30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

The Fall continue to tour a disturbing experimental past life and pack pristine venues with enthusiastic dripping venom, shambolic contempt and twisted wry amusement. "We are the new Fall," the lads hesitantly proclaim on the up an' at 'em opener, as Smith harrangues anyone who'll listen that they'd better look up! Who knows whether they'll stick it long enough to become an old Fall? The drummer's already shuffled off. For now Fall fans can ruminate on the twenty-third (at least 18% studio non-compilation) album proper from Mark E Smith and whoever else can put up with his bad Spanish accent impressions. Ditching the band that made the mostly excellent pro-tooled belter "The Unutterable", Smith has marsalled his ever expendable bedraggled combo to belt out a raw rocking set.

Cog Sinister

Every Fall album has at least one track that demands endless repeated listening. This album's classic 'Crop-Dust' gets its hooks into my brain for hours, combining primal addictive Fall rhythm with a killer snake-charmer riff whilst the sound levels are tweaked like tape drop-out. Mumbled backing vocals recall the twilit dusk of the haunting gross-chapel era, and Smith declaims a tale of a hesitant old singer from Manchester joining World War I soldiers in great coats. There is no mention of flabby wings here, but the time travel plays havoc with the liver and brain. The whole album has a kind of twisted time-warped feel to it. It sounds like the band that made early classics such as "Grotesque" and "Slates" took a dose of straight strychnine at a rockabilly festival and took a temporal wrong turn into an alternate pre-gramme reality in which only Smith could emerge the winner. A small alteration of the past turns time into space, which explains why shoddy collections of Fall demos have been proliferating across the earth. The hilariously abysmal sleeve and credit mistakes (two songs are listed in reverse order; there is a keyboard on the latter live portion of 'African Man' but no sign of former keyboardist Julia Nagle's name) are either a cockeyed homage to fan fleecing demo slew, or Smith just doesn't give a monkey's. In fact he eats monkeys for breakfast if the hilariously messy destruction of Iggy Pop's super dumb 'African Man' is to be taken seriously, which it obviously isn't. The African man eats elephants and lions too, but only because the hotel provides them. Lo-fi tapes and dyspeptic guitars infest the hotels and park themselves willy nilly in Afro Ibis Hotel man's driveway, where he strangles a screaming ibis for his supper (no fork or knife for him). He eats a skunk for lunch and sounds a bit shocked, triggering a time lock back to recent gig audio fragment.
The Fall haven't sustained such a lengthy unhinged and uncommercial onslaught since the violin scraping of 'Papal Visit' and this'll have trendy fairweather White Stripes fans running for cover faster than you can say 'Spectre vs Rector'. It's also far and away the funniest track I heard in 2001. Whilst mention of skyscrapers in 'Crop-Dust' might have some dubious claims on Smith's prophetic capabilities, it's 'Kick the Can' and the resurrection of their Can homage 'I am Damo Suzuki' at gigs prior to Michael Karoli's death that rings grimly eerie. For 'Hollow Mind' they redo 'Jerusalem' with too many notes on low power with no discarded brick chip. The R. Dean Taylor cover 'Gotta See Jane' pales anaemically next to the bouncy 'Ghost in my House'. Nevertheless this version of The Fall could teach most of these hyped-up soft rockers, like the Strokes with their Housemartins plus little feedback lick shtick, a thing or seven. This album sounds as ravaged as everyone's favourite toothless idiot savant singer from Salford looks these days. The band are solid enough, if rather normal next to the formidable Scanlon, Hanley, Brix attack, and Smith sounds gloriously deranged even if he seems to have less to say than ever. He's probably been saving up witticisms for his next spoken word album. Mostly Smith's voice has been mixed at speaker damage levels, and if he doesn't finish off yer hi-fi, the dustbin lid drumming on 'My Ex Classmate's Kids' will. That song is basically a slowed down rewrite of the popular freebie Flitwick single 'When I Wake Up in the City'. Instead of coughing and tapes of say nothing radio chat, Smith drawls his most barmy alingual vowels and latterly complains of aftershave stench like twigs up the nose. That's what you get for living in a 'Bourgeois Town' where container drivers do the hassle shmuck with a handful of antacid!

