my car on a road trip, and it was an erratic, paranoid, exciting trip into the unknown. Very broken, buzzing, deconstructed sound design. Abrupt shifts, vocals delivering abstract messages and sometimes struggling to connect logically, and some HARD kicks and static interruptions. This is a scrambled, top-secret classified document of an album. It's alarming and unfriendly and kind of terrifying, and it's amazing. Also recommended is the A-Symmetry album AGF and Natalie Beridze released two years ago.

New Rome: Nowhere (Room40, 2016)

November 20, 2016 at 9:22 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This one almost completely escaped by notice, which is bizarre considering I usually get promos of almost everything Room40 releases, but I stumbled upon it late and now it’s my favorite ambient album of the year. Cloudlike and billowing, but it always has a definite direction that it’s floating in. A few tracks like “Beginning” stop just shy of having actual beats, but the tempos can still be measures in BPMs. Overall, it just sounds incredibly hopeful, not to mention supremely relaxing. Basically, this album is like that Huerco S. album that came out earlier this year, except that album is getting tons of (well deserved) hype and this one isn’t getting any.

Morricone Youth: The Adventures of Prince Achmed 12″ EP (Country Club Records, 2016)

November 12, 2016 at 10:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Morricone Youth has been composing scores to classic films recently, and they’re planning on releasing many of them. A score for Night of the Living Dead was released this year, and this one is for a 1926 silent animation called The Adventures of Prince Achmed. As their NOTLD score fast-forwarded a few decades and was closer to a Goblin score for a later George Romero film, this one doesn’t sound like it could’ve been recorded in the 1920s, but instead sounds closer to something from an Ethiopiques compilation. Not strictly, though. It’s a pretty sprawling, colorful, well-orchestrated mix of various Arabic, Asian, and African influences, with horns, strings, keyboards, and lots of percussion, and it’s delicious. There’s unexpected moments, like when “Peri Banu” starts out a bit more melancholy and reflective and then suddenly switches into something more festive and excited for the last minute. Following the calmer “Maidens”, the disc ends with a 10-minute Afrobeat jam called “Sorcerer” which is out of this world. Was not expecting this at all, and it’s fantastic.

Quentin Tolimieri: Piano (pfMENTUM, 2016)

November 12, 2016 at 10:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Crazy, mega-fractured piano compositions. Very Conlon Nancarrow-sounding, except I don’t think these are player piano pieces. Very choppy and rapid, and seemingly defies any logic of time signatures or rhythms, but there’s clearly melodies and themes and a sense of structure holding it all together. A cover of “On Green Dolphin Street” is a bit more straightforward and less jumbled, but the version of Thelonious Monk’s “Well You Needn’t” is bonkers (but still recognizable). Mindblowing, and also tons of fun. On Bandcamp, although the cover versions aren’t available to stream.

Palm Tapes megapost

November 12, 2016 at 9:27 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Palm Tapes has been one of Detroit’s breakout labels in 2016, with a huge pile of tapes and an LP in their discography. The site has a Bandcamp where you can listen to a few tracks from each release, but all the prices are set at $69 because they want you to buy the actual tapes, which are $5 each, from their site. Here’s a few highlights from the label so far. The split tape between singer/songwriters Stef Chura & Anna Burch is already up to its second pressing. Stef has kind of a stretchy, squirmy voice and kind of reminds me of Kristin Hersh. “Slow Motion” is one of my favorite rock songs of the year, just a really good driving pop song. “Faded Heart” is similar, but “Speeding Ticket” is more of a slow burn. Fred Thomas recorded and played on these songs. He also did the same on the first Anna song. Anna has more of a calm, hushed voice, and her songs are way more lonely and depressed. “You Bum Me Out” is particularly brutal. Not musically, it’s just guitar, vocals, and organ, but lyrically it’s just devastating. Look out for Stef’s album on Urinal Cake Records in January.
Armadillo’s II is a spectacular tape of reflective guitars plus booming beats. Some of it gets a little dancey, particularly on side B, and some of it is more trappy. It’s as warbly and blown out as you would expect from a cassette of this nature. Most of the tracks flow into each other and there’s no titles or lyrics, so it’s just a good idea to hit play and float for a while.
The Bed Band’s The Dreamiest is warped bedroom psych-pop from Ivan Antonio Gamboa. High-pitched vocals, sun-baked smeared guitars, and sometimes drum machines blipping in the background. Lots of songs about cute weird girls and hazy summer days.
Maybe the best of the lot is the one that doesn’t actually feature Detroit artists. Northern Palms Volume One is a compilation of Canadian electronic artists. M. Walter’s tracks are juke-inspired, and while they seem a bit light and breezy and with a carefree sense of humor (track titles include “Why Won’t Anyone Go To The Gathering With Me” and “Damn This Fiji Water Actually Tastes Pretty Good”), they’re thoughtfully constructed. ADO starts out with a short, slow, crushed beat called “Yeaassss”, and then there’s a hyperdriven ultra-polyrhythmic juke track called “For A Copy” which is absolutely astounding, followed by a long, relentless techno pounder called “Soundtest”. On the other side, Burn Cycle flashes back to early ’90s breakbeat techno with his three easygoing tracks. Motoko’s tracks are even sunnier and more beach-friendly. The last track is slower and mellower and has more keyboard soloing.

