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- Säkökvartetti - Kaukana Väijyy Ystäviä
- Blues Section - Shivers of Pleasure
- The Sperm - 3rd Erection
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- Steve Smith
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- Steve Smith
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The next wave of laptop musicians appear to be providing a little more of the human element in their work by taking their faces from the blue glow of their displays and putting them in front of a microphone. Not only does this literally breathe new life into the genre, but also makes for the possibility of more interesting live performances. As Clue to Kalo, Australian laptop artist/producer Mark Mitchell blends his vocal and other musical abilities with his programming skills to give an hour's worth of complex electronic-pop compositions over the ten tracks on Come Here When You Sleepwalk.Mush
The pleasant upper register bass playing of "Empty Save the Oxygen" is combined with keyboards, machine rhythms and assorted pops and clicks. Mitchell's restrained and winding vocals deliver such lines as "I'd like to love you / But I'd like a lot of things," which pretty well sets the lyrical tone. "We'll Live Free (in NYC)" mixes up soul bass, broken-up funky drum samples, Rhodes piano and electronic elements with long vocal tones and samples to build up and morph into what sounds like its own re-mix by the tune's end. The eleven minute "Still We Felt Bulletproof" opens with some neat Wurlitzer playing and prominent vocals, again gradually building to a controlled pop chaos with patches of squelchy keyboard sounds, the splintered swing of a drum machine and walking electric bass line. On Come Here, Mitchell's creative songwriting, vocals and ideas appear to be very musical, strong and cleverly orchestrated. Although more of a laptop disc, at times there is an overabundance of electronic decorations on the more pop-oriented tunes where it feels drawn out as to make sure that no module goes unused. When the tunes are settled, they sound and feel nice. 
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A growing number of new bands are embracing the characteristics and conventions of heavy metal in their quest for tense, dramatic post-rock instrumentalism. Pelican are a new instrumental group from Chicago, and this untitled EP on Hydra Head is their first release. The EP is quite promising, filled to the brim with big, crunchy heroic power chords and melodic riffs. The sound is not far from bands such as Explosions in the Sky or The Fucking Champs, but without all of the slow-burn atmospheric filler.Hydra Head
Even in the midst of their fuzzed-out doom metal noisiness, they are controlled and precise players, comparable to Godspeed You Black Emperor when they drop that boring ambient crawl and decide to rock out. The liner notes include a kind of manifesto thing about playing at high volumes, so I made sure to crank the volume to eleven when listening. The first track, "Mammoth" is an apt introduction, with a dark and compelling melody that repeats as layers of feedback-heavy guitars and rumbling bass are added. Pelican strongly push the treble and the sub in their music. Things heat up with the second track, "Pulse," where the powerful, propulsive rhythm section shines in this heavy-as-hell, riff-based metal song with a gargantuan sound. I don't know why track three is called "Forecast for Today," because it should be called "Victory March." It's a classically heroic slab of deep, epic metal, like the Master of Puppets-era Metallica everybody secretly still loves. This is an amazing track. In fact, each song on this four-track EP seems to up the intensity from the last. Pelican must have rolled a big fatty before recording the last track, the 13-minute "The Woods," their take on the stoner rock haziness of Kyuss and Sleep. Guiding the listener through several nebulous tempo and chord changes signalled by squealing feedback and rumbling bass, this track meanders around for a while before settling on a loud, noisy tribute to the god of war. The track ends with a cavernous sturm und drang, and all of the instruments fall out of sync and fade into oblivion. This EP is an excellent first release that manages to have the impact of a full-length album and I can't wait to hear what's next for Pelican.
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- Michael Patrick Brady
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