Clinic, here with their second proper album release on Domino, are oneof those bands everyone should hear. Why, you say? Because uponlistening, one can easily hear their influences and how they'veextrapolated them to their absolute extremes, but also what influencethey've had on other bands of recent memory. Their music is a flavorfulblend of instruments, live and synthetic, as well as programmed beatsand samples.
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Finally, more DJ Scud available on CD. On this release he teams up withour favorite newly-skinny ambiguously gay rock star drum'n'bassproducer Matthias Mootz, also known as Panacea, Squaremeter, Kate Mosh,and here, Rich Kid. After Panacea started producing what can only beaffectionately referred to as "soft" drum'n'bass, a far cry from hisoriginal release 'Low Profile Darkness.' All is not lost for the fansof his early sound, however, since it is very much present here on thisalbum.
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For those of you who read my review of French director Claire Denis'film Trouble Every Day in last week's Brain, you may have noticed somecomments about the soundtrack. Brought together by Tindersticks and asmall armada of violinists, cellists, and even a bongo player, StuartStaples and company offer a minimal score that borders occasionally onthe work of David Lynch darling Angelo Badalamenti.
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Trabant is the second act to be released by Icelandic label TMTEntertainment, and much like Múm, it's a charming, unexpected treat.This debut full-length album, which follows the EP release of 'EnterSpacebar' has gained a ton of ground already, being nominated for bestdebut album in the 2001 Icelandic Music Awards and featured in the NewYork Times as Reykjavik's most interesting new band.
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Greg Clow and Sheryl Kirby are inaugurating their Toronto based PieheadRecords with an ambitious CD-R subscription series. If Mr. Clow's namedoesn't ring any bells you're either in the wrong place or haven't beenonline very long: DJ, event promoter, writer, discography and websiteguru, Brainwashed staff member, etc. Piehead is the next logical stepfor Clow and Kirby to bring many local electronic and experimentalartists, not to mention a few other well known names, to a wideraudience.
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The latest duo release from Rob Mazurek's Chicago Underground presentsthe progressive melding of electronics with that of free jazz playing,resulting in some great performances of very cool and moderncompositions. With drummer Chad Taylor at times providing the changesfrom the vibraphone on the disc's eleven tracks, Mazurek is freed up tostretch in his cornet soloing and explorations.
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Kicking off his new Kangaroo label, care of Raster-Noton, Ilpo Väisänendebuts the Liima (Finnish for "glue") moniker with four tracks on twoblack pouched, black vinyl 10"s. The plan for the label is to releasemore records, including 7"s and 12"s all limited to 1000 copies, ofmusic that has "a strong connection to the Jamaican dubstyle".
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It's always weird writing about friends records. Papa M stayed with meon September 9th last year following the show with Pullman (Bundy K.Brown and Dave Pajo in the same room, it was once thought impossible).It was a Sunday night and I remember staying up and talking with Daveand his band partner for a bit. We may have had breakfast at theinfamous Arlington Diner around the corner the following morning.Monday night was their gig in NYC and they ended up staying overnightin Brooklyn. Tuesday morning, the western world changed forever.
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These two limited edition releases on Cambridge, MA's Intransitiveimprint both suffer from putting far too much stock in their conceptsand processes than in the music itself, and as a result they are bothmediocre efforts. Marchetti's release, an audio collage of world musicand, to quote the artist himself, "citations" of well-knownexperimental music pieces, hides under the guise of being an"exploration of Shamanism and ecstatic states of mind."
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Giant Sand's second release on Thrill Jockey, a record designed to seejust how well this configuration are connected musically as well as achance to bring in more diverse guest collaborators. As always, theringleader is Howe Gelb, this time with his rhythm stalwarts in JoeBurns on bass and John Convertino on drums, and, as the title suggests,covering other artists' songs except for one new track.
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Guitarist Andy Moor is best known for frenetic harrangues in the Ex andDogfaced Hermans. His idiosyncratic six string scratchings getreprocessed via Kaffe Matthews computer on these recordings ofimprovised encounters. Matthews mutates the raw angular attack andchime of Moor's guitar into loops, drones and static buzz which Moorresponds to in turn.
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Those hungry for a new knock-em up/knock-em down Chicks On Speed product might be slightly let down by the laid back nature of this four-tracker. The album comes out of what appears to be (from the accompanying video) a day-long session in Kreidler's studios. Musically, this is probably the most advanced and intricate stuff their vocals have accompanied, but the lyrical context seems rather unplanned and uninspiring, however. Could it be possible the Chicks have run out of things to say so soon?
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The recording acts that are part of the Elephant 6 collective all havetheir own idiosyncracies, their own elements that you either love orhate. I don't think I know anyone who loves all of these bands,including Beulah, Neutral Milk Hotel, and also the Olivia TremorControl. The Sunshine Fix is the solo project of the latter's BillDoss, and, included in the Elephant 6 collective or not, it's one ofthe recordings of that type of music I haven't really enjoyed.
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Sedimental released this collection of theremin-based explorations fromBoston improviser James Coleman last year. The theremin is not aninstrument that has been associated with improvised music all that muchin the past. Most often James plays alongside the finely focusedelegant percussion of Tatsuya Nakatani, but there are alsocontributions from other improvisers singing and playing cello, trumpetand saxophone.
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For the first ever two disc Mort Aux Vaches, Raster-Noton's foundingfathers - Carsten Nicolai as Alva Noto, Olaf Bender as Byetone, FrankBretschneider as Komet and the trio as Signal - provide over 136minutes of "live" digital minutiae for the ever-growing archive.Chances are, you've already decided what modern minimalism does ordoesn't do for you and if the answer is "not much", there's nothinghere out of the ordinary that's going to change your opinion.
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What we have here is a very important and amazingly entertainingartifact of early 1980s Icelandic post-garage rock and roll. It's nosurprise that Purrkur Pillnikk was invited at one point to tour openingup for The Fall, as lead singer Einar Orn Benediktsson (you mightrecognize his name as the -OTHER- singer of the Sugarcubes) fronted atactfully sloppy yet feverishly energetic rock band with bizarrescream/spoken storylike words.
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Certain General were a living contradiction of a band. They were bothahead of their time and perfect for the time they were a band. They hadpunk rock energy for a post-punk alternative sound. And, as thiscollection shows, they were at the top of their game even when itseemed like it was all falling apart.
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Prior to hearing this it seemed that the idea of remixing the densejuggernaut of an album which was Faust's 'Ravvivando' would be at besta bit tricky, at worst utterly pointless. That album from 1999 saw the'krautrock' legends at the pinnacle of their powers and any remixer wasalways going to fail to equal the original's overwhelming apocalyticfreedom. Whatever their difference in approach the thirteen remixerscan't help but lighten the mood as they take turns in remodelling'Ravvivando' in various shades of toetapping dancefloor friendliness.
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There are no rules against having fun in the field ofcritically-acclaimed electronica. On Mouse on Mars singles, the duodefinitely let their hair out and try to have as much fun in as littletime possible.
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Recorded at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria lastSeptember, Luukas Onnekas was one of the chosen to fill the OMVKlangpark near the Danube with live sound over six days. This disccompiles highlights into a single 42 minute track.
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