09 April 2007

Scott Mckeating

Albums and Singles

The thick oily pulse on the opening "Beerbath Two" is the only thing here that resembles that morning after feeling of an actual hungover breakast. This unseemliness is short-lived as this three-track cassette spreads itself between the gaps of noise and rhythm without the need for comforting but extraneous fatty musical factors.

 

Dutch Beer

The first track soon falls into a cauldron bubble of noise, a regular pace of snorting static scored by impish electronics skittering across its ugly froth. Where others might have settled for this mash, Hungover Breakfast adds further difficult to decipher parts to the mix. The oscillating siren that could be a much distorted vocal carves out a niche, and what are possibly single sliding guitar tones out of nowhere takes this several steps beyond mere noise experimentation.

The other two tracks also use rhythm, but in a much clearer, linear fashion. "Beerbath" seems content to quickly spend itself as a brief and subdued trapped groove, but "Happenin’ Sunrise" takes the Hungover Breakfast sound where it hasn't seen daylight before. A bouncing southern hip-hop beat, almost jolly in its repetition, covers up some high-end frequency abuse that continuously morphs throughout. This attempt to batter the percussion into submission fails, but it's a great sound clash of the endless squirreling sounds and the immoveable object. With this cassette, another original voice is spitting itself out of the tape culture.

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08 April 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Throbbing Gristle activates a certain part of my brain that immediately responds with the idea of noise. Then, after more careful reflection, harsh noise, death, industry, sex, pain, exploitation, and a host of other generally negative and exciting responses come to the fore and resolve the picture I have of the band, however incomplete and misinformed it is. Part Two - The Endless Not surprises me because it doesn't evoke that picture of Throbbing Gristle and in fact calls the presence of that name on this recording into question.

 

Mute
 
Change should be expected, especially from a band that hasn't released a full-length recording in over 20 years. That lengthy absence as a unit calls into question the existence of this album. A number of aging groups have experienced a renaissance of sorts in the last few years, basking in the glow of their perpetual youth thanks to the medium of recorded sound. Young fans, probably unborn when these bands first released their music for consumption, and old fans have been equally willing to shell out large sums cash to see and hear bands that haven't had anything to say for quite some time. In many cases it's all in the name of nostalgia, a whole lot of effort spent to remember what's already been saved on tape or an attempt to experience an idea or belief that came too soon for many people, myself included. So, after such a long absence, it's hard not to question Throbbing Gristle's reason for coming together to make new music. Peter Christopherson has, since the demise of Throbbing Gristle, recorded a monumental catalogue of strange and beautiful music with Coil. Chris and Cosey have produced no small oeuvre, either, each recording, writing, and performing successfully across the entire spectrum of media. And Genesis P-Orridge has not become any less infamous or visible in all of his projects; his name is virtually omnipresent among hipsters, artists, miscreants, and record nerds alike. There's no doubt each member of the band has remained vital in some way, but as it turns out the dynamics between these people have changed in such a way that the appearance of the name Throbbing Gristle on the cover is almost inappropriate.

Part Two sounds nothing like Throbbing Gristle and, despite all the original members being present, seems to have less to do with Throbbing Gristle than it does with each member's later projects. Highly developed electronic compositions dominate this record, as they did on TG Now, all of the teeth provided by absolute noise removed in favor of something more contemplative. Even the psychological and iconic imagery employed by the band in the past has been replaced, not by something more grotesque, but by an image of one of the holiest sites on the planet. There's little doubt that the members of this band have something to say, but there's a sense that the name Throbbing Gristle is on this record because it's a familiar title people will be familiar with and excited about. In some ways that's a disappointment, Throbbing Gristle is the rare example of a band that seemed dangerous and exciting during their birth and remain that way in the eyes of many people. Read an interview with Genesis and Sleazy to anyone unfamiliar with them and some strange responses are likely to be returned; play some of their early records for the uninitiated and be ready to either do a lot of explaining or promptly turn it off. Part Two, on the other hand, might actually win the group new fans, thanks in large part to the more exotic sensibilities inherent in Chris Carter's and Sleazy's work. Powerful rhythms, enjoyable melodies, densely layered effects, solo instruments, and less transgressive performances from Genesis all make this Throbbing Gristle record strangely palatable. After listening to it a number of times, it's hard not to think that Throbbing Gristle should remain in the past and that whatever this is should drop the name before it taints the mythology that surrounds the name.

