Being thankful for an earful.
Brand new music by Marie Davidson, Niecy Blues (feat. Joy Guidry), CEL, Marisa Anderson and Luke Schneider, Stina Stjern, Carmen Villain, Murcof, A Lily, and Far Golden Pavilions, with music from the vaults by Tomaga, Ozzobia, Jan Jelinek.
Sushi photo by Lindsay.
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While you may have heardother tracks from Ukuphambana on the Boston: Not London compilation onthe CFOM label, you most likely haven't. This debut release collectsvarious scraps of recordings kicking around in the vaults for thisproject, orchestrated by Chris Castiglione. Unlike many malicious youngDIY upstarts, Castiglione isn't afraid to play with distortion andpitch changes, tempo shifts and outside sound sources. The collectionranges from sounds and beats and styles making it a true album. To me,when an artist throws together a ton of songs that soundsimilar--style, instrumentation, subject--the end result resembles moreof a 12" single of versions as opposed to a true album in the grandscheme of things. "Gritware Composite" has both quantity and quality.While it can be a tough listen to get through 23 tracks at over 71minutes, it's tough love and well-worth investigating. If this is tobecome a professional release, however, something's got to be doneabout the artwork and CD-R manufacturing. This and the following discscan be obtained through Voidstar's website and probably not your local stores.samples:
A precursor to the nextfull-length Techno Animal (to be released by Matador worldwide) takesthe form of a collaborative 12" with rapper Dalek. "Megaton" is theTechno Animal contribution - an aggressive dark one. It's somethingwe're expecting from Techno Animal for a while and this track doesindeed deliver. Side 1 is rounded out by "Classical Homicide" -originally a Dalek song, re-treated by Techno Animal with a beefed upsense of sinister, combined with piercing sound effects. Side 2features the original "Classical Homicide," by Dalek, which is somewhatapocalyptic, dark and distorted already. The beats are fine and thesound changes, like a storm building up, calming down and then crashingthrough your house, leaving all your possessions in a scattered pilesof rubble. The second track, Dalek's altered take of Techno Animal's"Megaton" adds rap and starts off as a seemingly calmer, quieterversion musically, it's not before too long when the beats comepounding in, loud and abrasive, before hushing down for the end.samples:
Every once in a while, arecord comes along that seems to perfectly sum up everything that'sright about a particular type of music at that moment, as well asoffering a glimpse of where the genre might be headed. Closer Colder isone of those records. Following on a back-catalogue of a mere two EPs,this debut album from David Kosten's Faultline project is anoutstanding and accomplished hybrid of dub-heavy beats, distortedelectronic rhythms, ethereal voices, found sounds, and unique liveinstrumentation including xylophone, trumpet, strings and more. Everytrack deserves time in the spotlight, but in the interest of space,I'll try to focus on a few highlights, like the title track that soundslike This Mortal Coil as remixed by Mick Harris and directed by DavidLynch (it features a nice vocal snippet of Dennis Hopper from BlueVelvet); or the juxtaposition of quirky melody and perky beats withdeath threats left on Kosten's answering machine by a vocalist herejected on the track "Control"; or the floating ambience of theuntitled hidden track that closes the set; or - ah, hell, they're allso good, just get the damn thing! Closer Colder was originally releasedin the UK nearly a year ago on Leaf, it's now available in the USAthrough Thirsty Ear.samples:
Known in English-speaking countries as 'Fantastic Planet,' the sountrack from this highly acclaimed cult-classic cartoon film from 1973 is finally available. For any fan of the film, this is a -must have- as the music is spectacularly anthemic and seemingly timeless. As I was browsing aorund the Twisted Village here in Cambridge, I saw the recently arrive disc sitting on the counter, priced up and ready to hit the shelves. My jaw dropped and I had to walk away with it. Minutes later in Other Music, the crew found it fit for in-store play and I was in heaven.
 
The music is a futuristic look which is dated by the early 70s, with a rich brass and string orchestra playing alongside various electronic guitars, analogue keyboards, drums and slappy bass. From the first few notes, chills run down my spine as I think back to when I watched this first on late night television at around 15 years old. Immediately the main themes are burned deep into my skull. The sound pulls me in like the pied piper led the mice and I end up whistling the themes all day long. My only complaint is that at 37 minutes, it's far too short.
