#but like. the members have performed with a synth or another similar electronic instrument (not counting bass/guitar)

[elysianasterism]

just tweeted this but like. if you told past lucie, even lucie from last year, that they'd get obsessed with a pop band, they wouldn't believe you. but here we are 🕺

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 6, Number 4

Guided by Voices just dropped record #30!

We enter April wishing all of you good health and financial solvency, though we know that many of the musicians and artists and appreciators that visit our site are in very dire circumstances. Our own crew is, so far, not infected, though we are coping with varying degrees of success to the new normal. Some are writing more. Others are struggling. Almost all of us are listening hard to the music that sustains us, and hope that you are likewise finding some solace. This edition of Dust is a big one, as a lot of us have the attention span for shorter, but not longer pieces. Enjoy it in good health. Contributors included Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw, Ian Mathers, Andrew Forell and Tim Clarke.

Aara — En Ergô Einai (Debemur Morti Productions)

En Ergô Einai by Aara

Swiss black metal band Aara offers a very high-concept LP, investigating the European Enlightenment, and the period’s complex and conflicting discourses on human rationality. In some ways, the historical period was enormously optimistic, featuring thinkers like Ben Franklin and Rousseau, who were committed to modes of thought that were scientifically rigorous and grounded in egalitarian ethics. But at the same time, European coloniality ramped up significantly, and capital became a rapacious, world consuming engine, churning out massive wealth and even more massive human suffering. Aara investigate that — or anyways that’s their claim. They haven’t published the lyrics to these songs, and the vocal stylings of singer Fluss are so brittle, so horrendously shrieked, that it’s impossible to decipher the words. The music is suggestive, however. It’s infused with a grand sensibility, and also charged with black metal’s negative intensities. The influence of Blut Aus Nord’s romantic Memoria Vetusta records is strongly present — and Vindsval, Blut Aus Nord’s principal composer, plays guitar on “Arkanum,” first track on this record. Its grandiosity is in tune with the philosophical enthusiasms of the Enlightenment. But it’s pretty cold stuff, like rationality itself.

Jonathan Shaw

 Ryoko Akama / Apartment House — Dial 45-21-95 (2019) (Another Timbre)

Dial 45-21-95 by Ryoko Akama

The one time I saw Ryoko Akama’s music performed, the visual poetry of the concert was at least as compelling as the music that was made. During one piece she, Joseph Clayton Mills and Adam Sonderberg walked calmly up and down a line of tables loaded with instruments and knick-knacks she picked up during her visit to Chicago, making timely sounds that seemed to accent their movements rather than issue from them. While it sounded nothing like the music on Dial 45-21-95 (2019), this album is likewise the work of sympathetic musicians expressing a composer’s impressions of a place and all that comes with it. The source material this time comes from Akama’s visit to the archive of filmmaker Krzystof Kieslowski. Objects she saw, words that she read, and the episodic pacing of his works all became part of this cycle of leisurely, gentle movements of music that is small in scale, but not exactly minimalist. The musicians, in this case the English new music ensemble Apartment House, often seem to be passing phrases from one to another, each recipient conveying a reaction to what they’ve heard rather than the same information. In this way they impart the experience of a story without telling one.

Bill Meyer

 Aidan Baker & Gareth Davis — Invisible Cities II (Karlrecords)

Invisible Cities II by Aidan Baker & Gareth Davis

What better time than when we’re all forbidden by pandemic to spend time in the company of others to listen to some quality sonic landscaping instead? Nadja’s ever-prolific Aidan Baker second duo collaboration with bass clarinetist Gareth Davis follows on the first Invisible Cities with a similar structure; Baker, credited on that first LP with just “guitar”, somehow summons up vast or subtle cloudbanks of hissing ambience, covert drones, even sometimes harsh blares (check out “The Dead” here) while Davis plays his clarinet like he’s carefully picking his way across a perilous set of ruins. Whether elegiac like the opening “Hidden” or more mysterious like the fading pulses threading around Davis’s work on “Eyes”, the result is a vividly evocative set of involving ambient music made using slightly unusual materials. Even though Baker and Davis fall into a set of background/foreground roles, both clearly contribute equally to what makes Invisible Cities II work so well (honestly, a little better than their fine debut as a duo), and although unintentional, the result can serve to give us temporary shut ins plenty of mental fodder as well.  

Ian Mathers  

 The Bobby Lees — Skin Suit (Alive)

The Bobby Lees may be from Woodstock, but they definitely do not have flowers in their hair. Skin Suit, the band’s second album, is a blistering onslaught of garage rock fury, at least as heated as last year’s Hank Wood and the Hammerheads S-T, but tighter, nearly surgically precise. Singer/guitarist Sam Quartin has a magnetic, unflappable presence, whether issuing threats sotto voce (“Coin”), insinuating sexual heat (“Redroom”) or crooning the blues. But everyone in the band is more than up to the job, whether Macky Bowman knocking the kit sidewise in the most disciplined way, Kendall Windall jacking the pressure with thundering bass or Nick Casa lighting off Molotov cocktails of guitar sound. Video (above) suggests that the record isn’t the half of it, but the record is pretty damned good. Jon Spencer produced and makes a characteristically unhinged cameo in “Ranch Baby.” Two covers ought to be a misfire—can anybody improve on Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation,” or add anything further to the Spencer Davis Group’s “I’m a Man”? — but instead bring the fire. Helluva a band, probably even better live.

Jennifer Kelly

 Rob Clutton with Tony Malaby — Offering (Snailbongbong Records)

Offering by Rob Clutton with Tony Malaby

Sometimes when one musician gets top billing, that just means they ponied up for the session fees. But on Offering, the words “Rob Clutton with” signal that the Canadian double bassist conceived of a sound situation and procured material suited to that concept. Clutton is well acquainted with the American soprano and tenor saxophonist, Tony Malaby. Their association dates back two decades, when both men were resident artists at the Banff Centre For Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada, and they’re both members of drummer Nick Fraser’s band. That common ground gets the nod on “Sketch #11,” a Fraser tune that occasions some of the most swinging music on this wide-ranging and thoroughly satisfying session. But elsewhere the genesis of the material lies in Clutton’s own improvisations, which he recorded, transcribed and analyzed in order to locate nuggets of musical intelligence worth developing into discreet melodies — or further improvisations. Either way, Malaby isn’t just the guy on hand to play the horn parts, but a known musical quantity to be either be written for or set up to set loose. Clutton must have had his tone, alternately ample and pungent on soprano, and his imaginative responsiveness to the melodic, rhythmic, and emotional implications of a theme in mind, for his own purposeful perambulations seem designed to give Malaby plenty to wrap around and climb upon. While the music is ever spare, it’s never wanting.

Bill Meyer

 Pia Fraus — Empty Parks (Seksound)

Empty Parks by Pia Fraus

Empty Parks, the latest album from Estonian neo-shoegazers Pia Fraus, deftly soundtracks crisp, blue-skied, late winter days when buds are emerging on bare trees and the promise of warmer days beckons. The Tallinn based band comprising Eve Komp (vocals, synth), Kärt Ojavee (synth), Rein Fuks (guitar, vocals, synth, percussion), Reijo Tagapere (bass), Joosep Volk (drums, electronic percussion) and Kristel Eplik (backing vocals) traffics in layered harmonies, swathes of synth and roving guitar lines over a solid, propulsive rhythm section. Most of the songs move along at a good clip with a great sense of dynamics and a focus on atmospherics. Sometimes one wishes they would let go a little and explore the hints of noise on standout tracks “Mr. Land Freezer,” “Nice And Clever” and “Australian Boots” which have traces of grit that, if given more prominence, may have elevated Empty Parks as a whole from enjoyable to compelling.  

Andrew Forell  

 Stephen Gauci / Sandy Ewen / Adam Lane / Kevin Shea — Live at the Bushwick Series (Gaucimusic)

Gauci/Ewen/Lane/Shea, Live at the Bushwick Series by gaucimusic

The cultural losses inflicted by the current pandemic situation are so immense that no record review is going to hold the whole story. But this one might clue you in to one culture under unique threat, and also shine a light on the spirit that may bring it back again. Since the summer of 2017, tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci has been organizing a concert series at the Bushwick Public House in Brooklyn, NY. Each Monday starting at 7 PM up to half a dozen individuals or ensembles will play some variant of jazz or improvised music. This album is the first in a series of five titles, all released as either downloads or CDRs with nicely done sleeves, and each documenting a set that was part of the series. Live at the Bushwick Series is a forceful argument for the mixing of aesthetics. You might know drummer Kevin Shea from the conceptually comedic jazz band, Mostly Other People Do The Killing, or Gauci and Lane from the many recordings that showcase each man’s impassioned playing and rigorous compositions. Maybe you know guitarist Sandy Ewen as a started-from-scratch free improviser. But when you hear this recording, you’ll know that they are a band, one that makes cohesive and ferocious music on full of tectonic friction and fluid role-swapping on the fly. When the quarantines expire, there may or may not be a concert series, or a Bushwick Public House to host it. But it’ll take the kind of commitment and invention heard here to get things rolling again.

Bill Meyer

 Vincent Glanzmann / Gerry Hemingway — Composition O (Fundacja Sluchaj)

Composition O by Vincent Glanzmann / Gerry Hemingway

A composition is both an ending and a beginning. It establishes some parameters, however specifically, to guide musicians’ interactions. But the publishing of a piece can also provoke many different interpretations, especially when the composition itself is designed to be a work in progress. Percussionists Vincent Glanzmann and Gerry Hemingway developed Composition O with the intent to revise each time they play it, so that while there is a graphic score guiding them, it is subject to change. So, don’t expect this music to have the locked-in quality of, say, Steve Reich’s Music for Eighteen Musicians, any more than you might expect it to evince the self-creating form of a free improvisation. It proceeds quite deliberately through sections of athletic stick-craft, sonorous rubbing, and eerie extensions beyond the percussive realm enabled by the distorting properties of microphones and the deeply human communication of Hemingway’s vocalizations, which are filtered by a harmonica. The score keeps things organized; the concept means that this music will evolve and change.

Bill Meyer

 Magnus Granberg / Insub Meta Orchestra — Als alle Vögel sangen mein Sehnen und Verlangen (Insub)

Als alle Vögel sangen mein Sehnen und Verlangen by MAGNUS GRANBERG / INSUB META ORCHESTRA

In a previous review for Dusted, I characterized Magnus Grandberg’s sound world as “unemphatic.” The same applies here, and the accomplishment of that effect is in direct inverse to the size of the ensemble playing this album-length piece. For this performance, the Insub Meta Orchestra numbers 27 musicians, but it rarely sounds like more than four or five of them are playing at any time. The ensemble is well equipped to represent whatever Granberg suggests. In addition to conventional orchestra instrumentation, you’ll find antique instruments such as spinet, traverso and viola da gamba, as well as newcomers like the analog synthesizer and laptop computer. Granberg selects discerningly from centuries of compositional and performative approaches. The piece’s title, which translates to “When all the birds sang my longing and desire,” tips the hat to Schubert, but the way that timbres offset one another shows a working knowledge with contemporary free improvisation. It takes restraint on the part of the players as well as the composer to make a group this big sound so small in contrast to the silence that contains its music.

Bill Meyer    

 Ivar Grydeland / Henry Kaiser — In The Arctic Dreamtime (Rune Grammofon)

If Ivar Gyrdeland (Danes les Arbres, Huntsville) and Henry Kaiser had first met in an airport lounge or a green room somewhere, you might not be able to hold this CD in your hands. They’d have sat down, started talking about strings or pick-ups or their favorite Terje Rypdal records, and who knows where that might have led. But they met in an Oslo studio, and one of them had some means of projecting Roald Amundsen — Lincoln Ellsworth’s Flyveekspedisjon 1925, a documentary of an unsuccessful and nearly fatal attempt to fly two airplanes over the North Pole. So, they set up their guitars and improvised a soundtrack to the film on the spot, which became the contents of this CD. Neither man regards the guitar’s conventional sounds as obligatory boundaries, and much of the music here delves into other available options. Resonant swells, looped harmonics, and flickering backwards sounds alternate with shimmering strums, skeins of feedback, and unabashed shredding, radiating with an icy brightness that corresponds to the unending polar sunlight that shone down on the expeditionaries as they hand-carved a runway out of the ice.

Bill Meyer

 Guided By Voices — ‘Surrender Your Poppy Field’ (GBV, Inc.)

Surrender Your Poppy Field by Guided By Voices

The ever productive Robert Pollard kicks off a new decade with a louder, more distorted brand of rock, his characteristic hooky melodies buzzing with guitar feedback. He’s supported by the same band as on last year’s Sweating the Plague— Doug Gillard, Kevin March, Bobby Bare, Jr. and Mark Shue, who like Pollard are lifers to a man. Songs run short and feverish with only a couple breaking the three- minute mark and the chamber-pop “Whoa Nelly,” clocking in at 61 seconds. And yet, who can pack more into a couple of minutes than the godfather of lofi? “Queen Parking Lot” ramps up the dissonance around the most fetching sort of melody, which curves organically around modal curves. “Steely Dodger,” layers rattling textures of percussive sound (drums, strummed guitars) around a dreaming psychedelic tune. The words make no sense, but tap into subconscious fancies. This is Guided by Voices 30th album. Here’s to the next 30.

Jennifer Kelly

 Zachary Hay — Zachary Hay (Scissor Tail)

Zachary Hay by Zachary Hay

Zachary Hay is an American acoustic guitarist, but please, put aside the associative baggage that comes with those words. If you do so, that’ll put you closer to the spirit that informed the making of this LP’s ten un-named tracks. Like Jon Collin, Hay seems to be intent upon capturing the mood and environment of a particular moment. The sound of the room, or someone turning on a tap while he’s recording — these become elements of the music every bit as much as his patient note choices. Hay likes melodies, but he doesn’t feel bound to repeat them, which imparts a sense of motion to the music. Things change a bit towards the end, when he puts down his guitar and stretches out for a spell on banjo and squeezebox, humming along with the latter like a man who knows that he must be his own company.

Bill Meyer  

 Egil Kalman & Fredrik Rasten — Weaving a Fabric of Winds (Shhpuma)

Weaving a Fabric of Winds by Egil Kalman & Fredrik Rasten

Some music is born out of commercial or communicative aspirations, or philosophical structural prescriptions. One suspects that this music originates from some agreement about what sounds good, compounded by other ideas about the right way to do things. Fredrik Rasten is a guitarist who splits his time between Berlin and Oslo, shuttling between improvised and composed musical situations; he has an album out on Wandelweiser, which should tell you a bit about his aesthetics. Egil Kalman plays modular synthesizer on this record, but he is also a double bassist from Sweden who lives in Copenhagen, and he keeps busy playing in folk, jazz and free improv settings; one hopes that someday, we’ll hear some recordings by his touring project, Alasdair Roberts & Völvur. But in the meantime, give a listen to this record, which patiently scrutinizes a space bounded by string harmonics and electronic resonance. Rasten uses just intonation to maximize the radiance of his sounds and re-tunes while playing to subtly manage the harmonic proximity between his vibrations and Kalman’s long tones. The synth supplies a bit of slow-motion melody. The album’s two pieces were performed in real time, and the effort involved in maintaining precise harmonic distance gives the music a subtle but undeniable charge. The title mentions winds, but this music feels more like a sonic representation of slight but steady breezes.