On its own terms, Part Two is fantastic. It harbors all the qualities that make the individual members' music so powerful and exciting. Each individual is highly creative, perhaps brilliant, in their own right and they all still work incredibly well together. As a result, much of this music sounds like little else, though the signature of each member is unabashedly present on nearly every song. "Rabbit Snare" is a seedy, black vision of brushed snare drums, rubbery bass, and piano, Genesis' crooning amplifying the image of sick cabaret lounge tucked away somewhere in a hidden part of London. "Almost A Kiss" is perhaps less immediately stunning than the original 10 minute version from TG Now (titled "Almost Like This"), but within the framework of the slightly more synthetic Part Two it sounds excellent and is also Genesis' finest vocal performance on the record. "Lyre Liar" is the most caustic thing on the record and the only place where the horrifying spirit of the band's original work seeps through unaltered. The spitting electronics and diseased moans recall the ghost of "Hamburger Lady" and situate all the careful composition in a kind of sick malaise. It's a fantastic piece and, despite its singular nature with respect to the rest of the album, it sits quite well between "Greasy Spoon" and "Above the Below."

Part Two is a great record, but not because it's Throbbing Gristle. It is decidedly different from anything else in the band's catalogue. So different that it seems pointless to tack that name to the record. Whether it was all put together because the name was familiar or because the record label thought it could make some money, the music itself is representative of four highly talented people who are still pushing boundaries and challenging themselves. Don't go in expecting to hear your favorite band from 20 years ago, however, you'll only be disappointed. Instead anticipate a record that will stay in rotation for awhile on its own merits. I expect some will hate this record for some of the reason I outlined above: it doesn't sound like 2nd Annual Report or it doesn't have the same attitude the earlier records had. Don't fret over those details, though. Just remember, this isn't even Throbbing Gristle, it's just four members of that band making some of the best music they've ever made together.

samples:

• Rabbit Snare
• Above the Below
• Worm Waits Its Turn

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08 April 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Anla Courtis and Ralf Wehowsky combine their talents to create an album of distorted, erratic textures that scrape the eardrums to inspired, ecstatic effect. The spirits they conjure don’t seem very happy to be awakened, unleashing their exquisite vengeance with a wrath like the Furies.

 

Beta-lactam Ring

Most of these tracks were recorded live in the sense that there were no further alterations of sounds after the fact other than minor edits and mixing, and appear much the same way as when they were formed. Only one track was created from layering two separate recordings, but it’s an aspect that not easily noticed.

The first couple of songs are the most jarring. "Cristalizacion Espontanea" starts with a chittering sizzle that's soon cut by what sounds like a distorted power drill demolishing stone, giving rise to insects angered at the intrusion. The next track is even wilder and louder as extended distorted passages interspersed with brief bursts of melancholy seep through the cracks, capped by tortured screams of amplified metal. The album gets quieter from here as bass and feedback drone solemnly while something like scissors cuts against the track before household machinery wails like sirens signaling trespasses, ascending warning tones that give way to open vents. The quietest track is "Han Sido Atrapados Antes Que Se Agote El Reloi De Arena…" with sounds reminiscent of ripped packing tape, a dot matrix printer, falling objects, and an unwinding toy. Quiet and cacophony combine on the monster "…Mit Ihren Weidenringen Die Steingesiter Zu Fangen," seemingly made from syncopated muffler riffs and a large, imploding machine. Feedback billows in the ears and howls like a form of communication, perhaps the voices of the stone spirits themselves.

As noisy as their music is, none of it has any irritating squalls or high frequency screeches that send me searching for earplugs. The textural balance is impeccable and held me fully enthralled for the entirety of the disc. Music this abstract can be hit or miss, but on this album Courtis and Wehowsky carve out my skull in the most blissful way.

samples:

• Cristalizacion Espontanea
• Wege Zur Besserung Der Naturgeister
• …Mit Ihren Weidenringen Die Steingesiter Zu Fangen

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05 April 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

 In 1967, master of bubblegum Joey Levine had started writing with Artie ('Under The Boardwalk') and Kris Resnick, a collaboration that was to produce practically every song in the bubblegum genre. But first, in the spirit of the age, they produced their masterwork: "Id Music" by The Third Rail. An orchestral psychedelic adventure into denunciation of the advertising fuelled culture of 1960's America. 

One of the most pointed barbs, 'Run, Run, Run' was--incredibly--a hit single. Known by everyone as a highlight of Lenny Kaye's seminal "Nuggets" album, it leads off this re-done and intensified Revola classic of softpop/psychedelia. 'Run...' was the sound of superpop advertising jingles biting the hand that fed them.