 

samples:

• Bourgeois Town
• Kick the Can
• The Acute

 

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Keven Blectum and Blevin Blectum, a pair of freaky San Francisco art school-type chicks, have made some of the most queasy lo-fi breakbeats since Coil's Scatology. This CD collects two of their early EPs, "Snauses and Mallards" and "De Snaunted Haus." Blectum's scattered, fuzzy beats are a chorus of guttural rumbles, poops, farts, and dysenteric discharge - all messily orchestrated for maximum nausea. If you can keep yourself from laughing at the musical turds populating this bizarre album, you will start to notice sinister undercurrents afoot. The comic strip liner notes and some of the spoken word tracks begin to explain Blectum's anal fantasy land of sex-crazed, cannibalistic "snauses" and "mallards" - two complimentary lifeforms whose main functions are, apparently, to copulate and excrete out the evil, distorted songs herein. The first nine tracks are a random, misshapen assortment of various musical ideas - from distorted jungle to retro-futurist tomfoolery - none of which exist long enough to make any real impact. Beginning with track ten, Kevin and Blevin begin to unravel their terrifyingly absurd tale of a "snaunted haus" with dirty industrial beats, fragmented drum and bass, distorted voices, abstract noise, and even samples from Men at Work (on "Right Time, Right Place"). This is truly an original work; it's rather difficult to compare it to anything. However, listening to this CD repeatedly is a little like playing with your own diarrhea. I hope that these obviously talented women will decide to make a slightly more mature, less fecal album sometime soon.

 

samples:

• Anti-Duck-Tion
• Caravan Voyager
• Hotrodderdam

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

"Difficult" is a loaded word when used in electronic music reviews. In one context, it can be taken to mean the record is so far ahead of everything else out there that it needs numerous intense listening sessions to be understood and appreciated. On the other hand, it could simply mean that the record is an unfocussed, unlistenable and pretentious piece of crap. So when I tag these two new releases from Miami's Schematic label as being "difficult", which end of the spectrum am I referring to? Well, somewhere in between, but at least a little bit closer to the former than the latter.

On "Aleamapper", Atlanta's Richard Devine almost entirely abandons the crunchy beat structures of his previous releases and offers a set of soundworks that could loosely be referred to as "ambient" for lack of a better classification. There are some really inspired moments amongst the 16 tracks on the disc, but unfortunately the more interesting and vital bits are often cut short (one of the album's best tracks, "Mtr Method", doesn't even hit the two minute mark), while the more esoteric experiments are more often than not allowed to wander aimlessly. Despite these flaws, "Aleamapper" exhibits strong evidence of an artist who is committed to taking his music into new directions, so with a bit of fine tuning, I suspect that Devine's future work in this field of abstract sound could be phenomenal.

 

 

samples:

• Model
• Patelle
• Swap Trigger

 

As for Mr. von Schirach, his "Escalo Frio" platter feels like a cross between Matmos (who appear as guests on a track) and Prefuse73: quirky, organic sounding IDM with a hint of fractured hip-hop. [Jon adds: but kind of feels like a stoner kid obsessed with video games, Saturday morning cartoons and Count Chocula.] Unfortunately, the MCs he chose to provide vocals to be processed don't offer much in the way of exciting or insightful rhymes, but since they only appear in a comprehensible form on a couple of tracks it's not too distracting. Otherwise the album is actually a lot of fun, with sounds and ideas of all sorts ping-ponging back and forth, and even a goofy fake commercial at the halfway point that's good for a chuckle.

samples:

• Coconut
• Commerical LD Add
• Spooky Jar

 

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Out now on Temporary Residence is the second full-length release fromXian Hawkins as Sybarite. Oddly enough, the Brooklyn-basedmulti-instrumentalist/producer/ composer has yet to finish and releasewhat he considers to be his official debut album. 'Placement Issues'collects 13 songs from various singles, compilation tracks and a coupleremixes that were limited in number, scarcely distributed, andcompletely impossible to find now. Through these single releases onStatic Caravan, Emanate, and Zealectronic, Hawkins gained the attentionof 4AD, who are scheduled to release Sybarite's debut, 'Nonument,'early on in 2002. It follows the 'Music for a Film' release, also onTemporary Residence, which was assembled as a score to the horrorb-movie, "Kill Me Tomorrow," yet the collection pulls form both earlierand later recordings. Hawkins' most high-profile gig was in the touringincarnate of Silver Apples, and listening to these recordings, it'sclear that his talents as a multi-instrumentalist were important infilling that role. Over the course of these recordings, the manskillfully delves into organic and synthetic electronics, bass, guitar,and various other odds and ends. Songs like "Otonomy" and the albumopener, "Engaged" never get too cliche or predictable, with chopped upacoustic guitar playing, distorted string samples and sharp beats. Thecombination of a lyrical bassline against unobtrusive guitar melodiesin other tracks like "Second Cities" create an attention-grabbingatomsphere that makes this disc hard to be a simple example of auralbackground, especially with the carefully positioned field recording ofa playground at the end. It's not so surprising that hiscomplex-yet-cool instrumental tunes have earned him the support of alabel who's roster includes Fridge and Kammerflimmer Kollektief.Listening to this disc back to back with the soundtrack, 'PlacementIssues' seems miles ahead, with a carefully calculated precision, muchlike the roster on Hefty excel in. My only issues with this collectionare in the rather deceptive gathering of the pieces: not only are therea couple songs missing here and there, but there's no accompanyingnotes nor are they placed in any observable order. [Perhaps that's justthe obsessive completist in me, manifesting itself onto a very youngcareer.] In the end, it's served its purpose as I'm now eager to hearhow he pieces together an album less fragmented and disjunct.

