Archive of "listening" entries - music reviews of various sorts.

What's the buzz (12:25 pm)

Why, I hear you ask, has this musician's blog, this blog of a musical obsessive, who squanders his hard (or not so hard) earned cash on CDs and vinyl at a desparate rate, been so shamefully lacking in recent-listening updates of late?
Well one thing's for sure: it's not that I haven't had lots of great new listening! It's simply impossible to review everything that I get, but I'll try to go through some of the more exciting items. I'm at work at the moment, so it's a leetle bit tricky, but lemme get my ass back home and I'll get going. In the meantime, if I can think of anything without looking at covers/listening to excerpts, I shall stick 'em up here.

Reader, your relief is palpable. I'm so glad I have finally come clean with you, as I know you were starting to wonder whether I'd perhaps gone deaf or dumb... The love's still there.

The Matthew Herbert Big Band - Goodbye Swingtime (10:55 pm)

Fuck me dead. Matthew Herbert - he's the brilliant producer who squanders his talent on 4/4 house shit, isn't he?. The musician whose politics I love - shame about the music. The guy I'd love to like who just makes crap. The one who records in "Swingtime", but whose sense of rhythm (all of his fans to contrary) is as stilted as all get-up. Right? (*)

Well that was all pretty much correct, until I picked up this little beauty the other day. Herbert says Goodbye Swingtime by making a hybrid swing band-meets-glitch pop record. The Big Band is perfect (if a little more Broadway Frank Sinatra rather than my preferred early Duke Ellington, say) and the clicky, ultra-edited production that underlies it is pretty as (especially on "Misprints", which will be on repeat indefinitely here at Frogworthville Central). Herbert has a little description of how it came about here. Some of the conceptualisation behind the work is a little silly:

specific political texts have been used to generate additional percussion noises. I have also used clippings sent to us from around the world about a possible imminent invasion of Iraq, and people dropping their local phone book from various heights.

I really don't see how the sound of a political work being manipulated can have any impact on a piece of music. I'm sure Herbert doesn't think it really means anything either, but then why? Just like his Mechanics of Destruction project was a fascinating concept (the ultimate anti-corporate album, never sold, only given away; created entirely from samples of various corporate symbols (Big Mac meal etc) being manipulated or destroyed), but the music was just so much crappy glitchy house. *sigh*

The music on this CD, however, is fantastic. I find Jamie Lidell's voice a little annoying (as I do on super_collider - I'm just not into the whole soul/funk axis particularly, despite the incredible wealth of samples those genres have provided for jungle & hip-hop), but the instantly recognizable Arto Lindsay is superb on another highlight, "Fiction", as are the various female vocalists.
Take a moment to stop by the website and have a read of the lyrics too. That's where the politics really lies, not in the silly post-modernism of obscure homemade samples.
The Big Band music is very lyrical, beautifully arranged and played, with close-knit harmonies, while underneath it the electronica often burbles. To me, there's nothing untoward about a brass solo climaxing into a subdued clicking soundscape, or a classic-sounding female vocal harmony being sung over jump-cut-edited brass samples. It's just what the doctor (Rockit?) ordered.

*NB: With some guilt, I must comment that I paint my HerbertHatred above with somewhat stronger hues than necessary. Herbert's remix of Björk's "Pagan Poetry" is a beautiful pulsating creation, and his Matmos remix is tops too; and I have a Dr Rockit track on the Ninebar Records Rumpus Rooms comp which is actually drum'n'bass! I just find that the rapture with which some people take him is unwarranted in the main; I've listened to the Mechanics of Destruction CD in its entirety, as well as the Secondhand Sounds double CD of his remixes, and the indubitably excellent production is swamped by relentlessly, overwhelmingly boring 4/4 house beats. There's no swing or funk in sight, to these particular ears.
But anyone who knows me knows my aversion to house music in general. Like Akufen - awesome production; "Deck The House" never fails to astound with its mind-bending pop-radio-sampling, but two tracks later the kick drum's still thumping and I've pressed stop. So be it.

John Zorn/Various - Voices in the Wilderness (Masada 10th Anniversary Edition) (11:59 pm)

The extent to which I am behind in my music reviewing is insane. There is no way I can catch up. There has been a huge amount of wonderful music coming my way in the last few months, but I either haven't been up to reviewing or have been busy doing other things. Sorry. Here's one to start me back into it, and a humdinger it is too!

