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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Part two in The Music Fellowship Triptychs series finds more of thesame beautiful instrumental noise rock, just from different talents.Kinski, Paik, and Surface of Eceyon have all gained acclaim for theirindividual and unique contributions to the drone rock landscape, thatis becoming more of a pastiche these days. All the groups havedifferent sounds when listened to separately, but together, as they arein this series, they tend to sound very much the same. This is notnecessarily a mark against them, however, as the more the music has thesame organic feel and structure, the more it comes off as a cohesiverelease and therefore more palatable. All three bands have newfull-length records coming out on separate labels later in the year,and if this EP is any indication those records could level a city. Onthe cleverly-titled "Keep Clear of Me, I Am Maneuvering WithDifficulty," Kinski continues with their typical sonic explorations,this time in one track with three separate movements. Completelyimprovised, the music blends nicely into each piece, slowly building tostart, then unleashing in a crushing rhythm and a bleeding, wailingdistortion of guitars. It annoys successfully, even while it impresses,then fades out in a lovely buzz and tremble meld of organ and synthsounds, as if the song wants to give your ears a salve. Paik doesn'twade in at all, just menaces with a brooding bassline and feedback.Echoed guitars join to up the noise factor, and then the hammer fallswith the measured persistence of the drums. Paik's second song, "Eva,"is lighter in tone, but a well-crafted selection that leads well intothe music of Surface of Eceyon. With no explanation as to the slightchange in their name (nor an explanation as to why both spellingsappear in the booklet), this brave collaboration between members ofLanding and Yume Bitsu with Phil Jenkins gives a taste of theirconception in their composition. "Concert of Stars" was recorded duringone of the band's early sessions together, though it sounds like anevolution of sound. Pure improvisation from the vessyl informs theirinstruments and minds to create a thirty-minute opus of ambient beauty.It certainly bears an appropriate name, too, as I could easily enjoy avisit to the planetarium if this was the soundtrack. This second partof the Tryyptych Series rivals the first and is worth a concentratedlisten, even if some of the music is better absorbed then heard.
At one time the main focus in hip hop music were the MCs; their socialand (at times) political messages relayed with quick-cut rhymes, cleverwordplay and attitude over a cool, sampled yet repetitive backingtrack. Over the last bunch of years, the role of DJ/producer has gainedas much, if not more attention than their MC counterparts, which, inturn, has pushed the envelope of the genre. With One Word Extinguisher,the second full length release as Prefuse 73, multi-aliased producerScott Herren continues to creatively fuse hip hop beats and samplingwith certain elements of electronic music to form a uniquecompositional style. A disc of mostly instrumental tracks, Herrenenlists the MC skills of Diverse to drive the synth-gurgling of"Plastic" and a brief rhythmic social commentary from Mr. Lif on theominous progressions of "Huevos With Jeff and Rani." The use of clippedvocal textures and spoken word samples also factor in throughout thedisc's 23 tracks. The steady polyrhythmic beat shifting of "The Colorof Tempo" plays off a choppy melody played by what could either be atwisted soprano saxophone sample or a really warbly synth patch for anupdate on some '70s instrumental soul music. Teaming with fellowproducer Daedelus, the speedy keyboard tremolo and human beatboxpropelled "Busy Signal (Make You Go Bombing Mix)" swells with stringsamples and sneaks in some bass clarinet for an upbeat yet surprisinglyeerie mix. The simple rhythm section groove supporting a sampledsaxophone motif, strings and simple xylophone on "Perverted Undertone"come across as paramount in feel for one of the disc's more subtlehighlights. Skateboarding legend Tommy Guerrero lends his soulfulmulti-tracked guitar playing to "Strom Returns" as the latin-jazzelement in the hip hop concept. Herren continues to update up the usualstraight-ahead beats with his clever use polyrhythmics as heard on lastyear's The '92 vs '02 Collection EP and the percussive sampling style from his Vocal Studies + Uprock Narrativesdebut. Over the span of sixty minutes, the tunes move between flashesof excitement and some great compositional grooves with a fewinterludes that give the disc a natural flow. With Prefuse 73 currentlyon tour, this new material will make a great live set even moreentertaining.