Bill Meyer

Matt Karmil — STS371 (Smalltown Supersound)

STS371 by Matt Karmil

UK producer Matt Karmil’s latest release STS371 mines a lode of straight ahead acid house and techno laced with enough glitch and twitch to appeal to the head as much as the body. Lead single “PB” is a maximalist concoction of ricocheting hi-hat, blurting bass, the panting of the short distance runner and an undercurrent of soft white noise. Karmil uses just a few simple elements to build his tracks which foreground the beats. Hi-hat and kick drums drop on tracks like “SR/WB” to highlight woozy synth washes. It’s just enough to let you breathe before the high energy tempos return and the strobes flash once more. STS371 touches on Force Inc clicks and cuts and ~scape minimalism beneath the rhythms but most of all Karmil is interested in keeping you on your feet. Mission accomplished.  

Andrew Forell

 Kevin Krauter — Full Hand (Bayonet Records)

Full Hand by Kevin Krauter

Indiana musician Kevin Krauter’s sophomore album Full Hand floats by like a summer breeze. The Hoops bassist plumbs 1980s AOR and coats it in an agreeable fuzz to produce 12 tracks of gossamer dream pop heavy on atmosphere if not always individually memorable. Lyrically Krauter mines his memories and experiences growing up in a religious household, self-discovery and coming of age with poetic grace that his delivers over drum machines, hazy synths, delicate layers of guitar, and low-key yearning vocals.

At his most direct on the title track and “Pretty Boy”, Krauter explores queer identity and his wish to be himself and express his desire. “Green Eyes” and “How” confront the dilemmas of doing just that. The songs are less confessional or revelatory than the sound of Krauter working things out in real time, allowing his audience the privilege of listening as he does so. There are no “big” moments but one comes away inspired by his words and warmed by his music.

Andrew Forell

 Nap Eyes — Snapshot of a Beginner (Jagjaguwar)

Album number four sees Nap Eyes open up to take in broader, sleeker vistas. For the most part, lackadaisical country-rock’n’roll is nudged towards expansiveness by spacey guitars borrowed from My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything. Nigel Chapman steps forward into his front man role with more aplomb than on preceding albums, marshalling his bandmates around him to explore more colorful musical territories. Most successful are the singles, especially opener “So Tired,” plus the canny repurposing of the “Paint It Black” riff on “Real Thoughts,” and the deft guitar work on “Dark Link.” Sometimes there’s a loss of focus, a feeling of stretching for something just beyond reach. But that’s OK; after all, the shrugging acceptance of their shortcomings is right there in the album title.

Tim Clarke

 Peel Dream Magazine — Agitprop Alterna (Slumberland / Tough Love)

Agitprop Alterna by Peel Dream Magazine

On second album Agitprop Alterna, Peel Dream Magazine sound just like early Stereolab, with occasional blasts of shoe-gazey guitar thrown in for good measure. It may come across as reductive, even dismissive, to make such an overt comparison, but there’s no getting round it. With Stereolab’s comeback reminding everyone how beloved the band is, it’s heartening that there are new bands carrying the torch of their glorious aesthetic. To anyone who grew up in the 1990s listening to this stuff, it’ll no doubt be startling how well Joe Stevens has pulled this off. It’s a love letter to the sound of droning organs, guitars hammering away at major sevenths, driving rhythms and zoned-out but tuneful vocals. It’s derivative, sure, but it’s so well done, and the song writing is so solid that the appeal is undeniable. A recording of John Peel’s reassuringly deadpan radio patter even makes an appearance on “Wood Paneling Pt 2,” midway through the album, as if posthumously giving the band his blessing. I can’t argue with that.  

Tim Clarke

 Sign of Evil — Psychodelic Horror (Caligari Records)

Psychodelic Horror by SIGN OF EVIL

Maybe music this astoundingly stupid shouldn’t be quite so fun. But Sign of Evil, a one-man-black-metal-psychobilly-mash-up from Chile, makes a racket that’s so oddly deranged that it’s hard not to be charmed. Imagine if Link Wray somehow managed to walk into a Dark Throne practice session, c. 1995, and decided to jam, and you might conjure some of the strangeness you’ll encounter on the doltishly titled Psychodelic Horror. It’s fitting that the best song on the tape is simply called “Horror.” Nuff said. But check out the whacko piano that Witchfucker (yep) gamely pounds through the song’s first 30 seconds, and then the wheezy guitar tone he abuses your ear with when the metal portion of the song starts. These are not the sounds of a well-adjusted intelligence. Nor are they the sorts of sounds made by jackasses that cynically profess misanthropic allegiance to Satan, even as they enjoy decades-long careers in the music industry. Watain and Gorgoroth and Dark Funeral only wish they could be this legitimately unhinged. It helps that Witchfucker isn’t a loathsome racist. Rock on, you weirdo.

Jonathan Shaw

 Tré Burt — Caught It From the Rye (Oh Boy)

Caught It From The Rye by Tre Burt

Tré Burt has a rough-edged voice and fiery way with the harmonica that can’t help but remind of a certain Nobel Prize winning songwriter, though his words are less oblique. This debut album has a raspy, down-home charm, framed by raucous acoustic strumming and forthright Americana melodies. The winner here is the title track, which glancingly references the J.D. Salinger classic, but mostly reflects a soulful, restless search for meaning in art and life and music. “All my favorite paintings/ they keep on fallin' down/And I need savin' by the grace of god/But I know he's off creatin' /another one like me,” croons Burt with sandy sincerity. It’s a resilient sort of music, where Burt’s yowling voice plumbs emotional depths, but his rambling guitar line maintains a steady cheer. Burt got his big chance from John Prine’s Oh Boy Records, and as that songwriter hovers near death, it’s a good time to celebrate his legacy of leaving the ladder up.

Jennifer Kelly

 Michael Vallera — Window In (Denovali)

Window In by Michael Vallera

Chicago photographer, musician and composer Michael Vallera releases Window In, a four-track album of ambient manipulated guitar and electronic drone. Vallera works in a liminal space between actuality and potential, with continual, albeit almost imperceptible, shifts from the general and the hyper-specific. He brings a photographic eye to his compositions. They are the aural equivalent of seascapes in which one basks before one is drawn to details and the secrets beneath. Vallera’s tracks float by on luxurious oceanic swells with undercurrents of hiss, subaquatic rumbles, the blips and bleeps of luminescent trench dwellers. In the process the source, the guitar, is rendered unrecognizable, erased from the results leaving only disembodied sounds that ironically feel anchored in the real. Fans of Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas project, Fennesz’ guitar based ambient music or Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops will find much to appreciate here. Window In is a meditation on stillness and calm in the eye of powerful natural forces, something we always need but more so now.

Andrew Forell

 Windy & Carl — Allegiance and Conviction (Kranky)

Allegiance and Conviction by Windy & Carl

Windy Weber and Carl Hultgren have been creating ambient space-rock for nearly 30 years now. The couple’s cosmic yet intimate output may have slowed — this is their first album since 2012’s We Will Always Be — but their sound possesses a timeless resonance. Stepping into their river of watery guitar and bass drones in 2020 feels like little has changed since we last left them — and yet, strangely, everything is new. Windy’s voice makes tentative yet emotionally insistent appearances on five of these six tracks, her words hinting at small-scale revolutions (“In the underground, we’ve got a job to do” — “The Stranger”). “Will I See the Dawn” is the only wordless piece, where electric piano and tape hiss manage to speak volumes. At only 38 minutes, this is a short album for Windy & Carl, but one that has enough shadowy depths to qualify as a worthwhile addition to their intimidating discography.  

Tim Clarke

[zcbrilliant-blog]

Sonic Performance Blog

Here’s the link to my live performance: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1EcyXFsqUxl9ov5MXQdTo8OhkH3Y1O-ap

Week 1 - Research in the field 

This week I am focusing on my live influences. I want to focus in on the key characteristics of some of my favourite live performances, not necessarily to copy them but to analyse how and why they contribute to a great live performance. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8EbpV0F-Dd/

World music artist Sydney, signed to Black Acre records, has a show I’ve seen live on several occasions which has been a strong influence on how I view a live show. For his show he converts his ‘electronic’ tracks into a performance with a band; he replaces his synth lines for guitar and saxophone lines and plays out some of the percussion that was programmed in the studio track. This is the approach I want to take with my performance, taking programmed synth lines from my productions and playing them out on my guitar. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZiuwvaAMDw

I have had the pleasure of watching Waldo’s Gift perform multiple times, as they perform regularly at a venue close to where I live. My experience of watching them so often has definitely influenced what I hope to achieve with my performance. Most of their performance is a live jam, with the guitarist navigating where the other members will move to sonically. I hope to to have an element of improvisation in my live performance. I am currently practicing my electric guitar to make this possible. 

Week 2 - Learning Ableton live 

This week I am focusing on learning how to perform within the software Ableton Live 10. As this is the DAW I already produce my music in, it was very interesting to find out all the extra functionality it has as a performance software. Using the clip view to trigger different sections of music is a completely new way for me to work on music and I found it very fun to play with. The follow actions the clips provide means you can be creative with live structure; I particularly like experimenting with the ‘random’ triggering Ableton offers. 

I learned how to create an audio effect rack, and how to programme parameters to be controlled and modulated by different elements of the music. I aim to include a variety of audio effect racks in my performance, as to have as many options for live audio processing as possible. 

I’ve also been learning how to use Ableton live 10’s ‘Looper’  plugin. Its taking me some time to understand its full functionality, but I’m hoping to become familiar with it so I can use it to play multiple parts at the same time in my performance. 

Week 3 - Converting my work into a live format 

This week I am learning how best to convert my productions into a live format. I am learning how to efficiently bounce out different stems to control in the clip view of Ableton, so I each section of my music plays properly without any parts missing. I am taking my time to decide what elements I want bounced out and controlled using Ableton clips, and what elements to leave out so I can play them live on keys or guitar. 

One thing of great interest to me is converting pads and textures I have created in Ableton (mainly using sampling) into guitar lines. For this I am learning how to use Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5, which offers a huge variety of software amps, distortion units and other effects. I am learning that there is always a way to make my guitar sound similar to my synth lines, but with added timbres and characteristics from the guitar. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/guitar-rig-5-pro/

This week I am also focusing on which of my studio tracks to choose to perform, and how best to transition between them. I am considering taking a ‘DJ’ approach to this, matching the tempos of my compositions and EQing them appropriately so they can play at the same time. I am also considering more performative ways I could make these transitions, for example automating the timbre of my guitar between one track and another. 

Week 4 - Setting up my midi controllers/organising what to play

At this point in my performance development I am setting up my Ableton session ready for my performance. I am experimenting with what parameters to automate that push sonic boundaries instead of sounding dull. One way I am doing this is automating the file position in a granular synth, creating an interesting texture with lots of energy.

I am also focusing on how best to set up the controllers I am using. I have Novation Launchkey 49 and an Akai APC Key 25, that I plan on using to their full potential as I don't want to use my computer mouse during any point of the performance. I have mapped the levels of my tracks to the faders on my Novation midi controller, and I am controlling my Ableton clips using my Akai controller. Together they definitely provide me with enough functionality that I’m only limited by my imagination. 

My aim is to set up my performance so that it's easy for me to ‘jam’. I want to enjoy the performance and have freedom to control what section it moves to and when. 

Week 5/6 - Practice and recording 

I am finally at the point of practicing my performance and getting to a level where I feel comfortable performing it live. This process is a long one and there are no shortcuts. With each take of my practice I am making less mistakes. I have planned how I’m going to record my performance using a webcam and recording the audio within Ableton.

[xmwkristian4242-blog]

Varieties Of Music

For the reason that introduction of digital devices and synthetic sound units within the early 1900s, digital music has developed into a singular style. In ancient instances, http://www.audio-transcoder.com/ corresponding to with the Historical Greeks , the aesthetics of music explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. Within the 18th century, focus shifted to the experience of hearing music, and thus to questions about its beauty and human enjoyment ( plaisir and jouissance ) of music. The origin of this philosophic shift is sometimes attributed to Baumgarten in the 18th century, followed by Kant By way of their writing, the ancient term 'aesthetics', which means sensory notion, received its present-day connotation. In the 2000s, philosophers have tended to emphasize issues moreover magnificence and pleasure. For instance, music's capability to specific emotion has been a central subject. An opera may very well be defined broadly as a theatrical presentation (a play) during which the characters' strains are sung reasonably than spoken. The vocal fashion used in historic opera displays the fact that before digital amplification voices needed to be big and loud so they may very well be heard in a large live performance hall over the orchestra used to accompany them. A rock opera is simply an opera (sung play) that uses the model and devices of rock music. Examples of rock operas are Lease by Jonathan Larson, Tommy by The Who, and Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The term 'rock opera' is usually used as a synonym for 'idea album' (equivalent to My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Membership Band, or Pink Floyd's The Wall), however only those with a transparent narrative (a storyline with characters and occasions) that is informed fully in music (no spoken traces) ought to be referred to as rock operas.

Rockabilly; what some name the original Rock & Roll. A mixture of hillbilly and rock containing a western swing and a bouncing party vibe. With parts of piano-based Leap Blues and electrical boogie woogie, it made it is mark on the music scene indelibly. Almost everyone's named contained a "Y". essays larger ranges of similarity with the Energetic and Conventional genres (e.g., pop music). wonky : Wonky is electronic music characterized by synths with unusual time signatures in summary, hip hop-type beats. Wonky takes cues in its sound from instrumental hip hop and glitch however sets itself aside primarily by its lack of the heavy quantization seen in many digital genres. Alice had her breakthrough after winning the Sanremo Music Festival with the tune Per Elisa" in 1981, followed by European hit singles like Una notte speciale", Messaggio", Chan-son Egocentrique", Prospettiva Nevski" and Nomadi" and albums like Gioielli rubati, Park Lodge, Elisir and Il sole nella pioggia charting in both Continental Europe, Scandinavia and Japan. Very good voice. If you load up the page in your browser , youвЂll be greeted with a large wall of colored text hyperlinks. Each represents a selected genre of music. ThereвЂs everything from “Taiwanese pop” to “dark psytrance” to “Danish jazz” to “vapor twitch” to “Brazilian gospel” to “funk rock” to “discofox” to good ol†usual “hip hop.” With greater than 1,500 completely different music genres mapped, itвЂs all there. 1995When the Brill constructing met Lennon-McCartney: continuity and alter within the early evolution of the mainstream pop tune. Widespread Music Soc. Another instance of sub-genres influencing one another was the punk beginnings of Queercore. A response to the societal disapproval of LGBT citizens, Queercore was one of many many music communities created in the US and UK which offered cultural alternate between members and allies. So here, for a little bit of enjoyable with information and musical exploration, are a few of the most strangely-named genres on Spotify. You may click on them to listen to what they sound like. This record is so incomplete and so pathetically inept in its order that I consider I'll pee-yook. Rush at #5??? The third top-selling band ever. Solely The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are forward of them. Gordon Lightfoot at #sixteen…just spit in his face. He is been putting out music for over SIXTY years. What about Bob Ezrin? Pink Floyd's The Wall" wouldn't exist with out him. Neither would a couple of KISS albums, Alice Cooper tunes, Pat Benatar and several other others. Gary and Dave…Ian Thomas is high 20. I don't argue against Neil Young, kraft dinner(kd) Lang in #4? Rufus Wainwright? Ron Sexsmith does loads, but has no business being on this checklist. Had been you individuals smoking herb if you thought up this muddled mess? Horrible…absolutely horrible. Battle hardened in the golf equipment of Hamburg, the fab four remodeled from squeaky-clear pop sweethearts to rock monsters in the course of the course of their career, and produced a few of the finest music ever made alongside the best way. They constantly pushed boundaries, took their sound to locations you'd by no means assume potential and along with pioneering producer George Martin used the studio as an instrument unlike ever before. Their story and their music is legendary, and you just can't look previous them as the best British rock band of all time. Fresh production work on Jay-Z's 2001 album, The Blueprint (soul nuggets clashing with Bowie and the Doorways) announced Chicagoan West's expertise, parlayed into modern solo records drawing from more and more eclectic soundworlds (folk, classical, synth-pop) and minting an over-sharing confessional blog-rap style whose overcome the lengthy-reigning gangsta idiom was symbolized when his 2007 album, Graduation, pipped 50 Cent's Curtis in a hyped-up sales race". West's genius for digital-period publicity makes him unignorable - his avidity for new musical territories makes him inimitable. Allways use the large picture and follow logic and scientific criteria. The truth is that each one those genres you hear arround you (this rock or that rock, or this jazz or that jazz) are SUB-genres, not genres, they use nearly the identical language and range only in particulars. I thought it could be useful to share a playlist featuring one music from every of the genres listed. Given the various vary of content we've got coated, it is a really combined bag — but it's sure to get you enthusiastic about all the obscure genres that you just're currently missing out on.I guess this is not a style, maybe it is only a group of bands from different metallic subgenres specializing in certain lyrical themes. Holt, Fabian (2007) Genre in Standard Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. You're in all probability already aware of at least among the music by well-known composers like Mozart and Beethoven. You could even be conversant in some of the work by composers of baroque music who preceded them, equivalent to Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel. And most people immediately have heard the work of recent composers who use elements of classical music in their scores for main Hollywood motion pictures.

