CVN: I.C. (Orange Milk, 2019)

July 12, 2019 at 7:01 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

CVN: I.C.

CVN is
Nobuyuki Sakuma, formerly of Jesse Ruins, and this is his second album for Orange Milk. While representative of that label’s hyper-detailed, surrealist output, this is notably more pop-influenced, especially on the opening track, a sweet R&B/rap tune featuring NTsKi. A few tracks have trap or club beats, but there’s also more abstract pieces like “Snippets of Heaven”, which set sporadic glitches and samples against a blank background, similar to Seth Graham and other Orange Milk artists. “Local Pain” is more wistful and has some smooth waiting-room guitars. “Zen of Equilibrium” is sort of relaxed, spring garden techno, while “Ikasama” has harder beats without getting too aggressive, then switches to a more dramatic beatless section during the second half. Throughout the album, CVN’s productions are intenselt designed, but there’s always enough human feeling so that it doesn’t sound too clinical.

Kompromat: Traum Und Existenz (Clivage Music, 2019)

July 12, 2019 at 6:09 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Kompromat: Traum Und Existenz

Vitalic’s “Poney Part 1” is an all-time goth-rave classic, but most of the stuff he’s done since that first single hasn’t really been quite as exciting. However, this first album from his duo with Rbk Warrior is electrifying. Very solid dark electro-pop with French and German vocals, alternating between hard stompers and a few slower, dreamier tunes. The more pumped-up tracks absolutely bang, particularly “Herztod”, which I can’t get enough of. Check that one out if nothing else, but the whole album is really well done.

Crush Collision 7/11/19

July 12, 2019 at 8:34 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

9:03 pm Debugger ~ Preserve File Premissions
9:07 pm Aārp ~ Gemmae II
9:10 pm Liquid Soap ~ Desert Elf
9:13 pm Reset Robot x SCB ~ Arp
9:20 pm Perel ~ Pastarella Al Limoncello (12″ Version)
9:27 pm Jayda G ~ Renewal (Hyla Mix)
9:31 pm FaltyDL ~ If All The People Took Acid (Octo Octa’s Loop Me Into Infinity Remix)
9:33 pm De-Bons-En-Pierre ~ Least Liked
9:36 pm John Barera & Will Martin ~ In the Depths of the Madness
9:41 pm The Chemical Brothers ~ Gravity Drops
9:44 pm Khidja ~ Don’t Feed The Animals (Hiding In Your Room)
9:51 pm Mickey Oliver & Joe Magic ~ Take It To The Top
9:56 pm Blake ~ The Black Goddess
9:59 pm Greg Gow ~ Lantana
10:08 pm Marquis Hawkes & DJ Haus ~ Feel So Real
10:13 pm Fear-E ~ Jump On the House Train
10:18 pm Detroit’s Filthiest feat. Yolanda Sergeant ~ Deep Love
10:21 pm Jon Dixon ~ Want It (Waajeed’s I Know Dub)
10:25 pm LadyMonix ~ Track 39 (Dub)
10:30 pm Robert Hood ~ Rotate
10:35 pm Floorplan ~ I Feel Him Moving
10:40 pm Mark Flash ~ Running Towards the Future
10:47 pm Patrick Conway ~ Cobby & His Animals
10:53 pm Chris Moss Acid ~ Strontium
10:57 pm Doc Sleep ~ Crème Fraîche (Violet Remix)
11:02 pm Vonda7 ~ Graceful Movements
11:07 pm Hans Berg ~ Fading Sun
11:14 pm Sterac ~ Another Moog On Acid
11:19 pm Kr!z ~ Deflection
11:23 pm F.U.S.E. ~ F.U.
11:30 pm Peder Mannerfelt ~ I Stand Up And Say, Toxic Masculinity Has Got to Go Away
11:35 pm Ellen Allien ~ Take a Stand (Cosmin TRG Remix)
11:40 pm JK Flesh ~ House of Mirrors
11:45 pm Paula Temple ~ Gegen
11:49 pm Scissor ~ Reflections (Truncate Remix)
11:53 pm Pfirter ~ Asylum
11:57 pm Nej!las ~ Unleash the Chaos