Senses develop with age. As a child, we tend to have a limited palette,with a strong preference for sweets and simple things. It's hard toenjoy something that can be bitter yet addictively desirable likealcohol, cigars, or raw fish. Likewise, it's also difficult toappreciate and fall in love with artwork that can be both incrediblysad yet stunningly beautiful all at the same time. With age, MattElliott has shed his Third Eye Foundation guise, stripped the layers ofdistortion, aggressive percussion, snotty song title humor, and theresult is beyond imagination. The Mess We Madeopens like an offpitch phonograph with twisted piano and hornsounds—muted, surrealistic, and ectoplasmic—accompanying his faint andghostly voice. (That in mind, it's hardly a surprise that the artworklooks more like a Brothers Quay production than ever before!) It's sad,mildy horrific, but captivating, almost as if Elliot is crawlingthrough the layers of freshly packed dirt from being mistakenly buriedalive. Over the course of the next seven complex miniaturemasterpieces, only rarely are electronic beats introduced, and whileit's not difficult to conecptually connect the dots to moments on thefinal Third Eye Foundation release, Little Lost Soul, it'stough to imagine this is the same person who cranked out some of themost clumsy, distorted noises on releases as far back as 1997's Ghost. Perhaps being a dad is what forced him to be quiet and work late at night, as The Messis very quiet, late night listening material. Tinkling melodiesfrequently play like cinematic themes by worn out music boxes,meandering in and out, mostly without rigid metronomic beats, allprovided by the deft multilayering of Elliot's voice, guitar, piano,bells, accordion (or melodica), and other instrument playing (with theexception of a couple female vocal bits here and there). Transitionsbetween drastically contrasting movements (from the beat-less score topost-drum 'n bass to a sea chanty) are amazingly seamless and fluid,and the eerie feel is never lost or compromised. With every listen Ifind myself surprised, frequently having to do double takes, kind oflike a book where you keep asking yourself "did I really just readthat?" Thanks to the power of media playback, rewinding andre-listening is possible, but like a David Lynch film, it's best toforce yourself to just sit there and soak in the whole damned thingstart to finish. 
Venetian Snares' latest release is a sequel of sorts to his best album, 2001's masterpiece of hardcore electronic sadism Doll Doll Doll.That album had a cohesive theme and a powerful diabolical precisionthat Aaron Funk has never matched, though he has released many finealbums since. Find Candace picks up where Doll Doll Dollleft off, and exacts a virtuoso sonic attack that matches the originalfor its sheer adrenaline rush of sound. Much like injecting crystalmeth directly into the jugular vein, this feels dirty and dangerous,and at high volume it has the ability to quicken the pulse and make thepalms sweat. The agitation begins with the first track, an incredibleremix of "Befriend a Child Killer." Stuttering, hyper-accelerated drumn' bass hits are coaxed out, a little at a time, until the songexplodes like a money shot in the face with a splattered wall ofscattershot rhythms and mind-wrenching acid lines. One of those genericdancehall singers that always heard in hardcore jungle songs pipes in,but his voice has been pitched down and distorted to sound monstrousand Satanic. This is extremely scary music that immediately puts toshame most of the self-consciously transgressive industrial music madefor in recent years. Aaron Funk's menacing, soulless music reminds meof the experience of hearing Too Dark Park and Last Rights-eraSkinny Puppy in my high school days as I was unprepared to hearsomething so dark and relentlessly aggressive and amoral. The music isdevoid of all emotion other than a raw, pulsating desire for Dionysianthrills and hyperspeed excitement, like a digital version