A 5-track EP of analog lo-fi electronica from Berlin, presented onthick white vinyl with variable artwork. White labels wich give nofurther clues except one to check the details first as both sides playat different speed. Impressions from shady sideways of the datastream appear, titles like"Sentimental Elevator Bits" and "Monomental Intercourse" nearly say itall. Plankton provides a lost futurism a la early Kraftwerk and Numanwith today's tools. "Soleil" would even work in a Metropolis Score -but in a rougher style.
A promising debut which raises expectations.
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The second Rip-Off Artist album, "Brain Salad Surgery", was reviewed onthe Brain back in summer around the time it was released. This isactually his first album, which was released by Quatermass only a monthbefore the second due to label procrastination, and after a time warpcaused by a huge pile of promo CD's and not enough ears to go round,this one is getting reviewed so late that the prolific Matt Haines hasalready got a third album out! I can't comment on "Pump" on MillePlateaux as I haven't heard it yet! His Rip-Off Artist persona is acomment on his plunderphonic compositions. He steals bits of otherrecords, even their titles, but hopes that people won't actually stealthis CD. Presumably it's OK to sample his records though. He's sampledchildren's toys and sing-along records to make this funky stew which isa little more obviously humourous than his more streamlined secondalbum. However he doesn't want this regarded as a comedy record, whichis probably just as well when the best joke is a bunch of kids blowingout birthday cake candles shouting, "123, blow!" before a particularlyslick keyboard break. The Rip-Off Artist is perhaps at his best when hemakes wierder noises, as on the appropriately titled 'SomethingStrange'. There always seems to be a fractured and skewed electro pulsetrying to flex, but it usually gets jittered up and slung on its head.'Gizmo' adds some daft sexual innuendo to a Kraftwerk like vocodervoice that sings, "I like to play with my gizmo, I like to play all daylong." Subtract the ribbits and the odd lyric about being a frogwanting a kiss, and 'Cream' is a pretty straightforward electro-funkwork out with a lascivous hopped up rap from Crescent Raye Born. Kidsrecords should educate with amusement, and thanks to the Rip-Off ArtistI now know that Tater Tots are hot, and that they're not a tomato, butI'm not sure exactly what they are. If anyone wants to advertise themthere's a ready made jingle here that could earn Matt Haines a fewpennies. "Would you like a slice of cheese?" asks a chirpy looped womanon the very short track 'Silly'. There's plenty of that to go roundtoo! The second album on Hot Air is more convincing but this is quitean enjoyable dose of daft disco diving.
Faust are set to a issue a complete remix album of 1999's 'Ravvivando'.This will feature the likes of Funkstùrung, Residents, Mark Spybey,Daniel Miller, Surgeon, Dave Ball with Ingo Vauk, Howie B., SofaSurfers a.o.
Anticipated and found were: the visions of beauty in the blindness ofchaos, the sound of confusion to adore, the overlapping of panic intosensuality, and the questioning angels in the shadows. The setting - asubterrenean sunset still from Orphee. So if it's good enough forCocteau then it's good enough for me - listless beauty and all that.What I hadn't anticipated was to find that Cyclobe have embraced evenfurther the peripheral vapour-trails left by Luminous Darkness, theirdebut, and created a stunning and completely unique take on what I callectoplasmic music: it feels like the sounds are leaking out of thespeakers and seeping into the listeners ear-drums. It has taken form,if that's the right expression, and unfolds over the seven tracks of'The Visitors'. Or it could also be the little specks of chaos onlyhitherto peeked at in Sun Ra moog solos, LSD-period Coil, earlyThrowing Muses and The Fall.
On first listen to Dntel's new album, you want to swear that it'sEuropean; yet another brilliant out-of-nowhere young German makingbeautifully skittery electronica on their laptop. But the first of manysurprises on this breathtaking record is that it's a product of LosAngeles native Jimmy Tamborello, with the magical help of a whole slewof friends.
