Rather than taking the fresh step forward from the hip hop and cosmically influenced varieties of 1999's 'Rest Proof Clockwork,' Plaid have returned to a style much closer to 1997's '333' release. While they're making no leaps and bounds for electronic music as a whole, they succeed in making pleasant, peaceful and easily digestible melodies, using the equipment and styles of 1993-era Orbital, Autechre and Aphex with hints of The Shamen and 808 State circa 1991.
Three of electronic's most popular acts have released short preludes totheir forthcoming highly anticipated full-length albums. Just when youwere starting to miss the aggression, Techno Animal blasts back withtwo bombastic new tracks (and one instrumental). Fans of last year'scollaboration with Dalek would appreciate the raw energy of "Dead Man'sCurve" combined with an aggressive rap provided by Anti-Pop ConsortianRoger Robinson. "City of Glass" is more subtle but at loud volumes thisdub-based abrasion can be equally as compelling. My only complainthowever is that last year's vinyl-only release didn't turn up here - 15minutes including an instrumental version is kinda weak for a CDsingle: this could have easily been a 7" only. Those too anxious towait for the full-lengther however shouldn't hesitate on this release.
Coldcut also have reintroduced the aggression on their three-track CD"Re:Volution," coincidentally also featuring an instrumental mix of thetitle cut. The duo have picked up the pace, dropped some heavy riffageand let the samples run wild. My preference here lies more towards theinstrumental version as the samples are a bit goofy. "Space Journey" onthe other hand is punchy jazzy number, originally on the 'Let Us Play'LP, the version here is the internet competition winner. Once again Irecommend waiting for a full-length, as the three tracks (of two songs)don't even total 12 minutes together.
Finally, Squarepusher's return to aggression takes the form of thecleverly mis-titled "My Red Hot Car" (upon listening, it's obvioussomething completely different's being said). The two versions don'tdiffer that greatly, the first being the exact version from theforthcoming full-lengther, "Go Plastic" due in July. I'm somewhatpleased Mr. Jenkinson has reverted to his more electronically processedfast breaks circa Big Loada & Hard Normal Daddy — the organics ofthe last couple releases did grow a little tired after many listens,perhsps the album will be a nice balance of everything. At the time Igot this EP I was working on modifications of the Nurse With Woundwebsite, listening to some old gems. Track 3, "Hardcore Obelisk"strangely enough bears a striking resemblance to "Swansong" from the CDedition of 'A Missing Sense' in its sparse dronescapes. Squarepusher'sexperiment however is under five minutes and is absent of a certain'flow' which would work nicely. The fourth track, "I Wish You Obelisk"goes breakbeat silly but ends with one of those irritating silences(this one runs over 20 minutes) followed by a rather enjoyablebass-drone heavy beat-less piece which at the right volume shakes thespeakers and floors. Once again, while I do enjoy the music, I'm goingto have to recommend waiting for the full length.
samples:
- Techno Animal - Dead Man's Curse
- Techno Animal - City of Glass
- Coldcut - Re: Volution [instrumental]
- Coldcut - Space Journey
- Squarepusher - My Red Hot Car
- Squarepusher - [the hidden track]
There's a certain amount of irony in releasing an instrumental versionof an existing hip hop album. I have always liked the sounds that camefrom both the Automator and Kid Koala but when I saw Deltron live lastyear, the rap somewhat turned me off of the collective. Thus, I wasexcited at first to hear 75 Ark were releasing an instrumental versionof the debut full-lengther. I was blown away immediately at the startof the album's opener, '3030', the production is seamless and combinesa healthy blend of orchestral samples to some pretty fine hip hopbreaks. The sad yet grand themes could easily provide the underlyingscore for a film crew's survey of the post-apocalyptic remains of afallen society. As the album progresses, the production never weakens,mixing a whole host of other styles and influences. When the patternsand sequences repeat too many times within a song, there is a sensethat there is indeed something missing. I thought I was taking the easyway out by only sticking to the instrumental version, but I find myselfthirsty to uncover the original myself.
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Being a V/Vm fan requires a willingness to be continually entertained by the same joke and a willingness to part ways with a lot of money. Here we have two more in an ongoing series of cute, color coded 3" CDs. Both take source material and effect it in some way either to mangle it or simply borrow it. The Alien Porno Midgets disc does it with 8 tracks (different from the preceding Alien 7") of traditional Hawaiian music. Ukeleles, pedal steel and island rhythms are still recognizable but certainly altered as several tracks are reduced to a sonic sludge.
