09 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

I turned on to Bpitch Control around the Berlin 2001 compilation, which at thetime was the only available CD release besides its counterpart, Berlin 2000, the first label sampler. The things that first drew me to the label were its punker-collective ethos,reflected in the sleeve designs and the prideful futurism and homogeneity ofpresentation, and the glistening, urban mash-up of their aesthetic, injectingseams of industrial grit, glitchist abstraction, and flashy homage to passétechno and trance classics into the sleek German electro sound.

Bpitch Control

With the electro revival in full swing at this time, thelabel seemed to ignore, eclipse, or simply swallow all else.  With trends fully-waned last year, anever-stronger Bpitch honored its 100th release with a second pair ofdefining compilations, emphasizing both the range of artists “under theirtent,” and the continuing relevance of their effortless and unnamable groupaesthetic, from darkened, seductive portrait of Berlin to crystalline global popdone over with the sexy insurgence of punk or industrial ideologies. 

BPC 101, the first Campingis a retrospective of classic Bpitch tracks from the beginning.  Obviously, at 20 tracks, essentials get leftout (one of the most noteable being TokTok and Soffy O’s out-of-printmasterstroke, “Missy Queen’s Gonna Die”), but many of the best Bpitch artistsare well-represented by some of their best tracks, starting with Kiki’s “LovSikk,” a track representative in its beautiful complication of mood.  To a thin, tin-canned bell pattern rhythm, aglossy, Night Rider throb rides thecartooned, chiming swells of a decadent house anthem.  The plasticity of these melodic surface parts,in juxtaposition with the coolly dark momentum and stiff pan-ethnic attempts ofthe rhythm track, create tickling complexities that remain subtle andinviting.  Nearly every track here begs asimilar analysis, connecting them with a pantheon of popular styles and anunbiased willingness to experiment with texture and association, all in a kindof understated support of collectivity and inspiration through contrast.

The only thing slightly aggravating about Camping is the exclusion of many fine orhard to find label tracks for a few newer or more mediocre ones.  Several tracks (Tomas Andersson, Kiki, PaulKalkbrenner) get weighted down in a bottom-heavy, numb techno obsession,feeling particularly unrepresentative of the artists and shrinking the etherealqualities of some of the label’s more seminal tracks also included.  The only complete dud, Housemeister’s “Do YouWanna Funk” inexcusably repeats a clip of Kid Rock’s Joe C engaged in banaltoasting that is so annoying I can hardly imagine its appeal even to Europeansless incensed by the Kid Rock phenomenon.

Camping 2 existsnot as an attempt to correct the small missteps or exclusions of itspredecessor; instead its an equally indispensable collection of newer,vinyl-only tracks from some of the most recent Bpitch platters, curated byEllen Allien.  The label-founder hasalways included plenty of label tracks into her mixes, and it is an especiallynice follow-up to the first Camping’s‘greatest hits’ presentation to create a vision of the label’s diverse future. 

The compilation touches extremes with several subdued b-sideremixes or left-field tracks from the likes of Mochipet, Modeselektor, andFeadz rich with elements of dubby glitch or IDM that have entered labelconsciousness more recently.  Elsewhere,newer artists like Tomas Andersson and stalwarts like Paul Kalkbrenner throwdown some of the hardest, four-to-the-floor techno the label has seen,foreshadowing the sound of the more recent batch of 12” singles, dominated byAndersson’s daunting tracks which seem just as robotic and self-generating as theyare perfectly ecstatic, button-mashing rave-ups.  Where this direction ended murky orbottom-heavy on the first Camping,here all is refined and sequenced nicely under Allien’s touch.  It's especially nice to have rarer remixes,like Miss Kitten’s of Allien's “Alles Sehen” or Kiki's of “Your Body is MyBody,” on compact disc, as well as Allien's own highlights from so many greatBpitch records, hard to find or too numerous to collect.

Samples:

• Tomas Andersson - Happy Happy
• Mochipet - Beautiful Belonious Bits
  
• Kiki - Love Sikk

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08 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

The latest album from ADULT. is a fun collection of punchy electro tracks. Gimmie Troubleis more polished than previous releases and ADULT. sound more sure ofthemselves now that they have expanded to a trio. The album stumbles alittle but could be the start of something bigger and better from them.