 
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While I'm not claiming tobe an expert in Jazz by any remote means, I highly recommend starting aSun Ra collection with two stellar albums from the mid-60s recentlyremastered and reissued by ESP. Originally recorded in 1965 and 1966,these discs were highly influential to ushering-in new movements inexperimental jazz, soul and funk. Musically there was no true soloistof Sun Ra's Arkestra. This contradicted other popular jazzcontemporaries as the Arkestra as a collective was the focal point atthe center, a fiery mass of color and sound. Decadent and chaotic, withSun Ra 'arkestrating' from beyhind the keyboards and piano, theArkestra was indeed an orchestra consisting of brass, woodwinds,strings, flute and various percussion. 
On a thematic plane, the heliocentric spiritualism was contemporary tothe various programs by the US and Russian governments as earthlingslooks to space as the next conquest. Take into consideration civilrights movements, tie everything together musically and the ground waslaid for George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic afronauts, who werevoyaging with the Mothership for decades to come. Other influences havestretched to include brainwashed groups Meat Beat Manifesto (who shareda bill with Sun Ra's Arkestra in 1996), Nurse with Wound (who I'm surehave sampled 'Nebulae' on Volume 1 in Thunder Perfect Mind) and Coil(who has long been planning a release titled "Sex with Sun Ra.") I'msure there's more planes of existence I haven't even realized withthese discs or the rest of Sun Ra's music, but for now it's a start.Herman Poole 'Sonny' Blount (A.K.A. Sun Ra) died in May of 1993, buthis Arkestra carries on playing in various locations around the US.samples:
German Bernd Friedmannspent all of the 1990's recording and performing electronic music inmany styles under many names, including: Some More Crime, Drome,Nonplace Urban Field, Burnt Friedman & The Nu Dub Players andFlanger. The aptly titled "Con Ritmo" ("With Rhythm") is the solo debutunder his slyly altered given name and is allegedly performed live byThe Disposable Rhythm Section as detailed by the tongue in cheekinsert. Friedmann's playful sense of humor extends well beyond namesand liner notes though ... his music is a mysterious mix of genreblurring sound from unknown sources. Jazz is essentially the languagebut it's spoken in soothing and spacious ambient, electronic, latin,dub and fusion tongues. Latino rhythms and busy bass lines drive thetracks with flourishes of percussive fills, an abundance of prettyvibes and keys, meandering electric guitar notes and pluckings, somehorns and the slightest traces of electronic tinkering. You're neverquite sure what is 'played' and what is sampled, what's electronic andwhat's 'real'. Does it matter? No, it doesn't. The sound and feel issincere and evocative. Some notes on a couple oddities: "Platin Tundra"is a gorgeous dub-jazz journey with a beautiful deep bass swell midwaythrough and the 11+ minute "Das Wesen aus der Milchstrasse" ("TheNature of the Milky Way") features Friedmann's Flanger partner AtomHeart on an extensive Moog solo over electro-bass blips and latin polyrhythms. Fun stuff start to finish! Now to get everything else byFriedmann. A new much delayed album possibly titled "Long Fucking Time"is due out early 2001 on his Nonplace label.samples:
This was originallyreleased as two separate EPs: "Lassie House" being a 10" limited to 250copies through Slaalplaat in 1995; and "Jumble Massive" being an LPlimited to 296 copies through Soleilmoon in 1996. Now, though, they aretogether and released, unlimited, through Cacciocavallo. The materialseems to fit together on one release nicely, with no major differenceinsound between the two EPs. "Lassie House," to some degree, has a moreslapstick humor feel to it, though both conjure rememberence of 18's UKgameshows and sitcoms, as well as children's programs and circus tunes.Vicki Bennett is very clever with how she collages her clips andsamples together, but I feel perhaps that this work centers less onbeing "humourous," per sae, and more and merely being nonsensical. Thetracksare, as one EP's title suggests, a massive jumble of cut up, repeated,morphed, and fucked sound clips from god-knows-where. A favouritehightlight is the last track, which acts as a mock self-help tape,helping "people like us" to cope with such things as sewing machinesand anticipating bowel movements: you need only chant, "Come on, poo!Come on, poo! Poooo, coming! Poooo, coming!" These EPs were nicelyworked fortheir time, but, to be honest, Vicki has since outdone herself withreleases such as the Hate People Like Us remix album and herbrilliant new (but not newest!) release, Thermos Explorer.samples:
After a four-year hiatus,Mego favorites General Magic return with Rechenkoenig, a brilliantfollow-up to their debut album, Frantz. Ramon Bauer and Andreas Pieper,who comprise General Magic, have a reputation of steering clear of theconventions to which minimal electronic music is often prone. Thetracks on Rechenkoenig are brief in length, and juxtaposed with suchsonic abruptness that the listener is kept constantly on edge, withoutpossibility of repetition-induced boredom. In fact, 'minimal' isprobably the adjective furthest from my mind upon hearing the fragmentsof frantically paced beats, often heavily distorted, scattered amongstdigital twittering, crackling, and outright onslaughts of noise.samples:
Tino Corp has releasedthis special 12" EP to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release ofone of the most important techno releases of the 90s. But why???Truthfully there's really only a couple decent mixes on this record,but none of them are varied even remotely enough as the originalrelease. This doesn't make up for the original House of God (HolophonicSound EP) which was stolen from me, which I can no longer replace. Outof the four mixes, the DHS mix might be my favorite, newer samples giveit a more modern feel, but in all honesty, to me it's rather lukewarmcompared to the trancey, hypnotic original. At first, I'm tempted toguess that the tracklisting on side 2 is incorrect as track 1 soundsmore like a MBM remix with some of the various sounds. However, withfurther listening, those samples used sure seem to yank a ton from MBMback catalogue. Could this be a form of hero worship? MBM'sconrtibution probes more of the deep trancey sounds, without jumpinginto MBM-esque breakbeat we're more familiar with hearing. Well, thanksfor teasing us with this release, but the original EP should truly bemade available again.samples:
Flanger is the prolificGerman duo of Bernd Friedmann (Burnt Friedman & The Nu Dub Players,Nonplace Urban Field, etc) and Uwe Schmidt (Atom Heart, Señor Coconut,etc). This is their 2nd album, follow-up to last year's "Templates",both on Ninja Tune's Ntone subdivision. "Midnight Sound" evolves beyondthe debut with a more humanized fusion of organic and electronic latinflavors and jazz sensibilities, very similar to Burnt Friedman's "ConRitmo". Most tracks are in the mid to high tempo range save for thealbum's bookends. "Nightbeat 1" and "Stepping Out of My Dream" bothoffer up slow brushed snare smokiness, the latter an especiallycompelling 7+ minute piece of sonic mood art that alone is worth theprice of entry for the disc. A vibe heavy, horn free interpretation ofthe Miles Davis classic "So What" is a respectfully well done treat.The rest are faster paced, chock full of all sorts of rapid-fire bass,vibe, organ and key lines and programmed pseudo-drum 'n bass beatsaugmented by Friednman's additional percussion flair. Several songsslowly dissolve at times to reveal the electro-glitch and micro-beatunderbellies beneath the bossa nova. "Midnight Sound" is simplysublime. This and "Con Ritmo" can fill your crossbred future-jazzneeds for a while.samples:
The Montreal-based collective Molasses has released its second discthrough Alien8 Recordings' associated label, Fancy. Like the first one,the packaging is exquisite (a triple-gatefold sleeve with embossedwriting and stickers) and the music is limited to only a few songs(three if you don't count the untitled first track of church bells).Each song tears at the gut strings from a seemlingly tired heartbrokensoul from a cold, bleak and desolate area, north of the border.Molasses is led by singer/songwriter Scott Chernoff and featuresgodspeed members Thierry (bass) and Norsola (cello) as well as ShalabiEffect leader Sam Shalabi on guitar. This time around, the collectivesound has matured, with the production sounding far more professionalbut not losing that human feel. Included is a 14-minute version ofAmazing Grace, and while this old standard pops up almost seemingly toooften, the Molasses version contained herein fits in perfectly with therest of the disc.samples:
