Hot of the heels of our Bollywood Bloodbath Record Of The Week from last list, we're happy to have another blast of banging Bollywood greatness for you.�Arjuna Sayyed (aka DJ Smokestack) has proven to be not only one of the most knowledgable and deep digging DJ's in the Bay Area, but pretty much anywhere in the world as far as we're concerned. Some of us were lucky to snag the first volume in his Shitala series so we already knew how damn good his mixes were. Filled with some of the most insane '70s & '80s Bollywood jams, and mixed with such a flawless touch, this mix highlights all those amazing sitar freakouts, tabla jams, dynamic vocals, funk filled beats and everything that make this era of Bollywood music so endlessly enthralling...
Clocking in at about an hour, Shitala 2 is a testament to the greatness and forward thinking musical minds that were at the helm of the sounds of Bollywood during this classic era. Call it Indian funk, or disco, or whacked out pop, whatever it is, we call it killer! Smokestack's mix has crazy broad appeal, sure hardcore Bollywood heads will flip, but also hip-hop lovers, funk diggers, dance floor DJ's, and probably YOU. DJ Smokestack not only honors the legacy of Bollywood, but uses his knowledge and talent to infuse new life and energy and share the results with so many who may otherwise might�never encounter and engage with the originals. Highly recommended!
NOW AVAILABLE ON CASSETTE!
One of six new tapes from the always awesome Holodeck label out of Austin, Texas. Here is what we said about this Austin murkscaper's long out of print record when we first had the cd version back in 2009:
Austin-based painter and installation artist, Daniel Hipolito has been composing and releasing music in limited releases under the moniker Smokey Emery for awhile now. Composed of far away drones and loops, Hipolito builds his compositions like he builds his cave-y black and white painted installations and environments, cinematically, with a fine-tuned sense for mystery, vague longing and subtle dramatic flair. Like the lights of heavy traffic at sunset or a slowly sinking ship, there is an ineffable lonely quality to these compositions that is both beautiful and doomed, but fully engaging enough to still make us keep listening as the lights slowly fade.
Austin-based painter and installation artist, Daniel Hipolito has been composing and releasing music in limited releases under the moniker Smokey Emery for awhile now, but we've only just finally managed to get some for the store. Composed of far away drones and loops, Hipolito builds his compositions like he builds his cave-y black and white painted installations and environments, cinematically, with a fine-tuned sense for mystery, vague longing and subtle dramatic flair. Like the lights of heavy traffic at sunset or a slowly sinking ship, there is an ineffable lonely quality to these compositions that is both beautiful and doomed, but fully engaged enough to still make us keep listening. Each cd-r is hand packaged with a unique photographic cover and wrapped in a vellum envelope. Lovely and Limited!
It's pretty impossible to argue with a dubstep version of Black Sabbath, especially when it sounds this good. Who would have thought that Sabbath would sound so right all dubbed out and slowed down? Venetian Snares, that's who. And on this super limited 10", there's no skitter or drill and bass, nope, just pure, simple bass heavy dubstep, wrapped around two classic Sabbath tracks. It sounds so goddamn good it's another one of those records that just makes us wonder why there aren't any bands who actually sound like this?!?
The A side is all slithery echoey beats, dubbed out and laid back, huge low end throbs, buzzing bass lines, Ozzy's reverbed wail draped over the top, a strangely stoned and FX doused version of "Black Sabbath", the guitars looped and stretched out, that tolling church bell all chopped up and sent spinning into the darkness, like a dubby snare, the whole thing just so dark and moody and groovy and amazing sounding.
The flip side starts off sounding like some straight up dubstep, blissed out and druggy, fuzzy and distorted, skeletal and bass heavy until the vocals kick in, and suddenly it's some fucked up and dubbed out take on "Electric Funeral". An absolute and total dancefloor destroyer for sure. Even the metal head wallflowers are tapping their feet and subtly banging their heads...
Pressed on marbled green vinyl, housed in a plain black sleeve, and pretty ridiculously limited.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The second release from this new electronica label from Sheffield (home of Warp Records) is minimal yet warm technology music. Like a Prozac laced Basic Channel / Chain Reaction, SND produces sparse melodies, spacious ambience, and sufficient clicks and pops. Limited to 600 copies.
