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The Dutch duo Beequeen has been digging into their archives lately,discouraging the collector-scum by making their rare releases andconcert recordings available to the public in greater quanity. I'vebeen a fan of both members' work for many years. Freek Kinkelaar'sLegendary Pink Dots-ish solo recordings as Brunnen yeilded three finealbums in the 1990s, and Frans de Waard's many recordings as KapotteMuziek, Quest, Shifts, and Captain Black are things I have beenenthusiastically seeking out since I was in high school (a long timeago, folks). The Beequeen sound is generally a lush, subtly melodicdrone with subdued electronic crackle, a nice inbetween point betweende Waard's abstractions and Kinkelaar's low-key pop sense. This latestdisc compiles music intended for release in 1998, four tracks that wereto be released as an LP and two that were to be an unlikelycollaborative 10" with Japanese noise "band" MSBR. The first four tracks are delicate, with a gentle nudge toward dub thatnever overwhelms the static drift. The sound dives almost to silence,but percolates upwards with a bassline here or a slight rise there, alltasteful, understated, and appealing. It reminds me of Eno's ambientmusic, which colors the tone of a room but does not assert itself somuch. The collaborative tracks with MSBR, in which the artists workedby reshaping each other's sonic material, are not as ephemeral as thetracks that come before them, but are complementary nonetheless.Beequeen's reworking of MSBR's noise begins with some teeth-grindingtension, which is quickly forced down to a low, barely perceptiblerumble. MSBR's mix of Beequeen sounds like a digital cut-up that twistswith a distinct feeling as if it is about to explode out of control,yet never does.
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The second edition of madness that is the Cerberus Shoal split-CDseries finds the Shoal trading songs with Alvarius B, with the intentof both artists recording each other's songs as well as their own.Alvarius B may be a name unknown to many, having recorded two LPs andlittle else, but it's the alias chosen by Sun City Girls guitarist AlanBishop. His music is acoustic folk, mostly, and his songs are justshort of justification for FBI monitoring. A title like "Blood Baby" isa pretty big clue towards the mood of the piece, and "Viking Christmas"may seem innocuous while it's everything but. The music is simple,merely there to underlie B's voice, which makes the compositions allthe more chilling. The chopping of babies and other flesh seems to bethe common theme for B's songs, and he delivers it all with a calm andmatter-of-factness that disturbs as well as it impresses. Occasionally,he gets into character, adding a realism and bite that sends shivers.Ghostly voices join in, cackling and haunting, and B seems almostresolute as his share of the nightmare concludes. The Shoal then takeAlvarius B's songs and make them more bombastic and grandiose, as wellas a bit more murderous. Horns, shakers, piano, and percussion providethe groundwork for the blood choir that makes "Blood Baby." There'shushed whispers, empassioned and insane vocals, and sounds that appearout of nowhere only to disappear again. This song is not to be listenedto in the dark. "Viking Christmas" is bludgeoned into the "Auld LangSyne" of a beer hall serial killer cult, complete with the clinking ofglasses here and there. Saving the best for last, though, "The RealDing" was their sole original contribution, and their arrangement isthe prettier over B's, with a multitude of voices accompanying atypewriter as the song begins. Bizarre lyrics and unusual instrumentsmake for a rocky ride, but in the end the song is anchored by oddpercussion, banjo, and a seductive rhythm. This CD is the best yet ofthe Shoal's little project, and at this rate, the whole series will bethe year's musical sleeper, gaining strength with each volume.- Alvarius B - Blood Baby
- Alvarius B - Viking Christmas
- Cerberus Shoal - Viking Christmas
- Cerberus Shoal - The Real Ding
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Curling up with a Kristin Hersh solo album is much like curling upalone in bed with a good book late at night. There's always somethingto discover with the other route Hersh takes with her songs, headingdown the path without bombastic drums and fuzzy guitars. This timearound, Hersh has also taken a step back, completely opposing one of mytop picks of 2001, her Sunny Border Bluealbum. In 2001, Hersh was almost completely alone and filled the trackswith drums, bass and electronics, whereas here, she's assisted by HowieGelb on Piano and Andrew Bird on violin, and the songs are all acousticand drum-free. While I'm very fond of this record, I question thearrival date for a couple reasons. First of all, I always need to spenda lot of intimate time with Hersh and her songs to get as close to themas possible. Being punched twice on the same day with this and theMuses album can be something difficult to recover from. Next, The Grottois possibly one of Hersh's most reflective albums, with anindescribable feeling of coldness that only somebody growing up in NewEngland truly knows. It comes as no surprise that this album wasrecorded over the past year, which was the snowiest winter we here inthe north east USA have seen in years. It's odd to start listening tothis album in March, just as the snow's about to melt and give way to awarm, green spring. The piano and violin add something magical to heracoustic fingerpicking, providing a perfect soundtrack to the firstlight of the sun on a cloudless morning, reflecting off a snow-coveredlawn, while her words, significantly subdued from any Muses recording,are both tender and sharp. I can honestly lose hours in headphone landwith Hersh's solo albums, and while The Grotto is no exception, I might have to pull this one out again in November for the best effect. Read More