 

samples:

• Engaged
• Otonomy
• Incredible Magnetic Missive

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Given enough time Jah Wobble will, hopefully, collaborate with just about everyone. Over the past few years he has successfully mixed his trademark, bedrock bass guitar styling with Laotian folk ("Molam Dub"), inventive saxophone ("Passage to Hades") and all out industrial rock ("The Damage Manual"), among others. Here he teams up with Temple of Sound, the duo of Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah, both formerly of Transglobal Underground.More success! The disc is initially only available by mail order through Wobble's 30 Hertz label. And no, this isn't an album of Motley Crue covers, just an unfortunate title coincidence. Ten tracks, most in the 5 to 6 minute range, explore a genuine Arabic electro dub amalgamation. Wobble provides the soul shaking bass lines, Dubulah the guitar, keys, strings and programming atmospheres and Sparkes a host of ethnic percussion such as riq, zils, Egyptian tabla and darabuka. Among other contributors are 3 female vocalists - Shahin Badar, Natacha Atlas and Nina Miranda - who grace half the album with powerfully emotive, mostly foreign tongued strains. Every track is solid. Really solid. The quirky loops of "Cleopatra King Size" are laced with electronics, stuttered guitar notes and booming low end.
The wandering bass line of "Once Upon a Time in The East" reminisces of Wobble's legendary late '70s tenure in Public Image Ltd. The sweeping strings of "Maghreb Rockers" weave together a delightful tapestry of Middle Eastern flavors. A rolling mass of effected percussion brings "Symphony of Palms" close to Muslimgauze territories. And it doesn't get anymore lovely than the slower, more subtle "La Citadelle" - the lumbering groove, the solemn vocal, the gliding background guitar notes - all of which are revisited in the finale "Mistralazul 2". Fantastic. No word yet on what Wobble is up to next, but other recent releases include "The Early Years" and "Radioaxiom - A Dub Transmission" with longtime collaborator Bill Laswell.

 

samples:

• La Citadelle
• Maghreb Rockers
• Symphony of Palms

 

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Time will forget music. Much of it. Oldies radio stations are a perfectexample. On most of those channels, you'll find James Brown reduced toonly one hit, "I Got You (I Feel Good)." You'll never hear "FunkyPresident," "Mother Popcorn," or "It's a Mans Mans Mans World." Thesame can be said for a number of artists who might have never reachednumber one. Right now it can be observed with music from the 1980s, aswe're reminded constantly of "Come on Eileen" but never Dexy's MidnightRunner's second single. While Boyd Rice understands that he can'tchange the world, he sure as hell knows how to put up a fight. Twelveof his favorite forgotten girl group songs have been presented here,none of which you have probably ever heard of. While the sound qualityis obviously shoddily reproduced from the old 45s, it sure isrefreshing to hear some really fun girl group songs that haven't beenplayed to death. It's almost like getting one of the Nuggetscollections or the amazing 5xCD set called "Box of Trash", anduncovering a world stifled by corporate decisions to trim playlists andlimit history. If anything Boyd Rice can be commended for, it's hisastonishing ability to make people question their surroundings and getthem thinking. "Music for Pussycats" frighteningly gives me moreconfidence that over time, much of the music we love and write abouthere on Brainwashed will be erased from civilization.

 

samples:

• Diane Ray - Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard
• Bernadette Caroll - Party Girl
• Priscilla Parts - My Window
• Lori Burton - Love Was

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

The No-Neck Blues Band are a semi-improvisational collective ofmusicians making fragmented, shamanistic music that alternately toucheson elements of blues, folk, country, bluegrass, psychedelia andkrautrock. For all these myriad influences, the No-Necks have arrivedat a sound that is not very far from Captain Beefheart, Sun Ra or thefirst two Amon Duul albums. That is to say, very unstructured andchaotic hippie drum circle music that will probably sound best to thosehopelessly in the throes of a violent hallucinatory state. There aresome moments of genuine psych-folk intensity, like the dark mumbledvocals and cello drones that occur about 10 minutes into the firsttrack "assignment subud." However, most of these songs sort of meanderin a non-engaging way through enticing song fragments that melt awayjust as they become interesting. I think you might be able to achievesome of the same effect by recording the Dave Matthews Band as theywarm up. Well, not really, but it felt good to write that. In allhonesty, the reason I can't get very excited about this release isbecause there is so much music in this same vein that is so muchbetter. The Boredoms "Vision Creation Newsun" or Acid Mothers Templetraditional folk album "La Novia" are both far superior examples ofthis genre. This first pressing of this CD comes with beautifulhome-made packaging made of plexiglass, Velcro and burnished plywood.It is unfortunate that the music contained within really doesn't fullylive up to its aesthetic aspirations.