Don't expect anything new from SND's third record despite Mille Plateaux's claims of "their influential progressions in electronic experimentations." As before, this Sheffied duo offer pleasant, but detatched bitstreams of muted house grooves, synthetic organ
A few years ago, Markus Popp, in the guise of Oval, gave us something completely new and different, original and stunning. A gorgeous, fluid soundscape that betrayed its source material: scratched and skipping cds. A dreamy, droney, slippery, stuttery chunk of shimmery, underwater electronica. This was well before the laptop replaced the guitar as the instrument du jour with the now all too regrettable "anyone can play..." mantra that supposedly so liberated music. Just like with the glut of shitty punk rock bands years ago, so too came an endless series of kids with more sound programs than good ideas. But that Oval record, Diskont, remains to this day a milestone in experimental electronic music. So it was a little bit disappointing that Popp began to tread water creatively, re-hashing the sounds and ideas that on Diskont sounded so inspired, but that on subsequent releases just sounded, sort of familiar. And now, eight years later, Popp finally moves on, progresses and offers up a whole new side of his Oval sound. The key difference, and probably the most appealing new element is the addition of vocalist Eriko Toyada, whose vocals are all whispery and breathless and intimate, recorded so closely that you can hear every breath, every lip smack, every nuance. All adding to Popp's gritty, fuzzy, glitchy backdrop. Think: your favorite Bjork record dropped in the shredder, and then left to soak in a warm, tranquil pool , before being reassembled, all smeary and indistinct. So completely mesmerisingly beautiful!
We had been hearing the name So Percussion being thrown around a lot lately, but we actually hadn't actually heard their music until now. Based on their name and the fact that they are made up of young percussionists we were worried that maybe it was going to be like the audio equivalent of seeing Stomp. And while we do actually love going to see Stomp with our Mom's (ahem), we are happy to report that the music that So Percussion makes is not merely a "look at us we're making drum sounds out of everything." In fact, Amid The Noise actually pushes the percussion to a much more subtle and ambient level, having more in common with Eno and Reich as it does street musicians drumming on garbage cans or Blue Man Group. Meditative playing that recalls Tortoise at their zenith, and the most delicate and intricate moments of Aphex Twin's Druqk's. Disciplined and perfectly played yet not sterile. The second disc is a DVD of beautiful films by Jenise Treuting of Japanese street scenes set to the music of So Percussion. We're definitely happy to finally know what So Percussion are all about.
Like the best of improv musicians, Matmos have proven to be such mindful and masterful collaborators over the years. Teaming up with everyone from The Kronos Quarter to J Lesser, David Pajo to Marshal Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Wobbly to Rachel's, Terry Riley to Bjork, the list goes on and on! What's always exciting about these collaborations is that Matmos really do shed their skin and mutate into something totally different as they play off the blueprints of the folks they are collaborating with, and help bring that sound to entirely new places, stretching the bounds of outer sound possibilities. This time they're working with So Percussion, the percussive based collective whose sound exists somewhere between Steve Reich and Tortoise, but with Matmos thrown into the mix the sound becomes much more stretched out with unexpected twists, turns and nuanced vibrations. From a Penguin Cafe Orchestra vibe to postmodern gamelan rhythms, this is a record that really encapsulates what it means to be sound artists feeding off of each other. These are all musicians who you can tell are stretching way out, using their imaginations and having fun while they create something together that they wouldn't have come up with on their own. Highly recommended!
Hey, it's *yet another* glitch-alicious release from hyper-prolific label Tigerbeat 6, and it's better than most! Dwayne Sodahberk works in, around and through various dance, glitch and indie conventions, rocking lo-fi beats and bringing elements of electronic experimentalism to the party while not totally rejecting listenability, even occasionally flirting with four on the floor romps . Fun!
If Martin Schmidt has anything to say in the matter, "Do You Party" will be the one and only Soft Pink Truth album. For the Soft Pink Truth is the work of Drew Daniel, Schmidt's partner in the acclaimed San Francisco electronica duo Matmos. Where Matmos flirted with notions of dance music, incorporating all sorts of electro-acoustic experiments and eccentric sampling techniques, the Soft Pink Truth offers a cheese ball pastiche of queer pop culture references -- disco fantasy, robot funk, big booty bounces, and house cliches all rolled up in a ridiculous explosion of libidinal pleasure. It's clear that the clipped house grooves that emerged in Matmos' third album "A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure," were just teasings of the bright-pink, spandex electro-pants that Daniel was itching to put on. Thus, "Do You Party" is the full realization of those house leanings that Daniel wanted to explore, but had been kept in check by the "experimental" aesthetic which Matmos had so carefully constructed. In fact the Soft Pink Truth is the by-product of a dare to Daniel from Matthew Herbert to make this record; and Daniel dutifully produced a cheesy, nasty, and funky house album but with plenty of twists and turns to make it much more than your garden variety Castro club fodder. Along with the Sylvester acid squelches, there's a goofy Vanity 6 cover of "Make-Up" with disembodied vocals presented by Bevin Blechtum and there's also plenty of smarty-pants gender bending allusions that pop up throughout the album. But when the day is done, the (soft pink) truth about "Do You Party" is that it's all about booty.
