01 January 2007

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Sometimes we call for a vote and end up scratching our heads but this year it looks as if our readers have honestly picked some of the finest things around to cast their votes on. Once again we present the Brainwashed Readers' Poll, with results for favorite Album of the Year, favorite Single/EP of the Year, favorite Various Artist Collection, favorite Vault release, and favorite Music Video. Additionally, we have, through the magic of mathematics, calculated through your votes who the Artist of the Year, Label of the Year, and New Artist of the Year are through your vote numbers.

 

Album of the Year

1. Current 93, "Black Ships Ate The Sky" (Durtro/Jnana)
2. Scott Walker, "The Drift" (4AD)
3. Liars, "Drum's Not Dead" (Mute)
4. Wolf Eyes, "Human Animal" (Sub Pop)
5. Little Annie, "Songs From The Coal Mine Canary" (Durtro/Jnana)
6. Comets on Fire, "Avatar" (Sub Pop)
7. Matmos, "The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast" (Matador)
8. Espers, "II" (Drag City)
9. Charalambides, "A Vintage Burden" (Kranky)
10. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "The Letting Go" (Drag City)
11. Jandek, "Glasgow Monday" (Corwood)
12. Jessica Bailiff, "Feels Like Home" (Kranky)
13. Xiu Xiu, "The Air Force" (5 Rue Christine)
14. Lisa Germano, "In the Maybe World" (Young God)
15. Boris, "Pink" (Southern Lord)
16. Magnolia Electric Co., "Fading Trails" (Secretly Canadian)
17. Rivulets, "You Are My Home" (Important)
18. Whitehouse, "Asceticists 2006" (Susan Lawly)
19. Andrew Liles, "The Dying Submariner" (Beta-Lactam Ring)
20. Six Organs of Admittance, "The Sun Awakens" (Drag City)
21. The Legendary Pink Dots, "Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves" (ROIR)
22. Volcano the Bear, "Classic Erasmus Fusion" (Beta-Lactam Ring)
23. Sunn O))) & Boris, "Altar" (Southern Lord)
24. Rhythm & Sound, "See Mi Yah Remixes" (Burial Mix)
25. Joanna Newsom, "Ys" (Drag City/Rough Trade)
26. Tim Hecker, "Harmony in Ultraviolet" (Kranky)
27. Boris, "Dronevil Final" (Inoxia)
28. Belong, "October Language" (Carpark)
29. The Matinee Orchestra, "The Matinee Orchestra" (Arble)
30. Andrew Chalk, "Blue Eyes of the March" (Faraway Press)
31. Beirut, "Gulag Orkestar" (Ba Da Bing!)
32. The Caretaker, "theoretically pure anterograde amnesia" (V/VM)
33. James Blackshaw, "O True Believers" (Important)
34. Accelera Deck, "A Landslide Of Stars" (Scarcelight)
35. Sandoz, "Life in the Earth" (Soul Jazz)
36. Keith Fullerton Whitman, "Lisbon" (Kranky)
37. Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno , "Starless And Bible Black Sabbath" ( Alien8 Recordings)
38. Bardo Pond, "Ticket Crystals" (ATP)
39. Benoit Pioulard, "Precis" (Kranky)
40. Boduf Songs, "Lion Devours the Sun" (Kranky)
41. Jazzfinger, "Autumn Engines" (Rebis)
42. Kilgore Trout, "Two Yards Low the history of MXIII" (elseproduct)
43. Michael Cashmore, "Sleep England" (Durtro/Jnana)
44. Taurpis Tula, "Morden Towerings" (American Tapes)
45. Charlemagne Palestine & Tony Conrad, "An Aural Symbiotic Mystery" (Sub Rosa)
46. The Knife, "Silent Shout" (Rabid)
47. Mogwai, "Mr. Beast" (Matador)
48. Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice, "Gypsy Freedom" (5RC)
49. Miss Violetta Beauregarde, "Odi Profanum Vulgus Et Arceo" (Temporary Residence)
50. MV & EE with The Bummer Road, "Mother of Thousands" (Time Lag)

