The Answer Is In The Beat

Turn To Crime: Can’t Love (Mugg & Bopp, 2014)

June 26, 2014 at 10:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

I’ve been missing out on Turn To Crime (Detroit’s Derek Stanton) until now, I’ve always heard the name mentioned but I’ve just never gotten around to seeing him or hearing his recordings. This is his first album and it’s more poppy than I expected, sounding like the solo experimental pop that it is, with repetitive drum machine rhythms and lo-fi guitars, but with a clearer pop sensibility, and some unexpectedly soulful vocals. “I” is a short organ intro, “Can’t Love” is a cool bashy-drums pop song, “Sunday’s Cool” is lo-fi garage soul, “Pine Box” is slower and sadder, “Forgiveness” is midtempo and kind of sad and soulful, and then the last 2 tracks are longer, noisier jams, with “Nightmares” being an excellent Krautrock-fuzz freakout, and “I Can’t Not Love” being a 10-minute instrumental jam.

Longmont Potion Castle: 11 (D.U. Records, 2014)

June 18, 2014 at 3:11 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Longmont Potion Castle has been on a prolific streak for a while now, regularly putting out a new album every year, each one funnier than the last. The newly released 11 (actually the 12th LPC album, counting Late Eighties Vein) marks the project’s return to the CD and tape formats, following a couple digital-only releases and the double-vinyl release of 9. This one, like most LPC releases, is pretty much non-stop ridiculousness. He calls people claiming he has a 65,000 pound battle cannon in a helicopter, asking where he should land the thing. He tells a camping store that he wants to get outfitted like a “swamp donkey”, and after he can’t get what he asks for, he asks for “holographic boots”. He gets Alex Trebek on the line with a bunch of other celebrities, claiming to be from a new show called What’s Crackin’. He does his UPS guy bit, telling someone he’s going to deliver them Tasmanian syrup on dry ice. He talks to an Obama-hating Fox News reporter, claiming to be from the NAACP, asking for donations to What’s Crackin’. Best of all is the 11 minutes he spends calling people up claiming to be “your new neighbor”, asking how he can cry more of his own natural tears. That one just hits home because I think I’ve somehow lost the ability to cry tears and sometimes wonder how I can do that myself. This is also one of the few calls where the people he’s calling are actually amused by his calls, and one of them asks him if he’s Longmont Potion Castle, and keeps saying “this is so awesome right now”. He’s as proficient as ever with manipulating his voice and coming up with ridiculous fake names, and he calls people on Skype and when they say they’re going to report his number or track him he nonchalantly goes “oh don’t do that”. The last few LPC albums have included links to bonus tracks with the digital tracklist insert, and this album includes the bonus tracks as a bonus disc. There’s only a handful of tracks on this disc, but the highlight is when he claims to be from “Golf Wolf Magazine”, and repeatedly asks the guy he’s calling how he’s doing, who keeps replying “I’m unbelievable, but if you keep calling, I’ll call the police”. He also claims to be a former coach for the Denver Broncos, and calls some guy who hates football asking for input. Oh, and as usual, there’s some thrash songs, some of which have dense sample collages, and one of which samples the infamous “Tight Bros” phone conversation between two guys talking about which classic rock guitarist is better (“I was flipping on acid!”). It looks like the page that had the physical CD and tape versions isn’t available (maybe they sold out already) but you can always buy a download here. Give this man all the moneys or he’s gonna whoop your ass. How does that sound?

Venetian Snares: My Love Is A Bulldozer (Planet Mu, 2014)

June 18, 2014 at 2:25 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

10 years ago it seemed like Snares had a new record out every other week, but as of late he’s been quiet enough that this is his first proper album in 4 years, not counting side projects Last Step, Speed Dealer Moms and Poemss, and a few EPs. This album brings together many of the hallmarks of his sound; orchestral strings, rave synths, spastic breakcore beats, jazzy drums and vocal samples, and an increased use of his own crooning vocals. This is easily one of his most personal albums to date. “1000 Years” darts between sublime feather-floating and furious screaming mayhem, with lyrics about twisted scientists, punching dragons and tearing evil wizards in half. “Your Smiling Face” is a spare trip-hop love song, with Snares repeatedly exclaiming “Girl, I was born to kiss your smiling face”, followed by an excited “WOOOOOOO!!!” “My Love is A Bulldozer” is another tall-tale fantasy love song, featuring some of the most detailed, lopsided beat programming he’s done yet, and taking it to further levels of ridiculousness by repeatedly crooning “only you can make my dick feel like this”. The album’s second half is less vocal-driven (other than the dirge “Too Far Across”), but still is chock-full of pulverized beats and intricate melodies, and a classical guitar instrumental called “8am Union Station”. The album ends with the bombastic brass/string finale of “Your Blanket”. All I can say is that I can’t tell you how much I need this album in my life right now.

Lone: Reality Testing (R&S, 2014)

June 13, 2014 at 10:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Ever since 2010’s astounding Emerald Fantasy Tracks, Lone has been creating a grin-inducing sort of dance music reminiscent of 808 State at their most sunny and tropical (“Pacific”, “Plan 9”), Orbital at their most chiming (“Chime” of course), and Underground Resistance in their more deep-house mode (Galaxy 2 Galaxy). In 2011, Lone found a natural home at R&S Records, who have released far too many golden classic dance records than I have time to even start listing here. Reality Testing is another album of positive, timeless dance music, influenced by ’90s British and Detroit techno at its most warm and melodic, but there’s also several excursions into dusty, downtempo instrumental hip-hop, in line with Lone’s earlier material. The styles cross-pollinate, however, with Mike Paradinas-like melodies threading through the dusty hip-hop bounce of “2 Is 8”, or the samples speaking of “reality real” during the broken-beat shuffle of “Restless City”. The classy house groove of “Airglow Fires” even has a Dilla-esque coda before the next track “Coincidences” begins, and flips a similar synth sound from the previous track to a mellower hip-hop rhythm. The album feels a bit like a battle between two personalities, and it’s hard to say which one wins out because he’s just so good at both. The album’s last few tracks see a few clouds start to block the sun, with some slightly more growling synths creeping into “Vengeance Video”. Then “Stuck” is a subdued ambient piece with a distressing looped sample about a man who loses everything; “everything is so fucked up, I can’t begin to begin.” “Cutched Under” ends the album with more of a blue tone than usual for his tracks, with ghostly vocals and nightfallen synth pads. Not the most cohesive or consistent Lone album, but the music is still definitely way above average.