- Jim Siegel
- Albums and Singles
The opening "Shore" is contemplative in tone, withlayers of buzzing and shimmering tones weaving steadily in and out ofthe mix. "Garden" is less linear, with several different sections thatgradually develop over 12 minutes. The short, sudden jolt of noise thatoccurs at one and a half minutes sounds like the equivalent of aflashback scene in a film. The relatively quiet sections ofinterlocking tones that follow this outburst then carry a heavy senseof tension, as the sounds of past memories could again interrupt thesequence at any time. Murray successfully fuses digital processing witha warm, human touch throughout the set. Six minutes into "Garden" anarray of clanging, arrhythmically struck metal percussion is heardamidst the floating tones that gradually build to a steady drift untila section of shrill, piercing feedback brings the piece to a close."Bed" begins with a collage of beautifully hazy bell tones, which giveway to a passage during which Murray can be heard rubbing small bits ofmetal together. The length of these tracks (each between 10 and 17minutes) allows him to fully explore each sound before morphing it intosomething else. He clearly brings a musician's sense of composition tothe world of abstract, rhythmless sound. This intuitive sense ofarranging and a keen use of dynamics helps the album to remain excitingalthough a very specific palette of sounds is utilized. "Tomb" is themost dense composition, with several layers of audio muck to wadethrough. It's a true culmination of all of the elements used in thepreceding three tracks. The high-pitched squeals wind their way througha steady onslaught of digital detritus as Murray piles on the layers.If he is ruminating on the possibly permanent nature of the tomb as a finalresting place, his reading of it seems to be a celebration of all thathas come before this state, rather than a morbid reflection of deathitself. By juxtaposing the meditative tones of "Shore" with thepeaceful, womb-like environment evoked in the first half of "Bed" andthe sheer catharsis of "Tomb"'s exorcism through noise, Murray haspresented a thorough and highly enjoyable study of an eternal subject.
samples:
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- Lucas Schleicher
- Albums and Singles
ICR
Kuwayama Kiyoharu, otherwise known as Lethe, andJonathan Coleclough construct a fairly ominous set of sounds, one ontop of the other, until they produce the sound of music burning.Crackling, sticks snapping, and slowly detuned winds flow through aseries of almost indefinable transitions; each new sound ushers in anew palette and a fresh movement. Sounding almost like a variation on atheme, the duo slowly allows an intensity to build, never reallyletting go and simply adding intriguing sounds as they move along,almost as though they were eager to drop the old ones as quickly aspossible. At around the 21 minute mark, the atmosphere begins to spiralout of a control ever so slightly: the clanking of metal, the sounds ofbirds chirping, and the endless wail of synthetic tones grows over itsown container and sounds more and more threatening with every passingsecond. There's almost never any doubt that anything released byColeclough is going to be good, but not since his work with ColinPotter on Low Ground has his work felt this powerful.Lethe's contribution may have something to do with this, butunfortunately there are no details provided on the packaging in regardsto who contributed what and how. There are two editions of this releaseavailable. One is a single disc edition and the other is a two-discedition limited to 250 copies and available only through ICRDistribution. There's little reason not to own this; the fevered pitchthis album reaches and it's beautiful, destructive aftermath exceed anydescription that might be applied.