The debut full-length release from Montreal's one man group known asMonstre fades in like a slow train coming into the station in themiddle of your nightmare. Punchy vocal samples obscure the views in ascary dreamlike state, fading in and out with distorted percussives.Before long, barking voices take over the role of percussion while basslines or toy pianos move the music forward. Abstract, surreal,hardcore, evil. It's taken a long time to actually verbalize how thisrelease can be both nauseating and captivating at the same time.Thursday night I saw a double feature of classic Italian suspense,1971's "Schizoid" directed by Fulci and 1970's "Bird with the CrystalPlumage" by Argento. Listening to 'Sucre 3' again the day after thesesilly yet haunting films seems to help me understand the music a littlebetter. Monstre could very well be providing the score between songs,the stuff that never makes it onto the soundtracks, the bits and piecesbetween Ennio Morriccone's themes, things which are usually some of myfavorite parts of a film's score. Further along, the instrumentationgets weirder. Explosions are created inside the mouth, the percussionrole becomes taken over by baby toys, ambience is provided by bubblingbath in the background, school children dance and sing unintelligablesongs while creepy melodies ring out like a demented jack-in-the boxwaiting to spring out. Oh my god, there's been a car accident outside,the horn is stuck a solid blare, is my microwave oven's dinger soundingoff over and over again? I want to wake up now! Okay, things are chillagain, the kids are happily playing outside my window and the sun isshining as the credits roll and it was only a dream. I think I'm gonnabuy the Brattle Theatre a copy of this disc so they can play it betweenmovies instead of that awful crap they had that night.
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Young Ryan Kidwell of Baltimore, MD has recorded for Underscore,Tigerbeat6 and 555 Recordings and is pals with Kid606, Lesser, Hrvatskiand Electric Company. On this 22 minute, 8 track EP Cex continues tokeep it real in a variety of sexy styles, namely a hip hop informedIDM. Tracks such as "Cal and Brady Style", "Cex Can Kiss My Soft,Sensuous Lips" (which perpetuates the '*insert artist here* can kiss myass' joke begun by Lesser and Kid606) and "Your Handwriting When YouWere a Child in the Winter" feature playfully impressive Autechre-ish(has this word made Webster's yet?) melody/glitch programming. "Get inYr Squads" adds clean guitar to the mix while "Tattoo of a Barcode"foregoes beats altogether for a couple minutes of drone and crackle.Other than the brief spoken word/beat box intro, there are two morehumorous tracks. "Hi Scores", probably a poke at Boards of Canada,creates the auditory illusion of Cex in the act of sex. The title trackbrings the disc to a close with a rousing, lo-fi sing along by Cex andfriends over generic, pre-programmed riffs from a cheap keyboard. Youcan't help but smile from all the fun these guys are having. Cex iscurrently touring Japan and will hit various North American locationsthroughout the summer.
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How is it that a band can make a record that doesn't do anythingparticularly new, but still sounds incredibly fresh? It's all in thesongwriting. Melody, interplay, musicianship: these should bewatchwords for any band. Too often it sounds derivative, or bandsresort to gimmicks to distinguish themselves. Milwaukee-based trio Pelecraft a sound that explores familiar indie rock territory in that theyare primarily a guitar, bass, and drums rock band. Through fresh tones,melodies and spirited rhythms, Pele separate themselves from the packby not dragging everything to a slow crawl or halt. "The Nudes" isinfectious in its simplicity, but there are tricks up this trio'ssleeve. In moments that must be formed on improvisation, like on "VisitPumpy," Pele, well, rocks out to great effect. Elsewhere, skill withtheir instruments shows through and Pele take on a very rigid rhythmicstructure ("Total Hut") that depends on their playing extremely well asa unit. This being their fourth release, and second in this formation,it's obvious that these musicians have played together a while, andthat they can almost sense each other's next move. I'm amazed, andsomewhat disappointed, that I've never heard of this band before this.They're that good. Dammit. Now I'm going to have to buy their wholecatalog, too. I hate this.
