|
|
| Frost | Medlodica |
| (Shadow/FrostWorld) |
| This is one of those delicious, first-go-round addictions.
It's easy to junk out on this album, chock full o'siren fixes. |
| Throughout the album there are obvious nods to lush
vocal-based composers, styles and tunes: smackings of Mandalay
(the syrupy,
delicate vocal-laden piece “Half-Whole”); hints of
Andrea Parker (“Pharmacy” and “Past”, both
melancholy, compressed, with hopeful emotion in the vox and crunchy
quirks and echoes in the instrumental); Laub (“Running Boy”,
sparse cold glitch with amazing melodic vocal peaks which prompt
the listener to back up the track for a second listen after the
first time through); DNTEL (the jazzy-glitch instrumental “Klong”,
and Mental Overdrive’s poppy IDM-ish bleep-funk remix of “Amygdala”);
Cocteau Twins (“Damian”, and “Magika”,
with double-tracked vocal offsets pitched harmonically a major-third,
a fave trick of vocalist Elisabeth Fraser, utilized delightfully
here); Dot Allison/One Dove (the sugar-pop sensibilities of “Alphabet”, “Amygdala” and “Duo”);
Björk (“Endless Love”, careening through joyful
territory, with triumphant girlish howls); Depeche Mode (“Sink” – if
Dave Gahan were a Norwegian girl – complete with punchy beats
and etheric, playful melodies, and still a touch of mopey darkness
in the vox); and New Order (in the Qwerty remix of “Amygdala”,
touching on the Electroclash scene at the same time it recalls
Peter Hook’s simple, strident synthed-up electro-bass boogie,
Stephan Morris’ mechanical programmed drum patterns, and
Gillian Gilbert’s wonderfully cheesy pop synth lines a la “Bizarre
Love Triangle”). Whatever its influences, the bottom line
is that Aggie Peterson's voice centers itself squarely as the lead
instrument complimenting Per Martinsen’s clever programming
and arrangement. Of course the co-production touch of Röyksopp
is an unmistakable influence, prompting luscious sonic beauty to
emerge from the engineering studio otherwise isolated in the Norwegian
cold. Torbjorn Brundtland and Svein Berge (who together are Röyksopp)
picked up production and/or co-authoring credits on some of the
album’s most memorable tracks ("Running Boy", "Half-Whole", "Past", "Magika" and “Endless
Love”), further exemplifying their already prominent melodic
expertise. Released on the band’s own FrostWorld Recordings,
Instinct’s Shadow sub-imprint saw fit to bring this highly
recommended collection Stateside. My vote: one of the best recordings
2003 had to offer. |
Written entirely with Per Martinsen and occassionally
with Torbjorn Brundtland (who co-produced
2 tracks with Svein Berge, who together are Royksopp - "Running Boy" and "Half-Whole");
Torbjorn Brundtland also co-wrote "Past" (based on a poem by Therese
Bakkevoll) and "Magika"
remixes by Royksopp, Qwerty, and Mental Overdrive
www.melodica.no
FrostWorld Recordings, dist. in US by Shadow
(great cover art, Flash-rendering a la "Waking Life") |
| |
| devslashnull | Poppy |
| (Commtom) |
| Released in 2002, this treasure from a small independent
online MP3 label is still worthwhile investigating in 2004. Featuring
8 tracks, it covers a range clearly informed from the roots of
Industrial through to Glitch, with some obvious smatterings of
pop song structure interlaced throughout. A lot of atmosphere in
the recordings, with a devoted attention paid to effects layering
and arcane beat structures. “Draft Number Eleven” stands
out as a solid piece in the IDM tradition, while “Piano Snig” lays
in the type of melodic loops made popular through Steve Reich’s
compositions. There are some tongue-in-cheek efforts too, sandwiched
between more musical endeavors—in particular, a hilariously
re-arranged G.W. Bush speech entitled “Onward”, a sort
of a perverted Christian Soldiers goose-steppin’ routine
in the spirit of Foetus Inc., with guest vocals by John Wayne. “Sticks ‘n
Stones” also sticks out as a clever IDM-ish punch-up of quirky
beats and melodies. With a selection of this range I wonder if
the “poppy” referred to in the title is one of hallucinogenic
origin, or is truly the grandfather who taught this laptop artist “to
fiddle”. Either way, ‘why aren’t you marching,
son?’ |
| |
| Monolake | Momentum |
| (Monolake/Imbalance Computer Music) |
| Almost Industrial in its sound, this German electronic
music production with an unstoppable, unique groove emerges as
the latest effort from Robert Henke, co-founder of Abelton Live
sequencing software. The song structures are often plodding, slowly
developed excursions into dark, crunchy percussive elements that
are rarely sequenced as four-to-the-floor dance rhythms—rather
opting for more asynchronous syncopations. This seems deliberate
on Henke’s part, steering away from the most obvious choices
provided by his loop-based sequencing software. There is lots of
variation here, and Henke makes good use of the clip envelope to
create change-ups and harmonic transpositions in files, without
sacrificing song-like arrangement. Instead of sounding repetitive
and predictable, each of the songs grows out of interesting patterns
lovingly woven into evolving meshes of bass, melody and beat. The
layering of effects also makes this a rich, cavernous collection
of esoteric Electronica. |
| The most notable achievements to this reviewer are “Tetris” (one
of the only tracks which openly possesses some of the signature
waveform manipulation characteristics particular to Live) and the
epic crunch-dance “Stratosphere [edit]”, which is already
long at 9 minutes, but which could continue on and on indefinitely
with no complaints. Lots of deep textures and atmosphere here.
