Golden Boots - "Burning Brain"

Golden Boots - Cellophane (Park the Van 2007)

Golden Boots - Burning Brain / Park the Van

Lala la luh la, la. First impressions can be pretty important when it comes to an album. At times, it's a red herring and a barnburner of an opening track gives way to a sadly (or rightfully) overlooked remainder (e.g. Wiretap Scars or That Much Further West); other times, it's just the beginning of something great (e.g. Hell Hath No Fury or Sound of Silver). Those are just some recent examples straight off the top of my TGI Friday's-infested head, but you get the picture. A first track can say a lot. More flair?

So when Golden Boots drunkenly stumble into one's proverbial Headphones Saloon with their lackadaisical "Ancient Buried City," you're not initially holding out much hope for cohesion or even the end of the song. Will it all just fall apart, much as Lucero does live? Or will they actually fight their way to the end of the first song of their, um, first album (for Park the Van)? Initially it doesn't look too promising.

But like a lot of quality alt-country, you never really know what you're going to get right out of the gate. Also, country n' western destruction can be a beautiful thing... And at the heart of Burning Brain, that's what this is about. It's an album about destruction. Maybe not Appetite for Destruction destruction, or collapse of the Aladdin destruction, but destruction all the same. Dirty, dusty, desertesque destruction. Yeah, desertesque. Sounds legit enough to be in the dictionary, right? Vote that in for me.

And give Golden Boots a whirl, because the Tucson, AZ duo are bringing something to the table, a local sensibility, that seems to be lacking in, say, Bark Bark Bark. Ryen Eggleston and Dimitri Manos, both their God-given names, are clever lads. They seem to know that with limited resources, you can still fuck around with people's expectations. So they do, and willingly: If it's not eight-track rickety porch folk on the appropriately titled "Rubble," it's the slow-moving beauty of "Buildings," a lo-fi psychedelic pop fragment. And holy hell, is that a bedtime nap they accordion'd their way into "Cellophane"?! We're talking true magic here. Though the recording quality is better than their 2005 debut Bland Canyon Adventure, the tape hiss can still be either real or imagined on these songs.

The la's come back for "West Nile Isle," a desolate tune for all the fictitious cow-herders in Gary Larson's vivid imagination. When the campfire goes out and all the horses have passed out from exhaustion, that's when Golden Boots come in, shimmering in the chilled air of a desert moonlight. Likewise "Diamond Eye (Classic Rock Mirage Version)," where reverberating guitars spend their time bouncing off the walls of their hole-in-the-wall studio to great effect. It makes the song sound bigger than it is. "Head Without the Man (Man Without the Head)" is the final song here, and one of the best. It's a straightforward "crumbly western" cut that lives up to the description the duo gives itself. The best part is a cello (or viola?) that comes in between chorus and verse. Sort of like a Murder By Death with less people and pageantry.

In effect, Burning Brain is the sound of a little alt-country group that can. The production isn't sterling, the vocals are scattershot, information on the group is sorely lacking (though that's more my problem/complaint than yours)... But Golden Boots is a lot like Wilderness Pangs in that they are doing so much with so little. They are a small town fireworks display of ideas, blowing across a clear desert sky. There is so much emotion packed into this little album, from jubilation to longing to dazed indifference to utter despair, that bulky big releases would do well to pay attention. Dr. Dog and The Teeth may be grabbing all of Park the Van's headlines, but as ever at Audiversity, we like pulling for the little guys out there. That said: Welcome to the slightly disoriented, sundazed and blissfully honest world of Golden Boots. Boys, a marketing suggestion: The Octopus Project may have taken "Roo!," but "La!" is up for grabs. Just throwing that out there.

Kaman Leung - "Lacrimal"

Kaman Leung - Lacrimal (z5 2007)

Kaman Leung - Lacrimal / z5

I'm not sure how much attention Kaman Leung will be getting in the next few months, but this one's a sleeper to be reckoned with: Though some have suspected that the Swedish-Chinese producer (Hell of a combination, for starters) is really the alias of a dubstep producer incognito, I can assure you that the man is a musical wizard of his own order. In fact, Kaman Leung has been doing his thing for quite some time now. In 1998 he released his first EP on the officially obscure A PMS Plan label, A Paroxysm of Excellence. A consistent flow of output between '98 and 2004 was enough to establish the name, but nowadays Leung hangs out in Norway under his Lacerated imprint and with the assistance of Japanese-based label z5, he's sending this one out to all the low-enders. Here's to you, kids. You're gonna like what you hear.

Lacrimal is actually Kaman Leung's first full-length, so at nine songs, it's a bit modest. A remix of Viktor Vaughn's "Rae Dawn" on a 7" earlier this year was the first for z5, but this is a proper introduction with no two ways around its brilliance. What makes it so good is that Leung is able to capture the vibe of a downtempo trip-hop record while still burning up subwoofers with some sick bass action. In particular, I'm thinking of "Stretchmarks" here. My laptop can't handle it, the subs on my computer can barely handle the middle section, and even a good stereo system struggles not to get eaten up by the deceptive power this track possesses. It's frightening, but the almost cheesy, summer strumming of the guitar notes give it a laid-back feel before the evil alien bass returns. Scary maybe, but scarily good might be a better summation. Back and forth this track goes, and the album isn't entirely unlike it.

The rubberband synth action continues on "100 Year Anniversary" and you can feel this as less a Burial record and more something along the lines of Nightmares on Wax or something like The Orb. Lots and lots of downtempo goodness to soothe the soul, but when the chips are down and it looks like you're going to be fading off into lounge-snoozing territory, Leung is smart enough to burn up your speakers (as he does on "As Hope Fades"). In nine short tracks, his handling of the evil with the calming is the mark of an artist who's been around the block a time or two. Having officially been on the release sheets for nearly a decade now, Kaman Leung is no stranger to doing things right. He had a little help with this release, though much of the recording was produced primarily by him: Mastered by Andreas Tilliander (who's had some releases out on Type helping Mokira and a slew under his own name over at Mille Plateaux) and produced by Golden member Natsuki "Dopement" Rai (who are virtually impossible to find anything about, but we know Japanese minimalist Salmon was another member of the troupe), at least Leung wasn't going it alone.

Beachy guitars set the scene on the title-track, one of the best here. The echoing vibe and transistorized accents bring the den dwelling of the bassline, as the guitar plucks its way back from the ocean to see out the end of the song. It's just that little bit funky, and it takes the edge off of what would otherwise be a deep, dark, bass-driven monster of a track. The beauty is in the clash, and while the edge may be taken off, worry not because your speakers are still getting the proper whipping about they deserve while your ears hum the notes over and over. This is straight del.i.cious, first-rate main course dubstep on abstract electro. Autechre, meet Kode9. He'll be taking you on your blind date this evening.

Electro junkies and hip-hop heads alike, fetch this however you can. Maybe it's hard to find in all the shops and shoppes, respectively, but dig deep and spend your hard-earned money on this record. It plays like a dream and a nightmare; what more could you ask for? Heaven knows where this cat is now, be it Osaka or Stockholm or Oslo or whatever, but wherever he is and whatever he's doing, let this be a desperate plea from one dude digging his songs to keep it up. Sounds pretty pathetic I know, but you'll see what I mean when you hear Lacrimal. Even your speakers, roughed up and tossed around by the stuttering wickedness of "Stillborn," will be begging for more. It may not be PC to say, but secretly, all speakers are "in to that." Thanks to Kaman Leung, the cat's now outta the bag.

Saturna - "Some Delicious Enemy"

Saturna - Periwinkle (Nexus Underground 2007)

Saturna - Some Delicious Enemy / Nexus Underground

When you think Portland and music, what do you think of? If you've been reading a whole lot of Spin or Tiny Mix Tapes, you may be thinking in the vein of The Decemberists or Mirah or The Thermals. If you've been reading us, you may be thinking Lifesavas or Gouseion (you music-savvy devil, you). If you don't read any of those things and don't really care about music, maybe you think of Portland as a hippie outpost or a scag den. I have no defense for the former, but the latter now has a soundtrack courtesy one of its own: Welcome to the world of Saturna, where drugs and swirling guitars and Spiritualized are all part of the repertoire.

