Anti
Though he's the producer of some of the most successful mainstreamalbums ever, Daniel Lanois' own music has been decidedly left ofcenter. On previous albums, he's made otherworldly sounds escape fromthe speakers, dancing and 
Save grooving on occasion with the needs of thehuman condition. As a producer, Lanois has always succeeded in bringingacross the best in any artist. On this, his first album for Epitaph'sAnti label, he finally succeeds in bringing out the best in himself. Itseems independent music is becoming more like independent film in thesense that the directors who make edgy films that garner notice but notan audience start making lower cost, artistic fare. Lanois, one of thekeynote speakers at SXSW this year, is the perfect front runner for asimilar movement for producer/musicians, and this album is a goodstart. The first two tracks, "I Love You," and "Falling at Your Feet,"are pure love, pure need, pure beauty. They feature Emmylou Harris andBono, respectively, so they are also the more mainstream songs on thealbum. This is perfect Lanois formula material: write the musicyourself, sing most of it, but bring in the heavy hitters to nail it tothe wall and make it art. After these two tracks, though, Lanois isleft to his own devices, where he's showed promise before but couldnever soar. Soar he does, and it's mostly due to the band. He has theright players in Daryl Johnson, Brian Blade, and Malcolm Burn, and hisvoice has never sounded so grounded and earthy. On the title track,"Sometimes," and "Slow Giving," he sounds like a minstrel with all hisdreams intact and the experience of the ages. The instrumentals showoff the musicianship that we're used to from his soundtrack work andguest work on other artists' albums, but there is a cohesion that wasonly hinted at before. The album is a real success for Lanois, andhopefully he can finally find the audience he deserves.
Though he's the producer of some of the most successful mainstreamalbums ever, Daniel Lanois' own music has been decidedly left ofcenter. On previous albums, he's made otherworldly sounds escape fromthe speakers, dancing and Save grooving on occasion with the needs of thehuman condition. As a producer, Lanois has always succeeded in bringingacross the best in any artist. On this, his first album for Epitaph'sAnti label, he finally succeeds in bringing out the best in himself. Itseems independent music is becoming more like independent film in thesense that the directors who make edgy films that garner notice but notan audience start making lower cost, artistic fare. Lanois, one of thekeynote speakers at SXSW this year, is the perfect front runner for asimilar movement for producer/musicians, and this album is a goodstart. The first two tracks, "I Love You," and "Falling at Your Feet,"are pure love, pure need, pure beauty. They feature Emmylou Harris andBono, respectively, so they are also the more mainstream songs on thealbum. This is perfect Lanois formula material: write the musicyourself, sing most of it, but bring in the heavy hitters to nail it tothe wall and make it art. After these two tracks, though, Lanois isleft to his own devices, where he's showed promise before but couldnever soar. Soar he does, and it's mostly due to the band. He has theright players in Daryl Johnson, Brian Blade, and Malcolm Burn, and hisvoice has never sounded so grounded and earthy. On the title track,"Sometimes," and "Slow Giving," he sounds like a minstrel with all hisdreams intact and the experience of the ages. The instrumentals showoff the musicianship that we're used to from his soundtrack work andguest work on other artists' albums, but there is a cohesion that wasonly hinted at before. The album is a real success for Lanois, andhopefully he can finally find the audience he deserves. 
San Francisco skateboarding legend and multi-instrumentalist (how'sthat for a resume?) Tommy Guerrero's latest full length disc is a coolblend of latin-jazz and funk grooves with a DJ culture type of feelwhile showcasing his solid guitar playing and knack for composing andarranging. Building on laid-back breakbeat samples, tracks such as"Organism," "It Gets Heavy," and "Thin Brown Layer," fatten up withelectric bass, the odd keyboard and multi-tracked guitars to providesome great riffs and underplayed soloing which give off an impressionof a controlled jam session that doesn't stray much from the intendedgroove. The gentle bossa nova feel of "Thank You MK" lays thegroundwork for bright sounding bass and warm sounding, jazzy guitars toprovide some simple yet beautiful chord progressions that in theoverall setting come across as being very meaningful. Less isdefinitely more. The more traditional latin rhythms and instruments of"Lost Unfound" cement the tune's groove for syncopated bass lines andchoppy guitar to move through minor sounding changes that subtly buildtension throughout repetition. Although Guerrero has a couple of guestdrummers and vocalists (most notably Lyrics Born), he plays all theinstruments throughout the disc's seventeen tracks; very convincingly. 