I will never forget the night of December 14th, 1998. It was a Mondayevening downstairs at the Middle East in Cambridge. An unusually cold,desolate scene from what is typically packed and overbearingly hot. Theattendees got to sit down on chairs for a change and witness a largescreen with incredible black and white images of the trecherous seasoff the coast of the Aleutian Islands (Alaska). The film was 'DutchHarbor' and the Boxhead Ensemble were improvising the soundtrack as wewatched. Three years and three album releases have passed and theensemble has finally released something that doesn't have anything todo with 'Dutch Harbor', but I can still feel the chill. I stepped inthe car earlier this week late at night with the crisp, cold NewEngland air numbing my face. As I popped the disc on, everythingclicked into place. The dark drive wasn't so bad, there was nobody elsein the car and nothing to say but just sit and listen, watching mybreath in front of me, waiting for the heater to kick in. The recordingopens with a short violin, drum, acoustic guitar and background noiseintro, then moves onto a second track with familiar sparse guitar,strings and drums. It's hard not to sound like the Dirty Three whenboth Jim White and Mick Turner are involved, despite them beingcredited on the 'secondary' list of ensemble members. Boxhead Ensemblehas always been loose enough to sound improvisational, but collectedenough to sound composed. Bit by bit, other instruments are introducedto the mix, including double bass and more bowed strings. Over thecourse of the next few songs, the focus moves from empty andalone-sounding bits to a much warmer sound. Drones, chimes and basssounds eventually fill the space by the time the car heater has kickedin. By the time the sixth piece, the gorgeous "Requiem" comes on, thedrummer and guitarists have been silenced and the strings havecompletely taken over. Gentle guitar and drums return on the next tuneand an elegant interplay continues through the end of the disc. Thefeel returns to the earlier sense of chilly solitude, but at thispoint, the sound is majesitc enough to be an aural impression of agorgeous snow-capped Vermont mountain. It ends with a short epilogue,the instruments mimicing a bitter, cold wind blowing. Although they maynot have done it to somebody else's movie -this- time, the ensemble hasonce again created an appropriate soundtrack for the cold, outdoorexperiences of the northern hemisphere in the wintertime.
Chris Dooks, the musician behind Bovine Life, understands thatpost-techno electronic music need not be a dour affair with art-galleryjustification. His debut full-length CD is thoroughly fun andenjoyable, proudly home-made and full of inspired musical ideas, whilesitting within that strange gray area between dancable electronica andcontemporary computer music. One-finger melodies and concisecompositions (averaging two and a half minutes long) dominate thealbum, which is a nice touch. That Dooks uses very few elements in eachsong is to his benefit as well; he establishes an open and engagingatmosphere that persists even on the darker, more abstract pieces. Themost interesting aspect of "Social Electrics" is the home-made natureof the recordings. The album makes remarkable and inventive use of thetechnical limitations of DIY home recording; a Dr. Sample makes itspresence known many times, as does the factory pre-set hand-clapkeyboard sound, the telltale rise-and-fall swoosh of a ring modulator,and the unmistakable stutter of computer time-stretching. Evidence ofhuman interaction with the sound-producing materials is presentthroughout in the form of manually turned knobs and punched keys, quitethe antithesis to the faceless and flawless sheen of Raster-Music orMille Plateaux. I suppose it's similar to the raw sound of DATPolitics, so a fan of one artist would do well to check out the other.Pretty damn fun stuff.
Peaceful, serene, warm and endearing. I wonder if there's a farm where Thomas Morr harvests all the prettiest electronic music composers. Although Schnauss' album is actually released from City Centre Offices, Morr Music (you remember, that Lali Puna album you keep meaning to pick up) handles the worldwide distribution outside of the UK.
