April 23, 2022 at 7:40 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Ryan Huber: Duopoly
The elusive Ryan Huber has recently resurfaced on Bandcamp with some new releases, as well as a couple from the vaults. I haven’t listened to
the latest one yet, but the two earlier ones from this year showcase two vastly different sides of his work.
Duopoly is sort of a minimal techno release, but one that doesn’t follow the linear path of most minimal techno. “Bucket Collector” is eight minutes of ticking beats, but at different volumes and intensities, making it feel like it’s ducking down different paths and coming back into view. “Details Matter” is more rapid and racing, but the beat is tunneling away from you. “Commercial Soul” is like grappling at the side of a cliff while dust and pebbles are trickling down on you, but you’re still able to keep balance and climb without falling. “Skytaker” has the energy of an acid trance track in the making, but instead of taking off, it burrows inside itself. The title track also has a nervous pulse that feels like it could blast off, but it seems to fade into the shadows, and the pulse that threatens to incite damage is what takes over.
Ryan Huber: Subterrane
While
Duopoly has some propulsion, even if it ends up ends up being an illusion and never actually progresses,
Subterrane is a drone release that is absolutely steadfast about remaining in one place, or trying not to exist at all. That said, it does gradually shift into different spaces, and there are moments when it swells up into something resembling light rather than ever-present darkness. When he titles a track “Dearth”, though, he’s not pulling any punches. “The Pulse” comes close to the distant reverberations of a slowly tolling bell, and the last three tracks are dramatic enough to feel like they have cinematic undertones, forming some doom-filled mini-suite.
April 22, 2022 at 7:13 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Meadow Argus: Peristera tape
The latest
Meadow Argus tape is the longest one yet, letting each side stretch out for over 20 minutes. “Archytas”, the first half, sounds like a giant grotesque sculpture made of music box innards, churning away and creating dislocated rhythms tripping over themselves in multiple directions. Whining tape hiss and the last shred of operatic vocals from a mostly dubbed-over cassette lurk way down in the bottom of the mix, and there’s many moments where something tilts way off its axis, but there’s still several other gears spinning. “Peristera” has a similar makeup, except the music box melody at the front seems much more cheerful, yet it’s contrasted by dissonant droning. The effect is much like a sweet dream and a strange, insistent nightmare (not an especially violent one, but definitely a haunting one that lingers for a while) both jostling for space in your head at the same time. And the brief moments when the music box tips off-balance edge closer to the more disturbed state, but it still remains afloat until the tape’s abrupt end.
April 20, 2022 at 10:59 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Conflict at Serenity Pools: Type A/Type B
California’s Conflict at Serenity Pools debut with two albums that roll post-punk, chillwave, shoegaze, and the psychedelic end of ’90s ambient techno into one hazy, washed-out sound. “Eat Salad” is a highlight of their ravey side, bringing to mind acts like Opus III and Ultramarine. Others like “Titanic Daddy” have funky basslines and handclap-heavy beats. “Seabird” sets swarming shoegaze guitars and multiple voices over racing new wave drums, constantly running towards the sun while high and trying not to topple over. “Bloomin'” is a steady dance instrumental that revs up and is constantly on the verge of blastoff. “Voices” is a Balearic house jam that bubbles ever upward, yet stays suspended in a perfect moment. “Through the Waves” is a flashback to the 2009 summer of chillwave, but trippier, and a reminder of how silly hipsters are for moving on from that style so quickly. The cosmic disco of “Not Dreams” slows down and gives way to the progressive electronic reflection “Inside”. “Silence Mantles” is more of an Underworld-like progressive house track that has some tantalizing vibraphone-like percussion. “Faraway” would seem like the perfect note for this to fade away on, but there’s another bubbly disco jam, “Underwater”, tucked away at the end.
April 18, 2022 at 6:46 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
yehno: Always EP
yehno’s current music represents a transition from an EDM party starter to a more introspective producer of highly detailed, emotional club music. “Reminds Me (Of Yesterday)” is an intricate, dub-soaked rhythmic shower that could soundtrack a tightly choreographed rain dance. “Always” is more of a progressive house roller with rapidly flashing voices bringing message of love — not first-time exclamations, but reminders of longtime care. “FWIW” is more of a grey area drum’n’bass cut, one that makes you feel like you’re biking through the rain really fast and everything’s a blur and you can barely process your own thoughts. Lastly, “Everyone Thinks They Care More” is a crackling dub expedition somewhat like what Pole started out doing, but more vast and aquarium-like.