John Zorn is the infamous bad boy of the Jewish music scene, founder of cut-up punk jazz group Naked City, producer of the legendary first Mr Bungle album, composer of bizarre string quartets for Kronos, and so on. For the last 10-15 years (at least?), he's been at the hub of the downtown New York free jazz/experimental/punk/whatever scene, and with his extraordinary and expansive label Tzadik has popularised what he likes to refer to as "Radical Jewish Culture". Just about epitomising that Radical Jewish music is his Masada project. Initially Masada was (and is) a jazz quartet modelled after Ornette Coleman's quartet - Zorn on sax, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Joey Baron on drums and the omnipresent and brilliant Greg Cohen on double bass (see myriad releases by Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, etc etc). Masada perform original tunes from Zorn's Masada songbook, an ongoing creation which has enriched the world of Jewish music incalculably (not that there wasn't a huge amount of wonderful stuff around already!)
Then in 1996 Tzadik released the 2CD set Bar Kokhba (go and google Masada & Bar Kokhba and brush up on your Jewish history if you're interested), which featured "chamber" versions of Masada tunes and swiftly became Tzadik's best-seller - and justifiably. It was the first Tzadik CD I got and I never looked back. Among the musicians featured are the three other Masada members, David Krakauer (awesome clarinettist, ex-Klezmatics, check out his solo albums, esp Klezmer NY), guitarist Marc Ribot, John Medeski of Medeski, Martin & Wood on organ, and various others in various combinations. One of the most glorious combinations from that CD was what became the Masada String Trio: Marc Feldman on violin (you may know him from his playing on They Might Be Giants' version of Istanbul Not Constantinople among other places), Erik Friedlander on cello and Greg Cohen on bass. The follow-up, The Circle Maker, devoted one whole CD just to that combination, and they've appeared on Zorn-penned soundtracks as well.

Which brings us to this project. There's a Masada Guitars CD I've not yet heard, but on this double CD various heroes of the Tzadik world and beyond interpret songs from the Masada catalogue. A lot of the tunes here are familiar to those of us who are fans, and the artists involved either stay beautifully true to the sound or put their own spin on the pieces. The highlights far outweigh the few missable numbers here; the double CD is entirely justified.
Pharoah's Daughter start off the first CD with a combination of vocals, strings, oud, melodica and guitar/bass/percussion that puts Masada right into the Middle East; lovely. Uri Caine (whose downtown klezmer/improv versions of Mahler on Urlicht/Primal Light (Winter & Winter) are extraordinary and essential) contributes lovely understated piano to drummer Ben Perowsky's track. The Cracow Klezmer Band's track is great but doesn't live up to their extraordinary second album for Tzadik, The Warriors (strongly recommended). Naftule's Dream (the more experimental incarnation of Boston's Shirim Klezmer Orchestra) simultaneously bring out the klezmer and the free jazz, while Kramer is as bizarre as ever...
The most wonderful discovery on the CD is Jewlia Eisenberg, whose multitracked vocals and percussion recall the extraordinary Tzadik CD by Tin Hat Trio's Carla Kihlstedt (review forthcoming - remind me!) No surprise then that Carla & Jewlia play/sing together in the band Charming Hostess. I must check them out, as well as Jewlia's Tzadik CD. Also notable is a dreamy number from Pachora, who feature downtown regulars Chris Speed, Brad Shepik and Jim Black...

Kicking off CD2 are the aforementioned Medeski, Martin & Wood, extremely groovey as ever. Davka are a beautiful combination of passionate violin, cello (playing the bass role like I do so often in FourPlay *grin*), bassoon (yep!) and percussion. It's a strange combination of classical or even pre-baroque feel with improvisation.
Following Davka are the always-unbeatable Tin Hat Trio, with a beautiful version of a beautiful song. Check out Carla doing the pulling-a-bow-hair-tied-to-a-string thing a la Taraf de Haidouks!
Mike Patton (of Mr Bungle and Faith No More, kids!) does a very cool track on which he plays/sings everything except for percussion (supplied by William Winant). Meanwhile Anthony Coleman (familiar from various Tzadik releases and contributor of some wonderful piano playing on Bar Kohba) brings out the groove with his trio the Professionales.
Penultimately, violinist Jenny Scheinman is another discovery, combining her violin with guitar/bass/drums for some beautiful improvisatory explorations of the Jewish mode used. A websearch reveals that she too used to be in Charming Hostess, and has an album on Tzadik as well as a Django-inspired album, and appears on Norah Jones' Come Away With Me. Someone else to check out soon.
Jamie Saft finishes of the comp with a slow digidubby track featuring his wife Vanessa on vocals. Saft has brought the sound of dub (and to a lesser extent drum'n'bass) to Tzadik recently with his solo albums and his remixes of David Gould. Even though I find there's some kind of veridicality missing from his electronica, these ventures into that sound are a welcome addition for Tzadik, and I hope they continue to explore this area of music.

