Artist: Excepter Album: Debt Dept. Label: Paw Tracks Release date: 25 March 2008 Genre: Rock Style: Experimental Rock/Electro Rock RIYL: Black Dice, Animal CollectiveTracklisting: 01. Entrance 08 02. Shots Ring 03. Kill People 04. Any And Every 05. The Last Dance 06. Greenhouse/Stretch 07. Walking Through The Night 08. Sunrise 09. Burgers [Edit] Total running time: 43' 45" [Excepter - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player] [Excepter - Kill People - Video Clip] [Excepter - Burgers - Video Clip]
"Normally, urging the listener to “kill people” repeatedly on record would lead to scores of scaremongering splashes in the national press about the latest antichrists of the music scene. That Excepter have so far escaped this fate is probably down partly to their relative obscurity when compared with other musical bete noires. Yet although the shrieking editorial writers may yet have come to notice them, the band have been beguiling and infuriating music fans for years with their off-kilter anti-pop insanity. This, their fourth release, will probably divide listeners as much as the others, but it offers some pretty perverse pleasures to those who can stomach the ride.
To imagine what this band sounds like, picture yourself walking into a music store with sections devoted to different musical genres. Now imagine being in all of those sections at the same time, and hearing the ear-splitting fusion that would result. It’s music that is almost straining itself to be new, colliding fashions and tastes to produce something that is either a racket or a mad bleeping paragon of clarity, depending on your viewpoint.
Debt Dept, their first album for Animal Collective label Paw Tracks, comes with a litany of loopy statements about destroying “the boundaries between the psychic friends network and reality television” and releasing protest songs “played in an anti-commercial style with a timeless message for today’s election-year consumer”. It’s hard to know if we are meant to take the rhetoric seriously, but it is perhaps best overlooked in favour of the music itself. Indeed, the very idea that these are protest songs is almost mockingly undermined by the string of instrumental tracks on the album that work themselves out of different private puzzles. Greenhouse / Stretch, notably, could really be about anything at all, with its randomised organ patterns zipping along over a slow-moving trip-hop rhythm. Occasionally, voices growl distantly, as though sung from somewhere outside the studio walls, but the linguistic pretensions seem at best to be a neat ironic joke.
Of course, it is the music that will get the attention here, and rightly so. Excepter are almost openly lampooned for their ear-splitting inconsistency, but there is a very definite thread behind all of the tracks on this release. Hard to define easily, it could be summarised as a musical fist fight between the Beach Boys, Boogie Down Productions and the DJ at a late-night underground party for surf-rock subversives. It is defiantly retro, defiantly new, defiantly defiant – and, by definition, defiantly Paw Tracks. It is hard not to admire music as unnervingly off-beat as this, especially when everything clicks together perfectly, such as on tracks like SunriseEntrance 08. But at times the weirdness just seems laboured, as though, having run out of fresh ideas, they have just decided to monkey around in the studio and keep the tape running.
When we learn that seventeen tracks were recorded for the album, and eventually cut down to just the eight here, it almost makes sense – as though, not having room for all of them, they merely decided to stick all the songs on top of one another. This is in a way both the album’s weakness and its defining strength, and one that will no doubt continue to bewilder those who follow the band. But perseverance and an unusual proclivity for ear-hurting musical madness are probably the key here, as this is not an album that will make much sense until the listener’s natural resistances wear off. Buy it then, but don’t expect to like it much until the summer kicks in." [themilkfactory]
Artist: To My Boy Album: Messages Label: XL Release date: 2 July 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Electro Rock/New Wave/Indie RockTracklisting: 01. Tell Me, Computer 02. Eureka 03. Outerregions 04. Model 05. In The Zone 06. Oh, Metal! 07. Talk 08. I Am Xray 09. Eliminate 10. The Grid 11. Fear Of Fragility 12. Game Over Total running time: 36' 13" [To My Boy - Fear Of Fragility - Video Clip] [To My Boy - I Am Xray - Live for Dazed Digital]
"Well there's no use in lumping all the electro lot together. Some of them are distinct anomalies; more of an anomaly than the rest of the oddballs and wire-clingers, shadow-fronted and obscured by ironic images of everything that's so damn uncool. To My Boy? Well they like computers, so that's pretty hardcore satirical pretension there; writing a whole album about - well, what you use to write the album with. However, although comparisons with the likes of Klaxons and Shitdisco are inevitable, To My Boy really don't attempt to become a part. They seem totally involved in what they want to do, whether anyone else is listening or not, and that is perhaps what separates them from the likes of the above.
Messages isn't really dependent on anyone taking an interest. Absorbed - apparently, in the intelligence, warmth and character of technology, To My Boy's Sam White and Jack Snape are even slightly self-deprecating. On 'Eliminate', they sing "your thought surpasses mine, eliminate me." Despite the obvious restriction in writing about one subject matter, and injecting the same 'get up and go' into all eleven tracks, there's rarely a boring moment; an utter ridicule of a situation like 'Model' Highlights are the radio-friendly 'Oh, Metal!', 'Talk' and 'Eureka' - a chirpy dance number that should soon hit Calvin Harris' mixing deck.
Combined with a probably conscious effort to capture the bleak vocal sound of 80s new-wave bands like New Order and Depeche Mode, To My Boy's unique blend of electro and guitar rock at times sounds like a dodgy Red Dwarf soundtrack, but great; it is a thudding slab of cultural enrichment to this intriguing record." [source]
Artist: Radiohead Album: In Rainbows Label: Self-Released Release date: 10 October 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Indie Rock/Electro RockTracklisting: 01. 15 Step 02. Bodysnatchers 03. Nude 04. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi 05. All I Need 06. Faust Arp 07. Reckoner 08. House Of Cards 09. Jigsaw Falling Into Place 10. Videotape Total running time: 42' 34""Had there been a nationwide power cut last Monday, you could have lit a town the size of St Albans with the envy that Radiohead instantly elicited among their peers. Take away the glamour of a pop star’s job and that fact is that most of the currently extant names in your record collection are slogging through severe record deals for percentage points that Radiohead left behind a long time ago. And yet, among all the excitement, it’s worth pondering a small but important question. If the music industry collapsed tomorrow, what would most of those bands do with their new-found autonomy? In a world without A&R men and people who are paid to tell you the truth about whether your new stuff sucks, how many musicians would ultimately resist the gravitational pull of their own rectums?
