Not familiar with Spectres themselves, but this is a collection of mostly abrasive rhythmic noise remixes which seem to have some sort of base in a form of non-mainstream rock music. On some track, it seems like the actual semblance of music has been scrubbed out, leaving only noise and throbbing rhythms. Other times, there are vocals and guitars still present, but it’s deconstructed enough to not sound like a proper song or a proper band. And then other songs emphasize techno beats. “Family (Oliver Wilde Remix)” and “Sink (“Factory Floor Remix)” do this while chopping the vocals and guitars up very finely. “This Purgatory (Blood Music Remix)” and “Mirror (Giant Swan Remix)” have beats, but also lots of messy, choppy clanging noises. “Lump (Gramrcy Remix)” is faster and more hypercharged. “Sea of Trees (Richard Fearless Remix)” starts out with steady bumping kick drums and droning, but then develops some nice fuzzy synth melodies. The last few tracks sound more like the works of a rock band, but “Sea of Trees (Andy Bell Remix)” has the vocals completely backwards, not unlike when the Stone Roses played around with backmasking. “This Prugatory (Stuart Braithwaite Remix)” has clearer vocals, coming closer to recent Wire, but the guitars are mostly replaced by shimmering synths.
Two performanced by a Japanese experimental artist who plays a huge fluorescent light instrument called the optron. There must be a visual component to these performances that’s missing from the recording, but what’s here gets pretty intense. It takes a while to build, though. It sounds pretty lo-fi and kind of distant, with lots of buzzing and hissing. Both pieces eventually develop into throbbing rhythmic noise which almost approximates a weird form of techno. It seems like he’s using limited resources, like a no-input mixer or something, but he gets a lot out of what he’s using. The first performance ends up at a fast, almost gabber-speed beat (not as heavy) but the second has a more relaxed industrial techno beat, and there’s another dimension to it, thanks to guest artist Miclo Diet. Very exciting falling-apart junky improv electronics.
Hour 1
2:01 am Sand ~ “Helly Copter” ~ His First Steps ~ Rotorelief ~ 1972
2:13 am Les Rallizes Dénudés ~ “Strung Out Deeper Than the Night” ~ France Demo Tapes ~ Bamboo ~ ?
2:19 am Steve Moore ~ “The Truck” ~ Cub soundtrack ~ Relapse ~ 2015
2:22 am En ~ “Mendocino Nature Rave” ~ City of Brides ~ Students of Decay ~ 2015
2:32 am Floating Points ~ “Kuiper” ~ Kuiper (new) ~ Luaka Bop ~ 2016
2:50 am BadBadNotGood feat. Sam Herring ~ “Time Moves Slow” ~ IV (new) ~ Innovative Leisure ~ 2016
2:55 am DJ Shadow ~ “Depth Charge” ~ The Mountain Will Fall (new) ~ Mass Appeal ~ 2016 Hour 2
3:00 am Mala ~ “Looney” ~ Mirrors (new) ~ Brownswood Recordings ~ 2016
3:04 am Naphta ~ “Copy Rider” ~ Long Time Burning ~ The Fear/Ruff Revival ~ 2007
3:10 am CDR ~ “Bレァk” ~ Acid Waltz ~ AD AAD AT ~ 2015
3:13 am clipping. ~ “Wriggle” ~ Wriggle (new) ~ Sub Pop ~ 2016
3:17 am T_A_M ~ “Midgar” ~ single ~ Tuff Wax Records ~ 2013
3:21 am Bjarki ~ “Midi 14-AUG2” ~ “Б” (new) ~ трип ~ 2016
3:28 am Arad ~ “Waveswimmer” ~ Particles and Waves (new) ~ Electric Deluxe ~ 2016
3:34 am IXTAB ~ “Aluxes” ~ Alea (new) ~ Bezirk ~ 2016
3:41 am Ancestral Voices ~ “Sleepless Ritual (Samuel Kerridge Remix)” ~ Night of Visions Remixes Part 2 (new) ~ Samurai Horo ~ 2016
3:47 am Driftmachine ~ “Sans Soleil” ~ Colliding Contours (new) ~ Umor Rex ~ 2016
3:53 am Erik Satie ~ “Gnossienne 3 (Murcof Version)” ~ EP.01 (new) ~ Infiné ~ 2016 Hour 3
4:00 am Christine Ott ~ “Danse Avec La Neige” ~ Only Silence Remains (new) ~ Gizeh Records ~ 2016