Thrill Jockey
 
Gimmie Trouble starts off promisingly enough, the title trackstomps along to its retro sounding drum machine as the guitar andsampler jerk about around the simple beat. Kuperus’ vocals are asmelodramatic as ever. The album continues in the same style and as thealbum goes on I found that Kuperus’ voice started to wear thin. Hereccentric pronunciations and diction were quirky at first but aftermultiple listens of the album it lost its charm. What I can't fault heron is sounding distinctive and full of conviction, something which alot of vocalists lack.

New member Samuel Consiglio provides the guitar on Gimmie Trouble.He borrows heavily from players like Rowland S. Howard and Keith Levenewithout adding anything distinctive to his licks. In fact, the meolodyin the final track “Seal Me In” sounds like it was lifted directly from“Wild World” by The Birthday Party. The post-punk chic of the guitardoes however fit in with ADULT.'s aesthetic considering all the drummachines sound like they belong to the age where you were lucky to haveany more than 8 samples in a box the size of a laptop.

ADULT. for me work best in small doses. I would gladly play a track or two off Gimmie Troubleat a DJ gig, any of the songs on this disc would get a dance floormoving. However as an album the songs are too similar to each other andthis makes listening to the album in one sitting a tedious job. Aslight bit of variation would have made this a far better album.Perhaps I’m being too critical as there are some great songs on it like“Disappoint the Youth” and “Helen Bach,” which are both first ratetracks. Gimmie Trouble is no masterpiece but the few standout tracks are worth a listen and the entire album can be boogied to very easily.

samples:

• Gimmie Trouble
• Scare up the Birds
• Disappoint the Youth

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06 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

Up until this release I've never liked Aaron Dilloway's solo material. It's always seemed a little too keen in 'going for the all out 100% sick assault' as opposed to any gradients between that and anything less than pitch black. This release sees a ditching of density in favour of a little cheap subtlety putting it up there with the best of his work with Wolf Eyes, if not amongst the best of 2005's total Noise output.

Hanson Records

His relocation to Kirtipur, Nepal (where this was recorded) during his split / break from Wolf Eyes obviously has something to do with the sample sources but it'd be impossible to say what effect this had had on his actual sound. Dilloway himself claims the release is 'cruder than usual' and it may well be made with less sophistication in terms of instrumentation and sonic building blocks but the result is outstanding. Only closer "Rotting Nepal 8" comes within the range of straightforward hurricane in your ears as the rest of the tracks delve into shortwave radio manipulations and jolting incontinent electronics. Dilloway gets hands-on with the revving up the digital dirt bike of "Rotting Nepal 4" from a steadily pulsing collection of buzzes, squeaks and clicks that loosens into a screeching chugging whine.

There seems to be a lot more control on Rotting Nepal than I've noticed previously, with some 'almost' delicate balancing of shortwave signals that are kept on the very edge of freefall distortion. The trapped rodent scream and alien growl of "Rotting Nepal 6" come together like an ugly melody and settles into what could happily pass as a Daelek beat before its overcome by distortion. "Rotting Nepal 1" is the highlight here, mixing up chopped and reverberated Nepalese speech samples and splinters of native instrumentation between subtle sandblasts of static. The piece has a rough dubby production style of handmade echoes, clicks and distorts spiked with clicks of scrambled signal. Throughout the album there are rhythmic shreds of cloudy noise throughout the album that eventually explode from their controlling valves ending in messy static. Amidst the endless conveyor built of releases this is one solo Wolf Eyes release that's really worth scrabbling about for.

samples:

• Rotting Nepal 1
• Rotting Nepal 6
• Rotting Nepal 7

 

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06 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

Matthew S. Waldron's releases are more like captured events than bits of recorded material. This may be the result of his chosen methods of construction or it may be the product of the information and systems that feed his non-philosophy. Several interviews reveal him to be a deeply passionate individual whose music serves as an (irrational) extension of his beliefs and thought processes; this is made quite clear on Perekluchenie. He unveils a wrecking ball of written, spoken, and musical dialogue both immersive and fascinating, a complete package of reflection and strange association.

Beta-Lactam Ring
 
Perekluchenie is also the most peculiar album I've heard from Waldron. Granted there are quite a few unreleased and limited edition albums floating around, but the unsettling artwork, the short play that constitutes the liner notes, the odd reference to water bears and their even stranger abilities, all coalesce into an experience that isn't unlike learning to listen for the first time. It is strange not because Waldron has upped the dada-like ante to unheard of proportions, but because the whole thing is approachable. Embedded in the deepest part of these subterranean moans and monstrous pulsations is the warm heart of a human being attempting to make some sense of history, choices, and the immortality of subjective existence. Sounds broad, maybe, and it may sound a little exaggerated, but there is no exaggeration in the depth of Waldron's considerations. Perekluchenie, if it is to be judged as music and as a statement, is clear and illuminating, full of thoughts to be chewed upon.

