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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Those who have followed Spring Heel Jack's evolution from day one through last year's collaboration with Low and the Disappeared LP think they might have been prepared for what was next, right? Perhaps. Last year the Blue Series from Thirsty Ear surfaced with The Matthew Shipp Quartet's album, 'Pastoral Composure', this year Shipp and an extended family have been paired up with the former early drum 'n bass champions, Spring Heel Jack for the continuum of the Blue Series.
While 'Masses' is a wonderful marriage of jazz instrumentalists with a tiny bit of electronic contributions, I somewhat question the SHJ label for the project. Perhaps it's political, perhaps it's there to try to introduce the SHJ fans to a more organic live sound than what the SHJ followers are used to. It's a blend of form and function: within the confines of ten tracks, there's a little bit of electronic noise, screechy horns, tinkling pianos, muted swing horns in sultry retro-art deco interludes, boppin jam sessions, and moods created for sadness, longingness and joy. Could this be the new direction of jazz? (Combining organic instrumental improvisationalists with established electronica tweakers?) Maybe not, but this all the while is an enjoyable listen and never drags on too long or becomes too obnoxious and must be turned off.
Nick Willscher is a New York City-based sound sculptor whose ambitiousCD-R trilogy "Solutiore of Stareau" probably slipped beneath your radarlast year. Well, don't worry, it did mine too. Now disc one isavailable as the debut release from Infraction Records, the new inhouse imprint of music retailer Riouxs Records, following up on thereissue of disc three as "Willscher" by Apartment B Records. This 70minute continuous piece (indexed at the noticeable transitions everyfive minutes) is a fairly minimal, malleable mass of low volume sound.Tones and soft fuzz abruptly flicker on/off to give a cut-up pulse tothe otherwise lukewarm haze. Unidentifiable fragments surface and sinkhelping to create an otherworldly effect. Meanwhile, a beautiful,recurring drone signature slowly swan dives in and out of a handful oftracks. But perhaps the most beautiful moment of all is thedeconstruction that takes place within the final track, the previoushour plus gently fading from short-term memory in crackles and signalnoise. Altogether it makes me think of what a Vladislav Delay trackre-processed by Kurt Ralske might sound like: soundscape bliss, though,not quite as breathtakingly so as Delay's "Anima". Regardless, keep anear out for this guy (as well as Infraction) 'cause he's definitelyonto something. Zammuto has since appeared on numerous compilations andthe drastically different "Full Martyr Status" remix EP is availablefor download from notype.com.
Bullshit bullshit BULLSHIT!!! Hey Mego scam artists, I'm calling yourbluff. After falling for the Michiko Kusaki scam pulled by the cohortsover at Angelika Koehlermann, I don't believe the story this time. Irefuse to think there's a cute Japanese drunk model making pretty musiclike this, suddenly discovered by Peter Rehberg of Mego at an artexhibit in Tokyo. Without a doubt, this is yet another balding Austrianguy who's as sick of making nerdy faceless, structureless glitch-boyambient laptop fuckery as I'm sick of hearing it. Don't get me wrong,Tujiko Noriko, or whoever is behind this, has a strong starting album,with shiny melodies, matched by undeniably cute vocals and/or distortedbreakbeats depending on which track. It's wonderful and captivating,and indeed quite literally a breath of fresh air, with orchestralsamples amidst the piano sounds on the Japanese-titled fifth track. Anorgan melody, "Tokyo" opens the second half of the disc with a songwhich strangely reminds me of a Mark Eitzel b-side from the "TakeCourage" 7"! From there, the sound gets somewhat tired, making me thinkthe release of this was rather premature, pulling out all the strongcards a bit too soon. Noriko's voice falters out of tune and almostbecomes unlistenable on "Girl Meets Boy" and struggles to recover on"Differencia." The rest of the disc never fully captures the energyfrom the first half of the disc but still ends quite gracefully. Boyswith yellow fever would certainly fall head over heels for a disc likethis.
Veritable one-man-band J.G. Thirlwell returns with his first fulllength as Foetus proper since 1995's somewhat misguided major labeleffort "Gash". Holed up in his well-stocked NYC-based studio, theself-proclaimed 'Master of Disaster' learns and uses whatever he needsto forge his unique brand of industrial-jazz-swing-big-band-rock. With"Flow" he hasn't reinvented the wheel but he has built a better mousetrap. The over-saturation of heavy guitar that plagued "Gash" has beentastefully restricted to let the underbelly of sound flourish. Poundingrhythms — often constructed of jackhammers, shattered glass and metalon metal — lay a solid foundation for dense arrangements of horns,strings, bass, guitars, synths, samples and the one and only caterwaul.It could very easily be a giant mess, and in a way it is, butgloriously so as Thirlwell's composition skills are the glue that holdsit all together. And lyrically he's as clever as ever with numerous andhumorous insights, clich³s, puns, and pop culture references. "QuickFix" and "The Need Machine" are fun to sing along with as they knockyou down. "Cirrhosis of the Heart" draws a parallel between love andalcoholism over a lighthearted cocktail jazz jaunt. "Mandelay" and theepic, near 13 minute "Kreibabe" juxtapose quiet and simply brutalpassages. One of my favorite lines from the latter - "I wanna whisk youaway with me / I'll be the whisker / you be the whiskey". "Suspect" isa film noir joyride while "Heuldoch 7B" is pure big band bombast."Someone Who Cares" is foetal pop, featuring lovely horn and guitarsolos and female backing vocals. Yep, "Flow" is quintessential, classicFoetus. Other projects in the can: Manorexia "Volvox Turbo" (availablenow at the shows or foetus.org) and the companion album "Blow"(September 16) with remixes by Panacea, Amon Tobin, DJ Food, FranzTreichler of The Young Gods, Kid 606, Jay Wasco, PanSonic, CharlieClouser, Phylr, Ursula 1000, Kidney Thieves/Sean Beavan and Thirlwellhimself. Foetus are currently on tour in the U.S. through July.