It’s clear that the co-creator of one of the most popular
contemporary loop-based sequencing programs intends for his music
to be known as something more non-linear than the average loop
composer. |
| |
| LFO | Sheath |
| (Warp) |
| Wow. ‘We… Are… Back…’ Or
at least one of them is! And that would be Mark Bell, hot off the
production merry-go-round steering the helm of the likes of Bjork
and Depeche Mode in recent years. Sure it’s sad that Gez
Varley has become a footnote in the discography of LFO, but even
sadder is the fact that in 14 years this group has released only
3 full-length albums, _Sheath_ being the third. In 1989 they dropped
one single and remix after another totally solidifying their place
as pioneers in the Acid House scene, eventuating what would become
Rave. Production credits then went primarily into remixes for artists
like Afrika Bambaattaa, YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra), Art Of Noise
and of course the now-classic LFO vs F.U.S.E. 12” recording “Loop” (back
when Richie Hawtin, a.k.a. F.U.S.E. was just some 17 year-old Canadian
kid with a TB-303 and nobody particularly special). But just in
the nick of time to remind ol skool ravers just what it was all
about, Mark Bell has redeemed the LFO name from the only-average
_Advance_ (released in 1996) with a towering achievement in contemporary
electronic music. Recalling all the things that made _Frequencies_
(released in 1990 in the U.S.) such a powerhouse, _Sheath_ pumps
up the bass and brings out the quirky melodies so particular to
the LFO sound. |
| And the tenure with Bjork has paid off too—here
are some chunky, glitchy percussion and hard bangin’ beats
(“Mum-Man”) smack in the midst of delightfully subdued
melody (“Premacy”). It’s tracks like “Moistly” and “Freak” which
recall the pinnacle moments found in tracks like “Mentok1” and “We
Are Back” from a different generation, but the album as a
whole pulls through as something as a triumphant survivor through
all the otherwise tosser qualities of the past 5 years in the rave
scene. This is simultaneously the best of Bleep and the top spot
in what otherwise could have been another has-been rerun. |
| |
| Röyksopp | Melody A.M. |
| (Warp) |
| Lush transitions from one smooth composition to another
define this album. Mostly vocal-based electronica with the occasional
instrumental, this work continues to surprise, one solid block
at a time. A clear stunner that rose on the pop charts in the U.K.