You never know what you're going to get when people send you their music. Sometimes it's a dude with a four-track and a six-string at home singing about his ex-girlfriends; other times it's Educated Consumers. Vocalist n' guitarist Ryan Carroll was coy enough to suggest that I might be interested in his band given how much I constantly rave about A Sunny Day in Glasgow and Cyann & Ben and My Bloody Valentine and pretty soon you'll be hearing about A Place to Bury Strangers also. Michael and Dave would not have fallen for this as easily, but what can I say? Words just don't matter to me unless you're Frank Turner or Beans on Toast.

Carroll understands that, and in turn I understand that words are emphatically not at the center of Some Delicious Enemy. This is a grand, epic-sounding album... But it has very little to do with the words. For better or worse, the group knows how to put guitars at the fore of the mix. Shortly: It pays handsome dividends. In the best traditions of somebody like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or Spacemen 3 or even Deerhunter as of late, Saturna build sonic monuments out of reverb and delay, crushing cymbals and elephantine roars. But unlike a Lush or a Chapterhouse, you can understand what Carroll's saying most of the time. But when a harmony is as pleasing as "Much More," who cares what he's saying? At the end of the day, it's not so much about the words as it is about the music.

Okay, so the dead horse has been sufficiently flogged by now. Let's talk about some choons: First single "Pop Rocks" is what it is because, perhaps more than any other song on this album, you can hear something like The Brian Jonestown Massacre in here. It's a little garage, a little psych, a lot of throwback, but it's also the album's outright weakest song. It does, however, possess the same lineage as the rest of the album; when listened to as a whole, Some Delicious Enemy works it in seamlessly. That's one of the best parts of this album. Everything goes together so well, and not because every song sounds the same. There are definite differences in tone from "Fall" and "Chasing the Unpredictable," but the way the quartet comes across never has you wondering why this was included in the final tracklisting, or why they tried to do that with a perfectly good solo. It's loose, fluid and consistently strong as a direct result of not trying to sound too much like any one progenitor. They just happen to come together at the apex of all their influences in the best possible way.

This band sounds like it's got a healthy helping of the spirit of Saturn in it. Celestial interludes mingle with psych-rock freak-outs mix with white torrents of noise mix with pleasant, poppy choruses. And if you're into heroin, you should probably be listening to Saturna. Psychedelics worshippers also welcomed. I feel like I listened to a thousand of these albums during my stint in college radio, but Saturna stick out to me now not just because of their circumspect solos but also because of the inherent strength in the structures of songs like "Periwinkle." Deep beneath the haze of amplified guitars and relentlessly powerful drums of Matt Badger, there are innocent pop songs. Saturna understand perhaps better than their influences right now (Seriously, did you hear Baby 81?) that you cannot build a musical monolith without strong foundations. That is what makes Some Delicious Enemy so incredibly appealing.

Blockhead - "Uncle Tony's Coloring Book"

Blockhead - Put Down Your Dream Journal and Dance (Ninja Tune 2007)

Blockhead - Uncle Tony's Coloring Book / Ninja Tune

Another hit from the Ninja Tune camp this late summer, Blockhead is not one of the independent hip-hop scene's brightest stars. What that means is, while he's worked with a host of notable MCs from Aesop Rock to Murs and El-P to DJ Signify, his name is not one to be bantered about often. That's a shame too, because it's not just his production work with these guys (Aesop Rock's Float and Labor Days in particular) that should've garnered him more attention than he's gotten. The New York beatsmith has also released a few of his own albums: 2004's Music By Cavelight was a finely honed album of instrumentals that Mush are probably still kicking themselves for letting go. 2005's Downtown Science was pretty good too, though not as many heads were turned.

But Blockhead is sure to turn heads with this album. He's pushing all kinds of stylistic boundaries, so that by the end of its 13 tracks, you're not sure whether this is trip-hop or jazz-hop or merely instrumental hip-hop. That sounds like such a pedestrian tag, but it's about as close as you're gonna get to describing how much is going on. And it's not even entirely accurate: "Put Down Your Dream Journal and Dance" features vocals and there are plenty of other voices as either samples or harmonies on here (See also: "Do the Tron" or "Cheer Up You're Not Dead Yet"). Rather than a mere record of beats, this is a very human-sounding album. It's approachable, it's diverse, it's vibrant. It is colorful.

No doubt about it, the Ninja Tune description "An upbeat collection of fun instrumentals" holds sway here. The jazzy horn of "Squirmy Worm" is one of the best bits, wildly flailing about as a lock-solid groove undulates beside. There's a lot of jazz and funk sounds going on here, the first official leak on his MySpace "Not So OK Corral" being a good example with its ascending-and-descending guitars and synths giving off a funk vibe initially before mutating into an almost Eastern sound.

Part of the magic of this album is the guitar, interestingly. The guitar flourishes are a welcome addition to an album that often feels like there's live instrumentation happening. One of the best examples of this comes early with the Japacid solo on "Dukes of Hazzard" that would make Uganda or Les Rallizes Denudes proud. That very sharp guitar sound doesn't dominate by any means, but it adds a live vibe that would otherwise be lacking. Scratching is another thing that is thankfully lacking: Though "Coloring Book" opens up with a scratch and they dot the landscape elsewhere on the album, it never feels like Blockhead is trying to show off how he can work a turntable. Instead, he lets the perfectly competent music do that for him. His disparate influences work wonders and that tinge of turntablism is just one more ingredient to throw in the pot.

"Squirmy Worm" was already mentioned, but jazz is another genre that keeps cropping up. It's never quite as overt anywhere else. "Cheer Up You're Not Dead Yet" is a spacey noodler but its laid-back vibe is almost reminiscent of somebody like Medeski, Martin & Wood. And the keys that accentuate all the other instruments on this album can sound anywhere from straight out of the early 60s to somewhere in the mid 80s: "Grape Nuts and Chalk Sauce" sounds like either a lost spaghetti western score or the soundtrack to an old NES game with flourish, maybe "Sky Shark."

Originally this album was slated for the spring, but its delayed release date shouldn't matter to fans of instrumental hip-hop or beats in general. Tough beats and catchy grooves this time around? I'll back that up with saying that Uncle Tony's Coloring Book is one of the best instrumental hip-hop records of the year. It's also one of the best trip-hop records of the year. It's also one of the finer electronica releases this year. You get the drift: Blockhead isn't lying down now, and nor should you if you're into the beats. A thrilling release with a variety of different styles covered, Blockhead is merely doing what he does best. The good news: This might be the best of his best yet.

