Morr Music
Belgian Arne Van Petegem is also making an attempt to graduate from theclass of instrumental group of European laptop nerds with his latestEP, a prelude to his forthcoming second full-length album. In the threeyears since his last LP, Arne has been recruited by a number ofmusicians and labels to do remixes, singles and compilation tracks.It's probably through this that he reached two conclusions: #1) it'snot so bad to start including organic sounds like guitar back into themix and #2) my voice isn't so bad that I can't start singing the songsI write! Arne even harmonizes with himself on the title track of thisEP, a blissfull introduction to the more evolved Styrofoam sound. Thepretty melodies and robotic percussion have not been forfeited and thevocals and guitars just add a much nicer dimension on this, a moreradio-frendly version of a track of the forthcoming album. "Fade OutYour Eyes" is a live recording of what sounds pretty much likeStyrofoam remixing himself: letting his vocals and instruments twitterand waiver in a beat-less tapestry of digitally echoing samples whichcould easily go on forever. The disc is rounded out by two charmingtechnologically-enhanced cover tunes: "Hard to Find," originally byCodeine and "Snow Crush Killing Song," originally by Mountain Goats.The full-length I'm What's There to Show That Something's Missingis due out this week, but those lucky enough to catch the Notwist ontour right now can catch both a set by Styrofoam and his place in theNotwist, filling in for Martin Gretschmann, who's off doing stuff withConsole right now. While I still might have reservations when it comesto laptop performers, Styrofoam deserves credit for having a rock clubaudience attentive and interested, something most laptoppers can stillonly fanticize about.
Belgian Arne Van Petegem is also making an attempt to graduate from theclass of instrumental group of European laptop nerds with his latestEP, a prelude to his forthcoming second full-length album. In the threeyears since his last LP, Arne has been recruited by a number ofmusicians and labels to do remixes, singles and compilation tracks.It's probably through this that he reached two conclusions: #1) it'snot so bad to start including organic sounds like guitar back into themix and #2) my voice isn't so bad that I can't start singing the songsI write! Arne even harmonizes with himself on the title track of thisEP, a blissfull introduction to the more evolved Styrofoam sound. Thepretty melodies and robotic percussion have not been forfeited and thevocals and guitars just add a much nicer dimension on this, a moreradio-frendly version of a track of the forthcoming album. "Fade OutYour Eyes" is a live recording of what sounds pretty much likeStyrofoam remixing himself: letting his vocals and instruments twitterand waiver in a beat-less tapestry of digitally echoing samples whichcould easily go on forever. The disc is rounded out by two charmingtechnologically-enhanced cover tunes: "Hard to Find," originally byCodeine and "Snow Crush Killing Song," originally by Mountain Goats.The full-length I'm What's There to Show That Something's Missingis due out this week, but those lucky enough to catch the Notwist ontour right now can catch both a set by Styrofoam and his place in theNotwist, filling in for Martin Gretschmann, who's off doing stuff withConsole right now. While I still might have reservations when it comesto laptop performers, Styrofoam deserves credit for having a rock clubaudience attentive and interested, something most laptoppers can stillonly fanticize about.
What's immediately striking about the third album by Michael Gira's Angels of Light is the visual presentation. The six photos—an empty chair, a cluttered desk, a room full of plants, a bookcase loaded with CDs and books, a rosary draped over a thermostat, and, perhaps most tellingly, an empty bedseem to paint a picture of a sufficient but lonely life.
