(02.07.09) OK, so first things first — the non-traditional formatting for this column is based on the absolutely STUPID decision to have a text file on my desktop called “Untitled,” which contained long reviews of almost all of the records that are covered below. This file, again stupidly named “Untitled,” was over-written by mistake, and the entirety of the column was lost. What you read below is a last-ditch attempt to get these records reviewed. I’m listening to all of this column’s records one more time, blogging as I go.
[6:34 am, February 4, 2009] Starting Fun Is Near by Artifact Shore. “2 In 24” starts. Nice metallic, electro-punk vibe. Vocals come in around 1:00 and they’re a deal-breaker. Not liking them at all. Kind of off-key, which can be cool if that’s the point, but I don’t get that feeling here. The bed is awesome, with grinding guitars and a relentless bass. Nice breakdown just before 2:00 mark. I’m tempted to pause the track to go get some breakfast from downstairs, but its WAY too early in this experiment to take a break. Facebook gets checked at the four minute mark, as the track fades.
[6:39 am] The title track, “Fun Is Near.” Paradoxically, the vocals are way too low in the mix for my tastes on this track, which evokes mid period Flying Saucer Attack minus the deafening fuzz. Hard to pin a genre on this disc so far. No idea what is being sung about, as I’m not able to make out any of the words. The live drums are a nice touch. 2:30 into the track there’s a double-speed bridge which is grabs my attention, but it doesn’t last long enough for me to get enthusiastic about it. The double-speed bit appears around the four-minute mark to take the track home, and this time it makes a real impression. Very cool change-up, taking an almost pastoral ballad and thrashing it to pieces. Nice.
[6:44 am] Pausing to get a bowl of cereal.
[6:48 am] Okay, got my bowl of whatever with bran, and ready to proceed. Pressing play. “Insight and Action” is the track, and its probably my favorite on this EP. Sounds like an outtake from the Twin Peaks: Season Two soundtrack, with what sounds like an acoustic bass and twinkling piano. Really nice, smoky vibe on this one. Vocals come in shortly after the two -minute mark, and while they’re way too far in the background again, this time it works. The bass picks up to match the vocal cadence and the drums and piano play catch up. Really cool. And just when it gets good, it ends. At four minutes, this track is too short! Twelve-inch extended remix, please!
[6:52 am] “Stupid Coma” doesn’t lend itself to saying too much about it, except that the buried vocals continue, and this time they irritate. The lyrics that I can make out sound like they’re an homage to Joy Division’s “The Atrocity Exhibition.” Weird. Whatever.
[6:55 am] “On the Banks of Black.” Itunes shows the track title as “On the Banks or Black” which is incorrect. As this EP winds down, I’m taken with the idea that this CD wouldn’t be out of place on Ghostly, and Artifact Shore wouldn’t be out of place opening for a band like Midwest Product, if they were to tour. I think in that kind of context this record might take on a new resonance. As it stands, its an interesting but flawed mini-album. Problems seem to stem to the mixing of the record, not because of any of the music contained here-in. I’d rate this as a try-before-you-buy, but if you have an open ear, I think you’ll end up buying.
[7:00 am] New record! Mandrake by Dif:Use. Somewhere I read that these are the guys from Funkstorung? Googling to confirm. Nope, it’s the guys from Funckarma. Easy to mix up, I guess. This is their ambient project, according to their Myspace. Opening track, “Backsheesh” sounds like the first couple of minutes from a FSOL live broadcast back in the mid 90s, i.e., semi-random sounds coming together, melding into coherence, like an orchestra tuning up, kind of. First track is mixed into the next, “Felon.”
[7:05 am] Yeah, this Dif:Use is really reminding me of FSOL, in a good way. Not “Papua New Guinea” FSOL (although that’s fine), but the later, post Dead Cities FSOL where they kind of lost the plot a little but were still making really exciting electronic collages of sounds — not music per se, but collisions of sounds. The emphasis here seems to be on the ambience — a droning synth dominates “Felon,” with plenty of attending squiggles and synth washes going on in the left and right channels. I’m liking it enough to do a quick google to see if they have other records.
[7:09 am] They do! I’m buying it. Thank you Discogs marketplace.
