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FREE SONG DOWNLOAD of "Chicago" from the Uglysuit's upcoming self-titled debut (out August 19 on Quarterstick). This Oklahoma City six-piece has been causing quite a stir lately, and rightfully so, as their cocktail of orchestrated pop and ambient swirls is quite a tasty one. Taking cues from sources as diverse as Oklahoma brethren Flaming Lips, Brian Eno, and the somnambulant sounds of Bedhead, catchy hooks ("Chicago" is one of the more straight up pop songs on the album) blend with hazy drones to create a blissful summer sound.
Over the years, German producers Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus have been endlessly influential in shaping the directions of modern techno and experimental electronic music. Be it in their seminal Chain Reaction label (which released landmark material from the likes of Vladislav Delay, Monolake, and Porter Ricks), the great releases they've presided over as Maurizio and Rhythm & Sound, or the stellar Wackies reissue program they have been working on for a number of years, Von Oswald and Ernestus have created a dub-inflected pulse felt around the world. The most notable of all their efforts, however, is Basic Channel, the beat that started it all in the early 90s with a series of singles that almost single-handedly redefined techno. While edits and exclusive versions of the tracks on these records have been available as a compact disc throughout the years, the stunning full-length pieces have remained a strictly vinyl proposition. Now, however, Basic Channel presents a second compilation, this one collecting six full-length tracks culled from the original run of singles. Making their debut in the digital format, tracks like "Enforcement" and "Phylyps Trak" show where it all began for these two, as they took reverberant bass lines and mixed them with endlessly repetitive percussive patterns to create epic, transcendental pieces. Though the music contained here represents only a fraction of what was on those original Basic Channel singles, it's still a valuable collection, one worthy of introducing new fans to the sound and providing the long faithful with a refresher course. -Michael Crumsho
Kudos to Morgan Geist and his Environ imprint for reintroducing the world to this seminal dance record that had been outta print for so long. Daniel Wang has always been an outspoken critic of the current landscape of dance music, both good and bad. For him, arrangement, composition and melody was always the key to making any great music, and if one creates music without a decent understanding of it, it's bound to be bad. Wang's first love was always the elegant, slightly dirty disco music of NYC's sleazy '70s underbelly, and the beautiful, R&B boogie of the '80s. With Idealism, Wang was able to produce a suite of original, largely instrumental tunes that elegantly referenced both of these worlds, coming up with something that sounded timeless and not retro. Tracks like "Rings of Saturn" anticipated the "slo-mo" disco of Lindstrom and Prins Thomas by almost 10 years. "Let's Go to Mars" is a rich, near boogie tune and Wang pulled off the almost impossible task of making the vocodor vocal line sound truly otherworldly. In the end, this record was a good 10 years ahead of its time and inspired the aforementioned producers as well as Professor Genius, Quiet Village, Dam Funk and the like. It's a beautiful listen from start to finish, and to borrow a phrase from OM's Scott Mou, "This doesn't just remind you of something good...it IS good." I concur. -Duane Harriott
A collection of odds and ends by the criminally underrated Clinic. If you take the time to see through the surgical mask schtick etc, Clinic is a really great rock n roll band, informed by sources as diverse as Joe Meek, Paisley psychedelia, and punk rock. As proven by Funf, they're hiding some pretty great stuff on their b-sides also; "The Majestic" is a killer fuzz-punk burner and "Lee Shan" cleverly samples Dusty Springfield.
Free digital EP from Richard Swift! The incredibly prolific and gifted songwriter brings us five new songs including "Would You?", a great string-laden, '60s sounding crooner, and "The Bully," a hilarious and cocky soul stomper. For newcomers, a no-risk introduction to this great American talent, and certainly a must-have for fans. What are you waiting for?!
COH (Raster-Noton, Mort Aux Vache, etc.) collaborates with Throbbing Gristle/Chris and Cosey/Coum International icon Cosey Fanni Tutti with husband/producer extraordinaire Chris Carter doing sound engineering honors and making sure there's no hanky panky going on. Here COH is essentially pulling a Matmos/AGF on her voice, collected from diary-like vocal pieces entrusted to him by Cosey, with some lines added in response to Cosey by COH. Whether stretched or micro-sampled, Cosey's words (sung and spoken), breaths, whispers and, at one point, yells are the only sound sources used by COH. The results are a strange combination of glitchy, edgy starkness and blush-inducing intimacy. Songs and experimental tracks are reminiscent of Panasonic's collaboration with Alan Vega; there's plenty of space around the bits and pieces, which are then layered to the point of sampleriffic chaos, with repeated phrases, but with bits of Cosey's childlike melody peeking through here and there. "Near You" has an almost violent flutter in it that feels like mid-'90s Einsturzende Neubauten. "Lost" has the yell I was talking about. "Mad" is probably the hit of the album. Let's be honest, "F**k It" is an embarrassing clunker while "Inside" has the IDM phone sex vibe we knew was coming. Up next: Cosey plays COH. -Scott Mou
Kangding Ray's second release on Olaf Bender and Carsten Nicolai's venerable Raster-Noton imprint is a triumph in pop songs via sound art that could only surface from the mixed media and textured aural exploration that Berlin has embodied for the past decade. It is interesting when a label that relishes in the extreme and refined niches of glitch, clicks, rhythm and tone as produced for years by Alva Noto, Frank Bretshneider, COH and Cyclo puts out an album as accessible as this. Not to downplay the experimental edges to Automne Fold, but Kangding Ray is one of the most immediately appreciable artists coming from the Raster-Noton label, reminiscent of Thomas Brinkman. This makes his second full-length a wonderful jumping off point for anyone interested in the world of uncompromised electronic music that does not know where to begin. Also known as David Letellier, Kangding Ray polishes Automne Fold with strings and piano chords that bring the dichotomized worlds of electronic and acoustic sounds to a bridge, where the resulting songs are gorgeous and lush waves of melody. Still, the clicks are nearly always present and even with hushed vocals pushing things to the extremities of the pop world, electronic fuzz is not far behind, building, deconstructing, and reconfiguring the songs as they unfold. In a holistic and tactile manner, this disc fits into the label's lineup without room for contention. A listener can fully immerse themselves in the uncompromised vision characteristic of Raster-Noton releases while enjoying the playfulness that breaks up the seriousness that can weigh down experimental electronic music. The disc is packaged with absolutely flawless design, as minimalist and contemporary as the music, and like all of the label's records, the music radiates a sense of refined, harnessed, and sculpted artifice in sound. -Brian Cassidy
Featuring Franz Ferdinand's Paul Thomson on the skins and a passel of young Glaswegians filling out the ranks, Correcto's debut is a melodic mix of UK hit-makers, from the Kinks to the Wedding Present to Franz Ferdinand to the Brakes, but with a couple of solid singles of their own (check out "Joni" and "Do It Better"), and a great sardonic singer in Danny Saunders. |
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