Seemingly out of nowhere comes this 21-year-old oddball whose fourtrack demo tape piqued the interest of Michael Gira and thus thisrelease on Young God and membership in The Angels of Light. Banhart'sbiography reads like a transient David Lynch. He has lived everywherefrom Texas to Caracas to Paris to a NYC squat, attended art school inSan Francisco and played gay weddings and Ethiopian restaurants.Somehow it all makes sense. Selected for this disc are 22 of the 75 orso songs recorded over the past three to four years. Gira wiselydecided not to polish the diamond in the rough, i.e. he has simplyreleased the original demos rather than quarantine Banhart in a studiofor new versions. This is bare Banhart: double tracked voice andacoustic guitar with whistles and hand claps, plus tape hiss andwhatever else happened to be going on in the background for extracharacter. Most of the time the finger picking is plaintive and thevocals are hushed (recalling Nick Drake some), at others it's much morefrantic with wild strumming (recalling Syd Barret some) and thefalsetto morphing into the call of some yet to be discovered rainforest bird. The lyrics are suitably simple and/or surreal withdeceivingly naive plays on words and word associations that reveal asharp mind. Prime examples are in "Roots (If The Sky Were a Stone)":"when the roots of the tree / are as cold as can be / when the wind andthe sea / are the moth and the bee / when the rays of the sun / lickyour skin with its tongue / and the grass with its green / and theshine with its sheen / and the trains with their tracks / and thespines with their backs / and your sway with its slow / and the windwith its blow" and in "Michigan State": "well my snail has my favoriteslow / the shell helps the snail still the skin lays low / and if mysnail has my favorite slow / then my cold has my favorite snow / but ifmy snail is cold and comes to a halt / then my sea has my favorite salt/ the salt keeps the sea from feeling sweet / and my toes have myfavorite feet / and if I sweat salt and the Earth sweats heat". Inaddition, there's "Lend Me Your Teeth" with it's strange single linemantra: "I'm lost in the dark / lend me your teeth / come on!"Everything is fair game as subject matter for Banhart's songs (10 areless than two minutes long and many come to a sudden, unexpected end)including lovers, teachers, friends and family. I never get theimpression that he's being weird for weird's sake—it's eccentric butgenuine, child-like but brilliant, raw but real. These songs areextraordinarily touching, melodic and infectious. 
Coil is easily playing some of their most haunting, spectral, hypnotic, and sublime material ever, combining the new with the old and doing so without the outcome sounding muddled or too disparate.
Canadian born London dweller Dan Snaith has reintroduced Manitoba with his second full-length release. Up In Flamesis a fantastic surprise, as it is a complete turn around from themeandering simplicity of the relatively trendy instrumental electronicmusic on earlier releases. With vocals, guitars, bombastic organic andsamples drums, feverishly catchy melodies, and a complete overload ofcollected sounds, instruments and an excess of quirky samples, thiscould easibly be one of the most maximalistic recordings by one personin a long while. With the keen skill of roping everything into ablissful melodic soup, this album is easily poised to be thebreakthrough hit of the spring. From the opener "I've Lived on a DirtRoad All My Life," there is no irony, no pulled punches, as the musicjust barrels in with nearly no introduction. A gorgeous interlude endsthe piece with a moment to let things settle in and stays rather lowkey for the instrumental follower. "Skunks" opens and closes with thesounds of frogs (what identifiable sounds do skunks make after all?)but is propelled along with bass and guitar playing, layers of drums,screechy sax, The energy blasts back in with the one-two punch of thetwo vocal tracks "Hendrix with KO," and the single "Jacknuggeted,"which could easily be two of my fave songs on the disc. Snaith isn'tafraid to stack killer drum samples upon drum samples, hand claps, fillthe rest in with gorgeous harp sweeps and always make it a point to endon a good note. With songs like "Bijoux," this one man army hasachieved what numerous multi-member ensembles have only ever dreamt of.If anything, on the vocal tracks, Snaith probably could try and get alittle more confident with his voice so it's not as buried in the mix.Other than that very, very minor observation, this album is flawless.Manitoba is set to tour North America with Four Tet and Prefuse 73.Promises have been made to turn Manitoba into a fully realized liveband with two drummers, guitars and a whole mess of other people. Let'shope this happens.
