Ear Influxion

Preparing to port

2009-06-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

I'm planning on using this blogger account to resurrect my seemingly dead (although really just sleeping) blog on Livejournal. I use my blog to write about inspiring music, post samples, promote my own musical endeavors and share DJ sets. I encourage everyone interested in similar sounds to get in touch, link up and become part of the journey.

Where am I?

2009-06-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

I'm still here, and just haven't been writing much.

I have receded from view as far as Portland DJing (if "in view" ever really applied, that is) and have been listening to loads of new music, but not writing about it lately.

I am hoping to get back on it soon enough. The more thoughtful, longer album reviews that I've been writing in the last year take quite a bit of time, and my audience is small. I'm thinking of shifting platforms to Blogger instead. What do you guys think, all... 3 of you? :-)

New DJ set, 4-29-09

2009-05-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a DJ set I recorded recently using Ableton Live... this was approximately what I played at the Eagle last Saturday for Big Trouble.

http://www.mattmercer.com/djsets/djset_4-29-09.mp3

Animal Collective "My Girls"
Remute "Bounce"
Grace Jones "Pull Up To The Bumper"
Apparat "Funk Is Something Else"
Fever Ray "When I Grow Up"
Dntel "This is the Dream of Evan and Chan (Superpitcher Rmx)"
Kaliber "16 B1"
Secondo "It's OK"
Chicks on Speed "Wordy Rappinghood"
Grace "Not Over Yet"
Klaxons "Not Over Yet"
Yello "Bostisch"
Visage "Pleasure Boys"
Ruffneck "Everybody Be Somebody"
Nine Inch Nails "Only (Richard X Mix)"
Health "Triceratops (Acid Girls Mix A)"
The Lady Tigra "Bass on the Bottom"
Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation"
Front 242/Gwen Stefani "Hollaback Headhunter"
Nitzer Ebb "Join In The Chant (Metal Mix)"
New Order "Confusion"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Zero (N.A.S.A. Remix)"
Simian Mobile Disco "Hustler"
Peaches "I Feel Cream"
Prince "Erotic City"
Green Velvet "Answering Machine"
Chris & Cosey "Voodoo"
Losoul "Slightly"
DJ Ayres "Tell Me When To Go"
Royksöpp "The Girl and the Robot"
Kraftwerk "Numbers"
Girls on Top "I Wanna Dance With Numbers"

Stimming: Reflections (Diynamic Music CD/2xLP/digital)

2009-04-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

Stimming is the shortened artist name of minimal techno producer Martin Stimming. He's released material under both his full and last name as well as being involved with projects such as Gebrüder Ton (with Alexander Kübler) and Orli & Martie (a collaboration with Oliver Brusch).

I was heretofore unfamiliar with Stimming's work, but Reflections turned my head after finding it randomly on a blog. His combination of polyrhythms, minimal techno standard devices, weird house flourishes and attention to detail is superb and only further enhanced by his ear for melody and musicality. The track "Silver Surfer" would be just another nice chunky tech house track, acoustic percussion details and all, if it weren't for the strangely spry and angular melodic lead that takes hold halfway through. It's this incredibly odd but sensitive knack for melody that takes it to the next level. Opener "Sunday Morning" would also channel the same head-bobbing, academic deepness that characterizes much of the material coming out of a label such as M_nus, but then there is an insistent, gloomy melodic phrase that bubbles to the surface, eventually blooming into a rather grand, swooning string section that serves as the first big dramatic splash of the album. This heightened sense of drama comes back later in "The Beauty," with a whispered vocal that borders on cloying, but somehow it all works together. "Song for Isabelle" is a more typical tech-house sounding track, but its chunky delayed chords hit the spot just right; on the more terse end of things "Tel Aviv Calling" is an oddly insistent number full of bending overtones, chunky snares and a buoyant bassline. "Sleep On" brings back that keen sense of melody and melancholy over another track that equally compelling as a DJ tool and as a listening experience. The only track that falls flat for me is the vocal number, "The Loneliness," which includes a croony male vocal and a harmonica, two of my least favorite sounds combined! I applaud his willingness to break out of the formula, but this one was not my personal cup of tea.

Martin Stimming hasn't reinvented the genres from which he draws clear affinity and inspiration, but he does put his own personal touch of grace and style on each and every track on Reflections. It's a pretty outstanding collection of tracks, with a meticulous sense of detail, a clear narrative arc and ability to infuse these highly functional dancefloor tracks with a painfully inspiring human touch. Highly recommended!

more info: Myspace | Diynamic Music site
buy it: Amazon
mp3s: Sunday Morning | Silver Surfer

Long overdue best of 2008

2009-04-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

OK, I started writing this list in December, and then heavily in January, a little in February, even less in March, and just decided to post it where I left off. Hope to revive the more regular smaller entries soon. Still listening to loads of new music, just not writing about it as often as I'd like. :-)

Twine: Violets (Ghostly) (read original post)

Jacaszek: Treny (Miasmah) (read original post)

David Holmes: The Holy Pictures
I hadn't really heard David Holmes' music in a long time, not since the years following his trip-hop entry Let's Get Killed in the late 90s. Ten years later, I'm turned onto The Holy Pictures, which could be a different artist altogether. The similarities between the off-kilter downtempo of that debut album and this one are minimal (if any at all), with most of the music of The Holy Pictures falling more in line with hazy krautrock and shoegazer rock. There are suggestions of Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Ride, Neu and Can by various turns here, though it doesn't sound like a nod to any one of these acts in particular. These likenings are perhaps a bit lazy, though I suspect Holmes himself would be hard-pressed to fully deny any of these names being dropped. Opener "I Heard Wonders" is straight-up Primal Scream motorik rock (think the more sublime, gliding moments of XTRMNTR), while "Love Reign Over Me" is an odd electronic pop track. The most satisfying moments of the album are when the cinematic tendencies are given some space to roam, such as "The Ballad Of Sarah & Jack" or the awesomely wide "The Story of the Ink." Some of the vocal tracks are almost too straight-forward for their own good (such as the obvious Neu-meets-vintage-Stereolab krautrock of "Melanie"), but given how much I really do like this record, these are minor criticisms. There is just something so damn likeable about it all, confounding the notion that homage or appropriation of genres, pre-existing sounds or aesthetics is somehow inherently bad. It's a major success in my opinion, one of the best albums of its kind that I can recall in recent past.
buy it: Amazon

Booka Shade: The Sun & The Neon Light (Get Physical) (read original post)

Hatchback: Colors Of The Sun (Lo Recordings)
slumberjack turned me onto this one in his 2008 wrap-up. I'm glad he did, because otherwise I'd have completely overlooked this gem, one that would've really struck a chord with me prior to the onset of winter. Hatchback is a San Francisco-based producer who makes quality electronic tracks, all instrumental. They're equally relaxed, sunny and functional, warming the heart as much as they cause a listener's head to bob (or occasionally, their ass to shake). Upbeat tracks like "Jetlag" and "Carefree Highway" would work just as well on a late-night floor as they would with the top down in the sun, but my favorites are some of the chunky midtempo grooves to be heard here. "Comets" has a fat bass and thick snare tempered by shimmering tones that help it go down smoothly. Likewise, "White Diamond" sways and swells with a warmth that tingles. The vague krautrock suggestions of "The Lotus and the Robot," one of the broader-reaching tracks on Colors of the Sun, eventually give way to a sweet dancefloor anthem. Elsewhere, those krautrock leanings are expanded on via the more obvious nod of "Everything Is Neu," with its more acoustic-sounding motorik kit, hazy electric chords and soaring piano patterns.
buy it: Amazon

Hot Chip: Made In The Dark (DFA)
The UK pop act cements its reputation as an outlet for quality dance music, weird genre-fuck combos and genuinely surprising left turns with this, its third album. It draws from the considerable progress of their second album and factors in how much they've solidified as a touring band, with tracks that will obviously move a dancefloor but would probably sound especially good in a crowded live show. "Shake a Fist" sets the tone as a single, with a completely bizarre breakdown in the middle that defies most typical conventions, not to mention a chorus that is considerably more jerky and erratic than one might ordinarily be accustomed to. Even "Ready for the Floor," the most obvious pop song on the record, is a bit "off" from the usual fare, with a strangely buoyant and light chorus that complements its spry, almost cheap (in a good way!) arrangements. "Out at the Pictures" and "Bendable Poseable" again subvert expectations with unusual time signature changes, rackety atypical rhythm sections and odd juxtapositions of genre. They aren't afraid to slow down for the odd R&B-tinged ballad or two, either; the last portion of the record falls a bit limp with the double-whammy epilogue of "Whistle For Will" and "In The Privacy Of Our Love," but the two are so sweet on their own accord that it feels not like an afterthought but rather a pleasant denouement. There are a couple straight-up dancefloor shakers, like "Hold On" and "One Pure Thought," showcasing the party atmosphere they're so good at live, but they aren't afraid to get a bit silly with "Wrestlers" (which really needs to just be heard rather than read about). All in all, consider it another success for Hot Chip, who seem able to straddle many different audiences, genres and paradigms with relative ease.
buy it: Amazon

Bersarin Quartett: Bersarin Quartett (Lidar) (read original post)

Andy Stott: Unknown Exception (Modern Love) (read original post)

Alias: Resurgam (Anticon) (read original post)

Lindstrøm: Where You Go I Go Too (Smalltown Supersound)
This highly epic journey through a smokey disco otherworld is perhaps Hans-Peter Lindstrøm's crowning achievement thus far. Lindstrøm has gotten the lion's share of the hype when it comes to the faux-genre of space disco, though it's not without good reason; he's been at it for some time now, and generally speaking, the quality control is pretty high throughout his releases. He has a keen ear for both vintage disco flavor and sounds as well as melodic and story arc... many of his tracks are far-reaching and evolve with an ease that is beguiling at times. So it's no small feat that Where You Go I Go Too tops all of his past material, a sort of disco critical mass in the form of 3 tracks totalling almost an hour. If that seems excessive, well, it kind of is -- it's only kept in check by just how good a storyteller Lindstrøm is. Despite the title track being 25 minutes long, it never feels tedious or even very repetitive, even as it's built almost entirely around a consistent tempo and persistent, undulating arpeggios.Lindstrøm is a master of his craft, and instead of veering into self-indulgence, instead we're privy to a magnum opus of seductive beats and melodies.
buy it: Amazon

Portishead: Third (Island) (read original post)

Jóhann Jóhannsson: Fordlândia (4AD)
Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson has always had a flair for the cinematic. His earlier records for the esteemed Touch label suggested this, even at his most stark moments... so it's not surprising that his latest for the 4AD label is quite grand and epic. The two bookends that comprise the majority of this record, "Fordlândia" and "How We Left Fordlândia," are full of broad, sweeping gestures courtesy of a full string section, with electronic flourishes over top. Some of these more aspirational moments are reminiscent of the most dramatic backing arrangements for a group like Sigur Rós (minus the rock band and vocalist...!). There is a grace and patience throughout this release that is a curious counterpoint to its namesake; Fordlândia was the failed rubber plantation of Henry Ford, located in South America in the early 20th century. So in a strange way, Jóhannsson has chosen this topic as the backdrop for his score, the soundtrack to a failed utopia. He explains this to a reasonable length on his official artist site, and listeners would be advised to check it out for more information. Musically, it's a gorgeous album. It sweeps and swoons, with several more subtle interludes sprinkled within the more dramatic pieces, with ample points of contrast to help express Jóhannsson's ideas with a distinct beginning, middle, and end.
buy it: Amazon

Benoît Pioulard: Temper (Kranky) (read original post)

Kelley Polar: I Need You To Hang Onto While The Sky Is Falling (Environ) (read original post)

Grouper: Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (Type) (read original post)

Max Richter: 24 Postcards In Full Colour (Fatcat) (read original post)

Growing: All The Way (Kranky) (read original post)

Morgan Geist: Double Night Time (Environ)
Morgan Geist will be eventually known (and is already considered by some) as a hero of American dance music. His repertoire reaches far and broad through a long list of impressive solo releases, in addition to heading up the Environ record label and having unleashed perhaps my favorite disco homage, Metro Area, a few years ago. Double Night Time is an odd pop release that reunites Geist with Kelley Polar (who handled many of the string arrangements for Metro Area) and also finds him collaborating extensively with Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys. The prominence of vocals here may be a turn-off for some of his more dedicated techno audience, but I think it's a pretty great pop album of its own accord. "The Shore" actually sounds like the perfect marriage of Geist's Detroit nods and the jerky R&B of Junior Boys' debut album, but there are a few moments of dancefloor bliss here that combine throwback 80s pop, disco, new wave and current tech house flirtations. "Detroit" is the most unsubtle frame of reference here, a really slick pop track with Greenspan's vocal leading the way, but "Most of All" is undeniable with its 80s swagger.
buy it: Amazon

Cloudland Canyon: Lie In Light (Kranky) (read original post)

honorable mentions:
Autechre: Quaristice (Warp) (read original post)
Byetone: Death Of A Typographer (Raster)
Squarepusher: Just A Souvenir (Warp) (read original post)
Raveonettes: Lust Lust Lust
Ellen Allien: SooL (BPitch Control)
Fuck Buttons: Street Horrrsing (ATP) (read original post)
Notwist: The Devil, You + Me (Domino)

New DJ set online

2009-03-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a new digital mix of minimal techno, pop, indie rock, rave, electro and more. A few special delights thrown in for good measure. Those who've downloaded my past sets might notice some repeats, although largely in new contexts.

Anyone in the Portland, OR vicinity should come out and check out my set at Big Trouble at the Eagle PDX Underground, this Saturday, March 28, 2009, 10pm-2am, FREE!

Click here to listen (right-click and "Save As..." to download)

James Din A4 "Er Hatte Ihr Keinen Trip Gegeben, Ihr Aber Bedeutet, Dass Er" (Pingipung)
Microfilm "(Am I Ever Gonna Fall Apart In) NYC? (Soultek's Falling Apart Mix)" (Fiche)
Tracey Thorn "Falling Off A Log" (Virgin)
Antonelli Electr. "Bohannon" (Italic)
T La Rock "It's Yours" (Def Jam)
LCD Soundsystem "Beat Connection" (DFA)
2 Unlimited "No Limit" (ZYX)
Hot Chip "Ready For The Floor" (DFA)
Soulphiction "Her (JMS Dub)" (Perlon)
Mr. Projectile "Impregnator" (Toytronic)
Mr. Pauli "Lo Mas" (Viewlexx)
Depeche Mode "World In My Eyes" (Sire)
Unit 4 "Bodydub" (Clone)
Sally Shapiro "Jackie Junior (Junior Boys Remix)" (Paper Bag)
Kraftwerk "Numbers" (EMI)
Sleater-Kinney "One Beat" (KillRockStars)
Janet Jackson "Nasty" (A&M)
Toni Basil "Shoppin' From A To Z" (Chrysalis)
J.J. Fad "Supersonic" (Dream Team)
Kevin Blectum/Missy Elliott "She's a Bitchhole" (Violent Turd)
Bit_Meddler "Shitmix 2000" (Planet µ)
Telefon Tel Aviv "The Birds" (BPitch Control)
Apparat "Can't Computerize It" (BPitch Control)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Heads Will Roll" (Interscope)
Drexciya "The Plankton Organization" (Tresor)
Pet Shop Boys "The Way It Used To Be" (EMI)
Microesfera "Negativ" (Static Discos)
Madonna "Paradise" (Maverick)
Burial "Archangel" (Hyperdub)
Robert Babicz "Don't Look Back" (Kompakt)
Martinez "Tool 1.3" (Re:connected)
Rafale "Rock It Don't Stop" (Rise)
Björk "Bachelorette" (Elektra)
Size Queen "Walk!" (Tribal)

Electro/pop DJ set online

2009-03-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

I recorded another test-run DJ set. This time the focus was on electro and italo-disco, with some pop sprinkled in. The last pair-up of Rother and Information Society is the same as the ending of the last set I posted... I never got a chance to work it into my Eagle set and so I kept them in again to ensure that I could play them on the big PA this week.

