(04.05.09) Spanning through multifaceted musical genre’s, there are always new gems to point your ears to. In Rewound Volume 13, we delve into some recent releases that have created an impact both obscure and under-appreciated. While (only) six releases are covered in this mini-review roundup, all are well worth the time and effort to seek in full.
Benjamin Finger recently released Woods of Broccoli (Where Is Annie), a delicately woven album packed with ambient fluorescence and shoegaze intricacies. Not unlike recent titles on the prolific Scottish label Benbecula, Benjamin Finger offers up emotive templates that wisp across the landscape with subtle vocal extracts. Not exactly electronic per-se, however, Woods of Broccoli contains enough meandering crevasses to keep you firmly planted with its tranquil climate. [Purchase / Listen]
Herb Recordings have been delivering an abundance of new releases over the last few months. In my attempt to cover them all, it’s a pleasure to see an independent record label continue to flourish by cross-pollinating unique musical styles. Shoosh unveils Orpheum Circuit which, at first take, runs parallel to The Tear Garden’s Tired Eyes Slowly Burning going back almost 20-yrs. What you begin to notice is the subtle chaotic bits and pieces of digital washes running smoothly with up-and-center guitar works and melodramatic pathways. More akin to the soft rock esoteric, Orpheum Circuit is a sweltering sheet of low flying beauty. 
Zerova‘s I Think We’ve Lost concentrates on finely tuned electronics with minuscule percussive outbursts and a tamed persona. Similar to the (older) pop sensibilities of artists like Plasmalamp and Plod, Zerova incorporates tangible lyrics with drifting waves of electrical activity. Skytree have also released a new full-length entitled Windings of the Dragon, an ever expanding and unfolding album that delves into ambient-downbeat grooves with a (dare I say) trip hop aesthetic that is both seductive 
and mind inducing. The wobbly basslines and acidic overtones of “Muskeg” and the emotionally satisfying “And of all the elements, water they liked best” are two cuts that simply unleash the artists creative and unique path. Of the three releases highlighted, Skytree exemplifies a new direction of electronics and further solidifies the imprints mission of eclecticism. [Purchase]
Time Slips By recently released both Strength in Numbers and Lightshield on Siege Recordings. Both EP’s feature two tracks of electronic distortion and torn basslines. Not unlike the harsher (Germanic) moments of imprints such as Ad Noiseam and Ant-Zen, Time Slips By concentrates on aggressive noise all pulled together with lush ambient undertones (Gridlock, Stendeck and Displacer come to mind). 
A post-industrial name-tag may compliment the overall sound, however, let it be known that TSB create elusive sound-escapes that enrich the body and mind with tormented rhythms that somehow flow gracefully (could it be the fact that these tracks were performed live?). Both releases are independently coherent, however, one can’t help but wonder why the four featured cuts weren’t culled together on one full-length release? One can only anticipate! [Purchase]
Me Raabenstein‘s upcoming Esk release for Berlin, Germany-based Nonine Recordings is one to keep an earmark on. Offering nothing short of resonant frequencies and minimal dub highlights, Me Raabenstein creates sonic manifesto’s full of colorful sound palette’s. Similar in nature to the aesthetic of ~scape recording artists, Esk manages to exude a harmonic sense of balance and experimental edge. While at times somewhat rudimentary in terms of complexity, likely the artists’ intention, the version of Esk reviewed herein is not the finalized package. The likelihood of minor adjustments, additions and subtractions for this full length is bound to happen, yet the overall production is chemically exuberant. Esk is a release that doesn’t really push new territory; instead it outlines the progression of definitive minimal dub-electronics for 2009. In the meantime, Me Raabenstein’s Wax On Wool (under his Slowcream moniker, also on Nonine) is out now and features sublime experimentation much in tune with Fennesz’s output; subtle nuances intermingle with distorted swirls while disturbed lyrics produce what could only be defined as subliminal abstraction. “In The Cave,” alone, is perhaps one of the finest of the batch –descending as an exploratory piece of musical bliss and dysfunction. Wax On Wool‘s subdued audio-design compliments its unusual mystique. [Listen]
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