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From David Narcizo's first ratta-tatta snare snaps of on the opener,"Mercury," I knew that this was not the Throwing Muses which picked upwhere they left off with Tanya's departure, nor was it the ThrowingMuses of the later 1990s. This was the thunderous sound remeniscent ofthe Muses that I first fell in love with on their other eponymousalbum. It's unsurprising, as this time around there's no major labelexpecting a blockbuster hit single, nor are there high production costssunk into the mix. The music was recorded in gangbuster marathonrecording sessions over a three weekends, and the raw, blisteringenergy is a very, very welcomed sound. Kristin Hersh's vocals punctureholes in an already densely packed mix of raunchy, distorted guitars,pounding basslines and driving drums from what is still a very smallkit by most standards. Be prepared for many unconventional chordstructures and melodic movements and songs which switch gears numeroustimes with swift tempo changes. Combine that with Hersh's lyrics whichneed years of therapy by a team of experts to completely unravel. Eventhen, it's nearly impossibly to tell if she's telling the truth or not,going from caustic to apologetic often within the same song (likewishing the subject of "Civil Disobedience" would choke on an aspirinand then confessing how much she's still in love). The slower songs,like "Pandora's Box," and "Speed and Sleep" are never ballads: theyjust provide a very slight bit of breathing room before the chorusesand blaring guitars stomp in. Just as I'm thinking that much of thisalbum sounds as if the band is deftly dodging high-speed traffic,recording on the pavement of a multi-lane highway, freeway referencesare made on "Status Quo!" There's still the occasionaly frisky, playfulmelodies, like both the jovial guitar riff and lyrics on "Portia,"where Hersh talks about frat boys sleeping together and how "all theworld loves a lover." "Halfblast" is probably the closest the band willget to a hit single on this record, with backup volcals from TanyaDonnelly and a singalong chorus which is nothing but an optimistic gem,counting the blessings of the beauty of people, nature and the skies.Even the album's closer, "Flying," takes an unconventional album-endingapproach, as it's aggressive, upbeat and driving as much of the rest ofthe record, without the cadence of a closing track. This approacheffectively is appetite-wetting for whatever's next from the group, andgives whoever's lucky enough to catch the Muses live something tofeverishly anticipate.samples:
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There's something slightly unlikely about the popular Due Processhybrid. The defiantly low-brow stance of the species 'ME Beauliea' withits comedic theatricals and jubilant confrontation contrasts markedlywith the seriousness, finesse, fastidious methods and criticalself-appraisal of the 'ME Lescalitus'. That this thought only occurredto me recently while watching Jason performing with Thomas Ankersmith,a musician perhaps even more intensely serious than Jason, clearlyhints at the success of the hybrid and reminds us that in breeding, asin marriage, comlimentarity can be as important as commonality. RonLessard's solo performance as Emil Beaulieau looses much from the lackof context in a recording (his budget priced videos might be a betterstarting point for the curious newcomer to America's Greatest LivingNoise Artist) and I've found that this is true to an extent also of theDue Process recordings. So it is important that Combines XIX XXgoes under the moniker 'Jason Lescalleet's Due Process' and that thisrefers -not- to the senior member of the team (Due Process has been thename of not Jason's, but Ron's various collaborations) but to Jason'sheavy hand in production; going way beyond mere editing and mastering.He has coaxed what I assume to have been live Due Process material intoa mutation, the clones of which are now available in LP format. It isby far the most accessible of this duo's releases. The music rangesfrom clearly identifiable Beaulieau antics polished up in theGlistening Labs to material that is essentially new Lescalleet musicbased off the recordings. Given that Ron has taken to using Jason'ssolo releases as source material in his own performance, and I thinkthere are examples of that here, the genealogy of Combines XIX XX is elegantly circular; rather like the shape of the LP itself and having much the same diameter.Read More