Single of the Year

1. Current 93/OM, "Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder)" (Neurot/Durtro)
2. Jesu, "Silver" (Hydra Head)
3. A Place to Bury Strangers, "Never Going Down" (Self)
4. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, "According to Plan" (Secretly Canadian)
5. Delia Gonzales and Gavin Russom, "Relevee" (DFA)
6. Black Sun Productions, "Im Gegentil" (Sheela-Na-Gig)
7. Fovea Hex, "Huge" (Janet Records)
8. By The End Of Tonight, "The Imaginary EP" (Temporary Residence)
9. Barry Adamson, "An Album Club Exclusive" (Central Control)
10. Songs Of Green Pheasant, "Aerial Days" (Fatcat)
11. Thee More Shallows, "Monkey vs. Shark" (Monotreme)
12. Boards Of Canada, "Trans Canada Highway" (Warp)
13. Aereogramme, "Seclusion" (Sonic Unyon)
14. Arab Strap, "The Shy Retirer" (Self Published)
15. Ensemble, "Disown, Delete" (Fatcat)

Vault Release (it's a reissue, compilation, boxed set, etc,...)

1. Coil, "The Remote Viewer" (Threshold House)
2. Arab Strap, "10 Years Of Tears" (Chemikal Underground)
3. Coil, "Black Antlers" (Threshold House)
4. John Cale, "Paris 1919" (WEA)
5. Tortoise, "A Lazarus Taxon" (Thrill Jockey)
6. AFX, "Chosen Lords" (Rephlex)
7. Frank Tovey, "Fad Gadget by Frank Tovey" (Mute)
8. This Heat, "Out of Cold Storage" (ReR)
9. Tom Waits, "Orphans, Bawlers and Brawlers" (Anti)
10. White Mice, "White Mice" (Basic Replay)
11. Wire, "1977-1979" (Pink Flag)
12. Greater Than One, "Kill the Pedagogue" (Brainwashed)
13. Nurse With Wound, "An Awkward Pause" (United Jnana)
14. Arthur Russell, "Another Thought" (Orange Mountain Music)
15. Nurse With Wound, "Rat Tapes One" (United Diaries)

Various Artist Collection of the Year

1. "Not Alone" (Jnana)
2. "Brainwaves" (Brainwashed)
3. "Killing Sound" (Razor X)
4. "Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies from the Canyon" (Numero)
5. "The Larry Levan Story" (Rhino)

Artist of the Year

1. Current 93
2. Coil
3. Arab Strap
4. Scott Walker
5. Jesu
6. Belong
7. Sufjan Stevens
8. Bardo Pond
9. Liars
10. Matmos
11. Nurse With Wound
12. Jandek
13. The Knife
14. Tom Waits
15. Wolf Eyes

New Artist of the Year

• Beirut

Record Label of the Year

1. Jnana (in all fairness includes Durtro Jnana and United Jnana releases)
2. Threshold House
3. Brainwashed (what? we're not a real record label!)
4. Kranky
5. Mute
6. Drag City
7. Important
8. 4AD
9. Chemikal Underground
10. ATP
11. Carpark
12. Sub Pop
13. Hydra Head
14. Southern Lord
15. Wackies
16. Fat Cat
17. 5 Rue Christine
18. Matador
19. Beta-Lactam Ring
20. Soul Jazz
21. Numero
22. Secretly Canadian
23. Temporary Residence
24. DFA
25. Ba Da Bing!

Music Video of the Year

 

1. Boards of Canada, "Dayvan Cowboy"
2. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, "The Owl"
3. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, "Cursed Sleep"
4. Delia Gonzales and Gavin Russom, "Relevee"
5. Boduf Songs, "Two Across The Mouth"
6. Hot Chip, "Over and Over"
7. Peaches, "Downtown"
8. Scott Walker, "Jesse"
9. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, "According to Plan"
10. Xiu Xiu, "Boy Soprano"
11. Broken Social Scene, "I'm Still Your Fag"
12. Aereogramme, "Dreams and Bridges"
13. The Knife, "Marble House"
14. The Threshold Houseboys Choir, "Part 1"
15. Mojave 3, "Breaking the Ice"
16. Adem, "Launch Yourself"
17. Dr. Octagon, "Aliens"
18. Jessica Bailiff, "Lakeside Blues"
19. Mahogany, "Neoplasticboogiewoogie"
20. Stuart A. Staples, "That Leaving Feeling"
21. Mindless Self Indulgence, "Shut Me Up"
22. Sigur Ros, "Hoppipolk"
23. Morrissey, "The Youngest Was The Most Loved"
24. Thom Yorke, "Harrowdown Hill"
25. Dresden Dolls, "Sing"

 

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31 December 2006

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Albums and Singles

This double disc set from Jandek's live debut on US soil (August 28th, 2005) is the least entertaining of his live releases to date. The upwards quality trajectory of this documentary series seems to have faltered here due to a combination of some poor songs and an unsteadily flailing rhythm accompaniment from a duo of drummers.

