The Answer Is In The Beat

v/a: Replicants 2LP (Inner Surface Music, 2015)

December 26, 2015 at 5:57 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

AnD and Tom DiCicco’s Inner Surface Music presents a 2LP compilation with a quality lineup and lots of hard, battering techno. Some of the tracks are more straightforward and driving, but then some of it gets slower, more distorted, more grimy. O/H piles on a bunch of slurry, snarly punk-ish vocals, and Honzo slows it down to a blown-out industrial thud. Ontal’s “Spasm” strikes the best balance between a steady beat and waves of distortion, and then there’s Hoover synths to rinse everything out. The underrated Sturqen closes the set out with a slower, clanging industrial track which hammers out sparks and then powers down at the end.

Majeure: Union of Worlds tape (Constellation Tatsu, 2015)

December 25, 2015 at 7:22 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Anthony Paterra of Zombi continues his extracurricular project with his first release for CTatsu. This album seems a lot less prog-rock than much of his work, but only because there don’t seem to be any guitars. On one hand, I feel like there isn’t a whole lot more to say about cosmic synth type records. There’s arpeggios, there’s wooshing sounds, there’s sci-fi or horror score cues, it all sounds cool, what more do you want? But he still seems to be doing something a little bit above and beyond that. “Physis” is a pretty fantastic galaxy space war scene, it’s very busy and animated and has bashing electro-drums, and it’s over in 4 minutes. The album gets a bit frosty after that (just see “Appalachian Winter Blues”), and then there’s beats. “Posthuman” has a constant midtempo kick drum, but the sounds buzzing and swinging on top of it are in 3/4 time, making it some sort of space disco waltz. “Union of Worlds” starts off with a tense pulse, but then it derails into a long bout with space loneliness. On Bandcamp and cassette now, but I think there’s a vinyl pressing coming soon?

Andrew Weathers: I Am Happy When I Am Moving tape (Constellation Tatsu, 2015)

December 25, 2015 at 6:03 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Like Andrew Tuttle, this Andrew plays instruments like guitars (acoustic and electric) and banjos, but also droning synths and electronic processing, making some sort of spacey 21st century instrumental folk. He gives equal precedence to melodies and ambience, but the melodies are upfront enough that it might not deter people who aren’t into space music. For the most part, anyway: “We Can Only Speak to the Future” only has shreds of acoustic guitar flickering, the rest of it is nature sounds and high, rolling drones. “Hi Jolly at Quartzsite” also has some blippy synths and more skygazing guitars rather than earthy folk melodies. For all the Real Life Rock & Rollers out there.

Paul R. Marcano & Andre Martin: Valley Flutes / As it IS split tape (Constellation Tatsu, 2015)

December 25, 2015 at 5:20 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

CTatsu reaches back in time for this one. Paul R. Marcano’s “Valley Flutes” was apparently recorded back in 1973, using several echo-covered flutes (recorders, actually) recorded at different speeds on a reel-to-reel deck. This is actually a 45-minute excerpt of a 4-hour session. Seems like a demanding listen, but of course, it’s meant to be played in the background while you sleep or do chores or study or whatever. Obviously there were other people doing this sort of thing before Eno popularized the concept of ambient music later in the ’70s, but it’s still fascinating to hear other early examples of this sort of thing. This piece is hissy, hypnotic, and does so much with just a few layers of the same instrument. There is a constant rhythm to it, and you can feel it flowing like a current. It is seriously stunning. Seems like kind of a landmark recording, actually. Andre Martin’s “As it IS” also takes up 45 minutes, and also seems to have a wavelike flow, but it’s more electronic and seems a lot darker and more nocturnal. If new age has a dark side, this seems like it. Eternal Bandcamp forever.

Shibata & Asuna: Grace Park (White Paddy Mountain, 2015)

December 25, 2015 at 4:20 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Looks like this came out back in April, but I just came across it now, and anyway it seems like more of a winter album than a spring one. It’s on Chihei Hatakeyama’s label, so expect warm yet wintry guitar drone and field recordings, and expect it to be incredibly lovely. About six minutes in it sounds like there’s sleigh bells and some sort of rhythmic wind-like sound, and it gets heavier and more psychedelic, and then later it’s calmer and there’s birds and children playing and acoustic guitars. It keeps bouncing between trippy effects and more contemplative moments. Whenever it actually starts getting snowy out, as well as when the snow melts away into spring, this is an album to keep on deck. Stream/purchase at Bandcamp.

redHat: F (Rare Nnudes, 2015)

December 25, 2015 at 4:04 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Unbelievably happy to have a new release from Philly’s redHat, and it’s on yet another netlabel with dozens of free releases on Bandcamp that I have absolutely no time to listen to. This guy is easily one of the better current breakcore artists that I’m aware of, taking noisy breaks and glitch sound design and injecting it with trap, juke, ____ club, etc. More so than just hyped-up beats, there’s a structure to this release, all of the tracks flow into each other (minus the remix at the end) and there’s common themes and sounds, making it a sort of mini-symphony. Not to mention it starts with a Satie deconstruction, and then returns to (and reverses) it towards the end of the release. Super-harsh, with smashed jungle beats and gunshots, but there’s all sorts of atmospheres to it. Way more people need to be up on this guy.

