We have finally cleared out the backlog of great music and present some new episodes.
Episode 711 features music from The Jesus and Mary Chain, Zola Jesus, Duster, Sangre Nueva, Dialect, The Bug, Cleared, Mount Eerie, Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra, Hayden Pedigo, Bistro Boy, and Ibukun Sunday.
Episode 712 has tunes by Mazza Vision, Waveskania, Black Pus, Sam Gendel, Benny Bock, and Hans Kjorstad, Katharina Grosse, Carina Khorkhordina, Tintin Patrone, Billy Roisz, and Stefan Schneider, His Name Is Alive, artificial memory trace, mclusky, Justin Walter, mastroKristo, Başak Günak, and William Basinski.
Episode 713 brings you sounds from Mouse On Mars, Leavs, Lawrence English, Mo Dotti, Wendy Eisenberg, Envy, Ben Lukas Boysen, Cindytalk, Mercury Rev, White Poppy, Anadol & Marie Klock, and Galaxie 500.
Skolavordustigur Street in Reykjavík photo by Jon (your Podcast DJ).
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Damien Jurado dabbles thoughtfully in Americana, making the whole ofour country's midlands his playground. His songwriting has always beensharp (lauded and even appropriated by artists like Neil Halstead) andit loses none of it acuteness on these most recent twelve songs. Secretly Canadian As aprelude to this album, Jurado released "Just in Time For Something," anEP which featured five songs of the most lo-fi, scratchy recordingquality possible. It was a beautiful listen, full of demo-qualitybrilliance and hearing it felt like being let into the songs at theirsynthetic moment of creation. Contrariwise, On My Way to Absenceis further down the evolutionary scale for Jurado's songs. Thearrangements are fuller, with pianos, drums, trumpets, strings, basses,and even a wandering glockenspiel. The recording is more technical,exhibiting none of the bedroom qualities so lush in the EP. If youlisten carefully enough, though, you can still hear the nascent stagesof the songs in their more mature versions here. Frustratingly, I findmyself doing this through most listens of the album because Iappreciate Jurado's songwriting without the adornment of addedinstruments around him and his guitar. For those with such low fidelityfidelity, Jurado rewards us with two songs ("Northbound" and "Fuel") ofpure man and guitar (though not sounding particularly lo-fi).Curiously, most of Jurado's spare songs lyrically have something to dowith automobiles, including songs from the EP (like "Engine Fire").Perhaps this is symptomatic for the musician who tours widely without adecadent or decent tour bus. My pickiness aside, there are some finesongs with full-band treatment. "Night Out For the Downer" is thesinuous tendon which connects both this album and the EP, having thefull-band version on the album and the acoustic version on the EP. Thesong actually succeeds here better than it does on the EP, which seemsto contradict a lot of what I have offered so far but I say it's theexception which proves the rule. Honestly, it might be the glockenspielwhich wins me over for the album version. The album's best effort isthe opener "White Center." In the verses, Jurado's voice pleasantly andplayfully mimics his guitar before giving way to the stringed choruses.The entire album is a mix of lullabies and gentle rockers, sometimesfurther hybridizing into Frankensteinian "rocking lullabies" like theinfectious "Simple Hello." In the liner notes, Jurado thanks hisproducer/engineer/bandmate Eric Fisher and claims "without you my songshave no life." I would disagree. Jurado's songs do indeed have lifewithout the complement of the studio. It's just a different life:smaller, more modest, and less apt to stumble with a torso too largefor its feet.