Ben Hall & Don Dietrich: Tiger Swallow Tail LP (Radical Documents, 2019)

July 10, 2019 at 4:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Ben Hall & Don Dietrich: Tiger Swallow Tail LP

Detroit percussionist Ben Hall and free jazz/noise improv legend Don Dietrich (Borbetomagus) divert from New Monuments (their trio with C. Spencer Yeh) for their second album as a duo. This is two 15-minute sidelong improvisations, and they’re both absolutely fantastic. The first side is a constant rush of tumbling drums and frantic sax which blurts, squeals, and squiggles. Side B gets even better, as Dietrich plugs his horn into a bunch of juiced-up distortion pedals, and basically duets with himself, trading off solos that alternately sound like razor-sharp guitars and harsh noise bludgeoning. Hall is there thrashing away in the background, carrying it all along in some sort of haphazard manner. It’s just incredible. Viciously recommended.

Grave Nature: Ascending (Lotta Continua/Flag Day, 2019)

July 7, 2019 at 6:10 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Grave Nature: Ascending

Former WCBN DJ Chris Matthews plays in the dream pop group Distant Creatures, but here he branches out with his instrumental project Grave Nature. This is vast, deep stuff filled with strings, guitars, synths, acoustic percussion, and even power tools. It’s somewhere between Barn Owl and Stars of the Lid — dark and doomy but not exactly approaching metal, with space rock and neo-classical influences. The album was built over 2 years from several sessions (some improvised), and it’s so layered and detailed. Just witness the subliminal voices buried underneath “Ephemeris”, or the way “Azimuth” erupts into noisy storm clouds. But then there’s more delicate moments, like the pianos on “Barco” and “Pale Blue Dot”. “Twin-Bodies” is where it gets a bit cosmic, but not quite in the same way as every band in the last decade who tried to sound like Tangerine Dream — this sounds more like blasting off into space using a rocket assembled in someone’s back yard. “Plotting One’s Course” is mellower and sways to the rhythm of hand drums. “Aligning Instruments to Astral Coordinates” is one final convergence of strings, horn, and heavenly feedback. CD and download available from Bandcamp.

