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The overall sound of this Cohort Records release isreplete with a dark exotic beauty. "Daur" is somber and minimal,blending low rumbles, mechanical reverberations, and the lush sounds ofa yang t'chin. "Venustas" as well has a decidedly Far Eastern quality,and "Krypte" is strongly reminiscent of early 4AD instrumental pieces:a pretty guitar line with lots of ethereal effects and processingsurrounded by heavenly washes. This 10" released on Cohort Recordsmarks a striking departure in sound, not only from the music of MaerorTri, but from conventional ambient music in general. In fact the onlything about this 10" that resembles Troum's former project is theinventive packaging. The dark blue vinyl 10" comes in a sleeve made ofcork. The sole disappointment of this release is its brevity, buthopefully the future will bring more soon from Troum, and I lookforward to it.Read More
- Jason Olariu
- Albums and Singles
- Mark Weddle
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As you wouldguess from the title, the 17 covers found here draw primarily on thelegendary, influential 1965-66 "Pet Sounds" and (the never finished orofficially released) "Smile" albums. Normally I'm wary of any tributealbum, especially one taking on something as sacred as these 2 albums,but the quality of the covers really surprised me. Prior to hearingthis disc I was only familiar with 3 of the artists (Jim O'Rourke andDavid Grubbs, formerly of Gastr Del Sol and Thurston Moore of SonicYouth), the rest being: Adventures in Stereo, Secret Chiefs 3,Melt-Banana, SHORT HAIR FRONT, The Olivia Tremor Control, SportsGuitar, Ono Tetsu, FORMS, Harpy, Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her,The Ships, David Grubbs, Feelds, John McEntire and DM3. Who are thesepeople? I have no idea and it doesn't really matter. The covers rangefrom relatively true to bizarre interpretations of the originals andthe artists seem to come from a wide range of musical styles. There's alittle bit of pop punk, rockabilly and noise mixed in with the morestraightforward pop and rock. Some of the stranger sounds include:female and male Japanese accented English vocals, strings, harmonica,bells, banjo, sample and noise collages, electronics, drum machines,electric guitar noise ... not all that much unlike the originals interms of diverse instrumentation and general wackiness (especially the"Smile" tunes). Only 2 tracks annoy me: Sports Guitar's whinyPavement-like "Wonderful" and David Grubb's inferior vocals on "WindChimes". Other than that, these covers are a lot of fun. This cd is forthe adventurous listener who can appreciate both the pop symphony andavant-garde visions of Brian Wilson as realized by an equallyavant-garde selection of artists. The big drawback is the $28 price tagwhich will most likely relegate "Smiling Pets" to the short lists ofonly the most fanatical Bungle/Sonic Youth/Gastr Del Sol fans and BeachBoys completests.Read More
- Jason Olariu
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But it's a small, insignificant complaint. Lazarus Clampgive us "North", a beautifully disturbing tune that incorporates bitsof Hood and Slint, utilising the latter's quiet-to-loud dynamics. Theunknowns here, Grecians 2 By Bukowski, offer us a sound not heard muchin today's indie rock. "David Dark" brings to mind early Seefeel, witha solid rhythm section to anchor things from straying to far. A genericstaticky sample, which surfaces from the low-end murk halfway through,gives the song n almost early to mid-80's industrial dance feel to it.Not a bad initial offering. Let's hope Phil at JW keeps on dredging upthe class talent! All Jonathan Whiskey releases available athttp://www.normanrecords.com.Read More
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"Versions of theUnseen" is a 6 track remix EP follow-up to the most recent album"Realms of the Unseen" on Third Eye Music and is thankfully availabledomestically for ~$7 via Portland, OR label BSI Records. This is myfirst taste of Rootsman besides his 2 remix albums with Muslimgauze:"City Of Djinn" (which is being re-issued by Third Eye in February) and"Return to the City Of Djinn". The 6 tracks here include the albumversions of "Al Andalus" and "Beyond the Hills", 2 Rootsman dub mixesof the former and a Ras Boras (of Treponem Pal) remix of the latter,and the non album track "Imitator" remade by BSI's Landau. Of the 3versions of "Al Andalus", the album version is the best. MC Johnny Lonedrops a laid back Spanish history rhyme about "Al Andalus land of kingsand queens" over a smooth, mid tempo dub-hip-hop backing. The dub mixesare similar and, of course, delete much of the vocals save for theoccasional blurt out through the echo chamber. "Imitator" is very inyour face with barrages of snare heavy drumming and sudden sampledvocal outbursts. You can dance to it, but you might hurt yourself. The2 versions of "Beyond the Hills" are very different. Ras Boras' remixis uptempo and playful with a bleepy electro sound and an amusing Dr.Dre style high-pitched keyboard melody. The original is down tempo withsome gentle wailing female vocals, piano, gurgling synth lines,beautiful flute (?) melodies and tabla rhythms. All together, this EPis nice and varied and good news for dub fans. I'm intrigued enough toseek out an album next.Read More
