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- Welcome to the new KILLED in CARS
I center my relationship with music around KILLED in CARS. It is a "thank you" to the musicians who enrich my life, a way to reach people curious about expression through sound, and an attempt to creatively think about music. This site has thrived as a destination for discussion and listening thanks to its disregard for the canon and its dedication to making esoteric genres accessible. I appreciate your readership, and I hope that you choose to participate!
INSTRUCTIONS: Until now, KILLED in CARS has been an approach more than a single destination. This new layout is an attempt to centralize KiC activity in one place. While there is still content on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook, for example, you no longer need to visit these services to have the full scope of what’s going on. All the links at the top of this page will display the content from the sites you’re used to visiting, while giving you the option to click straight through to said pages. Here are some tips to maximize your visit.
1. The blogs (1 and 2) are Tumblr (the current blog), and Blogger (the archive), respectively. You can click on that word and scroll down to read the most recent posts on each. At the bottom of each page, there is a link that will take you to the full pages. If you would like to explore the Tumblr page in depth, you can click here. If you want to see the Tumblr archive, click here. Lastly, to go through the entirety of the original site, click here.
2. Similarly, the two “VIDEOS” pages are my YouTube favorites and Vimeo likes, in that order. This allows you to see many videos in one place without clicking through to any other pages. You can click the link in the bottom left corners of each to see the actual channels I maintain on each service. You may also click here for the YouTube channel, and here for the Vimeo channel.
3. The forum is the Facebook wall RSS. This is where the most activity happens, and you can see the numerous videos, tracks, and concert listings we pass on here. You can also click here to join the group.
4. “MIXES” is my 8tracks mixes, while tracks represents both my SoundCloud uploads and favorites (click here). You can click “play” on any of my mixes and play them on this page without clicking through to the 8tracks profile (though you can do so by clicking here). Likewise, you can listen to tracks I upload to SoundCloud under “TRACKS,” but you can also go through a great deal of content by switching the drop menu to “Favorites.” There are many mixes there as well, all playable from this page.
5. Last.fm and Twitter are self-explanatory. Last.fm tracks my recent plays and “top” artists of late, and the group page. Twitter is a place to find label retweets, articles of interest, and my record ratings (click here). These ratings are generated from Rate Your Music, and you can click through to the page here, and you can browse the complete KiC list, from start to finish, by clicking here.
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Posts
Seaven Teares - Power Ballads
In the wake of the brilliant and ferocious Extra Life, composer Charlie Looker’s attentions have turned to two new acts, the “depth metal” Psalm Zero and the (superficially) gentler Seaven Teares, whose recorded debut, “Power Ballads,” recently dropped via Northern Spy. To some degree, Seaven Teares is a further distillation of some of the early-music ideals behind the Extra Life canon, and I think most fans of Extra Life will find much to like here, but there’s something even darker happening in the folds of “Power Ballads.”It’s probably worth addressing the John Dowland influence on this music first: the band’s name references Dowland’s “Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares,” a set of compositions published in 1604. The Lachrimae themselves are instrumental variations on his lute song “Flow My Tears,” an arrangement of which is found on this record. In his time, Dowland’s tunes were quite popular, and though his lyrics tend toward the darker side of existence—loss, loneliness, sadness, etc—those kinds of subjects are so intensely universal, they never go out of style. And I think it’s worth noting that much of Dowland’s work was intended as dance music in the Renaissance era, particularly the slow, deliberate, melancholy vibes of the pavane. The pavane is a basse danse, where your feet are dragging across the floor, as opposed to an uptempo ho-down kind of vibe, and collectively the scene around Dowland’s work seems kind of like a protogoth spectacle, where I’m sure the somber dirges of Bauhaus would have been a welcome jam if they’d had kerosene powered 8-tracks tricking out horse-drawn carriages of the day.
The orchestration for Looker’s Seaven Teares project allows for an aural palette that can be relatively faithful to Dowland’s music: guitar and voices dominate, percussion is generally delicate and stays out of the way, and recorders make frequent appearances. Added to the textures of early music, the droning atmospheric potential of the harmonium and simple sinewave-y synth tones sound perfectly at home here, and modern lute badass Jozef Van Wissem makes an appearance on a cover of “Them Bones” by Alice in Chains (more on that later). Like Dowland, the music of Seaven Teares draws heavily from the folk tradition, drawing from deep universal themes with a kind of direct simplicity—the more metrically complex moments of Extra Life are mostly gone in this music, replaced with an unambiguous focus on the music and the lyrics. And the recording itself sounds like it was captured mostly live, with some requisite room-reverb-mud and distortion in the mix adding to the somber vibes of the songs.
But I don’t think Seaven Teares intends for this music to be taken medicinally as some kind of high-art history lesson. Dowland is part of the context, but most of these songs focus on issues that are as acutely moving today as any era. It’s just interesting to note how much of the human experience stays relevant to people of any era, that we’ve all struggled with similar forms of despair well before the collective shift of our eyes downward into a fragmented abyss of touchscreen telephones.
The “universal feel” in the sound of Seaven Teares is greatly enhanced by dual lead vocals throughout the album: mostly relinquishing the lead singer role in this band, Looker is joined on most tunes by the voice of Amirtha Kidambi. In various configurations of singing in unison, harmonizing, or trading verses, the male/female co-vocal approach gives this music more gender inclusiveness than the often-masculine vibes of Extra Life. Charlie takes over vocals on a few noteworthy occasions, though, including the disturbing tale found in “Like Your Black Hair.”
For Extra Life fans, your favorite jam on “Power Ballads” is going to be “Our Lady of Sound.” Synths are more dominant here, with a sound approaching “Ripped Heart”-era Extra Life. The drums, devoid of cymbal work, have an almost country feel on this tune, and it’s easily the most uptempo number found here. And the album closer actually IS an Extra Life tune: the acoustic/vocal number “Thin Veil” previously heard on the Nat Baldwin/Extra Life split LP from 2008 is recast here with recorder countermelodies and harmonium drones, heavy on unison vocals and performed at a gloomy fraction of the tempo of the original.
Perhaps the most capital-c confounding moment on the album for me is the cover of “Them Bones” by Alice in Chains. It’s slowed down to about a quarter of its original tempo, the relentless vibes of the original turned into a funereal dirge. The 7/8 time of the original gets lost at this speed, instead taking on a triple meter feel on every chromatic shift of pitches in the verses. And the choruses are gentle, careful, “so alone.” This weirded me the fuck out at first, remembering the acute punishment of the original and thinking of the songs creepy prescience toward Layne Stayley’s early death, but after a while of swaying in its slow breeze of despair, I can vibe on it.
The packaging on this album deserves a special mention: the cover and inner jacket reproduce three paintings by Dawn Frasch, full of baroque gore rendered with a lot of purples and pinks. Like the music of Seaven Teares, Frasch’s art picks up on the underpinnings of death and darkness found in a lot of Renaissance art, and amps up the gore and despair to fully occupy the painfully large voids opened into our culture by Faces of Death, or Jerry Springer, or whatever modern equivalent of the Roman Colosseum you prefer. “Power Ballads” gets darker than I generally prefer to linger, but I’m glad this band can face Gehenna without flinching.
—Scott Scholz
Toshio Hosokawa - String Quartets (NEOS, 2012)
From docperkins, late due to my late listening of this.
Hosokawa does not fall prey of the temptation of self-orientalisation to which 武満徹 [Toru Takemitsu] – understandably enough and pitifully enough – does fall oftentimes, in Takemitsu’s apparent eagerness to bridge imaginary gaps between that which he considers ‘traditional Japanese’ and Western modern avant-classical, aka modern-atonal music, by melting them down in a synthesis that falls short of ‘happening’.
Takemitsu’s failure, which is not exclusive of his episteme, but rather ordinary in the aesthetics of composers who submit their muses to imaginative clashes between western versus non-western cultural patterns, had the ingredients to generate an appealing monstrosity, whereby the end-result would be unintended in relation to his intentions, and unexpected in relation to his expertise, as magisterially epitomised by Antonín Dvořák’s Symphonien Nos. 8 & 9 “Aus der Neuen Welt” (Berliner Philharmoniker/Rafael Kubelik) (I refer to “Aus der Neuen Welt”, of course).
However, to my perception, most of the times it is not what happens, as the liabilities of Takemitsu’s attempts soar up as unappealing small monuments to his own artistic limitations, derived from self-imposed ideological biases stemming from that prominent binary opposition Occident # Orient.
Notwithstanding the — hopefully — useful digression to try and get sharper focus on Toshio Hosokawa’s aesthetics, I would propose that his works therein, if hypothetically placed on an atonal continuum, would make sense located in-between Luciano Berio’s Sequenzas (Ensemble InterContemporain), and Salvatore Sciarrino’s Quartetto N. 7; Quartetto N. 8; Sei quartetti brevi (Quartetto Prometeo).
Hosokawa carves out his niche in the most radical cliffs along the fissure of the tonal atom, with the intensity practised by Maestro Sciarrino, and in several segments sounds as sparse as him. However, he always sends out generous nods, austere and elegant, to aural themes that are clearly perceptible and which can be followed throughout distinct atonal clusters, in Berio’s fashion. The latter, ravished, vandalised, are thrown to the listener with a brutality that is only redeemed by the finesse and originality that oozes from Hosokawa’s legacy, and strikes as amply gratifying, overflowing with expert inspiration.
Quatuor Diotima’s renditions are flawless. Fortunately, I do not have to choose between them and the execution of some of the same works as performed by Arditti String Quartet. I can only assure that one of my favourite Hosokawa’s works, namely, “Landscape V” should be pressed on vinyl and get spread worldwide. Side A would include Arditti’s version, and the other side, also Side A, would include Diotima’s; the EP should be given for free to modern music freaks, and to the ‘normies’.
(image series from here, h/t nohighs)I think sepiakitty brought my inspiration back
Two from Joe Moffett
Last year, I covered a couple of excellent albums featuring Joe Moffett which you can read here—he’s one of my favorite trumpet players of the last few years. His work is always very listenable, with powerful tone, a great melodic sensibility, and he can move between the idioms of jazz and lowercase improv with confidence. Here’s a couple of albums featuring him as leader or co-leader, showing an even wider range of his musical skills.
Joe Moffett’s Ad Faunum
Poland’s esteemed Not Two Records brings us this Moffett-led quintet that explores a wide spectrum of free improvisation approaches. Compared to the “Strange Falls” record I reviewed last year, Ad Faunum stays closer to what I think of as “jazz” vocabulary, with more emphasis on exchanging phrases and less reliance on extended technique/sound exploration. That said, this album mostly eludes traditional interpretations of melody/harmony, opting instead for melodic passages evoking what Moffett calls “an almost ritualistic praise of animals” in the liner notes. I can vibe on that concept for sure: if you compare the interplay between musicians to watching animals exchanging sounds and clearly communicating their intentions, even if you don’t understand what’s happening word by word, you can easily get into the spirit of these improvisations. You don’t need to know the “words” to follow the conversation.Like most improv albums, this music makes the most of rich contrasts: loud versus quiet, fast versus slow, staccato against legato, textural against more melodic passages, long tones against quick flutters, etc. But like the best of improv albums, Moffett has put together an amazingly tight group whose collective improvisations frequently sound composed. Each member commits to deeper forms of listening, supporting and teasing the music ahead in the moment as one would expect, but also thinking on a larger motivic time scale that brings distinction and real communication into every piece.
There’s a bit of Joe Maneri’s microtonal approach here, but like the microtones of the Psychotic Quartet I reviewed a while ago, they’re generally offered in the service of playing more in tune, building consonance-in-the-monent and aspiring to pre-equal temperament vibes, rather than some kind of extension of atonalism into even more potential fragments. Maneri’s system itself is quite regimented, at least in theory, into 72 equal divisions of the octave, though both Maneri and Ad Faunum draw from the system more intuitively as they play. One hears the influence of microtones best in slower ensemble sections, where the combined tones of each player shift gently into ever more precise declarations of the perfect note(s) to draw every phrase in perfect detail. But microtonal thinking works its way into solo sections, too. Take Noah Kaplan’s tenor solo toward the end of “Riding the Pegasus Down,” for example: supported only by the double bass of Jacob William, Kaplan teases out slow phrases, carefully lipping notes up and down just between the “expected” notes, teasing out more natural overtones with overblowing and just a touch of multiphonic work.
Luther Gray’s drum work on this recording is generally sparse, adding textural elements and working to subtly delineate phrases coming from the horns. That said, he lays down some serious grooves when the time is right in energetic tracks like the almost post-bop “Matador,” which also features super-busy twin bass attacks and rapid-fire exchanges of short phrases between Moffett and Kaplan. As one might expect, with 2 bass players in this lineup (Giacomo Merega on electric bass and Williams on double bass), they combine to take on a particularly visible role in the rhythm section, providing equal parts countermelody and propulsion throughout the record.
To mention a few highlights, the patient development of ideas in “The Other Species” feels like the spiritual center of the album. Starting with some compelling microtonal solo tenor passages, everyone gets a chance to make a statement here, both alone and in various duet and trio configurations, with lots of cymbal work, delicately bowed double bass, and occasionally almost electroacoustic-feeling electric bass providing subtle shifts in foundational textures between solo features. And the unsung hero of this Ad Faunum session must be Giacomo Merega, whose approach to the low end changes dramatically to best articulate every shift in the ensemble. From his delicate harmonics in “The Other Species” that develop into a chord-rich solo moment, to the all-out fuzz bass heroics that build dense walls of distorted glory throughout “Dove Tail,”Merega can both support calm sections with grace and lead the group into its most aggressive moments.