In summary, I can't recommend this album enough. Whether you already know the Masada material backwards or are a newcomer, this will delight and enthrall.

Autechre - Draft 7.30 (cassette promo) (01:44 am)

Such is Warp Records' paranoia about pre-release copies of the new Autechre album getting to the general public before it's released that the promo copies come on cassette! So when I got mine (to review for the next issue of Cyclic Defrost), I hauled my laptop over to the only remaining cassette player in the house and immediately dubbed it onto CDR.
And the question on everyone's lips (at least on the idm-list) is, “Is it more unlistenable noise?”
I'd like to point out from the outset that I think this is unfair. To be sure, their last album (Confield) sported only one element that could be construed as a “melody”, and very little in the way of comprehensible rhythm. I was not as scandalised as some though, who were clearly offended that the ae boys ever moved on from Amber's pretty melodies. But after all, Autechre's albums have been an inevitable progression from the beautiful and smooth to the ever-more distorted and deconstructed. Following Confield, last year's Gantz Graf EP was a very fine piece of work. The title track makes perfect sense as a soundtrack to an orgasming CGI spark plug, while the last track is evocative and tribal.

About half of the new album shares Confield's obtuseness, with rhythms that don't loop in the way you'd expect, and not much melodically speaking. On first listen the initial tracks give very little to hold on to, but clearly the focus here is on the sounds: how they develop and how they're treated. Track 3 ("6IE.CR") begins as abrasive distorted funk, but gradually a spectral wheezing synth fades in, and is left hanging over the last gorgeous, beatless minute. On track 4 ("TAPR"), the stuttering percussion makes no pretence whatsoever at being a rhythm track. Then track 5 ("SURRIPERE") introduces a clicking groove over which melancholy synths ride… If this is inaccessible noise, I'm Lucas Abela.
Ghostly melodies haunt a fair few of the tracks on Draft 7.30 to great effect, such as in track 7 ("VL AL"), which eventually breaks down into some sort of chewed-up orchestral sample. Whereas the excellent final track ("RENIFORM PULS") sounds like a return to LP5, with complex patterns and real (albeit fucked-up) melody, track 9 ("V-PROC")'s stuttering granular snow gives way, 1½ minutes in, to an altogether righteous crunchy hip-hop beat. The only complaint (here and elsewhere) is that there's not a lot of development – everything's a bit monotone, and only holds interest as the beat gradually gets more chewed up. [This could be due to the cassette's limited dynamic range, though! - thanks Seb]
If you approach it in the right frame of mind, Draft 7.30 is the sort of album that will take you to other universes. Keep an open mind.

Follow-on note, added 01.04.03: I'm going to do a second review of the album when the CD comes out. I actually think it's a whole lot better now than I did initially, not that I gave it a bad review... and when we hear it on CD, properly mastered for that medium, I think it will show up really well.

Saul Williams - Not In My Name (11:09 pm)

Saul Williams, Ninja Tune/Big Dada beat poet/rapper, is releasing an anti-war EP as soon as Ninja Tune can get it out there. Williams and the Ninjas feel so strongly about the issue that they have released the entire EP for download (128kbps mp3s but very nicely encoded) from their website. Download it here.

It's great stuff. The first track is a live recording of an impassioned "Pledge of Resistance", in which Williams intones "Not in our name..." - "no more transfusions of blood for oil", "not by our hearts will we allow whole peoples or countries to be deemed Evil". I can find Williams anywhere from brilliant (see "Twice the First Time", released on various releases including the Xen Cuts 3CD set) to bloody annoying (see the postmodernist gibberish in DJ Krust's "Coded Language"). Here he's great; stirring and poetic.
Next, "September 12th" is a driving rap version of the first track, with extra lyrics and a "No, not in my name, not in my life" refrain which should immediately become an anthem for the times.
The third track, "Bloodletting", drops the pace to request us to "give blood" over an almost Boards of Canada-like synth riff. When the beat comes in it's like DJ Shadow's dropped by for a jam. Fucking superb stuff. And more Old Testament lyrics that give pause for thought - although I need to give it a closer listen before I work out what it's saying.

