Plug Research
After a couple interesting mini-albums, including the excellent (thoughminimal) "Beat Tape Personalities" on Soul Jazz, AmmonContact had mepreparing for a full-length that would focus their efforts and showthem giving a bit more substance to a sound that, while far from stale,suffered instead from a kind of over-refinement. It seemed as though,in their efforts to cook each song down to its essential parts, the duoinstead guided their records straight to the 'DJ-fodder' bin,comfortable with the fact that they would never be more than a piece insomeone else's more elaborate puzzle. The ambitious title of Sounds Like Everything,though, threatened the masterwork of ostentatious stylistic shifts,overblown thematics, and guest-MC hoards that would prove me wrong. Nosuch luck. The disc's title most likely refers to the simpleeclecticism the group achieves through the scattered use of tribaldrums, woodwinds, and thumb piano, and while these sounds are welcomeadditions to the bare-bones, electo-funk of the duo's beats, they arenever enough to make things truly extraordinary. Many of the disc'stwenty tracks are under three minutes, sounding more like studioleftovers; the few moments of brilliance, like the syncopated,flute-blown jazz of "Zato Ichi," come and go with little or nodevelopment. I get the feeling that the inclusion of an MC wouldprovide the element of daring that is so lacking in these tracks andwould no doubt create a foil to make the beats sound more impressive.As it stands, one of the most enjoyable tracks probably required theleast amount of studio trickery. The cut-up "Top Tape 1," sounds likebits and pieces of a dozen trashed beats, spliced together almost atrandom to produce a few minutes of blissful unpredicatability.Conversly, the anthemic closer, "Our Cry For Peace," with its chorus oftribal drums, piano and flute is the busiest and longest track here,but the song comes off sounding like a weak variation on what wouldhardly be an eight-bar interlude on any jazz record worth its salt.That said, if AmmonContact set out to make an hour-long DJ tool, theyhave succeeded admirably, but anything else will require some morerisk-taking.
After a couple interesting mini-albums, including the excellent (thoughminimal) "Beat Tape Personalities" on Soul Jazz, AmmonContact had mepreparing for a full-length that would focus their efforts and showthem giving a bit more substance to a sound that, while far from stale,suffered instead from a kind of over-refinement. It seemed as though,in their efforts to cook each song down to its essential parts, the duoinstead guided their records straight to the 'DJ-fodder' bin,comfortable with the fact that they would never be more than a piece insomeone else's more elaborate puzzle. The ambitious title of Sounds Like Everything,though, threatened the masterwork of ostentatious stylistic shifts,overblown thematics, and guest-MC hoards that would prove me wrong. Nosuch luck. The disc's title most likely refers to the simpleeclecticism the group achieves through the scattered use of tribaldrums, woodwinds, and thumb piano, and while these sounds are welcomeadditions to the bare-bones, electo-funk of the duo's beats, they arenever enough to make things truly extraordinary. Many of the disc'stwenty tracks are under three minutes, sounding more like studioleftovers; the few moments of brilliance, like the syncopated,flute-blown jazz of "Zato Ichi," come and go with little or nodevelopment. I get the feeling that the inclusion of an MC wouldprovide the element of daring that is so lacking in these tracks andwould no doubt create a foil to make the beats sound more impressive.As it stands, one of the most enjoyable tracks probably required theleast amount of studio trickery. The cut-up "Top Tape 1," sounds likebits and pieces of a dozen trashed beats, spliced together almost atrandom to produce a few minutes of blissful unpredicatability.Conversly, the anthemic closer, "Our Cry For Peace," with its chorus oftribal drums, piano and flute is the busiest and longest track here,but the song comes off sounding like a weak variation on what wouldhardly be an eight-bar interlude on any jazz record worth its salt.That said, if AmmonContact set out to make an hour-long DJ tool, theyhave succeeded admirably, but anything else will require some morerisk-taking.samples:
Dean Roberts begins his new three song album on Kranky with a steadydrone which, on first listen, seems to promise (or at least implies)that the entire 35-minutes of the CD will feature this drone. I havelistened to enough experimental rock albums to know that an initialdrone offering will often persist and become a final drone coda, withonly subtle key alterations and modulations to lend it some"experimentalism." But about two minutes into "All Pidgins Sent to War,Palace of Adrenaline V. & E.E." a softly-struck piano emergesthrough the monotone, signaling a nice diversion from my expectations.Instead, Roberts delivers something lighter, something more palatable,more spare, even something more lyrical. At this point, the songblossoms instrumentally, with guitar, brushed cymbals, lightpercussion, upright bass, and plodding piano all tentatively joiningtogether with Roberts's voice. It all sounds rather improvisational,with the guitars mulling over the same measured progressions while theother instruments meander over the guitars. All this is done at arather slow pace. Roberts seems to justify his deliberateness withimprovisation. At the end of the first track, the spareness gathersitself and makes one last valiant attempt at density. It feels as ifthe players are almost strangling the last bit of life out the theirinstruments. Witnessing this instrumental asphyxiation, I felt someslightly perverted pleasure when I thought about this act done solelyon my behalf, or on the behalf of the listener. It's like seeing aboyfriend pummel another boy for talking to you, just to show you hecan. It's sick, but it's also impressive to demand such brutality.Speaking of brutality, Roberts's voice on the first song wavers notunlike the white winged moth he uses as another moniker for hisrecordings. It is not a pleasant or soothing voice and it has thenagging after-effect of an untrained instrument, like a third gradeoboe. But it gets better. In the more compact (5 minutes, versus 19minutes and 11 minutes on the two other songs) "Disappearance on theGrandest of Streets," Roberts finds a definitive melody and tune forhis voice and the song is bolstered by it. This song is the mostconfident offering of the three, whereas the other two range a littletoo far this way and that way, with too much space and time betweenthem. Likewise, the most compelling part of "All Pidgins..." is thelast two minutes (though the second half of this 19-minute compositionis genuinely excellent and, perhaps, a song distinct from the firsthalf in and of itself). It seems that both Roberts's voice and songsflourish within boundaries, a moth which does its best fluttering in ajar. - 
With his third solo record after the dissolution of Royal Trux, NeilMichael Hagerty finally feels like he's hit his stride and is firmlyresiding in his comfort zone. There is an ease and confidence to thesongs and his voice on The Howling Hexthat suggests the sometimes novelist and multi-instrumentalist iscomfortable in letting his often juxtaposing styles just exist andletting the tape roll. The album is essentially three separaterecording sessions with three live tracks interspersed that seem to begrouped thematically after that to form four sections of the album. Alot of the songs don't even hit the three-minute mark, and sometimesthat's a shame but mostly it's just perfect. The aura of these songs isall over the map, with sometimes sexy horns and raunch driving theproceedings, sometimes standard bass-drums-guitar fueling the randomramblings. Over it all, the driving force is the volatile vocals ofHagerty, calling for your first-born child or the end of it all, andchanging, chameleon-like, for whatever comes next. The most impressiveaspects are the brevity and bare-bones approach to most tracks. Thereare no unnecessary ingredients, no noodling or canoodling, just what ittakes to finish the song off. And it all feels right. In fact, thelongest tracks are the live tracks, which are especially revealing,letting a hint of the raw power turn on in what almost seems likemostly improvised and extended versions of two previously releasedsongs from his first two records and a new long jam. There seems to bea warts-and-all approach at play, and maybe that's another reason it'sso refreshing, like it doesn't always have to be dense and calculated.Certainly it's not easy listening, but it sounds easier on the man whodishes it out, at least.