This release features the full album and single mixes as well as the impossibly rare follow up singles which just got more and more wicked, though in theory, still impossibly commercial! This is one of the most unusual protest records of the 1960's, attacking the enemy from the inside with it's own weapons....and doing it better! It is in addition also a beautiful sounding record to boot, with extensive liner notes by Dawn Eden and Joey Levine.

Ordering information can be found here: http://www.cherryred.co.uk/revola/artists/thirdrail.htm

Complete tracklisting is as follows:

Run Run Run
The Ballard Of General Humpty
Is Mr Peters Coming
Swinger
Jack Rabbit
Boppa Do Down Down
From A Parachute
Invisisble man
No Return
Dream Street
Overdose Of Love
She Ain’t No Choir Girl
It’s Time To Say Goodbye
The Shape Of Things To Come
Boppa Do Down Down (Single Version)
No Return (Single Version)
Invisible Man (Single Version)
Run Run Run (Single Version)

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02 April 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Rjyan Kidwell is going on ten years of musical output and his music is growing accordingly. Of his most recent endeavors, Sketchi is his most immediately mature work, abandoning what might be called his more adolescent tendencies in all places except the artwork that accompanies the record. Don't be fooled by the "Twin Towers" cover, Cex's newest is one of his most sober releases to date.

 

Temporary Residence
 
Taking Cex seriously is, in some ways, a difficult thing to do. His records are notoriously scattershot, spanning genres and attitudes without any respect for notions of continuity or artistic integrity. In a way this is half of his appeal; an artist willing to disregard any sense of expectation deserves a lot of respect, even if that artist fails to reach whatever goals they'd laid out for themselves. Given his tendency to act and record spastically, Sketchi comes as a massive surprise. It's incredibly low key, completely devoid of vocals, and carries a moodiness with it that speaks of a wide and reflective attitude not normally afforded to Kidwell's work. "Damon Kvols" kicks the album off with a statement of intent. It is over ten minutes long, is dominated by an almost jazzy rhythm track, and bounces atmospheric effects and vague melodies as though they were simple playthings. Kidwell's compositions are simple, almost minimal at times, and develop in slow motion as various effects and unusual samples intertwine with each other like lovers trapped in a world that progresses at half the normal speed. This is not a snap-of-the-finger, breakneck-speed record: it's calculated and willing to let its colors show at whatever pace is necessary.

It's hard to describe what much of the record sounds like because it is both varied and consistent. The predominance of strong rhythms sits most centrally in my mind when I think of its main constituents, but the unusual use of washed-out synthetic sounds and unpredictable, noisy samples carries the album from beginning to end. "Goodby Says" is an excellent example of the rest of the record. It proceeds at a medium pace, teetering back and forth with a lumbering, tribal drum track and cascading electronics that seem to emerge organically from a background of percolating submarine sounds. It doesn't catch my attention as one of the best songs on the album because of any spontaneity, it is the uneasy quavering of the piece that sits so firmly in my mind. Though it is a persistent song, a sense of dread and unease rests just below its surface. The music is double-sided in this way: there is the immediate reaction I have to the grooves and sounds set out by Kidwell and then a secondary reaction resulting from what the music suggests beyond the immediacy of its components.

This isn't to say that Cex's music isn't fun anymore, that he's just suddenly grown up and become a "serious" musician, whatever that means. Elements of what fully appears on Sketchi have been around since Kidwell started releasing his music for mass consumption and despite much of the album proceeding at a relaxed pace, there are tunes that rock out in a certain sense. "Or Egon Ridge" begins with a crashing line of cymbals and sharp drums more abrasive than much of anything else on the record. This kind of introduction sets the pace for the rest of the song, which bashes away at various volumes and with varying degrees of emphasis on the rhythm. Kidwell moves deftly between his electronic washes and the more definite elements of his songs, letting the two work together instead of contrasting them persistently throughout the record. "Suffocating Champion," however, almost entirely drops the drums from the mix. The result is a deep foreboding, an unsettled mood that feels like the prelude to a horrible event. "God Blessing" sounds hopeful, though, and serves as the resolve of the entire album. It, too, is beat-less and focuses on Kidwell's manipulation of various textures and interweaving samples. Given the nature of the rest of Sketchi, it's a surprising and beautiful ending. Sketchi is limited to 1,000 copies and once word spreads around about how unbelievably good it is, those copies will likely go away quite quickly.

samples:

• Damon Kvols
• Lamber Sands
• Suffocating Champion

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02 April 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

"Dungtitled (in A major)" seems an irreverent title, but announces sonically Brian McBride's and Adam Wiltzie's most doggedly serious recording to date. Compared to The Tired Sounds of... the music on And Their Refinement of the Decline is more direct, relying less on minutiae and emphasizing the power of their music as cleansing and consumptive.