$tinkworx "Fuckwhut (Orig)" (Bunker)
Martin Matiske "80s" (Gigolo)
Fancy Robots "Fancy Theme (Jörg Mager Edit)" (Keys of Life)
Ectomorph "Dada" (Interdimensional Transmissions)
Mr. Pauli "Lo Mas" (Viewlexx)
Miss Kittin & The Hacker "Sweet Dreams" (Gigolo)
Hong Kong Counterfeit "Obscure Desire" (Emperor Norton)
Parallax Corporation "Crocodiles In The Sky (Fred Ventura & Colombo Remix)" (Viewlexx)
Annie "The Wedding" (Studio K!7)
Ellen Allien "Trashscapes (Anthony Rother Remix)" (BPitch Control)
Legowelt "Chokolectrick" (Stilleben)
Giorgio Moroder "The Chase" (Casablanca)
Cervo Boys "Boyz" (Cervo Boys)
George Michael "Monkey (Bonus Beats)" (Columbia)
O.K."Okay! (Re-Mixed Media Edit)" (SPV)
Anthony Rother "Biomechanik" (Psi49net)
Information Society "Running" (Tommy Boy)

Click here to listen (right click to download)

New techno DJ set available to download

2009-03-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

I recorded a practice run of the techno set I played at the Eagle PDX Underground last night, and have posted it online. The set was back to basics, just 2 turntables and vinyl.

Ricardo Villalobos "What You Say Is More Than I Can Say" (Klang)
Gui Boratto "Beautiful Life (Gui Boratto Remix)" (Kompakt)
Justus Köhncke "Was Ist Musik (Wassermann Acid Mix 1)" (Kompakt)
Kate Simko "Strumm (Unai Remiks)" (Kupai Musik)
The Rapture "Sister Saviour (Blackstrobe Remix)" (DFA)
Antonelli Electr. "The Strings" (Italic)
A Guy Called Gerald "In Ya Head" (Perlon)
The MFA "The Difference It Makes (Superpitcher Remix)" (Kompakt)
Ellen Allien "Elphine (Troy Pierce Remix)" (BPitch Control)
Burger/Voigt "Bring Trance Back To Reality" (Kompakt)
Audion "Tittyfuck" (Spectral)
Geoff White "He Said" (Apnea)
Hug "The Happy Monster" (K2)
Secondo "Breathe To The Rhythm" (Dreck)
Sutekh "Mouth Party" (Soul Jazz)
Anthony Rother "Biomechanik" (Psi49net)
Information Society "Running" (Tommy Boy)

click here to listen (right-click and "Save As" to download)

New minimal techno DJ set

2009-02-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

Here's another DJ set I recorded the other day. It's much more techno/tech house, full tracks, more straightforward but stuff I've really been enjoying here in the studio. Enjoy!

Click here to listen (right-click or ctrl-click to download)

tracklist:
Antonelli "Soulkiller" (Italic)
Sascha Funke "We Are Facing The Sun" (BPitch Control)
Byetone "Plastic Star (Session)" (Raster-Noton)
Robert Babicz "Dark Flower" (Audiomatique)
Martinez "Tool 1.4" (Re:connected)
Pan/Tone "Clean Getaway" (Cereal/Killers)
Hug "My Dinosaur" (K2)
Kate Simko "Osci" (Spectral)
Bruno Pronsato "Same Faces, Different Names" (Hello? Repeat)
Carsten Franke "Ramba Samba" (Ostwind)
Morgan Geist "Detroit" (Environ)
Booka Shade "City Tales (Neon Dub)" (Get Physical)
Audion "Billy Says Go" (Spectral)
Ellen Allien "Elphine" (BPitch Control)
Basic Channel "Phylyps Trak II/II" (Basic Channel)
Burial "Raver" (Hyperdub)
Claro Intelecto "Operation" (Modern Love)
Echospace "Obmx (Original Remastered)" (Echospace)
Various Artists "Melted" (Chain Reaction)
Sistol "Hac" (Phthalo)
James Din A4 "The Coming Out" (Pingipung)
Delon & Dalcan "248 Km" (Boxer)

I have a best of 2008 wrap-up reviews entry well under way, but it's taking a lot more time than I anticipated. slumberjack threw a wrench into things with his list where I discovered some new gems I hadn't heard yet. :-)

DJ set, 1-11-09

2009-01-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

Happy new year!

Fear not, I'm not dead. Yet. I have a best of 2008 list in the works, although I feel like I've really missed out on a lot of the year-end releases. I'm trying to make it through some downloads and new releases to see if there are any uncovered gems that should be included. Rest assured, though, many of the releases to grace these computer pages over the last many months are likely to find their way on the list.

In the meantime, I recorded yet another hack DJ set. The levels are a bit in the red on here, but in the event that I am too lazy to re-record this set (which is entirely likely), you can enjoy it in all its redlined glory.

Click here to listen (right-click or ctrl-click to download)

Nitzer Ebb "Control I'm Here" (Mute)
Janet Jackson "Control" (A&M)
Ricardo Villalobos "Logo Hitz" (Frisbee)
Mel Merio "Domino Dancing" (Klein)
Pet Shop Boys "Domino Dancing" (EMI)
Expose "Point of No Return" (Arista)
Daft Punk "Around the World" (Virgin)
Microfilm "Young Adult Fiction (Brothers Grime Mix)" (Fiche)
M.I.A. "Hombre" (XL)
Oaktown's 3-5-7 "Juicy Gotcha Krazy" (Capitol)
Optical "To Shape The Future" (Metalheadz)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs "10x10" (Interscope)
Michael Fakesch "Escalate" (K!7)
Mouse on Mars "Actionist Respoke" (Sonig)
Matthew Mercer "Secrets" (Forte)
Lady Sovereign "Hoodie" (Universal)
Kate Simko "Osci" (Spectral)
Spank Rock "Backyard Betty" (Big Dada)
Speedy J Vs.MaTH "Leave No Evidence" (Musik Aus Strom)
Westend Ghetto "Krümelsuppe" (Punkt)
Warmdesk "Guero (Disco)" (A Posteriori)
PTP "Rubber Glove Seduction" (Wax Trax!)
Yuksek "Break Ya"
Tepr "Minuit Jacuzzi (DatA Remix)" (Wall of Sound)
Fukkk Offf "Rave is King (Le Castle Vania Remix)"
Metallica "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (Elektra)
Robert Babicz "Mr. Head" (Kompakt)
Yoko Ono "Kiss Kiss Kiss" (Geffen)
Private "My Secret Lover" (Universal Denmark)
ABC "How to Be a Zillionaire" (Mercury)
Front 242 "W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G." (Wax Trax!)
Radiohead "Nude (Microfilm Remix)" (unreleased)
Pylon "Weather Report" (DFA)
Saint Etienne "B92" (Mantra)
Ladyhawke "From Dusk Til Dawn" (Modular)

DJ set, 12/04/08

2008-12-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

I posted a new digital DJ set, created using Ableton Live. Again I am experimenting with severely warping track tempos to mix up genres and play around with juxtapositions. I think most of the time it's pretty successful, not without a few hiccups here and there, but that's part of the fun. :-)

Click here to listen (right-click and "Save As..." to download)

here's the set list:

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark "Genetic Engineering" (Virgin)
Paul Kalkbrenner "Bingo Bongo" (BPitch Control)
LCD Soundsystem "Beat Connection" (DFA)
Liquid Liquid "Flextone (JD Twitch Optimo Remix)" (Rush Hour)
My Robot Friend "Rapture" (Soma Quality Recordings)
Liquid Liquid "Optimo" (Grand Royal)
Skatebård "Caravan" (Digitalo)
James Din A4 "Er Hatte Ihr Keinen Trip Gegeben, Ihr Aber Bedeutet, Dass Er" (Pingipung)
Cloudland Canyon "You & I" (Kranky)
Madonna "Erotica (William Orbit Remix)" (Maverick)
Bit_Meddler "Genie In A Bottle" (Planet µ)
Microfilm "Sex Education" (Fiche)
BWP "Shit Popper" (No Face)
Tiga & Zyntherius "Blue Sunglasses (The Tom Middleton Cosmos Re-Edit)" (City Rockers)
Sylvie Marks "Masturbation While Menstruation" (BPitch Control)
Art of Noise "Beat Box" (ZTT)
Chaka Khan "I Feel For You" (Warner Bros.)
Ladytron "This Is Our Sound" (Emperor Norton)
Le Tigre "After Dark" (Universal)
Pinch "Bootz" (Soul Jazz)
Phoenecia "Odd Job (Rhythm Box)" (Schematic)
Skream "2D" (Tempa)
Mossa "Black Bananas" (Circus Co.)
Lizzy Mercier-Descloux "Wawa" (ZE Records)
Quiet Village "Circus Of Horror" (Studio K!7)
Dubfire "Emissions" (M_nus)
Throbbing Gristle "What A Day" (Mute)
Cex "Eleven Million Dollars Worth of Bearer Bonds" (Tigerbeat6)
Pigeon Funk "Süsser Schlamm" (Proptronix)
Motiivi Tuntematon "I Don't Feel Good When You're Not Around" (Kompakt)
Ministry "I Wanted To Tell Her" (Arista)
My My "Klatta" (Playhouse)
T La Rock "It's Yours" (Def Jam)
Neon Neon "Trick For Treat" (Lex)
Marek Bois "Snareway To Hell" (Rrygular)
Kraftwerk "Numbers" (Warner Bros.)
Sleater-Kinney "One Beat" (KillRockStars)
Janet Jackson "Nasty" (A&M)
Jason Forrest "Doubleneck'd Liar (Remix)" (Sonig)
Chicks On Speed "Art Rules" (Chicks On Speed)
SebastiAn "Ross Ross Ross" (Ed Banger)
2 Unlimited "No Limit" (ZYX)
Rafale "Rock It Don't Stop It" (Rise Recordings)
Björk "Bachelorette (LFO Remix)" (Elektra)
Size Queen "Walk!" (Tribal)

New DJ set online

2008-11-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a recently recorded digital mix I did using a bunch of different tracks I like from various genres. I did my best to integrate them together in new ways. It's not without a few mistakes here and there but I thought it was a fun mix to share, running nearly 3 hours in length... for this reason, it's downsampled to 128kbps in quality.

Click here to listen (or right-click to download)

DJ set mixed live using Ableton Live
(this set includes custom edits and additional original loops & fills)

Errorsmith "Stiff Neck" (Errorsmith)
Trentemøller "Always Something Better (Trentemøller Remix)" (Poker Flat)
Pan Sonic "Teurastamo" (Mute/Blast First)
M.I.A. "Bamboo Banger" (XL)
Adriano Canzian "Macho Boy (Pink Remix)" (Gigolo)
Matthew Mercer "Beautiful" (unreleased)
Yaz "Didn't I Bring Your Love Down" (Mute)
Twerk "Quirnjik_Sorvey" (Mille Plateaux)
OMR "The Way We Have Chosen (Ellen Allien Remix)" (Bpitch Control)
MMM "A3" (MMM)
Working For A Nuclear Free City "Innocence" (Melodic)
Underworld "Cowgirl" (Wax Trax)
Radiohead "Reckoner (Microfilm Remix)" (unreleased)
Dominik Eulberg "Lotuseffekt" (Cocoon)
Microfilm "After Dark (OCD Soundsystem Mix)" (Fiche)
Duran Duran Duran "Faceblast" (Planet µ)
Matthew Dear "It's Over Now" (Ghostly)
Nine Inch Nails "My Violent Heart" (Nothing)
Ark "E-Cone (Akufen Remix)" (Circus Co)
Matthew Dear "It's Over Now" (Ghostly)
Duran Duran Duran "Faceblast" (Planet µ)
Mossa "Colorado Bitch" (Frankie Rec)
Modeselektor "Turn Deaf!" (Bpitch Control)
Tamion 12-Inch "Fuck You Tami" (Ersatz Audio)
Smash TV "Body Rock" (BPitch Control)
Pase Rock "Lindsay Lohan's Revenge" (Fully Fitted)
Oneida "Caesar's Column" (Jagjaguwar)
Peaches "Slippery Dick" (XL)
Arabian Prince "Strange Life" (Stones Throw)
Jabberjaw "Girlfriend" (Perlon)
String Theory "Stepp In/Out" (Lumpen)
Björk "Innocence (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)" (One Little Indian)
TTC "Pas d'Armure (dDamage Remix)" (Clapping Music)
Burial "Archangel" (Hyperdub)
Tricky "Christiansands" (Island)
Boards of Canada "Happy Cycling" (Warp)
Autechre "Arch Carrier" (Warp)
Argy "Evaquate" (Raum...musik)
Uffie "Brand New Car" (Ed Banger)
Meat Beat Manifesto "Give Your Body Its Freedom" (Wax Trax)
Blonde Redhead "In Particular" (Touch & Go)
OMR "The Way We Have Chosen (Ellen Allien Remix)" (Bpitch Control)
Bit_Meddler "Shitmix2000" (Planet µ)
Apparat "Tel Aviv" (Shitkatapult)
Voigt & Voigt "Vision 04" (Kompakt)
Apparat "Tel Aviv" (Shitkatapult)
PJ Harvey "White Chalk" (Island)
Argy "Evaquate" (Raum...musik)
Baxendale "I Built This City (Michael Mayer Remix)" (Kompakt)
Skinny Puppy "Smothered Hope" (Nettwerk)
Michael Mayer "Speaker" (Kompakt)
Avenue D "Do I Look Like a Slut?" (Electric Blue)
DMX Krew "Denki No Merodi" (Rephlex)
Madonna "Hollywood (Micronauts Remix)" (Maverick)
Errorsmith "Stiff Neck" (Errorsmith)
Vanity 6 "If a Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)" (Warner Bros.)
Mossa "Colorado Bitch" (Frankie Rec)
Sweet Reinhard "Stille Hände" (Profan)
Siriusmo "Simple" (Boys Noize)
Akufen "New Process" (Perlon)
Ark "E-Cone (Akufen Remix)" (Circus Co)
Sweet Reinhard "Stille Hände" (Profan)
Bizz O.D. "I'm Comin' Out of Your Speakers" (Force Inc)
Microfilm "BFF" (Fiche)
Richard Devine "Swap, Trigger" (Schematic)
Jabberjaw "Girlfriend" (Perlon)
The Gossip "Nite" (Kill Rock Stars)
Chris Deluca & Peabird "Deadly Wiz Da Disko" (K!7)
Richard Devine "Swap, Trigger" (Schematic)
Themselves "Hat In the Wind" (Anticon)

mattmercer.com relaunched

2008-11-12T00:14:00.000-08:00

I've had two sites registered under my name for years now, one for my design & work (matthewmercer.com) and one for my music (mattmercer.com).

Up until a few years ago, I semi-regularly updated my site with some free tracks and a schedule of live events (back when I would do regular laptop PA performances). That all trailed off in 2005 or so, and then I just took the site down completely when I migrated ISPs in late 05/early 06.

I decided to revive the domain, having just worked with my buddy John to pull together the newly relaunched Microfilm site. I re-used the template, changing the look and feel and overall intent of the site a little. Microfilm's site is about introducing our music to the world and encouraging people to support us by buying our releases legitimately. mattmercer.com does that as well, but it's mostly about a visual tone with a running archive of tracks that goes pretty far back.

My official releases (two 12" records for Forte and Neutonmusic, as well as a couple mini-albums on my own via Tunecore/iTunes/Amazon) leaned heavily on cut-up samples and angular dance music, but I've always been somewhat of a tinkerer. I had just gone through loads of archival tapes this summer and ripped a bunch of session recordings to my computer, edited them into tracks and wanted to post them somewhere. I've included a good chunk of them here (some I either deemed not up to snuff or just tried to at least vaguely edit a bit), and the sound varies significantly, all while remaining electronic and instrumental. I'll let you peruse them at your leisure, but here is a rough guide to the disparate sounds you'll hear, and a loose frame of reference depending on your particular taste.

