Artist: Ricardo Villalobos Album: Fabric 36 Label: Fabric Release date: 10 September 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: HouseTracklisting: 01. Groove 1880 02. Perc And Drums 03. Moongomery 04. Farenzer House 05. M.Bassy 06. Mecker 07. 4 Wheel Drive 08. Fizpatrick 09. Andruic & Japan 10. Organic Tranceplant 11. Prevorent 12. Fumiyandric 2 13. Won't You Tell Me 14. Primer Encuentro Latino-Americano 15. Chropuspel Zündung Total running time: 74' 13""It’s funny to see Ricardo Villalobos as a superstar DJ. Listening to one of Villalobos’s live sets (such as the half-hour live at Fabric mix that was released to radios in advance of this release), there are no bangers, no sudden beat drops, no satisfying moments where it all comes together. Villalobos’s music fits on the dance floor, but it can also soundtrack life’s more contemplative moments, and tends to reward the listener who can pay special attention to its subtle changes.
And, subtle change is the name of the game on Fabric 36. Instead of releasing a mix primarily of others people’s tracks, as every other DJ has done for the Fabric series, Villalobos mixed a set composed entirely of new, original material. As Villalobos has pointed out, however, Fabric 36 is still very much a DJ mix, and not like his other artist albums. The result is a canonical demonstration of his incredible talent.
In true minimal fashion, the mix builds slowly over the first few tracks. Opener Groove 1880 is a simple series of clicks and tics, gradually joined by a polyrhythmic pattern on the self-explanatory Perc and Drums. Villalobos’s brilliant drum and percussion programming is front and center here; the latter half of Perc introduces a jazzy breakdown, while short delays and phased tom-toms frame the playful melody of Mecker. The minutiae of the percussion provides a pretty solid marker for track changes, as a new set of handclaps or tinny, squelchy cymbals, like signposts on a long highway, inform of the listener of the chronological progress of the piece.
Another trademark Villalobos sound, the unsettling, wobbly vocal, makes several appearances here. First popping up in the accented reminiscing over 4 Wheel Drive, such vocals certainly set an esoteric mood, as collaborator Jorge Gonzalez declares, “confusion is next to happiness.” Later, the female vocals on Adruic & Japan veer between domineering commands and slightly out of tune singsong pleas of “won’t you tell me all about it?” before boiling into an excited rush, exclaiming that “Japanese drummers don’t want to stop!” while pounding taiko percussion and chants thunder into the mix. At times somber and at others absurd, the vocalists are well-placed tour guides through Villalobos’ sonic journey.
As is characteristic of Villalobos, there is no obvious climax here. Each track has its own moments, but the album is better digested as one long, groovy piece of top-notch house. At the end of it all, the set sounds like it could go on for far longer than the seventy four minute that the CD allows. Until they’re faded out, the siren like, reverberated gasps of closer Chropuspel Zündung sound as though they could easily be setting up to segue into another steadily rolling excursion. It’s to Villalobos’ credit that, at the end of Fabric 36, the listener is left wanting more." [source]
Artist: Efdemin Album: Efdemin Label: Dial Release date: April 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: Techno/HouseTracklisting: 01. Knocking At The Grand 02. Lohn & Brot 03. Le Ratafia 04. Acid Bells (Album Version) 05. Back To School 06. Stately, Yes. 07. Further Back 08. Salix Alba 09. April Fools 10. Bergwein Total running time: 71' 51" [Efdemin - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]
"It slots quite comfortably between albums from Dial labelmates Lawrence and Pantha Du Prince, but Efdemin's red-eyed, late-night take on deeper techno and house (and occasionally, trance) is less about emotion and more about groove. A sophisticated and fluid debut, the Berliner is a self-assured producer who knows what he wants to do. His structures and builds are quite linear, but never too much: the attention to detail and subtle use of contrasts – key changes, unexpected drops, ambient fades – put flesh on the bones. Some opposites are key: the fluid, half-tempo, neo-Detroit stabs versus perky beats on 'Further Back'; the flowing euphoric strings versus chopped, ringing synth on both wonderful former single 'Bergwein' and 'Salix Alba', the latter of which begins as Prescription-sounding padded deep house and ends up twisting into tangled trance. Opposite is the uniform 'Back To School': amid the hypnotic stabs, the slow-rising deep chords match the submerged old-school bassline and delayed drums. It's one of the trackier outings, but stick around for the ambient coda. 'Stately Yes' turns that template inside out: a stripped groove, comprised of dry, spitting drums, odd, prodded bass, a daft vocal sample and one solitary tapped triangle note. The hypno-house of former single 'Lohn Und Brot' still shines, while 'Acid Bells' is the album's dark middle: the ringing bell refrain building into something marvelously menacing. If this sounds a bit too much, you can find solace in the deep strings and bright drums of 'La Ratafia' or the hallucinatory warmth of 'April Fools'. Efdemin's debut and Pantha Du Prince's 'This Bliss' have two things in common: both are tailor-made for that lovely place between dancing and dreaming, and both are two of 2007's best." [source]
Artist: Pantha Du Prince Album: This Bliss Label: Dial Release date: 29 January 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: TechnoTracklisting: 01. Asha 02. Saturn Strobe 03. Walden 2 04. Moonstruck 05. Eisbaden 06. Urlichten 07. White Out 08. Florac 09. Steiner Im Flug 10. Seeds Of Sleep Total running time: 74' 14" [Pantha Du Prince - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]
"Black ice is deadly. You don’t even see it across your path, and suddenly you’re sideways. This Bliss is similarly slippery, so tread carefully. While you’re still wondering how a tundra heart can conjure such warm emotions, you may have already gone head over heels.
Tracks like “Saturn Strobe” are a case in point. The rhythmic use of delay, a hallmark of the album’s sound design, creates a blizzard of tapping hats which swarm over an elegiac string melody borrowed from composer Robert Skempton. Between ping-ponging chimes and a warm grooving bassline, Pantha weaves the slow, heavy strings together with squalls of bells and taps. It’s a troubling synthesis, one which causes dissonance between its influences just as it creates dissociation between its elements, which, ironically enough, becomes the problem and the pleasure of the work.
The album flows along beautifully, maintaining its mood throughout, with the tracks first ascending, then intensifying, then dissipating, with the clatter and swarm of delayed percussions hitting in a barrage of sixteenths followed by crystal stillness, then long cascades back into basking loopscapes, like “Asha,” where glassy bells sing and metallic dulcimers bang like stays on masts. Both “Moonstruck” and “White Out” move this bouquet of icicles firmly onto the dancefloor, but while both work, the track’s “anger” remains in inverted commas and is never so convincing or immediately moving as the melancholy that Pantha manages to conjure effortlessly.
The two epics “Urlichten” and “Walden 2” re-appear here after their initial appearance on last year’s majestic Lichten/Walden EP, and although on first listen sound “pasted in,” repeat plays reveal them to be simply two longer parts of a larger whole. Fundamentally, This Bliss’ success as an album rests in its conceptual integrity, the way it moves through ten parts of an arctic season with cool intensity, crafted by an artist successfully extending an idea into an ambitious, ambiguous album as dangerously slippery as it is seductive." [source]
A little treat in advance of Halloween... Note.1: All featured artists have already been posted here before. Do a search for them in the top Blogger NavBar if you want to know what they sound like.
Note.2: Replace any .nic file extensions with .rar before extracting them.