 

Kranky
 
Stars of the Lid have not changed their approach radically. Their music is the same patient and haunting event it has been since Music for Nitrous Oxide was released over ten years ago. It would be tempting to say their music has become more sophisticated or careful, but neither seems absolutely true in the sense that the band has stayed true to an ambiguous ethos marked by careful progression and an emphasis on the subtle. If anything, they have provided different perspectives on the same idea, continually extracting new sounds and points of view from that constant and familiar ethos. With that in mind Stars of the Lid begin their new record on an austere note, the tone of the record sounding immediately funeral. The timbre of their chosen instruments is wooden and deeply resonant, sounding like the announcement of some grave event. The mood doesn't last long, however, as the music evolves into a less severe progression of long, almost royal horn performances and keyboard drones. It's as though the band is passing from the atmospheric tendencies and dark themes of past albums and into new territory, but without eschewing that important facet of their tenor. More simply, Stars of the Lid appear to be thinking about their own sound more than ever and, instead of radical change, they've opted to shift the focus of their music as carefully and slowly as the chords of their songs change over time.

Typically the music could be called meditative: the effect their music elicits is calming and often hypnotic. To focus on that aspect disproportionately would deny the immediacy and power of their slowly and softly evolving sounds, though, and would miss part of what makes the music so beautiful. In turns the songs on this album ask the listener to either relax and be submerged into the loud, deep tones of the horns, strings, and voices or to sit up and pay attention. In the latter case it isn't so much that the music asks anything, it outright demands and urges an immediate response, as on "Articulate Silences Part 2." The development of the song lends itself to the shock of introduction, of unexpected new qualities. I know Stars of the Lid are often referred to as soporific, but casual listening to this record does not stay casual for long. Even as many of the arrangements develop in simple wave-like forms, the addition or subtraction of elements in each waves reveals new layers that further the involvement of the audience. This has, to some extent, always been true of their music: it never seems entirely appropriate to treat their music passively. This record seems more firm, however, more wholly unified in its purpose and performance.

The first disc ends with a song called "A Meaningful Moment Through A Meaning(Less) Process." After nearly one hour of music, this particular piece comes as a surprise both in title and in essence. The piano that leads the song into its brief duration stands out among the various solo instruments that populate the first disc. It is bright, repetitive, obviously treated, and absolutely distinct from the other aspects of the song. The emotional impact it leaves is stupendous, which brings me to the title itself. I'm not sure how reflective it is supposed to be of the band or the way they think of their music; after all, they have included a piece called "That Finger On Your Temple Is the Barrel of My Raygun" on this album, on the same disc that ends with "December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface." The title speaks to something concerning this band's music that goes beyond the silliness they might've afforded themselves with names this time around. Stars of the Lid tug at the heart strings more so than they stimulate some academic approach to minimal music or experimental composition. Each note, each aspect of their music from the kinds of instruments they use to the decisions they make concerning arrangement and mixing, somehow draws powerful responses out of me, though any of the single notes they produce or even whole phrases alone do not necessarily lead me beyond those very notes, seemingly empty of content. Their talent for drawing human qualities of what might be termed essentially un-human processes is impressive, both for its impact and for the consistency of that fact. That spilling over of emotional content requires the listener, though: this is not background music, it's far more exciting than that.

samples:

• Articulate Silences Part 2
• Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage
• That Finger On Your Temple Is the Barrel of My Raygun

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02 April 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Ulrich Schnauss Releases First Studio Record in Three Years
Goodbye Marks His First New Material For Domino

Ulrich Schnauss' third album, Goodbye, is his first new release for Domino on July 10th. The album is the end of a chapter in his sound. "I see these three albums as moving closer to something I wanted to do right from the beginning but didn't quite manage," he says. "Merging songwriting and indie elements with electronic music. I've tried to take all the ideas to the maximum."

The ambient tracks are more spacious, the songs more memorable, the multi-layered, guitar-heavy tracks more ragingly psychedelic. Just listen to the obliterating rush of "Medusa," or the cloudbusting dream-pop of "Stars" (performed with long-time collaborator Judith Beck). At times, there are over 100 different audio tracks playing simultaneously: a tower of song. No wonder Goodbye has taken three solid years of in the studio.

