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Lot's of stuff happening on the Tortoise front. First, we're going to extend the Free Song Download offer for "Prepare Your Coffin" another week, the track taken from their forthcoming new album, Beacons of Ancestorship. It's about as anthemic of a song as we've ever heard from these Chicago luminaries, with drummer John Herndon leading the charge while Jeff Parker does some serious guitar shredding on top. A post-rock rocker! This Week's Featured Downloads
Collaborations are a hard thing to call, even harder when it's in a live and mostly improvised environment, but occasionally they can emerge as greater than the sum of their parts. Approximately Infinite Universe was a proposed tour-based meeting between Finland and the USA, taking artists from each country and dropping them into the heady world of live collaboration. Here we find edited highlights from some of the tour's conspirators -- Es (in collaboration with the marvelous Fursaxa) and Islaja (backed by Samara Lubelski and Blevin Blechdom). First up is Es, the ever-reliable moniker of Fonal label boss Sami Sanpakkila, and his trademark electronic loops and drones are aptly accompanied by Tara Burke's inspiring vocal wails. The two artists seem perfectly suited to each other and the collaboration is a resounding success; where one could have easily overshadowed the other, they seem to listen carefully to each other, ending up with a coherent, enveloping and ultimately beautiful twenty minutes of music. Islaja's contribution is probably less improvised as she performs 'songs' rather than a single piece, but the inclusion of Samara Lubelski on guitar and Blevin Blechdom on electronics gives an upbeat pulse to her haunting music. Merja's vocals at times shimmer through poppy, glitch-heavy electronics from Blechdom and while they might drift far from the forest-dwelling folk she made her name crafting, these beefed-up versions are joyful and hugely enjoyable. More than a live album then, this record is a document of a tour that brought together two countries and might never happen again. Recommended. -John Twells
This is quite possibly one of the finest meetings of jazz and "world music" ever recorded, being French composer and pianist Jef Gilson's more than successful attempt to fuse America's greatest art form with the traditional music of former French colonial island Madagascar. First released in 1973, Zao is jubilant, driving, relentlessly hypnotic, and probably unlike anything you've ever heard. Madagascar, located off the eastern coast of Africa, has an intensely musical culture, and its most distinct national instrument would have to be the vilha, a zither-like string instrument, with the strings being perched atop a resonating bamboo tube. The pointillistic patterns it's capable of conjuring bear some comparison with the kora, and it's used here to expansive effect, creating a virtuosic and cascading blanket of sound that the ensemble embellish with poly-rhythmic percussion, electric piano, xylophone, and soaring horn arrangements. Truly mesmerizing, instantly accessible, and easily on par with the greatest works of Sun Ra, Phil Cohran, Alice Coltrane , and Pharoah Sanders. -Michael Klausman
A new album from Northern Ireland-based producer Boxcutter, don't let the name mislead you as BXCTTR mixes spacious, driving beats with moments of hectic percussion and digital effects -- all remnants of his drill-n-bass days. For his third full-length, Arecibo Message, he introduces a Burial-style vocal cut-up on the song "Sidetrak," while other moments blend elements of dubstep, IDM (remember that?), minimal house, acid, techno, wonky and pure electronic grooves into a nice collection of tracks. A more rhythmic Venetian Snares if you will, BXCTTR is one of the more underrated yet always on-point producers on Planet Mu -- and in the electronic genre as a whole. Check out the amazing vocal track "A Familiar Sound" for some 21st century soul that will rock any party. -Daniel Givens
This 7" popped out on the Holy Mountain label a while ago now but has finally drifted into the digital domain, and not a moment too soon. Two of the label's most powerful exponents together at last, fuzzy rockers Om in one corner and axe tickler Ben Chasny in the other, both offering up stunning five-minute reminders why they're at the top of their game. Om's "Bedouin's Vigil" is a condensed, distilled, almost 'pop' take on their sound -- deadpan vocals, chunky rhythms and that fuzzed-out wall of guitar noise we've all become accustomed to. The track is a huge success, and an un-missable addition to the band's oeuvre, but the fact that it's backed with the gorgeous "Assyrian Blood" from Six Organs of Admittance is the icing on the cake. It is yet another slender moment of spiritual drone from Ben Chasny but one nonetheless as delicious as his recent 3LP monsterpiece RTZ. -John Twells