Part of my excitement is due, at least in part, to my background in philosophy. The liner notes, a strange play consisting of a mutated peasant and donkey-headed "dandy," detail ethical and moral considerations while outlining historical concerns and the differences between rational and compassionate choices. Between the dialogue exists a series of unbelievable events that the two actors seem intimately involved in. Their strangeness increases with each exchange until finally Waldron ends the entire scene in a bit of irony. All of this spirals into and congeals with his music. It's a dense work of vocal samples, unintelligible drones, manic guitars, and a multi-sectioned ode to a hypothetical creature that is quite real. The title track, perhaps the most removed from the rest of the album, but bearing its title, is nearly silent except for the inclusion of voices provided by Diana Rogerson, Django Stapleton, Windy Chien, and others. Its concentration on a surgically altered narrative acts as an introduction, despite its position as the second track on the album. The rest of the album seems to revolve around this piece's meditation on decay of all kinds.

As usual, Waldron's compositional style lends itself to organic comparisons and the album itself admits of many biological influences. The artwork depicts seed and pod-like creatures emerging from disfigured human and avian bodies. There is room for vaginal and phallic discussion, as well. The constantly twisting metamorphoses that constitute both "Wretched Density" and "Hypothetical Tardigrade Resurrection, Parts 4, 5, & 6" acknowledge and increase those influences to the point that it becomes necessary to regard Perekluchenie as a biological event in and of itself. That event, however, escapes classical definition and consideration, such that anyone unwilling to open themselves to the experience will simply exclaim that there's "nothing to it."

More than anything I am impressed by how focused of an album Waldron has released this time around. His music and strange approach to sound mutation has always attracted me and, in many ways, that is no different here. There are new approaches present that I had not heard before from Waldron, but it is the melding of artwork, the written word, and music that makes this release so enjoyable and engrossing. The presentation is exquisite and the execution is concise, despite being full of symbolic and literal discourse that is worth some time to think about. If, however, this all seems too much, too conceptual in its extension, then take some comfort in knowing that this record is as enjoyable as anything Irr. App. (Ext.) has released and that it can be enjoyed by itself, without the deep reflection that was put into making it.

samples:

• Perekluchenie: The Stairway to the Blue Light Subsides
• Wretched Density
• Hypothetical Tardigrade Resurrection, Parts 4, 5, & 6

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05 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

It would be easy to not give Brakes a second chance. The Englishfoursome have all the tics and tendencies that make me want to paintthem with the “British Post-Punk” brush and move along. Spiky guitars?Yep. Pissed of vocals? Check. Record released by Rough Trade?Obviously. But there's something else here that won't let me do awaywith them just yet.

Rough Trade

Give Blood can certainly be misconstrued as just another entry into thecurrent crop of British bands mining the sights and sounds of 1980spost-punk and new wave, but there’s a certain genteelness that runsthroughout, a stumbling grace that saves it. “Heard About Your Band”and “I Can’t Stand to Stand Beside You” boil with sneers and barbedhooks. But while these and several other songs dutifully serve theirpurpose as the rockers on the albums, other songs are couched in theslouchy country that groups like Silver Jews have built their careerson. More remarkable is that Brakes are capable of being comfortable ineither guise. Witness their cover of Johnny Cash’s “Jackson,” which inthe hands of pent up vocalist Eamon Hamilton and guest star Liela Moss(of the Duke Spirit) becomes a nervy hoedown.

Meanwhile, “NY Pie” is awide-eyed country jaunt that manages to be charming without beingsickening. While the band does share a member with renowned Englishgroup British Sea Power, Brakes avoids that bands tendency forself-indulgence. Some of the songs here work better then others. Songslike “Cheney” and “Pick Up the Phone” seem like piss-takes if you askme, while genre exercise “All Night Disco Party” finds a lukewarmgroove before the band collectively realize it’s a joke.

For the mostpart though, this album finds a unique niche of hyper-activity and laidback. The album feels less like a record and more like a fun weekendproject. That being said, Brakes aren’t rewriting any rules here, buttheir tasteful and sprite rock will surely find some fans somewhere.

