10 April 2005

Administrator

Albums and Singles

A Hawk and a Hacksaw is chiefly the work of Jeremy Barnes, previouslyof krautrock brain-sizzlers Bablicon, and more recently of Guignol, abizarre one-off with members of Volcano the Bear. With A Hawk and aHacksaw, Barnes takes many of the European folk music fixations firstglimpsed on the Guignol album to their logical conclusion, creating asuite of ethnographical crossbreeds of indigenous music from France,Spain, Czech, Great Britain and Mexico.
The Leaf Label
There are clear and obviousreferences to Klezmer, French street music and Flamenco idioms in themusic, and less obvious hints of Mariachi, American and Brit trad-folk.Though the music here is still unmistakably the work of Jeremy Barnes,with odd passages of psychedelic whimsy, the strangeness comes mostlyfrom unexpected cultural juxtapositions and stylisticcross-germinations, rather than from the extended, improvised freakoutsof his previous projects. There is a new emphasis placed oncomposition, musicianship and melody on Darkness at Noon,bringing the project closer in style to groups such as The MagicCarphathians or The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden. Most tracks arebased around Barnes' accordion playing, which is by turns fast andfurious, or slow and droning. Filling out the sound are an array ofinstruments drawn from at least three continents: harp, oud, Turkishcumbus, jaw harp and an array of percussion. For the most part, thealbum is bright, energetic and upbeat, with all the instrumentalelements in perfect synch with each other. "Laughter in the Dark"begins with a Morricone Mexico-by-way-of-Italia trumpet solo, soonjoined by Barnes' squeezebox and percussion. The track slowly anddecisively builds to a fantastically orgasmic center, with a resoundingchorus of voices chanting words drawn from a George W. Bush speech. Thedistinctly Gallic sound of "The Moon Under Water" sounds like a lostcut from Yann Tiersen's soundtrack to Amelie, while "The Water Underthe Moon" is a romantic waltz with strings and piano that skips overwet cobblestones on a dark European street. Perhaps its just that mybrain seems to leap to film imagery, but there are many moments on Darkness at Noon when I was reminded of classic cinema like Reed's The Third Man (shades of Anton Karas' gypsy music score) and Fellini's carnivalesque La Strada."For Slavoj" is a musical tribute to the great postmodern thinkerSlavoj Zizek, playing on the Lacanian philosopher's ideas of nostalgiaand kitsch with a recollective folk tune, replete with syrupy repeatedchorus of "I love you," before dissolving into Steve Reich-style modernclassical piano piece. This is just one of many examples of the breadthand scope of AHAAH's eclectic musical vision, which for all of itshard-won complexity, arrives to my ears as a deliciously gelled andeminently listenable whole.

samples:

• Laughter in the Dark
• For Slavoj
• Portlandtown

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10 April 2005

Andrew Culler

Albums and Singles

Ielasi's last solo record Plansis an overplayed favorite of mine and one that marked quite a departurefrom the artist's past work as a featherweight improv stylist, a minerof hidden textures and master of the infinitesimal dynamic. Planswas a grandiose electroacoustic collage largely avoiding Ielasi'stradmark guitar which appeared only at the beginning and end of thepiece, resolving the brief flights of lyricism able to tilt thedisparate currents of the whole toward a slow expanse of weightless,melancholic bliss.Häpna
Gesine marks the return of the guitar asdominant voice, this time a rarely-treated almost acoustic soundoccupying a far more subdued setting. Backed only by finger-snap-sizepercussion, a few earth-toned hums and feedback drones, the instrumententers within the already charged atmosphere of the bedroom where thelowest relief or incidental amplifies to the potential hinge for asong's drama. Ielasi's guitar drops like ink in water suspension,coloring and adding sculpture to the backdrop's warm restlessness. Hisfigures, though, are not fixed, meandering instead across a ghostly andascetic blues, very much in the MazzaCane Connors or Charalambidesrealm and with a similar hidden complexity. Close listening providesthat Ielasi has in many cases, quadruple-tracked his guitar, two of itsclones doing a mirror-walk on the scratchy surface level blues patternswhile two more layer harmonic overtones beneath. These under-layerstake on a degree of sterility in their arrangement and inhumanconstancy, pulling Gesine further from the golden antebellumviews of Connors and the C-bides and closer to the disquietedatmospherics of Ielasi's fellow Italian and Viennese improvisers. Bythe fifth of the six tracks, background and foreground have coalescedinto a dual-stranded dagger of whining feedback, a slow black-out of Gesine'sintimate texture that leaves only the drowsy, given-up plucking of thesixth track to map out a final hesitancy. The 30 minute disc is simplyone more beautifully packaged and recorded release from Ielasi, theabove only one reading of music whose inflated miniatures and subtleguitar anti-heroics require many more.