Less an artist or band and more of a like-minded community (or so the liner notes would have us believe), the Gesellschaft Zur Emanzipation Des Samples (which translates to the Society for the Emancipation of Sampling) is the second project on esteemed producer Jan Jelinek's new Faitiche imprint. A treatise on the nature and legality of sampling, Circulations thus sets out to document such chance occurrences as, say, a field recording of a fairground that happens to capture some Marvin Gaye as it was broadcast over a PA speaker (as Jelinek outlines in his notes), in the hope of provoking whether or not this type of capture would be fodder for a lawsuit. Strangely, though, the tracks collected here hardly touch upon anything immediately recognizable, instead focusing on a series of vignettes that have as much to do with ambient Eno, Delia Derbyshire, and trace elements of Chris Watson as they do anything else. Pieces like "Laokoon Lagoon" and "Hong Kong Cable Car" deal nicely in rich melodies as they pair with field recordings, with the former dwelling on a simple motif of repeated notes, and the latter encompassing a robust, growing drone to match its birdsong. Elsewhere, cuts like "Incidental Music from Mombasa" make strange bedfellows out of sounds both found and commonplace, pairing an ethereal chorus with what sounds like a garden sprinkler. Jelinek asserts that the person behind these recordings is an anonymous member of the Society. Whether or not that's to be believed is another matter entirely (considering the "Ursula Bogner" that was anthologized on the debut Faitiche release looks suspiciously like Jelinek in a wig), especially when tracks like "Waipio" and its backwards organ and vibe loops sound suspiciously like Jelinek's Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records. Regardless of the album's origins, however, the music still stands strongly on its own, measuring equal parts beauty and experimentation to create an album that's both bizarre and endlessly listenable. -Michael Crumsho
Trippy and inventive 1970 soundtrack to an obscure Italian sexploitation flick about a foxy and bored housewife who heads off to the Caribbean to join a serpent worshipping sex cult! The requisite bongos abound, along with all manner of farty organs, claves, sitars and breathy flutes. There's also a mystifyingly heavy bossa/exotica presence as well that elevates the proceedings to the ridiculously sublime, with an emphasis on the ridiculous. No means a burn, this album is highly enjoyable and worth it for the epic opening cut alone, "Djamballa," which at least one person on the Internet has declared to be the greatest song ever recorded! Not exactly sure about that, but I did just listen to it five times in a row, which is certainly saying something. -Michael Klausman
LA's Dam Funk is one of my favorite Stones Throw artists at the moment; with only a scant few releases he's managed to make more of an impression on me than a whole crate full of FlyLo records. The remit is simple: post millennial future funk music, with all the sizzling synths and sleazy low-end you could possibly hope for, and Dam does this with an innovative, original style. There's plenty of instrumental electronic funk rearing its ugly head at the moment, most of it from England oddly enough, but Dam gives it all the effortless style of South Central and records it with a twist impossible to recreate. The successor to Dre's peerless '90s re-imagined P-Funk, Dam's tracks are injected with hints of disco and house music to emerge with a selection of slinky low-ridin' riddims primed for subwoofer destruction. As you've probably worked out, I'm a huge fan of this record, and if the man can keep this kind of pressure up on his forthcoming releases he's gonna attract a lot of buzz. Don't miss out. -John Twells
Absolutely essential summer listening, and easily the toughest LP ever cut by Jamaican legend Ken Boothe. Boothe was blessed with one of the most moving and distinctive voices in all of reggae and rock steady, simultaneously soaring and earthy. It's likely that had he been born in Motor City instead of Kingston he'd have been topping American charts throughout the sixties and seventies. Regardless, the man was soulful beyond belief, and on Freedom Street he set aside a bit of his lover man persona to delve into trenchant political consciousness, most notably on the fierce title cut, with its impassioned plea for tolerance. He's still got a minute though to take a couple stabs at U.S. chart toppers, with totally badass covers of "In the Summertime" and "Satisfaction" practically making me forget the original versions of these classic rock radio staples. Timeless music here through and through, and highly recommended. -Michael Klausman
