SHAPESHIFTER / Reticulum Flux (Schematic)
In March I found myself returning from a vacation in Curacao via a
Miami-to-JFK flight, which happened to be jammed with crusty, hungover
partymongers fresh from the adjourning Miami Winter Music Conference. The
yearly event is a huge draw for everyone under the sun hoping to make it
in the electronic music realm, and the plane was jammed with
Fischerspooners-in-waiting, DJ Shadows-of-the-next generation, and two
sassy Fannypack-like ladies even got in a punching match as the plane was
rolling down the taxiway causing the pilot to yell at everyone and
threaten to take the plane back to the terminal. Now, flying is
stress-inducing enough, but barreling up the Eastern seaboard through
turbulence with lots of rowdy peops running up and the down the aisle
playing their beats for one another on laptops made me long for Airport
1975 where Helen Reddy was serenading Linda Blair on an acoustic guitar.
All I can say is thankfully there were no representatives of the Schematic
label on board playing their stuff out loud (most likely because they're
based in Miami and were probably staying put), else I would have really
needed sedation. No slight towards Schematic, on the contrary, it's
probably one of the most forward thinking electronic labels going right
now, but some of their more recent releases would definitely not be good
for those who get claustrophobic on airplanes. From Richard Devine's
ghoulish sound designs to the insane gabbercore chaos of Hearts of
Darknesses, Schematic's aesthetic has reflected ideas far gloomier and
apocalyptic than any Florida-based musical outfit in recent memory
(excepting all that Tampa area death metal, and well, Harry Pussy). One of
the most recent releases is by a fellow named Malcolm Goodman under the
name Shapeshifter. Goodman was noted for wedding his soundscapes with the
imagery of Praystation.com mastermind Joshua Davis's Once Upon a Forest
monthly installments, depicting the creeping chaos of various arachnid and
insect-like digital manipulations. Shapeshifter's full length release
Reticulum Flux is the fruit of four years of work, a virtual nightmarish
tour of jagged futuristic cloud-covered cities with hard-drive shredding
sounds worthy of such song titles as "Trash Compactor" and "Cybernetic
Cataclysm". Like early Autechre and labelmate Richard Devine, this stuff
takes on an epic sense reclaimed from initial ideas of legendary composer
Iannis Xenakis, a major under-the-radar influence for most laptoppers
today whether they know it or not (and many do not). Reticulum Flux is
full of some badass imagery and braintwitching actions that definitely
make this one of the most menacing releases in a long time.
DAVE SOLDIER / Da Hip Hop Rascals
NYC composer, professor and musicologist Dave Soldier's been a longtime
fave around these parts; from his extremely academic study of boiling down
the ultimate best and worst pop song one could create based on mass
population surveys, to recordings of Thai Elephants grooving on
instruments, you know to expect some quality sounds. His site
just put up some MP3s of his latest project, teaching six to eight year
old kids at the Amber School in Harlem to compose and perform their own
rap music, and they do it amazingly! From the Tuff Kidz's outsassing of
Kelis, to the extremely funked up demand for chicken wings by the Boys and
Girls' Club of the Night (if the kids have been making up their own
monikers, they are totally killer), this stuff is done with minimal adult
involvement aside from a little coaching. Hopefully a full-length is on
the way, and in a just world it will knock all the grown-ups off the
charts.
ELECTRELANE / Axes
(Too Pure)
These ladies are Brits split between various parts of the world, which may
make their collaborations all the more interesting, especially lately
where all kinds of influences seem brought to the table. While often
chastised for being a Stereolab knockoff due to their penchant for
coasting along on a 4/4 single chord groove, I definitely hear a lot more
of their now-defunct labelmates th' Faith Healers in the sense of tension
and release in the power of the endless Neu chord. Also, they just never
go nowhere near the bossa nova groove Stereolab relishes, and the
architecture of their pop songs are completely opposite. Electrelane have
a brilliant raggedness to some of the otherwise smooth edges of their
sound: full, live and very electric sounding with curveballs thrown just
when you think you have what they do pegged. Word has it this time around
on Axes, the group holed up in Steve Albini's studio and basically played
the album beginning to end. The highly evolved sense of communication
between members really shows in the unity of the instrumentation and
members taking cues off each other to create the rising and falling; this
time recent inspirations from playing shows with Dutch juggernauts the Ex
seem to have creeped in to their approach. But don't start likening them
to Kleenex or the Raincoats because of that for the sake of them being an
all-woman band, instead Electrelane utilizes the additional free-improv
sounds to finetune the color of their own identity. The Chicago A Capella
Choir (whom appeared on their last album's "The Valleys" reappear here,
and there's a great cover of Leonard Cohen's "The Partisans." Hope they
can continue to add new ideas and dazzle, they fill a much lacking gap in
modern rock.
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