 

Corwood

This isn't an especially tough listen for anyone familiar with Jandek's music; it's the same core elements of his first two live discs using a local improvisational backing crew. Unfortunately the very evident lack of chemistry between the percussionists and Jandek on most of the songs here leaves around two-thirds of this album sounding tattered and unconnected.

Lacking the obvious intuitive chemistry of the Youngs/Neilson backing, on these discs its left to Juan Garcia's electric bass to support Jandek as both Nick Hennies and Chris Cogburn on drums fail to find their improvisational feet. Instead of providing any kind of real stereo effect or exploring different sonic areas they end up merely effacing each other or blanding out into a soft mass. It's a great idea on paper, and it could have easily taken off in several directions and added another twist to his so far impeccably realised and recorded live work. Their improv credentials certainly would have made them appear like great choices to back Jandek, but this subdued splay isn't a very interesting route. The poorest material here comes over as a fumbling mush in places and in others like random cracks and bangs of players who have lost any thread they might have followed.

Along with this less inspired playing, there is a sometimes syrupy lethargic pace at work here too. Miles away from the more thoughtful and active pieces are songs like "Throw me Away" and "Lonely Dog," which are good examples of the sometimes aimless and thuddingly barren paths that this album can take. Even when Jandek and band pick up the pace with the scrabbled teen punk turn of "The Police," the drums keep the song nauseously unsteady. Only Garcia's bassline runs help to redeem the song from veering into total wreckage. This record’s themes feel that little more simplistic and easily exposed, featuring hefty doses of imagery relating to lost love, drowning of self and turning away from others. It is worth mentioning at the point that the bass lines here are more forcefully melodic than the ones Richard Youngs offered up on his shifts as Jandek bassist. Juan Garcia seems to be closely following the guitar work and almost instantly building brief melodic patterns in the wake of Jandek’s guitar shards.

Even still there is a good third of Austin Sunday that is easy to get swallowed up in. Pulling the nightmarish "Let me try Again" out of the bag for the record's closer goes a good way to redeeming this show's inadequacies. As a slice of hell-trailing blues it leaves a path of scorched footprints across the record, capturing in a 13 minute nutshell (and better than any of the three live discs have yet) the essence of the man's recorded work. His ability to build a web of incredibly 'other' narratives from experiences rooted in everyday narratives leaves me with little doubt that backed by more capable improvisers this could have been a much more assured release.

samples:

• Ugly Man
• Wine You Devil
• Let Me Try Again

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31 December 2006

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Albums and Singles

Back when many techno and electro producers operated in perpetual pseudonymity and even anonymity, the intent was to put the focus on the music and not on the people behind it, as well as to add a certain underground mystique to these rebellious sounds.  Sadly, many of today's labels cannot help but exploit the secrecy behind their artists' identities, cheapening the legacy of the Underground Resistance posse and like minded artists.

 

Hefty

The Detroit pioneers whom we revere as living gods in clubs and at festivals didn't start out as larger-than-life celebrities, but their consumers' rabid obsession with unmasking and deciphering the unknown caused that to happen, an unintended consequence that I'm sure at least some of those producers are grateful for nowadays.  I've read countless message board and forum discussions consisting of (mostly) young men fascinating themselves over who such-and-such act might be.  I don't particularly care to waste my time trying to out Plus Device despite Hefty's buzz-seeking overemphasis of its incognito status.  When marketing gimmickry this blatant is employed to sell records, while not the most heinous crime in my book, it hardly matters that the artist or artists can't or won't name names, nor does it matter why.