01. Akron/Family "Akron/Family" (2005) [Download(currently unavailable).Buy] folk rock
02. Akron/Family "Meek Warrior" (2006) [Download(currently unavailable).Buy] folk rock
Artist: Acrnym Album: Flowers Label: Sublight Release date: 28 May 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: BreakcoreTracklisting: 01. Kate Says "Aye" 02. Megastation Mod ENV 03. Repeat 04. Bargain Hunt 05. WRXZWRXZWRXZ 06. Lava Lump 07. A 1980's Fetish 08. Of Corset Horse 09. Outbox 10. Knife 11. Cuddle 12. Three 13. Pie Total running time: 45' 26""Scotland based artist Calum Gunn makes music under the moniker Acrnym, his debut album "Flowers" shows off some awesome technical exercises in speedy BPMs with a buzz-storm of frenetic break episodes and blazing synth lines. Think Venetian Snares meets Wisp (i.e. amazing breakcore with actual melodies)." [source]
Artist: Venetian Snares Album: My Downfall Label: Planet Mu Release date: 8 October 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: Modern Classical/BreakcoreTracklisting: 01. Colorless 02. The Hopeless Pursuit Of Remission 03. Holló Utca 2 04. Room 379 05. Integraation 06. Holló Utca 5 07. Holló Utca 3 08. My Half 09. Holló Utca 4 10. My Crutch 11. I'm Sorry I Failed You 12. Picturesque Pit 13. If I Could Say I Love You 14. Mentioning It Total running time: 44' 56" [Venetian Snares - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player] [Venetian Snares - The Hopeless Pursuit Of Remission - Video Project by thesecreted]
"Follow-up of sorts to Aaron Funk's most acclaimed work under the Venetian Snares moniker - the fabulous "Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett". "My Downfall" employs a similar conceit and revolves around beautiful string section work that from time to time gets modified, mangled and inverted, creating a kind of sweeping soundtrack that's prone to the odd bout of schizophrenia. The beats, when they come, are as frenetic and tight as you'd expect, creating a strange mixture of head, body and soul music finished off with a sinister coda that's a little unsettling, and brilliantly so. This is a real return to form from Venetian Snares and another album that should find itself at the top of his catalogue for all discerning fans and followers." [source]
Artist: Mr. Bungle Album: Mr. Bungle Label: Warner Bros. Release date: 1991 Genre: Rock Style: Experimental Rock/MetalTracklisting: 01. Quote Unquote 02. Slowly Growing Deaf 03. Squeeze Me Macaroni 04. Carousel 05. Egg 06. Stubb (A Dub) 07. My Ass Is On Fire 08. The Girls Of Porn 09. Love Is A Fist 10. Dead Goon Total running time: 73' 19" [Mr. Bungle - Quote Unquote - Video Clip] [Mr. Bungle - My Ass Is On Fire - Video Clip]
"Out of the womb, I believe Mike Patton was on a mission. And that mission was to make music that puts people in a position where they fear for their safety. By now, most of you have at least heard the rumors that Mike Patton's imagination is a bit on the dark, quirky, and unpredictable side. To say the least, his music is not the most approachable. In short, it is creepy. It ranges from bubbly and groovy, to harsh screaming and sounds of murder, with crunching guitar and jazzy saxophones- All in 5 seconds. Mr. Bungle, on of the most remarkable Patton projects, is the epitome of ADHD. It is a bit unsettling. Combining inhumane amounts of profanity, and the most annoying sounds you could imagine, Mr. Bungle make good music that scares everyone. I guess it only goes to show, Tourette's syndrome can be a good thing. Mr. Bungle's debut record was released around the same time as Mike Patton's most famous project, Faith No More, was in the height of their career. And it is nothing what an easy going listener would ever think of touching. But still, the music manages to be very creative, and good, whilst you are constantly peeking over your shoulder to see if an axe murderer is towering over you.
The weirdest part of the music is without a doubt, Mike Patton's vocals. He sings with a little whiny moan, but turns a sharp corner and screams with a growling tone, or starts laughing maniacally. The two weirdest songs that come to mind, on this album, are 'Carousel', which, backed by carnival music and distorted guitar, blended with an alto saxophone, ground Patton's piercing voice where he either moans, groans, laughs, or growls, and 'Squeeze Me Macaroni', where he rapidly spits out Mother Goose nursery rhymes during the chorus, or blazes through odd lyrics in front of a fusion blend of slap bass and tenor saxophone. And on the peculiar 'Love is a Fist', you can undoubtedly hear Patton's influence on an early Brandon Boyd, lead singer of funk/rock band, Incubus, from their days in Fungus Amongus and SCIENCE. No doubt, Patton was probably tormented as a child, because no sane, normal human being, would ever think to make that much annoying noise, in that short amount of time. And on top of that, the song lengths are anything but user-friendly, usually clocking in at well over six minutes, making this album a little bit less than easy to handle.
Musically, the album is a visionary. The guitar playing is very precise, and frequently utilizes technical skill, because lets face it, they probably aren't worrying too much about timing. Songs like 'Quote Unquote', which features a heavier-than-hell riff, 'My Ass is on Fire' where effect pedals shape some cool sounds, like wah-wah riffing, and 'Egg' has some very fast playing around on the instrument. Trevor Dunn (phenomenal bassist) provides the majority of the groove, even if you really aren't worrying about the fantastic rhythm section. But the locking in of the drums and bass is great. 'Dead Goon', a 10-minute gore-suite which will make you feel numb from fear, features some very cool, slinky basslines, and his slapping on the jazzy 'Squeeze Me Macaroni' is to die for. His tone isn't all that bad, either. You'll definitely notice the use of horns on most songs. Saxophones make a number of appearances, like on the previous track mentioned, as well as the weird, carnival-ish, trippy 'Carousel'. But the sheer talent on every song, in my opinion, does not hold up to the genius of 'Slowly Growing Deaf' and 'Stubb (A Dubb)'. Both tracks, fitting the bill of Patton's idea of "let's make 'em *** themselves" also feature some awesome grooving between the rhythm section, as well as the jazzy sound that sculpt the horn section. While it may be frightening, and extremely peculiar, this album was a formidable, acquired listen that wasn't all that bad.
Once you get past Mike Patton's need to make music that makes you feel as uncomfortable as possible, listening to this album will become an acquired taste that isn't so bad after all. Although this might be the band's least approachable album, it was certainly their most inventive. But believe me, your feelings on the first listen will be absolutely shocked." [source]
Artist: This Heat Album: Deceit Label: Rough Trade Release date: 1981 Genre: Rock Style: Post-Punk/Experimental RockTracklisting: 01. Sleep 02. Paper Hats 03. Triumph 04. S.P.Q.R. 05. Cenotaph 06. Shrinkwrap 07. Radio Prague 08. Makeshift Swahili 09. Independence 10. A New Kind Of Water 11. Hi Baku Shyo (Suffer Bomb Disease) Total running time: 39' 46" [This Heat - Makeshift Swahili - Live]
"This Heat were many things, but popular was never one of them. It's almost funny to see this record getting so much deserved attention recently due to its reissue, because before now, I only knew a few people who had even heard of the thing. It's especially strange to see all the praise in light of Gareth Williams' death on Christmas Eve last year. He wasn't a person who ever really wanted to be famous or even known as a musician, and yet will doubtlessly be better known henceforth than he'd ever been during This Heat's existence.