samples:
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- Jonathan Dean
- Albums and Singles
Aural Rage
Even amongsome of Coil's most zealous advocates, works like "Windowpane" and "TheSnow" are considered somewhat aberrant, their adherence to then-currenttechno norms seemed a deliberate step into the mainstream, not astrategy for which Coil are generally known. Much of this fixation onthe reconfiguration of dance music was brought to the group by DannyHyde, so it should come as no surprise that his debut solo album A Nature of Nonsensesounds a lot like that phase when Coil seemed to be spending a lot oftime tripping at London discos. Those dark, synthetic strings,programmed rhythms, shuddering MDMA-filtered beats, acid gurgles andinsect buzzes are all over the album. Unfortunately, this means thatthe album sounds a bit uniform and dated in the same way as "The Snow"does now. Also, like many talented engineers who create their ownmusic, Danny Hyde seems overly dependent upon the gear and software heuses, producing many tracks that sound more like in-store demos forelectronic music gizmos than they do like fully-realized songs. Hyde'smaximalist approach, with a dense beatscape overpopulated with layersof samples and sonic detail, recalls The Orb and Meat Beat Manifesto,only not as polished or interesting. This is something of adisappointment coming from someone who worked on such stunning Coiltracks as "First Dark Ride" and "Nasa Arab." Aural Rage turns in itsown interpolation of the latter track with "Nasahara Arab," a pointlessrefabrication of the original that adds layers of unnecessary busy-nessto the track. Another reinterpreted Coil track fares slightly better,the noisy forward momentum of "Unhealthy Red," based on the Coil piece"Unearthly Red" from Live Four. Two tracks featuring vocals bythe late Jhonn Balance are strong points for the album, thoughBalance's voice sounds incongruous placed amid hyperactive compositionsfilled to bursting with extraneous sound effects. On "FJ Nettlefold,"Balance performs a remarkably possessed vocal, but Hyde miscalculatesby overprocessing and adding Dead Can Dance female backing vocals thatsound ludicrous in this context. Still, it's wonderful to hear Balanceagain, in whatever form. Hyde seems to enjoy a good bit of humor,whether it's Stephen Hawking's computer voice proclaiming "Physics isall very good, but me, I'd rather get wood," or a cut-up of everyone'sfavorite tyrant George W. Bush on "Dubya Does One." Problem is, thesegags visit well-worn territory, and in the case of "A Nutter at Radio3," the jokes are just plain stolen, uncredited, from Trunk Records' Dirty Fan Male.I don't want to be overly cruel to an album that is plainly a verysincere DIY enterprise, but from the rather ho-hum name of the projectdown to the hack-job sleeve artwork, A Nature of Nonsense suffers from a dearth of actual ideas, not an uncommon problem for music made by engineers rather than artists.
samples:
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Alien Transistor (DE) / Anticon (US)
The fact that 13+God isentirely listenable (one needs granite ears for much of Themselves'music) from start to finish seems to indicate that the famouslyfreewheeling Themselves chose to adhere to a more Notwist-friendlyframework, if not working subordinately. Either way, the formula worksperfectly and equally: harmonious, hummable radio-ready tunes as wellas rambling, bizarrely epic tracks are created, and the above noteaside, it's not immediately apparent who wrote or performed what. Thereare moments of dominance: the lead single "Men of Station" reeks ofTeutonic influence, replete with Markus Acher's trademarkspoken-chanted vocals and Themselves relegated to background noises;the closing track "Walk" is similar to the messily intense cuts foundon producer Jel's Meat and Oil EP. Otherwise, the six verydifferent musicians have achieved a near-perfect balance of Europeanelectronic pop and American avant-rap. Neon Golden-worthy percussionand harmonization compete with the best No Musicbeat-poet stream of consciousness vie for position, neither winning outbut instead creating an inventive and original-sounding record. Thecollaboration also has the novelty of minimizing its flaws: when thevocals drone on, inducing slumber, a heavy backbeat will raise theenergy; and the structure and harmonization keep otherwise etherealvocalization grounded. Fans of Themselves may be disappointed that13+Godis too accessible to the plebian public and not jarring or discordantenough, and Notwist aficionados may be annoyed with Themselves formaking such nonsensical noises over an otherwise perfectly-orderedMartin Grestchmann arrangement, but such attacks are Phillistinic.13+God has upped the ante for cross-genre collaborations and met orexceeded all of its lofty expectations.
samples:
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Thrill Jockey
The collection of 12" singles from the Detroit group came right in themidst of a slew of other retro-analogue electro acts a few years back,but was unique enough to stand out from the crowd. I liked the childishsimplicity and cold, rigid plasticity of Adult's repetitive beats, andthe humorously reductive, robotic lyrics of Nicola Kuperus ("Do youhave a phone/I need to accommodate/My communication needs"). Thepurist, technological aesthetic of all the releases on their ErsatzAudio label, including Kuperus' series of "dead secretary" photographsadded a great visual element to the odd postmodern satire, and theirlive shows were also quite a lot of fun. Not satisfied to continuallyinhabit the same synthetic, climate-controlled interiors forever, Adultstretched out on their follow-up album Anxiety Always,producing an aggravating concoction of minimal techno and brutallyascetic no-wave that I still find very difficult to listen to. With D.U.M.E.,their first release for Thrill Jockey, Adult go further down the samerabbit hole, leaving behind their Detroit techno roots for increasinglydarker and pricklier post-punk territories. The result is an album evenless approachable, a series of anally retentive goth pastiches thathighlight Kuperus' deliberately piercing, grating vocals. Noisy stabsof subterranean guitar, spiky psychedelic touches and simplisticprogrammed beats give these songs the feel of early Cure, Tuxedomoon orDNA music stuffed into tiny, vacuum-sealed plastic containers and leftaround for 20 years. When the seal is removed, the stink hits you rightin the face, relentlessly obnoxious and quite repellant. I think Adultdeserve some praise for so single-mindedly pursuing a sound so angular,ascetic and uncommercial that most will not even get all the waythrough a three-minute song. However, in their dogged stylisticpursuits, they leave the listener far behind, choking on their toxicexhaust. I couldn't help but notice how Kuperus' confrontational vocalsare a pitch-perfect recreation of the "Me and My Rhythm Box"performance from the film Liquid Sky, which was a welcomereminder. However, it's something I can only take in very small doses.And though this EP is only 16 minutes long, it's already far too muchto take in all at once.
