The Answer Is In The Beat

Wrangler: Sparked – Modular Remix Project (MemeTune, 2016)

August 5, 2016 at 11:12 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Wrangler: Sparked – Modular Remix Project

I haven’t heard any of Wrangler’s original material, but they’re a modular synth group doing the early electro/industrial thing. On this album, they approached some electronic musicians they admire, invited them to remix a track from their debut album, and sent them some stems. They also told the remixers to use a modular synth for their remixes. The result is a pretty wide range of styles, from spooky electro-techno to synth-pop to cinematic ambient. Of both takes on “Mus IC”, Abul Mogard’s is ominous and beatless, with detached vocals surfacing in rhythm; David Burraston’s version adds a beat to the voices and is otherwise pretty sparse. Mute Records founder Daniel Miller’s “Theme From Wrangler” essentially sounds like a lost Underworld track. Steve Moore’s “Harder” sounds closer to his Miracle project than any of his other projects, but it sounds like Nine Inch Nails more than anything else. Scanner’s “La Spark” is fairly relaxed bleepy techno, but Chris Carter’s “Lava Land” is a dark, ominous monster filled with unsettling noises and a throbbing, grisly kick drum which keeps orbiting between the backward and the foreground. Dean Honer’s “Space Ace” is a trippy acid lounge tune, while Alessandro Cortini’s “Modern World” is a brief lunar expedition in the form of a bassy ambient drone. Benge’s “Peace & Love” feels fractured and circuit bent, but it sticks to a repetitive beat. Solvent’s take on “Harder” is sparser than Moore’s, but it’s darker and dubbier. Wrangler end the disc themselves with “Theme Meme”, a 14-minute techno track which has at least 3 or 4 distinct sections connected by a bit of hummed vocals cloaked in effects.

Mueran Humanos: Miseress (ATP, 2015)

August 5, 2016 at 9:52 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Mueran Humanos: Miseress

A few years ago I reviewed a previous Mueran Humanos release which consisted of two really long, repetitive industrial psych-ish tracks. This one is more focused on songs, and it’s a much less exhausting listen than the previous EP. It’s sort of a mix between Helado Negro-esque trippy Latin electronic pop, Factory Floor-style post-punk industrial dance, and hypnotic psychedelia heavy on the guitar effects. The opening title track is one of the album’s quieter, prettier songs, and “Un Lugar Ideal” is a steady, percussive dance number with distorted guitars. “Mi Auto” is faster and more Krautrock-y, but with swarms of piercing guitars and exuberant vocals. “El Circulo” calms things down a bit but sticks to a steady, hypnotic tempo for its 8 minutes as it cycles through more shaky vocals and guitar effects. “El Vino de las Orgias” is a warped, sideways new wave disco while “Guerrero de la Gloria Negativa” is more of an industrial dirge drowning in fuzz. “La Torre de la Hora” goes to the outer orbits with sparse pulsing bass, disarming delay and sudden crashes, and murky vocals. I wouldn’t have known what to expect from this group even after hearing their previous EP but this ended up going beyond any expectations I would’ve had.

Heaters: Baptistina (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond, 2016)

August 5, 2016 at 9:10 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Heaters: Baptistina

Second album from a Grand Rapids-based band doing the noisy surf-y psych-rock thing. This is exactly the type of band that seems tailor made for Austin Psych Fest/Levitation. Some of the tracks are more straightforward psych-rock tunes, some are more drifty, some are longer and go through different sections. “Elephant Turner” has a tiny bit of a “Jump Into the Fire” groove to it, while “Dali” has a bit of an “I Am the Walrus” bite to the vocals. “Seafoam” is appropriately the surfiest one. Pretty good overall, definitely sounds like the mitten state’s equivalent of Holy Wave or the Black Angels.