Every once in a while a record comes along that is so avant garde, sodifferent, so completely not like anything I've heard, that it almostdefies description. Starlight Mints almost do that. This music isobviously not aimed at radio, not aimed at any one test market, noteven classified by one genre that it's almost impossible to determinewho exactly would listen to it. I would recommend it to anyone wholikes the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev (no brainer there - HellfireMarketing represents all three bands in different capacities), but doesit really sound like any of them? No, not really. In fact, if I wasgoing to describe this, the best I could come up with is Spiders FromMars-era Bowie fronting an art-rock guitar band with a small stringsection, occasionally intermingled with interesting noises for maximumconfusion and effect. Which is funny, since I read ther bio afterforming that opinion, and it name checks Bowie, as well. I mean, it's areally confusing listen. The music grabs you immediately, and it won'tlet go. But where some bands sound like they're confused by their ownmusic, not quite sure how to focus, harness, or direct it, StarlightMints aural confusion is completely MANUFACTURED. That's right:Starlight Mints WANT you to be confounded by this noise. And it isconfounding, but utterly listenable. I mean I CANNOT TAKE THIS CD OUTOF THE PLAYER, it calls to me so much. But I don't know why. Is thatstrange? Yes. But so be it. The only complaint I have is that as thealbum goes on, some songs use similar chord progressions or structuresand dynamics as earlier ones, so it almost sounds gimmicky compared toearlier tracks. But it is always fresh. The lyrics are equally as odd:"sir prize" features the line "Shaking hands with the cats in themirror." And I don't think he means "cats" in that "Hey, that guy's apretty hip cat" sense. He means cats. With four legs and tails. "sugarblaster" says "Follow me to the echo machine." Weird. Try it out, as itis the strangest release you'll hear all year. And that's a good thing,really.
The signature sound of Tsyoshi Nakamaru's Tagomago project is astrangely clipped sample, looped against the beat as if the song andthe loop exist in two different pieces of music played simultaneously.This peculiar trait makes its appearance on nearly all of his albumsand gives his otherwise almost-innocuous techno-pop an edge that, atfirst, is difficult to place. A funky upright bass and a looped chunkof violins kicks off "On the Upper Level", the first tune on Tagomago'sseventh solo album, with the urgency implied by the album's title. Theenergetic pulse that drives the album's first half makes occasionalnods to mainstream drum n'bass or to lazily paced trip hop, though mosttracks keep to a slightly stuttering and repetitive groove which callsto mind the band whose magnus opus Nakamaru borrowed his moniker from.The latter half of the disc slides into drumless analogue synthesizerdrift, several tracks of low throb punctuated by sci-fi squeals andairy feedback. Previous Tagomago albums have featured lovelyinstrumental pop molded from looped sitars and other conspicuously"psychedelic" ingredients, but this latest CD draws mostly fromshimmering orchestral hits and instrumental flourishes (think: 1970stelevision themes). "ASAP" is a fine set of understated, upbeat tunesthat never gets too sweet, though it's closer in spirit to NobukazuTakemura and the Childisc crew than to Nakamaru's much strangerproject, the great Nerve Net Noise.
Tomahawkis Mike Patton's newest project on Ipecac, featuring Patton on vocals,Kevin Rutmanis (Melvins), John Stanier (ex-Helmet,) and Duane Denison(Jesus Lizard). It's Good Stuff. Stylistically, it reminds me of theother band-work Patton's done — specifically Faith No More — becausethe music does have a certain "rock" or "punk" vibe about it, mixedwith a certain eclecticness that keeps it from being just plain rock orpunk. There are no writing credits, lyrics or any extraneousinformation and all liner notes are kept to an absolute bare minimum(seven short lines, including the tracklisting.) The recording qualityis excellent and although the Patton's vocals are the center ofattention, the music does play it's part and balances out theforcefulness of the vocals. The music itself is part humor and partnoir (e.g. "POP 1" and it's screamed bridge of "This beat could win mea grammy!"). Patton's vocal abuses are a highlight of the record,especially the screams and nuances of infliction he does so well. Agreat release for fans of vocal gymnastics, and a pretty good album ingeneral.
Cavendish Sanguine is an ambient alias for one half of Fflint CentralRecordings, Barry Williams, who also records as Oleum and helpschanneling in productions from the mysterious Berkowitz, Lake &Dahmer. This is the sound of one man who went to mow Wotan's lawn. Myguess is that he used a big sharp scythe.
