Malignant Records
German drone artist Troum and the American dark ambient project Yen Pox collaborate on one of the best albums released so far this year. Some might say that ‘Mnemonic Induction’ would make a great soundtrack for a film, and while that may be true, it would totally ruin the album. Other people’s images associated with this cd would never do it justice. Like they say, nothing can be worse (better than?) your own imagination, and such is the case here. The four long, untitled tracks have one thing in common, a deep brooding low end drone that gave my subwoofers a much needed work out. Layered over top are eerie wails and moans stretched out to inhuman lengths while bleak rumblings phase in and out. The best thing about this album is the way in which it is able to capture and hold your attention. Rather than becoming just good background music, it stays active, alternating between soaring expansiveness and claustrophobia. The slick digipack contains a paragraph about dreams and the separation of mind and body, but to use this cd as a dream aid, something to fall asleep to, would be a mistake. What the album does best is not to conjure strange dreams, but to evoke one’s waking memories, and associate the album with one’s own experiences. But try not to dwell on your bad stuff, this album deserves better.
German drone artist Troum and the American dark ambient project Yen Pox collaborate on one of the best albums released so far this year. Some might say that ‘Mnemonic Induction’ would make a great soundtrack for a film, and while that may be true, it would totally ruin the album. Other people’s images associated with this cd would never do it justice. Like they say, nothing can be worse (better than?) your own imagination, and such is the case here. The four long, untitled tracks have one thing in common, a deep brooding low end drone that gave my subwoofers a much needed work out. Layered over top are eerie wails and moans stretched out to inhuman lengths while bleak rumblings phase in and out. The best thing about this album is the way in which it is able to capture and hold your attention. Rather than becoming just good background music, it stays active, alternating between soaring expansiveness and claustrophobia. The slick digipack contains a paragraph about dreams and the separation of mind and body, but to use this cd as a dream aid, something to fall asleep to, would be a mistake. What the album does best is not to conjure strange dreams, but to evoke one’s waking memories, and associate the album with one’s own experiences. But try not to dwell on your bad stuff, this album deserves better.
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For those who didn't get the breakthrough one-sided 12" single from Squarepusher earlier this year, the complete CD edition is now available. This version is fully-realized and takes the form of a double-CD package: disc one featuring seven new or unreleased tracks wile disc two was recorded last year at a concert in Japan. The release which asks a question leads me to one of my own (which has plagued me for years): how come Tom Jenkinson can record such monotonous and sucky albums while having a wealth of variety on compact, yet fantastic EP releases? For the opening title track, I can safely say I haven't been this excited about a Squarepusher song since "Come on My Selector," as it merges both his low-cool funk obsession and choppy cut-up beat tendencies. Bad English rap gets chopped up on track two, "F-Train," while drum and bassheads can pretend to be stuck in a video game for "Anstrommm-Feck 4." The re-editing of cymbals and gongs on the first ten minutes of "Mutilation Colony" can almost be interpreted as an homage to Coil's "How to Destroy Angels" while the disc ends with an unexpected, cringeworthy cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart." (Please don't sing next time, Tommy, especially if you don't know the words or choose to take as many 'artistic liberties' with the lyrics.) The live recording on disc two is only marginal, however. Littered with crowd-pleasers, hits, the occasional shouting of "give it up for Squarepusher," and an onslaught of noise at the end, it only sounds like a fair-quality live audience bootleg without the inclusion of a line mix. At 67 minutes, it's a good bonus to have for fans who couldn't catch any shows last year due to his cancellation, but it's certainly nothing like actually being there and experiencing the big sound. While it does compliment the disc one EP, I honestly don't feel its inclusion is worth charging a double-CD price for the package.