With the electronic music explosion of the 90s came a growth ofinterest in older electronic music and therefore an opportunity formore CDs of that material to be published. Sometimes these CDs make forgood listening but when not they still often make valuable referenceworks, documents of techniques and their pioneers and occasionallybrilliant time-capsules of a lost zeitgeist when making experimentalmusic was actually progressive. Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973is firmly in the reference section, with works from six composers whoworked in that studio over the years. Bülent Arel's "Postlude from'Music for a Sacred Service,'" is an avalanche of bleepy sounds withsuch an old-fashioned space-age sound that it reminds me a bit ofLaika. It could have been used theme tune on a weekly radio sciencemagazine program. Charles Dodge's "The Earth's Magnetic Field,"originally released on a Nonesuch LP with a fabulous cover photo, haslong been considered a computer music landmark but I do wonder ifanyone enjoys listening to it. It is based on a single-line melody thatfor musical purposes is essentially random and Dodge rendered it in1971 using computer synthesis. As a technical experiment it representsa big step forwards but today it sounds like random data being sent toa ragged old monophonic midi synth. Îlhan Mimaroglu's elegiac "PreludeNo. 8 (To the memory of Edgar Varèse)," assembled out of the sounds ofa harpsichord and a celeste, appropriately has a genuinely uneasy andunresolved tension. Inspired by Ussachevsky and early minimalism,Ingram Marshall based his "Cortez," on the tragic poem of the same nameby Snee McCaig. Much to my surprise it is the high point of the CD. Inthe middle the poem is read and the "Oh..." opening its fourth line isthe sonic source for all of the music, repeating over and over withvarious modifications. The atmosphere seems to convey the menace in theprophesy in the Aztec culture that contributed to their downfall at thehands of Hernan Cortez. The other contributions are by Daria Semegenand Alice Shields. The booklet contains much technical information thatmay be of interest to electro archeologists. 
On her last album, Caitlin Cary displayed a more folk/rock/country hybrid sound than her fans were used to. True, mostly that was due to the differences in her sound from her former band Whistkeytown: the absence of Ryan Adams' trademark wail and the switch of Cary from background to lead vocals. She also seemed to want a more roots sound than Adams did, as he went more rock and she went more folk after Whiskeytown's demise. She wasn't without Adams on While You Weren't Looking, though, as he appeared on the bonus disc. This time, Cary went it alone, sort of, as she and her band came off the road with some bold new songs and went right in to the studio with Chris Stamey.
This new mini-album by Asa-Chang & Junray doesn't point to a new direction for the group, but rather brilliantly confirms that the audaciously original musical experimentation heard on last year's Song Chang was far from a fluke. Percussionist Asa-Chang, tabla master U-Zhaan and programmer Hidehiko Urayama have produced another masterful album in the spirit of kidoairaku, loosely translated as "anything is possible."
Ever wonder what Black Sabbath would sound like if Ozzy and Bill Wardwere shot and killed, leaving a bereaved Tony Iommi and Geezer Butlerto play a slow dirge at their funeral while under the influence ofhorse tranquilizers? What if that sound were then passed through thedepths of hell and slowed down to last the entire day? The sound mightbegin to approximate the slow, doom-laden heaviness of Sunn O))), apair of doped-up metalheads from the Deep South. Sunn O)))'s musick isevil, neolithic metal sludge that was born out of Satan's ass. GregAnderson and Stephen O'Malley's strategy is simple: reduce heavy metalto its primal elements—guitar and bass, played slow and thick, like abarrel of syrupy magma being poured into a hole full of preschoolers.Nobody can actually play guitar this painfully slow, so Anderson andO'Malley make use of a variety of tape effects to achieve the properslow burn. Their two performances at the recent Autechre-curated AllTomorrow's Parties festival in England were certainly some of thehighlights of the event. Sunn O))) performed in Grimm robes, in frontof a huge stack of ultraloud speakers, flanked on the left and right bylive tape editors, and augmented by guest vocalists. For their firstperformance, the legendary Julian Cope joined Anderson and O'Malley toperform spoken-word poetry over the loud drones. For Sunn O)))'s secondshow, Odinist Runhild Gammelsaeter joined the proceedings, sportingsome bizarre Kiss-meets-Wotan face make-up. Runhild performed a seriesof vocal growls and ululations that focused the magickal energy of thebass and guitar rumbles and shot it out into the crowd. Sunn O)))'s newalbum title, White1, appears