MPEG Download: "Make Up" [/audio/softpinktruthmakeup.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Make Up" [/audio/softpinktruthmakeup.m3u]
How's this grab you? Drew Daniel (one half of famed SF electronica duo Matmos and a good friend of ours) doing a record of mostly punk/hardcore covers: Die Kruezen, Crass, The Swell Maps, Minor Threat, The Angry Samoans, Rudimentary Peni...and Carol Channing? Well it wouldn't be The Soft Pink Truth if gay camp wasn't an ingredient. Hence the show tune. Actually, hence the whole album. Drew's previous solo effort under the Soft Pink Truth moniker was a celebration of gay house/disco culture, and here Drew indulges again in the disco thing, perverting these carefully-chosen punk nuggets into electroclash dance-floor fodder with lots of beats, synth, and samples. He's certainly having fun, and chances are you will too if this concept appeals to you at all. We wonder what's in store for future SPT albums...is he going to move on to his death metal favorites next?
The Soft Pink Truth was originally the solo outlet for Drew Daniels of experimental electronica duo Matmos to get ridiculous with over the top gay house/disco music. How ridiculous? Well, in this case, the subtitle to his long awaited new SPT album says it all: "Electronic Profanations Of Black Metal Classics", meaning, club/techno/IDM/industrial versions of songs by Venom, Beherit, Sarcofago, Sargeist, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Hellhammer and others! What Drew did to his favorite hardcore punk songs ten years ago on SPT's Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Soft Pink Truth? disc, he does here for his fave black metal tracks, which we'd always predicted/hoped he would - since, as we can attest, Drew's no poseur, he's seriously a big fan of black metal, and has been for years. Although, what he's up to here is perhaps less than serious - one of the alternate subtitles provided in the liner notes is as follows: "Putting The Fag Back In Sarcofago". So, there's an element of humor (and, of course, um, gayness) here that your average corpsepainted churchburner might not appreciate. At the same time, though, Drew has put some deep thought into his reasons for manifesting these "profanations", which he explains in the liner notes, the section that begins "Confessions Of A Former Burzum T-Shirt Wearer", check it out and see what you think.
Anyway, about the music on here, we can kind of sum it up by saying a lot of it sounds like Snap (y'know, of "The Power" fame) meets Cradle Of Filth. Or Skinny Puppy with a dose of C+C Music Factory, wearing corpse paint. It's rave music that took a wrong turn into an Impaled Northern Moonforest - which happens to be the name of the late Seth "A.C." Putnam's joke black metal band, whose "Grim And Frostbitten Gay Bar" is the last track covered here (that one NOT actually a black metal classic, but still an album highlight, in part thanks to the use of a Rihanna sample, are we right?). Elsewhere, results vary, at the worst it can be pretty goofy, but on the other hand, a few tracks get pretty crazy in a cool Venetian Snares sort of way. For lots of folks, this might be more of an amusing novelty record, and to a degree that's essentially what this is - but still, we wonder what folks unfamiliar with all the black metal Drew is referencing will think? Perhaps for some open minded dance music fan who stumbles upon it somehow, it could become the most demented booty-shaker in their collection.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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When we first heard Ireland's Solar Bears, for whatever reason we sort of pegged them as another eighties style retro Carpenter / Goblin worshipper, and while there is an element of that in what they do, and we of course LOVE that stuff, there's so much more going on, their sound at once futuristic, but also pastoral, droney and a little sci-fi, but also blissed out and a little new agey, organic and poppy, jangly and dreamy, an incredible mix of so many different sounds we love, which perhaps seem like they wouldn't work together, but somehow, She Was Coloured In ends up sounding practically perfect.
Beginning with a reverbed sample, laid over a murky lo-fi loop, and a skeletal bit of rhythmic skitter, the track blossoms with prismatic synth swirls, fuzzed out swells of distorted chordal shimmer, it's like some sort of shoegazey dreampop, before the track shifts into something almost funky, with fat fuzzy stuttery bass and some sci-fi soundtracky synth, which gives way to gorgeously hazy folky steel guitar strum, which in turn leads into some almost Ariel Pink sounding FM radio retro pop, all warm chiming melodies, vocodered vocals, low slung basslines and little flurries of guitar jangle.
