Simulacra
I have to preface this review by telling how I first discovered ToddGautreau's music back in my college radio days. I worked the overnightshift playing industrial and experimental music to the drunk and/orstudious kids at Boston University. Alone in the studio at 1AM,browsing the shelves for new music becomes a weekly activity. It washere that I found a dark ambient album (though nothing as grim as theCold Meat Industry I used to play) by a project called Tear Ceremony. Ireally enjoyed 'Film Decay' because it was different from so much ofwhat I was used to listening to. Later, however, we received a CD byanother project of Gautreau's named Sonogram. 'Heartbeat Submarines'was an impressive work, overflowing with positive vibes and ultra-warmsynth tones (such as on the excellent "Dresden Girls" and "ConcaveHeart"). Having said all that, the arrival (weak pun intended) of thisnew Sonogram CD in my mailbox was a welcome surprise. The same feelingsevoked from the prior album are present here on 'Arrival Lounge,'accompanied this time by more prominent yet still rather light beatstructures. The title track opens the album with a piano line similarto Radiohead's "Everything In It's Right Place," but instead of beingglitchy and bizarre, morphs into a smooth jazzy ambient piece. The pacestays relatively downtempo for the bulk of the album, increasing inpace occasionally like on "Portal", a drum n' bass track stuffed withSonogram's signature noodly synths. Some other highlights here includethe deep house groove of "Pixel Dust" and Moog-like textures of"Hummer." Though Gautreau seems to release exclusively throughSimulacra, I could easily see songs like "Dramamine" appear on somehigh-profile experimental labels out there, despite the ever-presentpop sentiments. In a day and age where Brazilian rhythms and rehashedbossa nova classics are appropriated by well-dressed Austrian DJs formartini swilling crowds in jet-set lounges (boy do I wish I was in oneof those right now), Sonogram gives a welcome alternative for thelaptop set desperately needing a break from all of Squarepusher noiseand Kid606 mashups.
I have to preface this review by telling how I first discovered ToddGautreau's music back in my college radio days. I worked the overnightshift playing industrial and experimental music to the drunk and/orstudious kids at Boston University. Alone in the studio at 1AM,browsing the shelves for new music becomes a weekly activity. It washere that I found a dark ambient album (though nothing as grim as theCold Meat Industry I used to play) by a project called Tear Ceremony. Ireally enjoyed 'Film Decay' because it was different from so much ofwhat I was used to listening to. Later, however, we received a CD byanother project of Gautreau's named Sonogram. 'Heartbeat Submarines'was an impressive work, overflowing with positive vibes and ultra-warmsynth tones (such as on the excellent "Dresden Girls" and "ConcaveHeart"). Having said all that, the arrival (weak pun intended) of thisnew Sonogram CD in my mailbox was a welcome surprise. The same feelingsevoked from the prior album are present here on 'Arrival Lounge,'accompanied this time by more prominent yet still rather light beatstructures. The title track opens the album with a piano line similarto Radiohead's "Everything In It's Right Place," but instead of beingglitchy and bizarre, morphs into a smooth jazzy ambient piece. The pacestays relatively downtempo for the bulk of the album, increasing inpace occasionally like on "Portal", a drum n' bass track stuffed withSonogram's signature noodly synths. Some other highlights here includethe deep house groove of "Pixel Dust" and Moog-like textures of"Hummer." Though Gautreau seems to release exclusively throughSimulacra, I could easily see songs like "Dramamine" appear on somehigh-profile experimental labels out there, despite the ever-presentpop sentiments. In a day and age where Brazilian rhythms and rehashedbossa nova classics are appropriated by well-dressed Austrian DJs formartini swilling crowds in jet-set lounges (boy do I wish I was in oneof those right now), Sonogram gives a welcome alternative for thelaptop set desperately needing a break from all of Squarepusher noiseand Kid606 mashups.