Twins of El Dorado - [portend the end]
On the opposite end of the improv/composition spectrum, the Twins of El Dorado, whose debut recording recently came out via Prom Night Records, is a highly composed duo album of playful intertwined lines. Moffett’s trumpet is joined by the vocals of Kristin Slipp (Art Bears Songbook, Cuddle Magic) for a real workout that remains highly melodic, evoking a diverse set of classical and pop idioms. Some pieces, like “I Will [Not Set an Emily Dickinson Poem to Music]” alternate between spoken word delivery and shifting harmonies that imply medieval motet writing. Other pieces, like the “Pond Long Song” that follows, have a contemporary art song feel, full of rhythmically complex, chromatically twisting unison lines and harmonic clusters right at home in 20th C. classical melodies.
Slipp and Moffett use a wide dynamic range throughout these pieces, but I’m amazed by just how much air they move when things get intense. Slipp has insanely great control of her voice, pulling off hundreds of wide intervalic leaps and outlining weird chords with flawless intonation. There are very few vocalists whose sense of pitch is good enough to dominate so effortlessly in this kind of duo format, tossing hocketed arpeggios between voice and trumpet, overlaying serpentine chromatic passages around one another, and reaching to stratospheric ranges in pieces like “Fare Thee” (one of the few pieces not written entirely by the duo). And neither musician hides behind a wall of vibrato—a lot of these pieces use a noticeably wide vibrato approach only for emphasis, or to evoke a quasi-operatic idiom in appropriate moments (or bugle-call moments on trumpet).
Moffett’s beautiful, clear tone is on full display throughout the album as well. It’s a pleasure to hear someone whose work I mostly know through improvisation delivering written passages so deeply. While these pieces don’t have a lot of high density notes-per-minute firepower from a soloist perspective, they’re quite virtuosic in terms of the precise intonation and rhythmic precision they require to sound so strong. There’s nowhere to hide in a duet, but these Twins can handle the pressure.
I really like this album, and I’ve also been finding that my friends and family who aren’t normally into the “weird” stuff I like really enjoy this, too. Every time I play this album, someone invariably asks me what it is and wants to know more about it. It’s playful and fun and wild in all of the right places, and even if you try to put in on quietly in the background, it demands full attention and a volume increase every time. Get in on this, folks.
—Scott Scholz
I featured this in my random cover collection earlier, but I hadn’t heard it until now. This album from Sundrugs is between ambient and dark ambient, with the latter being a greater portion of the sound. I’ve sworn off tonal ambient for the most part, and as a result, when my dark ambient hits the “bliss button” out of nowhere, there is a renewed feeling when it hits, like setting down Slowdive for 5 years or so and then hearing ‘When the Sun Hits’ out of nowhere.
The above “track” is just a phone recording I made while at the mall pictured above (via). The hallway was empty, and there was security tape around missing squares from otherwise pristine tiling (just like what you can see here). Those missing tiles were covered in mold, and nearby was the source of this sound: a broken speaker that oddly sped up the song in this broken, distorted way. Indeed, the reason I bothered to record this was it initially sounded like totally distorted digi-noise blasted in the hallway. When I realized it was the “ambiance,” of course I had to document it.
One more Bandcamp album for now (this was exists as a cassette, but I’m not sure if it is sold out or not). Asio Otus is a recent favorite, and their release on Sic Sic was gorgeous last year, which landed it towards the top of my favorites. While that one was an instant favorite because of chance (it seeped into my dreams in a particularly deep nap sleep), this one worked its way in patiently. The final 14 minutes (at least) are something to behold; both mind warping and pleasurable texturally, this record has a great deal of variety, moving from concrete to more electroacoustic fare, and straying into percussion, etc. like, perhaps, Lionel Marchetti might.
I’ve been into juke more and more, and Bandcamp seems to be the place to be (other than Planet Mu and a few others). I’m going to start posting some of my favorites here since the embed is so good looking now. This first one, by Dubb Parade, is my absolute fave of late, and the last two tracks are even more aggressive than you might expect from the genre, with a more Autechre meets ghettotech feel.
(h/t jukework)
Ryu Hankil, Hong Chulki & Choi Joonyong - All Ears Festival for Improvisert Musikk 2011 (2011)
Morton Feldman - Crippled Symmetry: At June in Buffalo (Blum, Vigeland, Williams) (2012)
David Behrman - Wave Train (1998)I’ve fully updated my main site. Click here to go through and see the entirety of the KiC site all in one place.
To the moon with Pierrot Lunaire
Lincoln drone-zoners Bus Gas released their sophomore cassette last fall on German label SicSic Tapes (last copies at the Bus Gas BandCamp), and one day last winter I found myself browsing the label’s discography. I recognized a few artists in their catalog whose work I’ve heard on other labels and enjoyed like Guenter Schlienz and Hobo Cubes, and I was mesmerized by the bizarre artwork for a double-cassette release by Pierrot Lunaire, “This Love of Mine.”
As it turns out, this is one record you can totally judge by its cover, with deep appreciation to Frédéric Cordier for his fine work on both sides of the mega-j-card gracing this wild double-height Norelco case. In fact, let’s pause for a moment and admire this art:
Amazing artwork and unusual packaging aside, a quick scan of the music itself made it clear that I needed “This Love of Mine” in my brain. As luck would have it, this solo project of John Denizio has produced a large number of recordings in the last few years, most of which have now found their way to my cassette decks/turntables. Having spent a few months with this music, all of the recordings feel marvelously interrelated. Together they function as repeated iterations of a grand modern-urban-entheogenic ritual, resonating emotionally with Giraud’s original “Pierrot Lunaire” poems more closely than Schoenberg’s Op. 21 of the same name.
The sonic palette is modest. One finds saxophones and effects, usually with an emphasis on fast lines and short bursts of activity, looped and layered into plaintive sections. Occasionally a round of melancholy vocals gets treated to the same process. Other sections are made of old song fragments, mostly 1950s and earlier, where short phrases are repeated, contrasted, blended in reverb, filtered, and sped up and down. And there are sections of synth/oscillator sounds that can range from tonal to textural playing.
I perceive three fundamental levels of activity in Pierrot Lunaire: At the “individual composition” level, these are collage pieces in which the different “blocks” of activities (sax/found-sound/synth/voice) are pushed against one another, but they stay within their own boundaries, rarely blending into one another simultaneously. Within the sound-specific blocks, small bits of sound are looped, layered, and manipulated, drenched in reverb and delay, and captured right at the edge of distortion and microphonic feedback.
The third level runs across all of the releases so far. Pieces tend to function as full sides of C30s, staying close to 15 minute durations each. Even “This Love of Mine” only runs a touch over 45 minutes altogether, making it clear that having one piece per cassette side was a conscious decision worth pushing the release onto double-cassette. But similar kinds of “blocks” are pushed into and around one another, piece after piece, tape after tape, creating a singular and very recognizable style. Though made by combining improvised sections, the final edits feel very controlled, each block worked and reworked thoughtfully. When new kinds of audio sources or different approaches enter the mix, or on an occasion where saxophones and thrift store cassettes cascade together into a block, they feel very significant as alterations of familiar terrain: the reverb is totally off, lots of long tones on the saxophones, some guitar playing, etc. It’s an effect that reminds me of early Jandek, like a “Nancy Sings” epiphany.
Let’s look at the project in literary terms: Denizio compares his improvisation/editing process to the Gysin/Burroughs cut-up techniques, and that’s precisely the vibe I get from the collective output of Pierrot Lunaire. Set aside those funky Material albums: this music is the real audio equivalent of the Word Hoard, establishing its own weird boundaries and imploding into near-infinite variations. Like the Nova Trilogy, Pierrot Lunaire evokes moments of acute emotional intensity while distorting your perception of time—are you experiencing a memory or a premonition?—and forms twist and repeat, and moments of familiar sounds, with their attendant cultural symbolism, anchor you momentarily, and they’re gone as quickly as you can identify with them, and the cycle repeats.
Also like Burroughs, I think it would be a mistake to become too fixated on the formal implications of Pierrot Lunaire and miss its emotional impact. In terms of surface form and sound, this kind of collage/montage work feels very postmodern. The emotional message, though, is closer to modernism, or even “amodern,” to use the term in Timothy S. Murphy’s “Wising Up the Marks,” which identifies the intent of the Burroughs oeuvre as collectively railing against societal degeneration, seeing through the masks of the bourgeoisie, etc. Burroughs saw through those flaws and pined for a more innocent time, though “other times” rarely turn out to be innocent in their turn. I’m sure the Symbolists like Mr. Giraud and others associated with the Fin de siecle movement would look for their conception of “innocence” still further back and further forward from their own position in history.
As for me, these Pierrot Lunaire recordings are powerful stuff toward the remembrance of “innocent times.” They alter my dreams when I listen to them late in the day, and they draw out weird childhood moments that haven’t entered my mind since they happened, like being scared and attracted simultaneously whenever this tripped out clip would come on Sesame Street in the early 80s:
Try to remember everything you pass
But when you go back, make the First thing the Last.
—Scott Scholz
The latest from Giant Claw: Mutant Glamour and Music for Film
It’s only been a year and a half since I reviewed Giant Claw’s “Midnight Murder” cassette, but I’m not even sure exactly how many tapes and LPs this Keith Rankin solo project has officially issued since then: if you go by the chronology on the Giant Claw BandCamp page, there are six releases between Midnight Murder and “Mutant Glamour.” Amazing!
But what’s even more remarkable than Rankin’s prolific nature is the persistent level of musical quality across the Giant Claw canon. All of these recordings work beautifully as self-contained suites, complete unto themselves, yet they all play nicely together as well, reaching for increasingly ambitious genre-smashing fun. And among a bunch of really great recordings, the “Mutant Glamour” LP is the best yet.
Like Pajjama, the music of Giant Claw stands out in the synths-on-cassette scene of the last few years: this music is fast, assertive, fun, and hyper-literate both musically and culturally. I love a good drone meltdown as much as the next fellow, but I can really vibe on the psychotic stylistic combinations in this music, all presented with equal parts precision and playfulness. Imagine if Yip-Yip and Wendy Carlos exchanged lycra unitards and music theory lessons: this music is purposeful even at its campiest moments.
Take opening track “Brain on Cream” for example: in under four minutes, this piece recalls workout videos, sci-fi soundtracks and haunted graveyard video games, even indulging in a showtune-esque bridge before the main theme returns at the halfway point, and it all dissolves into flurries of notes and saxophones in a long, frisky outro. Sometimes the music points toward more academic or “legit” cinematic music, evoking Peter Thomas through much of “Glitter Logic,” or early computer music in the blippiest sections of “Body Science,” while the addition of saxophones to almost half of the album has added a new element of Beefheart-ian whimsy in the perfect contrasting places. My favorite sax interjections on the album turn out to be tiny samples of sax players on YouTube (including Bill Clinton!) combined into the perfect reed-biting, trilling passages of obnoxiousness. Samples of mostly chromatic trumpet lines make an appearance later in “Man or Cream” as the perfect foil for some especially flatulent synth stabs.
This whole record flows together so well that “favorite track” designations don’t matter much, but I really dig the album’s closer, “Trapped in the Mirror.” The longest track of the album, Rankin takes an epic “early electronic” approach, a touch slower than most of the album, gradually building the piece with wide electronic vibratos, layers of arrpeggios, and a driving motorik pulse. It’s a rich, rewarding end to a great album.
Like previous Giant Claw releases, “Mutant Glamour” features beautiful artwork and album design by Rankin himself. I love the restraint of the black and white cover, which makes the pastel streaks of color on the back cover really stand out (not to mention the sweet center label)—but you should pick up the record and see for yourself.
As I was prepping my review of “Mutant Glamour,” I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of “Music for Film” in the February/March cassette batch from Constellation Tatsu. A collection of music made for four film projects spanning 2009-2012, these short cues reveal new aspects of the Giant Claw concept.
Using a palette of sounds one would expect to hear from Giant Claw, Rankin’s film work is less dense vertically, simpler and more direct. There’s a bit of everything here compositionally: “Royal Decree” sounds like mid-period Residents, “Bouncing” is almost vaudeville, and the two “Piano Synthesizer Etudes” have a contemplative melodicism that pushes into Secret Chiefs 3 territory. Other pieces sound more like they’re made to supplement sound effects, like the “50s outer space” vibes of the “Century of Shame” tracks, or the clanging metal and choral synth washes of “Fear of the Dark.”
There are some really beautiful melodies here, like the theremin-esque melodies of “Tears,” lightly supported with block piano chords. And I love the simple melody nested in the middle voices of “Piano Etude.” Above all, “Music for Film” shows how the basic building blocks of Giant Claw—cool sounds, smart writing, and a sense of humor and cultural context—still function distinctively outside of the conceptual confines of albums, or any sort of chronology when you consider that the track sequence of this tape shifts freely through different times/film projects.
As Giant Claw albums seem to appear quickly, keep your ears open—word has it that the next one will be coming from my favorite cassette label of late, Field Hymns, very soon.
—Scott Scholz
Put on your Pajjamas
I was in love with Pajjama’s “Starch” cassette within its first 10 seconds, a rare and beautiful thing. Skillfully combining chiptune sequencing and live rock/prog playing on guitar/bass/drums/synths, this EP swings harder than any synth-dominant project I’ve heard in a long time. Lots of folks are doing fine work with chiptune music, but Pajjama’s work displays many bonus levels of compositional depth, making nods to influences like Chromelodeon and early YMO while drawing from a wide variety of 70s prog and 80s pop traditions. Magma-esque passages and “Uncle Meat”-era Zappa moments collide with video games and workout VHS tapes. Crazy good.