Coldcut's 70 Minutes of Madness, DJ Shadow's Diminishing Returns, DJ/rupture's Gold Teeth Thief and now K.I.M.'s Miyagetogether present a convincing argument for the mix CD as a viable artform. With the sheer volume of recorded music available to the averagecrate digger — through record stores, internet auctions, GEMM, andfile-sharing — there is a larger palette than ever before for acreative individual to select and sequence a group of songs to delivera powerful aesthetic message, to alter perceptions of music and genre,and to entertain. K.I.M.'s Miyage, recently released onTigersushi, manages all three. Tigersushi is an online music communitythat specializes in leftfield dance and avant-groove. Their uniquemusical aesthetic cuts across avant-disco, krautrock, early industrial,leftfield house and modern IDM. Tigersushi Recordings, though barely ayear old, has already released a clutch of fantastic 12" singles, andtheir No G.D.M. compilation featured an impressively eclecticselection of forgotten vintage sides from the likes of Gina XPerformance, Material and Cluster. Miyage goes ten stepsfurther, kicking out a flawless set that had me scrutinizing thetracklist in wonderment. The mix is equal parts groovy and exotic,moody and surreal, fragile and extreme. There is a focused exotica viberunning through the tracks chosen, apparent from the first track, afield recording of wind blowing through an Aeolian organ on the SolomonIslands. It's the perfect lead-in for Arthur Lyman's Polynesian jazzexcursion "Ringo Oiwake." John Zorn plagiarized this track (withoutgiving credit) on his exotica album The Gift. It blendsseamlessly into a whimsical overture by French film composer Francoisde Roubaix. K.I.M. also contribute several transitional tracks to themix, using their considerable gifts to create the perfect rhythmicbridges between disparate musical ideas. Wevie Stonder's "Gypsy Chimp"is one of the most hilarious cut n' splice tracks I've ever heard, abizarrely infectious song that matches Gypsy fiddles with kazoos,jungle sounds and hicupping vocals. Cut to uber-diva Edith Piaf'sincomparable "Jezebel," and a slow dissolve to street performer andself-taught outsider Moondog's "Viking I," a beautifully primitivepiece for hand drums and xylophone. A quick journey through pipe organimprovs, Javanese tribal chanting, and Japan's wonderful Asa Chang& Junray, and we somehow end up in the middle of a rooftop-liftinggospel-disco meltdown mixed by legend Larry Levan. I'm not sure itmakes any sense, but I'm happy to be swept along in this idiosyncraticjourney. Jack-in-the-box melodies from Pierre Bastien and a treefalling in the woods segue into the overblown rock-disco of PsychicTV's "Ov Power," a welcome bit of nostalgia from the glory days ofGenesis P. After a terrific cut by cult rockers The Gun Club, the discends with K.I.M.'s rendition of The Smiths' paean to vegetarianism"Meat is Murder." It's given the laptop and vocoder treatment familiarfrom Schneider TM's cover of The Smiths' "There Is a Light That NeverGoes Out." Okay, so it's not an original idea, but it still worksperfectly, ending the disc on a note of politicism and melancholy.Simply put, this is a brilliant set, the one to beat for futurecompilers of eclectic mix discs.
Past volumes of !K7's DJ Kicks series have featured the estimable talents of Tiga, Playgroup's Trevor Jackson and Carl Craig, each taking their turn at the mixing table producing extended DJ mixes that combined newer underground club hits with classic dancefloor material and the odd crate-digging gem. They each had their moments, but for the most part, they were entirely predictable. I mean, who couldn't have guessed that Playgroup's mix would lean heavily on leftfield disco, or that Tiga would fill his set with uber-sassy electro? For me, the gratification of a great DJ mix lies in hearing unexpected juxtapositions of the alien and familiar, or unearthed vintage rarities recontextualized to sound modern. The new entry in the DJ Kicks series, mixed by Chicken Lips, delivers on this promise.
The first volume of Serie Noire on Belgium's Eskimo Recordings was subtitled Dark Pop and New Beat.That mix was one of my favorites, with an impressive clarity of visionthat imagined a postmodern combination of great, forgotten 80's newwave (Vicious Pink and Executive Slacks), post-punk disco (Section 25),hilariously unexpected selections from seemingly off-topic artists (TheAlan Parsons Project and John Carpenter) and newer material thatslotted in perfectly (Metro Area). Serie Noire 2 is a sequel inname only, sharing none of the impeccable taste in track selection andseamless mixing that characterized the first mix. The tracks on Serie Noire 2are mostly uninspired, many of them wearing out their welcome after aminute or two, suggesting that The Glimmer Twins need to become morecomfortable with The Fader Button. Many of the tracks chosen for Serie Noire 2are of questionable worthiness, which tends to happen if you've beencrate-digging a little too long: eventually, you reach the bottom ofthe crate. Boytronic's "Bryllyant" opens the set, a mildly divertinggloomy electro track straight out of Miami Vice. It's the soundtrack toCrockett and Tubbs coked up, exploring each other's bodies. This seguesinto a couple of best-forgotten 80's acts - Savage Process andBlancmage - the former a crappy industrial-pop group trying to soundsexy, the latter a hopelessly cheesy new romantic band. Die Warzau is apoor man's Nitzer Ebb, and Nitzer Ebb were already a poor man's SkinnyPuppy, so their track "Strike To The Body" is about as awful as itgets. Congratulations to The Glimmer Twins for being the millionthrecent dance mix to include Liaisons Dangereuses' "Peut etre...Pas."Liaisons' self-titled LP was released in 1981, but its recent reissuehas made it far more popular now than it ever was in its own day.Giorgio Moroder's "Evolution" is one of the more boring rock-discotracks I've heard from the usually talented producer. Sandy Steel'scover of Delta V's "Mind Your Own Business" has some of the samefeminist energy as the original, but I still prefer the Chicks on Speedversion. P.I.L.'s "Death Disco" is one of the rawest punk-funk tracksfrom back in the day, but the "Megga Mix" included here renders it allbut unrecognizable. Some rather pathetic German new-wave bands end themix; nothing remarkable. Deejay Gigolos' recent New Deutschcompilation was uneven, but for my money, it was much more successfulat unearthing obscure German funk and industrial than these guys.Recent personal-choice compilations and mixes such as Ladytron's Softcore Jukebox and Felix Da Housecat's Bugged In have done a much better job of remaining interesting for their entire length. Serie Noire 2 is a waste of my time.