[7:13 am] Meanwhile, “Kaddish” has been playing in the background. I’ve kind of tuned it out while I was shopping there, but now that I’m paying full attention again, it scares me in a way that is hard to describe, but evokes the feeling of being three or four years old and totally convinced that something was moving under your bed. Actually, the track sounds like whatever is moving under the bed. There are a number of musical elements in this track that are operating against the others, and it makes this reviewer feel a little uneasy. And that’s fine, I like being unsettled, but for enjoyment, this track ain’t working. Skipping ahead at the 4:22 mark.
[7:16 am] The title track, “Mandrake.” This isn’t a disc to really break down track by track, as there aren’t songs, but rather movements in a larger piece. I’m enjoying this one quite a bit – not to harp on a comparison, but this album really brings back those seat-of-the-pants feeling of those early FSOL broadcasts, or their ISDN album. You may not like every track, but you probably like the whole album. It’s an important distinction. 4:28 into the track sounds like a Skinny Puppy sample, but damn if I can name the track.
[7:23 am] Just tried the headphones, and they are magic with this one. Really really nice. Headphone albums seem to be on the outs lately, for whatever reason, but Dif:Use have made a good one, and the ten-minute title track is great. In headphones it just swirls all around.
[7:30 am] Okay, I admit that the more abstract this album gets, the less I’m paying active attention. “Nectopod” is a very ambient track, and I’m wandering away from my duties here. This record, in my listening, gets played when I’m reading. And it is great for background to another task like that — it’s not an intrusive record by any means. It does get a little abrasive in this track, but I’m not complaining. Overall this is a nice little illbient record that evokes the futuristic atmospheres of FSOL and the drugged-out spaces of Skylab. I’m going to move on to the next record.
[7:39 am] Lowest Moments, a mixed compilation of tracks on the Low Res label, mixed by C64. This is a mash-up of 26 tracks from the excellent Low Res in Detroit, mixing sounds of hardcore breakbeat, industrial, and speed-glitch, touching most of the major releases from the label’s first ten years in operation.
[7:46 am] In the first four tracks on this, C64 has brought together label head Adjust, Venetian Snares, Bombardier, and I:Gor, all easily identifiable as Low Res artists and all classics in their own rights. A record like Lowest Moments makes me want to immediately purchase the entire back catalog. I’m going to resist this time, but so far this album has been all gravy.
[7:49 am] The punishing breaks at the end of I:Gor’s “Happy Mechanical Unit” lead directly to the vacuum cleaner-bass tone and overdriven snare of Kamphetamine’s “Exorcism Threshold,” and early classic from Low Res sub-label Division 13. This goes into the mighty “Forsaken” from underground power-star Abelcain, one of my personal favourite Low Res artists.
[7:58 am] Starting to feel a little fatigued, like maybe I should have slept a little bit later into the morning. C’est la vie. C64 is on the decks and I’m getting jolted out of my stupor with this disc. Really digging how C64 manages the mood and tempo in his track selections and mixing. Like all good DJ’s, he knows when to take it down a notch or two and when to crash the faders all the way up and blow everything out. Really expert control of the vinyl here. Currently on the Adjust remix of Delien’s “Aon.” Delien always reminded me of what Skinny Puppy should have turned into after Last Rights, instead of what they became on The Process. They should have kept it digital. Adjust remixes their track sympathetical to that. And C64 takes it to the next level by seamlessly mixing it with Tarmvred’s “Oskulden.” Not 10 tracks into this CD and we’re hitting all the right high notes in the Low Res catalog. Other artists included in this mix are Davros, Theeq, Ubergang, Cdatakill, and Kero. All excellent on their own (Davros, especially), here they become the ultimate hardcore DJ party. This disc could be 12 hours long and it would keep me moving.
[8:22 am] Really not much more to say about this album that wouldn’t be repetitive, but C64 is in top form using the Low Res catalog as building blocks for Lowest Moments. There is a superb mastery of mood and tempo that wouldn’t be as effective should the same tracks be used in the same fashion for another mix by another mixer. Low Res is one of the best underground labels going, and a true shining star for the city of Detroit – an innovative underdog that takes what the city gives and spins it into genius.
[8:27 am] Moving on, to Podington Bear‘s The End. I had some choice words and a rant in the original column about PB, and while I’m not going to try to recreate it here, I’ll say that this whole PB project just rubs me the wrong way. The idea was for PB to put out three tracks a week for a year. And he mostly made it, but at the expense of quality over quantity.