As if it wasn't already good, starting with the third track, "Twin Stars", it gets even better, deep fuzzed out low end drones, thrum and throb, darkly melodic, then some programmed beats swoop in, looped and stuttery, some melancholy synth melodies surface, all very soundtracky, still more melodies, a counterpoint to the original melodies, all very emotional and intense and dramatic, until that gives way to swirly bit of Reichian synth loop shimmer that could go on forever. The title track begins with stately cellos, or cello-like synths, some woozy bass, lush melodic swells, and then the song transforms into some sort of post rock lope, chiming guitars simple drums, swoonsome strings, a little twang, a little psychedelic crunch, so lush and subtly epic, which leads directly into two minutes of glimmering new agey bliss in the form of "Head Supernova", which gradually transforms from muted murky thrum, to weirdly majestic pomp.
"Crystalline (Be Again)" is another strange hybrid, beginning as a minimal bit of subtle synth drift, before crunchy psychedelic guitars transport the track into the realm of propulsive space kraut drift, and then into tripped out new wave, more loping bass, swirling space age synths, looped riffs, building to a seriously soundtracky bit of retro futurism.
The record is so varied, and the sound so ever shifting, that it's difficult to describe without going track by track, yet for all of the record's varied sounds and songs, it all flows so perfectly, like the score for some lost sixties psychedelic film, or the soundtrack to some super strange European television show, so evocative and ethereal and atmospheric, but with moments of spaced out rocking, or blissy shoegazey drift, or hypnotic krautrock throb. Fluttering flutes intertwine with delicate Appalachian folk, strings soar and sing, tinkling chimes drift over sixties Stereolab style Europop, synths distort and crunch, and weave pulsing science fiction electronic groovescapes, with moments definitely reminding us of Zombi and Majeure, but then as quickly as those bits explode into action, they recede leaving gently lilting drifts of hushed new age folky ambience, or layered droney buzz, or even minimal soundtracky groovepop that reminds us of Rockford Kabine's audio experiments, elsewhere looped sixties vocals are layered over warped fuzz bass and shuffling percussion, strings slip and slide, house-y rhythms sink into thick swaths of sun dappled chordal crunch, and super sweet melodies swoop and soar above handclaps and clipped drum machine, a weirdly propulsive sunshiney electro space pop, and then finally, there's a gorgeously lush and somber closer, with reverbed piano, more flutes, simple strummed acoustic guitars, warm soft swells, building to a lush tangle of guitar melody and dark piano chord drift, eventually leaving just a bit of flute flecked layered and distorted dronemusic, finishing with the ka-chunk of the stop button being pressed on an old tape player, as if we were listening to some old tape, or even better, like we were listening to this very record, only in some alternate future, the future as envisioned by pretty much every eighties movie and TV show, one where where cassette tape technology was still the preferred method of audio playback, even in our flying cars, and automated houses.
We love this record.
We first heard from Irish psychedelic electronic space synth duo Solar Bears via their 2010 debut She Was Coloured In, which we made Record Of The Week, and it remains one of our favorites, a tripped our collection of prismatic dream pop, mysterious vocodered vox, woozy retro psychedelic grooves, Carpenter / Goblin like synthscapes (well, before it was such a THING), string swept slowcore drift, and hazy washed out psychedelic ambience, and here we are three years later, and these guys have finally returned with a sequel of sorts to She Was Coloured In, and in some ways, their M.O. remains unchanged, although the sound has certainly shifted a bit.
After a haunting collaged symphonic intro, which seems to be preparing us for something much darker than we might have expected, the sound explodes immediately into a swirl of cascading minor key synth melodies, tense and moody, their Goblin / Carpenter obsession obviously still in full effect, but SB add had claps, squelchy bass, and soon when the song kicks in proper, they reveal a sound that's more poppy, sounding a bit like a more sinister Phoenix, a dark electro groove slithering beneath that swirl of kosmische synths, and it still sounds pretty goddamn great. Be prepared for the next track though, one of the records' sonic missteps, a bit of cringeworthy electro pop, which on its own might be a little light, but with the dreamy female vox, it becomes something way too twee and fey. But it does signal a sonic change, which is further reflected by the next track, which sounds like the High Llamas gone sci-fi, a sort of Steely Dan retro pop vibe, all woozy electric piano groove, some soulful backup vox, it definitely sound like some classic rock B side transported to the future.
