New Music: Splinters, The Detachment Kit, Robot Needs Oil

So did you hear about how the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, that most relevant of scientific bodies, decided to update The Doomsday Clock this past week? As if we weren't already worried enough with amber alert this and seatbelt that (The nerve!)... Now we need to be reminded just how close we are to Doomsday.

Weird how Doomsday seems to exist in its own parareality though, isn't it? Weren't we just two minutes to Doomsday in 1967? Wasn't it seconds away in 1962? I don't know about you, but something tells me the good folks up at the BoAS need to recalibrate their watches and give that Doomsday Clock some WD-40.













Splinters - Second Hand (Woodson Lateral 2007)

Splinters - The Watchmaker / Woodson Lateral

Maybe Splinters aka Ben Torrence is the man to help them should the people at TAG Heuer not return the Board's calls. Torrence seems to have this whole consistent time thing under control for his second album under the micro-tech moniker with which he has release his latest batch of material appropriately titled "The Watchmaker." Ever a risky business, the dubious genre IDM takes a new turn into the prog realm here... Well, sort of. The pitch: "The Watchmaker" ticks, clicks, tacks and tocks as accurately as your finest Fossil. Torrence applies methods of watchmaking to himself and his own modus operandi, long hours spent collecting disparate sounds only to generate, manipulate, mutilate and annhialate them. The result is this instrumental following in the footsteps of 2005's "Metal Pedals." Torrence also plays around Seattle with City Of, Lamplighter, Bookmobile, Recidivist, Treasure State and Field Notes. Was it mentioned he's also got Lunch Buddy Program on the way? Dude keeps busy, bottom line, and Splinters is no exception. If you're in to left-field experimental electronica, "The Watchmaker" will sate you. If the sound of dripping water and Swiss clocks bothers you, you're probably better off listening to The Detachment Kit.













The Detachment Kit - Finale (2007)

The Detachment Kit - +

That reminds me, The Detachment Kit have a new one out. Somebody was brave enough to call "+" (without the "-," so don't go starting fires) an EP, but betwixt you the good reader and me the poor writer, 13 songs clocking in at 43 minutes isn't fooling anyone. Not that it makes any difference: "+" continues in the bouncy post-punk tradition of prior releases though ex-Frenchkiss-turned-Startime International chaps The French Kicks loom large over a band traditionally known for hiding in the shadows of Frenchkiss founders Les Savy Fav. Details, details; "Finale" is the Wiresque second track which also takes elements from XTC and, erm, The Get Up Kids? Go Bears! Hey, I just call 'em how I see 'em. Trust me when I say it's worth listening to and "+" is just another beautiful point upward on the musical trajectory that started with 2001's "They Raging, Quiet Army" and continued with 2004's "Of This Blood." It's nice to have a band that drops fresh jams like clockwork, isn't it?













Robot Needs Oil - Volta - (Art & Craft 2006)

Robot Needs Oil - Volta 12" / Art & Craft

Of course, not everyone was born with a penchant for taking the rockist moral high ground; some guys and their bands sell their guitars and buy turntables. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Poland's Greg Kobe is one of these dudes. He was in a band called Melanz as a kid, for example, but the allure of the decks got to him... And so, eventually, did Beatport.

If you call yourself an electronica fan but don't know what Beatport is, you should be ashamed of yourself: Jonas Tempel via Eloy Lopez got the ball rolling out of Denver in January of '04 with 79 record labels and they've been all over the electro industry since. Not every song you'll hear on there is a winner, but generally the DJs who pay $1.99 a jig tend to bring the cream of the crop to the top of the pops on the constantly updated Top Downloads charts. One that's been floating up there for awhile has been Robot Needs Oil. Re-enter Greg Kobe: This dude's first 12" has been shaking up dancefloors and his EP has an Olivier Giacomotto remix on it. B-side "Sssnake" is wicked, but it's the mighty "Volta" that gets the girls shaking what their mommas gave 'em and all the boys bopping up and down faster than you can say "Doomsday."

With bangers and mash like this, who needs the Bullshit of Apocalypse Subscribers? Give me a beat that constructs or deconstructs, a gold chain for my pocketwatch and a handlebar moustache and I think I'll be ready in ample time for the end of the world. Hold the Dickens, though. I never could get in to "A Tale of Two Cities" properly.