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A good cover of someone else's song is often a tricky thing. You haveto capture the essence of the song without doing an exact copy of theoriginal. You have to find the right elements to make it your ownwithout damaging the integrity of the basis for your tribute. This iswhy most tribute records these days fail miserably. "Reservoir Songs,"the newest release from Crooked Fingers, does not fail in this regard.This five song EP is probably the best collection of covers I've heard,mainly because of Eric Bachmann's unflinching interpretation of thesesongs. Due to the nature of his sound with Crooked Fingers - muchfolkier and downtrodden than any of his work with Archers of Loaf -these covers are very sparse, with few instruments being used, thusgiving everything a poor boy beauty. This is also the first time on aCrooked Fingers release that Bachmann's regular touring ensemble joinshim in the studio. The songs sound like they were recorded live totape, with little over-dubbing, which also leads to a natural sound,warts and all. And his choice of covers? Not surprising, for the mostpart, considering Bachmann's work in this band. There's a KrisKristofferson cover, a Johnny Cash cover, and, since there are manycomparisons drawn between their voices, a Springsteen cover. It's thelast two that tweak the head a little on first listen. Crooked Fingersdoing 'When U Were Mine' by Prince? Fantastic harmonies, and basing thewhole thing around banjo make for a smooth ride. 'Under Pressure' byQueen/David Bowie? Luckily, Bachmann stays in the Bowie vain anddoesn't try for the Freddy Mercury notes. Bachmann has said in recentinterviews that he would like to release more covers EPs periodically,making a series out of them. In that case, I look forward to the nextone, as Bachmann truly has the essence right.
I sure do love it when an album which you have high expectations ofmeets and exceeds those expectations. Such is the case with the latest(and apparently final) offering from Heid, a Swedish dark ambient groupwhose hard-to-find debut and sophomore disc on Malignant provedthemselves a group of talented fellows. This album serves as a sort ofa "best-of," I always find it hard to appropriately describe darkambient music without lapsing into a mindless jumble of adjectives...but I have to say that 'Pilgrim' is wonderfully liquid and floaty.Despite the fact that some (or all? Not having heard the first album, Icannot say for sure) of the material here is culled from earlierreleases, the re-mixing and re-working of the tracks make them soundsplendid together and makes it sound like an individual album, ratherthan a compilation of previous pieces. Heid's members have now gonetheir separate ways (the death of one project resulted in the birth oftwo just as great, Survival Unit and L.E.A.K.) but this CD is a fittingepitaph to their work, though I do wish it had included new material toboot. The album works so well as a whole, though, that it all soundspretty much new to me, and should be sitting on top of my'CMI-dark-ambient list' for a while to come.
Some will remember the Romans as a supergroup of sorts, comprised of members of LA's more aggressively strange bands Monitor, Human Hands, and the Los Angeles Free Music Society, among others. Whereas some of the members' previous bands were intellectual and confrontational art-punk, the Romans' music is much more straightforward and fun.
The second disc for this Finnish industrial/power-electronics act proves to be by far their strongest work yet. After a short stint of consuming as much power electronics/noise as I could, I sort of lost touch with it and have since not enjoyed it as much as I used to, save for some classic acts - one of whom is STROM.ec.
Someone please take the vocoder away from Knodel. Like a joke that'skind of funny the first time and stops being funny soon after, Knodel'sTrans-Am-meets-They-Might-Be-Giants 80s-metal/synth-rock is cornywithout being very clever. Numerous references to "Knodel" - Knodellikes to rock, Knodel unchained, Don't fear for Knodel, It's a Knodelworld, etc - are probably hilarious to the members of the band, but inme they illicit the rolling of the eyes. The vocals don't help - whenthey're not vocoded (and they're vocoded a LOT) the two voices soundlike a duet between TMBG's John Linnell and the falsetto from "The LionSleeps Tonight." The choices in keyboard sounds leaves a lot to bedesired, too. Granted, there are a few moments on the disc that mightmake you think, "OK, Knodel's not THAT bad," but these moments are fewand far-between. The best moment on the entire album is the first 45seconds of the opening title track, and it's all downhill from there.It's not that I don't like music that has a sense of humor - I reallydo, and I even appreciate the cover of 80s cheese-metal group Manowar's"Kingdom Come" - but the music has got to be worthwhile at the sametime. I guess I should give Knodel credit for the fact that they'vebeen making retro synth rock for four years or so (since before it wasso dang hip), but do we really need another band ironically singing,"We wanna rock, we wanna rock you now"? Doesn't the joke ever get old?Apparently to Knodel, it doesn't.
