Brombron (Staalplaat)
According to the liner notes, Brombron is "a joint project by extrapooland staalplaat and receives financial support from mondriaanstichting." Quite what all that means, I don't know, but apparently theboys got some studio time to work on this record specifically. And itwas money well spent for their patrons because this is an excellentexposition of the more musical end of microsound-style laptopcomposition, a subgenre put decisively on the map by ChristianFennesz's low-bitrate eye-opener 'Endless Summer.'
As on Mathieu's equally pleasing 'frequencyLib' album, much of thealbum is about processing samples from hinted-at sources and givingthem a new identity, but there's also nice use of a field recording andoutright, er, covers, you might say. Unlike many records in themicrosound genre, no harsh noise pieces are found here. Instead thereare thirteen subtle tracks, starting with the straightfireworks-field-recording-and-organ of "New Years Eve". (Clearly JimO'Rourke didn't exhaust the potential of recorded fireworks on GastrDel Sol's 'Camofleur'.)
Other highlights are the processed warble of "Turkey Song"—a revivalisttake on Peanuts which clearly influenced the soundtrack picks in 'TheRoyal Tenenbaums', and which, along with "Vinnie's Theme", punctuatesthe album with a sense of humour. A further bonus is the special cardpackaging, unique to the Brombron series, which holds the CD in placewithout a spot of plastic, glue, or even one of those annoying Mort AuxVaches fold-out clips. The record's been out the best part of a year,and is apparently limited, so seek out a copy while you can.
According to the liner notes, Brombron is "a joint project by extrapooland staalplaat and receives financial support from mondriaanstichting." Quite what all that means, I don't know, but apparently theboys got some studio time to work on this record specifically. And itwas money well spent for their patrons because this is an excellentexposition of the more musical end of microsound-style laptopcomposition, a subgenre put decisively on the map by ChristianFennesz's low-bitrate eye-opener 'Endless Summer.' As on Mathieu's equally pleasing 'frequencyLib' album, much of thealbum is about processing samples from hinted-at sources and givingthem a new identity, but there's also nice use of a field recording andoutright, er, covers, you might say. Unlike many records in themicrosound genre, no harsh noise pieces are found here. Instead thereare thirteen subtle tracks, starting with the straightfireworks-field-recording-and-organ of "New Years Eve". (Clearly JimO'Rourke didn't exhaust the potential of recorded fireworks on GastrDel Sol's 'Camofleur'.)
Other highlights are the processed warble of "Turkey Song"—a revivalisttake on Peanuts which clearly influenced the soundtrack picks in 'TheRoyal Tenenbaums', and which, along with "Vinnie's Theme", punctuatesthe album with a sense of humour. A further bonus is the special cardpackaging, unique to the Brombron series, which holds the CD in placewithout a spot of plastic, glue, or even one of those annoying Mort AuxVaches fold-out clips. The record's been out the best part of a year,and is apparently limited, so seek out a copy while you can.
samples:
It sounds like a joke for indie music hipsters: what do you get whenyou mix The Melvins, Fantomas and a crowd for a live show? This liverecording from December 31st, 2000 is the best answer, and it's notbad. Despite the fact that all seven musicians from the two bands arecredited, the songs don't often demand that all of them bang away atonce, but when the all of them come down and pound the music out, theydo a really good job of staying out of each other's way and keeping therecording relatively unmuddled. For the most part, Patton does thevocals, although Melvins' Dale Crover and King Buzzo are also creditedwith vocals. A lot of the music sounds -- not surprisingly -- like amelding between the recent Melvins' buzzing sludginess and the moreethereal moments of Fantomas' vignettes. If you've heard the recentofferings from Melvins or fantomas, there's no big surprises here, justmore quality noise. Some pieces are clearly derived from one or theother groups (Fantomas' cover of the themes from the films "The Omen"and "Cape Fear" or "Ol' Black Stooges" an assaulting drum jam whichappears in a much more abbreviated form on the Melvins' new album Hostile Ambient Takeover"as that album's opener.) A few pieces and moments throughout can beisolated to one musician -- like Patton's signature squeals and screamsfrom Fantomas' albums, or Dunn's bass pluckings in "Terpulative Guns& Drugs", but in general, the music and musicians complement eachother well enough that it stops being about one or the other andbecomes an entity in it's own right. Some of the more ambient noisepieces remind me nothing so much as the early noise of Nurse WithWound, and "Skin Horse" features a hysterical Ween-esque vocal linethat's a real treat, but not representative of the rest of the album.So if you're a fan of NWW's older noise pieces or a fan of eitherFantomas or the Melvins' recent output, you shouldn't be disappointedwith this 40 minute set (even if it isn't the full show,) from theMelvins and Fantomas.