of Slayer'smasterpiece Reign in Blood. The second track "Mercy Funk" isthe Snares' attempt to make a pounding rave anthem that is designed tokill any ravers that attempt to dance to it. Listening to theseven-minute "Find Candace" is like the experience taking a walk in thepark at night, witnessing a gang rape in progress, and joining in.Later, you feel remorse, so you go to a church. Suddenly, you have achange of heart and decide to burn the church down, run out into thestreet and howl at the moon. "Yor" begins as an ominous ambient trackconstructed from multitracked voices a la Gyorgi Ligeti, but it quicklyslaps you in the face with deep, percussive punches and samples ofmuffled graveyard screams. The brilliant "Children's Limbo" is thesuccessor to Doll Doll Doll's best track "Dollmaker". The trackbegins with a British child describing the four levels of hell againstan innocently funky breakbeat, but soon the scary synthesizer squealsoff into the drum n' bass inferno once again. "Dolleater" begins with aseries of high-pitched, strident tones and quickly becomes an orgy ofunfocused rage, penetrating the eardrums with an ecstasy of percussivepunishment. The album ends with the mercifully short "Blind Candace," abaroque pipe organ melody which segues into a kind of stop-start deathmetal dirge, complete with live drums and twisted screams. A trumpetcalls out desparately, and I am left wondering what the hell Aaron Funkhas managed to do to my mind. I must go out and find a small,innocent-looking child to defile now. - 
The Music Fellowship begins their Tryyptych Series—EPs with three 20+minute tracks ("tryyps") by three separate but similar artists—with New Found Land, in what promises to be a very compelling set for those who love ambient instrumental guitar rock. Landing are well known for creating emotion-stirring, spine-shiveringsounds, while Yellow6 and Rothko, projects by solitary men Jon Attwoodand Mark Beazley respectively, get respect not just for their etherealpassages, but also for accomplishing their singular visions alone.Together, the music of these bands makes for a calming, gentle ride,with the exception of a few punches of noise along the way. Althoughall three artists have over 20 minutes of music a piece, they dividetheir large compositions into sections. The expansive sound ofAttwood's Yellow6 seems very exploratory in nature, with most soundscomposed and altered in a digital studio. Each movement has an ambientbacking track, digital percussion, and sly flourishes over the top,from guitar to keyboard lines. Yellow6 is very structured this timearound, too, which makes the music all the more affecting, withemotions running high and the whole gamut. Rothko, by contrast, seemsmuch more interested in off-the-wall sounds and sources, from the musicbox and field recording on the first "Halftone and Metatone" to thedrone and plucked bass of several of the others. It interested me thatthe three artists took little or no effort in making their music blendor run together, either, which was especially surprising for Rothko,where all of Beazley's tracks bear the same name, with only a numberdistinction at the end. This is no slight, however, as each track doesstand very well on its own, it just would have made more sense for 20minutes of music to bear a common theme and intertwine. Landing, whosemusic here is fine an example of how far improvisation can carry whenall members are on the same page and in the same zone. Landing's songsseem more like songs than they have put forth in the past. Some fadein, the vocals begin, and when they've seem to run their course, thesong fades out again. It's the musical akin to a Christopher Guestmovie: miles and miles of tape captured, but in the end it's all editeddown to the finer moments. It's not what I expected from Landing, butquite a pleasant surprise, as each song increases in beauty as the CDplays on. This EP is a great start to the series, and hopefully therest will continue in the same vein.