After a few years of watered down, pseudonymous productions which he'd rather you didn't seek out, Ulrich released Far Away Trains Passing By. He was amazed they even wanted to release it; more amazed still when it became a cult success. Its more rock-influenced successor, A Strangely Isolated Place, received an even warmer response, from critics and other musicians alike. It led to Ulrich remixing some of his shoegazing heroes (Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell of Slowdive, and Mark Gardener of Ride), as well as Depeche Mode, Justin Robertson, Lunz (Hans-Joachim Roedelius), and Longview.

Tired of the Berlin scene, Ulrich moved back to his hometown of Kiel to make Goodbye. Most of his schoolfriends had moved away, so he didn't have to worry about distractions. His last two album titles spoke of isolation, but was that the pain of enforced loneliness or the comfort of voluntary solitude. Goodbye is equally ambivalent. "Emotionally, I find farewell situations interesting," he says. "Saying goodbye can be tragic or hopeful."

Preceding Goobdye comes the Quicksand Memory EP announcing the return of Ulrich Schnauss. The EP features an edit of the stunning "Medusa" from Goodbye, a collaboration with Rob McVey (Long-view) titled "Look At The Sky" and Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) re-workings of two of Ulrich's most celebrated songs from A Strangely Isolated Place, "Gone Forever" and "On My Own".

Tracklist:
1. never be the same
2. shine
3. stars
4. einfeld
5. in between the years
6. here today, gone tomorrow
7. a song about hope
8. medusa
9. goodbye
10. for good


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01 April 2007

Komal Trivedi

Albums and Singles

This compilation captures the Bollywood filmi era of over two decades—the '50s to the early '70s—an era of free love, herbalism, good vibrations and plenty of funk attitude. It's evidence that the Indians didn't miss out on this era!

 

Bombay Connection  

The tracks are heavily influenced by 'Western' popular music of the time, from the swinging '60s to Rock 'n Roll to Funk, but throughout, is the distinct South Asian musical influence—whether it's the vocals of the Indian Elvis Kishore Kumar or the unmistakable sounds of those Bollywood orchestral violin pieces.  What makes this compilation so special is that it echeos an attitude and style of Indian cinema and popular culture that is just not found in today's Bollywood.  This is Bollywood filmi, hip thrusting, breast pulsating at its best.  In fact I was surprised at just how funky Bollywood music was during this era. 

This compilation also truly showcases the very far-reaching global musical influences of Bollywood film music, something which the industry still appears to try to do today but without the same affect. Influences from various countries find their way into each track while tunes from here continue to have effects on current music. There's a decidedly fantastic Russian influence in Lata Mangeshkar & Manna Dey's "1956, 1957, 1958" from the film Anari while the compilation's opener, "Mera Naam Hai Shabnam," is a fine tongue-in-check naughty track that's been used recently in blackMahal's  fabulous "Save The Flavour."    The cross-culturalization is wonderful and inspiring, as I'm more curious now to watch these films if only to help place the countries!

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01 April 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

For anyone who has spent any serious amount of time listening to the leftfield of electronica over the past three or four years, it's hard to imagine someone reinventing the proverbial wheel. I know the more I listen to new and "underground" electronica, the more I keep hearing the same things over and over. Phat beats make for a great 12" or live set but an album needs more. Nebulo gives a lot more. On Kolia, through atmospherics and melody, Nebulo has made the best electronica album I've heard since Ellen Allien's Berlinette.

 

Hymen

My first chance to explore this album was commuting to work, faring 5:00 rush hour traffic on the highway in a snow storm. I got blown away by how the first four songs worked as a perfect soundtrack to the snowy evening. As the highway winded down behind the main road of my hometown, snow is flying lightly through the air, swirling golden in the headlights of the cars in my rearview mirror and street lamps breaking through the line of buildngs between the highway and the town. Temporal and delicate spider webs float above the pavement, get briefly illuminated, then crushed and dispersed just as quickly under the wheels of traffic.