Radio Show Playlist: 8/8/07

6a:
1. My Bloody Valentine - Soon - Loveless (Sire 1991)
2. Trembling Blue Stars - This Once Was an Island - The Last Holy Writer (Elefant 2007)
3. Mazzy Star - Halah - She Hangs Brightly (Capitol 1990)
4. Spaceman 3 - Walkin' with Jesus - The Perfect Prescription (Glass 1987)
5. Helios - The Obesiant Vine - Ayres (Type 2007)
6. Stars of the Lid - Fac 21 - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (Kranky 2001)
7. Sodastream - Reservations - Reservations (Hausmusik 2006)
8. Tiny Vipers - Campfire Resemblances - Hands Across the Void (Sub Pop 2007)
9. Califone - Pink & Sour - Roots & Crowns (Thrill Jockey 2007)
10. Sandy Bull - Gospel Tune - Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo (Vanguard 1963)

7a:
1. Begushkin - Nightly Things - Nightly Things (Locust 2007)
2. Animal Collective - Winters Love - Sung Tongs (FatCat 2004)
3. Tim Kinsellas - Faith Can Mean Can't - He Sang His Didn't He Danced His Did (Troubleman Unlimited 2001)
4. Fog - What Gives? - Ditherer (Lex 2007)
5. Pumice - Stopover - Pebbles (Soft Abuse 2007)
6. Alastair Galbraith - For Free - Mirrorwork (Emperor Jones 1998)
7. The Bitter Tears - Farewell My Lovely - The Bitter Tears (Roydale 2007)
8. Patrick Cleandenim - Hollywood - Baby Comes Home (Ba Da Bing 2007)
9. David Bowie - Drive-In Saturday - Aladdin Sane (Virgin 1973)
10. Lou Rawls - You've Made Me So Very Happy - You've Made Me So Very Happy (Capitol 1970)

8a:
1. Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - If This Ain't Love (Don't Know What Is) - Keep Reachin' Up (Light in the Attic 2007)
2. Copperpot - I Put a What feat. Valeska Jakobowicz - WYLA? (What're You Looking At?) (EV Productions 2007)
3. Arthur Prysock - In the Rain - Arthur Prysock '74 (Oldtown 1973)
4. Billy Wooten - Let's Stay Together - Lost Tapes (Blues International(?) 2007, recorded 197?)
5. Charles Tolliver's Music Inc. - Felicite - Live at Sugs Vol. 1 (Strata East 1972)
6. Modern Jazz Quartet - Django - Django (Prestige 1955)
7. DJ 2Tall Presents Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow - A Tall - Beautiful Mindz (Eclectic Breaks/Amalgam Digital 2007)
8. Shape of Broad Minds - Electric Blue - Blue Experience EP (Lex 2007)
9. Deadbeat - Deep in Country feat. Moral Undulations - Journeyman's Annual (~scape 2007)
10. Sound in Light - Free Your Mind - Now-Again Re:Sounds Vol. 1 (Now-Again 2007)

Ovipositor - "Pirate Flag at Half-Mast"

Ovipositor - Harbor Mine (Arbeit Macht Dinge 2007)

Ovipositor - Pirate Flag at Half-Mast / Arbeit Macht Dinge

I had to look up what an ovipositor was before listening to the album. It had been awhile since I'd studied insects, or turtles, or other creatures which lay eggs sans internal embryonic development. This process of laying the eggs, oviposition, is enabled through the ovipositor organ. Placement of the eggs so they can hatch is essentially the ovipositor's job.

The correlation is going to be loose here, but Oakland group Ovipositor seems to be a band that acts as a burrowing arm for their numerous influences (whether they be real or imagined). About 800 different bands come to mind as you listen to Pirate Flag at Half-Mast, not to mention this whole thing. And in some ways, that helps define this band: You know exactly what they sound like if you've ever listened to Arab on Radar or imagined vague elements of The Fall and They Were Wrong, So We Drowned-era Liars orgying it up with Firehouse or a less frightening version of The Pope or something. That's the vibe that we're getting here.

What exactly that means is captured accurately on pretty much every song here. There are few deviations from the sound initially explored on "Duck is Down." Guitarist and singer Colin Frangos jumps straight into the act with a sarcastic monotone that isn't worlds away from Mark E. Smith; the difference is that Frangos starts off excitable at the beginning of the album, but gradually seems to get bored both of himself and of his delivery... To the point that, by the time you reach "Bow Down to the Beer God," he's hardly singing at all (which makes sense because, as Frangos personally pointed out to me, "Bow Down to the Beer God" is an instrumental; well played). The thing is, there's nothing half-assed about Half-Mast: The excitement may be dead by mid-album, but it's an intense apathy that carries itself through to the end of the album.

"Li'l Foamers" is another testament to the sarcastic rants that Frangos utilizes for so much of this album while drummer Mark Pino beats away on the skins with little care for texture or tone. This is straight-ahead rock and there will be nothing but brash beats. The avant-rock squalls and metallic-draped feedback dirges that dominate this record are not unlike the latest incarnation of Hella if they were less about Zach Hill and more about making a farce of their audience. Ovipositor, doing much the same thing, are all about making life difficult for the listener. But repeated plays can yield reward on the lyrics and even catchy melodies. I can't believe I just said that. Ovipositor can be catchy.

Laurin Askew's bass also stands at the head of the class on occasions but on the, um, natural single "Ronnie & Chad," it's Frangos who comes through with his most noticeable delivery since the"Duck is Down." Their dialogue back and forth is mundane at best, but Frangos' shouted chorus over the atonal wails of his guitar adds an epic air to it. "I'd give my lunch hour up for you," he says, and you can just see him rolling his eyes.

But don't roll your eyes at these barely adequate descriptions. Though tons of names can be dropped as reference points (SST to Dischord, Big Black to Scratch Acid), Ovipositor is trying to carve out their own niche in the hills of the Bay area. As one of the most challenging sounds to master (mostly because doing it wrong makes you sound comically boring), this particular kind of lo-fi noise-rock has few currently decent purveyors. That Ovipositor is willing to try may be by accident, but that their success is sufficient to light a fire under this review may say more than the words that are actually here. Something about this band sticks, and even if I'm not quite sure what it is yet, I believe it's coming soon. There is no doubt, at least, that their total commitment to this album has me nodding my head in approval.

Deadbeat - "Journeyman's Annual"

Deadbeat - Deep in Country feat. Moral Undulations (~scape 2007)

Deadbeat – Journeyman’s Annual / ~scape

The first thought that crossed my mind when I slipped in Deadbeat’s fourth full-length for the ~scape label was “cool… a dubstep album with a Berlin approach to post-techno.” But upon further listening and research, my initial reaction was a bit erroneous and more specifically, backwards. This is a post-techno album heavily influenced by dub, which obviously spins it into dubstep territory, though with a significant increase in the bpm department. And designating geographically to Berlin was incorrect as well (damn I’m ignorant in the world of electronica!), though it is being released on Stefan Betke’s (aka Pole) ~scape label, which is located in Berlin. Scott Monteith, who explores the overlapping characteristics of dub and electronica as Deadbeat, is actually very much intertwined in the Montreal digital music underground. So, I was near completely wrong with my initial assessment of Journeyman’s Annual, but really, that only makes it significantly more intriguing. Monteith has crafted a sound near impossible to categorize in both a geographic and stylistic sense as it encompasses so many different influences, not to mention it can double as a club banger.

Like most intriguing artists, Monteith’s sound evolved from odd, sometimes conflicting influences during his formidable years as a musician. According to his bio, he stumbled through church choirs and acid rock high school bands before discovering the sinister beat of industrial music. This led him to increasingly more beat-oriented styles and into the mid-90s rave scene which was thriving in Toronto, a short trip from his hometown in Ontario, Canada. After hooking up with Mike Shannon and Jeff Milligan (aka Algorithm), Monteith began to explore the possibilities of DJing and relocated to Montreal where thanks to being in the right place at the right time, he helped sprout the city’s potent laptop techno scene. But perhaps the most important musical exposure he gained was from his first roommate in the French-Canadian city who hated techno but loved dub reggae. This led to Monteith’s infusion of both genres and with the help of a fertile scene and a job at a music software company (Applied Acoustic Systems), he was able to carve out a niche that wouldn’t be internationally popular until nearly a decade later in the mid-aughts (dubstep, though perhaps ambient-techno with a heavy dub influence may be a better description of his sound) and grab the attention of Betke’s then blossoming ~scape label. Monteith and the Montreal scene garnished more and more attention as the years passed, and now fully established and with hefty fan-base, the fourth Deadbeat album drops with eager international anticipation.