And then, after a minute's pause come the remixes (all of the live "Pledge of Resistance"). Coldcut are first cab off the rank, turning it into a party piece not unlike the jaunty yet chilling "Atomic Moog". It's ok but nothing special.
DJ Goo, who I've never heard of, goes for a more straightforward hip-hop remix, with minimal sci-fi soundtrack samples and all. Not bad, and looping the cheering crowd is a great effect, but the track gets rather monotonous.
Last up is DJ Spooky, who goes for a rather nice 2step beat. Spooky manages to fit Williams' loose solo poem rather funkily on top of his beats. Somehow the "Lemme hear you make some noise!" samples and the like seem a bit inappropriate, but it's certainly funky and has a great bassline... The best of the remixes, but Williams' original tracks are the real highlights here.

All proceeds will go to Not In Our Name, a US activist group who are probably a good cause.

EU - Warm Math (04:20 pm)

After some excellent compilation/remix album appearances, Russian duo EU deliver a full-length album on Pause_2. It looks, from their website, like they've had quite a few releases before - just goes to show that one can't keep up with all the releases that all the little labels are putting out these days!
I'm glad to have come across Warm Math though. There's absolutely nothing groundbreaking or even hugely distinctive about their sound, which recalls μ-ziq, Autechre and the rest of the idm crew. But it's very well-produced and there's some very nice programming (check out the drums on "Gerp" (with midi-perfect synchronised delays) or "Chorus" for instance) as well as some lovely chord progressions, and an ever-present dedication to melody. Some of the sounds are a bit dinky (the melody on "SM"), but at other times they're just right. All in all, as far as the current crop of idm goes, where one can get the feeling it's all been said before, EU are impressive in their quality control. I approve.
And it's amusing to have a track called "Secret Track" (with the font thinned so it's nearly invisible) four tracks before the end. Nice artwork too!

Various - RND_0.34873349921 (02:04 pm)

From Pause_2 records in the UK comes a comp I only picked up a few months ago, which came out in 2001. RND_0.34873349921 is an excellent snapshot of some of the outer limits of idm fare. The first half is better, and I won't attempt to review every track, but here are some highlights...
Just about everything I've heard lately from Sybarite is better than his 4AD album Nonument, which had uninspired beats and (mostly) unexciting compositions (despite looking great on paper). Another Sybarite-related release will get reviewed shortly. His track on this comp, Square One, is a lovely ambient piece with acoustic guitar sounds and skittery almost-beats.
Sybarite is followed by Russian duo EU, whose album on the same label I'll briefly review next. They came to my attention due to their excellent remix of Multiplex on the Mixt album. Their track here is a fantastic piece of electronica, with tough almost-industrial beats. Great stuff!
Metamatics contributes a characteristic post-drill'n'bass track, and is followed by the inimitable Com.A, star of the Japanese electronica scene, with a crazy drill'n'bass track entitled Pedophiloa Robot. Hm. The clattering mess of the drum patterns are nicely offset by a slow-moving melancholy synth line.
Quinoline Yellow, who recently released a new 3" CD on Skam, contribute another almost-drill'n'bass electro track, and are followed by the execllent UK duo Wauvenfold (check out their three ep's compilation-album on Wichita Recordings) with a more sedate drill'n'bass-y track.
Also worth noting is The Boy Lucas (can't find website) who produces some lovely post-rocky electronica with judicious use of glitchiness... and mati:k, whose first album on Sub Rosa was nothing to write home about, but whose track here goes in nice enough directions.

There's nothing I really don't like on this comp, and plenty that's really excellent. It's pretty hard to find at least in Oz, but worth picking up if you come across it.