Hardly "Punk As Fuck" as the tongue-in-cheek title of the first trackoff their fourth album, the American Analog Set could actually be moreaccurately described as creating music in the vein of Neu!. 'Know ByHeart' unites the psychedelic jams of the Austin-based band's earliermaterial with a soothing pop sensibility. The warm sounds ofvibraphones and farfisa organs mesh with heavy bass lines and pungentpercussion on the tracks "Gone to Earth" and "Million Young," thelatter of which screams Stereolab circa "Revox" (if Laetitia's vocalshad been replaced by those of an American male with a honey-coatedvoice). Fortunately, the album is not overrun by kraut-rock musings.The balladry of "Slow Company" and the title track, plus the janglyrock of "The Only One" and "Aaron & Maria" allow for the band toexhibit not only their stylistic versatility, but their broadinstrumental capabilities as well. "The Postman", a sweetly rhythmic,yet melancholy tune about a mail carrier's crush on someone on hisroute is among the standout tracks. The American Analog Set fortunatelynever suffer from sounding overly self-conscious in their music, andretain a distinct sense of humor evident in both their song titles andlyrics. 'Know By Heart' is certainly a piece of ear candy, but at thesame time, it skillfully avoids falling into a saccharine trap.
Self-described as "a ghostly meditation on the aesthetics of late nighttrain travel", 'Overnight' is the third album by Chessie, a one-timesolo project of Stephen Gardner which has grown to a duo with theaddition of Ben Bailes. Perhaps it's the addition of a second set ofears that has reined in Gardner's tendency on previous releases to flitsomewhat disconcertingly between fragile ambience and restrainedaggression. The nine tracks on 'Overnight' flawlessly swirl and flowtogether, creating an engrossing and abstract sonic landscape ofabstract samples, ambient electronics, guitar, piano and more. Fans ofartists like Labradford and Stars Of The Lid will very likely find muchto appreciate here.
Following a successful US tour, Knoxville, Tennessee's Superdrag wentoff for Japan, one of those countries where people are capable of beingutterly more popular than they are here. Like Sweden. And while theywere there, they released this, a tour EP of new songs, old songs, anda few cover songs. The intention was to release it on their label's(Arena Rock Recording Co.) website so fans could order it. That tookawhile, due to dissatisfaction with the initial release. New mixing wasdone, the release was delayed, and now a limited number are availableon the website. And what do we have? Kind of a mixed bag, which you'dhave to expect from Superdrag. The new songs, like "Baby Goes ToEleven" and "Take Your Spectre Away" are good, but you get the feelingthat Superdrag is getting more emotional with age. Where is theballs-out shrikeing rock we've heard before. And I'm not really fond of"bass guy" Sam Power's lead vocals on stu. I've grown accustomed toJohn Davis' wail, thank you, so give me more of it. And two tracks,"Bloody Hell" and "Liquor," first on their independent release "TheFabulous 8-track Sound of Superdrag," are missing the power of thoseearly recordings. In fact, "Liquor" is even missing the first verse!The only thing that made this release worthwhile for me was the covers.Any chance to hear Superdrag cover The Replacements ("Bastards ofYoung," no less), and I'm there. But then, just to keep thosecomparisons ever-present, they cover the Kinks classic "You Really GotMe." Now here's the band that Superdrag most reminds people of, and forgood reason. At their best, Superdrag are just as hook-laden, just asrawking, and just as cohesive musically. "Greetings From Tennessee" isnot Superdrag at their best: it's for the diehard fan only. And forthose last two songs, it's worth it. Can't wait for LP4 in Spring 2002.
Ven Voisey, a Californian composer with a most dubious name (do youthink he was born with "v"s for initials? My bet's on "not likely"),has been quietly self-publishing some of the most stunning anddisarmingly unpretentious DIY computer music in America with little tono fanfare? so far. To correct that, here's a bunch of fanfare for hisnew 17-minute piece. "Things Collapse?" begins with a patiently growingcloud of soft hiss. A masterful moment occurs in which the hissmetamorphoses suddenly into a blurry acoustic guitar (in theelectronically-enhanced hands of Voisey, it takes on a lovelycello-like quality) and is finally overtaken by churning white noiseand room sound. But to simply describe the linear events of the pieceis to miss the assured, seemingly effortless meaningfulness somehowimbued into each sound element, a quality which involves the listenerright away and commands attention for the duration. I could comparev.v. to vaguely similar composers (Roel Meelkop and the THU20 folksspring to mind), but comparisons are a cop-out, so I won't bother.Certainly this EP is a fine piece of electronic music which I highlyrecommend tracking down.