The top-heavy part of the playlist is the most recent, "official" material that is more slick, dancefloor compatible for the most part. The two Secrets 12" records are sprinkled in the middle along with compilation tracks I did for Ware and SubVariant (in addition to the tracks I contributed to now-defunct 409's comps under the alias Systm), and pretty much everything else is previously unreleased. There are tracks that are straight up house ("Where Did I Go Wrong?"), italo-disco ("Beautiful," "Preacher"), melodic IDM ("Walking Down a Side Street," "Fine Cutlery," "Honey Drizzle," "Dot Dash Dot," "Fairweather"), deep atmospheric techno ("Unassisted Living," "Wormhole", "Liquid"), slow ambience ("Scape," "Simmer & Shimmer"), gloomy soundtracks ("November," "Orange Skies," "Barely There") and some assorted oddities ("Seele" was total machine error music, for instance). I have a strong affinity to these early unreleased so-called "Vault Tracks" because many are from a totally different period of my life, and they were also all created entirely on a few hardware devices, no computer involved -- most tracks from 1999-2001.

It's all a bit self-indulgent, I know... but I wanted to share this living archive. I'll likely be expanding it as I begin to record new music under my own name, which I am planning to resume this winter. I may roll out some download functionality eventually, but for now it's streaming-only. However, the quality is quite good, so hopefully you enjoy some of it.

Click here to visit mattmercer.com

Growing: All The Way (The Social Registry CD/LP/digital)

2008-11-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

The last time I really heard this psyche-experimental act, it was on their second album, The Soul Of The Rainbow And The Harmony Of Light, which consisted of four looooong drone tracks, all color and atmosphere but shapeless. It shimmered with energy and a radiance, but it was an end to a means -- it was what it was and that was that. Fast-forward to four years later, and a lot has changed.

The duo of Joe Denardo and Kevin Doria still rely on bass and guitar as their respective axes of choice, but the tone is All The Way is considerably livelier and lighter than the wall of sound that characterized their older material. The running theme on these 6 tracks (plus one live version) is tremolo, with guitar patterns on delays cutting in and out of the mix. Often times the start-stop rhythm as defined by these effects serves as the rhythm section of the track, with no traditional drums or programming to speak of.

"Green Flag" kicks things off with a jaunty guitar-as-bass loop, layered with fluttering, light chords and odd, froggy sounds that gurgle overhead. But if "Green Flag" is a lighter, catchier opening, "Wrong Ride" veers into more dreamlike territory, with a persistent in/out tremolo on all of its guitar sounds (with one notable exception of a solitary droning tone underneath). Just as it begins to feel repetitious, the signal blows horizontally outward into something far more spectral and radiant. It's a refreshing change of pace from the extended exercises of their older material, because here the duo seems acutely aware of when a sound or pattern has overstayed its welcome; just as it starts to feel static, something changes. "Rave Pie Only" is the centerpiece of the album (and the band apparently agrees; it appears again as a live add-on), a swirling psyche-fest that makes brilliant use of flanged guitar distortion as a simulated kick drum, pounding at a good clip for the duration of the song as weird squiggles of glee cascade from above. "Innit" is the joyous counterpart of the opening track, mostly built around a droning, syncopated pattern and airy, light chords over it. "Lens Around" and "Reconstruction" finish out the original material with variations on the style, again making use of unusual effects and guitar phrases to create rhythmic structures without drumming. However, the bonus live version of "Rave Pie Only" is a good example of where they take things as more of a band; with a full-on drum kit, the song is significantly more obvious and aggressive, but no less fun. If anything, it's a sort of last, excessive hurrah as the rather short album wraps up.

It's an interesting idea, piecing together tracks using guitars as a means for everything. It's something I would have assumed I'd already heard, but I'm at a loss for anything all that comparable, as the duo appear to have struck gold in their own distinct way. All The Way is an effective fusion of pop and abstract psychedelia, all swirl and shimmer but with an approachability that tames it, makes it as warm and inviting as it is exciting.

mp3: Innit
more info: Official artist site | Myspace | Discogs |
buy it: Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat | ToneVendor | Amazon | Emusic | iTunes

Basic Channel: BCD-2 (Basic Channel CD/digital)

2008-11-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

Perhaps no batch of techno records has been more influential in the grand scheme of things since the initial rush of Basic Channel records, courtesy of Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus. I can only listen to these records with a tinge of revisionism, partially due to my age and, with it, the fact that I was just not listening to techno at all at this point in time. But when you consider the musical landscape of the early 90s, even as far as techno is concerned, they really were forging new ground. This was the heyday of hardcore and rave, and labels like Warp had only just barely shifted out of their much-loved "bleep" phase into the so-called "Artificial Intelligence" of early Autechre, B12 and Black Dog.

The music pumped out by this pair, however, completely deviated from the norms of the time. They started with techno cut from the same approximate cloth as American visionaries like Jeff Mills, but theirs was a different touch. Whereas Mills could be fast and furious, something about Von Oswald and Ernestus's approach seemed understated, muted, almost sublime. They harnessed the power of repetition and created a plodding, minimal hypnosis through their early records, tools for the floor just as much as compelling, mesmerizing home listening. And they released it all on vinyl with little to no information about the label, producers, or sometimes even track titles.

Of all their various aliases (which include Rhythm & Sound and Maurizio), Basic Channel is perhaps the deepest and most spacious. Their records moved from minimal functional tools into progressively more and more distilled, sublime material, sometimes dropping out the kick altogether and letting the repetition and patterns of their synths run indefinitely, with only subtle variations and nuances to indicate progress. It's a testament to how well-crafted most of their tracks are that they are able to hold a listener in captivity for upwards of ten or fifteen minutes with only slight variations on the surface. One might argue that it is the lifebreath, the pulse of the music, that is really doing the work, and all the sounds and surface are merely utility to lend some context.

The duo has championed vinyl over any other format ("Buy vinyl!" appears on their CD releases), but they are not so opposed as to avoid digital media altogether. In 1995 they pressed a variety of tracks to CD as BCD, which went through a variety of packaging (one of which required that you nearly destroy the exterior to get to the disc, another of which – the metal box – was notorious for actually cracking the disc itself when removing it from the case) and seemed to showcase the act's most abstract, understated moments. "Radiance" and its variations were often totally beatless, as was the shuffling, shapeshifting "Mutism" (if ever there was a track that lived up to its title, this is it) and "Presence." BCD-2 is a long overdue companion to that first compilation disc, basically populated with tracks that were left off the first installment. Herein the tracks are preserved in their full original length, and, as a result, many tracks are significantly longer. The variety is more dramatic, and the tracks themselves are ordered in chronological order. It's much more of a retrospective for the moniker than the first disc.

If "Enforcement" seems slightly foreign or bolder than most of BCD, it's for a reason; it's one of their earliest releases from 1993 and is sometimes credited to Cyrus ("Produced by Cyrus" appears on the sticker). It's a good indication of their presumable influences, channeling the energy found in the likes of US producers Jeff Mills and Robert Hood, but in a more streamlined, minimal nature. "Phylyps Trak" owes even more to that harder edge, bristling with electricity and a decidedly faster tempo. But the trajectory of their sound becomes clearer from there; gone is the more aggressive touch of "Phylyps Trak" as we navigate through the deep waters of "Inversion," an extended, meditative pulse that is here in its full near 18-minute glory. The quicker pace of "Octaedre" and "Octagon" do lend a different quality than the near-perfection of "Inversion," but they all work to complement one another. In a way, BCD-2 is just the other side of the coin from its predecessor comp; whereas BCD was all open space and subtraction, BCD-2 is more utility, but without sacrificing the keen minimal edge that set these records so sharply apart from their contemporaries.

The fact that a genre was borne from these releases is a testament to how much the two nailed this sound the first time around. Put on Daniel Stefanik's "Starless" from last year and you'll hear a dead ringer homage to these seminal releases, and that's just one of any number of so-called dub techno efforts to hit shelves in the past 15 years that owes pretty much everything to Basic Channel. Despite how much I've attempted to summarize these records in this post, there really isn't a whole lot to say about them that hasn't probably already been said before (and perhaps better, or at least more concisely). Thankfully Von Oswold and Ernestus have seen fit to release this sister companion to their first CD, even if it pains them to press something other than vinyl. It opens their music up to a whole other arena of listeners whom it would supremely behoove to acquire, listen and learn.

mp3s: Enforcement | Inversion
more info: Basic Channel | Discogs | Circonium Discography
buy it: Hard Wax | Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Amazon MP3 | iTunes

New Microfilm site is live!

2008-11-05T23:29:00.000-08:00

Another self-promotional blurb as our 2nd album, The Slingshot Orchestra is about to be released next week... we've relaunched our web site which now includes simple links to buy our music online, as well as the ability to stream it all from our site.

Check out our site here for a sneak peek at our new album as well as a chance to hear our entire backcatalogue in one central place!

Antonelli: Soulkiller (Italic CD/LP/digital)

2008-11-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Stefan Schwander is, or at least was, one of my musical heroes. I think in the world stage of techno, he's a bit unsung, preferring to remain in the shadows a bit as he works his hand at what can sometimes seem rather utilitarian instrumental music. When I first heard Antonelli Electr.'s Me, The Disco Machine in 2001 or so (a couple years after its release, even), I was bowled over by its clever intersection of repetitive, minimal structures, vague disco references (without anything so overt that I'd call the music itself proper disco), a touch of electro-pop and his own special style of syncopation. Schwander shares with Jörg Burger what I consider a knack for surprise as far as his sequencing and layering of chords, basslines and beats. While the tracks themselves usually are quite spare as far as the number of elements at any one time, and they often mutate and build and change rather gradually, there is often the introduction of a kick drum, a bassline, a hi-hat or other device that is completely off the pacing that the listener may have anticipated.

Schwander seemed to move away from the vague pop sensibility of Me, The Disco Machine with the records that followed. Click was entirely instrumental, and seemed to focus in on stiff but spry Detroit techno by way of German minimalism. Love And Other Solutions loosened up a bit and was a little more romantic in tone, less mechanical but still quite minimal. And while I never fully heard The Blackout Sessions, it seemed to veer much further into the weird mid-tempo electronic soul of Jan Jelinek and his Farben moniker, ditching much of the dancefloor verve that made his earlier records so special to me.

While Schwander has continued to release 12" records with a certain amount of regularity, Soulkiller is his first LP of uptempo tracks in some time. True to those earlier albums, the tracks themselves are fairly lengthy, with its 8 tracks approaching an hour as an album. The crisp, clean, metered feel of Schwander's Pop Up collaborations or the streamlined Detroit-cum-Germany tech house of Click come to mind as the title track kicks things off. It's a slow build, for sure – there are no melodic elements whatsoever for the first minute and a half, when a flanged square bass line comes in. Then the layers build, and build, and build – some panning, persistent chords, a secondary bass line that adds an extra amount of swagger... once he has all the pieces in places, then Schwander begins to subtract, add, vary on the formula, never losing that insistent kick and descending tick-tick-tick-tock high pitched rim shot that frame the entire track. It's deceivingly simple as it dares you to not bob your head. "When Terry Sings" is presumably a nod to Specials singer Terry Hall, a smooth-rolling house track characterized by extended chords and buoyant, clean bass. It's not Schwander's first reference to music of the past; Me, The Disco Machine featured a generous and more obvious tribute to Hamilton Bohannon. He continues that tribute with a track here called "Hamilton." It doesn't have the same irresistible slap bass that nailed it on Disco Machine's "Bohannon," but Schwander's own personal funk is hard to deny here. But his is a sort of anti-funk, operating at the far opposite end of the spectrum from more commonly "funky" electronic acts out there, all efficient and no-nonsense.

So it's probably not without a sense of humor that Schwander has titled this opus Soulkiller, deriving inspiration from sources like Bohannon and Terry Hall and rendering them virtually soulless by common standards. But there is a wonderful sort of mechanical, computer soul at work here, something that resonates with me and no doubt others. So when he lays down a track toward the end called "Cold Entertainment," it's hard not to smile. It's as if he's acknowledging the public at large's misconception of electronic music, poking fun at his own aesthetic, but with a wink; it may be repetitive, minimal, electronic, even stiff at times, but soulless it most certainly ain't.

mp3s: Soulkiller | Hamilton
more info: Official artist site | Italic on Virb | Antonelli on Virb | Discogs
buy it: Amazon MP3 | Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat |

Andy Stott: Unknown Exception (Modern Love CD/digital)

2008-11-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

28-year-old producer Andy Stott has quite a string of records under his belt, much evidenced by this second CD release which collects many of his recent vinyl releases for Boomkat's sophisticated minimal techno imprint, Modern Love. While Stott's earlier work veered more toward Detroit and classic techno, he's moved into progressively deeper waters with records like ZLV and Massacre, channeling the same deep, low-end dub that informs the classic work of Rhythm & Sound or Maurizio. He does so with a contemporary ear, though, careful to not completely repeat what's come before. The variety is refreshing here, especially when by and large this could be labeled "dub techno" – only a few tracks explicitly deliver on the promise of such a microgenre, and when they do, they really shine. But there are just as many sidesteps that touch upon somewhat familiar sounds, albeit in a way that feels cohesive, with Stott's fingerprint on each unique track.

The common theme in the tracks that comprise Unknown Exception is a deep, clean, buoyant low-end. From the first fade-in of "Fear of Heights," a repetitive, bobbing bassline sets the stride. The references to dub are in the delay and reverb on the chords and melodic phrases, sprinkled throughout what is a surprisingly uptempo basskick – it feels quite chill and slow, but is really moving at a good clip. The same can be said for second track "Bad Landing," which has a familiar reggae-dub organ pattern and melody; the throwback to dub is there, but over a similar upbeat bass kick (but staggered rim shot) and bouyant bassline. But not every track here is such a thorough dub-techno hybrid. "Long Drive" is a sedate nod to Detroit techno, while "Credit" is more fully formed in that direction with pronounced claps and warm pads, giving it a nostalgic tint while still looking forward. He's not afraid to dial it all back to the bare essentials, as indicated by "Fine Metallic Dollar" or "She's Gone Wrong," two of the most skeletal tracks of the minimal techno variety (think Richie Hawtin's M_nus label), but these more no-nonsense workouts are balanced by the deep, slow dub of "See In Me" or the beautifully repetitive "Hostile" or lightly melodic "Replace" as a closer.

His tracks feel related and from the same set of hands each time, but none of the tracks on Unknown Exception feel dull or redundant. He's edited well and managed to craft a well-paced album out of these pre-existing standalone releases... it's an album filled with tracks that can function on the floor but are perhaps even better in the deep of night, for isolated at-home listening.

mp3s: Fear of Heights | See In Me
more info: Myspace | Discogs | Modern Love
buy it: Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Amazon

Craque: Gamma (Test Tube digital)

2008-11-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

Matt Cooke Davis is the mind behind Craque, a project of highly abstract instrumental electronic music that often defies easy categorization. He's not afraid of melody or traditional rhythm, even at times can lay down a healthy groove, but most of his music is characterized by heavily processed and manipulated sounds derived from everyday objects. Typically, though, these sounds are far removed from the source and take on a weird, synthetic life of their own.

Gamma is a free mini-album for the Test Tube netlabel, and from the first few seconds of "Penetrarette," Craque is already bending sound into something surprising, a whirling rush of color and texture. It's a brief palate cleanser, wiping out whatever may be in your mind to prepare you for the more subtle and strange longer pieces to follow. "Cirkulit" is built largely around an oddly catchy synth phrase, but the rhythm section, consisting largely of clicks, blips, and fragments, skitters around it, often disorienting you in the process. Like "Cirkulit," "Gruven" (perhaps a play on phonics) is anchored by an off-kilter musical phrase -- in this instance, a series of delayed guitar chords and an odd melodic pattern. "Matterbuss" incorporates some buried field recordings and has a strange free jazz quality about it (in spirit more than sound) while "Orgaslsp" is probably the most unusual of the bunch, with an insistent, rhythmic synth sound that reminds me of heavy breathing, sounds darting in and out of one another as this odd machine gasp persists in rhythm. He saves the most direct beat for last on "Liberation," a downtempo groove that references hip hop in the most leftfield of ways, pitting weird pitched cymbals and choppy samples against a smooth bass synth that ties it all together.