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If the analogies of botanical classification and plant breeding areapplied to the evolution and development of music and musicians thenJason Lescalleet's niche market nursery Glistening Labs, a name thatreflects its experimental agenda, has released two fascinating andpromising new clones within the genus 'Musica Electronica' ('ME'). Thefirst, with the potentially confusing name Electronic Music, is a new crossing of varieties within in the species 'ME Lescalitus' while the other, Combines XIX XXis a mutation of the robust 'Beauliea-Lescalitus' hybrid known as DueProcess. The most striking, almost freakish quality of the crossing Electronic Musicis how its emphasizes the differences between it's three parentvarieties, namely tape-loops, manipulation and synthesis. This aspectis at first quite disconcerting—there's something hallucinatory aboutthe merging of sweet sounds softened by reverb and whathaveyou with theraw, brutal sound of an untreated defective tape-loop. The differencesbetween these are toyed with and made ambiguous by greater or lesserdegrees of manipulation but, whether it's intrinsic to the music or aperceptual trick, the synthetic elements seem also to adopt the natureof the tape-loops—the ametric rhythms of physical tape defects and thepower struggle between different sounds overwriting each other withoutthe use of an erase head. Electronic Music thus fully retainsthe essential character of Lescalleet's sound while adding a new layerof complexity. The track called "Litmus Tape" is enthralling and itmeasures up the best of Jason's past output. Its powerfully tenseatmosphere is like an only half perceived, entirely alien monsterlurching around; always behind you or in the periphery, unidentifiable,sinister, but curiously fascinating and, from what you can see,beautiful. If you need to ask yourself whether or not you are dreamingthen, unless you are hallucinating, you probably are. The feeling ofunreality that begs that question is what "Litmus Tape" brings forthlike noting else I've heard. The rest of the LP is consistent with thatfeeling in different ways. The various references found in the titles,pictures, layout and materials of this desirable LP are left as anexcercise for the reader.samples:
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The 6th clicky compilation from French label, Bip-Hop.
Bip-Hop
At this point, the click-and-cut micro-genre of electronic music's vast frontier of styles and cults and webrings has probably offered about all it can on its own. Like so many pioneering sounds before it, music like that contained on the 6th and final installment of Bip-Hop's Bip-Hop Generation series is destined to be the springboard for ideas for mainstream pop, r&b, and hip hop producers for the next several years. Like the other production trends usurped by the masses before it, the click-and-cut aesthetic and those who practice it will be forced to find a new way to express whatever it is they are trying to get at. With Volume 6, the French label that has carved a niche for itself with excellent releases from Twine, Scanner, and others, has provided a small glimpse of what might be next once someone hands Timbaland and the Neptunes a Stefan Betke 12". The prevalant sound palette here are the hisses, clicks, and blips whose description would have become redundant if they weren't precisely onomatopoeic. Collected are tracks from minimalist master Ilpo Vaisanen who shakes off the steady Pan Sonic beats for a more skittery, albeit calculated approach to rhythms. Then, Vainsanen's Angel collaboration with Schneider TM demonstrates one potential escape route for fans of the detached pulses and bursts of static that will soon be popping up everywhere: back into the void of industrial soundscapes! The Angel song "nr_aa" should provide ample comfort for those wishing that old-school industrial noise would make a post-millennial, digital comeback. Battery Operated offer another new direction which is mired in the retarded sense of humor that plagues the work of so many digital pastiche artists. Lovers of Gescom's hidden tracks of silly noise on the 0161 compilation will be pleased. Other contributions from Alejandra & Aeron, Scanner, and Bittonic offer another solid look at the filtered synths and indistinguishable samples that give this kind of music a framework. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be saying much with these songs, and as such, it becomes difficult to determine where one artists work ends and another's begins. Scanner's "Thulium Hymn" works from a pleasant melodic theme—melody being something that most of the others on this release leave alone—but even the beautiful repeating pad simply loops for five minutes with fractured voices and buzzing laid over it. This glitched-out, fuzzy approach to what is essentially stripped down techno music will eventually find its way into Sample CDs for folks who use programs like Fruity Loops and Acid to instantly compile endless variations on a theme. Bip-Hop Generation v.6 is not the definitive statement that you might look for it to be, but it perfectly wraps up a series curated by Bip-Hop by asking the all-important question: "Okay, so what's next?"
