- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Important
The majority of the songs are fine examples of songcraft. Amundson is joined by an all-star group of musicians (featuring the likes of Jessica Bailiff; Chris Brokaw of Come, The New Year, Pullman and more; and Shellac’s Bob Weston) who are well able to flesh out his compositions into gorgeous productions. “Happy Ending” which not surprisingly sits near the end of the album is a stunning piece, although despite the name there are more melancholy feelings present than happy ones. This song is not alone as nearly all the pieces capture a delicate and lovely sadness. To me the songs are not sad songs but they capture a feeling that is at the same time wonderful and despondent. I hesitate to use the word duende but it is a similar feeling. It is that same feeling of being snuggled up under the blankets after a long day and the rain is beating against the window.
From time to time the musicians flex their muscles on songs such as “Can't I Wonder” and “Win or Lose.” The former is a slow burner where the final third or so of the song is where it lets loose. On the latter, when the trumpet kicks in, the song gets lifted up into this realm of beautiful simplicity that is hard to hit. Here the convention would be to let the trumpet rise and rise until it overcomes the listener but there is a tight leash on Weston's trumpeting so the effect is not spoiled. On both songs, the pace is quicker than on the other songs which gives them extra exuberance (but still maintaining the almost despondent aura of the album).
You Are My Home is one of those albums that I am delighted to discover (I use the term “discover” loosely, it is not like I found it in a basement under a pile of James Last records) and will no doubt plague my friends into hearing. This is an absolute gem of an album and I cannot stop playing it.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Nextera
Despite being the work of Colin Potter, this album looks, sounds and reads like The Hafler Trio. A Pressed On Sandwich is instantly recognisable as being cut from the same loaf as the original releases, Potter hasn’t gotten rid of any of the sounds’ identities. He takes an overview of all the sonic landscapes initially conjured up by Andrew McKenzie creating a digest of the source material. Indeed a quote of Potter’s in the press release acknowledges this, stating it was his “intention to preserve the overall shape and sense of the material, but at the same time move it to another (sonic) place.” There is a completely different mood and space captured here and as short as it is (just over 18 minutes compared to the 5 hours plus of How to Slice a Loaf of Bread) it is obvious that there’s more to this sandwich than the two slices of bread on the outside.
The piece begins with a slowly changing drone and crumbs of sound popping from the speakers, not very interesting at normal volumes but extremely rich in texture when the volume is turned up to a sensible level. There isn’t the same slow build up with Potter’s work and at first it seems that there isn’t as much time to relish in the details. Granted it’s nowhere near hyperactive but it does seem to rush through the sounds relative to the more reserved pace of How to Slice a Loaf of Bread. This isn’t a problem in the least; it is merely a different approach by Potter to put his own spin on the material. It does eventually level out into a meditative throb that takes on the religious character present on How to Slice a Loaf of Bread. This flows into the final section where there is a heavy emphasis on high frequencies. I found this last portion painful to listen to, even at low volumes. This deters me from always listening the whole way through as more than once I’ve been left with a headache after playing the full piece.
Potter has done such a wonderful job on this release, doing justice to McKenzie’s own inimitable work even if it caused me physical pain. In addition, until a McKenzie-approved reissue of the How to Slice a Loaf of Bread discs happens, A Pressed On Sandwich is as close as many will get to hear it.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
The vast majority of compilations will contain a couple of fast-forward stinkers, but this is relatively rare in that regard; there isn't a duff track here. From the opening Halloween at Christmas squall of Tirath Singh Nirmala’s title track to McWatt’s wearily gorgeous "Untitled," this is a route that winds between conventional and abstract musicality. The simple folky bent of Peril Hill and Feather Gatherers don’t suffer from being programmed up against the braised trapped chord hum of more established acts like Chora.