2002 was a good year for James Murphy. Not only did his label, co-ownedwith Pat Mahoney, release some of the year's best records (Black Dice'sBeaches and Canyons and The Rapture's "House of Jealous Lovers"), buthis own self-proclaimed "electro-disco" one-man group, LCD Soundsystem,put out the underground dance hit of the summer. His second release asLCD Soundsystem simultaneously caps off a spectacular 2002 for Murphywhile hinting at an even better 2003. "Give It Up" begins where the"Losing My Edge" 12" left off, but with some minor adjustments. Goneare the Casio beats and the hipster-scene criticism, and much of theelectro influence. Instead, we're given a fuller, more band orientatedsound (although it's Murphy who plays all the instruments), featuring apropulsive, funked-up bass line and an all-around fiercer rhythmsection. The result is an instantly danceable track, engaging from thevery first notes of the opening drum roll. One would expect more of thesame on the flip side of the 7", but "Tired" delivers a pounding, dirtyrocker that is quite befuddling at first. But after a few listens, it'sclear that Murphy (along with Mahoney on this track) can just as easilywrite songs that sound more appropriate in a dank bar than at a chicdance club. Yet, even though Murphy has proved he can do more than justwrite a good dance tune (although it's still what he does best), Iwould hate to see LCD Soundsystem release a full-length anytime soon.After two singles as good as "Losing My Edge" and "Give It Up," I'd bebegging to hear an LP, but I have a nagging feeling that these tunesare best served up in small doses.
While I love sociological criticism woven into art, if it is so deliberate that it is an album's strongest point, I'm bound to be disappointed after the first listen. That being said, Lovebomb is an extremely well-founded concept album about love and the expression of culturally specific social processes, an overarching thesis that I won't attempt to evaluate. Thaemlitz covers many angles and perspectives in his exploration of this ubiquitous emotion, using generally interesting, but sometimes run of the mill, electro-acoustic music.
After my first listen to this album at a low volume level, I was alittle worried because there didn't seem to be much going on; butluckily, subsequent listens on a decent system revealed a great levelof detail, much of it buried under immense low end. The focal point isthe periodic repetition of a low-pass-filtered percussive sound,stretched out to such an extent that its booming decay lingers longenough to reveal the slow fluctuations of a vibrating membrane. This isaccompanied by a harmonically rich, but somewhat muted, midrange dronethat very slowly fades from complete silence to full volume and thenback again to nothingness, bringing new layers of sound with eachiteration. The tonal elements resemble Köner's more recent Unerforschtes Gebietrecording in their texture and evocation of abandoned places. Here theyare softer. The percussion and gradual variations in amplitude lend amysterious—and somewhat human—element to an otherwise uninhabitedlandscape. Midway through the piece, the drone descends ratherconspicuously through four closely-spaced notes, in what is reminiscentof a threateningly futuristic movie soundtrack. After this big event,some quiet, almost mechanical, filtered noise emerges, along withrepeated bass-rich volume swells that sound like more stretched outpercussion, this time played backwards. The slight hissing and patientrise and fall in volume are like breathing; and the middle part of thisrecording is really quite beautiful, despite the abundance of low-endmaking it almost claustrophobic and morose. Shades of the descendingmelody are audible as the original sounds return, and the drum soundre-enters and grows more and more extended throughout the remainder ofthe piece. It finally ends with a sustained rumble. Even with thelimited range of sound that Köner seems to have confined himself to, Daikan is quite stunning and is a fine addition to the Köner collection. 
This two disc set is comprised of installations and live performances and, despite some interesting departures from Köner's recent output, is encumbered by its scope and formlessness.
This Michigan group can also be added to the list of unexpected treatsduring the Terrastock 5 festival. Their new full-length album is also aburst of instrumental rock energy, introduced through a wall ofoverdriven guitar noise in a short introductory track "Detroit." Fromthe start, the instruments are tactfully given their own breathing roomfrom each other so the ebbs and flows of repeated phrases don't easilyfade into a dreary oblivion. The band picks up speed with the morelavish "Tall Winds," incorporating more movement within the melodies,and by the third and fourth track, the group has shifted gears into alive performance mode, blurring the lines between songs' endings andbeginnings. Songs like "Purple," and "Ghost Ship" open with a melodyprovided by bass guitar, with creative and consise drumming, but eachare predictably overcome by the gritty sounds of loud guitars, theformer ending in an anthemic wash that turns into an almost directionedimprovisation. While I'm fond of the appropriate production decisionson this album and can hear a group which uses a bit of restrain when itcomes to stepping on each others toes, I feel like there's somethingmissing which was clearly "there" at their live shows. Perhaps this ishow I will constantly feel about recorded drone rock albums, but it'sthat intangible further development which could hypothetically be acatalyst to something incredible.