Telefon Tel Aviv - Immediate Action #8 (11:29 pm)

Chicago's excellent post-rock/electronica label Hefty Records recently put out the latest in their limited edition ultra-minimally-packed-and-promoted Immediate Action series... All the other 12"s were collected in the amazing Immediate Action double-CD compilation late last year, one of 2001's top releases without a doubt.
The Immediate Action EPs are often compilations; this time, however, New Orleans duo Telefon Tel Aviv have the EP all to themselves. Their album on Hefty, Fahrenheit Fair Enough, was a beautiful exploration of acoustic sounds (guitar, double bass, etc) with intricated electronic beats and delicate glitchy processing. They also both appeared doing some excellent remix work on Nine Inch Nails' Things Falling Apart remix album.

Their Immediate Action EP comprises 4 tracks, two new and two remixes. Hefty's label boss Slicker (aka John Hughes III, son of the famous '80s movie director!) does a two-steppy remix of "TTV", and the ubiquitous Prefuse 73 (aka Scott Herren, aka Savath + Savalas, aka Delarosa and Asora) gets hold of the album's title track; both are excellent. The TTA tracks, however, are truly special. Track 1, "Sound In a Dark Room", features snipped-up female vocals by Lindsay Anderson, from fellow-New Orleans group L'Altra, who have a lovely 7" out on Aesthetics (the label that put out Hood's latest album in the USA) and I must check out their other stuff. The beats are sparse yet sharp and funky, and the production is out of this world. The other track, "8 Track Project Cut" is apparently from 1999, pre-dating the album, and is brilliantly-programmed near-drill'n'bass... Fantastic stuff altogether, and we here at Stumblings-central can't wait for their new album to be finished and released!

Hefty label produce, by the way, is available in Australia via the lovely kids at Couchblip!, along with a lot of other esoteric electronic-type stuff. Give them your money!

The Front Lawn - Songs from the Front Lawn (07:37 pm)

I picked up this album while in Auckland NZ, and I must say it's an amazing find. It was playing in this second-hand record store called the Record Exchange on K Rd (shortening for, er um... Karanghape Rd - it's a famous strip that intersects the top of Queen St, the other main road in the city... hey, check it out - a road with a website!)
Annnyway... So there's this CD playing, a cool swing-meets-ska type number with biting lyrics. And the songs keep on being great, so I have to ask. There's this CD with a cracked case, a duo I've never heard of, and the CD's from 1989. But I look on the back of the insert, and there's a face I can't help recognizing: Neill Duncan, an amazing multi-instrumentalist who played sax and percussion in the Jews Brothers (New Zealand's premiere (and indeed probably only) klezmer group) and lives now in Australia, married to the sister of a friend of Ange's. Hm. Neill is truly amazing, and there he is playing in "The Six Volts", backing most of the tracks on this album.

So I just had to buy it. It got left in amongst all my purchases in NZ & Melbourne (you just don't want to know how much Ange & I got. Me in particular. Don't ask) and I finally pulled it out recently. Fuck me dead, it's just the most honest and exquisite collection of perfect folk-pop, and despite all this backlog I have to blog it up right away! Think Whitlams (but remember this came out in 1989 - Tim and the rest were perhaps doing the Olive Branch, maybe), think the Clouds (who were maybe recording the gorgeous Cloud Factory EP, just), think folky stuff from the '60s, think Jacques Brel, think the Squirrel Nut Zippers if you like. All of this comes to mind. This is hugely evocative music, beautifully crafted, compact songs that grab you and make you giggle, or catch your nostalgia-neurons. Stories of small-town life and tragedy (think of Perth's great Triffids, or Tim & Stevie's Whitlams again), it's bowled me over, all in just 10 songs (two "sides", cute! Probably was released on vinyl too).

I'd tell you to go get it, but I suspect this is one CD that'd be impossible to find, especially in Australia. Just take my word for it. If I can contact them and ascertain it's out of print, maybe I can do a burn or two, just because people need to hear this lovely unassuming stuff. YAY!!

Addendum: Now I'm home, I've found some links. Here we discover that Don McGlashan, one of the duo, is now in the Mutton Birds, a rather better-known NZ indie band. And there was a second album called (wait for it) More Songs from the Front Lawn... A judicious Google search (try songs from the front lawn) will probably turn up some opportunities for purchasing. Bonza mate, as they say in Aussieland.

Multiplex - Mixt / Iroquois (06:57 pm)

I've been sitting on these two CDs for quite a while, unable to file them away. Finally did so yesterday, so I thought I'd better blog 'em up! They're superb.