The live performance aspect of Pajjama really brings this music to life, particularly the jazz and funk-infused playing of drummer Kristian Valbo. I get the impression that all 3 Pajjama members have some background with jazz, as their unique blending of genres includes a lot of syncopation and a very confident sense of humor one often develops with a lot of practice and a lot of gigging. Primary composer Eirik Suhrke alternates between riffs and evocative chord progressions with ease, and he and Bernt Karsten Sannerud layer synth parts with great ears for mixing and balance—there’s a lot happening at times, but you can hear every detail no matter how dense the music gets.
For a release that doesn’t even make it to 13 minutes in length, I still find myself appreciating different aspects of the writing and arranging with every listen. The “Jean Baptiste” section and the 30-second introduction are my favorites, but the whole piece runs as a seamless suite—ah, and how can I forget those propulsive, insistent drums in “Vedaste!”—best to just listen to the whole thing. Repeatedly.
“Starch” was released in the middle of last year on Orange Milk Records, and the cassette features amazing artwork on a double-sided J-card designed by Keith Rankin (Giant Claw). The “regular” Orange Milk Page seems to indicate this album is sold out, but their StoreEnvy site shows availability? If all else fails, definitely get some Starch in your Pajjjamas via BandCamp.
February brought us the followup Pajjama EP on BandCamp, entitled “Jane Papaya,” which is just as thoughtfully written and arranged, but it focuses more on 80s pop/synth idioms and somewhat less on the more aggressive prog moments of the debut. Imagine the transition between Phil Collins’ mullet period to his later skullet period, and you’ll get the general idea. There’s sometimes a bit of a moody 80s fusion vibe, too, ala Tribal Tech and the like, especially in the outro of “Salty Price.” Jane Papaya will be released on cassette later this year by Orange Milk Records, and work on a third recording has already begun. Here’s the artwork for the upcoming Orange Milk release:
Related recordings: If you’re digging Pajjama, you simply must dig into more of Eirik Suhrke’s work as a video game composer. Working both under his own name and occasionally as Phlogiston, Suhrke has a real knack for writing simple-but-memorable melodies, perfect for game play. And he’s a real connoisseur of video game music history—this is the kind of guy who can pick out the programmatic nuances between music for the SNES and the Sega Genesis in only a few notes. And he applies that knowledge toward new projects with the skill of a sommelier, balancing nostalgic and forward-thinking tones to perfectly compliment games.
You can also find the history of Pajjama in Suhrke’s video game music: compare the recordings in Super Crate Box with the updated, Pajjama-licious Super Crate Box Special to hear how live instrumentation spices up already-solid chiptune writing. And the Spelunky score is rich with Pajjama and friends, rocking out game cues mostly under a minute in length.
And while I haven’t written much about avant-black metal in a long time, I have to add that Pajjama member Bernt Karsten Sannerud’s new album with Formloff, “Spyhorelandet,” is probably my favorite weirdo progressive black metal album since early Ved Buens Ende. Great writing, mixing, occasional vocal harmonies, killer guitar playing and arranging, actual audible bass guitar: a real triumph all around. I haven’t had much time to listen to this one yet, but I’m sure I’ll be spending more time with Formloff, as well as checking out what looks to be an avant-bm supergroup including Sannerud, Self Spiller.
—Scott Scholz
In case you missed them, here are the links to the rare songs Actress put on twitter a while back. Obviously they’re jams.
Mad Stereo
C.L.A.W
Murder Plaza
My Weed Is Strong Blud
Metal Tiger
Parallel Worldenjoy~
Each iteration of the site serves a different purpose. While many people follow on Tumblr, and the Facebook page has quite a few likes, the Twitter site, which will share rare and out of print records (the original purpose of the site), lags far behind because it has only been relaunched since December. Click here to check it out. This is the list of albums that have appeared previously.
Using sound waves to levitate individual droplets of solutions containing pharmaceutical drugs and drying them in mid-air.
- There are a few different versions of this (one far inferior one on BeatPort that came up on Google), but this one is the best. Like the first track on the YYU release from last year, this particular track isn’t a straight juke track, but juke is its main character. What fits around it is nice, but the repetitions in this are addictive. Check it out.
(No streaming audio available)425 plays - Here is the best track off of G.H.’s Ground, a 2011 EP of bass-heavy techno/dub-techno. This particular track reminds me of a Tommy Four Seven track I posted last year, although this one gets to the pleasure-inducing vocal fuckery much quicker, and with more aggression. This entire EP is heavy on the bass, so you’re missing a lot without the requisite thud in the mix. Enjoy!
(No streaming audio available)1612 plays - Prompted by a thread on Facebook, I uploaded and posted this number. Autolux was a band I had high hopes for seeing as Greg Edwards was a member. Edwards was a member of Failure, a band I was obsessed with as a late teen. Following that band’s disintegration, I followed the respective members’ projects until this one popped up. I initially had a demo (or so it was called on SLSK), and this specific song was on there. It was then announced that Future Perfect would also be the name of the upcoming official album. I was shocked that ‘Future Perfect’ didn’t make it on to Future Perfect. Sadly, this remains my favorite Autolux song by far. Such a glorious downer… focus on the piano.
(No streaming audio available)1834 plays - William Bowers’ Post Modern came in my mailbox, unsolicited. As such, having never heard of Mr. Bowers or the tiny label (Haute Magie) that sent this album as its first offering, it sat in my queue for a while. Having recently been gripped by a new enthusiasm for music, I’ve been working through mailings, and I was glad that I took the time to sit and listen to this CD. Post Modern starts conservative, with a few short tracks of varying electronic genres offered up, and that’s a shame, because the quality is back-loaded. Starting with this track, “Atlas,” Bowers really steps up his game with haunting, minimal melodic fragments looped and scratched up. This track isn’t representative of the whole CD, but if you like it I encourage you to check out the bandcamp link. As always, this was posted to the KiC FB page first.
(No streaming audio available)1676 plays - I’ve been obsessed with this track the last few days, as it has dominated my stereo and completely supplanted the Big Sean (I know…) track that had been bouncing in my head. Tommy Four Seven, on Primate, trades in what he calls hard club techno. I don’t know what clubs he’s talking about, because this is some out there shit as far as I can tell. This particular track is the best on the record, one that features an industrial feel, scraping textures that surge into prominence only to give way to manipulated, polyrhythmic vocal manipulations. Once you get to the 6 minute mark, you better believe this is a fucked up track.
(No streaming audio available)1595 plays - Yet another ▼▲▼vagina vangi track. I think each of the EPs I’ve heard are quite the mixed bags, but they have their moments. I liked this track, and now off of Locked Forever comes this ultra cheesy track with just about the greatest about face you can manage. About two minutes in the track has a surge and then an arpeggiated bassline move up the center and the track is off. Excellent beat, too. These guys (or guy) manage to create some choice Miami Vice witch house.
(No streaming audio available)2820 plays - Talk about totally overlooked. I had given this a low rating, and then hadn’t listened to it for a couple years. At one point I had it as noise, another as eai, and so when I went to work revising my eai list, I checked this out in iTunes. I’ve had to bump up the rating and switch this around completely. Twistycat is one where I don’t know the individuals, but this is a strange blend of lo-fi recording, free improvisation, drone, ambient, and if that doesn’t sound right, it actually is excellent. This is horns, but the density and the interaction of the wave forms leads to odd drone textures and oscillations from the dissonance. What is left is a very compelling, moving mass of sound that discards the methods that brought it about.
(No streaming audio available)1353 plays - I’ve gotten a few questions about what got me into drone. I think it is totally random for most people, but for me one of the key tracks was this massive piece by Birchville Cat Motel, ‘Buckling Metal Snowflakes’ off of Chi Vampires. I think I snagged this because of cover art on last.fm way back when it came out. Regardless, this is worth the entire play length.
(No streaming audio available)1335 plays - I was going through some of my albums that I haven’t listened to, and for some reason I hadn’t given a star rating to NNCK’s 2004 pair of live albums, Dutch Money and First Kingdom of the Ghost. Both are excellent, but while I gave the higher rating to Dutch Money initially, upon a few more listens I’ve become completely fascinated with First Kingdom. In fact, I was set to post the last couple tracks off of it, but then went through the first track again and was blown away. NNCK continues to be one of my absolute favorites, and if you want an “accessible” listen to their sound, here it is.
(No streaming audio available)1268 plays
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Posts
- Dec 28, 12
We've long moved on to another location. However, this site has gotten out of control, so I've cleaned it up a bit. A few upload requests have been honored for the last time, the design has been tweaked, and spam has been cut down (drastically).
Below are the links to the active iterations of KILLED in CARS. Please visit those!
KILLED in CARS (main site)
Facebook
Tumblr (current iteration of blog)
Twitter (for downloads)
RYM (for album ratings)
8tracks (mixes)
Mixlr (DJ broadcasts)
SoundCloud
Last.fm
YouTube
Vimeo
This Is My Jam - May 26, 10----------ArtistDiscogsGiven the impressive size of his back catalogue (measured both in depth and breadth), it is easy to approach a new Evan Parker album with trepidation. This reaction is understandable; it seems almost natural to expect that after decades of output, an artist or band must begin churning out steaming turds -- with age it all comes undone, or something like that. So then Mr. Parker's forty-odd (fifty?) year tenure should make him an octogenarian, or at least someone who you would not like to see behind an automobile. Yet Whitstable Solo, along with Evan Parker's other recent releases -- like Relevance, out this year with Dave Liebman and Tony Bianco, on Red Toucan --, stand up alongside the classics in this free jazz elder statesman's discography.Psi records (see comments section for historical details) has made a name for itself (partly) by reissuing old and out of print free improv records, many on which Parker played. Whitstable Solo, on the other hand, is a collection of eight songs performed in 2008 at Whistable, UK -- seven of which were live and in front of an audience, while the remaining track was squeaked out before the crowd had arrived.The jams start in typical Parker fashion, with a cyclic squall of soprano sax nonsense lasting nearly twenty minutes. This is definitive Parker, pioneered way back on Saxophone Solos, and now, to my ears, one of the most easily recognizable styles in jazz. The haze brought on by Parker's relentless upper register recedes in the midsections of this album, revealing a tender and uncharacteristically gossamer sound. The sixth solo is, dare I say, almost melodic! But purist shouldn't fret, for Evan Parker's shrill saxophone reemerges in the final two tracks, obliterating any lingering sense that this gent is softening.Each passage may have antecedent within Parker's own catalogue. In the solo setting, it may be too much to expect truly unique and new material; however, in collaboration, Evan is still redefining the boundaries of his instrument (see 2009's C-Section, with John Wiese). Even so, this album is a delight; I would love as many "derivative" solo albums from Evan Parker as possible.
- May 24, 10----------ArtistDiscogsHere's another from docperkins (and I strongly recommend it):Some people believe that a photograph captures the soul and fend-off a camera as if the essence of their being is about to be abducted at the imminence of a click. Ablinger atonal works operate along the same capturing principle, extracting the music of celebrities’ speeches, concomitantly to the celebrities uttering that speech. The phantasmatic Other of the utterance acquire shape, inasmuch as the meaning that fulfilled the utterance is discarded on behalf of a structure that dispenses with inner meaning, given that it is a derived musical form. And then some.In 1968 Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes pronounced the author dead. The two Latino poststructuralist thinkers demonstrated that it was about time to stop considering authors as almighty producer of meanings and unique sources of signification. Along these lines authors should not bear the ultimate interpretations of works of art in general, not even of their own artistic productions. The death of the author proclaimed by Foucault and Barthes became a cornerstone for a radical understanding of modern aesthetical production and consumption of art.I could see this radical des-authorisation coming in music. If one takes a close glimpse into the recent history of serialisms, one can perceive that the trend had been pulsating in-between the lines and as palimpsests in outrageously insightful works, e.g., Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio and Salvatore Sciarrino, these illustrious offspring of Anton Webern. However, no one had stared in the eyes of the issue as Ablinger is hereby doing.The matter was not to aestheticise the death of the author in the best ‘middle-class tradition’ of celebrating losses with phoney messes, but rather to take the death of the author as a template for aesthetic practice and criticism. The word of order would be, therefore, to extract music from the supply of meanings that in modernity had been monopolised by the Author through spoken and written narratives. The point is that there is music in that monopoly; words in sequence can only come to being meaningfully in music. So, how this music would sound like if played side by side with the narrative, seemed to be an exciting working programme, which Ablinger takes up while killing the author, akin to Foucault agenda. The latter is radical: by killing the author playing music without a composer it displays, by the same token, the ontological limits of improvisation in music.Come to think of it, how can music derived from spoken discourses be considered improvised if its structure is given by the author’s eagerness to make sense (to ‘make meaning’)? Furthermore, how can music derived from eagerness to make sense not be improvised, given that the authors of those discourses had no intentions to make music while talking sense? Improvisation in music, proves Ablinger, is the worshiping of an unsung god, or counting on help from an unknown, invisible hero. There will always be a hidden structure somewhere in the unconscious making sure that that which was deemed improvised is pure symptom. And what is a symptom but a field- marshal of desire, and what is desire but the ontological grammar of a subjectivity, and what is a discourse but an attempt to rationalise that symptom, and what is Ablinger’s aesthetics but the sound of the symptom?Ablinger says that “actually the piano part is the analysis of the voice. Music analyses reality”. I beg to differ, and will hereby engage the same principle he, unbeknownst to himself, used, which is the one of the death of the author. Ablinger shall not have the ultimate interpretation claim over his achievement. He appears to be perfectly aware of what he did, but not at all of what he did does. The music is not analysing reality. The music at stake is the Real or, in other words, the unconscious non-symbolised counterpart of the reality of the discourses. Therefore, music could not analyse reality. What it does instead is to promise that without music ideas can neither be produced nor conveyed in spoken form. Consequently, the fear of this kind of music is the fear of making sense, and to stop making sense is the inability to perceive music.Foucault asserts that once the death of the author is properly carried out “all discourses, whatever their status, form, value, and whatever the treatment to which they will be subjected, would then develop in the anonymity of murmur”. Ablinger brings up this funeral murmur to irreverent, mesmerising music. Let us rejoice, finally a modern requiem was composed to mourn the death of the Author and celebrate the re-birth of meaning. The requiem, alas, is atonal.