The songs that take the less established route, flowing into improvisational heavens could do with extending a touch; there’s nothing worse than coming out of a trace too early. The lava lamp ambience of Ben Reynolds and Big Eyes Family Players feel particularly brief, sucking me in and spitting me out too soon. Competing for this release’s finest moment are Directing Hand and their chilling obsessive take on "Down in Yon Forest" and Michael Flower Band's frantic toe tapping swoon of "Santa Flauta." Compilations don't always need central themes, concepts or strictly adhered to genre rules if they can keep up the quality quota like me Singing at the Moon.
samples:
- Directing Hand - Down in Yon Forest
- Nalle - Are You Beautiful Inside? Are You Here?
- Michael Flower Band - Santa Flauta
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
With their latest album of pastoral folk pop, Glenn Donaldson and Donovan Quinn seem determined to let everyone know where they're from, in case there were any doubts.
 
It's not just the insular title of the album that roots them in California, but also the Byrds-esque guitars and light pop harmonies that anchor them as much as anything else. Yet it’s not California as a place to which they lay claim, but rather California as an ideal, and it’s an important distinction that unfortunately makes them anachronistic. Rather than updating or contemporizing the folk sound of the ‘60s to say something about today’s culture, like Donaldson does with some of his other bands, here they revive it mostly intact. Although they do this sort of thing well, it comes across as a form of nostalgia for a time in which the musicians never lived, which is kind of a pointless exercise.
There isn’t a whole lot of ground here that the group didn’t already cover on last year’s Life & Love in Sparrow’s Meadow. One change, however, is the addition of a rhythm section. While the songs lack emotional distinction, it’s only the new rhythm section that lends them any personality. The most redeeming factor of the album is the strange twist of the lyrics, but even these are disguised under so much convention that their impact is lessened, if they’re noticed at all. The smugness of a song like "Jesus Was Californian" doesn’t help things, either.
Don’t get me wrong, the album sounds great for a revival act. The music’s pleasant enough and their harmonies are decent, but the songs don’t say anything to me that I haven’t already heard many times over from the original source material itself. I can’t help wonder why the band would bother other than to prove that they can.
samples:
 
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
The unspooling speaker roughage that rushes out is like an aural spot painting made with vinyl silt. There's beauty in the purée that's otherworldly, totally unidentifiable, and thankfully never rises to the generic storm. Unidentified flying pieces of resonating treble take off from the track, bumping into the bottom-end sounds of an aircraft takeoff; both forming dislocated swarms. These galvanic circling energies may appear sourceless on the first few runs, but further listens offer up little roots.
Their collective noise (I'm assuming they're a collective, anyway) shows no signs of being inclement here, there's a no-negativity inherent in the sounds. I'm not claiming this is soft bath-time ambience, but there's something enjoyably uncontaminated about this record.16 Bitch Pile-Up are a soothing static flecked unguent on the throbbing wounds of improvised noise music.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Although fairly well known in certain circles, the artist formerly known as Tikiman operates largely out on the fringes of the reggae music community, an Achilles' heel that offers both challenges and opportunities. Having worked with a number of noteworthy producers from well beyond the Carribbean, such as The Bug, Modeselektor, and Scion's René Löwe, Hilaire's work for his Germany-based False Tuned vanity label attempts on some level to return to his island roots. While his sophomore self-produced album adheres to a rootsy reggae standard at least lyrically, years of genre-crossing collaboration has informed Hilaire's sense of music composition. Accordingly, Adsom - A Divine State of Mind shows an artist truly coming in to his own.
A much more consistent extension of 2003's Unspecified, the album kicks off with the subdued "Little Song," arguably the track that listeners familiar with the aforementioned partnerships will most likely connect best with. Here, Hilaire's somewhat aged voice soars over a burbly dub soundtrack, familiar territory to be sure though certainly well executed. Also in that vein, the deep watery textures of "Humble" could have come right from the mixing desk of Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald. Beyond that, however, Hilaire largely rejects uniformity and demonstrably embraces the diversity of his career. "Peculiar," for one, is carried by an unmistakably bluesy flair found almost exclusively on albums from Skip McDonald's unmatched Little Axe project. Such shrewd deviation from the Showcase model proves that he is not content to pantomime past successes. Hilaire is comfortable playing the purist on something like "Jah Live Over The Hills", previously released as a Tikiman CD single in Europe back in 2002, as well as playing to a contemporary R&B vibe akin to Beres Hammond on the closer "Roosty".