to be a nod to their last album Flight ofthe Behemoth, which had a completely black cover, and featured novocals and no guest appearances other than a remix collaboration withMerzbow. For this outing, Sunn O))) attempt to approximate their liveshows, with three long tracks featuring the same guest stars thatfrequently join them live. The first track, "My Wall," features SunnO)))'s trademark slow motion feedback riffs in the background, while inthe foreground Julian Cope does a terrific spoken-word bit that is bothingenius and hilarious—a long-form Odinist verse that mythologizes andcelebrates Anderson and O'Malley's transcendent wall of guitar drones.The painted up magician Runhild Gammelsaeter guests on the second track"The Gates of Ballard," a 15-minute fuzzy invocation of the sun thatgoes straight for your cerebral cortex with its mindbending drones.Amazingly, this song actually features drums, a true rarity in the SunnO))) canon. The third track, ominously entitled "A Shaving of the HornThat Speared You" is the most ambient track on the album, featuringmenacing distorted bass rumbles and randomly strummed electric guitar,together with ritualistic vocal intonations that seem to impregnateyour mind with dark thoughts. White1is Sunn O)))'s breakthrough record, effortlessly merging the minimaldroning of their early work with a host of like-minded collaborators,who push and expand their sound into their most tantalizinglyapocalyptic album yet. - 
Heavyand fluctuating drones, ponderous organic sounds, and subtle thematicshifts all add up to an album that is about as hard to describe as itis captivating. The swells of organ-like mumurs and the gentle hints of bird sounds and lilting winds on Over the Edgeshad a number of effects on me as I listened to it again and again. Atfirst the drones were too imposing—they seemed like a veil of shadowsthat hid the face of some insidious creature that might either drive meto the edges of insanity or attack me unsuspectingly. A second listenprojected images of impossibly high mountains choked at their peaks byunending snowfall and a third transported me into the nether reigons ofspace illuminated by the death and birth of stars. I've probablylistened to this album over ten times in the last seven days and itnever fails at lighting up my imagination and directing it to composeimages of vast, fantastic landscapes inhabited by perplexing andenigmatic creatures. Though much of the music is repetitous, the variedemotions and reponses it kindled in my mind never became old orunwelcome. The minimal number of sounds used gives me the oppurtunityto fill in the blanks and participate in the music as it wandersthrough the room. I could say this album is ghostly or creepy, but thatwould be oversimplifying its beauty. Andrew Chalk has composed anexcellent piece of meditative music capable of both relaxing andstimulating the mind and igniting the imagination in a flame ofunspeakable power.
The first time I heard Continental OP, the collaborative projectbetween Dave Pajo and Will Oldham, was on the label Temporary ResidenceLimited's compilation called "Sounds For The GeographicallyChallenged." I bought that record largely because of Continental OP'sappearance on it (I had been tipped off who the band members were) and,after listening to the playful but underwhelming song, regarded theproject mostly as a lark, never expecting to see the collaborativeeffort turn up again. But five years later, team Pajoldham havesurprised me by offering a collection of songs which serve as thescore/soundtrack for an independent short film called "Slitch." Onceagain, the project seems like a lark, as if the two were doing thefilmmaker Dianne Bellino a nice favor, producing a little chestnut:nothing as fancy or remarkable as the Dashiell Hammett character theband's name references. There are springy melodic tracks ("Faster"),Misfits punk rock approximations ("James Tired"), and simplistic songswith second-grade-music-class-instrument accoutrements ("Glock"). Themost resonant song is "La La La," an infectious Free Design inspiredharmony line which I found myself humming throughout the day. All ofthese sort of limp ahead clumsily with no signature sound contributedby either Pajo or Oldham and without any real direction, which bringsus to the film itself. On the flip side of the DVD is Dianne Bellino'sshort film "Slitch." The word "slitch" is an amalgam of "slut" and"bitch," and it is the appellation which the protagonist's bitter oldersisters assign to her because she is distracted in her behavior, aloofin her interactions, and (according to the sisters) often carefreeabout her sexual encounters. At our first glimpse of Slitch, she islying in the grass of some wooded parkland, having ostensibly justslept with the man next to her. She arises with a noticeable glint inher eyes, retrieves her underwear from the shrubbery, and is off. Thefocal point of