The first striking quality of Early Day Miners is the almostundisputable sense of unpretentious openness conveyed merely in theinstrumentation alone. The warm, inviting melodies are slow moving, butnever fragile or weak, often building to emotional climaxes as a numberof guitar layers each play unique roles, not entirely unlike some ofthe best Bedhead moments. Strings accent a number of crescendingmoments, but overall, a bigger presence would be much more appreciatedthroughout the record. The vocals, however, strike me much differently.Vocals are much more important than most bands realize. If a bandchooses to use vocals, then they need to clearly live and exist withthe amount of delicacy and care given to the other instruments. Two ofmy own biggest issues with vocals in general are painfully exhibited onthis album. First off, I cringe at double-tracked unharmonized vocals.There needs to be a strong reason when there's two singers or twotracks of voices going, and that reason should be harmony. My otherproblem is when vocalists are just too shy, timid, and the volumes justblend so deeply into the music that there's hardly a reason for them tobe there in the first place. For me, the second full-length album fromthis Bloomington-based group would as an excellent instrumental record,as their songwriting and playing talents are complimented by equallyimpressive production skills. My own personal favorite moment being theonly instrumental song, "Summer Wake," a gorgeous interplay betweenstrings, acoustic and electric guitar. In the end, it's the vocalswhich could either use a lot more TLC or just be scrapped.
From the moment the slick snares and electro-tinged melodies on "Blind"sputtered from my stereo, I knew I was going to dig 'Iron City.' JeffMcIlwain, whose productions have appeared on labels like Isophlux andU-Cover, presents this fourth album of groovy IDM under the Lusine ICLmoniker, and makes me wonder why I've ignored him for so long. A sharedrelease between partners Hymen Records and Mad Monkey Records, "IronCity" ranges from funky post-electro workouts to Mille-Plateaux styledexperiments. Examples of the former include the video-game inspired"Tonic" and the aforementioned "Blind." "Bent" is a 4/4 head-nodderwith spacey dub effects that seem ripped off of an Force Inccompilation. This one would easily have fit on Force Lab's recentAlgorithm mix CD. I'd love to hear more of his work in this style. Themore abstract tracks like "Invisible" and the seemingly endless "TheFast Lane" are easily skipped over, but the hip-hop influenced"Perpetual" and "Scheming" redeem the CD and show McIlwain'sflexibility and range. While he's not about to be the next Timbaland orSwizz Beatz, that's pretty irrelevant to most IDM listeners who haven'tbought a commercial rap release since they were in junior high. Attimes, Lusine ICL can be a bit repetitive, but he manages to introduceenough new elements as tracks progress to stave off boredom. Unlessyou're some kind of improv fanatic, I doubt you'll have trouble findingsomething here to suit your listening needs.
Sure it came out about a year and a half ago, but I just got my hands on it and felt like sharing. Tommy Guerrero was a full-time professional skateboarder, one who'd competed and skated with the best. He formed his own San Francisco-based skateboard company, Real Skateboards, several years back, and also gained notice as an talented musician in his own right with his debut release "Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues" in 1998.
Whoa. I have to admit I've been extremely disappointed with Ant-Zen asof late, considering they've pretty much become a label completelydifferent from the one that released the first 75 or so releases. Somecertain recent successes have led me to simply drop my notion of theAnt-Zen that was and accept the Ant-Zen that is. Rob(u)rang's debut EPhelps me do this easily. My first impressions of this disc were a bunchof retarded and/or broken robots covering Muslimgauze - and no, that'snot an insult - at all! Since Rob(u)rang comes from the collectiveknown as Silk Saw (at least I think he does - maybe I'm wrong, but I'llmake that assumption anyway) this disc is imbued with a certainplayfulness throughout, never taking itself too seriously and havingfun in the process. It's also the first recorded material that OlivierMoreau (Imminent [Starvation]) has participated on since hiscollaboration with Synapscape - and that's a plus if you ask me. Thefirst track, 'Silly Dance,' sets the stage for what's to come: weird,poly-/arhythmic spurts of beats and melody that have an almost tribalfeel to them. More retarded-robot action follows and culminates in thelongest and noisiest track 'Banks.' A definite pleasant surprise for meand one that has more or less redeemed my faith in Stefan Alt and gang.Where's the new Imminent album, Mr. Moreau!?
