Five years after its completion, Montreal-based Alien8 Recordings havefinally issued this collaborative work between Christian Renou (Brume)and Slavek Kwi (AMT). The music is divided nearly equally with thefirst 36 minutes being Brume's de/reconstruction of recordings suppliedby AMT and the last 40 minutes being AMT's de/reconstruction of Brume.While both entities are well-respected on their own — with numerousreleases on labels which include RRR, Intransitive, Relapse and KornPlastics — on '1st Encounter' the sound has reached a new level,sounding almost more complete than before. Environmental, organicsounds are mangled with an almost surrealistic approach on the firsthalf, as Brume brings pulse, rhythm, movement and cut-up analoguesounds to the table. There's never a dull moment as the motions andsources are constantly in a state of change. On the second half, AMTtakes a much different approach, stretching the sounds into a powerfuland rich score of a futuristic journey on an alien insect-infestedplanet. At the risk of sounding redundant, the result is trulyother-worldly. I can imagine fans of early cut-up improv-based Nursewith Wound immediately attaching onto the first half, while fans ofGraeme Revell's 'Insect Musicians' would find pleasure in AMT's half.Sadly enough, Alien8 has announced that '1st Encounter' is limited andwon't be re-pressed or reissued.
samples:
- Brume - Faction 2
- Brume - Faction 4
- Artificial Memory Trace - Telegram I (part 3)
- Artificial Memory Trace - Telegram II (part 5)
You might imagine that if you combined the twisted electronics of David Kristian, the virtuoso playing of Sam Shalabi and demented avant fuckery of Alexandre St-Onge, the result would be an insane soup of aural mayhem. The first commercially available release of this Montreal-based improv supergroup is actually quite the opposite.
Harlem-based duo Vast Aire Kramer and Vordul Megilah have just joinedthe ranks of Intelligent HipHop with their debut long player. Under thetutelage and gritty production of Company Flow's EL-P, Cannibal Oxrepresent both the avant-garde and the streets of NYC with raw beats,angular rhythms, osmotic synth/sample atmospheres and pure inner cityknowledge. The opening track "Iron Galaxy" (first unleashed last yearon a split EP) drops enough stream of conscious science in its 6minutes to almost make the remaining 68 minutes unnecessary.Observations such as "And if there's crack in the basement? / crackheads stand adjacent", "you were a stillborn baby / your mother didn'twant you, but you were still born" and "I rest my head on 115, butmiracles only happen on 34th" speak truths only some truly know withutter conviction. The lessons continue throughout, plus clever boastsand various other tales: "Ox Out the Cage" - "I grab the mic like AreYou Experienced? / but I don't play the guitar, I play my cadence"; "AB-Boys Alpha" - "my first fight was me against five boroughs / I lostmy first wish / but remembered every detail of my first kiss / that'sthat Bronx Tale bliss"; "Real Earth" - "this ain't a space race so whyyou rushin' / to be the first to catch a concussion from EL-P'spercussion?" Musically and lyrically, "The Cold Vein" is the real deal.I'll be surprised if I hear a stronger hiphop album this year
Long before children of the '70s and '80s were blipping and bleeping on laptops in the '90s, people were building large walls of gear just to create the simplest electronic melodies. While many contemporaries were experimenting with music concrète, Raymond Scott was making a commercially viable living composing music for advertisements and short films, along with manufacturing equipment like custom doorbells, telephone rings, burglar alarms and ambulance sirens.
Geir Jenssen's 1997 Biosphere album has been remastered and nicelyre-packaged with a bonus disc for Touch. Disc 1 is "Substrata" properand disc 2 is a new, previously unreleased, commissioned soundtrack forthe 1929 Russian film "Man with a Movie Camera", plus the 2 beatinfused bonus tracks from the Japanese edition of the album. Bothdiscs, nearly an hour apiece, offer a continuous, deep ambient jigsawpuzzle - disc 2 being the noisier with a more urban/industrial aura. Weslowly, willingly drift along through chilled out spaces andcityscapes, natural hums and environmental residues, electronic padsand blips, the clutter of metals and trinkets, disembodied voices andappropriated musical passages, synth strings and plucked/strummedstrings ("Kobresia" in particular settles into a beautiful stringedstasis), softly malleted tones and some subtle rhythmic pulsations.Very soothing, very calming, very Arctic. Jenssen's reclusive Norwegianlocale undoubtedly influences the vast, dark and cold nature of hismusic. But what's surprising to me is how emotionally cold much of italso seems despite it's surface beauty ... a sort of depressing, lonelyvoid. That feeling overwhelms me here at times, but sometimes you wantto feel that way, know what I mean?
