With their two previous compilations, Peacefrog’s
sister label Agenda have started to draw a comprehensive
picture of the current leftfield music scene. While
Documenta Vol. 1 focused on electronica, with
tracks from German funksters Funkstörung, Phoenecia,
Arovane, To Rococo Rot, Isan
and many more, the second volume was dedicated to post
rock and cross over electronic, including tracks by
The American Analogue Set, The Notwist, Savath &
Savalas, Labraford and Tarwater.
The two latest releases in this constantly excellent
collection focus entirely on Hip-Hop. As the vast majority
of rap stars concentrate on improving their bank balance,
forgetting in the process what made them turn to music
in the first place, a rebellious tribe is fast becoming
the future of the genre. With the current explosion
of the west coast scene, lead by the infamous Anticon
collective, home of some of the most interesting artists
of the moment (Dose
One, Daedelus, Why?, Boom
Bip), it is not a big surprise to see that the compilers
couldn’t fit everything on one album. With contributions
from some of the biggest and most creative names of
the Hip-Hop scene today, including Cannibal Ox, Antipop
Consortium, cLOUDDEAD,
Boom Bip
or Mike Ladd to name but a few, these compilations will
satisfy the die-hard fans of the most progressive side
of the movement. It is difficult to isolate one moment
on these two records which defines more than any other
the creative renewal forced on the very cosy Hip-Hop
world. Returning to the poetic tournaments of the early
days and bringing new sounds, largely brought from the
electronic scene, the artists’ work included here
present a complex and fascinating fusion of styles likely
to appeal to a much more demanding audience than even
your typical Jay-Z or Ja Rule album.
Born in 1997 from the necessity to split the work produced
on the excellent Belgian label Sub Rosa, Quatermass
focuses mostly on electronic releases, while Sub Rosa
retained the more experimental side of its business.
Responsible for a variety of projects, including work
from Freeform,
Bisk, Benge,
Bill Laswell, Gez Varley, as well as an extensive program
of compilations, the label has become one of the references
in electronic music, very often producing rather difficult
work and giving artists the opportunity to explore sonic
realms sometimes miles apart from their traditional
work. The welcome arrival of the Quatermix
compilation acts as a proper label sampler. As its name
implies, this fifteen track compilation presents a non-stop
mix of some of the best moments of the label, including
David Morley’s Legend, lifted from Personal
Settings 2, a collaboration between Morley, Gez
Varley and Norden, the beautiful Lane (Lena),
To Rococo Rot’s Glass.main, BNG’s
early electronica trip Shortcut Latino Fevered,
reminiscent of LFO’s
Frequencies, or Andrea Parker’s dark
and beautiful The Swamp, taken from the Dark
Ages EP. This compilation has for purpose to present
a snapshot of the label’s releases so far and
gives an idea of the vision of the people responsible
for putting these records out.
Exploring more common soundscapes than Quatermix,
Adhesive Records’s Left Bank compilation
mostly presents a selection of work by new comers, together
with a few already established musicians, including
Hrvatski.
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the label is a recent
addition to the electronic scene. The sonic scope of
the fifteen tracks included on this first compilation
from the label ranges from dense electro to dreamy Boards
Of Canada-like melodic electronica to hip-hop flavoured
atmospheric pieces. If this compilation doesn’t
bring anything new to the genre, it remains a very interesting
collection of varied interpretation of the electronic
concept. The majority of the tracks included remain
on the chilled side, with most artists reflecting on
the more melodic end of the spectrum.
The project leading to the release of Soundtoy
is a much more interesting affair all together. Developed
by digital art graphic Studio Tonne, the Soundtoy was
made available on the Bip-Hop web site a while ago.
Designed as an interactive feature the software allows
the user to interact with a visual interface and arrange
a variety of sonic elements together. Paul Farrington,
who designed the software, invited three worldwide known
musicians to use Soundtoy and experiment with it, and
collated their work, as well as his on this brilliant
CD. Taking part to this project are Håkan Libdo,
who is responsible for over a hundred releases on labels
as different as Mille Plateaux, Skam or Fragile, Scanner,
with whom Farrington worked on a series of audio-visual
displays, resulting in Sound
Polaroids, also released on Bip-Hop, and Sprawl
head of label and Si-Cut.Db man Douglas Benford. These
artists were encouraged to use up to twelve of their
own samples which, once loaded onto the software, would
be used by moving coloured squares on the screen. Considering
that all eight tracks were created by following a same
process, the compositions proves to be incredibly versatile
and diverse. If all tracks explore very laidback and
atmospheric realms, each artist’s work reflects
on their compositions. The CD also include a CD-R section
which contains the Soundtoy and all the sound elements
used on this record, giving the listener the possibility
to create their own music, or create your own mix, adding
to the interactive experience. The software is very
intuitive to use, even for people who are not used to
making music on a computer. This collection of tracks
is set to be followed by more soon…
V/A: Documenta Vol. 3/Vol. 3.1 4.6/5
V/A: Quatermix 4.4/5
V/A: Adhesive Records Presents Left Bank 3.9/5
V/A: Tonne Soundtoy Vol. 1 4.8/5
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