Though recorded in 1999, the latest Hed Nod Session is just now finallyupon us from Montreal's Hushush. This one is on candy red transparentvinyl and, unfortunately, it is the last one on vinyl due to financialissues (future sessions will be split CDs with other artists). Youshould know what to expect from Harris by now, especially for thisseries of limited edition (300) 33 rpm LPs: killer beats spinning slowand hitting low. Slower and lower than most of Harris' work as Scorn.Each of the 3 tracks per side, about a half hour total, consists of ahip hop stylized beat, a dark atmosphere, deep bass bumps and swells.And once Harris lays down the minimal groove, he sticks with it, soyou'd better be a fan of repetition. "Shorting" takes the cake on SideA with it's crisp snare rush loop propulsion. "Sweet As" starts offside B tediously, its beat being relatively limp and thedownwardcascading sound loop growing tiresome after a few minutes. But"Where" and "Then 3 More" recover very nicely, carrying on where side Aleft off. Every time I spin one of these records I realize minuteslater that I'm subconsciously swaying back and forth and/or nodding myhead. Proof positive that Harris is doing something right.
samples:
The name Pale 3 has now been bestowed upon to the three-person team whohave composed two soundtracks prior to this one, 'Winter Sleepers' from1996 and 'Run Lola Run' from 1998. This time around, the trio teamed upwith a host of some of the most buzzworthy female singers in modern andelectronic music to complete a full-length release which accompaniesthe score. The first half of the disc are seven songs which featureSkin, Louise Rhodes (from Lamb), Alison Goldfrapp (of Goldfrapp), AnitaLane (Bad Seeds/solo), Beth Hirsch (solo/Air guest appearances), andthe film's star Franka Potente. While most of these are not from themovie itself, the trio has taken the skeletal work of many film themesand developed them into complete songs with the said singers. Fans ofthe 'Run Lola Run' soundtrack would probably be impressed with theelectronics once again exhibited here. Lush soundscapes fill the soundspectrum, heavy with emotion, while each singer delivers rather dry andalmost heartless performances in contrast. From the opening track withSkin, I have to admit I wasn't impressed as the tune sounds much like aripoff cross between Portishead's "Roads" and Radiohead's "PyramidSong", yet the two following tracks from Louise Rhodes and FrankaPotente seemingly make the purchase worthwhile. The second half of thedisc features straight score from the film and recycles many themesheard in the vocal tracks from the first half. It's decent and amust-have for Lamb, Goldfrapp and Anita Lane fans, but as the movie is,your life won't be different if you miss it.
Leaving the rigid beats behind this time, Richard H. Kirk introduces anew alias through a new (for him) label. The first OrchestraTerrestrial release comes from Die Stadt and is packaged exquisitelywith a fold-out CD case and six prints of digital artwork representingsix of the eight songs here (three by Naked Art, three by DesignersRepublic). While Kirk has has contrasted his usual style by creating anatmospheric soundbath with lengthy delays heavily absent of drummachines and thumping beats, his signature style of long buildups,heavy repetition and lengthy songs is noticably present. For the firsttime in many releases, I can actually clearly hear distinct treatmentsfor each sound present. Each piece of the tapestry has its own life andidentity without getting wrapped up in a grey muddiness. In the blurbgoing around, Kirk is said to have created this disc after his recentrediscovery of classical composers like Wagner, Debussy and Mozart, butI'm honestly having a tough time finding the connection. Theprogression is amazingly linear: beginning with a whisper, slowly andpatiently adding beats and more layers with each track until the end,where "Uniform Spaces" breaks down, being chopped up into little bits,threaded and looped. (It's this ending that is the key that links bothreleases together for those RHK fans who weren't sure whether thefollowing item reviewed was RHK or not!) At the end of the disc, I'mfinding myself anxious to listen again before shelving it like many ofhis releases over the last ten years. The disc is limited to 1000numbered copies.
Mysteriously enough, a 12" single surfaced on the same day as the Orchestral Terrestrial release, bearing no explicit indication that it's also a Richard H. Kirk project aside from the amazingly similar name and fonts used. There's no illusion in the music here, however, as 'Deconstructed Trance Anthem' parts 1 and 2 graces each side with none other than repetitious butchered remains of a generic trance anthem.
Four deviant love songs make up the latest EP by COH (Ivan Pavlov) with collaborators Peter Christopherson and John Balance of Coil, Steve Thrower of Cyclobe, Frankie Gothard, and Louise Weasel. The disc comes lovingly packaged in a clear slip case with amusing cardstock inserts, color illustrated and Spanish captioned, for each song. As with some of the previous EP "Vox Tinnitus", "Uncut" pairs the guests' vocals with Pavlov's precisely programmed, laptop generated chaos. "My Angel [Director's Cut]" and "Fffetish" are reinterpretations of mid '80s pop tunes, Soft Cell's "Meet Murder My Angel" and Vicious Pink's "Fetish", respectively.
