October 27, 2021 at 9:10 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Oduor Nyagweno: Where I Go, I Am There LP
Oduor Nyagweno is one of the world’s greatest living nyatiti players, having played the instrument since the age of 14. He’s performed for presidents and in competitions, and travelled around the globe. This LP was recorded in and around Nairobi by Pete Larson, one of his students, on a cell phone, and apart from a few tracks with an additional player or singer, the entire record is just Oduor and his nyatiti. His playing is highly disciplined yet it seems to just flow out of him, and his hypnotic, rhythmic playing accompanies his weathered yet casual and friendly-sounding vocals. Even with just a single instrument being played, it’s hard not to dance to the joyous rhythms of songs like “At Korogocho”. The songs are recorded live on the street, as evident by the ambiance of bird chirps and conversation from bystanders. The nyatiti master is right at home and in his element, and it’s just a remarkably spirited recording. The album was released as a benefit to help build the musician and his family a new house; more info is on the
Dagoretti Records Bandcamp page.
October 26, 2021 at 5:59 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Robin Hatch: T.O.N.T.O.
Robin Hatch’s
new album was born out of 4 days of recording sessions using the storied T.O.N.T.O. multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer at the National Music Gallery in Calgary, perhaps best known as the namesake of T.O.N.T.O.’s Expanding Head Band, and through incorporation on several Stevie Wonder albums. Hatch crafted several melodic instrumental gems, leaving some of then unaccompanied, and inviting guests to add further perspectives on others. The solo tracks, like the chiming synthscape “Buttercups”, work fine enough on their own, but as massive as the T.O.N.T.O. synth is, there’s still something a bit primitive about its sound, so having additional instruments helps add more tonal colors and extra dimensions. “Brazil” is sort of an easy fusion-prog workout with drummer Eric Slick (Dr. Dog) and saxophonist Leland Whitty (BadBadNotGood). “Airplane” is more of a horror score frightscape, with doom metal violin by Laura Bates. Lowell Whitty drums on “Inspector”, a sort of aerobic new wave track, which is perhaps the most fun selection on the album. “Mockingbird” (with Nick Thorburn) is also one of the more synth-pop-ish tracks here. After the paranoid “My Lucid Mind” and the more propulsive “Rest Stop”, “The Standoff” (with Joseph Shabason) feels like the suspenseful lead-up to a boss battle.
October 25, 2021 at 8:37 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Dr. Pete Larson and his Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band: Damballah LP
Ethnomusicologist Dr. Pete Larson continues his studies of the Kenyan nyatiti in a rock band context with his Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band’s latest and (so far) best LP. Here joined by guitarist Fred Thomas, percussionist Mike List, and multi-instrumentalist Dave Sharp, the record is a stunning fusion of swirling psych guitars, earthy rhythms, and delicately hypnotic nyatiti playing. The album’s title,
Damballah, refers to “the spirit of fertility, goodness and knowledge symbolized by the two snakes” (an image which appeared on the band’s last album’s cover). The nyatiti is the heartbeat at the center of these six songs, and the guitar and synth textures stretch out into intense but comforting waves. A really nice balance of hazy drone and driving energy. Just remarkable, can’t go wrong with this one.
October 24, 2021 at 1:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Meadow Argus: Meadow Argus III tape
The first side of
this tape consists of eight brief tracks based on a microcassette recording made in 2009. A voice is captured, slowed down, stretched out, and muddied so that it sounds like a hideous ghoul-monster hybrid emerging from a swamp and trying to blurt out whatever message it has to say to the unsuspecting, terrorized human who happens to be witnessing this frightful being. The tape is constantly rewound, producing skidding, screeching noises, and on some of the tracks, the voice isn’t the main focus, so it’s just eerie ambient noises and buzzes looped and transmogrified. A few details that seem inconsequential are constantly returned to, making you feel like you must be missing something and should be focusing harder. It hits on a particularly inspired bit of mania at the end, when the severely disturbed voice says something like “I’ll die on my own”. Second side is called “There Is A Fountain”, and it pairs tape manipulations with shivering, creaky keyboards, with occasional interference bleeding through. Voices faintly appear in brief flashes, and while they aren’t as ghastly as on the first side of the tape, their presence is still disarming.
