Seekerinternational released an album of sloshed-out dub on Digitalis a while back, and that’s just one of his many transmissions over the years. This tape is his love letter to ragga-jungle, and of course it’s nowhere close to faithful, because that’s been done before. This is manic and full of breaks and deejay samples, and also plenty of rave flashbacks. Most of the tracks are two or three minutes long, and all of the sounds seem to tumble into each other excitedly without pause. He doesn’t go for laffs the way Shitmat does, but this is still some of the most warped, hyper-caffeinated jungle revisionism I’ve heard to date. Total unqualified success. Listen at Bandcamp.
I didn’t get around to reviewing the first Jonny Oso EP earlier this year, but it was an instantly winning piece of rave nostalgia. This tape is longer and a bit more developed, and it’s also loads of fun. The tracks generally feature light breakbeats and warm chords, and they progress but don’t get too out of bounds for 6 or 7 minutes apiece. “Oh Ya!” is more frenetic and Baltimore-esque, and “Looking For the Greatest” is a bit more loony, but others are calmer. Even the drum’n’bass track “A Life Force” is atmospheric enough to be a Good Looking Records 12″ from 1996. “Unknown People’s All Right” balances wild rave fervor and choppy breakbeats with calming pads, arriving close to Meat Beat territory. Grab it at Pastel Voids’ Bandcamp.
Very thick, heavy mix of repetitive throbbing beats and synths along with words taken from meditation records, AM radio, and other sources. Deep and paranoid but also relaxing. Gets close to the realm of harsh, but it’s more like bristling against a new level of consciousness. Side A is more rhythmic, almost approaching Krautrock at one point, and side B is more of an uneasy drift. The way it falls apart at the end is spectacular. Listen at Bandcamp.
Regular album-length tape of wayward experiments from Fred Thomas, Dash Lewis, and cellist Kaylan Mitchell, edited from longer improvisations into short pieces. Not as poppy and driving as the recent (and magnificent) Hydropark LP, these are moments which drift, squall, buzz, and linger, and then fade into the next dream sequence. They picked out the choice bits — not necessarily the most high-impact ones, not always the peaks or the most colorful ones, but ones that captured specific moments nonetheless. Sometimes it’s cloudy, and there’s never any indication where it’s going, but it always heads down an intriguing path. The cello seems hidden and non-obvious sometimes, it doesn’t sound as heavy and dramatic as the instrument often does, although there’s moments where it does that too. When drums appear, they’re usually blasted, frazzled and torn apart. Still available from the Life Like.
Hard sludgy punk-ish rock with echo-heavy rough vocals, sort of resembling a deathrock version of Killdozer. Produced by Carson Cox of Merchandise/Death Index, so it has a similar dark punk-but-not-quite sound to it. The band barely pauses for breath on side A so both songs just barrel through, ending in a patch of swelling noise. The second side is more of the same, piledriving riffs and drums with sparks of feedback. Music for viewing the fucked-up state of the world and having no other reaction but to just laugh and piss all over it.
Flannel-clad psych-gaze from Jackson Scott. Androgynous vocals, lush waves of warm, sometimes shimmering guitars, hints of melancholy. Sunbathing music. Seems easygoing and languid, but these are actually pretty concise pop songs, mostly around two or three minutes each. Songs like “Delusion” are nice trippy whirlwinds, while others like “Succumb” are closer to old Flaming Lips but more bubblegum poppy. “Your Bed Is Melting” is more nightmarish, though. “Rainbow Death Revisited” is the laser infinity jam here. I’m hearing people say this band sounds a lot like Deerhunter but I don’t listen to them so I wouldn’t know.
