17 December 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

This is what all variousartists compilations should be like: 70+ minutes of nothing but solid,exclusive tracks reasonably priced at $12 post paid. "Docking Sequence"is the fifteenth release and first compilation from Portland, OR basedlabel BSI Records. The cd (and double LP which features 4 extra tracks)brings forth just about every flavor of (mostly) instrumental, moderndub imaginable - digital/analog, programmed/live, hip hop, noise,ambient, experimental, whatever - from peoples, places and studiosworldwide. Names that will likely draw you in are Muslimgauze, TheRootsman, Twilight Circus and DJ Spooky, but the playing field isevened out by the full roster. Black Faction brings the Afghan front toManchester with mellow Middle Eastern backgrounds and smooth beats.Sweeping strings and bird calls permeate a brief but stunning untitledMuslimgauze track. He-Man growls ragga styled vocals over string samplestabs and snare rhythm on "Killer". Phase Selector Sound lay down anindelibly deep ambient bass groove with "Sky Cup". Sound Secretion's"Perpetual Next..." is an onslaught of scratching, cut-up rap samplesand massive beats. Drifting female sighs are the perfect touch toJ-Boogie's laid back "Gemini Dub". Alpha & Omega conjure up KingTubby with generous helpings of melodica in "Wicked Man Drop". TwilightCircus present an even deeper mix of "Depth Charge" from the recent"Dub Voyage" album. Raz Mesinai's (aka Badawi) "Excerpt from TheUnspeakable" is a tense stringed nightmare. Onry & Oldominion's"Jezebelian" begins and ends with a hilarious list of shout outs and asuper smooth sample and double MC flow sandwiched in-between. Otaku's"Patterns.." slices and dices with serious drum 'n bass fills. And lastand least, the oh so over hyped DJ Spooky wraps things up with a ratherdrab dub collage. Altogether "Docking Sequence" is a crossbred success.As much as I'm looking forward to a 2nd volume, I need to do some catchup on many of these bands back catalogs first.

samples:

• Muslimgauze - untitled
• Sound Secretion - Perpetual Next
• Onry & Oldominion - Jezebelian
• Phase Selector Sound - Sky Cup

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17 December 2000

Alex Krieger

Albums and Singles

After a year full of unpronounceable non sequiturs masquerading as album titles, Boards of Canada bring us the most aptly named release in ages. "In a Beautiful Place out in the Country" is exactly where Mark Eoin and Mike Sandison intend to take you with this new EP, and they succeed admirably.

 

Warp

The material here has the same elements that "Music Has the Right to Children" and "hi scores" did: big, slow, chunky hip-hop beats, staticy synth washes, bittersweet melodies, buried samples of children playing and laughing. But the gorgeous melodies and hypnotic beats that seemed to be verging on childish joy now and then in their two previous releases seem more contemplative, nostalgic, almost wistful if not actually melancholy. These gentle songs are more of a flip through a scrapbook stuffed with pictures of your favorite beautiful place out in the country when you were a kid than an actual visit. "Kid for Today," starts out with a gentle, soothing beat that's reminiscent of rain falling on a roof. Soft, wispy synths and a gorgeous melody, full of that analog goodness. A scratchy voice mumbles something at us. It's like being inside on a rainy summer day, watching puddles accumulate. "Amo Bishop Roden" is a filtered, almost vanishing synth loop with an even more wistful murmur fading in and out above it. Now and then we get a subsonic thump that propels the song forward. The ticking-clock drumline thickens into static, then vanishes into a whirlpool. The title track is definitely the stand-out here. A chilly organ line develops slowly, we hear the sounds of children laughing, and one of those chunky beats comes in to fill the background. A momentary halt, and then a heavily processed voice murmurs something melodic and incomprehensible in the voice of a sedated Speak-N-Spell. Then everything begins blending together...
Finally, there's "Zoetrope." This sounds just like one of those short interlude tracks from "Music..." that I wish went on for a year but stopped after a minute or so. I'm not even sure how to describe it. Gentle chords move up and down a keyboard in rolling waves, not a bassline or beat or synth wash in sight, but it just gets more and more wonderful. It's been much too long since their last release, and at less than 25 minutes, this is not a long EP -- but if everything they do is as achingly beautiful as this, I'm willing to wait for another two years.

samples:

• Kid for Today
• In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country
• Zoetrope

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17 December 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

