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The recording acts that are part of the Elephant 6 collective all havetheir own idiosyncracies, their own elements that you either love orhate. I don't think I know anyone who loves all of these bands,including Beulah, Neutral Milk Hotel, and also the Olivia TremorControl. The Sunshine Fix is the solo project of the latter's BillDoss, and, included in the Elephant 6 collective or not, it's one ofthe recordings of that type of music I haven't really enjoyed.
Sedimental released this collection of theremin-based explorations fromBoston improviser James Coleman last year. The theremin is not aninstrument that has been associated with improvised music all that muchin the past. Most often James plays alongside the finely focusedelegant percussion of Tatsuya Nakatani, but there are alsocontributions from other improvisers singing and playing cello, trumpetand saxophone.
For the first ever two disc Mort Aux Vaches, Raster-Noton's foundingfathers - Carsten Nicolai as Alva Noto, Olaf Bender as Byetone, FrankBretschneider as Komet and the trio as Signal - provide over 136minutes of "live" digital minutiae for the ever-growing archive.Chances are, you've already decided what modern minimalism does ordoesn't do for you and if the answer is "not much", there's nothinghere out of the ordinary that's going to change your opinion.
What we have here is a very important and amazingly entertainingartifact of early 1980s Icelandic post-garage rock and roll. It's nosurprise that Purrkur Pillnikk was invited at one point to tour openingup for The Fall, as lead singer Einar Orn Benediktsson (you mightrecognize his name as the -OTHER- singer of the Sugarcubes) fronted atactfully sloppy yet feverishly energetic rock band with bizarrescream/spoken storylike words.
Certain General were a living contradiction of a band. They were bothahead of their time and perfect for the time they were a band. They hadpunk rock energy for a post-punk alternative sound. And, as thiscollection shows, they were at the top of their game even when itseemed like it was all falling apart.
Prior to hearing this it seemed that the idea of remixing the densejuggernaut of an album which was Faust's 'Ravvivando' would be at besta bit tricky, at worst utterly pointless. That album from 1999 saw the'krautrock' legends at the pinnacle of their powers and any remixer wasalways going to fail to equal the original's overwhelming apocalyticfreedom. Whatever their difference in approach the thirteen remixerscan't help but lighten the mood as they take turns in remodelling'Ravvivando' in various shades of toetapping dancefloor friendliness.
There are no rules against having fun in the field ofcritically-acclaimed electronica. On Mouse on Mars singles, the duodefinitely let their hair out and try to have as much fun in as littletime possible.
Recorded at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria lastSeptember, Luukas Onnekas was one of the chosen to fill the OMVKlangpark near the Danube with live sound over six days. This disccompiles highlights into a single 42 minute track.
I must admit that although I consider myself a big fan of Laub, I was a bit put off by the title of their latest release, which initially seemed like just another electronic artist's gratuitous nod to trendy internet jargon. Upon further investigation, however, I learned that Antye Greie-Fuchs and Jotka, who comprise Laub, actually created most of the album in separate locations, infrequently together. Taking this into consideration, 'Filesharing' makes more sense as a title.