Rephlex is apparently defunct now, but IDM’s hardcore elite will never go away. Cylob’s been releasing music on his own label since 2007 anyway, and this his second release for Power Vacuum. As one might expect, it’s full of squirming, elastic synth sounds and jittery beats. Some of it sounds like LFO wired on a bit too much caffeine, other times it’s splattery electro. “Rosetta” is the EP’s “pretty” track, and even that seems to hyperventilate with the beats getting more skittery as the track progresses. The track title “Pulp the Bass” tells you what you’re in for, as it seems to squeeze as much digital juice out of the spasmodic bass sounds as possible. These are grotesque, bizarre creations that are simply too weird and mutated to work on any sane dance floor, and that’s exactly why they’re prime IDM.
Kinda chillwave dreampop stuff. “#1” is like a chillwave version of some Dark Side Of The Moon melodies (just try singing “Us & Them” along with the beginning). “Realize” is like chill-surfguitar-Moroder (I’m thinking the “Call Me” rhythm). Other songs do the kind of hushed Beach House thing. “Dust” and “I’m Calling You From My Dreams” do big drums and epic synth melodies. “Summer Ending” is a pleasant light synth chillwave beat thing, it’s nice and summery. Last track is kind of snoozy but it’s short. Decent overall.
Male/female garage rock duo from Madison, WI. Not as back-to-basics as you might expect for a garage rock duo, there’s acoustic guitars and shakers and synths and other layered instruments. “Channeling Spiral Stairs” is a straight-up Pavement homage with violin for some reason, and it actually works really well. “Darkness” also has violin and it’s kind of slower and gothier, and that works surprisingly well too. Most of this band’s songs are pretty short (a minute or two long, except “My Bad” which is over 4) so they try out an idea and move on to the next one and I like that.
This show explored the vast catalog of the late Dieter Moebius and also featured live performances by Qixoni and Bit Mummy. Hour 1
3:01 AM Eno/Moebius/Roedelius ~ By This River ~ Before And After Science ~ EG
3:04 AM Harmonia ~ Watusi ~ Musik Von Harmonia ~ Brain
3:10 AM Cluster ~ Caramel ~ Zuckerzeit ~ Brain
3:13 AM Cluster ~ Zum Wohl ~ Sowiesoso ~ Sky
3:20 AM Moebius ~ Turbo ~ Tonspuren ~ Sky
3:25 AM Harmonia 76 ~ Almost ~ Tracks & Traces ~ Ryko
3:30 AM Moebius ~ Nervos ~ Begegnungen ~ Sky
3:33 AM Cluster ~ Breitengrad 20 ~ Grosses Wasser ~ Sky
3:37 AM Moebius & Plank ~ Infiltration ~ Material ~ Sky
3:45 AM Harmonia ~ Gollum ~ Deluxe ~ Brain
3:50 AM Cluster ~ Georgel ~ Cluster II ~ Brain
3:55 AM Eno/Moebius/Roedelius ~ Base & Apex ~ After the Heat ~ Sky Hour 2
4:00 AM Moebius & Beerbohm ~ Doppelschnitt ~ Double Cut ~ Sky
4:21 AM Cluster & Eno ~ Steinsame ~ Cluster & Eno ~ Sky
4:25 AM Moebius/Plank/Neumeier ~ Search Zero ~ Zero Set ~ Sky
4:34 AM Moebius & Roedelius ~ Es War Einmal ~ Begegnungen II ~ Sky
4:39 AM Cluster ~ So Ney ~ Qua ~ Nepenthe
4:43 AM Harmonia ~ Dino ~ Musik Von Harmonia ~ Brain
4:46 AM Cluster ~ James ~ Zuckerzeit ~ Brain
4:49 AM Moebius & Plank ~ Rastakraut Pasta ~ Rastakraut Pasta ~ Sky
4:56 AM Moebius ~ Etwas ~ Tonspuren ~ Sky Hour 3
5:00 AM Harmonia ~ Ohrwurm ~ Musik Von Harmonia ~ Brain
5:04 AM Qixoni ~ LIVE IN STUDIO PERFORMANCE!!!
5:26 AM Harmonia ~ Sehr Kosmisch ~ Musik Von Harmonia ~ Brain
5:35 AM Bit Mummy ~ LIVE IN STUDIO PERFORMANCE!!!
