19 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

The 7th CD from this ambient/electronic/space music collective isimpressive and shows yet again how easily this group can createstunning visual imagery through their often-improvised electronicsynthscapes. SPACECRAFT's evocative and deep-listening music conjuressome really filmic essences, from a peaceful celestial orbit to thephysical and tactile space of the Mother Earth herself. For example,the rustic guitar of 'Anima-Machina' evokes images of a dusty westernscene--complete with quaint ghost towns and tumbleweeds. Yet, later, inthe same track, sequenced percolations resonate with a similar vibe toprime TANGERINE DREAM, and bring to mind visions of free flight. Thistype of journey is what SPACECRAFT excel at, and listeners are able tojoin in, albeit in the comfort of their own personal space. In fact,this music was created for the Cybersphere Planetarium in Tennessee,and I can only imagine the visions the patrons had during theperformance, especially as this music stands so well on it's own.Gorgeous sounds that certainly warrant further investigation by fans ofanyone from ENO to soundtracks to Projekt to STEVE ROACH. (Space ForMusic) contact: http://www.spaceformusic.com

 

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12 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

In 2000, the Reykjavik-based Kitchen Motors began a series of monthly events, featuring collaborations with various musicians and artists who would most often not be collaborating together outside of the live venues. The goals were to be somewhat improvisational, yet somewhat tied into each artist's discipline, while most importantly having fun. The curators documented these events and have compiled various moments onto two CDs now available through a combined release effort through Bad Taste.

 

 

Smekkleysa

While it's not nearly like being there, these discs provide a good window into what is going on in Reykjavik. Abridged to anywhere from 9 minute to 27 minute excerpts, 'Motorlab #1' features four collaborations. The first up is a piece with music by Stilluppsteypa combined with text of Magnús Pálsson, pulled from a 2½ hour meditation on drugs, religion, folklore and banking to name a few things. Over the course of this track, the music varies from low-volume drones to broken electronics while the spoken voices are all in Icelandic. Next is a collaboration between the CAPUT Ensemble, Hilmar Jensson and Jóhan Jóhansson where a ten-piece wind and string ensemble was matched with electronics and processed guitar. The end result is a wonderful sound which could never be recreated by electronic laptop dronesters alone. The third track, "Junkyard Alchemy", from the Hispurlsausi Sextet was created through a somewhat orchestrated improvisation of sounds created from various items found in a junkyard. While the ideas sound interesting on paper, the recording isn't quite clear. Thankfully cut to under 9-minutes, you hear enough to get the picture that you really just "had to be there." Closing the disc is "Telefonia," a piece which was performed (or broadcast, rather) once every month at a Kitchen Motors event. Here, members in the audience were given a phone number to dial with their mobile phones and leave a message on a voice mail system, which would in turn send the audio through a computer, get processed and sent through the speakers. The loop effects created were interesting but as with the rest of the material on the disc here, the live experience was most certainly more entertaining than a ten minute excerpt. The audio was orchestrated by Curver and the software was written by Andrew Mckenzie of Hafler Trio fame.

samples:

• Veltip√∫nktur
• Telefonia

 

On 'Motorlab #2', the first collaboration takes shape of a miniature opera, based in "lullaby electronics" as described in the booklet. "Kasa" (translated as "Kitty") is scored and performed by Múm, with text written by Sjón and featuring a mezzo soprano and an actress who perform the roles of the outer and inner personna of a housewife in her thirties. The twenty minutes shared between them on the disc are undoubtedly the prettiest music on both discs, where the signature electronic tones Múm are known for combine blissfully with strings, sounds effects, the operatic vocals and spoken monologue. Next up is 26 minutes with music by the Apparat Organ Quartet combined with the shortwaves, morse code, radio buzz and other noise by TF3IRA. Each entity uses outdated technology, whether it's the music creators with old organs or the noise creators with the obsolete communication devices. The collaboration is well-organized and the elements of the live band crossed with low-fi electronicians can be somewhat remeniscent of various post-rock bands and instrumental Throbbing Gristle tracks. The last 15½ minutes come from Big Band Brútal, whose tracks were improvised live to Hugleikur Dagsson's "splatter cartoons" which were being projected for the band and audience to see. The first track is a rough one with screamy Yamasaka Eye like vocals while the other two are rather calm and sedated. Like the last outfit, the music is created of more conventional rock instruments, and would most likely appeal more to the instrumental and experimental post-rockers. Look out for a Pan Sonic/Barry Adamson collaboration for Kitchen Motors, scheduled for this month.

samples:

• She Listens to Her Heart
• Ondula Nova
• The Hamburger that I Ordered

 

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12 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

Childhood, adolescence, adulthood. As humans, some of the most noticeable maturation into adulthood comes in the late teenage years into the early twenties. It's not so different when you observe the works of an artist - whether it be a musician, writer, painter, etc,... Most musicians aren't good enough to be picked up and noticed from a young age, but a person both as talented and fortunate as Baltimore's Rjyan Kidwell has achieved quite a bit of notoriety for somebody his age.