- May 21, 10----------
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Rdeča Raketa is a Vienna-based duo comprised of Maja Osojnik and Matija Scdellander, whose 2010 collaborative cassette, “Old Girl, Old Boy,” combines their admirable and respective training in electronic and improvised music composition. “Old Girl, Old Boy” is a contextual and exploratory digital/acoustic collage that demands: 1) literally putting yourself on the electronic device table to comprehend (or not) the complex fusion of these often abrasive, wacky, yet tremendously skillful sounds; and 2) freeing yourself to be a part of whatever adventure on which the entire 37-minute track might take you. In other words, like the composed improvisation itself, the listening experience simultaneously demands intensive focus as much as it does an ability to go with it, wherever the heck that might be.
The first half or so of this cassette appears to be a cry for help, but I don’t mean this in the sense that anyone or anything needs help. The abstract sounds created by the sub-bass recorder, e-bass, and a mish-mash of indistinguishable electronic trinkets appear to emerge from a deserted electro-acoustic island of sorts. The clicks, bumps, loops, drones, human voices, and bass tones, all underscored for the first ten minutes by a constant state of electronic panic, never seem to reach any grounding or final destination. The first half, in sum, is an uncertain and sparse call composed of choppy SOS signals (sometimes human, sometimes not, but always nature-culture). The first part of the latter half (“half” here is defined simply by time; the piece itself has no obvious starts or stops, never mind halves, quarters, etc.), however, sees these sounds reaching the mainland for the first time, a dark, somewhat hopeful, ambient land/soundscape where the panic subsides, even if temporarily, before a sense of uncertainty takes over again around the 25-minute mark, or around the time when a human joins us again for a few seconds, only to disappear rather unsettlingly.
“Old Girl, Old Boy” is brilliantly disconcerting, and, admittedly, will take a few more listens before I really get what might be going on. Spending more time with this album may or may not be a good thing, though, because those big jungle birds sound really fucking creepy.
Christopher Canning - May 18, 10----------
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RYMA Moraine is a geological phenomena; the accumulation of unconsolidated debris, soil and rocks compacted under glacial drifts. Over time these assemblages of loose matter form topographic features gradually exposed to the surface world by retreating glaciers.
Govrins' work evokes this process. Particles of sound are held in a state of suspension, encapsulated by frosty ambiance. Gradual drifts transform his soundscape, tracing subtle patterns of force and revealing contours over time. The naming of the tracks illustrates the variety of forces found in the formation of Moraine, thus mapping distinct processes of geological change; Ground, Push, Lateral, Terminal, Medial, Recessional.
Drawing on a sonic palette of processed cello and violin alongside digital sound synthesis, Govrin has created a work that feels compacted, cold and timeless. Through listening we participate in the process of glacial compression; to be buried deep beneath moving mountains of ice. There are moments that are stark, crystalline and beautiful as in Ground, where cello and violin weave elegiac tones through waves of distortion, and Medial which presents a world of crackling drones punctuated by ghostly and transitory string harmonics.
Comparisons can be drawn with Hildur Gudnadottir's Without Sinking, which is built around a similarly frosty, bleak and expansive use of cello and signal processing. At times reminiscent of the electro-acoustic music of Iannis Xenakis, Govrin engages in a comparable attempt to map features of the natural world through composed sound. Well produced and based on an engaging premise, this is a novel work that succeeds in subsuming our imaginations in geological phenomena.
Fíacha O' Dúbhda - Apr 26, 10----------
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RYMIf the universe operated in accordance with my own personal whims and motives, then KiC would phase out this whole avant-classical thing it's gotten itself entrenched in and start posting really great jazz records again. I'm going to try to get the ball rolling with what in my eyes is at least a very good one. First Impressions made - at the risk of sounding like a complete ass - a truly great first impression. Shamek Farrah makes a kind of modal jazz, occassionally slipping into free territory, that at first glance reminded me a bit of the great Astigmatic. That comparison only really applies to the first and last tracks here however, as what falls in between is a bit more funky and soulful. The album starts off with something that may end up being added to my list of favorite jazz tunes ever, "Meteorologicly Inclined." If Madlib ever gets ahold of the track immediately following it, "Watch What Happens Now," some serious shit is gonna go down. The rest of the album doesn't quite live up to "Meteorologicly Inclined," but it is still a very solid listen. Hell, that opinion may even change fairly soon, as this record has been continuously growing on me since I first listened to it earlier in the week. First impressions are often correct, but time can make the heart grow fonder - or something like that... whatever. - Apr 18, 10----------
Things fade in and out a lot on Jesse Somfay's A Catch in the Voice.
The Canadian producer's latest album is split across two discs, with the first containing ambient compositions and the second being more minimal techno-based. The title of one of the first disc's highlights, "Hypnogogii", stands as a pretty good representative of the territory we're in: the term appears to signify people occupying the "borderland state" between sleep and wakefulness, and by extension the surreal, quasi-hallucinatory imagery generated by the hypnagogic mind, a realm of rushing, humming sound and hyperreal patterns of colour and light (also reported by meditators, prisoners who spend extended periods in the dark, and partakers in hallucinogenic drugs). The music embodies its name: as gorgeous extended synth pads cocoon the edges, sporadic percussion lines weaves in and out of the middle, guiding the track, building to a head and then receding, morphing slowly as they go.
Indeed, much of the imagery here seems concerned with light and space, both inner and outer. A quick browse of the titles reveals the likes of "Good Morning Strange Light", "Folding Ghosts Into Origami Stars", "Borrealis", "Ex Astris, Ad Astra". "Amo Alucinor", from the second disc, translates roughly from Latin as "I love to daydream", the latter word being the root of the English "hallucinate". "Averroes" may well be a tribute to the 12th-century Muslim celestial philosopher of the same name. It's hard to say whether Somfay names these tracks after what the music suggests or conversely uses the titles as templates for the musical ideas, but either way, the two keep pace with one another as a coherent, otherworldly whole.
Some of the shorter tracks benefit from the added focus of constraint. "Folding Ghosts into Origami Stars", for example, layers subtle, buzzing, almost MBV-esque backdrops behind a pretty lead melody and comes off like the kind of atmospheric mini-epic Stars of the Lid do so well. "Brave Late Fade"'s bassy drone is occasionally joined by a choir seemingly heard from a distant dream. Some parts, like the start of "Cuckoo Spit", resemble the murky, primal noises you hear on the kind of medical albums doctors buy to learn the sounds of irregular heartbeats, or the woozy pulsing of an ultrasound scan. And "Irradian Irradiant"'s varispeed arpeggios occasionally even conjure up the unpleasant spectre of Rick Wakeman (not often, though, thankfully).
For my money, the ambient side is the better one, although in practice the two are not often fully separated (see: the beats on the first disc's "Good Morning Strange Light" or "Ex Astris, Ad Astra", the lush drumless flotation tank that is disc 2's "Averroes", or BoC-esque close "NotR"). "Scotia", all looming bassline and fractures of distant melody, and the almost trancey skitter of "Algonquin", are highlights of the second disc.
At nearly two hours total – five of the tracks exceed ten minutes, another three top nine minutes – A Catch in the Voice can perhaps be a little overwhelming to digest in one session. It's not intended as an insult to suggest that your concentration may sometimes also drift in and out of focus: for these field recordings from a land between sleep and wakefulness, there's nothing more appropriate. - Apr 14, 10----------
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RYMContinuing with our series of "What's So Great About Modernity?" is this wonderful collection of Vinko Globokar compositions. Those who are familiar with Globokar likely are thinking, "wait a minute here;" I ask these readers to indeed wait as I provide a snippet of Vinko's background. Mr. Globokar is both an accomplished trombonist, premiering works by many 20th century heavyweights, and a card carrying modernist -- working both with Stockhausen and at IRCAM in the 60's and 70's. But in addition to these composer credentials, Vinko founded the free improv group New Phonic Art (see comments section). Thus leading to the inclusion of Hallo, Do You Hear Me? in this "series." Herein Vinko synthesizes high modernity with aleatoric techniques, interspersing the composed with the improvised. These third-stream compositions are beyond modernity -- in that, unlike post-modernism, they are a progression past, not a counterpoint to, post-WWII composition. Maybe some would say post-post-modernism, but I reserve that word for mudslinging.Comparisons? This compilation could easily have been released by Ambiances Magnétiques and/or have been of Paul Dolden's doing. Yet never does Globokar come off as academic as the aforementioned label, which, considering Globokar's academy roots, only adds to the utter surreality of this affair. - Apr 04, 10----------When an ensemble dedicates itself to performing and recording the music of other composers it’s often tricky to balance the intentions of the composer with the musical identities of the performers. One hopes that they will realize the composer’s intentions to the fullest of their abilities but at the same time inject the music with new ideas or energy. That is to say, in an ideal performance the identities of the composer and performers are given the proper balance. This is essentially the definition of “interpretation” in notated Western music. A performance of a famous piece of music is always in danger of repeating the past or straying too far from the composer’s intentions, especially when playing music with any level of indeterminacy.
I first encountered the Arditti String Quartet’s massive discography of 20th century music as a teenager in music school and was instantly enamored. The Arditti Quartet are clearly one of the most skilled and important interpreters of modern chamber music but at a certain point the uniformity of their approach begins to overtake the music. Their virtuosity, commitment, and approach to most music is impeccable; however, when playing more subtle and restrained music like that of Feldman or Luigi Nono, their razor sharp accuracy and intensity can make the music seem “too Arditti”. Knowing this, I approached the first two installments of Zeitkratzer’s “Old School” recording series - each album is dedicated to a different famous composer of the late 20th century - with an exciting but also somewhat guarded interest.
Given that Zeitkratzer’s output over the past few years prominently features chamber ensemble re-workings of electronic and non-academic/non-Western music, it seems obvious that their new Old School series (dedicated to the most well-documented composers of the post-WWII avant-garde) is an attempt to breathe new life into music where the performance practice is already seemingly codified. Skilled, imaginative and vital interpreters that they are, suffice to say that Zeitkratzer is successful in this goal but the results can be a mixed bag.
The Cage disc includes three pieces from Cage’s final creative period, most commonly referred to as “the number pieces”. I have always loved the number pieces. With his final work Cage finally struck the perfect balance between indeterminacy and control, truly achieving his stated goal of both imitating nature and “letting the sounds be themselves”. That said, Zeitkratzer’s performances of “Four6” and “Five” sound a bit too much like Zeitkratzer for my taste. Allowing very little space for silence, these recordings showcase Zeitkratzer’s now familiar arresting intensity that achieves greatness in most situations but in the context of John Cage’s gentle, tender approach to sound seems forced into the Zeitkratzer ideology. The recording of “Hymnkus”, on the other hand, is astonishing; a surprisingly complex piece composed just a few years before Cage’s death, the piece proceeds intently but not too forcefully.
Perhaps because James Tenney’s music is not reliant on indeterminacy, the Tenney Old School disc fares much better. While still a well-known and respected composer, James Tenney’s exploration of several kinds of experimental music, and most notably his work with alternate tunings, has yet to receive the kind of affection and documentation that seems to benefit Cage and other well-known composers of the era. This disc is a welcome addition to the somewhat more limited availability of recordings of Tenney’s music, including one premiere recording (the stunning “Harmonium #2” from 1976) and new interpretations of two more well-known pieces. The disc concludes with one of Tenney’s most well-known pieces, the aptly titled arch piece, “Having Never Written a Note for Percussion” which is finally given a definitive, masterful recording by percussionist Maurice de Martin. While the instrumentation of this single-note piece is left to the performer, the piece is most commonly performed on a large tam-tam because of the tam-tam’s endlessly rich timbre and breathtaking dynamic range (much credit is due here to the recording engineer - only on Michael Pisaro’s Hearing Metal has a tam-tam ever sounded so good). It’s a stunning, controlled performance that transcends both performer and instrument, and is the perfect end to what is the finest document of Tenney’s music I’ve heard on a single CD. - Mar 29, 10----------
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RYM1) I'm just going to get this out of the way: You are not able to download this album here. Erstwhile is a distributor, and they don't take kindly to our types robbing them of a fistful of dollars (dollars they actually deserve, as opposed to say EMI). Also, this record came out just last year. Go buy it. It's worth it.
