We have finally cleared out the backlog of great music and present some new episodes.
Episode 711 features music from The Jesus and Mary Chain, Zola Jesus, Duster, Sangre Nueva, Dialect, The Bug, Cleared, Mount Eerie, Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra, Hayden Pedigo, Bistro Boy, and Ibukun Sunday.
Episode 712 has tunes by Mazza Vision, Waveskania, Black Pus, Sam Gendel, Benny Bock, and Hans Kjorstad, Katharina Grosse, Carina Khorkhordina, Tintin Patrone, Billy Roisz, and Stefan Schneider, His Name Is Alive, artificial memory trace, mclusky, Justin Walter, mastroKristo, Başak Günak, and William Basinski.
Episode 713 brings you sounds from Mouse On Mars, Leavs, Lawrence English, Mo Dotti, Wendy Eisenberg, Envy, Ben Lukas Boysen, Cindytalk, Mercury Rev, White Poppy, Anadol & Marie Klock, and Galaxie 500.
Skolavordustigur Street in Reykjavík photo by Jon (your Podcast DJ).
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The latest opus from these prolific and chameleonic Swedes finds them in full-on primal rock mode, unearthing another batch of jagged, bludgeoning, and repetition-obsessed songs and reminding me that rock music can still be a bit dangerous and scary. There's a big twist this time around, however, as the Defekts have added a very noteworthy fifth member: the rather singular Daniel Higgs, formerly of Dischord art-punk stalwarts Lungfish. The addition proves to be an inspired move, as Higgs' intense, somewhat unsettling persona serves to highlight the darker, weirder side of the band.
The Skull Defekts are a pretty unusual band for a whole host of reasons, but the aspect that I find most striking about them is how raw and primitive they can sound. It's an impressive feat, given that the four original members have been central figures in Sweden's experimental music community for years and that they have clearly absorbed a lot of very cerebral and exotic influences. Sometimes those highbrow influences manifest themselves fairly bluntly, such as on 2008's The Drone Drug, but the Defekts are smart and assured enough to ignore everything they've learned (or at least expertly conceal it) when it suits them.  On Peer Amid, the heavy emphasis on repetition could be distantly rooted in a fascination with raga, minimalist classical, or Neu!, but those touches are often totally subsumed by the band's unwavering focus on pounding, gut-level power.  Sure, they may regularly and fruitfully collaborate with folks like Pan Sonic, but it sounds like their true kindred spirits are more likely The Stooges or The Birthday Party. Having a frontman as imposing and shamanic as Higgs can only heighten that resemblance.
Given that these songs were mostly written very quickly from improvisations based upon one or two riffs each, their success or failure is largely based around how much I like the main riff. The strongest and most instantly gratifying of the batch is probably "No More Always," which boasts a very gritty and libidinal garage rock groove and some wonderful sneering vocals from Higgs. The propulsively throbbing title piece is also pretty electrifying, largely due to the stellar drumming of Henrik Rylander. In fact, Rylander proves to be the band's greatest asset over the course of the album, enlivening their weaker moments through sheer muscle and exuberance and maintaining a solid foundation for the oft-chaotic guitars and electronics.
I was also extremely impressed with the degree of guitar abuse throughout Peer Amid, as Joachim Nordwall and Daniel Fagerstroem sound like they're almost always on the verge of snapping strings or going out of tune. For his part, Higgs does not disappoint either, delivering his vocals with a sometimes frightening conviction. However, on the occasions when there isn't a solid beat holding all the component parts together, The Skull Defekts can seem pretty self-indulgent and inaccessible, as they do on the meandering "Gospel of the Skull."