However, "Fortunate" is the true standout of the album, a groover delivered from atop the soapbox whose infectious hook is sung in chorus with what I assume from the credits are his own children. If commercial radio still had a taste for reggae music beyond dancehall, this would be playing all over town like a slightly softer "Welcome To Jamrock", and if there isn't at least one station in Jamaica rocking this one then that entire nation is missing out. As it stands, enough insulation exists to unfairly keep an outstanding artist like Hilaire from thriving to the extent Adsom so clearly proves him worthy of achieving. I can only hope that this boundary emboldens rather than weakens him, bringing the promise of even stronger, more engaging releases for years to come.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
There are noticeable, albeit brief, rhythms in the avalanche alongside tower levelling greater bass pulses. Several ominous silences don’t make this any less scalding, the spew creeping like brittle ossification. The weight of this lathe comes in speedily rising increments of needle under fingernails pain. Prurient's rage sounds all the more rotted and dark with the focus of the lyrics here.
It's difficult to make out all the words in Prurient's full verse, the vocal fx and the crushed salvo of rolls obliterating some of it. His spoken word soliloquy comes somewhere between Slint's Brian McMahan and something on the darker side of the now fallen Rollins. Although with Prurient we are safe in the knowledge that he won’t be appearing in any shitty commercial movies anytime soon.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Faraway Press
Chalk's records always feel like something special, his Faraway Press releases are especially unique and memorable because they're so carefully assembled. East of the Sun comes in a heavy duty gatefold case with elegant and simple artwork. The inside contains only the most pertinent information and a single photograph, presumably of Chalk. As heavy as the packaging may be, the music is perhaps the most delicate Chalk has ever assembled. There are no monumental drones to speak of or massive washes of sound that swim out of the music. Everything is a gentle, microscopic whisper. Even with the volume turned up to its fullest, both "Winter Arc" and "High Water" seem dark and distant, glimmering only faintly, suggesting some distant signs of life.
When the music does uncover itself most blatantly, the resonance and power of the sounds involved is undeniable. The simplicity of both compositions remind me of taking a long walk and being lost in thought or, perhaps more strongly, the sudden realization that there's something going on around you that was not or had not been immediately evident. There are no big surprises on this album: everything comes naturally, but the way Chalk's various sounds work their way in and out of the mix demands repeated listens. I found myself asking where certain sounds came from and how they managed to sneak into the mix without me noticing them earlier.
In the right environment this is a splendid aspect of the album: it commands a quiet place and causes the ears to listen harder, be more attentive. If a quiet place is impossible to find, then this record is difficult to hear and gets subsumed into other noises. I was washing my clothes in the basement while listening to this album upstairs and it slowly fused with the whirl of the washing machine. There's nothing inherently wrong with a quiet album, but unless combining music with household appliances sounds like fun, this album is perhaps best suited for the quietest of times or for a pair of good headphones.
samples:
Read More
in progess
in progress
Samples:
Rob
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Released in conjunction with a concert on the 11. November 2006 at the »Lagerhaus« Bremen the CD feat. exclusive tracks by Industrial Music legend Z'EV and New York based percussionist and multi media artist DAVID LINTON who has worked with among others Lee Ranaldo, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Diamanda Galas, Christian Marclay and Elliot Sharp. Each artist is featured with a solo track plus a remix of the other artist.