Greg Weeks is just plain weird. One look at the album cover for this,his second release, can tell you that. He's got that bloody knife lyingthere in the snow, and on the back of the release, he's lying in thesnow with a pool of blood by his head. Is he killer, or the killed, orboth? It's incredibly fitting, as "Awake Like Sleep" sounds like thesoundtrack to your favorite dream, worst nightmare, or a combination ofthe two. All songs feature synthesizer of some kind, usually mini-moogor omnichord, and half have no drums whatsoever. This gives the wholerelease a very eerie feel, that you cannot escape. Not that you'd wantto. It's very lush and beautiful, "Awake Like Sleep," even if a littlelanguid and depressing, but it's magnificently arranged. Weeks and hisprimary collaborator Jesse Sparhawk make wonderful music together,particularly on the tracks where it's just the two of them playing allof the instruments. It's a very simple release in terms of arrangementand style, but very affecting, as Weeks has immense talent as asongwriter and musician. A few of the tracks grew a bit monotonous onrepeatedly listens, but overall it's a gem, driven by the creepiness ofthe music and Weeks' voice, mixed with an interesting dash of altar boynuance due to the sound of the organ on several tracks. A challenginglisten, but overall worthwhile.
Walking the line between the improvisational and the organizational,chaotic and orderly, the Portland-based collective known as Jackie-OMotherfucker has released the second full-length CD for Road Cone(their seventh full-lenther in the grand scheme of things). It's acollision of opposing forces, as cold-climate bluesy rock meets afreestyle electronic assemblance, and would appeal to the Volcano theBear, Molasses, Boxhead Ensemble and Shalabi Effect fans of thespectrum. The album starts off with a heavy dosage of disorder with theten+ minute opener, following through with a guitar-heavy 14 minutelong tune driven by an 808-imitating drum machine. Through thefollowing few numbers the collective display their ability to mesh allinstruments without making too much of a mass. However, by the time itreaches "Something On Your Mind," I'm thankful most of the tunes areinstrumental. It's not that the singer has a bad voice, it's just thatthe lyrics aren't as profound as the singer might be thinking andneedn't be repeated as laboriously over the course of three minutes. Bythe time it reaches the last two tracks: "The Pigeon" and "Pray", therthe vibes, strings, guitar and wind instrument interplay is executedwell enough to paint an aural landscape of both beauty and sickness.The first of the two tracks builds from a quieter opening into a boldroar while the second calms everything down into a serene and coolending.
Why oh why was this only released in Japan?!? "Shopping" quicklyfollowed up, followed in and flattened out the footsteps of the 2000full length debut "Tragic Epilogue" on 75 Ark. Anti Pop's trio ofverbally proficient vocalists - Priest, Beans and M. Sayyid - areaugmented by co-producer E. Blaize. It seems as if they belong to a subgenre of hip hop entirely of their own devise. The production isclinically precise and somewhat minimal, the bass and beats crisp andclear with electronic overtones. The rhymes are often tongue tyingblurs of abstract dictionary data (the lyrics are thankfully included).The first stanza of the first vocalized track "Angular" is one of manyexamples: "unto itself it's incomplete / but made complete by myconnection / the effervescent vestige of decimation / the decimal pointseven thousandth of a percent / possession with intent to make bent / Ibreak bread with tack heads / in flight unflawed with sight unseen /strongly configured with wire inside of a womb the size of an entireplanet born of fire". That all flows by naturally in about 18 secondsflat. And there's another 46 minutes after that. Meticulous mind funk.Oddities along the way include the bizarre future drama of "Excerptfrom the forthcoming epic: Dogland", the android vocals of"Technocracy", a few brief instrumentals including the city noisecollage of APC's home base "New York" and the surprising guitar sampleand female MC enhanced "Lazarus Pit" and "Verses", respectively."Shopping" was well worth the $24 it took to bring it Stateside. AntiPop have since signed with Warp Records (!) and their new EP "The EndsAgainst the Middle" should be out this November.
The most recent full-lengther from the English duo ISAN was released earlier this year on Morr Music in Germany. You might be familiar with their name from various remixes like the two on the Morr compilation, 'Putting the Morr Back in Morrissey' and their Seefeel remix on the Warp 10th anniversary remix disc or various other compilation appearances.