All that aside, the music here bumps and grinds with a fealty to the aforementioned deities.  The bulk of Puncture consists of smooth, deep electro workouts with Roland X0X gear or passable emulators at their core.  Opener "Pupil Measurement" jacks with snappy snares and bleepy hiccups, repeating a delayed spacey sparkle every bar.  While a nice cut, it pales in comparison to "Body Heat," a vocoded funk jam that matches the pseudo-pornographic cover art.  Adult themes are repeated throughout the album, though occasionally with laughable results.  The lackadaisical, vulgar vocal delivery on "Sexual Harassment" makes even the most talentless Dirty South spitter sound half-decent, spoiling a perfectly good almost Drexciyan quality track.  "Come Inside Of Me" atones for that misstep with a Daft Punk panache of analog flourishes and a repeated robotic voice hook.

For the most part, Puncture accomplishes more without words than it does with them.  "Public Transport" melds tech-house stabs and textures with tough electro beats, offering up some compelling squiggly melodies.  In a similar fashion, "Ultra Seductive" opens deeper and soulful before throwing in almost unexpectedly quirky, neck-jerking beats.  After all that funk, Plus Device throws one last curveball in the finale "Refreshing, Invigorating" by belatedly adopting the 4/4 kick-snare pattern that a lesser artist might have been content to rely on throughout the album.  This last laugh, if meant that way, demonstrates that, despite off-putting manufactured hype and circumstance, the spirit of Detroit cannot be destroyed.

samples:

• Body Heat
• Ultra Seductive
• Public Transport

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29 December 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

The artwork of this split CD-R wins the award for creepy package through the post for this week. A card sleeve with scarlet stencilled skulls inside a red flecked bandage runs a close second to receiving dead rodents in a jiffy bag. Out of the three pieces here (two Robedoor tracks and the single piece by Bologna Pony), only one piece, the Robedoor finale, fails to balance on the awkward line between a riveting listen and a generic elongated feedback blow-out.

Feral Recordings

Evoking dread atmospheres, the main bones of Bologna Pony’s "Witch" appear like faces in the smoke. The slightness of the ringing tones and the tension built through restraint spits the notes metal cycles and clicks of steely strings. The temptation for the duo to have let rip must’ve been near unbearable. Their decision to not rely on the wire wool grind of guitar noise allows the space for swells of vocal moan and scything single notes. The layers sinking into bitter tasting dark and the crush of rattles that echoes out into the fade of a gorgeously bleak trip.

The usually reliable Robedoor score a hit and a miss with their two contributions. On the positive side there’s "Blue Circle," which channels a fly trapped by solder in an electric circuit. Stopping just short of a burning flesh stink, half way through it leans on the steady boil until sawing jaws take the rest of the track apart like pulling spider’s legs. "Blue Surrender," on the other hand, starts like its going to be a bad impression of Sunn 0))): all smoke and the churning toll of bells but it doesn’t move on from there. Swallowing itself in weak gulps, this diet immolation seems to burn out as it circles on its own tail. With Robedoor not having had put a foot wrong previously, it's a surprise when this doesn't meet the high expectations and fails to take off. Two out of three ain't bad.

samples:

• Bologna Pony - Witch
• Robedoor ‚Äì Blue Circle
• Robedoor ‚Äì Blue Surrender

 

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29 December 2006

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Albums and Singles

An aberration among their label mates, Silk Saw has consistently managed to operate on the fringe of the so-called rhythmic noise scene, with compelling sonic consequences. Thankfully, Ant Zen founder Stefan Alt continues to stand by the often difficult listening crafted at Laboratoire Central, collaborators Marc Medea and Gabriel Severin's enduring Brussels studio.

 

Ant-Zen

The duo's clever moniker, the soft fetishworthy fabric genetically spliced with a cold dangerous tool, could never be lost on the astute listener.  Its music, while never particularly pretty, always allows for an uneasy, narcotic calm to share space with the unrelenting rhythms. Industrial in the purest sense of the word, 8 Reports doesn't diverge too much from that loose formula over the course of its eight tracks, fitting in well with such provocative Silk Saw albums as Preparing Wars and 4th Dividers, two of the finest Ant-Zen records to date.

Alt's typically brilliant artwork this time around depicts a crude, sub-Kraftwerkian mechanical man, an automaton bearing the dust and wounds of years of neglect.  Such imagery immediately evinces an excellent mindset for appreciating these recordings.  "Conductor" builds slowly through percussive clicks, as if mimicking how the abandoned robot might sound when finally turned on, culminating in a repeating lo-fi surge that implies a readiness to serve.  Beginning with a dark ambient passage of almost clichéd sounds, "Faggoted" drops a frenetic beat, looped at an assembly line pace, surrounded by a restrained cacophony of shifting tones, bleeps, and drones.  Sparks fly like white hot snares ever so suddenly around the five minute mark, teetering towards territory already covered extensively by Pan Sonic, a forgivable lapse considering the two acts are essentially contemporaries.  