The presence of Higgs is certain to polarize opinions on this album, as he is a vocalist that is impossible to ignore. I'm a bit conflicted myself, as I find pre-Higgs Defekts albums a bit more listenable, but Peer Amid hits higher highs. Regardless, he definitely adds a lot of character, presence, and tension to The Skull Defekts sound. Also, heavy rock provides a great foil for Daniel's outsized personality, so the pairing is a pretty mutually advantageous one all around. Unfortunately, there are some accompanying downsides too, as he draws the attention away from the rest of the band and I find his wild-eyed intensity pretty hard to take in large doses (a prime example is the endless whooping and yelping in "What Knives, What Birds"). Also, some of his lyrics and spoken-word interludes are way too stream-of-consciousness or bafflingly obtuse for my taste– I have absolutely no idea what he was trying to do with "Join the True," but I am certain that he was resoundingly unsuccessful at whatever it was. Picking stuff like that apart, however, is missing the point a bit: the content is secondary to Higgs' sheer force of personality.
Despite its occasional flaws and missteps, Peer Amid's best moments offer some of the most visceral and exciting rock music available.
The latest opus from these prolific and chameleonic Swedes finds them in full-on primal rock mode, unearthing another batch of jagged, bludgeoning, and repetition-obsessed songs and reminding me that rock music can still be a bit dangerous and scary. There's a big twist this time around, however, as the Defekts have added a very noteworthy fifth member: the rather singular Daniel Higgs, formerly of Dischord art-punk stalwarts Lungfish. The addition proves to be an inspired move, as Higgs' intense, somewhat unsettling persona serves to highlight the darker, weirder side of the band.
A sensitive and spacious work, To R.S. utilizes a variety of traditional instruments (guitars, pianos, natural sounds, etc) in a completely different context, dissolving the known sounds into sparse, pure tones and subtle variations. As a work dedicated to composer Robert Schumann, it’s quite an accomplished slice of minimalism in its own right.
Functioning as one piece divided into four logical sections, the movements flow nicely into one another, but each are distinct and stand on their own.The opening "Theme and Variations" reminded me, at least in passing, of Eleh's clinical attention to detail when it comes to employing tones and their variations.However, Wanke's tones, while carefully controlled, almost seem to bring along with them a perceptible group of imperfections:recording errors, natural interruptions, or intentionally placed there.Personally, I found them to be fascinating, and a good accompaniment to the otherwise icy, static tones.
"Turtle" turns those tones up louder and heavier, pushing into the lower frequencies but also bringing along quiet waves of sound that crash over, demanding more attention but not overshadowing the subtle undercurrent of sounds and textures.Even when the heavier sounds start to bleed into the red, they never overshadow the subtlety of sound.
These are mostly stripped away on "Joke," in lieu of heavy reverberated strings that cut harshly through, allowing silence in.Distant environmental sounds and improvised percussive elements creep in, slowly filling up the latter half and rendering it into a study in textures, as opposed to tones.The appropriately titled "Finale" even introduces conventional piano passages, extracted from Schumann's own work.The piano is overtaken by textural crackling that eventually becomes the focus, and when joined with deep, heavy melodies, takes on a post-industrial vibe.
The melody eventually becomes the focus and becomes warmer, even with an overt digital loop that goes along with it.Throughout there is a significant amount of variance in the sound before coming to a close on the same sparse, basic tones that opened the disc, allowing everything to come full circle.
Given the distinctive sound and conceptual structure of the pieces, it's hard to believe this is only Wanke's second full length release.Carefully balancing complexity and simplicity, his juggling of treated and pure sounds into true, traditional minimalism is exceptionally well done.
When I reviewed Bionulor’s debut release a bit less than two years ago, I complimented his conceptual use of "sound recycling," but felt the compositions lacked focus and structure. On this sophomore release, Sebastian Banaszczyk has definitely stepped up his game, and the results are quite satisfying
Thematically linked by using the human voice as a sound source, each of the five pieces here pull that element from widely varying contexts and then use it completely differently.For example, "Nhn-B." decimates a traditional Japanese song into what at first has a sparse, spacey vibe to it, but soon degenerates into a tortured chorus screaming through reverb hell, shattering the open calm.
"NL.," built upon Neal Armstrong’s famous recording from walking on the moon, initially allows its pedigree to come forth, with clipped voices and radio static overtly opening the piece from near silence.After these initially violent outbursts, the voices disappear, leaving only their minute traces to be heard, which Banaszczyk shapes into dramatic, almost prog rock swells that expand for infinity, much like the vastness Armstrong was witnessing as he made his statement.
