The Answer Is In The Beat

Segv/Appian: split 12″ (Sly Fox Records, 2014)

March 29, 2015 at 10:39 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The first Sly Fox record, released in 2012, was a split EP between Appian and Segv, but on slyfox002, the tables have turned and now Segv has the A-side. Segv’s “Janky” is shimmering dub techno, with some sort of ominous voice submerged in the mix, and a driving rhythm which makes the track seem to go by in about half of its 9-minute runtime (unless Discogs is wrong). Appian’s “Re:shell” on side B is more lo-fi sounding, with straightforward drum machine beats (which get more heavy on hi-hats as the track progresses) and simple, Detroit-y chords repeating and dancing around the track. Not much to it, but it does it right.

Charlie: Spacer Woman 12″ (Mr. Disc Organization, 1983/reissued Dark Entries, 2014)

March 27, 2015 at 7:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The best italo-disco record ever made. Dark Entries reissued it, so now you have no excuse not to own it.

Ryan Huber megapost

March 8, 2015 at 2:29 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Inam Records can be hard to keep up with, currently numbering at 150 releases, almost all of which are extremely limited CD-r releases. There’s a few Bandcamp pages collecting some of the releases (try Ryan Huber and Olekranon for starters) but I think there’s other releases that aren’t online anymore. The label’s sound has ranged from post-rock to Godflesh/Scorn-like industrial to black metal-influenced noise to dark ambient. These newest Huber releases tend to be droning rhythmic noise with organ and occasional forays into techno-ish beats. Last year an extremely limited lathe-cut 7″ single called “Four Pi” was released. “Cassara” is noisy drone with pulsating organ. “Four Pi” isn’t as noisy and has a beat thumping in the background. Both are excellent. The release is available on Bandcamp as a full 7-track EP. “Quirin” drones for almost 10 minutes of dark cinematic doom, and “Sultan” stops to observe some harsh textures. “Lewisite” starts off with such a bizarre, oblong crunching rhythmic machine pattern, but then it gets quieter and builds up another buzzing rhythmic pattern. “Hamdan” has more bizarre choked rhythms and organ swells. “Process” is a more calm piece, but there’s still some rustling feedback noise in the background and a stumbling beat towards the end.

Empress takes a longer, more minimal approach, with the title track clocking in at 23 minutes and “Hamdai” at almost 13. “Empress” takes over 10 minutes building up a vibrating static loop, then switches to something quieter and builds up more sounds, eventually landing at a soft rhythm and flickering sounds similar to the earlier half. “Hamdai” isn’t as rhythmic, focusing on dark, dusty organ drone for its duration, but with strange sounds emanating underneath that add variation.

Akharon (not on Bandcamp, yet) is the newest one. This one has 4 tracks, mostly over the 10 minute mark, and mostly contain buzzy rhythmic noise drone. “Akharon” takes a long time to build into something rhythmic, with some very subtle elements being worked in and out, and the main sound phasing after around 8 minutes, until some other ones take over. “Countenance” is much calmer, with organ drone and softly bumping beats. Halfway through, some distorted guitar comes in for a bit, then fades away, and then a distorted loop comes in and it gets really intense and jawdropping for the last couple minutes. “Jesuits” is a much more rhythmic, flickering, techno-influenced track, although the upfront beat fades out after 5 minutes and it takes a bit for another flickering pulse to emerge. “Artifice” is a shorter dark noisy drone track with a very sudden-death ending. All are amazing, of course.

Dark Sunny Land: s/t LP (One Hand Records, 2015)

March 8, 2015 at 1:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This Boston artist makes drone music that taps into the essence of the zoniest, most out-there Krautrock (Popol Vuh, Kluster, non-arpeggio Tangerine Dream), with singing bowls, sparse keyboards and effects. “High Water All Around” has swirling ambience and eventually gets into a rhythm with some of the bells and other percussion sounds that are mysteriously making sounds in the ether. “Time Out Of Mind” has a fuller, more tense sound, with lots of buzzing delay, lonely guitar notes and gong. “Kangaroo Daydream” is more light and shimmering, with a simple pattern of guitar notes dancing through warm drone. Definitely sunny, but not warm enough to melt all this damn ice.

Weasel Walter & Chris Pitsiokos: Drawn and Quartered LP (One Hand Records, 2015)

March 8, 2015 at 1:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment

Noise-jazz-core drummer legend Weasel Walter presents a second collaboration with young sax shredder Chris Pitsiokos. The 3 tracks here (“Hanged”, “Drawn” and “Quartered”) waste no time getting into full squeaky-squonky-splattery mode, with jagged, convulsing rhythms and scribbly sax lines. The drums run the gamut from grindcore kickdrums to toms and woodblocks, and odd twisting and scraping sounds. “Quartered” is the longest (22 minutes) and most sporadic of the tracks, allowing a lot more space in between energy bursts, but it also introduces some different, somewhat comical sounds into the mix.

