Norwegian composer Sverre Knut Johansen produces rich, expansive soundscapes typically exploring topics such as deep space and extraterrestrial life. This one seems to be about the more fantastic aspects of nature, and how it shapes our dreams. The synths imitate bird cries and synthesize the feeling of flying over lush forests and between snowy mountaintops, also simulated by the soaring guitars. The beats are generally downtempo, but the music is in no way sluggish; tracks like “Skylight” feel like rushing over a landscape and you can’t catch all the details at once. “Dawn” is shorter and beatless, and mixes analog chirps with synthetic sunbursts. “Tatra Mountains” is another majestic flight over a grand range. “Causeway” actually does have some sludgier beats and textures, especially towards the end. “Human Connection” features cellist Henrik Silfverhielm, and feels closer to music for an Olympic procession. Still, there’s enough synth roughness and strange textures to keep this from sounding too clean and polite.
Portugal’s Grid 707 debuts on Degenerate Trifecta with a 4-song EP of raw, analog-sounding techno, heavy on craftily-timed delay effects. “Grid 101” has some haunting, doldrum-like atmospherics but the beat drives through it all. “Wind Power” is more heavy effects-laced minimalism, with icy shattering sequences as well as a steady kick drum which sounds armed and ready. The triangle-like ringing pushes it over the top, and the acid fluctuation is just icing on the cake. “Power Grid” fittingly feels sharper and more electric, with a rippling current of acid pulsations and a few static disturbances. An “Underwater Mix” of “Grid 101” takes the same idea but appropriately adds some clattering, sweeping effects which add an aquatic feel, and cuts the juice at 4 minutes.
David Psutka, formerly known as Egyptrixx and Ceramic TL, recorded these pieces as a soundtrack for a series of Snapchat filters designed by artist Karen Vanderborght, created after she interviewed 10 senior citizens and intended to explore to potential of Augmented Reality. The compositions are all ordered by section, and they consist of 20 brief movements with full stops and starts. Yet it all plays like a continuous album rather than a series of ringtones strung together. There’s variations, with different note sequences, more sparkling effects, stranger pitches, and sometimes more lingering sensations. But they all feel like a brief plunge into a strange lavender-tinted pool, with every trip revealing different details.
New schedule starts tomorrow! This show will be heard Friday nights (Saturday mornings) at 1 AM! 1-24-21
Cleveland Eaton ~ Hamburg 302
Sivuca ~ Tunnel
Aesop Rock ~ Dog at the Door
Ecko Bazz feat. Bigga Yut ~ Tuli Banyo
Etch ~ Strange
Françoise Hardy ~ Et Même
Omara Portuondo ~ ¿Dónde Estabas Tú?
Os Mutantes ~ Bat Macumba
The B-52’s ~ Butterbean
Howlin’ Wolf ~ Riding in the Moonlight
Mamman Sani ~ Dangay Kootyo
Pink Siifu & Fly Anakin feat. Liv.e ~ Mind Right
Pursuit Grooves ~ This Concentrated
SUSS ~ Winter Light
Percussionist Jon Mueller (of Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Mind Over Mirrors, and other projects) recorded this album at home using gongs and singing bowls, among other instruments. As he created these four pieces, he experimented with perception change, particularly by using different lighting conditions. He’s been doing these lighting and perception experiments since he was in college three decades ago, and doing this has had nearly hallucinatory effects, and helped him engage with his family’s past. The music itself is sparse, haunting drone that sounds like it’s emanating from a cave. It’s not unlike Thomas Köner’s gong experiments, or some of Lustmord’s more lo-fi dark ambient works. “Black Glass” is a particular highlight, establishing a drone that feels like shining, gleaming light and then striking it with sudden flares of darkness. “Ignited Hands” is shorter and more metallic, sounding like a bucket of chains being whirled around in an echo chamber, and resembling dronier Nurse With Wound, like a reduced excerpt from albums like Soliloquy for Lilith or Trippin’ Musik. “Welcome” is a more stretched out variation on the album’s techniques, and seems to be the one produced under deepest concentration, rewarding deeper listening.
