August 27, 2021 at 8:03 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Viktor Timofeev: Palace of Peace and Reconciliation LP/Live at No Moon
Viktor Timofeev is a Latvian sound artist who has worked with avant-rock group Nihiti and the Quantum Natives digital collective in the past.
This is the follow-up to a 2011 LP he released on Lo Bit Landscapes, and was originally supposed to come out in 2016, but is only seeing the light of day now.
Palace of Peace and Reconciliation is the LP half of this vinyl/CD release, and it flows between digital confusion, post-rock melancholy and poetic emptiness. After two continuous pieces of noise, heart-searing guitars, and GPS-type voices, “Portal of Zin 1” is a chilling ambient drone-out. “Portal of Accord” takes up most of the second side, and it veers between black metal growling, fragile glitch, and washes of electrified noise and rushing synths. Just when it seems like it’s cooling down, it ruptures as it slides into “Portal of Zin 2”, an almost cathedral-like convergence of stained light and heavy organ (even if it isn’t actually an organ). The companion CD is a live recording that charts a different course than the album itself. Here, he plays with overdriven cheap drum machines and nightmarish distortion, not quite screaming his brains out but casting it outward with delay. Sounding half improvised and half drawn into a trance, the low fidelity makes the set sound a bit playful, but it’s filled with ghostly melodies which rush out and drift, rendering it both haunting and exhilarating. “Mi Sky” is a bit of a curveball, with Timofeev looping his voice and skittering, shooting vibrations so that he sounds irritated, then ramping up into power electronics-like feedback bursts. “Omna” starts off as a high-speed thrill ride which sounds like Lightning Bolt taking control of a drum machine, then is driven by this sort of radioactive Buddha voice, occasionally shaken by loud crashes. “Ruka” has more of a Black Dice-esque way of contorting manic voices and toy drum machines. “Eracing” runs free for a bit but mostly gets caught in the glare of the sun. Tracks 7 through 98 are all silent, then 99 is a Colin Marston remix of the LP track “Portal of Zin 1”. It’s a dark chasm transmission filled with wrong number disconnections, demonic slithering, and finally the stunned reaction of the sight of a world that’s withering away.
August 26, 2021 at 11:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Disheveled/Spednar: split LP
The
newest release on long-running Pittsburgh breakcore label Thac0 Records contains 4 tracks each by 2 artists I haven’t listened to before, but they’ve both released music on labels I’m familiar with. Anyway, Disheveled does some really impressive broken rhythms and short-circuiting shards with secret voices piping in at key moments. “Sentient Meat” is more untethered than the more rhythmic tracks and I think I actually enjoy it the most, but there’s no denying the unpredictable pattern shifts and jagged tones of tracks like the well-titled “Datasploshing”. Spednar’s music feels like it’s falling apart if you’re expecting consistent rhythm, but at the same time it’s so composed and deliberate. There’s a sort of molten flow to it, and then it progresses into an accelerating eruption during the climax of “fjs”. “000831_0002_3” has wiry analog textures swirling around heavy, distorted bass throbs. Then “smhsfn” is a short bit of sideways techno for crabs to dance to.
August 25, 2021 at 9:01 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
Mitchell Keaney: Head, Gut, Heart LP
Brooklyn’s Mitchell Keaney recorded each of the pieces on his debut LP in a single take. They juxtapose slowly evolving minimalist electronic patterns with passages of poetry, and all are meant to evoke different listening states related to parts of the body. “Head” begins with clipped patterns that slowly expand and build outward, somewhat like Mark Fell but gradually this seems to reach a much freer state with its repetition; this doesn’t feel as academic or acrobatic. Eventually a beat anchors the patterns, but it’s in such an obtuse time signature that no DJ could logically mix it into a club set. “Gut” is split over both sides of the vinyl, and it has much sharper, stabbier tones at first, then a more forceful evolution during the second part, with the pace seeming to speed up contract. Throughout, it drops out for brief poems recited by Inky Lee, which express a loneliness and longing that the music itself doesn’t let show, or let itself be affected by. “Heart” starts out more minimal and with the album’s clearest tones, and eventually has a more pronounced beat, but it’s also erratic and doubles back and twists around at will.
