The Answer Is In The Beat

Illuha: Akari (12k, 2014)

August 30, 2014 at 1:53 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Illuha: Akari

This is Tokyo-based duo Illuha’s third album, all of which are on Taylor Deupree’s 12k label. The duo creates slowly drifting electro-acoustic minimalism, utilizing dozens of instruments, found sounds, and field recordings. The 5 pieces on here slowly unfold with layers of piano, fluttering backwards guitar plucks, controlled noise bursts, and measured bass notes holding things together in space. Things start out pretty sparse, especially on “Vertical Staves Of Line Drawings And Pointillism”, but around the middle of “The Relationship Of Gravity To The Persistence Of Sound” there starts to be a more expansive, encompassing sound. “Structures Based On The Plasticity Of Sphere Surface Tension” brings in nature sounds, but it’s hard to tell exactly what they are, it sounds like a combination of birds, water, rushing wind, and maybe others, along with more drifty Eno-ish ambience. “Requiem For Relative Hyperbolas Of Amplified And Decaying Waveforms” has similar rolling drone, but climaxes after 5 minutes with a wave of distorted noise which sweeps through and ramps up the intensity, taking things closer to Tim Hecker or Lawrence English than earlier moments on the album, before winding down to a close like an exhilarated sigh of relief.

Show #254 – 8/30/14

August 30, 2014 at 12:08 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

Mic break sounds = John Arndt: Field Recordings From The Great Salt Lake Desert
3:00 AM Lexis ~ Hypnotise (Autechre Remix) ~ 12″ ~ Certificate 18
3:06 AM Animals On Wheels ~ Shoddy Kicks ~ Designs And Mistakes ~ Ninja Tune
3:11 AM Autechre ~ Uviol ~ Confield ~ Warp
3:19 AM GGMAH ~ Space Jam ~ Yearbook Detroit 2014 ~ ZZZ Tapes
3:27 AM Insect Deli ~ No More Snacks ~ No More Snacks ~ 0.01% Records
3:30 AM Seagulls Fucking Seagulls ~ side A ~ Ma Boii ~ NOG Records
3:35 AM Sonic Subjunkies ~ Djungelstadt ~ Rough And Fast ~ Riot Beats
3:39 AM Eight Frozen Modules ~ Garlic Catalyst ~ Random Activities And Broken Sunsets ~ Phthalo
3:45 AM Redsk ~ Ignore Your FM Radio ~ split tape w/ Seagulls Fucking Seagulls ~ NOG Records
3:49 AM M.B. ~ Eight Minutes And Twenty-Seven Seconds ~ An Hour With… ~ Placenta Recordings
3:56 AM De Leon ~ side A track 2 ~ tape ~ Aught
4:05 AM Illuha ~ Structures Based On The Plasticity Of Sphere Surface Tension ~ Akari ~ 12k
4:12 AM Moskitoo ~ Wham + Whammy ~ Drape ~ 12k
4:16 AM Taylor Deupree ~ Journal (Rough) ~ Lost & Compiled ~ 12k
4:21 AM Creme Betweens ~ In The Land Of Magick ~ Life Blood ~ Life Like
4:25 AM Babydown ~ Glasgow ~ Life Blood ~ Life Like
4:36 AM Botanist ~ Gleditsia ~ VI: Flora ~ The Flenser
4:38 AM Half Japanese ~ Overjoyed And Thankful ~ Overjoyed ~ Joyful Noise
4:40 AM Gary The Squirrel ~ Squirrelcore U.S.A. ~ Two Sides Of The Squirrel EP ~ WFMU
4:42 AM PC Worship ~ Hawl ~ Social Rust ~ Northern Spy
4:42 AM Music Blues ~ Hopelessness And Worthlessness ~ Things Haven’t Gone Well ~ Thrill Jockey
4:45 AM White Hills ~ Spirit Of Exile ~ Glitter Glamour Atrocity ~ Thrill Jockey
4:50 AM Mirel Wagner ~ The Devil’s Tongue ~ When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day ~ Sub Pop
4:52 AM Genlevel ~ Light Year (Wire Edit) ~ The Wire Tapper 35 ~ The Wire
4:56 AM FaltyDL ~ Nine ~ In The Wild ~ Ninja Tune
5:02 AM Jim-E Stack ~ Below ~vTell Me I Belong ~ Innovative Leisure
5:06 AM Mndsgn ~ Camelblues ~ Yawn Zen ~ Stones Throw
5:08 AM The Bug ~ Dirty ~ Angels & Devils ~ Ninja Tune
5:11 AM Moiré ~ Mr Figure ~ Shelter ~ Werkdiscs
5:16 AM Lawrence English ~ Graceless Hunter ~ Wilderness Of Mirrors ~ Room40
5:21 AM Alienslang ~ Shredding Stained Glass ~ Hall Of Tongues ~ Placenta Recordings
5:25 AM Harry Knuckles & ZZZINDRI!!! ~ track 2 ~ Harry Knuckles & ZZZINDRI!!! ~ Placenta Recordings
5:28 AM Sete Star Sept ~ Not Be Released From Suffering ~ Messenger From The Darkness ~ Placenta Recordings
5:36 AM Gen Ken Montgomery ~ Treat The Hell Out Of It ~ Birds + Machines ~ Pogus Productions
5:39 AM Enrique Pinilla ~ Prisma ~ Tensions At The Vanguard: New Music From Peru (1948-1979) ~ Pogus Productions
5:45 AM Pauline Oliveros ~ Cyber Talk ~ Quartet For The End Of Space ~ Pogus Productions
5:52 AM Robin Hayward ~ Travel Stain ~ Nouveau Saxhorn Nouveau Basse ~ Pogus Productions