the film is Slitch's interactions with the local surferdude, played fondly by Will Oldham. Oldham's surfer is as oblivious toSlitch's sexual advancements as she is heavy-handed in their delivery.He just wants to watch surfing videos and surf, while she just wants tohave sex. At one point they compromise and have ice cream. Besidesobserving Oldham, which is always fun, I was delightfully distractedfrom the film by trying to determine if the beach where Bellino filmedwas the same Rhode Island beach where I had spent a Fourth of July onceand a pal of mine had lost his car keys in the sand (they were latermiraculously found in a last ditch effort, but not before I had lenthim $40 to have a new key made. We are both still uncertain if that $40was ever recouped by me). Formally, the film is carefully shot andconsidered. It even has moments of looking delicate, such as Slitch'ssunsetted stroll on the beach or Slitch's silent mom grabbing a MillerHi-Life from the refrigerator, but nothing very engaging in terms ofstory or plot. The film's story is an innocuous Cinderella tale with nosense of danger or drama. Slitch's two evil sisters seem no moreoppressive than a gaggle of noisy geese, and her Prince Charming wouldrather jet off to Hawaii than bother deciphering Slitch's confusingmind state. We are asked to believe that Slitch has an alarming needfor sex, but we never really see this. She does not habituallymasturbate; there are no erotic posters of Corey Haim on her walls; andshe seems able to occupy herself with placid walks on the beach at duskwhile listening to her walkman. Sex seems almost as a healthy avocationto her, not a destructive obsession. The evil sisters ought to relaxtheir criticism of Slitch and take a moment between moustache waxes tograb a beer with mom. 
With the undeniable hit that the Kings of Convenience Remixesalbum became, it's unsurprising that the next move from singer ErlendØye was to continue on the electronic music path, employing theservices of many, leaving the acoustic guitar tunesmith days to liedormant. Unrest features ten songs, each with a differentelectronic music collaborator, each taking place in a different city.The concept is appealing for those who found some of thereconstructions and reworkings a spectacular accomplishment, as theinfluences of outside collaborators and remixers had a marvelouseffect. Without the tinkling guitars and folky vocals serving the basisfor the tunes, the truly unique identity is somewhat lost. While thesongs are somewhat catchy, like the fast-talking (almost rapping)"Prego Amore" with Jolly Music, the opener "Ghost Trains" with MorganGeist of New York and the discoey beats of "Sudden Rush" with Kompis,this album could honestly be another drop in the bucket in the trend ofnew techno pop, popularized by Morr related artists, The PostalService, and others. The most exciting direction unsurprisingly comesfrom Prefuse 73, who has integrated a number of horn, vibe, and guitarsounds into the mix, but only ever subtly and not tampering with theelectronic bass sound that drives the rest of the music. For the restof the record, it's a lot of tired drum machine sounds, sparseinstrumentation, and unchallenging vocals.
Via Tania is the project of ex-Spdfgh bassist/vocalist and Australian nativeTania Bowers in a very relaxed, groove-oriented setting as asinger/songwriter. Those familiar with the musical happenings in the Chicagoscene over the last few years may recognize her from adding guest vocals ondiscs by various artists. On her six-song debut solo EP, engineered by acesoundman Casey Rice (Designer), Dream Of... brings in some very coolinstrumental backing from Tortoise/Isotope 217 members John Herndon on drumsand Jeff Parker on guitar, and also enlists Scott Herren (Prefuse 73, Savath+ Savalas) and While to provide a couple of remixes. The three minute, verylaid back "Little China" showcases Bowers beautiful voice, which arrives attimes very delicately, over solid bass, soft drums, and full, jazzy guitarchords. "Fighter" opens with a series of distant guitar overdubs which statethe chord progressions and melody, only to gradually fade out and introduceupright bass and brushed drums and sultry vocals which carry the tune."Mosquito Lights" is a haunting ballad comprised of dark, thick and minorsounding piano chord progressions and multi-tracked vocals which appear tosing of loss. The breathy vocals and overall vibe of the track "UniverseCity" come through twice on the EP; the second time as a remix by While.This version, the longest track on the disc at just under six minutes, isanchored by a very low-end sliding synth bass line, mechanical percussionand sampled woodwinds which give it a real heavy chill-out vibe. Running atjust over twenty-five minutes, this EP makes for a great introduction forBowers' blend of laid back pop, her full-length disc Under A DifferentSky and also as an artist to watch for.