The rest of the record seems to strike a balance between songs like "The Girl That Played With Light" and "Komplex" which channel the dreamy kraut-lite grooves of Stereolab through Solar Bears' warped sonic prism, sounding darkly soundtracky, but simultaneously dreamily psychedelic, and more far out kosmische shimmer, minimal pulsing sprawls of future drift and cosmic psychedelic swirl, with the only other duffer being "Our Future Is Underground" which finds that band returning to that folky female vocal driven twee electro pop, which sounds just a tad out of place.
The best track here is probably the epic (and epically titled) "Happiness Is A Warm Spacestation", a totally killer slab of futuristic psychedelic spaced out synth pop, sounding like the chase scene from some eighties B movie, or the end credits from some lost seventies television show, dreamy melodies tangle around strange sound effects, lazer blorps and pulsing sequenced synth churn, all driven by a dense driving programmed beat, the main 'riff' doused in FX and constantly mutating, sounding a bit like a more avant Daft Punk, stripped down and sinister. Too bad the whole record wasn't this good, but still a pretty enjoyable psych-pop electro-synth ride!
New on Emanate (if.then.else, o.s.t., sybarite, lilienthal), Portland's David Chandler's latest release is a schizophrenic collage of Aphex-Twin skitter, Eno ambient, Adult electro and Reichy-Glasssisms. Nice.
Instantly engaging, Ms Elisabeth Esselink returns with another lively frolic-filled Solex full length. It's another funky cut'n'paste style collection of songs pieced together from fragmented samples of saucy horns, piano tinkles, and sound effects over which she applies her own effected girlish vocals, electric guitars, assorted percussion and the wonderfully bizarre deeep voice of guest vocalist Stuart Brown. After all the dizzying, off kilter numbers, she brings the listener gently back down to the ground with the comparatively somber final track "You've Got Me". If you haven't already discovered the smart, fun, action-packed rollercoaster ride that is Solex, you should definitely check this gal out. Although she does have some earlier releases that are fine introductions, this new one is a pretty great place to start too. Dunno about that title though! If, we assume, she's being self-deprecating, it's totally off base 'cause she's creatively and skillfully head and shoulders above most slouchy 'indie rock' folks.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Now you can see Solex live (well, sorta!) for less than the price of admission! This new low-priced dvd features that delightful Dutch gal Elizabeth Esselink performing her funky, groovy collaged pop at Chicago's Empty Bottle club earlier this year!
We got a new dose of the In The Fishtank Series this week! This one is Volume 13 featuring a collaboration between Solex and M.A.E. (the ten-piece Maarten Altena Ensemble) If you didn't know it was a collaborative effort, you'd probably think this was simply a Solex release. It's a heaping serving of her trademark quirks and quizzles. While we personally think she has yet to match her early Solex Vs. The Hitmeister album, her loyal following will surely be tickled just fine by it.
FYI: For those unfamiliar with this series... the Konkurrent label generously supplies two days of recording time to their fave touring artists who happen to be passing through the Netherlands, allowing them to do whatever they want with it. Some stick with their ol' tried and true, while others take full advantage of the 'free' recording time to experiment and explore.
My oh my, here's some more Morr prettiness! The German label is positively overflowing with electronic pop treats these days. Yes, Solvent is totally for you if you've dug the recent gentle burst of soothing shimmery music from that label's stable of dreamy-tronica artists such as Styrofoam, Isan, The Go Find, et al. That said, unlike his Morr Music brethren who are predominantly Europe-based, Solvent aka Jason Amm is from Toronto, Canada. Solvent City is populated by plentiful well-crafted, light meringue-y IDM beats (and no, I don't mean "merengue"!) and frosty lacy melodies.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Rare to see a live electronica album, but for DHR it certainly works. Sonic Subjunkies manifest belligerent Amen drum & bass breaks, furious noise, and an occasional groove (which can be hard to find on the typical DHR release). The cd also features the first two out-of-print singles from the band.
One of six records which were originally part of a multi part release from local label Time Released Sound, whose releases are initially presented as deluxe hand crafted art editions, which we carry when we can, but in the case of this series, dubbed the 'chocolate box' series, which found each record pressed onto 3" cd-r's and packaged in a mini chocolate box, every box hand assembled, and every one different, the set had a seriously hefty price tag, and sold out super quick anyway, so while we weren't able to get our hands on the deluxe versions, thankfully the records were also available as proper cds in more modest packaging. We already reviewed the first two installments on the last New Arrivals List, Taskerlands and David Newlyn, and this week, we have the other four.
