April 20, 2022 at 10:59 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Conflict at Serenity Pools: Type A/Type B
California’s Conflict at Serenity Pools debut with two albums that roll post-punk, chillwave, shoegaze, and the psychedelic end of ’90s ambient techno into one hazy, washed-out sound. “Eat Salad” is a highlight of their ravey side, bringing to mind acts like Opus III and Ultramarine. Others like “Titanic Daddy” have funky basslines and handclap-heavy beats. “Seabird” sets swarming shoegaze guitars and multiple voices over racing new wave drums, constantly running towards the sun while high and trying not to topple over. “Bloomin'” is a steady dance instrumental that revs up and is constantly on the verge of blastoff. “Voices” is a Balearic house jam that bubbles ever upward, yet stays suspended in a perfect moment. “Through the Waves” is a flashback to the 2009 summer of chillwave, but trippier, and a reminder of how silly hipsters are for moving on from that style so quickly. The cosmic disco of “Not Dreams” slows down and gives way to the progressive electronic reflection “Inside”. “Silence Mantles” is more of an Underworld-like progressive house track that has some tantalizing vibraphone-like percussion. “Faraway” would seem like the perfect note for this to fade away on, but there’s another bubbly disco jam, “Underwater”, tucked away at the end.
April 18, 2022 at 6:46 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
yehno: Always EP
yehno’s current music represents a transition from an EDM party starter to a more introspective producer of highly detailed, emotional club music. “Reminds Me (Of Yesterday)” is an intricate, dub-soaked rhythmic shower that could soundtrack a tightly choreographed rain dance. “Always” is more of a progressive house roller with rapidly flashing voices bringing message of love — not first-time exclamations, but reminders of longtime care. “FWIW” is more of a grey area drum’n’bass cut, one that makes you feel like you’re biking through the rain really fast and everything’s a blur and you can barely process your own thoughts. Lastly, “Everyone Thinks They Care More” is a crackling dub expedition somewhat like what Pole started out doing, but more vast and aquarium-like.
April 17, 2022 at 2:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Polygraaf Discoteq: Inertia
Seattle’s
Polygraaf Discoteq create technicolor, vocoder-laced synth pop in the vein of seminal late ’70s/early ’80s acts like Gary Numan, John Foxx, Fad Gadget, Telex, and others. The music has a very scientific sound, but instead of dystopian lyrics about robots, most of their songs are about very human feelings, specifically heartache, loneliness, lost love, and the scrambled signals of digital communication. Aside from songs about real life heartbreak, there’s also “Go On”, a more hopeful, uptempo tune about new love, and the more techno-leaning “Broken Puzzles” anticipates possible new connections. One of the fastest songs, “Save Me the Last Dance”, is appropriate as the last one, with its motive of gunning it until the very end (“this is the last dance of my life”).
April 17, 2022 at 2:27 am | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment
12:00 am Ornette Coleman ~ Endless ~ Tomorrow Is The Question! ~ Contemporary Records ~ 1959
12:05 am Salah Ragab & Cairo Jazz Band ~ Dawn ~ Egypt Strut ~ Strut ~ 1974
12:13 am Violet ~ Musica Para Acordar ~ Transparências (new) ~ Rádio Quântica ~ 2022
12:17 am Earthen Sea ~ Stolen Time ~ Ghost Poems (new) ~ Kranky ~ 2022
12:20 am LEYA ~ Dankworld (Actress Remix) ~ Eyeline (new) ~ NNA Tapes ~ 2022
12:29 am Nailah Hunter ~ Forest Dark ~ single (new) ~ Leaving Records ~ 2022
12:32 am Papé Nziengui Et Son Groupe ~ Gho Minongo ~ Kadi Yombo ~ Awesome Tapes From Africa ~ 1989
12:38 am Meadow Argus ~ Archytas ~ Peristera (new) ~ self-released ~ 2022
12:42 am Sweet Trip ~ Wandering Splendor ~ Seen/Unseen (new) ~ Darla ~ 2022
12:46 am Cloakroom ~ Dottie-Back Thrush ~ Dissolution Wave (new) ~ Relapse ~ 2022
12:51 am Duster ~ Escalator ~ Together (new) ~ Numero Group ~ 2022
12:55 am Jerry Paper ~ Myopitopia ~ Free Time (new) ~ Stones Throw ~ 2022
1:00 am Homeboy Sandman ~ Keep That Same Energy ~ There In Spirit (new) ~ Mello Music Group ~ 2022
1:04 am Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul ~ Thank You ~ Topical Dancer (new) ~ Deewee ~ 2022
1:09 am Polygraaf Discoteq ~ Go On ~ Inertia (new) ~ Rainier Beat Records ~ 2022
1:14 am Conflict at Serenity Pools ~ Our Minds ~ Type B (new) ~ self-released ~ 2022
1:20 am Built to Spill ~ I Would Hurt a Fly ~ Perfect from Now On ~ Warner Bros. ~ 1997
1:28 am Michael Stearns ~ Wherever Two Or More Are Gathered… ~ Planetary Unfolding ~ Projekt ~ 1981
1:36 am Bogdan Raczynski ~ ELDDA ~ ADDLE (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2022
1:41 am Tom VR ~ October (Lone Remix) ~ Please Keep Shimmering (Remixes) (new) ~ All My Thoughts ~ 2022
1:47 am Tracing Xircles ~ Closed Circuit ~ Xenolith ~ Blue Hour Music ~ 2022
1:54 am Aquarian ~ Death, Taxes & Hanger ~ Mutations I: Death, Taxes & Hanger (new) ~ Dekmantel ~ 2022
April 16, 2022 at 3:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Glassbox: Where Is Everybody? 12″
The
new single from Toronto’s Ian Patterson captures that overwhelming feeling of being lost from everyone you hold dear, caught up in life’s rush and suddenly realizing you’re all alone. “Where Is Everybody?” is a pounding track that draws from a drum’n’bass palette, with some steely breakbeats attached to its relentless kick drums, and synths that are both ecstatic and frightful, like the best darkside. Plus there’s timestretched vocals that ask for a sign of life but end up calling into the void. “Interdimensional Cetecea” has slightly trancey jittery synths, but the beats are fast and broken, and after a short pause the breaks get absolutely ballistic. This is music that thrives at the edge of panic, but remains too strong to give in and destruct.