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At first listen, I was a bit disappointed by this Aranos release,mostly because of the repetitious string sounds which commonly openseveral tracks. But it definitely is one of these albums which grows onyou, as a unity of sound and theme, emerging from a well-balancedtracklist. At times it reminds me of his first collaboration with NurseWith Wound, 'Acts of Senseless Beauty', with unexpected sounds jumpingin the middle of bass, cello, viola, violin, guitar, or mandolinlayers. No surprise, you'll probably not dance on every track, but maycertainly nod on various songs, thanks to colorful rhythms which leadback to the cello or piano chords pulsing all along the record. Morethan strings or piano, the side elements are the most efficient — awide variety of gentle percussions, and the haunting voice, which Ifind even too scarce. "Spirit Fragrance" arrives like a big surprise —a faster-paced song in a style reminiscent of Emir Kusturica and the NoSmoking Orchestra. It's tracks like these where it becomes obvious thatAranos isn't lying on the resume about his extensive musicalbackground. A complete contrast to this, the disc's closer is a long,minimal piece of meditative music, consisting of lengthy tones oftenmade out of percussions with subtle crumpling sounds in the background.More surprising than the music itself is its "experimental anarchydistribution" system. It will quickly be shipped to you from Aranoshimself, under conditions that I'll let you discover on his website. Itcomes in a beautiful hand-made paper cover (made in Nepal underfair-trade agreement) with bamboo strip details and a hemp tie. Thiscan sound strange, but really makes it.
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For a while in the early to mid nineties, Chapel Hill, NC, was beingtouted as the new Seattle. In the Raleigh-Chapel Hill areas, fifteenminutes apart at the most, there co-existed some twenty-five bands, allof which wrote their own brand of energetic pop-based music. Some werethe flagships for their particular brand of music (Squirrel Nut Zippersfor hot jazz, Whiskeytown for "alt-country," etc.). Others weretrendsetters with no real brand to speak of (Ben Folds Five, Archers ofLoaf). Still others were just a reaction to what was going on aroundthem at the time. The Comas formed as a joke, hoping to make music thatmade fun of the alt-country scene. When they realized they might havesomething that could work better than the joke they had in mind, theystuck with it. "A Def Needle In Tomorrow," their second album, is apure pop treasure. Don't expect to bounce around at their music,however. This is laid-back thinker's pop. The melodies are gorgeous,the songs lush and expansive (producer Brian Paulson is to be thankedfor this, I'm sure), and the lyrics are more fun than a barrel full ofemo bands (pun intended, but probably not achieved). On "Arena," thealbum opener, guitarist/vocalist Andrew Herod sings of Princess Leiaand fastest ships, and on "Tiger in a Tower" he works "Pissing on aplastic flower" into the rhyme scheme. The vocal harmonies are what ismost interesting about The Comas, and this release in particular, asHerod, bassist Margaret White and second guitarist Nicole Gehweilersound wonderful together. Little flourishes here and there add to thesound, as no band member plays just one instrument and drummer JohnHarrison works in samples and turntable work. Lagniappe ("a littlesomething extra") seems to be the order of the day, as there's even avideo for album track "Sister Brewerton" on the CD. Overall, a fine poprecord that proves The Comas trendsetters in their own right.
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Admittedly, 'Yagga Blues' and 'Soresucker' are not my favorite singlesfrom NWW, but if you're developing your collection of Wound music andhave yet to pick the two up, this disc will fill that gap conveniently.Unfortunately if you're a die-hard and own these two already, theextended versions of both the title track and "Journey Through Cheese"are a mild annoyance. "Funeral Music" is perhaps one of my fave NWWtracks. The music embraces beauty through layers of lengthyharmonically compatible samples, 'centering around a shakuhachi phraseplayed by David Jackman in 1987' (according to the original linernotes). On this collection it lives lavishly in its full form,stretching well over 35 minutes, as opposed to the 9+ minute versionwhich originally appeared six years ago. "Journey Through Cheese" isalso bigger, stretching to about 25 minutes, but the extra 15 minutesto me just drags the song out far longer than it needs to go. "YaggaBlues" of course is a classic tune, incorporating primitive rhythmicloops with sound effects and a haunting echoing vocal track. The beatsand themes were completely exhausted however on the full-lengther 'WhoCan I Turn To Stereo' from 1996, the versions here are nice andcompact, with a slightly abridged break time inbetween tracks (30seconds on the previous release, down now to about five).
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