2) This post is my response to Taylor's Tatsuya Nakatani post, located just south of here. Like Green Report 12, Let's Fall in Love! is a solo percussion record. I hear one big difference between this and Green Report and that is this: Let's Fall in Love! is actually a good record. Whereas Nakatani is content to wander from instrument to instrument and noodle a bit at each one, Carlsson creates gorgeous (and occasionally frightening) textures out of a handful at a time, slowly developing a piece to feel like a well-rounded composition rather than an off-the-cuff improvisation (this record is improvised, mind you). "My Heart was Screaming Like a Cow" is one of my favorite solo percussion tracks ever, mostly for what appears to be the use of a snare drum to generate a sympathetic buzz juxtaposed to a bowed god-knows-what, creating the illusion of a distorted signal. That kind of trickery is something I truly swoon over, and it is my hope that some of you may find yourselves swooning over Let's Fall in Love! as well. - Mar 28, 10----------
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RYMI was going to ask the readers to skip what follows and download Green Report 12 immediately, since I think it can be most effective without any prior knowledge of Nakatani. However, this premise will not work for two reasons: (i) an album in which Nakatani collaborated on was posted back in November (with Michel Doneda and Jack Wright) and (ii) plastered right on the cover is "solo percussion." So then I must presume some familiarity on the part of our readers with Nakatani, if only due to the connotations of a solo percussive album.Before I proceed, I must mention that Tatsuya is currently on tour in the US and will be doing so for the next few months. I highly suggest everyone check him out if he's coming into your town. Through the artist link above you can find his complete schedule. If you happen to take a gander at his schedule, you will notice that there are some gaps in it, both in terms of where and with whom he will be playing. If you happen to reside in one of these areas and would like to see him and/or play with him, it is worth your time to contact Nakatani. When he came through where I live I was only able to stick around for his solo set, so I cannot speak of his improvisational interaction with others; however, what I saw was "rad as fuck."That aside, some description of what Tatsuya actually does. In his set and, from what I can tell, on this album Nakatani employs a multitude of peculiar extended techniques -- scrapping "prepared" drums with cymbals, abusing singing bowls, and most prominently, bowing gongs -- all together producing sounds you would believe were not percussive unless you were told otherwise. Although all of his set was flabbergasting, the gong work was the truly mind mending tool in his repertoire. The technique works as such: Nakatani bows against the side of various large gongs, primarily toward the top (for better control, as far as I can tell), alternating both the speed and duration of his stroke in order to generate massive overtones, somewhat reminiscent of Robert Rutman's Steel Ensemble. Then, once one gong's reverberations blanket the room, he juxtaposes its sound with another's, whose tones are just enough dissimilar from the first's so that all the right kinds of dissonances challenge your ears. Time suspends and you begin to no longer just hear sound, you actually feel it.
So check this album out, and if it tickles your fancy, support this "master percussionist" (who has also played with nmperign and Nate Wooley, to name a few others) by attending a show of his in your hometown. - Mar 25, 10----------
ArtistIn order to further complete (y)our Feldman collection here at KiC, here's a little something that might, at the very least, grab your attention. Also, I'd like to share some thoughts with you regarding this album, maybe as a review, maybe just as a general "whatever" kind of text. Please take it with a grain of salt.
The first piece, just titled "Piano and Orchestra", constantly shifts in form and color like one of those abstract expressionist paintings he admired so much; while this is a bit far from action painting, it certainly resembles the process behind it. If one is to trace the origins of the "method", one could go back to Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros and his New York workshop at the end of the thirties, a location that attracted more than one future American star such as Jackson Pollock. This place of experiments in material aspects of the two-dimensional art brought forward an enormous force to the theoretical background of Pollock et al. As a 'venting' grounds for Siqueiros' heavily contrasting ideas about art in general (as much as a result of the "good neighbor" policy with Mexico), it's no wonder that a whole generation of painters and the musicians later associated with them share little bits of thought from the angry, outspoken, deeply militant Siqueiros. I'd like to argument that one of these ideas was that of a 'new classicism'. Siqueiros, like most good avant-gardists, wanted to eradicate the formal pressure of history upon art, but unlike most of those same good avant-gardists, he also wanted to create a 'new classicism'. He wasn't referring to pretty old neoclassicism as we know it, but a simpler, perhaps more utopian endeavor: the replacement of a tradition of repetition with a tradition of the now (almost of improvisation), self-renewing and self-rupturing.
Since this is intended to just be a brief text about the album, I'll stop there for you to interpret and research as you will, considering that yes, the idea is quite paradoxical, maybe philosophically vacuous, and has been a subject of a myriad discussions regarding the historical vanguard in general too. So, soldiering on with the argument and ignoring all sorts of holes, there is a Feldman quote within the liner notes in this album, in relation to "Rothko Chapel", that brought me to it all: "While it was possible with the paintings to reiterate color and scale and still retain dramatic interest, I felt that the music called for a series of highly contrasted merging sections. I envisioned an immobile procession not unlike the friezes on Greek temples." Of course, it seems like an easy shot, but considering that the chapel itself is a kind of neo-spiritual monument informed by paintings that tried to lure the spectator into a 'fourth dimension' (deeper into space, deeper into time), the whole work seems imbibed with this idea of a new classic. Rothko and Feldman had found it: the spiritual experience absolutely never gets old, and proof abounds everywhere you look in human culture. By entering the fourth dimension, each prayer, each meditation, would be constantly renewed in states of mind unshackled from Enlightenment and furiously grasped upon perception, the mindlessly empiric, the perpetually changing. And yet, it would all be framed by monumentality, by death and the immobility of a classical frieze. The tradition of the now would be practically complete, with its minimal, almost silent, horizontal micro-revolutions represented both in painting and music. Action painting be damned, this would be truly transcendental for both the individual and the collective ("highly contrasted merging sections"). Like the ending of the piece, it would be utterly sublime.
"Durations II" is the other side of the coin: with only the pitches specified, the performer is practically required to do 'action playing' and keep the listener on the edge of his or her seat. Each recording, then, would be like each painting hung on the wall, a different experience out of the same work, a frame that is always self-renewing; not a 'style', but a sort of new form of tradition.
Here's the album for you to enjoy. I hope I piqued some of your interest; I did not intend to make a solid essay or review, and instead went along with my intuition to bring a flawed idea about a possible interpretation for you to consider when listening to these pieces. As for the recording itself, I think it's good enough. There's other versions out there that are more powerful and/or severe in their treatment of the music, but this one is fine and compiles three of Feldman's most evocative pieces. In any case, there you go: - Mar 01, 10----------
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Ensemble Pittoresque formed in 1977 when "The Sex Pistols, Kraftwerk, Can, Faust, Fripp & Eno, Pere Ubu and a wide variety of mainstream artists pounded the world with their personal pinnacles of artistic brilliance." Many see Ensemble Pittoresque as fore-bearers of "cold wave," whatever that is... And while it may be true that there would be no Cold Cave without Ensemble Pittoresque, I hear this more as a cross between Bowie's Low and This Heat, whatever that means...
Most songs follow a deceptively simple early synth-pop format, and do it incredibly well, but I'm not sure that I would be discussing this album at all if it weren't for "Auratorium." The first time I put on For This Is Past I was half-asleep and ready to call it a night when this track grabbed my attention and really threw me back into the music. I sat up wide-awake until the record was finished. "Auratorium" stands out from the rest of the record because although it may not be, its choral samples give it a much denser feel. Its forward thrust gives the song an almost proto-house feel. It's just exciting music, plain and simple. Elsewhere "Maitre Satori" uses classic "O Superman" vocoders to great effect. Every song here is a synth-pop classic. It's still available from their label's website, and I believe you get both the LP and CD when you order it, so you should feel even more inclined to pick up this fantastic record! - Feb 28, 10----------What I offer to you, technically, is the soundtrack to the movie of the same title; however, "soundtrack" is a bit misleading. The film is a documentary of Fred Frith and his interactions with heavyweights of the late 80's avant-rock/improv scene (Tom Cora, John Zorn, and Arto Lindsay, to name a few). Again, "documentary" may not be the best word choice, for even the subtitle reads "A ninety minute celluloid improvisation by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel". That is, Step Across the Border was shot through the sporadic filming of band practices (mainly Skeleton Crew, I believe), live performances, accidental conversations, and impromptu improvisations. Thus resulting in a collage of (i) music at moments resembling Frith's solo work but mostly in the vein of his 80's colloborative efforts (especially Art Bears and the aforementioned Skeleton Crew), (ii) found urban sound, and (iii) musings on art, life, and politics. No better is this, and dare I say Frith himself, encapsulated with this final scene.But again, what I provide below is the soundtrack. Please do add this film to your Netflix queue, if not for its merits as a film, but at least for the wondrous integration of sound and vision. There is a certain tenderness to some of the shots, in particular those with René Lussier, wherein the improvisations take on an extremely melodic form, almost defiantly composed, yet obviously spontaneous. The only further musing I have is on the track 'Morning Song': I cannot shake the feeling that, with the use of the alarm as a rhythmic element, this track is a nod to Derek Bailey.
Note: Both this album and a DVD copy of the film can be purchased at the label link provided at the top of the post. - Feb 23, 10----------As much as you try to deny it, we as human are so impacted by the weather: we choose where we live based on it, we choose what we do based on it, and finally, we choose to what we listen. As much as I love Radulescu, his string quartets just do not sit well with me on a sunny and sixty Saturday morning. So when I went around today saying, "How about that weather on Sunday, am I right?" intimately connected with that sentiment is fond remembrances of lazing in the grass listening to Huntly Town, ignoring any and all responsibilities. The melodies are simple, the guitar work seldom exceeds stock folk, but the atmosphere is undeniable; the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This Dublin group demands days drenched in vitamin D, and brisk, sweater nights. Let United Bible Studies proselytize the good book of springtime.
- Jan 30, 10Here we have the most fully-realized work of music this decade (though very young) has yet to see. This master-stroke of an album was apparently in the works for over a year before the three brave intellectuals who produced it finally landed on a take they found perfect enough to release. The 45 minute composition (recorded completely live with no overdubs) "Hey Jude" contains all the best elements of EAI, spectral composition, and PB&J, thus introducing a completely new immaculate genre: IEA (Industrial Elephant Anthems). Detractors have noted the uncanny similarities to Wagner's Ring Cycle, though anyone who truly dissects this music will find that Wagner is obviously inferior. Instead Not for the Faint of Dick is the kind of logical progression from Vampire Weekend's debut that Contra failed to be. Download it now, and you probably won't be disappointed.
- Jan 08, 10----------
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Errata: As revealed in the comments section by none other than KiC reader Nate Wooley, no editing or post-production went into this recording; Wrong Shape to be a Story Teller was completed all in one sitting. My confusion arose from the dating, which is explained within the comments section for the interested. Even though this invalidates a portion of my analysis, my praise for this album is steadfast, nor do I think Wrong Shape to be any less unique.
Many thanks to Nate for both reading this blog and correcting my error; I am very much so sorry for my false assumptions. Since in my review I stressed Nate's supposed transparency, I leave below my original post unedited. I do hope others enjoy the irony surrounding this post as much as I did -- so much so that it warmed my otherwise frigid bike ride.
----------Compared to his lowercase brethren, and even with consistently glowing reviews, Nate Wooley has received little to no attention from RYM free improv enthusiasts. So with Wrong Shape to be a Story Teller, recorded in August 2004, I attempt to rectify this glaring omission.
As a member of the trio that released Throw Down Your Hammer and Sing, KiC readers ought to be familiar with his name, if not also his playing style. Although Wooley's work with Lonberg-Holm and Roebke is exemplary (and one of my favorites from 2009), his group approach, as it should, greatly differs from his solo style. An aside: I suggest those interested in group improvisation to check out an interview with Nate over at bagatellen. In this interview he describes the way in which he listens to his band mates, focusing on "cycles".
Indeed comparisons to the likes of Greg Kelley and Axel Dörner are apt, but at the same time incredibly reductionist. Yes, these three trumpeters heavily employ extended techniques, but those casual words -- "similar to" -- betray both the feeling and the creative process that goes into each of these artist's improvisations.
Throughout Wrong Shape to be a Story Teller I hear flashes of resemblance -- the timbrel fluttering around the tenth minute could easily be an excerpt in Kelley's Self-Hate Index -- but delightful quirks destroy the homogeneity hypothesis. For instance, around the fifteen minute mark, a field recording of (what seems to be) a BBC television report on the 2004 Presidential election can be heard. In this sample, the reporter makes reference to the "final hours" of campaigning. With this time-stamp, Wooley wears post-production on his sleeve (or at least stitched prominently on his jeans), giving the listener a welcomed moment of transparency. Silence, as well, is employed prominently in this fifty-odd minute piece, via Wooley's deft navigation between nearly inaudible hiss, font-size six licks, and overbearing feedback.
As a whole -- a precaution to the meek, this album is only one track -- through this unusual narrative, Nate Wooley provides not only a snapshot of lowercase technique, but also a glance at his distorted voice. - Jan 04, 10----------
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RYMTopology is a swath of mathematics that investigates the properties preserved under a continuous transformation. Originating from an in depth study of the real line, this field equips the analyst with the ability to abstract beyond the familiar, in addition to generating a convenient link between analysis and the other major fields of mathematics -- algebra and geometry.
The most commonly used tool of a topologist is a homeomorphism. Essentially defining topological equivalence, two spaces are said to be homeomorphic if one can be deformed into the other in a well-behaved manner. As such, topology is frequently called "rubber sheet geometry". For instance, in jest, a topologist is said to not know the difference between a donut and a coffee mug. Put as simply as possible, topologies allow mathematicians to "stretch", "cut", and "glue" abstract spaces
The applications for this field are countless outside of pure mathematics, and in titling this album so, Joe McPhee supplies an interesting and unforeseen context to examine his music. I had grown accustom to thinking of jazz as a means of expression, with free jazz and its sub-genres as the liberal extension. From the spiritual revelry of Pharoah Sanders to the existential musings of Sachiko M, I had been caught up in this tautology. However, through this Po Music, I was able to break free and view each passage as a deformation of another. The free improvisation of "Age" blends seamlessly into the reinterpretation of older styles of "Blues for new Chicago". Before the listener can grasp what has occurred, all structure is cut away in the titular final track, through Radu Malfatti's electro-acoustic explorations.
In many ways, this topological framework is useful to understand the traditional role of an improviser. They extract motifs from their conscious, then instantaneously stitch them back together. Although Topology is said to be a non-idiomatic session, the interpretation is similar. And this fantastic cast (the aforementioned Malfatti and McPhee, Irène Schweizer, and others) do not disappoint.
Sorry for the stodgy math! - Dec 29, 09----------
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Xu Cheng's Wild Fox Chants was brought to my attention by Danny's wonderful, but dormant, blog 'By Chance Upon Waking.' A couple things made me excited: first, logistically, it was free for download. I had not heard of Cheng, and I might not have been willing to shell out $20 for a disc of "prepared guitar" by an artist I hadn't heard of. By putting it out free on Archival, Cheng really sucked me in and made me a fan.