Having been quite active on the European music scene over the last fewyears, receiving some notable praises that include a Grammy nominationin their homeland, Norwegian music collective Jaga Jazzist appear to begaining deserved recognition across the Atlantic for their uniquecombination of jazzy instrumental and electronic based music. Recentlyreleased in North America, the Animal Chin EP is comprised of three tracks from their debut release A Livingroom Hush, two remixes of tunes from said release and a sneak preview track from the soon-to-be-released full length disc The Stix.The rhythmically busy "Animal Chin" provides a whirlwind backing ofinterlacing guitar, keyboard and xylophone as a nice contrast for asmall woodwind section of saxophones and bass clarinet to play out amelody that moves gracefully with each progression. From the upcomingrelease, the more electronic-styled "Toxic Dart" snaps along to ablender mix of live and electronic percussion, bass and multiplekeyboard tweakings that gradually become less abstract with theaddition of woodwinds and some great surf guitar lines that jut out ofthe mix now and again. Drummer Martin Horntveth remixes "Lithuania"from its original relaxed standing of Rhodes piano, twangy guitar anddramatic woodwinds into a cut and paste version of its former self thatat times comes off as a frenetic videogame soundtrack. Yet anotherbonus not available on either of the full length releases, the 70ssoundtrack-inspired "Tristar" highlights some great arrangements forwah-wah guitar, harmonica and trombone. The Animal Chin EP is agreat introduction to the band's musical direction and remix workings,and at the same time gives some insight of what more to expect shortly. 
Dub Tractor is the solo artist alias for Danish musician/ electronic-based artist Anders Remmer (Future 3) under which he blends laid back, machine-generated grooves that carry a smidgen of glitch, various synth patches, the odd vocal track, bass guitar and other low-end frequencies for results which are very pleasing to the ear. For his latest full-length release, Remmer offers up nine individual tracks, all of which tend to convey an overall relaxing and subtly melodic panorama of sound to varying degrees.
 
The tremolo effect applied to the keyboards on "I Don't Care" not only perpetuates the tune more than the scratchy drum machine rhythms, but also takes the focus from the underlying chord progressions which then blend together almost seamlessly. Delicate vocals drift in and out to melodically repeat the track title to some upper register bass guitar lines. "Pep" opens to a quiet synth burbling which is then set to a minimal machine groove which conveys the low end bass drum pattern that anchors the tune while additional keyboard patches drift around to fill out the space. The lullaby feel of "Wait" again provides some nice upper register bass lines that with multi-tracking provide some almost counter melodies over glistening keyboards. The disc's longest track at six minutes, the sneakily titled "18 Hz Guitar" moves along to a laid back, heavily reverbed drum machine, faux upright bass and synth stabs while heavily treated keyboard takes the drawn out melody through a few repetitions. Dub Tractor has created a soundscape that is very relaxed and attentive to musical detail. At only just over 38 minutes, repeated listenings are inevitable. 
At 19, Haley Bonar has already released two CDs on her own and gained asmall bit of credibility for her songwriting at such a tender age. The Size of Planets,her first release on Chairkickers', gives all the impression that Haleyis wise beyond her years, and her music speaks to this without soundingforced. The songs are simply arranged, with no flashy production orpretentious flourishes. Bonar is a talented multi-instrumentalist, aswell, playing guitar and piano, so most songs are just her. A littledrums, bass, cello, or slide guitar from guest musicians here and thereadd flavor and urgency where it's needed, but for the most part sheneeds no assistance. Recorded in the Sacred Heart Church, where Low andothers have recorded recently, the record also has a very full soundwith very distinct acoustics. The expansive sound serves her songswell, conveying the emptiness she sings of with an appropriate, thoughnot overwhelming, hand. She sings better of drinking on the album thanthe vets in the local VFW, better of cowboys than a hundred country orPaula Cole songs, better of car wrecks than J. Frank Wilson or PearlJam could ever muster. Tying it all together is her vocals, with aclear and untainted and unharmed beauty, though still conveying thedamage done. There's not a bad moment on the record, and though sherevisits some of the same subject matter it never gets old. Haley Bonarhas a great deal of faith, it seems, and because of that, I have agreat deal of faith she'll go far. It is the truest music that reachesthe masses, and with her songs Bonar is set to woo the world. 