Based upon an interview with Marcel Duchamp, "Dchmp." allows its source material to be heard at first, but is deconstructed into a high pitched squeal and little squirty outbursts of noise that come and go with reckless abandon.While the outro develops into more conventional "noise" territory, it is the most idiosyncratic piece, and also the most memorable, with its odd organic blasts of noise sounding like no one else.
"Nic Nie Jest Prawdziwe" features Banaszczyk himself, reading the infamous "Nothing is true" quote from Hassan-i Sabbah.Taking a more conventional approach of allowing his looped voice to be slowly disintegrated by effects, it first is mired in the expected echoes, reverbs, and delays, but is then disemboweled into fragments of phonemes, cut into stuttering beats or pulled apart into pure static, leaving nothing of its original nature to be heard.
The only misstep is the long opening "Scrd. Mshrm. Chnt.," because, throughout its nearly 22 minute duration, there is simply too much of a collage feel to it, and the piece never feels like it truly gets its footing.It is a compelling collection of percussive clicks, varying textures and alternating loud and quiet dynamics, but it lacks the clear compositional structure of the other pieces.
Bionulor has demonstrated some significant growth in both his style and compositions since his first album, and he is doing well carving out his own niche in a relatively crowded genre.
A limited cassette release of an even more limited CD-R, Chicago's Sun Splitter, in the span of around 30 minutes, condense all of what I consider to be the best moments of the past 40 years of metal. With elements of drone, doom, industrial, and even classic rock, it all comes together as a perfectly conceived release.
Admittedly, I've never been a huge metal person.I find bands and albums that I enjoy, but it's not a scene I ever really immersed myself in, largely because whenever I did, I got burnt out rather quickly.It's also one where I find elements I love (big, heavy riffs, melodic solos) with ones I'm not so fond of (growled vocals, "shredding").It's almost like this trio knew what I liked and tailored the album for my tastes.
For example, "Cairn of Old Eyes" opens with taut, rhythmic riffs over a stiff machine beat, but with changing sounds and structures, it has the complexity of prog rock without the unnecessary pretense.Along with this there’s more than a healthy dose of drawn out guitar tones and whispered, mantra like vocals.Closer "Carrion Eater" is cut from the same cloth, opening with similar vocals and a warm guitar tone, but focuses more on the melody, even with the big riffs.
"Northern Blood Tithe" has some of the dual rhythm guitar/drum machine combo sound that has garnered many comparisons to early Godflesh, but there’s just as much Sabbath to be heard.The melodic elements reminded me of mid-period Thin Lizzy, but that’s pretty much my only go-to touchstone for the '70s rock genre.As a whole it's slower, more spacious, with vocals so buried and processed they sound like an additional instrument more than anything else.
It follows the same template as "Earth Burner," in that both are more doomy and repetitious, but in a carefully measured way.The repetition in both serve to build tension, with "Earth Burner" slowly adding changes in to keep the track dynamic, but without interrupting the deliberate drone structure.
With a style that is reminiscent of many, but sounds like none, Sun Splitter has created one of the best metal albums without adhering to any specific conventions.There's melody, there's monolithic guitar riffs, there's dark, bleak ambience, and so much more that comes together so perfectly that I can't help but love this tape.
In the duo 39 Clocks, Juergen Gleue upset everyone from beer-loving Bavarians to Joseph Beuys. Apparently, shitting on organs, playing vacuum cleaners, mocking the art world and using a drum machine saw them regularly abused and hurled from a variety of scenes. Phantom Payn Daze is the sound of Gleue recorded solo in the 1990s after a period over-immersed in drink and drugs. It adheres to the Clocks' version of beauty: as simple as rural blues and raw as early psych-pop, with a beguiling twang and metronomic propulsion looking ahead to Tarwater and back to The Velvet Underground.