One of which is this one, from Sonmi451, a Belgian soundscaper named Bernard Zwijzen, whose last release on TRS, Star Atlas, we dug quite a bit. Four Peaks, while thematically well removed from the celestial focus of Star Atlas, still sonically evokes much of the same imagery, but now, instead of looking out at an expanse of stars and planets, we're looking out at a mountain range, from our perch atop some lofty peak, the majesty of the earth laid out before us, these sounds, a collection of electronic ambience and shimmery dronemusic, help evoke the strange otherworldliness of such a setting, and surprisingly it's not that different than Star Atlas, the isolation of outer space certainly analogous to the isolation of some mysterious snow capped mountain, the sounds here surprisingly varied, we imagine to capture the sprits of the four peaks for which each track is named, from the gurgling glistening glitchfolk shimmer of "Eiger", to the strange swirling ambient collage of "Grossglockner" with its mysterious tangle of sampled voices, to the hazy almost new agey drift of "Matterhorn", with its woozy Oval like muted malfunctioning electronics, to the hushed dreamlike melodies of "Tre Cime De Lavaredo", a gorgeous languid coda, that might be the prettiest of the bunch.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES!!
Sorta like a more electronically haywire Stereo-Total or maybe the bratty kid sister of the Flying Lizards (circa "Top Ten"). If Chicks on Speed weren't such a mess, perhaps this is what they would sound like. Quirky, weird and fun.
Rik Shaw and Ledeuce have also performed as Rome (with a few releases for Thrill Jockey) and as the Deadly Dragon Sound System (a dub / turntablist crew from Chicago). Sons of the Sun manifest low key breaks with a noticable dubby quality and lots of noodly analogue synth melodies.
Making a seamless transition from charming indie-rock boy in the bay area's great Call & Response to now dishing out some of the most infectious and delicious electronic jams we've heard in a long time, it won't be long until Daniel Judd (aka Sorcerer) is a name on the tips of the tongues of everyone who has been loving the recent resurgence of great dancey and disco inspired electronica. If folks like Lindstrom, Gui Borrato and Strategy have pleased your ears as much as they have ours we think this is a record you should check out for sure. We love how he's able to bring a smooth and suave feeling to what's often a clinical and robotic sound. It's almost how we imagine it would sound if Sam Prekop of The Sea & Cake made a daydream electronic dance record, as it has that same kind of endless breeze and carefree melody that he's perfected over the years. It's like sliding down milky mountain waterfalls into the freshest ocean filled with frothy waves and trays of the tastiest cocktails floating alongside always at arms reach for a delicious sip. Sorcerer have tapped into some delightfully fresh sounding electronic gold. So nice!
Dastgaah is an intense, gorgeous full-length "ethnic-electronica" effort from Iranian expat Akta Ebtekar, who has a Warp single and a Dielectric 12" on his resume already. Here he pulls out all the stops for an instrumental, electronic journey to the Persia of a sci-fi imagination. The computer processed, Middle Eastern sounding sounds here make this come across something like Muslimgauze meets a Doom (the video game) soundtrack... shimmering swirls of drone, burble and bells, glitchy high-pitched shards of sound, eerie disembodied voices, crunchy, creaking, warped, wonderous. Although we'd assume this is a laptop job, there is a suggestion of old-fashioned musique concrete to it. Dockstader in the desert kingdoms, maybe? Certainly subtle, mysterious stuff is going on in the background. We're glad Sote's finally graced us with a full cd, this needs the time to work its magic, to envelop the listener... Recommended.
It's nice to know that while doing very well with the likes of Boards of Canada and Vincent Gallo, Warp Records still looks to the nether regions of underground electronica for new artists. Sote is a new signing for Warp and supposedly hails from "relatively remote wilds of Northern California" (but as we discovered, he's a super nice guy that goes to recording school with AQ pal Drew) The first single for Warp is happy-go-lucky run through distorto-crunched electronics filtering a complex array of Amen drum 'n' bass breaks, sort of sounding like Venetian Snares reliving the glories of British hardcore rave circa 1991 (i.e. Altern8, The Hypnotist, Prodigy, Messiah).
It's been a while since we've listed something from Sote, who had a few killer releases on Warp and aQ pal Drew's Dielectric label. Since lately most of the electronic music we've been reviewing has been super murky and minimal, sort of Kompakt style techno, this 12" is an awesome nod to the good old days, the days of Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards Of Canada, Squarepusher and the like. But Sote doesn't just ape those folks, he has his own sound, in fact he seems to have two distinct sounds, one is a sort of Middle Eastern ethno-electronica, but even then those sounds are all tangled up with what seems top be Sote's other distinct sound, crunchy junglized beats, and thick buzzing basslines, and that's what we get here. Three tracks from Sote's old Warp Records days...