Gnod: Mirror (Rocket Recordings, 2016)

October 30, 2016 at 2:25 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Gnod are one of the better improv psych acts around. They’re also one of the more unpredictable, switching between folk, drone, noise, Krautrock, etc. at any given moment. This one’s dark, paranoid, heavy, angry, and doomy. There’s shades of early PiL and Swans in here. There’s screaming and subliminal voices. “Sodom & Gomorrah” is an 18-minute crawl down the abyss. The packaging is an actual mirror, so you can stare deep into what’s left of your soul.

Blues Control: OldEnuff2KnoBetta: The Mixtape (self-released, 2016)

October 26, 2016 at 10:10 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Friends of WCBN Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse sent over their newest release, this mixtape which is essentially a home-recorded live set, recorded in one take two months ago. From the onset, the new material is way more uptempo than they’ve ever been before, with acid-rock guitar soloing over bouncy techno beats. They revisit “Iron Pigs” from their last album, then they’re back to new spirit-techno jams. “Pillowtalk” is a little slower and has some Gregorian chanting buried under the pianos and wavy echo. “Tangier (1001 Night Mix)” is an extra-fun updated version of the highlight of 2009’s Local Flavor. A must-grab free download available from their website!

CAM: True Or False? LP (Skrat Records, 2016)

October 22, 2016 at 10:47 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Recorded in 2010, this is one of two newly-released albums from a Danish improvisational ensemble who have been around since 2009. Their music could be perceived as a very mutated 21st century breed of improv jazz, one that embraces laptop-era electronic music and a heavy sense of cartoonish absurdity. Glitchy, Schematic-like beats tumble into opener “Kryddereddike” before tense horns settle down, and a Conet Project-like voice mutters in the background. “Ghost” is like an avant jazz-rap track programmed by Mario’s dino friend Yoshi, with fluttering horns contorted and fed through fizzy distortion. “Mirror Confrontations” is a more sinister, sparse spoken word piece. “True or False” channel-surfs through a bunch of samples, ranging from squeaky cartoons to sexual narratives, and then the brief, thrashy “Coming to America” brings the noise righteously. “Jean Palle” is more of a space drift with some noisy scratching. “Pip Neo” is a scratchy, sloppy mess, and then it crashes into the glitch burst of “Rock’n’roll”. “Radioaktive Nisser” is another drifty one, and then “Jimpster” is a flashback to the frantic late ’90s drill’n’bass days, but with more of a spacey jazz aura. “Solen i sækken” starts out slowly, but eventually scraps and shreds accumulate and it ends up a droned-out glitchy squally. Fans of Supersilent should take note. Available digitally on Bandcamp.

Modality: Under the Shadow of This Red Rock 2LP (House of Watts, 2016)

October 22, 2016 at 9:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

WCBN last heard from Modality a few years ago, when they released the elegant, eclectic Particle City. Since then, they’ve put out some limited tapes and played a bunch of gigs around the country. The members live in three different cities in Montana and Vermont, and they practice weekly via the internet. Judging by this sprawling double LP, their ESP is strong enough to connect through pretty much any distance. The first side is taken up by “Rarefied Airwaves”, which starts out as a vast drone featuring guitars and synths which effortlessly meld together. After a brief pause, a drum rhythm works up, and everything becomes fuller and more connected. It never really gets heavy, but there’s some electric violin streaks which appear like particularly sharp flashes of light. And then it all ends with an acoustic comedown. “Bullfrog Boyman” is somewhat twangy and rustic, with stream-of-consciousness spaced-out ranting over a hobbling, hypnotic rhythm and more ecstatic violin and guitar alchemy. “Curtis’ Music Hall” is more electronic and cosmic, with Berlin school synth arpeggios and a seriously beautiful violin melody. It immediately heads straight into a deep bliss area and doesn’t want to leave, until it finally disappears after 9 minutes. Side C (“I Will Show You Fear in a Handful of Dust”) starts out with a silly computer voice before launching into a locked drum groove and synth arpeggios which explore the heavier side of Krautrock. Vocals make scant appearances, but don’t take the lead. The rhythm falls out, and we’re left scrambling in space, and it feels fizzy, strange, and exciting. Then the pulsing synth comes back, and then the drums. It gets gradually more wasted. The final side (“The Savage Seas of Krül”) opens with loud guitar shredding, then goes through some very dense, multi-dimensional fields of sound, waving and washing and encompassing everything you see, hear, and feel. (Assuming you’re playing it as loud as humanly possible, which is by all means how you should be listening to this record.) It gets thick and sludgy, and there’s slowed-down voices echoing out from the void, and drums struggling to not get bogged down. And then it all converges into a truly wonderful final section, ending a magnificent album. Free download at Bandcamp.