The Answer Is In The Beat

Otto Solange: шон (Eilean 69) (Eilean Rec., 2019)

August 25, 2019 at 11:42 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Somewhere between a beat tape and an unraveling dream, Otto Solange’s latest has tumbling, deconstructed beats and gauzy, floating textures which never quite form anything solid. A voice calls out “No words, a feeling”. Beats form out of bird calls, acoustic instruments poke out, and drums play at different speeds while other samples dissolve. Reality is subverted and no sounds are used the way they’re originally intended. The intro to “Heart-Shaped Box” is looped under a flurry of mangled voices and thumping drums. “Akō Rōshi” is an absolutely mesmerizing crushed raga drone, and “Ever Round, It Turns, He Goes to Sleep” increasingly gets stranger, more absurd, and more fascinating. It also made me think of how ridiculous it is for someone to aggressively yell “Go to sleep!”, because it’s clearly not going to make someone fall asleep. This album is basically like a dream where the imagination is working in overdrive, but you’re still in such a deep, hypnotic state that you don’t wake up.

Mukqs: Mem Aleph tape (Jacktone Records, 2019) + Jaki Crush tape (No Rent Records, 2019)

August 24, 2019 at 3:44 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Two of the latest tapes from Hausu Mountain’s Max Allison explore vastly differing styles. Mem Aleph (his Hebrew initials) is released by Jacktone Records, the Detroit label run by Doc Sleep, and it represents his techno side. This is music for deep sea cruising and night driving alike, with lush chords and detailed beat patterns gliding along at a breezy tempo. The tracks flow into each other, making this a continuous escapade, and while there’s no shortage of new ideas popping up and cycling through, the lengthier “Autoblock True” lets things breathe a little bit more. “Miracle Love Item” gets into some glitchy repetition a bit like the Field, while “False Minoshiro” and “2 Mesos” are choppier and more playful. The more sentimental “For Diane” mixes in some manipulated acoustic guitars and vocals, but keeps the kinetic beats and bright, busy basslines.
Jaki Crush is an entirely different ball game, but just as good. Far away from his beat-driven work, this is a boisterous set of cut-up collage pieces with no logical beginnings or endings, splicing up scrambled pianos, flurries of drum machines, homemade sounds, and rapid, momentary noise inserts. While in the spirit of classic musique concrete, it sounds altogether more DIY and punk rather than academic. It’s grubby, lo-fi, and restless, and incredibly fun. While the album is one disorienting blast after another, the drama elevates a bit more during “Save Scumming”; turn it up loud enough and you really feel like you’re in the center of a great catastrophe.

Steve Lehman Trio + Craig Taborn: The People I Love (Pi Recordings, 2019)

August 18, 2019 at 2:47 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The latest from alto saxophonist Steve Lehman is a daring set of complex rhythms, unpredictable paths, and impassioned solos. The presence of pianist Craig Taborn is welcome, but the rhythm section of Matt Brewer and especially drummer Damion Reid nearly steal the show. All of the musicians are in tune with each other, and tracks like “Curse Fraction” are tightly organized puzzles which nevertheless feel vibrant and even breezy. A definite highlight is a cover of Autechre’s “qPlay”, which translates algorithmic glitch into something more human-sounding (and again, Reid’s frenetic drumming absolutely decimates). A brief “Interlude” feels like it’s peering down a dark pathway, then “A Shifting Design” is a dirty, rambunctious crooked shuffle. “Beyond All Limits” begins with a bass solo before Lehman’s fluttering saxophone takes over; it’s one of the album’s more delicate pieces but it’s still a bit fiery. Just a marvelous record all around.

Arrowheads: Lifeforce tape (Constellation Tatsu, 2019)

August 10, 2019 at 5:01 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This one immediately nails a sort of ’70s space rock synth soundtrack sound, with very rich synths and an appropriate amount of zoned-out melancholy. It’s really excellent, very instant-vintage sounding and very homemade rather than sterile and lab-produced. Even the brief, minute-or-two tracks that make up most of the album are bursting with passion. There’s too many astounding tracks on here to pick out highlights; it’s all amazing, really.

Corwin Trails: Wolf Songs Folk Songs LP (self-released, 2019)

August 10, 2019 at 4:30 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This astounding LP from Corwin Trails constructs highly melodic downtempo IDM from acoustic instruments and field recordings from Northern Michigan as well as India and Nepal. All of the percussion came from sounds captured in the woods, but it’s so crackly, crunchy, and fizzy that you might assume it’s laptop-generated glitch. The melodies are played using instruments including autoharp, bazouki, sarangi, accordion, and prepared acoustic guitar strings, and it’s all open and resonant, yet it’s extremely tightly arranged. There’s moments where the rhythms sound close to tabla playing (“Decomposition”, which reminds me of Decomposure, an artist who used to make IDM pop songs out of sampled household sounds) or gamelan (“In Search of”). It also sounds a bit like a musically focused version of the Books, meaning without the goofy samples. There are some samples and vocals though, especially on the second side. “The Absolute Irreversible Emptiness of Extinction” extracts Robert Redford’s voice from a Natural History Magazine record abot wolves from the early ’70s. The album ends with a longer piece called “An Old Oak Tree” which features ghostly vocals by Amie Simons, which seem to be about dealing with change. Fantastic, gorgeous, inventive stuff.