Manorexia is J.G. Thirlwell, aka Foetus, and he is the sole person toblame for this 64 minute instrumental suite. "Volvox Turbo" is asoundtrack for ... something. A psychodramatic thriller? A good/badnight's sleep? An acid trip gone horribly right/wrong? All of theabove? Yes. Here Thirlwell engages in experimental territory similar tosome of the work of former collaborators Coil and Nurse With Wound,merging together 14 varied and indexed movements. Excepting a handfulof prescribed panic attacks, much of the journey is a surreal sort ofsubdued ambiance comprised of strings, horns, flutes, tinker bells,drone, line noise and found sounds. Juxtaposed within are bits ofethnic travelogue such as the gypsy swirl of "Helicobra", Hawaiian firedance of "Tiki Envy" and rain forest atmosphere intro of "TubercularBells". The mood gradually shifts gears multiple times from smooth andsoothing to tense and climactic, artfully amusing to deadly serious,cherubic to downright menacing. It's really a rather stunning piece ofwork, an antithesis of the latest Foetus album "Flow" but equallyinteresting, and more proof of Thirlwell's multifaceted abilities."Volvox Turbo" is available at the Foetus shows through July orfoetus.org.
This debut Beneath Autumn Sky EP on Hefty is five tracks of phat beats, wondrous melodics, and fulfilling bass. While it's noted that B.A.S. have come from a lifestyle of B-boyin, squatting, and living outside the boundaries of normal society, they have created what seems to me like a beautifully crafted mixture of old school sounds and new-school technique. It "keeps it real" on every level I could think of, and while I listen, the world around me seems to shapeshft into a land of wild landscapes and infinite possibilities.
Hefty
"Spy Headings," the first track, is rich with sweet beats that aren't just loops which get stale over the course of five minutes. A stuttery breakdown and a beautiful piano sample transforms the atmosphere of the song into something brand new and its off into the sunset from there. Similarly, the following tracks have an evolving quality, appropriately transforming over time, all of which make for excellent active listening. My favorite track, "Zealots Awaken," which is seemingly fantastic at first, opens with some sort of medieval, middle-eastern sound mixture backed by a key hip hop break. It's a dimension of eternal balance where it is early evening in the summertime and the horizon is a contrast of the setting sun and the starry, moonlit night to come. The track doesn't stay that way, though, morphing into a Bond-era spy soundtrack, ending before the last escape scene. Every track on this EP is unique and refreshing. 'Enki-Dus Mono' is a like a mini-soundtrack to an alternative fantastic world that only an imaginative and brave few ever get a glimpse of.
The title of this collaboration between Will Oldham (Bonnie Billy,Palace) and Mick Turner (Marquis De Tren, Dirty Three) is something ofa misnomer: its twenty-odd minutes of dark and achey love songs neverreach the rolling twang of other Oldham or the thundering gallop ofsome Dirty Three. Not much gettin' on or jolliness here. Instead, thealbum reverberates with sonorous, swelling sprinklings of tremblingguitar, organ, and Oldham's plaintitive vocals, all steeped incountry-flavored ambience. Reverb is used liberally and to stunningeffect, drawing out the subtley shifting layers of instrumentation andfilling out the simplicity of their arrangement. Percussion (mostlycymbals) is only used on one track, and sparingly. Lyrically, as wellas musically, 'Get on Jolly' rouses the pangs in the bones and ache inthe chest of any dramatic and dreary rainy day. Pain and desireinspired by unobtainable or unexplainable beauty, loves absent ormisplaced, slowness and longing — all are significant themes on thisdisc. Despite (or maybe because of) the simplicity of Oldham's lyrics,a slightly odd turn of phrase deals a stunning blow. In "2/15" Oldhamsings praises of a woman who seems out of his reach: "hidden in theheart of things you make flowers into edible things" and "in the armsof your old charms, let me forever bask / or is that too much to ask"are two of the most striking and beautiful lines. My only complaint forthis impressive, intricate EP is: too short!