[mariettadejesus-blog]

Online Sequencer Boards

After downloading, these information should play on a Windows pc just by double clicking them, but you may be much more productive when you load them into a midi editor. WAV format is essentially the most detailed and wealthy of the available formats in Windows XP. All of the detail is recorded at the chosen bit rate and sampling speed, and it is all finished without compression schemes. It's digital sound presented in all its glory. Unfortunately, it takes up enormous quantities of memory in the course of. Four or 5 minutes of WAV sound can consume forty-50MB of memory, making it difficult to retailer an honest number of recordsdata. For that cause, you seldom see these information being bought over the Web — they're simply too bulky. The Convert commands can generate interesting results when used on pre-present recordings from your assortment, but in addition when used on your own recorded materials. For example, you can file your self singing, playing guitar, and even beatboxing and use the Convert commands to generate MIDI that you need to use as a starting point for brand new music. Now that CDs have traveled down the identical road to obsolescence as cassette and eight-track tapes, the power to successfully archive your music library in the digital realm has develop into a beneficial commodity. We tested all the features of free and for-pay audio converter software program to make sure we recommend a product that can handle all of your audio manipulation needs for present and future music codecs. MIDI was invented in order that electronic or digital musical devices might communicate with each other and in order that one instrument can control one other. For instance, a MIDI-compatible sequencer can trigger beats produced by a drum sound module Analog synthesizers that haven't any digital part and have been built prior to MIDI's growth will be retrofit with kits that convert MIDI messages into analog control voltages. 9 :277 When a be aware is performed on a MIDI instrument, it generates a digital signal that can be used to set off a be aware on one other instrument. 2 :20 The aptitude for remote control permits full-sized devices to be replaced with smaller sound modules, and permits musicians youtube to midi & mp3 converter and video download - clipconverter.cc mix instruments to realize a fuller sound, or to create combos of synthesized instrument sounds, equivalent to acoustic piano and strings. 25 MIDI also enables other instrument parameters (volume, effects, and so on.) to be managed remotely. Members of the USB-IF in 1999 developed a normal for MIDI over USB, the "Universal Serial Bus Machine Class Definition for MIDI Devices" a hundred and one MIDI over USB has become more and more widespread as different interfaces that had been used for MIDI connections (serial, joystick, and so forth.) disappeared from personal computers. Linux, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh OS X, and Apple iOS operating programs include customary class drivers to support devices that use the "Universal Serial Bus Machine Class Definition for MIDI Gadgets". Some producers select to implement a MIDI interface over USB that's designed to operate in another way from the class specification, utilizing customized drivers. A vital difference between Direct MIDI to MP3 Converter and similar programs is that, this MIDI Converter offers direct MIDI conversion with out sound recording. The principle advantages of the direct MID conversion are CD audio quality output recordsdata and silence during conversion. You don't need to hear MIDI music and adjust recording degree while converting. Not that it issues a lot although; Digital MidiSynth is ready to override the Home windows default Midi device and provide it is own software-stage synth. Considering newer sound playing cards don't even have MIDI hardware to start with this doesn't really matter. Hardware MIDI simply doesn't make any sense. Now excessive-finish sound playing cards are about sampling rates and SnR. XLD is an open source utility Mac software which will convert audio file codecs from one format to a different. Should you want to convert a listing full of FLAC information to M4A info with metadata etc preserved. The flavour you need is the first 'MPEG4 Audio' you may choose underneath 'Desired output formats', there you select AAC. REAPER - "Audio Manufacturing With out Limits": REAPER is knowledgeable digital audio workstation (DAW) for Home windows, OS X and WINE. It comes with an uncrippled evaluation licence and helps advanced audio and MIDI recording, arranging and mixing. The assist of several plugin codecs (like VST, DX and AU) as well as the extraordinarily versatile routing capabilities make it a robust production suite. Since version three.12 REAPER is scriptable with Python, permitting entry to internal actions and components of the API. FLAC, quick for Free Lossless Audio Codec, is a kind of lossless audio format, which implies it gives the identical quality as the original audio file. The FLAC audio file takes up a lot less house on your hard drive than the unique audio file however it isn't appropriate with every kind of units. So the next converters come into being to fix this downside.

[shinhwa-updates]

Shinhwa's "Heart" is Perfectly On-Trend

K-pop veterans Shinhwa are back with their latest mini-album, “Heart”, in celebration of their 20th anniversary. The longest-running K-pop boy band in existence, Shinhwa have continually defied expectations of disbandment, in an industry where five years is considered a long career. Refusing to let the times and newer generations leave them behind, “Heart” is a trendy and competent pop album consisting of 6 songs, including their title track “Kiss Me Like That”.

The album opens with the spacey and mellow future bass track “In The Air”, featuring esteemed female rapper Yoon Mirae. With sentimental piano chords, fluttering synths and echoing vocal chops, the song is a gentle yet upbeat introduction to the album. Yoon Mirae’s vocals are a great addition, though at times they overshadow the male vocals beneath. While nothing special, the song is pleasant and introduces the relaxed, melodic pop sound that comes to define the album as a whole.

An interesting and welcome choice of title track, “Kiss Me Like That” is a minimalist pop song centered around an acoustic guitar riff, simple groove, and catchy melodic hook. The song makes the most of Shinhwa’s status as an idol group consisting of mature grown men, with lyrics that are a lot more sexual and direct than you’d expect from most idol groups:

When you touch me like that, touch you right back All up in your body I’m a kiss you like that From your lips to your neck, whips and cream Melting vanilla ice cream Girl what you wanna do, just tell me, we can go to bed We can ride till the sunrise, ok we gon have a good time Dreams turn into reality, it’s a dangerous adventure

Quiet but by no means lacking in energy, the song is impeccably arranged, allowing the vocals to take center stage and filling the remaining space without ever overcrowding. With mostly live instrumentation (the highlight of which is the brass), the song is refreshingly different from what most other pop title tracks sound like nowadays. The simplicity of line distribution also works in their favour – each singer or rapper has a whole verse to themselves, making each section more cohesive, the song simpler to follow and each member more memorable. All in all, it’s one of the better and more original songs on the album, and as such is a title track deserving of its place.

The album then brings us more of an upbeat disco vibe, with a song that would not sound out of place on a SHINee record. “LEVEL” is a mid-tempo disco-funk track showing off Shinhwa’s vocals, with jangling guitars, rumbling basslines, and retro synths. However, while perfectly competent, placed in the middle of the album the song is somewhat forgettable and is not quite catchy or groovy enough to make a strong impression.

Opening with an intriguing guitar intro is “HERE I COME,” creating a more mysterious and suspenseful atmosphere that has been shown so far. However, the song soon changes to a mid-tempo disco-funk song that is a little too similar to the previous song to make much of an impact. Still, “HERE I COME” has a little more dynamic variation, interspersing the choruses with quiet sections where the drums fade out and the introductory guitar riff comes back in. Overall, the song has potential but fails to really pull all of its elements together to make it the cohesive and powerful song it could be.

“L.U.V” marks another high point on the album. A melancholy pop ballad, the song particularly suits Shinhwa’s vocals and they perform it well, falsettos and all. A vocal chop breakdown keeps the song sounding modern, adding an interesting instrumental element to what might become a typical ballad otherwise. Relaxing and tastefully arranged, “L.U.V” contrasts with the previous two songs nicely and brings the album towards a gentler and more pensive close.

The final song, “Don’t Leave Me”, follows the melancholic vibe set out by “L.U.V” with a more traditional pop ballad, furnished with pianos and acoustic guitars. At least, it seems like that until the song bursts into a more contemporary, electronic sound, replacing pianos with synths and guitars with vocal chops. While it balances the two styles well, this song also feels forgettable; the ballad writing is quite typical, and the future bass style production begins to lose its novelty, having already been used several times on the album. Still, as the final song, it’s perfectly listenable and pleasant enough to round the album off well.

Overall, Shinhwa have returned with a surprisingly on-trend collection of songs. “Heart” could easily compete with younger K-pop groups’ releases, and in fact outshines many by opting for more mature and understated production that doesn’t bombard the listener with noise and unnecessary details.

That said, it’s questionable whether Shinhwa even need to be competing on the same level as these newer generations; as a group with 20 years’ worth of history and musical artistry, some of the songs on this album are almost too trendy. It would have been nice to hear a more unique sound that takes more musical risks, but “Heart” is still a perfectly competent K-pop album – one that may yet gain Shinhwa new fans, 20 years into their career.

Album review: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-the-air-with-yoonmirae/1434377234?i=1434377237&app=music

sr: Seoulbeats

[rainydawgradioblog]

RDR Essentials - Hard Rock (2/26)

RDR Essentials is a weekly newsletter of alternating genres that outlines key releases of the past month, upcoming events around Seattle and happenings in the specified music genre.

Made in collaboration between Rainy Dawg DJs and the Music Director.

Releases:

I Don’t Know How to Be Happy - Deli Girls

https://sweatequitynyc.bandcamp.com/album/i-dont-know-how-to-be-happy

Deli Girls crawled out of the grimy New York underground hardcore scene thanks to the group’s wild performances and fiercely gay noise, which was channeled into their first album Evidence. In a similar vein, their newest album I Don’t Know How to Be Happy pushes their trademark sound even further. The album starts off to “Officer”’s serrated beat, which hisses beneath an automated phone message regarding a court date, functioning as a brief adjustment period before exploding into passionate screaming, rapping, yelping, and laughing of lead vocalist Danny Orlowski. Orlowski continues this manic verbal assault through the rest of this album, which pounds along with a righteous and dark violence against the patriarchy. “Peg” stands out especially, pushed along because of Tommi Kelly’s fresh layer of poppy synth arpeggios. “Here We Go Again” follows, one of the more eerie cuts on the album. “You will never win because you will never be as angry as the rest of us / Another day I didn’t end my miserable fucking life” screams Orlowski, with interludes of laughter on the brink of breakdown. Get ready to run head first through whatever glass ceilings or brick walls you might experience in 2019 with this incredible album.

- Max Bryla

Vain Attempt  - SLANT

https://ironlungpv.bandcamp.com/track/the-trap

There’s really not a whole lot out there about SLANT, a newer classic punk band that hails from Seoul, South Korea. Their recent EP, Vain Attempt 7” is just 4 tracks with the longest clocking in at 2:02, and is issued by Seattle punk label IRON LUNG Records, available on Bandcamp. Labelmates like Diät and Iron Lung have had some more mainstream success, but SLANT is much newer to the scene. They have pulled members from other bands like SCUMRAID and BLOODKROW BUTCHER, another Seoul and Boston punk band, respectively. Vain Attempt 7” definitely has a higher production value than those counterparts however, and it benefits because of it. Tracks like “Dry Heave” get right to the point, and don’t stick around too long. Terrific, fast paced drumming combine with some great vocal heft to make a really solid punk album, and this is a band that has a solid future with them, and hopefully some US tour dates.

- Max Bryla

Protogoni Mavri Magiki Dynasteia - Mystifier

https://mystifier.bandcamp.com/

Brazilian blackened death metal band Mystifier have announced their first album in 18 years with the pre release of their track Weighing Heart Ceremony. This track plays similar to their older material with its guttural vocals, creepy and eclectic atmosphere, and overall eeriness. Their 1993 album Goetia is regarded as a landmark in South American extreme metal, showing clear distinctions from European and American artists of the same time. This new track still has the same occultish aura of the band’s earlier material, but also features a much more blackened tonality, meaning more melody and less dissonance. Rather than sounding like the soundtrack to an occult ceremony (basically the narrative of Goetia), this track is a lot more brooding and pensive. If you are into slightly untraditional black/death metal, you should check out this album when it drops on March 8.

- Zac Weiner

Forgotten Paths - Saor

https://saor.bandcamp.com/

Saor is a scottish based atmospheric black metal band that has been pushing black metal to its most serene and experimental boundaries. Forgotten Paths sums up exactly what atmoblack is all about: beautiful tremolo picked melodies, the occasional folk instrument interlude, and a placid nature shot on the cover. This project is the perfect soundtrack for a solo walk through the woods. While some of the interludes can be a little dramatic for an experienced listener, the album makes up for it with bone chilling screams which sound even more emotional over the Gaelic sounding guitar melodies. This album is very digestible and could serve as an excellent introduction to black metal: the production is clean, the riffs sound like they were written by the bard at the Renaissance fair, and every blast beat is met with an equally long folk interlude.