4:04 am Kreng ~ “I Want to Make a Toast” ~ Camino soundtrack (new) ~ Lakeshore ~ 2016
4:07 am Mirrors for Psychic Warfare ~ “CNN WTZ” ~ Mirrors for Psychic Warfare (new) ~ Neurot Recordings ~ 2016
4:12 am Spectres ~ “Mirror (Robert Hampson Remix)” ~ Dead (new) ~ Sonic Cathedral Recordings ~ 2016
4:16 am Phantom Forth ~ “Caroline” ~ The EEPP ~ Dark Entries ~ 1984
4:20 am Vallens ~ “Devour” ~ Consent (new) ~ Hand Drawn Dracula ~ 2016
4:26 am Stargazer Lilies ~ “Personal Autumn” ~ Door to the Sun (new) ~ Graveface ~ 2016
4:32 am Atsuhiro Ito ~ “At Hara Museum 2009.09.13” ~ Live ~ Edition Omega Point ~ 2009
4:39 am Jerry Paper & Easy Feelings Unlimited ~ “Kill the Dream” ~ Toon Time Raw! (new) ~ Bayonet ~ 2016
4:42 am Rutger Hauser ~ “No Bears” ~ Rutger Hauser ~ AD AAD AT ~ 2015
4:44 am Hanno Leichtmann ~ “Reiter” ~ Nuit Du Plomb ~ Karaoke Kalk ~ 2006
4:50 am Negativland ~ “The Copyright Law (Part 1)” ~ Negativconcertland ~ Atomic Novelties ~ 1993 Hour 4
5:00 am Tarentel ~ “Open Letter To Hummingbirds” ~ Paper White ~ Temporary Residence Ltd. ~ 2005
5:06 am Mark Kozelek ~ “Something Stupid” ~ Sings Favorites (new) ~ Caldo Verde ~ 2016
5:09 am Super Thing (local) ~ “4-Low” ~ Super Thing (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
5:16 am Sunburst ~ “Matatizo Nyumbani” ~ Ave Africa: The Complete Recordings 1973-1976 ~ Strut ~ 1973
5:20 am Ryan Huber ~ “Etonian” ~ Comoros (new) ~ Inam Records ~ 2016
5:23 am Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland ~ “Merkur” ~ Transport (new) ~ Tresor ~ 2016
5:29 am Vivenza ~ “Partie 1 -Réalité De L’Automation Directe” ~ Réalité De L’Automation Directe ~ Rotorelief ~ 1983
5:37 am Conforce ~ “Time Space Continuum” ~ Presentism ~ Delsin ~ 2015
5:42 am Snakepiss (local) ~ “Growth” ~ Knives (new) ~ Chambray Records ~ 2016
5:45 am MV Carbon ~ “I Ran From Her Voice” ~ The Sun Will Turn On You (new) ~ Discombobulate ~ 2016
5:49 am Plaid ~ “Yu Mountain” ~ The Digging Remedy (new) ~ Warp ~ 2016
5:53 am Fiona Brice ~ “Glastonbury” ~ Postcards From (new) ~ Bella Union ~ 2016
5:56 am Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith ~ “Arthropoda” ~ Ears (new) ~ Western Vinyl ~ 2016
This collaboration between Chicago-based engineer/producer/musician Sanford Parker (Buried At Sea, Nachtmystium) and Scott Kelly (Neurosis, Tribes of Neurot) blends heavy guitars, electronics, and deep vocals for a doomy but not overwhelmingly brutal experience. Swans definitely come to mind, but this duo definitely isn’t as concerned with constructing a pummeling, world-conquering, transcendent maelstrom of sound. All 5 of this album’s tracks sound different. It’s not entirely accurate to describe it as sludge metal or industrial or anything close to those orbits, but they might help pointing you in the right direction. “Oracles Hex” takes a long time of swirling, churning guitars and vocals before the clattering electronics and deep bass tones hit. “A Thorn to See” is a 15-minute lament of a blackened soul, building from a slow Scorn-ish drum machine and eventually piling on more guitar shredding and buzzing electronics. “CNN WTZ” is beatless and gets closer to Sunn O))) territory, with slow, droning guitars and eventually shrieked vocals and static noise. “I’ll Try You All” starts out with detached guitar notes and howled vocals, eventually crushing with feedback noise rotating between both speakers, and no drums, like the previous track. “43” is possibly the most haunting track, starting out with ominous piano and horns before the guitars come in. The song’s final minutes feature furious incomprehensible distorted screaming underneath the blaring horns. Really a fantastic album, it crushes in ways you wouldn’t expect.
