Whatever you've heard about this band, it doesn't do them justice. "TheMan Felt An Iron Hand..." is actually a shortened telling of the realtitle for the album, one that would make Fiona Apple cringe. It seemsan unlikely combination, this band called Lumen: stand-up bass,acoustic guitar, heavy-hitting drums, and accordion/organ. But it worksas a unique and vibrant sound. Little is known about the band exceptthat they are from San Francisco and two of the members are/were inother bands: Andee Connors from A Minor Forest and Jeffrey Rosenbergfrom Tarentel. And the song titles, simply roman numerals representingtheir track number, don't give anything away. The formation that isLumen exceeds all comparisons to any other bands, including those itsmembers are from. Supposedly, the members "collectively despisepost-rock," and it shows in the choice of instruments and often spaceycompositions. It's purely fascinating how they get some of these soundswith the bare instruments they've chosen! Sometimes, the arrangement istoo repetitious, as on the almost annoying "VII." But "III" and "V" arewhere the sound comes together in an amazing display of unity betweenthe band members. Intricate, pulsating, driven, and melodic as allhell, "The Man Felt An Iron Hand..." is as original an album as I'veheard this year.
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The man behind Slicker and Hefty Records steps out from his protective shell to produce one of the finest soundtracks I have personally heard in a while. Hughes has certainly expanded his range from what has been the electro punchiness of previous Slicker releases to a conceptual effort which encompasses various styles of retro-fitted pseudo-pop post-electronica jazz-influenced multi-instrumentalist filmscapes. After about four listens in a row, my only complaint is that it's TOO DAMNED SHORT!
The quasi-anonymous Cerberus Shoal seems to be one of the most prolific and diversified bands that I've encountered. This Portland, Maine collective — and the constantly evolving lineup of the band merits that term — seems to have mastered a new style with each release. With 1999's "homb" cd on Temporary Residence, Cerberus Shoal delivered their exemplary thesis on dark, ambient rock. The dynamics and instrumentation, combined with minimal but rythmic percussion, fused together to make one of the most beautiful and original releases of recent years.
The debut release from Australia's Vibragun label is a 12" four tracktaster of the forthcoming 2cd various artists compilation of the samename. The rather loose guidelines for the project stated that a trackcould be in almost any style, "the one requirement is that it be athoughtful interpretation of the theme." So with that in mind, AtomHeart and 3 Australian artists - Pimmon, 8bit and Oren Ambarci - wentto work. Pimmon's "Morse:Fin" drearily drones along with Morsecode-like blips and an intermittent scratching sound. Atom Heart's "SEA(Stuffit)" is by far the best track (and, of course, the shortest) witha happy assortment of bass and machine sounds. 8bit's "Can't U Hear theRave?" (the worst title ever?) is a clippity clop chunk of techno withsonar bleeps that drags on for 6 and 1/2 minutes. Oren Ambarchi's "RingKing" (exclusive to this EP) is a very annoying 5 minute collection ofrandom metallic bangs. Yuck. Side B will never see my turntable'sneedle again. Neither will Side A now that I've made an mp3 of the AtomHeart track. Hopefully the 2cd will have more to offer than the 12".
The more attentive experimentally-minded Manchester electronicaenthusiast might be able to spin yarns of Rotations nights upstairs ina small pub room just round the corner from where the Hacienda isboarded up. Organised by Gareth Bibby of RSI Recordings, these havefeatured appearances from the likes of Mild Man Jan, Magic City,Pendro, Modified Toy Orchestra and his own pedal hopping samplingproject Disco Operating System.
Simply put, Bardo Pond have never impressed me. I've never heard one oftheir records and wanted to hear it again and again. In fact, therewere times that I wanted to shut them off halfway through, as eitherthe squelching guitar or vocals were annoying enough to warrant.'Dilate' is the first release that I can honestly say I like, and forextremely good reason. Where the band has always been known for theirnear-heavy metal crunch and destruction or their plodding along untilnothing really happens, "Dilate" finds them concentrating more on darkmelodies and subtle arrangements with a much fuller sound. Sure, thereare loud guitars. But rather than smacking you on your stupid head,they're in a far more menacing tone, where you know it's not just forthe noise but for the effect. The opener, "Two Planes" is pained andbrutal with a lovely undertone of violin and bass, so when thebackwards recordings and acoustic guitar of "Sunrise" come in, you'realmost unsure if you're listening to the same band. The lovelyintertwining blues guitar lines by the Gibbons brothers are morepronounced here, as well. Sometimes they almost sound like Canned Heat,which was a very strange experience for me. There are low points evennow, as on "Aphasia," where it almost seems like the song will never berealized until the last minute where it explodes in awesome wonder. Theabrasiveness is mostly gone, though, so there's very little not tolike. Every track has a place to go, too, a change from other records.Bardo Pond is developing in a very brave way, challenging their ownideas and those of their listeners. Jump in at the shallow end and wadein: 'Dilate' is the latest release and the most impressive yet.