Ever since OK Computer made them big enough to ignore the advice of those around them, Radiohead have somehow beaten down a path between the expectations of their fans and the abyss of absolute freedom. That they’ve done it again with In Rainbows isn’t entirely clear from the first few bars. Even before he sings the lines, “One by one/Comes to us all,” the hand of Thom Yorke, the incorrigible contrarian, is evident in the jackhammering machine beat that kicks off 15 Step. Once you’ve effectively been told to sit up straight and listen, everything is played out around rhythm that resembles a sectioned patient trying to escape their straitjacket and Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien’s simple, pretty guitar playing. Occasional bursts of shouting children do little to dissipate the presiding air of strangeness. Welcome then, to Radiohead’s favourite default setting in 2007.
At various times, they’ve sounded like a great live band and like hermetic musos prodding around on laptops in the hope that the next noise might offer a new direction. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi is, strangely, neither. Its airless, bunker-bound anti-ambience recalls Kid A and Amnesiac, but the band themselves sound thrillingly alive, thrashing out a melody replicates on “real” instruments the gorgeous Cornish digi-folk of Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James – an album for which Radiohead have all been vocal in their affection.
Much to the ongoing chagrin of a minority who want them to repeat 1995’s The Bends, doggedly experimental rock is just what Radiohead do these days, finding common ground between hitherto ingongruent parts. Hence a song like Bodysnatchers. On it, Greenwood and O’Brien feed a chugging, elementary riff through an amp that barely sounds like it can take it, while Thom Yorke’s mostly indistinct vocals compete to be heard over the hyperactive raga-rock being played out around him.
Their attitude to the medium might be one of uncompromising modernity, but Radiohead’s almost quaint belief in the album as an art form is borne out by their dispute with Apple (the absence of their music on iTunes is down to their refusal to allow the sale of individual tracks). In Rainbows compounds their stance. In time you’ll scoot to your favourites on In Rainbows – in particular, the baroque fever-folk of Faust Arp is just, when it all comes down, an endlessly repeatable treat – but taken as a whole, In Rainbows adheres to a loose musical narrative of its own.
The herky-jerky clatter of earlier songs gives way to acoustic guitars, bigger melodies and a musical sense of resolution. Finally, Thom Yorke even finds himself slipping into the vernacular of the pop songs we thought he never even listened to, let alone sang. That’s him on House Of Cards, singing “I don’t wanna be your friend/I just wanna be your lover” like Prince’s shy baby brother, amid swirling strings that simulate the postcoital fug of a Sunday morning. Lest we imagine him guesting on the next Sugababes album, it’s worth pointing out that the next verse begins “Infrastructure will collapse”, but no matter. It’s one of their very best songs.
Ditto, All I Need, which lobs another relatively direct Yorke lyric into sonic waters that appear to meander by the Get Carter soundtrack. Listen once and you’re unsure. Listen twice, knowing that, three minutes in, a plangent pounding piano leads you out into a snowblind crescendo of melodic light and, you’re excited before you even get there. Quite how it all ranks alongside other Radiohead albums – well, let’s be honest. It’s far too early to tell. In time, the excitement of waiting for a new release by one of your favourite bands to land in your inbox will separate from the role it will go on to play in your life.
For what it’s worth, In Rainbows was sent to me at 6.30am. Three hours later, this insidious index of sonic surprises is stacking up in my mind, like planes waiting to land. The trick, I guess, is to give your fans what they didn’t know they wanted. Radiohead, old hands at this, have been doing it for over a decade now. With In Rainbows, they appear to have done it again." [source] Music industry reaction to Radiohead album
The music industry woke to a potential revolution today with the first downloads of Radiohead’s In Rainbows album being eagerly copied to MP3 players.
But the prospect of fans choosing how much, if anything to pay for a hotly-anticipated release, provoked a mixed response from the Oxford band’s peers.
James Blunt, the three million-selling singer songwriter told The Times that Radiohead’s approach could undermine the principle that artists should be rewarded for their work.
“I definitely think there is value in music,” he said. “I don’t think they should devalue it. I’ve got to pay a band and a producer and a mixer. I don’t know how I’d necessarily pay them if I sold my albums for 1p. I’d have to work it out, but maybe they know how this works in practice.”
Johnny Marr, the former Smiths guitarist, now a member of US cult band Modest Mouse, is an enthusiastic supporter. “I think it’s a really fantastic idea because it puts the responsibility back on people’s own consciences and deals with people as grown ups,” he said.
Bands will have to up their game, predicted Marr. “Everyone knows you can get your music for free, so let’s see if you really want to show the band your appreciation.”
Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys’ singer, said he had been “reading up” about Radiohead’s exercise. He said it was “very interesting”, but would not commit his band, voted Best Act in the World Today by Q magazine readers this week, to following suit.
Artists such as David Bowie, a web pioneer who has one further album to deliver on his current record deal, are said to be taking a close interest in the Radiohead project.
Oasis are releasing their new single, Lord Don’t Slow Me Down, as a 99p download only. But the band are currently without a record deal and are discussing a new contract with corporate giants, including Universal Music.
Sources say Oasis want the international marketing power that a large record company can offer, and the one-off advance payment would be an incentive for some band members.
But Jamiroquai, another former Sony artist with a live following, is said to be interested in pursuing the web-only route because the band makes a large amount of its earnings from live performances.
Record companies are expected to fight back by cutting the advance payments they offer stars. Robbie Williams negotiated a record £80 million deal with EMI but the company, under new management, is likely to be less generous when negotiations begin shortly.