samples:
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- Jonathan Dean
- Albums and Singles
Threshold House
For a group whose music is so implicative of a richesoteric heritage, the death of Jhonn Balance, while certainly tragicand accidental, seems somehow wholly appropriate, a corporeal sacrificein pursuit of some higher pitch of magickal experience. These omens andbeckoning mythologizations are all over ...And the Ambulance Died In His Arms,which documents a unique Coil performance at the Camber Sands HolidayCentre, part of the Autechre-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival,weekend of April 6, 2003. I was in the audience during thisperformance, and have been repeatedly listening to a fan-recordedbootleg of the show in the two intervening years, so this material isvery familiar to me, and brings back gloriously hallucinogenicmemories. This official release is superior in many ways to both mymemory and the bootleg, boasting a higher quality soundboard recording,song names, track separations and packaging containing fantastic photosfrom the performance. The front cover is a particularly choice snapshotof Jhonn Balance in his Victorian madman costume, sporting a D.H.Lawrence/Will Oldham beard and hair combed sharply sideways. After abrief introduction of the now-familiar Coil-trademarked electronics—allshuddering gurgles, ripples, dimensional buzzes and distorted analoguemelodies—the lengthy, seemingly improvised "Snow Falls into MilitaryTemples" begins. The song is all icy ambience: a chillingly glacialcombination of distorted, sidereal synths, unidentifiable percussiveclatter and irregular trills on the marimba. Jhonn Balance pipes inwith a series of nonverbal ululations and incantations, eventuallysettling on the mantric repetition of the song's title. Then Jhonnreveals the guiding principle behind this uniquely understated Coilperformance: "We're doing a quiet set today...we've had too muchshouting over the past year." And a quiet set it is, at least whencompared to the Constant Shallowness-era, baptism-through-noiseset I'd witnessed a couple years earlier in NYC. However, quiet in thiscase does not suggest that it is any less powerful, and in fact, thereis a simmering, deliberate intensity to this material that brings itcloser to the group's Musick To Play in the Dark phase than anyof their other live appearances. "A Slip in the Marylebone Road" is anaural dowsing rod, Jhonn Balance recounting hazy memories of a druggedrobbery near the aforementioned tube station that left him bereft of avaluable green notebook full of ideas and song lyrics. The story istold in freeform style over a quiet rhythm punctuated by Sleazy'ssampled Speak-and-Spell spitting out computerized nonsense syllables.The last two lengthy tracks seem the most prophetic of all, "TripleSons and the One You Bury" ("I drank a cup of mercury...If you're goingto bury him, bring him home first.") and a radically retooled versionof "The Dreamer Is Still Asleep." Subtitled "A Somnambulist in anAmbulance," a reference to Balance's alliterative mantra, impossiblenot to read as an eerie portent of tragic events to come. This is anindispensable live document, a set of songs never performed before orsince, with a uniquely atmospheric mood steeped in morbid augury.
samples:
- A Slip in the Marylebone Road
- Triple Sons and the One You Bury
- The Dreamer Is Still Asleep - A Somnambulist in an Ambulance
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- Albums and Singles
Released as a CD and a triple-LP on Beta-Lactam Ring, the music on Thighpaulsandra's Double Vulgar II is very much in the same vein as its predecessor: long, freeform post-prog soundscapes populated by a basement full of vintage analogue synthesizers, long passages of masturbatory noodling, occasionally erupting into grandiose psychedelic glam-rock centerpieces before giving way to the twittering machines again. The album opens with Thighps and his opera-singing mum Dorothy Lewis trading surreal quips. "I'm not above using these tongs, you know," says Mme. Lewis, to which her son replies: "You afro-intercom bitch!" This weirdness continues for a while, against a backdrop of vaguely Star Trek-ian electronic chirps and the mutated saxophone bleats. The track continues through very surreal territory, sounding not entirely unlike something Nurse With Wound would produce after listening to the entire discography of ESP-Disk under the influence of magic mushrooms. I kept thinking that the song was on the verge of coalescing into something more concrete and musical, but I was wrong—dead wrong—which is good. It's nice to have your hopes and expectations dashed occasionally. "Telly For Rex" is something else entirely, sounding like the group improvisations captured on last year's Rape Scene album.