 

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist and band whore Sam Shalabi has re-arranged the concept of collaboration for this one. Instead of the player in the ensemble, his role this time is of a maniacal mastermind at the controls. For this recording, he has solicited recordings from a number of friends on various instruments, cut up their bits and pasted them back into his own compositions.

 

Alien8

The result isn't remotely similar to the rhytmic, hypnotic, free-form other-worldly jams heard on Sam's Shalabi Effect album, but more of an improvisational collage, carefully constructed of loops and manipulated sounds. Rolling cymbals, tinkling pianos, multi-layered flutes, high-pitched ringings, field recordings and a repeated low-string color the 27 minute first track, almost like a tourist showing a slide-display from multiple projectors of various vacations. The sounds stay long enough to be identified and work into a comfortable synergy with each other, then move on, one by one, giving way to completely new movements which before long don't resemble previous or future snapshots. Just when a level of serene comfort is reached by the end of "Outside Chance," the blaring horns of the next track rush in. "Soot," accurately describes this track, as what appears to be distorted guitar loops, abrasive loops, tapes played at wrong speeds, and intruding horns create a gritty, dark, and uneasy sound. As interesting as it is, thankfully it clocks in under six minutes. The album ends on the nearly eight minute "The Wherewithall," which returns to the ease while soaking the listener in a thick tape hiss. The tinkling piano returns, an unoffensive guitar taps out notes and all lights fade.

samples:

• Outside Chance
• Soot
• The Wherewithall

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

For the last ten years, Station 17 has been a musical therapy projectbased in Germany for a small group of financially-challenged mentallyhandicapped folks. The original concept was to pair up six members witha few professional musicians and see what happens. Since its inception,the group has released four albums and have played numerous shows,incorporating a variety of theatrics alongside the musicalperformances. According to the website, the group has progressed fromimprovisationally-based music and performances to a more constructed,loop-based sound. This year saw the first worldwide distributed releaseby Mute, a 17-track collection featuring some of Station 17'spreviously released songs with treatments by Kreidler, To Rococo Rot,FM Einheit, Pole and The Modernist. In all honesty, the concept is muchmore interesting than the output, which I find carries too manycharacteristics of the groups involved with the creation. Perhaps it'sthe necessary key to gain them more attention, but I think I've heardenough To Rococo Rot albums this year. Adding chopped up vocal samplesto clicky post-disco beats isn't a very progressive concept. If theoriginal albums are ever exported, I'll be enthusiastic to listen, butthis release honestly isn't doing a lot for me.

 

samples:

• Ich Und Ich (with Denyo 77)
• Bei Manni und Bine (with Andrewas Doreau & Justus Kohnke
• Losjez (with Thomas Fehlmann)

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30 December 2001

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Albums and Singles

When reading the press release for "those who tell the truth..." byexplosions in the sky earlier this year, I came across a description ofthem that works for many bands I've heard over the years: "Why can't Iwrite melodies like that?" The difference between explosions in the skyand broken social scene is simply volume and aggressive stance. BrendanCanning and Kevin Drew are the primary players in the scene, and theirsound is that of laying down a nice droning sampled base track, andthen throwing recorded odds and ends at it to see what fits. I don'tmean just random sounds; we are talking about music that is created byplaying instruments, here. A subtle bassline, gentle guitar chords,piano, and even horns join the mix at different times. But brokensocial scene are the best kind of musical alchemists: they don't pushthe music to go to a certain direction, and they don't force theirplaying to the point that it sounds like it. They just let the musicbe, and percolate on its own. And it gets there everytime. Even vocals,when they do appear, are heavily treated and sampled so that they, too,sound like another instrument in the mix. It's all very "primitive,"yes, as the liner notes indicate, but it comes off sounding planned andpolished. And those melodies that you'd kill to have written yourselfare always there. There are two simple phrases that work so well todescribe this release, and they're right in the liner notes: "sometimesit's o.k." and "love it all." Sometimes, too, it's very good, and withthis release, you won't have to try real hard to love it. A nicelycrafted first release.

 

samples:

• I slept with bonhomme at the cbc
• passport radio
• cranley's gonna make it

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