March 23, 2020 at 6:42 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
{arsonist}: Reality Structure tape
Part of Pittsburgh’s thriving experimental electronic scene, {arsonist} composes mathematically derived destruction on her
first album. There’s some fractured beats and prismatic sounds you might expect from deconstructed club music, but there’s also rich, foliage-like strings and saxophones, growing past decayed electronic noise into a sort of digital contemporary classical music. Her vocals poke out on two occasions, first on the gentle shadowscape “Till Human Voices Wake Us”. “Suppose We’re Hypnagogic Elopers” starts out bright and fluid, kind of like Foxdye’s ambient work, before rushing into a heady noise standstill. Then “Projecting Into Phantasmagoric Subspace” carries out the rest of the album, beginning with soft, swooping vocals and star-synths, then erupting into a fantastic supernova later on. Truly remarkable music for cosmic rebirth.
March 22, 2020 at 11:03 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Little Snake: YADTC
Little Snake’s track on the
Brainfeeder X compilation completely blindsided me. Just totally futuristic broken beat sound design mayhem which seemed to be propelling in thousands of different directions. The mysterious artist has released a few EPs, and this newest one is sort of a mini-symphony. Four movements, most of which are around 10 minutes, and they vary in pace from moment to moment, with long stretches of drawn-out beats, periods where it’s fast and frantic, and others where it’s arrhythmic and patience-testing. The artist seems to constantly dare the listener to keep up, and it’s hard to tell where you are in relation to what’s happening — there’s lots of quickly disappearing and re-appearing Cheshire Cat-like sounds and voices. And at least one completely ridiculous drop.
March 21, 2020 at 1:22 pm | Posted in Photos | Leave a comment
So WCBN is suspending live broadcasts for the time being, and I’m working from home for now. Not a whole lot to do other than stay at home and read and listen to music. In the meantime, here’s photos from the Sudan Archives show at Deluxx Fluxx in Detroit earlier this month!
March 15, 2020 at 10:59 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Om Unit: Submerged 12″ EP
Om Unit continues to expand and refine his singular fusion of multiple genres on this latest EP. Atmospheric jungle breaks, insistent footwork bass, and dub fx are all perfectly tuned into each other, building up tension and pressure which is sustained throughout these 6 tracks. “Runes” is some seriously futuristic mystical dub, while “Patterning” and “Long Summer” have tighter, more complex rhythms, reminiscent of mid-’90s intelligent jungle but with a tiny bit of a half-time bounce in them. The stormier “Peninsula” tips closer to darkness, but there’s enough light surging through that the music remains positively uplifting. Fantastic work, as always.
March 8, 2020 at 4:11 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Craven Faults: Erratics & Unconformities
Described on
Bandcamp as “Half-remembered journeys across post-industrial Yorkshire”, Craven Faults follows several EPs with a sprawling LP containing 6 lengthy tracks approximating countryside train rides. There’s rising synth arpeggios and steady beats, but the beats aren’t heavy or fast enough to dance to, and on tracks like “Deipkier”, they don’t quite land where you think they would. They do move everything forward one step at a time, and the synths slowly progress through different stages and sequences. The tracks don’t feel as long as the track times read, however, since this really does feel like being transported somewhere. You press play and let the music guide you, and the minutes just fly by. The music is remarkably free of tension or suspense, or if there is any, it’s more subtle and not overbearing. It’s like an endless horizon, but it does move, and you do end up somewhere else.
March 8, 2020 at 12:47 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
Jade Helm: Days Gone 7″
Magnificent post-punk from a band fronted by Phoenix-based guitarist/vocalist Jackie Cruz. The A-side is dark and driving like Joy Division, but the vocals switch from reserved murmuring to brash riot grrrl shouting from line to line. Really refreshing, energetic, and powerful, a blast of both gloom and sunshine, and it curiously ends with a brief sample of almost carousel-like music, from what I imagine is a faded old record found in a thrift store somewhere. B-side “I’ll Decide” is another ecstatically charged post-punk delight, much in the same vein. It’s worth mentioning that this record is currently available as a
pre-order, and all proceeds will directly benefit Cruz, who is fighting cancer.
March 7, 2020 at 6:40 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
Moth Cock: Mystics and Statistics tape
The newest Moth Cock tape is something different than the usual hijinks we’re used to from the freewheeling duo. Instead, each side is one extended drone, with waves of reeds carried and shaped by effects. “Mystics” is a lonely wind tunnel drone with some frigid, harsh bleating at one point. “Statistics” is filled with electronic chirps, and a bit more melodic playing, and it’s also a lot trippier than the first side. This is a lot darker and more isolated than what these guys usually do, it feels like a look into a side of them that they rarely ever reveal, and it’s just as fascinating.