Manchester veterans The Charlatans announced that they are giving their new album away as a free download through the XFM website. The band argued that signing to a record company was similar to “joining the army” with a similar lack of financial reward. But the group, who sold out their latest tour within hour, have probably passed their recorded sales peak. [source]
Artist: Digitalism Album: Idealism Label: Kitsuné Music Release date: 11 June 2007 Genre: Electronic Style: Tech House/Electro/Electro RockTracklisting: 01. Magnets 02. Zdarlight 03. I Want I Want 04. Idealistic 05. Digitalism In Cairo 06. Departure From Cairo 07. Pogo 08. Moonlight 09. Anything New 10. The Pulse 11. Homezone 12. Apollo-Gize 13. Jupiter Approach 14. Jupiter Room 15. Echoes Total running time: 53' 07" [Digitalism - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player] [Digitalism - Zdarlight - Video Clip] [Digitalism - Pogo - Video Clip]
"Hailing from Hamburg, Digitalism are an electronic dance duo who tap into their city's heritage of speed-fuelled rock'n'roll. Berlin may still be in thrall to minimal techno, but Digitalism pile on the ideas and and feed their synths through guitar pedals for maximum effect. Like the Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk before them, Jens Moelle and Ismail Tuefekci fuse rock with rave, and even cover the Cure's Fire in Cairo to prove the point. The synths squall on the brutish electro house of Idealistic; they ask about Anything New? to pre-empt detractors who may criticise their magpie tendencies (The Pulse is very Daft Punk); and, on Pogo, Moelle blankly declares, "We could get so wasted." No wonder indie kids are turning to acts like Digitalism for their thrills this year as one thing becomes clear: Idealism packs in more memorable riffs and tunes than the recent Bloc Party and Futureheads albums put together." [source]
Artist: Battles Album: Mirrored Label: Warp Release date: 14 May 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Electro Rock/Experimental RockTracklisting: 01. Race: In 02. Atlas 03. Ddiamondd 04. Tonto 05. Leyendecker 06. Rainbow 07. Bad Trails 08. Prismism 09. Snare Hangar 10. Tij 11. Race: Out Total running time: 51' 52" [Battles - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player] [Battles - Atlas - Video Clip]
"Marc Bolan may be dead, but Battles can rebuild him. They have the technology. On "Atlas", the second track on the band's debut album, drummer John Stanier's pistons pump out a steroidal version of Bolan's trademark shuffling stomp-beat. His three bandmates-- Ian Williams, Dave Konopka, and Tyondai Braxton-- constrict their two-note keyboards and one-note guitars until the song coalesces into a stiff, slick, swinging robot rock. It's like a skills-exchange workshop where mechanically minded krautrockers are encouraged to share their knowledge with remedial class glam bands only interested in big beat thrills. And as the almost-club-friendly single, it's the perfect introduction to the rest of Mirrored, easing you into the album's mix of over-the-top whimsy, extreme analogue rhythms that are often as much jazz-fusion as IDM as tech-metal, vocals that would do Roger Troutman proud, and vise-tight, "live or laptop?" musicianship connected as much by USB ports and Firewire cables as the improvisatory interplay of four dudes just jamming.
In fact, Battles may be the first band to really play with the way that 21st century software can extend and distend the sound of a rock band in real time; Mirrored moves in ways that Battles' first two instrumental EPs--post-rock played with the locked-down seriousness of modern techno--only suggested. Early Battles shows could sound like a metal band performing Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, and Mirrored spurns solos, favoring a caffeinated maximalism where compositions are built out of 100 microscopic parts. The guitarist/keyboardists string together tracks out of riffs that crisscross with the careful preplanning of a subway system. Each instrument on opening track "Race In"-- Stanier's military-precise massed snares, the guitars tensely climbing up and down a few notes, what sound like synthetic tubular bells-- is added with the deliberate patience of a Terry Riley composition. The song feels nervously repetitive, like it's suffering from OCD.
If you've seen Battles live, you've probably seen the phrase "ex-members of" written on the flyer, and so maybe none of this surprises you. Save Stanier, everyone in Battles is a multi-instrumentalist, playing a prog album's worth of guitars, electronics, and/or keyboards. Braxton's put in time splitting the difference between IDM and avant-garde electronics; Konopka played with underrated indie instrumentalists Lynx, Stanier drummed for scholastic-metal pioneers Helmet; Williams finger-tapped for Don Caballero. But while there's certainly more than a shade of math rock's intricacy on Mirrored, tracks like the terse, tambourine-rattling quasi-funk of "Tonto" or Stanier's time-signature and tempo fuckery on the crescendo-crazed "Tij", the stern stuff is continually undercut by a vibe that's more romper room than po-faced. The "hook" on "Race In" is a whistle-while-you-work chant that they're probably humming down at Fraggle Rock. The astounding "Rainbow" spins into dizzying Rube Goldberg corkscrews of keyboard, xylophone, and giddily speed-attenuated symphonic metal drums. It sounds like the band is trying to recreate the Looney Tunes cartoon where Bugs and Daffy are dueling orchestra conductors, each driving their ensembles to crazier and crazier call-and-response peaks.
And what makes Mirrored's merry melodies really stand out isn't the crazy quilt structures or needlepoint precision of the playing. It's the frenzied gibberish of Braxton's pitch-shifted and electronically processed vocals-- a kind of ecstatic robot that's speaking in cartoon tongues. When "Atlas" dropped a few months back, those vocals were a squeaky line in the sand for old fans, and across the internet, everyone had the same thought: "Why are Battles suddenly aping the Animal Collective?" But Avey Tare and company hardly invented high-pitched sing-song vocals-- just ask David Seville. On "Leyendecker", Braxton croons in a falsetto that's been whipped up by technology until it sounds like a neutered D'Angelo. Combined with the music, a low-res quasi-R&B beat as grainy as a glitch track, Braxton's circuitry pushes "Leyendecker" into far stranger places than any the Collective has wandered into. Throughout Mirrored he shreds his vocals with the post-human glee of Warp labelmate Jackson and His Computer Band, whether it's the joyful opening burst of voice on "Ddiamondd" that spits pitch-bent consonants, or "Tij", where Braxton pants and wheezes in a creeped-out asthmatic lower-register. You couldn't even approximate "Leyendecker", or any of Mirrored's 11 tracks, with just acoustic guitars and voices.