"Sleep Will Come" plays out like a machinist's lullaby of hypnotic hum and high-pitched ringing electronics, the sounds one might encounter trying to catch a nap in the factory's empty break room.  Closer "Defeated" conjures the spectre of 2-step garage before growing in rhythmic complexity and disquieting intensity, climactically sputtering out in a series of hiss strewn delays and filters, powering down the sad contraption perhaps indefinately.

samples:

• Conductor
• Faggoted
• Sleep Will Come

 

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28 December 2006

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Albums and Singles

 

It was January 1996 on the Carribean coast of Honduras. The musician in question was looking to catch a ride with a local vessel to the neighboring islands. There was one shrimping vessel in port that day, and its captain Jimmy willing to take disheveled hippies on board. He spoke some fragmented english, the boat set sail that evening. This album is dedicated to the idea of Jimmy the high-wire shrimper. Misplaced nautical charts, trade winds, shortwave miscommunication, midnight whispers, amorxxx.

Alien8 Recordings is reissuing Radio Amor, originally released on Mille Plateaux in 2002, in order to maintain the availability of the work of one of our label's most important artists. The recording has been out of print for two years now, out of grasp of Hecker's growing legions of admirers. Hecker is still basking in the universally glowing reception of this year's "Harmony in Ultraviolet" on Kranky (Score 8.7 / Best New Music on Pitchfork), the follow-up to 2004's "Mirages" on Alien8 Recordings.

Radio Amor is a key release in Hecker's discography, bridging his output between our "Haunt Me" (2001) and "My Love is Rotten to the Core" (EP, 2002) releases and 2004's "Mirages". "Radio Amor is a brilliant soundtrack for daydreaming, and Tim Hecker's effective variations on a few central ideas once again show a gifted composer at work." - Pitchforkmedia

Release date: January 23, 2007

Label: Alien8 Recordings

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28 December 2006

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Albums and Singles

 

VP Records presents the King Jammy “Selector’s Choice” collection on four double CD sets. Demonstrating the full range of styles and artists produced during the most prolific period in King Jammy’s career and dancehall in general. The track list is a who’s who of reggae on everything from love songs to hard core party tracks. The mixture of instrumentation and song themes display the popular trends and issues of the day and all contain the vital element of the King Jammy’s sound. Each CD chronicles the top tracks form the essential King Jammy’s riddims released between 1985 and 1989. Each 2 CD set comes with a track by track description written by famed reggae writer Rob Kenner, plus vintage photos of Jammy and members of the Super Power sound crew.

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21 December 2006

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Albums and Singles

(INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY LIVE JAZZ ALBUM AVAILABLE IN AMERICA THROUGH ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES, 3/13/07

 

 

Originally released by Swedish jazz imprint Moserobie in 2003, Live at Oslo Jazz Festival (Virus374) features a special one-time performance of Swedish political punk band The (International) Noise Conspiracy in collaboration with noted jazz musicians Jonas Kullhammar and Sven-Erik Dahlberg.

Live at Oslo features songs from T(I)NC's first two albums on Epitaph, Survival Sickness and A New Morning, Changing Weather, transformed into more dreamy arrangements. While retaining the T(I)NC-ness of the original material, the band with their guest musicians improvise freely for some spaced-out jams. The fact that Dahlberg and Kullhammar, a five-time Swedish Grammy nominee, are accomplished jazz musicians is an icing on the cake of this surprise party. Reminiscent of The Ex's collaboration with avant garde cellist Tom Cora in the early 1990s, Live at Oslo demonstrates T(I)NC's willingness to take risks and collaborate with musicians practicing different genres to expand their sound successfully.