August 24, 2021 at 9:02 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Jeremiah Cymerman: Citadels & Sanctuaries
New York clarinetist Jeremiah Cymerman’s
latest album consists of ten pieces, each dedicated to a composer which made a crucial impact on his development as a musician. He describes it as a “coming of age” album, as it coincides with his 40th birthday. Recorded at Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works, there’s a resonant space to these recordings, and while the first piece seems to bask in that space, he cuts through it with some of the harsher pieces. He has a commanding presence which still seems to emerge from ether. “Spheres of Humanity (for Alvin Lucier)” takes you by surprise in how abrasive it gets, and “The Absolute and Its Tearing (for Horațiu Rădulescu)” is much more shrill and piercing, eventually becoming more jarring through electronic processing effects. By contrast, pieces like “Broken Language (For Morton Feldman)” and “Knot of Breath (for Mario Diaz de Léon)” are both icy and vaporous. “With the Old Breed (for Nate Wooley)” is a brief flush of noise that seems to be clearing something out from the artist’s system. “Manifesto (for Iancu Dumitrescu)” is a much longer piece which seems intent on droning in a straight line at first, but then ends up becoming jagged and noisy. “Conscious Faith (for Evan Parker)” has some sharp vibrations as well as some metallic clangs reflecting throughout the space. Cymerman’s own personality is evident throughout the album, but the dedications make it easier to dissect his influences.
August 21, 2021 at 12:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Ivan AM/Delicate Instruments: split 12″ EP
This record introduces Los Angeles-based producer Ivan AM and the Buena Gente Recordings imprint. “Exceed” is a straightforward tech-house roller with a simple, repetitive vocal sample, just pushing things along in a robotic conveyor belt. “Mourning Rain” has a bit more spirit to it, with a touch of gospel organ and just a general levitating feel. Nothing too involved or melodic, but it does create an aura. On the other side, Sheweytrax regular Delicate Instruments gives us some straight up jacking minimal Detroit-style house with “High Life”, which has some fun lo-bit samples from a Speak-N-Spell-type toy that recites letters of the alphabet. “Turn Away” has a breezy but also slightly melancholy vibe to it, with the sort of stripped-down Radio Shack microphone feel of certain underground techno tracks, like some DBX material.
July 31, 2021 at 8:29 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
RXM Reality: Advent
After an astounding run of tapes on Hausu Mountain, RXM Reality moves to kindred spirit Orange Milk for maybe his most accessible release yet. Last year’s
blood blood blood blood was an absolute masterpiece of dystopian dread, constantly blasting you with self-destructive weaponry.
Advent is another dense, powerful epic, and while much of it is still discombobulating, especially the opening track, there’s actually playful melodies in “Pied Piper”, and the melodies are so strong that they end up withstanding all the bullet holes from the rapidfire beats. “Character Limit” heads in more of a shoegaze direction, and “Wave of Something” threads some of that type of distortion into delicate melodies and flowing water sounds. Tracks like “Climateric” become more of a glorious battle for light and positive spirit to shine through the dense electrical storm. “Stupefaction” has just a remarkable balance of explosive power and a sort of radioactive swing. “Polymorphous” is almost like “Ventolin” gone trancey deconstructed club. The whole album is just a truly remarkable piece of work which fries the brain eggs over easy but also provides flavor and sweetness and energy.
July 28, 2021 at 6:05 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
J-Shadow: SNKRX08
J-Shadow follows last year’s
The Astral Series EP with his first release for the mighty
Sneaker Social Club. “Fade” opens with bubbly, weightless grime synths, busting into breakbeats and yearning vocal samples when the mood hits. “Kugelblitz (The Inescapable Rewarp)” is just nuts, waging an imaginary battle with a restless supply of lazer ammo, all while never touching the ground. “Diffraction” is similar, but “Atlantis” flips to jungle, although it’s still pretty twisted and deadly. “Particle Horizon” is another rave flashback with high definition sound design. “Hibernation Lumina Falls” returns to the murky zone, with slowly unfolding synthscapes, glitched vocals, and drilling beats like construction noises, but no solid, heavy beat driving it with force. Outstanding.