Hour 1
2:03 am Machinefabriek ~ “Chinese Unpopular Song” ~ Weleer ~ Lampse Audiovisual Recordings ~ 2006
2:05 am Nurse With Wound ~ “Congregatio Pro Doctrina Fedei” ~ Dark Fat ~ United Dirter ~ 2016
2:11 am Joshua Sabin ~ “Vitro” ~ Terminus Drift (new) ~ Subtext ~ 2017
2:14 am AWE ~ “Rotor” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
2:16 am VHVL ~ “0004” ~ evn (new) ~ Leaving Records ~ 2016
2:19 am Ricky Eat Acid ~ “Know” ~ Talk To You Soon (new) ~ Terrible ~ 2016
2:20 am Anthony Child ~ “Nine Personality Type Map” ~ Electronic Recordings from Maui Jungle Vol 2 (new) ~ Editions Mego ~ 2016
2:24 am Morlox ~ “Alien Death Strike” ~ cassingle (new) ~ Backwards ~ 2016
2:30 am Novi_sad ~ “Sirens” ~ Sirens (new) ~ Sub Rosa ~ 2016
2:35 am Demdike Stare ~ “Hardnoise” ~ Wonderland (new) ~ Modern Love ~ 2016
2:45 am Ben Zimmerman ~ “Lead Sled” ~ Mains (new) ~ H.V.R.F. Central Command ~ 2016
2:49 am Fish Narc ~ “Draino” ~ Fish Snake Narc (new) ~ Pastel Voids ~ 2016
2:53 am Eva Weishaupt ~ “Areopagite” ~ Patriot (new) ~ H.V.R.F. Central Command ~ 2016
2:57 am Machine Girl ~ “Ohio3” ~ split tape w/ Five Star Hotel (new) ~ Visual Disturbances/Emergency Tapes ~ 2016 Hour 2
3:00 am Holy Palms ~ “Jungle Judge (gnawaRemake)” ~ Jungle Judge (new) ~ Artetetra ~ 2016
3:04 am Morlox ~ “Public (Qixoni’s Cremation of Care Mix)” ~ Alien Death Strike + Public Remixes! (new) ~ Backwards Records ~ 2016
3:07 am Executive Slacks ~ “Boring” ~ Seams Ruff ~ Dark Entries ~ 1981
3:10 am Zwischenfall ~ “Polar Magazine” ~ Sandy Eyes ~ Dark Entries ~ 1984
3:13 am Bendingbus ~ “And With Each Step a Wider and Deeper Dream” 7″ (new) ~ Hi-Fi Yeah ~ 2016
3:18 am Graeme Miller & Steve Shill ~ “Midwinter Rites” ~ The Moomins ~ Finders Keepers ~ 1983
3:21 am Saint Etienne remixed by Aphex Twin ~ “Who Do You Think You Are (Quex-rd)” ~ CD single ~ Heavenly ~ 1993
3:30 am Jesse Osborne-Lanthier ~ “Blackwell Dynonetics” ~ 12″ (new) ~ Raster-Noton ~ 2017
3:34 am Constellation Botsu ~ “Botsu_224” ~ グビロヶおもスロいって・ぶあ！！ (new) ~ H.V.R.F. Central Command ~ 2016
3:37 am Shapednoise feat. Rabit ~ “Pulling At The Seams Of Existence” ~ Deafening Chaos Serenity (new) ~ Type ~ 2016
3:46 am Lesley Flanigan ~ “Glacier” ~ Glacier ~ Physical Editions ~ 2014 Hour 3
4:00 am Common Eider King Eider ~ “Black Bough” ~ Extinction (new) ~ Cold Spring ~ 2016
4:08 am Florian von Ameln ~ “Komplement” ~ Rvvr (new) ~ Eilean Rec. ~ 2016
4:10 am Dub Tractor ~ “I’m Like You” ~ Hideout ~ City Centre Offices ~ 2006
4:13 am Telefon Tel Aviv ~ “Reak What (Archive ’99)” ~ Fahrenheit Far Enough (reissue) ~ Ghostly International ~ 1999
4:17 am Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie ~ “The Few of Us Left” ~ Salero soundtrack (new) ~ Erased Tapes ~ 2016
4:20 am Noname ~ “Freedom Interlude” ~ Telefone (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
4:23 am Kaytranada ~ “Despite the Weather” ~ 99.9% ~ XL Recordings ~ 2016
4:25 am Devata Daun ~ “Animal Instincts” ~ Look (new) ~ Pytch Records ~ 2016
4:28 am Flava D ~ “Clarity” ~ FabricLive.88 (new) ~ Fabric ~ 2016
4:31 am Wordclock ~ “It’s Late” ~ Endless ~ Cryo Chamber ~ 2014
4:42 am Jib Kidder (local) ~ “Seven” ~ Jib Kidder ~ We’re Twins Records ~ 2004
4:44 am Sankt Otten/N ~ “Auf Drei Lassen Wir Los” ~ Männerfreundschaften Und Metaphysik (new) ~ Denovali ~ 2016
4:48 am Mike Tamburo ~ “The Chameleon and the Crow” ~ Basket Full of Dragons: A Tribute to Robbie Basho Vol II (new) ~ Obsolete Recordings ~ 2016
4:56 am Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra ~ “The Bridge” ~ Singles: The Definitive 45s Collection 1952-1991 ~ Strut ~ 1967 Hour 4
5:00 am Tiger Hatchery ~ “Sonic Bloom” ~ Sun Worship ~ ESP-Disk ~ 2013
5:06 am Little Annie ~ “Bitching Song” ~ Trace (new) ~ Tin Angel ~ 2016