- Zac Weiner

Xiu Xiu - Girl With a Basket of Fruit

https://xiuxiu.bandcamp.com/album/girl-with-basket-of-fruit

Xiu Xiu is an noise pop / experimental rock outfit fronted by multi-instrumentalist Jamie Stewart which can never quite settle on a single sound. They’ve been consistently churning out full-length albums every year or two, varying from anti-folk to electronic indie rock to harsh noise and everywhere in between. Doing away with the cleaner indie rock sound they explored on their previous album Forget, their newest release, Girl With a Basket of Fruit, is a return to the noisier and more experimental tendencies of their early output. Produced by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier and featuring vocal contributions from Oxbow’s Eugene S. Robinson, the album repeatedly shifts from frantic tribal rhythms (Scisssssssors, Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy) to abstract heavy electronics (title track, Ice Cream Truck) to droning ambient passages (The Wrong Thing, Amargi ve Moo) and back again, tied together by the harsh synth sounds and uncomfortable samples Xiu Xiu fans are so familiar with and Jamie Stewart’s characteristically unsettling vocals, which are pushed farther than ever on this release, whimpering one minute and screaming the next. After over half an hour of head-spinning erratic noise, the album leaves the listener on a softer note with Normal Love, a slow, stripped-back and sweet (for Xiu Xiu standards) piano pop song. RIYL - Suicide, Coil, Oxbow

- Elliot Hansen

Angel Bat Dawid - The Oracle

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/the-oracle

The Oracle is spiritual jazz clarinetist Angel Bat Dawid’s very first release. She recorded and mixed the album entirely by herself and performed every instrument except the drums on one of the eight tracks. The recording process, done entirely on a cell phone, was split between London, England, Cape Town, South Africa, and Dawid’s hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Though the album features not much more than clarinet, drums, Angel’s vocals, and the occasional electric piano or miscellaneous wind instrument, the numerous overdubs and effects used turn these elements into cosmic, psychedelic soundscapes, greater than the sum of their parts. Dawid’s lyrics, when present, largely reflect on African American identity and experience, as evidenced by the third track, a re-interpretation of Margaret Burrough’s poem “What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?” Reverberating, overlapping vocal harmonies ebb and flow and give way repeatedly to much more abstract melodies and stranger sounds, ranging from squealing horns to wide, cosmic phaser textures and long-winded erratic improvisations. RIYL - Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman

- Elliot Hansen

Upcoming shows around Seattle:

02/26/19 - Cannibal Corpse / Morbid Angel / Necrot / Blood Incarnation @ Showbox

Openers include Necrot and Blood Incantation, bands that represent the death metal renaissance occurring in recent years and provide some of some of the freshest and heaviest sounds of the 2010s. Morbid Angel (of the cult favorite Altars of Madness) follows as the midbill. Headlining the night is Cannibal Corpse, a group that’s  infamous for their graphic album covers and truly grotesque lyrics. 8PM / $29 / AA

02/27/19 - The Big Band at the End of the World @ Vermillion Art Gallery

18 piece improvisational ensemble featuring strings, horns, electric guitar, harmonium, 3 drummers, and live visuals led by local avant-garde/free jazz saxophonist Gregg Miller. 8PM / $5-10 / AA

03/02/19 - Sandy Ewen / AF Jones / Greg Kelley / Ambrosia Bardos @ Vermillion Art Gallery

Ewen, a touring experimental guitarist, Jones, a local avant-garde composer, and Kelley, a free-jazz/noise trumpet player will perform as a trio. Ambrosia Bardos, a local noise artist who also performs under the name Morher, will perform a solo set. 4PM / $5-10 / AA

More to look out for:

FILM: Lords of Chaos / @ Grand Cinema March 16th

Depicts the sensationalized history of black metal, is now out in theaters. This film has been met with mixed reviews for its lack of honesty in portraying the events (and some really terrible cinematography) but still has merit as an introduction to the genre.

Upcoming Releases and Tours:

3/8 The Coathangers - The Devil You Know via Suicide Squeeze

3/15 The Minneapolis Uranium Club - The Cosmo Cleaners via Fashionable Idiots/Static Shock

4/2  Empath - Active Listening: Night On Earth via Get Better (”Soft Shape” video out NOW)

6/5 - Royal Trux @ Neumos (rescheduled)

[luuurien]

Caytra - Caytra

(Jazz Fusion, Neo-Soul, Jazz Funk)

A fluid yet tightly controlled debut, Caytra's self-titled EP is a lightweight taste of their uniquely London mix of rich jazz harmonic language with snappy, off-kilter dance grooves. Through nothing more than percussion, guitar and bass, they pull as much as they possibly can out of these delightful five tracks.

☆☆☆☆

Caytra's formula isn't all too complicated, but that's what makes loving their music such an easy thing to do. Built on the foundation of James Gullis' drumming, Sam Ithell's guitar work and Conor Cotteril's thickly-laid basslines expand and contract like two giant floodlights illuminating an empty warehouse, only the three of them there to shape the music and refine all its details. But for how simple their group structure is, their music is anything but, a dizzying blend of rich jazz harmonic language with snappy, off-kilter dance grooves that pays homage to London's underground electronic history while transforming it into something more organic and fleshy, live instrumentalists reacting in real time to lightning-quick rhythm changes in ways that couldn't happen if it was all just being played off a drum programmer. Caytra's biggest strength is that all three of its members are incredibly comfortable performing together, and the music benefits immensely from just how tight-knit Caytra is as a group, how well-acquainted they are with one another's playing styles. It might not be much, but these five songs are all Caytra needs to give you a crystal-clear vision of who they are. At the center of things is Gullis, his drumming equally inspired by frenetic club music as much as it is the sounds of classic broken beat and jazz fusion. He has a glowing energy buzzing about him, right from the release of their first single The OG: his chunky funk rock groove full of minute drum fills and playful hi-hat fills, moving quickly enough to keep the three of them from growing stagnant but leaving more than enough open space for flickers of Ithell's guitar and Cotteril's laid-back bassline, and the other four tracks follow a similar trajectory in how they take shape and change over the course of four or five minutes. John's Gone Clubbin’ incorporates some light keyboard word around some of Ithell's grittier guitar leads on the EP along with a decidedly subtle groove switch in the final minute that lets Ithell layer multiple recordings onto one another for a lusher, fuller sound, and the second-half highlight Mixxed Messages embraces broken beat madness wholesale alongside some psychedelic wah-pedal effects, the kind of song I can easily imagine becoming a fan favorite  with how bright and singular a point it is in Caytra's discography. Spontaneity is what keeps Caytra alive, from Cords' downtempo haze creating extra tension Cotteril's bassline and Ithell's dreamy guitar strums dissolve over and over, to You Lost's arpeggiating synth lines that become an unexpected backbone as the rest of the instrumentation ebbs and flows at a moments notice, and through their excitement exploring all the different things Caytra can be, the EP's short length never holds them back from reaching new heights. It's not a lot, but for a first taste of what Caytra can do on a larger scale, there's not much about Caytra you can knock. They're all locked in as instrumentalists, know what they want to do with each of their songs, and give each song a unique flair even with the limited color palette of bass, drums and guitar they most rely on. As relaxed as these songs are, you can hear how much fun they had in the studio trying something slow and sensual with Cords, or indulging in 70s jazz-funk on John's Gone Clubbin', Caytra not only looking to create forward-thinking music, but to have the best time they can doing it. London's music scene never ceases to deliver some of the most innovative and gratifying music you can find right now, and Caytra is another satisfying addition to the group with an EP that manages to be as intricate as it is nourishing. Caytra have got it all, and their self-titled proves it; the only thing left is for them to keep doing what they do best.

[veryotl]

Sooo for the past... three or four albums I’ve done a reaction to the Highlight Medley... And I really need to get back into making content again! So here we go! Here’s my breakdown of the “You Make My Day” Highlight Medley!

1. Oh My!

I will be completely honest here: I wasn’t liking the sound of this song until I saw the MV teaser. It felt a little bit busy with all the noises in the background, and a little bit jarring without a before or after section to show a progression in music. However, in the MV teaser, we got a little bit more of the song as well as some of the dance to kind of bring the beat and melody a little more to the forefront, and with the added context of the progression of the song, I can now say I’m very excited to hear the rest of this song. It’s not really like anything Seventeen has ever done, and relies a little more heavily on strange synth-y noises instead of the Seventeen style of funky bass and really present instrumentals. If I had to draw a connection anywhere, it would be to Change Up. A repeating melody line with mostly simple instrumentals, however even that isn’t exactly what this song is. But as always, far be it for me to say what Seventeen’s style is or isn’t, not after Clap and Call Call Call were so good. They constantly subvert my expectations and I trust they’ll pull this off like they always do.

2. Holiday

The snippet of this song we’re given seems to be from the first chorus, judging by the drop and how kind of understated and simplistic the backing vocals and instrumentals are, if it was later in the song I think there’d be more. It seems like a lighthearted fun song like Thinkin About You or Healing, although a little more chill and laid back than those. There’s not a whole lot I cans say about it from the teaser, except for that it seems to really fit the flow of this album? Thematically speaking, this album looks to be really cohesive and strong, but we’ll get back to that later.

3. Come To Me (Vocal Unit)

If you have been following me for any length of time, you probably know how excited I am for this song because for years I have been talking about how much I want to see Vocal Unit break out of their ballad element. Don’t get me wrong, I love their ballads, and they’ve taken some interesting creative turns like Don’t Listen in Secret having a jazzy-nightclub feel, but they haven’t had an upbeat happy song since 20, and while I can understand wanting a vocally impressive song it’s not like you can’t do that with a brighter tone. In the past, I’ve recommended a 50′s-60′s style song or a Vocal Unit Band song to break Vocal Unit out of their arena, but the direction that this song takes is much more chill house vibes, which is kind of the style right now. Which is fine, especially since Joshua has already exhibited his abilities to jive with that style on Rocket. You can really tell this is a vocal unit song, though, because even in the short clip they gave us you can hear like 3 layers of harmony. I’m super stoked for this departure from the norm and I hope this song is vocally challenging and also successful enough that it gives Vocal Unit some confidence to explore other styles!

4. What’s Good (Hip Hop Unit)

Now it’s time for the pendulum to swing in the complete opposite direction, and that’s because Hip Hop Unit has done it AGAIN. They’ve done a full 180 on my expectations and explored yet ANOTHER new style. Hip Hop Unit is probably the most unexpected unit in my opinion because every time they drop something new it’s completely against their established style. Ah Yeah seemed to be a good solid style, but then Fronting came out of nowhere with this peppy chill vibe, then Monday to Saturday took it a step up and brought back some kind of classic Hip Hop vibes while still exploring this idea of laid back rapping, and then Lean on Me comes out of nowhere with vocals and ballads, and then If I seems to go back into a darker vibe with some super heavy backing instrumentals and melody, and then Trauma goes modern??? With autotune and Mingyu doing vocals?? And now we’ve got this weird... pop... upbeat... groovy song? Hip Hop Unit always zags when I think they’re gonna zig. I cannot wait for this song and for Hip Hop Unit to zag on me again. This is gonna be great. 

5. Moonwalker (Performance Unit)

In some aspects, Performance Unit is similar to Vocal Unit in that they found a style with the success of Highlight and Swimming Fool and are sticking to it, and Moonwalker is in that wheelhouse. However, I can’t really begrudge them anything because they’re all FRICKIN BOPS and the style they’ve found I think really fits with their general feel as a group and the individual styles of the members. Plus, with songs like Who and The Real Thing, the members will often break out of their comfort zones and I appreciate that. Maybe in the future, I’d like to see another Who-style sexy intense song, but for now I’m perfectly content with another Electronic dance song, especially if accompanied by a sick dance like Swimming Fool was. Plus, I lowkey expect Dino to shine in this song, which is something we haven’t seen a whole lot of.

6. Our Dawn is Hotter Than Our Day

First off, this sounds like it could be a bridge-esque clip, maybe near to the end of the song, so the flow of the song might be different. Secondly, I think this might be a mistranslation, where “hotter” or “뜨겁다” should refer to a burning passion instead of a physical heat? Either way, I love this clip. The8 seems to be the main voice with maybe Coups and/or Wonwoo backing him, and it seems like a real impact moment, and I love that they’re kind of giving it to The8 as the main instead of their usual impact-hitters of Jun or Wonwoo. In terms of the general sound, it’s got this kind of lower energy vibe to it, something kind of akin to Campfire or Smile Flower in terms of atmosphere, but also more hopeful and positive in terms of feeling. The kind of song you listen to in the dusk of a summer night with the top down and the feeling of winding down instead of at 3 am with the feeling of looking back and crying. A very content song, I think. In general, the teaser doesn’t give us a whole lot in terms of progression, but I really want to see where the song goes as a whole and what they do with it.

Full Album Summary

In general, I think this album is a lot more thematically put-together than some of the older albums. I feel like they’ve recently tried to be thematically consistent, but there’s usually one song that breaks the theme, like Swimming Fool on Al1 or Clap/Hello on Teen.Age. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, especially in the recent years of not having to listen to an entire CD to hear the songs you like. However, having a super solid album that is consistent from top to bottom could make it so that more Hip Hop unit fans start to listen to Performance Unit, more people listen to the full album every time instead of just various songs, more people want to buy the entire album. 

As for the style, it’s a direction I didn’t really expect Seventeen to take, however it feels like a natural progression from Teen.age thanks to the inclusion of songs like Rocket and Change Up and even Without You to an extent? I think it’s a step away from Seventeen’s established style, but not necessarily a step in the wrong direction. In fact, I love that they don’t feel trapped in making the same song six comebacks in a row to have to keep their fans. They’re free to explore genres and styles and evolve and change, which is a necessity for any artist who doesn’t want to feel confined and trapped in their art. 

To make some predictions for this album, I think DK will become a real star this time around. This style really appeals to some of his voice’s natural charms. Joshua is going to do well with this concept, but I’m worried he’s not gonna get a lot of recognition for it due to the fact that he fits it so well that it feels very much like he’s a part of the furniture and not necessarily having a spotline shone on him. More on the concept of the MV, I think Seungkwan will be a big point in this comeback because the color scheme fits him super well and he stands out against warm colors really nicely. Also, we can expect to see more of debut, childlike playful Hoshi coming back this era. Vocal Unit’s solo will be a summer staple, Wonwoo’s solo part in the Hip Hop Unit song will kill and Vernon and Mingyu will shine in the concept, and Dino will come into his own with this Performance Unit song. Hopefully, The8 will become a popular pitch-hitter like Jun and Wonwoo this comeback as well!

No matter what, though, I absolutely cannot wait for this comeback!

[ribosomemusic]

Experimental Music - Favorites of 2017

I’m not an expert of what’s cool in experimental music. I don’t read the magazines or most of the review sites. (Sometimes I’ll read reviews if I like an artist and want to learn more about them.)

But as a host of a regular podcast focusing on unusual sounds, I spend a lot of time digging independently through new releases. Certainly you’ll have heard of some of them. Many others are underground, self-released artists who may not yet have a lot of listeners.

In this music, I usually look for artists who try to find their own paths towards musicality and coherence, rather than jump onto an established genre and work there.

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society “Simultonality” https://eremiterecords.bandcamp.com/album/simultonality A jazz release with tight whirling dervishes and a mix of western and Moroccan instruments. Explorations through repetition. One of the tracks seems to resemble Terry Riley’s “In C” in how the score is followed.

AGF - Solidicity https://agf-poemproducer.bandcamp.com/album/solidicity Jlin’s release is further down this list, but AGF shares a similar sensibility: fast, frenetic sampler-based dance music that treads deeply into sonic exploration and experimental sounds.

Andrea Belfi - Ore https://andreabelfi.bandcamp.com/album/ore I have a weakness for percussionists who work electronic sounds into their sets (Sven Kacirek, Erland Dahlen, Solyst, etc). Here’s one!