39 Clocks consisted of Christian Henges and Juergen Gleue or CH-39 and JG-39 as they sometimes were named (in reference to LSD-25). As can be heard on their 2010 compilation Zoned the group were in thrall to a dark, anesthetized, sunglasses-after-dark attitude and (as the 18 tracks on Zoned are heard in reverse chronology from 1987 to 1980) with their own way of doing things. They got right up some people's noses with their bare bones synth-punk and stroppy art-Situationist manners. But the performance pranks shouldn't detract from the power of their best music.The marvelous "Aspettando Godot" in particular never fails to grip and transform my mood. The group also had a sense of humor as shown by the song titles "Radical Student Mob in Satin Boots" and "Shake the Hippie".
With titles like "Afternoon Non-happenings no.2", "Waiter! A Bad Joke Please", and "Claire Voyant" Juergen Gleue had his wit intact when he recorded Phantom Payn Daze. The zombie-like energy is still present, driving the slowest of songs, along with a weird spaced-out atmosphere akin to Suicide or Spacemen 3 covering folk music from bath chairs in a retirement home. By which I mean Gleue sounds as if he's feeling a little "fragile" but still has his sunglasses-wearing attitude.
In a recent interview with David Perron, Gleue expresses happiness at hearing the songs (essentially home recordings) in this package and pleasure at the mastering work organized by De Stijl. The label recruited Tara Sinn to make a video for "Paradox Box" and are clearly not content with resting on the laurels of releasing Jakob Olausson's Moonlight Farm—one of my favorite albums since the turn of the century.
Glue gave up music in 2000 having noticed "signs" that "this particular window had closed for me. There just wasn't much interest in it anymore. I really can't complain."There is no complaint from me that his solo music (and 39 Clocks) are getting released (and reissued). Both retain a splendid atonal urgency: a quality which makes them sound fresh and alive and transcend the sum of their influences. Since 2000 Juergen Gleue has been creating comic books in small batches of which he says: "I sell or give away in the streets."
Tim Hecker has made a career out of releasing reliably excellent albums, but aside from rare departures like 2002's Van Halen-inspired My Love is Rotten to the Core, he has always stuck very closely to the hissing, crackling melancholy that he is known for. Ravedeath, 1972 certainly contains more of that (which I am perfectly happy with), but finds Hecker edging out of his comfort zone a little more than I would expect.  The raw material for this album originates from "live" recordings made with a pipe organ at a Reykjavik church, and that organ often emerges from Hecker's digital fog in surprisingly pure form.
Tim Hecker's albums always tend to ostensibly explore a complicated abstract theme, though the subtle differences between a Hecker album inspired by "spectral communications" and one inspired by "the cartography of dreams" is probably lost on all but the most devoted fans.  That is not a grievance, as I always enjoy finding out what was occurring in Tim's head during the conception of an album.  It's just that a Tim Hecker album always sounds exactly like Tim Hecker album, regardless of its conceptual underpinning.  In keeping with that tradition, the loose conceptual underpinnings of Ravedeath, 1972 revolve around "digital garbage," an idea that took root when Tim saw footage of a mountain of pirated CDs and DVDs being destroyed by bulldozers in Kazakhstan.  Characteristically, that fascination evolved and expanded into something far more abstract and ineffable by the time the album began to cohere.  To further confuse and fascinate me, the album is also teeming with enigmatic allusions, such as the unexplained titles like "Analog Paralysis, 1978" and "Studio Suicide, 1980," the dates of which are too far in the past to coincide to Hecker's own life.  Mysteries aside, it is clear that the tug of war between music and entropy (digital garbage) has always been a bit of an obsession with Hecker, as his whole aesthetic can succinctly be summed up as "warmth and beauty struggling to emerge from a fog of static."  The only change is that on Ravedeath, 1972, the more melodic parts are a bit more successful at fighting their way to the foreground.
Aside from the aforementioned pipe organ, Hecker also employs some synth and piano (some of which is contributed by engineer Ben Frost).  Oddly, Hecker makes no mention of using guitars, but the warped and woozy sounds in "Studio Suicide, 1980" sure sound like they come from one.  In general, the organ-based pieces tend to be droning, immersive, and almost sacred-sounding (like the beautiful "In the Fog II"), while the piano pieces tend to be more twinkling and delicate.  However, the album flows together quite seamlessly as a whole, held together by the languorously blissful tone and omnipresent hiss and shimmer.