The Pastels, Kevin Shields, Appendix Out, sounds like a greatcompilation, right? As Sofandi warned us, don't get overexcited. Asidefrom one standout track from Japanese popsters Nagisa Ni Te, thiscompilation is at best, mediocre. Geographic is a Glaswegan sub-labelof Domino run by Stephen McRobbie of the Pastels. Together with theassistance of the Japanese label Trattoria, this compilation cametogether, aiming for the simpler, more pleasant side of indie pop,attempting to both pose as an aedequate introduction to each label andtoss in a number of friends in addition. The downfall of this attemptis that at 17 tracks, it's trying to be a bit too many things. Even bythe halfway point, (the terribly revolting track from former Jesus andMary Chain members under their new guise, Sister Vanilla, featuringWilliam Reid's wife on vocals) listening becomes incredibly laborious.Following that, a number of similarly half-assed attempts at song-likesketchwork almost blend in with each other. Songs like Pedro's "Amber"and Barbara Morgenstern's "Kleiner Ausschnitt" have pretty potential,but seem rather unfinished. Songs like the one from Empress are simplydull and too repetitious to even listen to entirely through. Thislethargic trend continues on nearly all of the songs until theanticlimactic finish of "Outro," by Kevin Shields, which could easilybe the reason he hasn't recorded a full-length record since 'Loveless'.If this disc was popping in the stores at the price of a Darla comp, Iwould probably recommend it more, but for even the biggest JAMC or MBVfans, save your pennies.
Chris Carter must have ears like no-one else. The fact that his last album (EAR 1) sounded nothing like its original source (1979's groundbreaking 'The Space Between') must attest to this. It just shows how important he actually was to Throbbing Gristle.
For connoisseurs of uncommon music the Lactamese 10" series fromPortland based Beta-Lactam Ring Records has been quite a treat. Thedozen records, each limited to 500 copies, come on direct metalmastered audiophile vinyl so they sound as great as they look. 'GuessThe Birds' is the 8th installment and surely one of the mostanticipated. It's of an attractive dim gray vinyl and comes with a Dadameets Dali cover, big glossy inserts, signed art postcard and labelstickers. Dada meets Dali is probably a good way to describe VTB'smusic too. Track titles will give you some idea: "Urchins At the Harp","There In the House of the Moon", "Millipede for the Little Boy", "Allthe Paint I Can Breathe". The six tracks are relatively subdued andsomewhat sluggishly unfold. Sounds include ambient shuffling about,some odd vocalizations and intercom talk, snoring, electronics andplenty of blown, bowed, plucked and struck stuff. Arabic overtones arepresent on a few songs thanks to vocal wailing, contemplative droningand percussion pastiche. Yes, it's uncommon music alright, but it's farfrom difficult listening. In fact, it's rather pleasant and alwaysinteresting. Coming soon is 'The Mountains Among Us' LP, also fromBeta-Lactam.- 
Damn that title! I keep reminiscing irrelevantly about the days ofRobert Smith's big hair for some reason, and gosh darn if the firstOcsid didn't beat 'em to it anyhow! Remember that dream you're alwayshaving where you're being fucked up the ass with a candle and thenGenesis P. Orridge walks in and pulls it out and licks off the shit andbuggers you with a twenty foot ceremonial dong whilst mincing baboonsare whistling tunes in the jungle and morbid angels sing death hymns tocharred homonculi? Well this CD might just be the perfect soundtrack!And if it's not then might I recommend you seek out the blue version ofV/Vm's 'Good Things'?Released by the appropriately titled Deafborn label, this Skalpell CDpursues harsh looped noise that owes a large debt to industrialpioneers, but shifts it all up a gear with modern computer edits. Thisis immense and as cutting as the bastard spawn of a sharp surgicalinstrument should be. Facts? Who needs 'em? OK, OK, its a couple ofSwiss fellas called Harry and Henry who are just trying to symbolisethe suffering and disease of the 'mentally over-evoluted human race'(as one does). The kind of thing you can hear down local bars nearwhere I live, but maybe not where you live so maybe you'll need tosurrender to the ebola mindscrape and the raging fires of stomachcancer encoded into this small chunk of aluminium. Skalpell areavailable for frozen microbe apocalyptic nightmares, deadings and farhiss shards. I daresay it could put a swell in the leather jodhpur ofBoyd Rice! Prolonged exposure to this noise may well encourage cancercell growth. - 