At the same time, listen closely to the intro to "Atlas" and you'll hear the pedal on Stanier's kit hitting the kickdrum in the physical world of the studio, pushing air as the hammer connects with the skin. Even when reminiscent of the unfeasible programming of post-drill'n'bass electronica, Battles' spastic drums are being played in real time, with the brute force and metronome-focus of a guy with a background in heavy rock. But its avant-pop hooks and ultrabrite melodies are being dissembled and reassembled by pitiless CPUs in equally real time. It's thrilling and disorienting because the virtuosity of both man and machine means that, unlike earlier rock/techno hybrids hampered by both technically unskilled players and crude technology, Battles sound is indivisible. Battles may not be the world's first bionic rock group, but they've done more to extend the idea of a flesh-and-blood band enhanced by computer technology than anyone since the late, lamented Disco Inferno. Mirrored is a breathtaking aesthetic left-turn that sounds less like rock circa 2007 than rock circa 2097, a world where Marshall stacks and micro-processing go hand in hand." [source]
Artist: Klaxons Album: Myths Of The Near Future Label: Rinse Release date: 29 January 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Electro RockTracklisting: 01. Two Receivers 02. Atlantis To Interzone 03. Golden Skans 04. Totem On The Timeline 05. As Above, So Below 06. Isle Of Her 07. Gravity's Rainbow 08. Forgotten Works 09. Magick 10. It's Not Over Yet 11. Four Horsemen Of 2012 Total running time: 36' 19" [Klaxons - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player] [Klaxons - Golden Skans - Video Clip] [Klaxons - Magick - Video Clip]
"If rock and dance were two businesses, a case could be made for talking in terms of mergers and acquisitions: Is rock incorporating dance, or is dance attempting a hostile takeover of rock? For some time now the two genres have been engaged in a cautious courtship, on occasion getting pretty close. The English Beat, New Order, and Nine Inch Nails have all trafficked in profuse elements of both. Even Duran Duran's 1983 disco staple, "Hungry Like the Wolf," was pretty rockin'. Right here, right now we get beat-bashers like LCD Soundsystem to bring out the dancefloor soft spot in dyed-in-the-wool rockers. Add to the boogie roll another one to watch: England's Klaxons.
Their reflectively titled debut album, Myths of the Near Future, begins with "Two Receivers," a song that just might be a classic in the upcoming present. Distant timpani sound off like a march from outer space; as they get sonically closer, the drums kick in, the synthesizers rev up, and then indelible vocal harmonics transmit one of the best opening verses in recent memory: "Krill edible oceans at their feet/ A troublesome troop out on safari/ A lullaby holds their drone in sleep." The song straight away distinguishes Klaxons as a notch above countrymen like Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party (with a way better name too, Klaxon is derived from the Greek "to shriek"). They do, moreover, come across as particularly British, and the brooding literate sensibility suggests a funkier British Sea Power; with its driving rhythm and dissonant vocal hollers, "Atlantis to Interzone" could be their "Apologies to Insect Life."
"Golden Skans" captures the band at its best. String-popping bass leads on a discotheque chorus of falsetto "ooo-ooo-aaa" to lyrics "Light touched my hands/ In a dream of golden skans/ From now on/ You can forget all future plans." This sort of apocalypse-lite theme skirts the album like an English crop circle, and is almost as fun to ponder. After all, if we're screwed anyway, we might as well shake our hips on the way. And if Klaxons are to be obliged, that will occur in about five years. Album closer "Four Horsemen of 2012" sums it up succinctly: "We're four horsemen of 2012/ Catch that pony ride on time..."
Myths of the Near Future succeeds on several levels. Lyrically it is a blast into the space-time continuum, from the mythical Cyclops in "Isle of Her," to name-dropping Julius Caesar and Mother Theresa in "Totem on the Timeline." The cosmic imagery of travel to infinity from "Gravity's Rainbow" and galloping beams from "As Above, So Below" give the album a psychedelic air as well. Musically it runs the gamut, from the dark synths of Depeche Mode to the offhand grooviness of The Rapture. The most distinguished element in the Klaxon universe is the immensely engaging vocals of all three band members, Jamie Reynolds, James Rishton and Simon Taylor. Whether solo or in harmony they are the sun around which everything orbits in perfect unison.
Dance has traditionally been more about the body than the mind. Klaxons, along with their equals, are shifting that paradigm; more than meaningless fluff, this new wave has gravity. Literate and soulful, the hybrid is the perfect vehicle to get your limbs and gears moving. Along with Sounds of Silver, Myths of the Near Future is thus far the best dance (rock) album of 2007 that you can rock (dance)-out to." [source]
Artist: Schneider TM Album: Skoda Mluvit Label: City Slang Release date: 21 April 2006 Genre: Electronic Style: Indie Rock/Electro Rock/Electro PopTracklisting: 01. More Time 02. Pac Man / Shopping Cart 03. Peanut 04. S'kcorratiug 05. Caplets 06. Vodou 07. Skoda Mluvit 08. The Blacksmith [Feat. Max Turner] 09. Klexx 10. Cataractact 11. The Slide 12. A Ride 13. The World's A Cup Total running time: 58' 11" [Schneider TM - Pac Mac / Shopping Cart - Video Clip] [Schneider TM - The Slide - Video Clip]
"From the outside, Dirk Dresselhaus’ apartment is much like any in the Prenzlauerberg district of Berlin, housed inside a hulking, grey, pockmarked exterior that towers five tall stories above the cobbled streets. It’s different inside, though. In the room he uses as a studio, but which also doubles as his living space, a drum kit has been erected, though it sometimes doubles as a keyboard stand. A huge desk is filled with electronic equipment and guitar pedals linked together, all threaded through an antique mixing desk. There are guitars lying on the floor and spread across chairs and sofas. On the floor are a variety of strange wooden objects, elaborate traditional instruments that resemble wild variations on a xylophone.