English drummer/vocalist Charles Hayward (fresh from working with Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera in the avant-prog/fusion outfit Quiet Sun) formed This Heat with Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, etc.) and Williams (bass, keyboards, tape manipulation, etc.) around 1975. Hayward had worked with a fairly broad array of jazz and prog bands (and post-This Heat, would continue to do so), though Bullen and Williams were much less traveled, even as they were accomplished musicians. Hayward and Bullen had been playing together as a duo for a few years prior to This Heat, and began playing with Williams only after Hayward completed his duties with Quiet Sun. Williams would actually leave the band before this album, Deceit, was released, and maintain a very busy career as an engineer for John Barry and various symphonic recordings. His interest in recording techniques may have provided the impetus for This Heat to experiment with tape loops and editing, which would play very large roles in their studio output.
This Heat's sound was something like a confrontation of prog, free-jazz and contemporary electronic music (think early Stockhausen, not Kraftwerk). They often get lumped into the post-punk (or even just "punk") camp, for no better reason other than they started at the same time. They certainly sounded as if they were angry about something, and taking a glance at the lyric sheet for this album (and you'd better, as often the vocals seem more musical element than communicative force), they had fairly intense political/social statements to make-- though pinning down their position is often as hard as pinning down their sound. In any case, they were "progressive" in the literal sense of the word, and though they came up with the first wave of punk, they didn't really sound like anyone else of the time (save a few other English radicals like Henry Cow or Art Bears, occasionally).
Deceit was the band's second and final album (not counting posthumous releases, including the excellent BBC session release Made Available). As odd as it sounds on the surface, it's actually the more immediately appealing of their two albums, at least partially because of a greater emphasis on drive and something like song structure (though the music here is quite a ways from typical "songs"). The vocals-- mostly handled by Hayward-- were probably the weakest link for This Heat, though they don't really take away from the music so much as push it into yet a stranger realm.
"Sleep," the first track, is actually an atypically calm song, almost like a fractured lullaby. Layers of what sound like African percussion, and a simple piano line support a very low-key melody, wherein lines like, "Softness is a thing called comfort/ Doesn't cost much to keep in touch/ We never forget you have a choice," make me wonder if there isn't some kind of subversive commentary about consumer ethics and advertising at work. This shortly leads to the rave-up "Paper Hats" with its brawny, pouncing rhythms and subtly acrobatic guitar lines. This is a piece with several sections, none of them having too much to do with each other. Some, like the lengthy outro, sound like archetypical math-rock, with repetitive, complicated rhythmic patterns, while the brief middle section is more viscerally dynamic, or perhaps even "noisy." Lyrically, the band was as eclectic: "Well, what do we expect?/ Paper hats?/ Or maybe even roses?/ The sound of explosions?/ Oh no." I'd like to know what they expected, but I'm not sure what they got instead, and am certainly in the dark about to whom they protested.
"Triumph" is a Dadaist collage of various noises, musical and otherwise. There's a brief accordion intro, leading to what sounds like a kazoo lament accompanied by someone scraping a few pieces of metal and wood together. Then, Hayward mentions something about the angles being reversed, and the garbage symphony makes its grand conclusion-- all in less than three minutes. Perhaps this was a prologue for "S.P.Q.R.," which throws out any ideas of abstract noodling in favor of pure rock expression. The high-speed beat threatens to overpower a droning duo vocal line ("We organize via property as power/ Slavehood and freedom imperial purple/ Pax Romana!"). This track doesn't run through a myriad of stylistic changes; it makes its case via sheer persistence.
Hayward's interest in all manner of world rhythms and percussion manifested itself in tracks like "Shrink Wrap" and "Independence" (words provided by one Thomas Jefferson), where kinetic drum orchestras and ancient rain forest flutes and strings lent the music an otherworldly quality which further removed it from recordings by This Heat's angry peers. "Radio Prague" features more electronic trickery, and what sounds like someone actually tuning in and out of a Czech radio broadcast. There's a steady pitter-patter underneath, and some rather dark drones in the background (along with a haunting cello), and though I'm tempted to say this could have influenced Godspeed You Black Emperor!, it's more likely an isolated vignette. In a way, the entire album seems removed from typical musical happenings-- even the underground. Maybe that's why it's taken so long for This Heat to start receiving their due.
The band got its digs in once more for "A New Kind of Water," expressing the rage that seems to have been implied throughout the record, though rarely shown directly. Phrases like, "We were told to expect more/ And now that we've got more/ We want more, we want more," offer some of the only clear ideas about the feelings behind Deceit, and the music is appropriately insistent (crashing drums, wailing group vocals, very precise, discordant guitar lines). Over the years, there have been bands to play as aggressively, or even as strangely, but very few have been able to rise from their collective influences and histories to create music so singularly distinctive and inspiring. I don't know that Hayward, Bullen and Williams were trying to inspire (and that they debated over whether to release their music at all could be evidence to support that they weren't), but the overall feeling I take away from this album is that of revolution and a very creative form of protest. That's what I call punk." [source]
Artist: Faust Album: Faust Label: Polydor Release date: 1971 Genre: Rock Style: Krautrock/Experimental Rock/Psychedelic RockTracklisting: 01. Why Don't You Eat Carrots 02. Meadow Meal 03. Miss Fortune Total running time: 34' 08" [Faust - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player] [Faust - Picnic On A Frozen River - Live in Lyon, France (2006)] [Teaser of "Ist FAUST Schön?" Documentary]
"Ah, Germany in springtime. The leaves have returned, and the air is cool and of noble weightlessness. You can clearly see what the past has left behind in the medieval town squares, and hear the music of Bach's day playing continually from the opera houses and churches. Germans, like most of us, enjoy admiring nature. And since their cities have many parkland areas, it's no surprise to find the tourists crowding shops while the locals gaze in an auburn splendor. This is a country of quaint Bavarian villages and major metropolitan centers, majestic mountains and beautiful waterways, castles and culture. So, wouldn't it be nice if we dropped some acid, holed up like trolls and made an album?
Faust's records have never been the kind you dissect. The band seems to have some kind of plan at work, but not the type of plan left for others to follow. It's not the kind of algorithm that bears any scrutiny; yet, 30 years later, the music remains. And given the state of the boys in der Gruppe, that alone makes it worthy of reissue.
After spending several months in 1970-71 lazing, smoking, and existing rather superfluously (on Virgin Records' dime, of course), Faust moved their commune to Wümme in western Germany and decided to get serious. By serious, I mean they decided to put to tape the sugarplum visions in their heads. By sugarplum visions, I mean the acid-damaged prototypes of the New Solution for Music. By music, I mean their self-titled 1971 debut album and its contents, which consist of the music they played and processed using Kurt Graupner's infamous little black boxes. And by Kurt Graupner, I mean Faust's engineer, the sound wave savior who, perhaps more than any other, was responsible for bringing the group's adventures in hi-fi to acetate.
"Why Don't You Eat Carrots?" gets the movement underway with a knall ("bang," my kliene Kinder). Actually, it's more like the wake of a small jet whose engine roar is panned out all over your speakers. In the jet's cockpit, we have "All You Need is Love" and "Satisfaction" blaring, if only to remind you that Faust were at one time human and listening to your music. Upon reaching an altitude of about 120 decibels, our captains decide to let the aerodynamic vehicle coast, dropping a vaguely Bill Evans-esque piano interlude before launching a vaguely Zappa-esque groove that features some vague kind of shinai solo (or maybe one of their homemade synthesizers). I wish I could translate the sheer romantic terror of the thing, but it's all rather vague.