I have a weak spot for good Detroit electro. I'm endlessly turned on bythose repetitive beats, that dystopian future groove, those analogpeaks and valleys. Because of this fetish, my collection contains farmore of this stuff than is probably healthy, but certainly favoriteshave emerged: Juan Atkins, Drexciya, Dopplereffekt and Cybotron, toname a few. I have also tuned in to the current of newer techno actspiggybacking themselves on the Detroit sound, and for the most part, Ihave been quite disappointed. Imitation may be the sincerest form offlattery, but it's also the sincerest form of boredom. Dr. Lektroluv'snew continuous mix of neo-electro acts highlights some of theseproblems. The first two tracks are perfectly realized classic Detroitsides, but then the mix takes a turn for the worse by lingering alittle too long on purposely weird, self-consciously retro stuff. Theproblem with "electroclash" is that much of the artists have forgonemusical inventiveness and production acumen in favor of veryheavy-handed, simplistic techniques that become dull after thirtyseconds. For all of their cleverness, a lot of these bands would have areal problem creating a track as good as Model 500's "Night Drive,"made twenty years ago without the benefit of a laptop. Some of theartists here are quite good: Octagon Man, Silicon Sally and thenow-ubiquitous Liaisons Dangereuses. Did all the DJs in the world meetover the summer and make a pact to spin "Peut Etre...Pas" untileveryone was completely sick of it? Radioactive Man's "Do TheRadioactive" is an interestingly textured track, not surprising sincehis volume of the Fabricseries was one of my favorites of the year. Ersatz Audio' Kitbuilderspipe in with an unbelievably overblown epic disco-house track withpretentious lyrics. The last part of the mix really loses steam, withweak tracks from the omnipresent Adult. and the overrated Crossover. T.Raumschmiere's glam-punk stomper "The Game Is Not Over" is probably myfavorite single of the year, but it feels strange sandwiched between aretarded retro track and the lightweight Oriental disco of Yellow MagicOrchestra's "Behind the Mask." In the final analysis, there isabsolutely no reason to buy or listen to this mix. Get one of thoseCD-burning programs that have a cross-fading feature and make your ownmix: it's bound to sound better than this.
The idea of hip hop beats or samples mixed with other live instrumentscan go like crunchy or smooth peanut butter: it goes down easy or itneeds some chewing but either way it sticks to you. I like my peanutbutter smooth, and Loopian Zu lay it down with an even coat so that Idon't even need the second slice of bread. Then they throw on some oddand crazy improvisation that takes it to a higher plane that is stillsmooth, but can cause some confusion if you don't know where to pointyour ears or your mind. Not to worry, as it all plays out in the end asa very coagulated whole, where every move is not necessarily planned,but the members are firing on the same cylinders so it all feeds thebeast within. "Regents Park" is full-on mad drum glory with scratchesand squelches of fancy, mixed with killswitch classical vocals thrownin for good measure. Then, the fantastic two-part track fades in withsmooth horns and guitars before dissolving into cacaphonic noise andhorn and drum rambling that do Miles Davis proud. They blend theirinfluences with almost equal airing and time, not in some bouillabaissethat sounds indistinguishable. The horn section is the focal point ofmany tracks, and they nail it down tight. Loopian Zu are clever andsneaky, not blunt and unimaginative, and the main difference isartistry. "Nuso" is the flagship, with awesome solo voice question andchorus answer vocals, all anchored with the same dub or jazz basecoat.Some awkward moments exist within the same formula, like "Foot Prince& the Emergent Sea," which annoys with its "Love in an Elevator"beginning and muddled progression vocally and instrumentally. What itbuilds to is anti-climactic and meandering. No matter: they've alreadymade their point, and it's a small pothole on the highway. I still feltmoved by it, and didn't need anything to help wash it down. 