Apulati Bien - OO:NE https://promesses.bandcamp.com/album/oo-n Another release from this electronic dance / experimental music hybrid that’s popularized by Jlin. I’m not sure what it’s called yet, but here’s a French cassette that was also good.

Felicia Atkinson “Hand in Hand” https://feliciaatkinson.bandcamp.com/album/hand-in-hand Felicia Atkinson’s compositions combine text passages, electronics, instruments and found object sounds in a way that make me think of carefully-constructed surrealist radio plays. This has been my favorite release of hers so far.

Bellows “Strand” https://shelterpress.bandcamp.com/album/strand A nice halfway point between 4/4 “ambient dance” music as popularized in the mid 90s, and more abstract, improvised-sounding music. This has the warm, dreamy, otherworldly quality of the former, with a sense of being in an empty, windblown warehouse.

Greg Fox “The Gradual Progression” https://gregfox.bandcamp.com/album/the-gradual-progression An energetic jazz release that brings in tight bursts of tuned electronic percussion sequences and dub influences. 

Glochids “Ni Fila” https://glopuntia.bandcamp.com/album/ni-fila Mind-expandingly abstract and bizarre sounds, but with a sense of narrative and coherence that it’s easy to forget is possibly in this kind of experimental music. The alien-ness and sense of structure remind me of Oval’s excellent run in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Grampus “Bludge” https://grampus.bandcamp.com/album/bludge-2 Grampus has a great set of trio instrumentation: trumpet, trombone, and percussion, and all 2 of the members also proficient with samplers and laptops. Their first record, while fun, focused mostly on avant-garde and graphical score composition. For their sophomore record, there’s more of a groove, more high tempo, high energy playing, giving it a sensibility common with my favorite fusion and psychedelic rock records.

Jasmine Guffond “Traced” https://jasmineguffond.bandcamp.com/album/traced Ambient sampler-based experimentalism in the vein of Jan Jelinek or perhaps Vladislav Delay. However, perhaps more composed and more suspenseful than either of those examples.

Jlin “Black Origami” https://jlin.bandcamp.com/album/black-origami My prediction is that this release will be the one that appears on the most end-of-year lists. Jlin is a producer out of Gary, Indiana, and she’s one of the premier producers of this new genre that I’ve seen cropping up over the last 2 years or so. I’m not sure what it’s called. Is it “footwork”, or is footwork simply the dance genre that it’s closest to? The rhythms seem to be inspired as much by Algerian doumbek music as anything from western electronic genres.

Audun Kleive & Jan Bang “The Periphery of a Building” https://www.amazon.com/Periphery-Building-Audun-Kleive-Bang/dp/B074KW846W A percussion/live-sampling duo from Norway. It’s hard to put into words what I love about this EP: It combines the rhythmic energy of some of the “footwork” (?) releases on this list, such as Jlin, AGF and Apulati Bien, but perhaps with a slightly more free-improvised energy.

Lepidoptera “Minus Sign” https://analogcowboyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/lepidoptera According to Bandcamp, I’m currently the only person who bought this. (That’s true of a number of these releases.) That’s a shame because it’s a wonderful ambient drone session that takes the listener to several different landscapes as it travels.

Oby1taopy “Tachyon” https://oby1taopy.bandcamp.com/album/tachyon As much as I enjoy experimental modular synthesizer music, many of the releases I hear for this instrument gravitate towards well-known staples and stay there: formless new-age ambient baths, storms of electronic squiggles, walls of noise, 70s Berlin-school uh… tribute artists? Oby1taopy seems to enjoy the process of exploration itself, and presents us with a collection of temporary almost-worlds.

Off World “2” https://offworld.bandcamp.com/album/2 Bucking a trend of most of the synthesizer players I hear, Sandro Perri retains the role of traditional instruments in his compositions, so you’ll hear electronic drums, approximated bass and piano sounds, and a sense of “band-ness” in this release. There are hints of fusion, early synth rock and even lounge music throughout the record. This doesn’t stop the music from being pleasurably “out there”. Recommended if you like: Herbie Hancock’s “Sextant”, Jon Hassel, Pekka Airaksinen.

Oto Hiax “s/t” https://otohiax.bandcamp.com/album/s-t A collaboration between Mark Clifford of Seefeel and Scott Gordon of Loops Haunt. This is unusual for the ways that it is both typical and atypical: The typicality comes from the individual sounds. Experienced experimental ears have heard many of these sounds before: the highly-textured guitar processing of Seefeel’s recent releases, the surf-like droning wavecrests of the genre I’ve been calling “Tim Hecker”, instruments recorded in reverberant spaces, a touch of harsh noise and a decent amount of amplified found objects and environmental sounds thrown in. What’s unusual is that a release could have all of these elements and sound as focused and purposeful as this record does. It’s a great record from start-to-finish.

Safety Scissor Death Squad “Songs for a Dying Shell Diver” https://acriacysoundlabs.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-a-dying-shell-diver One of the downsides of being a fan of experimental music is the sense that too many musicians are concerned with blowing my mind. Then once in a while a recording actually does it - in this case, this very quiet, patient, minimal recording of blown bottles, chimes, and occasional digital turntable gestures by Tennessee’s Jovontae Pride. It was originally composed as a companion piece to Nurse With Wound’s "Echo Poeme: Sequence No. 2", but I’m completely happy with it like this. Recommended if you like Steve Roden.

Schneider Kacirek “Radius Walk” https://schneiderkacirek.bandcamp.com/album/radius-walk This is one of the newest entries of a genre I’ve been following, even if I don’t know what to call it: sterile, clean synth & live drum solo and duo projects that are very subtle and gradual about how they bring in their unusual elements. Acts like Andrea Belfi (listed above), Erland Dahlen, Solyst, Kreidler and Sven Kacirek. Maybe it’s my version of easy listening. This latest is a collaboration between Kacirek and Kreidler’s Stefan Schneider. Kacirek is a specialist in carefully tuning up very specific percussive sounds - a trio of prepared piano plucks here, a snare recorded from inside a cardboard box there. This has been my favorite release from either musician in some time.

Spellling “Pantheon of Me” (LP) https://spellling.bandcamp.com/album/pantheon-of-me-2 Tia Cabral’s solo project lets you think you’re going to be settling in for an album of live looping singer-songwriter stuff, but then the other elements start to creep in - electronic sound design and instrumentation usually heard in industrial/ebm music are applied flawlessly to something more like reflective folk ballads. It keeps on surprising.

Ssifoo “LuzS” https://ssifoo.bandcamp.com/album/luzs A mysterious sample-based composer out of Mexico City, I don’t know much about Ssifoo other than the name and a couple of EPs that came out this year. Each one contains 3 instrumental songs of very thoughtful and careful musical blooms.

Colin Stetson - “All This I Do for Glory” https://colinstetson.bandcamp.com/album/all-this-i-do-for-glory You won’t believe that this is an album of songs performed in real time on sax with no loops, but it gets deep, detailed, musical and rhythmic. 

Střed Světa “Rozmístění opakováním” https://babavanga.bandcamp.com/album/st-ed-sv-ta-rozm-st-n-opakov-n-m This is probably the record on this list with easily detectable 4-on-the-floor beats, but I appreciate the artist’s approach which at turns sounds like: Various synthesized bodies falling down stairs, to a disco beat, or a collection of floating glass jars stuck in the spin cycle of a washing machine with echoes, to a disco beat.

Cristobal Tapia De Veer - The Girl With All The Gifts (OST) https://mondotees.bandcamp.com/album/the-girl-with-all-the-gifts-cristobal-tapia-de-veer A beautiful, mysterious, understated horror movie soundtrack, composed largely with voice loops and samplers. 

Sunrise Transparence “Prism” https://sunrisetransparence.bandcamp.com/ A solo project by A. Vancura out of Los Angeles. As a mostly electronic experimental music fan, it’s not often that mostly acoustic projects catch my attention, but this one did. Many of the compositions work in a similar vein to Brian Eno’s ambient tape loop compositions, or even William Basinski. Not to say it’s all pastoral - the third track, “Churning” is downright frightening. The instrumentation is mostly piano, clarinets and muted trombone, all played by A.V., and I really appreciate the special attention she pays to the acoustic spaces she records in.

[aion-rsa]

The Doctor Strange and Pink Floyd Connection

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Marvel's Doctor Strange has a weird history with psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd. Get ready to expand your mind.

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Doctor Strange and Pink Floyd both got their start during the 1960s, a decade known for mind-expansion, psychedelic experimentation, and the pushing of cultural and artistic boundaries. Neither were exactly in step with the rest of their genre.

Doctor Strange, unlike his spandex clad and heavily muscled contemporaries, used occult practices like black magic and astral projection to defeat his foes instead of brute force. Pink Floyd were never really the kind of post-Beatles psychedelic pop group that were still common in the late '60s, nor were they ever the kind of blues-based hard rock or technically-oriented progressive rock band that dominated the 1970s. Unsurprisingly, Doctor Strange comics were popular on college campuses as the counterculture revolution of the 1960s began to take hold and it's easy to see stoners disappearing into Steve Ditko's surreal artwork while early Floyd records played or why psychedelic rockers were more drawn to these than traditional superhero fare.

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson dropped a number of Pink Floyd references on Twitter during the production of the Doctor Strange movie (not to mention Bob Dylan, The Talking Heads, T.Rex, and other bands), so I was waiting to see if a Pink Floyd song would actually make its way into a Marvel movie. 

I wasn't disappointed. 

Video of Pink Floyd - Interstellar Overdrive [HQ]

Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" plays during a key early sequence in the movie. It comes from first Pink Floyd album, The Piper At The Gates of Dawn, which abandoned the melodic but skewed psychedelic pop of their early singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" for a collection of songs that were more metaphysical, sinister, and occasionally (like in the case of "Interstellar Overdrive") freeform explorations of sound and feedback. The album version clocks in at nearly 10 minutes, but live versions could run longer, as long as the band wanted, really, and were accompanied by a psychedelic light show and oil projections that were conducive to mind-expansion. Those visuals wouldn't have looked out of place in the Doctor Strange comics of the era, either.

Pink Floyd's guitar player, singer, and driving creative force in 1967 was Syd Barrett, who left the group the following year due to worsening mental illness that was likely accelerated by his voracious appetite for mind-altering chemicals like LSD. Marvel's Doctor Strange movie certainly leans heavily on imagery consistent with the visuals associated with LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline trips (Strange even accuses the Ancient One of spiking his tea with psilocybin), which is fitting, even if it isn't a direct connection to Pink Floyd.

Listen to Pink Floyd The Piper at The Gates of Dawn on Amazon Prime

Barrett was still present on a few tracks on the band's second album, 1968's A Saucerful of Secrets, which has a semi-hidden image of Doctor Strange on the cover. The collage effect is not only reminiscent of the band's light shows and a representation of the psychedelic experience, but the placement of Strange himself makes it look as if the whole album cover is a spell being cast by the Master of the Mystic Arts. 

The Strange elements come from a story in 1967's Strange Tales #158, with art by Marie Severin (Doctor Strange co-creator Steve Ditko had left Marvel almost a year earlier).

Here's the page: 

(and thanks to Richie who pointed out the specific issue in the comments of our article about all of the easter eggs in the Doctor Strange movie)

The title track, "A Saucerful of Secrets" is kind of like the sequel to "Interstellar Overdrive" as it's another extended instrumental that places more emphasis on experimental sound than it does on anything resembling a traditional rock song structure. In other words, it's the perfect accompaniment to your reading of weird-ass Doctor Strange comics from the era.

Listen to Pink Floyd A Saucerful of Secrets on Amazon Prime

What I somehow never realized until this NightFlight article pointed it out to me is that you can also spot Marvel cosmic entity The Living Tribunal in the upper left-hand corner of the album cover, too...

Doctor Strange was still on the band's radar enough that they included him in the lyrics of "Cymbaline" from their third album, 1969's soundtrack to the Barbet Schroeder film, More. "Suddenly it strikes you, that they're moving into range," Syd Barrett's replacement David Gilmour intones solemnly, "and Doctor Strange is always changing size."

Funny enough, "Cymbaline" was known as "Nightmare" when it was performed as part of The Man and The Journey suite of songs, meaning it shared a name with the first villain Strange ever fought in the comics. Soon the band's lyrical focus drifted away from metaphysical concerns and into more earthly ones, and while they continued to produce extended musical compositions, the atonal sounds of "Interstellar Overdrive" and "A Saucerful of Secrets" gave way to the more melodic "Echoes" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

read more: Pink Floyd Members Reunite on Stage in New York City

But if Doctor Strange was an influence on the band in their early days, you can perhaps see hints of Pink Floyd's influence on the character in the 1978 Dr. Strange TV movie, which has a synth-heavy, at times funky, electronic soundtrack and an astral trip visual sequence that looks like some of the light show projections the band were known for. The final song on Michael Giacchino's Doctor Strange score, "Master of the Mystic Arts" subtly evokes some of the band's 1970s work, too.

But one final piece of Doctor Strange/Pink Floyd synchronicity popped up in 2016. Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch joined former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour on stage to sing "Comfortably Numb," a song which started life as a demo called, funny enough, "The Doctor." Whether this is coincidence, or simply the universe bringing the Pink Floyd/Doctor Strange connections full circle is entirely up to you to decide, of course. Maybe Doctor Strange 2 can find room for more Pink Floyd music when exploring the Dark Dimension or somewhere similar.

Cast spells, or at least talk psychedelic rock and comics, with Mike Cecchini on Twitter. We have a playlist of all songs discussed here...

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Feature

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Mike Cecchini

Jan 6, 2020

Doctor Strange

Music

Pink Floyd

Marvel

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[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 4, Number 5

Hot Snakes

It’s time for another edition of Dust, our semi-regular short form exploration of music we might not otherwise get to.  This time Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Marc Medwin, Justin Cober-Lake,  Jennifer Kelly and Michael Rosenstein ponder basement jazz and large ensemble improvisation, French horror movie synths, Charlottesville-inspired protest and one much loved garage punk band returning to the fray after 14 years.  Enjoy.

Aalberg / Kullhammar / Zetterberg / Santos—Basement Sessions Vol. 4 (The Bali Sessions) (Clean Feed)

This combo may have started out in a basement, but at this point the recording circumstances are a matter of have governmental support. Saxophonist Jonas Kullhammar, bassist Torbjörn Zetterberg and drummer/composer Espen Aalberg first convened to play their version of traditional jazz, which is to say music rooted in the examples of Sonny Rollins in the late 1950s and John Coltrane in the early 1960s. Those elements are still evident; “Pontiac,” for example, is built around a bass line that Jimmy Garrison could have fed Coltrane at the Village Vanguard in 1962. But it seems that Aalberg’s looking farther afield for inspiration these days. On that same tune, Kullhammar and guest trumpeter Susana Santos Silva play harmonies that have more to do with 1970s-vintage Ethiopian jazz. And the session took place not in a Scandinavian basement, but in an Indonesian garden, with full access to a Balian gamelan. Those resonant, metallic sonorities give the music a shimmering quality, as though you’re hearing it through a humid heat haze.

