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21 October 2001

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Albums and Singles

A Silver Mount Zion are the band formed by Efrim, one of the threeguitarists in Godspeed You Black Emperor! although here he often playspiano. Bassist Thierry and classically trained violinist Sophie alsomoonlight from Godspeed, but A Silver Mount Zion has extended its namepresumably to denote the arrival in their midst of a further trio ofstring players on second violin, cello and guitar. Their friends Jonahand Eric also play trumpet/trombone and drums to further fill out thesound. The extra instuments bring a depth and climactic momentum thatsurpasses that record and the songs seem more fully realised than thesparse piano led songs from the first album. Whilst the sound mighthave moved closer dynamically to Godspeed, the most obvious differenceis that on some songs Efrim sings in a wavering voice similar toJonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev or Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips, butsaddened by far weightier lyrical concerns. A key track is 'Take TheseHands and Throw Them in the River', which rises in intensity as stringsswell in dark desperation until Efrim's voice almost cracks as he singsthe heartfelt tearful refrain. Melancholy and hope are the two wordsthat instantly spring to mind in describing this music. Most tracksstart quietly and slowly build up a beautiful layered emotionallyhotwired intensity. The standout track for me was the penultimateinstrumental 'C'mon Come On (Loose an Endless Longing)' which buildsslowly with drum and guitar led visions of the first rays breakingthrough after the storm clouds, then falls back, and then the stringsseem to reach for the sky and just won't stop there and the big bandunleashes its full Tra-La-La glory, godspeed to silver planets,climbing up above the hand chopping megalomaniacs and soaring above themisery and the starvation and the war and the superweeds and thedepleted uranium and the rotting corpses and babies too starved toscream and...
The album ends with Efrim singing, "We will find our way," on 'TheTriumph of Our Tired Eyes' a hopeful ode to beauty rarely felt that hasan atmosphere of aftermath and new beginning.
As their friend Mischa recites on the poetic interlude that opens'Built Then Burnt (Hurrah! Hurrah!)' as strings swirl up beneath, itstime to speak, "Good words, strong words, words that could've movedmountains, words that were never said."

21 October 2001

Administrator

Albums and Singles

I've got good news and bad news: the good news is that now you canfinally afford to buy a Mirror album! This German 2xLP set costs about$15 less than any of the single LP "limited" releases on the US labelsRobot or Anomalous. The bad news however is it'll be quite easy to gethooked on Mirror after buying this. Record #1 features an all newstudio album from the trio (Andrew Chalk, Christoph Heemann and AndreasMartin). The recording is like an aural painting of a journey in asmall boat as day turns to night. What appears to be recorded sounds ofoars gently hitting the water can be heard faintly as the ominousmusical sounds suggest the impending nightfall. While other ambientrecording artists recently have been recording the wind or theelements, Mirror have impressionistically created something original,both captivating and inviting. Through guitars and electronicprocessing, the trio's journey has a clear beginning, journey andreaches its destination as the rain begins to fall. The second recordfeatures a live performance from Austin recorded last year whichrevolves around the same concept. Like the studio recording, thejourney both starts and ends in a similar way but the nature of thebulk is a different improvisation with the same tools. If you're quickand lucky enough, the first copies ordered from Die Stadt come in bluevinyl with a bonus 7", unfortunately you won't get that in the stores.

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21 October 2001

Administrator

Albums and Singles

One thing I think I've learned over the past couple years is to always trust something which shares members of the Notwist, Tied & Tickled Trio, and Console collectives. Couple that with the fact that Morr Music has become an industry leader for superb electronic pop challengers.