For Surrounded By Silence, the fourth full-length release as Prefuse 73, Scott Herren picks up the thread from where 2003's One Word Extinguisherleft off in terms of pushing the envelope of musical beats forming intosublime compositions divided with interesting interludes. Havingpreviously collaborated on some tracks with MCs, this time out Herrenhas invited a bevy of singers and MCs such as Beans, Aesop Rock, MastaKilla and the GZA, who turn up to further enrich a good deal of thedisc's 21 tracks. Warp Records The laid back, steady beats and charming sound swirlsof "Hide Ya Face" are ignited by the spit-fire commentary from MCsGhostface and El-P for some musical juxtaposition at its finest.Throbbing bass drum and downbeat handclaps support "Pastel Assassins"in its mix of sampled woodwinds and nylon string acoustic guitar alltopped with the gorgeous vocals of NYC sisters Claudia and AlejandraDeheza. Machine beats and sampled harp-pluckings form the backing trackof "Now You're Leaving," featuring the rhymes and soulful vocals ofBrooklyn MC/producer Camu. Based on a brief relationship, Camupoignantly sums it all up with the chorus of "Now we met / We kissed /You're breaking up / Now that's it / Now you leaving / Now I'm gonna bemiserable for the rest of my life." The full-length instrumental"Gratis" is the stand-out, deep groove and slick sample arrangementtrack that I've come to expect after hearing "Perverted Undertone" on ...Extinguisher.Herren skillfully blends trumpet and string section layers into themelodic element amidst treated Clavinet tones and beats for one of mymany favorite tracks on this disc. Now based in Barcelona, Herrenproduced much of these tracks in NYC for the convenience of tapping theMC community for its talents, although hints of Spanish influence(i.e., nylon string guitar, ethereal female vocals) seep into thesprawling urban mix. What I love about Prefuse 73 is how Herrencontinually manages to pursue and re-invent all the interesting facetsof his personal brand of hip hop without trying to re-do or out-do hisprevious discs. Currently touring North America, I'll be lookingforward to seeing if Herren and company can pull off tracks from Surrounded By Silence with style and conviction. Although, based on past live experiences, I have no doubts about it.
This Brooklyn based quartet have hit their stride with their secondproper full length release (not counting CD-Rs and higher-profilereissues of CD-Rs). Although the side-long explorations of disjointedrhythms and free form noise of their previous releases were enjoyablein their chaos, God's Moneyis the sound of a band that has found their strengths and discovered away to present them in a more coherent fashion. The Social Registry The more structuredsections many of these tracks feature is an improvement on theirearlier approach. This does not mean that the group has lost theirexperimental tendencies altogether, rather they now use these freeformtechniques to add depth and contrast to their new, more groove orienteddirection. This practice is especially effective during "Egowar." Afterfour minutes of trance-like rhythmic patterns with sparkly synthesizerflourishes, the song falls apart and the collective sound begins toresemble that of a volcano about to erupt. God's Money benefitsfrom a mixture of technical proficiency and the sort of risk-takingnormally associated with sound art. The group sounds like they've beeninspired by the more rhythmic and angular pop music from the lateseventies and early eighties, such as The Slits and Siouxsie and TheBanshees, without sounding like a retro tribute band. They insteadblend these influences with all sorts of ethnic rhythms and melodies tocome up with a sound that is unique and also sounds refreshinglymodern. Tim Dewitt's drumming is so solid and inventive that almostanything could sound good on top of it. His rhythms are so infectiousthat the simple synthesizer vamps played on dated equipment and LizziBougatsos's often shrill vocals can be overlooked. Her voice is theelement of Gang Gang Dance's sound that takes the most getting used to,and will understandably polarize opinion. While previously her vocalswere exclusively used as another abstract sound, the almost traditionalsong structure of tracks like "Glory in Itself" allow her to take amore traditional lead singer role. Several short instrumentals (titled"God's Money" parts I, V, VII, and IX) are interspersed throughout the40 minute set and add variety while providing thematic continuity."God's Money I (Percussion)" sets the tone with tribal drumming. "God'sMoney V" provides a mid-album instrumental rhythmic interlude, while"God's Money VII" is an atmospheric piece that begins with clouds ofkeyboard swells and concludes with electronics and skeletal beats."God's Money IX" finishes the album with loose drumming over similarkeyboard washes. With God's Money Gang Gang Dance has proved that all the meandering and experimenting of their earlier work has paid off.