includes the House anthem “Poor Leno”, seemingly stylized
after the French House of such melody-makers as Rinocerose. “Röyksopp’s
Night Out” sounds like a 1950’s Western take, galloping
along into the saloon, with a brief tinge of György Ligeti
thrown in for spooky measure. But it’s “Remind Me” towards
the record’s end that delivers the same sort of vocal elation
rarely felt in electronic music, yet captured recently by artists
like The Postal Service and DNTEL. Then there are bluesy tracks
such as “A Higher Place” and “Sparks” which
bring the recording more in line with some of Moby’s best
work steering away from Techno toward traditional songwriting. “She’s
So” reminds me of a deliciously produced and understated
Cocteau Twins piece. Whatever the influence, this Norwegian duo
hit it big not only with their own l.p. but that of fellow countrymen
(and women) Frost, picking up co-production and co-authoring credits
on that as well. These guys know what time it is… |
| |
| The E23 Pre-'90s Musical Influences |
| |
| The Village People |
| Walter / Wendy Carlos |
| Synergy / Larry Fast |
| John Carpenter (Halloween, Escape From New York,
The Thing) |
| Mike Oldfield |
| Tangerine Dream / Edgar Froese |
| Ryuichi Sakamoto |
| Talking Heads / David Byrne |
| Peter Gabriel |
| Rush |
| Pink Floyd |
| Led Zeppelin |
| Metallica / Megadeth |
| Slayer |
| Queensryche |
| Mercyful Fate |
| Venom |
| Blue Oyster Cult |
| Black Sabbath |
| U2 |
| Joy Division / New Order |
| The Cure / Siouxsie & The Banshees / The Glove |
| Christian Death (Rozz / Valor) |
| Cocteau Twins / Harold Budd |
| This Mortal Coil / 4AD Records |
| Dead Can Dance |
| The Cult / Southern Death Cult |
| Public Enemy / Hank Shocklee |
| Digital Underground |
| Front 242 |
| Skinny Puppy |
| Ministry / Revolting Cocks |
| Depeche Mode / Yaz / Erasure |
| 808 State / A Guy Called Gerald |
| S-Express / Pascal Gabriel |
| Psychic TV / Throbbing Gristle / Coil / Chris + Cosey |
| Cabaret Voltaire / Richard H. Kirk |
| Wire / He Said / Dome / BC Gilbert / Colin Newman |
| Meat Beat Manifesto |
|
The Desert Island 20
|
| Or, 20 recordings I'd take to a deserted island—if
it had a solid sound system and a CD player. |
| |
| So perhaps it’s a silly concept, but just imagine
that you ended up on an episode of _Survivor_ or somehow variously
were cast away to some remote location—which just so happened
to have a CD listening station amidst its otherwise absolute desolation.
What recordings would you bring with you? You know, the ones that
you’re certain you could listen to over and over again without
tiring of them. The records, cassettes, CDs and MP3s that have
most clearly defined you as the consumer and appreciator of sound
materials that you currently have become. If you could choose only
20 recordings, what would top your list? |
| Well, here’s mine, with brief one or two sentence
descriptions for each, listed alphabetically (and ordered by Artist,
Title and Label) since it’s so hard to place them any differently—after
all, we are dealing with the best of the best, according to my
own sonic sensibilities. And it’s not to say that there are
merely 20 albums that have shaped my listening appreciation, but
these particular 20 represent for me recorded audio commentary
that continues to endure on multiple levels, even long past the
date of its release. There is legend at the foundation of each
musical expression, and each recording’s influence has been
widespread, whether commercially acknowledged or not. |
| |
| The List: |
| Autechre | Incunabula (Warp) |
| Boards
Of Canada | Music Has the Right To Children (Skam/Warp) |
| Breakbeat
Era | Ultra Obscene (XL/1500) [DJ Die mixed
version] |
| Harold Budd & Cocteau Twins | The Moon & The
Melodies (4AD) |
| Coil | Time Machines (Eskaton) |
| DNTEL | Life Is Full Of Possibilities (Plug Research) |
| 808 State & A Guy Called Gerald | Newbuild (Creed/Rephlex) |
| ELpH vs Coil | Worship the Glitch (Eskaton) |
| Low | Long Division (Vernon Yard Recordings) |
| Stephan Micus | Darkness & Light (ECM) |
| Terence McKenna & Spacetime Continuum | Alien
Dreamtime (Astralwerks) |
| Meat Beat Manifesto | Satyricon (Play
It Again, Sam/Mute) |
| My Bloody Valentine | Loveless (Creation/Sire) |
| Pete Namlook & Jonah Sharp | Wechselspannung (Fax) |
| Arvo Pärt | Miserere (ECM) |
| Psychick TV & White Stains | At Stockholm (T.O.P.Y.) |
| Ravi Shankar & Philip Glass | Passages (Private
Music) |
| Talk Talk | Laughing Stock (Polydor) |
| Tangerine Dream | Thief soundtrack (Virgin) |
| This Mortal Coil | Filigree & Shadow (4AD) |
| |
| The Description: |
| |
| Autechre | Incunabula (Warp) |
| The beginning of the redefinition of Techno into
more fractured categories—in this case, ‘Intelligent
Dance Music’ or IDM. What The Beatles’ studio explorations
were to Rock music, this duo is to Electronica. |
| Boards Of Canada | Music Has the Right To
Children (Skam/Warp) |
| What Autechre achieved for transforming IDM’s
approach to Techno percussion, this group accomplished for melody.
