Blockhead – “Interludes After Midnight” – [Ninja Tune]

BLOCKHEAD ??

Interludes After Midnight

NINJA TUNE [CD 2012]

Blockhead has returned from his solo hiatus. He returns to Ninja Tune to drop layered instrumentals laced with an ever present disquiet. If a modern day Jack the Ripper were stalking bboys, this would be in his iPod. Or it’s for the nostalgic misanthrope yearning for melody and lamenting the technographic age. Blockhead???s production creates refined atmosphere that takes you somewhere else, at midnight. You will find many references but plenty of originality to make it his own. 4 reminsces of the Nobody/Mia Doi Todd track on the KeepInTime No.2 Coll. All good.

-Tiza

FCC:4,5,12

U.X.X. – “instrumentals” – [Self Released]

Collaboration between local noise artists (members of Riqis, Al Qaeda, Sutekh Hexen) Psychedelic mixture of organic and synthetic sounds with sax, synth, voice and computer beats augmenting the scene. Track 1 starts as a wavering synth drone that moves between an empty warehouse and a quivering tone before a rumbling takes over and the bottom heavy, broken hip hop beats take over. Feedback oscillations abound in the thunder only to be broken by a sudden broken glass as a glitched, factory beat sets in and we’re absorbed in a bouquet of noise. Voices echo from nowhere, augmenting the ethereal feel until suddenly prayer bells signal a move to an oceanside gathering of tribal dragonflies and a peaceful drone fighting an incessant feedback. Track 2 drops immediately into some deep hip hop instrumentals amidst a background of screeching and bass reverberations all warped like its encapsulated in a bubble. A fog washes over and we’re dropped into an ice cavern deep inside a mountain where every sound is amplified in the endless reverb. There, with all our senses deprived of stimuli except the freezing cold echoes we sink into a dreamworld, launching out to the edges of the universe. There we meet a series of chopped up beats that culminate in a fury of noise and then cut out very suddenly. Self-released tape produced for Amnesia’s last noise show 5/15/12. Amazing live!

Rodan – Sato Michihiro

The tsugaru shamisen is a three stringed japanese lute that sounds reminisceint of a banjo. Michihiro is a master and being of the younger generation of players has chosen the path of improv. All the tracks on here are great. While I found it a bit difficult to listen all the way through (the banjo-ness wore on me) there are many enjoyable tracks here. My picks are the ones that feature Christian Marclay.

-pArcel pOst

Megafortress

Megafortress is New York musician Bill Gillim. Voice and field recordings come to the fore on this EP. I think a lot of the field recordings are somewhat fictional or at the very least, processed beyond recognition. The recordings presented here are some of his most recent works. While they are interesting and certainly worth a listen they tend to venture into a new age space. The really good stuff seems to be his earlier work, accessible on Soundcloud.

pArcel pOst

PA.RTS – “Greatest Hiss” – [Bombay Cove]

Pressed on green marble swirl, this compilation of 5 short but dense tracks is compiled from cassettes put out since 2007 in limited release. PA.RTS =Pat.Robert.Robert, the three guys responsible for ‘Greatest Hiss’ packages home-built electronics, treated bass guitar, effects boxes, loops and much more.Thick blackish fog, steely knives slicing through the underworld.Haunting organ drone carries through all tracks with periodic pops, loops, feedback, repetitious bass undertones, dark inaudible chants, grinding warped tones. Their is a strange and frightening uneasiness to all of this, however with the tracks being much too short, it’s like a haunted house at Knott’s Scary Farm; your in, your out and on to the next.