October 24, 2021 at 11:27 am | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment
2:00 am ESP Summer ~ Kumamushi ~ Kingdom of Heaven ~ Disciples ~ 2020
2:08 am Aquaserge ~ Comme Des Carrés De Feldman ~ The Possibility Of A New Work For Aquaserge (new) ~ Crammed Discs ~ 2021
2:13 am Jerusalem in My Heart (with Greg Fox) ~ Abyad Barraq ~ Qalaq (new) ~ Constellation Records ~ 2021
2:18 am Matthew Tavares & Leland Whitty ~ Symbols of Transformation ~ Visions ~ Mr Bongo ~ 2020
2:23 am Nubya Garcia ~ Pace (Moses Boyd Remix) ~ SOURCE ⧺ WE MOVE (new) ~ Concord Jazz ~ 2021
2:28 am The Future Sound of London ~ Are They Fightin Us ~ ISDN (original version w/ black cover) ~ Virgin ~ 1994
2:36 am Relaxer ~ Concealer ~ Concealer (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2021
2:41 am Artilect ~ Zero Time ~ Blurring the Line ~ Samurai Music ~ 2018
2:47 am HHY & the Kampala Unit ~ Fission Core Fluid ~ Lithium Blast ~ Nyege Nyege Tapes ~ 2020
2:52 am Prolaps ~ We Sin With Others ~ Ultra Cycle Pt. 3: Autumnal Age (new) ~ Hausu Mountain ~ 2021
2:59 am Anz ~ Last Before Lights ~ All Hours (new) ~ Ninja Tune ~ 2021
3:05 am DJ Girl (local) ~ Freak N See (Jennifer Walton Remix) ~ Transition EP ~ Eat Dis ~ 2018
3:09 am Colloboh ~ one2Many ~ Entity Relation (new) ~ Leaving Records ~ 2021
3:12 am Ross From Friends ~ Spatter/Splatter ~ Tread (new) ~ Brainfeeder ~ 2021
3:16 am Jacques Greene ~ These Days ~ ANTH01 ~ LuckyMe ~ 2012
3:21 am Charlatan ~ Namesake ~ Bird Paintings Vol. 1 ~ The Jewel Garden ~ 2021
3:25 am Grouper ~ Disordered Minds ~ Shade (new) ~ Kranky ~ 2021
3:30 am Mimasuya Kachiguri ~ Shiokumi Kasatsukashi (Collecting Water) ~ Sound Storing Machines: The First 78rpm Records From Japan, 1903-1912 ~ Sublime Frequencies ~ 1906
3:32 am Robin Hatch featuring Joseph Shabason ~ The Standoff ~ T.O.N.T.O. (new) ~ Robin Records ~ 2021
3:38 am Jlin ~ Embryo ~ Embryo (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2021
3:42 am Onipa ~ Hey No I Say ~ We No Be Machine ~ Strut ~ 2020
3:47 am Dr. Pete Larson and his Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band (local) ~ Korona ~ Damballah (new) ~ Dagoretti Records ~ 2021
3:51 am Oduor Nyagweno ~ Kwetu Nyawara ~ Where I Go, I Am There ~ Dagoretti Records ~ 2021
3:55 am Skeeter Shelton & Hamid Drake (local) ~ The Call ~ Sclupperbep (new) ~ Two Rooms Records ~ 2021
October 22, 2021 at 11:17 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment
10:01 pm Prins Thomas ~ Urmannen (DJ Nobu Remix)
10:06 pm Claiana ~ Pérola
10:08 pm Strategy ~ Evolu
10:14 pm Akasha System ~ Afterimage
10:16 pm Recondite ~ Black Letter
10:19 pm Johan Agebjörn & Mikael Ögren ~ Space Travel (Old School Techno Remix)
10:23 pm Grant ~ Shifting Views
10:27 pm Sebo K ~ Riddim
10:29 pm Keleketla! ~ International Love Affair (Project Pablo Remix)
10:33 pm MoMA Ready ~ House All Along
10:36 pm Donnell Knox (local) ~ You Make Everything
10:41 pm Amy Dabbs ~ Girl Like Me
10:44 pm Mr. Tophat ~ Hedonism
10:50 pm DJ 3000 ~ Pariah (Chord Mix)
10:54 pm Aril Brikha ~ dissOrganised
10:59 pm Dan Curtin & DJ Haus ~ Flashback
11:02 pm Roy Davis Jr. ~ House Inferno
11:11 pm Sandoz ~ Heist
11:17 pm AceMo ~ Myrtle Ave Party Track
11:24 pm DJ Skull ~ The Graveyard Orchestra (Claude Young Remix)
11:30 pm Jazz Juice ~ Detroit (Laboratoire Mix by Laurent Garnier)
11:34 pm Floorplan (local) ~ On the Case
11:38 pm Truncate ~ The Bell
11:42 pm Alfie ~ Return to Planet E
11:46 pm Gary Martin (local) ~ Casa Cugat
11:51 pm Underworld ~ Push Upstairs (Adam Beyer Rmx 2)
11:53 pm gayphextwin ~ Saunter
11:57 pm Nina Kraviz ~ stranno neobjatno
October 21, 2021 at 5:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Jessica Pavone: Lull
Jessica Pavone’s
newest album is the most successful and fascinating of her recent works for string ensembles. She composed and conducted this one for an octet plus soloists, and the players’ improvisations are based on open pitches which they oscillate between on their own will. “Indolent” begins with tones which seem to repeatedly clash for the first several minutes, then it all blends harmoniously after a while, first through more strenuous, locked-in bowing and then blossoming outward to a more expansive gaze of sound. Already by this point, you feel like you’ve gone through a transformative process, but there’s still three more movements left. “Holt” features drummer Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), who