This first track of Journeyman’s Annual, “Lost Luggage” is a bit misleading, which is why it led to my initial incorrect assessment. It is near wholly in the menacing dubstep mode with deeply resonating dub-like effects and a sinister, slow-moving beat. The song opens up about halfway in where rich, booming string plucks provided by fellow Montrealer Stophie Trudeau of Godspeed! You Black Emperor and A Silver Mount Zion fame which completely encompass your speakers. From here on out though, it’s as if each subsequent song increases in bpms and you are repeatedly remind that this is a techno album laced with dub elements rather than the other way around. “Melbourne Round Midnight” thumps with bone-rattling low frequencies and sparse rocksteady organ chops, “Night Train to Paris” stutters with increasingly overlapping high frequency clicks and taps before opening up with a head-nodding bass line and echoing sound effects and “Where Has My Love Gone.,” which may be the strongest song of the disc, bumps into a danceable dub-techno array of swirling acoustic guitar-like sounds, drum washes and enveloping organs. Monteith enlists a few vocalists as well who all excel with their individual styles, mostly dancehall derived though. Bubbz, a Bristol-based emcee, is first on deck and rips “Refund Me” with a rap-like approach though he is buried in a sea of chugging white noise and hollow drum sequences. “Deep in the Country,” featuring the unearthly grunting of Moral Undulations, definitely reminds me of Kode9 & the Spaceape as he gutturally narrates and cackles underneath a typewriter beat and deep-thudding bass. And finally, Deadbeat goes dancehall as Montreal deejay Jah Cutta expresses his irresistible love for ladies of all sizes on "Gimmie a Little Slack." The album closes with a much-revered remix of what is easily def poet Saul Williams’ finest moment, “Black Stacey.” Up until now, it was a much sought after promo-only 12 inch and the trademark set capper for Deadbeat live sets.

Journeyman’s Annual is undoubtedly a very strong album, and most importantly, it helps bring the dubstep sound to techno-friendly dance floors as Deadbeat has been successfully purveying for years now. Like ~scape label owner and mentor Stefan Betke, whose minimal dub-techno alias Pole is heading in the same direction, Monteith is increasingly accessible, probably thanks to the international recognition and acceptance of the similar dubstep genre. Journeyman’s Annual is less ghetto though and more… well Montreal… than the majority of the stuff dropping from London, but there are very few who can drench what is essentially a techno beat with such saturated dub elements than Monteith. It is an album that can be comfortably listened to in both your home and in the club, which is maybe the toughest characteristic to achieve for electronica producers everywhere.

Patrick Cleandenim - "Baby Comes Home"

Patrick Cleandenim - Hollywood (Ba Da Bing 2007)

Patrick Cleandenim – Baby Comes Home / Ba Da Bing

When I was in school studying audio production, I was one of those cats who booked overnight sessions in the studio, brought in aspiring rappers or music students and attempted to make a name for myself as a producer before even receiving my diploma. As you can probably tell since I am writing about music and not making my own, I failed. I failed utterly and miserably. Though maybe my ambitions and work ethic are in the right place, I just don’t have that natural knack for studio wizardry or for that matter, an ear for songwriting, arranging or producing. As much as I fought against drifting into the world of critiquing instead of creating, it was apparently inevitable. I think if Patrick Clendenin Roberts, who now records under the name Patrick Cleandenim, and I had taken classes together, we would have been good friends. We both share lofty ambitions, a love for old-school Axelrod-like studio production sound, and apparently the ability to herd university music students into graveyard shift studio sessions; but as Baby Comes Home proves, Roberts has much, much more talent and the ability to manifest his ideas into lush, infectious and very classic sounding productions. I am jealous. Sigh.

Not to further frustrate any aging, aspiring musicians, but Roberts wrapped the Baby Comes Home sessions on his twenty-first birthday. Already by this point, he had established himself in the Lawrence, KS scene with the “prog-styled indie-noir” trio Clockwork, who became the de facto opener for big-name indie-acts coming through the city. In 2002, Roberts went solo at the age of 17 (precocious is the word that comes to mind) and began to establish himself as an artistic force increasingly elaborating on a folk-pop sound. After leaving town to study at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in NYC, he returned home to begin the yearlong recording process of his debut full-length as Patrick Cleandenim. Captured to tape during graveyard shifts at the Black Lodge Recording Studio (co-owned by local favorites The Get Up Kids) with the help of an excellent rhythm section (drummer Stuart Perry and bassist Brandon McGuire) and a mini-orchestra of University of Kansas music students, Baby Comes Home is a greatly ambitious and wholly infectious debut from a young, multi-talented artist who should soon have the indie world at his beck and call.

Easily the most impressive aspect of Baby Comes Home is from the production viewpoint. Arranged with minute precision and recorded in an impeccably old-school manner, the album sounds mostly like a lost orchestra-pop gem from the very late 60s. Accompanied by his horn and string-heavy orchestra, Roberts easily conjures names like Spector or Vannier with his classic pop arrangements, but both of those still seem not quite right. With his knack for jazzy undertones, string flourishes and sassy melodies, I would almost describe it as David Axelrod producing a Bacharach-penned Bowie record. And the utilization of solely live, acoustic instrumentation definitely works wonders; it easily puts most laptop-orchestras to shame. With Roberts’ melodic alto vocals narrating over-top, it also draws comparisons to the skewed pop of acts like Sparks (the younger generation can seamlessly replace of Montreal here as well) circa the early 70s, though much less quirky and psychedelic. Really, a better vocal parallel may be that of Scott Walker especially with Roberts’ phrasing and the orchestrated backing, though much, much less guttural and menacing. Roberts’ lyrical content is the only aspect of the music that gets lost in the mix because it doesn’t really draw attention, for better or worse. It is not necessarily bland or poorly written, but just sort of generic-leaning pop content; plus, his vocal melodies are infinitely more interesting than anything he is actually saying.

All of you saddened by the early retirement of Patrick Wolf should run out and buy this record right away, though don’t expect anything nearly as flamboyant. There is definitely a similar aesthetic though with both incredibly ambitious acts exploring the confines of chamber art-pop. Roberts does a much better job of paying dues to his predecessors though, and he is definitely making a case for becoming the Bacharach of our generation, though hopefully without the incredible amount of accompanied cheese. To say Baby Comes Home is a promising solo debut is putting it lightly; this is a phenomenal debut of sheer (and somewhat already met) potential. If you are digging the retro-Spector sound bubbling up from the indie scene (see Pipettes), than do yourself a favor and check out Patrick Cleandenim. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Slayer - "Christ Illusion" (CD/DVD Reissue with Bonus Tracks)

(Ed. Note--Audiversity is very pleased to kick off this week by introducing the newest writer to our music nerdery team. The former Review Editor for Punk Planet (R.I.P.) and an expert on all things metal, deviant and sinister, Mr. Dave Hofer is here to add a little more chutzpah to our weekly content. As a near perfect introduction, Supreme Overlord Hofer is debuting with a review of what may be the quintessential metal band, Slayer. We are ecstatic to have Dave aboard as our newest Audiversitarian, and hope you will share our excitement in the further diversification of our content.)











Slayer - Black Serenade (alternate version, American 2007)

Slayer - Christ Illusion (CD/DVD Reissue with Bonus Tracks) / American

Slayer is one of those bands that only seem to release new albums so they can tour and play a handful of new songs mixed in with a high percentage of older, classic material. Summer of 2006 brought us the band's ninth studio album, Christ Illusion, and as is the norm these days, summer of 2007 delivered a reissue of the same album, but with (gasp!) bonus material! Christ Illusion is already a great thrash album that gets the job done: it placates Slayer fans until the band can come through their town and lay waste to whatever venue they're booked in.

There's really not a lot to speak of here. The Christ Illusion reissue features two bonus tracks, only one of which is previously unreleased. "Final Six," the until-now unheard song, was left off of the album due to incompletion because of bassist/vocalist Tom Araya's gall-bladder surgery. Seriously. "Black Serenade" should look familiar, because it's already on the album. This version is slightly different: some arrangement changes that make little—if any—difference unless both versions are listened to back to back.