The opener, "Ant," skitters and plays along with this frail, winter beauty. The melodies, chopped and cut synthesizer strings and high pitched whines of feedback, wind around the rhythms the way traffic weaves in an out of itself, all the while, weaving and cutting a fine lace of fresh snow. "Automna" moves into much the same head space, a delicate air, heavy eith beats, pounding, chopped and syncopated.  A toy-piano-like melody is countered with harsh orchestra samples and well controlled feedback. It raises my heartbeat, in joyous, romantic tension. The next two tracks flow through the same space, countering delicate, alien melodies with unexpected and dynamic rhythms. "Darkopale" darkly closes the opening passage. It is slow moving, and eery. Reminiscent of Datachi’s work.
Kolia lulls a bit after this exciting opening. The following songs, "Wen" and "Reverse," make a clear cut in the album's flow, like a change to the next movement of a symphony. "Wen," the longest song on the disc at almost seven minutes is just a little too long winded. It's the least dynamic piece, as well as the mellowest.  "Reverse," a two-minute ambient interlude, feels like a little too much after "Wen," but a rest after the tension and release of the opening puts me in a place to think about how powerful and beautiful what was just experienced.

The pace of the latter half of the album isn't quite as intense as the opening, but wanders back and forth between dynamic rhythm-driven tracks and ambient passages. "Klik Me," "Nebula," "Siapese," and "Nokta" are less visceral and more heady than the first four tracks. The closing tracks feel more like exercises in cinematic tension than just iPod-oriented ear candy.  As emotionally gripping as the opening tracks are, the ending of the CD shows Nebulo as a true composer, not just some jerk with a laptop and a lot of free time.  He caught me right off with some flash and showy tricks, just enought to get me to stick around for the second half to really see what he's capable of. 

The two remixes at the end work well in the flow of the album. Of the two, Ginormous' remix of "Darkopale" is a beautiful rendering, capturing all the beauty and redirecting the energy and tension tino a cliffhanger end for the disc.

I appreciate the way Nebulo balances Kolia into three solid movements. The strength and breadth of style and composition will surely make this disc hold up over time. Kolia is tense and dynamic, but not uni-directionally, there's release and victory. Any of these songs could be used for a film soundtrack but this album is lushly layered and dynamic. It creates images and ideas in my head rather than just allusions to some veiled nostalgia, not just to be an edgy backdrop for an automible or life insurance commercial.

samples: 

• Ant
• Automnal
• Mechaniduction

 

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01 April 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

After Unai's substandard A Love Moderne made for an inauspicious resurrection for Force Tracks, this full-length from a netlabel favorite picks up the gauntlet previously held by Dub Taylor and M.R.I. Still, it isn't quite enough to bolster the once unassailable tech-house imprint.

 

Force Tracks

Drei Farben House's Michael Siegle has some big shoes to fill releasing his debut album with a label known for producing some of the vanguard acts of minimal house's early naughties heyday.  The deep and abstractly funky sound that Force Tracks made its name on has become less relevant since its tragic disappearance, though its influence can still be heard in the clubs today.  The faction of electronic music fans still very much enamored of those dubby days will likely find something to enjoy on Any Kind Of Feeling, as several of them have likely discovered the artist’s Fashion and Stadtarchiv, two impressive MP3-only releases from the respected Corporate Identity netlabel.  Based on that material, this proper debut album offers little in the way of surprises, though plenty of satisfying grooves.

After the chilled out introduction "Humidity," a filtered rhythm initiates "Unprivate" before its bare bones beat makes way for a bouncy bass pattern and snippets of Luomo-esque male vocal.  Whereas labelmate Unai's voice came across as strained and paper-thin, Siegle's has the intentionally disinterested inflection of some of the more subdued characters of the new wave generation.  Taking that into consideration, Drei Farben House fits far better within the Force Tracks legacy.  In fact, the first handful of tunes seems almost dated, only somewhat problematic given the aforementioned market.  Fortunately, "It Matters To Me" breaks this trend and offers a significant progressive push towards the dancefloor, with bold stabs and a jacking almost authentic bassline.  Here, Siegle finally reveals a rare lyrical song instead of a track, and the results are more than sufficient due to a desirable apathetic delivery and foreign inflection. 

Also released as a vinyl-only single, instrumental "Close Enough" flaunts an affinity for house music’s roots with its shimmering disco flourishes and evolving melodies.  "Collection for Thierry" and "Rain Cycling" dabble in carefree synthpop, with Siegle uncharacteristically emoting like some 80s frontman stunted somewhat by the fact that he’s working with such a limited and limiting loop-based palette.  "So Familiar" closes out this album ecstatically, channeling euphoric druggy highs in its synthetic depths.  The swirling pad that serves as its base eventually gives way for another appropriately distant and brief vocal, recalling countless nights spent sweating away all the pressures of the real world.  While neither life-changing nor revolutionary, Any Kind Of Feeling comprises passable tunes for house heads and the lounge set, making it inessential yet nonetheless diverting. 

samples:

• It Matters To Me
• So Familiar
• Signature Design

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