London-based electronic artist Riz Maslen has taken on a new journeywith the brilliant new Neotropic package. 'La Prochaine Fois' [the nexttime] might not officially be a concept album but is sure is conceptualin nature. The disc is an adventure, a journey further away from thestereotypical post-hop sounds of Ninja Tune and further away from herbeefy low-end and repetitious sounds of yesteryear. One thing whichremains contant however is her usage of external sound sources andminimalistic exploitation of music samples. I too had a journey thispast week, taking her music along with me while I biked a long bikepath, tuning out the external world and becoming more intimatelyacquainted with the music disc. My first reaction is the shock to allthe beautiful guitar and other stringed instruments coloring the earlyportion of the disc. Included in the mix are various old world-soundinginstruments, accordion, flute and naked drum kits. Riz also decided todelicately loop vocal samples from people like Jarboe [hey, James Izzois even credited!] and Low, while employing guest musicians on nearlyall of the other tracks. At times, the dynamic yet peaceful feel can besomewhat dub-like while other points could come fairly close toclassical arrangements. In an almost complete contrast, the latterportion of the disc [sans the rap closer] is a rather anthemicsoundtrack to a post-modern hippie's nightmare. On the whole, the musicis very rich in sound, intricately woven together without drowning thelistener with too many sources at one point. For those whose words getswallowed up at the sound of the disc or unable to make a physicaljourney using this as a soundtrack, a companion is included for us towatch! Disc 2 is a video collage of Riz's various travels. The visualsare nothing daring or explosive but it gracefully compliments the musicwell.
One day in London town Gilbert and Lewis of Wire followed their ears tothe source of an incredible noise like none they'd ever heard before.The buzz in their ears led them to a busker wearing high heels,stockings, white skirt, blazer and turban. The late Michael O'Shea was a free spirited instrument inventor andmusician who eschewed the trappings of fame and fortune to live hislife day by day as he pleased. He found an old wooden box and made ithis friend... With a few hammerings Mo Cara (Gaelic: My Friend) wasborn, a new instrument based on a hybrid of hammered dulcimer, sitarand an Algerian instrument he'd played on his travels, the Zelochord.Mo Cara had seventeen main strings underpinned by six more stringswhich gave it a profound resonance. Michael's playing was as muchinfluenced by his interest in tabla rhythms and time spent learning thesitar whilst recovering from illness as his early infatuation withIrish folk stalwarts the Chieftans. His compositions are transcendentand evocative of magic and mystery. Gilbert and Lewis recorded thealbum on a day when Michael's horoscope was propitious and everyone inthe studio was moved to tears by the album opener 'No Journey's End'.This became the second non-Dome release on the Dome label, and now withsix additional tracks is the twelfth and (almost) final WMO release andis a wonderful ending for the Wire related reissue / rarity label.
I walked in to see Tortoise at the Fillmore, unaware who the openingact was, as I had failed to do my research. I was late, and in a rushto see if I could find a great vantage point to observe the evening'sentertainment. Suddenly, I was taken by the sounds emanating from thestage. The opening act had been playing for 20 minutes or so, and I hadmissed most of it. A deep bass groove was backed by competent,hard-hitting drumming, both of which were accompanied by occasionaltruntable flourishes. I rushed to the nearest Fillmore employee, andasked who this amazing act was. "jet black crayon," he replied, and mysecond question should say it all: "Where's the merchandise counter?"The only release jet black crayon currently have available, "lowfrequency speaker test" is an impressive EP from a band with a trulyoriginal sound. Two basses, drums, and a turntable make beautifulmusic, as the EP really gets underway on track 2, "tonic water," thetrack I heard that night at the Fillmore that made me want to find outwho this band was. From the deep bass grooves on that track to thelatin style beat and instructional samples of "the tree," jet blackcrayon impress and excel, creating a mood with each soundscape that isdistinct and exciting. Principle members are Gadget behind theturntables, bassist Tommy Guerrero, who has several solo albumsincluding one with Gadget, slide bassist Monte Vallier, and drummer TimDegaugh on skins real and electronic. Rumor has it they are currentlyrecording their debut album, due later this year. Get in on the groundfloor. Grab this EP, released last year, and prepare to be grooved.
Rafael Toral is a guitarist who lives at the end of the world... Well,Portugal to be exact. His ten beautiful solo guitar dronescapes mightecho influences such as Sonic Youth, Jim O'Rourke, Eno and theminimalist composers but he gives his instrument a unique voice. Reallyhe's up there alongside Robert Hampson and Christian Fennesz when itcomes to new approaches to coaxing sublime sonic textures from thatversatile six string thing. This might be why Touch have put this outin a Mego style card wallet which sits snugly alongside their FenneszCD with the absurdly cumbersome title. Touch seem to be putting outsome of their strongest ever releases in recent times, what with thisand Phill Niblock. All we need now is a new Philip Jeck album to sealit! And speaking of Phill Niblock, it comes as no surprise that Toralhas collaborated with the master of the drone. Anyway, to describeToral's magical flights as ambience would be to do them a greatdisservice, but this is underwater moonlight music to drift and dreamto. Perhaps the drone word is a deceptive one to use here as well,since he does hit the strings softly and these chiming patternscontinually shift and expand. Now I'm off to look for his earlieralbums on Moikai, Dexter's Cigar and Perdition Plastics.