"Meadow Meal" follows, and though the intensity has died down a bit, Faust still resides in the hall of mirrors. There doesn't seem to be much reason behind the stuff (other than the "wonderful wooden" variety), and though the by-product may be skewed art-pop along the lines of Throbbing Gristle or Nurse with Wound, the overwhelming vibe here is of playful curiosity rather than oppressive abstraction. After a mystical incantation ("And the guess I get it/ And the gate I get it/ And the game I get it"), they break into a trashy rock joint, shimmying like Monkees on parade. I suppose they couldn't have kept it down if they'd tried.
And that ends the program as Faust planned it: a total of about 18 minutes of music before running out of steam and/or money. What to do, then, but jam out the mother of all documented freak-outs. "Miss Fortune" is probably not Faust's greatest legacy, but it is a testament to some fairly unadulterated haze-charisma. Recorded live, it consists of two rock-esque instrumentals (again filtered through Graupner's little black boxes), and one fantastic piece of prose set to a ghostly backdrop of acoustic guitar and admirably understated shakers. "And at the end, realize that nobody knows if it really happened." And at the end, I say "amen."" [source]
Artist: Einstürzende Neubauten Album: Alles Wieder Offen Label: Potomak Release date: 19 October 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Experimental Rock/IndustrialTracklisting: 01. Die Wellen 02. Nagorny Karabach 03. Weil Weil Weil [download] 04. Ich Hatte Ein Wort 05. Von Wegen 06. Let's Do It A Dada [download] 07. Alles Wieder Offen 08. Unvollstaendigkeit 09. Susej 10. Ich Warte Total running time: 53' 17" [Blixa Bargeld interview preview for NoisescapeTV about new album]
"It seems that Blixa Bargeld’s exit a few years ago from Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds has proven fruitful for Einstürzende Neubauten. Likely it is the prolific band’s supporter project that has kept them almost continuously in the music making mode. Over the band’s 27 year history, things have changed but Neubauten’s newest album, “Alles Wieder Offen,” offers glances back over their shoulder. Getting away from the more melodic songs that trick your ear into forgetting this is, in fact, industrial rock, “Alles Wieder Offen” continues the band’s tradition of being heavy on rhythm and chanting.
The delicate “Ich Hatte Ein Wort” patters gently and offers a reflective moment while, similarly, the sharp pizzicato and smooth bowed cries of strings bleed into clanging percussion on “Von Wegen.” The lightly choppy melody of “Nagorny Karabach” sails seamlessly by as “Susei” creeps along with its low thumping. The band work silence like never before as a soft melody and subtle bass riff accompanies Bargeld for “Ich Warte.” Neubauten offer a Devo-esque new wave sound on the infectious “Let’s Do It A Dada” while “Weil Weil Weil” takes a more traditional approach with the song’s title chanted endlessly.
“Alles Wieder Offen” seems to be a test in restraint for Neubauten. How many songs can the German band last before unleashing on listeners their trademark aural assault of organized chaos? The answer might surprise you as the album remains evenhanded throughout. What is more, the album establishes itself quite differently than “Silence Is Sexy.” “Alles Wieder Offen” is a refreshing break in Neubauten’s discography." [source]
DJ /rupture is the pseudonym of Jace Clayton, a New York-based breakcore producer and DJ. In addition to his music, /rupture is becoming a well-known voice on the blog scene with musical and non-musical posts on his website, "Mudd Up!"
Here is an interesting take on the recently deceased OiNK BitTorrent tracker by DJ /rupture himself: "More than anything else this year, music & software file-sharing site Oink changed the way I thought about the music industry & BitTorrent technology. I’d heard rumors of Oink for years but hadn’t seen the members-only site until early ‘07. Oink was anal, Oink was comprehensive. The site administrators were fierce about quality — only high-quality files from original CD/vinyl rips could be posted. Many releases were even posted as FLAC (lossless) files. Oink allowed only entire releases, with complete tracklist information (uploading an incomplete album or a poorly labeled MP3 could get you kicked off). No bootlegs or concert recordings or unfinished pre-release mixes were permitted.
In many cases, I believe that downloading an album from Oink would be both faster (more on this in a bit) and give you more information about the CD than sites like iTunes.
Think about that… a free website, which gives fast downloads of music at equivalent or higher quality than the paid music sites. And this free site has an incredibly deep collection of both new and old releases, usually in a variety of file formats and bit-rates. It’s overwhelming! First thought: wow, Oink is an amazing library. Second thought: wow, I really need to start selling DJ Rupture t-shirts, CD sales will only continue to drop & I gotta make money somehow!
My library metaphor for Oink makes more sense than economic analogies: for digital music & data, there’s lots of demand but no scarcity at all, which either requires that we rebuild an economic model not based on supply & demand, or start embracing commons analogies. I like living from my music but I also like libraries, the ideas behind libraries…
For fans, consideration of the music comes before questions of money and ownership - this is how it should be. Any system that doesn’t take that into account as a central fact is going to generate a lot of friction. When I say ’system’, I mean everything from Sony to iTunes to white-label 12″s that cost 8-pounds ($16.38!) in London shops and only have 2 songs on them. (I bought a bunch of these last week, and it hurt).
Oink didn’t offer solutions; it highlighted the problems of over-priced, over-controlled music elsewhere. Oink was an online paradise for music fans. The only people who could truly be mad at it were the ones directly profiting from the sale of digital or physical music. (Like myself! F%5k!)
Oink had everything by certain artists. Literally, everything. I searched for ‘DJ Rupture’ and found every release I’d ever done, from an obscure 7″ on a Swedish label to 320kpbs rips of my first 12″, self-released back in 1999. It was shocking. And reassuring. The big labels want music to equal money, but as much as anything else, music is memory, as priceless and worthless as memory…
About a week after I shipped out orders of the first live CD-r Andy Moor & I did, it appeared on Oink. Someone who had purchased it directly from me turned around and posted it online, for free. I wasn’t mad, I was just more stunned by the reach… and usefulness of the site.
If sharing copywritten music without paying for it were legal, than Oink was the best music website in the world.
Like many BitTorrent sites, Oink enforced share ratios. In a nutshell, share ratios mean that each user must upload a certain amount of data in relation to what they download. This feature encourages sharing. For example, a minimum share ratio of 0.20 (was that Oink’s? can’t remember) means that if you download 5 albums, then you must upload around 1 album’s worth of music, data equaling one-fifth the amount you nabbed from Oink users. If you only take (selfish leech) and do not give, or if you share, but not enough, then you eventually get kicked off.
With BitTorrent, most folks downloading the same files also upload the bits they grab, so everybody gets fast DL speeds (compare with popular files hosted on one server — incredibly slow speeds, or even server crash). Thus, a popular album (or legal linux distribution) can be grabbed in minutes with a decent internet connection. (uTorrent is a good BitTorrent client for Windows)
Watching Oink work helped me to understand the structural intelligence of BitTorrent architecture. Oink, like BitTorrent itself, became stronger & faster the more people used it - scalability writ large. Folks wanted to share - to maintain high share ratios. New releases were highly valued. But users kept older releases available as well (you never know when someone will want your Norwegian proto-deathmetal collection, so you keep your bandwidth open). Whether you call it distributed tape-sharing (to use an 80s term) or distributed piracy (to use a 90s industry term), Oink’s use of BitTorrent & careful quality control did it elegantly.
