Tigerbeat 6
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!
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!
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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. 
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.
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.