patters at the outer edge of a snare drum head, less beating a rhythm than exploring the resonations of the instrument. The string octet creeps in, and Chase accelerates his drumming to a roll, and all of the instruments set off into a merry-go-round-like rotation. Chase’s amplified cymbal swallows the strings before you even realize he’s playing it, and it all strips down from a levitating blur to slow, sparse movements. Nate Wooley ends the piece with some visceral, spluttery trumpet playing, and he remains during the next piece, “Ingot”, focusing on a single droning note as the strings shift and rise behind him. Wooley eventually takes on a rougher, harsher timbre while the strings thresh away, almost approaching a marching tempo. “Midmost” starts out with some deep, almost grunting string clusters, then the playing dissipates and becomes nebulous. For the final half, the musicians all play together in evenly spaced intervals, with subtle alterations to the rhythm. By the end, it feels like gradually easing yourself into a hot bath until all your apprehensions have melted away and you feel soothed.
October 20, 2021 at 7:05 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Morricone Youth: The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog LP
from prolific film/soundtrack buffs Morricone Youth is their score for a 1927 Alfred Hitchcock silent film about the hunt for a serial killer in London. The group premiered their score on a Halloween screening of the film in 2013, and it was recorded between 2016 and 2020. The band starts the show off with spooky prog-rock similar to Goblin, but they switch to cool yet swinging jazz for “Golden Curls”, then “Fashion Show” has more of a chic French pop sound. The music gets more drawn out and suspenseful with the arrival of the lodger, but “Is the Lodger the Avenger?” is more rousing cafe-punk, with exuberant horns and rich, swelling Wurlitzer. “Waltz” is a trickily timed revisit of the score’s haunting theme. Curiously, the vinyl version rearranges the track listing so that the woozy, detached title piece that begins the digital version actually ends the LP.
October 19, 2021 at 8:55 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Colloboh: Entity Relation EP
Collins Oboh is a Nigerian-born producer living in Baltimore, and this is his
debut EP. His music is a highly danceable form of IDM, with soft yet pointy modular synth melodies shooting off and emitting bright lights. There’s calming deep house pads setting the mood but the beats are way more heavily detailed than most house. It’s always joyous and energetic, very well composed but also incredibly fun and positive. “Turning&” recycles a familiar Erykah Badu vocal that’s already been sampled to death, but it sounds so fresh you might not recognize it at first. “RPM+” is a feast of bouncy, boinky tones, so gleeful you might overlook how intricate it is. “one2MANY” is a slower, more tropical sway that spills into drum’n’bass, with beats splashing out like a spray of tiny drops. “Reasons” is an Afrofuturist pop song, with heavily roboticized vocals pleading “give me plenty love” over dubby, sometimes frizzy house beats. What an attention-grabber this EP is! Very much looking forward to more from this artist.
October 18, 2021 at 8:56 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Prolaps: Ultra Cycle Pt. 3: Autumnal Age
of Prolaps’ seasonal series definitely finds the colder weather setting in. There’s still some hypercharged rave energy here but things are more spaced out, and there’s even a few extended doom zones like the largely beatless “Fractured Nexus”. This gives way to the jagged pinprick rave of “Squirm”, which extends into the plonking beats and refracted jungle samples of “Precog Choreographer”. “Walking Delirium” is the type of track that’s restlessly twitchy yet walking in slow motion at the same time, and “Pattern Recognition” is similar but both deeper and sharper. “Junk DNA” is an almost singeli-like jumble of rapid sounds, although it leaves considerably more room for breathing. There’s much more open space during tracks like “Detoxifying Smoke”, although the joyous panic gradually sets back in. “We Sin With Others” is a manic acidcore jam, and the final “Astral Infection” just shreds into oblivion. Stay tuned for the stocking-stuffing fourth part arriving at the dawn of winter.
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