The DVD packs a little more punch, but not a lot. First up is a five-minute "documentary" of Slayer on tour, which is little more than quickly-edited scenes of them playing live in Florida and Australia (and also some shots of them sitting on couches backstage) set to the tune of "Jihad" from Christ Illusion. The footage is cool enough, unless you've seen their live home videos Live Intrusion, Still Reigning, and War at the Warfield, or have ever listened to their double-live album, Decade of Aggression. The most clever part is a shot of a "No Crowdsurfing" sign, and then shots of people crowd-surfing anyway.

Next is the video for "Eyes of the Insane," also from Christ Illusion, which is neat and all, but I've already seen this for free numerous times after I taped it off of Headbanger's Ball onto my metal-video VHS tape. Finally is a live clip of "South of Heaven," recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, which is a teaser for Slayer's fourth live home video! Good lord. It's cool seeing the lights that project inverted crosses onto their giant backdrop and all, but enough with the live footage already.

Here's an idea: the Slayer box set sucked. It was filled with rarities I could give a shit about (a live performance of "Bloodline" from ESPN France?) Why don't you release a proper double-DVD set with a full-length documentary about life on the road with Slayer (much like any of Pantera's immensely entertaining home videos), couple it with a bonus DVD of all the Slayer videos, which are never aired on TV, and offer a deluxe version of that with a CD or two of rarities?

Here's this entire review in a nutshell: the bonus features aren't worth it if you already own Christ Illusion. The fancy cover art may be fun to look at while stoned, but the "documentary," the different version of "Black Serenade," and the live version of "South of Heaven" are good for one, maybe two spins, tops. You'll probably want to listen to "Final Six" a few times because it's a good song, but it's not spend-an-additional-15-dollars good.

Interversity: Fog

Fog mastermind Andrew Broder was nice enough to answer a few questions for this week's Interversity column. His latest release on Lex Records, Ditherer, is a hearty helping of anthemic avant-pop, and it has yet to leave my CD player since I got a hold of it a few weeks back. His answers may not be as quirky as his lyrics, but they still provide plenty of insight into the wonderfully unpredictable musical world that is Fog:



Fog - "I Have Been Wronged" - Ditherer (Lex 2007)

1. I credited the eclectic mix of styles strewn throughout Fog's avant-pop sound to your unconventional evolution as a musician, which I roughly and broadly described as "punk rocker turned acclaimed hip-hop DJ turned 4-track experimenter turned bedroom singer/songwriter turned quirky avant-rocker." Firstly, how accurate was my assessment? And, are these stylistic transitions inspired by a need to branch out and take on new challenges, out of boredom with revisiting a particular sound, or is it something completely unconscious?

I'd say that's reasonably accurate. Being the typical, whiny artist(e), I can say honestly that in the moment, I was never trying to be any of those things (except maybe the hip-hop DJ part), that I always just try to think of myself as a musician, and that I make an effort to transcend those boundaries, blah blah blah. The changes over time have been a result of all the reasons you mentioned- plus, in general, I have a tendency to mimic what I am predominantly listening to at a given time, and that changes frequently due to short-attention span.

2. Ditherer sounds to me like the most assured, accessible and anthemic Fog album to date; was it intentional to write a lot of anthem-like songs or was it more an unforeseen characteristic that arose while writing the album?

It was very intentional to write songs with a certainty to them, and more thoughtfully structured and arranged. A lot of that has to do with a) recording demos first, which I had never done before and b) recording as a unit, rather than on my own.

3. You collaborate with a number of different artists on Ditherer (including members of Dosh, Why?, Pedestrian Mount Eerie, Low and Andrew Bird); how much influence did they have in rounding out the sound on the album? Has it caused you to approach writing music in any different manner than before?

I don't know if it had an effect on the songwriting itself, but it certainly helped the songs achieve more of a universal feel to have different voices and ideas in the mix. The album is in large part an attempt to get rid of the insular feel of one-man recordings.

4. One of the most idiosyncratic and intriguing aspect of the Fog sound is the endearingly quirky lyrics; does anything in particular influence your writing style? Are the lyrics written prior to or in response to the music?

Prior to in the sense that I usually amass a bunch of different ideas, and them try them out over different musical ideas in progress and see what works. Usually, something subliminal happens where I am working on some chords or a basic phrase, and some lyrics I wrote before that will magically slide into place. There is some luck involved. In particular I have influenced lately by books, rather than song lyrics. I like writers like George Saunders and Donald Bartheleme. I also draw from the language of day to day culture whether its slang, or things you see printed on products or in advertising, or just something you overhear somebody say that sticks with you.

5. With so many stylistic influences and such an unpredictable and diverse discography, do you strive to reinvent the Fog sound with each successive album? Is it getting easier or tougher from a songwriting perspective with each record?

I guess so. We don't want to be reinventing the wheel for it's own sake, but why be a musician if not to grow and change? That's where the excitement is, at least for me. As far as getting easier or harder, I don't know. After a record is finished, I usually experience a total drought of ideas, and have to force myself to get back into writing again. By the time I do, my tastes have shifted, and I want to hear new sounds.

Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

1. What did you specifically remember listening to as a child that triggered a notable response?

Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot. Then, U2. Then, Jimi Hendrix. Then Miles Davis. Then stuff like Living Colour and Fishbone, then De La Soul, and so on up until present day... Lots of different "phases."

2. Let's say you are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you listen to?

Right now, either Panda Bear's album or Lil Wayne Drought 3.

3. Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

See above authors... Right now, I am reading a book called "Gargoyles" by Thomas Bernhard. Amazing. "Three Novellas" by him is also amazing. I don't really watch movies. The last movie I watched was the one where Harrison Ford is the president and has to save Air Force One. I believe it's called "Air Force One", and it may be the stupidest film of all time.

4. Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

Our drummer Tim has gotten me hip to lots of Black Metal, as has Aquarius Records(.org) where you can listen to samples online. There's a radio show in Mpls. called Strictly Butter that plays Minimal and Dubstep that I like quite a bit. The Wire is a good magazine to discover new stuff. Other than that, mainly friends just telling me about shit. I despise 90% of new music that I hear, particularly in the "indie" realm, but there's definitely a lot of wonderful stuff still, to seek out and is exciting.

5. What question do you get most often that you hate answering?

There's no question that I HATE answering, but I do think it's incredibly boring to talk about what label we're on, or things like that, un-related to what the music sounds like. Any question that is a re-wording of something stated on a press release.

6. Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

It's very hard to argue with how an 808 drum machine sounds.

7. The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close, what section do you head immediately towards?

Yo, it's 2007: What's a record store? What are records?

8. What is the last notable daydream you had and where did it take place?

Whew- I do a lot of that... Difficult to pick one out. I daydream about having my own professional recording studio. I guess that's the most prominent one right now.

9. What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

Yeah, perfect is a funny word, but sure, I have albums that in my mind can do no wrong: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Ask the Ages by Sonny Sharrock, Illmatic.... way way too many to mention.

10. Do you keep up with blogs? Which do you read if so?

I do, but only in the vain and desperate search for my own name, or the names of my friends. My eyes glaze over the rest.

Singleversity #21

Audiversity’s weekly column, slightly modified, on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 129.

MA:



Some Saturday mornings are meant for inspired production with no other obligations clogging up the day. Then there are Saturday mornings like today’s: hung over, unmotivated and set to help a friend move in the scalding summer heat. These are the mornings when soothing pop music comes in handy, and the first single, "Bricks", off the upcoming full-length from the U.K.’s Tunng is just the cure-all I need. Now signed to Chicago’s Thrill Jockey, studio wizard Mike Lindsay, singer/songwriter Sam Genders and company conjure a folksy, delicately buoyant brand of poptronica. A pleasant collage of irresistible male/female vocal melodies, ornate instrumentation and clever studio manipulation, Tunng is closer to the equivalent of waking in a lush pasture surrounded by playful robotic bunnies than my current futon-draped, head-pounding state.