Would somebody please give Mudhoney their due? Otherwise, they're going to eventually make that quintessential rock record that has the potential to destroy us all. It's rare that a band can continue to flourish and put great material to tape, not change the basic formula, and make a decade-plus career of it, and Mudhoney has done just that. There have been casualties, of course. After their last LP, 'Tomorrow Hit Today,' they were dropped from Reprise, without ever securing a hit album. Shortly thereafter, founding member Matt Lukin announced his displeasure for touring, and left the band. The hiatus that followed found the other members pursuing interesting side jobs, with Mark Arm even writing reviews for the now defunct Wall of Sound website. Now, the wait is over, as Mudhoney return to Sub Pop for their sixth LP. Thank goodness not much has changed in the process. The album's opener, "Baby Can You Dig the Light," is over eight minutes of noisy noodling goodness, and a sign that: 1) Mudhoney is back; 2) You can expect more of the same; 3) Their sense of humor is intact as always. Elsewhere, the arrangements are as blistering and loud as always. Mudhoney's influence on the grunge sound has always been clear, only now they seem to have so much more fun with it. Both "The Straight Life," with its laments on how a girl has been changed by the world around her, and "Where the Flavor Is" with, pardon me, its tongue-in-cheek lyrics, are straightforward rockers in the classic sense. The horns on several tracks are a fantastic choice on this record, making the atmosphere more loose and fun. Another accomplished work from one of Seattle's finest, if you're into that sort of thing.
I can remember the day that 'Polydistortion' was released, and it seemed like a whole new bridge between experimental electronic, post-rock, dance music and indie rock was built, as well as a foundation for a wave of Icelandic electronic music to flourish. I wouldn't have to bring up the group's breakthrough debut if I didn't feel it necessary to assure any reader that this was, at one point, a truly incredible collective. At the time, Gus Gus consisted of nine people: three singers, four musicians and two responsible for visuals. The music varied from pumping dance beats to slower-paced tunes, percussion-free ballads and shining instrumental tracks, all with a subtle twist of dementia to keep the sound from ever being mundane or tired. Their songs equally utilized everything in their ability, without over-saturating the mix. In the five years since, the group has gone through lineup changes, record label changes, and is now primarily a dance band. While the band's lyrics were never something to write home about, in the past they were at least somewhat off-center and interesting to listen to. On 'Attention,' the lyrics are both painful and repeated unnecessarily. Their new female singer lacks a true identity which separates her from a generic singer in a gay discoteque. On certain songs like "David," the music is so forceful, it almost doesn't matter but on songs like the opener "Unnecessary," it's bordering on unbearable. There are some highlights, however, like the guest vocal track from former singer Daniel Ágúst on the Gareth Jones-prodced "Desire," and the slower-paced hopping beats of "Attention" would make it a perfect jam were it not for the vocals. After the first few tracks, the rest of this disc tapers off into even more generic territory and while I can't say it's not pleasant, it's simply not the Gus Gus most people fell in love with.
I really can't say enough good things about Fischerspooner's superlative first album. Depending on which of the eight thousand re-releases you've gotten, the album is either called 'Fischerspooner' or '#1' or possibly 'Best Album Ever.' Whatever it's called, it is definitely ear candy—a great mix of druggy technopop, crystal-clear sonics, and dramatic adrenaline rushes of cheap, sleazy production effects. However, I'm not really sure what to say about their newest release: a "DVD single" of their standout track "Emerge". Fischerspooner is first and foremost a performance art piece, and the album was only a soundtrack to the performance. Their show is a spectacular visual assault and violent enforcement of the primacy of aesthetics. Which is why I was very excited about the prospect of a DVD release; perhaps it would contain bits of their stage performance along with a stunningly remixed Dolby 5.1 surround version of their song? No such luck. In fact, all this DVD contains is a rather useless three-minute interview piece with Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner. The interview reveals nothing at all, as the two just sort of mug for the camera and seem pretty reticent to talk about their creation. The interview is interspersed with enticing clips of their filmed performance, but no shot is held longer than two seconds. It's extremely frustrating, as they could easily have included a number from the show, and it would have been infinitetly more entertaining than the MTV-style cut-ups found here. The other two features of the disc are so useless they don't even bear mention, but I'll mention them anyway. A "video" for "Emerge" is actually just a series of stills of the performance. Each still is held on the screen for too long. Totally unremarkable. The other non-feature is the new song "Megacolon," which is a really clever Human League-style song about flatulence and diarrhea. Great song, but why am I listening to this on a DVD? There are no visuals to go along with this new track. What's the point? This pointless artifact has nothing to justify any retail price over 18 cents. Beware.