samples:

• 1
• 4
• 5

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10 April 2005

Jonathan Dean

Albums and Singles

This is a reissue of an album that was originally released in a limitedrun on the now-defunct Isomorphic Records in 1996. For this edition, apreviously unreleased 13-minute bonus track from the original sessionshas been appended to the album. Music For the Head Balletis possibly Beequeen's most ambient work to date: a series of quietlyabstract, lengthy organ drones that amass slowly over time, graduallyrevealing their denseness and complexity.
Infraction
Each of the four tracksbegins in total silence, which is actually unpotentiated sound justbeyond the threshold of audibility. Slowly and gorgeously, the densesound of vintage electric organs begin to coalesce in the far distance,looped steam calliope melodies smeared out across the sky likecumulonimbus cotton candy clouds. Soft and murmuring, Beequeen's dronesare sweet and airy, filling the room with densely immersive butspiritually uplifting sound, a gossamer architecture of floatingspiderwebs and translucent dirigables. It's a sound birthed in adaydream, buoyant melodies from a distant circus big top obfuscated bylayers of fog and abstracted by years spent asleep and dreaming. Music For the Head Ballethas far more to say than an average album of minimalist, electronicambience, which shouldn't be surprising to those who have listened toBeequeen's work through the years. Freek and Frans are singularlytalented at the seemingly effortless creation of mood and atmosphere,impregnating their nebulous compositions with a cerebral quality thatalways welcomes repeated listens. In the midst of its disarming beauty,"Days That Never Were" contains uncanny elements of the ominous,haunted by the distant, fragmented memories of childhood. In contrast,"These Foolish Days" seems breezy and uncomplicated, though it travelsthrough mysteriously gauzy chambers of tantalizingly fuzzydiscombobulation. "White Feathers on a Dish, Used to Erect thePyramids" sounds like an Angelo Badalamenti score skirting just outsidethe edge of melody and cohesion. The new addition of "Remind Me of You"takes an atonal, shapeless swell of organ drones and sets it againstthe summer buzz of sunlight and distant lawn sprinklers. Head Balletis not for those looking for pleasures concrete and tuneful, but ratherfor those that wouldn't mind a total immersion in an esoteric audioenvironment full of half-remembered dreams that slip back into thecloudy murk before they can be fully grasped.

samples:

• Days That Never Were
• These Foolish Days
• Remind Me of You

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10 April 2005

Joshua David Mann

Albums and Singles

Thinking critically about tribute albums is always easier when thesongs are not mere regurgitations of the originals. To laud one band'snearly-symmetric treatment of another band's song leaves a grotesquetaste in your mouth and feels almost a betrayal in some way.Temporary Residence
The coverversion could certainly sound better and be better recorded, butwithout the actual authorship of the song, there is an emptiness. Muchbetter to take a song and create a variation on a theme, inspired bythe original but not onerously dictated by it. And so in keeping withthis notion, Temporary Residence presents their Black Sabbath tributealbum called "Everything Comes & Goes," featuring self-proclaimed"interpretations" and "mutilations" of Sabbath's songs (with perhapsone or so being a little more straightforward than the rest). The bandsassembled here stick exclusively to pre-1975 material so there is noconfusion about whether this is Ozzy's Sabbath or Ronnie's or Tony's.This is strictly an Osbournian identity. Matmos inaugurate the sacredrites of tribute with a sparse electronic conception of "F/X." There isa great distance between the original song and Matmos' treatment but,again, this is the kernel of distinction between being a true tributealbum and simply a facsimile album. Japan's Ruins throw their typicalcurveball in what is definitively not a cover version but rather amedley of Sabbath themes enjambed next to one another. The song isforgettable but the band's preemptory (and unnecessary) apology in theliner notes is humorous. The Grails have a post-rock imagining of"Black Sabbath" which is adapted well by the inclusion of the band'sviolin. Another post-rock instrumental is supplied by Paul Newman whometallurgically add a measure of angularity to "Faeries Wear Boots."Four Tet offer a saccharine version of "Iron Man" as only they can.Again, there is not a lot of profundity here, but a pleasant listennonetheless. Curtis Harvey (late of Rex) Trio add an almoststraightforward cover of "Changes" but they countrify and folk it upjust enough to make it one of the better interpretations on thecollection. Ned Oldham's Anomoanon supply the most ghostly and eerie"mutilation" with their take on "Planet Caravan." The song is haunting,meditative, and deliberate, perhaps the most evocative on the album. Inthe final two slots, Racebannon satanically blasts out "Sabbath BloodySabbath" while Greenness w/ Philly G pieces together the mostSabbath-sounding offering yet in their cover of "Sweet Leaf," all thewhile being quite careful not to sound anything like Mogwai's cover ofthe song. While the individual bands here have certainly paid justtribute to Black Sabbath, I don't think that they have necessarily donethem justice. Everything Comes & Goesis more amusing than invigorating, but such amusement should not bedisregarded because it creates a cute album of variations. The bandswere prudent in clinging to the early Sabbath material since soonafterward (post-1980) Sabbath itself became more amusing thaninvigorating.