This is the room that, for two years, played womb to Skoda Mluvit, a remarkable album that sees Dresselhaus – known to friends and fans alike as Schneider TM – continue his unusual journey through the netherworld of ‘indie’ and ‘electronic’ music. It’s a room that Schneider, on occasions, didn’t leave for days at a time, locking himself away whilst he tinkered with and poked at anything he could find that made a sound. He calls it Constructionsite Studios – not because it looks like it’s currently being renovated, which frankly it does, but because he is constantly surrounded by the sounds of construction as workmen continue the repairs to the delapidated buildings of the old East Berlin. You can hear the noise in the dying moments of Skoda Mluvit, hidden away as a secret track.
Skoda Mluvit is an album that encapsulates all the things that have led to Schneider TM being one of the most unusual but respected artists out there. He hovers between pop and avant-garde, as comfortable being compared to Matthew Herbert as to the Pet Shop Boys. Perhaps that’s why Zoomer, his last album, didn’t achieve quite the stratospheric commercial success that critics had earmarked for it: people simply didn’t know where to place it. Schneider, after all, is just as likely to discuss extreme noise bands from Japan as he is West Coast hip-hop.
This still shows on Skoda Mluvit, but the times have caught up with him: electronic musicians are integrating acoustic instruments into their music with such fervour it’s become almost as much of a cliché as when indie rock bands added “a dance element” to their sound in the early ‘90s. But the thing here is: Schneider doesn’t actually know what he’s doing. He just can’t help himself. So the thoroughly uncontrived results include the lethargic acoustic funk of “Peanut”, the distorted noise of “S’kcorratiug”, something that Schneider describes as Fela Kuti mixing Neil Young’s Greendale with the blues (“Vodou”), the twisted hip hop of “The Blacksmith”, the sweet soul melody of “Cataractact”, the whorl of sound around “The Slide” and the utterly undefinable “A Ride”.
On the album sleeve, Schneider lists every single thing that he used as source material for the sounds that make up his album. But this is misleading. You wouldn’t expect sailing trousers, a cigarette lighter, a pool table or paper to have played a part in this brilliantly playful, if elaborate, collection of warped but brilliant pop. But then again you wouldn’t expect Fela Kuti and Neu! to collide with such grace, or Sun Ra and Teenage Fanclub to gel so elegantly. Schneider is a master of unusual concoctions – that is no doubt why he originally came to so many people’s attention when he and long time collaborator KPT.Michi.Gan covered The Smiths’ “There’s A Light That Never Goes Out” to such devastating effect on their sublime electronic version, “The Light 3000”.
On Skoda Mluvit he continues a journey he began with Moist in 1998, when he turned his back – initally temporarily – on his successful indie act, Locust Fudge, and a developing career as a VJ on German TV. Initially he indulged himself in the extremities of sound that electronica opened up to him, but slowly he began to integrate his indie roots into the songs, resulting in 2002’s Zoomer, a masterpiece of what was dubbed “indietronica”, packed with off-kilter pop nous – “Frogtoise”, inspired by animal surgery experiments carried out in Dresselhaus’ dreams; “Reality Check”, a brilliantly subliminal protest song – and sonic exploration that he dubbed “chemical listening”.
Skoda Mluvit sees him combine all the different elements of his musical interest to even greater effect. But it’s not just about how he recorded, or what he recorded with, so much as why he recorded, that lies at the heart of Skoda Mluvit’s genius. Following the release of Zoomer, Schneider TM – accompanied by his trusty cohorts in the Schneider TM Experience, KPT.Michi.Gan and Mek O’Baam – made his way around the world. They criss-crossed across the whole of Europe, taking in unusual dates on a Goethe-Institut sponsored tour through southern and eastern Europe; they traversed America, including a lengthy tour with The Faint and Les Savy Fav; they performed in Japan; they played in Brazil. They broke down at midday in non-air conditioned vans in the desert whilst tripping. They stayed up all night so as not to waste money on feculent hotel rooms. And they partied hard. This had its upside, like the night their van was broken into, something far more bearable under the soothing effects of ecstasy. But it had its downside. The downside was that it had to end. And when it did they were incapable of dealing with the sudden stillness. And that, says Dresselhaus, is when things started going wrong.
What happened is irrelevant. As Schneider’s Czech grandmother would say, “Skoda mluvit”, her way of dismissing a painful but tired subject. “It’s not worth mentioning”, it means, “move on.” The phrase became a motto as Schneider struggled to deal with the stuff that was going on in his life – standard post-tour tedium, relationship problems, a bad motorcycle accident - and he used the music as “a kind of voodoo”, he laughs. It clearly worked, given his good humour now the album is completed.
Life on the road had exposed to him to so many new things that he has no idea where Skoda Mluvit came from, so if you ask him what his influences were he’ll shrug. He stated that Zoomer had been influenced by old soul records, especially Shuggie Otis’ Information Inspiration. Skoda Mluvit, though, is the result of exploring even further the roots of music with which he had fallen in love. Especially evident is a love of dub and afrobeat, but as Schneider says, “I had no intentions – it just came from inside. But you never forget your roots. And,” he adds, “apart from Panasonic I don’t listen to electronic music at all.”
For the first time he wrote lyrics before he wrote music, articulating things that he had to get out his system. That might be hard to believe when you hear a song like “Caplets”, which riffs on the Instructions For Use from a packet of Aspirin, or the shroom-inspired madness of “Pac Man / Shopping Cart”, but there’s a magic to the lyrics, a logic in the nonsense. “To be honest,” Schneider explains, “their real meaning often lies between the lines.” He started to obsess over the sound of wood, purchasing, amongst other things, a Ghanian Bellafon, and then became increasingly fascinated by the noises he could make with the everyday objects that he found around him. Rather than sample and process them, however, he simply integrated these as he heard them, like trousers being rubbed to make the sound of a shaker. At other times he allowed unscheduled interruptions to remain part of the mix – the telephone ringing during “The Blacksmith”, for example, was completely unplanned.