With only four new songs on side A, this 12" single is already showing an incredible amount of development as there's more focus on varied instrumentation, melodic structure, song development and sound processing. Samples are intertwined with well-defined beats without being comical nor cliche, guitars are used to drive the tunes without being fucked beyond recognition or oppressive. Landing in one of the four locked grooves on side a, the beats are bottom-heavy and the length is perfectly timed to not miss a beat. The B-side is a bit of a look back, with remixes from the last year's 'Role Model' by Electric Company and Team Doyobi. In addition, there's an edited excerpt of a concert at the Knitting Factory in NY last year, tossed in to maintain the fun characteristics of Cex music. Once again, four locked grooves grace this side, this time with less beats and more noises. Cex is becoming a charming young man.

 

 

samples:

• First for Wounds
• It's All About Guilt
• Theme Song to Cex (Electric Company remix)

 

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12 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

Antony of the Johnsons served as a liaison between Baby Dee and DavidTibet of Current 93 and now Tibet has brought Dee (as well as Antony)to the world through his own World Serpent distributed Durto label."Little Window" is the debut and it focuses on dramatic voice andprecious piano much like Antony's work and c93's "Soft Black Stars".Dee's voice, possessed of a husky lisp and some operatic tendencies,was an acquired taste for me the first few listens but the lyrics(included in the insert) immediately struck me as wonderful poetry.Prior to some online research, I assumed Dee is an effeminate male likeAntony, but she is actually a post-op transsexual. Her life story isalso otherwise fascinating having been music director of a Catholicchurch, a member of the Coney Island Sideshow and a performer on thestreets of New York City and Europe in a bear costume on a gianttricycle with a harp mounted on the back! Somehow it all makes perfectsense. Dee's piano playing is simply elegant as she sings of beauty andhope with a gospel virtue. "Calvary" in particular takes me back to theSunday mornings of my own childhood. "The Robin's Tiny Throat" is aclever conversation with nature while "Waiting" personifies the verynature of nature. A favored line in the former - "that same hand thatflies a million dawns formed my tiny throat and wrote my songs. Howcould I not sing?" "The Price of a Sparrow" seems to shed light onDee's relationship with her father and is further reflected upon in theextended lullaby of "What About My Father?" The disc begins and endswith solo accordion pieces accompanied by bird song and gigglingchildren. Stunning. The more I listen to "Little Window" the deeper Ifall in love with it. A launch party for "Little Window" will takeplace September 29-30 at Joe's Pub in NYC with performances by Dee andCurrent 93. And oh how I wish I could be there,...

 

samples:

• Little Window
• The Robin's Tiny Throat
• What About My Father

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12 August 2001

Albums and Singles

Early in 2000, Scott Herren delivered a fine serving of organicmulti-instrument post-Tortoise rock on his Hefty debut, "Folk Songs forTrains, Trees and Honey" as Savath + Savalas. Less than a year later,he surfaced with mayhem electronics as Delarosa and Asora for the"Blacksome" EP and "Agony" LP on Schematic. 'Vocal Studies' is theintroduction of his hip hop persona, Prefuse 73, something he's beentouring the country with and releasing limited runs of 12" singles.Here, Herren flexes his muscles as a one-man wrecking crew, pulling indeep grooves, broken beats, melodic samples and just enough electronicglitchery to make it listenable. It's a mishmosh of influences howeveras elements of smooth low-end grooves, sneak in between the bombasticbeats The disc opens with a bit of hip hop radio scanning and the cutup collage madness begins. Guest appearances are made from rappersMikah 9, Rec Center, MF Doom & Aesop Rock and even Sam Prekop. Ifyou were a fan of the Deltron 3030 Instrumentals but wanted a littlesomething more but not an all-out guest fest, this one's for you. Oncenotable producer/musician types like U.N.K.L.E., Bomb the Bass and Khanhave destroyed their street cred by flooding albums with a differentguest on every stinking track, and in turn minimalizing the quality andimportance of the music itself. Herren's not only got a proven talentas a musician and producer, but is smart enough to know at which pointis enough to make it great without overkill. The disc is just over 18minutes and is truly a fabulous trip, well-equipped for those summerdrives with the windows down and the music loud.