 

samples:

• NY Pie
• Heard About Your Band
• Jackson

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05 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

Carrying the same amount of silence, space and field recordings as itdoes accessible melody, this single forty minute piece is a patchwork ofplaces and memories. This is an album that journeys through differenttimes, styles and moments in real time stopping off every once in awhile to take in the view.
Last Visible Dog

Taking sounds, samples and sections of instrumentation from differentinformal sessions and sources, choosing the most appropriate or each,and putting them together as a coherent whole is not as easy thing tomanage and often all that’s left is an obvious mishmash of elementsbetter left as individual tracks. With this piece, Rinaldi has createdan extended mood of recollections that flows between the precise(acoustic guitar, piano and violin) and the vague (drones, clicks andpeace) with an overall feeling of looseness and warmth. This abstractbed allows sections of sound to come and go in the mix like oncetangible thoughts.

It’s difficult to pinpoint Rinaldi’s exact technique because at timesit’s obvious that the music has moved somewhere else entirely and othertimes the transition is utterly seamless and it still sounds perfect;it never feels random or contrived though its obviously one of the twoat certain points. There are times when the parts flow into each otherbut more often than not there is silence and the sound of open airbetween them. It takes quite a bit of skill, nerve and sincerity tobegin an LP with the sound of birdsong, sunshine and laconic alfrescoplaying and even more to carry it off for over forty minutes.

There are peaks of beautiful loose strumming running over halfsung broken vocal lines and many unidentifiable sounds (the creaks,twitters and jangles) and even a distant, but very real, brieflyringing telephone. A plectrum scratches the notches on a guitars metalstrings as wooden floors creak under the weight of someone walking byand Birds fall silent as piano notes ring out and are given time tofade back into silence before ringing out again. Hoarse Frenzyis music and melody composed on an abstract canvas of breathing spaceand empty mornings and succeeds in making a collection of ephemeralsounds into a lasting work of real beauty.

samples:

• Hoarse Frenzy

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05 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

Showcasing two hard to find collaborative projects of the late Jhonn Balance, Griefis a beautiful and moving tribute to the man. Funereal statues shot inblack and white on both sides of the picture disc set the tone of themusic etched into its surface.

Divine Frequency
 
"Grief” sees Balance lending his voice to a stark, moody rendition of the William Hope Hodgson poem of the same name. The track originally appeared on Tactile’s album Borderlands.Hodgson’s poem sounds like something that Balance himself would write.It is heavy in symbolism and in ambience. John Everall’s musiccomplements both Balance’s voice and the text exceptionally well. Theshifting drones give the feeling of being in some strange borderland,whether it is between dimensions or between life and death I do notknow, it is both unsettling and comforting.

The other side of the single is Rosa Mundi’s interpretation of theChristmas song “The Snowman” which was originally released on The Final Solsticecompilation. Balance sings it in a much lower key compared to the morefamiliar version. Rose McDowall adds an ethereal echo to the words, hervoice is fragile and delicate next to Balance’s warm and sure tones.The song retains some of its seasonal spirit but much like “Grief” theimagery and music give a much more surreal interpretation. I imagineshimmering landscapes and Lovecraftian dream worlds more than men madeout of packed ice with carrots for noses.

It is nice to see such great and unfortunately hard to find musicgetting a reissue, especially when it’s been done so strikingly andwith obvious reverence for the material.

samples:

• Grief
• The Snowman

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05 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

I have to admit the first listen of this album left me thinking, "Whatthe hell was *that*?" With thin vocals and dreamy, disjointed lyricslaid over distorted guitar, hip-hoppy beats, and the occasional sample,this release is something Beck might do after a week or so of sleepdeprivation.
Archenemy

After a few listens, though, The Texas Governor (aka Dave Goolkasian)emerges as a quirky and intriguing listen. Standout tracks for me arethe opener "Shortwave Radio," which features distorted vocals and ahell of a beat, and "Leave Your Life Behind You," which floats along ona stream of heavy bassline punctuated by minimal percussion. Fromdistortion and feedback to soft synths and slide guitar, there are alot of very different (but all loopy) things going on here, so much sothat it's almost hard to believe the peacefully tripping "The AmazingSleeping Alarm Clock," the nursery rhyme-evoking "Think About...," andthe frantic punk song "1234," are all on the same album, much less bythe same artist. But somehow all the quirkiness works without leavingthe album feeling uneven or jarring. It's also surprising to note thatGoolkasian has managed to fit 11 tracks into just over 30 minutes. Ican think of a lot worse ways to spend half an hour than listeningto this offbeat and entertaining release.