After the brief 30-second drum intro of "black stooges", Melvins' new album starts off with a barrage of guitar riffing and drum accents on the untitled second track. The title of this record is a bit misleading especially if you're a stoned raver, since it's not what people usually mean when they say "ambient" nowawadays: don't expect any soothing synth pads or mellow chill-out beats, the key word in the title is "Hostile" not "Ambient".
A Small Good Thing have unveiled the follow up to an 'imaginarysoundtrack' for a movie we're supposed to run in our heads for theadventurous benefit of fictional outlaw Gerry Melody. Not having heardthe first part, originally released in 1994, I can't compare, but ifyou rush out and buy the limited edition it's included as a double CDor triple album. 'Slim Westerns' are very much in a spaghetti style andalthough there's a relaxing dust swept ambience and some good ol'cowboy guitar twang that Calexico might be at home with, a certainBritishness peaks through and mars the illusion. Dogs barking on thelast track just sound like English dogs (not the old 'punk' band) andthe repeated vocal refrain, "Hey Mister, is this train headin' south?"sounds so put on and false it muddies up the widescreen desert feel themusic effectively evokes. These are perhaps minor quibbles with anotherwise enjoyable but inessential recording that mixes up slow dustyguitar twang with creeping dusk ambience. May this trio of former OYuki Conjugaters sleep well undisturbed by English dogs (punk orcanine).
Chicago's Ribbon Effect released their debut album, "Slip", last year,and now this EP of the band's first recordings is one of two debutreleases from False Walls Recordings. The group is a three-piece whosemusic is based largely on group improvisation and a mix of theelectronic and the organic. Keyboards and synthesizers mix with thedrums and accordion to make a truly interesting sound. It sounds oddlylike the soundtrack to robots in factories, welding cars together. Infact, if those robots liked music, I bet they'd like Ribbon Effect. Thesongs have a very simple structure, and move right along with a fewfills and breaks. Over time, it's easy for the listener to loseinterest, though not entirely. It's just that the use of theinstruments is so consistent, so unmoving, that tracks seem to go onfar longer than they should. That and the fact that the music isinstrumental in nature adds up to a good first listen, but noveltydoesn't make you return to the well for more. The first two trackssuffer from this affliction, but the third and fourth tracks, "CastAway" and "Sweet William's Catchfly", are just plain good. Beeps thatecho, harmonics and programmed beats mix and meld, moving towards aclimax at the end of the former that eventually you are begging for.Finally, real drums come in, and the track melds into the latter,building with accordion to the big finish. It was enough to make mewant to hear more from Ribbon Effect and this label, so as an initialrelease it serves its purpose. I, however, hope that Ribbon Effect havelearned some lessons from this first release and have more substance ontheir full-length.
With the aid of co-producer Mercan Dede and a small cadre of Easternand Western musicians, Peter Murphy has immersed himself within a newsound. 'Dust' picks up where 2000's stripped down "Just For Love" tourleft off by retaining classically trained violinist Hugh Marsh. Thenthe sound is fleshed out with the ancient ones of and near Murphy'sadopted homeland of Turkey - percussion, kanun, ud, cumbus, etc. - plusadditional programming and keyboard and guitar atmospheres. Themajority of the nine songs are sprawled out between seven and nineminutes, thus flowing like molasses and/or indulging in instrumentalpassages. To these Western ears there is a perfectly tasteful balancebetween East and West, old and new, electronic and acoustic, in agenuinely spiritual way. The environment lends itself to the voice andvice versa (certainly far better than the KMFDM backed 'Recall' EP) andthe voice and lyrics are as strong as ever. This is the album thatshould have been entitled 'Deep'. If you're looking for upbeat pop likepast gems "Cuts You Up" and "The Scarlet Thing In You" you won't findanything remotely like that here. You also won't find any obvioussingles as the album is undoubtedly meant for listening to in itsentirety. Murphy's message is poetic but clear, reminding us to "loveanything", that "there is no place like just for love" and "let lovebegin". The midsection of "Just For Love" and "Girlchild Aglow" is theapex. The next couple songs slightly dip in quality but are rescued bythe striking vocal of "My Last Two Weeks" and then 1995's "Subway" isrevisited, extended and successfully 'Dust'-ed off. This is a reallylovely album. By my third listen it all made perfect sense. Murphy iscurrently on tour in North America through June.
