Did you get that last Múm release reviewed here a couple months ago? Ifnot, what's the hell's wrong with you? "Yesterday,..." was their debutfull-lengther, and without blinking or thinking twice, a new 45-minutedisc has surfaced. This time around, Morr Music in Germany brings usthe release, which consists of two band new Múm originals and sixremixes from various Morr musicians. The irresistable bliss begins withthe first moments as the group presents the opener: a delicate chiminglooped melody set against broken vocal maniplations and various otherrandom noises. While I hate to draw comparisons, the second track couldalmost be a tribute to an era which has long passed for Autechre, asthe pace picks up and the electronic glitchery becomes more prominent.From there, the remixes begin, at the hands of Styrofoam, ISAN, Phonem,Christian Kleine, Arovane and Bernhard Fleishmann. Tastefully andtactfully, the mixes on the whole expand on the original two songsenough to the point of distincion, but aren't so haphazardly assembledso the disc sounds like a various artists collection. The pace doesn'tstray and the prettiness only lends itself to the occasional creepy'Children of the Corn' child-like feel. Spooky yet attractive, like thelast disc: when it's playing in the car or in the house, friends willalways ask "oooh, what is this?" Sadly enough, that's often followed bya disappointing trip to a local shop which will come up empty-handed.It can be found, I've seen it advertised, it just takes a little moreeffort, and the rewards are worth the work.
samples:
- On the Old Mountain Radio
- Please Sing My Spring Reverb (i.s.a.n. catena remix)
- Please Sing My Spring Reverb (B. Fleishmann remix)
This compilation of ancient out takes, b-sides, live versions andremixes leaves one amazed as it's still stunning material, nearby 20years later. There's somehow no logical progression in the runningorder; neither chronological nor from the developing mood whilelistening. Play it on shuffle (or random) mode and you'll get the samewild mixture of all which Shriekback once where famous for;Unconventional use of all styles and instruments, sound explorations,brilliant lyrics chanted or spoken in a nearly hypnotizing manner, awhite funkiness with punk attitude and transforming the song-writinginto a track shaping (alongside The Slits, This Heat, 23 Skidoo, ThePop Group and others).
It's the same story we've all heard countless times. Band has hitsingle on MTV Buzz Bin. Band's album does reasonably well in US,selling a couple hundred thousand copies. Label wants new record tocapitalize on success. Band goes into studio, records album farsuperior to first record, but artistically more challenging. Label saysthey don't hear a single. They want a song that sounds a lot like thebig hit single. Band balks, and asks to be let out of contract. Labelagrees, but holds on to rights to album, making it hard for band torelease it. It seems the label in this story always seems to beElektra, by the way, and it is in this case. The band this time is NadaSurf, and the album is the recently released "The Proximity Effect,"originally scheduled for release in 1998. The album was available onimport for a while, as, curiously, Elektra DIDrelease it in Australia. But now, the record gets it's domestic debut,with a few changes. It's missing their cover of "Why Are You So Mean ToMe?" that was on the import, but they add an original bonus track totake its place. It also features some multimedia content. But whatabout the songs? Nada Surf's big hit, the quirky and funny butotherwise totally forgettable high school anthem "Popular," gave noindication of where this band could go musically. "The ProximityEffect" is a tour-de-force record, showing off the strengths of theband members brilliantly. From the opening track, "Hyperspace," thelistener is introduced to the new Nada Surf. More high-energy thanslacker, more melodic than speakeasy, and better songwriting thanbefore, the band is musically light years beyond "high/low." andMatthew Caws' voice sounds great. They do it all here: high speedrockers, angry tell-offs with loud power chords, gorgeous slow powerpop, and mid-tempo rockers with a message. It's a fantastic album, andwell worth your hungry ears. Since the band released it on their ownlabel, it may be hard to find, but that just makes you appreciate itmore, doesn't it?
Coil fans may have been a bit taken aback when Thighpaulsandra's releases started to surface on Eskaton. The music was a mishmosh of genres from improv jazz to neo-clssical and glam rock, unpolarized over the course of an overwhelming 2½ hours. This compact extended-play single lifts the title track from its 30-something minute surroundings and extracts all overbearing drones into a comfortable well-focused 3½ minute ambiguous yet infectious pop tune which could easily be about An American Scenester in London, Miami DJ or Danny McKernan.
Here we have a digipacked pair of ~scape label related various artistsdiscs. Both feature many of the usual suspects (and several lesserknown ones) who labor in the labs where electronic, jazz and dub musicscollide and coagulate.
On the other hand, "Staedtizism 2" resonates with digital precision.And same as the first volume, this one has only a few artists actuallyfrom the label's roster - Jan Jelinek, Burnt Friedman & The Nu DubPlayers and Kit Clayton - along with System, John Tejada, Process,Nolte, Bus, Beige, Sad Rockets, Headset and Low Res. While there'sstill some glitch, it seems to no longer be as in vogue these days asthese tracks refer more to easy listening jazz and dub, electronicallyof course. Jelinek's "The Village Vanguard" churns through microscopicbits of old jazz records while Headset's "Dustmite" uses passages ofsquawking horn. The liquid keys of Nolte's "21st Century SchizoidMan.." remind me of the jazzy runs in Coil's "The Snow". Tejada's "AWorld So Wide" is bright and airy, coupling easy going bass and cleanguitar melodies. Bus' "Tamed Lion" and Friedman's "Xyz (Our Version)"dip furthest into the dub end of the spectrum while Clayton's "PaintingBetween Numbers" is probably the most experimental, looping andlayering electric piano notes into oblivion. Though all these artistsare of a similar mindset, they also remain on separate if not paralleltrajectories.