The music of Jan St. Werner and Markus Popp has always been, for me, aheartening, if predictable listen. While their separate activities likeOval and Mouse on Mars have seen considerable evolution over the years,St. Werner and Popp's collaborative project Microstoria has remained asomewhat static affair. Unfortunately, while previous installments inthe Invisible Architecture series joined several idiosyncratic artistsin collaboration or improvisation, this fifth volume features onlyMicrostoria, with no foreign body to alter their established sound.What's more, the music is a 2000 live performance containing only songsfrom the group's two latest albums, that year's Model 3, Step 2, and 1996's _snd.True, the seven songs here are some of Microstoria's best, and severalare extended far longer than their album versions, most notably adouble-length, eight-minute "Soso Sound." The lack, however, of any newmaterial, and the music's relatively strict adherence to albumprecedents, make this a mediocre release and unessential listening forprevious fans. New listeners, however, should find this disc a perfectintroduction to the work of two consistently fascinating music-makers.The live environment contributes to a looser sound with more roughedges showing, and highlights the aspect of Microstoria's music thathas always been the most appealing to my ears, the childlike abandonseen waning in the recent solo efforts of both St. Werner and Popp(excepting Popp's excellent So record). The latter's distortedrumblings and swift jump cuts have never been so wistfully assembled,coupling beautifully with St. Werner's meandering melodics, gathered aseffortlessly and organically from a guitar as from a PowerBook. Thelow-end has not been much a part of the duo's bag of tricks, but heredroning bass is surprisingly effective and often jarring, no doubtmeant to enliven the live experience but translating nicely to disc.That said, there is nothing too striking or really "new" about thisrecording, though it is anything but boring and certainly as beautifulas anything Microstoria has produced to date. Those hungry forsomething new might wait for the new full-length to be released soon.
"The Illness" bombastically opens the second full-length release onIpecac for Kid 606. It's a refreshing change from what seemed like anendless parade of songs entirely built on popular hip hop samples,which, frankly got really old, really quick. From minute one, we'redancing again: it's not a just a barrage of noise and it makes nearlyeverything since the last full-length record seem like filler. It seemsthat an attention on both song structure and fun stuff are being givennearly equally. However, some of my favorite elements like melody andconsistency within a few tracks are forfeitted by a strong attentiondefeceit, but it's always been a 606-ism, dating back to the VinylCommunication days. Much like his last Ipecac full-lengther (gosh wasit over three years ago already?) Kill Soundis much like a collection of sorts, providing slices of the variousstyles 606 has tackled over the years. There's plenty of nightmarishupbeat post-gabber noisefests like "Powerbookfiend" and the b-side to The Illness,"Ecstasy Motherfucker," while downtempo breathers like "Andy Warhol isDead" and the serene closer "Parenthood" are very pretty but a bit tooshort. Wayne Lonesome, a dancehall DJ/vocalist from Kingston arrives onthe scene (most likely through the Bug and Rootsman connection) to givevoice for "Buckle Up," which is probably the strongest track on thedisc (look for a hot 12" on the new offshoot Shockout). At times, riffsare started but neither strengthened nor mutated, making repetition ofideas and lingering memories a bit difficult. The psycho-dub bass riffat the end of "Who Wah Kill Sound?" for example aches to be exploitedand mutated, but is left pretty much alone. What is repeated, (orperhaps overused), are some of the samples used throughout differenttracks. (God I wish he gave up the "yeah, wow" bit was killed after thefirst song.) Those who have been able to catch 606 live this past yearhave probably noticed how much more dense the music seems to bebecoming, and in most respects, this album is a fun dance party, buthe's proven that he has the ability to make a few brilliant songscompletely over the top, and after seeing a fantastic live show, I maybe guilty of expecting something ever so slightly more on an album. Theaddition of the video for "The Illness," however, is awesome, as acartoon kitten tries to kill sound before sound kills him.