Crush Collision: 8/4/16

August 5, 2016 at 1:20 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Hour 1
10:02 pm Pvre Matrix ~ “Hyper Object”
10:05 pm Cathode Ray Tube ~ “Abundance”
10:11 pm FaltyDL ~ “Mean Streets Part Three”
10:14 pm Container ~ “Soak”
10:18 pm Silvershower ~ “Ice Fractions 1B”
10:22 pm Figure-Ground ~ “Figure-Ground 13”
10:24 pm Anybody Anytime ~ “Where the Head Goes (Ruff Mix)”
10:29 pm Mental Overdrive ~ “Higher”
10:39 pm David Meiser & Marc Solsona ~ “Snake of the Ganges”
10:42 pm Carl Finlow ~ “Bleem”
10:47 pm Jeroen Search ~ “Tensile Force”
10:53 pm Dos Attack ~ “Flue (Minor Science Remix)”
10:55 pm Rezzett ~ “Doyce”
Hour 2
11:02 pm Silvestre ~ “Floresta”
11:06 pm Nick Beringer ~ “Sidewalk”
11:12 pm Cool Tiger ~ “Warehouse for All”
11:19 pm Hieroglyphic Being ~ “Spiritual Alliances”
11:23 pm Vapauteen ~ “Blood On the Moon”
11:29 pm Subradeon ~ “Clacson”
11:34 pm Exercise One ~ “Timetrap (Locked Groove Remix)”
11:40 pm Liar & Mutual Friend ~ “Sidewinder”
11:43 pm John F.M. ~ “Jchx”
11:48 pm DJ Béeso ~ “Zajj Lid2”
11:54 pm Randomer ~ “Concierge”

Essential Tremors: The Visitor 12″ EP (Third Man, 2016)

August 2, 2016 at 9:23 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment

Essential Tremors: The Visitor 12″ EP

It’s not easy to find information about this band, because Googling their name brings up information about nervous system disorders. As it turns out, they’re a Nashville-based post-punk/synth/darkwave band and the EP was produced/engineered by Dan Tomzack, formerly of Detroit groups Terrible Twos and Johnny Ill Band. Booming drum machines, goth-y bass guitar, distorted vocal, noisy effects. Pretty surprised to hear this on Third Man, but it fits, especially after they released a Wolf Eyes album last year. This is sort of somewhere between that and some of their more typical garage rock releases. “MTA” is probably the bleakest and coldest of the tracks, and “Death Perception” is maybe the danciest. They’re all good, really.

LXV: Clear LP (Anòmia, 2016)

July 31, 2016 at 8:05 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

LXV: Clear LP

So according to Discogs, this guy used to be Current Amnesia (a name I always heard but never saw or listened to, even though he’s done splits with people I used to know), and he was also in Car Commercials, who I saw in a New Brunswick basement once and didn’t think were very good. This is something else entirely. Bizarre shredded voices, granulated textures, ghostly murmurings, nervous transformations. It’s supposed to be about the aftermath of a psychotic experience, but it feels like such an experience itself. On “Pripyat (Paper Crown)” it sounds like scrambled voices are raining down sporadically from the sky. And then “Apophenia” ends up sounding like what might’ve been an intimate jazz piece or folk song caught in a digital washing machine. Very intense and chaotic, there’s so much going on, and it doesn’t make sense in the conventional way, but it’s truly fascinating.