At this point, the click-and-cut micro-genre of electronic music's vast frontier of styles and cults and webrings has probably offered about all it can on its own. Like so many pioneering sounds before it, music like that contained on the 6th and final installment of Bip-Hop's Bip-Hop Generation series is destined to be the springboard for ideas for mainstream pop, r&b, and hip hop producers for the next several years. Like the other production trends usurped by the masses before it, the click-and-cut aesthetic and those who practice it will be forced to find a new way to express whatever it is they are trying to get at. With Volume 6, the French label that has carved a niche for itself with excellent releases from Twine, Scanner, and others, has provided a small glimpse of what might be next once someone hands Timbaland and the Neptunes a Stefan Betke 12". The prevalant sound palette here are the hisses, clicks, and blips whose description would have become redundant if they weren't precisely onomatopoeic. Collected are tracks from minimalist master Ilpo Vaisanen who shakes off the steady Pan Sonic beats for a more skittery, albeit calculated approach to rhythms. Then, Vainsanen's Angel collaboration with Schneider TM demonstrates one potential escape route for fans of the detached pulses and bursts of static that will soon be popping up everywhere: back into the void of industrial soundscapes! The Angel song "nr_aa" should provide ample comfort for those wishing that old-school industrial noise would make a post-millennial, digital comeback. Battery Operated offer another new direction which is mired in the retarded sense of humor that plagues the work of so many digital pastiche artists. Lovers of Gescom's hidden tracks of silly noise on the 0161 compilation will be pleased. Other contributions from Alejandra & Aeron, Scanner, and Bittonic offer another solid look at the filtered synths and indistinguishable samples that give this kind of music a framework. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be saying much with these songs, and as such, it becomes difficult to determine where one artists work ends and another's begins. Scanner's "Thulium Hymn" works from a pleasant melodic theme—melody being something that most of the others on this release leave alone—but even the beautiful repeating pad simply loops for five minutes with fractured voices and buzzing laid over it. This glitched-out, fuzzy approach to what is essentially stripped down techno music will eventually find its way into Sample CDs for folks who use programs like Fruity Loops and Acid to instantly compile endless variations on a theme. Bip-Hop Generation v.6 is not the definitive statement that you might look for it to be, but it perfectly wraps up a series curated by Bip-Hop by asking the all-important question: "Okay, so what's next?" samples:
- Scanner - Thulium Hymn
- Battery Operated - Sois Dwofe
- Angel - NR 11
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While my first exposure to Takemura's music was through the Child'sView material licensed in the US by Bubblecore, it wasn't until I heardhis album Scopeon Thrill Jockey that his music made a thunderous impact. Influencesfrom both Japanese traditionals and modern electronics collided with adelicate and refined attention to composition, structure and sound.Seeing Takemura live with vocalist Aki Tsuyuko on that tour drove theentire experience home for me. With the following Sign 12" and Hoshi No Koealbum, Takemura expanded on the sound, and let the music developbrilliantly, with songs that comfortably ran a full course without evergetting dull or mundane. However, his latest full-length album is adisappointment. Rather than a solid collection of 10 or so tracks, thealbum is saturated with 16 incomplete sounding compositions, stretchedto 78 minutes, nearly all exploiting the pesky Apple Macintosh voiceimitation program which (despite being a few years out of style) isirritating. The musical direction this time around leans towards moreEuropean trends, staying close to a rigid 4/4 beat and languid sounds,not entirely unlike the music coming from Morr or Bip Hop compilations.Sadly, most of the time the music sounds like it's intentionally takinga backseat to computerized vocals, which are painful by the thirdtrack, "Wandering," and downright unbearable by the seventh track, the9+ minute "Lost Treasure (4th version)." Even when Takemura drops thevoice and breaks free from the confines of 4/4 rhtyhm, the results aremediocre. Songs like "Mumble," which sound like an array of randomtones would be nice if something actually happened in its 5+ minuteother than an addition of percussion, wheras "Polymorphism," whilepleasant, could easily be new wave elevator music. Takemura's atalented composer and producer, but I'll be eagerly awaiting a 12"single remix or something to help me get past this album. Read More