[8:32 am] Okay, so I haven’t created 156 tracks in one year, far far from it. But I know what’s good and what isn’t (or more accurately what I like and what I don’t like), and this isn’t good. The End is filled with stock sounds and lazy beats, maintaining a mid-tempo “whimsicality” throughout. Maybe its just me, or maybe its this economy, but I’d rather get 12 excellent tracks than 156 okay ones. But The End, being the final CD in the PB box set (which captures 10 of the 13 albums released in 2007) just sounds like there was writer’s block going on and this was the attempt to fight through it. The days of putting out what you do as soon as you do it should be coming to an end. NOW.
[8:36 am] Now, we’re cooking with gasoline. Next up is tKatKa‘s self-titled debut, and its a real corker. I’ve been listening to this record for a long time and I’m really into it. This is a duo from London who apparently really vibed off of classic ambient electronica (early to mid 90s variant) like Orb, FSOL, early Autechre, etc.
[8:46 am] I just realized I’m listening to this record on shuffle. Damn, it works anyway. I love the Orb-like vibe of seemingly random sounds against a firm synth, with some nice drums and breaks interspersed. This record really hits all of my musical pleasure centers. There’s a playful atmosphere on some of these tracks that juxtaposes with a creeping sense of dread in each track. It really keeps me off balance and therefore focuses my attention on it. Early single and opening track “LazersLab” is a great example of what I’m talking about.
[8:51 am] My energy is starting to flag. Need some protein. Nothing like some vegetable juice and a hardboiled egg. “E.L.D.A.C.” provides a great soundtrack to peeling the eggshell. Its got a great headnodding bass, bouncy synths and a filter-swept synth to die for. If every record I review could be this great the music industry would not be in the sorry state it is. I sincerely hope that tKatKa makes huge bank off this record.
[9:07 am] Had to take an unplanned break to investigate a noise from the kitchen (nothing serious), but I’m back with “Storm Proof Weather,” the most FSOL-esque track on the record. It sounds like a rainstorm with keyboard accompaniment, and at roughly four minutes, its way too short. “(It’s Just a) Molecule,” the follow-up track, is also just too short at 4 minutes. It’s hard to put into words just what it is about these guys that makes me flip out over this record and want moremoremore of it, but they have that thing, that spark that inspired Alex Patterson, Sean Booth, Darren Emerson, Phil Hartnoll, and Garry Cobain. If you’re a fan of any of those people, you’ll find plenty to love from tKatKa.
[9:16 am] Moving on, I’m tackling the double disc from Yaporigami, Saryu Sarva. I’ve had a lot of trouble with this album this past year, perhaps not because of the music it contains, but because there’s so much of it. The second disc in this set is a track-for-track remix, and its completely useless. But I’ll get to that.
[9:18 am] Opener “thirteen” sounds like an outtake from Drukqs, with toybox melodies and drill ‘n bass drums. Bleh. This style of music is over. Nothing new. Aphex killed it years ago. “Ame” is more like it, but still this is incredibly derivative stuff, this time aping Tri Repetae-era Autechre. And that’s cool, I’ve gone on and on above about how records sound like other records, but Yaporigami is missing more than hitting here.
[9:23 am] “Nomad,” track three, might be my favourite track of the set. There’s a really nice minor key melody that keeps getting pushed to the next level by this deep, surging bass tone that gets right to the edge of sounding like a synthfart but pulls back at the last moment. I don’t think you could dance to this track, but its a nice uptempo piece that makes me think that maybe if this mammoth set had been cut down to an EP, it would be totally killer with no filler.
[9:29 am] I miss Merck records. Yaporigami makes me think of Merck records.
[9:41 am] Halfway through this record and I’m tired of listening to it. There’s too much here, too much in each track, and the totality of the 30 tracks on this double disc set makes me whimper in despair. I can’t get through this disc. Suffice to say that the remixers are mostly anonymous to me (exceptions being TRS-80, COH, Jimmy Edgar, and Machinedrum), and all keep the same basic template that Yapo sets forth. If you’re one of those holdouts that still clutches your Hangable Auto Bulb 2 to your chest, this is probably right up your alley. The downtempo tracks on this record are pretty good, but the faster, drill-type stuff really grates on me. I think this kind of music has reached its end and artists still doing it are spinning their wheels.