For Whom The Cowbell Tolls [coll] – [Electric Cowbell]

This is the second compilation of 45s’ that Brooklyn based artist run Electric Cowbell Records has released following there 2011 compilation 101 Things to do in Bongolia. Some usual suspects return for the 2012 edition including Debo Band, Spanglish Fly, Kharia Arby. Karthala 72 starts things off with some psychedelic African grooves straight out of 1972. Go back further a few more years to melt in some Latin Boogaloo with Spanglish Fly keeping it fresh with remixes by Kill Emil & The Audible Doctor. The Polyrhythmics ‘Pink Wasabi’ reflects influence by Fela Kuti. There is nothing to skip on this compilation, from Os Magrelos vintage Bossa Nova, classic Malian from Cheick Hamala Diabete, Khaira Arby & Sway Machinery. Debo Band’s ‘Gedawo is Ethio Funk heavy dub remixed masterfully by Kiddid. Even NO! BS Brass’s version of A-Ha’s cheesy ‘Take on Me’ is well worth the listen. Little Shalima’s two tracks are simply fun, soulful and funky. Super Hi-Fi’s trombone fueled ‘Single Payer’s Victor Rice remix closes things off on a high note. Electric Cowbell Records seems to have a knack for producing artists who relish in taking on great sounds of the past and creating something fresh for the next generations.

Porras, Jon – “Black Mesa” – [Thrill Jockey Records]

Jon Porras, half of the drone duo Barn Owl, here with his 5th solo release. ??The high-lonesome sound, twanging guitars, but slowed down, stretched, echoed… ??Spare instrumental ballads, drenched in reverb, with subtle drones, tremelo and feedback.

Branko – “Onderliv” – [kill shaman]

Swedish band Branko is a guitarist and percussionist who produce a unique sound. Lo-fi rock probably could be called punk surf. Fun, high energy with hints of rockabilly and Spaghetti Western, among others. All instrumental but not traditional surf.

Kill Shaman’s web site implies that it should be played 33rpm, but every track sounds fine at 45rpm as well. 33 is more distorted and nicely weird, 45 is quicker and a bit more together.

Pyramids / Horseback [coll] – [Hydra Head Records]

Experimental 2011 stuff from two USA bands that covers both expressive extremes of drone. There’s a dozen different instruments on this; plates getting banged around, various synthesizer, gasps both short and long, all sorts of scrapes, but on the 7″ they all have a purpose in driving or communicating something. The 12″ is then a complete renunciation of all meaning made so much more potent by contrast, and its 40+ minutes will lull you into the most disturbing trance you’ve had in moons.

After listening to and enjoying the 7″ a few times I started to write this review as a journey to an underwater ruin, but having heard the 12″ in its entirety thrice now and all three times having gotten major shakes, screw that. Especially on Side D, which builds/descends into a completely mindblowing plunge, I ENCOURAGE you to slowly scrape together your own personal fantasy kingdom to see and explore and experience the deep, deep horror of its complete obliteration.

Breuker, Willem Kollektief & Luca, Loes – “Hunger!” – [Bvhaast]

This 1999 recording marked the 25th anniversary of the Dutch jazz artist Willem Breuker’s Kollekttief. Great playing on an incredibly wide range of work that includes free jazz, a brass chorale, and a faithful rendition of “Yes, We Have No Bananas”. The style is sometimes reminiscent of Kurt Weill, also dips its toe into classical music of Rossini and Chopin. Wildly creative, almost always zany and lots of fun.

We Acediasts – “We Acediasts” – [Mesh Key]

This band may have only lasted two years, but they made a sound contribution during that time. Four guys based in Tokyo producing a punk noise wave that fits in well with the underground sound. Bursts of headache-inducing energy give way to a longer, more droning soundscape on B2. Keep them alive by playing this.

Marriages – “Kitsune” – [Sargent House]

This debut from musicians who also perform as part of Red Sparowes is a substantial offering of what Surfer Rosa aptly called shoegaze. “Kitsune” is Japanese for fox, and you can imagine that very clever animal moving throughout these songs characterized by Emma Ruth Rundle’s husky vocals and masterful guitar, Greg Burns’ bass, and Dave Clifford’s drums. Get ready to be entranced.

Fuck On The Beach – “Eat ‘em All” – [H.G. Fact]

Screaming, pounding Japanese hardcore from start to finish on this 2011 Regurgitated Semen Records release. This is their third album and 10 years after their second which was 5 years after their first, who knows how these guys are still alive and screaming,,, Japanese cybernetics? Vocals are nonstop and raging with completely unintelligible lyrics that read like a wastebin of suicide note drafts. Drums are mostly that very special borderline of headache and rockout that hardcore surfs so often. Guitars exist to support the vocals.