It's another in a series of free digital releases that Craque has produced in the last couple of years, definitely worth a gander for any fan of abstract electronic music. His own approach to strangely infectious grooves takes a bit of time to set in, but it's hard to deny once it does.

more info: Official artist site | Myspace | Test Tube album detail
download it for free: click here

Microfilm: Teenage Symphonies EP (Fiche digital)

2008-11-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

For those who never heard about it (I don't think I even mentioned it here on my own blog), I thought I'd write a post about my project Microfilm's last EP, released over the summer. This is less a review and more just a bit of self-promotion, but I'd like to do my best to give this blurb some substance for anyone curious about what Microfilm has been up to lately.

Our second full-length release, The Slingshot Orchestra, is going to be available on November 11th through a variety of online stores, and I thought I'd preface that with a promotional post about this EP, which includes a track from the new album, several remixes, and an exclusive extra track. The original single is pure pop, the most pop thing we've done to date, with a more than subtle nod to Peter Hook and New Order and my own take on Kompakt's specific recent brand of pop. It's included in vocal and instrumental form, but the remixes then veer off in a variety of directions. The Astrolabe contributes an awesome slab of pure early 90s Shep Pettibone house, while my own "Little Darlings" version is a more functional minimal techno treatment. The "Olivia Hussey" reprise is another reworking we did ourselves, applying a new context to the original vocoder chorus with concrete sounds and IDM programming. Spanish laptop-folk act Monica Y Carlos contribute their own take on the track, using only the original vocal and carving an entirely different track out of it. (Neither the Astrolabe nor Monica Y Carlos had access to the finished track; we only gave them the vocal and had them run with it -- then played the original for them after the fact.)

It's an indication partially of where we headed with the album, away from the more electrohouse and diced up samples of the first album and into something a little more fully formed, more pop, more lush, less obvious. It's still dancefloor compatible, but with advances toward actual songs rather than the off-the-cuff dance tracks we did so quickly last time around.

You can hear the original via this wonderful video that French art group Les Beautiful Fools put together for us:

mp3: Teenage Symphonies (Olivia Hussey's Reprise)
more info: Official Microfilm site | Myspace
buy it: Amazon | iTunes | Emusic

Bersarin Quartett: Bersarin Quartett (Lidar CD)

2008-10-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to Bersarin Quartett's self-titled debut for a couple months now. At first I was letting it set in, speak to me, move me – it continues to do so in new ways every time i listen to it. In fact, I've been struggling to do this impressive record justice within the confines of a review.

For starters, Bersarin Quartett (sic) is not a quartet at all; it's a single man named Thomas who hails from Munster, Germany. He claims an interest in scoring imaginary films, and it's safe to say that he nails it here. In fact, what is most impressive about this album is that each individual track sounds like an epic on its own. String them all together and it's truly marvelous.

Not only is each track carefully crafted – Thomas has a knack for detail – but it usually has its own deliberate narrative arc. The ordering of tracks here is also quite smart, as nearly every track complements the one before and/or after it. The sound is electronic and downtempo, but lush and layered, relying on samples or digital instruments to give it a more orchestral, cinematic bent. From the opening phrases of "Oktober," it's clear that this is going to be a wonderful journey; the electronic chords (reminiscent of Arovane's Tides or even the more sublime moments of Various Artists) provide a nice contrast to the airy string section behind them, all anchored by a loose downtempo rhythm section.

At other times, there is a tinge of light jazz to these pieces, in mood and arrangement, such as the clarinet flourishes on "Geschnicten Von Interesse" or the buried horn of "Die Dinge Sind Nie So Wie Sie Sind," the latter of which has the most rhythmic flair, evolving into a loose shuffle that lends the lightest atmosphere in the middle of the album. It's a nice break in the clouds compared to the more dramatic, brooding moments such as "Inversion" or "Es Kann Nicht Ewig Winter Sein." The former swells in a scary crescendo halfway through, suddenly stops and then creeps back with another series of gloomy drones, while the latter ebbs with a repetitive bass hook and an understated brush kit, carried with a series of undulating chords and overtones. The same might be said about "Und Die Welt Steht Still," another track that hinges on unresolved tension, a prolonged layer of chords through which occasional melodic hints peek. "St. Petersburg" and closer "Mehr Als Alles Andere" both heighten the tension with percolating percussion that denotes a sense of urgency; the latter finally boils over into vaguely Trentemøller territory (at his most cinematic), with a skittering, distorted downtempo kit, resolving with a delicate melodic coda.

Somehow describing this music in text form just doesn't really do it justice... he really is a master of mood and tension, all working within a more traditional framework of musicality. There are no jarring computer-music sounds here; any electronics serve to reinforce the basic melodic or organic foundation from which he's started. It really is a gorgeous set of tracks that warrants repeat listens, as the details come to the fore a little more each time.

mp3s: Es Kann Nicht Ewig Winter Sein | St. Petersburg
more info: Myspace | Lidar album detail | Discogs
buy it: Lidar site

Benoît Pioulard: Temper (Kranky CD/LP/digital)

2008-10-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Benoît Pioulard (the alter-ego of Thomas Meluch) puts forth another release of pastoral, folk-tinged intimacy in the form of Temper, his second album for Kranky. Much like his previous effort Précis, many of the songs herein are quite brief, and the aesthetic tends to bounce between lyrical, dreamy free-folk and more ambient, sublime instrumentals and interludes. Because of the brevity of most of these tracks, Temper is best experienced as a whole rather than as isolated songs or interstitials – sort of the opposite of Max Richter's album I wrote about last week.

I'm of the opinion that despite the distinct inherent difference between the vocal and instrumental tracks, one style could not really exist here without the other; they serve as a healthy complement to one another. Meluch's voice is plain but sweet, working to carry those pieces in which he sings, tempering the more surreal production style (all hazy and dreamlike) with a straightforwardness that's unassuming, at times even a bit disarming. And while at their most basic, the vocal tracks are folk songs, there is enough hiding in the details to subvert any typical assumptions that go along with that tag. Little unexpected things like the accordion on "Idyll" or the thumb piano of "Cycle Disparaissant," the hammer dulcimer of "A Woolgathering Exodus" all serve to liven things up and keep you wondering what's coming next. And not every vocal track is straightforward either; 'Modèle d'Éclat" is a lovely miniature anthem carried by voice and drones, tinkery percussion and rattles skittering under the surface while "Hesperus" has an odd strut to it as the closing song.

One thing I've noticed with Temper is that, for me personally, it comes and goes like a dream – just as soon as I've been submerged in Meluch's strange little musical world, it's suddenly over, and I start it all over again. My lasting impression is vague, sort of like the hazy atmospheres that envelop many of these tracks, but it always has me coming back for more.

Ø: Oleva (Sähkö Recordings CD/LP/digital)

2008-10-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Even though Sleeparchive gets a lot of acclaim these days for his specific brand of minimal, icy electronics (both on and off the dancefloor), it goes without saying that he owes a lot to Mika Vainio and Pan Sonic. Back in the day when Pan Sonic was still violating trademark law with their original name Panasonic, Mika Vainio and partner-in-crime Ilpo Vaisänen created an ultra-cold, hyper-minimal variation on techno. Their debut Vakio was an indication of where they were coming from as much as where they were going, and ever since they've been further distilling their aesthetic, subtracting more and more, adding back in, but rarely really returning to the more predictable 4-on-the-floor formula that powered Vakio.

Vainio's solo work has worked on two very different fronts. Under his proper name, he released a couple albums of extreme minimalism. Onko on Touch was in the "barely there" category, so quiet at times that one had to jack the volume or check the stereo just to make sure it was still in fact playing. Ø has been more of a playground for him, though... where he seems to more freely indulge his influences as well as his own curiosity for space and form. Older releases like Metri or Atomit had nods to 303 acid, Beltram-esque cold techno, and Detroit warmth, even a tinge of melody occasionally (something I don't think I've ever encountered on a single Pan Sonic release). As years have passed, Ø has grown to share the same severity found on many of Pan Sonic's releases, diminishing the direct references to techno and instead opting for something more removed and detached.

Oleva balances these extremes and does so rather well. There is only the occasional nod to the techno past of the moniker, in more upbeat tracks like "Loihdittu," although in that particular instance, the beat is broken, so it's insistent without the immediate dancefloor connection that a steady kick denotes by default. Vainio frontloads Oleva with the most immediate and rhythmic material, leaving the second half of the album to suspend in deep space. It's a trajectory that will likely seem familiar to anyone who's followed Pan Sonic or Vainio's solo material; start up, get active, slow down, disappear... yet however often he repeats this pattern, there is surprising room to roam within his minimal palette. Diversions away from the more severe end of the spectrum are a welcome bright spot, and his oblique cover of Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun" is not only refreshingly odd in choice but also quite compelling as its own piece of instrumental mood music. Unlike the more bombastic moments of recent Pan Sonic efforts like Katodivaihe, most of the tracks here are crystal clear and even have a bit of a twinkle to them, like light refracting and bouncing around a dark room. The sounds are all clean and distinct mostly. This is the case even on the more movement-oriented tracks like "S-Bahn" or the aforementioned "Loihdittu," wherein, despite their more busy nature, everything seems quite distinct and deliberate. On the more atmospheric end, Vainio branches out of electronics for a moment with the startlingly organic "Tasanko," which features plucked strings and bending strums, decaying in its surrounding space. Vainio seems to have an affinity for an oddly dry space -- it sounds equally deep and sterile, vacuous but somewhat claustrophobic. This is most apparent on "Mojave" and "Kaussaliton," the latter of which devolves into the tiniest high frequencies and zips of sound. By the time closing track "Muistetun Palaava Taajuus" rolls around, it's easy to forget that there were some rather spry moments in the earlier part of this album – the dread that fills the air with this more elastic ambience overwhelms any of the action that preceded it in the first half of Oleva.

While Oleva doesn't really break new ground for Vainio, who increasingly strikes me as an "I know what I like and I like it" sort of auteur, it is another compelling entry into his repertoire, channeling his previous efforts and the sounds that comprised them but in some new and interesting ways.

mp3s: Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun | Tasanko
more info: Discogs | PhinnWeb Profile | Sähkö Recordings
buy it: Sähkö download | Boomkat | Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure

Paavoharju: Laula Laakson Kukista (Fonal CD/digital)

2008-10-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

Will you get it? It's not so much a question for you, listener-to-be, as it is a question I ask myself every time I replay this bizarre album from this group of Finns. The songs and pieces that comprise Laula don't function in tandem so much as an album as a series of unexpected detours and diversions. Within the first few songs, the group swerves from textural ambience to off-kilter electronic pop, into a dusty piano chanson and then into straight-laced Finnish folk music. Chances are even the most seasoned fan of eclectic music will be scratching his/her head while listening to this album for the first time.

I guess the real question is, despite its weirdness or unpredictability, is the music worthwhile? I noticed several reviews pop up in recent months that laid acclaim to the group's talents, and I have to concur that it's a thoroughly interesting listen. There are a few moments that test my patience, but overall there is a certain joy in the sheer variety on display here. Although there is a revolving cast of characters in the wings, brothers Lauri & Olli Ainala lead the way mostly, crafting both traditional songs with proper vocals (sung in Finnish) as well as various instrumental vignettes and motifs. There is a certain flare for old-fashionedness that ties it all together, even as the individual tracks vary considerably in style and arrangement... there is also a certain otherworldly mystique to these pieces, as though regardless of what sounds they're exploring, it's all passed through an enchanted forest before reaching your ears. "Kevätrumpu" is a red herring as the first proper song on the album, featuring an airy female vocal and a rousing, almost dancefloor backing track, like Múm overtook a discotheque for a night, all shake and sparkle. In immediate contrast to that are the stark folk-tinged waltz of "Italialaisella Laivalla" and the troubador anthem of "Uskallan," which swells with pomp and circumstance. The latter is one of the more compelling songs because it seems to synergize their ideas the most completely, combining electronics, traditional instruments, both male and female vocals, proper lyrics and a weird, old-meets-new tone. "Kirkonväki" sounds like some odd cast-off from an old film, another bobbing waltz that looms forth with organ, stiff drums and another fluttering female vocal.

Much of the rest of Laula Laakson Kukista is less direct... the duo focuses more on mood and less on traditional songwriting so to speak, but it is not filler. It all adds up to further that vaguely antiquated sound, something that sounds old but still feels new in its oddness and deliberate juxtaposition. The reverberated crow calls of "Sumuvirsi," the dusty music box melodies of "Pimeänkarkelo," the dizzy chamber piano of "Alania," the slightly dub-tinged downtempo of "Ursulan Uni"... all of these at first seem incongruous, but they are part of the larger, mysterious (at times downright confusing) impression of Paavoharju.

So do I get it? Maybe not... the words as I've written them here feel vague even to me as I struggle to describe the impression that Paavoharju imparts. I can't put it on unconditionally at any random time of the day, but it does have its place... that warm crackle of vinyl and old tape that permeates this album feels awfully cozy late at night.

mp3s: Uskallan | Ursulan Uni
more info: Official artist site | Myspace | Fonal Records
buy it: Fonal Shop | Bent Crayon (CD) | Boomkat (mp3) | Amazon mp3

Twine: Violets (Ghostly International CD/LP/digital)

2008-10-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

I should come clean first by acknowledging that Twine and I go way back. I've known both Greg Malcolm and Chad Mossholder since their days in Kent, Ohio, where I went to college. While my friendship with the duo might temper my opinion more than a little, I can honestly say that after 10 years of following their musical endeavors, Violets is the impressive culmination of their progress so far. Their earliest work wandered somewhere between IDM abstraction and dark, clinical drum & bass, somewhat a sign of the times while still putting forth their own twist on contemporary trends, sometimes dodging them altogether. In fact, avoiding trends is really how they set forth from that early point on, veering further and further off the beaten path of en vogue electronic music to incorporate disembodied voices, snippets of found sound, conversations, melancholy guitar work, vague references to post-rock and film scores, tape music and more. By the time they released the overlooked Circulation LP in 2000 on the tiny Swedish label Komplott, they'd virtually abandoned any relationship with genre and begun to pursue their own amalgamation of ideas and reference points, at times bewildering, alarming or chilling.

And so here they are, after a long and winding road, with their fifth album. Those familiar with their self-titled fourth album in 2003 (their first for Ghostly) will no doubt recognize some of the palette the pair have brought to Violets, a disorienting blend of atmospheres, electronics, textures and guitar work. The guitar is largely the focal point of this album, which shifts away from the more obvious programming and rhythm of Twine and transports it into a slightly different sound. But what these tracks do have in common with the group's last effort is the ability to scratch the surface, go underneath to the dark side. In fact, that has been what I would consider a running theme over all their records, irrespective of the arrangements within, tapping into a certain malaise within each of us. Conversations picked up on a phone scanner which may have ordinarily seemed trite or mundane suddenly take on an air of paranoia, like the futility of it all has been exposed within a bleaker, bigger picture.

The closest resemblances to Twine's last album are perhaps "Disconnected" and "Halo." "Halo" is the most overtly electronic sounding of the lot, with a pronounced, clipped staticky drum pattern; underneath reside off-kilter guitar strings and bottomless ambience. At first the plodding rhythm section of "Disconnected," all stop and start, and its accompanying stark guitar melody seem nearly incongruous, but it all falls in line about halfway through the track. This piece has the most clear sense of contrast, the lonely guitar up against a wall of erratic beats. If that's where they've already been, where are they going with the other material? Further in that direction, where the electronics become less obvious, and the distinction between what's electric vs. acoustic, sampled vs. played, natural vs. manipulated becomes more vague. The title track is a gloomy dirge, a series of drones, repetitive basslines and grimy guitar haze. Unnaturally prolonged tones and voices stretch overhead, most obviously in the surreal, distorted protest voices heard halfway through the track (sampled from an anti-Bush rally). Adding to the malaise, an urgent honking horn blows by in slow-motion – taken at face value, it's just another sound, but somehow it seems to point at our troubled times. At other times, the voices are less abstracted: the duo has always had a knack for uneasy voyeurism in its use of scanned conversations, and inasmuch the northern accent that introduces "Longsided" is transformed from what probably is just a mundane yokel conversation into something unsettling, especially when juxtaposed against a percolating rummage of beats and microtonal drones. The frantic girl who argues with her relative on "In Through The Devices" is genuinely anxious, crying over a boyfriend wanted by the law, over a weird, bending guitar pattern.