Show #501 – 7/6/19

July 6, 2019 at 11:04 am | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:00 am Grave Nature ~ Azimuth ~ Ascending (new) ~ Flag Day ~ 2019
2:10 am Black Zone Magick Chant ~ Where Will We Meet When Our Ashes Are Spread In The Wind? | Crystal Monastery ~ Voyage Sacrifice (new) ~ Shelter Press ~ 2019
2:32 am Chris Walla ~ Flytoget ~ Tape Loops ~ Trans- ~ 2015
2:39 am Normil Hawaiians ~ Martin ~ Whats Going On? ~ Upset the Rhythm ~ 1984
2:44 am Deena Abdelwahed ~ Tawa (M.E.S.H. Remix) ~ Tawa Remixes (new) ~ InFiné ~ 2019
2:49 am Antwood ~ Trance Pillar ~ Alousia (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2019
2:53 am Koeosaeme feat. El Murki ~ X / Z ~ Obanikeshi (new) ~ Orange Milk ~ 2019
2:56 am Stillhead ~ Bittersweet ~ Copenhagen ~ Brightest Dark Place ~ 2017
3:01 am J Majik ~ Full Circle ~ Full Circle (new) ~ Infrared ~ 2019
3:07 am LOFT ~ That Hyde Trakk ~ and departt from mono games (new) ~ Tri Angle ~ 2019
3:13 am Bubblegum Octopus ~ Absolute Blast Beat Revolting ~ Perfect Life & Other Stuff (new) ~ Pattern Recognition Records ~ 2019
3:15 am Scorn ~ Feather (Wittering Mole Mix) ~ Feather (new) ~ Ohm Resistance ~ 2019
3:20 am De-Bons-En-Pierre ~ Insect Repellent Company ~ EP No. 1 (new) ~ Dark Entries ~ 2019
3:24 am De-Bons-En-Pierre ~ The Terrible Translation ~ EP No. 2 (new) ~ Dark Entries ~ 2019
3:28 am Amazondotcom ~ Priestess ~ Mirror River (new) ~ Subreal ~ 2019
3:36 am DJ Lycox ~ Ghetto Opera ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2019
3:37 am God Full Effect ~ Domina ~ mp3 (new) ~ Generating Our Dynasty ~ 2019
3:40 am Matias Aguayo ~ Pikin ~ Support Alien Invasion (new) ~ Comeme ~ 2019
3:46 am BFTT ~ Mauldeth ~ Mauldeth (new) ~ All Centre ~ 2019
3:51 am Warrego Valles ~ coupdotexe (mapalma remix) ~ save as (new) ~ Kamizdat ~ 2019
3:54 am Xyn Cabal ~ Nowei ~ Perfect Oracle (new) ~ The Death of Rave ~ 2019
3:59 am Davis Galvin ~ Loudspeaker Situation ~ Davis Galvin EP (new) ~ Vanity Press Records ~ 2019
4:05 am Huey Mnemonic (local) ~ Emissary ~ EP (new) ~ Vanity Press Records ~ 2019
4:12 am Flora FM (local) ~ Hallucinogenic Worm ~ Chaos Light EP (new) ~ Kalahari Oyster Cult ‎ ~ 2019
4:19 am Mr. Tophat ~ Tears of Illuminations (Vox) ~ Dusk to Dawn Part I (new) ~ Twilight Enterprise ~ 2019
4:36 am Peggy Gou ~ Hungboo (DJ-Kicks) ~ DJ-Kicks (new) ~ !K7 ~ 2019
4:40 am Moodymann (local) ~ Deeper Shadow ~ Sinner (new) ~ KDJ ~ 2019
4:46 am Prince ~ Make-Up ~ Originals ~ Warner Bros. ~ 1982
4:49 am Lady Wray ~ Do It Again ~ Queen Alone ~ Big Crown ~ 2016
4:53 am Pongo ~ Baia ~ Baia ~ Jardin Rouge ~ 2018
4:56 am Sonny Rollins Quartet ~ Funky Hotel Blues ~ Sonny Rollins Plays the Blues ~ Acrobat ~ 1957
5:03 am Dave Brubeck Quartet ~ The Duke ~ NDR 60 Years Jazz Edition ~ Moosicus ~ 1958
5:05 am Earth ~ Descending Belladonna ~ Full Upon Her Burning Lips (new) ~ Sargent House ~ 2019
5:10 am Mystic Inane ~ Blue Manhattan ~ Deep Creep 7″ ~ Negative Jazz ~ 2014
5:12 am Team Dresch ~ Deattached ~ Choices, Chances, Changes ~ Jealous Butcher ~ 1998
5:14 am Stef Chura (local) ~ Method Man ~ Midnight (new) ~ Saddle Creek ~ 2019
5:17 am Guitar Wolf ~ Mayumi the Untouchable ~ Love & Jett (new) ~ Third Man ~ 2019
5:20 am Prettiest Eyes ~ La Maldad ~ Vol. 3 (new) ~ Castle Face ~ 2019
5:24 am Chon ~ Petal ~ Chon (new) ~ Sumerian ~ 2019
5:27 am Nobody ~ Sculptures ~ All Too Familiar (new) ~ Ubiquity ~ 2019
5:31 am Vladimir Hirsch ~ Camera Delvisionis ~ Scripta Soli ~ Old Captain ~ 2017
5:39 am Tomasz Bednarczyk ~ Rainy Drive ~ Illustrations for Those Who ~ Room40 ~ 2018
5:45 am Laurie Spiegel ~ Passage ~ Unseen Worlds ~ Unseen Worlds ~ 1991