The A side is a total dancefloor destroyer. Thick grinding lowend sytnhs over crazy skittery breakbeats, a massive roiling wall of old school jungle, but infused with elements of dubstep and electroclash, it's all a bit grime-y and fuzzy, the beats are wicked, the low end seriously devastating. Some moody skitter surfaces part way through, an interlude with pizzicato melodies and some almost ambience, but then the beat drops again, and the record runs out a furious and dense beatscape.
The flipside is a bit more spacious and laid back, with some wooshing string swells, and some new age-y synths, but even within this more subdued sound, there lurks some skittery drum tangle and some fierce spastic programming. It's all good stuff for sure, but the A side is worth the price of admission on its own.
Thick, swirled, colored vinyl, house in gorgeous hand sewn fabric sleeves. All hand made, and so of course VERY VERY limited. Only 300 copies.
The first salvo of electronic vinyl madness from AQ pal Drucifer's new label comes in the form of four 12"s, beautifully packaged in distinctive orange sleeves (dance 12" style) and on nice thick vinyl, and sonically running the gamut from stuttery glitched out electronica to shimmery drones to speaker shredding digital rhythms to dreamy beatscapes.
Sote (who also has a record out on Warp) veers wildly all over the electronic music spectrum, from hyperactive, staccato jackhammer beats to lush hypnotic beatscapes, employing fuzzy block-rocking beats, swirling melodies, crunchy digital glitches, sampled harmony vocals, washes of warm distortion, crickety clicks, super-distorted female torch singing, buzzing insect melodies, and all sorts of rhythmic and melodic mayhem.
MPEG Download: "Musick" [/audio/sotemusick.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Musick" [/audio/sotemusick.m3u]
Not the clicks and cuts Thomas Brinkmann. Not the runout groove sampling Thomas Brinkmann. The General Eclectics series from Mr. Brinkmann's Soul Center presents him in a straight forward, monophunk techno guise, and he's damn good at it! All of the tracks present on this disc were culled from two eps released earlier in 2010, plus a couple of bonus tracks to sweeten the deal. Brinkmann draws from rare groove samples of soulful Hammond organ stabs and rolling basslines to tumble into his swaggering techno rhythms and minimal electronic twinkles. The opening track "Marmalade" has the midtempo swagger of the Sopranos theme, but pushed with a deeper, slow-motion techno-funk heard way back when Mo' Wax was cool. Brinkmann offers a more Kompakt inspired track of German engineered motorik techno with some creepy detuned spoken vocals on "Walk With Me," somewhat reminiscent of the Ester Brinkmann tracks with Blixa Bargeld's chant in lieu of a more polite vocalist. The rhythms thicken considerably on the last three cuts of the album, taking on more of a Mr. Ozio production for a more muscular techno coupled with robotic vocals and acid-inspired electronics supplanting the funk tropes from the earlier tracks. Brinkmann's always been a fantastic producer; and even without some of the great conceptual overtures and technical gimmicks which he's thrown at us in the past, he can certainly deliver one hell of an electronic groove record! We've been playing the heck of of it here at the store, EVERYBODY digs it.
Sound Asleep (aka Conor Vincent Ghilarducci) has crafted some really really cool electronic instrumental tracks for his debut release Black Top Wash. A broad range of kick-ass, very tactile sounds. Tight rhythm programming. This baker's dozen tracks are in turn ominous, witty and pretty. Ghilarducci skillfully plays with texture in novel ways just as he plays with words in his song titles such as "Abdominal Snowman". His chimey and raindroplet-y melodic cycles step lightly amid the deeep slippery almost digeridoo-ish basslines. For a visual equivalent imagine a big furry monster settling for supper with his wee pals Mouse and Electric Eel while an army of robotic mosquitoes buzz about overhead. Did we mention? Really really cool!
Here's the second cd-r release from this fine Bay Area electronic artist. The eight instrumental tracks on Dead Things are somewhat darker and dreamier than those of his debut Black Top Wash from 2005. Sound Asleep aka Conor Vincent Ghilarducci does what he does exceptionally well, possessing an impressive grasp of layered textures and moody atmospheres. Check it out!
