March 19, 2022 at 4:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Social Rhythm: Love On Another Planet EP
This is the second release on Oblivious Transfer, a label and art collective equally inspired by sci-fi comics, rave culture, and “otherworldly cryptography”. These are d’n’b-adjacent tracks which drift spacily, but provide a shock of rave NRG when necessary, like the hoover attack during “Holding On”. “Fictional” would be super mellow if it wasn’t for the break where it all disintegrates in the middle. The other two are more breakbeat-heavy, with “Loving Sum” being closer to ecstatic, but “Eternal Love” is actually surprisingly melancholy.
March 18, 2022 at 7:03 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Colpitts: Music From the Accident
The artist most famously known as Kid Millions was in a car accident in early 2018, which severely injured his back and left him unable to work for several months.
This album is an interpretation of the aftermath, starting out with no drums (his primary instrument) and feeling highly disconnected at first. “Bread” is a synth-led piece which flitters back and forth with no set rhythm, expressing a very “where am I?” state, waiting for everything to shift back into clear focus. “Up and Down” begins with a slow, sparse trudge of drums, which then multiply and overlap, sometimes falling in sync and sometimes lapsing behind, while modular synths bubble and hiss, with one very colorful splash adding a burst of life. Jessica Pavone guests on “Recovery”, and her microtonal viola winds around Colpitts’ scurrying free jazz drumming, while synths drone in a nearly tanpura-like fashion around them. It just feels like an astounding rebirth, breaking free, free, free, rediscovering one’s love for life all over again.
March 17, 2022 at 8:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
v/a: Continuum-z
Functioning somewhat like a state of the current neo-jungle scene,
this is a can’t-miss selection of stellar breakbeat tracks. While lush vibes are abound there’s plenty of tracks that twist the paradigm. Filter Dread’s “Neon Horizon” could be a more straightforward d’n’b roller but it’s bent way out of shape, with very disrupted beats and bass that hits in fat, bell-shaped bullet points. DJ Cosworth’s “MTX in the RS” is just out of control, hitting you with the most explosive breaks after dramatic pauses. DJ Decay’s “Let’s Talk About That Trust Fund” mangles a mess of breakbeats under thumping kicks, and while it seems highly discombobulating, it’s arranged in a highly effective way that makes sense when you listen. Dwarde & Tim Reaper do jungle techno with suspenseful horror pianos, and DJ One Time’s track is a wobbly leftfield bassline side trip. Code 23’s “Dissipated” is maybe the most tear-out jungle smasher here, with all the atmospheric, euphoric synths and ecstatic soul diva vocals in place. Zoo Look’s “Rush” is more bleepy, ravey electro than jungle, but still fits into the continuum.
March 16, 2022 at 7:53 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Corporeal Face: The Upward Spiral
which has a big beaming smile on its face, and maybe a bit of a smirk at the concept of normal life. It seems like the modern hardcore producers have refined this style of music so that the cheesier, more gimmicky sampling of the early ’90s incarnation of this music is mostly absent, and that the more effective, pleasure-center-hitting elements of the tracks are present. (I’m not talking about more shitpost-y mashcore artists, I mean the types of producers doing more legit hardcore revivalism on labels like Sneaker Social Club.) This one has a nice balance between the more head-in-the-clouds ecstasy moments and the slamming mentalist breaks and Hoovers. The more junglistic “Shake Your Brain” is the highlight, though “What a Trip” takes the plunge further into madness.
March 15, 2022 at 8:09 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Hooverian Blur: SNKRX09
“Square Jazz” has one of those basslines that would just make you feel gooey when it’s played on a loud enough sound system, and the breakbeats and spacey synth noises just compound this into foolproof club elevator. “Sirens” is a solid breakbeat tune, but a little repetitive and feels more like a B-side. After that are two mixes of “Old Gold”, Hooverian Blur’s excellent single from 2 years ago which unabashedly flashes back to the rave era, with bits of “Vamp” and “Valley of the Shadows” stuck in. Low End Activist’s mix starts out with tricky electro beats in the beginning, then absolutely slams some distorted breaks in later, while stretching the sample of the lady recalling being in a long dark tunnel. There’s also a more ambient mix that just focuses on the flickering, glittering synths and squirming bass.
March 14, 2022 at 8:57 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Toby Oler: Hillbilly Mind Eraser
Toby Oler plays banjo, but
this album is far from what you’d expect from the instrument, especially considering what happened to banjo music about a decade ago (a certain web forum likes referring to that music as “hoot”, you could also think of it as “mustache and Mason jar-core”). Instead of hoedown music for people who dress in overalls and go to haunted hayrides, this is like deconstructed ambient bluegrass, with some shoegaze-ish feedback on noisier tracks like “1010”, which also features electric bass swimming through aquatic synths. His friends are credited as playing singing bowls, drones, acoustic guitar slides, mandolin, while Oler himself adds an “etc.” after his banjo credit. “0000” is a pretty fantastic psych-drone unraveling which curiously ends at a melody which seems like it’s about to lead to something brighter. “8080” is a more spaced out group sorcery session that stretches out for 10 minutes. This is a far different, more psychedelic approach than the space country of SUSS or Andrew Tuttle’s electro-acoustic country/folk, but recommended for listeners into those sorts of futuristic Americana.
March 13, 2022 at 9:24 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Defrag: Float
Sound designer and former Pigface/Underground, Inc. affiliate Jeff Dodson has continued his Defragmentation project as just Defrag, and has moved from the breakcore/jungle side of IDM to a more downtempo, dubstep-influenced style over the years. He also did a soundtrack for a
live action Metroid short film, and while
his new one isn’t a soundtrack for either a film or a game, it could very easily be one. These tracks are always on the prowl, whether they’re lurching slowly (“The Lighthouse”) or more kinetic and technoid (“Concrete Face”). “Surface Kraken” tries to nervously break through the barriers with force, and hissing voices lurk in the shadows of the album’s more industrial songs. “Square” is more playful IDM that’s still full of cinematic suspense, and “Open Seas” is just a grand trip on a majestic clipper ship.
March 12, 2022 at 8:16 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
SHXCXCHCXSH: Kongestion
A rare pronounceable title from the inscrutable duo, this is somewhere in between ravey industrial techno and deconstructed club. Not all of it is totally beat-focused either; “Nges” starts out like a buzzing, motorized squeaky hinge for several minutes, then shoots off radioactive waves at intervals that seem planned but aren’t easy to predict. “Gest” is just a brutal mess of heavy thumps in cracked patterns, and buzzes, scuttles, and malfunctions. “Esti” seems to have a lot of the standard elements of a dance track, there’s an easily detectable rhythm, but it’s all so refracted and swarming and twisted out of place. “Tion” is another sideways rave anthem that hits with extra force and urgency, yet not the sort of hedonistic propulsion of most party-oriented techno. This is techno approached from several different angles, and through its own fractured logic, it works beautifully.
March 10, 2022 at 8:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Roller: Offed
Drum machines can do so much more damage if they’re programmed in weird patterns and soaked in effects, tearing apart any intentions their inventors may have had. Roller understand this, and
their new tape is overloaded and deconstructed all at once, in a way that sounds live and direct. The duo love hyperactive beat patterns, but they also love overheating and burning holes in the audio landscape. The melodies are like violet flames erupting skyward through restless movements, sometimes resembling the timbres of acid techno but a bit more elastic. Somewhat in between industrial crunch and cracked Hausu Mountain mania, with a pinch of juke, Roller’s music always feels heated up and bursting off the grid.
March 9, 2022 at 7:05 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Robin Guthrie: Springtime EP
Right as the snow is melting away and spring is on the horizon, I’m just now getting around to reviewing this Robin Guthrie EP that came out at the beginning of January. But that’s ok because of its title, and the music itself, which is a fitting soundtrack for the dawn of spring. “The Faraway” emerges without breaking through, providing a noticeable change but not a major contrast. After that it becomes more nocturnal, with piano melodies that hide behind darkened clouds. “All for Nothing” nearly has cricket sounds during the beginning, but the stillness gives way to a slow, dramatic wash which clears out a huge mass of regret and shame in order to start over at sunrise.
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