Any band that sets out to deconstruct rock on its releases isimmediately going to turn off some listeners. US Maple don'tnecessarily turn off listners, they lambast them with their loud guitarattack and, sometimes, annoyance, and yet dare them to listen more. Itstill turns some listeners off. I'm still on the fence. Don't get mewrong: this is the best US Maple release yet. If you were going to buyone, make it this one. Previous releases have seemed disjointed, tooimprovisational, even, with moments of brilliance. "Acre Thrills" islike the band's mission statement. They are here to break the rules ofrock. They are here to lead the way. And every moment is well executed.The start of the album with "Ma Digital" shows us the familiar twoguitar whine assault and what Spin magazine once called the "UnholyWheeze" -- Al Johnson's voice. It really is original in its completedisregard for a unifying structure, and the collective band members areproficient, even deadly with their respective instruments. And it'sheavy, menacing as all get out on some tracks. The Wheeze even soundssexy, if you can believe that, going from low growl to CraigWedren-like vocal magic. One song even features the most fascinating ofscientific myseteries: real cat purrs. And Brian Paulson, that indierock king of clean, loud sound, does a great job bringing the band'ssound out to play. It's just not all that thrilling to me. It's a goodthing that the lyrics are in the book, too, because I sure as hellcouldn't tell what was being said on some songs. But it works on manylevels, creating a soundscape that is worth listening to, even if itdoesn't grab you all that hard. US Maple succeed in deconstructingrock. But if it's deconstructed rock, what is it, exactly? And will youlike it? Give it a try, especially "Acre Thrills," their best effort todate.
"Augmented Lines" is Somatix's second CD album after more than thirtyvinyl releases on labels across the globe. Originally coming from thebreakcore/hardcore techno scene, their debut on Hymen, "Circumflex,"garnered them lots of new fans and a much more broadened knowledge oftheir sound. Therein lies the album's problem. "Their sound" is sospecific that one can recognize a Somatic Responses release easily,regardless of which it is, and to my ears, it ends up getting stalepretty quick. "Circumflex" was great because it was polished, evil, andit was the first Somatix I had heard; it filled the gap that had beenleft by the steadily-increasing-inanity albums Panacea was putting outafter "Low Profile Darkness." I gradually picked up a couple more 12"sand although they were good, I found them to be little different fromeach other. "Augmented Lines" plays out like, well, Somatic Responses.To their credit, it is more mellow and features some different moodsthan "Circumflex," but if anything, I'd have preferred them to goharsher and noisier. Though it's not a bad album, it is far from beinganything new, and this is Somatix's greatest downfall. If you're new tobrothers John & Paul Healy, purchase "Circumflex" and decide fromthere if your thirst is quenched: if yes, stop; if no, purchase some12"s and this second album and see how you feel.
Was that Kosmik Kommando? Merzbow? Pan Sonic? No, it was twelve littleold gameboys strung up on gallery walls and singing their scoredbattery powered noises through cheapo cheapo speakers. Matt Wand, he ofStock, Hausen & Walkman and Hot Air records, has been performingsolo recently on gameboys and has been collecting the old machines fora while. Like Philip Jeck's 'Off The Record' installation with racks oflooping record players, part of the idea was to walk around and hearhow the sounds shifted and crossed and complemented and deadened eachother as they burbled, squealed, whooshed and crackled. Mr Wand hasmade available a souvenir of this event in the form of a tiny little 3"CD with 21 minutes of edited highlights. He's known for his humourousapproach to music though, and even after going to a private view of thegameboy orchestra after this was recorded, I can't work out if thenumbered sequences on the insert really relate to the score or if he'spulling our legs. Apparently the game Tetris was an inspiration for theinstallation. Whatever, the results here make strangely compellinglistening and don't sound like anything else he's done before.
Loud. Before I describe or review this CD in any length, one word can describe it perfectly: loud. This is probably the loudest album I've ever heard, and certainly raises the bar on intensity more than any other power electronics album I've ever heard.
I honestly don't know what Austrians find so amusing about pretendingto be Japanese. The humor wears incredibly thin on the current releasefrom Hans Platzgumer and friends on the Angelika Köhlermann label. Thedisc features ten cover tunes, in an effort which seems to imitate afictitious Japanese karaoke group. Included are versions of Kiss' "IWas Made for Loving You," Soft Cell's "Seedy Films," The Who's "AcidQueen" and Frank Zappa's "Bobby Brown." While it begins on a mildlyentertaining note, by track 6, the disc actually becomes painful tolisten to and screams to be ejected, as their version of "Get Down MakeLove" mimics the NIN version moreso than the Queen original. Even moreirritating is the inclusion of their take on Olivia Newton-John's"Let's Get Physical" — something I never ever want to hear again, notfrom Goldfrapp nor fucking Revolting Cocks. Platzgummer has worked witha whole host of others including Gerhard Potuznik, who has mastered asimilar genre of Austrian camp with his G.D. Luxxe outfit. Queen ofJapan, however, fails. I mean, come on, who buys this crap? There'sbetter cover versions circulating around on childrens discs and moreentertaining jokes on the V/Vm records.