Multiplex are an electronic duo from the UK (two brothers in fact), who've been around for a few years on the net - I remember downloading a couple of mp3s from their always-beautifully-designed website which impressed me whenever that was. Very much idm fare, melodic, nice programming, etc.
Well suddenly this year we've seen a whole swathe of releases from them. There's an album on Toytronic that I don't have, and there were previous 12"s and an album on Senton Recordings (who have a lovely flash site themselves). Mixt is a remix album that Senton put out a few months ago, and it contains a wonderful selection from some of the cream of electronica - Herrman & Kleine of Morr Music jostle with the delicate and intricate Andrew Coleman (here as Animals on Wheels), Kettel and Kreidler are there as well as Mitchell Akiyama (who I'm sure must have a website but I can't find one, here at work) putting in a lovely mellow-Mego-like thing. Most surprisingly, Monolake do a fantastic breakbeat mix - almost too fast to be 2step, it's a surreal feeling to hear Monolake doing drill'n'bass. I like it!
Other highlights include Funckarma (a German duo, also brothers, who I'm just realising how much I love), and the Russian group EU whose album on UK label Pause 2 I've just picked up and will be reviewing soon. But really, there's at most one or two tracks on this CD that I can live without on a listen through, and it's highly recommended. Also comes with gorgeous artwork by a third brother, in a lovely card sleeve.

The second Multiplex CD I picked up is Iroquois one of Piehead Records' limited edition CDR releases for this year. It's got 10 Multiplex tracks plus 5 remixes. The Multiplex tracks here are very fine indeed, beautifully produced with a great sense of melody which is often missing in electronica. But once again, some amazing remixes, from artists I've never heard of what's more. ISDS's track starts quite normally before breaking down into something far more granular and bizarre, and Spark (who appear on Mixt as well) and Ob contribute great drill'n'bass-y numbers - hurrah!

Multiplex are described as "soulful machine music", and although I avoid the term "soulful" (I dislike soul music and what's more I don't believe in immortal souls *grin*) I can only agree.

Hrvatski - Swarm & Dither / Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs (01:23 pm)

So exciting is this news that I have assigned it to the main weblog as well as the listening category.
Hrvatski/Keith Fullerton Whitman has finally released not one but TWO new albums. I got the Japanese editions, released on P-Vine, because each has an extra track.
As Keith Fullerton Whitman, he makes music hugely different from Hrvatski's usual distorted hyper drum'n'bass. The album Playthroughs, released by Kranky (US home of Godspeed You Black Emperor! among many others), is made entirely from guitar sounds played through (geddit?) various Max/MSP patches and the like. It's lovely pulsating tones, practically nothing identifiably guitar-like, and I've enjoyed putting it on when I'm in bed at night. My favourite is "modena", which has slightly more of a rhythmic movement to it, and more variation throughout. Also excellent is the extra track on the P-Vine version, a live recording which shows you just how little post-production was needed.
The long-awaited new Hrvatski album on Planet μ, Swarm & Dither is an absolute masterpiece. My joy is only slightly marred by the fact that I have some 9 out of the 13 tracks (14 on the P-Vine version) already. Still, it's all mastered properly this time round. The fantastic Kid 606 "remix" (which is entirely Hrvatski's work) is present along with various other old classics ("2nd Zero Mandible Investigation" was one of the first Vat tunes I heard) and newer classics (the marvellous "Marble Madness" computer game cover, an 8bit breakcore number here re-named "Marbles"), but the new tracks are damn funky and spunky too. The Japanese addition, "Gemini (revision)" appears in slightly abbreviated form on the 12" release of Swarm & Dither, adding drums and guitar to the gorgeous glitchy rhodes theme I already knew from the autumnature comp on Greg Davis's autumn records. What more can I say? It rocks, and everybody needs to own it. Now I need MORE!!!

Fennesz - Field Recordings 1995:2002 (01:20 pm)

Even bigger news, perhaps, than the new Keith-Hrvatski albums recently is that there's a new Fennesz album out on UK label Touch, and it contains all 4 tracks from his seminal Mego 12" Instrument, on CD for the first time! Called Field Recordings 1995:2002, it's got remixes and compilation appearances from those years, and one new track called "Good Man" (and as Mark from Synaesthesia aptly puts it: "the new track is the duck's nuts - fully the duck's nuts son!" Who am I to disagree?) The Instrument EP demonstrates that Fennesz's ear for drawing beauty from the most fucked-up sounds was there from the start. Often sourcing his sounds from his own guitar playing, Fennesz's music is heavily processed through all sorts of digital and analogue filters. He's been there since the start of the whole glitch thing, and is a true master. The last track, "Codeine" (ostensibly a remix for Stephan Mathieu & Ekkerhard Ehlers' "Heroin") is stunning, with his signature guitar strums and otherworldly electronic crackle & fuzz over a droning organ. The influence on Hrvatski is clearly immense, and it's fascinating to compare Keith's approach to similar source material (cf "Gemini" on Swarm & Dither).