Show #353 – 7/30/16

July 30, 2016 at 12:06 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

Hour 1
2:00 am Ian William Craig ~ “The Nearness” ~ Centres (new) ~ 130701/FatCat ~ 2016
2:08 am Ben Chatwin ~ “Euclidean Plane” ~ Heat & Entropy (new) ~ Ba Da Bing ~ 2016
2:12 am Angel Dust ~ “side B” ~ Surrounding (new) ~ White Reeves Productions ~ 2016
2:23 am Ricardo Donoso ~ “Telophase” ~ Quintesence (new) ~ Denovali ~ 2016
2:30 am Laraaji & Sun Araw ~ “Leipzig (Part 2)” ~ Professional Sunflow (new) ~ W. 25th ~ 2016
2:39 am Vis a Vis ~ “Obi Agye Me Dofo” ~ Ghana Special ~ Soundway ~ 1978
2:49 am 2814 ~ “Inside the Sphere” ~ Rain Temple (new) ~ Dream Catalogue ~ 2016
2:57 am Five Star Hotel (local) ~ “Enhance” ~ Gravity Signal (new) ~ Memory No. 36 Recordings ~ 2016
Hour 2
3:01 am Jlin ~ “Downtown” ~ 2016 Adult Swim Singles Program (new) ~ Adult Swim ~ 2016
3:05 am Lone ~ “Sea of Tranquility” ~ Levitate (new) ~ R&S ~ 2016
3:10 am Khrysalis (local) ~ “Go Away (Instrumental)” ~ File Dump Error (new) ~ TRASHFUCK Records ~ 2016
3:15 am Konx-om-Pax ~ “Stay” ~ Caramel (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2016
3:18 am DJ Alina ~ “607” ~ Maniax (new) ~ Dream Catalogue ~ 2016
3:20 am Nyarlathotep (local) ~ “track 7” ~ Emotion Sickness 2009 ~ cdr ~ 2009
3:25 am Unicorn Hard-On ~ “Echo Palm” ~ Dream Machine (new) ~ untergang-institut ~ 2016
3:30 am Pod Blotz ~ “How Many Times Can I Die?” ~ Other ~ Cønjuntø Vacíø ~ 2015
3:34 am NGLY ~ “Strange Expression” ~ Cities of Illusion (new) ~ L.I.E.S. ~ 2016
3:39 am Africans with Mainframes ~ “Book of Gaties” ~ K.M.T. (new) ~ Soul Jazz Records ~ 2016
3:48 am Overmow (local) ~ “Convulsions” ~ Jackmaster: DJ-Kicks ~ !K7 ~ 1992
3:52 am Mental Overdrive ~ “Motorcity (Alt Mix)” ~ Plugged (reissue) ~ Rett I Fletta ~ 1995
Hour 3
4:00 am Bryan Kessler ~ “Super Boo” ~ 10,000 Suns (new) ~ Numbers ~ 2016
4:06 am Blanck Mass ~ “D7-D5” ~ 2016 Adult Swim Singles Program (new) ~ Adult Swim ~ 2016
4:15 am Dennis Young ~ “Celestrial Voyage” ~ Wave ~ Bureau B ~ 1984-88
4:18 am Yellow6 ~ “Conrad#2” ~ Springsun (new) ~ Silber ~ 2016
4:23 am Frankie Reyes ~ “La Bikina” ~ Boleros Valses y Mas (new) ~ Stones Throw ~ 2016
4:26 am Pacific 231 ~ “Ethnicities” ~ Ethnicities ~ Rotorelief ~ 2006
4:35 am DJ Coquelin & MC Cloarec ~ “Side AARGH…” ~ JE M’EN TAPE (new) ~ PRR! PRR! ~ 2016
4:46 am Skepta feat. Novelist ~ “Lyrics” ~ Konnichiwa (new) ~ Boy Better Know ~ 2016
4:49 am Clams Casino ~ “Blast” ~ 32 Levels (new) ~ Columbia ~ 2016
4:51 am Panacea ~ “Tron Rmx” ~ Low Profile Darkness ~ Position Chrome ~ 1997
Hour 4
5:03 am Khost/Justin K. Broadrick ~ “A Shadow on the Wound” ~ Needles Into the Ground: Deconstructed and Reconstructed by Godflesh (new) ~ Cold Spring ~ 2016
5:10 am Cerebrum ~ “Read a Book” ~ Eagle Death ~ Shadoks Music ~ 1970
5:16 am The Alps ~ “Black Mountain” ~ Le Voyage ~ Type ~ 2010
5:22 am Gabriel Emde ~ “Hans Otte: Wassermann-Musik Für Harfe (part 4)” ~ Die Natur Der Klänge – Neue Musik Für Harfe ~ Edition RZ ~ 2015
5:30 am Chvad SB ~ “Phenomenalism, Cartesian Doubt and Bomb #20” ~ Phenomenalism, Cartesian Doubt and Bomb #20 (new) ~ Silber ~ 2016
5:36 am Rolan Vega ~ “Surface Cleanser” ~ Documentary ~ Community Library ~ 2007
5:40 am Luke Abbott ~ “Unfurling” ~ Wysing Forest ~ Border Community ~ 2014
5:46 am Tarentel ~ “We’re the Only Ghosts Here” ~ We Move Through Weather ~ Temporary Residence Ltd. ~ 2004
5:49 am The Drift ~ “Fractured Then Gathered (Reprise)” ~ Noumena ~ Temporary Residence Ltd. ~ 2005
5:54 am Nest ~ “Kyoto” ~ Retold ~ Serein ~ 2007