Huey Mnemonic: EP 12″ (Vanity Press, 2019)

July 4, 2019 at 2:14 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Huey Mnemonic: EP 12″

Flint’s O’Shay Mullins surfaces on Vanity Press with a four-track EP of varying moods and styles. “Healing Chamber” is the type of light, skittery electro track that sounds both underwater and up in orbit, bubbling and gliding with equal ease. “Hydrocity” is more braindance-y electro-techno, with a nice subdued yet sharp melody, and it’s over and out without causing much of a fuss. “Vibrations Radio”, however, isn’t about to let anyone pass without getting down and enjoying themselves. Breaks, banging rhythms, energetic vocal samples, a piano/string breakdown — it’s all here, what else do you need? “Emissary” is just pure joy, with bright, springy bass notes and those 808 State loon sounds, nailing that late ’80s/early ’90s sound without sounding like a pointless rehash pastiche (of course, that type of sound is more up-to-date than it has been since it was brand new). Fantastic, beautiful stuff.

Koeosaeme: Obanikeshi (Orange Milk, 2019)

July 1, 2019 at 11:51 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Koeosaeme: Obanikeshi

This release appeals to the part of me that loves Orange Milk for their works by hyperrealist composers like Noah Creshevsky and Seth Graham, and the part of me that loves the label for releasing noisy glitchcore like Machine Girl and Julien. Absolute headrush intensity which splices manic classical instruments, disgruntled splurts, and sickly distortion. It is grotesque and nightmarish, and it should be hard to take in all at once, yet I can’t get enough of it. The first few tracks are an overwhelming passage of slash-and-grab classical glitch. “Meat Texture” basically sounds like what it would be like to be stuck on the surface of an ocean made of meat. Then tracks like “Synched” (featuring atnr) are like an entire A/V room exploding into fireworks. “X / Z” (featuring EL Murki) is the closest this comes to breakcore, with rapid, menacing hyper-beats and aggressively focused rhythms. A few moments of relative calm shine through, particularly on “Imiaru”, but even these are interrupted by violent chopping sounds and screeching strings. Absolutely jawdropping work.

Flora FM: Chaos Light EP 12″ (Kalahari Oyster Cult, 2019)

June 30, 2019 at 3:35 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Flora FM: Chaos Light EP 12″

Flora FM continues his winning streak from last year with one of two new records for 2019. “Hallucinogenic Worm” is a mellow, driving May/Saunderson type of track with some strange mumbling voices buried underneath, and “Chrome Grass” is a little quirkier and choppier but still feels more excited than nervous. “Storm Cleaned”, however, is the business. Exactly the type of heavy breaks and fluid, fluorescent synths that made his Vanity Press record so special. “Insist On You (Brain Mix)” is filled with cute robot noises and springy, chimey sounds, as well as filtered beats moving everything through the tunnel.

Davis Galvin: EP 12″ (Vanity Press, 2019)

June 30, 2019 at 3:02 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Davis Galvin: EP 12″

This EP has one of those opening tracks that’s hard to get past. “All Night Long” starts out a bit fragmented and tentative, but then crystalline trills and lush “everything’s gonna be fine” synths trickle in, along with flickering amen breaks and ray-of-sunshine vocals. It seems wrong to suggest that Vanity Press has a “sound”, but this is exactly the type of high-quality feelgood club banger the label regularly puts out. “Return from the Sky” is significantly darker, with killer bass and a UFO documentary melody over intense, pressurized breaks. “Bass-Biology Interface” starts out eerie and warped but gets friendlier, and it seems to rapidly ping through the air with a grin on its face. “Loudspeaker Situation” is just perfect summer music, with heavy, shuffling breakbeats and super gorgeous synths that just feel like the sun shining on your face. “Waterbody” seems way more detached, but the 4/4 thump keeps it from completely floating away.

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