By its very nature its unsurprising that most instrumental beat-driven music seems to be kicking its heels, waiting for an MC to jump aboard the track to bring it to life. Shying away from ‘smart’ breaks and crate dust covered samples this debut concentrates instead on song structures and melodies.
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Inthe first five seconds of Tunng’s debut U.S. release, the group’sintentions are made perfectly clear by a vocal and acoustic guitarsample that’s time stretched and hacked into an intro. This is cut andsliced, deformed and reconstructed folk music, and it’s wonderful.
Starting out as commissioned music for an audio weblog, Sandro Perri and Craig Dunsmuir’s studio project, Glissandro 70, has put together a unique album that blends many styles and influences. Although chiefly taking from prime Detroit techno and post-punk New York, they combine these well mined sound sources with a worldly edge by including dub, Latin and African elements.
Volcano the Bear's dramatic, highly ambitious two disc (two-CD or two-LP) return is a lot to ingest, however, every second is rewarding in what could easily be one of my top albums of the year so far and my favorite Volcano the Bear release to date.
Godspeed member Aidan Girt's latest full-length as 1-Speed Bike is this compilation of tracks from two 12" EPs and new material. Despite coming from different sources, the tracks are blended seamlessly together into one long crazy mix tape and are surprisingly uniform in style and feel.
Noticeably stepping away from 2002's accessible Mind Elevation,in particular its almost radio-friendly verse-chorus-verse cuts, thelatest N.O.W. album serves not as a return to form but rather as abridge between that album and the tokeworthy downtempo delights of hispost-bleep back catalog.
Impractical Cockpit, a collective of now-scattered New Orleans’natives, has released five records prior to To Be Treated. And whiletheir music does bear some of the characteristics of the oft-referencedfree-folk genre, Impractical Cockpit’s sound actually recalls a greatdeal of early 80s experimental hardcore like Flipper and early ButtholeSurfers.
Over the course of four albums and some relentless touring, Mono have proven themselves capable of making some noise. On You Are There, however, the band doesn't burst in with guns blazing, but quietly sneak in through the side door. They haven't succumbed, however, to making an MOR record by a long shot.
Hecq’s latest album is presented with a stark, well-composed black andwhite landscape photograph and that cover image is the perfectintroduction to an album that’s also well-made but lacking identity.
There are no marks on this collection suggestive of product or capital. The music, packaged in a jewelry box with five heavy stock cards, bares no trace of greed or dishonesty. The entire package is, on all counts, a work of art far removed from concerns about ownership or illegal practices. The simple act of opening this package is a joy, a revelation of personality and craftsmanship and the importance they still carry in the world of music.