July 27, 2021 at 8:59 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Luggage: Happiness
Chicago’s Luggage play the type of brooding, stripped down indie rock that was all over college radio in the ’90s but was too stark, imposing, and unconventional to appeal to a more widespread audience. These are relatively short songs, but they carry a lot of weight. Michael Vallera (also known as an experimental ambient composer) seems to stare you dead in the eye when he speaks his dread-filled lyrics. After the desolate slowcore of “Happiness”, “Lie Design: seems more upbeat, but then Vallera warns you “it’s going to get worse’. “Fear” has a tightly winding 3/4 rhythm, and “Idiot Bliss” has an insistent crashing riff that goes through the entire song, refusing to budge until it’s thoroughly made its point. “Wealth” is another uptempo one that seems to be intended to make you run with fear rather than dance. The entire
EP is just 19 minutes of bleak energy.
July 25, 2021 at 9:43 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Pursuit Grooves: Mo:Delic Island
Vanese Smith’s
newest album is a set of instrumentals based around the concept of a fantasy island filled with indescribable, magical creatures which all provide uplifting energy to those who encounter them. In conjunction with the release, Smith has designed several art prints corresponding with the songs/creatures, and to my eyes, they register as hybrids of butterflies and colorful birds, perhaps with traces of fish and reptiles. To those who rely on the safety of everything being easily identifiable, the creatures might look weird and confusing, but for people who see things differently and look for beauty in unexpected places, they’re fascinating. The same can be said about Pursuit Grooves’ music; it’s always been offbeat and unconventional, and never fits into an easy category, but her broken beat patterns and warm, sometimes blossom-like bass tones are unmistakable for anyone else, and the originality makes her work stand out. Her music never really seems dark, but this album is especially focused on positivity, with simple track titles that all express joy and the transmission of energy. I always appreciate music that’s optimistic and hopeful but doesn’t get cloying and beat you over the head with happy happy joy joy. Not that something like that doesn’t have its place too, I enjoy my fair share of obnoxious Euro-cheese, but for an extremely introverted person like me, low-key good vibes are more my speed, and that’s the lane this music travels down. All of these tracks are busy yet spacious enough so that you can listen attentively and appreciate their intricacies. The chimes, soft drums, and pianos of “Cheer” glisten like a smooth R&B instrumental, while the pounding beats and bulbous, bass of “Hope” could test any heavyweight London soundsystem. “Zing” is another standout, with beats as jagged as the letter Z, but once you get the hang of their obtuseness, the flow is quite easy and refreshing.
July 24, 2021 at 11:35 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Blue Reality Quartet: s/t
Pairing 2 percussionists with two horn players,
Blue Reality Quartet consists of Michael Marcus and Joe McPhee on reeds and drummers Jay Rosen and Warren Smith (also playing vibraphone). The vibes add a touch of mellowness, but “Chartreuse Tulips” is a short burst of free jazz which nicely balances hot and cool. “Joe’s Train” immediately has a recognizable, deeply bluesy sax melody, while the dual drummers seem to pull the rhythm in different directions. “Coney Island Funk” is an appropriate title — not flashy enough for Broadway, way more laid back, but still with a sense of Big Apple style. “East Side Dilemma” is a lengthier improvisation that constantly teeters over the edge, with the drums bobbing away and the saxophones melodically threading throughout, and then it all explodes into color about 7 minutes in. Final track “Warren’s Theme” is more meandering, and doesn’t quite feel like it really comes together, just kind of bumbles its way for several minutes until the album ends. Still, there are moments on the album when the musicians do click, and it does reach towards another reality.
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The Answer Is In The Beat 