The second thing that got me interested was, of course, the "prepared guitar." Whenever I read "prepared" to describe an instrument, my mind naturally recalls John Cage's prepared piano pieces, and although the instruments are quite different, I think a familiarity with Cage's works could be a partial introduction to this. There are scrapes of the strings, tightened and loosened string, plucked more than struck. Indeed, large passages seem to center directly around various textured metals striking the strings as the tuning pegs loosen, then tighten, creating a tone variation that is both familiar and unique (in timing).
It should be said that this is not quite eai or microtonal, although a Keith Rowe fan might find something here to like. This, like most genres that require (instead of recommend) close listening, goes to great lengths to focus the listener on both newer compositional methods (variable timing, odd repetitions, atonal playing that highlights the percussive qualities of the instrument), and on the physical properties of the instrument (the sound of the bridge, the uses of the tuning pegs, the electronics in the pickups). In this way, the artist can heighten the listener's awareness of the inherent properties of the guitar, and work to dissolve the notions of "intuitive" playing. In short, it is not the intuitive way to pick up a guitar and play open chords. Rather, the intuitive way to play a guitar is to bat at it, twist its knobs, and shake it to effect reverberation. - Dec 29, 09----------
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RYMComposed in 1999 and premiered in 2000, L'Amour de Loin is Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's first opera. As a reinterpretation of Jaufré Rudel's La vida breve, Saariaho, along with librettist Amin Maalouf, tells a story of idealized love from afar. Set in the 12th century, through five acts, a jaded Parisian falls in love with a woman from Tripoli, whom he has never met. The male lead, Jaufré, travels to Tripoli to meet his distant lover, Clémence, but falls ill during the voyage. Upon arriving in the modern day Libya, Jaufré perishes in his lovers arms.
Although Saariaho fits nicely alongside the contemporary composition that litters this domain, L'Amour may not be the best introduction to Saariaho's work. In fact, I cast aside this piece on first listen earlier this year, finally revisiting it after having heard her Chamber Music and at Alex Ross' bequest. Kaija, having studied at IRCAM, should be of interest to Les espaces acoustiques adorers; however, to the best of my knowledge, Saariaho does not employ spectral techniques in L'Amour, nor in any of her other works.
At the time of this composition, both Saariaho and Maalouf -- a Lebanese also living in Paris -- were expatriates; most certainly, the two's experience with voluntary exile helped to warp this meditation on international obsession. I am still a recent convert to opera, but I can confidently say that L'Amour is a work that demands to be heard -- many commentators described it as a 21st century Tristan and Isolde.
Before I call it a day, some housekeeping. The release I have been describing is a performance at the Finnish National Opera. The label link directs you to Deutsche Grammophon's DVD release. Additionally, below, I have included a link to the audio from this DVD, for which I cannot find an official release.
Download. - Dec 29, 09----------
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RYMAs sometimes happens, after I finished the upload I found out, while searching for the above links, that Mutant Sounds has already posted this record. However, if you listen to the record, you'll see that it generally fits with this site, and I know that some of you don't like Rapidshare, so I kept the post.
This post fits nicely with the Jocy and Hallett posts from earlier, ie. female vocals, sure, but vocals mixed with a wide array of sounds, presented in pieces that span several genres. The first track, for instance, gives off a sort of Nico vibe, with wavering vocals, almost ritualistic, layered on top of fluttering pulses and random noises and clicks. "Lines" follows, and has a distinctly early electronics feel, arpeggios flash back and forth like Christmas lights on a string, tempting you to screw up your perception by predicting or skipping ahead. These electronics (perhaps a manipulated synth?) resurface against a meandering violin in "Play," a track devoid of vocals for long stretches.
The last three tracks are a little more "out," seemingly focusing on the vocal manipulations we've seen from Meredith Monk, Ratkje, and several others on the blog, with these vocals more improvised against a varied backdrop of clicks and small instruments. I haven't heard anything after this by Fuchs, but apparently she is still very active. Her site link above is basically her CV, and the Mutant Sounds link provides a good overview of things she has done since this.
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As for the site, I am going to continue to revise entries as I can. I realized over the weekend that many people link to this site on their own blogs and sites. Additionally, many artists have used the blurbs I've typed up for their own sites. Since this site is about the musicians, and since I really appreciate their work, I want to give those artists better quality. Therefore, I am going to try to improve the posts that I know for certain have been used by artists on their own sites.
Likewise, if you link to KiC on your blog or site, I want you to use this comment box to give me a link to your blog or site so I can reciprocate. When I redid the template for this site, I lost my link box. I did not want to take it down, but I screwed up. Please help me to regenerate it! - Dec 23, 09----------
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We've interrupted this regularly scheduled broadcast for a re-blog from the fantastic and unjustly esoteric Twice Zonked!.
With releases from, among others, Cage, Bailey, Lucier, and Ashley, I suppose it is easy for Coria's breathtaking solo prepared piano work, En rouge et noir, to get lost among the Cramps shuffle. In addition to a continuous, approximately twenty minute long rendition, this release is also broken down into twelve discrete vignettes.
Coria violently commences in Materiali A, where the piano "almost sounds as though a rake head was laid inside." This approach, carried over through a few parts, resembles Derek Bailey at his most aggressive. As the Materiali progress from A to N, Coria's playing dissipates into sparser territory, with seemingly electro-acoustic elements in the middle sections. By happenstance, in my most recent playing, Martin Siewert & Martin Brandlmayr's Too Beautiful to Burn succeeded En rouge et noir. Siewert and Brandlmayr's first track, "Form", provided an excellent counterpoint, resembling Coria in sound, but obviously not in execution.
Although this LP was initially released in 1976 by Cramps, it has since been re-released by the aforementioned label in 2004, then by Strange Days in 2007 -- both in CD format. Seeing as neither label's site is in English, I feel it safe to provide a download link, from what I believe to be the 2004 issue. However, I linked to Strange Days, in hopes that our Japanese readers can find an in-print copy. - Dec 16, 09----------
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RYMThis was limited to 66 copies, which the label page is showing are sold out. Given Aleph Naught has put out a couple free things online, I think it should be safe to pass this along. I was listening to this record, and looking stuff up on it when I learned that Anthony Mangicapra did the artwork for this. I met Anthony recently, and he was a great guy, really cool to talk with about music. I need to get around to reviewing his music, too. For the time being, I'll cover this album, which is an EP, to be more precise.
Some might call this dark ambient, and I see the dark aspect to it, but there is really no comparison to Lustmord or anything like that. This is more heavy, undulating synth drone, with the volume pushing beyond the canvass in redlining pulses, streaks of melody paradoxically high pitched, but pressed low in the mix. The feeling is that of attending a rehearsal of five minutes of Gubaidulina and sustaining blunt force trauma to the ear. The volume distorts the sound, the textures flatten and stretch, all the while pushed by a persistent, increasing melody below.
For the record, I don't like when distortion is used to sort of "cover things up," so to speak. I really enjoy the sound of static and distortion, obviously, but unless there is more, or unless it is fantastic distortion, it sort of makes the music anonymous or cheap. The flip side, with a few records I've posted, and this, is when it comes out natural, or measured, or fits with the piece (or whatever), it really can add something, both aesthetically, and intellectually. I think the things that I take the most from this is the static is a sort of framing mechanism for the core melody that I mentioned. It sort of encapsulates a central melody within a ring of static. That is, the sound distorts at certain volumes, and if you think about your speaker array as being able to organize air for a certain distance, that distance from your speaker, its outer reaches, is the frame. Here, the volume distorts at a certain level, and is at the forefront of the music, thus the outer border I'm talking about.
Very cool, short, and although not revolutionary, expertly executed. - Dec 13, 09----------
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RYMI'm making this entry to memorialize Sarah Lipstate's Noveller as the first entry of the new below section highlighting exceptional new releases. Like I said in the initial review, this section is going to highlight new releases, but not offer them for sharing (keeping with the loose policy of not posting anything in print, or less than 18 months old). When I get a new live review up (you should see the most recent review on the side bar), I will do the same for the live shows. Also, all download links from 2008 are removed. Some will be replaced following re-writes. I will link to those as they surface.
This is a very cool record, in part because it takes some of her partners/acolytes, and gives it a more emotional thrust. If you're into Rhys Chatham, or Glenn Branca, you'll find just as much to like as would any fan of looped, ambient swirls derived from layered picking and plucks. KILLED in CARS has posted a great deal of albums focusing solely on the piano, but slowly there has been a build of guitar-centered albums. As a guitar player myself, I am always on the lookout for records that are "guitar records" but are anything but simple fingerpicking or shredding exercises. Lipstate creates a beautiful record from very few elements, but don't let the scarcity of components throw you off: I considered this one of the most accomplished No Fun releases in large part because of the variety here. Lipstate captures that initial rush of creativity some feel when they get a new pedal, or stumble upon some of the more precious sounds a guitar can make. Alternately, she is unafraid to tune into some of the more menacing aspects of the guitar, the scraping noises it can make, its internal growl and hostility.
Please, by all means, visit her artist page, and try to catch her live. She is really putting out good stuff. I am so sad that I missed her show earlier this year at the Kitchen, but given the consistent quality of what's done there, and from the photos, I can safely say that Lipstate is taking full advantage of the artistic community in New York by working dance pieces, and exploring a host of the sounds that seem to pour out from all of the decaying brick boxes and smokey late night haunts this city has. - Dec 01, 09----------
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RYMAn album that I found for a couple reasons: both on the Adore the Freak list, and the atonelectric peripherals list Doc threw together, as well as general acclaim (despite the criminally low rating count). Birthed by strong musicians in play, the affair was pushed into a higher level by the decision to play/record outside. There are several ways to try to get out of your "habit energy" (a goal a lot of mid-20th century composers longed to achieve): play an instrument you're not familiar with, play with other musicians that you don't know, work in new genres, and aside from those, others get less at the musician-instrument or composition aspects of making music, and more at the mindset of the musicians. This is one of them. By simply going outside, the moods of the musicians seem to have changed, the nature of the recording took on the warmth of field recordings (actually, it sort of is a field recording, blurring the lines of what that actually means). For everyone trying to hide in the forest and still put out tapes, take note: knowing your jazz can mean all the difference.