Just when I thought I was through with all of these worthless bandswith "The" in the title — like it's something important that they're"The" anything — here comes one I adore, and will be listening to foryears to come. The Sems is essentially Pete Bogolub, who wrote andrecorded the lion's share of the album at home, bringing in somefriends later on to augment it and make it all sound like a soulbursting at its seams. His is a raw and simple indie pop sound, withspace rock leanings and fascinating melodies. Bogolub is shy about hisvocals, it would seem, as they are drowned out by the music anddrenched in effects, but his faint whispers are just what is neededhere and there. The music and subject matter take interesting twistsand turns, — sometimes separate, sometimes together — and it's a bitstartling but desperately wanted once I got used to it. The switch from"Harmless" (shoegazer) to "Stalker But Nice" (noise pop), on to"Curlew" (ethereal ambience) and then "Speak Softly" (more noise pop)is an especially jarring progression, but after that the album settlesinto a nice calm and even jangly pace. It's there that the braverycomes on a little more in instrumentation and vocals, but it's neverover a certain even keel, and that's where the real beauty is. Theearlier tracks have an unadulterated passion to be sure, but the latterhalf has sweetness and comfort to spare, with enough minor detours offancy to make the heart ache and the brain swell. These musings are notcomplicated or even challenging: just straight-ahead power pop withsome depth and definition. For Audraglint's first CD release and TheSems debut I don't think there are better results to be found. 
Both 2000's eponymous double album and 2001's New Electric Music have shown New Zealand's famed noise rockers moving (perhaps lurching) towards a more sparse, more seductive sound. Though any Dead C record will inevitably contain enough variety to postpone classification and prolong interest, the group's post-millenium output so far has predicted a steady increase in song quality, as well as more broad, stylistic refinement. The shoddily-produced, clattering heap of guitar, bass, and drum noise that was the signature sound of early Dead C has taken a thinner, more bottom-heavy, and more atmospheric form as of late, with concentration on complex textures and assemblage rather than riff torture.
This is precisely what I would expect from a band that's trying tochange the world and sound extraordinarly unique. It's all over-the-topand contrived to the point of oblivion. It's as if the band gottogether and said to themselves "Lets be a whacky group ofpseudo-anti-somethings and write annoying lyrics with even moreannoying performances thereof while also trying to imitate some ofthose tripped out black and white cartoons from way back in the day." Ican see it, now: this band is going to be called amazing and inventivebecause their live act is akin to a sideshow circus (see the videoincluded on the CD) and their album features amazing sonic tangentsthat light up the speakers in ways never thought possible. I'll be thefirst to say that's a load of shit. There's nothing here I haven'theard before and I've heard it done a thousand times better. This ispopular music wrapped up in a hipster burrito so as to be acceptable topeople that find The Strokes and The White Stripes unacceptable forwhatever asthetic reasons that come to mind. To be specific, the track"Mor Grl Cops" features a near metal-esque guitar rhythm sectioncombined with a gypsy violin, a child-like choir, some drugged leadvocalist, and some guy that likes to scream "if life were a game /you'd say shoot shoot / bang bang and your dead." At times I think thevocalists must want to create a nightmarish listening experience whereguttural whines and Yoko Ono screeches mix in a soup of acousticstrumming and those all too predictable chord progressions. In the end,it all ends up sounding way too typical.I was able to predict when weird sounds were going to be used, I knewwhen the breakdowns were coming, and I knew from the first note howthespian the singer would get with his performance. It's predictable tosay the least and in the end the whole package betrays the image itwishes to portray thanks to the band's concentrated attempt at comingoff as something esoteric, mysterious, and important. I've been toldnoise is an annoying genre, but noise has never given me a headachelike 1:3:1 has. 
Sweet Trip have never made much sense to me, and they make even lesswith this record. It's always been too much a sound drenched in theDaft Punk motif for me, and this record continues in that vein. Denseelectronics swirl and build towards an aural climax only to berepeatedly foiled throughout by premature earjaculation, where theeardrums give out or the cerebral cortex just gives up. Sure, I guessall the right elements are there, with the clever arrangements by Robyand pure saccharine vocals by Valerie Reyes, but it's nothingearth-shattering or even noteworthy that hasn't been traveled before bybetter artists. There's a blatant largesse in these songs, whereeverything is louder than it should be, has more going on than isneeded, and takes way too long to end something that probably was bestnot even beginning. As annoying as Daft Punk are ("One More Time,"anyone?), they seem to know when to call it quits or to keep it short.Not Sweet Trip, on the other hand, who feature three songs over theeight minute mark with one honorable mention at two seconds shy, and Ican't even tell you one part I liked on them. "Velocity" shivers andshakes too much to get where it's going, and then when it gets there itfeels like dancehall trash. "International" languishes, bleeding like astuck pig, waiting for an inspiration of meaning, only to result tocut-up vocals and beats that sounded better when Dntel or Four Tet didthem. And "Sept" is only rendered interesting by the fantastic tablawork by guest Aaron Porter; after that, it's fairly by the bookelectronic indie pop, but goes on far too long for its own good.Elsewhere, the jarring Europop of "Dsco" sounds like Robbie Williamsand Sophie Ellis Bextor's ugly offspring, and "To All the Dancers..."sounds like a cheap imitation of some of Björk's best remixes. Stillnot clear to me, but not dead to me just yet.