A1 almost tracks into A2 but otherwise there’s usable gaps. B6 is a self-titled, unlisted track that probably technically has FCC, but it’s really good. A3 has a great repeated rage and texture of horror, and really that sense of consumerist inner horror is what they’re playing up here on the whole album. Devour and devour and devour until you’re more than full, but die knowing that you never loved anything more than yourself.

Dreams, The – “Morbido” – [kill shaman]

French duo, Nafi and Armelle, creating collision music, where the
sounds bounce off each other. Definitely informed by a bastardized
dub, but the dub is not fed the crisp crack of snare but a cheapo
drum machine and discount wine. Synths are smeared all over, with a fair amount of pitch wheel dealing, giving some of the songs that trembling on the point of failure aspect that the mellotron was
renowned for. Actually the more I listen, the more different
synthetic sounds emerge. Nafi “Pure Reagge Night” has a kind of
Clash delivery, and their brand of reggae does indeed warrant the
misuse and mispelling. Occasional bouts of secret agent guitar
really help out and cut through the dense and dizzy mix, Armelle
sings more often and she can take it up to a shriek but is more
comfortable in that half-a-pack-of-cigarette baritone. Not as
forlorn as Nico, but in the neighborhood. I like it when they
hit the panic/pleasure button like on “Out of Eyes.” The start of
the album flirts with a middle eastern breeze a la Rainbow Arabia.
I’d like to hear ‘em with a few more musicians and a little less
omnipresent sound…but definitely a solid album for anyone who
has to wipe the mascara off his/her keyboard. Le good stuff…

-Thurston Hunger

Dead Drums – “Fashion Defense / Human Hair” – [Bathetic]

Probably should not have fallen asleep in the bathtub
again, but this Dead Drums release on Bathetic definitely
drifts a body down, through the drain and into another
world. Steamy slurry vox sometimes, and that one-winged
chick, the pop priestess is summoned. Home-spun, with
tap-water guitar, and a clear murkiness to the production.
Results in a barbituate cassette. Lo-fi badge of courage,
and a MOR rock hangover, seeping into various karaoke dreams
(forever Everly on #6, and Nicks knacks on #9). Haze
on top of haze, with guitar as a mesh.?? Caleb Moore is
the Calgonian at work here, also in a band called Lands
and Peoples. The full (double EP) plays really well
in its entirety, a better chance for submerging. Track #13
is a two-fer, beware silence from 3:45 till 4:38. It has
a bowed start, and then circling bubbles of guitar. Bohren
and Der Bathrobe of Baltimore drip electic piano drops on
#7. Shoe gaze without the shoes? Sink into it…

-Thurston Hunger

Philippe Petit – “Una Symphonia Della Paura” – [Utech]

Another dark, doomy maelstrom. The first two tracks pit ringing
noise versus tribal drums. The drums are tres thumpy, with a
distinct, martial and insistent flair. The guitar and effects
buzz like insects, with an indistinct and pervasive flare. The
shorter first track had a more dynamic nature, the other one
demands submission. Next up “The Dark Passenger” is more of a
sonic blender, chirping birdies sucked into the vortex. On “Diurnal
Terror” a feedback sunrise leds into a more solemn procession,
the drums still big with round sound come very infrequently, but
about 2:40 into this piece, a splice takes place and through the
electronic haze one can hear a kind of dance-floor groove. But
later on it is stomped on by more timpani tribal attack drums.
Finally, “The Night Has Eyes” again features the heavy DRUMS
doing a sort of taiko ritual between the barbed electronic sounds
before a long static scrape to exit. Petit has been an active and
adventurous artist as of late, and this apparently came from a
collaboration with Justin Broadrick. While I wish this had thinned
out more in spots, it’s one of those everything all at once releases
that if you hanker for the thick soup, bring your speaker spoon.