Aside: If Radiohead (the British rock band who achieved worldwide success via a long-term mutually-beneficial relationship with a major record label) were truly radical, they would have posted their new album as a BitTorrent file with a PayPal & bank account link for the fans who felt like paying. Not hosting it on some weird website with an awkward interface & requiring credit card info…
Aside: One thing I don’t understand is how Oink got taken down while Soulseek continues as it has for years… Slsk has always struck me as the least moral of the p2p systems. If you pay Soulseek $5 a month, you get ‘privileged download access‘ to files stored on Slsk users hard drives. Soulseek earns money by controlling access to the files stored on its users’ drives, users who never see any of this money. And if they don’t like the fact that paying people get special access to their data, there’s nothing they can do about it. Correction: with Slsk you have lots of control over who can access your shared files.
Oink was not “extremely lucrative” as the BBC boldfacedly claims. If I remember correctly, a one-time donation of 5 pounds would do something-or-other, but it was a far cry from Soulseek’s monthly privilege fees. Nor, for the record, did Oink “lead to early mixes and unfinished versions of artists’ recordings circulating on the internet months ahead of the release.” - this is strangely ironic, since Oink would strip user privileges if they were caught circulating unfinished or unofficial album versions. This was a site run by audiophiles and music obsessives!
But Pandora’s Box has been opened. Remember when Napster croaked? File-sharing is so much easier now. The anal-retentive British site admins kept Oink organized. Bittorent architecture kept Oink efficient. Oink’s alleged 180,000 users won’t forget how useful it was. The next Oink will be sturdier & more multiple. The overall movement is towards more ways to share music & ideas with like-minded individuals on the internet.
The way I see it, this can only be a good thing for music fans. And what musician is not first a music fan?" [source]
Artist: Ólafur Arnalds Album: Eulogy For Evolution Label: Erased Tapes Release date: 29 October 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Modern Classical/Progressive RockTracklisting: 01. 0040 02. 0048_0729 03. 0952 04. 1440 05. 1953 06. 3055 07. 3326 08. 3704_3837 Total running time: 39' 36" [Ólafur Arnalds - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]
"Born of paroxysmal strings and tender piano, Icelandic artist Olafur Arnalds cradles his solo debut from the moment it escapes the womb, perfecting every moment of its growth and existence with the nurturing touch of a new parent.
Only 20 years of age, Olafur has shed the skin two prior musical projects and immersed himself completely in the world of delicate symphonic compositions in a near weightless orchestral undertaking. Comprised of eight nameless tracks, the early portion of the record is driven by the above-mentioned passive piano work and concerted strings that crisscross each other’s paths, often rolling off one another and intersecting in gentle, wavy shifts of classical sound.
It can’t be stressed enough just how delicate the first side of the album is. Each piano key is touched, almost stirred, with the utmost precision and hope. The sound plays like an open mouth preparing a whisper; fullness of breath on lips, ready to send a mouthful of warm wind and words to another, hoping they understand, both verbally and emotionally. Add this up a multitude of times and weave in a series of orchestral movements that pull the heartstrings like a marionette, and you have a decent idea of where the album stands. If not, we can just try this: Ludovico Einaudi meets a lyric-less, down tempo Sigur Ros.
Arnald’s compositions skate across frozen ponds of classical synthesis, spinning on the ice and sketching their lines in the thick palette of frozen water. If you were to pull yourself up from the world and gaze back down at the landscape, you’d see gentle loops laced like winter crop circles across the slice of an urban glacier. Perhaps a winter scene, but something here echoes with an eerie amount of heightened warmth.
As the tracks progress, a subtle shift in their architecture becomes evident. The piano remains soft on the surface, but things below seem to strengthen as the strokes become sharper, fiercer, and almost augment the shape and sound of their string counterpart. Eventually, things spill over on the fourth song, and as if being antagonized by the jabs of the piano, the string section literally launches itself to the forefront of the piece, surrounding the listener with an ephemeral bubble of eurythmic ego. It’s completely stunning, really.
From this moment on, the record takes on a different mood, as the strings now seem to have become comfortable in their identity and aren’t bashful about showering the songs with their presence. In response, the piano passages become staunch and determined, but in a strangely unique way maintain their fragility and composure. For nearly twenty minutes a nearly paralyzing, surreal interplay takes place between the two classes of instruments, who instead of casually crossing each other’s path, are now embroiled in a heated discourse. It’s incredible how quick the music present here can push you back into the viewer’s seat, as you listen to things develop, unravel, and play into much thicker plots. Hamlet à la headphones, but prettier.
However, midway through the sixth song, something very strange takes place, smack in the middle of otherwise engaging musical dialogue: drums. And even though they seem to appear for only a brief moment, they completely mud things up and push the whole atmosphere of the disc into a strange place, like an uninvited guest barging into a conversation. Whatever their purpose, they scare the hell out of the harpischord, as it disappears entirely on the next to last song, while instead we’re treated to an impassioned screech of string tumult. The keys make a quick visit on the last track, but just as things are returning to their prior mood, the whole scene blows up into a mish-mash of progressive rock clamor-- a strange, and bitter, conclusion to an extremely solid record.
Shakespeare and ice-skating aside, Arnalds has put together one cookie of an album here. The underlying classical layer coupled with the unique distinctive emotional attachment to the detailed character of his compositions is really baffling, considering his newness to this genre. Now, with one album popped out and well into puberty, one can’t help but wonder what this Icelandic lad will knock up, and knock out, next." [source]
Artist: Ben Frost Album: Theory Of Machines Label: Bedroom Community Release date: November 2006 Genre: Electronic Style: Progressive Rock/Industrial/Experimental/AmbientTracklisting: 01. Theory Of Machines 02. Stomp 03. We Love You Michael Gira 04. Coda 05. Forgetting You Is Like Breathing Water Total running time: 38' 40" [Ben Frost - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]
"The Bedroom Community label seems to be a collective of artists all affiliated with Iceland’s Greenhouse Studios. The first release, Nico Muhly’s Speak Volumes, was a set of beautiful chamber pieces “for small ensembles with electronics.” Like most classical music, I found it hard to parse on the first few listens, but after enough repetition, it began to grow in its accessibility and depth. It doesn’t take a second listen to Ben Frost’s new record, Theory of Machines, to parse its contents. There’s nothing to engage with. It simply is.
To explain: Theory of Machines is something like what would happen if an electro-acoustic improviser decided to cover Mogwai. Frost builds a sound world in each track, gradually moves towards a climax of some kind, and then backs off. It’s a simple trick, but as legions of post-rock imitators will tell you, it’s an effective one. Sure, it’s not that simple each time out. “Stomp” builds and then merely drops out its distorted melodic element a few seconds before its end, “Forgetting You Is Like Breathing Water” never really builds to any sort of definable climax at all, but the best tracks (“We Love You Michael Gira” and the title cut) both follow the aforementioned formula.
Frost real talent is for sound design. As an engineer at the studios, he’s obviously learned a lot from label head and sometime-Björk producer Valgeir Sigurðsson. As such, his command of space is particularly strong—it sounds as if you’re simultaneously right inside the piano and sitting across the room from it at the end of “We Love You.” Similarly, the drums on “Theory of Machines” sound amazingly present, despite having to fit through a huge wash of distorted guitar drone. People throw around the word “soundworlds” a great deal, but in Frost’s case it’s very much applicable. These are songs that envelop.