Simple, elegant, naïve, restrained and
thumpin’. |
Breakbeat Era | Ultra Obscene (XL/1500)
(DJ Die's mixed promo version, not the LP) |
| Drum’n’Bass as it had never been heard
before—or since, really—with Jazz-infused syncopations,
and manic vocals clearly departed from any association
with Electronica’s revered stripped-down diva. Street urchin turned Mercury
Prize winner Roni Size and crew deliver again. Aggressive energy throughout. |
| Harold Budd & Cocteau Twins | The Moon & The
Melodies (4AD) |
| A peak experience in melodic counterpoint, fusing
Ambient and effects-saturated girly Rock. Dress in black, light
the candles, and make love. |
| Coil | Time Machines (Eskaton) |
| Music for astral projection. Packaging to this 4-track masterwork include meditative
Sattwa-influenced imagery. Each track’s name associates the listening
experience with some form of hallucinogenic drug, from Yagé to DMT. |
| DNTEL | Life Is Full Of Possibilities (Plug Research) |
| Techno turned simultaneously Pop and Glitch. This unexpected, highly crafted
fusion was followed up by the musically inferior but still highly acclaimed
release _Give Up_ by The Postal Service, for which DNTEL serves as primary
instrumental composer and programmer. |
| 808 State & A Guy Called Gerald | Newbuild (originally
pressed on 808’s own indie label Creed, a decade later reissued
with full remastering on Rephlex) |
| If there’s one album that single-handedly shaped the Rave movement of the
late 1980s and early 1990s, this is it. “Flow Coma” simultaneously
captured the experimental formlessness and technological potential inherent in
contemporary electronic music composition. |
| ELpH vs Coil | Worship the Glitch (Eskaton) |
| A departure from music as audio structure unparalleled since the works of Cage,
Dockstader and Stockhausen. This has more in common with the failure of your
C drive than Techno, Rock and Hip-Hop combined. |
| Low | Long Division (Vernon Yard Recordings) |
| Plodding, melancholy Rock which makes Radiohead sound optimistic. With the genius
of Kramer (Galaxie 500, Renaldo & The Loaf, Bongwater) at the production
helm, this is an album of uncompromising originality and depth. |
| Terence McKenna & Spacetime Continuum | Alien
Dreamtime (Astralwerks) |
| A post-McLuhanesque manifesto for the Rave Generation. Academically sound brain-change
evolutionary philosophy meets spliffed-out high-tech analog synth jams, recorded
live. |
| Meat Beat Manifesto | Satyricon (Play It Again, Sam/Mute) |
| The intersection of Hip-Hop, Breakbeat, Industrial and vocal harmonization rivaled
by the likes of Depeche Mode, this recording is both lyrically and instrumentally
informed at the highest levels. Exceptional production. |
| Stephan Micus | Darkness & Light (ECM) |
| If I had to name one single favorite, this would probably be it. Estonian composer
Micus not only plays a diverse range of instruments, but instruments which
western ears are likely never to have heard. Combined, those elements make
for an emotive recording that is as much acoustically alien as it is musically
articulate. |
| My Bloody Valentine | Loveless (Creation/Sire) |
| Grunge wouldn’t exist without this record. Although it bankrupted label
Creation, its long-distance influence is part of what made Brian Eno call it “the
most innovative record” of 1990. |
| Pete Namlook & Jonah Sharp | Wechselspannung (Fax) |
| An hour-long analog synthesizer jam, elevating Electronica to territory unexplored
since Tangerine Dream’s epic sequencer evolutions of the 1980s. |
| Arvo Pärt | Miserére (ECM) |
| Possibly the most consistent composer since Shostakovich, Pärt’s haunting
recording elevates the soul. You’ll weep, and you’ll feel better
about being alive because of the experience. |
| Psychick TV & White Stains | At Stockholm (T.O.P.Y.) |
| The spoken philosophical explorations of Genesis P-Orridge coupled with the eclectic
instrumentation of White Stains, this record is unlike anything since Timothy
Leary teamed up with Stephan Stills, Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsies.
Psychedelic, brilliant, condemnatory, critical, hopeful, evolutionary. |
| Ravi Shankar & Philip Glass | Passages (Private
Music) |
| East meets West in a compositional tag-team of two of the 20th Century’s
most accomplished musical veterans. Surprising and engaging at every moment,
with each composer reinterpreting the other’s style and orchestration. |
| Talk Talk | Laughing Stock (Polydor) |
| Their 1988 _Spirit Of Eden_ l.p. broke production ground unlike anything since
The Beatles’ _Revolver_ (with Phill Brown playing Talk’s version
of George Martin) and then this follow-up release perfected the accomplishment—and
effectively ended the band’s career. After all, how could it be surpassed?