March 7, 2020 at 12:48 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment
Mic break music = Bibio: Phantom Brickworks
2:02 am Jan St. Werner with Mark E. Smith ~ Molocular Meditation ~ Molocular Meditation (new) ~ Editions Mego ~ 2020
2:21 am Sissy Spacek ~ Garbage Matte ~ Blear ~ Gilgongo ~ 2019
2:39 am Sissy Spacek ~ entire LP ~ Freaked With Jet ~ Gilgongo ~ 2008
2:53 am John Wiese ~ Scorpion Immobilization Sleeve ~ Seven of Wands ~ Gilgongo ~ 2010
3:06 am John Collins McCormick ~ How To Consider It Done ~ Ad For Nails (new) ~ Gilgongo ~ 2019
3:27 am Filthy Grin ~ Saturn in the Mirror ~ Saturn in the Mirror ~ Gilgongo ~ 2018
3:39 am Leandro Fresco and Rafael Anton Irisarri ~ Elevado Como Barrilete ~ Una Presencia En La Brisa (new) ~ A Strangely Isolated Place ~ 2020
3:44 am Jordan Reyes ~ Playing at the Pool ~ Fairchild Soundtrack + Border Land (new) ~ Whited Sepulchre ~ 2020
3:48 am Euglossine ~ Dryocampa Messenger Service ~ Psaronius (new) ~ Orange Milk ~ 2020
3:52 am Jacoti Sommes ~ Subblue ~ Travel Time (new) ~ Orange Milk ~ 2020
3:56 am Rejoicer ~ Pre-Memory Circle ~ Spiritual Sleaze (new) ~ Stones Throw ~ 2020
4:01 am Kleerup ~ TRU ~ 2 (new) ~ U OK? ~ 2020
4:05 am Davey Harms ~ Position True ~ World War (new) ~ Hausu Mountain ~ 2020
4:10 am Tobias. ~ 1972 ~ 1972 (new) ~ Ostgut Ton ~ 2020
4:19 am JB³ [Joey Beltram] ~ Loose Kick ~ Close Grind ~ NovaMute ~ 1996
4:24 am Multiplex ~ The Cool Rule Natural ~ Born Techno 7 ~ Nova Zembla ~ 1997
4:38 am Klute ~ Take A Breath (Klute remix) ~ Take A Breath (Klute remix) ~ Commercial Suicide ~ 2019
4:43 am Current Value ~ Megacity ~ SENEX LP (new) ~ MethLab Recordings ~ 2019
4:48 am Morgantics ~ Sake Dreams ~ mp3 ~ Soundcloud ~ 2018
4:52 am Machine Girl ~ Splatter! ~ U-Void Synthesizer (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2020
4:55 am Giant Swan ~ 55 Year Old Daughter ~ Giant Swan (new) ~ Keck ~ 2019
4:58 am Shearing Pinx ~ Cursed Heart Matter ~ Poison Hands ~ Gilgongo ~ 2006
5:00 am Soft Shoulder ~ Wellness Line (Move a New Way) ~ Aerosol Can Stand 7″ (new) ~ Gilgongo ~ 2020
5:05 am Jade Helm ~ Days Gone ~ 7″ (new) ~ Gilgongo ~ 2020
5:08 am Cold Beat ~ Gloves ~ Mother (new) ~ DFA ~ 2020
5:11 am Carla dal Forno ~ Don’t Follow Me ~ Look up Sharp (new) ~ Kallista ~ 2019
5:16 am Black Tape for a Blue Girl ~ The Sound of Waves ~ Ashes in the Brittle Air (reissue) ~ Projekt ~ 1989
5:20 am Lisa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke ~ Shadow Magnet ~ Duality ~ 4AD ~ 1998
5:38 am Daniel Davies ~ One Hundred Years ~ Signals (new) ~ Sacred Bones ~ 2020
5:44 am Tycho ~ Cypress ~ Simulcast (new) ~ Mom + Pop/Ninja Tune ~ 2020
5:50 am Nodern ~ Pauset ~ Personal Settings 2 ~ Quatermass ~ 2002
5:55 am System Error ~ Scan Queue Overflow ~ Nothing ~ Headphone ~ 1997
March 6, 2020 at 7:02 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
John Collins McCormick: Ad for Nails
The artist once known as Sky Thing presents two sidelong compositions consisting of found sounds and music performed using non-musical objects. I’ve seen him perform twice, and the first time it was during an outdoor event, and he was so quiet and so far away from me that I didn’t even know he was playing until after the performance had ended. The other time it felt like more of a live sculpture or art-making session than a concert, the audio definitely seemed secondary. This album begins with a chaotic, blown-out drum solo, then there’s a long stretch where it sounds like motors running or oscillators humming. It’s hard to tell if these are just normal items he’s found that he’s operating, or special machines or devices that he’s built or re-assembled, and listening to it makes you question what difference it makes if it was either, because it’s the sound itself that matters. And eventually some more free jazz-like drumming re-emerges, and some thin but persistent electronic tones seep through. It gets near silent for a moment before more fractured drumming occurs, and there’s a low rumbling behind it. Then there’s some low reed hissing and fluttering, even sounding like a didgeridoo at one point. The second side seems a bit more scattered, with sounds that may be clanking keys and failing car motors, lots of conversational recordings, and also a few unpredictable bursts of some basement noise eruptions. More so than the first side, this one sounds like different perspectives of environments crashing into each other, reflecting several ways in which we hear sound and perceive our surroundings.
March 1, 2020 at 2:22 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Leandro Fresco & Rafael Anton Irisarri: Una Presencia En La Brisa
Absolutely lovely, billowing ambience from two longtime masters of the genre. Super rich and expressive. It washes over you but at the same time it holds you captivated and you get lost inside of it. At certain points there’s windy guitar drone, or there’s lurching pulsations, but it all feels equally soothing and melancholy, and it’s all incredible.
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