The band that has wowedcollectors and critics alike has compiled their first 7" singlereleases onto one charming compact disc. The disc collects theirrecordings which stem back to about 1998 but omits the tracks whichappeared on this year's earlier CD EP release, "A Fading Summer." Italso adds a couple new, previously unreleased songs. The Clientele isone of my favorite new groups to emerge in the last couple years. Theirmusic has a heavy feel of 60s indie-pop. The sound is melodic with abasic usage of drums, guitar and bass. Primitive home studio electronicgear gives a sort of charm that translates well to their original vinylreleases. Subject matters revolving around rain, darkness and love,clearly displaying the group can only be English, almost dreaming of aday when they could have easily filled the opening slot on a mid-60s UKtour of Gerry and the Pacemakers. With songs as sugar sweet as "(I WantYou) More Than Ever" and "Saturday," prolonged listens may result indental work. The instrumental competancy of the group is something thatis witnessable in their live performances, while the members can beobserved with playing unobtrusive melodies using the entire fretboardsof the stringed instruments. Bass lines are melodic and gentle, asJames isn't copping out by playing root notes of chords while thedrummer has an undeniably talented balance of control and subtledelicacy. Charming ballads and blissful love songs are not a bad thingif they're done with sincerity, and I think the group are doing a finejob of mastering the art.

samples:

• (I Want You) More Than Ever
• Saturday
• Reflections After Jane (All the Dust and Glass)

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17 December 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

The latest release fromStaalplaat's prolific Mort aux Vaches series comes to us from theGerman drone outfit Troum. Much like their previous incarnation MaerorTri, Troum are masters of the slow progression, be it in terms ofintensity, volume, style, or all three, as in the case of this release.Sen, which consists of one hour-long track, begins quietly withdelicate reverberations and soft metallic ringing: sonic architectureso subtle that one might not even notice the gradual accumulation ofthe duo's trademark sound. Troum's skill as artists in field of dronestruly lies in their ability to craft them with such beauty. All toofrequently are we besieged with power electronics artists who employthis technique in ways that are either overwhelming or boring. Bylayering dones with wistful electronic spirals, Troum lends them anundeniable prettiness. It isn't until twenty-five minutes into Sen thatthese almost gossamer soundscapes give way to the throb of atranslucent beat, which in turn melts into rhythmic patches ofdistortion as the album takes on creepier, harsher textures. Thesetwists and turns are, however, not ungraceful in the slightest, butdissolve into one another with fluid ease. Finally, stripping down to asolitary, nearly inaudible echo, Sen fades to an end just as gently asit began.

samples:

• Excerpt 1: 24:33-25:37
• Excerpt 2: 41:49-42:53
• Excerpt 3: 57:45-58:45

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17 December 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

The transition has indeed been made from the hip yet relatively obsure Chain Reaction label in Germany to the international powerhouse known as Matador for this, the third full-lengther from Andrew Pekler, a.k.a. Sad Rockets. While the output may be labeled as a medium-paced modern dub hybrid, the inputs are almost completely organic, reminiscent more of the older school masters than many electronic contemporaries.

Matador

Tunes range from scratchy spy movie themed bits to funked out game show thinking music with vibes and sampladelic rock steady dub ditties. The Uzbekistan-born, California-raised Berlin resident proudly shows off his talents as a composer, pianist, guitarist and producer, roping in friends to fill out the occasional role of drummer or violinist. "Transition" took almost two years to record and is a solid record album, worthy of recognition as working music, chillout tunes or the perfect soundtrack to a low-key gathering of friends.

samples:

• Heavy Mata
• Wrongs of Fall
• Sad Rocket's Rock Steady

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17 December 2000

Alex Kreiger

Albums and Singles

Jan St. Werner (of Mouse On Mars) and Markus Popp (of Oval) have cooked up a third offering of glitchy, cryptic ambience for us, this time without all the rhetoric about music as software and digital revolutions in musical composition.

 

Thrill Jockey

"Nine excursions into the world of downtempo speedcore," as Thrill Jockey's webpage puts it, but to me it sounded like the drones and rumbles that were so fascinating on Mouse on Mars' "Instrumentals" providing an unappreciated undercurrent to Popp's software-generated quirks, bleeps, and glitches. Now and then it resembles a fully realized orchestral work mangled into utter unrecognizability by its composers' computers.
Your reaction to "model 3, step 2" will no doubt be determined by your attitude towards Popp and his studies in computer-generated incoherence. If you're the chin-stroking type who plumbed the fascinating depths of "94diskont," "Dok," and "Ovalprocess" and came back hungry for more, then this will probably prove rewarding after a few listens, or at least briefly interesting. "Dok," the result of another Popp collaboration (with Toyko's Christophe Charles), shimmered with an organic beauty that fails to materialize here; likewise, the weird sonic explorations and occasional thematic coherence that made Microstoria's "INIT DING" worthwhile just aren't apparent. The result is neither compelling nor essential.

