DARK CAPTAIN LIGHT CAPTAIN
Remix EP
LOAF31D
LOAF/Lo Recordings 2009
05 Tracks. 27mins19secs

Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat

One of the revelations of last year, on the back of a beautifully crafted album, Miracle Kicker, a couple of EPs and a pretty extensive tour which has taken them on both sides of the Atlantic, London-based Dark Captain Light Captain have handed some of their most emblematic tracks to a handful of well-wishers, giving them free reigns to do whatever they pleased with them. Achieving the impossible, the resulting remixes manage to radically interpret the chosen songs while retaining the essence of both the band and the album. Continue Reading »

SUSANNA AND THE MAGICAL ORCHESTRA
3
RCD2090
Rune Grammofon 2009
10 Tracks. 47mins02secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat LP: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat Download: Amazon US | iTunes

The first noticeable thing about the latest opus from Norwegian duo Susanna And The Magical Orchestra is the bright, colourful image which ornates its cover, replacing the bleak funeral pictures created by Kim Hiorthøy for their two previous albums and the similar ones he did for Susanna Wallumrød’s two solo records. This is however not the most significant change. Indeed, while the pair’s first two albums, List Of Lights And Buoys (2004) and Melody Mountain (2006) made use of little else than sombre pianos and discreet electronics, Susanna Wallumrød and Morten Qvenild have opted here for a much bolder and richer sound, and have invited a host of contributors, including Susanna’s partner Helge Sten, who, beside co-producing the album, also plays guitars on a handful of tracks, while Mariam Wallentin, of Wildbirds & Peacedrums fame, and Wallumrød’s drummer brother Fredrik, both provide additional vocals along the way, Jaga Jazzist’s Andreas Mjøs adds vibraphone on Game and Erland Dahlen, drummer with Norwegian rock formation Madrugada, can be heard on drums and percussions on two tracks. Continue Reading »

TOMMI BASS
Gamma
RN022
Rednetic Recordings 2009
08 Tracks. 61mins45secs

CD: Smallfish Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | iTunes

It has been three years since London-born Tommi Bass dropped his first bombshell on Rednetic. The album, Tommi Lab Vol. 1, was followed by a second volume, released as a digital format on Rednetic’s sister net label Redose in 2007. Since, he has moved lock, stock and barrels to Berlin and spent time developing a blend of minimal techno much more in tune with the German capital than with its British counterpart.

Marking Tommi Bass’s return to Rednetic after a stint on Minimal People, Gamma showcases a much sharper and focussed sound than on his previous outings for the label, in line with his recent Purple Phaaze and Alfa Series releases. Continue Reading »

LUIGI ARCHETTI/BO WIGET
Low Tide Digitals III
RCD2087
Rune Grammofon 2009
14 Tracks. 68mins18secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | iTunes

For the third time in eight years, guitarist Luigi Archetti and cellist Bo Wiget have joined forces for the time of an album, continuing their sonic explorations at the confines of modern classical, experimental jazz and minimal electronic, following Low Tide Digitals I and II, published in 2001 and 2005 respectively, already on Rune Grammofon. Continue Reading »

THE ORB
Baghdad Batteries: Orbsessions Vol. 3 – An Illustrated Handbook With Stereo Sound
MD645
Malicious Damage 2009
11 Tracks. 53mins33secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | iTunes | Boomkat

Always a fluid project, The Orb, led by former Killing Joke roadie Alex Paterson, has gone through many incarnations over the years. Twenty years on from the seminal A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld EP, The Orb are a pretty steady presence on the electronic stage, and has shown no sign of slowing down, the stream of releases remaining pretty constant through the last two decades. The band was however victim of a steady decline during the late nineties and early noughties, culminating with the somewhat lacklustre Cydonia and Bicycles And Tricycles albums. Since, Paterson and long term collaborator Thomas Fehlmann have injected some new life as The Orb joined for a moment the excellent Kompakt imprint and released a handful of EPs, followed by the excellent Okie Dokie, It’s The Orb On Kompakt album in 2005, while Malicious Damage released the first in a program of releases. Continue Reading »

MÚM
Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know
MORR092
Morr Music 2009
12 Tracks. 49mins10secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat LP: Amazon UK | Boomkat Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat

Things have changed quite drastically since Múm landed on TMT Entertainment in 2001 with the hugely poetic and overly electronic Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is OK album, and the remix album that followed. The band was formed by Gunnar Örn Tynes, Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason toward the end of the nineties, and shortly after, twin sisters Kristín Anna and Gyða Valtýsdóttir joined them. Since, the band has gone through many changes. In 2002, Gyða left, followed a couple of years later by Kristín, leaving Tynes and Smárason to head a constantly changing line up, until the current one came together to record  Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy, released on Fat-Cat in 2007. The album signalled quite a radical shift in musical direction as Múm appeared to leave their delicate electronic textures behind in favour of a much more acoustic sound, not that far apart from the magical kingdom of Danish ensemble Efterklang. Continue Reading »