Schneider tried to maintain a sense of childish innocence throughout the recording, and much of the album is made up of first takes. “I tried to keep it minimal,” he explains, “ to find the essence of the music, and to find a balance in the chaos.” But whilst the music emerged from a bleak time in his life, that post-Zoomer comedown, he didn’t want it to sound morose. Like the album’s artwork, a simple beauty emerges from a sombre background. “It’s dark,” he believes, “but it’s delivered in a light hearted fashion. It’s not intellectual. But it is spiritual.”
A number of guests grace the album: Edith Kuss, the grandmother who inspired the album’s title, is charmingly integrated into the title track; Max Turner, the Berlin based poet and rapper joins her on the title track and also steps up on “The Blacksmith”, whilst cellist Hildur Gudnadottir (who has previously collaborated with Icelandic act Múm and Panasonic’s Ilpo Vaisanen) plays a valuable role on a number of tracks. Plus, of course, regular collaborator KPT.Michi.Gan plays a vital part on tunes like the hypnotic opener “More Time”, which employs mathematical tricks in much the same way as My Bloody Valentine’s “Feed Me With Your Kiss” as it rushes to its final, inevitable conclusion.
“It’s indie rock ragga,” Schneider jokes of the finished album. Like everything on Skoda Mluvit, that concept is much easier to embrace than you might think." [source]
Artist: Alex Gopher Album: Alex Gopher Label: Go 4 Music Release date: 26 February 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Indie Rock/Electro RockTracklisting: 01. Out Of The Inside 02. Brain Leech 03. Nasty Wish 04. Isn't It Nice 05. Boulder Colorado 06. Carmilla 07. The Game 08. Song For Paul 09. 5000 Moons 10. Go! 11. The White Lane 12. Brain Leech [alternate version] Total running time: 41' 05" [Alex Gopher - Carmilla - Video Clip] [Alex Gopher - The Game - Video Clip]
"Reviews of genre defying releases are often more interesting than the records themselves turn out to be, particularly the dreaded dance / indie hybrid, but ladies and gentlemen: I give you Alex Gopher.
Alex Gopher’s contribution to French musical pedigree (encompassing Nouvelle Vague, Etienne De Crécy and Air) has been long overdue an album showcasing what varied and interesting music he has been producing since 1985. The DJ / producer has drawn on his past releases and once again upped the ante to deliver, finally, an album to answer the question increasingly thrown up by today’s turgid guitar-weary scene: Where next? And whilst this intriguing record doesn’t slap you round the face in showing the way, its novel Gallic eccentricities creep up on you in a most satisfying way.
Meandering through a maze of house beats, lazy vocals and choppy riffs, the influences are obvious, but well picked and skilfully employed - Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here simmers just below the surface of "The White Lane" and a perfectly executed Peter Hook bassline has been nicked for the obvious single "Brain Leech".
The delicate "Nasty Wish" shows up the aforementioned Air connection, with its clean guitars and breezy optimism, and "Carmilla" see Gopher clear the hurdle that Bloc Party have recently fallen at, in producing a convincing marriage of spiky new wave guitars and dance beats.
It’s the slow building "5000 Moons", though, which really highlights the range of styles that Gopher delves into, beginning as a lo-fi groove and steadily transforming into a production skills tour de force.
Firmly refusing to be a just a French house record and at the same time challenging today’s indie chancers, Alex Gopher has produced an album more exciting than the safeness of an Air release, but still with more warmth than Hot Chip’s mechanical soullessness. Forget Nu Rave, this is where dance music is headed… and guitar music for that matter, too." [source]
Artist: Patrick Album: The Magic Position Label: Loog Records Release date: 26 February 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Indie Rock/Electro RockTracklisting: 01. Overture 02. The Magic Position 03. Accident & Emergency 04. The Bluebell 05. Bluebells 06. Magpie 07. The Kiss 08. Augustine 09. Secret Garden 10. Get Lost 11. Enchanted 12. The Stars 13. Finale Total running time: 40' 40" [Patrick Wolf - Accident & Emergency - Video Clip]
"The essence of Patrick Wolf is captured for a fleeting moment during “Accident & Emergency.” Amidst the lolloping electronic beats, dancefloor anthemics, stereoscoping brass, and dramatis-personae vocals, there’s a moment of vulnerability as he tones down the delivery from preening disco-queen to lost child for the words “what happens when you lose everything?” It’s subsumed within the space of a breath though, and he returns to cocksure strength with the words “you just carry on and with a grin, sing!”—but there was just enough to catch a glimpse. Beneath the drama and colour, real human emotion; each heightens the other.
After “Overture” settles into the thump of the title track, Patrick announces that he's found the major key. It’s a literal change as much as it is metaphorical: after five years of writing almost exclusively in the minor key, after two albums of music by turns dissonant, austere, beautiful, and strange, his songs have opened up to reveal blue skies, love affairs, a place to call home, and near-endless possibilities.
It would be easy to explain The Magic Position as Patrick going pop, but things in his lycanthrope world are never quite that simple. Far from being a compromised plea for popular success, Wolf’s third album is no less driven by his enormous personality and musicality than either his 2003 debut, Lycanthropy, or 2005’s Wind in the Wires; it’s just that his personality is brighter, happier, and more communicative now.
Not that his third album makes a leap away from previous work. “The Libertine” and “Tristan,” from Wind in the Wires, hinted at an awesome potential in Patrick’s range and measure for full-on pop, a potential realized as fully as you could hope at least three times on The Magic Position: in the joyous handclaps of the title track; in last year’s slept-on electropop single “Accident & Emergency”; and in the romping escape-fantasy “(Let’s Go) Get Lost,” which climaxes with romantic defiance atop a mess of horns.