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I've only been to one Wollsheid performance,an installation where various mechanisms placed around the room wouldclick in rhythmic patterns triggered by laptop computer software. Allthe while, in various corners music would eminate from speakers - thesound sources being both of the computer and primitive tape loops beingthreaded and re-threaded during the entire performance. This CD fromMille Plateaux captures the audio from a performance last May byWollscheid at Radio X in Frankfurt, Germany. For 60 minutes, brokenevenly into six 10:00 minute tracks, Wollscheid plays with variousnightmarish music. Vinyl record sounds, low-end primitive instrumentdrones, gongs and percussives become combined with sound effects,pulses and rhythms, and random unrepetitious patterns of pings, beepsand sonics. Unpredictable and imaginative, it's got a beautiful flowand would sit nice next to a full collection of Wollscheid recordingsof similar performances. Alas, many of these recordings are for themost part quite difficult to locate. Read More
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Thanks, Mute for making these available now in the USA. While Red Star did reissue Suicide's first album in 1997, this version is coupled with a second CD.
The bonus material included is a live show from CBGB's along with "23 Minutes Over Brussels," both of which appeared on Mute's own Blast First label release of this CD in the UK in 1998. For those unfamiliar with Suicide, it's instrumentalist Martin Rev and vocalist Alan Vega (remember the album he did with Panasonic). Rev's electronic noise machines play the new wave of punk, looped, distorted, abrasive and even pretty at times. Vega croons, screams, shrieks a'la Yoko Ono crossed with Elvis Presley. Together, their music legacy has become more important in the years since their demise than it ever was while they were together. Influences can strongly be recognized in lots of music from Stereolab to Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
Also out this week is the previously difficult to find second album, recorded 1979 and produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Ocasek may have been an electronic music fan but he was a pop star, and a fan of the clean. Suicide's second album is notably cleaner, toned down and even sparkly in spots. The spunk is absent from a lot of the tracks but the band is still recognizably the same. Coupled with this release is a second bonus CD of the first rehearsal tapes, rounding out all you need to know about the first Suicide years.
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- Mark Weddle
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- Mark Weddle
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Fehlmann is an electronicmusician with 20 years experience as a member of Palais Schaumburg andthe Orb, producer/mixer for Sun Electric, and as a solo artist andre-mixer. Last year's "Good Fridge. Flowing", also on Apollo / R + SRecords, collected 20 of his solo pieces from 1990 to 1998. "One toThree. Overflow" seems to be a collection of solo leftovers with 8 ofthe 12 tracks being re-mixes (of and by Fehlmann) and collaborations.This disc, beautifully mixed/produced by Fehlmann and mastered byStefan Betke (aka Pole) has the same ambient-IDM flavored techno feelas "Flowing". The songs are bright and fluid, sexy and sublime ...thumpin' grooves to dance or chill out to. It's not quite like the Orb,but you can definitely tell that he is a member of the Orb. Fehlmanndoes a fine job of re-mixing Charles Wilp's "Charlies Angeles" andInfiniti's (aka Juan Atkins) "Never Tempt Me" (which is unfortunatelymarred by insipid spoken word lyrics). It's easy to see why he is indemand for re-mix and production work. In turn, "Superfrühstück" and"Wee Wee Mademoiselle", both originally from "Flowing", are re-mixed togreat effect twice apiece by Plug Research and Fehlmann and To RococcoRot and Sun Electric/Willekes Wille, respectively. The "Superfrühstück"mixes are an especially tasty blend of ambiance, smooth bass and beats.The final 2 tracks are collaborations of a more ambient/experimentalnature: "Tuning" with Mute Records boss Daniel Miller and"FriedrichstraBe" with King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. Round itall off with 4 straight Fehlmann tracks mixed in and you have asurprisingly cohesive and solid 62 minutes of electronic music. As with"Flowing", this one features groovy minimal artwork courtesy of theDesigners Republic. Worth every penny of the $16.75 import price tag... - Mark WeddleRead More