Morr

Elsewhere in the world, I'm also coming to the realization that I've been so sour to the last two Radiohead albums is not because of the genre they're experimenting with, but the fact that at the cost of their transformation, they have completely sacrificed the art of songcraft - and have been subsequently praised for what is essentially sloppy, whiny messes. Lali Puna's debut preceeded 'Kid A' by almost two years, but this, their second album follows both that and 'Amnesiac' and blows them each out of the water. At the core of this group is a quartet which features Portuguese singer Valerie Trebljahr, electronic wizard Marcus Acher (Notwist/Tied and Tickled Trio) plus a live bass guitarist and drummer. The album comfortably eases into pace with the opener, "Nin-Com-Pop" which builds at a cold-calculated pace, adding in each instrument gradually into a fine mix of pure prototypical pop. The sonic mastery continues over the rest of the first side as the collection is colored by a Portuguese speech and football match tune, "Contratempo", another worthy pop classic, "Bi-Pet" and the side's closer, the itimate title track. Side two opens with the instrumental "18 Faces of" and continues on with a very pumping Japanese pop-esque decadance of "Lowdown" (not a Wire cover). The rest of the side takes a more free-form attitude as the group can be described as pushing improvisation while remaining in the confines of rigid beats and pretty melodies. Not a bad thing at all. This album is multifunctional - it works well on long car trips, exhilirating bikerides or at home at very loud levels on the hi-fi. I also can't argue with the fact that people are always phoning the station when I or my friend Brian Cleary plays a track from them. Lali Puna are proof that electronic music can indeed be both well-crafted and super-enjoyable.

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21 October 2001

Administrator

Albums and Singles

An album great enough to play seven times in a row is quite a rarething and a compilation at least seven times rarer. But that's whathappened when I got this second sampler from Colin Newman and MalkaSpigel's Swim label into tbe machine. There are nineteen tracks and nota dud amongst them. Even the previously released tracks from Silo andSymptoms are edited versions, and there is some degree of rarity - theImmersion remix of Flying Saucer Attack is about five years old andappears here for the first time and is quite similar in feel toImmersion's Bowery Electric remix. Colin's sped up remix of Silo's'Prime Movers' appeared on the flipside of a 7" that you might havemissed and another short 'Low Impact' style Immersion track previouslyappeared only on a CD-R compilation 'genuine particle'. However most ofSwim Team 2 comprises brand new tracks. A couple of cuts show off theprogress Colin has made towards his follow up to 'Bastard', and thedriving infectious instrumental 'Tsunami' in particular suggests thathe might eclipse that fine album. However work on new Wire recordingsis taking priority at Swim studios, so it might be a while until thenext Colin Newman album. Maybe his son Ben will get his debut outfirst? Recording under the name Bumpy he also gets a couple of trackswhich display his upbeat inheritance of the Newman rhythm. 'Blokey' and'Bumpy on the Beach' are just as bouncy even catchier than his trackfrom 'Swim Team 1', but display a phenomenal progression. Bumpy'smother Malka Spigel makes a welcome return to singing in her nativeHebrew with one of the most joyous pop songs she's sung, although I saythat without understanding a word of it. She also collaborates on amore understated and haunting track with new artist Dictaphone underthe name of Host, which is the aegis under which collaborations betweenSwim artists will appear in future. Dictaphone's Oliver Doerell livesin Berlin, a city awash in atmospheric beat mongery and his 'esc.Meetings' doesn't disappoint. It's a squiggly little number that clicksaway melodically and prepares the way for the dark vortex of Symptomsin the middle of the disc. Poetess Leonie Heyes-Cercio of Beat Kittenis another new Swim artist who watches a man melting on the pavement ina way that recalls former Swimsters Pablo's Eye but is perhaps a littlelighter in mood than their cinematic 'All She Wants Grows Blue' album.Manchester based tunesmith Dave Scattergood aka Toucaen is another newSwim signing, and like the other newcomers his infectious and emotiveoffering leaves me eager to hear more. Toucaen and Lobe seem to sharequite a similar aesthetic, and a new Lobe track bodes well for the nextalbum, as does the exclusive 'Root' from Denmark's premier machine rocktrio Silo. The CD doesn't hit the shops until early November but youcan get it online now at www.posteverything.com, and for the price of a12" single you'd be silly to let it pass you by, unless of course youhate emotive insistent inventive melodic music that displays severalinteresting modes of forward propulsion.

samples:

Colin Newman - Tsunami
Beat Kitten - Bored
Toucaen - Lecci on the Grande Jatte

21 October 2001

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Albums and Singles

Lingering around San Francisco with Jack Dangers can be found videoproduction guru Ben Stokes and multi-instrumentalist/instructorextrordinaire Mike Powell. Together, the trio form Tino Corp., butseparately Stokes' and Powell's musical projects are respectively DHSand Bo Square. DHS follows up his last 12" (the House of God 10thanniversary) with the spacey psychically suggestive 'Mind Control' ep.Side 1 features three variations: unseparated upbeat dance tracks whichare more of a nod to mid-90s techno crossed with vintage spoken wordrecord samples on hypnosis. The thumping beat is rather thin for mytastes but would probably be intense on a super powered DJ system. Side2 is noted as both 45 and 33 rpm and features only two tracks, alsounseparated - "Telephone Sounds" which hijacks many analogue beeps,clicks and voices from the receiver and "Subliminible" where Stokesenlists a small arsenal of sampled analogue drum beats over anartificial robotic bassline.

The first Bo Square release came out last year but shouldn't gounmentioned any longer. 'Outer Space Suite' is available on 12" and iscomprised of two faster-than-average techno future classics. Fans ofthe jazzier Meat Beat sound would appreciate the feel brought into themix, as guests Jack Dangers (on vcs3) and Marshall Allen (on sax).Powell, whose guitar and theremin skills coupled with a whole jazzaffinity flavors the first side on a delicious 9+ minute long threepart beat suite. The speed makes it almost considerable to be drum andbass but the track really stands apart from the crowd. "Numbers" on theb-side is comfortably slower and in an almost Kraftwerkian tribute iscolored with various numbers spoken in foreign languages. Both tracksare on the full-length debut from Bo Square, 'Sizing Things Up' butthere's just something magical about having the tunes on vinyl. Lookfor a review of the full-length soon.

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21 October 2001

Administrator

Albums and Singles

The debut solo release from Christian Kleine features eight amazinglypleasant electronic tunes. Kleine's work has been featured on Aerovanerecordings and in various performances around Europe last year as halfof Hermann & Kleine. The songs here are smooth with the grace ofsomething like a Boards of Canada release yet the excitement of anAerovane album. Kleine tries his hand at a variety of electronicflavors - the echo chamber of the album opener, "Guitar Interrupt",punchy repetitive beats of the title track and "Today's Mark," and arumbling beat-less 'ambient' tuine "Kritzel." While it's nice to hearsomebody making the attempt at pleasantness, this disc isn't reallysomething worth your undivided attention. 'Beyond Repair' could easilywin brownie points from Scrabble guests as it lies in your disc changerin between other relatively uninvolved classics, but at best this albumonly gets a minor amount head nods at the most exciting bits.

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21 October 2001

Administrator

Albums and Singles

A disc with the potential to infuriate idiots before they've even heardit is a rare thing, and Lord Almighty, Father of Toads, here are two ofthe damn things! Having already made a recording of noises sourced fromthat famous old book full of bloodbaths and boils, the bible, prolificJapanese sound artist Aube has allowed the Elsie and Jack label toassemble a cast of thousands to hack and chop digital crosses on whichto hang the pages of the book.
A relatively low key track from Brume opens the unholy proceedings withthe kind of bleak soundscape that reminds me that it is written that noman should look upon his uncle naked! This is followed by relativelylow key tracks from polite beat merchants the Remote Viewer andSirconical. The first track to actually sound like it was made frombook noises is the page shuffling 'Papyrus' from Super Massive.
The big noise erupts eventually on the seventh track when PrincessDragonmom says let there be digital cement mixers. And lo! There weredigital cement mixers! Merzbow ups the stakes with some real tweaterfucking nastiness that would have jolly ol' Jehovah reaching for theear plugs if he heard it on the eighth day. Damn, cursed the one truegod, forgot to create ear plugs! Now if only evolution actuallyhappened the likes of Flutter and V/Vm might actually have us allmutating closable earflaps or eardrum off switches, but as it is we'lljust have to settle for the somewhat asinine observation that these areall the kind of satanic gobblers that would disobey the commandments ofthe mad old god of retribution himself and feast upon the flesh ofbirds such as the bat and the pelican.
Some folk just can't get enough of the good book and Super Massive,Wheaton Research and Disco Operating System all drop multiplemetaphorical turds in the font. Wheaton Research, aka Brent Gutzeit,whose drone collaboration on Kranky with James Plotkin was quite good,throws up a suite of ear fucking minimal high glitch-pop crackles thatmake the likes of Hood and Volcano the Bear, who actually attempt towork Aube's bible bashing into weird songs, sound like clean cut kidsthat went to Sunday school and trembled at the mere mention of buringbushes. The Volcano the Bear song works better, as it displays morehumour in the way the Aube noise is deployed. Disco Operating Systemoffers three tracks entitled 'Jimmy', 'Page' and 'Hamilton', presumablyin some kind of punning tribute to Led Zeppelin and Helmet; after allAnton LaVey did call heavy metal 'the last burp of Christianity'. Andthe 'Jimmy' track is quite a burping quick loop cut affair, whilst'Page' does a bass throb and 'Hamilton' combines the two approachespresumably using different samples.
Some references are made to the themes of the book, and Phosphene getsa mention for using the word 'Nebuchadnezzar', a king we don't hearenough of with a name like that. However, I was saddened that no onementioned or attempted to emulate the parting of the red sea or theplague of frogs. And it must be said V/Vm missed a golden opportunityin not trying to simulate the cacophanous menagerie of Noah's ark. Thenagain, they'd probably only have let the pigs on board!