Bill Meyer

 Carpenter Brut — Leather Teeth (No Quarter)

LEATHER TEETH by Carpenter Brut

French dark synth act Carpenter Brut announces a key influence in its name: the minimalist, evocative, synthesizer-driven soundtracks that John Carpenter scored for many of his films, including Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Escape from New York and They Live. As the “Brut” bit suggests, Franck Hueso, the creative force behind the project, amps up the volume and the pace of that source material. He endows the music with an intensity that reflects the affect and the themes of the films — a perverse joy in aestheticized violence, the gut-plunge one can feel when watching highly manipulated filmic experiences. And this digital LP further collapses the distinctions between media: Leather Teeth is offered as the soundtrack to an imaginary horror film, complete with plot synopsis, promo poster and the oddly spectral suggestion of the seamy, grainy, VHS-quality vibe of 1980s horror cinema. You can just about feel the voluptuous joy of the bright orange fake blood and the fluorescent glow of the final girl’s wardrobe, especially in the title track and in “Inferno Galore.” It’s a sort of feat, making music this processed and slick feel raw and dirty.

Jonathan Shaw

  Thanos Chrysakis/Chris Cundy/Peer Schlechta/Ove Volquartz — Music for Two Organs and Two Bass Clarinets (Aural Terrains)

This is one for headphone listening. Organists Thanos Chrysakis and Peer Schlechta, in collaboration with clarinetists Chris Cundy and Ove Volquartz, have created an album of morphing space and shifting textural planes. The album’s opening and closing moments are magical, as a landscape haunted by nearly recognizable shades unfolds in reverb-drenched murk. The opening of the fifth section dwells in similar half-light; organ and clarinet tones almost match, floating around each other in rhythms too wet to grasp. The recording itself is a study in contrast pitting a dead-center clarinet against one off to the side, living in a semi-spectral world where pitch relations are as fluid as pulse and meter. Each instrument has a shadow self that headphone listening renders apparent. If the motivic material itself is slightly lacking in contrast, volume, register and timbre make up for that. Chamber organ and clarinet both add layers of percussion against the lines interwoven by the other two instruments. The music justifies the label’s name.

Marc Medwin

 Elephant9 — Greatest Show on Earth (Rune Grammofon)

When your hired-gun psychedelic jazz guitarist goes missing, what do you do? In Elephant9’s case, the answer is — go maximal. There may be one fewer musicians and the tunes may be shorter, but there are a lot of notes packed into each of Greatest Show on Earth’s 36 minutes. There’s also a lot of chutzpah; what else can you call it when an organ-bass-drums trio cops an Emerson, Lake & Palmer line for the name of its record? Fortunately, they subscribe to a heavier but less bombastic lineage. If you plotted this record on graph paper, one axis would be Tony Williams’ Lifetime and the other would be late 1960s Soft Machine. The organ seethes, the mellotron freezes, the bass sprints and feints and the drums pummel hard but elaborate on themes that, if you excised the solos and added some brass, would be more than serviceable cop show tunes for the age of leaded gasoline.

Bill Meyer

 Hot Snakes — Jericho Sirens (Sub Pop)

It’s been 14 years since the last Hot Snakes album, Audit in Progress, and eight since the convergence of two post-break-up outfits, Obits and Night Marches, spawned a one-song reunion at San Diego’s Casbah. Much has shifted since the early aughts rock revival that Hot Snakes always sat at the louder, rougher, closer-to-hardcore end of, and neither Obits nor Night Marchers, for all their positive attributes matched the fire-spitting intensity of their predecessor. You might, then, look askance on this latter day revival, coming conveniently just as Sub Pop reissues the entire Hot Snakes catalogue, and yet you could only do that before you hear the songs, which are just as raw, just as spittle flecked, just as full-throttle enraged as ever. The disc’s starts in flames, with the Wipers-slashing guitar attack of “Call the Doctor,” Rick Froberg’s yowl rising in rage over a hailstorm of crashing rock propulsion. Short, manic “Why Don’t It Sink In?” bangs the hardest at Hot Snakes’ hardcore punk beginnings, while “Six Wave Hold Down,” brings in an expansive So. Cal. surfiness into the mix. “Death Camp Fantasy” ramps up a whiplash punk garage assault, with a ragged group chorus to carry it home, while “Death of a Sportsman,” finishes things off in windmilling, power-chording style. Holds barred?  I’d say none. Score one for the old(er) guys.

Jennifer Kelly

  Joy Ike — Bigger Than Your Box (self-released)

The title Bigger Than Your Box makes a statement about pianist/singer Joy Ike's personality as well as her art. The artistic angle is clear: Ike hits that sweet spot between soul, jazz and pop, and if she doesn't fit cleanly into a genre, she's fine with that. These tracks — full of bouncy piano, a few lush arrangements, and a startling amount of verve — are also about self-definition. Ike refuses to be put into any box, and her music encourages listeners to step out of their own boxes, to “stand up and walk” as she says on “You Betta'.” Across these 11 tracks, Ike rallies anyone in need of rallying. The radio-ready anthem “Hold On” reiterates that “your hope is coming.” Ike walks close to the edge of cheese; when she sings, “You will find your song” or “You are not your fear,” it could tip into eye-rolling territory, but Ike's drive carries the sentiment. She knows there are people who need this sort of song right now, and she's going to make sure they get it. The tunes are infectious, but it's Ike's heart that resonates.

Justin Cober-Lake

 Insub Meta Orchestra — Choices & Melodies (Insub)

Choices & Melodies by Insub Meta Orchestra

It’s impressive to keep a large ensemble with 50 permanent members going for eight years and running. It is particularly impressive when that ensemble focusses on the collective intersection of composition, improvisation and electro-acoustic practice. Founded by Swiss musicians Cyril Bondi and d’incise on the ideas the two describe as “experimentation, of immoderation, of exploring and pushing the limits,” somehow this group of international collaborators has not only managed to keep this project a going concern, they have managed to get together on a regular basis to perform and record. Choices & Melodies is their fifth release, recorded at the same session as their Another Timbre CD from last year (reviewed here by Justin Cober-Lake) and like that one, this LP/digital download is comprised of two pieces credited as “direction and compositions by Cyril Bondi and d'incise.” This iteration of the group is 32-strong, with eight woodwinds, five string players, three guitarists, six utilizing electronics, laptops, and synths, three percussionists, four vocalists, along with hurdy gurdy, viola da gamba and harmonium, forming a rich timbral depth.  

First up is “two choices” using the simple instructions of producing two noises per person and the possibility of a change every five seconds. What transpires over the course of the 16-and-a-half-minute piece is a beguiling, dynamic mix of subtly shifting hiss, abrasions, quavers, crackles and low-end rumbles. Eschewing any sense of tonality, the immersive layers of frictive textures engulf the listener, with constantly evolving fields of subtle nuanced vacillations and densities. One gets the sense of listening in the midst of a giant engine or the groaning hull of a ship and the recording does a great job of capturing the spatial distribution of sounds across the ensemble. The second piece, “autonomous melodies,” takes a quite different tack, utilizing kernels of three or four note free melodies which are distributed across the orchestra. Over the course of 16 minutes, it relies on a relatively loud volume to let the various threads accrue in to mercurially morphing chords and drones. Here, the music benefits from the intrinsic underpinnings of woodwinds, strings, electronics, percussion and elusive scrims of vocalizations which commingle and fragment into changeable pulses and currents. In both pieces, the collective, considered intensity of the full ensemble comes through with gripping results.  

Michael Rosenstein

  Daniel Levin/Chris Pitsiokos/Brandon Seabrook — Stomiidae (Dark Tree)

Stomiidae by Stomiidae (Daniel Levin • Chris Pitsiokos • Brandon Seabrook)

Stomiidae is a family of deep-sea fish, and each of the CD’s seven tracks is named for a genus of that family. Perhaps cellist Daniel Levin, alto saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos and guitarist Brandon Seabrook want to assert that they go deep without being too obvious about it? With their needle teeth and trailing whiskers, Stomiidae look pretty terrifying in photographs, but since they’re usually about six inches long and they prefer to live half a mile under the surface, they pose no threat. But they can handle pressure, and there are moments when this music feels like it is busting out at the seams under the influence of some great internal force. Levin is his usual adroit self, and his confident, quicksilver responsiveness exerts a powerful influence on two other musicians whom I associate more with the delivery of knockout punches than the execution of gravity-defying footwork. But the toughness of their instrumental personalities is nonetheless boiled into their playing, as each note and flinty phrase exerts the persuasiveness of a winning argument.

Bill Meyer

   Mien—Mien (Rocket Recordings)

MIEN by MIEN

Mien draws talent from an inter-continental assortment of garage psych players—Black Angels frontman Alex Maas, The Horrors’ keyboardist Tom Furse, Elephant Stone’s raga rock experimenter Rishi Dhir and The Earlies’ John-Mark Lapham — and this self-titled debut is similarly all over the map. “Earth Moon” starts with a drone-y reverie in Dhir’s sitar with sitar-psych droning (there’s more sitar on “Ropes” if that’s your thing), then picks up the kind of ramshackle propulsion and Velvet-y psych whisper that Primal Scream used to conjure. “You Dreamt” runs noisier and more electronic, layering metallic ping and clicks and rattles over abstract washes of hiss and static. “Odessey,” spelled the way the Zombies spelled it, is the sort of slanting, driving, dark-wave garage psych that you turn to Black Angels for, though leavened, a bit, by a come hither chorus. All these songs are drenched in about three coats of reverb, kludged with noise and generally smeared and obscured, so you know you’ve got a winner when “Tired of the Western Shouting” bursts through and makes a mark. Techno-ethnic Brian Jones Massacre may not sound like exactly what you were looking for, but you’d be surprised, once you get into it.

Jennifer Kelly

 Keith Morris & the Crooked Numbers — Psychopaths & Sycophants: A Message from Charlottesville (self-released)

After the 2016 US presidential election, too much of the immediate response was, “At least we'll get some good protest music out of this.” That may be small consolation to much of the population, but Charlottesville Americana musician Keith Morris turned related feelings into protest album Psychopaths & Sycophants: A Message from Charlottesville, largely guided by the work of Leonard Cohen (covers of “The Future” and “In My Secret Life” book-end the album). The title track is a reworked version of a song from a few years ago, and the changes epitomize the album. Morris's gospel and country-rock influences still come through, but he pulls the rock sound back. For the most part, Morris gives speak-sing performances that harken back to Dylan. His rage comes through regardless of tone, though. On “67%” Morris and guest vocalist Devon Sproule mix that control with rowdier backing. Some of the tracks are a little on the nose to have legs — this is protest music after all — but the album captures a certain mood from “this shattered town” quite well. With a little Randy Newman in the mix, Morris and his band make emphatic points and offer useful catharsis.

Justin Cober-Lake

 Mike Uva—Lights Coming Up (Collectible Escalator)

Everybody I knew at an online music publication that professed to “review everything” had a handful of favorites that emerged from the slush pile, artists so good and so consistently overlooked that it made made it worth while to wade, once again, into the bins of self-releases. (All the new writers complained vociferously about the taking-all-comers policy until they hit one of these; we called it the conversion experience.)  One of mine was Mike Uva, a Cleveland-based songwriter, whose 2004 album Where Have You Been sits right alongside certain GBV, The Folk Implosion and the Capstan Shafts records for smart, tuneful, lo-fi pop excellence. That was a long time ago, but every so often I get a new recording from Uva, and it’s always unassumingly excellent, and this new one Lights Coming Up[JK1]  is no exception. The clear highlight is “Waco,” a driving, slanting, amber-lit time-capsule that connects Uva’s late college years, the FBI stand-off and an acquaintance who disappeared off the grid forever (though whether to join a Waco-ish cult or farm organic vegetables is never clear). Like all of Uva’s best work, the song has an off-handed grace, as if it rhymes and scans by accident, as if he just happens to be telling you a story that fits the chords he’s playing. But of course, there’s a lot of skill behind that kind of nonchalance, a skill that shows up again in the sinuously ear-worm “Waiting to Return,” in the dreamily unhurried “Even the Highways.”  Lights Coming Up is more indie-pop and less country than Lady, Tell Me Straight, the last Mike Uva album, which came out five years ago, but just as effortless. Here’s to the guys (and girls) who do it for love, and do it well and keep at it and get better anyway, even if no one is paying much attention.

Jennifer Kelly

[daylightarchives]

TOP ALBUMS OF 2017 (SO FAR)

It’s been a crazy year.. But also, somehow, one of the best years for music I think I might have ever been alive for! Here are some of my favorite albums of this year, lovingly catalogued and described in hopes that others enjoy these records as much as I have and continue to. Enjoy!

20. Alvvays - Antisocialites - If European stalwarts of indie like Chromatics and Pheonix can’t be counted on to bring their twee, vaguely filmic charm to 2017 (sorry, Tí Amo,) well, at least we have Alvvays. Coloring the totally played out dream-pop formula with flavors of shoegaze, punk, and post-punk, Alvvays bring a shit ton of personality to a genre that, most of the time, projects aloof disinterest; needless to say, it’s a welcome change of pace. Furthermore, there’s some serious songwriting muscle on display here, and every song seems even catchier than the last: from the washed out, dreamy In Undertow all the way to the longing closer, Forget About Life, Antisocialites remains a fun, engaging and memorable listen that I honestly defy anyone not to enjoy - and it has some of the best singles of the year in tracks like Dreams Tonite and the previously mentioned In Undertow.

19. Arca - Arca - There’s always been a sort of totally alien charm to the twisted and avant-garde electronic music that Alejandro Ghersi makes as Arca - on his latest self-titled record, everything that entices me about Arca’s music is turned up to 11 with the inclusion of his pained, heart wrenching vocals. Despite being sung entirely in nakedly emotional fits of his native Spanish, Arca seems somehow to reveal even less about himself than he did on his previous, instrumental albums, shrouding everything in a vague, mysterious aura on tracks like Reverie, Anoche, and (my by-and-far favorite) Sin Rumbo. Perhaps one of the most unique records to hit the mainstream this year, Arca is as good an introduction to this guy as any, and a great album.

18. Ariel Pink - Dedicated to Bobby Jameson - Basically another great weirdo-pop record from the reigning king of weirdo-pop. Bobby Jameson is effortlessly funny, sexy, bizarre, and touching, even at its most gloriously lo-fi and porny moments (Death Patrol, anyone?) The instrumental palette expands and contracts throughout the record, with some genuinely affecting acoustic moments and some batshit sound effects elsewhere that evoke the weirder moments of 2014’s also excellent Pom Pom. Always different, always the same.

17. Mac Demarco - This Old Dog - Leave it to a goofball like Mac Demarco to make an album that’s simultaneously the saddest thing he’s ever done, and the easiest record to chill out to of the year. Seriously, This Old Dog can be gut wrenching, especially when Mac is coming to terms with his broken family dynamics on tracks like Sister and Moonlight on the River. But Mac’s penchant for endlessly breezy riffs is all over this thing, making tracks like Still Beating, This Old Dog, and One More Love Song some incredibly easy and fun songs to listen to, in spite of the heavy subject matter. This Old Dog is an album I’ve lived comfortably with since its release because it’s so catchy, listenable and light, but still manages to contain multitudes about the guy behind these pained songs.