The most musically graceful moments occur in "Endormie," an extended track again built largely around a lilting guitar phrase and a sweet guest vocal from Alison Shaw of the Cranes. It has the most traditional narrative arc as far as songwriting goes, but does no disservice to the tension found elsewhere here; it is a glimmer of light in the darkness. "Lightrain" buzzes with electricity (literally) and drones, and midway is interrupted by a series of voicemail recordings; they begin clearly but soon disintegrate into Hafler Trio-esque nonsense, another ingredient in the kettle. That the album is bookended with short, lighter fare is a smart choice; the darkness in the center of this album is tempered by a bit of hope and back-handed optimism.

Violets demands a fair amount of attention and will draw you in below the surface before it fully resonates... the voices that speak to one another, occasionally to you directly, are only the surface; there is a lot to chew on here. What began for me as a curiosity has become a mild obsession; the obvious enthusiasm for detail that Twine relish is rubbing off on me, pulling me under, making this one of my favorite albums of 2008.

Max Richter: 24 Postcards In Full Colour (Fatcat CD/LP/digital)

2008-10-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

English composer Max Richter returns to Fatcat for a fourth album of instrumental beauties. 24 Postcards veers off the path from its predecessors, however, in its format and concept. Richter's original intent was for each of these to be a ringtone. On his microsite dedicated to the project, he asks the question, "Who says that ring tones have to be so bad?" He wanted to create a series of vignettes to be used by people as they pleased on their phones, as a way to test the waters so to speak for ringtones as a viable music performance platform. He even goes so far as to point toward potential live space performances where the audience's phones will essentially perform the music, and Richter himself would be the "conductor" or enabler by texting or calling the audience to prompt the music. It all gets a bit grand, especially considering how miniature these pieces of music are... so what then of the music itself?

Some of Richter's previous efforts were grand in their own purely musical right, deceiving in what at first seemed overly simplistic music that would often undulate and build with a certain amount of stealth into something more aspirational and far-reaching. The 24 short ringtone pieces collected here share the same approximate tone of voice of his previous work, each one crafted for electronics, strings and piano to varying degrees. Each one cloys with a bit of yearning, that sort of earnest melancholy that Richter is so good at. Because they are so bite-sized, they often feel like intimate moments, snapshots into a specific spot within someone's emotional train of thought. They all work well together, and although Richter obviously intended these more as one-offs rather than a proper album, it flows quite well in the ordering he's compiled here. Some of the pieces are stark and wistful ("This Picture Of Us. P.," "A Sudden Manhattan of the Mind") while others are more oblique and textural ("Cathodes," "The Road Is A Grey Tape," "Tokyo Riddle Song"). They are also at different turns sweet & romantic ("Lullaby From The Westcoast Sleepers," "The Tartu Piano," "Berlin By Overnight") or nostalgic and slightly more ephemeral ("In Louisville At 7," "A Song For H / Far Away").

I'm not sure why I find these little overtures to be so compelling. Perhaps I can't help but envision my own postcards to accompany them (the microsite's own interactive interface notwithstanding), or even take it a step further and imagine what particular moment in a character's life Richter is scoring. Many of these small pieces bring a large gravity with them, and that something that is essentially an experiment in brevity is able to conjure up imagery or emotions on such an oversized scale is a testament to Richter's panache for moving his audience.

mp3s: H In New England | A Sudden Manhattan Of The Mind | Kierling/Doubt
more info: Official artist site | 24 Postcards project microsite | Fatcat album detail
buy it: Fatcat shop | Boomkat | Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Amazon mp3 | iTunes | Emusic

Cloudland Canyon: Lie In Light (Kranky CD/LP/digital)

2008-10-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

The first time I really heard Cloudland Canyon, it was their previous EP, Silver Tongued Sisyphus. That EP was split in half, with the first leaning more toward sprawling, instrumental psychedelia and the second falling more in line with krautrock. I had assumed that the group would follow the more abstract side of their sound on their next album rather than the more traditional vocal/song structure. It turns out I was half-right.

Lie In Light is not a long album; just under 40 minutes long, it goes by rather quickly, but it suits the sort of narrative arc of their sound here well. They completely confounded my expectations with the opening track, "Krautwerk," which is full-on motorik Neu! krautrock at its finest. It chugs at a steady tempo for the duration before giving way to another vocal track, "White Woman," which glides on a hazy wall of guitar and drones. Much of the reverb-heavy vocals and layered drones recall old psych records (or even the most discordant, more improvisational moments of early Velvet Underground), which reinforces the sort of "other" quality Cloudland Canyon's music seems to have. "You & I" is even more immediate with a chugging, pulsing electronic rhythm section and a shimmering, radiant series of drones and chords that propel the track, but its final moments are more indicative of where the rest of the album is in fact heading; most of the more song-oriented arrangement falls away and a series of bending, wavering drones. This aesthetic carries through the next few tracks with the exception of the krautrock reprise in the latter half of "Heme," again with a certain 60s psych quality due to the sound and style of their vocals. "Mothlight Part 1" is perhaps the perfect closing track, opting out of the dense fog of the previous few tracks with a lovely, short pop song carried by the refrain, "Sometimes it's hard to go home again," a simple sentiment that is almost at odds with the ambiguity of the German lyrics found elsewhere on the album (at least for a non-German speaker like myself).

If Silver Tongued Sisyphus seemed like two disparate halves, Lie In Light seems to indicate that it was really just two sides of the same coin.
Members Kip Uhlhorn & Simon Wojan are able to rise up to the challenge of writing proper songs within the paradigm of their psychedelic storm, but they are just as comfortable submitting to their most basic impulses to let it all flow, often abandoning much of a structure at all and instead letting the music glide where it pleases. They manage to do a lot in 39 minutes, and my hat is off to their ability to ride the line so well, delivering upon expectations while still surprising.

mp3s: You & I | Lie In Light
more info: Official artist site | Myspace | Discogs
buy it: Kranky shop (hosted by Brainwashed) | Bent Crayon | Emusic | Boomkat | Amazon | iTunes

Near The Parenthesis: L'Eixample (n5MD CD/digital)

2008-10-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

There was a wave of so-called "IDM" that rushed in like a tsunami in the late 90s and early 00s that mined heavily from the sounds pioneered by Autechre with their mid-period albums Tri Repetae and Chiastic Slide; while a lot of young producers drew inspiration from those melancholy, non-dancefloor sounds, Autechre moved further and further into abstraction with a series of albums that sounded at times like they were generated by an algorithm, sometimes alienating the fans that had fallen in love with their more obvious and emotive records. Labels like Neo Ouija and City Centre Offices carved a niche for themselves with a series of introspective, instrumental electronic albums from a range of producers all working in tandem within a sort of IDM zeitgeist. I speak for myself and perhaps others as well when I say that the initial fascination with these sounds waned in the mid-00s, emphasized by labels like Morr Music altogether shifting focus toward a vague shoegazer revival, Planet µ switching gears into a dubstep authority, and Autechre continuing to shapeshift in new ways that confound categorization.

San Francisco-based producer Tim Arndt's third release as Near The Parenthesis is my first exposure to his music... I stumbled onto it by chance and am glad that I did. At the risk of sounding generalist, one might say that the music of Near The Parenthesis subscribes to the post-Autechre school of electronic listening. However, I'd venture that it's something slightly beyond that... That is to say that I suspect he's been influenced possibly by those seminal sounds as well as what's come beyond it. But as I write this, I think perhaps this all sounds a bit presumptuous or condescending, as it takes a lot away from Arndt's own musical talents, which should not be underestimated — IDM, post-Autechre or whatever you want to call it, L'Eixample is an achingly beautiful album.

Many of the nine tracks found on L'Eixample ebb and flow with a ponderous grace, with an emphasis on an understated melancholy and lushness that complement its textures, arrangements and melodic sensibility. It is in this shimmering warmth that L'Eixample shakes away many of the immediate comparisons to artists like Arovane or Autechre; many of the more angular or mechanical sounds to be found in those artists' work are completely absent here, or at least dialed down considerably. There is more in common with Cliff Martinez's Solaris score than anything on City Centre Offices; Arndt flaunts a similar knack for repetition and cyclical patterns that are at alternate times hypnotic, moving or insistent. Because of this, the tracks heard on L'Eixample don't feel overly distinct to me but parts of a whole, and this is why it succeeds as an album. While sometimes that homogenous quality can undermine an album, here it strengthens it. There are still some truly gorgeous specific moments on here: the opening melodic phrases of "Guell" are equally gloomy and lovely, while the closing sequence of "A Brief Walk In The Sea" is triumphant in its elegance. The disembodied voices underneath "Empty Square" and "Departing Gate" might make you turn your head a bit just to make sure it's on the album and not somewhere else in the distance; the latter also is built around a nice piano arrangement that builds over its five minutes into a layered beauty.

L'Eixample is a really nice piece of work that comes highly recommended for any fan of emotive, instrumental electronic music. For this listener, it's helped revive an interest in IDM and electronic listening music, proving that you don't need to reinvent the wheel to create something inspiring and moving.

mp3s: Guell | Departing Gate
more info: Official artist site | Myspace | n5MD artist profile
buy it: n5MD download shop | Emusic | Boomkat | Amazon | iTunes

Squarepusher: Just A Souvenir (Warp CD/LP/digital)

2008-10-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

Tom Jenkinson has always been somewhat of an enfant terrible when it comes to his specific brand of electronic music. He made a splash in the mid 90s riding the initial fascination with broken beat electronic jazz. Hisformer roommates Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) and Mike Paradinas (µ-Ziq) were sort of partners in crime, each of them playing with frantic drum patterns, sometimes shrill sounds and often twee melodic sensibilities. Jenkinson always was keen to incorporate his masterful electric bass and a much more jazz-oriented approach to composition, even in his most chaotic electronic moments. But after a few albums of that sound, he made some weird left turns; Music Is Rotted One Note boasted no electronic programming whatsoever, sounding more akin to late 60s fusion jazz than anything on the Warp roster at the time, and the series of EPs that followed seemed to find Jenkinson searching for something new without necessarily striking gold. In the years prior to this release, he seems to have become more comfortable in his own strengths as well as unafraid to confront his weaknesses, albeit more obliquely at times. Hello Everything in 2006 was a welcome burst of joy that seemed to finally embrace his technical skill, jazz-like improvisation, sense of humor and knack for melody full-on.

Just a Souvenir is yet another surprise, however. Certainly Jenkinson can't completely outrun his own technical talents or his previous repertoire, but he manages to find a new way to express it here. In his own words, "This album started as a daydream about watching a crazy, beautiful rock band play an ultra-gig." If that isn't the best way to summarize this record, I don't know what is. While the jazzy electronic flirtations of previous albums like Feed Me Weird Things can perhaps be heard in opener "Star Time 2," much of this album sounds like a rock band brimming with curiosity and ideas. His signature bass is in full effect on many of these tracks, but there are also vocals on some tracks (through a vocoder) as well a significant amount of guitar and some live drumming. "Just A Woman" is a straight-up weird rock anthem, while "Planet Gear" (my personal favorite) soars with its descending melodies and guitar riffs. "Delta-V" is as close to math-rock as he's ever gotten, full of erratic time changes and tightly wound rhythm and guitar playing. In fact many of these tracks are Jenkinson's most frenetic to date, not because of the technical absurdity of the programming (1997's Big Loada wins in that department, hands down) but because the raw power of the arrangements, unusual timing, layering of electric over electric over electronic and sense of humor seem to accelerate everything into a different place from his previous efforts.

It should be noted that not everything here is so energetic; there are a few more languid moments to be relished on this release. "Aqueduct" is a meandering acoustic bass track with a few odd electronic flourishes, while "Duotone Moonbeam" is more straightforward jazz, all acoustic. Add in a few more abstract tracks like the woozy "Fluxgate" or the more stark closing piece "Yes Sequitur" and it's a healthy balance to the dizzying, high-energy majority of this album.

Another review I read of this record referred to it as kaleidoscopic – an extremely appropriate reference point, reflected even in the colorful artwork that accompanies it. Everything here seems carefully considered, but Jenkinson also seems to have followed his muse wherever it may take him. These feel extremely well-constructed and as technically accomplished as ever, but he doesn't appear to have overthought it. The idea hasn't consumed the end product as completely as on some of his late 90s efforts, and it is in that equlibrium that Just A Souvenir excels, managing to wow numerous times over the course of playback.

mp3s: Just A Woman | Planet Gear
more info: Official artist site | Warp Records
buy it: Bleep | Warpmart | Boomkat | Amazon

Grouper: Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (Type CD/LP/digital)

2008-10-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm here in Portland I feel a certain default amount of solidarity with other Portland artists. It's sort of silly because I haven't met Liz Harris, but the songs on her fourth album as Grouper make her feel like an old friend. Her previous releases were generally awash in reverb and feedback, often sounding like they were recorded in a different room altogether from the source. Dragging A Dead Deer moves rather completely away from that, making Harris's guitar and voice more pronounced, less mysterious and otherworldly.

That is not to say that the twelve tracks that comprise this album don't have a certain je ne sais quoi about them... somehow in peeling back some of the layers, Harris is even more cryptic; she's not hiding under effects, but the obscurity of her words and voice remain just as powerful. I've listened to this album countless times and I barely can make out many of the lyrical content at all, even as her voice is significantly clearer. There are a few exceptions that fall back on the reverberation-laden sounds of yore, such as the title track and its skittery delay, the appropriately-named "Tidal Wave," and the ultra-dreamy opener, "Disengaged." My favorites are the stronger, more dynamic tracks that seem to have a more defined arc to them, such as "Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping" and "Fishing Bird." But the real success here is the way these more distinct "songs" so to speak work alongside more textural and ambient pieces such as "Wind And Snow," making this far less monochromatic than some of her previous output (even while that monochrome quality was a strength at the time).

It's sometimes stark and naked, sometimes more subtle, sometimes downright buried behind effects, but whatever the flavor of each respective track, nearly every one here is wonderful. Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill is a triumph through and through.

mp3s: Fishing Bird (Empty Gutted In The Evening Breeze) | Invisible
more info: Myspace | Anticon
buy it: Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Emusic | Amazon mp3

Alias: Resurgam & Resurgam Residual EP (Anticon CD/CDEP/digital)

2008-10-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Brendon Whitney has always been one to keep on eye on, working in the fringes of hip hop with a knack for sampling, editing and technique that easily could pit him against DJ Shadow or RJD2. But his aesthetic is not quite the same as either of those once-comparable artists (their respective sounds have veered sharply apart as well)... Alias has always been more of a composer, less a compositor, if that makes sense. Even as his music is comprised of layers upon layers of samples and sounds and loops, it's always felt more deliberate, and it usually sounds like he's created many of these sounds himself. He also now seems to create a lot of the electronics found on his tracks, not content to lift someone else's synth patterns or basslines. A lot of this lush layering has veered his sound away from hip hop into something more sublime and lush.... when he stopped rapping on his own records, it sealed the deal that Alias was about a lot more than leftfield hip hop.