5:49 AM Harmonia ~ Ahoi! ~ Musik Von Harmonia ~ Brain
5:54 AM Harmonia ~ Veterano ~ Musik Von Harmonia ~ Brain
5:57 AM Harmonia ~ Hausmusik ~ Musik Von Harmonia ~ Brain
Don Joyce is dead. Over The Edge will be no more after this month. My life is not the same. Hour 1
10:00 PM Negativland ~ Michael Jackson ~ Escape From Noise ~ Seeland
10:03 PM Negativland ~ An Actual Attack ~ Ikebana: Merzbow’s Amlux Rebuilt, Reused and Recycled ~ Important
10:07 PM Negativland ~ Truth In Advertising ~ 7″ ~ Eerie Materials
10:11 PM Negativland ~ A Big 10-8 Place Part One ~ A Big 10-8 Place ~ Seeland
10:24 PM Negativland ~ Clowns & Ballerinas ~ A Big 10-8 Place ~ Seeland
10:25 PM Negativland ~ Please Don’t Sue Us ~ Fair Use ~ Seeland
10:29 PM Negativland ~ Gimme The Mermaid ~ Fair Use ~ Seeland
10:34 PM Negativland ~ Why Is This Commercial? ~ Dispepsi ~ Seeland
10:36 PM Negativland ~ Our National Anthem ~ Free ~ Seeland
10:41 PM Negativland ~ Squant ~ Over The Edge Vol. 5: Crosley Bendix Radio Reviews ~ Seeland
10:49 PM Negativland ~ This Disco’s Out Of Sight, A Lot About Mucus, Sammy The Whammy, A Prayer To O.T.E., LIFE’s Unanswered Questions, No Other Possibility, Etc. ~ Over The Edge Vol. 1 1/2: The Starting Line ~ Seeland Hour 2
11:01 PM Negativland ~ I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Special Edit Radio Mix) ~ These Guys Are From England And Who Gives A Shit ~ Seelard
11:07 PM Negativland ~ Then ~ Guns ~ SST
11:15 PM Negativland ~ Helter Stupid Prologue ~ Helter Stupid ~ Seeland
11:19 PM Negativland ~ Helter Stupid ~ Helter Stupid ~ Seeland
11:36 PM Negativland ~ Jolly Green Giant ~ Happy Heroes ~ Seeland
11:44 PM Negativland ~ Dick Is Dead ~ Over The Edge Vol. 4: Dick Vaughn’s Moribund Music Of The ’70s ~ Seeland
A sequel to one of last year’s best albums (with easily one of the best album covers of all time), this is the third (as far as I know) installment of the circuit-fried glitch project of the artist otherwise known as Susan Balmar. This one’s on a different Bandcamp than the previous two, the comprehensibility-is-far-beside-the-point Psalmus Diuersae. The label has a penchant for removing material or changing track or release or artist titles without warning (the second /f album seemed to only be up for a few days before disappearing), and of course there’s no way to tell who’s actually creating any of these sounds. Most of the sounds are fascinating, though, going beyond the usual eccojam-muzak cliches of vaporwave into something that sounds more futuristic and, well, not just like taking smooth jazz and slowing it down without altering it much. /pq:c covers a nice range from MIDI lullabys to scrambling glitch collages to Schematic-y IDM to slivers of E2-E4-like melodies. I continue to be totally in awe of this project, I think whoever this artist is, they’re one of the best ones doing crazy glitch stuff right now. Available on Bandcamp.
This one immediately caught my attention because of the artist name, but the music is even way better than that. Really noisy, glitchy, messy, distorted, tape-damaged minimal-synth/industrial with Krautrock rhythms and ambient passages. It’s amorphous and unpredictable and it’s beyond awesome. I can’t wait to hear more from this artist. A must-download (and it’s free!) from Placenta Recordings.
This is the type of hypnotic ambient glitch album that immediately catches my attention as soon as it begins (Fourcolor also comes to mind). It seems like it’s standing still but it’s always flickering and slowly weaving in and out of soothing textures and droning notes. There’s natural recordings, it sounds like there’s some dripping or flowing water and the sounds of seeds (the physical CD comes packaged with Japanese cherry tree seeds) but it’s the drones and glitches that hook me. This whole album is seriously lovely.
Austin-based duo Twigs & Yarn’s debut album on flau caught me by surprise when it came out in 2012. Its glitchy plunderphonic folk-pop sounded fresh and resonant, and non-album single “Yuurei” was even dreamier. Their second album is a limited CD-r release on Eilean Rec. and is a bit closer to pure ambient than their debut, but there’s still plenty of subtle field recordings interwoven with fragile electronically-enhanced folk songs. “In The Valley” is just super lovely. Some of the songs are loopy and rhythmic, and others get swept away into a lush, richly vegetated environment. Really incredible, I recommend this duo highly. The album’s sold out physically but it’s still available digitally on Bandcamp.
Debut full-length from a Portland-based artist who has spend time in the Chicago jazz scene and has produced this impressive spacey electronic jazz album. Really fluid and abstract yet tightly controlled. Belongs in the same conversation as Dave Douglas’ recent collaboration with Shigeto or Justin Walter’s album on Kranky, or any of the jazzier excursions affiliated with Brainfeeder and the like. It clearly sounds like jazz, and can be enjoyed by open-minded jazz listeners of old, but it has a modern sensibility and adventurous production, and isn’t afraid to have glitchy electronics (such as “No End”) or hip-hop-influenced rhythms. The title track is the only one with vocals, which are kind of slowed and dirgey. Otherwise, it’s a really intriguing set of instrumental post-jazz explorations. Available on Bandcamp.
The Answer Is In The Beat 