Styrofoam - a short album about murder (01:16 pm)

I've been getting into the wonderful German indie electronica label Morr Music lately. See below for a review of the Blue Skied An' Clear comp. I picked up a few other Morr albums recently. Styrofoam's second album a short album about murder is very wonderful. It combines indie vocals with slightly glitchy and granular electrons, à la Dntel but more electronic perhaps. Styrofoam (Arne van Petegem, from Belgium) also did two excellent remixes for The American Analog Set on their mini-album Updates, which I think are his best work yet.

Manual - until tomorrow / ascend; Limp - orion (01:16 pm)

Manual is Jonas Munk from Denmark, also recording for Morr, and he's put out two albums as well as another with his post-rocky group Limp. They all explore similar territories - shoegazer-infused guitars, post-Boards of Canada keyboards and subtly chewed-up drum-patters, in a somewhat glitchy landscape. This makes for absolute bliss to my ears, which may explain why these albums have been refusing to get stuck back on the shelf for so long. One highlight is "nova", the first track from the first Manual album until tomorrow. It starts off as ambient as can be, and when the drums come in the fragility remains, as they constantly stutter or get caught by delays. It's very funky in an understated sort of way. Much of the rest of that album, and smatterings of the others, have a similar approach to drum-programming, which I just can't get enough of.

Tin Hat Trio - The Rodeo Eroded. (01:14 pm)

I discovered the beguiling sound of San Francisco band Tin Hat Trio when it was being played between sets at the New York club Tonic. After two albums on Angel Records, they've moved to roots label Rope A Dope for The Rodeo Eroded. Their first album featured a line-up of violin/guitar/accordion, the guitar playing almost flamenco-like grooves with odd gypsy-inspired harmonies, with wonderful harmonised melodies by violin and accordion. They're all hugely accomplished musicians, and on the second album, Helium, the orchestration was fleshed out considerably: the guitar was augmented with dobro, and accordion often replaced with piano. Carla Kihlstedt is as skilful on viola as violin, and the music loses nothing of its improvisatory flair from studio multi-tracking.
The fact that these musicians have appeared on albums by Tom Waits, Mr Bungle, and Elvis Costello (to name a few), and that both Kihlstedt and accordionist Rob Burger have albums coming out on John Zorn's Tzadik label, should say something about what their music's like. A fusion of gypsy, jazz, country, 20th-century classical and free improv, the songs (often written by guitarist Mark Orton) are always passionately melodic, featuring insane chord changes and amazing solos. Memory is an Elephant, their first album, had a hidden track featuring Mike Patton on vocals; Helium an extraordinary final track with Tom Waits. A Rodeo Eroded follows suit with Willie Nelson contributing a very cute vocal to a very cute jazz-pop cover "Willow Weep For Me". As with "Helium", the trio are augmented with extra strings and other orchestral instruments, with a truly first-class arrangement. This band are just incredible, and it's a crying shame that nobody knows them in Australia.

The Books - Thought For Food (01:11 pm)

The Books are Nick Zammuto (famous, naturally, for remixing me in the idm remix helix (you can still download the track)) and Paul de Jong. Their new album Thought For Food, on Cologne label Tomlab, is an absolute gem of postfolkglitchrocktronica. Sampled field recordings and spoken voices jostle with acoustic guitar, occasional cello & violin, indie vocals and occasional breaks, in an indescribable melange which somehow holds together and gets only better each time I listen. You can order it direct from Tomlab, for only USD$15 including shipping (a bargain!) via PayPal - an increasingly indispensible tool for purchasing stuff, I find.
This album was recommended by Keith-Hrvatski, and I'm very glad I sought it out. You'll be hard pressed to find it in stores or even on online mail-order sites, so it's worth getting direct.