After several collaborative releases in the past few years, he's returned to his solo work with Resurgam, which might just be his crowning achievement so far. It's remarkable in the sense that it doesn't break too much ground for anyone exposed to his previous repertoire, but for lack of more eloquent words, he just fucking nails it. Resurgam seems to rely on samples the least of any of his material that I've heard. As a technician he's near-perfect here, flaunting his skills with beat programming through aptly named tracks like "I Heart Drum Machines" and "Justamachine," but the skill that went into the construction of these tracks, as with most tracks on here, is runner-up to the emotional beauty to be heard. Many of these tracks are brimming with sounds, often crossing over into other areas like the blurry-eyed swoon of downtempo IDM (think Boards of Canada or Arovane) or dreamy shoegazer pop. Even while there are melancholy moments to be found (such as the more reflective title track), many of these tracks have an optimistic undertone in their unabashed major keys, beaming, hazy refrains and electro-acoustic arrangements. The pacing is dead-on here, usually alternating his more complete tunes with short, ambient interludes – this is nothing that hasn't been done before, but here it works especially well in pacing the album. Vocal contributions from Yoni Wolf of Why? and The One A.M. Radio break things up nicely as well. With the swirling end track, "Oakland In The Rearview," one can only consider this Alias's dedication to his former homebase, having recently left northern California for his original birthplace, Portland, Maine. With a title that translates roughly into "I shall rise again," it seems only fitting that this music be at once reflective and aspirational.

So what of its accompanying EP? It was released in an extremely limited quantity of 100 copies for those who pre-ordered the album through Anticon's webshop. That said, it's not hard to find it floating around online... *ahem* It's a different approach than the main album, in that Alias's voice is at the foreground for the first time since his early albums. But he's not really rapping here; with the exception of the catchy first track, "The Answer," in which he repeats the phrase "I don't wanna be a rapper," channeling the monotone musicality of fellow Anticon artist Doseone, on a few of these tracks Whitney is singing most earnestly. He doesn't have the best voice, but you get the impression that due to the highly limited nature of this EP, these were really personal tracks for him and those fortunate enough to listen in are in on his secret. The production is again top-notch, working as a sister to the main album beautifully... the more outright emotive quality of some of the vocal tracks as well the extension of the same lush, inspired arrangements of the album give this a slightly different flavor within the same broad stroke of Alias's craftsmanship.

Certainly one for the best of 2008, Regurgam comes highly, highly recommended!

mp3s: I Heart Drum Machines | Oakland In The Rearview | The Answer
more info: Myspace | Anticon
buy it: Anticon Store | Bent Crayon | Boomkat | Emusic | Amazon mp3

I do reckon

2008-10-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Microfilm remixed Radiohead's new contest single, "Reckoner," which is currently online for voting. We're pleased with the results and hope you are too. Please vote for us if you like it!!

Update

2008-09-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

For those still subscribed to my blog, here's a quickie update. Apologies again for the absence and no new reviews or posts. I am now in Portland, Oregon, getting settled and starting life anew. Hopefully after this time I will feel more inspired by music and start to write and post more tracks. I will also have some Microfilm news coming, with new material due out from us.

Booka Shade: The Sun and the Neon Light (Get Physical)

2008-08-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

Booka Shade are a couple of very busy men. In addition to this project and all the touring/traveling that goes along with it, they also are key players in the Get Physical label (alongside DJ T., aka Thomas Koch), they also have a host of aliases they record under. But as time has gone on, Booka Shade has increasingly become their main event, releasing a slue of handsome singles of slick electro/tech-house as well as full-length albums.

My favorite thing about Booka Shade is the latter point – they could just as well stick to 12" singles and do well, because they have a knack for bona fide anthems that ride of the line of being epic, cheesy, fun and catchy, without lapsing into any of these so much as to undermine just how good the tracks actually are. However, restless spirits they may be, Booka Shade are coming off releasing their third full-length album, wherein they are just as happy to veer off the well-trodden club path into more listening-oriented, slower tracks as they are to get the crowd moving.

With 2 albums already behind them (2006's Movements is essential), they know what works, and if "Night Falls" was the best opening track of 2006, "Outskirts" may just rival it for 2008. It's a mid-tempo affair that recalls the most lush moments of like-minded Trentemøller but still has their knack for crisp, clean sounds and melody. The addition of full strings moves this into more "serious" territory but not so much that it sounds overwrought; in fact, it's an obvious progression for the act given the more aspirational moments of the prior album. Things continue along this route, gradually working up some momentum with the subtle "Duke" and the oddly spry "Dusty Boots." The latter shows off the duo's new explorations of the male voice, previously highlighted in the spot on "Karma Car" single from early this year. Here it recalls the wordless percussive quality of Laurie Anderson with a series of breathy "ahs" in rhythm with the track over an off-kilter melange of blues guitar samples, reverberated horns and their usual synthy palette of sounds. There are some additional complements to this track, such as the slower "Solo City," which is equal parts IDM and Depeche Mode over a comparable palette; the title track is even more directly Depeche Mode-esque with its plinkity-plonk sounds that recall the strangest moments of Some Great Reward.

In fact, Depeche Mode seems like the most direct reference point for much of The Sun & the Neon Light, from the lush arrangements to the vocals, from the slinky, odd references to folk and blues to the odd samples and percussive sounds. But it doesn't strike me as copying them or ripping them off; it seems like a genuine homage from a couple of blokes who probably grew up on a steady diet of Depeche Mode, Yaz and New Order. It's interesting to hear those influences come through their already established œuvre here, and most of the time it's successful, but occasionally falls a bit flat (the ballad "Sweet Lies" is a bit dull).

When it's all said and done, though, it's the club tracks that really make this album work. "Control Me" is perhaps the best Depeche Mode nod I've heard in a long time, everything from the hook to the vocal, it's a full on party anthem. On the same end, the single "Charlotte" is another hot number, brimming with energy and sunshine. "Numbers," their track from their 2007 DJ-Kicks mix CD, is another slick but more understated club track, shortened for this release but still nice, while "Karma Car" is probably one of the best tracks they've created. The melodic/bass hooks are tight and the wordless vocal that carries it is a breath of fresh air.

Some may find this album to be a bit uneven in its large tempo disparity and genre explorations and blendings, but I think it's wonderful. It showcases an act that is unafraid to explore, try new things and almost always make it work. I can't wait to hear where they take it next.

mp3s: Control Me | Karma Car
more information: Official Site | Myspace | Get Physical
buy it: Get Physical | Bent Crayon | Emusic | Amazon | iTunes

No Kids: Come Into My House (Tomlab CD)

2008-03-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

Vancouver-based No Kids evolved out of the ashes of indie-pop group P:ano after one member parted company. The best description of the somewhat varied music to be heard on Come Into My House is that it sounds like a primarily acoustic, chamber instrument band taking a stab at various pop genres, including vaguely R&B songs, upbeat pop tunes, lazy ballads and everything in between.

Things start off unassumingly enough with the sedate "Great Escape," a light ballad that evolves midway to introduce a lovely brass and string arrangement. The proceedings are a bit more upbeat, with both "For Halloween" and "I Love the Weekend" introducing more elaborate arrangements with an emphasis on rousing vocal choruses and rhythm sections that seem to include a little bit of everything. A distinct R&B influence is more obvious on the likes of "The Beaches All Closed" and "Bluster In The Air" which are both airy but solid; these are some of my favorites. The first thing I had heard about No Kids was that they are chamber-music-meets-R&B, but it's only really on these 2 tracks that it comes through. I wouldn't necessarily say that on the whole it's a very accurate description of the band's music.

Some of the band's slightly goofier moments don't work for me. "Four Freshmen Locked Out" seems like a cheeky novelty, and in its position in the very center of the album, it seems to undermine the better tracks of the album a little. If nothing else, though, the trio aren't afraid to show that they have a sense of humor and that they don't take themselves too seriously. It's this shift in mood from a song like this to the more glum "Dancing in the Stacks" that can make Come Into My House a somewhat confounding listening experience, but the fact that they are able to keep listeners on their toes is probably not so bad a thing in my opinion.

In the end, it's not the potential novelty of genre crossover that makes No Kids successful for me, but rather their knack for interesting songs and smart arrangements, incorporating a variety of different chamber instruments, percussion and minimal electronics to craft rich, thoughtful tracks.

mp3s: The Beaches All Closed | For Halloween
more information: Tomlab | Myspace
buy it: Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Amazon | Emusic | iTunes

Kelley Polar: I Need You to Hold On While the Sky Is Falling (Environ CD)

2008-03-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

Kelley Polar has a fantastic history for write-ups like this one. He's the brother of another established electronic artist (Blevin Blechdom), is the Croatian-born son of U.S. diplomats, was a musical prodigy at a very young age, studied music at Juilliard (but was expelled), did the string arrangements that made Metro Area's backcatalogue so lush, and released a handful of records with his fellow string performers as the Kelley Polar Quartet. It's confusing then that his debut in 2005, the über-slick Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens, got so completely overshadowed by the likes of Junior Boys or early Hot Chip, artists flirting with the same musical stew of R&B, house, disco and new wave pop, especially considering that as a self-contained musical force, Polar is superior to his contemporaries, wearing several hats as primary songwriter, producer and vocalist as well as being responsible for all the string arrangements (and playing the viola) on nearly every track.

His second album is more confident in its blending of styles, moods and sounds. There are moments where he adds in a Laurie Anderson-esque vocal tribute, but never is it stronger than on the first track with its curious vocoder repetition of prosaic phrases (repeated nearly a capella, until a beat is introduced, in an odd phrasing which usually requires a rapid-fire repetition 5 times over of each phrase). The baton is passed from this vocal bit to a simply gorgeous combination of lush Detroit techno and disco strings. Elsewhere, "We Live in an Expanding Universe" also gives a nod to Anderson's "O Superman" with its haunting staccato vocal chords, before evolving into a lovely new wave pop song. More R&B-tinged are tracks like "Sea of Sine Waves," characterized by a bulbous bassline, fluttery backing vocal pattern and fat analog synth lines, or the breathy "Chrysanthemum" which has a super hot 70s R&B unison chorus (it makes me think of Ramp, for some reason). There are also the full-on pop workouts of "Entropy Reigns" and "Satellites," the former of which is as close as you'll probably get to the best track the Human League never recorded.

But what's most fresh about this album is not its references to the music of the past, but the music of the present and future. "Zeno of Elea" is an oddball true original, consisting of a narrative vocal and a weird arpeggiated synth line. "A Dream In Three Parts (On Themes By Enesco)" is presumably building upon musical themes by Romanian composer Georges Enesco (although I'm not familiar with his repertoire), with a fantastic, otherworldly quality to the various pieces and parts, generally beatless, sprinkled with synths and layered with string arrangements. And closing tracks "Thurston and Grisha" and "In Paradisum" seal the deal with more unusual arrangements, the latter consisting of a swirling amalgam of pitter-patter snare rushes, noodly portamento synths and swelling vocals. These tracks break the mold of the fusion-pop style that might those Junior Boys or Hot Chip comparisons, and their placement throughout the album helps keep things from feeling too repetitive.

It's a hot album that hopefully will bring Polar the broader praise he deserves, both very much here and now in its blending of styles, but also forward (and backward) looking in its combination of unique arrangements, curious ideas and tip-top production.

mp3s: A Feeling of the All-Thing | Chrysanthemum
more information: Environ | Official site | Myspace
buy it: Boomkat | Emusic | Amazon | iTunes

Big Spring Sale: After Dark + Blueprints

2008-03-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

As one half of Microfilm, I'd like to sincerely thank anyone who's supported our musical endeavors by ordering our 2xCD set online, or by purchasing online or through an actual shop. We have boxes and boxes of CDs in our studio, and have decided to slash the price dramatically. You can now order the complete set for $6, plus shipping. This package contains the complete After Dark 2006 album, remastered, with 2 extra remixes previously found on the Young Adult Fiction internet-only release. It also includes a complete extra disc of remixes called Blueprints which includes production from Infantjoy, Lee Chameleon, Monologic, Frenchbloke, Warmdesk, Kero and more. You can only order it at this price through our web site, so check it out:

Order the After Dark + Blueprints 2xCD set from Microfilm directly

If you prefer to order it online in a digital format, you have a few different options:

iTunes: After Dark | Blueprints
Emusic: After Dark | Blueprints
Amazon: After Dark

We have a new album in the works with a proposed late summer/early fall release. I'll keep you posted. ;-)

Beirut: The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing/4AD CD)

2008-03-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Zach Condon's music as Beirut inhabits the same fantastical territory of other fringe indie-pop acts such as Bright Eyes, Patrick Wolf or Final Fantasy, characterized by earnest songwriting and a penchant for odd, often elaborate arrangements. Bright Eyes tends to be a little more spastic and dramatic (not to mention more rock, at times even moving into alt-country twang) while the latter two have their own spins on chamber music arrangements. The FF correlation in this instance is hardly inappropriate, as Owen Pallett is responsible for many of the lush arrangements to be found on The Flying Club Cup (in addition to playing and singing). But whereas Patrick Wolf seems to have his ear to the ground in terms of what's happening in new pop and electronic music, Condon seems utterly unconcerned, and harks further back in time with arrangements that are just as informed by the music of now with the sounds of ages long past.

Condon's voice carries most of the songs with a light, lovely sound that can sometimes be affected by a heavy vibrato -- however, this doesn't get in the way of the songs or the stories he tells. Most notable are the instrumental arrangements, which combine a wide array of instruments and styles. The cornerstones of the album are to be found in the generous use of accordion, militaristic snares, trumpet, piano and strings, more often than not set to a 3/4 waltz time signature. And whether a song is more understated like "Un Dernier Verre" or more elaborate like "Cherbourg" or the Pallett-fronted "Cliquot," Condon and his troupe bring the drama, often with what could be considered a 19th century vantage point, equally conjuring up mental associations with the French Riviera or the American Civil War. It is important for me to stress that from my own personal point of view, these are likely cliches that I bring to the experience, as I have no thorough knowledge of the music of this time period. Condon's own fascination with the music of olde is both what makes Beirut's sound unique in 2008 but also what runs the risk of trivializing it, making it seem more of a novelty at times. Fortunately, Condon's knack for a good song generally trumps any of the colonialism of his history-mining; as a result, The Flying Club Cup succeeds not only in the face of its own fascinations but also because of them.

With The Flying Club Cup, Beirut's music snugly sits just in between appropriation, musical theater, and clever singer-songwriter earnestness, balancing each of these loose categories with what appears to be relative ease. Because of that, I can't emphasize enough just how much I enjoy this album. It's sweet, dramatic, fun, tender and lovely, all at once.

mp3s: Cliquot | In The Mausoleum
more information: Official site | Myspace | Ba Da Bing Records | 4AD
buy it: Bent Crayon | Boomkat | Amazon | Emusic | iTunes

21 Love Songs: A Tribute to the Magnetic Fields is available NOW

2008-03-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

Microfilm participated in a free tribute compilation to the music of The Magnetic Fields. 21 Love Songs features a variety of radically different versions of songs spanning Stephin Merritt's entire career, some leaning toward a more DIY free-folk sound or, in our case, slick, clean electro-pop. Artists contributing include Secret Owl Society, Evripidis And His Tragedies, Monica Y Carlos, and many more.

You can download the whole thing here. For purposes of contrast I've included our contribution as well as the original version... the track we picked was from 1995's Get Lost album, the fantastic synth-pop song "The Desperate Things You Made Me Do."

Download: The Magnetic Fields: "The Desperate Things You Made Me Do"
Download: Microfilm: "The Desperate Things You Made Me Do"

Get the whole album here

Autechre: Quaristice (Warp CD)

2008-03-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

Rob Brown and Sean Booth, the two guys behind Autechre, are heroes of mine. Ever since their early days of Artificial Intelligence-era melodic post-techno, they've been on the vanguard of electronic listening music. They are by and large wholly responsible for the genre mis-labeled "IDM" (through no fault of their own), which spawned a surge of sound-alikes after the release of their late 90s opuses Tri Repetae++ and Chiastic Slide. The combination of broken beats, heavily manipulated electronic sounds, melancholy but gorgeous melodies, and new and innovative production techniques was incredibly fresh in the mid to late 90s, but by the time the earlier part of the next decade rolled in, melodic IDM albums were a dime a dozen. Autechre moved away from this blueprint progressively with each subsequent release, never sounding the same as those aping their style... but at what cost to listening enjoyment? An album like Confield from 2001 may be clever and academic and may indeed dodge expectations, but it's a bear to sit through sometimes. The subsequent Draft 7.30 was a little less impenetrable but still not overly resonant (despite a few standouts), and their 2004 release Untilted seemed to run on autopilot. It seemed as if they had exhausted their process-based approach and were lingering at its logical conclusion.