The first full-length (non CD-R) CD by Mirror is already in danger of becoming another rarity (like their previous limited vinyl releases) just 4 weeks after its release. [The disc is already sold out from Idea and is in stock at only a few online stores at the time of the publishing of this article.] Christoph Heemann (of H.N.A.S., C93, Mimir, and Nurse with Wound fame) and Andrew Chalk (New Blockaders, Organum, ORA) certainly know how to attract a loyal following. Recorded back in August of 2001, this 41-minute track is a deep space journey without the sci-fi gloss of Star Wars et al. Their drone journeys are more like travelling in some old and lost (maybe Russian) space ship that's unable to change its direction while the life supporting system is running low of energy. The aim of the mission may be forgotten but undefined waves of sound shake through the last remaining passengers. Shades of memories are evoked: isolation, apathy and hopelessness dictates the mood. Any conventional form of communication broke down long ago. 'Solaris' can either be a soundtrack for a late-night listening, an out of mind experience, or a calming, reassuring, post-traumatic remedy (like after your lover left you in anger). As David Sylvian has put it two decades ago, "the doubt inside my mind comes and goes but leads to nowhere". 
While many underground hip hop heads find themselves content with backpacks stuffed with demos of verbose MCs over abstract beats and the latest Def Jux and Rawkus releases, some of the best underground rappers are overlooked for taking their cues from the grimy tales of street hustling and the kings of contemporary radio. Cormega probably couldn't care less what some white kid in an El-P visor thinks of him, because he's been through more bullshit that any of those backpackers can imagine.
Ms John Soda is the duo of Stefanie Böhm (Couch) and Micha Acher (The Notwist, Tied + Tickled Trio) in a most agreeable and expansive pop environment. The diversity of the four songs on this EP (featuring Böhm's vocals on three of them) makes for an interesting yet all too brief listen, especially when there's a full length release just around the corner.
This debut full-length from Rob Tubb, who must surely be Chichester's premier retro-electro crooner, follows his recent "Remote Control" single, also on Lo Recordings. While the electroclash cultural blip has made me wary of contemporary musicians who pay overt homage to the 1980s, I've plenty of time for those working in a more underground, principled, fashion (for example Gerhard Potuznik). Cursor Miner is definitely to be counted amongst the most interesting of such musicians, fabricating something original and fun from the lighter side of 1980s English synth-pop and the geeky, meticulous side of modern electronica.
Yes, Virginia, there is a place for pedestrian electronica, but no one likes to listen to that much. Repetitive beats, the same thumping bass, the cheesiest of house girl singers - the time for the unoriginal concepts of third generation beat stylers isn't gone, it just never was. The best electronic music mixes recorded instruments in, improving on the concepts and hopes of both genres. Originality is improved, the sound is fuller and more genuine, and you can still dance to it. Plusses abound. "Melody For Sleep" is the first full-length Phobos 3 recording, a group that was created out of the consequences of theft. Steve Jones and Richard Pushong had all of their equipment stolen, but still had a strong desire to make new music, so they went back to basics on bass and guitar. Then they brought in beatman Martin Stovey to add some hip hop magic. The results are part My Bloody Valentine, part dance party. Everything takes on an ominous tone due to the low bass and squelched guitar, and there are creepy manipulated vocal tracks present in areas to raise the fear factor. Strangely, though, there's also a great deal of hope present, even in the ramblings of 'Crazy Reenie'. Phobos 3 aren't trying to change the face of music or anything. They just want to make music that leaves a good taste in your mouth after you've brushed your teeth, and that isn't too hard to swallow. They accomplish this for the most part, even though some of the basslines sound reminiscent of Fun Loving Criminals or Talking Heads, and the beats sometimes sound like Happy Mondays. But the instrumentation and arrangements aren't too heady, and the melodies are actually quite lovely in places. Worth sampling, for sure.