Having spent the better part of the past ten years successfully fusinglarge ensemble jazz with electronic-based music(s) for a fresh andinteresting take, Norwegian collective, Jaga Jazzist, have refinedtheir chops and compositions for their fourth official release, What We Must.Ninja Tune / Smalltown Supersound Noticeably absent is their triple digit BPM tempos and quirky, eclecticcompositions which relied on the "programmer" element as an integralpart. Instead, the group have crafted seven stunning pieces that followa more straight-ahead instrumental rock feel, ridden with catchy hooks,radiant progressions, beautiful melodies and plenty of air-drummingfodder for those that choose to partake (myself included). From thefirst four bars of opener "All I Know is Tonight," the heroic rockelement falls perfectly into place, nicely embroidered with slidinghorns and snappy breaks that stop on a dime, leaving a twinklingxylophone to finish off melodic phrases. As with most great rockalbums, the first cut is the set-up 1-2 punch for track two; in thiscase, the over-the-top "Stardust Hotel." Power chords that would maketheir death metal countrymen proud are banged out on tremolo guitarmatched with snappy and polyrhythmic drumming kick the tune along as anoverly-distorted trumpet runs the melody. Not to balls-to-the-wall itfor the entire six minutes, a refreshing yet not so out-of-place turnwith a more orchestral taste tapers the tune off nicely. Seeing thegroup on their brief North American tour last summer, a then new andunfamiliar track which stood out in performance has become the trackthat warrants repeat listens in succession. Keyboard player AndreasHessen Schei's "Swedenborgske Rom" is a grandiose performance drawingheavily on the movements and arrangements of classical music scoring,all beautifully orchestrated. The full band's choir performance midwaythrough is evocative and very touching, bordering on celestial. Themusical chops of Jaga Jazzist's members quickly became apparent onprevious releases amidst their unique compositions and inspiringperformances. What We Must showcases the group's maturity ascomposers, arrangers and orchestrators, proving, once again, that thesum is greater than the individual parts.
Perhaps electronic music's most "obscure known" collective, TheExposures began their music careers in the late 1970s as anonymoustelevision composers, creating uncredited background music forcommercials and short films on a major German television station. Eastern Developments Music Somehow the trio (known to the world as M. Cretu, N. Gratin and O.Grouton) gained the attention of Berliner Jan Jelinek. A joint tourensued, which was noticed in turn by Prefuse 73, to whom we owe theexistence of Lost Recordings 2000-2004.Each of the eight tracks here have a unique and interesting history:the somewhat salacious and slinky "Collage of Digital Passion" and thegroovy downtempo "The Knack" were intended to accompany the televisionprograms "Abenteuer Forschung" (Adventure Research) and "ExtremeTravel," respectively; the maddeningly repetitive and mechanical loopcalled "A Machine Under Influence" was commissioned to be played atVolkswagen's Wolfsburg plant, with the thinking that such backgroundmusic would increase productivity. Lost Recordings's greatestvalue is its novelty: The Exposures have a long history in making musicin Germany—apparently it's heard on TV there all the time#151;and thisis the only collection of their music available on an album. Lost Recordingsare for the most part pleasant-sounding tunes, well-structured andformulated, and incorporating a variety of sounds, organic andincongruous alike. Still, The Exposures never rise above their jobs asbackground musicians on Lost Recordings. No one track is ableto distinguish itself above the rest: most feel half-finished, only avocal track or some creative sample away from being truly emotive orunique. The Lost Recordings are mostly blandly and boringlyinoffensive, feeling purely functional rather than soulful oremotional. Sort of like a Volkswagen, really.