I recently asked Christopher Weingarten if there was a noise artist that he knew of that could permanently change how music listeners viewed the genre. He rightly pointed out that we’ll probably never be able to predict that person, but we can point to a number of artists paving the way for it happen. Sonic Youth has softened guitar rock audiences, Lightning Bolt has done the same for many punks, and Fennesz has shown the possibility for melody among noisenik laptoppers. With a few more releases like this, it may be time to add Ben Frost to that list." [source]
Artist: Xela Album: Tangled Wool Label: City Centre Offices Release date: 15 March 2004 Genre: Electronic Style: Folktronica/AmbientTracklisting: 01. Softness Of Senses 02. Smiles And Bridges 03. You Are In The Stars 04. Drawing Pictures Of Girls 05. Through Crimson Clouds 06. Quiet Night 07. So No Goodbyes 08. Her Eyes Sparkled And She Walked Away Total running time: 40' 50"
"Even though he’s a mere twenty-three years old, John Twells (aka Xela) is no ingénue, having released last year’s acclaimed For Frosty Mornings… on Neo Ouija as well as Where We’re From The Birds Sing A Pretty Song, an equally impressive collaborative outing with Gabriel Morley issued under the name Yasume. Following upon that City Centre Offices release, Twells returns with Tangled Wool, seemingly intent upon wresting the folktronica crown from Greg Davis and Kieran Hebden. Don’t be turned away by the twee song titles, as this is as perfect an example of melodic folktronica as one might hope to find, plus it’s a perfect length too, admirably succinct at eight tracks and forty minutes. One thing it’s not, however, is Rounds II as it largely eschews the propulsive beats one finds on Four Tet’s 2003 release. Instead, Twells creates sublime pastoral oases that are rooted in the shimmer of his acoustic guitar.
“Softness Of Senses” is a stunning opener, at once reverberant, anthemic and blissful, awash in shimmering, bucolic splendor. “Smiles and Bridges” follows, and it’s as satisfying, building euphorically with layers of acoustic guitars and chiming synths. In contrast to their uplifting auras, “You Are In The Stars” is a moodier, mournful piece with crunchy beats, while “Through Crimson Clouds” with its laconic beats is the most uptempo piece here. Obviously, the prevailing mood is one of delicacy, its sound teeming with multi-layered guitars, hazy atmospheres, and sparkling melodies that chime and soar. Twells even adds a vocal to the heavenly “Drawing Pictures Of Girls” but, in keeping with the overall style, it’s a wordless sigh that, along with the oboe sounds, becomes an irresistible hook.
With Tangled Wool, City Centre Offices reaffirms its stature as one of the pre-eminent electronica labels. Home to artists like Ulrich Schnauss, Dictaphone, Boy Robot, Static, Caney and Joory, Dub Tractor and I’m Not A Gun, the label consistently produces impeccable music, Tangled Wool merely the latest proof of that dictum. In fact, it’s almost too beautiful and innocent a recording for an era like ours, one so poisoned by aesthetic corruption and philistinism. It’s a reverie-inducing album that’s unfashionably free of irony, but perhaps that’s all the more reason to embrace it and savor its delicate, paradisiacal qualities." [source]
The invite-only music site OiNK will grunt and snuffle no more after police seized the site's servers and arrested a 24-year-old UK man. The IFPI is now crowing over the bust and the closure of the "primary source worldwide for illegal prerelease music." By Nate Anderson, Ars Technica IFPI and BPI, the UK music trade group, spent two years investigating the private BitTorrent tracker and worked with police in both the UK and the Netherlands to shut the site down. The servers, based in Amsterdam, were grabbed last week, but the alleged administrator of the site was just picked up near Middlesborough in the UK.
OiNK specialized in leaking albums; IFPI estimates that the site had a membership of 180,000 "hard-core file sharers" who had to prove their worthiness to join the site by providing leaked demos or rough mixes of hot upcoming releases.
The site didn't charge a membership fee, but it did accept donations. The Cleveland police, which conducted the UK raid, claim that "hundreds of thousands of pounds" were being made by the operators and then stashed in various bank accounts.
OiNK's address, oddly enough, is oink.cd. The site was previously experiencing DNS problems and eventually decided that the solution was to use an address belonging to the Congo. Now the domain throws up a gray screen with the IFPI and BPI logos. Above those is a warning message about how the site has been closed as the result of a criminal investigation into "suspected illegal music distribution." Will other invite-only tracker sites and darknets take the hint?
Whac-A-Mole The evolution of such sites follows a predictable pattern. First, the development of new technology like BitTorrent means that people initially believe they can do just about anything they want with the new tools and no one will come after them. Once the tools enter public (and police) consciousness, big sites like OiNK generally move underground and out of easy view, or become targets for rights-holders and law enforcement.
Bringing underground sites down isn't easy, as the two-year IFPI investigation demonstrates, but it can be done. Such attention is generally directed only at sites that have grown exceptionally large or important, and the result is often that the operators get busted but the users simply join smaller and less visible communities.
So is this just a game of Whac-A-Mole? BPI insists that is not. CEO Geoff Taylor said in a statement, "BitTorrent has fast become the most popular file-sharing client, and while the technology is now commonplace, closed criminal networks such as OiNK take time to develop; make no mistake, this operation will cause major disruptions this illegal activity."
The hope is clearly that it will also send a message to smaller darknets who might have believed that they could operate without consequences. The legal pressure brought to bear by music, movie, and television content owners around the world has made operating such sites more risky. Anecdotally, we have some evidence that some of these smaller sites are getting the message. For example, Something Awful used to run a torrent tracker, but worries about potential legal liability led site operators to abandon the project when BitTorrent became widely-known. Many users then migrated to private spinoff trackers like Whilst, which offered a similar set of torrents to a closed community. In the past few months, Whilst, too, has gotten out of the torrent business, presumably out of concern for liability, and now hosts only a handful of discussion forums.
OiNK may be sizzling in Big Content's frying pan, but there are still countless other private trackers and darknets up and running. The arrest of OiNK's admin shows that there is a definite risk in running these sites, but it's a sure bet that the illicit music previously available on the tracker will eventually find new homes on the Internet—especially with sites such as The Pirate Bay openly flouting the IFPI and other industry groups.