samples:

Aube - And More
Disco Operating System - Page
Volcano the Bear - The Woman Who Weighs Out The Wool

14 October 2001

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Albums and Singles

"The Cuckoo" is the full length debut from Jansky Noise, a solo projectof one of the V/Vm lads. The ziplocked LP is a gorgeous green/blacksplattered vinyl and is "part 3 of an ongoing series of colour codeddistressed audio" releases, the previous ones being Noise/Girl's"Discopathology" and V/Vm's "Masters of the Absurd". Side 1 begins witha few tracks worth of heavily processed loops that approach aMerzbow-ian level of noise assault. The remainder of the side calmsthings down considerably, but only after a passage of disruptive humansnoring paired with bird squawks. This eventually tapers down to an oddbut soothing sort of ambient experience that includes a soundreminiscent of a distant cruise ship horn and a bit of effected musicbox. Side 2 alternates between mercurial and mellow tracks. PatsyCline's classic rendition of the Willie Nelson penned "Crazy" is giventhe classic V/Vm treatment, pitch shifted and slowed down to a creepycrawl. "Roaming in the gloaming with SCOTTISH pie by my side" (yougotta love those whacky titles!) is an impressive example of pastoralmeets industrial ambiance just after sunset. "Rapid Racing" revs up andshifts through high pitched frequencies, coming to an abrupt stop forthe finale: a relatively untouched Andrews Sisters' "Money is the Rootof All Evil". "The Cuckoo" is another thoroughly fun and diverse 32minutes of lunacy from the V/Vm camp. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'llcringe, you'll smile. Be sure to check out the revamped V/Vm site atBrainwashed later this month for info on the neverending torrent of newreleases on the horizon.

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14 October 2001

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Albums and Singles

Two new songs grace this CD single available now from Low on theirChair Kickers label. In addition, the disc comes with a very impressivemusic video for "Dinosaur Act" directed and edited by NY-basedindependent film enthusiast, sometime musician and fulltime fan MarcGartman. Ironically enough, "Last Night I Dreamt,..." is possibly the-last- great Smiths song, yet the overall font and style theme of thissingle mimics the -first- Smiths release. "Last Night" is by far myfavorite on their final album, strangely enough allegedly recorded-after- their split (without Johnny Marr and Morrissey even recordingtheir studio sessions on the same days). The trio have been performingthis live in the US to receptive audiences but reports tell the bandwas heckled in the Smiths' hometown of Manchester recently. While it'snoted that the recordings took place at the home studio in Duluth, theemotionally heavy reverb makes it sound like it was recorded in anempty concert hall. The second track, "Because You Stood Still" is aclimactic Low original which probably won't become one of my favoriteLow tunes, yet it has the most natural mix of strings I have heard in aLow song since "Condescend" from 1997. Maybe one day Low will finallygive in and release a nice compilation so I don't have all these greatsongs on individual singles,..

