The Answer Is In The Beat

Ross Manning: LED 10″ EP (self-released, 2016)

May 10, 2016 at 9:12 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Ross Manning: LED 10″ EP

I’m being lazy and just cut-and-pasting from the Discogs entry, because I’m not even going to attempt to paraphrase the amazing concept of this release: “This is a recording of a private performance by Ross Manning in October 2015. All sounds are the product of electrical current generated by solar cells exposed to readymade light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In a darkened space, four cells suspended on strings were set in oscillating motion. Beneath them the artist placed small artificial light sources of different colours – yellow, green, blue and red – one at a time. The resulting electrical signals, amplified and sent to one of four speakers assembled in quadrophonic array, varied with each cell’s changing exposure to the LEDs, creating dramatic modulations in volume, panning effects and polyrhythms. By adding and repositioning LEDs closer to and further away from the freely swinging cells, Manning played his optical-audio instrument live, building a changing sound mass from the individual cells. No other sound sources or effects were employed in the single-take recording split over sides A and B of this LP. Mark Gomes, 2016.”

Basically: 20 minutes of multi-layered crazy scrambling generated electrical tones. Sounds very random and chaotic, but somehow there’s a strange anti-rhythm to it. The second side is slightly more sparse, it seems to flicker out near the end. But then it gets really interesting there, it has these cool Autechre-y shredding tones.

Norman Westberg: MRI (Room40, 2016)

May 10, 2016 at 9:08 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Norman Westberg: MRI

Second Room40 release by the Swans/Foetus guitarist. The first 2 of these tracks were released on a CDr in 2012, but the last track is new. Very different than Swans or Foetus, this is textured guitar drone. Sometimes the loop pedal effects manage to create a breeze-like rhythm which carries the pieces. “410 Stairs” is the most melodic and pretty of the three tracks. “Lost Mine” is softer and feels like shuddering wind at the beginning. Not what you might expect if you’re familiar with the bands he’s been in, but it’s pretty lovely nonetheless.

Cloud Becomes Your Hand: Rest in Fleas (Northen Spy, 2016)

May 10, 2016 at 9:03 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Cloud Becomes Your Hand: Rest in Fleas

Second proper album from a Brooklyn indie-prog band who have played here in Ann Arbor at Far House. Quite fun and creative. Kind of cartoony melodies sometimes, but it doesn’t seem jokey or novelty-like. It also doesn’t seem overly cutesy or “quirky” or “whimsical”, but it’s still lighthearted and playful and serious-but-not. Violins, colorful percussion, woodwinds, synths, new wave, RIO, etc. “Bridge of Ignorance Returns” is kind of a screwy Krautrock song. “Aye Aye” has a hint of country-ish slide guitar. “Other Suns” is a short moody instrumental, and is one of the album’s only calm moments. “Garden of the Ape” is kind of a demented fractured surf-ish song. The whole album is pretty short, about 30 minutes, but it packs a weird, squishy punch.

Minihorse: More Time EP (Shapeshade Records, 2016)

May 10, 2016 at 8:58 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Minihorse: More Time EP

Debut EP from an Ypsi-based group mining the sad, ‘gazey sounds of the ’90s for their fuzzy alt-pop songs. For fans of Failure, Hum, Pinback, certain elements of the first Weezer album, and sitting home alone, drinking. Okay, just kidding, it’s not THAT depressing. There’s controlled distortion and some bendy guitar sounds, but the vocals are clear and coherent (sometimes there’s even harmonies). “More Time” actually sounds closer to a very straightforward, non-avant Sonic Youth. “Under My Head” is sadder and prettier and has some sort of Mellotron-like soft keyboard drone. Playing around the area often, including a show with Fred Thomas @ UFO Factory in Detroit on 5/19!

Mazut: #1 CDr (BDTA, 2015)

May 10, 2016 at 8:31 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Mazut: #1 CDr

This Polish duo recorded their hour-long debut in one take after two years of conceptualizing the band without actually creating anything. The music often consists of simple acid techno sequences and grubby beats, with found tapes, radio transmissions, and toy instruments added into the mix. Some of it is prime industrial noise-techno which immediately hits the pleasure centers, while other tracks go on longer and are more subtle, awash in haunted desolateness. Some of the tracks use the same rhythms, so it does feel like a spontaneous jam, but it’s not anything to complain about. “Full Martin Heemeyer” has a low, thumping beat and big, expansive bass tone designed to give you the heebie-jeebies. Fans of Frak should be all over this one. It’s probably sold out physically, but it’s up on Bandcamp.