Artist: Yo La Tengo Album: Fakebook Label: Bar/None/City Slang Release date: 1990 Genre: Rock Style: Indie Rock/Folk Rock/Country RockTracklisting: 01. Can't Forget 02. Griselda 03. Here Comes My Baby 04. Barnaby, Hardly Working 05. Yellow Sarong 06. You Tore Me Down 07. Emulsified 08. Speeding Motorcycle 09. Tried So Hard 10. The Summer 11. Oklahoma, U.S.A. 12. What Comes Next 13. The One To Cry 14. Andalucia 15. Did I Tell You 16. What Can I Say Total running time: 44' 13" [Yo La Tengo - The Summer - Video Clip]
"Recommending Fakebook as the best place to begin a relationship with Yo La Tengo is slightly disingenuous, mainly because Yo La Tengo has never made another record like it, and perhaps never will. So, as completely wonderful as this record is, it's an accurate representation of one side of Yo La Tengo, and assuming that everything sounds like Fakebook might be disappointing. A collection of cover songs that lean toward the idiosyncratic (e.g., Peter Stampfel, Daniel Johnston, Jad Fair), Fakebook is warm, low-key, and lovely, with heartfelt singing and playing that never flags after hundreds of replays. It's impossible to imagine playing this record and not smiling and singing along. A big bonus is a great version of the Flamin' Groovies' "You Tore Me Down."" [source]
Artist: Skalpel Album: Skalpel Label: Ninja Tune Release date: 20 April 2004 Genre: Electronic Style: Nu Jazz/BreakbeatTracklisting: 01. High 02. Not Too Bad 03. 1958 04. Together 05. So Far 06. Break In 07. Quiz 08. Asphodel 09. Theme From ‘Behind The Curtain’ 10. Sculpture Total running time: 41' 29" [Skalpel - 1958 - Video Clip] [Skalpel - Break In - Video Clip]
"Welcoming Skalpel in its roster with open arms, Ninja Tune celebrates more than the rise of a pair of talented musicians. The arrival of this record days before the European Community opened to ten new countries, if fortuitous, is a perfect illustration that European integration is more a reality today than it ever was, political union or not. Ninja had already given DJ Vadim a place to confront his musical ground with that of musicians from the UK and beyond, and now, it is the turn of Polish duo Skalpel and their exhilarating jazz-infused electronica.
Hailing from Wroclaw, the cultural capital of Lower Silesia in South Poland, a stone-throw away from the German border, Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo first got noticed after they interviewed DJ Vadim for a Polish hip-hop magazine and consequently toured the country with him. They then recorded a CDR, simply entitled Polish jazz, which led to the pair being signed to London-based Ninja Tune. Four Solid Steel sessions followed over a two-year period before the band finally got down to record their first album proper. Basing their work almost entirely on samples of Polish jazz records, the band claim to aim at ‘resurrecting the dusty and smoky spirit of 60’s and 70’s Polish Jazz’ by revisiting it and adding a modern touch to it. The result is somewhat reminiscent of Saint Germain’s Tourist in part, yet Skalpel refrain from giving their record too much of a dance floor feel. Instead, Cichy and Pudlo remain close to the original sonorities of their sound sources. Listening to Skalpel, it is hard to make the distinction between what has actually been sampled, and what might have been played especially for the record. And that’s perhaps the main strength of this album: sounding like a genuine jazz record without pretending to be anything special. All the way through, the pair presents a totally classic, yet fresh, soundtrack on which flourish elements of swing, bop and soul, creating an extremely consistent piece of work from beginning to end.
The album opens with the devilishly groovy High, on which the band combines congas, double bass and flute into a whirlwind of sounds and beats. Later on, a voice confirms ‘Let them play their jazz records and dance all night if they want to’ on the equally funky Not Too Bad. Although Cichy and Pudlo alternate between buoyant compositions and more reflective moments, the general mood of this record is definitely upbeat. On tracks such as the stunning 1958, Quiz or the tongue-in-cheek Theme From ‘Behind The Curtain’, Skalpel provide some slices of energy, while at other times, they demonstrates great control over their music. Together, Break In or Sculpture, which closes the album, show Skalpel venturing into more delicate and fragile constructions, yet the band retain the same driving force.
Far from the technology-conscious electronica that we have grown accustomed to, Skalpel draw from the Polish jazz scene that flourished during the Communist era the elements to create a soulful and honest collection of groovy compositions. Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo demonstrate all the way through a great understanding of their sound sources and a great control over their music without ever sounding arrogant or pretentious." [source]
Artist: Sea Wolf Album: Leaves In The River Label: Dangerbird Records Release date: 25 September 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Indie RockTracklisting: 01. Leaves In The River 02. Winter Windows 03. Black Dirt 04. The Rose Captain 05. Middle Distance Runner 06. You're A Wolf 07. Song For The Dead 08. Black Leaf Falls 09. The Cold, The Dark & The Silence 10. Neutral Ground Total running time: 38' 31" [Sea Wolf - You're A Wolf - Video Clip]
"Sea Wolf is an indie outfit perfectly suited to light up the blogosphere, mostly because they sound like an indie outfit. Also, up until May, when their EP, Get to the River Before it Runs Too Low, hit the shelves, not many of us knew who they were. The good news is that, unlike many bands that fall into the e-hype trap, Sea Wolf doesn’t just sound like a good band when streamed off some undergrad’s bandwidth, they actually are a good band. Their first full length, Leave in the River, is further evidence of that.
Essentially, Sea Wolf is an outlet for singer-songwriter Alex Brown Church, (who also plays bass for Irving). Church has said that, though he’s spent most of his time in California, his music doesn’t have a connection to one place. However, the sound of Leaves in the River belies that statement a little. Recorded in Seattle with Phil Ek, the album sounds distinctly northwestern. It is a damp, grey, and dreary record from beginning to end. You can feel the fog rolling in at every moment; the clouds sit above Church while he sings, threatening to rain if they aren’t already.
What makes Church’s claim valid is that so often the ominous feeling of late fall days is tied more to the narrators of these songs rather than their surroundings. Sure, there are the title leaves floating in the title river, the ocean always on the outskirts of the lonely lives that Church depicts. There are dingy drifts of snow, late-night rain and an ever-present darkness. But all these details seem handpicked by the narrator, more as road flares illuminating the ditches that these people are brooding in than the stuff that makes up the road itself. In “The Cold, the Dark, & the Silence”, over an appropriately antiseptic drum loop, Church sings “When the cold, the dark, and the silence come, it’s like a sudden rush of water through your heart and lungs”. This comes late in the a record full of imagery that sets up water as a constant presence that can sometimes push you to deadening numbness and, at its highest tides, shocking loneliness.
Along with the solitary narratives that run through Leaves in the River comes equally spare instrumentation. An unassuming rhythm section backs Church and his simple guitar. A cello that adds to an ominous tone as much as it can provide a beautiful lilt is often present. In “Middle Distance Runner” the strings provide comfort to Church’s narrator who knows he can’t commit to a woman, and wants to just pretend that its okay for a night. On other tracks, when Church lets a little anger slip into his narrators’ self-loathing, the instrumentation seems to side with them. A jangly, shrill guitar riff picks along while Church sings “Black dirt will stain your feet, and when you walk, you’ll leave black dirt in the street”. It’s rare in these songs for the narrator to put that sort of burden on others, but here it is just sinister enough to be at least partially honest. The shift is a welcome one in an album so full of brooding.
What gets in the way of this record’s complete success is exactly what makes it so popular with the bloggers. Lumped together on one album, these songs get to be too self pitying for their own good. Mostly, Church is good at avoiding overt romanticism in all the bourbon and near-tears. But when, in “Winter Windows”, he sings “This is the world, this is the world we live in, it’s not the one we chose but it’s the one we’re given,” it becomes problematic. The narrator is shirking the responsibility for his sad-sack state in a liquor-induced fit of self-pity. Whether Church is condemning this character or letting him off the hook is unclear, and the sentiment of this song, the second on the record, bleeds through the rest of Leaves in the River.
Most of the songs are good enough on their own to sidestep that pitfall, but “Song for the Dead”, with its sing-song chorus, is too contrived to stand on its own (Church awkwardly rhymes “thicket” with “cricket"), and ends up being the worst track. That “You’re a Wolf”, which also appeared on the EP, is the best track on the album is unfortunate, but songs like “Black Leaf Falls” and closer “Neutral Ground” come awfully close to matching the band’s default anthem. The opening title track would be a serious contender too, if it weren’t hamstrung by dull atmospherics that seek to set a mood that the songs themselves can provide more organically.
