Plenty of new music to be had this week from Laetitia Sadier and Storefront Church, Six Organs of Admittance, Able Noise, Yui Onodera, SML, Clinic Stars, Austyn Wohlers, Build Buildings, Zelienople, and Lea Thomas, plus some older tunes by Farah, Guy Blakeslee, Jessica Bailiff, and Richard H. Kirk.
Lake in Girdwood, Alaska by Johnny.
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Ulan Bator is a French avante art rock trio who apparently take theirname from the capitol of Mongolia. "Ego : Echo" is their third albumand it was for the most part spontaneously created during 3 weeks ofsessions last summer in Florence, Italy with producer and Young GodRecords head Michael Gira (SWANS, The Angels of Light). Ulan are allabout tight and minimal, tense and repetitive guitar/bass/drum rockgrooves - both noisy and subdued - as musical and (French) vocalpassages become hypnotic head noddin' mantras. Add organ, piano, bow,keys, horn, tape loops, electronic drone, 'la la la' styled backingvocals and Gira's dry, crisp, clean and full production. Comparisonsto Can, Faust (Jean Herve Peron contributes horns to 1 song), the BadSeeds and Gira's own projects is inevitable as everything is sparseyet beautifully melodic and the sound and feel is similar, at the veryleast, in spirit. The 16 minute centerpiece "Let Go Ego" in particularprovides the variety of most everything Ulan Bator do in one song withextensive stretches of drone, somnambulant sonic meandering, heavy rockout and lengthy coda chant. "Ego : Echo" is a dynamic rock record thatresonates with passion and a sense of straightforward urgency. It'sone of a handful of cool musical things lately from France and it fitsright in with the rest of the Young God catalog. Up next from YGR arealbums by Calla and Flux Information Sciences in January and the newAngels of Light album "How I Loved You" in February.
This is the first release of DirkDresselhaus (schneider TM) since his 'Moist' full length was licenced for UK release by Mutefrom Germany's City Slang Records. He has made this 6 song mini-album in collaboration withKPT.michi.gan aka Michael Beckett (who usually joins schneiderTM as part of his live band),and Japanese artist Hanayo http://www.hanayo.com/ (her site has a lot of fun things tolook at). Hanayo is a very interesting person based on a look around her site. She provides thevocals (another first on any schneider TM release) on 2 songs" "Onnanoko" and "The Light3000", which is a cover of The Smiths song "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out". Prettyneat, huh? In fact it is. I loved the Moist album and I like this a lot too. The first song on eachside are busy instrumentals, the second song on each side are quiet instrumentals, and the lastsong on each side are the vocal tracks. Read More
Uwe Schmidt's SenorCoconut project is probably his most popular incarnation. This 12" has3 versions of the Kraftwerk song 'Tour De France' and 2 versions of'Expo 2000'. All but one of the songs are unique to this 12". There isthe 'Merigue album version' of "Tour De France" taken from the 'ElBaile Aleman' CD. You get 2 more verions of the song here as well: the'Good groove's 501 Vocal mix' and the 'Good groove's 501 Instrumentalmix'. All three versions break out of the tight confines of the pretend'neo-Latin' music that the Kraftwerk cover record sticks to. This 12"is the only place you'll find his version of the recent Kraftwerk'comeback' song "Expo 2000". there are 2 versions here: the 'MamboOriginal' and the 'Mambo Instrumental'. Uwe Schmidt seems to excel atwhatever he does. A few weeks ago I heard the second Flanger CD he didalong with Burnt Friedman. Although I am not usually one for straightup jazz, that CD sounded crystal clean and somewhat unique in it'scombination of traditional jazz and modern electronics. I can't wait tohear his Erik Satin project, which I've heard is his EasyMusicdeconstruction act - kind of similiar to what Tipsy is doing. Read More
Though the bright, streamlined bounce of first-track "Container of Drudgery(Never Had a Name)" seems to be crafted with almost excruciating precisionnext to last year's noise-saturated Fingerpainting, don't let the openingstrains fool ya. The Red Krayola's new six song EP eventually flexes andfractures into the same smattering of electronic chirps and indifferentlycolliding rhythms and melodies that characterizes their other recent DragCity releases. Midway through the album, the spastic rhythms and synthesizedsquawking and burping commence. These moments are capable of producing thefear and agony of one confined to a room filled with two-year-olds andFischer Price instruments. On "Is There," vocals, guitar, synthesizer, anddrums all seem to improvise playfully with only the occasional nod tosolidarity and structure. This isn't a problem in itself, but the samecryptic sing-song lyrics and compulsively spastic tapping that carry throughmost of The Red Krayola's albums now seem uninspired and more likely toinduce nervous twitching than appreciation. Yet when the fun and bluesyinstrumental "6-5-3 Blues" eventually breaks into chewy electronic twists,you can't help but feel the scattered moments of cohesion are worth (mostof) the disarray. The last two tracks maintain this balance with flair.While 'Blues, Hollers and Hellos' may not be The Red Krayola's best, the morevaried use of electronics makes up for some the inconsistency and you can'thelp but be grabbed when it's disparate elements come together just right.The slow "Magnificence as Such" rolls with cymbals and fuzzy, meanderingguitars while Mayo Thompson's wobbly croon, "Still it slays me when I touchmagnificence as such," may even produce pangs of tragedy and beauty in thosewho typically cringe. Yum.