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The first song on the new Anomonoan album is called "Sixteen Ways," butI need only two words to sum it up: Grateful Dead. The promo materialhinted that this album was inspired by the birth of Ned Oldham's sonand daughter, which is a fine and noble reason to record an album, butI would question the wisdom of including a field recording of a baby'scrying (Sam Oldham, who must be one of the newborn Oldham clan)overdubbed and softly accenting the lyrics on "Sixteen Ways," which atthis point declaim the crying of a baby as reassurance that the baby isalive. That said, this is probably my best song on "Asleep Many Yearsin the Wood." The rock songs on this album have an undeniablecountry/classic rock slant and I have a hard time listening to musicthat reminds me of The Eagles or something worse. Looking through theinserts, I noticed on the back a photo of a bottle of whiskey perchedon a window sill, with the label altered to read the band name andalbum title. This is a Photoshop sleight-of-hand which I most recentlysaw featured on the cover of Motley Crue's autobiography "The Dirt,"except there it was appropriately a bottle of Jack Daniels (here, itlooks more like what once was a bottle of Old Smuggler). Despite theshared aesthetic, I could not find any songs on the Anonomoan albumwhich recalled either early or later Motley Crue, although I might beable to make a case for "Time for Change," (circa Dr. Feelgood)sounding like "Y'Know" if I tried hard enough. The most heartwarmingparts of Anomonoan songs occur in the slower songs when Ned's voiceswoops up a few octaves and teeters on the edge of high notes he canbarely hold onto. Oldham manages to cling, however tenuous the grip,and the warble and the persistence are a beautiful thing in his voice.It is different from brother Will's, but Ned's clearly evidences theOldham vocal genome. Appropriately, one of these swoops occurs in"Bluebird of Happiness" when the lyrics croon, "and there's a contrarybreeze a-blowin'." Whether the headwind is the cause or theinterpretation of Oldham's vocal wisps, he is wise to let them take thesongs where they do, for they have the power to punctuate and decoratewhat might otherwise become bland country rock songs.Read More
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In addition to being an acoustic guitar virtuoso, SteffenBasho-Junghans also delights in painting, particularly landscapes. Thisaspect of his creative life sheds light on his latest album, a soloacoustic trip though wide-open country scenes inspired by his ruralupbringing. Basho-Junghans (he adopted the surname of guitarist RobbieBasho in his thirties as an homage to his idol) approaches the projectmuch like a painting, and the guitar serves as his brush, craftingswirls and flourishes of sounds that fall back in on themselves andreemerge repeatedly. Each of the six tracks serves as a movement, asimple element in a broader scene. The twenty-minute six-string opener,"The River Suite," begins with a light ascension of plucked notes,lifting the music up and across the rapid cascade of tones that beginto rush beneath it. The music follows the stream, building, releasing,pausing, lingering, and all developing over a repeated body ofplucking. The repetition can be somewhat tiring, especially on thelonger tracks, like "The Takoma Bridge Incident." Though the ideas arecompelling in parts, they are exhausted by the end of the piece. Theshorter excursions on the second half of the album seem to discover andconvey their concepts much more effectively. "Rainbow Dancing" finds aclear melody, and stands as one of the more pleasant songs. On thistrack, Basho-Junghans switches to a twelve-string guitar, giving thetrack a lush, full-bodied sound that feeds the pastoral theme of thealbum. It sounds like how lying in a patch of sun soaked grass feels.Another advantage that "Rainbow Dancing" has is that it doesn't lingeron so long that you grow tired of its ideas. The lonely melody of"Autumn II" is perfectly evocative of the wailing voice of a bluegrassfolk spiritual. The weariness expressed by the piece gives off splashesof rust red and fading green, leading into the dusky "Epilogue." Thoughthe span of the album may be marked with lulls, the higher points of Rivers and Bridgesshine through. Basho-Junghans has produced a musical landscapepainting, complete with the valleys and crests, shadows andilluminations; the subtle nuances that make a work worth seeing.Read More
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Austin, TX, is a city with a grand music tradition, but lately it's shaping up to be the new Glasgow, with more brilliant indie bands appearing out of there than most cities ever see. One of the mainstays who are enjoying a bit of a creative revival are Spoon. Formed by Britt Daniel and Jim Eno, they garnered a great deal of local attention before releasing their debut on Matador. Then they moved to Elektra, releasing only one album before they were dropped. Hitting the indie circuit again, Spoon found a home at Merge, where they've released the acclaimed Girls Can Tell and their latest work Kill the Moonlight. Where Girls showed off a meaner, leaner Spoon than in the past, Moonlight shows them losing a few more pounds just to have a bit more of a good time.
The songs feature very minimal arrangements—often just guitar/drums, piano/drums/bass, or guitar/beatbox—all with the voice of Daniel pushing them right along. The mood is more light-hearted while the music may be a bit more adventurous. "The Way We Get By" is a perfect summer fun song, where "Stay Don't Go" features a bizarre vocal sample and a falsetto Daniel telling a tale of truth. Then there's the fight song in "Johnathon Fisk," the lust song in "All the Pretty Girls Go To the City," and the self-confidence song in "Don't Let it Get You Down." The CD runs the gamut of emotions and situations over its brief forty minutes, yet it is a joyous ride while it lasts. The band feels more confident or assured, and though it may be a bit of a let-down not to hear the power or feral energy of before, the band deserved a bit of fun, and that's all there is to this fine release. 
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