Xian Hawkins composes some of the most elegant and addicting music, butremains somewhat lost in the tidal wave of other electronic composerscurrently active. It's a shame because, as Sybarite, he manages tocoerce soft, seductive, and contemplative songs out of his machineryand his music never gets old; it's never lost in an emphasis onproduction or artiness. Brainwashed "Dolorous Echo" is a ricocheting curve ofmetallic percussion and remarkable melodies built into and on top ofone another. It's cascading mass seems to fall in slow motion as thebeats slip and spin about, circling around the reversed and chimingsynthetic tones that float slowly away at every turn. There's a denselayering of rhythmic and harmonic elements on each second of the song;the flute-like whistle that's somehow surrounded by all the otherinstruments may not be noticeable at first, but it carries a certainimportance with it as it is pushed, pulled, and resituated in the mixthroughout the song. It's like being led through a maze at high speedover and over again, until nuances and details become clear out of purerepetition. Only Hawkins is messing with me at every lap of the maze,changing the smallest details for the best effect. "The Mast" is aslowly pulsing array of telephone tones, wooden blocks, and smoothbass. Hawkins' arrangement makes the song feel as though it isvibrating in and out of existence, the extended metallic drones and therhythms shimmering in unity so that the song feels like a flashing starof bass tones and rocking-chair keyboards. It's a relaxing littlenumber that contrasts perfectly with "Dolorous Echo." It's a good thingthat pre-orders of Otologycame with a CD that included this release because within another week'stime, I would've worn the grooves out of this 7" and have wanted areplacement desperately. This is an excellent place to start becomingfamiliar with Sybarite.
Recorded just shortly after the release of her last, self-titled album,this 7" is a rare document of Jessica Bailiff's sound away from thestudio. Included are two songs available on her full-length recordings,a cover of "Come and Close My Eyes" by Flying Saucer Attack, and aversion of "Shadow," which was previously available only on Disc A ofthe Brain in the Wirecompilation. Brainwashed While her live sound is more bare compared to what shedoes inside the studio, Bailiff's siren-like voice and hypnotic guitarplaying is enchanting, sounding as though it's coming through the etherfrom some far away, and sometimes sad, place. What this 7" release mostexceptionally highlights is Bailiff's song-writing ability. She writeselegantly and fluidly, pacing her music perfectly, allowing her voiceto melt into her rhythmic guitar melodies with ease. Her style iscompletely her own, but not without sympathetic and inviting tones. Shecan make me believe that she's in the room with me, whispering to meand relating stories pulled from all over the world. There's never anelement out of place in her music and each one of these four recordingsproves that she's one of the finest writers and performers around.
Of the three 7" records released by Brainwashed this month, Aranos' twosongs stand out as shocking and strange, even with his already strangediscography considered. "No Religion" gets straight to the point as athumping bass drum and tambourine fade in, Aranos sings, "Oh, I've gotno religion and I'm glad."
Where many of his lyrical outings have beenethereal and surrealist in many ways, for this song Aranos has comedown to earth with a definite and unmistakable message: religion, hate,and violence seem to go hand in hand. It's not a revolutionary thought,but Aranos is obviously pissed off. His delivery cannot be mistaken forsarcasm and there's no hint of metaphor nor a sign of symbolismanywhere in his words; this is a direct voice speaking exactly as itssource feels. "No Religion" feels like it should belong at a party,too, the bouncing bass and drum rhythms are joyous sounding and Aranos'slash of violin playing is upbeat and bright, betraying the seriousnessof the lyrics. I've found myself singing this on my way to work so asto pick my mood up, "I've got no religion and I'm glad, glad, glad, I'mso glad that I don't have to hate." "Spitting Revivalist Dreams ofEverlasting Pain" picks up where "No Religion" leaves off. Themechanical, sputtering sound of dying industry that closed up side Aare enhanced and pumped up a thousand-fold on side B. It's a noisetrack in every sense of the word, ringing with piercing shrieks, heavymetallic crashes, and buzzing electronics. Aranos processes thesesounds, turning the volume up, along with intensity, at some points,and letting the sounds rumble on the horizon at others. It's like asonic fit, tossing everything about the room in a sudden and fiercedisplay of absolute frustration. The intensity, at some points, isfrightening and, as the song continues to churn on, never giving up, itbecomes quite clear why this was coupled with "No Religion." Sometimestalking or singing about a feeling or idea isn't enough, sometimessound translates the ideas with such clarity that a word might spoileverything.