 

samples:

• Nuno
• Life/Death (with Mikah 9)
• Last Light (with Sam Prekop)

12 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

Gosh, it only seems like last year the 19 yr old kid from San Diego was peddling his compilation with his friends. Hey, it was the beginning of last year! _Almost_ two years later, Tigerbeat6 offices have moved to San Francisco, racked up about 20 releases (and a good amount of press) through various old friends and vicious young upstarts. Taking form of a double CD release, 'Tigerbea6 Inc.' celebrates the incorporation of his booming young enterprise with 44 fresh new hits from a couple old cronies like Lesser, Pisstank, Pimmon, Electric Company, Goodiepal, Twerk, Steward, DAT Politics and Blectum from Bledom along with some fresh new faces like Stars as Eyes, Geoff White, Joseph Nothing, Com.A, Gold Chains, and many others.

tigerbeat6

While Kid's music has taken a recent turn for the serious, with the last couple releases on the chin-scratchy Mille Plateaux, he's not lost his feverent energy for fun stuff. This collection never drops the ball and jumps quickly from the cordial opener from London's Gamers in Exile to entertaining bits like Cex's staged award show antics, Joseph Nothing's blatent disregard for copyright, the rockin proto-pop mastery of Sonic Dragolgo, the too-cute Japanese singer Noriko Tujiko, the funky retro of Gold Chains, hypnotic pulses and loops of Languis, answering machine message by Max Tundra, or Frankie-sampline Steward,... And that's just the beginning! Skip out on tennis camp today and go demand this at yr local record store. Get one for your younger sister who likes terrible music too.

 

samples:

• Aelters - Poc Size
• Dwayne Sodahberk - I Understand You
• Gold Chains feat. Nina Oppenheim - Burn Babylon
• Steward - The Man with the Tiny Hands

 

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12 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

This is the final installment of the Hushush 'Threesome Series' involving Ambre (members of Snog and Imminent Starvation among others), Mark Spybey (Dead Voices on Air) and Mick Harris (Scorn). "Dys" pairs Ambre and Harris with Harris in the driver's seat weaving together the samples from Ambre into 5 tracks over 48 minutes. The sound is similar to the textured, ambient headphone mindfuck of Harris' Lull project and the more sinister surrealist moments of Nurse With Wound.

The moans and groans of minimal drone are peppered with stereophonic sound events and effects, often in sudden outbursts. It's all very atmospheric, if not dark and cinematic, devoid of discernible voices, beats or easily identifiable samples and often seemingly without structure. A few of the more uniquely interesting bits are in "Ome" with its brief sub bass loops and electronic leaf rustling and in the dense beginning of "Algie" with what resembles roller skates on a rain slicked sidewalk. Unfortunately, I find "Dys" emotionally ineffectual. Plenty of interesting sounds and changes, but it more or less goes in one ear and out the other. It's just not staying with me like so many other similar works have. But despite going out with a bit of a whimper, the Threesome series was overall a varied success. I just prefer Ambre/Spybey "Sfumato" and Spybey/Harris "Bad Roads, Young Drivers" over this one.

 

 

samples:

• Algie
• Blaste
• Ome

 

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12 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

Do some noise makers seem to have everything but thekitchen sink? Manchester's noisiest CD-R labelwww.pigdogrecordings.com has spewed a disc over thegrubby tiles that has not only the sink but all theother utensils and fittings slamming and clatteringaway and mixed down to hard drives. Inspired by BananaYoshimitsu's book 'Kitchen', four noise-smiths eachdeliver lengthy constructions made from quite likelythe most ominous sounds to emanate from cookery everrecorded.Anaphalaxis chase a bee swarm stuck in the drainwhilst hot fat gets poured down the plughole. Then thepoor old bees get mashed in a liquidizer, and thingsget bubbly for a bit (warning: do not drink). Thisleads to a cleaner, more efficient kitchenette afterthe white noise whoosh repairman calls. Thehousewife's bleach isn't enough to shift Drozophyllfrom the drains, where they lurk rattling manholes andteapots and hammering on the metal piping, in whatmight be mistaken for homage to early Neubauten. Thismight be made on a computer, but the primitive rhythmssound as corrosive if comparatively clipped. Can theyreally be playing the spoons? Ominous stereo panningoccurs latterly.13th Hour make like Digital Hardcore beats stuck inwinter molasses, taking a slow morning to drip ontocold porridge. They do not like their porridge cold,hence the malicious atmosphere and the tortured shardsof breaking glass in slo mo that rumble over themassive doom beat.Something crawls across the kitchen tiles...With all the windows shattered and the wind howlingin, Phroq is left to flutter about in the breezetrying to make a nice cup of tea. But its no usebecause by the end of it the metal teapot's beenhammered to hell and all the cups are broken, so hejust leaves the taps running and floods the feedbackscream beast out of hiding and fries it on the stovewhich is thankfully still working even if it makes abit of a squeal.