A stone throw from the sprawling Olympic building site, Dalston is the home of Café Oto, the venue chosen by Icarus for the London leg of their current tour, coinciding with the release of Sylt Remixes. For the event, they had invited experimental laptop sound artist Yee-King, electronic story tellers Isan and the Glass Shrimp DJ to complete the bill. Continue Reading »

VLADISLAV DELAY
Tummaa
BAY72
The Leaf Label 2009
07 Tracks. 66mins03secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat LP: Amazon UK | Boomkat

In over ten years, Finnish dub master Sasu Ripatti has, under the Vladislav Delay banner, created one of the most consistent body of work on the electronic scene, releasing music on labels such as Mille Plateaux, Chain Reaction, Staubgold or his own, Huume. In recent years, Ripatti’s increasing involvement with other projects has slowed down the flow of releases of his flagship project, the last Delay album, Whistleblower, dating back to 2007. Having joined the ranks of The Leaf Label, Ripatti is back with his most ambitious record to date.

With Tummaa, Ripatti has taken a rather different path, ditching the electronic overcoat of previous work and replacing it with acoustic instruments and has, for the first time, brought on board two additional musicians to bring his haunting soundscapes and beats to life. Continue Reading »

OCHRE
Like Dust Of The Balance
BEN048
Benbecula Records 2009
10 Tracks. 47mins52secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US

Hailing from Newcastle, Chris Leary has been distilling his fine melodic electronica with parsimony over the years. While he first began making a name for himself after winning a remix competition held by Global Goon back in 2002, his first album, A Midsummer Nice Dream, was published two years later on London’s recently resurrected Toytronic. After the demise of the label that same year, Orchre reappeared on Scotland’s Benbecula in 2006 with his second album, Lemodie, on which Leary combined electronic and acoustic into a particularly ambitious soundtrack. Since, he has worked on an installation for the AV Festival in Newcastle, and has released two further EPs.

The fruit of three years of recordings, Like Dust Of The Balance represents a considerable progression from Lemodie. While Leary continues to explore the possibilities of bringing electronic and acoustic instrumentation together, there is on this album, even more so than on its predecessor, a great symbiosis of sound and ambience. Continue Reading »

SQUAREPUSHER
Solo Electric Bass 1
WARP174
Warp Records 2009
12 Tracks. 39mins20secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | iTunes

Ever since he first appeared on the electronic scene in the mid nineties, Tom Jenkinson has injected his sound with great big slabs of live electric bass, yet this has, until now, been quite secondary in his work. Indeed, it has, at times, been buried deep down beneath crashing drums and lively acid squelches, while, at others it bubbled just below the surface, injecting healthy doses of jazz in his otherwise manic drill’n’bass. This was perhaps never truer than on his 1998 album Music Has Rotted One Note, on which he favoured for a moment a more acoustic approach, but the bass, Jenkinson’s instrument of predilection, has overall remained somewhat in the background, only gaining more attention in a live context. Continue Reading »

STEPHAN MATHIEU + TAYLOR DEUPREE
Transcriptions
KK019
Spekk 2009
08 Tracks. 48mins53secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat Download: Boomkat

Neither Stephan Mathieu nor Taylor Deupree need any introduction, so extensive and emblematic their respective work is. While both are serial collaborative workers, this is the first time they have brought their sound worlds together and collaborated on a common project, quite a surprising fact if considered that they are united not only by a similar passion for sound, but also by a common interest in graphic design and photography.

The starting point of this project is Mathieu’s use of wax cylinders, an ancestor of the vinyl record, and 78s, playing the cylinders through two portable gramophones and recording them straight on the computer via a microphone, processing the recordings in real time. From there on, Deupree added guitar textures and old synthesizers to give the original sound sources a warmer glow. Continue Reading »

Finnish artist Sasu Ripatti returns with his latest album as Vladislav Delay, his most emblematic project, and this time, it is a primarily acoustic record. Recorded with British composer Craig Armstrong and Argentinean musician Lucio Capece, Tummaa is opening up a new chapter in Ripatti’s work. We take this opportunity to ask the man about the new direction with this project, his return to drumming and his other projects, including working with Jake Shears on his last Luomo album and his part in the Moritz Von Oswald Trio project. Continue Reading »