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14 October 2001

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Albums and Singles

Every single track from Foetus' latest album "Flow" is given a "Blow"job for this companion remix album. Eleven hip remixers take their turnbut Thirlwell isn't quite willing to entirely let go of the controls ashe maintains the executive producer's chair. For me, remix albums areusually a hit and miss proposition and this one's pretty par for thecourse. I often can't help but think, 'yeah, this is alright, but Ilike the original much better'. First the ones I like. Franz Treichler(Young Gods) completely turns "The Need Machine" inside out fromraucous rocker with aggro vocals to frosty soundscape techno withwhispered vocals (which must have been re-recorded). Phylr (JF Coleman,ex-Cop Shoot Cop) does a nice job of transforming "Mandelay" into oneof his own moody, predominantly instrumental pseudo-industrial tracks.Sean Beaven (Kidney Thieves, longtime NIN mixer/engineer/producer)gives "Grace of God" some drum 'n bass fills, clever new samples andeventually a slower guitar fortified chorus. Ursula 1000 serves up"Someone Who Cares" with a whole new white trash race track influencedbacking reminiscent of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult circa"Sexplosion". And Thirlwell himself can't help but join in on the funby obliterating and extending "The Need Machine". And now the ones Idon't much like. Charlie Clouser (Team Nine Inch Nails) gives parts of"Quick Fix" an extra rock jolt but he also relies on far too manyNINnie-isms like vocoded and hacked up vocals. Pan Sonic and Kid 606essentially make new, annoying tracks of their own from pieces of"Kreibabe" and "Shun" respectively while Panacea buries "Heuldoch 7B"in distorted beats and synths. Yuck. And DJ Food tries to make"Suspect" creepier by pitch shifting down much of the vocals but themusic is such a mess it makes it intolerable. I'll say it again: hitand miss. I'd rather listen to "Flow", one of my favorite new albums ofthe year. Foetus.org states that a "Blow" related event is planned fornext January in Los Angeles.

samples:

Grace of God (Kidney Thieves Mix)
Who Cares (Ursula 1000 Sheracer Mix)
The Need Machine (Franz Treichler Mix)

14 October 2001

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Albums and Singles

The third collection to come out of Iceland's Kitchen Motors might aswell be parts three and four to the Motorlab (reviewed a couple monthsback). This 2xCD collection shares many of the Icelandic performers ason the other collections, recorded earlier however (1999) from avariety of improvisational performances in the Motorlab. The majordifference is that the first two compilations were rather rigid in thecollaborative respect — each performance was between at least twounlikely paired identities. On Nart Nibbles, collaborations occur, butthere are also performances by the individual groups. Seven tracks fromseven different entities make up the first disc, beginning with a fourorgan and one drummer ensemble, Apparat Organ Quintet, whoseperformance sets the stage for this rather clean, well assembledcollection. A contribution from Big Band Brutal is neither big norbrutal, but quite clearly establishes the fact that instrumentalimprovisation doesn't always have to be harsh or directionless. Discone ends with a fabulous 10+ minute rhythmic collaboration between Múmand Músíkvatur with organs, a toy drum kit, synths and dryer sounds.Disc two however features only two tracks. The first is an all-star13-guitarist ensemble which stretches nearly half an hour. "HelvitisSymphony I" is much less dissonant (and more enjoyable) than most avantgarde guitarist ensembles (like those led by Glen Branca) and featuresguitarists like Motorlab organizer Kristin Bjork, Jonsi from Sigur Rós,Hilmar Jensson and Hei¦a. Over the course of the piece, each guitaristintroduces their part, contributing a distinct sound and feel, fromdrones to melodies, carefully layering over what's already beenestablished, yet developing and mutating the feel and direction. Thecollection concludes with a beautiful electronic versus organiccollaboration between Biogen, Plastik and Hilmar Jensson, matchingpulses, low frequencies, and caterwauling guitars into a hypnotic audiosoup. Gosh I wish I were there.

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