samples:

• Four Tet - Iron Man
• The Anomoanon - Planet Caravan
• Racebannon - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

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09 April 2005

Jason Olariu

Albums and Singles

Following up his "Vacancy" mini album from last year, Joseph Arthur returns to the scene a bit wiser.
Lacking a lot of the sound experimentation featured on hisdebut album, "Big City Secrets", the theme of "Come To Where I'm From"seems to be perfecting the art of song craft. Beginning with thebittersweet acoustic-led "In The Sun", which has been a long-time livefavorite of Joe's fans and was also recorded by his mentor/label bossPeter Gabriel for a Princess Di tribute album, I had a bad feeling J.A.has gone soft and has given up his cutting edginess for more AOR-drivenpop balladeering. "Chemical" and "History", with their flickeringsounds fluttering around the song's jangly pop heart like butterflywings of distortion, are refreshing reminders that no matter howradio-friendly Joe gets, he's still head-and-shoulders above most ofhis pop-driven peers. Giving further props to Tom Waits, such as"Bottle Of Me" from "Big City Secrets", "Invisible Hands" is alate-night lovers lament, with it's big drums, echoey guitar, andwhispered vocals - personal, sensual, and enticing. "Come To Where I'mFrom" is, essentially, both homage to the genius of the late JeffBuckley and a promise to carry on in the creation of ecstatic,groundbreaking music. Beautifully honest and sublime.
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03 April 2005

Chris Roberts

Albums and Singles

Any hip hop record that references Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Neverending Story and Street Fighter II in the first 90 seconds without sounding absurdly corny has something going for it, and Black Dialogue just improves from there.

Definitive Jux

Possibly the most heavily anticipated Boston hip-hop release of the past 10 years (ironically released on New York-based Definitive Jux), Black Dialogue represents what is hopefully the once-and-future identity of hip hop: witty, exuberant, politcal, playful and thoughtful all at once. There is also remarkable balance between the players: not once does either Mr. Lif, Akrobatik or Fakts One unfairly steal the stage or fail to shine when called upon, not even when dueting with Boston legend Guru and the notorious big nosed Humpty Hump (!!). Black Dialogue opens with the brash thumper "Let's Move!!," a bombastic call-to-arms that combines the aforementioned dorkiness with the skillful and cerebral rhyming that have served Lif and Ak so well in the past. The two MCs share the spotlight, rhyming line on line, occasionally spitting back and forth, sometimes dropping verses at a time, keeping Black Dialogue's tempo and energy up at all times. Along with hilarious diss couplets like "This ain't no fraternity step-show/ wait, you'll be traded upstate like Bledsoe," Black Dialogue also has social consciousness worthy of Public Enemy. "Memorial Day" decries the war in Iraq and the spurious weapons of mass destruction while honoring those who serve, and the title track is a relevant and timely statement on the status of visible black America, offering a stinging rebuke to the one-dimensional MTV and BET set: "I walk the path my elders laid out/cause acting like a monkey for white folks is played out." Black Dialogue isn't perfect. The attempted ballad "Love Letters" falls flat on its face from the goofy opening lyric "You don't even know I exist/But I want you to/ That's why I'm writing you this love letter," and there's a few too many tracks dedicated to hip hop for hip hop's sake that sound vapid in the face of the heavier fare. But while "Blo" and "People 4 Prez" could be seen as breezy overindulgences, the guest spots provided by Guru on "Party Hard" and Humpty Hump on "Career Finders" simply tear the roof off, more than making up for any shortcoming and sealing the deal on Black Dialogue, a rare combination of relevance and enjoyment - 

samples:

• Memorial Day
• Pretty Hard
• Career Finders

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03 April 2005

Administrator

Albums and Singles

There are nine albums worth of material on this one disc; KeithFullerton Whitman just doesn't bother sticking to any one idea, thereare too many new places to go for that. The Hrvatski debut forEntschuldigen records is 91 songs in 40 minutes.

