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Billy Jam's showwas originally broadcast from a college station but he ran into FCCissues and turned to the freedom of censorship free, commercial freelow-watt pirate radio. The cd flows through two dozen tracks ofmostly underground hip hop and turntablist studio tracks and live jams(many only available here) covering the station's history, amusinglistener call ins and show and station IDs. The most notable names arethe ones thoughtfully listed on the front of the insert: The InvisiblSkratch Piklz, The Space Travelers, Eddie Def, DJ Sushi, Kool Keith andKut Masta Kurt, Money B, Peanut Butter Wolf and DJ Marz. Turntablismis a lot like drum 'n bass for me ... it all sounds about the same andgets tiresome after a short while, so it's good that there's a variedand creative assortment here of scratch, sample cut and paste, freestylerhyme and old school rap and beats. My favorites: Peanut Butter Wolf'ssmooth sample collage "The Chronicles (I Will Always Love Her)", KoolKeith and Kut Masta Kurt's nasty and minimal "Keep it Real... Represent",Chief & Soci's Italian rap "Keeping It", DJ Stevie K's samples andscratch "Young Mixdown", Zion I's positive flow "Inner Light (icey mix)and Money B's crudely confident "Fuckin' Around". The insert includeshistorical and artist liner notes and, most importantly, instructions onhow to build your own pirate radio station! Well worth the ~$12 domesticprice, with a portion of the profits going to various charities. Anaccompanying VHS "Pirate Fuckin' Video" is also available.samples:
- Zion I - Inner Light
- Bullet Proof Scratch Hampsters - The First of Our Kind
- Penut Butter Wolf - The Chronicles
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This time around, the group recruited veteran Chicagoproduction guru, Casey Rice among others into the production team ofchampions. For the umpteenth time this week in a review, I feel thatthese 60 second sound samples do not do the songs justice, as each songon this album changes gears almost completely after a few minutes,starting off with electronics usually and ending on an improvisationaljam by young jazz upstarts. Most of the recordings took place in thestudios, but there's bits and pieces near the end which were allstarted on the stage. Damon Locks of The Eternals steps on themicrophone to get the crowd pumped up towards the end, the band groovesand then studio fuckery takes over in a wonderful mishmosh of noise,jazz and glorious sound. Saucy and electrifying, this disc will surelybecome one of my favorites again this year. samples:
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Senking's music is layered electronic soundscape with someglitch minimalism influence. The Ping tracks combine an ever evolving,reverberated mix of deep bass swells, warm and fuzzy atmospheres andmelodies and bits of clickety-clack metallic percussion. Pretty soothingstuff similar to Senking's '20 to 2000' contribution last year, the oneexception being the 7+ minutes of "Risk" which adds some distortion tothe mix. The Thaw tracks are more minimal and they suffer because ofthat. "Bones" and "Ping" (curiously enough, "Ping" is on the "Thaw" EPrather than the "Ping" EP) are dull, aimless and unnecessarily lengthy atover 7 and 8 minutes respectively. "Thaw" unfortunately uses dialoguesamples from a bad sci-fi movie throughout. "Harrigan" begins with seminoisy sound collage then develops into a more typical Senking track inthe latter half. It's probably the most interesting of the lot and iscertainly the best of the Thaw tracks. Altogether "Ping Thaw" is hit andmiss with 5 good tracks and 3 duds, maybe not quite worth the >$15 importprice tag. It's a shame that Thaw is Senking's latest work because I'dlike to hear him further explore the Ping mindset in the future. Massel'slatest release is the self titled debut as Fumble, also on Karaoke Kalk.samples:
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This was theill-fated release funded by Capitol Records and shelved indefinitelywhen they realized they didn't know what to do with good music. Withthat in mind, I was prepared for the worst - for an album of slickproduction and instruments which would feel way out of place on an Idarecord. Much to my pleasant surprise, this has been one of their bestdiscs ever. With a longer running time than most of their otherreleases, they really let their songs grow and develop on "Will YouFind Me." Guests include Ida Pearle on violin, Bernie Worrell onkeyboards, Warn Defever on guitar and Tara Jane O'Neill on melodicaamong others. Out now on Tiger Style, the disc does indeed make mewonder how much American Music Club they've been listening to latelygiven the title of the album and an unrelated song titled "Firefly!"samples:
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This CD features two tracks, titled 'Six' and 'Seven'(you will remember that the five tracks on the other CD were called 'One'through 'Five'). The two tracks are each over 9 minutes long, and theysound as though they belonged on the first disc. In fact, were the twotracks placed on the first CD, there would still be about 9 minutes ofunrecorded space. I can't really tell what sets these songs apart fromthe first five. 'Six' begins with Muslimgauze-style vocal samples, thenturns into a very upbeat piece. 'Seven' is a little more ambient untilthe end, when it also features the upbeat sounds of 'Six.' The songs arevery good and worth the mere $7.99 Soleilmoon is asking for the disc;however, I can't see why the two CDs were released separately. The insidecover also features the story of the Bass Communion vs. Muslimgauze remixseries as told by Steven Wilson.Read More
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Regardless, the film could simply beyet another attempt at documenting upbeat electronic music (if I usedthe word techno or rave, somebody will surely step in and tell me thedifferences of each). Anyhow, the CD collection is simply okay, leaningtowards the more mediocre with appearances by Psychic TV, Spooky,Future Sound of London and the Crystal Method. I got it for the MeatBeat Manifesto track, and of course am still salivating for a new MBMfull-lengther. Compilation tracks are okay, but they're never the bestof the artist. An annoying attribute of this CD is the one liners fromrave kids which litters the disc between tracks. A wiser choice wouldbe stuffing them inside a hidden track at the beginning which you couldonly hear if you rewinded from the start of track 1... Worth mentioninghowever that as an added bonus, ACIDplanet Express software (for thePC) is included on the disk. It's looping techno software which I'msure functions much better in the full release as opposed to the'express' version.samples:
- Meat Beat Manifesto - Parts 1-4
- Future Sound of London - Expander
- Psychic TV - Money for E
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While his last full-lengther'Permutation' grabbed me instantaneously, this album demanded a fewmore listens. Tobin's taking his sweet time letting each track buildrather than jump on the main riffs right off the bat and keeping theloop going for 5 or so minutes. Surely this sounds like a consciousdecision, but in return, there's a lot of anticipation in this discgoing on. Give it a chance and it will do well for you, but if thequick fix is what you're looking for, seek out 1998's Permutation.samples:
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This CD released on Mille Plateaux's Force-Inc. labelhas a lot of drive and energy similar to that of early Panacea tracks.It's missing something however, it's not as abrasive, loud or evil, butthe songs are rewarding if you give them their few minutes to develop.samples:
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Yes, brainwashed readers might recognize him as ThomasGuttadauro in his reviews when he decides to contribute. Nice Godzillareference! Seriously, it's a fun disc of drones between him and fianceeJennifer, albeit a little primitive in the recordings. I saw them liveon Tuesday of this past week and was reminded quickly of going to theaquarium and staring at fish for hours because my parents said theywere cool. You know what? They were. I think this disc is currentlyonly available through Three Lonely Kaiju since nobody wants to stock it yet.samples:
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I first put this disc ofnoises and sonic rings on at work expecting to hear clicky cuttymaterial, but was shocked when bass sounds emerged out of nowhere,vibrating the ceiling tiles in the office. Nice job! The MP3 samples dothis album no justice, but it's a nice addition to the collection. samples:
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Ehlkers has done well, but the album gets a little sleepy in parts.Orhcestral sampling can only go so far. The sounds are truly nice butthe music doesn't seem to go anywhere over the course of the wholealbum, which does indeed grow tiresome near the end.samples:
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