So it's with great pleasure that I give their newest effort Quaristice play after play, rekindling my own personal romance with their music. The magic is back, and Quaristice's 20 tracks are more than enough to prove it. What's perhaps most immediately gratifying about the album is its playfulness; there's a sense of spontaneity in here, even as the tracks themselves were probably worked over with a heavy hand in the final hour. The obtuse, weird sounds the pair have become notorious for are still present in abundance, but they way they interact with other pieces and parts makes this music feel effortless and, even in its most discordant moments, approachable. From the breezy opening chords of "Altibzz," it's obvious that this release is already more palatable than Untilted, although it's a bit of a red herring in light of the wild ride that ensues over the following hour. "The Plc" has a twitchy electro-tinged shimmy about it, "IO" has a confusing, squiggly jitter offset by affected vocal samples, while "Perlence" is anchored by a spacious drum loop, even as the melodic elements surrounding it grow progressively more impatient and prodding. Booth and Brown are smart in the use of pacing and dynamics throughout Quaristice, peppering more ambient tracks like "SonDEremawe" and "paralel Suns" between more severe things like the swirling "Fol3" or the stammering "plyPhon." The final two tracks are an extended ambient denouement, a beatless freefall that's near perfection in placement and tone. Still, what is perhaps most rewarding is the occasional nod to the project's melodic past, such as the majestic "Theswere" or the Rephlex-esque "chenc9." It is because all of these aesthetics co-exist and complement one another from track to track that Quaristice really excels.

Autechre haven't compromised much here, but their willingness to migrate from style to style rather than being more uniform this time around makes Quaristice feel like a much broader, expansive effort. It's a healthy reminder of why they earned their reputation in the first place.

mp3s: The Plc | Outh9X
more information: Autechre.ws | Myspace | Warp Records
buy it: Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Amazon | iTunes

Various Artists: 200 (Planet Mu 2xCD)

2008-03-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

It is difficult for me to not associate Planet Mu as a label with boss Mike Paradinas's Mu-Ziq project; after all, the label is named after it, and generally speaking the two have always been complementary in terms of creative vision. So when µ-Ziq's drill & bass aesthetic seemed to fade from the foreground, I lost a bit of interest in the label, and the inevitable trend-hopping that persists in electronic music didn't necessarily always leave a lot of room for Paradinas's tried and true dedication to his own cause. But more power to him, because in 2008 the label celebrates its 200th release, and can stand proud for having weathered the storm and brought the noise with no regrets.

With the emergence of Burial's debut on the Hyperdub imprint in 2006, the dubstep genre really grew significant legs beyond its insular UK club scene, and Planet µ earned a well-deserved boost as one of the central hubs of dubstep and its various permutations, most often veering into something more sinister, spastic or melodic, crossing over into IDM, hardcore and drum & bass. What 200 does spectacularly well is serve as a showcase of all of these various aspects of the Planet µ roster and more.

For starters, it's a two-disc set and is priced at a mere $10, a total steal for the especially high level of quality control to be found herein. From the opening notes of Ceephax's downright jolly "Castilian" to the deeeep dub of MRK1's "Sensi Skank," it's a pretty top notch collection of tracks, culled from both the label's backcatalogue (several tracks previously only available on vinyl) as well as unreleased treasures.

The easiest way to describe some of what's on here is to break it into loose categories. There are the deep dub-infused sounds of MRK1, Distance (whose "Fallen" appears here as remixed by Vex'd, really stellar stuff), Pinch, Darqwan and Boxcutter (whose "Good You Dub" is a real standout). A few of the tracks veer more into the classic IDM sound: iTAL tEK's "White Mark" is wonderfully gloomy, µ-Ziq's "Lexicon" is delightful and melodic, recalling some of Orbital's more memorable tunes, and The Doubtful Guest's "Nannita" is unusual in its blending of operatic vocals and electro stylings. Some tracks are even more leftfield, namely Jo Apps' "Kausikan," a weird off-kilter downtempo track, The Gasman's oddly beatless arpeggio noodler, "Equino," Ambulance's woozy "The Tams" which closes disc one, and Julian Fane's "The Moon Is Gone," the most proper pop song here, complete with Thom Yorke-esque falsetto voice and a more full arrangement. But for fans of the label, certainly the most immediate tracks will be the crazy, frenetic hardcore and drill & bass tracks that seem somehow to best characterize the personality of the label in its several years of existence. Venetian Snares' "Devil's Totem" could be considered the culmination of the spazzy sequencing experiments of µ-Ziq, Squarepusher and Richard Devine all rolled together, only darker. FFF's "The Feeling" is the tasty essence of every overwrought Speed Limit 140+ BPM throwaway you ever secretly loved, and Shitmat's "Shut Up" (remixed here by Hellfish) is a total monster of noise and furious speed. The funniest track is Duran Duran Duran's "Face Blast" which combines electro, booty bass, mash ups and a good amount of humor into a dancefloor slammer. The only tracks that fall a bit flat for me are Parson's "Throw Some Ds" – it's got more of a hip hop vibe but plods along a bit aimlessly – and Bizzy B & Equinox's "Merda Style 2004" is a little too breaks-by-numbers for my liking.

All in all, 200 is a fantastic way to sample the Planet µ label's repertoire, past, present, and future, and seals the deal that not only is the label here to stay, but it's a consistent innovator in the often splintered landscape of leftfield electronic music.

mp3s: Ceephax: Castilian | Ambulance: The Tams
more information: Planet Mu
buy it: Bent Crayon | Boomkat | Amazon | iTunes | Emusic

Modeselektor: Happy Birthday! (BPitch Control CD)

2008-03-04T23:21:00.000-08:00

Modeselektor are one of my favorite electronic acts of the past several years. Their quality control is generally quite high and they are supremely versatile, trying their hand at various aspects of electronic music without ever pandering to many cliches or allowing themselves to be painted into any musical corner. After a series of diverse and successful 12" releases which ran the gamut from "serious" IDM to full-on rave tracks, Modeselektor released the wildly surprising & delightful Hello Mom! album in 2006. It was a wallop of an album in that it combined everything the pair does so well, and expanded upon it further. It included references to hip hop, electro, hardcore, IDM, grime and more, without ever seeming too scattered or fragmented.

So it happens that if Happy Birthday! somehow feels slightly underwhelming, it's only in the fact that it's not as surprising as the debut full-length. It's not any less successful, or less diverse, and still seems to smartly reflect their various interests musically, but just in that sheer "wow" factor it's a case of diminishing returns.

With that small point of criticism out of the way, I have to admit that it's a pretty killer album. They've reprised the TTC collaboration from their debut with another here called "2000007," which is just as hot and fucked-up as the last go-round, as well as other vocal contributions from Puppetmastaz (the humorous "Dark Side of the Frog/Sun"), Maximo Park and Schematic noisemaker Otto Von Schirach (another humorous tune, "Hyper Hyper" is a shout-out to all things hi-nrg). Two of my personal favorites are collaborations with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke ("The White Flash" has all the strength that The Eraser aspired to) and Tikiman Paul St. Hillaire, whose "Let Your Love Grow" collaboration with the duo and Apparat (credited to their previously one-off Moderat alias) absolutely soars in its combination of surging chords, dub beat and vocal.

But most of this album is Modeselektor on their own, making a variety of sweet instrumentals that crossover between electronic subgenres and back again, often effortlessly and many times within one track. "Edgar" has a great grime rhythm track over an aspirational melodic workout, while "Godspeed" is a fantastic crescendo of a track, working in tandem with the goofy title track to kick off the album with a bolt of energy. "B.M.I." has all the dark crunch of a good Sleeparchive track (his remix from their debut must have rubbed off) while "The Black Block" is probably the most direct dancefloor banger to be found.

While Happy Birthday! might not have quite the same element of surprise that characterized Modeselektor's first album, it's still quite strong and showcases their wide variety of interests, influences and talents.

mp3s: Godspeed | Let Your Love Grow
more information: BPitch Control | Official Site | Myspace
buy it: Forced Exposure | Boomkat | iTunes | Emusic | Amazon

Pan Sonic: Katodivaihe (Blast First Petite CD)

2008-03-03T01:47:00.000-08:00

What's up with all this music that came out in May 2007 that I apparently missed? This is one of a string that I've written about recently that must have flown under my proverbial radar. Not that Pan Sonic are anything new to me, as I've been a fan of theirs since the late 90s when they started mutating from a post-techno trio into something progressively more unique and abstract. However, I haven't followed them too much in years past, with the exception of the somewhat bloated 4xCD set Kesto from 2005 (which, admittedly, I didn't listen to more than once in its entirety).

The impulse to hear new material from my favorite musical Finns came when I was writing about Signal last week, whose music is very much cut from the same cloth. Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisänen after more than 10 years are still exploring the outer limits of minimal electronic music, usually combining instruments of their own creation with sequencers and samplers, and recording and assembling their music through live improvisations. While their latest full-length Katodivaihe is not a shocking development from their previous repertoire, it is enough of a shift in sound to be quite interesting, and after the excess of Kesto, it feels like a much more concise musical concept from start to finish (and able to listened to in one sitting!).

If there is a theme to be found here, it's that of abrasion and discomfort. Much more so than some of their past efforts, Katodivaihe is unafraid to emphasize noise, with several of the tracks bringing to the fore caustic, destructive rhythms that once again reveal Vainio's ties to industrial music in the past. After a more low-key opener that is more typical of the duo, "Lähetys" brings the noise in the form of mangled, distorted explosions, while "Koneistaja" is grounded with a more common drum track which provides the backbone of a wall of grinding noise over it. This is not to say that Katodivaihe is lacking in dynamics; there are several tracks that showcase the pair's ability to create chilling atmospheres, such as the icy, spacious "Laptevinmeri" or the mindfuck double-whammy of "Suhteellinen" and "Kytkennät," both of which play with extreme dynamics. "Suhteellinen" begins as an ambient exploration of cello overtones but explodes in its final moments in a sprawl of highly abrasive electronic noise, and "Kytkennät" picks up where the former leaves off with a strange undulating pattern of noise and pulse. They save the best for last, though, with several tracks in a row that focus on the most unabashedly furious and rhythmic aspects of the group's aesthetic, my favorite is which is "Leikkuri," a short but wicked track that feels more like Merzbow remixed than a proper Pan Sonic composition.

It's refreshing to hear the originators of this aesthetic still running strong and evolving in interesting ways, while staying true to their roots.

mp3s: Suhteellinen | Leikkuri
more information: Official site (Phinnweb) | Blast First Petite
buy it: Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Amazon

Milanese: Adapt (Planet µ CD)

2008-03-02T11:26:00.000-08:00

Steve Milanese is capable of an awfully ferocious slab of sound. His Extend album was chock full of distortion, mangled sounds, frenetic breaks and weird cut-up vocals, resulting in one of last year's more memorable (and scathing) dubstep albums. It's only fitting that after his cut-up, boisterous debut 1 Up Milanese jumped from Warp Records to µ-Ziq's Planet µ imprint; Mike Paradinas (µ-Ziq) has been focused on harnessing the collective power of the fast and the furious for many years, with a notable gap between the en vogue days of drum & bass and its various niche offshoots (Squarepusher, et al) to the renewed interest in the power of the distorted break (circa Burial's debut). So the aggressive bombast of Milanese's Extend seemed right at home alongside the likes of MRK1, Vex'd and other µ artists.

Perhaps what makes Milanese's releases so appealing is that they never overstay their welcome. 1 Up was a mini-album with a plenty of legroom within its noise, never prone to resting squarely within one specific aspect of dubstep or broken beat. Extend appropriately enough expanded a bit with 10 tracks, a few of which were shorter with a run-time totaling under 40 minutes. And in the middle of last year, Milanese released this collection of remixes and rarities, Adapt, which interestingly culls from both of his previous albums, not just one. Extend is represented more substantially, with a primary focus on the vocal and more direct beat-driven tracks, but Adapt lacks one thing that was really appealing about that release, which is its willingness to forego the drum track altogether and to opt for more sculptural, dense noise. It generally makes up for it, however, in its keen ear for rhythm.

Milanese contributes a couple reworkings of his own, including the alternate of "Mr. Bad News," here titled "Mr. Good News," as well as another remix of the track from Chris Clark, who turns it into something far more impressive, playing up the melodic phrase that formerly was limited to a low-end snarl, but still laying on plenty of grit with furious breaks and drum programming. Distance's remix of "Dead Man Walking" turns down some of the distortion and distills it into something that feels a little less brutal, easier to digest; similarly, Milanese does his own dub of "Barry" from Extend which again peels back one layer of the frantic chaos that shaped the original, but it still relies heavily on the repetitive I, Robot sample ("I did not murder him...") and distorted, albeit slower, drums.

My favorite de/reconstruction comes from Hrdvision... his reworking of "Sight Beyond Sight" is super clipped, cut-up, reorganized and revitalized. The original was a brutal, thudding assault of breaks and atmospherics, leaning more toward the pulverizing hardstep of late 90s Panacea than anything one might associate with the current dubstep scene. Hrdvision's interpretation dissects the source audio and makes it something new, even as many of the samples sound like they were sourced from the final bounced track (just fragmented and reorganized). As it progresses things mutate and he introduces some unusual synth patterns as well as additional drill & bass breakbeat loops, making the second half of the mix almost its own track completely, but one of the most interesting portions of Adapt on the whole. The other remixes that appear from 1 Up also also enjoyable, especially the "Billy Electron" track which revisits "Billy Hologram" and makes it something less rough around the edges.

It's not essential listening, but is an interesting complement to the previous two releases in Milanese's repertoire. For newcomers, I'd recommend Extend over this, which is better heard first if only to appreciate the new direction of some of these remixes, but also has more to it in terms of variety and raw power. That said, it's a welcome stopgap until we hear more original material from Mr. Milanese.

mp3s: Sight Beyond Sight (Hrdvision Remix) | Mr. Bad News (Clark Remix)
more information: Planet µ | Official site | Myspace
buy it: Bleep | Boomkat | Forced Exposure | Amazon | Emusic | iTunes

September Collective: All The Birds Were Anarchists (Mosz CD)

2008-03-01T07:39:00.000-08:00

September Collective is a three-piece group consisting of otherwise accomplished artists Robert Lippok (probably best known as 1/3 of To Rococo Rot), Barbara Morgenstern and Paul Wirkus. The trio came together after playing shows together as solo acts, and it's neither surprising that they were billed together nor that they decided to unite for a new project together.

Although these musicians' own music is relatively distinct when compared to one another, they do tend to mill about the same territory. Each is good at creating sounds that are both sedate and calm but active and interesting, using subtle laptop textures and rhythm tracks alongside melodic chords and a smart use of repetition to create an atmosphere or mood. Morgenstern is the most pop-minded of the three, always working with her own voice as well as a substantial use of organ and piano to create more immediate songs rather than moods. In this project, her role is more democratic; she doesn't sing but contributes a variety of playing here, most obviously in the form of the piano that graces some of the more memorable tracks.

It's funny how art direction and a title can steer your impression of an album; this album brims with an organic, natural quality, despite all the editing, sampling and electronics that went into its production. Perhaps that is because there is a certain spontaneity to some of these tracks; it sounds as if they evolved out of improvisation and some of the happiest accidents were captured in the process. At times this improvisation is more obvious, such as the relatively freeform, effects-laden short track "Our Cat," or the strange, creaky excursion that is "Pausenband." At other times, things feel more deliberately crafted, with a more keen ear for musicality and less emphasis on texture. The longest track, "Das Meer," has a bouyant, muted bassline that provides a gracious counterpoint to Morgenstern's piano playing; it all has a bit of a jazzy slant without sounding sentimental or cloying. "Grundgeraeusch Der Wohnung" is the best of both worlds, both abstract and melodic, bridging the various gaps between each artist's aesthetic.