It's a pretty confounding album to try to deconstruct, as the actual musical content of each individual piece is quite simple and minimal, yet sounds so vibrant and ingenious.  For example, the opening piece, "The Piano Drop," is built upon the same few synthesizer chords repeated over and over again, but they quiver, stutter, fade, and swell so much that they are transformed into something quite stunning.  Hecker is singularly adept at something quite intangible–it seems like the actual music that is played during the recording sessions is totally secondary to the eventual outcome, as he has an intuitive understanding of how to use the studio to wrestle pure sound into something with soul and emotional resonance.
It is fairly hopeless to try to contextualize Ravedeath, 1972 as a progression from Hecker's previous work, as he has been at the top of his game for quite some time and that has not changed–he has merely tweaked the formula a bit.  There are some elements here that are a bit more subtle than Tim has been in the past, as he seems to be able to gradually do more and more with less and less. There are also a couple of somewhat daring moments, where he dispenses with his cloak of white noise completely, such as on "No Drums" and "In the Air III."  Even in those cases, however, the music is either submerged-sounding or heavily reverbed.  Ravedeath isn’t an epiphany or a radical transformation; it is merely the work of a master who has found a few small new ways to challenge himself.  This album will deservedly be all over year-end "best of" lists, but anyone unfamiliar with Hecker's artistry could just easily start with Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do It Again or Harmony In Ultraviolet– this is merely the latest in a long line of great albums.
Tim Hecker has made a career out of releasing reliably excellent albums, but aside from rare departures like 2002's Van Halen-inspired My Love is Rotten to the Core, he has always stuck very closely to the hissing, crackling melancholy that he is known for. Ravedeath, 1972 certainly contains more of that (which I am perfectly happy with), but finds Hecker edging out of his comfort zone a little more than I would expect.  The raw material for this album originates from "live" recordings made with a pipe organ at a Reykjavik church, and that organ often emerges from Hecker's digital fog in surprisingly pure form.
Repress of 500 copies of the sold out LP as a picture disc w/ new artwork & design by Seldon Hunt. Totem 3 coming soon on Important.
Randall Dunn: analog synths, electronics, percussion, fog drone meditations, mellotrons, rag-dun tibetan trumpet, vocals, further schisms, Don McGreevy: drums, percussion, bells, electric and acoustic guitar, feedbacker Bill Horist: electric and acoustic guitar, prepared guitar, mellotron flutes, electronic disturbances and fire purification James Davis: pipe organ, harmonium, mellotron choir, electric bass, leprosy synth,acoustic guitar B.R.A.D.: ancient vocal portal drones, deity vocal meditations, gongs and percussion,choir vocals Dave Abramson: drums, percussion, tingsha, vajra bell, Milky: slide guitars, electric fuzz guitars, acoustic slide guitar, vocals
LP is pressed in an edition of 1000. Cut at Chicago Mastering & pressed at RTI for the highest possible fidelity.
Release date: Feb 22, 2011
Echoing like a long lost Werner Herzog soundtrack Totem 2 is a record of subtle Meditations and Deep electric Hallucinations from the Crystal Caves of the Northwest to the orchestral desert portals of Turkey. Totem two finds MMOB exploring the disappearance of the Mystic and the schisms of our age. Iin times when forces move against our souls these are the first sounds of music that can only be described as NO-AGE , a resistance is making itself known. Featuring members of EARTH, ASVA, BURING WITCH, THE DIMINISHED MEN, and more and special guests from Secret Chiefs 3 and the thriving Istanbul music scene.