-Thurston Hunger

Tension: Spanish Experimental Underground 1980-1985 [coll] – [Munster]

18 reverberations of western cultural revolutions in this pretty good variety of pretty good experimental noise/rock

#1: upbeat and English vocals and lots of synth

#2 and 4 and 13: aggressive Spanish and rock

#3 and 5: mostly Spanish vocals with some sax

#6 and 7 and 8 and 10 and 12: laid back Spanish, synth, beats; #12 trips in and out

#9 and 11: builds into screeches and wildness with a synth background, #11 has a super creepy dental intro

#14-18: instrumental experimental temperamentals, you will really like exactly one of these

one of the artists self-defines his work as “nihilistic primitivism that could take elements from punk, but also a certain virtuosity from other things that were taboo like funk, jazz, or progressive rock.” The booklet’s neat snippets include Barcelona’s ‘Radio Pica’, an experimental station that bloomed for two years before getting axed by the government in 1987.

DJ Female Convict Scorpion – “Clash-Ups III” – [Self Released]

This must be what it feels like to be possessed or have multiple personalities or be diagnosed with really severe ADHD… DJ Female Convict Scorpion uses only a turntable and sampler to concoct this unpredictable potion of beats, blowing horns, clapping hands,fluttering flutes, piano lines, oscillations, feedback and god knows what else. Heavy usage of vocal samples here, whether its people speaking, children caroling or weird, creepy tid bits of somebody singing (most notably found on tracks 4 and 6). These mixes are super stoney and generally demented. At times this sounds like some kind of fucked up orchestra of televisions turned onto different stations blaring out all at once. This eerie stuff pokes, prods and never fails to throw a curveball. Track titles seem to allude to the sort of samplage you’ll be hearing on each piece, so make note. Segues are naturally super clean, this whole album plays like one long, nasty, late night mix. So go ahead and let a few of these tracks track, just as they were meant to. Now who put this lsd in my oatmeal? -Surfer Rosa

Coltrane, Alice – “Transfiguration” – [Warner Bros.]

Recorded at Shoenberg Hall, UCLA in 1978, this double 12″ Album features Alice Coltrane on Piano and organ, Reggie Workman, Bass and Roy Haynes on drums. Quoting Alice Coltrane, Transfiguration transforms every musical statement from a mere expression of one’s mental prowess and music capabilities in an offering of love to God. This opening track sets the tone for the rest of the album as she manipulates the keys on her Wurlitzer into an intriguing and very listenable sound definitely inspired by her immersion into East Indian Spirituality. A2 ‘One for the Father’ is dedicated to her late husband John with sweet, passionate and personable piano play evoking her deep love. B1 ‘Prema’ The classically trained Coltrane evokes hints of Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky in this beautiful lush reflective piece accompanied by a string orchestra which was added post production. B2 ‘Affinity’ she is back on organ with an improvisational yet a repetitive often tone. C2 ‘Leo’ part 1 by far begins the highlight and dramatic conclusion to this concert. Workman manipulates his bass into eastern influenced sounds you would swear he was playing an oud or sitar at times during his extended solo. Leo continues in part 2 on D1 with drummer Roy Haynes drum solo equally as masterful as Workman’s implementing his full arsenal for a full 5 minutes. The remainder is filled with Coltrane’s frenetic organ play leaving no key black nor white untouched and maximizing each tone. All three are at their finest here in this finale with never a moment of rest, the momentum continuing for what seems like an eternity and climaxing in a satisfying achievement all their own. With all due respect to John Coltrane’s Leo, this version was something brand new and fresh which I’m certain he would have approved.

Bruckmann’s, Kyle: Wrack – “Cracked Refraction” – [Porter Records]

Kyle Bruckmann, Oboe player based out of Oakland and former member of the noise outfit Lozenge, brings us the project Wrack, delivering the cohesion and the chaos, with the help of his cacophonous cohorts on viola, bass clarinet and percussion. You have never heard an oboe shred so hard. These are the jagged sounds of intense interplay, walking-running -strolling bass lines, helter skelter time signature and heavy dynamics. These piece are compositions circumscribed in free improv (or is it the other way around?). Asymmetrical musings cook and build, loosen and tighten, ebb, flow and most importantly groove. The musicians here are conversing. Pieces range from sparse and exploratory to dense and complex, airing on the fringe of tight jazz or free noise. The delivery is coming. Dig it. -Surfer Rosa