The Answer Is In The Beat

Fish Narc: Fish Snake Narc tape (Pastel Voids, 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 10:31 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

So as you might have noticed, I’m playing catch-up today, uploading reviews I wrote but never posted and finally getting around to writing about stuff I’ve had for weeks/months and just never got around to. Now that it’s winter I’ll hopefully get around to most of the tapes and downloads (not as many vinyl records or CDs) that people have sent me that I said I’d get to and never did. Pastel Voids has released an enormous amount of music and I’ve only mentioned a few things they’ve put out, but they are deserving of far more press. This is an album of remembrances of TV or movies or concerts. It’s something like lo-fi big-room, cartoon pop, scattered electro, plastic toy rave, bleep-house transmitted from cat whiskers. “(Not As) Nasty As I Wanna Be” might just be Mark Bell’s ghost speaking to us through Fish Narc’s equipment. Other songs trap trap in a hamster wheel, and others beg to be let out of the doghouse. No reason to doubt it when Fish Narc says they really mean it. Available at Bandcamp (limited tapes/pay what you want DL).

Benoit Pioulard: Seize/Marre 7″ (Backwards, 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 10:08 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Former WCBN-er Thomas Meluch returns to the 7″ format with this lovely little snapshot. Each copy comes with a postcard, and the music has a similar captured-in-time feeling, especially since the songs were based on writings and recordings from the beginning of the century. “Seize” is a light, pleasant ambient folk tune, but the real treat is “Marre”, a thick cloud of scratchy loops and heavy longing. Also, it’s worth mentioning that this is on an Italian label called Backwards, not the Backwards Records from Denver whose artist Morlox I just reviewed today (or the related Backwards NW from Seattle).

Carson Cox w/ Sam York & Austin Brown: Fire Dance 7″ (Wharf Cat, 2017)

December 4, 2016 at 9:57 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This 7″ brings together members of Merchandise, WALL, and Parquet Courts, but it sounds nothing like you’d expect. It’s better than you’d expect, actually. It’s some sort of lo-fi new wave goth disco, with synths and drums both live and programmed. The A-side title track is a more uptempo dance jam, with shuffling drums, sizzling synths, and several shades of space-age noises. There’s a lot of layers to this one, but it doesn’t sound over-stuffed, it’s all tuned into the same groove. “Rene”, on the other side, is slower and more industrial. The guitars are sharp and searing, and they swarm around you like hawks, but they’re still no match for the sequencers and battering drum machines, and the vocal chant “memories”. It’s punishing and intense. Pre-order at Wharf Cat.

Russian Tsarlag: Unexplained American Goat LP (Wharf Cat, 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 9:37 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Newest album of ultra-depressive lo-fi creepcore from Carlos Gonzales. His songs seem like they barely hold together, but they actually do, and a lot of them are actually proper songs with verses and choruses. They’re just slow and bleak and use cheap keyboards and minimal guitar. Sometimes there’s radio static transmissions mixed in, or voices captured from the dead and looped. “Screaming in a Car” is a capella and really haunting. “Bellevue” is a tape-loop/keyboard instrumental that seems like it’s stuck in a soap opera and can’t escape. “Along the Way” is just guitar and vocals, and a slight bit more uptempo than the rest. He does a lot with a little, and he has an incredible way of expressing emptiness. It seems a lot more vague than it really is. Very much recommended for the Jandek fan in your life.

Variant: Vortexual [Element Seven] (Echospace [Detroit], 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 9:19 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

So I’ve reviewed one of Variant’s many recent releases on this blog before, and I basically said that while he certainly sticks to a certain sound (and yes, his albums can tend to sound like variations on each other), some of them hit harder than others. This one is definitely another one that just devastates. It’s very washed out ambient dub techno, but there’s just such a sense of despair and lost-ness to this one. There’s also beats, and they pump away like you’d expect from dub techno, but they seem to barely puncture through the thick waves rather than becoming the central focus. Seriously, this is deep as hell. I don’t want to get out. Get lost on Bandcamp. And yes, it blips out for a second about three minutes in, that’s just how it happened because this was a live one-take recording and it couldn’t be edited out.