Man, have I been waiting for something like this for years. A massive mega mix of classic drum and bass / jungle / dancehall. Takes me back quite a few years when jungle was brand new (to us at least). When finding jungle 12"s was a challenge and even finding clubs that played jungle was practically impossible. A bunch of us (often with AQ pal Lesser in tow) would go to local bars and just sit in the corner, luxuriating in the stuttery staccato beats, waiting for the bass to drop and huge swells of thunderous sub-bass synths to wash over us. And for me, even though jungle is supposedly 'played out', it remains as fierce and heavy and raw as it ever was. This mega mix has all the great 12"s from the early days of jungle, tracks by Cobra, Remarc, Cutty Ranks, Krome & Time, Shy FX, Tek 9, DJ Hype, Barrington Levy, Squarepusher, Ninjaman, Decoder, Plug and tons more!. No diva vocals, no syrupy melodic dance crap, just monstrous Amen breaks (the drum loop dujour of jungle) everywhere, skittery and frenetic, pitched up and down and all around, stuttering and hiccupping and pounding, with throbbing basslines and rib cage rattling synth stabs. And as a bonus for all of you dancehall heads, there's plenty of toasting and junglized reggae tunes. I remember most of my friends at the time, ESPECIALLY my drummer friends, being totally skeptical and dismissive, saying stuff like "It's just a drum machine" and "the beats are so repetitive". But that's the point. The rhythms -are- repetitive, I mean, they were made to dance to right? But they are SO complex, inhumanly so, and the buzz and stutter of beats swirling wildly from speaker to speaker makes the repetitive nature of the music all the more hypnotic and trance-y. And how could anyone obsessed with rhythm, especially drummers, not be totally mesmerised by these hyperspeed/convoluted beats? I've found myself driving around in my housemate's truck (which has a booming system) just blasting this comp, trying to replicate the feeling of the big bass bins pounding me into the corner of that dingy club years ago, and at the same time, have lulled myself to sleep with this comp buzzing and skittering in my ears. Even if you were on the scene and have a lot of these 12"s, there may be a bunch you don't have, and it's nice to have all this stuff on one convenient disc, although the tracks are split into three 20+ minute megamixes which makes finding particular songs a bit of a chore. But odds are, you'll just listen to this whole thing over and over and over. Folks who picked up the Bug cd from the last list should really check this out as should anyone into crazy fucked up elctronica/dancehall/digital hardcore. Fucking great!
MPEG Download: "Track 01" [/audio/soundmurderer01.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Track 01" [/audio/soundmurderer01.m3u]
We've long been complaining about the dearth of "grime" in the States, so we were psyched to discover that the folks at Planet Mu decided to do something about it. They've been re-issuing UK grime releases for the states, but this latest batch of 12"s offers up some grime / jungle hybrids as well as their own twisted take on dubstep and grime. And it kills!
We absolutely loved the Soundmurderer comp from a ways back, a killer mix of classic drum and bass and ragga jungle, that sound we can never get enough of, so it's kind of cool to hear these guys take on some of this new fangled dubstep business sort of blending it into their already killer techstep sound. Super fucked up and weirdly funky, jump up jungle (with a hint of grime) a bit of toasting over the top, and then halfway through the A-side, the jungle drops and completely destroys. The B-side is super repetitive with ultra distorted bass and blown out synth melodies.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The first three major label 12"s collected on one cd. Very dark and sparse drum & bass. Fans of Photek will love this (in fact the 12"s were originally released on Photek's Science label).
Remember Spaceheads? Kind of a '90s sensation, 'round these parts anyway (they played Terrastock SF), this underground experimental "abstract dance" duo from the UK made a super groovy, spacey brand of "live electronica" with trumpet, drums, and various electronics n' effects. Well, now they're back, not that they ever really went away. Trip To The Moon is a new ep from 'em, with both Andy Diagram (trumpet/loops/FX harmonizers) and Richard Harrison (drums/percussion) up to their old tricks - which could be taken to mean, they still sound very "nineties". When we first heard this, we were like, huh, kinda reminds us of LTJ Bukem!
Features four groovy instrumental tracks, sixteen and a half minutes full of funky beats, nicely melodic trumpet licks (looped), and some fat synth-y bass blurps (which must also be the trumpet, somehow). There are uptempo frenzies of skittering percussion, and also much more mellow jazzical moods too.
And yes, the first track "Cosmic Freight Train" is quite aptly titled, with its driving choo-choo-choo rhythm. All aboard!
Highly anticipated full length from spy-jazz-trip hoppers who remind us of Barry Adamson making junglish music. With nicely non-annoying diva vocals. On (Bjork's new boyfriend) Howie B's label, and highly recommended!