Entschuldigen
 
This insanely hecticmix of various breaks, noises, jumbles, and explosions unapologeticallymoves at the speed of light. Averaging roughly 26 seconds per track andrecorded live in 2004, Keith Whitman is assembling, abusing, andthrowing away themes, ideas, melodies, rhythms, and effects so fastthat it is sometimes hard to keep up with what's happening. Thankfully,the Irrevocably Overdriven Break Freakout Megamixalbum develops over a series of tracks, letting some melodies andflurries of intergalactic noise doom sink in before they are slappedaround and left for dead in the wake of Whitman's playful attitudetowards his own brand of electronic grooviness. Up until track 18 orso, Whitman stays pretty loose, not letting many rhythms repeatthemselves whatsoever, but playing around with unified sets of samples.After track 18, Whitman seems to have indexed many of the songs bywhich rhythm he was choosing to use underneath an already establishedarrangement based on instrument timbre and mood. In fact, tracks 18through 58 run around a brass-like horn born of the pits of hell, butby track 59 Whitman has ditched that theme altogether and arrived atsome odd crossing of video-game music and tin percussion static. Out ofnowhere track 61 opens up a keyboard melody that dots across a hazy andsmoky series of buzzed out samples and iron crashes. At every turnWhitman is moving into new territory. Sometimes his breaks soundfamiliar, like something that might get a few people dancing, butbefore any four-on-the-floor action can get going, Whitman tears themusic to shreds with the sound of wrecked civilizations and damagedelectronics. Irrevocably Overdriven is a limited run disc(though the site doesn't say just how limited) and is likely to besnatched up quickly and for good reason; music this much fun is rareand the quality of Whitman's live work on this disc is just as good asanything he does at home or in his studio.

samples:

• Tracks 10-14
• Tracks 69-71
• Tracks 80-84

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03 April 2005

Joshua David Mann

Albums and Singles

Godspeed's caterwauling Efrim pummels out another Silver Mt. Zionrelease complete with an elaborated band name. Each subsequent releaseappends another piece on the original A Silver Mt. Zion appellation.
Constellation
 
Among the other things that have been augmented since the first releaseis Efrim's vocal presence, which at this point is pretty ubiquitous. Inthe lower registers, his voice is a fairly stable countertenor whichover-pronounces the lyrics disarmingly. But Efrim can warble his voiceand destabilize it when he reaches and extends it slightly. The effectis purposeful but perhaps not always pleasant. The Mt. Zion music risesand falls behind the vocal wanderings, creating either an impressivemountainous background or an insufficient mole-hill which leaves themusic unguarded and vulnerable. In either case, the socio-politicalcritiques and commentaries of the vocals take center-stage on thealbum, sometimes supported by glittering beautiful music and sometimesleft out to dry like so many of the disenfranchised subjects of theseptet's lyrics. The album's opener "God Bless Our Dead Marines" begsthe question, "Does Canada have Marines, or is he talking aboutAmerica's?" In either case, someone is putting angels in electricchairs, according to Efrim, and the band marches through six disparateand disconnected movements describing a collection losses or deaths,none of whom sound very much like the few and the proud. "MountainsMade of Steam" is the best song in the album, elaborating quietly onthe theme of "My Favorite Things" in its first half. Mt. Zion's chorusbacks up Efrim in this first half, eventually yielding to areverberating guitar which itself gives way to the more fascinatingcello bridge between the final movement. The choir sings over thecello, "The angels in your palm/ sing gentle worried songs,/ and thesweetness of our dreams/ like mountains made of steam" while otherstrings casually but importantly join in. The violins' melody over thecello lilts hypnotizingly and too soon the song dissipates without anyhint of a departure. It marks one of the most graceful exits ever for asong. The title track is a quiet, contemplative song marked more byrestraint than most of the album. To see an example about how the musiccan throw the vocalists under the bus, you need only listen to "Hang onto Each Other." "Ring Them Bells" is the most Godspeedesquecomposition, while "Teddy Roosevelt's Guns" is the most thematicallyand lyrically interesting (think of it as Canadian national protestanthem outfitted thoughtfully with the obligatory apostrophe "OhCanada"). Horses in the Skyis a very holistic album, comprising and even colliding various soundsof the Constellation Records family under this one, though admittedlyrambling, band name. If the rambling can be weathered, there are someworthwhile moments on the album which are not drowned out by the equinestampede of the band's thoughts. 

