ECO Discos
When Robert Muso's first CD came out my felling was that it would havebeen kinder if Laswell had discouraged his sound engineer from crossingto the other side. But rather than being electronic ambience, TheMusique Concrete [sic]Ensemble—sound engineer Raphael Irisarri's project—is high-glosspost-rock ambience for Tortoise fans. At times it aims at plaintiverepeated guitar melodies and hits home in exactly the way somepost-rock does, that is, it seems to be saying that being able to writea decent melody (like, say, GBYE can) isn't important. Now, it's truethat you don't have to have much of a voice to be a great singer, butthat's a limitation of technique—it's quite another thing to usetechnique and production to try and bring life to a dead melody. It'sexactly the same problem with the rock-oriented drum machine tracks;the programmer seems not to understand what it is that makes good rockdrumming good. Stravinsky ditched his highly effective washes ofstrings fairly early, arguing that they are too easy and manipulative.Today, the same issue often applies to the not-quite-endemic washes ofreverberated guitar, synths and vocals; or the not-quite-obligatorybackground sound effects and samples folk use to fill out their music.Add to these the not-quite-ubiquitous hidden last track, the detailedlisting of archaic electronic instruments, the retro package design,and the Stockhausen, Ussachevsky and La Monte Young name drops (andmuch besides) from their web site and I think we have the clue to theproject's real intent. Normally, these elements would be entirelyirrelevant except for marketing purposes. Their overuse by both The MCEand Irisarri's label ECO, rather than being an indication of a bad caseof fashion victim syndrome, is, somewhat like the K-Foundation, apost-modern prank aimed at seeing how far they can push semiotics-basedmerchandising before their post-whatever audience catches on. Thatsaid, I admit to being entirely taken in by the cover art.
When Robert Muso's first CD came out my felling was that it would havebeen kinder if Laswell had discouraged his sound engineer from crossingto the other side. But rather than being electronic ambience, TheMusique Concrete [sic]Ensemble—sound engineer Raphael Irisarri's project—is high-glosspost-rock ambience for Tortoise fans. At times it aims at plaintiverepeated guitar melodies and hits home in exactly the way somepost-rock does, that is, it seems to be saying that being able to writea decent melody (like, say, GBYE can) isn't important. Now, it's truethat you don't have to have much of a voice to be a great singer, butthat's a limitation of technique—it's quite another thing to usetechnique and production to try and bring life to a dead melody. It'sexactly the same problem with the rock-oriented drum machine tracks;the programmer seems not to understand what it is that makes good rockdrumming good. Stravinsky ditched his highly effective washes ofstrings fairly early, arguing that they are too easy and manipulative.Today, the same issue often applies to the not-quite-endemic washes ofreverberated guitar, synths and vocals; or the not-quite-obligatorybackground sound effects and samples folk use to fill out their music.Add to these the not-quite-ubiquitous hidden last track, the detailedlisting of archaic electronic instruments, the retro package design,and the Stockhausen, Ussachevsky and La Monte Young name drops (andmuch besides) from their web site and I think we have the clue to theproject's real intent. Normally, these elements would be entirelyirrelevant except for marketing purposes. Their overuse by both The MCEand Irisarri's label ECO, rather than being an indication of a bad caseof fashion victim syndrome, is, somewhat like the K-Foundation, apost-modern prank aimed at seeing how far they can push semiotics-basedmerchandising before their post-whatever audience catches on. Thatsaid, I admit to being entirely taken in by the cover art.
TheLiaisons Dangereuses LP is something of a sought-after, hard-to-findgem, but only among a select group of retro-beat enthusiasts andpostpunk dance collectors, and certainly not the music community atlarge. This is not a very important or influential album in the grandscheme of things, mostly because of its near-total obscurity. LiasonsDangereuses is made up of Chris Haas, who played synths for post-punkindustrial innovators DAF, and Beate Bartel, the bassist for thepre-Malaria female punk trio Mania D. They named themselves after RogerVadim's sexy film adaptation of the seminal erotic novel of 18thcentury France. Their goal was to make darkly erotic electronic dancemusic that would be redolent of 18th century Paris, with its shadowyabsinthe bars, decadent dance clubs, and general attitude of sexualliberation. For the most part, they succeeded, and in the process theylaid down an early template for most of the industrial and [a-hem] EBMdance music that would follow throughout the 80's. The album opens with"Mystere dans le Brouillard" (transl: Mystery in the Fog), whichcombines a Joy Division bassline with a clanging beat, and gothiccabaret-styled vocals by Haas. The song is filled with processedwindchimes and shrill noises that evoke the creepy atmosphere of Parisafter dark. Things get a little more high energy with the minorunderground dance hit "Los Ninos del Parque" (Children of the Park),where a menacing Georgio Moroder beat shares space with Haas' barkedlyrics and Bartel's incoherent shrieks. The telltale heartbeat of"Aperitif de la Mort" ('Cocktail of Death') comes on like an absinthehallucination, with its creepy alien synths and atonal metal scrapings.This track is immediately reminiscent of Death in June's earlysynthesizer-based works. The only other track that really stands out is"Peut etre...Pas," an irresistably funky track that avoids the gothposturing of the rest of the album and find its way into avant-discoterritory. This is true Mutant Disco - an unholy marriage of LarryLevan, Arthur Russell and Cabaret Voltaire. 
DJ/Producer Rjd2's 2002 debut album, Dead Ringer,showed his talents for hip-hop beats and instrumental soundscapes tomake catchy, danceable, yet intelligent music. Captializing on thesuccess of the album, Def Jux has released this 2-CD EP of remixes andnew tracks, with the second disc featuring multimedia content. Theremix CD is a tricky issue these days. It used to be the bastion ofalternate mixes and guest appearances, where these days it's usuallyjust filler to tide fans over until the next record. Because of thatfear, I can see why someone would be pressed to spend eighteen bucks onthis, and it seems Rjd2 himself agrees, calling it "not even an album"in the thanks section of the liner notes. True fans will find somethings interesting here, particularly the live DJ sets from the BetaLounge and the Bowery Ballroom, and the animated video for the titletrack. As for the music section, this is really what a remix EP shouldbe like, as the remixes are almost reinterpretations. The title trackmakes its appearance to start off, as is customary, and then the partyreally gets started. The "Ghostwriter Remix" is beat heavy andgroovier, with keyboards taking the lead. The real treat is in themiddle with a new guitar line and the same horns and vocal refrainmaking it a great club track or fine driving music. The "Final FrontierRemix" features some nice rhyme skills from multiple MCs with new beatsand samples from Rjd2, though the repeated "We're HERE!" gets old thesecond time it's heard, just like the original. The new tracks of "BusStop Bitties," and "Sell the World" are real treats, as they're justtwo great tracks with top-notch beats and great grooves that are moreDavid Holmes than Rjd2. The instrumentals are just filler, sure, butthey're great to drive down the street to impress, or to throw in yourown ingredients if you're a DJ yourself. All in all, this is not a badvalue with all things considered, and the packaging is really cool. - 
Though he's the producer of some of the most successful mainstreamalbums ever, Daniel Lanois' own music has been decidedly left ofcenter. On previous albums, he's made otherworldly sounds escape fromthe speakers, dancing and 
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San Francisco skateboarding legend and multi-instrumentalist (how'sthat for a resume?) Tommy Guerrero's latest full length disc is a coolblend of latin-jazz and funk grooves with a DJ culture type of feelwhile showcasing his solid guitar playing and knack for composing andarranging. Building on laid-back breakbeat samples, tracks such as"Organism," "It Gets Heavy," and "Thin Brown Layer," fatten up withelectric bass, the odd keyboard and multi-tracked guitars to providesome great riffs and underplayed soloing which give off an impressionof a controlled jam session that doesn't stray much from the intendedgroove. The gentle bossa nova feel of "Thank You MK" lays thegroundwork for bright sounding bass and warm sounding, jazzy guitars toprovide some simple yet beautiful chord progressions that in theoverall setting come across as being very meaningful. Less isdefinitely more. The more traditional latin rhythms and instruments of"Lost Unfound" cement the tune's groove for syncopated bass lines andchoppy guitar to move through minor sounding changes that subtly buildtension throughout repetition. Although Guerrero has a couple of guestdrummers and vocalists (most notably Lyrics Born), he plays all theinstruments throughout the disc's seventeen tracks; very convincingly. 
With the electronic music explosion of the 90s came a growth ofinterest in older electronic music and therefore an opportunity formore CDs of that material to be published. Sometimes these CDs make forgood listening but when not they still often make valuable referenceworks, documents of techniques and their pioneers and occasionallybrilliant time-capsules of a lost zeitgeist when making experimentalmusic was actually progressive. Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973is firmly in the reference section, with works from six composers whoworked in that studio over the years. Bülent Arel's "Postlude from'Music for a Sacred Service,'" is an avalanche of bleepy sounds withsuch an old-fashioned space-age sound that it reminds me a bit ofLaika. It could have been used theme tune on a weekly radio sciencemagazine program. Charles Dodge's "The Earth's Magnetic Field,"originally released on a Nonesuch LP with a fabulous cover photo, haslong been considered a computer music landmark but I do wonder ifanyone enjoys listening to it. It is based on a single-line melody thatfor musical purposes is essentially random and Dodge rendered it in1971 using computer synthesis. As a technical experiment it representsa big step forwards but today it sounds like random data being sent toa ragged old monophonic midi synth. Îlhan Mimaroglu's elegiac "PreludeNo. 8 (To the memory of Edgar Varèse)," assembled out of the sounds ofa harpsichord and a celeste, appropriately has a genuinely uneasy andunresolved tension. Inspired by Ussachevsky and early minimalism,Ingram Marshall based his "Cortez," on the tragic poem of the same nameby Snee McCaig. Much to my surprise it is the high point of the CD. Inthe middle the poem is read and the "Oh..." opening its fourth line isthe sonic source for all of the music, repeating over and over withvarious modifications. The atmosphere seems to convey the menace in theprophesy in the Aztec culture that contributed to their downfall at thehands of Hernan Cortez. The other contributions are by Daria Semegenand Alice Shields. The booklet contains much technical information thatmay be of interest to electro archeologists. 