Music as abstract as that made over the years by Dylan Carlson's Earthlends itself to wildly variant interpretations by various people, whoread different motives into the music based on their preconceivednotions and unconscious desires. For a generation of Seattle grungescenesters, Earth were purveyors of speaker-rumbling, slow-motionheroin rock, the gloomy grunge aesthetic taken to its logical extreme. No Quarter For metal fans, Earth represented an interested outsider take on thedoom and dirge of Black Sabbath and Nordic Metal. For noise andindustrial fans, Earth are simply using different tools to explore thesame territories as Merzbow or Lustmord. For a more recent and far morepretentious contingent of Wire readers and experimental musicenthusiasts, Earth is seen as a drone group, locating LaMonte Youngharmonics within the insular world of underground metal. This remixalbum, featuring reassemblies and interpolations of Earth by fellowmusicians, demonstrates these various different approaches to themusic. This disc is released at a time when Earth is making somethingof a comeback, with recent touring in Europe and the release of acouple of impressive live albums (070796LIVE and Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword). All of the remixers on Legacy of Dissolutionhave remained very respectful to the original material, simply adding afew subtle background elements, or gently nudging the mix this way orthat, rather than using Earth as raw material for entirely newcompositions. Mogwai adds backwards guitar and layers of piercingdigital chatter to "Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine," a punishingsub-bass frequency track from Earth 2, eliciting something moredynamic than the original's crushing minimalism, especially when thedroning Tony Conrad violin starts up. Merzbow collaborator RussellHaswell's take on "Tibetan Quaaludes" (subtitled "Waveset Sloth Mix"),places Earth in a digital gristle-izer, upping the noise quotient byseveral degrees, producing a churning, mud-splattered, slug-pacedexercise in audio interment. Jim O'Rourke's reassemblage of materialfrom Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions is probably my favoriteremix on the disc, gently nudging Earth's throbs and drones through hislaptop to create precise, hypnotic tones that collate over the lengthof the track. Autechre do something entirely unexpected with "CodaMaestoso in F(Flat) Minor" from Pentastar: In the Style of Demons;they leave the song almost entirely intact, only altering the levelsslightly and adding a backwards snare. Frankly, I'm relieved by thefact that Autechre decided not to do anything more ambitious with thetrack, as it was better left alone. Justin Broadrick of Godflesh addsfinishing production touches to "Harvey" that bring the track closer inspirit to the swirling, slowcore noise rock favored by My BloodyValentine and Slowdive. This will not be surprising to anyone who hasheard the Broadrick's recent debut as Jesu, which was unashamedlyderivative of the aforementioned artists. Finally, and perhaps mostsuperfluously, is Sunn O)))'s take on "Rule the Divine (MysteriaCaelestis Mugivi)." Since Sunn O))) is more-or-less an Earth tributeband, their contributions are predictably unnoticeable, though they doseemed to have focused more on the third-eye drones and less on theguitar grind. Legacy of Dissolution neatly cuts across all themodern approaches to abstract metal, and provided me with more than anhour of fascinating revisitations of hallowed Earth.
I'm having difficulty imagining a sound more alluring than the one produced by this German sextet. Two years ago, Cicadidaeput me under its spell and maintained a constant spot on my late-nightlistening play list. The band has tightened up for their latest releaseand managed to outdo themselves.