Show #341 – 5/7/16

May 7, 2016 at 2:31 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

Hour 1
2:02 am Andy Stott ~ “Over” ~ Too Many Voices (new) ~ Modern Love ~ 2016
2:06 am Tourist ~ “Foolish” ~ U (new) ~ Monday ~ 2016
2:10 am Five Star Hotel (local) ~ “Damaged Vessel” ~ Body Absolution (new) ~ Visual Disturbances ~ 2016
2:14 am Antwood ~ “Spirit Fabric” ~ Virtuous.scr (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2016
2:19 am Pattern Behavior ~ “The Next Best Thing (Somatic Responses Industriomix)” ~ The Next Best Thing (Somatic Responses Remixes) (new) ~ Component ~ 2016
2:25 am A Sagittariun ~ “Chapter & Verse” ~ Elasticity (new) ~ Elastic Dreams ~ 2016
2:31 am Vend ~ “Ten” ~ Two Point Two ~ 12k/Line ~ 2003
2:37 am Ian William Craig ~ “A Single Hope” ~ Centres (new) ~ FatCat ~ 2016
2:43 am Michael Stearns ~ “Movement 3 – (Continued) – Pastorale” ~ Chronos ~ Sonic Atmospheres ~ 1985
2:48 am Klaus Schulze ~ “Mindphaser (excerpt)” ~ Mindphaser ~ Brain ~ 1976
2:58 am Fumio Miyashita ~ “God’s Touch” ~ Journey to Space ~ Relativity ~ 1984
Hour 2
3:02 am Conrad Schnitzler ~ “side A (excerpt)” ~ Concert ~ Idiosyncratics ~ 1985
3:07 am Cluster ~ “Avanti” ~ Grosses Wasser ~ Sky ~ 1979
3:12 am Mark Lane ~ “White Glove” ~ Who’s Really Listening? ~ Idiosyncratics ~ 1984
3:16 am Die Doraus & Die Marinas ~ “Sandkorn” ~ Die Doraus Und Die Marinas Geben Offenherzige Antworten Auf Brennende Fragen ~ Bureau B ~ 1983
3:18 am Palais Schaumburg ~ “Morgen wird der Wald gefegt” ~ Palais Schaumburg ~ Bureau B ~ 1981
3:23 am Blanche Blanche Blanche ~ “Heat Wilson’s Goal” ~ 2wice 2wins ~ Feeding Tube ~ 2011
3:26 am Jackie Lynn ~ “Chicken Picken” ~ Jackie Lynn (new) ~ Thrill Jockey ~ 2016
3:30 am Broadcast ~ “Living Room” ~ Work and Non Work ~ Warp ~ 1997
3:33 am Dzang ~ “Need Tongue” ~ Lotion (new) ~ Dzang Recs ~ 2015
3:41 am Laraaji ~ “The Dance #2” ~ Ambient 3: Day of Radiance ~ Glitterbeat ~ 1980
3:51 am Matthewdavid’s Mindflight ~ “Ocean Dream Symphony” ~ Trust The Guide And Glide (new) ~ Leaving Records ~ 2016
Hour 3
4:00 am Rob Mazurek & Emmett Kelly ~ “Bright Nights Havoc” ~ Alien Flower Sutra (new) ~ International Anthem ~ 2016
4:03 am Nickolas Mohanna ~ “Voice Contraband” ~ Mantis (new) ~ Preservation ~ 2016
4:10 am Wanda Group ~ “A Bag of Warm Milk (excerpt)” ~ Central Heating (new) ~ Opal Tapes ~ 2016
4:17 am $3.33 ~ “Just a Dip,” ~ Just a Dip, No Why. (new) ~ Dzang Recs ~ 2016
4:34 am rbchmbrs ~ “Act I – “At the Circus”” ~ Good Night Nurse EP (new) ~ .oldneon ~ 2016
4:42 am AshTreJinkins ~ “Next Area 1” ~ Zone of the Enders (new) ~ New Los Angeles ~ 2016
4:45 am Suzi Analogue ~ “I Gett Itt” ~ Zonez V. 1 (new) ~ Never Normal ~ 2016
4:49 am Echaskech ~ “Round of Ten” ~ Certainty of Tides EP (new) ~ Just Music ~ 2016
4:52 am Housemeister ~ “Multiversum” ~ Transfer (new) ~ Detroit Underground ~ 2016
4:58 am Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer ~ “Draw” ~ Twine (new) ~ 12k ~ 2015
Hour 4
5:02 am Gunslinger-R ~ “Moudamepopotan” ~ 00’s Anison Hit Parade ~ The Worst ~ 2015
5:05 am J:Kenzo ~ “Skatta” ~ 12″ (new) ~ Cosmic Bridge ~ 2016
5:09 am Ital ~ “Ital’s Theme” ~ 12″ ~ 100% Silk ~ 2011
5:15 am Wire ~ “Numbered” ~ Nocturnal Koreans (new) ~ Pink Flag ~ 2016
5:18 am Grauzone ~ “Eisbär” ~ Aus Grauer Städte Mauern – Die Neue Deutsche Welle 1977-85 Teil 4 ~ Bear Family ~ 1981
5:22 am Serge Gainsbourg ~ “Ford Mustang” ~ Comic Strip ~ Mercury ~ 1968
5:25 am Chris Cohen ~ “As If Apart” ~ As If Apart (new) ~ Captured Tracks ~ 2016
5:28 am Steve Roach/Robert Logan ~ “Moment’s Notice” ~ Second Nature (new) ~ Projekt ~ 2016
5:36 am Horse Lords ~ “Truthers” ~ Interventions (new) ~ Northern Spy ~ 2016
5:42 am Joanna Brouk ~ “Fire Breath” ~ Hearing Music (new) ~ Numero Group ~ 2016
5:49 am Christoph Heemann ~ “Über Den Umgang Mit Umgebung Und Andere Versuche Teil 2” ~ Lebenserinnerungen Eines Lepidopterologen ~ Robot Records ~ 1991
5:56 am Tim Hecker ~ “Violet Monumental II” ~ Love Streams (new) ~ 4AD ~ 2016