In the course of just over a year's time, Múm has captured theattention of music fans worldwide, through a debut full-length album,two albums of various mixes, and more than a handful of collaborativework and compilation appearances. (Their adorable looks and theirambiguous song titles probably didn't hurt by adding to their appealeither.) Perhaps the most often associated words concerning a sophomorealbum after such a large success are both anticipation and expectation.This album could very well possibly be one of this year's mostanticipated releases, but the amount of expectations it exceeds isunmeasurable. I have to admit that at first, I was rather taken abackwith the amount of vocals on the disc, but there's also a much largerpresence of non-synthetic instruments on the whole, includingaccordion, guitar, bass, strings, horns, melodica, percussion andorganic effects. The quartet use everything wisely, never saturatingany song with an abundance of instruments which would render thesesongs impossible to recreate live. Thomas Brinkmann may have beenplaying his records' inside grooves but not until the sounds of thoselock grooves combined with Múm's signature wistful lullabye sound onthe third track, "We Have a Map of the Piano" do those groove soundsfeel like they have been properly harnessed. Múm's years of experiencewith improvisation and collaboration have undoubtedly given them anecessary unique approach in taking that necessary step to bring morehuman elements back into electronic music. It's probably why they havegained so much recognition by both the electronic music and indie rockcrowds. Fear not the evolution, however, as there are a number ofpretty, instrumental, digital songs which could please any fan of theirprevious work. Any fanatic lucky enough to order their CD-R and otherobscure releases will indeed recognize a few melodies contained herein.They make it seem so damned easy, with the glitchy beats retired to theback of the mix underneath organ, accordion and string counterpoint ontruly jaw-dropping climactic songs like "I Can't Feel My Hand Any More,It's Allright, Sleep Still" just before the masterpiece title track,which could easily be the 'nod' to 'Yesterday Was Dramatic...'. If youdidn't fall in love with the twin girls with their photo on the Belleand Sebastian cover ('Fold Your Hands Child...') their voices on the11-minute album closer, "The Land Between Solar Systems" will mostcertainly win your heart. [Hopefully since their first band was aPixies cover, they'll be enthusiastic about playing Boston. In whichcase, I'd be more than happy being a tour guide for a few days. Howabout it?] Fanatics of the Icelandic language and Múm die-hards shouldnote that there's a super limited edition with the vocal songs inIcelandic available only from 
Occasionally that CD comes along that is almost bizarrely unique, practically defying description due to its out-of-the-ordinary construction and hard to quantify affect on you. The Epidemic is certainly not a band that belongs on decidedly punk Ache Records, but that seems to be the point. The solo side project for Andy Dixon of d.b.s., and he's chosen a peculiar sonic path. "I Am Compltely Oprationa l" is a quirky debut release, combining an indie rock sensibility with vague electronic flashes and jilting experimentation with arrangements.
Two of Germany's renowned rhythmists unite. 'Secret Rhythms' is verymuch in line with Burnt Friedman's usual repertoire and Liebezeit'sbeats fit right in. So much so it's difficult to discern who does whatwhere. Not that it matters. Each of the 10 tracks fuses percussion,bass, keys, vibraphones by Copenhagen's Morten Grønvad and strains ofJosef Suchy's electric guitar into a gravity defying sort of ambientelectro jazz. Friedman foregoes samples, such as the many spoken onesfound on last year's 'Plays Love Songs', to keep the mix instrumentaland minimal but also very open and very comfortable. Track four beginsan all too brief dub deviation. "Shades of Soddin Orion" and"Rastafahndung" are stunning examples of what happens when Friedmanapplies his musical physics to, and thus redefines, dub. "Shades.." isthe album highlight, a gorgeous deep space journey of slippery bass andguitar notes and microscopic sound soup. The disc concludes with threeversions of "Obscured by 5" - short, Nonplace (Friedman's label) remixand 13 plus minute extended. The finale is the most satisfying with alengthy stretch of little more than gentle steel drums and the hustleand bustle of an unidentifiable inner city. Perhaps this is the secretrhythm Friedman and Liebezeit have found and wish to expose to the restof the world.
That is until last Tuesday, when Waits simultaneously released "Alice"and "Blood Money" on the Epitaph imprint. This dual release representsWaits' best work since the seminal "Rain Dogs" and contain morememorable songs and amazing composition than seems possible for anartist who should be well past his prime by now. The gravelly graveyardblues that dominated "Mule Variations" has been replaced with anatmospheric combination of dark lounge, Dixieland jazz, ragtime andtouches of dreamlike, surrealistic sound production worthy of a DavidLynch soundtrack.