In 1974, an obscure German band called Sand released their debut LP, Golem. Like a lot of psychedelic and experimental rock albums from that period, the album obtained a cult following over time, and was reissued a few times during this decade. This album was recorded in 1972, and is basically an early version of Golem. Listening to it, it’s almost astonishing at how much it anticipates people like Coil and Current 93. C93 actually covered one of the songs on this album and Nurse with Wound’s Steven Stapleton did the cover art. The first side features 2 10-minute tracks; “Helly Copter” is very hypnotic and kind of demonic. “An Old Loggerhead” is also, but it’s a lot more sparse and it seems like there’s a lot less happening. The first two songs on second side are comparatively more poppy, but only compared to the first side. “When the May Rain Comes” (the song C93 covered) is the shortest and folkiest song, and yes, it sounds a lot like the apocalyptic folk style that C93 would become infamous for. “Standing On the Corner” is a bit more upbeat, at least musically, with a puttering drum machine and repetitive lyrics about “standing on the corner with my feet soaking wet”. “Julia” is longer and sort of feels like a sort of opera, with 2 distinct parts. Very hypnotic and slowly progressing, with sparse, eerie melodies and echoed vocals. The album feels like a sort of lost chapter in psych/Krautrock history.
Since noise-rap trio clipping. surprisingly released a well-received album on Sub Pop, Daveed Diggs went on to fame as part of the musical Hamilton and Jonathan Snipes (formerly of the brilliant Captain Ahab) scored several horror films. This EP actually consists of tracks that weren’t finished in time for their last album, as they prepare to write and record new material. “Shooter” includes beats entirely created from over a dozen guns which the group fired and recorded themselves, and the lyrics subvert the tired “hashtag rap” formula of mainstream rap. “Back Up” features explosive beats and noise bursts along with guest verses from Antwon and Signor Benedick the Moor. “Wriggle” is built around a sample of power electronics pioneers Whitehouse (“Wriggle like a fucking eel!”) married to a hyperactive juke beat and acid techno squiggles, and it’s easily the EP’s most exciting track. “Hot Fuck No Love” is absolutely filthy and it matches the fast, turbulent rhymes with jungle breakbeats. “Our Time” is at once the noisiest track and the most lovestruck R&B song on the EP. Somehow the group manage to make these types of combinations work. Whatever they come up with next, it will probably be twice as deadly.
2:00 am Soumitra Lahiri ~ “Raga Bhairavi: Dhun In Tintal” ~ Raga Ahir Lalit/Raga Bhairavi ~ India Archive Music ~ 2007
2:17 am Swans ~ “Cloud of Unknowing” ~ The Glowing Man (new) ~ Young God ~ 2016
2:44 am Vivenza ~ “Veriti Plastici Partie. 2” ~ Veriti Plastici ~ Rotorelief ~ 1983
3:02 am Karlheinz Stockhausen ~ “Region III” ~ Hymnen ~ Deutsche Grammophon ~ 1969
3:26 am Karel Appel ~ “Le Cavalier Blanc” ~ Musique Barbare Van Karel Appel ~ Sub Rosa ~ 1963
3:40 am Klaus Schulze ~ “Gewitter (Energy Rise – Energy Collaps)” ~ Irrlicht ~ MIG ~ 1972
3:46 am Nurse With Wound ~ “Chromanatron Pt. B” ~ Chromanatron ~ Rotorelief ~ 2013
4:06 am Arbeit Schickert Schneider ~ “41°” ~ ASS (new) ~ Bureau B ~ 2016
4:12 am Joasihno ~ “Grounds” ~ Meshes (new) ~ Alien Transistor ~ 2016
4:18 am Ela Orleans ~ “Hands in Dark” ~ Circles of Upper and Lower Hell (new) ~ Night School ~ 2016
4:22 am James Ferraro ~ “Leather High School” ~ Night Dolls With Hairspray ~ Olde English Spelling Bee ~ 2010