[9:44 am] One final note about the Yaporigami record. The label, Symbolic Interaction, has put out some fantastic stuff and its a label I keep my eye on. I don’t want to slag the label for this record, but don’t let this one put you off other entries in the SI catalog. They’re one of Japan’s finest indie/underground labels.
[9:45 am] Break. Gotta rest the ears for a bit. It’s been 3 hours since I started writing this.
[10:04 am] Ready for the final stretch. We start with Erdem Helvacioglu‘s Altered Realities. This whole record was recorded real-time with an acoustic guitar and “live electronics.” “Bridge to Horizon” starts things off nicely, establishing an ambient/post-rock vibe that continues through the entire album. Hard to tell what sounds on this track aren’t manipulated, but aside from what is obviously an acoustic guitar plucking an engaging melody, whatever else is making the various drones in the background is up for grabs. I can’t tell. And I LOVE that I can’t tell. Sourceless sounds are fantastic. As a side note, there’s a record called Nothing by System Error, where all of the sounds are sourced from a no-input mixer. And it’s nowhere near as glitchy as you’d think it would be. Check it out.
[10:10 am] Because of the very nature of this record, it starts to sound a little samey way too soon for my tastes. Second track “Sliding on a Glacier” again has an acoustic guitar playing an engaging melody, over which is laid some electronic soundtrickery. The liner notes say that Erdem used Audiomulch. I’m not familiar with the software, but if I was a drone artist, I’d use it. There’s some seriously messed up sounds on this record, sounds that I can’t recall hearing before.
[10:16 am] Okay, “Sliding on a Glacier” makes me feel like I’m falling over, even though I’m sitting down.
[10:22 am] “Frozen Resophonic” is ending and I’m starting to weary of this record. Using the same tonal palate throughout doesn’t work for me — I need a little variation. Sorry, Erdem, you’re not making the cut. You’d make a nice EP, but an entire album of this stuff just doesn’t work, even as background music.
[10:24 am] Okay, the final entry in this experiment, TerrorKnowledgeAction from tKatKa. I split this record off from the debut because there was a significant amount of time that had passed between when I received the debut and when I received this, and I didn’t want to combine them, because they sound like they’re from different groups. Terror has tKatKa using (overusing) electric guitar, the instrument that ruined industrial music and made Boards of Canada boring. tKatKa were great on their first record and not that great on this one. Opener “Global Fascist State” grabs the attention with the looped guitar and a pulsing bass, but it doesn’t go anywhere except around and around for an interminable 4:15 that seems easily twice as long.
[10:30 am] “Grief Hijackers – Tom Hickox Vs. tKatKa” is up next and if I could un-hear this track I would. There are vocals on this track, and vocals are fine, but in this case, whoever is singing just makes me want to listen to Underworld, they sound so similar to Karl Hyde. Some bands are able to ape another and make it their own, and some aren’t. Why listen to a band that sounds like Underworld, when you could be listening to Underworld?
[10:42 am] Midway through the record and “Lullabize” is failing to make much of an impression over the course of its three minutes, with the exception that the white noise sound they layer over the whole track makes me want to turn it off. Which I’ll do right now. I’m grateful for the skip button. “Kamikaze” follows with 1990 rave-synths and torpid beats. What happened to the band that made the first record? That one was fantastic, but this one is just derivative and boring. Whereas their self-titled was able to transcend its influences, this one is not. Sorry fellas, go back to what you were doing before, because this just isn’t working.
[10:48 am] This isn’t working for me at all. TerrorKnowledgeAction is making me think that tKatKa has lost the plot, and will unfortunately be resigned to that pile of artists that made only one great album. I sincerely hope not, but they need to make a change against what they’ve done here. Using guitar is one thing, but its ruined more bands than its saved. Singing is cool too, but develop a style that isn’t the monotone chant that Karl Hyde does so well with Underworld. The one thing an album should never do is make me think that I’d be better off listening to another record, and TKA does that every second. I’ll take their first one over this one any day.
[10:53 am] That’s it for this Rewound. I promise to not do it like this again.
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Essential Links
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