Crush Collision 8/28/14

August 30, 2014 at 11:40 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Hour 1
10:00 PM Biblo ~ Titled01
10:04 PM Moiré ~ Theme
10:08 PM The Magnecian ~ Nostalgia
10:13 PM Somatic Responses ~ Doepbrute
10:19 PM Telegraphy ~ Sunday Outing In June
10:24 PM Snuff Crew ~ Sick World
10:30 PM DJ 3000 ~ Shota (Shawn Snell Remix)
10:35 PM Oscar Mulero ~ Particle Repositioning
10:41 PM Ikonika ~ Mega Church (Perc Remix)
10:46 PM Martyn ~ Empty Mind
10:51 PM FaltyDL ~ Do Me
10:55 PM Detromental ~ Its Dentromental
Hour 2
11:00 PM Synthek & Audiolouis ~ Over The Edge
11:05 PM Teste ~ The Wipe (Edit Select 2014 Edit)
11:12 PM Esteban Adame ~ Out To Get It
11:15 PM Marcelus ~ Shine
11:22 PM Korma ~ Chain 2.0
11:26 PM Jeremiah R ~ Exile
11:30 PM Live Island ~ King (Home Dub)
11:33 PM Walton ~ Aggy
11:36 PM kmeyer ~ Dennis
11:39 PM Strategy ~ Mesohippus
11:46 PM Lakker ~ Pier
11:50 PM Ross Phinellas ~ Aboriginal
11:53 PM dynArec ~ Re-Automated
11:56 PM unknown artist ~ Atlas

Souls Of Mischief: There Is Only Now (Linear Labs, 2014)

August 24, 2014 at 11:51 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Souls Of Mischief: There Is Only Now

Souls Of Mischief will probably always be best known for the title track to their classic debut 93 Til Infinity. Their newest album has a similar timeless-yet-bound-to-the-mid-’90s feel; even though it’s called There Is Only Now, the now in question is 1994, which is when the album takes place. It’s structured like a radio broadcast, featuring frequent radio drops/IDs from A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammed, but it has a blaxploitation-like story line. Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes make appearances, but their contributions are much closer to their early-career incarnations than their more pop-oriented material. Busta Rhymes’ “Womack’s Lament” in particular is a frantic, cartoonishly violent caper, very reminiscent of the exaggerated-but-not-horrorcore-overkill violence of SOM’s debut, or even De La Soul Is Dead. Adrian Younge (who produced the latest Delfonics album) produced this album, and the music is entirely live instrumentation, no samples or programmed beats. The songs have tight, jazzy, funky instrumentation and are far more concerned with creating a narrative than coming up with easily hummable pop hooks. A creative album that’s highly enjoyable whether or not you’re familiar with this group and their legacy.

Half Japanese: Overjoyed (Joyful Noise, 2014)

August 24, 2014 at 8:59 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Half Japanese: Overjoyed

Half Japanese (who formed in Ann Arbor in the ’70s) have been one of my favorite bands ever since I started listening to them when I was in high school. This is their first album in 13 years, but their first album that I’ve actually heard since 1997’s epic Heaven Sent (which consists of an hour-long song, plus several brief variations on its theme). It’s been said that Half Japanese songs are either about monsters or girls, but most of Jad Fair’s work is simply about his pure, unbridled enthusiasm for life, and that’s entirely what this album is about. Instead of the cacophonous teen-angst noise freakouts of their debut 1/2 Gentlemen / Not Beasts, or the tender, heartfelt love songs of albums like Charmed Life, this album mostly consists of musical pep talks from Jad as he encourages you to live life to the fullest. The lyrics are typically off-the-cuff, and the music is simple, straightforward, and usually rocking (“The Time Is Now” is slower and stretches out to almost 6 minutes, a few other songs are slower too, otherwise it’s mostly mid-to-uptempo). Maybe it’s just because I’m so familiar with Jad and his work, but I just can’t help but be entertained by anything he does, I think his enthusiasm is just so infectious, rather than cloying or gimmicky. It feels geniune, he’s just being his own joyous self. So he can get away with saying things like “purrrr-fect, said the cat”, as on “We Are Sure”, in which he also refers to himself in third person as he tells you that you are great and you shouldn’t fear success, you should just do it because you’re on the right track. He can write songs about jumping into bodies of water made of chocolate as a metaphor for falling in love (as on “Each Other’s Arms”), because why not? Love is a sweet feeling. I’m happy that Jad Fair is still doing his thing after 4 decades, and that he’s still overjoyed about life, and I’m excited to see him again next month (9/7) at Trinosophes in Detroit.