Book-ended by the pop pillars of “Accident & Emergency” and “(Let’s Go) Get Lost,” though, is a midsection of songs as beautiful and idiosyncratic as any in his catalogue; starting with the brief, prescient snippet of “The Bluebell” and finishing with the scant, ebbing violin noise of “Secret Garden.” Within this heart of the album, “The Bluebell” takes the idea from its brief sister-song and extends, realizes, and breathes depth and solidity into it. Marianne Faithful attempts to out-emote Patrick on “Magpie,” drama threatening to be cliché were the melody not so strong and arrangement not so oddly minimal and mechanically disconsolate. “…Get Lost” then moves into the brief, piano-led romantic sojourn of “Enchanted,” like a remembrance of Lambchop’s Is a Woman sans melancholy, before “The Stars” relishes in the beauty of the night sky and familial warmth, ushering us gently to close.
The Magic Position is a wild and beautiful ride. There are fireworks, electronics, trumpets, dissonant squalls, ukuleles, femme fatales, pianos, orchestras, beats, and escaping lovers. Above all there is Patrick Wolf: 6'4", shocking red hair, twenty-three years young, beautiful, unique, and a genius." [source]
Artist: Of Montreal Album: Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Label: Polyvinyl Release date: 23 January 2007 Genre: Rock Style: Indie Rock/Electro RockTracklisting: 01. Suffer For Fashion 02. Sink The Seine 03. Cato As A Pun 04. Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse 05. Gronlandic Edit 06. A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger 07. The Past Is A Grotesque Animal 08. Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider 09. Faberge Falls For Shuggie 10. Labyrinthian Pomp 11. She's A Rejector 12. We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling Total running time: 51' 14" [Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse - Video Clip]
"Kevin Barnes, the songwriter behind Of Montreal, would be the first to admit that he thinks too much. “I fell in love with the first cute girl that I met,” he sings like a pop songwriter. But then he adds, “who could appreciate Georges Bataille,” the morbidly erotic writer who once declared, “To become delightful happiness must be tainted with poison.”
Of Montreal arrived in the 1990s as part of the Elephant 6 collective of psychedelia-loving pop experimenters in Georgia. Over the last decade Of Montreal has been a band and a one-man studio concoction, and Mr. Barnes has revealed himself not as a whimsical hippie, but as a character grappling with doubt and despondency. He moved with his wife and child to Norway in 2004, and “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” is a chronicle of isolation, bitter lovers’ quarrels and borderline breakdowns: “Daytime I’m so absent-minded, nighttime meeting new anxieties/So am I erasing myself?,” he sings in “Gronlandic Edit.”
This time Of Montreal’s music revolves around a staple of loners in studios: synthesizers, used mostly for synth-pop that looks back to the 1970s and 1980s but is warped with shifty structures and skipped beats that could trip up unwary dancers. The album’s centerpiece is the 12-minute “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal,” pulsating steadily in a spiral of self-laceration. Manic pop and depressive revelations have rarely been so closely bonded." [source]
Artist: DFA Album: The DFA Remixes: Chapter One Label: DFA Release date: 27 March 2006 Genre: Electronic Style: Dance Punk/Electro RockTracklisting: 01. Deceptacon [original by Le Tigre] 02. Mars Arizona [original by Blues Explosion] 03. The Boxer [original by The Chemical Brothers] 04. Another Excuse [original by Soulwax] 05. Dance To The Underground [original by Radio 4] 06. Emerge [original by Fischerspooner] 07. Dare [original by Gorillaz] 08. Orange Alert [original by Metro Area] 09. (Just Like We) Breakdown [original by Hot Chip] Total running time: 74' 21""Storming their record collection like a cow-belled behemoth, DFA have been pumping out remixes for years - garnering praise on both the headphones and the dancefloor through their spittal-flecked missives. Bringing them all together under one disco-balled roof, 'The DFA Remixes' sees old favourites like Le Tigre's 'Deceptacon' and Fischerspooner's 'Emerge' rubbing shoulders with bright young things Hot Chip and pork-life superstars Gorillaz. As tends to be the case with any such enterprise, there is a disparity here between the best and the worst on show - with 'Deceptacon' still gunning along in a blaze of electroclash fury, whilst Radio 4's 'Dance To The Underground' is an electro-by-numbers jaunt around The Juan Maclean territory. Elsewhere, Shaun Ryder is gradually submerged in a fizzing vat of staccato for 'Dare', Hot-Chip are given a lick of Morodor for an 80's revision that doesn't rely on Hall & Oates, whilst the Blues Explosion's 'Mars Arizona' is ten-tonne of humid, punk-funk goodness. Available as both a nine-track CD and double heavy-weight vinyl (Gorillaz, Radio 4, Le Tigre, Metro Area and Blues Explosion scarring the plates), 'The DFA Remixes' more than warrants it's existence and provides the perfect record for your outdoor Summer barbeques. If winter ever f*cks off that is..." [source]
[Download.Buy] Artist: DFA Album: The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two Label: DFA Release date: 3 October 2006 Genre: Electronic Style: Dance Punk/Electro RockTracklisting: 01. Far From Home [original by Tiga] 02. Shake Your Coconuts [original by Junior Senior] 03. She Wants To Move [original by N*E*R*D] 04. Colours [original by Hot Chip] 05. Hand That Feeds [original by Nine Inch Nails] 06. Slide In [original by Goldfrapp] 07. Destination Overdrive [original by Chromeo] 08. In A State [original by UNKLE] Total running time: 71' 48""Roaming into view with their cow-bells exposed, the DFA lads are back with another compendium of remixes culled from their extensive catalogue - with 'Chapter Two' including work for Tiga, Junior Senior, UNKLE, Goldfrapp, Hot Chip and N.E.R.D. Whilst the first chapter had a clear lineage from their days producing the likes of Radio 4, this follow up sees James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy erring away from their regimented herks and jerks in favour of a looser sound that gives overt nods to Chic, Can and Talking Heads. Often sensing a core sound that you overlook on first listen, The DFA are bona fide masters at teasing threads from an original composition and running with it - a situation that becomes apparent on the opening 'Far From Home' by Tiga. Whilst the original was a high-camp disco monster that sauntered along with an electro wink, this version sees DFA morphing it into a synth addled epic that has an almost religious overtone in it's organ drone finale. Similarly, Goldfrapp's 'Slide In' is a morphed into a 13 minute marathon that sees Tim and James pulling out all the rhythmical stops with a mix that teases the luscious strings and swooping vocals of the chorus with a barrage of (you guessed it!) cow bells and liquid bass. Elsewhere, UNKLE's 'In A State' is given the bite it desperately needed first time round, Junior Senior's day-glo pop is re-established as taut post-punk, whilst Chromeo's 'Destination Overdrive' could have your eye out with its fizzing electro undertow." [source]
Artist: To My Boy Album: I Am Xray [Single] Label: XL Recordings Release date: 11 September 2006 Genre: Rock Style: Electro Rock/Post PunkTracklisting: 01. I Am Xray 02. Outerregions Total running time: 4' 32" Artist: To My Boy Album: The Grid [Single] Label: XL Recordings Release date: 13 November 2006 Genre: Rock Style: Electro Rock/Post PunkTracklisting: 01. The Grid 02. Mono Total running time: 4' 35" [To My Boy - I Am Xray - Video Clip] [To My Boy - The Grid - Video Clip]
"After the release of the brilliant debut single ‘I Am Xray’ in September, recognition of electro-duo To My Boy is quickly gathering pace. Having seemingly appeared over night, you may not yet have experienced the stop-start-jitter-electronica mayhem that is the afore mentioned single, and as such you are missing out on a real treat.