For any true Guided By Voices fan, this collection is a bit pointless.This is the "best of" anthology that many have been urging Bob Pollardto compile for years. Not that they are finished releasing music, nordo they need another record to flood the bins that are alreadychock-full with their library; it's just that enough time has passedthat perhaps a compilation like this can show the history of the bandin a grander light. That is the one thing that this set does reallywell. Thirty-two tracks that are from a variety of their albums,singles, and EPs on Matador, Scat, TVT, and others, Human Amusementsserves not only as a reminder that the band is near genius almost allthe time, but that it takes a gathering of this kind to make a GuidedBy Voices album where no song is disposable. Every track is arevelation of the period in which it was recorded, but all together onone CD it's enough to do my head in. The only possible complaint —though not mine as I actually admire the move — is that there is noexclusive material to be found on the disc. This bucks the trend thathas become all to commonplace in this decade, and it's refreshing eventhough it almost damns this release to casual or first-time listenersonly. No matter: it's still the truest retrospective I've ever heardthat I didn't make myself. There are rare tracks, like the originalrecordings of "Teenage FBI" and "Game of Pricks," solid performers like"I Am a Tree," "Bulldog Skin," "Chasing Heather Crazy," "EverywhereWith Helicopter," and "Glad Girls" from the recent albums, and classicslike "Tractor Rape Chain," "14 Cheerleader Coldfront," "To Remake theYoung Flyer," and "The Official Ironmen Rally Song." This is a show ofstrength, a friendly glimpse at a much larger picture, maybe even achallenge to all of the mix tapes fans have made throughout the years;and it's a damned good one. As if their fans needed this villification. 
Was it hard to guess which direction the Load roster was headed? Afterchasing metal through a gauntlet of spastic duos with cracked guitarsand rack-less (gasp!) drums, the label sets its sights on the secondscourge of white suburbia: progressive rock. East-coastersUSAISAMONSTER are a guitar/drums duo with an affinity for the tight,noisy, and epic-length songs of labelmates like Lightning Bolt, butmade over with an arty, even jazzist take on guitar skronk and anelaborate, narrative approach to songwriting. Tasheyana Compost,their third and most mature full length, is a concept album dealingwith colonialism and the ravaged American landscape. One song's lyricsare taken from Chief Joseph's words; elsewhere declarations like "thisprogress looks like cancer cells to me" add a preachy element that issurprisingly welcome in the wake of so many noise rockers with nothingto say. The band compensates for any lyrical heavy-handedness withmock-poignant tales of highway adventure and humorous free associationsections. Likewise, the music oscillates between full-on noise blitzand more tongue-in-cheek bits where cheap keyboard sounds and stylizedcrooning appear. Blowout metal riffs mix freely with choppy acousticplaying, and strained screaming bleeds into the elfin chanting ofwoeful vagabonds. The stripped-down nature of the music prevents itsslipping into a mathy or studied sound, and the lyrical wit coveringevery track adds a proud, human quality. The whole is neatly nuanced,and while repetitious at times (especially the noisy parts), the albumsurvives on sheer exuberance. There's nothing fashionable here; thoughsome may fail to look beyond its raucous exterior, Tasheyana Compost is rich with blood of its own design, progressive rock stripped of all mysticism, carefully pessimistic, and damn fun. 
