People who can't rap shouldn't and programmers with some degree of ability shouldn't bother enlisting those tired vocalists when they aren't needed. Point in case: Todd Drootin of Books on Tape makes some mildly entertaining, low-end electronic fuzz dependent on bass and drums and then decides that it must be too boring to stand alone.
There won't always be room for new, instrumental, and rhythmicelectronic music. Albums like this one suggest that only so many synthpads and sampled instruments can be combined in an entertaining andquality way. At first Pureis a pretty album—sliding like a slow mass of ice over the surface of astill body of water.
On his third full-length album, Maximilian Hecker has truly establishedhimself as a fantastic pianist, composer, and arranger. Lady Sleepopens with the climactic piano melody of "Birch." It sets the scenemuch like a tragic love story: patient and powerful, set against lushstrings and underscoring Hecker's frail voice.
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In the post-World Serpent world, it's refreshing to see a tastefullooking, properly packaged, elegant layout on a Nurse With Woundrelease which isn't completely driven by capitalism or auctionable (oreven questionable) "special" editions.
Longtime hip-hop journeyman Oh No's long awaited debut full-length isvibrant, musically diverse, and best of all refreshingly-gimmick free.The son of a jazz trumpeter and a soul/jazz composer, Oh No was signedto Stones Throw nearly five years ago, in no small part due to hisprolific older brother Madlib (of Madvillian, Jaylib, Lootpack,Yesterday's New Quintet and Quasimoto fame).
Mike Cooper has been making music far longer than I've been alive. Hebegan his career as a folk-blues guitarist and singer-songwriter in the1960s, moved on to working with London's most prominent improv groupsin the 1970s, and in the 1980s and 1990s he gradually began toincorporate greater experimentation into his music. In contrast to manyartists who grow tame in their old age, Cooper, now in his sixties, ismaking the most adventurous music of his life.
I would never have expected a group like Beequeen to record an album like The Bodyshop.The duo of Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar first became associatesbecause of their mutual love for The Legendary Pink Dots, and since1990 they've been recording and releasing (quite prolifically) asBeequeen.
Despite being a fairly straight-forward instrumental rock unit, Larsenhave nonetheless willfully cultivated a hopelessly enigmatic image forthemselves. Everyone has heard the story of how M. Gira came to producethe Italian group's second album Reverby now, and while the story might well be total bullshit, it hassuccessfully perpetuated an air of mystery and intrigue around theband.
"Bring Me On" begins the album with some quality Force Tracks stylevocal tech house, adorning guest Laura Delicata's hypnotically effectedvoice with airy pads and funky bleeps. Delicata returns a few songslater on "Decandence," the album's first single and certainly worthy ofsuch treatment.