Crush Collision 8/21/14

August 21, 2014 at 11:43 pm | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Crush Collision 8/21/14
10:01 PM Biblo ~ Rebound
10:04 PM Todd Osborn ~ House 117
10:10 PM Moiré ~ Stars
10:13 PM The Magnecian ~ Deleterious
10:16 PM Somatic Responses ~ Hornet Mk2
10:20 PM Subversive ~ Chainbreaker
10:23 PM Synthek & Audiolouis ~ Broken Pad
10:26 PM Edit Select & Teste ~ Ascend
10:30 PM Oscar Mulero ~ Gravity
10:36 PM DJ 3000 ~ Bridge & Burn (Keith Kemp Remix)
10:40 PM Martyn ~ Forgiveness Step 2
10:45 PM Korma ~ Chain 2.0
10:49 PM Kodomo ~ Impromptu
10:52 PM Ikonika ~ Strawberry Underlay
10:55 PM Strategy ~ Bubble N’ Snare
10:58 PM FaltyDL ~ Danger

Botanist: VI: Flora (The Flenser, 2014)

August 21, 2014 at 5:55 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Botanist: VI: Flora

Botanist is easily one of my favorite concent bands of all time. Plant-themed hammer dulcimer black metal! It’s almost too good to be true. All of the music is created by one guy, but they’re an actual band for live performances. I’ve only heart Botanist’s 2011 double(!)-album debut, but this is its 6th chapter, including an un-numbered split EP from last year. The project seems to have softened a bit since its debut. The lyrics used to be about plants taking over the world and destroying humanity (best song title: “Rhododendoom”), but this album finds Botanist at peace with his plants, and appreciating their natural beauty. The vocals here aren’t so much growled as they are whispered, and the hammer dulcimers have such interesting textures to them, sometimes they sound like layered sheets of guitar, and sometimes like pianos, and even sometimes like a harmonium or some other droning instrument. And of course there’s the hyperspeed drumming. It definitely sounds more like a band than a solo project. Unless he really is playing other instruments on this one and it just doesn’t mention it in the liner notes. Regardless, this is truly original, astounding music.

Night Of Noise 2014 #2

August 21, 2014 at 12:10 am | Posted in Night Of Noise | Leave a comment

Non-James moved back home to NY, so we had another Night Of Noise as a goodbye party. We started on August 15 at 10PM and went until 6AM. I’m not posting the first 2 hours because it was mostly just James playing CDs until more people started showing up to the studio and bringing more synths, but there were a solid few hours of several people jamming (with a few other things mixed on top). And I’m not posting the 5AM hour because that was just James with me mixing in something that’s already on the WRSU Archives page of this site, and then the last half hour is just me playing a record while James cleans up the studio. But anyway, here’s 5 hours of synth improv stuff and a few other things mixed on top. Enjoy!

Crowhurst: Crowhurst And Montage tape (Trashfuck Records, 2014)

August 17, 2014 at 9:17 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Crowhurst: Crowhurst And Montage tape

A far cry from Crowhurst’s usual noise/black-metal, this is more wacked-out, Butthole Surfers-inspired weirdo experimental rock. The first track “No Dollar Menu Items After Midnight” has spoken lyrics taken from a Yelp review of McDonald’s, and it sounds like a lost King Missile song. Fucking amazing. After that, there’s lots of backwards effects, screwed-up instructions on how to operate a compact disc, a buried reggae sample, and a bonus cover of “Sweet Leaf”, which sounds appropriately blown-out and wasted. Available for free download on Bandcamp.

Richard Carr: Music For Four Electric Violins (self-released, 2014)

August 17, 2014 at 8:44 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Richard Carr: Music For Four Electric Violins

Multi-layered, reverb/delay-utilizing compositions for modified violins. The first track reminds me of Jon Hassell, so that immediately piques my interest. Other tracks have kind of a rolling, minimalist rhythm to them, bringing to mind Steve Reich at some moments, and Dustin Wong at others. The middle of the album has calmer, more introspective pieces, but then there’s other pieces that are more effects-driven, creating multiple layers of movement using distortion and panning. Relaxing but still challenging and creative music.

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