April 17, 2022 at 2:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Polygraaf Discoteq: Inertia
Seattle’s
Polygraaf Discoteq create technicolor, vocoder-laced synth pop in the vein of seminal late ’70s/early ’80s acts like Gary Numan, John Foxx, Fad Gadget, Telex, and others. The music has a very scientific sound, but instead of dystopian lyrics about robots, most of their songs are about very human feelings, specifically heartache, loneliness, lost love, and the scrambled signals of digital communication. Aside from songs about real life heartbreak, there’s also “Go On”, a more hopeful, uptempo tune about new love, and the more techno-leaning “Broken Puzzles” anticipates possible new connections. One of the fastest songs, “Save Me the Last Dance”, is appropriate as the last one, with its motive of gunning it until the very end (“this is the last dance of my life”).
April 16, 2022 at 3:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Glassbox: Where Is Everybody? 12″
The
new single from Toronto’s Ian Patterson captures that overwhelming feeling of being lost from everyone you hold dear, caught up in life’s rush and suddenly realizing you’re all alone. “Where Is Everybody?” is a pounding track that draws from a drum’n’bass palette, with some steely breakbeats attached to its relentless kick drums, and synths that are both ecstatic and frightful, like the best darkside. Plus there’s timestretched vocals that ask for a sign of life but end up calling into the void. “Interdimensional Cetecea” has slightly trancey jittery synths, but the beats are fast and broken, and after a short pause the breaks get absolutely ballistic. This is music that thrives at the edge of panic, but remains too strong to give in and destruct.
April 15, 2022 at 6:42 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Tracing Xircles: Xenolith
Berlin duo Tracing Xircles demonstrate their mastery of intense sound design as well as crowd-commanding rhythms on their stunning new EP. The title track to
Xenolith is a progressive breakbeat epic, with so many layers one can easily get lost in, but its rippling breaks cut a clear path. “Surface Level” is a futuristic electro track which feels more repetitive, but not in a lazy way. “Blindspot” is deep-space d’n’b which feels like a zero-gravity sword fight. “Closed Circuit” is an acid-soaked breakbeat stalker on a deadly, freewheeling mission. Unmissable.
April 14, 2022 at 7:26 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Rich Pellegrin: Passage
is a second volume of piano improvisations recorded in a church near Seattle during the same time period as Pellegrin’s
Solitude from last year. Here, the tracks are arranged into three sets so that there’s some sort of vaguely cinematic arc to them, though no explanation or suggestion is provided as to what the story could be, and it’s entirely left up to the listener’s interpretation. Most of the tracks are short, around a minute or so, and often the ones that are a bit longer leave more of an impression. “Improvisation IV” is one of the more layered, adventurous pieces here, feeling like it’s constantly averting its eyes in several directions at once. The longest one, “VIII”, is much more reserved, like a mouse afraid to crawl out of its hole in the wall. “XIV” is a piece of expertly paced trepidation, forcing you to look over your shoulder and watch your step. “XVIII” is one of the more luminous ones, and it couldn’t be more different than “XX”, an experimental piece which sounds like someone slowly sweeping the wires inside the piano rather than playing the keys. The third set is on the whole brighter and more energetic than the first two, and even when it isn’t, it seems like it’s more in focus.
April 12, 2022 at 6:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Ruby My Dear: À Dada
So now that Igorrr has crossed over into the metal world, his past collaborator Ruby My Dear seems to be picking up the torch and making wacky, genre-obliterating breakcore. Except
this album might even be more fun than anything Igorrr has ever done. Honestly, the most accurate made-up genre to file this under would have to be Itchy & Scratchy-core. It’s close to that level of sadistic glee. There’s atmospheric guitar melodies tucked away inside piledriving breakbeats, momentary bursts of death metal growling and hardwired guitars, glitchy polka horns, cartoonish vocals, and so much more. But as with everything this artist does, it is all deadly precise and extremely musical instead of just being a shitpost pileup of random samples. Even when he’s going for the funny bone or shocking you with pure nonsense, or even consciously writing lullaby-type melodies and spiking them with breakbeats, RMD’s music seems too elaborate and inspired to just write off as a novelty. I saw him at Bangface the first time I went a few years ago, but I barely remember his set. There’s no way I’m going to forget his set this year.
April 11, 2022 at 6:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Aquarian: Mutations I: Death, Taxes & Hanger
from the Berlin-based producer (and half of AQXDM) is nothing less than a molten fireball which constantly changes appearance but still retains the same power whichever state it’s in. The title track is rocket-fueled d’n’b/breakcore hurling through the galaxy, and “Rene Likes the Steak” inhabits the more cosmic side of breakbeat IDM. “Sam Handwich” is a cracking electro stormer with a repeated message that’s just a bit too obscured to understand. “Dead Whale” takes up 9 minutes, so it’s one of those tracks that asks you to come sit down and stay for a while, and when you do, your mind is gradually tilted sideways by steadily percolating acid synths and slashing breaks. I was not expecting this release to be this amazing and do not want to miss Aquarian at Dekmantel this year.
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The Answer Is In The Beat 