4:30 am Christian Fennesz & Jim O’Rourke ~ “Wouldn’t Wanna Be Swept Away” ~ It’s Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry (new) ~ Editions Mego ~ 2016
4:49 am Landing ~ “Morning Sun” ~ Third Sight (new) ~ El Paraiso ~ 2016
5:04 am Ryan Huber ~ “Cellar of Last Resort” ~ Comoros (new) ~ Inam Records ~ 2016
5:07 am Snakepiss (local) ~ “Dead or Alive (Y’re Cumming With Me)” ~ Knives (new) ~ Chambray Records ~ 2016
5:10 am MV Carbon ~ “’Til I Get It Straight” ~ The Sun Will Turn On You (new) ~ Discombobulate ~ 2016
5:13 am Amnesia Scanner ~ “AS Gardens Need Walls” ~ AS (new) ~ Young Turks ~ 2016
5:17 am Scrap.edx ~ “Where Are You Hiding?” ~ Camo Cuts (split 12″ w/ Sorehead) ~ livevil ~ 2007
5:22 am T_A_M & Zubuntu ~ “Chim Richalds” ~ mp3 ~ Sabacan Records ~ 2013
5:27 am SineRider ~ “Birdcall” ~ Seconds Minutes (new) ~ Sun Sea Sky Productions ~ 2016
5:34 am Meat Beat Manifesto ~ “Not Playing God (Funny Noises Mix)” ~ split 12″ w/ The Mellowtrons ~ Skam ~ 1998
5:41 am CoH ~ “OKA” ~ Z-Rated ~ Rotorelief ~ 1996
5:46 am Blochemy ~ “Voem” ~ Da Mear (new) ~ Sun Sea Sky Productions ~ 2016
5:52 am Plaid ~ “Dilatone” ~ The Digging Remedy (new) ~ Warp ~ 2016
5:55 am Dalot ~ “Her Lullaby” ~ Mutogibito (new) ~ n5MD ~ 2016
3rd album from a British techno producer who’s released music on Kompakt, Turbo, International Deejay Gigolo, etc. As with a lot of dance music producers who release tons of 12″s, he experiments a bit more on the album format. There’s dance beats, but they aren’t always upfront or propulsive. Most of the tracks aren’t geared towards the club. They’re generally around 4 or 5 minutes, with a few reaching beyond that. Vocals appear throughout the album, sometimes by Will Samson, sometimes (I’m assuming) by Sei A himself, but they aren’t always proper lyrics. The Samson tracks are certainly the most structured and lyrical ones, although “Ancestors” is darker and has less vocals, and it stands out. There’s some Burial-ish U.K. garage/dubstep flavor to opener “Always”. “Linear” takes a long time to build, with the beat coming in after 3 minutes, but it’s sounds really bubbly and atmospheric and nice. “Morning Soldier” is a nice midtempo waking-up-around-10-AM track. “Tides” is a subdued Samson tune with an uptempo electro kick. “Exit” is a whispery ambient track with a different singer, Daudi Matsiko. Album-ending “Trails of Gold” seems unassuming, but it’s a really good early IDM-sounding track.
Jerry Paper always seemed like the sort of Gary Wilson-esque outsider artist that I just couldn’t quite wrap my head around. He just never seemed like anything other than just some weird guy making ironic MIDI lounge-pop. This album is a big step up, as he’s backed by an incredible band here named Easy Feelings Unlimited. The promo sticker states that they’re “a band of jazz-trained clowns who will remain anonymous”, and as funny as that sounds, they seem versatile, creative, and even funky. Turns out they’re actually BadBadNotGood in disguise, which explains why the music’s so good. Jerry’s vocals have improved from the nonchalant shrug on some of his earlier releases. It still definitely seems like his sound, but it’s just better. I’m usually the type of snob who thinks people’s earlier, more lo-fi releases are better, but not this time. Oh, and the lyrics. They’re pretty fucked up! Very surrealist and kind of disturbing, exploring a Roger Rabbit-esque dichotomy between humans and toons. The music is somehow less cartoonish than previous Jerry Paper albums; or, rather, it’s just better animated.
The Answer Is In The Beat 