There will be those that laud Leaves in the River as the coming of the next great heartbreak band. And while they’re probably giving Sea Wolf a bit too much credit, those who dismiss this record as too simple are missing the little things that make this record, and Sea Wolf as a band, very solid." [source]
Artist: Tied & Tickled Trio Album: Aelita Label: Morr Release date: 1 June 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: Abstract/Ambient/Dub/ExperimentalTracklisting: 01. Aelita 1 02. You Said Tomorrow Yesterday 03. Tamaghis 04. Aelita 2 05. A Rocket Debris Cloud Drifts 06. Chlebnikov 07. Other Voices Other Rooms 08. Aelita 3 Total running time: 43' 58""Aelita announces a surprising change in direction for German group Tied & Tickled Trio (Caspar Brandner, Andreas Gerth, Markus and Micha Acher, Carl Oesterhelt), though not necessarily an unappealing one. The quasi-jazz style that characterized past albums like Observing Systems is gone; in its place are through-composed instrumentals devoid of the individual expression that comes with soloing. The new album's eight pieces are evocative, oft-ponderous chamber settings that seem tailor-made for a somber Eastern European film (the title track is, in fact, an homage to the first Russian science fiction film while the suitably funereal “Chlebnikov” is named after the poet of the Russian avant-garde who died of starvation in the 1920s). Synthesizers, vibraphones, and melodicas now occupy the front line, dark electronic clouds clutter the sky, and brass instruments are nowhere heard.
“Aelita 1,” a melancholy, neo-classical tapestry dominated by xylophone and bass, initiates the album and returns in miniature form two more times. The album springs to life with “Tamaghis” whose pairing of vibes, organ, and dub rhythms recalls Burnt Friedman & the Nu Dub Players' 2000 ~scape release Just Landed. At times, it seems as if the tension wrought by stylistic change is audible. It sounds, for example, like the rhythm section, the drummer in particular, is vainly struggling to break free of the band's self-imposed compositional constrictions in “A Rocket Debris Cloud Drifts.” Regardless of one's feelings about the directional shift, there's no disputing the elegant, chamber-like beauty of “Aelita 3” even if there's not a solo tenor sax anywhere to be heard." [source]
Artist: Tunng Album: Good Arrows Label: Full Time Hobby/Thrill Jockey Release date: 27 August 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Folktronica/Indie RockTracklisting: 01. Take 02. Bricks 03. Hands 04. Bullets 05. Soup 06. Spoons 07. King 08. Arms 09. Secrets 10. String 11. Cans Total running time: 42' 54" [Tunng - Bullets - Video Clip]
"When they emerged on Static Caravan in 2005, Tunng was unfairly snagged by a genre generally attributed to the rabid British press: folktronica. The timing was bad. They were lumped in with the Psapps, Múms, and Four Tets of the world, a white-washing that accounted only for a shared taste in acoustic sounds and chipped beats. But following their debut, Mother’s Daughter and Other Songs, the band issued a sophomore record that blurred the genre’s lines enough to show Tunng was stuck in their own headspace. Comments of the Inner Chorus was hazy and impressionistic, cozying Sam Genders’ cloudy, image-based storytelling in Mike Lindsay’s rusty-nailed folk pastiche. It held tracks that sounded on the surface like pillowy love songs (“Woodcut,” “Jenny Again”) but that when taken in a few times, revealed rough Victorian tales of death and abandon.
Now, on their third record and first for Thrill Jockey, Tunng is six members deep, having added former Chapterhouse drummer Ashley Bates (as a guitarist). But, really, it’s still the Mike Lindsay and Sam Genders show. Lindsay’s folksy bedfitting and deft, pastoral use of electronics are as room-full as they’ve ever been, bumping out clapboard beats and barrel-roll basslines without sacrificing the duo’s wooded hush. The duo round out their heady creations with film samples, clattering woodblocks, piano, dulcimer, plenty of windy static, and even a beat (on “Arms”) supposedly stitched from tape of a bonfire. They still have that Chaucer round-the-fire sense to their songs, a thousand shadowed tales to play out your travels. But on their first two albums, Tunng often reveled in the smear of their sounds—and the atmosphere they created—which tended to distract from the albums’ front-to-back movement. With Good Arrows, not only is Lindsay’s comfort with the soundboard more evident, but the songs seem to interact in concert for the first time. In fact, a quick look at the song titles nods to this new cohesion. Each is a blunt, everyday token—from “Soup” and “Spoons” to “String” and “Cans.”
But beneath the band’s intoxicating take on English folk lies something far more bleak and lacking shape. As I alluded to earlier, Tunng has always played at dichotomies—perhaps the band’s most gorgeous musical creation to date, “Jenny Again,” was a dreary, well-hidden murder tale. They have a way of lulling you into loving a song whose lyrical bedding contrasts directly with its ‘pretty’, disarming sound. And yet never before has this duality been so troubling, so full of conflict and density. Themes of mortality and death, the body incarnate, stretch out atop children’s choirs and ascendant string sections. Innards, spines, bones, guts, and teeth mark the soil; it’s strange, bewildering turf for an album that on first-listen, you imagine playing at green summer picnics.
Nowhere are these lines drawn more clearly than on the album’s core initial-third. “Bricks” is about as anthemic as Tunng has ever sounded, with tinkling bells and a billowy beat like an early Beta Band recording. Genders’ tale, however, is murky—a series of disconnected images about lizard skins, pretty girls staking their thoughts on nature, and a series of bold colors and surrealistic wordplay. There’s nothing as consciously shady about the song as many here, but you get the feeling Genders is dancing around some foul truth. He seems to employ false smiles to keep his company happy, and this makes it kind of hair-raising. Or maybe it’s the line about the cold eggs. Such a visceral image that, a plate of cold eggs.
Over a gently picked acoustic guitar and muffled tom-beat, “Hands” is more direct—an outsider’s tale full of trite daytime stuff (“he stands with his head in his hands/in the corridor in A & E”) as well as its nighttime extra-stuff (“we sing as we all fall down/we sing as the sky collapses/and make what we can of this”). The song tickles away in sounds of reverie, but even Genders patient voice can’t shake its hint at the elusive. “Bullets” is easily the most strident song Tunng has ever created. Well, musically. After a haunting vocal sample ushers in a rocksome tea-time beat, Genders sings “our blood and guts are out/we spread our bones across the table at night” against Tin Pan Alley piano. As with so much of Good Arrows, you come to sense only to lose it again, as Genders spoils almost every narrative line with peculiar phrasings and clouded imagery.
Somehow, in this confusion, Good Arrows is still a series of beautiful songs for that part of us all that just wants to stay in bed all day. In fact, with these smudged narratives, Genders is offering you an out: simply let me flow through you and pretty is all it has to be. It can still be picnic music. Just don’t listen too closely." [source]
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DJ Mix
Stig Inge "We Love Netlabelism Vol.1" Stig Inge's deep tech beats take you on a dive deep down into the sea. There you'll find a parallel world of echo sounds, coloured corals and forgotten, sunken cities, just waiting to be discovered and explorerd. [Download]
[Standalone player] [Last updated: 9 December 2008]
Playlist
[Add player to your Firefox sidebar] [Standalone player] [Last updated: 8 October 2008]