Political and musical descendents of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Antibalas area 14-piece Afrobeat-inspired co-ooperative collective straight out ofBrooklyn. Knowing these facts alone, you're likely to immediately drawa (maybe too easy) comparison between the political and socialconditions of Nigeria in the late 70's and those of New York in thelate 90's. Case in point: just as Fela changed his name to Anikulapo("he who carries death in his pouch"), one member of Antibalas hastaken Amadou Diallo's name for his own. And just as Fela built apowerful, popular, and political genre from a potent mix of bothtradition and innovation, Antibalas are in the process of taking Fela'sAfrobeat in a new direction without sacrificing any of the genre'surgency, either musically or politically. Such urgency is evident ontracks like "Si, Se Puede," "Battle Of The Species," and "Uprising,"all of which proclaim a largely non-lyrical statement of existance andearnest (leftist, anti-capitalist) belief through driving bass grooves,infectious polyrhythmic percussion, and punctuating horns. 'LiberationAfrobeat Vol. 1' does a commendable job of capturing the essence of theband's feverish live performances by keeping studio over-production toa minimum (a couple of the tracks were in fact recorded live inLondon). The authentic sound of the LP is accentuated by theinstrumentation: these days, you'd expect a band like this to feature acouple of turntablists and some other modern musical accoutrements, butthankfully there's nothing but live instruments here. Antibalas makeyou confront themselves on their own terms, and in this case that meansrestricting themselves to many of the conventions of Afrobeat. But theydo it so well and with such conviction that the music doesn't seemrestricted at all - on the contrary, it is truly both liberated andliberating. By keeping the tracks on this Ninja Tune rerelease of thealbum relatively short (each less than ten minutes), Antibalas manageto present a full range of compositions which together serve as a greatintroduction to the band.
Never have I heard a record that made my brain want to chew it's wayout of my head until now. From the first track of 'Transgression,'called "Entwurf," Ultra Living sounds like a improvisedjazz/lounge/fusion project. Reminiscent of Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire,this sound seems to belie the band's moniker. It's followed by"Absurdly Pedantic" which features a repeated vocal loop and nice beatsand organ, but the occasional and prevalent insertion of high-pitchedfrequencies make it unlistenable and, well, absurdly pedantic. In fact,it seems like Ultra Living is desperately searching for an identitythroughout the release. The music is all fine, but I found itimpossible to stomach in one listen. The blending/breaking of styles isincreasingly difficult to justify, and goddamn those high frequencies.On a decent stereo or through headphones, your eardrums almost implodeat times. There are drum and bass moments ("Color-Perspective" and"Immaterial" — which also features beat box and soul sister singing),trip-hop moments ("Free Radicals"), and sounds like if the Borg made amusical ("Birds Must Be Eliminated" — a fitting track name for a Borgmusical, in fact). It's wildly inconsistent, a hodge-podge of stylesand sounds, but it's new, I'll give it that. I would just like to hearUltra Living stick with one direction and see where that leads. Mybrain couldn't take another release like this one.
You can remove the guy from Stereolab but you can't remove Stereolabfrom the guy. Short and deliciously sweet is the first eponymousrelease from the relatively new instrumental outfit formed by currentStereolab bass guitarist, Simon Johns. It's difficult not to makecomparisons to Stereolab when the songs sound almost exactly likefamiliar Stereolab tunes, only in instrumental format. Johns onlyrecently joined the Lab for the last full-length album and EP, two ofmy least favorite releases from the groop. The strange thing is that Iactually enjoy these five songs quite a bit whereas I strongly dislikedthe two similar sounding Stereolab releases. On 'Imitation ElectricPiano' the five-member band sounds like they're executing songs the Labeither turned down or didn't have enough time to record. Much like theLab, this group is tight and provide perky upbeat post-modern bachelorpad tunes, primed for driving a trendy european automobile with thewindows rolled down. The production, however isn't as sparkly orshimmery as McEntire's knob twiddlings. Perhaps this is ImitationElectric Piano's saving grace: the same type of output but with a soundremeniscent of the older, much rougher days of the Lab — a sound whichturned most fans and critics ON to the groop in the first place. Theonly thing really missing is vocals most English and French speakerscan't understand. This 21-minute five-track EP was originally releasedon Duophonic in the UK late last year and is now available in massquantities in North America through Drag City.