Live at Oslo has never been available commercially in North America and is a highly sought-after missing link in T(I)NC's catalog. Alternative Tentacles is proud to bring this album stateside, revealing a whole new facet to a familiar band with an established sound.Alternative Tentacles founder and (I)NC fan Jello Biafra writes; "My first reaction to (International) Noise Conspiracy was, 'Aha, the missing link between Chumbawamba and the Hellacopters!'  It's cool how they set themselves up so they can expand in any number of directions at once.  Don't be put off by the jazz reference here.Sure, it's smoother, and yes, jazzier than other I.N.C. releases, but in such a way that most I.N.C. fans will really dig it.  It's another essential piece of the puzzle."

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20 December 2006

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Albums and Singles

The good ship Archive has reissued another great Japanese underground release, this time an album by Astral Travelling Unity. As the title suggests it is half live, half studio; one long track from each. The quality of both pieces is high but a little samey. I am intrigued, however, and keep coming back for more.

 

Archive

“Studio Session” features echoing wind instruments and synthesisers that build up some interlocking drones and set me ill at ease for the entire 40 minute piece. It always sounds like it is going to break into a motorik style rhythm and the first couple of times I listened to it I was disappointed that it does not break into something more immediately satisfying. However, once I knew not to expect the expected and instead concentrated on what was actually on the CD, it became highly absorbing for me.

As the piece progresses, it does get more and more active. Splashes of guitar disrupt the flow of the atmospheric drones. The synths begin to sound haunted and the mellow vibes that are so strong in the first half of the piece begin to dissipate. The electric sitar and violin add an uneasy franticness to the piece. On one hand it feels like the musicians making the drones are trying to pull the piece towards something slow and meditative while the others are trying to let all hell break loose. A couple of times it does get a bit chaotic but before long the group settle back into a quiet but tense hypnotic drone. The piece finishes with the group intensifying their playing to create a flood of sound that feels incredible after over half an hour of holding back.

On the live side of things, the band is joined by Acid Mother Temple’s Makoto Kawabata. Musically "Live Session" is cut from a similar cloth to the studio work (and oddly it sounds better recorded too). This time the drones are supplemented with periodic moaning vocals bringing the piece down from the spacey atmosphere of "Studio Session" to something more earthly, like a descent to hell. Also, unlike the studio piece there was no problem getting into "Live Session," instead it instantly engulfed me. Stabs of guitar cut through the sustained drones adding a thick layer of menace to the piece.

Out of the two pieces, "Live Session" definitely comes out on top. I find myself skipping the studio piece the odd time, it is not that it is in any way inferior but I found the live material far more engaging. I do not know if I could be bothered with other releases by Astral Travelling Unity as they seem like they are a bit of a one trick pony but Studio and Live at least is a nice addition to my ever growing weird Japanese music pile.

samples:

• Studio Session
• Live Session

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20 December 2006

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Albums and Singles

This Italian three-piece combines electronic beats and sampling with some beautifully menacing guitar and saxophone in a very pleasing way. They are not breaking down barriers but they are certainly no chore to listen to. The six pieces included here all work around the same mid-paced jamming style, the same patch of ground being covered but from alternative angles and viewpoints.

 

Small Voices

Listening to this album I found myself thinking of Coil’s work, especially in the beat department. While 3eem do not reach the perfection of that group, they make a fair stab at an album and put their own identity on the music. The rhythms are infectious, especially on the opener "Reverse." where the guitars and glitchy beats work together to drive the piece on while the saxophone swoops around them. Danilo Corgnati's guitar definitely lifts Essence of 3eem up from being a throwaway beats and brass album, his tasteful playing provides a wonderful melodic backbone for the music featured here.

Corgnati uses a nice bit of wah on his guitar during "In the Beginning it was an Accordion," which is pleasingly not totally masturbatory. The only thing that slightly irked me was the long final piece, "24 Apes." It takes up over a third of the album but could be a lot shorter; some of the parts that make it up do not quite work as well as others and the flow of the piece is disrupted.

Essence of 3eem sits together nicely; the different pieces all seem to fit together like a soundtrack (but not in that clichéd epic sense of soundtrack that gets thrown around all too often). They demonstrate some adventurous use of sounds with some unusual use of the saxophone. At least it sounds like the saxophone, it may be electronics, either way it sounds good. There is not a bad piece on Essence of 3eem. It is very easy to listen to and get lost in. Granted there is nothing groundbreaking either but it is a solid album rich in high quality music.

samples:

• Reverse
• Dilate Me
• In the Beginning it was an Accordion

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