Max Cooper and Tom Hodge: Artefact EP (Fields Records, 2015)

March 8, 2015 at 12:34 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Max Cooper has been putting out minimal/tech-house 12″s for years on labels like Traum Schallplatten, but his recent work, particularly on the Fields label, has been showing a much different, more expansive side of his music. Similar to Jon Hopkins, the tracks on this EP step away from strictly 4/4 club tracks and towards glitchy IDM sound design and cinematic orchestral arrangements. “Remnants” has ever-shifting clicky beats and echo-shrouded pianos. “Teotihuacan Part 2” is straight-up classical, with sparse pianos and strings. “Resonant Expanse” is a 9-minute epic and the closest to straightforward dance music here, with a galloping beat and distorted, decaying synths that sound more than anything like a slightly less abrasive version of Autechre’s “Outpt”. The beats eventually settle into 4/4 for a bit during the last few minutes before letting go and letting the music drift away. Really impressive.

Shana Falana: Set Your Lightning Fire Free (Team Love, 2015)

March 8, 2015 at 11:54 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

I can’t remember exactly how I came across Shana Falana’s music, but I definitely remember hearing something a few years ago that piqued my interest. This does the neo-dream-pop thing pretty well. The longer tracks tend to be slower and more spaced out, but there’s plenty of shorter, more uptempo, more concise tracks. The vocals on “Go” sound strikingly like M.I.A., suggesting what would happen if she joined a dream-pop band. “Anything” has a dancey rhythm and a sort of vaguely Middle Eastern sounding synth melody, lending an air of mysticism. “Know Ur Mine” is another urgent, uptempo sing, with repetitive lyrics about mind control. “That Girl” is another song with more overtly poppy vocals. The songs here do tend to get repetitive at times, but they have a solid dream-pop sound that emphasizes both the dream and pop sides. Older albums are available for free download at Bandcamp.

Achim Wollscheid & Bernhard Schreiner: Calibrated Contingency (Baskaru, 2014)

February 28, 2015 at 6:41 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

It’s strangely appropriate that I discovered this album the week that Tod Dockstader died. This album reminds me a lot of his noisy, apocalyptic electro-acoustic music. It’s constantly shifting and unpredictable, and takes it time gliding only to make some unexpected turns. The two artists actually recorded this album in concert with a wall placed between them and speakers placed in a straight line towards the audience. Given the circumstance, this stereo mix of that concert sounds incredibly cohesive, not to mention sonically rich. The static and glitch elements and random voices are all integrated really well. A truly gripping recording.

NHK: Program (Line, 2015)

February 28, 2015 at 6:16 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Kouhei Matsunaga works under several aliases (mostly variations/combinations of the names NHK and Koyxen), but NHK proper is actually a duo project, and this is their first full-length album. It continues Matsunaga’s explorations of abstract dub, hip-hop and electronic rhythms, as well as harsh noise. The tracks here typically have a minimal, repetitive beat laced with harsh feedback, being pushed far into the red and embracing clipping and distortion (especially at sudden moments). Many of the tracks have constant tempos, but on “Ch.4” it’s slow and spaced out, so when beats sporadically arrive they feel like attacks. The skipping dub rhythm of “Ch.6” is less abrasive, but still coated in static. “Ch.8” goes down a long tunnel of a simple repetitive click which changes tempo a few times and harshly jabs noise bursts into the speakers. “Ch.10” has the most coherent hip-hop-influnced rhythm here, recalling Matsunaga’s work on labels such as Wordsound. The album offers a fresh perspective on combining minimal rhythms and noise, in even different ways than previous work by the artist.

Koenraad Ecker: Sleepwalkers In a Cold Circus (Line, 2015)

February 28, 2015 at 5:41 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Second solo album from Lumisokea’s Koenraad Ecker, following an LP on Digitalis last year. Cold electro-acoustic drone with metallic rustling and scraping and bass tones. Builds tension and suspense but never really releases it. The closest it gets is the swarming strings and electronic birdsong of “There Are No Eyes Here”, and the harsh cutups and ominous beats of “Nazif”. “Parasites” develops a shuddering, convulsing beat, providing one of the more rhythmic moments in the album, which otherwise has a dark, sickly metallic drift.