April 15, 2022 at 6:42 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Tracing Xircles: Xenolith
Berlin duo Tracing Xircles demonstrate their mastery of intense sound design as well as crowd-commanding rhythms on their stunning new EP. The title track to
Xenolith is a progressive breakbeat epic, with so many layers one can easily get lost in, but its rippling breaks cut a clear path. “Surface Level” is a futuristic electro track which feels more repetitive, but not in a lazy way. “Blindspot” is deep-space d’n’b which feels like a zero-gravity sword fight. “Closed Circuit” is an acid-soaked breakbeat stalker on a deadly, freewheeling mission. Unmissable.
April 14, 2022 at 7:26 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Rich Pellegrin: Passage
is a second volume of piano improvisations recorded in a church near Seattle during the same time period as Pellegrin’s
Solitude from last year. Here, the tracks are arranged into three sets so that there’s some sort of vaguely cinematic arc to them, though no explanation or suggestion is provided as to what the story could be, and it’s entirely left up to the listener’s interpretation. Most of the tracks are short, around a minute or so, and often the ones that are a bit longer leave more of an impression. “Improvisation IV” is one of the more layered, adventurous pieces here, feeling like it’s constantly averting its eyes in several directions at once. The longest one, “VIII”, is much more reserved, like a mouse afraid to crawl out of its hole in the wall. “XIV” is a piece of expertly paced trepidation, forcing you to look over your shoulder and watch your step. “XVIII” is one of the more luminous ones, and it couldn’t be more different than “XX”, an experimental piece which sounds like someone slowly sweeping the wires inside the piano rather than playing the keys. The third set is on the whole brighter and more energetic than the first two, and even when it isn’t, it seems like it’s more in focus.
April 12, 2022 at 6:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Ruby My Dear: À Dada
So now that Igorrr has crossed over into the metal world, his past collaborator Ruby My Dear seems to be picking up the torch and making wacky, genre-obliterating breakcore. Except
this album might even be more fun than anything Igorrr has ever done. Honestly, the most accurate made-up genre to file this under would have to be Itchy & Scratchy-core. It’s close to that level of sadistic glee. There’s atmospheric guitar melodies tucked away inside piledriving breakbeats, momentary bursts of death metal growling and hardwired guitars, glitchy polka horns, cartoonish vocals, and so much more. But as with everything this artist does, it is all deadly precise and extremely musical instead of just being a shitpost pileup of random samples. Even when he’s going for the funny bone or shocking you with pure nonsense, or even consciously writing lullaby-type melodies and spiking them with breakbeats, RMD’s music seems too elaborate and inspired to just write off as a novelty. I saw him at Bangface the first time I went a few years ago, but I barely remember his set. There’s no way I’m going to forget his set this year.
April 11, 2022 at 6:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Aquarian: Mutations I: Death, Taxes & Hanger
from the Berlin-based producer (and half of AQXDM) is nothing less than a molten fireball which constantly changes appearance but still retains the same power whichever state it’s in. The title track is rocket-fueled d’n’b/breakcore hurling through the galaxy, and “Rene Likes the Steak” inhabits the more cosmic side of breakbeat IDM. “Sam Handwich” is a cracking electro stormer with a repeated message that’s just a bit too obscured to understand. “Dead Whale” takes up 9 minutes, so it’s one of those tracks that asks you to come sit down and stay for a while, and when you do, your mind is gradually tilted sideways by steadily percolating acid synths and slashing breaks. I was not expecting this release to be this amazing and do not want to miss Aquarian at Dekmantel this year.
April 10, 2022 at 1:31 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Horsegirl: Billy 7″
The first Matador single from this Chicago-based trio has a grungey shoegaze sound suggesting a long-buried Breeders song just seeing the light of day now, except the vocals are closer to spoken word, resembling current U.K. post-punk bands like Dry Cleaning. The B-side is a cover of the Minutemen’s “History Lesson Pt. 2”, which fits perfectly with the band’s aesthetic. The band faithfully recreates the song’s driving but easygoing tempo, and they paraphrase Mike Watt’s lyrics about their lives being changed by punk rock, substituting their own names. Good cover, and it certainly makes for a nifty B-side, but the A-side slyly grabs your attention if you’re into noise-pop.
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