"Blood Money" is the more pessimistic of the pair. The dirty,claustrophobic sound atmosphere is punched up with abrasive rhythms andnegative-as-hell lyrics. Waits alternately assures us that we are allgoing to hell, that we are all fools when we are in love, and that lifeis a sad riddle, filled with misery, that will never grow or change.There are two transitional instrumental tracks here that work verywell; it is almost a relief to hear the subtle instrumentals withoutbeing bludgeoned by Waits' raspy crooning. On the heartbreaking closer"A Good Man is Hard to Find", Waits' voice intones: "Go out to themeadow, scare off all the crows/It does nothing but rain here, andnothing ever grows." 
DAT Politics, a quartet of French laptop-players, represent everythingthat's good about contemporary DIY post-techno electronic music. Theirmusic is challenging yet undeniably fun, complex yet engaging as hell,and none of their albums (as far as I know) come with anything like amanifesto. This 3" CD is a solo release by E.Aelters, one member ofthat band, and is exactly as good as anything by the full group. Theseven tunes are upbeat, energetic, and pervaded by an infectious,invigorating joy. That the sense of play is heightened (rather thancompromised) by chopped-up noise and stammering tape-like effects thatzip maniacly around the stereo field is nothing less than an inspiredmiracle. The tunes and rhythms are made up of thick, block-like chunks(I am reminded of children's toys) and animal sounds (!), always inmotion, ensuring plenty to keep a listener's attention at severallevels. I had a huge smile on my face for the entirety of "Volu Beit"s22 minutes, then I hit "play" again and smiled some more. Highlyrecommended!
I forgot to switch my record player to 45 RPM the first time I listenedto this seven-inch. I thought, Hey, this is pretty good. It's sort ofnew territory for Múm. It's very intently slow, and though it's gotsome electronics in the mix, the violin and keyboards sound very lo-fiand kind of eerie. It's really kind of beautiful. Then the vocals camein and I thought, These vocals are so painfully restrained and bizarre- like a low-pitched whispery falsetto. Is one of the girl twinssinging or is it one of the men? I can't tell. They're really expandingtheir sound. What a damn cool song. I listened to it again, transfixed.Then I remembered that I hadn't switched the speed on the turntable...So I listened to it again at 45 RPM, and I realized that I'd beenassessing the song totally at the wrong speed. At a faster speed, thesong was more recognizably Múm - the electronic beat was faster, moreof a groove, the keyboard sounds were more like I remembered they wereon 'Yesterday Was Dramatic...' and some of the drums sounded like realdrums. When the female voice started singing, recalling "Ballad of theBroken Birdie Records," it was obvious that this was the correct speed.And I thought, What a damn cool song - and so completely different of afeel when from when I thought it was so slow. Now I'm itching to gohome and listen to "Broken Birdie" at about 75% the actual speed to seewhat I can discover. This 7" is easily the best piece of music I'vebought in months.
Sofandi might share a label with Múm and Trabant, but their world is amuch, much different place. The second album from this Reykjavik-basedslow-paced rock group (whose name translates as 'Asleep') paints acold, harsh, and bleak picture of their world. If it's not in thepessimistic lyrics in which the singer admits repetitiously he's eithersick, drunk, or hopeless, (or a hopeless sick drunk) it's in themelodies, which all become rather gloomy following the rather brightopening instrumental introduction. There is an indescribably magicalcharm, like some of my other favorite hopeless sick drunks like MarkEitzel or Tom Waits, which makes the whole experience more appealingthan pathetic. Perhaps it's the tough spine of a tight musical group(with a notably lyrical bass guitarist) who pays close attention toeach other, without stomping on each others toes or staring at theirshoes and all strumming the same chords at once (yawn!). Songs oftenhave a variety of parts and movements, which keeps them interesting.The instrumental, "Please Don't Go" is surprisingly optimistic, almosta tribute to the Aerial M days of David Pajo, while the momentum of"Another You" builds to a rough and rugged pace without gettingcompletely out of hand. In addition, there are some amusing moments,(the jury's still out on whether it's intentional or not) like when thedrowsy guest female vocalist casually barks "shut up" during "SomethingAlways Comes Up," or as the band whistles their way out on the closer,"Don't Get Overexcited." The album climax is undoubtedly the emotional11+ minute epic, "Trillúkarlar," without lyrics but with a lightseasoning of subtle female singing. I could easily see myself gettingdrunk in a late night bar out in the midwest as this band plays, takingthat 'first step' with admitting that I have a problem but being amusedall the while.