One of my first encounters with techno came in the form of afull-length cassette released on Wax Trax! Records by an artist calledF.U.S.E. From the first time I heard the classic "Train Tracs," I knewthere was something about this music (and the producer, Richie Hawtin)that I needed to explore further. Though at the time I was heavy intoindustrial music, I viewed that cassette as a unique gem in my musiccollection, one I would refer back to regularly. Fast forward to thepresent: Hawtin is now one of the most in-demand DJs in the world andcertainly one of my favorites. Finally, after several years of nearsilence as a musician, he has pulled together Closer,a new album of material under his most well known moniker—Plastikman.Taking cues from his previous work as well as injecting elements ofdark ambient and industrial music in the mix, the ten songs presentedhere are some of the bleakest and most atmospheric tracks Hawtin hasever produced. Building up the minimal aesthetic of his Consumedalbum to something far less bare, Hawtin fuses together razor sharpbeats, snarling bass tones, microscopic melodies, unrecognizable 303manipulations, and, at times, spoken word poetry. The crisp 4/4 rhythmsof "Headcase," though never quite delivering the anticipated punch,erratically lose their way among the clutter of quirky bleeps. "PingPong" and "I Don't Know" (the latter treating us to some classicchillour acid around the 6:00 mark) follow a similar experimental routebut has a heavier clubby feel ideal for open-minded dancefloors. "Lost"deviates from the formula a bit with a prominent string sequencegliding over the gutteral rumbles and de-tuned stabs that fill thisbeatless space. Of course, this serves as a proper introduction to thealbum's first single "Disconnect," a menacing yet groovy vocal track.Be forewarned: those of you who've endured countless goth bands intheir lives will cringe at the dismally low quality of Hawtin's prose.Still, I urge you to look past this one indulgence as the solitary flawon an otherwise perfect release. Headphone use is strongly encouraged. 
I have been waiting for Markus Popp to make a record like this for so long! His appearance on Gastr Del Sol's Camofleurgave me taste of what Popp would do when faced with a singer-songwritercollaboration, but while that contribution was effective, it was purelysupplemental. Popp's variety of remixes show the artist closer to hisunique Oval-shaped niche, but often fail to evoke anything more than apicture of Popp's struggle to fit the original song to his own unsuiteddevices. So, Popp's collaboration with Japanese chanteuse Eri Toyoda,is a lot like the Oval remix canon in that every bit of sound bends,and eventually breaks, under the pressure of Popp's established style.The difference, however, is that Toyoda's songs lend themselves sogracefully to her bandmate's fractured aesthetic that the result isboth different, and on par with anything Popp has produced so far.Toyoda's soothing guitar, vocals, and organ weave their autumnal motifsthrough familiar rolling static and panes of gleaming digital noisewith the weightlessness and relaxed flow of improvisation; they help tosoften the pointed bursts and taut clusters of recent Oval withoutlosing Popp's unique tension and mystique. CD skips are nowhere to befound, replaced by a rich, organic palette and warm low-end. Thelistening experience's great pleasure comes in the impossibility oflocating the origins of many of the sounds. Toyoda's vocals proveremarkably adaptable to the complexities of each track and are oftendifficult to locate among the layered warbling and whistling soundsthat appear throughout. Though the subtle beauty and fresh melodicachievements of this record may not surprise fans of Microstoria andearly Oval, it would be hard stay unimpressed by the level ofintegration achieved. So is the sound of truly singular artistsengaged in a tender, meticulous, and fruitful dialogue with predictablygorgeous results.
Real sensuality and breathtaking eroticism do not spontaneously combustinto existence: both are difficult and intricate structures thatrequire careful study. Mandy Cousins and Michael Turner shape huge andsprawling spaces out of the most profane and sacred sounds; the resultis a stream of voluptuous and melting music bordering on the heavenly.Listening to Titaniafor the first time reminded me of rolling hills and fine mists,decaying architecture and ivy. The combination of Cousins' fine voicewith Turner's fluent orchestration creates an atmosphere that is nearlyholy: distant bells ring in towers somewhere beyond the horizon,guitars echo through long and decorated hallways, and fires burn onlonely mountain tops covered with snow. The music is epic and bloomingand I can literally feel it grow around and over me every time I listento it. With time I've come to realize just how sensuous the music isand the means by which it attains that sensuality is absolutelycunning. There's a void that permeates the whole of the recording; it'ssomehow present even in when the keyboards are ringing as if I were inthe midst of a grand cathedral. Slowly, over the course of the album,the music gets inside my blood and leaves me floating; it slowly peelsoff every common notion I have until I am stripped to nothingness.Songs like "Digitaria" and "Postscript" are like knives that cut deepand leave the strangest and most pleasurable numbness throughout mybody. In short, there's a strange play between the sacred and theerotic flourishing throughout every note of every song. It's a tangibleand all-consuming tension that manages to put butterflies in my stomachevery time. The strange psychadelia of "Tinsel Starred" all the way tothe ominous and hesitant "Blue Iris Eternal" keeps me suspended in avoid, in a constant struggle between peace and relaxation and theanxiety of chance. 
