September 28, 2020 at 7:34 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Pursuit Grooves: Sustainable Movements For A New Age
Pursuit Grooves recently brought back an obscure beat tape she briefly released for Earth Day in 2009.
Sustainable Movements For A New Age is 20 short instrumental tracks with environmentally conscious titles, urging the listener to make an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint. There’s some boom-bap style beats that avoid the usual crackly-vinyl funk breaks associated with the style (check out opener “Ecosystematics”), and there’s also the sort of wobbly, handmade, inventive rhythmic patterns that are instantly recognizable as her work. “Nuclear Rainbows” is one of the more punch-drunk beats here, and “Crap Snacks” sounds like broken reggaeton. “Solar Panels” is a mixture of hard, off-center beats and delicate pads and melodies, and several other tracks add soothing atmospheres to beats that otherwise seem a bit more tense. “Fresher Than Yours” has a chunky, thumpy beat pattern which maintains a smooth flow with its minimally layered bass and synth lines; “Tricycle Network” is a more bass-heavy variation. While clearly fitting within the “beat tape” category, with its shorter track times and exploratory feel, this release is still as conceptual as PG’s other releases, and it demonstrates her singular approach to beatmaking and sound construction just as much.
September 26, 2020 at 12:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Sully: Swandive EP
One of the most anticipated neo-jungle releases of the year, Sully’s new EP is a master class in tightly controlled break smashing. “Werk” walks along a tight rope, a short fuse which threatens to detonate at any moment. “Poison” has more hip-hop/rave swagger and is a bit more of a roller. “Swandive” is way more explosive and skittery, like a roller coaster designed to feel extra turbulent but always keeps right on track, and shot through with emotion. “Memories” is a lot more wistful, and the most melodic track here, with some epic gliding solos which almost sound like cyber-smooth jazz, but more inspired.
September 21, 2020 at 9:11 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Basic Rhythm: I Don’t Know What I Would Do EP
Anthoney J Hart’s newest Sneaker Social Club EP contains 4 tracks that are something like sticky dancefloor grime. The synths are fizzy and feel like they’re dissolving in acid but and the beats are dislocated but all of it manages to keep afloat. These aren’t bangers the way the last Basic Rhythm LP for Planet Mu was, but there’s undeniably some sort of strange unplaceable energy to them. The first side is definitely the more active and brain-teasing side; both tracks have straight up weird, squishy beats but the twisted vocal samples and synth pads point to more uplifting club vibes. The tracks on the other side are slower and more spaced out; “Annihilate” makes use of a familiar Grace Jones sample and “Plodding Along” does just that.
September 20, 2020 at 5:15 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Dexplicit: Digital Monk EP
Grime/bassline heavyweight Dexplicit’s newest EP is centered around inspirations from ’80s video games, TV shows, and movies. It doesn’t attempt to imitate the soundtrack of any specific example of those, as far as I can tell, and it doesn’t really sound like chiptune or synthwave. But there’s definitely something wide-screen and panoramic about it. The synth melodies are big and dramatic, the vocals seem closer to arias than the more R&B-influenced singing commonly heard in garage, and it all feels like it’s leading to something grand. It’s just a 4-song EP, though, not a complete soundtrack, so it feels like a way to drop some big emotions into the club for a few minutes.
September 19, 2020 at 4:50 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Loris S. Sarid: Music for Tomato Plants
Plant-themed electronic albums are clearly nothing new, but this one specifically focuses on small, household ones that appear simple but bravely carry out their function. The sounds are gentle and delicate, clear and melodic, and the vibe is a little similar to Japanese environmental music (particularly on “Ferns and I”) but there’s also some ASMR tendencies, with some close-up sounds and whispers appearing on some tracks. The first track also has a kettle whistling away. It’s just very domestic, household music, music to tend to your houseplants while stuck in your apartment during the endless pandemic. Yet there’s also spacey qualities to tracks like “Toad”.
September 17, 2020 at 7:02 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Anthéne and Andrew Tasselmyer: Progressions
This one captures just the right amount of resolved peace mixed with gloominess. Perfect for dismally staring outside but relaxing and let time just wash by. Yet it’s not downer music at all, the stillness and soft, natural breeze feel refreshing. It’s empty in terms of kinetic activity, but that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of feeling, or care. It flows from nostalgic reflection to trippier notions, as more reversed notes and other effects are gradually applied. Some of it has a vague shoegaze tint to it, also. This music doesn’t quite progress, though, unfold might be more accurate. But either way, it’s perfect for airing thoughts to, or just laying still and making an attempt to find inner peace.