Crush Collision 5/5/16

May 6, 2016 at 9:04 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Hour 1
10:01 pm Andy Stott ~ “On My Mind”
10:07 pm Form a Log ~ “Patriot”
10:10 pm Bobby Draino & D. Tiffany ~ “Arctic Travel”
10:17 pm Deep88 ~ “Rotation”
10:21 pm Ryan Huber ~ “Abbas”
10:24 pm Metrist ~ “Knights of the Templar, Here Comes Neil”
10:28 pm Aoki Takamasa ~ “Rhythm Variation 06”
10:32 pm Logan Takahashi ~ “Rekr”
10:36 pm MGUN ~ “Bed & Breakfast”
10:41 pm Lawrence ~ “Blue Mountain”
10:46 pm Munro ~ “Lilo Times (32)”
10:49 pm J.Wiltshire ~ “Decision Day”
10:52 pm Mak & Pasteman ~ “T2000”
10:58 pm MM Studio ~ “Other Dub”
Hour 2
11:00 pm Arad ~ “Sliding Ladders”
11:05 pm Mike Parker ~ “Through_Cylinders”
11:10 pm Discrete Circuit ~ “Redial”
11:13 pm Shift Work ~ “Hard Currency”
11:16 pm ROD ~ “3yr”
11:22 pm Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland ~ “Lightyears”
11:27 pm Barker & Baumecker ~ “Trans_it”
11:33 pm T_A_M ~ “September’s Silk”
11:36 pm Dan Curtin ~ “Mind Sweep”
11:42 pm Nettling ~ “Cycle”
11:46 pm Positive Centre ~ “The Burin”
11:51 pm Dax J ~ “The Invisible Man”
11:56 pm L Neils ~ “Puzzlebox”

Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer: Twine (12k, 2015)

May 5, 2016 at 7:58 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer: Twine

Taylor Deupree is a longtime master of glitchy minimalism, with dozens of albums to his credit. Marcus Fischer is a relative newcomer, but he’s already building up an impressive discography. This is their second collaboration, and it consists of warm, loud, hissy tape loops. You definitely get the feeling that you’re listening to physical artifacts, it feels like the reel-to-reel tapes are turning right in front of your ears. It’s the type of ambient music that it seems like you can pick up and hold, but you have to be careful because you don’t want to break it or get it dirty (or get your hands dirty, maybe). The opening track has a lighter, more pleasant mood than the rest, which can seem kind of sad and hollow. The final track is focused around soft acoustic guitar (or maybe banjo?) strums. Very delicate and lovely.

Nickolas Mohanna: Mantis tape (Preservation, 2016)

May 5, 2016 at 7:04 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Nickolas Mohanna: Mantis tape

Five years after his excellent CD Reflectors, New York’s Nickolas Mohanna returns to the Australian label Preservation with this incredible tape called Mantis. The album starts out with dazzling synth arpeggios, and it would be awesome if that’s all it were, but he takes it way further than that, adding cymbals, found sounds, city noises, eerie voices, acoustic instruments, sampled tapes and vinyl, and a plethora of other enchanting sounds. It just keeps going further, deeper and more haunted. Forgotten records melt away, guitars singe and simmer, and it almost sounds like there’s some Laraaji-inspired zither or dulcimer action going on. Each side plays as a continuous collage/dream, and it’s easy to get immersed/lost in this ever-shifting, curious sound world. Mohanna has been doing some truly amazing, impressive things for a while now, everything I’ve heard by him so far as been amazing. This tape, and this artist, deserve attention.