On her last album, Caitlin Cary displayed a more folk/rock/country hybrid sound than her fans were used to. True, mostly that was due to the differences in her sound from her former band Whistkeytown: the absence of Ryan Adams' trademark wail and the switch of Cary from background to lead vocals. She also seemed to want a more roots sound than Adams did, as he went more rock and she went more folk after Whiskeytown's demise. She wasn't without Adams on While You Weren't Looking, though, as he appeared on the bonus disc. This time, Cary went it alone, sort of, as she and her band came off the road with some bold new songs and went right in to the studio with Chris Stamey.
This new mini-album by Asa-Chang & Junray doesn't point to a new direction for the group, but rather brilliantly confirms that the audaciously original musical experimentation heard on last year's Song Chang was far from a fluke. Percussionist Asa-Chang, tabla master U-Zhaan and programmer Hidehiko Urayama have produced another masterful album in the spirit of kidoairaku, loosely translated as "anything is possible."
Ever wonder what Black Sabbath would sound like if Ozzy and Bill Wardwere shot and killed, leaving a bereaved Tony Iommi and Geezer Butlerto play a slow dirge at their funeral while under the influence ofhorse tranquilizers? What if that sound were then passed through thedepths of hell and slowed down to last the entire day? The sound mightbegin to approximate the slow, doom-laden heaviness of Sunn O))), apair of doped-up metalheads from the Deep South. Sunn O)))'s musick isevil, neolithic metal sludge that was born out of Satan's ass. GregAnderson and Stephen O'Malley's strategy is simple: reduce heavy metalto its primal elements—guitar and bass, played slow and thick, like abarrel of syrupy magma being poured into a hole full of preschoolers.Nobody can actually play guitar this painfully slow, so Anderson andO'Malley make use of a variety of tape effects to achieve the properslow burn. Their two performances at the recent Autechre-curated AllTomorrow's Parties festival in England were certainly some of thehighlights of the event. Sunn O))) performed in Grimm robes, in frontof a huge stack of ultraloud speakers, flanked on the left and right bylive tape editors, and augmented by guest vocalists. For their firstperformance, the legendary Julian Cope joined Anderson and O'Malley toperform spoken-word poetry over the loud drones. For Sunn O)))'s secondshow, Odinist Runhild Gammelsaeter joined the proceedings, sportingsome bizarre Kiss-meets-Wotan face make-up. Runhild performed a seriesof vocal growls and ululations that focused the magickal energy of thebass and guitar rumbles and shot it out into the crowd. Sunn O)))'s newalbum title, White1, appears to be a nod to their last album Flight ofthe Behemoth, which had a completely black cover, and featured novocals and no guest appearances other than a remix collaboration withMerzbow. For this outing, Sunn O))) attempt to approximate their liveshows, with three long tracks featuring the same guest stars thatfrequently join them live. The first track, "My Wall," features SunnO)))'s trademark slow motion feedback riffs in the background, while inthe foreground Julian Cope does a terrific spoken-word bit that is bothingenius and hilarious—a long-form Odinist verse that mythologizes andcelebrates Anderson and O'Malley's transcendent wall of guitar drones.The painted up magician Runhild Gammelsaeter guests on the second track"The Gates of Ballard," a 15-minute fuzzy invocation of the sun thatgoes straight for your cerebral cortex with its mindbending drones.Amazingly, this song actually features drums, a true rarity in the SunnO))) canon. The third track, ominously entitled "A Shaving of the HornThat Speared You" is the most ambient track on the album, featuringmenacing distorted bass rumbles and randomly strummed electric guitar,together with ritualistic vocal intonations that seem to impregnateyour mind with dark thoughts. White1is Sunn O)))'s breakthrough record, effortlessly merging the minimaldroning of their early work with a host of like-minded collaborators,who push and expand their sound into their most tantalizinglyapocalyptic album yet. - 
Heavyand fluctuating drones, ponderous organic sounds, and subtle thematicshifts all add up to an album that is about as hard to describe as itis captivating. The swells of organ-like mumurs and the gentle hints of bird sounds and lilting winds on Over the Edgeshad a number of effects on me as I listened to it again and again. Atfirst the drones were too imposing—they seemed like a veil of shadowsthat hid the face of some insidious creature that might either drive meto the edges of insanity or attack me unsuspectingly. A second listenprojected images of impossibly high mountains choked at their peaks byunending snowfall and a third transported me into the nether reigons ofspace illuminated by the death and birth of stars. I've probablylistened to this album over ten times in the last seven days and itnever fails at lighting up my imagination and directing it to composeimages of vast, fantastic landscapes inhabited by perplexing andenigmatic creatures. Though much of the music is repetitous, the variedemotions and reponses it kindled in my mind never became old orunwelcome. The minimal number of sounds used gives me the oppurtunityto fill in the blanks and participate in the music as it wandersthrough the room. I could say this album is ghostly or creepy, but thatwould be oversimplifying its beauty. Andrew Chalk has composed anexcellent piece of meditative music capable of both relaxing andstimulating the mind and igniting the imagination in a flame ofunspeakable power.
