IDM Mailing Archive

Hello listers- a bit late (im just starting to really get back to email), but I just wanted to thank everyone who gave me pointers for portland/seattle activities during the winter break. weather made things interesting, and stressful, but still manageable. made a mega visit to ozone records, who treated me right :) bought *alot* of music, which is both wonderful for the imagination, and not so good for the checkbook. ulp. (hence my upcoming sale/trade purge listing- look out for it! :) anyhow, of everything i've obtained over the past couple months, and even though its typically a challenge for me to put my thoughts about music into words, i gotta share a few comments on a couple of releases that in my opinion deserve attention... (im posting to both lists because there's a little of both, and i feel that a couple of them overlap into both catagories- part of the reason i like em so much! :) Farmers Manual: Does Not Compute- (Mego) fantastic. love everything ive heard by these guys. one side takes jungle to places it never was meant to be (until now!), and the other is ambient/experimental with a subliminal rap at one point. fitting title. anyone care to let me know how to join their mailing list? In Memorium Gilles Deleuze: Compilation (mille plateaux) everything youve heard about how incredible this is is true. gets squeezed into my top ten of last year. wow! Windsor For the Derby: TR54 ep. the first and last tracks are excellent ambient, the first sounding exactly like oval (perhaps better?) out rock in between. Prince Charming: Psychotropical Heatwave weird release on wordsound (that goes w/o saying, it seems) dark atmospherics mixed and tumbled with eclectic jazzy rhytms and melodic meanderings. the most original appropriation of jazz vibes ive heard in awhile. The Unfinished: Compilation (sub rosa) features 2 tracks from locust, which are by far the best on the comp. also feats. mick harris, lilith, and david toop. what all has locust done besides weathered well? incredible stuff! The Resonance Found At The Core of a Bubble: Compilation lo fi experimental "illbient", though i hate that term. heavy on the lofi and the experimental, which are the reasons i like it. tracks by #1 dog, dj spooky, adam pierce, the dylan group (who are these guys?), n20, squelch, bob brass, frank heiss, others. on Bubble Core Records out of New York (is this the labels first release?) Oval: 94Diskont (lp version) the remixes are worth the xtra purchase, even though i already had the cd. excellent. Control Panel 02 ep wow! very experimental beats with weird phased violin (?) melody lines. shifts layers/effects as it evolves, which it does btw. who are these guys and where can i get more? Christoph Heeman: Retrace 7" excellent subtle ambience. cool cover art :) Jack Body: SUARA- Enviromental Music From Java (on Manu) very interesing here. experimental environmental layering/looping that evolves instead of playing out flat. excellent. well, thats my .02 worth for now. any additional comments/criticisms/info welcomed. -Thad

On Tue, 28 Jan 1997, leafflow@coop.crn.org (Thad Biggerstaff) wrote:

quoted 1 line Farmers Manual: Does Not Compute- (Mego)

>Farmers Manual: Does Not Compute- (Mego)

are you sure this isn't on Ash ("Tray" division. ha ha)? the Farmers Manual 12" on Mego, their usual label, is untitled (or self titled), and consists of many many many lock-grooves. great stuff, but i think it's a different record.

quoted 3 lines Windsor For the Derby: TR54 ep.

>Windsor For the Derby: TR54 ep. >the first and last tracks are excellent ambient, the first >sounding exactly like oval (perhaps better?) out rock in between.

WftD is a rock(ish) offshoot of Stars of the Lid. Brian McBride of SotL produces and may-or-may-not play. there's a full length, _Calm Hades Float_ (also on King Coffey's Trance label), which can't be beat for indie-ambient excellence. think of Sonic Youth's softest Branca-esque moments wed to Windy & Carl's sweet swirl.

quoted 5 lines The Unfinished: Compilation (sub rosa)

>The Unfinished: Compilation (sub rosa) >features 2 tracks from locust, which are by far the best on the >comp. also feats. mick harris, lilith, and david toop. >what all has locust done besides weathered well? incredible >stuff!

what a great comp! Locust (Mark Van Hoen, early engineer of Seefeel) released several 12"s on R&S's ambient division, Apollo. they were collected - roughly - on _Natural Composite_. the most recent Locust material has been MUCH less ambient, more exhillarating experimental techno which really defies description. sheer genius, a large helping of which is found on _Truth is Born of Arguments_ and the time-biding "No One In This World" (a track from one of the Astralwerks comps, done as "WFO," remixed in various styles) EP. Van Hoen was also a member of Autocreation, a darkly ambient/electronic project on Alex Patterson's Inter-Modo label. One LP, _Mettle_, which is a fantastic set in the Autechre/Lustm?rd/Immersion vein. several 12"s have followed since, without Van Hoen. the other (current) Autocreators are Tara Patterson (related to Alex?) and Kevin Hector. they've since resurfaced on Kirk Degiorgio's Op Art label. Autocreation also assist and do remix duties on one of *the* 12"s on '96, Wallstar's "Gurnigan" (Immortal uk). finally, Van Hoen collaborated with Seefeel's Darren Seymour on an experimental (think H3O/NWW/ZF) project, _Aurobindo:Involution_. an oft-misunderstood album of drones, electric crackles, and subdued melodies on Ash International and a new track on Leaf's "Invisible Soundtracks II" (REEL2) are out there for you to discover and enjoy. Van Hoen has a new album of collected experimenta due for release shortly on Touch.

quoted 4 lines Control Panel 02 ep

>Control Panel 02 ep >wow! very experimental beats with weird phased violin (?) melody >lines. shifts layers/effects as it evolves, which it does btw. >who are these guys and where can i get more?

this is Warren Defever of HNIA. fantastic 12" - sounds much like a less pop-restricted version of his work with Ian Masters as ESP Summer (/Dolphins/Continent, depending on format and geography). i believe that there's another tape of Control Panel material available through Warren's TimeStereo label. many of the TS artists, when not indulging in sub-Japanoise drivel, release similarly interesting experiments. the ESP Beetles' _Spinnin'_ tape even has a side-long homage to Sun Ra! GuerillaG2-G4/ gg