Apparently, Jon DeRosa has a great sense of humor, as the New Good Timeshides the true nature of his debut full-length with a promise oflighter fare. Not that it's a bad thing that the album contains manysomber moments, as well, but Pale Horse and Rider do not intend to showyou a good time. DeRosa is better known to most as electronic artistAarktica, as PHaR first showed up on last year's Alcohol EPs.Already, though, he shows that his new name shows a lot of promise inits style and delivery. Pale Horse is mostly DeRosa alone, but hebrought along some heavy-hitters to join him in the proceedings, fromAlan Sparhawk's recording and guitar duties to Nathan Amundson onbacking vocals. Jessica Bailiff even handled the photography. Anyamount of guests wouldn't help matters if the songs were substandard,so it's fortunate that DeRosa is as talented in this realm as he is inthe electronic department. Good Times is a fine continuation ofthe PHaR sound, and the songs mostly cry out for some kind ofresolution to the strife regular people suffer through. Acoustic guitarand vocals make up the main palette, and it's really easy to screw thatup, but DeRosa never does. Anyone who can record something as hauntingand beautiful as "I Told Jesus Christ How Much I Love Her" deserves anyacclaim he's given, as it broke my heart the first time I heard it."Will We Be Blessed Someday" is a lighter number, and on "SundayMatinee" DeRosa tries on the piano to great success; so there isvariation of sound and subject matter, as well. The record is a bitshort, but only because I craved for more at its end. DeRosa's voice issimple and unaffected, making everything he sings sound honest andtrue, but there is a greater voice in these songs that he channels.It's difficult to take simple stories and elevate them in this way, butwith Pale Horse and Rider it sounds so easy. That it sounds thispolished is truly an accomplishment.
After two releases on the April label, Thomas Knak (who has recordedmusic as part of the Future 3 collective as well as under his own name)brings his unique style as Opiate to Morr for this EP, and the outputbears hope for future releases. The music is classic Opiate, withglitch beats, string samples, and simple repeated melodies. Knak hasalways had great fidelity on his releases, with the ear-piercing trebleattacks and the wall-shaking bass rumbles. This release is nodifferent, as the stuttered swirl/scratch/beep beat starts on "Perdot."Keyboard swells join in after a few seconds, and as the song buildsmore pieces are added to the aural puzzle, making for a very laidbackbut head-trippy start. "Show Story" begins and ends with a wash ofnoise, with a loud creak as the closer, but in the middle is a prettymix of strings and clicks. It ultimately seems to go nowhere, though,which is a bit of a letdown. "Amstel," though, is anything but as thecenterpiece of the release. Faded keys and distorted low end startthings off, but soon a maze of click beats fill the speakers, almostcompletely obscuring the melody before the piece fades out the same wayit came in five minutes later. Loud squelches make up most of "ForBrian Alfred," but it also features sampled drums and the same keysound. "STP!" has the best beat of the bunch, which stutters and bloopswhile very simple piano plays below. "OpiTTT" finishes the EP on asemi-fun note, as it's very playful with lighthearted beeps andfrequencies and a uptempo beat. For a very limited palette, Knak showssome versatility, though he seems a bit obsessed with similar keysounds on this release. I'd love to hear him completely rip out withsomething off the wall and confuse everyone while they can't helpdancing. Until then, more of the same will have to suffice. - 
It's been over two years since we last heard from Broadcast, butthey've finally graced us with a new 6-song EP, to be followed laterthis year by their second full-length album. Pendulum,which will have to tide fans over until then, is a formidable taster ofthings to come. The overall aesthetic is similar to that of theirprevious work: moody psychedelia sweetened by Trish Keenan's airy,hypnotic vocals. What's different is an evolution of the band's use ofpercussion and synthesizers. The title track shows a definite expansionon the sometimes trippy, sometimes icy melodic themes found on theirlast album. Even on minimal tracks like "Small Song IV" and "StillFeels Like Tears," the complex, yet adeptly handled drum rustles andangular patches of synths leap out amongst the atmospheric "aaahaaaah"s. "One Hour Empire" sounds as if it were culled from thejazz-tinged score of a 1970s crime film. Pendulum is an exciting step forward for Broadcast, and is a sure sign of a promising follow-up to The Noise Made By People.