Let's get this out of the way right now - the music of Gregg Gillis'salter ego "Girl Talk" is a direct descendant of the idea begun withKid606's 'Attitude' compilation - violently cut-up and processedhip-hop songs and top 40 hits, a digital blender of blatant copyrightinfringement. Now that I've made that comparison, I'm going to try andnot mention Kid606 again, and instead focus on the positive. In lessthan forty minutes, the ten tracks on this disc disembowel everythingfrom Destiny's Child to the New Kids on the Block to Cyndi Lauper tothe Price Is Right theme, and the result is admittedly, pretty damnfunny - for instance, splicing Joan Osborne together with some hip hoptrack that I'm not hip enough to recognize, to create "What if God was/ One that don't give a fuck?" or "All the prophets / Gave me headbehind the wheel" and other adolescently clever reconstructions. Gillisis at his best when he lets the humor overrule the desire to simplymake noise, and he's got that humor in spades. Since most of the tracksare rooted in overprocessed sound, listening to the entire disc can geta littile grating, and at the worst, a little boring; one of thereasons 'Attitude' was so damn good was because it had a strong theme(N.W.A worship/destruction), the 14 artists each had a differentapproach, and, most importantly, it was short and sweet. (Technically,I'm not mentioning Kid606 here...oops i just did). But even if the discis a little long, Gillis mans his laptop (or whatever) fairly well, andthere are a few really worthwhile moments - like "Jumpin[g]," a3-minute "de-mix" of Destiny's Child that (I'm really sorry) echoesKid606's "Straight Outta Compton." And the first track, "Let's StartThis Party Right," is pretty hilarious in it's opening sample (which Iwon't give away, but check out the clip below). - 
For their third release, this Montreal-based quartet continue to boldlytry and walk the seldom-attempted line between improvisational noiseand instrumental jam band antics. There's a good reason why this lineis seldom attempted. Their noise skills aren't quite up to anything ofinteresting note yet while the backing the bassist and drummer providerarely, if ever, stray from the monotonous one-bar melodies repeated adnauseam. It's almost as if I'm listening to a high school band beforethey split in half, with the rhythm section forming a funk outfit andthe guitarists heading off to art school. Maybe I'm being a bit harshhere, and in fact I wouldn't run screaming from the ice cream shoppe ifit was playing on their speakers, but there is a strong need for adominant focal point: a lead instrument. Even a rhythmic vocalist orfeverent trumpet could move this album from the "interesting" categoryto actually being enjoyable. More than that, the melodies really need abit of a forward motion so it doesn't feel like I'm in a running carwhose tires are spinning in place. They're onto something, however. Thedrones, found sounds and tape recordings build decent atmospherics butpost-production audio editing and digital manipulations aren't verycompelling. The energy levels are high but too much repetition resignsthis album to being sonic wallpaper for a mindless aerobicise sessionor fixing dinner in a hurry to. Chop chop, click click glitch, gottarun! - 
Denali reportedly formed after the decision of singer Maura Davis notto pursue an education in opera. She had some songs she'd been workingon, it seems, and she came to her brother, bass player Keeley Davis, tohelp her flesh them out. And flesh them out he did; and with drummerJohnathan Fuller and guitar player Cam Dinunzio, the foursome becameDenali, a name derived from the Athapascan word for Mt. McKinley, notthe GMC truck. The band has so enamored audiences and musicians alike,and for their debut they were joined by Alan Weatherhead on theengineering side, and Mark Linkous on producing two tracks (both fromSparklehorse). The results are worthy of praise for a debut record.Opera's loss is rock's gain, as Maura Davis' vocals are empassioned,soaring, like an indie rock Bjork, while she pains away on Rhodes pianoor guitar. The band certainly knows how to use samples well, as theeeriest qualities on the album