• Shortwave Radio
• The Amazing Sleeping Alarm Clock
• Leave Your Life Behind You

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04 January 2006

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Albums and Singles

I must admit to being rather dismissive about much of the current waveof so-called "free folk," and certainly I've also been guilty ofdeclaring much of the music it has produced as being the product of aninsufferable scenesterism. However, I've also been among the first to praise the truly worthyexamples of the genre, and this new release by The One Ensemble ofDaniel Padden clearly demonstrates that amazing work continues to comeout of the new folk zeitgeist.

Brainwashed Handmade

For all of the undeniably interesting music,performance and aesthetic ingenuity that this scene has produced, ithas also spawned an equal amount of talentless opportunism andobnoxious marketing, and a surplus of overpriced limited CD-Rs and LPsfilled with senseless cacophony of questionable musical value.  Imean, how many different ways are there for a bunch of unshavedbohos to pound tunelessly on a bunch of instruments they never botheredlearning how to play, anyway?

Live at VPRO Radio was recordedlive in 2004, in a performance by the Ensemble for the famous Dutchradio station, and it's one of the most stunning live albums I've everheard, without a doubt. The performance captured in this radio sessioneasily eclipses Daniel Padden's two studio albums, and also exceeds therather high standards set by his previous work with Volcano the Bear.The seven tracks on this CD showcase a marvelously talented composerand arranger leading an ensemble of adept musicians through hisstartlingly unique sound world. Far from sounding like some slapdash,impromptu assemblage thrown together for a one-off gig, the groupsounds as if they were born to play Padden's songs, and after hearingthis album, it's hard to imagine them playing anything else as well orconvincingly.

As on his studio albums, Padden freely borrows from the '60s psychedelicfolk of groups like The Incredible String Band, along with a widevariety of disparate ethnic musics, but unlike his albums, which oftensounded jarringly eclectic, Live at VPRO Radio soundsgloriously cohesive: a triumphant spontaneous creation of a whollyidiosyncratic style of folk music. Though it is tempting to pickthrough and try to identify specific ethnic signifiers in thisbeautiful melodies created here by bouzouki, cello, guitar, viola anddrums, all of the music here feels of a piece. Under the supervision ofPadden, this group effortlessly draws upon a veritable constellation oftantalizingly familiar musical traditions—Jewish Klezmer, Gypsy,Russian and British trad-folk, etc.—but at the same time, managesnever to directly reference any of them. Many of the songs areradically reworked versions of tracks that originally appeared on2004's The Owl of Fives, but they have been retrofitted to work within the live ensemble context, and arrive much the better for these alterations.

I mentioned ISB, and while the comparison seens an appropriate one, italso fails to get across the power and ferocity of these performances,many which build to loud, celebratory climaxes, Padden enthusiasticallyegging the band on with non-verbal chanting and cajoling. Though theplayers are drawn mostly from the free folk scene, it is perhapsinaccurate to refer to this album as a work of free folk, as each songis clearly a work of composition. However, the performances capturedhere do not seem over-determined or rigidly rehearsed. On the contrary,it seems as if the group feels perfectly confident to travel outside ofthe lines of Padden's songs, and his songs provide a wonderfully loosestructure upon which subtle group dynamics and improvisatory passagescan play an important part. I can't be the only one who has oftenwondered if ensembles like Sunburned Hand of the Man or Jackie-OMotherfucker might be better and more reliable if they actually tookthe time to write some songs. There isn't a moment of wasted space ordirectionless meandering on Live at VPRO Radio, because the group can always fall back on the strong backbone of Padden's impressive songs.

Live at VPRO Radio is a gorgeous and hypnotic work that joyously trips and tumblesthrough a dark, mediaeval wonderland that exists only on an astralplane; a collection of whimsical funeral dirges for a merry band ofwandering monks intoxicated on bad liquor and thujone. It is acollection of hymns to wood sprites and elves; it is the soundtrack tosuddenly noticing the glorious spectacle of an ant crawling up a treetrunk carrying a leaf. It is a magical conjuring act by a group oftrickster alchemists wandering in a foreign land. It is often all ofthese things and sometimes none of them, but it is always unmistakablybeautiful music.

samples:

• Clown Flinging
• Sleep Norway Sleep
• The Tumble Waltz

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03 January 2006

Albums and Singles

This two-CD set contains the now-defunct band's second (and last) albumand an EP of, well, odds and ends, and both CDs are filled with themusical equivalent of cotton candy: sweet, soft, and fuzzy with nonutritional value to speak of, but it's sure fun to eat.

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