Crush Collision 7/28/16

July 29, 2016 at 9:20 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Hour 1
10:02 pm Circling Vultures ~ “Desecrated Tomb”
10:07 pm Bastian Void ~ “紙の道 [バスケットボール MIX]”
10:10 pm SeixlacK ~ “Amolado”
10:15 pm Omar-S ~ “Desert Eagle”
10:20 pm The Orb ~ “Alpine (Prins Thomas Simpler Tool For DJ Fools)” [sorry i cut this off early by mistake!]
10:21 pm Charlotte Isabelle ~ “Anaba”
10:27 pm 45 ACP ~ “Slick Response”
10:31 pm Jean Nipon and the Magendie High School ~ “Tepco Cunts”
10:36 pm M//R ~ “Slinky Kids”
10:41 pm Nubian Mindz ~ “Back 2 House (Rave Mix)”
10:47 pm Chino ~ “Worker”
10:51 pm Greg Beato ~ “Haunting”
10:56 pm Felix Harreus ~ “Derzeit”
Hour 2
11:04 pm Kill Frenzy ~ “Crystal Seed”
11:10 pm Trevino ~ “Casino (Trev’s Dub)”
11:16 pm Maurice Puls ~ “It’s Like This”
11:22 pm Wassermann ~ “W.I.R. (Thomas Mayer Remix)”
11:27 pm John F.M. ~ “Jchx”
11:33 pm Africans with Mainframes ~ “Negroid Spinx”
11:39 pm Cave Circles ~ “Living with Everyone”
11:42 pm James K ~ “Luv Me Too”
11:44 pm Lone ~ “Vapour Trail”
11:48 pm Randomer & Cadans ~ “Angry Fiddle”
11:53 pm Venice Calypso ~ “Axis (Bleaching Agent Remix)”
11:57 pm Audion ~ “Destroyer (FOLD’s Lean Tape Version)”

Khrysalis: File Dump Error tape (TRASHFUCK Records, 2016)

July 24, 2016 at 9:27 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Khrysalis: File Dump Error tape

Somehow this is the very first Khrysalis release, which is honestly quite astonishing considering how long she’s been making tracks under this name (she used to be called Nyarlathotep). Ultra-glitchy drum’n’bass/breakcore beats with frayed, industrial-ish synths which sound like they could be played on guitars at times, maybe. The beats get furious and ultra-choppy, and the songs make you actually feel things. Some of these are instrumental versions of songs she screams over during her shows. Even without vocals, the songs express so much. There’s so many subtle details both in the breaks and the background sounds/melodies. Also, “Celebrate the Night” is so awesome. Just want to put that out there. Considering how long some of these songs have been in the making (I don’t want to say something like “sitting around on her hard drive”), this almost seems like a greatest hits collection of sorts. So much went into these tracks, and they’re all incredible. I’m ultra-biased but this is probably going to end up being my favorite tape of the year. Free download at Bandcamp, but you really should buy it (it’s only 4 bucks).

Pod Blotz: Other tape (Cønjuntø Vacíø, 2015)

July 24, 2016 at 8:42 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Pod Blotz: Other tape

Pod Blotz is by no means a new name, but I’ve only been getting into her recently. She played Trip Metal Fest and it was easily one of the highlights, with incredibly inventive costumes and props and lighting and music. This tape came out last year, and it’s pretty short (only 5 songs), but it’s a decent range of what she does. Some rippling noise, some operatic crooning, spacey synths, and a killer darkwave song (“How Many Times Can I Die?”). Seeing her live is the best way to get a grasp of what she does, but this short tape is a good audio intro. Listen at Bandcamp.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.