It's an album that floats by almost like a dream, but it's full of moments that are memorable. The rickety attack of "Primaten" or the wobbly nod of "Natura" are just a couple of the things that make me smile when the album plays, and makes me eager for the bloom of spring.

mp3s: Natura | Spaetes Licht
more information: Mosz Records | Myspace
buy it: Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Emusic | iTunes | Amazon

Electricwest: Divine de Vice (Archaic Horizons mp3/digital)

2008-02-29T08:10:00.000-08:00

I wrote about Electricwest's limited edition CD, Together We Fade, about a month ago, and he has already followed it up with this release on the netlabel Archaic Horizons, a full-length release that pairs each of its seven new tracks with at least one remix.

This release continues Electricwest's languid journey through a hazy, melancholy landscape of instrumental electronic music. Many of his originals persist at the intersection of light ambience, slow, downtempo grooves and detail-oriented, fussy programming, all tying into his over-arching vision for something sedate, beautiful and occasionally tragic. The best original example of this here is "Before You Know I'm Gone," whose title alone suggests a certain amount of regret and/or reticence. The music reflects this achingly, with a repetitive musical phrase anchored by skittering percussion and a slow and steady drum track. It's complemented well by Milieu's reworking, which introduces a more pronounced melodic layer and a more crisp, streamlined drum track. It's probably the most typical "IDM" piece to be found herein, but it's gorgeous, both clean and clear as well as a bit "off" in some of the detuned chords that support the melody. "Because of You" is comparable to "Before You Know..." in its patient tempo and crisp break, with a warbly synth roaming overhead, but I actually prefer the remix by Celer, which removes the rhythm track altogether and consists primarily of decaying, slow synth pads. This dichotomy occurs yet again with "Hello Stranger," a nice downtempo track characterized by skittering details and a delicate melodic phrase, whose remix strips away the beats and is highly textural with the use of manipulated vocal samples and drones.

My personal favorites are the original and remix of "Where'd You Go?" Completely beatless, the original starts off with a faint drone, building into a fog that suggests momentum but never really lifts off. But the David Tagg remix is really something; his "Mall Security Mix" amps up the tension while increasing the haze, making it feel like an overpowered field recording of incidental sound, much like that constant lull that accompanies a far-off lawn mower or a heavy-duty vacuum that's 3 floors up.

As an album it's an interesting split, starting off with the originals which are quite nice, and then moving through the remixes which begin more typically as reworkings with new drum tracks, added melodies, etc, but then begin to mutate into something far more surreal and other. In this way, the album flows very well despite not being all original material, and it's an impressive exercise in track ordering since disjointedness can often be the downfall of a remix collection (let alone when remixes are adjacent to originals).

It's another handsome entry in the repertoire of Electricwest, and I for one am delighted that he's made this available for free.

download it here
more information: Myspace | Archaic Horizon

Signal: Robotron (Raster-Noton CD)

2008-02-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

I grabbed Signal's album on an impulse, having heard a few clips but not knowing much about it. Listening to the album, it is through and through pure Raster-Noton. All the calling cards are there: crisp, digital signals, rhythmic clicks and blips, an attention to white space, and more or less a complete lack of melody. The most immediate association, however, when listening to the various eleven tracks of Robotron, was the Finnish duo Pan Sonic. Many of the more rhythmic qualities of Robotron hark back toward Pan Sonic's earlier days as a post-techno outfit (circa Vakio or Kulma), although these tracks are more removed from the dancefloor than some of those old Panasonic records.

It's funny what certain name associations bring to the table, though; when I learned the identity behind Signal, I was far more prone to excuse the somewhat sound-alike quality of these tracks. Signal is a sort of Raster-Noton supergroup, including Carsten Nicolai (Noto), Olaf Bender (Byetone) and Frank Bretschneider (Komet) in a series of studio improvisations or live recordings made over the course of five or so years. The closest comparison to any of those artists' solo work would be Bretschneider's, especially his newfound appreciation of more aggressive rhythm. It is the beat that drives these tracks, unifying the entire release into what feels like movements of a singular idea. The first set of tracks sounds fairly separate from the second set, though, displaying a heftier version of what each of these artists is good at on his own; "Naplafa" has an urgency in its repetition and line-noise rhythm section, which segues into the title track in all its bit-crushed glory. The bass kicks into high gear on "Malimo" with a thudding regularity that makes it feel more aggressive, but the second half of the album both expands upon and diverts from this aggression in equal amounts.

Starting with the grinding "Rawema," the trio begins to expand on the core ideas explored in the previous half of the album. There are more suggestions of bassline and melody, even in the relentless distorted growl of "Rawema," but especially in the clipped strides of "Sporett" which has an actual bassline, tiny drum sounds and what appears to be a vocoded voice that loops along with the rhythm. "Epirex Motor" continues this rhythmic exploration, with a clarity in the individual sounds that shakes off much of the more relentless quality of the earlier tracks, instead relying on a disorienting flurry of tweaked, flanged high-end noises. Closer "Wismut" brings things full circle, re-incorporating some of the darker edge of the earlier tracks alongside some of the more succinct and brighter noises found across the board.

Robotron effectively showcases each producer's ability to manipulate digital sound, both in terms of timbre but also with a keen ear for rhythm and progress. Because of this, it tucks neatly alongside these artists' individual repertoires as well as the Raster-Noton catalogue. Not necessarily surprising, but quite a ride.

Signal live at Volksbühne, Berlin, October 2007

Steinbrüchel: Basis (Room40 CD)

2008-02-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

Steinbrüchel is the ambient/abstraction project of Swiss producer Ralph Steinbrüchel, who has a tendency to create extended meditations based on previously recorded material or field recordings. Basis is no exception, consisting of highly processed reworkings of recordings of guitar music from Ben Frost and Lawrence English, as well as one very long take around the piano music of Bernd Schurer.

This album is nothing if not consistent -- if, based on listening to the clip I've posted, you are bored, or you don't like it, this is surely not the album for you. Steinbrüchel is not interested in drama or dynamics, but seems perfectly content painting an aural canvas that is subtly textured and somewhat monochromatic. If one were to compare his music with a painter's work, it might be Ad Reinhardt. Abstraction here is taken to a reasonable extremity, removing most traces of the guitar as a proper instrument and turning it into a series of drones, surfaces and overtones.

Each of the Lawrence English abstractions are numbered "Interlude 1" through "Interlude 4," and they are the most serene of the lot. They bookend and alternate within and around the other pieces, with most discernable tones sounding more like sedated chimes or synths than guitar, and most often sounding like an ebbing tide of drones. Each of the "Interludes" is shorter (averaging 5 to 7 minutes). By contrast, the Frost and Schurer pieces are far longer; the patience found in these extended interpretations by default lends to them more subtlety, traveling quite slowly from point A to B, and occasionally to point C or D from there. For instance, "These 1"'s introductory haze bristles for several moments before subsiding and gradually evolving into what sounds like a muted, somber rendering of Frost's "Theory of Machines" track (taken from his album of the same name, released last year). It shows how far very little can go, because it's not all that different from Frost's recording, consisting of the same repetitive chords, but completely declawed and neutralized into something less sinister and more meditative. Likewise, "These 2" (the other Ben Frost interpretation) begins as a dense fog of sound but gradually becomes distilled into something of a muted sparkle. Even more glacial is "Falter," a 20-minute take on the piano recordings of Bernd Schurer, which mutates slowly, gradually shifting in tone and color until it finally dissipates with a quiet sputter in its final moments.

This is not music that especially tells a story, or has any real entertainment value. It's a quiet series of studies in patience and restraint, which, when given the proper listening environment and attention, are quite rewarding.

mp3: These 1
more info: Room40 | Post Everything
buy it: Boomkat | Amazon | Emusic | iTunes

Aril Brikha: Ex Machina (Peacefrog CD)

2008-02-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's not uncommon for fans of techno or house to turn their noses up when they even hear the word "trance" as applied to club music. It conjures up associations with obnoxious arpeggios, epic breakdowns and shamelessly out of the box sawtooth synth leads which, in the wrong hands, can sound tedious at best. Still, "trance" was not always a dirty word; one need only look back to the earlier days of Sven Väth et al to see that what was once called trance is now usually just referred to within the techno catch-all.

Aril Brikha's newest album for Peacefrog succeeds in the face of the trance tag, and perhaps because of it; these songs have some things in common with the subgenre without being tedious or derivative, and without being defined by any specific subset of the electronic dance arena. Perhaps it's the large scale of some of the best tracks here, shifting from something inspiring to complete anthems. "Lady 707" has a repetitive melodic pattern that works well over its midrange drum kit, an unusual combination that reflects Brikha's affinity to the dance music of the past along with current trends. The same is true for "Leaving Me" which is truly epic in its 11-minute play time and big melodic swells, again reflecting elements of trance without the cheese factor. "Room 337" has the same tendency toward melancholy melodic patterns, but is a bit more urgent and a bit less dramatic. It helps provide a sense of movement through the album, starting with a couple songs that point toward vintage Detroit, then toward the more melodic trance sound and then something different... "Contact" is a chunky groove with a thick bassline and cool melodic phrase while I'm assuming "Kind of Nitzer" is a nod to the UK EBM duo, with a dark buzzy bassline and needling high-end pattern. What's refreshing here is that regardless of what direction Brikha is pointing toward, the past, present or future, nearly every track is slickly assembled and shares his knack for strong chord progressions and synth pads that have a high gloss about them. This love of melodic drama unifies all of Ex Machina's disparate tracks, nearly all of which work just as well on a dancefloor as off. There are no throwaway tracks here, and so Brikha successfully dodges the bullet that is so often the downfall of the techno full-length.

mp3s: Lady 707 | Leaving Me
more information: Peacefrog | Myspace
buy it: Boomkat | Amazon | iTunes | Emusic

TTC: 3615 TTC (Big Dada/V2 France CD)

2008-02-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

French rap outfit TTC are somewhat of an anomaly in my musical taste, and even writing about them is, for me, a dicey prospect to a certain extent. Generally I'm not much of a hip hop fan, and when I hear the genre done in a foreign language it usually makes me either chuckle or roll my eyes. (DJ Krush's albums with Japanese rap in the late 90s just made me cringe, despite how much I think Krush is a good producer.) So why do I like this TTC album?

Whatever you might make of their vocal styles, they're nothing if not distinct, and under those punchy rapid-fire vocals are some really weird rap and R&B productions. They're not so weird as to be divorced from the genre altogether, but TTC themselves have expressed an interest in creating rap music for people who don't really like rap music. Despite that proclamation, TTC remains obviously indebted to various American production techniques ranging from the Dirty South to Anticon, even as they continually dodge direct comparisons. Production crew FuckALoop, originally tangential but now a more integral part of the project with this record, also throw in a great deal of other stuff, drawing from the dance music of the 80s and 90s in equal parts (with a healthy dose of vintage rave), as well as more straight-up R&B for a couple tracks which incorporate actual singing courtesy of backing vocalists.

And, then again, there are those voices. Alternately cartoonish and seductive, it's hard to take them too seriously, but I suspect TTC wouldn't have it any other way. Each of the three MCs has his own style, with Teki Latex having a shouty, more obnoxious quality, Tido Berman lending a smooth, almost melodic vibe and Cuizinier contributing a weirdly sexy deep voice that falls somewhere between a groan and a tease. Despite having a basic knowledge of French, I can't keep up with them to understand what they're saying; I have to read lyrics on paper and loosely translate (although at times, the meaning is pretty obvious). That said, I can't be a very good judge of this music for lyrical content, and I've read comments online that their lyrics are not so hot, but to me they don't appear to be written without a sense of humor. But for every steamy track like "Strip Pour Moi," there is the occasional embarrassment like "Frotte Ton Cul Par Terre" (set to the tune of "Hokey Pokey," loosely translated the title means "Drag your ass on the ground"). But then they treat us to the almost sublime "J'ai le son" with its decaying grime snares, or the sleek "Ambition," which is equal parts hip hop and "Chariots of Fire" (yes, it's pretty awesome). "Turbo" is another highlight, brimming with a buzzing rave synth and plodding, shouted vocals, while "Travailler" is a slinky R&B tune that is better heard in its jacked-up remix found on its single release. The album ends with a scorcher courtesy of buds Modeselektor who return the favor of TTC's guest spots on their records by providing the rousing "Une Bande de Mec Sympa," a fantastic rave anthem with a chorus shout. What TTC seem less prone to do is cutting apart and fragmenting their vocals, which Modeselektor do with reckless abandon on their own tracks; here there is a middle ground where Tido's voice is treated on the refrain as a staccato sample and there are several weird details where vocals are tweaked, stuttered, flipped or otherwise distorted around the primary lyrics.

It's an album that doesn't require that you understand the language to appreciate the music, or even some of their humor which comes through in style alone. And despite any of their leftfield tendencies, TTC are just fun and accessible enough to potentially cross over to broader audiences.

mp3s: Une Bande de Mec Sympa | Ambition
more information: Big Dada | Myspace | V2 France
buy it: Boomkat | Amazon | Emusic

Valgeir Sigurðsson: Ekvílibríum (Bedroom Community CD)

2008-02-23T18:38:00.000-08:00

Valgeir Sigurðsson has been an active figure in music production for some time now, having contributed and played with Sigur Rós, Björk, CocoRosie and others. In addition to these collaborations, he's managed to start his own imprint, Bedroom Community, which hosts a handful of promising artists. The first two records he released were from neoclassical prodigy Nico Muhly (another Björk collaborator) and Ben Frost, both of whose albums are considerably different from one another. Muhly's album is somewhat avant garde and almost exclusively for traditional instruments, whereas Frost's was an epic, dark ambient manipulation of Swans samples and electronics.

Even more of a departure is the label boss's own solo debut. Ekvílibríum is far from the more severe angle of either of the previous releases on the label, and rather is a lush, fully-formed pop album. Valgeir Sigurðsson's sharp techniques as a producer shine through in blazing colors here, with a spectrum of sound that is as deep and sensuous as it is bright and radiant. The first song, "A Symmetry," begins with what sounds like more common IDM rhythms but soon evolves into something altogether different with the use of bright melodic piano. (I'm not sure how or whether he's treated the piano sounds on the record, but it tends to sound unusually bright.) The logical companion to this opener is "Focal Point" which features some gorgeous piano melodic work from Nico Muhly along with some gentle and elegant viola courtesy of Una Sveinbjarnardóttir. It's probably my favorite track on the album, encapsulating all of the various aspects of the other songs (minus vocals) in one stunning 6-minute piece. The other instrumental pieces are nice as well, but at times more subtle; "Equilibrium Is Restored" is almost pastoral in its patient, dreamy pacing, and closing track "Lungs, for Merrilee" is a five-minute, vibrating meditation for piano and strings.

There are several vocal tracks on the album, including 2 contributions from Will Oldham (credited to his Bonnie "Prince" Billy alias), and one each from J. Walker and Dawn McCarthy. "Evolution of Waters" aims big in its sweeping arrangement for celeste, piano, strings and electronics, complementing Oldham's voice well. "Kin" falls toward the end of the album and also features Oldham's airy vocals over a comparable arrangement, very lovely stuff. J. Walker's collaboration on "Baby Architect" is a little more sleepy, built around guitar and oddly manipulated layers of flute, bassoon, strings and electronics, often falling back on a stuttering texture of Walker's voice, slowing down and speeding up through tape manipulations. "Winter Sleep" is the most dramatic of the vocal tracks, characterized by Dawn McCarthy's gorgeous voice, which ranges from a creamy alto to a bright operatic soprano. Her non-verbal vocals at times recall the soaring voice from Preisner and Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique, giving it an otherworldly quality at times.

It's a varied collection of songs and pieces that work well within and without one another; it flows quite well as an album, but these songs don't necessarily require one another to be appreciated. That there are just as many instrumentals as there are vocal tracks makes it all that much stronger, balancing between a sophisticated pop album and something more subtle or nuanced. It's a very well-produced, clean, smart collection of tracks that, especially when compared to the Bedroom Community repertoire thus far, indicates a world of possibilities for Sigurðsson's vision.

mp3: Focal Point | Winter Sleep
more information: Myspace | Bedroom Community
buy it: Directly from Bedroom Community's webshop | Amazon | iTunes | Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Tonevendor | Boomkat