Whetzel: Beatology Volume I (self-released, 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 9:08 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

James Whetzel plays dozens of instruments and has explored soundtracks and world fusion with his many releases. Here, he begins a study of hip-hop beats. He plays around with placing the kicks and snares in unexpected places. He also uses instruments not usually associated with hip-hop like accordion, dholak, and sarod. The more off-base it gets, the more original it sounds (such as tracks 3, 4, 7, and 9). Pretty neat! Available on Bandcamp.

Marek Hemmann: Moments (Freude Am Tanzen Recordings, 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 9:05 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Third album from a German techno dude. He doesn’t stick to typical 4/4 beat patterns, sometimes there’s a slumped-down garage beat, as on the first track, and other times there’s light breakbeats or other details to the rhythms. Also, this dude loves melodies. The melodies are bright and sparkly, and they progress nicely. These are dance tracks, and they’re instrumental, but they’re still songs. It gets kind of bright and dramatic without sounding like trance or progressive house. It’s bright and cheerful, but there’s a hint of melancholy to it. “Ginger” is the one most likely to get stuck in your head. “Comonia” is a little more uptempo than the rest. All of it is pretty good.

STAR: Devastator (Lovely Rebel Records, 2007/reissued by Saint Marie Records, 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 9:03 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Reissue of a one-off album by a shoegaze group featuring Scott Cortez of Lovesliescrushing. It’s definitely not as weird or experimental as that band. The songs here are mostly around 2 minutes each, and they have heavy, noisy, trippy guitar effects and ethereal vocals and distorted beats. Not a major lost classic, but if you’re into shoegaze, it’s pretty damn good.

Sankt Otten + N: Männerfreundschaften Und Metaphysik (Denovali Records, 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 9:01 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Sankt Otten have released over a dozen albums/EPs since 1999, but that’s nothing compared to N, who has about four dozen, apparently. Both artists are pretty hard to keep up with (especially N, my god). I’ve heard Sankt Otten described as trip-hop, but that must apply to their earlier stuff, because this is far from that league. This is a series of eight lengthy improvisations, which tend to be dark and noisy. “Massiere die Maschine” is a lengthy Krautrock thriller, which heads straight into the heart of despair with its motorik rhythm and rustling guitars and pianos. “Manchmal Schmeckt Nichtmal Der Kaffee” is more of a slow, weary crawl through an endless dark tunnel with no indication of an exit. “Auf Drei Lassen Wir Los”… so bleak and doomy, but not at all doom metal. Creeping nightmare soundtrack. “Milchmädchen Und Herrenschokolade” seems like it might be looking upward, somewhat. Then “Diese Bessere Welt Ist Auch Nicht Besser” is just cold and unforgiving. Magnificent album.

Morlox: Alien Death Strike/Public cassingle + Remixes cdr (Backwards Records, 2016)

December 4, 2016 at 8:30 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

So Denver-based Pat Urn (Syphilis Sauna) is now going by the name Morlox. He released an album called Join The… earlier this year, and two of the songs are on a cassingle (!) and a ton of remixes are available. “Alien Death Strike” is a fast, blippy breakcore/chiptune-ish song, and “Public” is a sly, creepy tune with alien-sounding vocals about wanting to do perverted things in public, and it’s surrounded by rapidly shuffling hyper-breaks. The synth chords drift slowly but the beats are fast and skittery. From these two songs, there’s over a dozen remixes. The first 2 mixes crush the songs to bits, but D/SIR’s mix heads to the goth club. Church Fire’s mix has quick, hammering beats, but also a more relaxed droney middle part. Kristachuwan’s version has some pumping beats, but it’s way more abstract and spaced out, with distant, echoing voices and smudgy synths. Technicolor Yawn focuses on the dilapidated, obliterated beat shards, while Jared Pfalmer turns “Public” into an industrial metal rager. Also, some guy named Qixoni is on here too. Do the Bandcamp thing.