- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](/../../../../brain/images/paikorsonfader.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://brainwashed.combrain/images/subarachnoidrising.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
"They bestride the Earth." John Peel said that once on his old BBC World Service show to introduce a Fall song and as a vague reference to how he would often stretch his own programming rules in their case. I feel the same way about Mika Vainio. Unfair preferential treatment is in order and a new release must be celebrated. Vainio's recorded works have been in the areas of techno (as √ò, Philus), installations (Onko), out electro-rock (Pan Sonic and Endless), and finally soundscapes, which is where In The Land belongs together with Kajo and Ydin. In this context and that of nineties and naughties electronica, In The Land is hardly radical but it is exceptional.
Vanio's work has a quality and coloring that is uniquely seductive and the finesse with which he applies his personal voice to a variety of tasks sets him apart. For example, the very short opener 'Sunder Here, Sailor' is a vicious attack of animal and machine noise that, without diminishing its power, has a watery metallic sheen that makes the meaning ambiguous and defies to be labeled as noise. Throughout the album Vainio combines familiar material with the alien, and friendly production with the downright disconcerting so as to keep both the soundtrack to the imagined movie dynamic and its narrative interesting. The only lulling you'll find here is temporary. But ultimately what overwhelms is the music's sheer melancholic beauty. 'The Colour of Plants', of plain and simple construction, just a handful of throbbing drones and pure tones, sings of the deep yearning for and impossibility of transcending our deadening corporeality. 'Snowblind' returns to a favorite resource of Vainio—amplified hum. At only six minutes long it develops a into monumental resonant chord with depth and emotion worthy of its drone music heritage (see the Charlamaine Palestine review in this edition). One more important difference between Vainio and many of his colleagues in electronic music is his commitment to what's known in the wine industry as low-yield—the notion that one cannot allow a vine to produce copious fruit without diluting the wine and that to make a concentrated wine, the vine's vigor and productivity must be either naturally or artificially curtailed. As numerous artists have demonstrated, electronic music is very easy to make and the whish-washy results of high-yield methods are abundant. In contrast, Vanio's stance seems almost defiant. -
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](/../../../../brain/images/malkmusjickspiglib.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](http://brainwashed.comcommon/images/covers/ud0104.jpg)
Read More
- Chris Lopreste
- Albums and Singles
![](/../../../../brain/images/britishchildhood.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Listening to Asa-Chang & Junray for the first time, I was immeditely and pleasantly reminded of the first time I heard Stereolab. This is not to say that the music is at all similar to Stereolab; but rather, their intuitive mix of disparate styles sounded wholly new and wonderful, as if a whole new genre was being created that held infinite possibilities. For a jaded listener, this is always a wonderful experience to have.
Asa-Chang & Junray embody the things that most adventurous music listeners are always looking for: something new, inspirational and eminently listenable. Their full-length album Song Chang, released last year, opens with "Hana," a musical statement of purpose if ever I've heard one. Beginning with a ravishing swell of orchestral strings, two electronically-treated voices are heard. Asa-Chang and Yoshimi P-We (from The Boredoms) recite Japanese phonetics "Ha...na...ha...na...da..." Suddenly, a deeply percussive tabla drum begins, with its round, thick beats beats fractured by clever laptop editing. The voices begin to be chopped and re-assembled, as they stutter and trip over the irregular beat. Shrill, supersonic sounds phase from left to right as the song plays like a brilliant collaboration between The Boredoms, Bill Laswell and Enoch Light. The experimental elements are balanced by the perfection and depth of the ethnic rhythms and the high-fidelity exotica-style production. It's playful ear candy, but with a cold, clean edge.
Asa Chang & Junray's music would be quite catchy if it were not so kaleidoscopically fractured and re-formed, like a brilliant work of Cubist art. In a similar respect to Cubism, it's never quite clear if all of the parts really fit perfectly together. However, the slightly "off" juxtapositions create a drama that illuminates portions of the music that would not normally be heard. The rest of the album continues with the formula set out by "Hana," with a set of sparer pieces each illuminating a different sound source. "Goo-Gung-Gung" is an insane two-minute bit that sounds like a traditional Japanese version of Musilmgauze's violent Middle East breaks. "Jippun" begins with traditional Japanese shakahuchi flute playing, which is quickly digitized and splattered all over the stereo channels, while an adrenalin-pumped tabla rhythm begins. It accelerates and eventually mutates into a something reminiscent of The Boredom's more recent tribal drum-circle sound. The album ends with "Kutsu," a simple short trumpet improvisation played over a randomly shaken taiko beat. Song Chang is a terrific first album by one the best new talents in Japanese experimental music.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](/../../../../brain/images/numbers-death.jpg)
- GD Luxxe - Prison Life (Get Away mix)
- Stars As Eyes - I Have a Headache This Big
- Dymaxion - What is the Product?
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](/../../../../brain/images/charlemagne_palestine-schlingen_blangen.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](/../../../../brain/images/softpinkparty.jpg)
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
![](/../../../../brain/images/eliasnogames.jpg)
Read More