are created around them ('Relief' and'Function'). It's where the band rocks out that the sound truly comestogether. On 'Gunner,' Maura's voice takes on a near Jeff Buckleyquality, as the band produces soaring, glorious music below her. It isthe apex of the release, and it is her voice that drives these songs,but the band is not to be discounted. The elder Davis adds capablebacking vocals on most tracks, too, and his bass combined with Fuller'sdrums make for a rousing, driving rhythm section. There isn't a badtrack here, and not one below the three-and-a-half minute mark. Davis'lyrics prove just as haunting as her voice: on 'Function' she wails'Something strange is coming'; and on 'Gunner' she's going to 'get youbefore you get me.' It's horrbily affecting music, and with Denali on awest coast tour in June, I look forward to seeing how it translateslive. I'll have to settle for the CD until then, and I suggest you do,too. - 
The title translates as 'The Edge of Noise' which is very appropriateas this New Zealand based electroacoustic composer takes the everydaysounds of swings, rainfall and breath through magnified journeys andthorough transformations. The inherent noise in all these sounds ishoned and clarified to its limit and then stretched and pulled into newelastic shapes, but there's always a compositional rigour and exactnessthat keeps this far from chaotic onslaught."Pythagoras's Curtain" starts with what sounds like chalk on ablackboard colliding with door knocks. Lots of creaking, low squeakingand rustling follow, panning from speaker to speaker. The sounds aredeployed with precision and meticulous attention to stereo picturedetail. Sudden drones burst out and rupture against nature. The titlerefers to the way in which Pythagoras would lecture from behind acurtain and draws a parallel to the way in which acousmatic musicrequires deep attentive listening divorced from other senses. Similarbrutal yet focused transformations occur in the other pieces. "Inner"takes sharp intakes of breath and overly dramatic exhalations on anasthmatic nightmare trip which opens up gaping windswept canyons fromthe human lung before collapsing it into wheezing asphyxia andabstracted whirling vortices. There's a very claustophobic feel to muchof this breathscape. "Virtual" takes recordings of wind through asimilar if predictably more violent ride, but the feeling here is ofopen vastness. The squeaking swing that "Time, Motion and Memory"hinges on instantly recalls Pierre Henry's 'Variations Pour Une Porteet Un Soupir' but takes on forms far beyond the capacity of old tapesplicing, as Young reimagines the swing as a giant pendulum cuttingback and forth through other environmental sounds. There's a thick fogof nostalgic childhood memory gathering for the most moving andhaunting track here. It's soon washed away by the rain falling from the"Liquid Sky," in crisp drenched drain swilling eddies. This is perhapsthe most varied and violent track by default as the different surfacesthat rain hits flood wide sonic spectra. Through academic studioalchemy enabled by Empreintes Digitales, John Young makes explicit thedrama and strangeness of everyday sounds, and draws deep shadows in thespaces between them. - 
To start off on a blunt foot, this album was probably not worth the $30I paid for it. My expectations were high - Alio Die, whom I regard asan ambient guru, a new sublabel of Amplexus ("Weird" Amplexus ...clever, huh?), "special packaging" (which ended up being a foldoutcover with three inserts), etc. etc. So I was hyped up. I eagerlysnatched it up at an exorbitant limited-double-vinyl-import-price fromSoleilmoon, and though it's certainly a competent album, it's probablynot what I expected-slash-hoped for. This is a very repetitive album -all the songs are based upon more or less the same formula:infinitesimally quiet-but-slowly-loudening drones accompanied byoccasional light percussions or drifting melodies and samples. Thisisn't necessarily a bad thing... but I ached for something somewhatdifferent. Despite the repetition, it's all pulled off quite well - thealbum is very soothing and meditative and some of those drones resonatebeautifully. But the album leaves me wanting more... especially for$30. It ends in precisely the same way it began. If you're a realhardcore fan of this stuff, you might want to grab it, but if you needa little variation in your ambience, be wary. - 