samples:

• Mountains Made of Steam
• Horses in the Sky
• Hang On To Each Other

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03 April 2005

Jim Siegel

Albums and Singles

The first disc of this two CD set contains a live recording from 2003,originally intended for studio completion, while the other containssome of Ivan Pavlov's first recordings as Coh from 1997.
Mego
 
In 1997 Pavlovseemed content to let a consistent rhythmic pattern remain unchangedfor nearly four minutes, as evidenced on "Fracture," however, with2003's "Untitled Smash Hit," the skeletal groove transforms into atechno-esque pattern that most of the preceeding tracks were remotelyhinting at. An entire set of this type of solid 4/4 groove would wearthin quickly, but by gradually building the set to this point, it is awelcome release of the tension that has built up during therhythmically ambiguous first half of the set. "Dynamo Babe" seamlesslykeeps up the pace and sees Pavlov weaving layers of interlocking 16thnote patterns that build up to a distorted ending. The newer set worksbetter because the tracks build off of each other and have a bettersense of cohesion. Much of the early set has a similar feel to hisrecordings released between 1998 and 2000 on Raster-Noton, exploringthe intricacies of single tones and pulses for minutes on end. Hearingthese two sets back to back it is clear that he has since becomeskilled at combining these base sounds into more structurally andcompositionally advanced pieces, which have become more enjoyable forme at least. The recent tracks are also noticeably shorter than their1997 counterparts, showing that he has learned how to distill theimportant information into a tighter composition, and not waste as muchspace. While the crisp, digital textures Pavlov was exploring in 1997still sound fresh texturally, his subsequent development as a composerand arranger is what will allow him to remain relevant in the future. 

samples:

• Untitled Smash Hit (2003)
• Da Kota Rap (2003)
• Fracture (1997)

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03 April 2005

Lucas Schleicher

Albums and Singles

Jason Molina seems to be getting all the wrong kind of attention. Pegged as a follower and adherent of any number of past songwriters, Molina's distinct voice and his band's broad musical range often goes ignored in favor of unnecessary name dropping and undeserved, negative comparisons.
Secretly Canadian
 


The Magnolia Electric Co showed Songs:Ohia taking off into a full sound that covered epic guitar-driven pieces just as well as old-time country feelings. Molina was certainly pulling spirits out of the past, but his own mark was clear and distinct on every track. What Comes After the Blues continues the varied character of Molina's last record and sees Molina and his band emerging from whatever lines were drawn between them and other performers. The album begins with the rush and force of "The Dark Don't Hide It," a song that's appeared on the road for some time, now, but sounds incredible in the studio with the new band that Molina has decided to record with. The arrangement is fluid, crossing in and out of acoustic and electric instruments and building with a hidden intensity that culminates in one of my favorite lyrics on the record. Molina's delivery might seem restrained, but the resignation in his voice and the chorus make the intensity greater than it would've been with simplistic volume increase or dynamic explosion. The slide-guitar playing stands out on several songs, but nowhere more than on "The Night Shift Lullaby." Its warm tone literally bleeds all over Jennie Benford's lovely vocals. The first four songs on the record are incredibly strong. "Leave the City" is one of the more unique songs in Molina's catalogue. The trumpet playing takes center stage in front of a cast of country guitars and piano, but cannot seem to escape Molina's lament over leaving his hometown. Magnolia Electric Co have never recorded anything as beautiful as "Hard to Love a Man" and the easy disposition of the entire second half of the album is simply blissful. Both "Hammer Down" and "I Can Not Have Seen the Light" are maybe two of the best Molina has written; they're simple and naked lyrically and sonically. Molina might be compared to a whole slew of people, but nobody sounds like him and there's only a few bands that can touch on Magnolia Electric Co's soulful delivery and power. -

samples:

• The Dark Don't Hide It
• Hard to Love a Man
• Give Something Else Away Every Day

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