Ulrich Schnauss - faraway trains passing by (01:10 pm)

On City Centre Offices is Ulrich Schnauss's mini-album faraway trains passing by, a beautiful and unassuming piece of poppy-electronica. Think Boards of Canada meets dreamy 4AD/Creation-style indie of the late-'80s/early-'90s and you'll have it, sortof.

V/A (Morr Music) - Blue Skied An' Clear (01:08 pm)

One of the most excellent of the indie electronica labels to come out in the last few years is Morr Music, purveyors of melodic contemporary electronica of a very high quality. They recently released a double-CD compilation tribute to early-'90s Creation Records shoegazers Slowdive, called Blue Skied An' Clear. Featuring pretty much everyone, from Future 3, Lali Puna and so on, to Múm even. The first CD is all Slowdive covers. Highlights are the amazing Limp cover of "Souvlaki Space Station", B.Fleischmann & Ms. John Soda's "Here She Comes" (an awesome song anyway), Ulrich Schnauss's version of "Crazy For You" and Hermann & Kleine's cover of "Dagger" (with vocals by Ariane Hensel, who also sang on the fabulous "Blue Flower" cover on their latest album). Plenty of other great stuff though. Styrofoam is a current Morr favourite of mine, with a lovely recent 7" and various other releases to follow (couple of earlier albums I don't have). The second disk is sortof songs "in the style of", and is very lovely too. Ulrich Schnauss turns in a beautiful track, as does Styrofoam, and Guitar, who I've never heard of, do a very nice indie-meets-electronic pop song.
A highly recommended comp from a highly recommended label.

ove naxx - ovnx shoot accel core (01:08 pm)

Recommended by the incomparable Mr Donna Summer (see a couple of entries below - he (Jason) also recommended Randomnumber too), comes a Japanese breakcore monster by Ove Naxx. If you know the brothers Com.A & Joseph Nothing, you will have some idea of the Squarepusher-inspired madness that can emanate from Japan. Still, they don't compare, in my view, with Ove Naxx. His new album, ovnx shoot accel core has dub-tinged jungle, weird samples and dicky synthesisers, crazy breakbeat programming and always a sense of musicality holding it together. Highlights are "miburounin" (with cut-up heavy metal guitar & drum samples, a rap-metal vocal that sounds like a Japanese Mike Patton (or maybe Yamatsuka Eye come to think of it)), "wabisabi violence" (with its ragga vocal sample, hardcore meets jungle beats, and ethnic loop), "jungle riot" (real reggae samples and casio-keyboard reggae melody with distorted jungle breakbeats - oh so yummy) and "ragga dub tackle" (similarly sped-up reggae-meets-jungle to "jungle riot"). It's an absolute ball.

randomnumber - i understand your date and time of nowhere / the fact that i did (01:02 pm)

Matthew Robson played drums in extraordinary indie/experimental electronic band Hood (guesting on one track of their recent album and touring with them). Apparently their split was quite acrimonious, but the Leeds-based musician has recently graced us with two superb releases as randomnumber. One is a four track EP called the fact that i did on Glasgow indie-post-rockers Mogwai's Rock Action Records, cut-up drum'n'bass and suchlike of the experimental idm variety; the other is a mini-album called i understand your date and time of nowhere on US indie label Rocket Racer (definitely a label to watch). It's very understated but very good indeed. Anyone who knows Hood and particularly their side-projects Downpour and The Remote Viewer (link broken, discog here) should know what to expect. I'm loving it. And the packaging on the Rocket Racer EP is very cool, with spray-painted CD case and two different types of sandpaper inside (yes, true!)

Donna Summer - This needs to be your style / To all methods which calculate power (12:58 pm)

Recently received in the mail a wonderfully packaged demo album release from Donna Summer (as he calls himself), a crazy character in the idm/experimental scene associated with such types as Hrvatski, but certainly doing his own thing. The note on the back says All new stuff, maybe it will be called: "This needs to be your style". It's a weird mix of Plunderphonic techniques (a lot of obvious, but brilliantly misused, recorded music samples), and hardcore, drum'n'bass, hip-hop etc approaches. Awesome!
You can check out some of Jason's stuff at the Cockrockdisco site.

After writing that review, I ordered and received from Norman Records the first Donna Summer album To all methods which calculate power. More of the same fun stuff, with one track based around an evilly mutated Joe Jackson sample - the track is called "Stepping the fuck out" *tee hee*. Well worth it, although the promo one, to be officially released in 2003, is even better!