16. Dirty Projectors - Dirty Projectors - To the extent that Dirty Projectors mastermind Dave Longstreth can be viewed as a sort of elder statesman of the modern indie-landscape (ushering in R&B and pop worship, introducing Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij, constantly participating in the critical dialog surrounding his art and the art of the others), I think his new album Dirty Projectors can be seen as a sort of comment on the landscape he’s helped to shape, as well as the maybe too personal breakup album we all know it as. Dirty Projectors is a primer on white-boy R&B presented as 9 gloriously overstuffed tone poems, each obsessed with some aspect of his failed relationship with former Dirty Projector Amber Coffman. Up In Hudson is an autotune epic full of joyous horns and harmonies, Cool Your Heart is an awesome cacophony of polyrhythms anchored by D∆WN’s levelheaded chorus, and centerpiece Little Bubble is a baroque masterpiece that’s understated and subtle in all the right ways - a pleasant break from Longstreth’s breathless oversharing everywhere else on the album. If FJM wasn’t so deft at manipulating the journalists, this would’ve been the event album of the year; for Amber’s sake, I’m glad it isn’t.

15. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy - Shave your beard, ditch the funny-guy schtick, and write your fatalist opus: at least, that’s how Father John Misty owned the first half of the year, deftly playing the soundbite game and keeping his name in everyone’s mouth until the fabled album finally arrived. Fortunately, the music holds up for the most part, even if Pure Comedy is a little heavy on the ballads and could've used some of I Love You, Honeybear’s variety. Still, songs like Smoochie, The Ballad of the Dying Man, and A Bigger Paper Bag are stunners, and the analog ear candy production all over this album is some of the best I’ve heard this year. I guess my only gripe is that 2017 is a bummer enough already without Father John Misty telling us how screwed we are… Maybe take the title a little more literally for Pure Comedy 2?

14. Gabriel Garzón-Montano - Jardín - Gabriel Garzón-Montano, the guy that Drake sampled for sleeper-hit Jungle, signed with beat-music giant Stones Throw (home of hip-hop institutions like Madlib, Knxwledge, and countless others) to release Jardín - turns out, that odd couple was perfectly paired. Jardín is full of these excellent, miniature masterclasses in beatmaking, like the skittering percussion of “Long Ears” or the funk swagger of “Crawl.” Still, the record is pretty far from being some low key hip-hop worship thing, and acts pretty often as a vehicle for Garzón-Montano’s ambitious arrangements (“Fruitflies,” “Trial”) and vocal performances (“Cantiga,” “Sour Mango”), which range from old school R&B to almost classically baroque. Throughout, the instrumental palette is tasteful and restrained, and everything is overcome by a sexy, nocturnal vibe that just sounds great. I’m not sure what more I could possibly want from a record as generous as Jardín.

13. Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds From Another Planet - Something of a companion to 2017’s other great dream pop album, Antisocialites, Soft Sounds From Another Planet ditches that record’s lighthearted romanticism in favor of blistering political intensity and a wistful sort of sadness that evokes the crooners of the sixties on cuts like Boyish and ’Til Death. Taking influence from towering figures like Bradford Cox, Michelle Zauner crafts a work entirely her own here, weaving in strokes of shoegaze, chamber pop, and even an almost disco influenced synth-pop moment on standout The Machinist. Furthermore, there’s a really compelling interplay lyrically between songs that seem to assert Zauner’s efficacy as a woman (Diving Woman, the title track) with stories about the men who try to tear that efficacy down on tracks like Boyish and Road Head. Zauner’s political subtext on this record is definitely more complicated than I could understand or attempt to explain, but it almost doesn’t matter: with Soft Sounds, Japanese Breakfast weaves that social dynamic into a tapestry of beautiful music and gripping lyricism that will continue to impress and compel me for a long time.

12. JAY Z - 4:44 - In a decidedly more minor way, JAY Z’s 4:44 feels like his Dark Twisted Fantasy moment: in a time of personal turmoil played out on a grand public scale, the misunderstood artist retreats into himself and blows an unimaginable amount of money crafting an album too good to be ignored by the hateful masses. Luckily, the similarities end there, and 4:44 stays a low-key affair that plays impressively to Jay’s skills as both a rapper and simply as a magnetic personality, even if his almost spoken word delivery here often blurs the lines between those two things. All over the place, 4:44 is a rambling and opulent affair, full of expensive samples and rumination on internal conflicts of the ludicrously wealthy; it’s certainly to JAY Z’s credit that he can somehow keep that entertaining.

11. Kelly Lee Owens - Kelly Lee Owens - It’s always impressive when a record as slight and barely there as Kelly Lee Owens’ self titled debut can make an impression as strong as it did on me; even more impressive is the fact that this is her first record. Genre signifiers like “minimal techno” are frequently thrown towards skeletal, extended beats adorned only with the simplest melodies - you’ll find none of that on Kelly Lee Owens, a decidedly minimal-techno record that manages still to be incredibly lush and intoxicating. Whether Owens is highlighting the unique aspects of her collaborators styles as on Anxi with Jenny Hval or showcasing her own voice as she does throughout much of the record, Owens remains immaculately perched at the nexus between seductive and subtle - I haven’t heard anyone else operating so assuredly in this lane at all in 2017.

10. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana - Far less jokey than the too-heavy Murder of the Universe and far less ephemeral than the barely there Sketches of Brunswick East, King Gizzard really nailed it on LP1 of 2017 with Flying Microtonal Banana. Shaking up their usually spartan Kraut-punk grooves with a wealth of added Eastern instrumentation and a whole different approach to tuning that required custom instruments for every band member, FMB sounds like a band intent on exploring every possible permutation of their sound; as luck would have it, microtonal is a good look for them, and the record is basically bangers from front to back. From the off-tune crooning of Sleep Drifter to the strangely danceable Nuclear Fusion, King Gizz really take a successful sonic detour on this one while still coming through with a wealth of strong material. Let’s hope things head back in that direction for LP’s 4 and 5 before year’s end.

9. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream - LCD Soundsystem is back, and everything they represented in their heyday is even more out of style now than it was when they broke up a few years ago. So why is American Dream so goddamn good? For me, it comes down to the fact that past the cloying pretension (again, very out of style in 2017) and attempted rock-star aloofness, James Murphy is a pretty passionate dude, and that soft side translates a lot more often than not on this new record. Far more low-key than the bombast of This Is Happening, American Dream sets the bar a few inches lower and then leaps over it with stunners like Oh Baby, Black Screen, and the defeatist funeral march of the title track. The righteous anger is a little less believable now that James Murphy has personally screwed his fans over, which unfortunately taints the supposedly epic How Do You Sleep? with the sour taste of a one sided dialogue where you know you’re getting an asshole’s side of the story. Still, American Dream is a very good LCD Soundsystem record, and at the very least earns its respect in the pantheon of 2017 releases on quality, if lacking in narrative thrust.

8. Oh Sees - Orc - John Dwyer is living proof that the troubadour still has a future in the financial black hole that is this music industry, and maybe one of the last DIY guys to break through and really become an institution in rock music; it’s telling that the man can count fucking Henry Rollins as one of his biggest fans. Approaching the 20 year anniversary of his longest standing musical project, Dwyer hunkered down with producer Ty Segall (!), a bassist, and two drummers to record Orc, a late period masterpiece that streamlines the best things about Oh See’s recent sonic direction into a sometimes blissed out, sometimes metal-leaning psych opus that’s weird and fun and exciting in all the right ways. Orc is a Spartan album with little to no filler and an almost monomaniacal focus on running the ten tracks that make this album up into the ground; Keys to the Castle is an eight minute epic that gives up on punk a third of the way in for heavenly keys, and Paranoise, well, lives up to its name. Anyone who claims that rock isn't exciting or viable anymore should be directed to this record with haste - John Dwyer presents a pretty convincing counter with this one.

7. Perfume Genius - No Shape - Perfume Genius’ No Shape is an incredibly dense and rewarding album: rich in sound, rich in feeling, rich in lyrical and instrumental complexity, it strikes me as an album that’s meant to be lived with, and that reveals itself over the multiple listens necessary to pick up on all the little quirks hidden throughout by mastermind Mike Hadreas. Luckily, none of what I just said precludes No Shape from also being the most immediately gratifying and exciting release yet from Perfume Genius, and maybe anyone else this year, too. The first two songs are barrages of massive indie guitars and anthemic melodies, and from there, No Shape settles into a stride of incredible song after incredible song that continuously demonstrate Hadreas’ incredible range and capacity for evoking emotion. The fact that it’s easily the best-produced record I’ve heard this year is just icing on the cake.

6. Thundercat - Drunk - The glorious shitshow of an album that this glorious shitshow of a year deserves - and I mean that in the best possible way. While other artists have grappled with the craziness of the year with unfailing pretension (Father John Misty) or with intensely personal storytelling (Japanese Breakfast,) Thundercat seems to be coping in the same way the rest of us are - disappearing down a “rabbit ho” of drunken hilarity and making light of his occasionally destructive personality. Drunk is just as much of a showcase for Thundercat’s virtuosic bass skills as his overall funniness, though, and hyperactive bass workouts on tracks like Captain Stupido and Tokyo remind of his skills just as chill out moments like Walk On By and Drink Dat remind of his pop sensibilities. Thundercat stood behind the best of 2016’s music on the merits of his musicianship alone; with his affable personality in the fore, it’s no surprise how easily his solo work is beginning to connect on its own.

5. Brockhampton - Saturation I/Saturation II - Outclassing heavyweights like Drake, JAY-Z, and Kendrick Lamar, Brockhampton’s exciting debut and follow up Saturation (and Saturation II )are a reminder to me of why I fell in love with hip-hop in the first place: these records are a document of a bunch of kids willing the coolest shit they can think of into existence and then turning themselves into rockstars with whatever they came up with. That’s Kanye’s story, that’s Chance’s story, and now that torch is getting snatched by the willing and able guys behind America’s latest and greatest Boy Band. Fortunately, unlike all these heavyweights that seemed to get stuck in a rut this year, Brockhampton still has something to prove; let’s hope that takes awhile.

4. Fleet Foxes - Crack Up - Unlike FJM, Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold hasn’t given up on the world quite yet - that optimism, along with some of the most creative songwriting, production, and instrumentation I’ve heard all year, are what make Crack Up so special. The album has this sweeping, almost baroque quality to it; it’s more an album of suites and movements than individual tracks (that the lead single is an eight minute, two part behemoth speaks to this,) and Pecknold’s songwriting has finely begun to match the stately and massive sound his backing band has always been capable of making. Still, what keeps me coming back are the moments of almost religious stillness Pecknold conjures up on acoustic numbers like “Kept Woman”, “If You Need To, Keep Time On Me,” and “I Should See Memphis.” Crack-Up truly is a stunning album in every sense of the word.

3. Big Thief - Capacity - I keep coming back to this album because Adrianne Lenker filled it with what are potentially the best standalone songs of the year; if you care about guitar music at all, your literal favorite song of the year might end up being something off of Capacity. From the haunting narratives of songs like Watering and Coma to the pop-classicist bent of tracks like Great White Shark and Haley, this album is chock full of incredibly strong chord progressions and melodies that continue to reveal deeper beauty to me as the year goes on. This album is really something special.

2. Ryuichi Sakamoto - async - In this most fast paced and dizzying year, Oscar and Grammy winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto cheated death at the hands of serious throat cancer and came out of retirement to produce a slow, languid album that rivals some of his best film scores (which include classics like Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and The Revenant) with async. Drunk on every banal detail of the life he nearly lost, Sakamoto crafts a serene album full of ambient twists and turns, spoken word passages reciting cosmic poetry (courtesy at one point of Andrei Tarkovsky’s father), and the heart-wrenching piano work this guy seems to be able to do in his sleep. Everything about this album is incredibly masterful in its depth and detail; the sound design of some of the album’s looser moments are stunning, and piano compositions like ubi and the remarkable andata are some of my favorite tracks of the year. Sakamoto really is an international treasure, and in async he gives us a beautiful celebration of life viewed through the lens of his trailblazing career. We should all be grateful.

1. Tricot - 3 - I don’t know if I’ve heard a more fun, electrifying and emotionally potent record as Tricot’s 3 all year, and the lyrics are entirely in Japanese; hopefully that alone speaks to the skill of these 3 gifted women as writers, instrumentalists and vocalists. Their trick for connecting emotionally across the language barrier seems to be some combination of brute force (these tracks are performed at blistering tempos, in fits and starts of total instrumental acrobatics) and incredibly emotional vocals that communicate more than enough on sound alone - these girls sound like they’re exorcizing demons out of their very souls, they play and sing so goddamned hard. It doesn’t hurt that the writing is incredible, full of total jams like the one-two-three punch that opens the record or the totally anthemic Munasawagi. Who would’ve guessed that the pop record of the year might just be a math-rock album by a Japanese girl-group?

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

(Sandy) Alex G - Rocket

Sampha - Process

Spoon - Hot Thoughts

Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy

Joey Bada$$ - All Amerikkkan Bada$$

The Murlocs - Old Locomotive

JLin - Black Origami 

Beach Fossils - Somersault

Jay Som - Everybody Works

Cigarettes After Sex - S/T

Laurel Halo - Dust

Slowdive - S/T

Ty Segall - S/T

Everything Everything - A Fever Dream

Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me

Black Lips - Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art? 

Milo - Who Told You To Think?!?!!???

Oneohtrix Point Never - Good Time (OST)

Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins 

Nmesh - Pharma

[kraaks-avant-guardian]

Accident du Travail

Paring up odd duo’s seems to be a great way of exploring music new and ever-expanding paths. Julie Normal and Olivier Demeaux form Accident du Travail. Well-hidden in the French underground, they team up the powers of the harmonium and the ondes martenot to create almost religious tapestries of sound. Sparse field recordings dwell in between tick layers acoustic drones, while the oldest electronic instrument in musical history leads you down their spiraling path. Recommended, their fresh tape on the fine The Trilogy Tapes label.

— by Hans Van der Linden 

Accident Du Travail: visual music to be experienced with one’s eyes closed

Julie Normal and Olivier Demeaux cherish the ondes Martenot and set out to convince the world to do alike with rare live performances. The Kraak festival provides an excellent possibility to discover the sacred minimalism produced by the ondes Martenot, an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. Wikipedia tells us that the original design was similar in sound to the theremin.The sonic capabilities of the instrument were later expanded by the addition of timbral controls and switchable loudspeakers.

Don’t put your beer on a museum piece

When Julie and Olivier started this project, they didn’t really think about playing live. Their quest was mainly to make the ondes Martenot known to the world. In the beginning both of them recorded for hours at the conservatory because they still didn't have their own ondes.

Julie has always been documenting sounds. As a kid she had a tape recorder and loved to keep a souvenir of voices. When she started studying ondes more than ten years ago she started to record all sounds they could produce, through the three speakers. She was giving herself sound massages and could spend hours listening to a note going through the gong speaker or the warm bronze reverb.

Now Julie has her own ondes and it’s a very old one and has just one speaker. On Très Précieux Sang, their second album, the band decided to use another instrument. Instead of  just editing and adding ondes on top of ondes, Accident Du Travail decided to add a little harmonium, so all sounds are produced by wooden instruments. Besides that there are also a little plastic harmonium and a cheap hohner synth that they had found in the street.

Thanks to their network Accident Du Travail could spread this music, but it’s hard to fit in. They need good conditions since they’re practically playing on a museum piece. Julie points out that it’s often hard to explain: ‘Dude there were only 300 ondes made. Only about 70 are still working in the whole world. Don’t put your beer on it please.”