“It’s a love song. The thrilling nature of being able to understand the inner-workings of someone/something…” they say. So, let’s try and unravel the mystery and pin down these hyper active purveyors of Clor-tinged brilliance.
What’s their story? “We started as a 4 piece in Durham a couple of years ago. Jack was recording demos of new songs using a drum machine and the sounds were a lot more exciting than the music we were making live - so we got rid of the drummer and bass player. We signed to Abeano/XL, released ‘I Am Xray’, and here we are.”
Hailing from Durham, it is perhaps not overly tricky to imagine why starting a band might be an attractive option i.e. because there’s not much else to do (no offence to any Durham descendents), however, the truth is at least a bit more interesting than that; “We wanted something that was really easy to set up and play the house parties we were putting on - and write hopelessly romantic songs about exciting things and human experiences in an unusually scientific way.”
‘Unusually scientific’ seems to sum up the band in fitting fashion, and it seems to be a credos that is garnering positive attention up and down the country: “We’ve been going down really well in most places. People in Liverpool find it hard to deal with the fact we don't use live drums though.”
The public seem to be enjoying them, but are they enjoying the rigmaroles of touring? Thrown any electronic devices out of windows yet? Snorted pharmaceuticals from a hookers thigh? “Its great! We're enjoying getting a sense of the country. We went swimming in Hull - and to the transport museum in Coventry...we enjoy leisure. Jack drives us round on tour so he can’t drink that often but we're hoping to sort that out soon.”
Nevermind then, besides, museum chic is the new rock’n’roll don’t you know. So, what are the influences behind this existential racket? “We take inspiration from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Morrissey, the Professor and the beautiful machine and Ed Banger Records.” Quite a diverse mix there, which is understandable bearing in mind they sound like all of the above thrown into a blender to produce their weirdly wonderful sound, which however is not lacking in pop sensibilities.
What of the future? “Successfully fuse the crazy avant-garde with pure pop and make a classic album, which we’ll be recording in December.” It looks like To My Boy could well be robot-dancing into your consciousness very soon. Do the Crouch people, you know it makes sense." [source]
Artist: Xiu Xiu Album: The Air Force Label: 5RC Release date: 11 September 2006 Genre: Rock Style: Electro Rock/Experimental RockTracklisting: 01. Buzz Saw 02. Boy Soprano 03. Hello From Eau Claire 04. Vulture Piano 05. PJ In The Streets... 06. Bishop, CA 07. Saint Pedro Glue Stick 08. The Pineapple Vs. The Watermelon 09. Save Me Save Me 10. The Fox & The Rabbit 11. Wig Master Total running time: 34' 38" [Xiu Xiu - Boy Soprano - Video Clip]
"Xiu Xiu are one of those acts it’s almost impossible to pigeonhole, just as you decide you can label them as one thing, the next track takes their sound into another place altogether. I suppose it makes sense then that they’ve ended up as part of the Kill Rock Stars/5 Rue Christine family, and this latest record sees the band (fronted by Jamie Stewart) joined by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier on production duties (which makes perfect sense really when you think about it…). His multi-instrumental eclecticism paired with Xiu Xiu’s uncompromising odd-pop styles creates the sort of noise it’s simply impossible to ignore – you either love it or hate it, as they say. There are distinct similarities between Xiu Xiu and fellow American surrealists The Fiery Furnaces, both bands seem quite willing to ignore the callings of mainstream indie music and continue to make peculiar fractured songs, showing signs of pop success while never wholeheartedly embracing it, a concept never more evident than on ‘The Air Force’. For a start the album is markedly less ‘instant’ than it’s critically acclaimed predecessor ‘La Foret’, which seemed to take the Pitchfork-reading world by storm on its release. ‘The Air Force’ instead harks back to their earlier album ‘Fabulous Muscles’ with it’s lo-fi electroid style with flashes of the absurd, but injects this sound with an added bite and a little bit more risk. The lyrical content for a start is somewhat inspired, with guttural hymns dealing with sex, suicide and feminism just for starters – as you can probably tell it’s not exactly an easy ride. Xiu Xiu aren’t a band everyone will find it easy to get into, but then they were never supposed to be and the world needs it’s outsiders – without Xiu Xiu, the indie scene would be frankly a lot duller. Spannered, and all the better for it." [source]
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