Ulan Bator is a French avante art rock trio who apparently take theirname from the capitol of Mongolia. "Ego : Echo" is their third albumand it was for the most part spontaneously created during 3 weeks ofsessions last summer in Florence, Italy with producer and Young GodRecords head Michael Gira (SWANS, The Angels of Light). Ulan are allabout tight and minimal, tense and repetitive guitar/bass/drum rockgrooves - both noisy and subdued - as musical and (French) vocalpassages become hypnotic head noddin' mantras. Add organ, piano, bow,keys, horn, tape loops, electronic drone, 'la la la' styled backingvocals and Gira's dry, crisp, clean and full production. Comparisonsto Can, Faust (Jean Herve Peron contributes horns to 1 song), the BadSeeds and Gira's own projects is inevitable as everything is sparseyet beautifully melodic and the sound and feel is similar, at the veryleast, in spirit. The 16 minute centerpiece "Let Go Ego" in particularprovides the variety of most everything Ulan Bator do in one song withextensive stretches of drone, somnambulant sonic meandering, heavy rockout and lengthy coda chant. "Ego : Echo" is a dynamic rock record thatresonates with passion and a sense of straightforward urgency. It'sone of a handful of cool musical things lately from France and it fitsright in with the rest of the Young God catalog. Up next from YGR arealbums by Calla and Flux Information Sciences in January and the newAngels of Light album "How I Loved You" in February.
Can't say I'm terriblysurprised that a label run by the Autechre folks would put out an EPlike this. Team Doyobi's style is relatively remeniscent of an older,more squarish 4/4 beat-filled Autechre sound, yet the group exploresmore with melodic motives than Booth and Brown seemingly did back in"the day." The release is an eight track mini-lp stretchingapproximately a half hour. The music is enjoyable, bright and bouncey,with innovative usage of sampled and synthesized sounds tapping out themelodic rhythms. Fans of glitchy Mouse On Mars beat music willdefinitely be keen on this one as there's various video-game esquesamples and over-processed primitive sounding analogue syntheticstossed in to color the tunes. As good as it is, however, it's nice tohave it short and sweet. There's not an incredible amount of variety interms of tempo change and feeling between the different songs, sosomething like this would be a bit heavy to digest had it been twice aslong.
Following the energy fromthis year's spectacular full-length offering, "And then Nothing Turneditself,..." Yo La Tengo have come up with three pleasant newinstrumental gems. The group called all three songs Danelectro andcoupled them with a remix of each to round out the CD EP. A short butsweet hip-hop variation is brought to the table by somebody who goes bythe moniker of Q-Unique, while a rather intense jazzy cut, spliced andover-layered version has been treated by San Fran's Kit Clayton. Myfavorite however would be the 11+ minute electronic sunshinereinterpretation from Nobukazu Takemura. In my opinion, whileTakemura's work was in no way 'cut out' for him, he did have theprettiest source material to work with. While I'm fond of Yo La Tengo'sLPs and this EP, these songs might sound rather out of place on analbum from the group known for their vocal pop rock material. There'ssomething that's somewhat indescribable about the brightfulness of themelodies themselves, it's almost as if they possess a certain Holidayspirit. Perhaps this EP was intended to be a Christmas-type releasefrom the NY threesome. I'm not aware of this yet I'm not convincedotherwise.
It's tough to try to talk about a release from the High Llamas without mentioning Stereolab, but when you've got Sean O'Hagen leading a chorus of girls singing pretty "la la"s combined with airborne melodies, loads of chimes and vintage organs, comparisons are as unavoidable as the moose standing in the middle of the highway as you barrel towards it at 65 miles per hour. I quite like this disc however.It provides an excellent Sunday brunch soundtrack, hungover as the bright sun bleeds in through the blinds. "Here, honey, how about a tall glass of orange juice with some fresh new High Llamas?!" Never too abrasive and not incredibly repetitious, the tempo and feel for nearly all of the songs strike a wonderful emotional chord. The album's sound features a gentle blend of vibes and processed guitars with a fondness of late 1960s soundtrack music. I appreciate the variety of instrumental, male and female vocal tracks as it does somewhat break up a certain monotony that would be there had they not done it.