PM:

…And some Saturday mornings you don’t even see because you stay up too late and don’t wake up until noon. Somewhere after a move-in and a recharge, that’s where The Durutti Column comes in. Still one of the most underappreciated groups in the blogosphere, The Durutti Column has been around from the time of the first incarnation of Factory Records and main man Vini Reilly took took its name from a group of Spanish anarchists in the 1930s. Their debut album was recorded by Martin Hannett (also known for his work with the Buzzcocks and Joy Division), while 1987’s The Guitar and Other Machines became the first British album to be released to DAT. Using a sequencer, drum machine, and here an “Arpeggiator,” Reilly continued to generate fresh sounds.

Erdem Helvacioğlu- "Altered Realities"

Erdem Helvacioğlu - Shadow My Dovetail (New Albion 2007)

Erdem Helvacioğlu - Altered Realities / New Albion

Turkey is a nation rich with history and tradition. From the time of Constantinople to its heyday as the center of the Ottoman Empire to its critical current placement as the literal bridge between Europe and Asia bordered by no less than eight countries, Turkey reaps massive rewards from so many cultures converging in one place. It may not always be pretty politically (especially in the east), but the opportunity for connecting people cannot be ignored.

Erdem Helvacıoğlu is a graphic demonstration of this principle. Though he initially studied engineering and electroacoustics, Helvacioğlu has also made a name for himself globally as one of the foremost modern Turkish composers. How many beyond Ilhan Mimaroglu can you name, after all? He has produced and scored for multimedia, dance, theater, film, and you might remember his name from a well-received 2004 field recording called A Walk Through the Bazaar. He's done everything from San Francisco to Seoul with his compositions, but the effects-laden acoustic works that make up Altered Realities are where the strongest of his many strengths lie.

To get a general idea of what Helvacıoğlu is all about, check out his website where he vaguely describes his blending of "the sounds of traditional Turkish instruments and contemporary versions" along with guitars and electronics. So far it sounds intriguing, but what really makes Altered Realities so spectacular (and which has already been pointed out in numerous places, but you deserve to hear it from us as well) is that these songs were recorded directly to Digital Audio Tape with absolutely no overdubs, post-processing, mixing, or editing. That Helvacıoğlu used only the sounds of his Ovation Custom Legend 1869 acoustic guitar to find the right celestial tones that permeate the record. Throw in a dash of MIDI foot controllers and some Audiomulch and you've got yourself a real thing of beauty.

The way it works is that he will strum a note or chord and then feed them through his limited arsenal of processors. Everything is done in real-time, so while he may have a TC Electronic Fireworx multi-effects processor, it's only being used when Helvacıoğlu is actually playing the instrument. And it's the only instrument on here, too.

It hardly matters. "Bridge to Horizon," the seven-minute opener, sets you in the right frame of mind with its heavenly guitars. In the middle of the high plateaus that dominate the central part of the country, out there where few tribes are willing to live, this is what Turkish moonlight sounds like. All of these songs has a pastoral feel, but album highlight "Shadow My Dovetail" hits the most striking emotional heartstrings as it evolves from a lost, wayward landscape into an almost trad-alien conclusion; there's evidence of Turkish traditional folk songs but they don't sound traditional coming through the real-time processors. The finishing track, "Ebony Remains," is a sparse, open piece dominated more by the spaces between chords than the chords themselves and is a gentle way of easing out of the album.

Separately, these songs sound like an excellent way to end a mix CD or maybe set the mood of a night out in the backyard stargazing in the company of close friends. Together, Helvacıoğlu has composed one of the best starglazed records of the year. In some ways its challenge is that it doesn't often jump out and grab you, preferring instead to play quietly and keep to itself. An unobtrusive album that rewards close listening, Altered Realities is an excellent piece of work from one of Turkey's brightest artistic stars. For a label that's best known for guys like John Cage, New Albion certainly has an ace up their sleeve in a man ideally placed to bridge brand new musical gaps every time he touches an instrument. That's worth hearing.

Okkervil River - "The Stage Names"

Okkervil River - Savannah Smiles (Jagjaguwar 2007)

Okkervil River - The Stage Names / Jagjaguwar

Well, it's nearly time for Austin's Okkervil River to drop what might be the most important album in the band's sizable career. After all, this is a group that perennially fought as the neglected underdog until 2005's Black Sheep Boy rolled around and suddenly everyone was jumping on them faster than a whore with four kids to feed.

What was it about that album that people loved so much and somehow didn't see in their three previous records (2000's Stars Too Small to Use, 2002's Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See, and 2003's Down the River of Golden Dreams)? That's a pretty hefty discography for so many people to supposedly not notice. But then it's like, oh right, Will Sheff is playing in the same ballpark as Win Butler.

Except Sheff is operating on another level from Win Butler. Okkervil River describe themselves as "folk-punk rock" on their website, and for a time they were good at that, but with The Stage Names I'm thinking less folk-punk and more alt-country this time around. Actually, what was Bright Eyes? There's a lot of that in here too.

Really though, listen to "A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene." Somewhere a kid just caught a fever in the mirror listening to all those handclaps and happy-go-whiskey choruses, not that it has to mean that's such a bad thing. Sheff's vocals are less trembly, less erratic, and ultimately less annoying than any Conor Oberst vocals could ever be. They're also way more polished here than they've ever been before. In that respect, I guess he's not so far from Win Butler after all.

He's also ditched the female backing vocals that could be found in past releases. In some places, they would be a little helpful as added texture to a track as straightforwardly male-backed as "Plus Ones." But this is an internal debate of mine; the best part of The Stage Names is its quieter tracks. Their out-and-out rockers are enjoyable and opener "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" is one of the best songs on the record. There is, however, a stretch of songs from "Savannah Smiles" to "A Girl in Port" that stands as one of the best mid-album runs this year. Each of these songs has an excellent dynamic, spot-on lyrics (which have not grown any lazier with this release, thankfully), and a penchant for distinctive instruments like bells and tasteful slide guitar. That's the Okkervil River that made its name so dramatically two years ago. Or was it nine? Point is, the group are at their best here when they're playing to quiet strengths rather than string- or horn-induced hysteria.

In short, Okkervil River have gone the way of The Arcade Fire rather than Lucero, but they've done it on a different, much more interesting scale. I wouldn't go so far as to say that The Stage Names is their Neon Bible because this isn't quite as boring or as tidy; the band may have recruited Spoon's Jim Eno for the recordings, but it looks like their long-time engineer and producer Brian Beattie has done more than his fair share to keep things honest.

Sheff intended to make this the band's "modern" record, and they've succeeded. This sounds like an updated version of the band we once knew, but now that it's done, why press any further forward? The Southern Gothic influences of previous releases are just as intriguing and Okkervil River are at their best when they're shaking their head and looking at the ground rather than shaking their head and looking skyward. The Stage Names is worth the price you pay, but where they go from mere may yet be the most intriguing development in the ever-growing history of this group. Alternately, it may yet be their most boring development. Stay tuned.

Eric Copeland - "Hermaphrodite"

Eric Copeland - Tree Aliens (Paw Tracks 2007)

Eric Copeland - Hermaphrodite / Paw Tracks

It took a long time for me to warm up to Black Dice, but once I finally understood that the noise was an end unto itself rather than a means to something "greater" à la post-rock, I began to appreciate what they were doing more. I appreciated their hardcore background, and how by some miracle that eventually led to Beaches & Canyons and an EP I used to loathe in Miles of Smiles and Broken Ear Record and all these other challenging musical experiments I'm still really getting familiar with.

It's an inevitable intro, but speaking of Hermaphrodite without the context of Eric Copeland's day job is less impossible and more necessary as a frame of reference for the experiments he proffers here. Somewhere between the primordial muck of Terrestrial Tones and the ever-evolving terrain of the Black Dice sound, Copeland has made his first full-length.

Interestingly, it isn't so far removed from Person Pitch that namedropping Panda Bear's album here is a stretch. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that, you know, it's Paw Tracks and everybody on the label hangs out with one another and their sounds rub off into one big noisy happy freak-folk party and all that. Part of it can also be attributed to the fact that Hermaphrodite rarely sounds menacing or even resigned and contemplative. Like Person Pitch, it's fun imagining what Black Dice would sound like if only brother Bjorn Copeland and Aaron Warren were there to do the noodling. There's a lot less inward meditation than on Black Dice records, and this ebullience (in its own way, of course) exemplified during tracks like "Green Burrito" marks a significant departure in tone.

Of course, there's a strong possibility that I'm totally wrong and that Hermaphrodite is really just a preview of what lies ahead. Are these castaways for something else? Are they mere millimeters of smiles and nothing more? Each of these dozen songs does its best to carve out a unique aural angle in the repetition of ideas. Each evolves in its own way, but never does it evolve too far or stray from where it starts; "Scumpipe" is an excellent example of this, all frayed electronic wires and barely-there beats. Same thing with the faded-in siren stuttering of "Dinca." It's frightening, but the melody looped underneath it adds a funhouse feel to what would otherwise be a song full of fear in a way that blurs the line between seriously macabre and humorously macabre. Here, it is easy to tell the difference.

The press page for this record explains that, "Like a good mix tape, Hermaphrodite flips the listener with each new song, engaging them to keep up, make the connections, and, ultimately, enjoy." Yes, ultimately we should be enjoying Hermaphrodite not for the reasons that, well, he's in Black Dice and he's on Paw Tracks. We should be enjoying this for its twisted human voices and its squishy bubbles in the waters of "Wash Up" and Southern folk sing-a-long-gone-awry "Spacehead" and African carnival "La Booly Boo" and every other sonic snippet puréed into the mix. There may be a new 'Dice record coming in October, and I'll be excited to hear how it sounds... But for now, Hermaphrodite showcases the solo talents of one of that band's creative forces. Long may it linger.

DJ 2Tall Presents Dudley Perkins & Georgia Anne Muldrow - "Beautiful Mindz"

DJ 2Tall, Dudley Perkins & Georgia Anne Muldrow - A Beautiful Mind (Eclectic Breaks/Amalgam Digital 2007)

DJ 2Tall Presents Dudley Perkins & Georgia Anne Muldrow – Beautiful Mindz / Eclectic Breaks/Amalgam Digital

The partnership between Dudley “Declaime” Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow was inevitable. Both blossoming Stones Throw artists in early 2006, the infectious and warbling oddball crooner/rapper Perkins and the multi-talented soul-dripping songstress Muldrow, though maybe miles apart on paper, share a similar aesthetic when approaching their personal takes on music. An afro-strutting hybrid of rap, soul, funk and jazz, the pair head down the future-funk road (Sa-Ra, Platinum Pied Pipers, etc) but veer off just before losing track of that mind-blowing era in the very early 70s when butter funk and increasingly experimental spiritual jazz lived in harmony. In fact, it’s a sound I dig so much, that I devoted Audiveristy post 004 to it. My mini-essay tackled both of their then-new albums, Perkins’ Expressions (2012 A.U.) and Muldrow’s Worthnothings EP (both on Stones Throw), drew comparisons between the two similar-minded acts, and pondered on the new style they were concocting. It is incredibly fitting that since then the pair have been collaborating on an increasingly frequent basis; and they have not only released this album, Beautiful Mindz with producer/DJ 2Tall leading the way, but have another one on the horizon, The Message Uni Versa, due out September 25th on Look Records.

Though both Perkins and Muldrow have proved themselves able beat-makers in their own right with prior releases, they are limited to vocal duties on Beautiful Mindz, letting turntablist extraordinaire turned producer DJ 2Tall provide the music. A member of the UK DMC 2003 Team Championship-winning Truesicians, Jim Coles had quite the daunting task of providing effective backing tracks for the eclectic vocalists to elaborate over, and for the most part, he comes through. His production method is not too far from Muldrow’s actually, and can be paralleled to cats that bridge earthy jazz elements with futuristic synth bounces like Jneiro Jarel but without the quirky syncopations. Since Perkins already sing-raps with wavering, unpredictable verse structures and Muldrow emotively yelps with June Tyson-like vocal chops, a sturdy rhythm is pretty essential to keeping the tracks from completely toppling and Coles delivers. Though the simple drum machine rhythms rarely inspire awe, he does a great job of coloring each track with an eclectic array of samples from free jazz cellos to future-funk synths to wispy flutes. He hasn’t quite carved out an idiosyncratic style, but he is certainly heading in the right direction.

For the most part, Beautiful Mindz doesn’t quite live up to the solo projects of the artists involved, but it doesn’t really disappoint either. In a manner of speaking, it’s predictable, but only because Perkins and Muldrow don’t reach out beyond the quirky, soulful styles they have established. Perkins rants and pleads and coos for social, environmental and idealistic change using his rarely closed Parliament thesaurus, while Muldrow sounds especially restrained and, for the most part, only utilizing her incredible vocal cords for adlibs and depth. She excels during her only solo track, “Ain’t That Strange,” but lacks some of the urgency she’s displayed on previous releases. When both vocalists join forces though, typically with Muldrow supporting Perkins’ rants, the album shines. “A Beautiful Mind” is the prime example of this: a simple beat supported with electric piano chords and a delicate flute melody back first Perkins’ most focused verse on the album before Muldrow belts, chirps, chants and croons soulful adlibs and an all-too-brief bridge. “U R” also heads in this direction, but never really solidifies as a song instead settling as an excellent deep synth and handclap beat with a decent vocal hook. I also really dig “Messagez” where 2Tall finally steps out from solely the producer chair and provides some of his award-winning turntable skills, an element he should have taken advantage of much more.

Beautiful Mindz is a solid and interesting album with all three of the artists involved supplying their evolving crafts to one intriguing sound, but for some reason I want more. DJ 2Tall shows infinite promise with his backing tracks, but he sounds like a producer still discovering his own personal style. I could also say the same thing about Georgia Anne Muldrow, but she is definitely farther along with an amazing voice that continues to blow my mind (and she is still in her early 20s!). But Dudley Perkins on the other hand sounds like he is peaking with both his delivery and lyrical content. Not that this should be considered his apex, but along with Expressions (2012 A.U.), he is definitely fulfilling the creative promise he displayed on A Lil’ Light. I hope to hear from DJ 2Tall again, and would definitely be interested to hear him working with different emcees to help compare and contrast. And I will definitely be snatching the The Message Uni Versa when it drops, because this is a duo existing on a completely different level then most of the known musical universe, and I want to experience that myself.

In Gowan Ring - "This is a Spiral"

In Gowan Ring - Beat of the Moon (Clear Spot 2007)

In Gowan Ring - This is a Spiral / Clear Spot

I first heard In Gowan Ring alone in the middle of a night with a full moon. The indelible impression This is a Spiral has left on me may never be equaled, but if it isn't then there's a good reason and the reason is the music. If all albums were so simple to describe, music critique (or even discovery) would be not only monotonous but redundant. In that sense, it's nice to have records that demand critical analysis and repeat listens... But this isn't one of them. This is a Spiral is an immediate recording, but it's less about scales or lyrical adroitness and more about impressionism, a walk through your local Renaissance Festival after the families have gone home and the jousters have retired for the night.

In some ways, I feel it's better not to know anything about In Gowan Ring when you listen to this (or any other) release. Something about its fragile intimacy incorporates an innate sense of medieval mystery, and you'll see what I mean when you play this 10" all the way through on both sides.

