Here's some this-listy stuff I've picked up relatively recently and my
thoughts...
'Arbor' - Greg Davis (Carpark)
Bloody good. I've heard various things Greg has been involved in before,
and this release seems to crystalise some of the finest aspects of his
writing. Primarily acoustic guitar and digital processing, with chime-like
sounds and reasonably untouched sound recordings. Which is not to say it's
all soft and rolling - there are beats in there, including a distorted
jungle passage in one track and this entirely demented cut-up of that
awesome beat from Al Green's 'Still In Love With You' (the album - don't
remember the name of the song off-hand). I was initially affronted,
particularly given how far he pushes it, but it really has its own charm.
I'm sure someone can tell me what time signature the track is actually in,
because I can't count it! (Andrei? ;-)
One of the things that probably impresses me most about this album is I can
use words like "charm" without any connotation of one-dimensional easy
listening cack... the music is unconventional (even superficially for not
all having 4 beats to the bar) and pretty without falling into the cliched
gestures of either camp.
'Immediate Action' (Hefty)
Some good tracks, some not so. Worth hearing. Certainly a good introduction
to the Hefty label, and a good encouragement to dig further, so it probably
serves its function in that respect. A diverse mix but it's easy to dream
up some commonality as you listen... A lot of tracks wander through similar
territory to a label like Plug Research... touches of jazz, hip-hop, and
indie/guitar stuff incorporated into electronics. Most of my favourites
come from The Samadha Trio 12" and the Immediate Action EP, which I sadly
already owned.
'The Latest' - Slicker (Hefty)
Hefty's label boss, John Hughes. 'Confidence in Duber', the first Slicker
album, had a crunchy rhythmic sound with lots of cut up vocals and melodic
material all put through the hard disk equivalent of a mangle. This one
takes a turn for the housey... sort of tech-house a la those cool Germans,
with a twist of found-sound stuff a la Matmos and Herbert. Sadly, he's not
very good at it, IMO. The best tracks are definitely the not-housey ones,
which are also not like the first album much at all. This has a much
spacier, wetter sound with eg. live piano, and I think a few horns in
there. So some jazz elements, you could say loosely. Dunno what to think.
Definitely some of it I like, but there are enough awkward moments that I
haven't exactly rushed to give it a listen over the past however long since
I got it. It _sort of_ reminds me of Palmskin Productions' first album, if
anyone else checked that out... it's got that same sort of "whatever" feel
that the creator is just dabbling with anything and everything and maybe
not always successfully.
Phew. This is getting kinda long... most recently I've picked up SND's
'Tender Love', Electric Birds' 'Strata Frames' (having had some Electric
Bird MP3s from Epitonic for a while that got me excited), and that Alva
Noto and Opiate collab on Raster Noton. Will post some comments when I've
digested them a bit more. Feeling kinda overwhelmed - I buy too much to
enjoy it properly.
Michael
np. 'optimal.lp' - Shuttle 358
-
http://www.ampcast.com/jetjaguar
http://www.involverecords.com
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