Beyond the small sect of ondists

Both Olivier and Julie have side projects but they met in the mid 2000s in  a very nice bowl of underground musicians in Strasbourg. Accident Du Travail however seems to exist outside of these scenes and does not even really connect to the contemporary French undergroundscène. They would like to do so however, in order to make the ondes known. So far they only played three shows in ten years, but they didn’t play together between 2010 and 2015.

It’s hard to describe the scene they are in because one can hardly talk about their genre.

The Martenot scene is one of the most little in the world, due to the number of ondists and even the number of instruments. So it cannot be reduced to a genre as it goes from clean contemporary and "savante" music to pop, chanson or noise.

Julie’s teacher Thomas Bloch played Kraak festival a few years ago. Also fellow ondist Nathalie Forget played several KRAAK events, so you could say there is an existing  network.

They just keep meeting the same people naturally but Julie points out that she feels close to a genre that's not her network. She feels connected to French dudes Aymeric de Tapol or Opéra Mort, that produce quite static music, ambient with love. She’s also a  huge fan of Charlemagne Palestine, David Rosenboom, drone, ritual and trance music.”

Recently the band started to attract international attention. They had the chance to release records on two very nice labels. Releases on Bruit Direct (Paris) & Trilogy Tapes (London)  helped them to reach a (small) international audience.  

Zoned out rock and rol 

On Trés Prècieux Sang Cooper Crain is in charge of ‘tape transfer’. Julie met Cooper Crain in Belgium when playing with his band Cave. Julie and her brother Jerome opened for them with the band Crash Normal. She wasn't really a member of that band but just played keyboards for a few gigs before Crash Normal found a new guitar player.

Back in Charleroi they had great fun and trade records. Cooper had just released his first Bitchin Bajas record Tones & Zones. They met in these rock'n'roll conditions but discovered a common interest in the love of drone and keyboards. Julie became a huge Bitchin Bajas fan and the both of them remained in contact for years until he invited her play a part of their European tour.

Julie states that Cooper is the biggest fan of Terry Riley and made her discover many great american ambient artists. “When I visited him in Chicago, we had just recorded with Olivier and I couldn't help but bring the files to have him sign something on it.”

[shemakesmusic-uk]

Introducing...

Pocket Sun.

Get your very own slice of Cosmic Soul from the Euphonic Galaxies. Pocket Sun create a kaleidoscopic, hyper-melodic sound through lush layers of vocal harmony, synth and beats, which will keep you vibrating positive energy long after your heart returns to Earth.  

Influenced from a plethora of alternative electronic pop artists including Little Dragon and Washed Out, the band craftily combine electronic and vocal sound sources, creating a radiant beam of velvety soundscapes.  

Pocket Sun is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter GMT, who has been quietly hatching a mountain of audiovisual art from her Bristol home. In 2018 the colourful five-piece came together to embrace her vision, and have since been working behind the scenes on their blissful live show.

We had a chat with GMT about the origins of Pocket Sun, their debut single 'Plastic' upcoming EP and more. Read the Q&A below.

What brought the five of you together and make you want to begin this musical project?

"I'd been performing as a solo artist for years under various names, but nothing was really taking off. I’d always wanted to get a band together but it felt like a bit of a pipe dream. Then in late 2017 I had a kind of ‘wake-up’ moment when I realised there’s no better time than now to try, and started fresh with the name Pocket Sun.

"The band members come from different places musically, creating quite an eclectic mix of people and tastes. Most of us have worked together before in other bands so that’s where the connections began. Hazel (keys, synth and backing vocals) and I are actually sisters, and she’s my rock! Not only does she bring so much to the band, but having watched her own project continually blossom (Ever Hazel) she’s been a super inspiration in life and music. Alex on drums was instantly one of the best I’ve heard when we started playing together in another Bristol band, Iguanas. He’s renowned for his skilled playing - usually on rocksteady/reggae grooves with The Mellotones, but I thought I’d take the chance and poach him for Pocket Sun. Beau, similarly is a spectacular bassist naturally owning the perfect blend of solid playing meets intricate and tasteful riffs (after every show he’ll get so many compliments!). He also plays in Iguanas and makes his own amazing music and art (Beau Hulse). The newest addition to the band was Madeleine, on synth and backing vocals. I’d seen her perform and was instantly in awe of her stunning voice and stage presence! Check out her other project Myla, a really beautiful and unique folk/hip-hop act."

Who or what has the biggest influence on your music and songwriting?

"I just love music that somehow transports you away to another place or makes you instantly feel something. I find it really magical that you can be physically somewhere mundane, yet emotionally in another world from what you’re listening to in your headphones. I tend to be instinctively drawn towards soulful and unusual chord progressions, as well as that nostalgic chorus-driven 80s sound. Big influences for me personally have been Little Dragon, Tame Impala, Washed Out, Badbadnotgood and Toro y Moi…but that’s a tiny fraction of a constantly growing list!"

You recently released your debut single 'Plastic’. What inspired the song?

"The song emerged from the baseline looping round in my head, so I quickly laid it down along with the groovy drum pattern. It came together like a whirlwind and almost felt like the chords and melodies were writing themselves (sounds cheesy I know haha!). For a while I considered leaving it as an instrumental, but somehow it didn’t feel finished. The subject of global warming and plastic pollution has been such a hot topic on social media and the news, and it’s something I feel really passionate about, so I thought that could be interesting to weave into it. (Also I don’t think I’ve heard another song about that before!) When I began writing the lyrics it was actually quite challenging, and the song went through many re-writes before reaching it’s final form. As soon as I found the line ‘Sending signals into the sky’ it clicked, and I was envisioning a tiny alien warning us about the damage we’re doing to earth. I’m very interested to see if anyone has deciphered this from the lyrics!"

'Plastic' is taken from your upcoming EP Sleep Inventions. What can you tell us about the record?

"The songs on the record all share similarities within themes of dreaming and imagination, so Sleep Inventions seemed like the perfect name to capture just that. The EP is a set of five tracks and begins with exploring the wildness of dreaming, and towards the end turns to finding comfort in loneliness, and feeling safety in escaping reality,

Finally, what else is next for Pocket Sun?

"We’ve got another single coming out very soon along with a quirky animated video, so we’re looking forward to sharing that! We also have quite a few live shows coming up in Bristol and beyond, and will be recording and shooting some live videos to release online. We recently started working with INC, a new Bristol based record label, who have been amazing at helping us grow and reach new audiences, so we can’t wait to see how things continue with them!"

‘Plastic’ is out now.

[trevorbailey61]

Susanne Sundfør

Glee Club, Birmingham

Wednesday 14th March 2018

The stage had been erected along one side of the main square in the northern Spanish city of A Coruna. It was still early afternoon but clouds obscured the summer sun and a light drizzle filled the air. A barrier sealed off the area around the stage but neither this, nor the weather, deterred a group of about fifty who had gathered as close as they could to secure the best place for the show that they would still have to wait several hours to see. Their patience was soon rewarded, however, as various members of the band started to saunter out onto the stage, pick up their instruments and begin their soundcheck. Every bang of a drum, strummed chord or snatch of a melody was greeted with loud cheers from this dedicated group, carried over the gap from where they were held so that the musicians smiled and waved in response. A group of backing singers sang into hand held mics but the star himself did not appear, a stand-in took his place so that his entrance later would retain its spectacle. And spectacle it was, as darkness descended, the crowd had grown to fill the square and bright lights picked out the figures as those backing singers now added their voices in tightly choreographed moves always close to the main man. Even though we couldn’t even begin to guess what his songs were about, there was no doubting his stage presence as he reached out to the furthest parts of the vast crowd. They responded to every verse, every chorus, every movement with wild cheers; sang along to every song and took selfies to remind themselves and others that they were there. Whoever this guy was, in one Spanish city at least, he was huge.

Who he was: before wandering into the square that afternoon, I wouldn’t have had a clue and despite being carried along by the enthusiasm of those around me and the show itself, seven months later I can no longer recall his name. The few parts of his biography that remain tell me that although based in Spain, he was originally from Argentina and that his long career had occasionally brought him into contact with artists I have some familiarity with. Outside of that, however, he had written songs, recorded albums and toured without making the slightest ripple outside of those who share the same first language. With a huge potential global audience of Spanish speakers, it may appear that this would be enough but periodic albums where he sings in English suggest that he has tried to broaden this appeal. That these have been met with indifference is a sign of how difficult it is to translate success from one audience to another and as an artist well into his forties, it seems as if he will have to remain content with the passionate Spanish fans who filled the square in A Coruna.

Susan Sundfør is very popular in Norway. Classically trained, she has a keen ear for a range of musical styles that she puts together to produce a sound that is very much her own. Her albums show shifts in form and style to produce wonderfully varied music with just her extraordinary voice to show that they all originated from the same source. Despite continually wrong footing her audience, she has had four number 1 albums in her homeland and has a loyal and devoted following. Like many from the northernmost parts of Europe, she writes and records in English which means that, unlike our Spanish friend, she doesn’t have to balance interesting native speakers with broadening her appeal. Her previous album, “Ten Love Songs” looked as if it would provide the breakthrough; an unexpected leap from her folksy routes, it was her disco album; electronic beats, layers of synths and joyous uplifting melodies that helped to disguise the failed relationships and emotional turmoil found in the words. It was certainly interesting and at times exhilarating but possibly a little knowing in its adoption of the bittersweet norms of Scandi pop. In writing all the songs, playing most of the music and producing the album, Sundfør piled the pressure on herself and at a time she should have been taking the music out to the audience she sought, suffered a nervous breakdown. Whilst this could be seen as a missed opportunity, she could at least draw on the depths into which she fell to make another musical leap to produce the stark and brooding “Music for People in Trouble”, most of which she will perform tonight.

As she tells us, this is her first visit to Birmingham which means that I am probably alone amongst those at the Glee Club in that I have seen her before. This was about three years ago at Latitude, one of the few UK shows she did to promote “Ten Love Songs” and dressed in bright colours and with glitter on her cheeks, she was very much the glam pop princess. In contrast, tonight sees her all in black, an oversize pinstripe jacket covers her dress and she will occasionally wrap herself up by folding her arms and pulling the lapels across her chest; a little insecurity perhaps finding its way into the confidence with which she presents herself. So assured is her English, there is just the slightest hint of an accent, it is a surprise when she slips into her first language to explain some slight adjustments she wants in the sound. She feels the songs can speak for themselves and rather than explain their origin, between them she lightens the mood by reflecting on their recent travels and asking for advice on what to do during the morning they are to spend in Birmingham. When no one in the audience can come up with anything she chides us that we should show more pride in where we live. She does, however, pick up a little Brummie and repeats the words “alroight bab” after they were suggested as an example of the local dialect. Well into her tour now, the atmosphere is relaxed and easy going drawing us in to the sparse and sometimes harrowing songs she is here to perform.

The tone is set with the opener, “Mantra”. Seated, Sundfør accompanies herself on an acoustic guitar, often picking out just single note rather than putting them together to form a chord. Alongside the fearsome power and startling range of her voice, this minimal setting works to such a haunting effect that there is a moment of silence as the last few notes reverberate around the room where the audience take a moment to fully process what they have just heard. Throughout this, the two musicians with whom she shares the stage stare at the keyboards in front of them before adding a few embellishments towards the end. The set rarely strays from this understated sound and as Sundfør seems more than capable of adding the guitar or piano accompaniments, it is tempting to wonder whether she really needed anyone on the stage with her. They do, however, allow her to occasionally add her vocals without also having to accompany herself and provide strings or solos on the flute or bass clarinet as a counter to the devastating vocals. “Mantra” slowly reveals itself, sounding almost optimistic at the start where it is possible to bask in a bright summer’s evening as she sings; “I’m as lucky as the moon: On a starry night in June”. The shift in attention from the imposing disk of the moon to the heavens beyond, however, releases the self doubt that is the main feature of her recent work; “I’m as empty as the Earth; An insignificant birth”.

Whilst gorgeous melodies and lush orchestrations of “Ten Love Songs” helped to disguise the pain in the words, and also invited comparisons with Abba, now, with a greater prominence given to her voice, there is little to sugar coat the message. This painful soul searching is reminiscent of John Grant, a comparison given greater sway as he adds his vocals to the final track on “Music for People in Trouble”. Like Grant, much of Sundfor’s self worth is determined by the actions of others towards her and when they let her down, as inevitably they will, she directs the pain inwards and towards her own frailties. “Undercover” takes a cynical view of the motives of the other; “Don’t trust the ones who love you; Cause if you love them back; They’ll always disappoint you; It’s just a matter of fact” into a fantasy where; “We could live our dreams; we'd sail on golden wings”; the piano accompaniment moving from the minor chords of the reality to the uplifting melody of the fantasy. In just three verses, the slow and haunting “Good Luck, Bad Luck” brutally dissects the superficiality of a former lover; “Freeloader wisdom from the books he never read”. Coming from her excursions into the world’s trouble spots, during her recent sabbatical she visited North Korea and the Amazon rainforest, “The Sound of War” is a stirring description of the bleak landscape left after the killing has finished. Similar in tone to PJ Harvey’s “The Hope Demolition Project”, Sundfør’s clear and ghostly voice perfectly captures the horror of the scene. Possibly the starkest expression of the place in which she finds herself is the crushing “No One Believes in Love Anymore”, performed as the first of two encores. Against the backdrop of a delightful melody, played to stunning effect on the flute, Sundfør finally confronts her inner demons which, in turn, by the end of the song allows her to find some hope as she returns to the moonlit scene of the opening song; “Looking up at the Moon, up at the Moon; We’ll all get there soon, looking up at the Moon”. The theme is developed further in the up tempo “Reincarnation” where she finds the sprit within herself to move on.

“Ten Love Songs” is not ignored completely but the two songs that she draws on, “Silencer” and the final encore “Trust Me”, are those that can be stripped back to the same stark setting. “Trust Me” in particular emerges all the better without the waves of synthesised strings in the background. Her earlier work, however, is a better fit and “Can You Feel the Thunder” and “White Foxes” need little reimagining to find a home. It is one of her earliest songs, however, in “Walls” that has been rearranged most brutally. Accompanying herself at the piano, she has stripped away the rather predictable chords changes and flourishes she originally used to create something far more interesting.

Sometimes musicians need a sudden shift to help define their career and Sundfør has already been through many. The synthesised Abba pop of “Ten Love Songs” was fun but she possibly felt that the spectacle was a distraction fro the songwriting and in taking it all back to its basics, the focus is very much on the songs. They are more than capable of holding the interest without all the embellishments and show a raw emotional heart that can be quite painful. Despite the dark nature of much of the music, the uplifting melodies and her own humour helped to make for an inspiring evening. Tweeting after the concert, one person noted that the music would not seem out of place at Symphony Hall and whilst it is possible to see what he is getting at, it would then have lost much of both its intensity and intimacy, something that helped to make the evening so special. The breakthrough to play a venue that size is probably still some way off although the nearly full Glee Club showed that, unlike our Spanish friend, she is developing a large audience outside her homeland. It will be interesting to see whether her next step will be back to easily accessible pop or something as raw and emotional as where she currently finds herself.