MMOB has now solidified into a 7 piece cosmic psyche force. Like a reverse dark side of the New Age sound, on the Totem series Master Musicians of Bukkake perform ritualistic electric excursions into the outer and inner reaches. Relying more on the electric power of psyched guitars, analog synth chants, and exotic heavy percussion. This Totem Trilogy echos with the delusions of a west coast death cult. Outer spaced gamelan, dusty fuzz rock from celestial deserts, meditations of a deranged Krishna gathering, and the Blurry acoustic guitar majesty of The Cascade mountains all reveal themselves here in epic form. Master Musicians Of Bukkake’s newest offering in the Totem Trilogy, Totem Two marks yet another psychic and sonic shift from their first record “Visible Sign Of the Invisible order” (Abduction records 2005/LP via Important Records 2010) and it’s predecessor in the trilogy Totem One (Conspiracy records 2009). On Totem Two Master Musicians explores and meditates deep on the death of the Mystics, the Forgotten Ones, the Schisms of our time, and the inability to realize the primary clear light for what it is. Totem Two shifts from electronically altered Bön cult rituals to outer spaced Sufi Sects. Finally succumbing to the fully orchestrated No-age darkness of the religion of the future only to end in delusional “enlightenment” atop Mt. Shasta scrawling the deranged rambling of new age psychosis on the crystal walls of a cave. Every sound and note played put to tape by a group with a singular purging purpose.
Recorded Mixed and Produced by Randall Dunn (Six organs of Admitance, Sunno))), Earth ,etc), at Aleph studios in Seattle Wa.MMOB features members of EARTH , BURNING WITCH, DIMINISHED MEN , ASVA, and more. Perede Kaldirma was recorded in Istanbul,Turkey at the legendary ADA studios, November 2009. Featuring a collaboration between MMOB and Turkish musicians from the Istanbul music scene it features amazing Ney Solos by Serkan Bagkenesen. Over the years ADA studios in Istanbul has been the host for records by Erkin Koray and Baris Manco to name a few.
inspired by and for lovers of: Popul Vuh’s work with Werner Herzog, early Vangelis and Tangerine Dream and Philip Glass’s Kundun soundtrack.
TOUR DATES:
Mar 26 2010 8:00P Kenyon Hall West Seattle, Washington Apr 9 2010 8:00P The Greenhouse Seattle, Washington Apr 16 2010 8:00P Roadburn Festival Tilburg, Netherlands Apr 18 2010 8:00P Islington Mill Manchester, UK Apr 19 2010 8:00P Corsica Studios London, UK Apr 20 2010 8:00P The Croft Bristol, UK Apr 21 2010 8:00P Hector’s House Brighton, UK Apr 22 2010 8:00P Trix Antwerp, Belgium Apr 23 2010 8:00P Nijdrop Opwijk, Belgium Apr 24 2010 8:00P Occii Amsterdam, Netherlands Apr 26 2010 8:00P Les Caves du Manoir Martigny, Switzerland Apr 27 2010 8:00P Le Kab Geneva, Switzerland Apr 28 2010 8:00P Spazio 211 Torino, Italy Apr 29 2010 8:00P Locomotiv Bologna, Italy Apr 30 2010 8:00P Init Club Rome, Italy May 1 2010 8:00P PMK Innsbruck, Austria May 2 2010 8:00P Arena Vienna, Austria May 3 2010 8:00P Matrix Club Prague, Czech Republic May 4 2010 8:00P Oetinger Villa Darmststadt, Germany May 5 2010 8:00P Kulturbunker Koln, Germany May 6 2010 8:00P UT Connewitz Leipzig, Germany May 7 2010 8:00P Friction Fest Berlin, Germany May 8 2010 8:00P Goteberg Art Sounds Gothenburg, Sweden May 9 2010 8:00P Loppen Copenhagen, Denmark May 10 2010 8:00P Cafe Lobby Arhus, Denmark
KRMN-FL and KRMN-MB were both created with the same original source materials, jointly created by Maurizio Bianchi and Francisco López.
Produced from the partial oxidation of carbon-containing compounds, carbon monoxide is a highly toxic gas and has no odor or colour. It is the most common type of fatal poisoning in many countries. Exposures can lead to significant toxicity of the central nervous system and heart. KRMN (for Karbona Monooksido) has been produced from the impartial de-oxidation of sonorous carbon-containing modular compounds. It's not toxic and has a positive effect on the peripheral nervous system and symbolic heart. Pay attention to its fatal antidote to the industrial poisoning in our dogmatic modernity (M.B.).