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Tweets
- KiC streaming from the TV. https://t.co/hGDvOKWmKM
- Lily Greenham - Lingual Music (2007) https://t.co/H3FkTYljAK http://t.co/LUQ7GJJyupJun 15, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Couch - Glass Brothers 1993-1994 (1995) https://t.co/Ikf9qazq5a http://t.co/HIk8FCGtMMJun 14, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Mandible Chatter - Drinking Out the Hourglass (1993) https://t.co/ErNuY8fUDQ http://t.co/10IEgaOcECJun 14, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Amusing trap/Memphis-style (mostly) instrumental hip-hop. Spared me lyrics for once, and the bass is nice. http://t.co/MIJlns5DQF
- Nmesh's vaporware release is great because it's also time-stretched drag/process music. Sweet! http://t.co/RXAvZdZf0g
- SSAB Songs - SSAB Songs (1999) https://t.co/DdH0yp9MCm http://t.co/i6lCaag4swJun 10, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- I heard this on OM (on KZUM), and was very impressed! Strong variety, and gritty collage, etc. http://t.co/VmyPPBCFEX
- Hands To - Hands to Turn My Hands To (1993) https://t.co/5EoS0v5UDA http://t.co/af7pyFeDODJun 09, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Christoph de Babalon - If You're Into It, I'm Out of It (1997) https://t.co/7Y9xEh7bMg http://t.co/yz3Nwvvh1qJun 08, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Amazing archive here. Hopefully Google Docs spares me this, though. http://t.co/0Z07gLUWmn
- Köhn - 1 (1998) https://t.co/7po0pmBTDO http://t.co/HBAw5HyoIeJun 06, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Very interesting, and nice clips. http://t.co/ewr6IGfITf (h/t @noz)
- Full site update on main KILLED in CARS site. http://t.co/M6bUrG9c7f
- Leans heavily on FlyLo, so I docked XXYYXX for that, but this was a nice listen nonetheless. http://t.co/1y55HQ4Osx
- New Dubb Parade. Judging by the tagging, this should be very interesting. http://t.co/afYmxUZTZ4
- Acolytes Action Squad - Winkle Time (2007) https://t.co/3OMFNLBjyU http://t.co/mVWXjm680iJun 03, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- European Chaos String Quintet - Linien (1996) https://t.co/mYgl2W993y http://t.co/ZsBhBd0ejvJun 02, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Speaking of... probably a cross-section of juke, downtempo, even nu jazz (don't be scared). http://t.co/ruDIiMylad
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FavoritesJun 05, 13" data-title="Jason Lescalleet - Escargot"> Jun 03, 13" data-title="Powell | Fizz [Liberation Technologies 2013]"> Feb 20, 11" data-title="Dipset Freestyle on rap city diplomats"> Oct 04, 11" data-title="HQ Discography Plastikman Consumed 1998."> Jan 21, 13" data-title="Georg Friedrich Haas - limited approximations (2010)"> Sep 30, 12" data-title="BEEN TRILL OFFICIAL VIDEO"> Mar 25, 10" data-title="Atsuhiro Ito live"> Sep 02, 10" data-title="Hamelin plays Liszt - Un Sospiro [HIGH QUALITY]"> Jan 08, 09" data-title="HOW TO DJ-SCRATCH with DJ JAZZY JAY & AFRIKA BAMBAATA"> May 16, 10" data-title="Aldo Tambellini's BLACK TRIP (1965)"> Aug 07, 10" data-title="Sukh Knight - NBK"> Mar 29, 12" data-title="John Duncan and Melissa Pasut - The NAZCA TRANSMISSIONS"> Nov 06, 11" data-title="Mihâly Vig - Turin Horse"> Feb 28, 09" data-title="Mike Dred - Macrocosm"> May 05, 13" data-title="Miles Davis - Black Beauty (At Fillmore West 1970) (Complete Album - 1970) HQ (Full Album)"> Mar 09, 13" data-title="PAPAL SWAG - Evian Christ - MYD"> Apr 02, 13" data-title="YOUNG GALAXY - New Summer"> May 23, 13" data-title="Rrose - Waterfall (Birth)"> May 21, 08" data-title="Bill Viola - The Reflecting Pool"> Mar 08, 11" data-title="Death Grips - Full Moon (Death Classic)"> May 23, 13" data-title="Boards of Canada - Reach for the Dead (from Tomorrow's Harvest)"> Apr 02, 09" data-title="Arthur Russell — Soon-To-Be Innocent Fun (1985)"> Apr 25, 11" data-title="Burning Star Core - Mezzo Forte"> May 01, 13" data-title="I'M TRYNA TELL YA - EP5 - Battle Groundz Pt 2 (FT DJ'S RP BOO & TRAXMAN)"> Jun 26, 12" data-title="Maja Ratkje - River Mouth Echoes"> Feb 04, 13" data-title="Thomas Köner avec Yann Beauvais: Tu Sempre"> Apr 13, 13" data-title="WhoMohW"> Sep 24, 09" data-title="The Residents - Hello Skinny"> Apr 18, 11" data-title="Tolerance - Sacrifice"> Aug 01, 12" data-title="David Toop - A Cartographic Anomaly"> Feb 19, 13" data-title="Kevin Drumm - Dimming the Gas Lights"> Jan 15, 13" data-title="Motion Sickness Of Time Travel & Nova Scotian Arms' Slow Architecture"> Oct 03, 11" data-title="Detroit The Blueprint Of Techno"> Apr 22, 12" data-title="Begotten (Full)"> May 09, 13" data-title="Pusha T - Numbers On The Boards (Explicit)"> Oct 08, 11" data-title="Barlow - Cogluotobusisletmesi (Herbert Henck)"> Apr 22, 13" data-title="Philipp Matalla - Lack of Loss"> Sep 26, 10" data-title="DJ Screw - Life"> Apr 25, 13" data-title="The No-Neck Blues Band "HRMNY 5""> Apr 24, 13" data-title="René Clair - Entr'acte (1924) - Part 1_2"> Apr 18, 13" data-title="KEIJI HAINO LIVE AT ISSUE PROJECT ROOM"> Mar 30, 12" data-title="Thomas Köner / Jürgen Reble: Tabula Smaragdina (Auditorium de Louvre)"> Nov 07, 11" data-title="Eva-Maria Houben - Drei Choräle (Penser à Satie) (2007)"> Mar 09, 13" data-title="Jace Clayton — Evil Nigger"> Dec 18, 11" data-title="Quantec - Elux Radio Mix"> Jan 29, 13" data-title="Colin Stetson — High Above A Grey Green Sea"> Jul 29, 11" data-title="Anodyne - Close your eyes (Autechre Corporation street remix)"> Oct 12, 11" data-title="o yuki conjugate - departure"> May 02, 11" data-title="Le Grand Nettoyage - Michel Chion, 1975"> Sep 26, 12" data-title="Jon Rose plays Fence 2 at White Cliffs">
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LikesOct 13, 11" data-title="YEARS"> May 21, 13" data-title="Ray Brassier - Nominalism, Naturalism, and Materialism"> Jan 23, 12" data-title="Archicembalo: enharmonic cadences"> Jan 12, 13" data-title="Lubomyr Melnyk – Corollaries (Official Album Trailer)"> Feb 20, 13" data-title="AGF: Source Voice [2013] excerpt Voice Count"> Jan 08, 13" data-title="Acteurs - Cloud Generating"> Nov 11, 12" data-title="Pierre Berthet - Serendip Festival 2012"> Nov 26, 12" data-title="Jar Moff 'Commercial Mouth' (PAN 31)"> May 04, 12" data-title="Espionage Feat. Africa Hitech - Live in Melbourne"> Jan 11, 13" data-title="Aaron Dilloway at Reckless Records, Chicago 01.11.13"> Dec 04, 12" data-title="Sandra Gibson, Luis Recoder, Olivia Block"> May 28, 10" data-title="Morton Feldman - Oboe and Orchestra (1976)"> Nov 12, 12" data-title="Doug Aitken - Altered Earth Performance with Terry Riley 2012"> Nov 05, 12" data-title="Sun Glitters @Circuito OFF, Venice 2012, by EC"> Oct 30, 12" data-title="Lee Gamble 'Diversions 1994-1996' (PAN 33)"> Oct 30, 12" data-title="NHK'Koyxeи '703' (PAN 35)"> Jun 06, 12" data-title="Heatsick 'Déviation' (PAN 29)"> Oct 18, 12" data-title="Emptyset – Collapse"> Oct 22, 12" data-title="Keith Rowe, tabletop electric guitar"> Oct 04, 12" data-title="In a Permanent Save State (A Serious [Mobile] Game) - Release Teaser"> Mar 06, 12" data-title="Slime Code (extract 2)"> Jun 27, 12" data-title="Pete Swanson - Pro Style"> May 08, 12" data-title="Samantha Glass - Return To The Sky Pt. 2"> Dec 04, 11" data-title="13 Detours - "Blue" Gene Tyranny"> Sep 22, 12" data-title="TodaysArt festival 2012 friday report"> Apr 30, 12" data-title="ryoji ikeda for honda - data.anatomy [civic]"> Jun 11, 12" data-title="LV feat Okmalumkoolkat: Sebenza (Hyperdub 2012)"> Aug 16, 12" data-title="The Rothko Chapel film trailer"> Jul 27, 12" data-title="Ricardo Donoso "The Bow and The Lyre""> Apr 27, 10" data-title="MIA Bornfree OFFICIAL"> Apr 25, 12" data-title="Normal Love - Lend Some Treats (Official Music Video)"> Jul 04, 12" data-title="DHC/ART: Ryoji Ikeda (English)"> Oct 02, 11" data-title="Renato Rinaldi’s Time Machine with acoustic input and output"> Jun 26, 12" data-title="ENSEMBLE ECONOMIQUE - Radiate Through Me"> Jun 17, 12" data-title="Zbeen live"> Jun 02, 12" data-title="La Piramide di Sangue - Teaser 2"> Dec 13, 11" data-title="Greenpot Bluepot - Melting Sword"> May 28, 12" data-title="An Evening With Dusty - Kyle Bobby Dunn"> May 31, 12" data-title="Mary Halvorson - Sinks When She Rounds The Bend (No. 22)"> May 31, 10" data-title="Jackie McLean on Mars"> May 21, 12" data-title="Mike Shiflet - Brooklyn, Ende Tymes Festival 2012"> May 12, 12" data-title="Jeph Jerman at FRCC Community Studio"> May 09, 12" data-title="Minute Of Listening"> Mar 02, 12" data-title="Kidnap Kid - 'Vehl'"> May 09, 12" data-title="Carsten Nicolai | unidisplay @ MAC May 5th, 2012"> Apr 22, 12" data-title="El Hijo de la Cumbia - Eres Campesina ( Live Act Dub Session )"> May 02, 12" data-title="Crispell-Dove-Cogburn @ MECA, February 18, 2012 Preview #1"> Feb 27, 12" data-title="Tony Conrad sample reel - Feb 2012"> Nov 27, 11" data-title="A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS (TRAILER)"> Nov 10, 11" data-title="Drawing Apparatus">
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Posts
- Jun 18, 13
I really enjoyed this.
Kanye West - Yeezus ALBUM REVIEW
www.youtube.com
Listen: http://www.kanyewest.com/ On Yeezus, Chicago rapper and producer Kanye West takes his typically ambitious production down some really dark, noisy pas... - Jun 17, 13
The audacity of Low: What does a band ‘owe’ us when we pay to see them perform?
blog.thecurrent.org
The audacity of Low: What does a band ‘owe’ us when we pay to see them perform? by Andrea Swensson · June 17, 2013Feature50 Alan Sparhawk of Low MPR Photo / Nate Ryan Whether you attended Rock the Garden, listened to the live broadcast from home, or simply followed along on Twitter, chances are you’... - Jun 17, 13
Free Form Freakout
soundcloud.com
Free Form Freakout is a weekly radio show that plays a broad mix of popular and obscure music and produce bi-monthly podcasts focused on undergroun... - Jun 17, 13
Young Fathers - "Deadline"
waiting to be rich, rip it to pieces what do we sing now? close to the deadline no one remembers, shoulder to shoulder we are pretenders, making the headline... - Jun 16, 13
Piotr Kurek - Edena
From upcoming Edena cassette on Sangoplasmo Records 2012 www.piotrkurek.com www.sangoplasmo.com - Jun 15, 13
Very active lately.
KILLED in CARS (killedincars2) on Twitter
twitter.com
The latest from KILLED in CARS (@killedincars2). KILLED in CARS is a thank you to the musicians who enrich my life, and a way to reach people curious about expression through sound - Jun 15, 13
Amazing 3D Printed 'Stradivarius' Violin - demo by Simon Hewitt Jones
www.youtube.com
As seen in 'The Economist' - an incredible instrument printed by an 'object printer'. Made by German company EOS (www.eos.info) as a prototype of 3D Printing... - Jun 15, 13
Midnight EEz - Childhood Memories
from the self titled All City release. buy here http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?release_id=2877650&ev=rb - Jun 15, 13
Zomby - With Love (Official Video)
Featuring the tracks 'Ascension', 'Sunshine In November', 'Overdose', 'Memories'. Taken from the album, With Love, out 17/18th June. Pre-order here - http://... - Jun 15, 13
Popol Vuh - Vuh
www.youtube.com
Song: Vuh Artist: Popol Vuh Album: In den Gärten Pharaos Genre: Krautrock Country: Germany Year: 1971 Label: Pilz - Jun 14, 13
Lunar Download Dub Mix
soundcloud.com
A remix of fragments from "Loaded by the Moon" by :Zoviet*France: Moon rock, imposed arrhythmia. - Jun 14, 13
How James Turrell Knocked the Art World Off Its Feet
www.nytimes.com
Get ready for a summer of light. Shimmering, disorienting, indescribable light. - Jun 14, 13
Dalhous - The Physical Body
www.youtube.com
From An Ambassador For Laing, the debut album by Dalhous. Arriving in the wake of their recent 10", Mitchell Heisman, it's due to be released by Blackest Eve... - Jun 14, 13
screenagers.pl - recenzja: Atom™ - HD
www.screenagers.pl
Lista dokonań Uwe Schmidta to przerażająco długa i wielowątkowa lektura, dlatego sporządzenie jednoakapitowego bryku wydaje się niemożliwe, a krótkiego biogramu – niepotrzebne. Uwierzcie, szkoda czasu (lepiej udać się tu, tu i tu). Skupmy się na meritum: podczas gdy poprzednie albumy w... - Jun 14, 13
New mix.
Densinghour vol. 51 by Tomomi Adachi / Annette Krebs
All my life I wait for answers but all I've got is those two straws I hang on. And the whispering wind and flower pollens and loads of dust. I l... - Jun 14, 13
Jace Clayton – The Julius Eastman Memory Depot | Recensione | IndieForBunnies
www.indieforbunnies.com
I nomi che si alternano in titolo e autore di questo album dovrebbe farvi tendere le orecchie, eppure in Italia nessuno ne ha parlato: Jace Clayton è - Jun 14, 13
Lilacs & Champagne - Sensations
Label: Mexican Summer -- MEX 106 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition Country: US Released: 31 Jan 2012 Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Rock Style: Psychede... - Jun 13, 13
Annea Lockwood 'Tiger Balm'
Taken from the CD 'Early Works 1967 - 1982' (EM) "Tiger Balm" is a piece, originally released as a 10" with Issue, No 9 of SOURCE magazine, USA 1970. - Jun 13, 13
Frank Bretschneider & Taylor Deupree - Vertical Invader
www.youtube.com
::::: Awesome collaboration :::: Frank Bretschneider & Taylor Deupree - Balance Label: Mille Plateaux Country: Germany Released: 28 Mar 2002 Genre: Electroni... - Jun 13, 13
Simon Wickham-Smith & Richard Youngs - On a Bus
Taken from the CD 'Pulse of the Rooster' (VHF35 - 1998) - Jun 12, 13
Yukunkun
Listen to EC DipSwitch / Yukunkun | Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio. - Jun 11, 13
Death By Sizzurp: DJ Screw and the lethal Purple Drank hip-hop subculture of Houston
dangerousminds.net
West Coast and East Coast hip hop artists achieved international notoriety in the ‘90s and early 2000’s, thanks to well publicized rivalries and deaths. At the same time that Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were blaring from headlines and thumping from heavily customized car stereo...