Public Enemy, Radiohead, and numerous Electronica producers cite this record
as one of their favorites, and a major musical influence. |
| Tangerine Dream | Thief soundtrack (Virgin) |
| It’s hard to pick just one recording from this monumental group, especially
from the decade of 1977-1987. But 1981’s cornerstone film score launched
trends still explored throughout mainstream and underground artists worldwide. |
| This Mortal Coil | Filigree & Shadow (4AD) |
| Sort of a who’s who of the 4AD/Beggar’s Banquet post-Goth melodious
melancholia during the 1980s. This predominantly British underground supergroup
transformed everything it touched, and continues to, right up through the stylized
soundtrack work of Academy Award nominated films like The Insider. |
| |
City of Song: The Incendiary Arias
by Chris Mosdell |
| Burroughs meets Rexroth via Philip K. Dick
by way of Lafcadio Hearn - the Doghead Cola review |
| |
| Hands down, one of the most imaginative books of
poetry I've ever read. Intense, dramatic, encapsulating - this
work challenges the reader in the same way does Burroughs' narrative
_Cities of the Red Night_. Wow. I had to re-pack my head after
the first reading. What is being described?! The first impression
is that it's an opera for some depraved group of Asian cyberpunk
characters out of a Shakespearian actor's troupe. Then, when reading
the notes in the frontispiece, it's revealed that the work is 46
arias of a song cycle "lyrically modeled after a specific
individual observed in the Great Disembowelment Bazaar of the city
of Tokyo - a character whose identity is either concealed or unknown".
46 divided by 2 = 23, or what is considered to be "breaks" in
the _Q'balah_ model, or "breaking apart" in the _I Ching_
model - or in the case of what Mosdell describes, the number of
chromosomes in a human sex cell, equal to the number of wards (or "ku's")
within the city of Tokyo. |
| This is one of those works that survives outside
of the sphere it describes (Tokyo), because it is a universal description
of human character. Beyond that, it is poetic psychedelia to an
extreme. This is real Burroughs-esque level material. But it is
also intoxicating in the same way that Burroughs' work is hallucinatory
- lovely in the same way that Bukowski's work is inebriating. It's
vibrant, and alive, and all of the things that good poetic reading
of the 21st Century should be. It is very Japanese once one is
attuned to its structure - but it is also very universal in how
it describes the human condition. It's also in a genre of its own
- genuinely masterful in that sense. How can one categorize lines
like "In the atomic hatchery of my gaze you will again set
sail", or "Strike me with the Golden Seizures smoking
octave jets, blotto on nova yolks, alien funk circuits with wave
after wave of heat jerky surging into the Big Dismal"?! |
| What's more, this comes from the lyricist who empowered
some of the most visceral songs of YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra),
as well as the solo works of Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto,
and many, many other artists (Eric Clapton, Boy George, Sandii
and the Sunsetz, Sheena and the Rokkets, etc.). He provided the
sound-scapes to Graham Hancock's _Fingerprints of the Gods_ and
composed the sounds to Asia's variation of Brian Eno's _Oblique
Strategies_ in his set of _The Oracles of Distraction_, co-created
with the famed poet Shuntaro Tanikawa. He has written lyrics for
anime productions like _Gundam_, _Ghost in the Shell_ and _Cowboy
Bebop_, among others, and collaborated with the renowned likes
of calligraphist Juichi Yoshikawa and koto master Michiyo Yagi.
His work is expansive, and is perhaps, at best, collected here
in the libretti of 23 songs for male, 23 songs for female, and
12 "throng songs" for the 12 million inhabitants of the
city of Tokyo. With this work, we are in the presence of a master
equal to Bukowski, and a poetic equivalent of Burroughs. His work
strikes at the heart & rests in the mind. This is powerful
imagination at its best, set in verse. What a read! A must for
any collector of 21st Century verse. This is _Blade Runner_ in
poetic form. |
| |
Splatterhead: The Songlines Of Chris Mosdell
by Chris Mosdell |
| Hydraulic Majesty on Raw Street - the Doghead
Cola review |
| |
| These "songlines" of Chris Mosdell leap
beyond all conventions of poetic language. Part Joyce, part Burroughs,
part Mishima, part Kafka, these lyrics and sets of experimental
verse wash over all the senses and generate a depiction of the
algebraic labyrinths of urban Tokyo. A compendium of older and
newer works from Mosdell, this collection is one of those "must-have" books
for lovers of language. Each section composes its own unique music
with varying style and experimentation. Selections from "The
Yelp House Kantos" remain my favorite, although each section
has powerfully redeeming value in and of itself. I also had the
great pleasure of witnessing "Splatterhead & The Oblivion
Brotherhood", at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, with
Mosdell sing-reading his words, a visual artist bathing the performance
space with phantasmagoric visuals and this DJ in a bright yellow
ghostbusters suit mixing up electronic bleeps and beats that perfectly
fit with the flow and the feel of the reading. If you get a chance
to catch this Splatterhead performance in your town, don't miss
out! |
|
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