 

samples:

• Glocky Bit
• Fakeshift
• Soso Sound

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17 December 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Richard Dorfmeisterteamed up with Rupert Huber for a fine selection of loungey trip-hopworthy of prancing around with bell-bottoms in. Sure, something likethis can sit very well along with Kruder & Dorfmeister projectslike Peace Orchestra, but the difference in this one is more emphasison a deeper soul. Female vocals are introduced in the form of samplesto give it a little more human and less mechanical spirituality thanthe typical white German electro dubtacular sound. If it were 1992,this would be labelled as "chill out room music." Serene andgalactical, this would provide a great soundtrack to lying in your roomwith your friend or lover, staring up at the glowing stars stuck to theceiling. Illegal substances optional of course.

samples:

• Orozco
• Doris Dub
• Ocean Beat

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26 November 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Fucking incredible! JackDangers has a clever way of teasing his fans. Once an album has soakedinto the culture, imitators spring up and fade away, only shortly afterpeople stop listening to his album, unexpectedly something pops out ofnowhere that reminds us all how incredible he really is. "EccentricObjects" is no exception. The record comes as a 12" single withflexi-disc, orderable through Sputnik7.com only, all four tracks on the12 are some of his finest stuff, bringing in the crashing breakbeats,organic sounds, thunderous effects and driving basslines that are sodamn signature Jack Dangers material. This is the stuff many peopledream of while sitting in their rooms, watching mind-numbing televisionshows and getting fat on cheese. "Hey wouldn't it be great to do musiclike this...?" Little do they know it's been happening for many manyyears. The strength of these tracks stand well completely on their own,while making any fan salivate just thinking of a future full-lengther.For a limited time, a flexi-disc with two bonus soundscapes isincluded. The ever entertaining "Peristaltic Wave" and "My Shorty" usecollected sound samples from strange archives of the 50s and 60s. Getthis while you still can, while these songs may be compiled onto afuture release, the versions will probably be altered while theflexi-disc tracks will probably never resurface.

samples:

• Fragments
• Behemoth
• Structures
• Peristaltic Wave

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26 November 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

For the last three years,Tino has been serving up two slabs of hot wax with breakbeats galoreand sample tracks collected at the end. It was looking like this yearwas going to squeak by with only getting one slab, but fear not, Tino'sBreaks volume 5 is a two-record set full of dub gems led by one of thebest drummers in the world, Tino. Following last year's release ofMambo and Christmas, Dub carries on the style of some fat cuts andbreaks, familiar samples, and beats amusing and exciting to listen toand mix in with your favorite breakbeat needs. I don't smoke pot, butif I did, boy would this be a great slab of wax to chill out with. Forthose not in the know, the core of Tino Corp is Ben Stokes (from DHSand H-Gun), Jack Dangers (see previous review) and Mike Powell (formerMeat Beat Manifesto member). Learning the drums is easy and when youlike the dub it's fun too! These vinyl-only releases are essential forany MBM fan as well as any fan of dub and latin-influenced breakbeats.

samples:

• Tuff Dub
• Toasted Dub
• Liquid Dub

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26 November 2000

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Blixa Bargeld is frontman for Einstürzende Neubauten, member of NickCave's Bad Seeds, occasional actor and contributor to various plays andsoundtracks. For Maria von Heland's German suspense thriller "Recycled",Bargeld composes nearly all of the soundtrack, as arranged andorchestrated by the Tim Isfort Orchestra. Unlike Bargeld's previous solowork "Commissioned Music" this music is not as minimal and emotionallysparse. Isfort's large orchestra, undoubtedly influenced by classiccomposers such as Morricone, provides a rich classical palette to paintBargeld's various moods. "Küss mich wach" ("Kiss Me Awake") begins thedisc vocally as Bargeld and Amanda Ooms solo and duet German lyrics oversweeping strings and a light piano and beat rhythm. Ooms also speaksGerman text on another brief track. The remaining 19 tracks areinstrumental pieces, ranging 9 seconds to 4 minutes, obviously meant tocorrespond with the events and moods of the film. "Mr. Aloha" by Carnivalof Souls is unexpectedly tacked on to the end but it's charming waves ofpedal steel work well. What's important here for me, as a fan of Bargeldand someone who will likely never see the film, is that the soundtrackholds up on it's own. And that it does, very well. The sound is fulland varied and the flow is very comfortable. "Recycled" is a beautifulwork completely on it's own and well worth the $15 import price.

samples:

• Kia & Martin
• Küss Mich Wach
• Love Scene

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