But since this is a blog and you don't just come here for the songs (I hope), there's no harm in telling you everything I know about In Gowan Ring. In short: Not much. The "band," if it can be called that, is the nom de plume of a man they call B'eirth (or Bee to his friends). There are a revolving cast of characters to the collective, but the only constant is the voice behind these six songs. And what delicately wonderful songs they are: "Beat of the Moon" is the kind of song you can listen to during the day and not feel the same thing as when it's late at night and only the moon knows what you're really thinking. It has to be the pan flute, which is so tastefully placed throughout this mini-album that it is not only impossible to ignore but genuinely revelatory to hear. Hell, the whole A-side is killer: "On the Straglin' Way" and "Morning's Waking Dream" are not dissimilar, and when you reach Side B "The Seer and the Seen" is there to pick you up and carry you, quiet acoustic strumming and pan flute meandering, right through to the hippie-esque "Dandelion Wine." It's like something straight out of either 1968 or 1168. The fluidity of these songs is remarkable.

Fluidity as remarkable is a bit suspicious when it comes to acoustic-based acts, I know. But I say that because this recording is the first of a special series with a running theme: It is recorded live. Alkmaar, Netherlands-based Clear Spot International are better known for their distribution, but In Gowan Ring are kicking off the first in a series of 10" vinyl plates commemorating Berry Kamer and his excellent radio program "Dwars" on another Netherlands-based operation, radio station VPRO. Interesting digression: "Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep" was what VPRO stood for, which translates to "Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting Company." Though it was founded in 1926, the actual meaning of the acronym was dropped in the 1960s and nowadays VPRO operates sort of like the BBC in that it's got radio and television stations.

When This is a Spiral was recorded in June of 2003, there's no way B'eirth could've known he would be the inaugural release for the "Dwars" series, but fast forward four years and here we are with a fantastic bit of vinyl that is sadly limited to 500 copies. It's been out a while now but hopefully this will be the kick in the pants you need to pick this up.

I post this late because I want you to feel the same effect I felt; if you're in another timezone and cannot relate or read this much later, I'm sorry. I've failed you. In Gowan Ring hasn't, and his massive back catalog suggests as much. Should this be sold out by the time you fetch it or maybe you just aren't up for a 10", seek something else of his out. And try to play it on a night when the kids are away to bed, the moon is out, and thoughts of "Jane and the Dragon" are far, far away.

Paper - "As As"

Paper - Cloudy, Cloudy, Cloudy (States Rights 2007)

Paper - As As / States Rights

A change of pace as we crawl sweating profusely into this month of August. It's always a tough time of year mandhandling this heat; for those of you reading this from your outpost in Antarctica, know that the sun is overrated. In fact, a year ago today Michael wrote something to the very same effect, and "Dream Evokers" vividly describes what happens when you're stuck listening to psychedelia without AC. The dreams are awesome but the frequent awakenings in the middle of the night are hell.

A suggestion: Try Paper. Don't chew it. Don't tape it to your eyes. Don't draw air conditioning units on it and pretend you feel colder. Listen to it instead. The Paper we present here today is two pieces thick: Aaron and Adrienne Snow, who are married and as of May happily have a daughter to their credit in addition to this wonderful album, As As. Actually, no, scratch that. I'm making young Elise sound like a commodity, so I take it back. A daughter is far more important than any musical endeavor, but what I mean to say is that the heat is getting to me and As As is helping me cope.

The Connecticut duo have conjured up the perfect album both for blissed-out sunbombed days and streetlight-driven after-the-parties. This is a great nine-song album and at last my desire to never miss another album again (courtesy Fog) has paid off. Though my mind might be melting because of the relentless sun, family Snow are there to guide me with dreamy space-pop. It's not the first time they've indulged in musical pleasantries: the Snows were also in Landing (mainly), White Rainbow and Surface of Eceon to name three. You may also know States Rights from the tremendous success YACHT has had recently.

In some ways, you could liken this to Asobi Seksu's Citrus last year: An album that arrived with little fanfare but revealed layer after layer of sound with every new listen. That's how As As works, too: "Love" starts off with the feeling of a science special you watched in middle school, but its airy dynamics and tonal steadiness allow for you to breathe a little. Citrus had many moments of density, but this song (like the album) is full of space. The synths don't hurt, and vocals are used sparingly. Aaron does bit singing on "Love," for example, but this never dominates the mix. The music is the star here, and rightfully so. One listen to the kraut-flower jig "Underground" and you'll see why. That sun never felt so fine melting your face off, now did it?

Adrienne holds up her end of the bargain on "Cloudy, Cloudy, Cloudy," another of the album's best songs (which is ironic given how we started this post out). The switch between instrumental and vocal tracks is hardly noticeable, but it's also negligible: The sound of Paper is so fully formed at this point that the difference between ring-riding around Saturn with a voice to guide you and ring-riding around without is marginal at best. It's a lot like Telepathe without overt dance overtures. The sound, the feel of this record as a whole, that's what matters. That's why it's here.

So let the sun come. Let it come closer than its 93 million miles (or whatever it is now). Let it burn away the morning mist and scorch my dark brown hair and sizzle my eggs on the tarmac. As As is the only argument I need for Paper beating Giant Burning Ball of Gas. Come on, kid. Best two out of three.

Radio Show Playlist: 8/1/07

6a:
1. Nico - You Forgot to Answer - The End (Island 1974)
2. St. Vincent - Paris is Burning - Marry Me (Beggars Banquet 2007)
3. Tiny Vipers - On This Side - Hands Across the Void (Sub Pop 2007)
4. Helios - The Obeisant Vine - Ayres (Type 2007)
5. A Perfect Friend - Welcome Aboard - A Perfect Friend (Stilll 2007)
6. One Second Bridge - Keep on Falling - One Second Bridge (Buro 2006)
7. Githead - Rotterdam - Art Pop (Swim 2007)
8. Tunng - Bricks (Edit) - Good Arrows (Thrill Jockey 2007)
9. Broadcast - Man is Not a Bird - Haha Sound (WARP 2003)
10. Caribou - Melody Day - Melody Day EP (Merge 2007)

7a:
1. Madlib - Where Do I Go - The Now Sound Redesigned (Light in the Attic 2005)
2. Koushik - Too Much Tenderness - Now-Again Re:Sounds (Now Again 2007)
3. Fog - I Have Been Wronged - Ditherer (Lex 2007)
4. Thee More Shallows - Oh Yes, Another Mother - Book of Bad Breaks (Anticon 2007)
5. Coach Fingers - A Pine Bush Fantasy - With Friends and Family (Locust 2006)
6. Clinic - Harvest (within you) - Visitations (Domino 2006)
7. Pumice - Greenock - Pebbles (Soft Abuse 2007)
8. Lichens - Vevor of Agassou - Omns (Kranky 2007)
9. Sir Richard Bishop - Provence Unknown - Improvika (Locust 2004)
10. The World on Higher Downs - Two Aged Windows - Land Patterns (Plop 2007)
11. Rainstick Orchestra - Electric Counterpoint Fast - The Floating Glass Key in the Sky (Ninja Tune 2004)

8a:
1. Artanker Convoy - Geyser - Cozy Endings (Social Registry 2007)
2. The Jahari Massamba Unit - Umoja (Unity) - Prepare for a New Yesterday (Vol. 1) (Stones Throw 2007)
3. Cannonball Adderley - Leo - Soul Zodiac (Capitol 1972)
4. Josh Abrams - Background Beneath - Cipher (Delmark 2003)
5. Copperpot - WYLA? feat. Prince Po - WYLA? (What're You Looking At?) (EV Productions 2007)
6. El Michels Affair - PJs feat. Raekwon - The PJs...From Afar (Truth and Soul 2007)
7. Shape of Broad Minds - Let's Go feat. MF Doom - Blue Experience EP (Lex 2007)
8. MF Doom - Rapp Snitch Knishes feat. Mr. Fantastik - MM..Food (Rhymesayers 2004/07)
9. Danger Mouse & Jemini - What U Sittin On? DM's 26" Remix feat. Cee-Lo and Tha Alkoholics - Twenty Six Inch EP (Lex 2004)
10. Sagan Jagmohan - Meri Akahon Mein - Sitar Beat Vol. 1 (Guerrilla Reissues 20??, recorded 197?)
11. Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta - Ananda Shakar and His Music (Fallout 1975)