The trio (or quartet?) of players orbit loosely around Thighpaulsandra's noisy squalls of brain-frying electronics, trying to glue it all together with shambolic percussion and swathes of electric guitar. It's a gloriously incomprehensible mess, all the way up until about the 13-minute mark, at which point the song unceremoniously explodes into a ferocious Hawkwind-style space-rock bacchanalia, complete with incongruous female back-up vocals. Things don't get any clearer with "Imperial," which begins quiet and clattery before gradually turning into an inexplicably groovy jazzy Krautrock with xylophones and all manner of unexplainable audio phenomenon bouncing around the room. Then it gets quiet and creepy again, concluding with a distorted group incantation. "Vomitting Child" begins with the sounds of closely-mic'd droids quietly masturbating, before turning into a vaguely tribal excursion, eventually somehow ending up as a melancholic, spaced-out alt-country number complete with slide guitar and mellow vocals by Thighpaulsandra himself. Ending this kitchen-sink mess is the hilariously over-the-top "Bost Sanvay Unst Bit Sumonver," a truly unhinged sidelong track that begins with a sorta coherent song-type-thing with perverse lyrics ("I wipe my penis on his curtains") and gradually falls apart into its component pieces, wandering lysergically through several deeply fucked-up minutes before reassembling for a final rhythmic leap into space. Double Vulgar II is the sort of album that plays like an uncensored, unedited stream-of-consciousness from a group of talented players being led by a mad genius. It makes no apologies for its excesses (including the erect male member lovingly pictured on the back sleeve), and doesn't stay in one place long enough for anyone to get bored.
samples:
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- Lucas Schleicher
- Albums and Singles
Carpark
Far moreglitchy and filled with non-linear messes of static and random noise,the majority of Yearlonghas a less polished and more improvised structure than what I amaccustomed to from either composer and so, upon first listen, I was abit shocked by what I was hearing. The first Knitting Factory track isbasically a series of highly edited pulses forced into envelopes ofecho, reverb, sudden decompression, and 90 degree turns. There's verylittle room for continuity. Similarly, the recording from the Bottom ofthe Hill in San Francisco comes off as a noise performance edited anddisjointed on the spot; gone are the smooth curves that populated bothDavis' and Whitman's releases from last year. On the other hand, thetwo WFMU Radio pieces and the Kontor Gallery recording in Köln, Germanyfit together quite well: the bells, whistles, reversed signal hums andguitar samples all flow in and out seamlessly, as though they weremeant to sit side by side on a disc. The La Casa performance inWashington is a beautiful mix of kitchen sink percussion and simple,spacious piano bits and the massive WNYU-FM track from New York(recorded on the same day as the Washington performance) is a blissfulmix of contemplative bells and shuffling utensils. These two tracks, inparticular, are amazing because of how different they are. Recorded onthe same day, they're indicative of how diverse both composers are andjust how willing they are to try new ideas. The Impakt Festivalrecording, the last track on the disc, is particularly fun, too, andseals my feelings on this album up. A combination of crackling hiss andmarching band samples, it lights up the end of an album that, at first,can be a little daunting, but ends up being excellently diverse andaddictive in all its playfulness. - Lucas Schleicher
samples:
- Knitting Factory - New York USA - June 22nd, 2002 (Track 03)
- WFMU Radion Session - Jersey City USA - June 23rd, 2002 (Track 08)
- Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco USA - April 4th, 2002
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- Albums and Singles
Morr Music
For the most part, Blumm's tunes originate from guitarand bass strummings and pluckings that warmly become enveloped withinstrumental layers of harmonium, accordion, vibraphone and minimalkeyboard effects. Having devoted serious studies towards music, hisknowledge, placement and performances with such instruments has beendone very tastefully and with no discordance. Although a pop musicelement is present on the disc's compositions, the one facet notincluded (and not at all missed) is the bright tempos. Tracks such as"Nie" and "Langen" move at a slower, yet comfortable clip for pluckedguitar progressions to leave the ample space which is beautifullycolored by strokes of xylophone and blocks of harmonium with melodiesfurnished on melodica and glockenspiel. Brisker tempos would onlymuddle these brilliant and emotive performances. "Blick" consists of abase of sparse, drop-tuned acoustic guitar strumming and weavingmelodica lines propelled by subtle vibraphone flams. Already rife withcinematic-styled orchestrations and evocations, the addition of asoaring French Horn performance from Harald Ziegler seals the deal tomake this my favorite track on the disc (not to mention a new-foundrespect for the French Horn). The musically rich David Grubbs lends hisunique vocals to the disc's closing track, "Nachhall/Chroma Key," withlyrics verging on stream-of-consciousness based around the set of atelevision show. Zweite Meer is a disc of warm and amicabletunes, and as its cover suggests, is the musical equivalent of layingback on the grass and picking out cloud shapes as a lazy afternoondrifts by.