Cicadidae was a bright album, glowing in the wake of processed instruments and slow-burning songs for the lonely and contemplative; Absencenmaintains those moods, but adds a cinematic touch to the wholeexperience. The instrumentation and tasteful use of programming andprocessing gives Absencen a far more acoustic timbre. When theviolins tremble there is little in the way that impairs theinstrument's natural beauty, when the saxophone wails and cries, its asthough I'm listening to some shadowed player on a dimly lit streetcorner. There are undeniably romantic elements sprinkled all over thisalbum: almost every song is full of fluid, seductive curves that movealong peaceful percussion rhythms or stuttered, textured movements. Theband—at times—arranges the music purely by texture, preferring toeschew melodic and harmonic concerns for a purely sound-based approach."Unstet (f?r Jeffrey Lee Pierce)" is a perfect example of this. Whilethere are melodic and harmonic elements, it's obvious that the focus ofthe song is on the jumbled sax and wailing guitars that populate itssix-plus minutes. The way the music creeps and slides about gives theentire record a voyeuristic angle. It settles over everything and mademe feel as though I should be careful, watching my back at all times. Iwouldn't want to be caught in the act. Martin Siewert guests on atleast one track (specifics for guest appearances aren't provided), butit's little wonder that he was invited to play with the band.Kammerflimmer Kollektief's sound is enormous and mysterious, perfectfor the dark or the veiled and shady corners of every city.
Jonas Munk's most recent releases have been a series of collaborationswith Jess Kahr, Syntaks, and Icebreaker International, the two formerbeing band-mates of Munk's in Limp, but in his first autonomous releasesince 2002's Ascend,Manual sounds more like his less beat-driven songs from his 12" onHobby Industries (compare a song like "I-dawn").Darla Munk's fascinationwith all things tropical or celestial has not diminished, as Manual'smusic captures the sound of laying out on the beach in your best swimtrunks and Def Leppard cut-off shirt. Songs are saturated with the samesynthesized sound which drenched the 1980s new wave pop movement. Munk,however is careful to add his own unique fringes of electronic eddiesand whirlpools to the music. He is infatuated with the way stars soundif they fell to earth and danced gently on the ocean. "Summer ofFreedom" has a measured and thumping prelude (replete with clappingsounds) to the ultimate supernova of exploded synthesizers which thenebbs back into the prelude theme only to explode once again. There areabout four catharses in this 11-minute song alone and they all feelreally good. The third quarter of the song devolves into a more quietand ruminative state before gathering up its strength for one lastcelebration by the end. There are two classes of songs here: thosewhich are paced and progress ("Summer of Freedom" and "Neon Reverie")and others which simply swirl atmospherically and go nowhere("Tourmaline" and "Azure Vista"). I find the progressive songs moreinteresting and I get lost amidst the cosmic dust of the swirling ones."Clear Skies Above the Coastline Cathedral" spans both types of songs.On the one hand, the melody is fairly static and there is not muchdevelopment in the themes. On the other hand, a handful of other soundsdance around the leitmotif and it builds and swells along with theseinstruments. So there is a progression, yet is always tethered to acentral locus. Also, there is the obligatory sound of ocean waves atthe beginning. Azure Vista would make a properly complementary soundtrack to a sentimental 1980s film like the estimable Andrew McCarthy romp Mannequin,if that film were set on the beach and excised that horrid Starshipsong from the credit titles. Actually, perhaps McCarthy's Weekend at Bernie's(with its appropriate beach setting) could be used to make an amalgamof the two and then add Manual's music as the score. The delightful"Neon Reverie" would make a particularly inspired choice for an endscene fade-out. Additionally, the album's cover is indicative of thesound. A double-exposed beachfront Californian dusk with saffron lightsmixing with azure skies, all impacted by darkly-jutting palm trees. Itlooks particularly lush and candy-colored, just as the music can beboth sweet and ephemeral, unable to stick to the roof of your mouth forvery long. Musically and visually, this album is the cotton candy ofManual releases.