There must be something strange in Winnipeg's water. Or maybe not...maybe it's just a case of Fanny having a serious case ofVenetian-Snares-idol-worship. Whatever the case may be, Fanny sounds alot like Venetian Snares. If you're familiar with Venetian Snares'music, that sentence essentially pre-empts the rest of this review foryou. However, to Fanny's credit, he (for the most part) isn't asneedlessly "experimental" (for want of a better term) as the Snares manis. Regardless, I don't find myself enjoying this disc much. First andforemost, however, it's a style issue - this breakcore just isn't mykind of breakcore. Technically Fanny fares quite well, chopping upbreakbeats and samples and mixing it all together. But I just can't getinto it. Give me a DJ Scud record and I'll be swaying and doing my bestragga-rudeboy impression, but Fanny leaves me somewhat entertained, butnot marveled or enchanted. Despite some clever tracks ("Artists orAnarchists") this album left a strange taste in my mouth - likemarshmallows without sugar, or something. But if you're into the"Winnipeg" style of breakcore (I guess it's turning into its own genrenow) - give this disc a try at least.
It's almost too good to be true. Dianogah, one of the finestinstrumental math rock groups around, enter the studio to recordanother full-length, this time with John McEntire turning the knobs.You can't ask for a better recipe than that. And the results? Yes,"Millions of Brazillians is the best Dianogah release yet, for a numberof reasons. First, McEntire, unlike Steve Albini on their last release,"Battle Champions," didn't just let them rest on their laurels andpress record in the control room. As the liner notes say: "Recorded,Mixed, and Embiggened" were McEntire's credits, and it shows. Second,the songs are more expansive, accomplished, and crisper sounding. Theband seems more aggressive and confident. The guest musicians, notoften seen on Dianogah releases (they used to have Team Dianogahreleases specifically to separate work with guest musicians from theirreleases), add flourishes here and there that are worthy additions tothe sound. 'The Smallest Chilean' is the darkest Dianogah yet, pushingFor Carnation territory. 'Flat Panda' is among their most melodic work,reminiscent of their contribution to the "Reach the Rock" soundtrack.In fact, despite the strange titles ('Goto Dengo Loses the War'?), thismusic is all very driven, almost sensual. And, lastly, for the firsttime, no vocals appear anywhere on this release. Not that the vocalswere ever THAT bad, but it's great to hear a whole Dianogah CD withoutany really awkward moments, which the vocals always seemed to be. Checkout the sound samples and I bet you'll agree: Dianogah can only getbetter.
I was mesmerized the first time I saw Maria Moran, otherwise known asZipperspy, play at a gig opening for Zbigniew Karkowski, whom she blewout of the water with a commanding and enigmatic performance. Armedwith her laptop, Moran unleashed a fury of aggressive distortion andpulse-pounding beats. Upon learning a few months later of her newalbum, 'Glass Bomb Baby', by Darla sub-label Fuzzy Box, I was eager toget my hands on it as soon as possible. Sadly, I discovered that herrecord does not fully live up to the strength of her live act. Thealbum is a patchwork of convulsive gabber loops, electronic twitchesand twitters, vocal fragments, and eerie bits of instrumentation. Thetracks themselves are usually two minutes long or less, and seem to bepieces Moran has culled from various sources, such as live performancesand "phone machine in Oakland" (?). 'Glass Bomb Baby', despite beingunspectacular, is by no means dismissable. Moran's integrity and hardwork are evident. Perhaps Zipperspy just has to been seen to bebelieved.
Reading, UK quintet Saloon emerge with their debut full-length album,following a steady stream of 7" singles over the past four years.Produced with assistance from multi-talented Mahogany frontman AndrewPrinz (who also was responsible for the album's eye-catching artwork),'(This Is) What We Call Progress' is ten songs of gently ebbingguitars, a smattering of synths, warm viola, exotic hints of melodicaand glockenspiel, and sweet female vocals. Saloon has a lot of goodideas and obviously are a gifted group of musicians (not to mentionhave a sense of humor with song titles like "Girls Are the New Boys"and "My Everyday Silver Is Plastic"), but their debut is somehowlacking the punch to really make them stand out from the crowd. Thatsaid, 'Progress' has those promising moments that lead me to believeperhaps the band has the potential to do this. "2500 Walden Avenue" isa dreamy, moody ballad that captures Saloon at their most creative."Girls Are the New Boys" exhibits their versatility and dynamism.Sadly, though, the high points just don't equal consistency. 'Progress'is charming and will likely please fans of rock in the vein of acertain farfisa-driven group, but is not a must-have. 