samples:
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- Jim Siegel
- Albums and Singles
Various trumpets, handpercussion, vocals and the occasional stringed and wind instrument areused to worship deities through prayer and invocation. Levy used stateof the art recording techniques but aimed to capture events as theyhappened, therefore these recordings have an air of authenticity. Thefact that he did not bring the participants into a studio and attemptto recreate their performances also lends the set a timeless quality. Atrack simply titled "Monks" is described as "monks, clown and publicenjoyment." This two minutes of seemingly random chanting and informalvocalizing simply would not have been heard had Levy not made hisrecordings as an observer. The immediacy of the recordings gives them avisual quality. It is easy to envision layers of dust being releasedfrom ancient cymbals as they are struck together. Although the set islong at 143 minutes, it is conveniently divided into three sections:"Rituals of the Drukpa Order," "Sacred Dances and Rituals of theNyingmapa and Drukpa Orders," and "Temple Rituals and PublicCeremonies." Much of sections one and two are trance-inducing, andperhaps this is entirely the point, as this music is not being createdas entertainment. Levy was granted special access to record these ritesbased on his track record of excellence in field recordings made inother countries. While this music of Buddhism is normally only heard bythe general public on special occasions, Bhutan's folk music isperformed publicly and enjoyed by all. Many examples of this type areheard in section three, which offers a wider variety of styles than theprivate Buddhist rites heard in sections one and two. Here we aretreated to music performed during processions, festivals and dances.There are also examples of pieces for solo vocal, cymbals and flute.Music that is devotional in nature and ritualistic in practice is oneof the most pure and genuine forms of expression, and these recordingsare free of the baggage that plagues so much Western music.
samples:
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- Chris Roberts
- Albums and Singles
Completing the doubleentendre, the album uses a motif or montage of death and relatedimagery as its unifying principle. In doing so, Daedalus informs theworld that hip hop—the category in which Daedalus's uniquely arranged,densely-packed beat-driven sound best fits—can offer elegies far moreinvolved that merely pouring some out for one's homies. Adhering tohabit, Daedalus uses primarily analog samples of 1950s cocktail-loungesingers, ancient-sounding 1920s and 30s piano and organ notes andcheesily ambiguous post-war string arrangements as source material. Putin front of a simple snare-and-cymbal beat or a bossa-nova percussionsample, the sound of Exquisite Corpse is more akin to classicalelegy rather than a Gothic dirge: a welcome surprise as nothing isworse than a melodramatic hip hop record. And the material is no Antigone,either. After a few minutes of instrumentals to set the mood, MF Doom'srapid fire and witty opener "Impending DOOM" mates a frantic, freneticbackbeat to his signature flow, with a string sample to keep the moodslightly mellow. Two versions of "Welcome Home" hint at some sort of anauthentic cadavre exquis; a glitch-heavy beatdown that is unmistakablyPrefuse 73, and a typically thoughtful and esoteric Mike Ladd poem,read over the original Daedalus beat: "Waiting on Pompeii/ my brain's awar machine/ waiting on the next/ another shoe is another day/ long asit doesn't fall I'm ok/ welcome home." "I Sent Off" is the closest Exquisite Corpsecomes to more "typical" electronic music, the strings-and-singeropening duet fading into a dance-club worthy crescendo of gyratingbeats. Among the more notable guest appearances is the pleasing sleeper"Drops," featuring obscure MC Cyne, laying a heartfelt rap over arelaxing jazz-inspired loop. The album's zenith is "Crippled Hand," asix-minute tour de force that showcases Daedalus's ability to dowhatever he wants with any conceivable sound, from Andean pan flutes toclipper-ship era pennywhistles. In Greek mythology, Daedalus's skill asan inventer was legendary, able to manipulate anything with dexterityand aplomb. It's hard to think of a more appropriate moniker for thehip-hop Daedalus.
samples:
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