5:10 am Prosternatur ~ “Hydragyrum” ~ Abyssus Abyssum Invocat (new) ~ Mercenary Musik/Symbolic Art Productions ~ 2016
5:12 am Virginia Wing ~ “Permaboss” ~ Forward Constant Motion (new) ~ Fire ~ 2016
5:14 am The Empire Line ~ “Fragrance Arpège” ~ Syndicat de la Couture (new) ~ Avian ~ 2017
5:19 am Florian Kupfer ~ “Track 03 Cut” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
5:25 am Ssaliva ~ “Bearable” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
5:29 am Scheich in China ~ “B” ~ Scheich in China (new) ~ V I S ~ 2016
5:33 am Siriusmo ~ “Rantanplant” ~ Enthusiast ~ Monkeytown ~ 2013
5:37 am Oli XL ~ “Rogue Idiot” ~ Tracer Wanz (new) ~ W – I ~ 2016
5:39 am J. Albert ~ “Sahara Desert Dating App” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Soundcloud ~ 2016
5:45 am A Made Up Sound ~ “P.P.B.” ~ A Made Up Sound (new) ~ A Made Up Sound ~ 2016
5:49 am King Britt ~ “9.11 (Dreamers)” ~ Up Too Early (new) ~ Friends of Friends ~ 2017
5:54 am Whetzel ~ “Moving Forward” ~ Beatology Volume I (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
Bendingbus: And With Each Step A Wider And Deeper Dream 7″
Pleasant downtempo instrumental pop made with old-school analog synths. Surprisingly, this doesn’t try too hard to sound retro. It’s not some sort of intentionally kitschy thing like Moog Cookbook (probably a really outdated reference but whatever, I still love their albums). It’s gently playful, but not novelty music. It’s more like an electronic lullaby than anything else, like Solvent putting his kids to bed (or somebody’s kids, I don’t know if he has kids). Or think Raymond Scott’s Soothing Sounds For Babies, but actually soothing rather than manic, and short and structured to fit on a 45. Or maybe this is an artifact from an alternate universe where Plone became the biggest band in the world, and this is a tour-only 7″ from their 5th world tour following their 8th consecutive #1 album. The dream only gets wider and deeper. The B-side is an even more mellow version of the A-side, for sweeter dreams. Bliss out on Bandcamp.
With H.V.R.F. (Hard Vapour Resistance Front) Central Command, we have yet another netlabel that releases way too much material for anyone to keep track of, unless you only devote your time to listening to one label’s output. I definitely love the idea of Hard Vapour though. Too much vaporwave just seems so jokey and memey and gimmicky and effort-free. HV has much more bite to it, it’s closer to gabber and breakcore and IDM. Dream Catalogue and H.V.R.F. know what the fuck they’re doing. Patriot is my introduction to this label and it’s a total smash. Some of this might’ve been called “braindance” 20 years ago (especially standout “Rex”) but it’s more blown out and aggressive, yet there’s still some more crystalline moments like “Dirigens”. “Minerval” shocks the hell out of some sugary rave chords, but it seems more earnest than some sort of ironic PC Music thing. “Areopagite” is closer to footwork, and it straight up smacks your face. Best debut release of the year? If not the best, maybe the hardest. Free download on Bandcamp.
The jazzy drums and very-nearly-worn-through loops of the opening track hooked me immediately. Then it sounds like hundreds of birds are attacking a string quartet. Then there’s thick, melodic tones and scraggly guitars. Very abstract, but at the same time very directly emotional. Von Ameln has such a unique way of putting together sounds which are wayward and wavy and loose, but yet still make absolute sense. Also, every single track on this album sounds totally different. Such a huge range covered here. Kind of astonished that this guy isn’t more well known. Unbelievably good. Listen at Bandcamp.
The Answer Is In The Beat 