Talk about variety, thesecond Echoboy album of the year once again follows a seeminglymulti-genre'd blueprint as Volume 1. Richard Warren, who goes by thename of Echoboy has gathered another ecclectic collection of nineself-recorded self-produced delves into audio experimental popinfluenced rock tunes. Whether it echoes early 80s electro pop a'laPeter Schilling's "Major Tom" or 90s analogue synth retro, Warren'senergy is fiery and relentless, his talent as a songwriter and musicianis undying. Some songs carry a feverish pulse, with a utilization ofguitars and vintage keyboard sounds not entirely unlike good oldSuicide or Trans Am. When the slower paced tunes creep through thespeakers, the music is never less saturated. The usage of variousorganic drums with electronic drum machines, guitar filters, bass linesand special effects . Echoboy's loved by critics and adored by collegeDJs all over the world, I assume because it seems like the guy's arabid music fan like the rest of us, and hasn't decided to make a'band' to only focus on one style. If I only had one complaint aboutEchoboy, it would be that this guy has way too many limited editionsingles and EPs of which many tracks will probably be lost, never tosee the light of day again. Brilliant asshole.
With a fondness of vintage analogue keyboards and rockin tunes is this defunct (?) Detroit duo. Herein lies 23 tracks recorded between 1996 and 1998, pulled from various out of print 12" and EP releases. Le Car's automobile has been retrofitted with analogue keyboards, but it drives quite smoothly and is exciting to show off.
Pounding beats and catchy melodies throughout the disc make it entertaining, enjoyable and a true hit with your friends. With songs like "Flame Job," and "Malice" visions of Human League and Heaven 17 dance in the head while tracks like "Audiofile Five" echo early melodic 808 State, undersaturated in effects and gear however. 'Auto Biography' serves as a great collection as well as an excellent reference point, as both members have jumped into other moving vehicles, Adult and Perspect.
My appreciation of Spencer Yeh has increased in recent years due to his clear disinterest in re-covering familiar and expected territory.  Nowhere is that creative restlessness more conspicuously on display than here, an entire album of charmingly ramshackle left-field pop.  As it turns out, Yeh has been concealing a knack for songwriting all these years, as Transitions is a legitimately excellent and charismatic effort that makes me wish he had been doing this all along.  These are some of the most instantly likable songs that I have heard all year.
This, of course, is not Yeh's first foray into "pop," as that honor went to last year's "In the Blink of an Eye" 7" single.  Writing a great album is quite a bit different than recording a cool fluke single though and Yeh does not seem to have taken the challenge lightly...at least not from a craftsmanship angle.  In another sense, Spencer seems to have approached the album extremely lightly, which is exactly the right way to approach a pop album.  Transitions does not feel like any sort of calculated attempt to appeal to a wider audience; rather it feels like Spencer had an enormous amount of fun constructing short punchy songs packed full of meaty bass lines ("Transitions"), kitschy drum machine grooves (pretty much everything), and a host of amusing curve-balls like horns, wah-wah guitar, and crude 8-bit-sounding synth textures (ie- the killer, blurting breakdown in "Masculine Infinity").
Happily, Spencer's embrace of tunefulness and enthusiastic appropriation of New Wave-isms and burbling synths does not coincide with any sort of decrease in intelligence or any sidestepping of his more esoteric influences.  For example, the album's most overtly odd piece (the lurching, sing-song "Laugh Track") betrays a clear love of prog/art pop like Robert Wyatt and Slapp Happy.  Even more notable is the album's gleefully subversive synthpop closer "I Can Read Your Mind."  It is easily the album's most conventionally catchy and radio-friendly song, but it could not possibly be less commercial in origin as it is a actually a Father Yod and The Spirit of '76 cover.
There are a couple of slight wobbles in quality among these ten songs, like the guitar-centered power pop pastiches "The New Guy" and "Whose Life," but the album otherwise has the feel of a greatest hits album.  As bizarre as that sounds (particularly for a former noise musician), it is not hyperbole: nearly all of these songs sound like great, hook-heavy would-be singles that would make me exclaim "Woah- who is this?" if I heard them by chance on a college radio station or something.
Probably the highest compliment that I can pay Transitions is this: Yeh covers Stevie Nicks' "Rooms on Fire" and it turns out to be one of the album's weaker pieces.  While I am a closet Fleetwood Mac superfan, Yeh's original pieces are actually a lot more vibrant, quirky, and witty.  Of course, part of that might be because Yeh is a bit too reverent and serious in his treatment of the Nicks' piece, an error that he does rarely makes elsewhere  In fact, it is often pretty hard to tell when Yeh is being serious and sincere and when he is merely being hilariously deadpan, but his dry tone works much better in his own pieces because it is couched amidst livelier, more triumphantly absurd music.
Yeh has accomplished something truly unusual, as he has essentially made a weird, indulgent, and inventive pop album completely on his own terms that may perversely have widespread appeal.  Significantly, that is entirely due to Spencer's energy, sense of humor, and remarkably intuitive understanding of strong songcraft rather than any actual attempt to be liked outside the underground/avant-garde milieu.  I recognize that making a (mostly) synthpop album is an incredibly trendy thing to be doing right now, but there is a hell of a lot of playful self-sabotage and wrongness thrown into the mix to balance it out here.  To my ears, this is one of the most enjoyable and surprising albums to come out this year.