I loved the first installment in this series and have been looking forward
to number II since seeing news about it in one of Lance's posts. Opening it,
I see this is compiled by Burnt Friedman as well, great! Comes with a nice
booklet too (as did the first one) with bits about the bands. The tracks on
first listen:
1. Jazzanova- Caravelle - the first track starts off in jazzy jungle mode,
then goes mad about 1:30 through, jungle beats an infectious bassline and
lead. 4:00 in toms and snares take over for a minute or so before the lead
comes back in. I like it!
2. Subtle Tease - Overlookingls - 60's style psychedelic English lyrics and
pianos to a steady beat apparently of "an old drum made of suitcases"... not
my cup of tea
3. Lame Gold (p.s. diacritical mark over the 'e' in 'Lame')- Heartbreak
Hotel - an "interpretation of the Elvis song" with a mournful guitar melody
and croaking lyrics that remind me of Lou Reed, kinda catchy maybe
4. Tarwater - No More Extra Time - more English lyrics against slow IDM,
noisy at times, ho hum
5. Sad Rockets - E.j. - Lounge music IDM, dull
6. Felix Kubin - Bruder Luzifer - a bent childs-toy like melody starts this
one off, radio static and distorted high hat percusssion then back some
cheesy pads, back comes the bent melody, and back again. Very strange, may
take some more listening.
7. Wunder - Noitz's Kakao- orchestral and sad sounding, sweet but
uninspiring
8. Lithops - Chobmond - A track from Jan St. Werner, sparse and odd, I think
I will have to check out some more of his stuff.
9. Harald "Sack" Ziegler & Frank Shueltge "Blumm" - "Toygrooves" - hmmm, the
liner notes describe this as made from samples of various toys "and fat
glossy magazines". You wouldn't know it for the most part but I like the
result, it gets very strange and driving, like a demented march of
electronic doo-dads.
10. Naturalist (Atom Heart) - #12 - "Why don't you simply sit back, relax,
and have a coffee?" starts this track, an industrial rythym and an organ
lead, distorted "coffee" samples. Wish I could say I was drinking coffee as
I heard this... gets very hazy and psychedelic at the end. Hmm ditto my
comment for #8!
11. Flanger (Burnt Friedman & Atom Heart) - Music to Begin With, Part 2 -
clangs and scronches coalesce into a rythym, a jazzy organ melody comes
along to lead the way and gives way to some bubbly squelches for a bit
before returning in force with some more conventional percussion. I like the
beginning better than the end, but still good
12. Hematic Sunsets - Gaude Mihi - discordant pianos build against a dark
driving rythym, various loud orchestral sounds come and go. This was the
most striking track so far I'd say.
13 Holosud -Alaune - an interesting, more cheerful and noisy track, almost
latin sounding at times, lots of cheesy keyboard sounds.
Well, I was starting to wonder with the vocal tracks at the beginning of
this. There were some better tracks at the end though. I can't say there was
anything that really grabbed me like some of the tracks on the first
Deutcsher Funk. Well, they say anything improves with repeated listening,
we'll see!
Take it easy
John