Banana Pill/Morbid Rainbow/Ratkiller/Sky Sacrifice: split tape (Shack in the Barley Productions, 2015)

December 20, 2015 at 8:24 pm | Posted in Reviews | 2 Comments

A double LP’s worth of sonic explorations from several parts scattered throughout Europe and the UK. Banana Pill’s “Sand” is a 22-minute trip through a haunted wind/mirror tunnel, with howling vocals crying out, but it’s impossible to tell exactly where they’re coming from. Morbid Rainbow’s side is straight out of ’80s cassette culture, with grainy tape loops of voices talking about panic attacks and more caustic sound patterns. It progressively gets more bad-trippy, ending up with caterwauling violin and mutated keyboard tones on the appropriately titled “Rotten Handwash”. Ratkiller’s set is a bit more blissful. It’s steamy and dripping, but for some reason it keeps rubbing the faucet. Eventually it ends up with a lopsided, oozing house track. Sky Sacrifice’s 20-minute collage “Slider Between Worlds” starts out with several heavy layers of guitar, then moves into candy-stripe synths which become reversed and get really flashy and hallucinogenic, and then it revisits more dark guitars and quizzical synth textures.

Ryan Huber: Tacht CD-r (Inam Records, 2015)

December 20, 2015 at 5:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The restlessly prolific Ryan Huber’s latest album seems to be a bit of a change, maybe a refinement from past work. There’s much less swarming drone than previous recordings, and much more concise running times compared to some of his recent work. Much of it is heavily sequenced/looped, not really anything like solos or melodies or things like that. Some of it has stuttering textures which might make it seem like the CD is skipping. “Tacht” is basically just staccato pulses which flicker rapidly. “Madon” is sparkling, shimmering atmosphere which gradually develops a low, thumping beat. “Strife / Silence” has constantly ticking metallic hi-hat sounds and twitchy bass as well as cricket-like sounds. “Concrete Teeth” basically sounds like being trapped in a really intense car wash. “Dumah” is Huber at his most Raster-Noton/Stroboscopic Artefacts-like, with minimal clicks, bleeps, and pulses in a precise, clinical rhythm. “The Will” is 5 minutes of intense grinding with some faint pulses forming out a rhythm. “Target” seems to be the most clear, driving techno track, but there’s an odd woodpecker drilling sound throughout it, and then it ends very abruptly. Free download at Bandcamp.

Todd Tobias: Tristes Tropiques + Moorea (Tiny Room Records/Hidden Shoal, 2015)

December 19, 2015 at 11:46 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Todd Tobias is a musician and engineer associated with various Guided By Voices/Bob Pollard projects, but lately he’s been carving out a solo career doing more ethereal instrumental material and soundtracks. Tristes Tropiques is a strange, mystical sound painting filled with eerie vocal loops (particularly on the opening and closing tracks), reversed and decaying guitars, and sometimes beats. Definitely has a soundtrack-like feel, especially the way the tracks segue, suggesting changing scenes. The album’s title translate to “sad tropics”, and it definitely conjures up feelings of being blue in paradise, for whatever reason. Sometimes it gets really dark and foggy, other times it’s brighter, with chiming guitars, but it’s still kind of melancholy. All of this is nice and serene.

The album has a companion EP called Moorea, which consists of 7 brief songs which could function as incidental soundtrack music, but as far as I can tell there is no film associated with this music. It has a bit of an exotica feel to it, but it feels like being on a beach late at night on a tropical island, with a vague possibility than the volcano that’s been inactive for centuries might just erupt. “Wing On Wing” and “Vega” are the shortest tracks (only a minute and a half each), they feel most like themes, and I think they’re actually the EP’s best tracks. A nice relaxing (if strangely a bit dark) listen.

Lucindo: Alien Rebellion 12″ EP (3TH, 2015)

December 19, 2015 at 4:24 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Hard, blasting techno which erupts from the core and blazes a path without concern for how much wreckage it’s causing. So much distortion on this one. Shorter interlude “Act 139” gets into some more exploratory Meat Beat territory, so that’s a definite plus. “Act 102” propels with surging acid, then breaks a bit and shuffles the thudding beats up a bit during the second half. “Act 140” is totally like ’90s hard acid. Closing track “Act 135” has more sizzling synth pads playing introspective melodies, and there’s more shifting, exquisite beats rather than the relentless thudge-thudge-thudge. Really good EP, lots of range to the 5 tracks.