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Recent Tracks
- Rhythm Variation 05 by Aoki Takamasa
- Rhythm Variation 04 by Aoki Takamasa
- Rhythm Variation 03 by Aoki Takamasa
- Rhythm Variation 02 by Aoki Takamasa
- Rhythm Variation 01 by Aoki Takamasa
- Bound 2 (Feat. Charlie Wilson) by Kanye West
- Send It Up (feat. King Louie & IamSu!) by Kanye West
- Guilt Trip (feat. Kid Cudi) by Kanye West
- Blood on the Leaves (feat. Tony Williams) by Kanye West
- I'm In It (feat. Justin Vernon) by Kanye West
ClipseZelienopleFlying LotusAraabMUZIKAndy StottAutechreZombyActressMadlibGhédalia TazartèsG.H.Clams CasinoDemdike StareThe WeekndFreddie Gibbs & MadlibJandekA$AP RockyBjörkGiacinto ScelsiSmegmaShackletonKaija SaariahoJay-Z & Kanye WestGucci ManeJ DillaJason LescalleetTyler, the CreatorBoards of CanadaRadioheadoOoOOGrouperGrimesKrengFriedrich CerhaMark FellHoly OtherSalemKanye WestBroadcast and The Focus GroupTim HeckerSandwell DistrictCyclo.Miles DavisJon RoseFriedrich JürgensonSquarepusherPan SonicBig BloodMy Bloody ValentineBroadcast- 63 plays
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- Egyptynlvr by oOoOO18 plays
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- Touch by Holy Other12 plays
- Numb by Andy Stott12 plays
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- Sedsumting by oOoOO11 plays
- AT2 by AraabMUZIK11 plays
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Mixes
- 46 plays / Created Mar 04, 13Chopping up moments, stretching out moments, and creating environments. This is a soundtrack to a move and a new start.
- 61 plays / Created Feb 04, 13This is my full set from Other Music, which aired 2/3/13 (my son's birthday).
- 120 plays / Created Dec 29, 12This is my highly stylized take on the CW show 'Supernatural.' Each of these tracks is either setting a mood for something in the show, a theme for a character in the show, or an homage to some aspect of the show I enjoy. Each of the longer (10 min. plus) tracks can be skipped about halfway through if you're not feeling it. I might edit this with annotations, but they're not taking in 8tracks currently. Carry on!
- 102 plays / Created Mar 13, 12
- 63 plays / Created Sep 05, 11Wide range of tracks, from vocals, to indie ballads, to eai and classical. Of course, this is a synopsis of the week's listening.
- 78 plays / Created Aug 28, 11A wide ranging mix of drone, eai, and techno with some metal thrown in for good measure. There was flow when I put it together, but I promise nothing.
- 43 plays / Created Jun 19, 11Nine tracks including music by Aki Onda, Factums, and Laurie Scott Baker.
- 67 plays / Created Jun 06, 11Nine tracks including music by Andy Stott, Black Zone Myth Chant, and DJ Sniff. Recent ratings and a few recent faves.
- 47 plays / Created May 30, 11Twelve tracks including music by Ensemble Economique, Im Jahrtal, and Jérôme Noetinger, Michel Doneda, eRikm.
- 46 plays / Created May 30, 11Eight tracks including music by Axolotl, Islaja, and Krzysztof Orluk. Chosen (literally) at random
- 50 plays / Created May 29, 11Eight tracks including music by Big Sean, Eddie Prévost & Jennifer Allum, and Lee Noble. Testing this out.
- 16 plays / Created Jun 16, 13In the rainforest without a sensible jacket, with Eddie Gale, Leon Thomas, and João Donato.
- 8 plays / Created Jun 14, 13Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6
- 16 plays / Created Jun 14, 13Nigeria highlife from the '70's
- 18 plays / Created Jun 10, 138 tracks including Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Jex Thoth, and Black Magician.
- 9 plays / Created Jun 06, 13For endless summer nights spent in parks and beaches sharing secrets with your best friends...
- 53 plays / Created Jun 01, 13"i feel like i'm fading." // a mix for will graham of nbc's hannibal
- 23 plays / Created May 24, 1318 tracks including music by Belong, Tim Hecker and Fennesz
- 81 plays / Created May 14, 13African guitar based music recorded between 1951 & 1970. Mostly solo performances with guitar & vocals
- 24 plays / Created May 13, 138 tracks featuring Cradle of Filth, Chthonic, and King Diamond.
- 56 plays / Created May 12, 13I'm about to graduate soon. The last year has been spent making the same mix over and over. Mixes became a viable part of my art practice which was unexpected and it makes me sad that I've neglected 8tracks ever since. So here's a silly mix for some post-graduate reminiscing. Alternative version for art graduates: http://www.mixcloud.com/MattColquhoun/how-to-stay-in-touch-with-art-once-you-graduate/
- 23 plays / Created May 12, 13
- 17 plays / Created May 02, 13Mississippi Records Tape Series. sahelsounds.com. Rip by nicholab for ghostcapital.blogspot.com
- 30 plays / Created May 02, 13From sahelsounds.com. Riped by nicholab for ghostcapital.blogspot.com
- 10 plays / Created Apr 27, 13Do you below the overpass go, with a fifth in your fist reminiscing the kiss of a love that just didn't love as much as you did?
- 16 plays / Created Apr 27, 13Relativley known and lesser known '80s revisionists from the '00s and the '10s
- 4 plays / Created Apr 23, 13Some important moments in the history of recorded music
- 3 plays / Created Apr 20, 13Biased variety! Originally started this to give my forgotten music downloads/oddities a home before deletion. -but now some of these tracks have become my favorites. Hooray repetition!
- 167 plays / Created Apr 20, 138 tracks including Sisters of Mercy, Unto Ashes, and Esben and the Witch.
- 51 plays / Created Apr 18, 13"The thing is, if you just do stuff and nothing happens, what's it all mean? What's the point? Oh right, this whole thing is about self-acceptance. [...] No, you know what, why I'm here in the first place--is to sell you meth! You're nothing to me but customers! I made you my bitch! You okay with that? Huh? You accept?" fanmix for jesse pinkman of the amc's breaking bad.
- 64 plays / Created Apr 17, 13More Indian style heavy funk from the 70's
- 279 plays / Created Apr 17, 13indian style heavy funk from the 70's
- 29 plays / Created Apr 12, 13From solace to silence to loneliness and back again.
- 25 plays / Created Apr 11, 13Assorted vinyl 45s (or “chehel-o-panj dorehs”) released in Iran during the 1960s and ‘70s.
- 24 plays / Created Apr 10, 13Like this mix? Get it here: http://pettyvendetta.blogspot.com/2013/04/lv-is-lv-mississippi-rcrds-008.html
- 36 plays / Created Apr 04, 13A mix to cry to, featuring Bon Iver and Sigur Rós and so on.
- 109 plays / Created Apr 04, 138 tracks featuring Zola Jesus, Bauhaus, and Spiritual Front.
- 31 plays / Created Apr 01, 13they’re pacing and glowing bright their faces all snowy and white bury their paws in the stone make for my heart as their home
- 15 plays / Created Apr 01, 13if there was an award called the "world's best mother" you would win it every single year.
- 56 plays / Created Mar 25, 13songs for the madman in a stetson "he's broken and he's no good to nobody." // eddie kreezer (from the 2011 film hick) fanmix
- 37 plays / Created Mar 25, 13AfroFunk, Highlife & JuJu from 1970s Get it here: http://pettyvendetta.blogspot.com/2013/04/nigria-70-swt-tims.html
- 13 plays / Created Mar 25, 13PHASE IV: The last in the MAUR HRTBRK series...
- 152 plays / Created Mar 23, 13for rebel boys in dystopian landscapes, from solitary confinement to the new york city underground. for the one who won't take the pills and won't allow himself to be considered an animal. for the brave soul who will look his government in the eyes, smile, and say, "i won't let you color my emotions gray. i'm in technicolor."
- 7 plays / Created Mar 22, 13Post Punk comp. Get it here: http://pettyvendetta.blogspot.com/2012/11/nmerough-trade-c81-cassette.html
- 801 plays / Created Mar 20, 13Highlife music from Mali in the seventies
- 37 plays / Created Mar 20, 13African high-life from the seventies
- 99 plays / Created Mar 16, 138 tracks featuring Doves, Stars, and Morrissey.
- 6 plays / Created Mar 16, 13when it's 6.30 in the morning and you can't sleep anymore. blackbirds are singing outside and your little red bicycle is waiting for you.
- 124 plays / Created Mar 14, 138tracks including music by Mumford and Sons, Murder by Death, and the Civil Wars.
- 145 plays / Created Mar 13, 13It's the real folk blues people. Like this mix? Get it here: http://pettyvendetta.blogspot.com/
- 15 plays / Created Mar 12, 13Like this mix? Get it here: http://pettyvendetta.blogspot.com/2013/02/wv-0cn-wv-se.html
- 7 plays / Created Mar 12, 13Like this mix? Get it here: http://pettyvendetta.blogspot.com/2013/02/im-gonna-live-nyhow-ntil-i-die.html
- 8 plays / Created Mar 12, 13Like it? Get it here: http://pettyvendetta.blogspot.com/2013/03/ill-mt-you-on-that-othr-shor.html
- 33 plays / Created Mar 12, 13V/A ~ There Is Death in the Pot c90 A Moahaha Mixtape सølγ שаябlɛş TRILL10 2011
- 17 plays / Created Mar 12, 13Music of the world DL here: http://pettyvendetta.blogspot.com/2012/10/rituals.html
- 22 plays / Created Mar 12, 13VA - Winter Is Blue C90 mixtape holy warbles trill 03 2k11
- 14 plays / Created Mar 10, 13"fate can't explain or apologize for you.."
- 91 plays / Created Mar 08, 138 tracks featuring Chelsea Wolfe, The Horrors, and Joy Division.
- 8 plays / Created Mar 07, 13Screw what you saw in her eyes, it was all contrived.
- 70 plays / Created Mar 06, 13There was one SOLDIER named Sephiroth who was better than the rest. But when he found out about the terrible experiments that made him he began to hate Shinra. And then over time he began to hate everything; Shinra and the people against them. Sephiroth hated the planet so much he wanted to make it go away. The people who tried to stop him, there were a lot of battles. For every battle, there was more sadness. . Sadness was the price to see it end. ( for my friend andrew.)
- 22 plays / Created Mar 06, 13Like a fallen angel in black I pass the past caped and masked.
- 184 plays / Created Feb 27, 138 tracks by Interpol, Pulp, and David Bowie. Image by Ellen von Unwerth
- 8 plays / Created Feb 23, 13When you must cross the threshold to reach beyond your true love.
- 7 plays / Created Feb 23, 13As the Sun sets through the CO2...I wish you could disappear
- 10 plays / Created Feb 22, 13Some pretty cool trax that I can't stop listening to, including Studio Killers, Die Antwoord and music from Mulan. Not even ashamed!
- 53 plays / Created Feb 22, 1324 tracks including music by My Bloody Valentine, Autolux, and Seefeel.
- 60 plays / Created Feb 18, 138 tracks including music by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
- 50 plays / Created Feb 15, 13❝The spirit of Shibuya runs through these walls.❞ a playlist dedicated to my best friend. she is an inspiration. ( i will role play this guy one day )
- 135 plays / Created Feb 13, 138 tracks featuring Timber Timbre, Marissa Nadler, and Nine Inch Nails.
- 15 plays / Created Feb 10, 13Songs that taste like your lover's lips and dark red wine.
- 140 plays / Created Feb 09, 13Carefree, with Nancy Jacobs and Her Sisters, Ebenezer Calender and His Maringer Band, and Dorothy Masuka.
- 76 plays / Created Feb 09, 13we’re reeling through an endless fall we are the ever-living ghost of what once was but no one is ever gonna love you more than I do no one’s gonna love you more than I do
- 135 plays / Created Feb 09, 13Noctis: I thought I was seeing things. Looking back I was undeniably mistaken. I wonder what the other person is thinking when they glance at each other. Our hidden conversation before war, when we recognize one another.
- 11 plays / Created Feb 09, 13Moved to make, change is caked onto my feet and now our walls - place your hand over mine and let them dry and harden there over time.
- 75 plays / Created Feb 09, 13paint the galaxy with two floating bodies boy and girl with their fingers intertwined and memories that outlined the day they lied eyes on each other space is all around them with glinting blue and red burning lights rocks miss them because they're traveling so slow but the hair on the tops of their heads have risen and so are the edges of their clothes
- 64 plays / Created Feb 07, 138 tracks featuring IAMX, Imogen Heap, and How to Destroy Angels.
- 25 plays / Created Feb 07, 13When we met a rare astronomical event occurred, The Transit of Venus, where Venus passed directly between the Earth and the Sun.
- 48 plays / Created Feb 07, 13"almost burned out my eyes/ threw my ears down on the floor.."
- 13 plays / Created Feb 04, 13In depth cultural anthropology selection (1957-1988) beyond the pale pleasantries of radio-friendly Aussie music. Lullabies, dream songs, mourning songs, dances, and didjeridoo. Fully annotated. Before we forget: listen.
- 75 plays / Created Feb 04, 13Ritual invocations, a sea chantey, group choruses and three children's songs from Haiti (1-2) and the Dominican Republic (3-8), part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. Some track annotation. Part of a series featuring recordings from world coffee origins, focusing on historical or cultural expressions/anomalies rather than popular western forms or expectations. I hope this demonstrates a value beyond the black gold we extract from these diverse lands and peoples.
- 13 plays / Created Feb 02, 13Field recordings, domestic records, ritual invocations, church service, love songs, songs of death, and songs of mimicry. Annotated. Part of a series featuring recordings from world coffee origins, focusing on historical or cultural expressions/anomalies rather than popular western forms or expectations. I hope this demonstrates a value beyond the black gold we extract from these diverse lands and peoples.
- 149 plays / Created Feb 02, 13Field recordings, tribal rituals, lullabies, and songs from East Africa. Annotated. Part of a series featuring music and field recordings from world coffee origins, focusing on historical or cultural expressions/anomalies rather than popular western forms or expectations. I hope this demonstrates a value beyond the black gold we extract from these diverse land and people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya#Culture
- 495 plays / Created Feb 01, 13we read their little head stones, there lied the mother of cubone.
- 427 plays / Created Aug 15, 11Nineteen tracks including music by Arvo Pärt, Balam Acab, and Coil.
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Posts
- Jun 15, 13
- Jun 15, 13
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Tracks