 

samples:

• 13th Hour - Malice Aforethought
• Drozophyll - Deep Within the Drains

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12 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

Phroq has his own release on the same label, featuringanother three long looping post-industrial noisecollages, which are slightly more carefully composedthan his chaotic onslaught that closes the 'Kitchen'compilation. The most amusing is the closingsoundtrack to an experimental Japanese sex film'Pudding, Pudding' with much echoing orgasmic cooingand sing song speech samples set to slow murky beatswith occasional tastefully judged appearances from ourold friend white noise. The one in the middle mixes uppainful sine tones with monochrome clicks and deepdrones and isn't funny at all, especially when itspeeds up and drops a big old lump of raging noise onthe carpet. The epic opening shot is so deadly seriousthat it calls itself 'Music for Photoperformance'. Myracist moron neighbour downstairs could howl 'Dat'snot music' til his cow comes home but music is onlymusic to a receptive mind, and to have a receptivemind you need to have a mind in the first place.Anyway initially the photo performance music has somesimple piano motiffs underpinning the scissor bagrustle and incessant throb, and field recordings cutin and out before the one fingered piano of doom holdssway yet again. The repetitious sound of a camerashutter recurs and some French shouting echoes beforeit all gets mashed into a monotone chug that stopsabruptly to let little birdies sing in the distance.Then everything builds to a camera rewind piano slamfinale. I suppose it's quite likely Phroq has heardNurse With Wound and Ryoji Ikeda at some point.

 

samples:

• He Plays Sleep She Plays Sleep
• Pudding Pudding

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12 August 2001

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Albums and Singles

This week I am spotlighting two bands that are currently in the studioworking on their new releases by looking back on their back catalogs. Ifinally rounded up dianogah's first proper album, "As Seen From Above,"recently, thus completing my dianogah CD collection (they have a few 7"singles I've yet to collect, but soon...). dianogah, named after thetrash compactor beast in Star Wars - but with an "h" added to avoidcopyright issues, I imagine - are a three-piece rock band comprised oftwo bass players Jason Harvey and Jay Ryan, and drummer Kip McCabe.This makes for an interestingly melodic sound for primarily low-endinstruments. Yes, kids, this is instrumental indie rock, but with a farmore impressive range then you might expect from such limitedinstrumentation. The name is certainly fitting, as the music pulls youin seductively, but has a punch to it that you'd never expect. My firstexposure to dianogah was their track on the fantastic "Reach The Rock"soundtrack, "Dreams Of Being King." Having also seen the film (worth itonly to see how the soundtrack is used, mind you), the song isperfectly placed, underscoring the sole "moment" in the whole piece.
I immediately had to hear more from this band, so I purchased theirfirst CD release, actually a compilation of their first singles called"Old Material, New Format" on My Pal God. I slipped it into my CDplayer, and waited for that melodic glory to come out of my speakers.Sure, it was there -- for the first few seconds of the first track,"One Hundred Percent Tree." Then: vocals. Not very good ones, either.Drowned in the mix, and more spoken than sung, the vocals by Jay Ryanseemed awkward when paired with the music. Or they would, if the musicwas on the same level of "Dreams Of Being King." This was dianogah attheir early stages, and it showed. After repeated listens, though, nowthe songs have a certain charm to them. It's like enjoying Mogwai nowfor what they are and do, then listening to the awkward loud/softmissteps of "Ten Rapid." It's got its moments. Next in order of releaseis the proper album "As Seen From Above." This was certainly closer towhat I expected to hear. Driving, intertwining basslines, stable andfirm drumming, and little variations that build and strive to astunning climax. Yet another band that appreciates that the silence andbreaks in the song are just as important as the moments where allcylinders are firing. "What Is Your Landmass?" thumps right along,before settling into the cymbal-crashing tirade of a finale. Stillthere were vocals, but they seemed to have improved over the firstrelease (go figure). Jay becomes more confident with his voice,reaching a delivery half They Might Be Giants/half The Inbreds.
Then there is their second full-length, released after the "Reach TheRock" soundtrack, "Battle Champions." My god. The dream is fullyrealized on this release. dianogah occasionally record with othermusicians, releasing the results as "Team Dianogah" releases. Thistime, they add to their own sound, augmenting it with guitar and piano.From the second track, "At The Mercy Of The Mustang," I was hooked.Steve Albini just lets the boys rock out, and doesn't affect therelease at all, leaving us with the driving rhythms and gorgeousmelodies that make "Dreams Of Being King" pale as Willem Dafoe in"Shadow Of The Vampire." The album's centerpiece, "Indie Rock SpockEars," is playful and poignant, starting off slower than most dianogah,but building on right into an accomplished groove and great interplaybetween the bassists. Lovely. There are still vocals on a few songs,but they're no longer as jarring, and actually complement the musicwell. I would recommend "Battle Champions" to anyone who likes greatinstrumental indie rock. If you like that, move your way back. Alsolook for a new album next year. There's a lot to be discovered underthe surface...

 

samples:

• At the Mercy of the Mustang
• Indie Rock Spock Ears
• What is Your Landmass

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