music i want to babble about, whether on or off topic:
~ david kristian 'room tone' cd (alien8)
interesting to say the least. this is in his 'experimental' vein though
lately he seems to approach the many styles he's known for. this is
some digital-sounding ambient minimalism done from recordings of the
'tones' of various locations. of course what the original sounds were
is left to your imagination. compared to his concrète-or-so album
'cricklewood' (still a favorite from the david kristian catalogue though
a hard one to digest/figure out), 'room tone' is definitely a good deal
more rhythmical: every so often a 'beat' will appear out of a previously
indistinct mud of drones, making listening to the albums a more dynamic
affair than it first seems. if not immediately accessible to most, at
least very smart to say the least, as is the case with most of his
recorded output anyway.
~ jake mandell 'placekick' cdep (carpark)
cute as only jake mandell can afford to be, & very short at that: but on
the whole it's a fun, upbeat record though it doesn't exactly scream
classic. avoid if you're sick of that sort of beats because it's not
going to convert you.
~ solenoid '1/9/00' demo cdr
the opener 'batesian mimicry' reminds me of the heyday of aphexian drill
n bass which is good because solenoid does it in his own strange way.
throughout this rather enjoyable cdr, it sometimes seems in fact like
solenoid tries to fit large ideas in the rather restricted themes of
techno, & it doesn't always work: sometimes it seems like something more
grandiose is at work but doesn't get entirely accomplished. otherwise,
i would be stupid to complain because this cdr is chock full of great
moments ('nuprecon' for example).
~ shirt trax 'chewables' mp3ep (fals.ch)
19 short tracks (hence the name i suppose) which run the gamut through
every conceivable example of granular synthesis known to man (yeah
right.) of course it sounds amazing.
~ richard thomas 'soggy martyrs' cd (lo)
more laid back & groovy than say 'shoes & radios attract paint' &
certainly not as spaced out, but hey, what can you do. it has a lot of
(real) breakbeats & more recognizable instrumentation as well (which
actually comes off nicely in this context). not all the songs are new
(the title track from 'i am carnal' is featured as well as 2 of the most
memorable tracks from the pristine 'what my ears can see' 7" on leaf.)
anyway, it's richard thomas, this guy could probably make a glockenspiel
solo bearable (if he hasn't already) so anything he does is worth your
money.
~ v/a 'nummer een' cd (phonics)
well, what can i say, it's a djak-up-bitch (sorry i mean DUB)
compilation so it has to be at least a bit good, & it succeeds at that.
not all the tracks are that interesting (though i suspect this to be an
editorial issue as, for example, the selected funckarma track 'spatial
convolution' wouldn't have been my choice) but it's easily the best
easily available cd (as opposed to vinyl) in this genre to have come out
recently. oh yes, crunchy digital beats (eog's 'aloe vera' could be
phoenicia with a groove). skip the not-post-acid-enough track (duplex's
if i remember well) & go directly to autophonic's 'outnumbered' which
manages to sound like the soundtrack to a western flick while retaining
a definite percussive edge. the vocal sample is so effectively inserted
into the mix it's almost criminal. the unreleased track from funckarma
is would have fit well on 'part 3' but wouldn't have been a highlight.
but compared to the electronic music i've heard in the past few
weeks/months, this is of very high quality.
~ sun ra 'angels & demons at play / nubians of plutonia' cd (evidence)
a good starting point for the unitiated while still a great listen.
this is one of the early sun ra albums (56-60) but it's already all over
the place, & it has this inimitable sound (& a triumphally lo-fi
production) which makes it timeless just like most of what this genius
has recorded in his entire life.
well, that's enough. more reviews sometime soon (though of more
experimental material, so will probably be posted to microsound-l).
~ david
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