Rather than taking the fresh step forward from the hip hop and cosmically influenced varieties of 1999's 'Rest Proof Clockwork,' Plaid have returned to a style much closer to 1997's '333' release. While they're making no leaps and bounds for electronic music as a whole, they succeed in making pleasant, peaceful and easily digestible melodies, using the equipment and styles of 1993-era Orbital, Autechre and Aphex with hints of The Shamen and 808 State circa 1991.
Three of electronic's most popular acts have released short preludes totheir forthcoming highly anticipated full-length albums. Just when youwere starting to miss the aggression, Techno Animal blasts back withtwo bombastic new tracks (and one instrumental). Fans of last year'scollaboration with Dalek would appreciate the raw energy of "Dead Man'sCurve" combined with an aggressive rap provided by Anti-Pop ConsortianRoger Robinson. "City of Glass" is more subtle but at loud volumes thisdub-based abrasion can be equally as compelling. My only complainthowever is that last year's vinyl-only release didn't turn up here - 15minutes including an instrumental version is kinda weak for a CDsingle: this could have easily been a 7" only. Those too anxious towait for the full-lengther however shouldn't hesitate on this release.
Coldcut also have reintroduced the aggression on their three-track CD"Re:Volution," coincidentally also featuring an instrumental mix of thetitle cut. The duo have picked up the pace, dropped some heavy riffageand let the samples run wild. My preference here lies more towards theinstrumental version as the samples are a bit goofy. "Space Journey" onthe other hand is punchy jazzy number, originally on the 'Let Us Play'LP, the version here is the internet competition winner. Once again Irecommend waiting for a full-length, as the three tracks (of two songs)don't even total 12 minutes together.
Finally, Squarepusher's return to aggression takes the form of thecleverly mis-titled "My Red Hot Car" (upon listening, it's obvioussomething completely different's being said). The two versions don'tdiffer that greatly, the first being the exact version from theforthcoming full-lengther, "Go Plastic" due in July. I'm somewhatpleased Mr. Jenkinson has reverted to his more electronically processedfast breaks circa Big Loada & Hard Normal Daddy — the organics ofthe last couple releases did grow a little tired after many listens,perhsps the album will be a nice balance of everything. At the time Igot this EP I was working on modifications of the Nurse With Woundwebsite, listening to some old gems. Track 3, "Hardcore Obelisk"strangely enough bears a striking resemblance to "Swansong" from the CDedition of 'A Missing Sense' in its sparse dronescapes. Squarepusher'sexperiment however is under five minutes and is absent of a certain'flow' which would work nicely. The fourth track, "I Wish You Obelisk"goes breakbeat silly but ends with one of those irritating silences(this one runs over 20 minutes) followed by a rather enjoyablebass-drone heavy beat-less piece which at the right volume shakes thespeakers and floors. Once again, while I do enjoy the music, I'm goingto have to recommend waiting for the full length.
There's a certain amount of irony in releasing an instrumental versionof an existing hip hop album. I have always liked the sounds that camefrom both the Automator and Kid Koala but when I saw Deltron live lastyear, the rap somewhat turned me off of the collective. Thus, I wasexcited at first to hear 75 Ark were releasing an instrumental versionof the debut full-lengther. I was blown away immediately at the startof the album's opener, '3030', the production is seamless and combinesa healthy blend of orchestral samples to some pretty fine hip hopbreaks. The sad yet grand themes could easily provide the underlyingscore for a film crew's survey of the post-apocalyptic remains of afallen society. As the album progresses, the production never weakens,mixing a whole host of other styles and influences. When the patternsand sequences repeat too many times within a song, there is a sensethat there is indeed something missing. I thought I was taking the easyway out by only sticking to the instrumental version, but I find myselfthirsty to uncover the original myself.