Z'EV: www.rhythmajik.de David Linton: www.unitygain.org
Track listing:
1. Z'EV »Soliloquy #1« 11'11
2. Z'EV (LINTON) »Not Nil« 19'58
3. DAVID LINTON »Emerald Portal Excerpt — Part 1« 22'27
4. DAVID LINTON (Z'EV) »7/11elective-RE:mix_Z'EV« 7'00
Total playing time: 60:36 min.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Part 9 of the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums from 1980—1991 on CD. This combines two seperate releases from 1987 (»Zwingburgen des Hedonismus«) and 1988 (»Mysterien des Hafens« on »FACE TO FACE, VOL. 1«). »Zwingburgen des Hedonismus« was originally released as a one-sided LP on swedish label Multimood and features a singles 21 min. long track composed on a Fairlight CMI. »Mysterien des Hafens« was part of a split LP (the other side feat. DIE FORM) originally released on french label Odd Size and feat. recordings made by Tietchens using under-water microphones. The Bonus track »Faircomp 1K« on this CD is a different version of the first track and previously unreleased.
First edition of 600 copies in jewel case with full cover artwork and poster booklet also feat. the original album covers.
Track listing:
1. »Zwingburgen des Hedonismus« 21'07
2. »Faircomp 1K« (Bonus track) 16'55
3. »Bubendey Notturno/Ritual auf der Halde« (Mysterien des Hafens) 18'39
Total playing time: 56:41 min.
Up until today I only undertook the effort to compose music with the help of a special composing programme twice. One of these two resulting pieces is »Studie uber B-A-C-H« (originally titled »Faircomp 1C«) which appeared on FORMEN LETZTER HAUSMUSIK in 1984. The matrix which was developed for the music computer Fairlight CMI, could be altered in structure, length and also instrumentation according to the needs of the composer. The first version (»Faircomp 1A«) was recorded in 1982, the last one (»Faircomp 1N«) in 1986. ZWINGBURGEN DES HEDONISMUS (originally titled »Faircomp 1J«) is still the soundwise richest of all these versions despite its overall meagreness. The second version included here (the bonus track »Faircomp 1K«) already borders on the edge of mannerism with its instrumental and dynamical one-dimensionality. Actually the whole Faircomp series was — to use the words of Max Bense — a »precise pleasure«, which basically consisted of transforming kybernetic possibilities into something audible. Nevertheless ZWINGBURGEN DES HEDONISMUS (originally »Faircomp 1J«) saw a release as a one-sided LP in the end because of the braveness of the swedish label Multimood and also because of the fact that the work displayed a relative richness. I also wrote the matrix for a »Faircomp 2« series, but it was never fed into the Fairlight CMI. This computer was abandoned and replaced by the DX 7 and up-to-date samplers and computers in 1987. It seems that time has passed the »Faircomp 2« by. But who knows...?
ASMUS TIETCHENS »MYSTERIEN DES HAFENS« (Odd Size OS04) 1988
Both tracks were already recorded in 1986 and are outtakes from the GEBOREN, UM ZU DIENEN album on EG. They didn't make it onto this album though,because I felt that they differed from the other tracks not only in content, but also musically. I therefore put them aside as an option for a possible second LP on the EG label, but in the end that was not the case. The label »Odd Size« made an enquiry if I'd like to contribute one side to the split LP »Face to Face, Vol.1«, and I immediately offered them MYSTERIEN DES HAFENS, because the two tracks — blended into each other — made much more sense in this isolated format. They refer to two specific places in the harbour of Hamburg. Both places have been transformed beyond recognition during the last 20 years though. Only a few photos that I took and the music are still wittness of what has already become history. Sic transit gloria mundi — and not without some regret. Stylistically MYSTERIEN was close to Industrial Music although it was released kinda late for that. But back then we didn't waste a thought, that the glorious years could already be over, also because the taking over by the enemy couldn't be forseen by anyone then. So empty bunkers and dumps still remained the favourite playgrounds of post-nuclear campfire rituals. But these fires would be dead soon.
Asmus Tietchens, 2006
Read More