September 16, 2020 at 7:05 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
The Beneficiaries: The Crystal City Is Alive
The Beneficiaries is the trio of techno old-schoolers Jeff Mills and Eddie Fowlkes along with Detroit poet, playwright, and performance artist jessica Care moore. As with much of his space-themed full-lengths on Axis, Mills’ productions find him in astral traveling mode, constructing electronic comets and shooting stars for moore’s words to traverse. Speaking of hope for a better tomorrow, she namechecks Octavia Butler, Sun Ra, and Samuel Delany, as well as Juan Atkins’ cosmic cars.
The two Eddie Fowlkes tracks are both lengthy jams with live percussion babbling over the percolating electronics, with moore’s vocals dropped in somewhat dub-like, especially scattered with effects during “The X” (which also features space-gospel organ from Amp Fiddler). “When the Sun Loves You Back” and most of “Star Children of Orion” are swirling Mills instrumentals turning solar energy into electronic sonatas.
September 13, 2020 at 1:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Robert Rental: Paralysis 12″ EP
Robert Rental’s first 7″, from before he released music on Industrial Records and Mute, has now been expanded to a full EP thanks to Dark Entries and Optimo. The title track is well named, as it feels like much of the body is just devoid of feeling, cut off, unreachable. A drum machine ticks away and a guitar is flicked at, but the vocals are nearly zombified, and there’s an unsettling electronic whirring over everything. “A.C.C.” seems a little more together, with a tighter rhythm at least, although the vocals are still a little zoned out. The remaining three tracks are seeing release for the first time here. “G.B.D.” stumbles into a dilapidated, echoey drum rhythm before some ragged psych guitar soloing surfaces. An untitled track is unexpectedly tender, with lonesome vocals intoning a desire to be with someone over the barest tick of hi-hats and skeletal rhythmic guitar. “Ugly Talk” is leagues away from anything else on the EP, a 7-minute flotilla of interlocked fluid melodies which sway in impressive waves. Nothing remotely ugly about it at all. It fades out at the end but I’d take an entire LP side of it.
September 11, 2020 at 7:08 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Ethan Daniel Davidson: Come Down Lonesome LP
Michigan-based troubadour Ethan Daniel Davidson has traveled far and wide, and has been interpreting various facets of Americana for over two decades.
Come Down Lonesome is one of several records he’s made with His Name Is Alive’s Warren Defever, who co-produced the album along with Gretchen Gonzales Davidson (of Slumber Party and Universal Indians/Universal Eyes, and now Ethan’s wife). The program includes traditional tunes, original compositions, and songs penned by artists including Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Bob Dylan. The atmosphere is a mixture of the rustic and the ethereal, with numerous guest musicians and backing vocalists lending to the album’s richly textured production. Songs like the opening “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” (Davis) are bleak and wondrous, and a few tracks have some noisy, droney undercurrents which adds a strange, compelling edge to them. Hurt’s “Louis Collins” sounds like it has an air raid siren whirring in the background, and Dylan’s “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” would sound gentle and inviting if it weren’t for the searing feedback and distortion lurking beneath. The traditional “Turkle Dove” is perhaps the most mantra-like track, but others are hypnotic as well. Danielson’s originals, including the near-title track, are closer to lonesome downer country. The album ends on this note with Cowboy Joe Babcock’s “I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water”, which consists of little else beside Davidson’s resonant acoustic guitar notes and sorrowful vocals.
September 8, 2020 at 9:01 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Kara: Colors
Devin Daniels has been playing saxophone for over a decade, and is currently studying jazz at a university in Switzerland, but he also ventures into beatmaking as Kara. His first tape for Leaving Records is a brisk set of 20 tracks which constantly stays upbeat and even celebratory, arranging inventive beat patterns and coloring them with lush sounds like harps and saxophones. The spiraling tones and skipping beats of “Kale” are carefree and light-headed without being lazy. None of these tracks sound like a bunch of samples simply thrown together, but it can be easy to overlook how complex they are, as there’s such an untroubled aura to them. Jenna Noelle lends her dreamy vocals to “Over U”, which features an incredibly detailed beat pattern and sweet, rapidly bubbling melodies, making a lot happen out of so little. The brief, slapping “scramble” sounds like a funky Speak-N-Spell beat, except it doesn’t actually use the vintage electronic toy. “Bunch a Snow” drops sweeping strings into its bumping, feel-good beat, elevating the mood further. Spinning unexpected samples into obtuse, loopy patterns, Kara expresses joy in unconventional ways on this uplifting tape.
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The Answer Is In The Beat 