When musing upon the work of Florian Hecker, it's all too easy to end up swallowing your own backside in the pursuit of some higher philosophical meaning. Hecker's a smart guy and a man responsible for the some of the finest works of experimental electronic music in the last couple of decades, but that doesn't detract from the fact that these records simply sound so damned good. Sure, I could mention the accompanying theories from Robin Mackay which link this latest album with the ideas of philosopher David Kaplan, but that wouldn't necessarily make you want to hear the album now would it? The facts are these: with Acid in the Style of David Tudor, Florian Hecker has created his finest selection of work to date, an epic chunk of grainy abstract sound formed using the Buchla modular synthesizer and an archaic analog computer. This would be where the 'acid' comes from then, but the screeching electronic basslines we were gifted by Phuture all those years ago have been dragged and kicked into a fragmented cloud of three-dimensional chattering sound. It is the 'sound' of the album that manages to emerge as its most disarming quality -- hearing it is an almost indescribable experience. It is impossible to hum a melody or recall a phrase, and it's the distinct oddness and occasionally nauseating feeling of listening to the tracks at high volume that makes the record so extremely delectable. The squelching Buchla blips and warbles dance and swarm around your head like a particularly memorable narcotic exploration creating the suggestion of haunted non-existent visuals existing somewhere between the eyes and the ears. I won't pretend that this record is going to appeal to everyone, it's not an easy listen by any accounts and to take it all in in one sitting is a pretty mammoth undertaking. However, as difficult as it is the rewards are richer than most albums you will stumble across this year. Listen, and listen loud -- Acid in the Style of David Tudor is a record you will never forget. -John Twells
A veritable archipelago of 20th century popular music, Panama is a textbook case of the good that cultural miscegenation can do for how we listen to the world. This, of course, has everything to do with location, location, location: the isthmus that connects North and South America, and the man-made waterway built there, experienced an influx of U.S. and European presence, along with traditional Latin, Cuban and tropical ways of life. The resulting music that came from the tiny country drips with the excitement of ideas being shared and new sounds being made. Culled from archival 45s, this is the second collection of Panamanian music assembled by Soundway, and it's every bit as thrilling as the first installment, from Papi Brandao's merger of Panamanian "tipica" with salsa, to the Soul Fanatics' percolating, syncopated read of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine," to Sir Jablonsky's jarringly funky "Juck Juck, Pt. 1." Perfect for those looking to discover something new, be inspired, or simply something exciting to play at the next BBQ. -Doug Mosurock
Hyperdub continue their unblemished roll with this wall-crumbling new joint from Kevin Martin (the Bug) under his freshly minted King Midas Sound moniker. Those of you who picked up the crushing Cool Out EP will be pleased to know that this time around there's much more original material -- three viscous, bass heavy jams to taunt the ear drums and tickle the taste buds. King Midas Sound might be both Hyperdub and Martin's most horizontal output to date but that's no bad thing. Dub Heavy does what it says on the tin -- treacle-thick dubwise listening music with the production values we all expect from a trademarked Kevin Martin project. Drums tip and tick through squelchy electronic basslines and the distant traces of ghost vocals echo through the hardwired mixing desk. Dub without any hint of step, and I ain't complainin'. -John Twells
Hailing from Portland, this duo's progression from avant-noise phunksters to electronic groove pranksters has been, well, nice. With several EPs behind them, you could lump Nice Nice in with the rumbling trend of Brooklyn bands like Gang Gang Dance and Black Dice, but I think their approach and realization is more grounded, also referencing groups like Liquid Liquid and Ike Yard, with DIY stylings of swirling synths, jagged/pulsating percussion and chanting vocals -- consider them the nu-no wave. This EP features remixes from DJ/Rupture, Caural, and Stars as Eyes and is definitely worth checking out. -Daniel Givens
In their never-ending mission to connect with discerning (read: young and hip) music listeners who will hopefully then go on to buy one of their cars, Scion has released several comps and remix EPs that actually feature some pretty great up-and-coming names across the musical spectrum. Here they choose producer Blu Jemz to curate a solid roaster of new school beat conductors, featuring Flying Lotus, Waajeed, Karriem Riggins, Ge-ology, Mike Slott, and Exile. Call it wonky, trip hop, music for headz, or what have you, these are great, Dilla-inspired instrumental beat-driven jams that would probably be a perfect soundtrack to play while you're washing your new hybrid. -Daniel Givens |
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