Single Unit is a single man, Are Mokkelbost, and he is entirelyresponsible for the music and visuals of "Family of Forces". Theartwork features very curious black/white drawings of abstract shapesand human/animal characters framed in Macintosh styled screens. Andmuch like the music, it's difficult to make heads or tails of it all.The 16 oddly titled tracks, most less than 2 minutes apiece, arecleverly laid out in a grid on the back, each with it's own progressbar giving you a relative idea of how long the track is and how faralong you are into the near 33 minutes total that make up the disc.Mokkelbost's musical mission seems to include that of mergingmetal/hardcore with electronica, believe it or not. Appropriatedsnippets of guitar/bass/drum onslaughts are painstakingly re-assembledalongside electronic and organ-like melodies into new songs. ImagineSlayer playing carnival music, then having Kid 606 remix it, and you'llget a rough idea. It's mostly noisy and schizophrenic, but alsorefined, making for a confusingly natural fusion of playful andmenacing sounds and moods. Fun! 
As has become expected for Robot's CD reissue series of rare, out ofprint, and previously vinyl-only or cassette-only albums by DavidJackman (the only constant member of Organum), "Pulp" comes with nomore information than the song titles and the names of the artistsinvolved. Gone is the artwork that might have accompanied the originalreleases. Nowhere in this package do we find any information that wouldhint that "Pulp" is in fact a reissue (I happen to recognize the namesof the tracks). No further information is provided to tell the newlistener background about the recordings. The disc is also only 33minutes long. But I'll stop complaining because the music is quitegood, if not particularly surprising (does it need to be? Probablynot). Though the CD includes all of the music from the "Pulp", "Raze"and "Wrack" EPs and one otherwise unreleased piece, one might haveremoved the spaces between the tracks and called this a single piece ofmusic; there is not much change from track to track. The cyclicalscraping metal and piercing, high-pitched bowed cymbals (I'm guessing,but that's what it sounds like) are aggressive and unrelentingly noisy,more typical of New Blockaders' work than Organum's. The palpablepresence of actual humans manipulating actual metal objects brings"Pulp" a step closer to improvised instrumental music, and a step awayfrom Merzbow-like human-free screech? it's not a huge step, but it's animportant one which separates it from the derth of noise albums one canchoose from these days. It's really quite nice, if metallic shriek isyour thing; it happens to be mine, sometimes.
Following a string of European dates, To Rococo Rot & I-Soundsupposedly got together and reworked some of their collaborationspreviously released on the full-lengther earlier this year, 'Music is aHungry Ghost'. This EP was intended for sale at North American shows,but a cancelled tour left the disc to linger around in limbo andunexpectedly make its way into stores. "Pantone" has been extended andexpanded, with a live bass guitar, less prominent abrasive noises, anda more natural melodic development that would please fans of their'Amateur View' album. "The Trance of Travel" on the other hand has beenever so slightly trimmed but has also added much-appreciated melodicand rhythmic elements. "Brett Zwei" has been lifted off 'Kölner Brett'and has been colored with acoustic guitar, bass guitar and variouskeyboard twitters but still remains exactly at three minutes. Twoadditional tracks appear, most likely recorded during the 'HungryGhost' sessions, but just too maximalistic to fit in to the album. "IWanted to Meet Him" perfectly describes my sad feeling when I learnedPisstank was in town last weekend. It's got beats that are ratherpunchier than those TRR's used to using. "Fishermen Dressed Like JosephBeuys" on the other hand is completely absent of drum machines andpleasantly glitches a simple acoustic guitar. Pleasant and refreshing,if 'Hungry Ghost' was a little too much, the EP should be just right.
In the liner notes of "Bella Maniera" (Italian for the "BeautifulWay"), Japanese born composer Kim Koschka explains her Renaissance-eramanierist approach for this album. Simply put, it's ade-contextualization of disparate styles which are then juxtaposed innew ways. One listen and it's obvious that Koschka knows a thing or twoabout composing, from traditional to avant-garde, so the task is easilywithin her grasp. The seven tracks range from 6 to nearly 13 minutesand they busily mix and match all sorts of modern styles - drum 'nbass, ambient, dub, classical, hip hop, etc. - and sounds - piano,harpsichord, mellotron, organ, mini-moog, synclavier, synths, samples,spoken texts, etc. - that might not normally go together. The resultsare mixed, always coherent and dynamic, but sometimes a bit cheesywhile at other times quite brilliant. 