Synth explorer Craig Padilla and guitarist Marvin Allen return for a sequel to their 2019 collaboration, presenting an album of lengthy pieces which reflect on the strangeness of our journey through life and the quest for friendship and compassion. Like their first album, this one mixes deep space synths (and Allen’s homemade theremin!) with spacious guitar melodies worthy of Steve Hillage or David Gilmour. There’s some longer suites here that head in a few different nebulas, particularly opener “Strange Gravity” and closer “All Around Us”, but there’s also the System 7-style techno of “The Revelation”, sort of a continuation of the more beat-driven side of their debut. “Friendship” starts off contemplative before a beatbox rhythm drifts in and it ends up turning into a sort of smoothed-out synth-funk groove for a minute. Then after some cosmic mist, an entirely different slow rhythm emerges before the track draws to a close. The duo keep things moving in different directions instead of just focusing on one idea and zoning out, and it keeps their work fresh and unpredictable.
Composed by pianist Christopher Parker and lyricist Kelley Hurt, No Tears Suite was written about the Little Rock Nine and the battle for desegregation in public schools during the 1950s. Musically, it’s gorgeous, flowing jazz with spoken narration telling the story on the opening overture. “To Be a Kid” is a truly joyous instrumental piece, meant to express the wonders of childhood. “Roll Call (Canon)” is a more somber piece with another monologue, but one with a positive outcome, as it details the successful lives of the Little Rock Nine. “Don’t Cry (Warrior’s Song)” is much more swinging, and Hurt sings a few bold, encouraging verses. “Crisis” is a brief free jazz interlude, and “Jubilate” is a triumphant conclusion. Even though this album is about a very serious subject and a particularly turbulent chapter of American history, it’s ultimately a story full of hope, and the music is appropriately strong and uplifting.
Part of the online collective No Agreements, Material Girl patches together genres and moods on this inventive, masterful debut album. Every unexpected segue, beat flip, and effect takes the narrative in another direction, and it all feels mysterious but inviting. “Flood” is the woozy centerpiece, slowly fading in strings and horns before a druggy sample (“I’m so fucked up”) precedes a bit lifted from an SWV slow jam. Then it switches to an absolutely haunting beat built around Linda Perhacs’ “Chimacum Rain”, laced with Dilla sirens, and the lyrics are delivered from the edge of panic. Just an overall chilling moment, and one that cements this album as something powerful and touching. “Funeral Parade of Roses” plays more with sounds and textures, from the abrasive sax squeals to the glitchy beat vibrations, before a brief, off-the-cuff verse reflects on life and death. Then looped sighs melt into ’90s ambient guitars and then the beat blasts back with a smooth sax solo and some half-dissolved words repeating in the back of your head. While there’s some recurring elements, most of the tracks flow through different sounds without returning to them, but nothing sounds random or out of place. It’s all very deliberate and meaningful, and it’s uplifting and resonant even if it sounds gloomy and lost. Seriously beautiful work.
1-17-21
AceMoMA ~ Sky Trax
Anz ~ Rave Casual
Y U QT ~ Fort Wibbler
Jasmine Infiniti ~ Downhill
Dogpatrol ~ Sepia Story
Heavenly ~ Trophy Girlfriend
Group Rhoda ~ Alibi
Loraine James ~ 31st Dec 2020 (1)
Ian William Craig & Daniel Lentz ~ Fragrance
MC Yallah ~ Ndi Mukazi (Jay Glass Dubs Version)
Nihiloxica ~ Ding Ding
Gerald Cleaver ~ Signs I
brin ~ Glidewear
Julia Holter ~ The Weather
Celeste Lehr’s live electronics project Argiflex has been amalgamating various styles and aesthetics for over a decade. There’s a bit of a DIY noise scene anarchy to what she does, but it’s clearly inspired by dance music culture more than anything else. ∆Orb is her latest album, and it’s a fantastic set of tightly controlled yet chaotic compositions filled with expansive, atmospheric synths and crowd-moving rhythms. A track like “PURE FLATLANDS” is an excellent example of how her tracks are so transporting. It starts out with 4/4 beats, then acid lines and trancey pads build and become sharper and more ecstatic. There’s a breakdown with a friendly, MIDI-sounding slap bassline, then the atmospheric synths creep in again. Some screeching noises seep in, and then some absolutely crushing Amen breaks take over, and it’s just incredibly raw and exciting. Just the entire way she builds up these dream worlds and then smashes these heavy breakbeats on them and switches back to something more precious and delicate, it’s such a perfect release, like just being pent up with stress and then just screaming your guts out. But also besides that, it sounds absolutely beautiful. Also, it ends with a Primus cover/remix which ends up working way better than the idea sounds on paper.
The Answer Is In The Beat 