Archive for May, 2010

GAGARIN: Adaptogen Remixes 1/Adaptogen Remixes 2 (Geo Records)

themilkman on May 27th 2010 01:21 am

Gagarin: Adaptogen Remixes 1 Gagarin: Adaptogen Remixes 2

GAGARIN
Adaptogen Remixes 1
GEO015
Geo Records 2010
03 Tracks. 13mins46secs
Format: Digital

GAGARIN
Agaptogen Remixes 2
GEO016
Geo Records 2010
03 Tracks. 21mins22secs
Format: Digital

Remixes 1: Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD iTunes: DLD
Remixes 2: iTunes: DLD

Gagarin’s Graham Dowdall is a man who has turned ‘having fingers in many pies’ into an art form. From early stints as member of Manchester’s Ludus in the early eighties and collaborator with legendary sixties muse Nico to more recent involvements with Pere Ubu and his most recent incarnation, as one third of electro-pop combo Raf & O, he has been part of many movements and instrumental to many artists and acts. With Gagarin, it is electronica in rugged atmospheric forms that Dowball has been investigating over the course of four albums and numerous EPs released on his own Geo imprint since 1996.

Following the release of Adaptogen last year come these two EPs of remixes, with contributions from Youth, Robert Logan, Mark ‘Rothko’ Beazley, Moyza, Hybernation and Gagarin himself. Continue Reading »

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LAURA GIBSON & ETHAN ROSE: Bridge Carols (Baskaru)

themilkman on May 22nd 2010 12:20 am

Laura Gibson & Ethan Rose: Bridge Carols

LAURA GIBSON & ETHAN ROSE
Bridge Carols
KARU17
Bakaru 2010
09 Tracks. 34mins49secs

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

Coming from very different horizons, Laura Gibson and Ethan Rose meet on Bridge Carols to combine their personal worlds into something entirely new. Both hailing from Portland, Oregon, the pair began working together following a chance encounter, experimenting with the dynamic that started to take shape as they got more familiar with each other. Gibson, a folk singer and guitarist (she plays on a nylon string guitar we are repeatedly told), first appeared with an EP released on Hush Records in 2003, but it took another four years before she published her first album, If You Come To Greet Me. Her second, Beasts Of Season, came out last year and received praises from the press and public alike. Rose’s work is largely based on his keen interest for old technologies and how he can use them to create something contemporary and fresh. He has released a number of albums, his latest, Oaks, last year, already on Baskaru, and has also worked on a number of sound installations and film scores.

This collaboration has grown organically as Gibson and Rose got accustomed to the creative space they occupied together. Continue Reading »

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RENE HELL: Porcelain Opera (Type Recordings)

themilkman on May 20th 2010 01:22 am

Rene Hell: Porcelain Opera

RENE HELL
Porcelain Opera
TYPE077
Type Recordings 2010
06 Tracks. 33mins58secs

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

Sanctity and sleaze. That’s what seems to advertise the cover of Jeff Witscher’s latest venture, and in a way, it is what he delivers as he swaps the realm of noise which constitutes the bulk of his work for sparse synthetic textures and soundscapes reminiscent of Cluster and Harmonia on one side, and of early Tangerine Dream on the other. But, while he could easily be associated with the wave of Kosmische-obsessed acts that are currently pushing electronic music back onto its natural experimental track, Witscher’s take on the genre is distinctively modern, somehow bridging the gap between the German pioneers of the seventies, BBC Radiophonic Workshop oddities and the ambient electronica that has been in a constant mutating process over the last twenty years. Continue Reading »

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ESPEN ERIKSEN TRIO: You Had Me At Goodbye (Rune Grammofon)

themilkman on May 19th 2010 12:38 am

Espen Eriksen Trio: You Had Me At Goodbye

ESPEN ERIKSEN TRIO
You Had Me At Goodbye
RCD2096
Rune Grammofon 2010
08 Tracks. 37mins30secs

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

This debut album from Espen Eriksen Trio is something of a rarity on Rune Grammofon; a record so smooth, gentle and beautifully melodic that it breaks with the label’s experimental tradition to open up towards very different grounds. Led by pianist Espen Eriksen, who, beside playing with some of the best Scandinavian jazz artists, including Mats Eilertsen and Thomas Strønen, has also over the years dabbled in pop music, the ensemble also comprises bassist Lars Tormod Jenset, who is also a member of swing trio Hot N Spicy and experimental jazz/folk ensemble Rodent, and drummer Andreas Bye, who regularly plays with the likes of HÃ¥kon Kornstad, Joshua Redman, Nils Petter Molvær or John Scofield, and was once a member of Bugge Wesseltoft’s New Conception Of Jazz. Continue Reading »

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@C: Music For Empty Spaces (Baskaru)

themilkman on May 18th 2010 01:01 am

@C: Music For Empty Spaces

@C
Music For Empty Spaces
KARU18
Baskaru 2010
07 Tracks. 54mins27secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD Amazon US: CD | DLD Norman Records: CD iTunes: DLD

Listening to Music For Empty Spaces is like stepping into an alien world, where microscopic sounds are magnified to the point of appearing grotesquely oversized and intimidating. Static crackles and interferences are akin to violent storms, surface noises and frictions become sharp shards of noise, environmental field recordings are overexposed and pressed into stark soundscapes, at times ground to tiny particles, at others surprisingly preserved intact, fossil remains of a life that once was trapped in thick layers of soil.

Curating this extra-sensory approach is Portuguese duo @c, a collaborative project between sound artists Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais, which also occasionally includes visual artist Lia. Continue Reading »

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AKIRA RABELAIS: Caduceus (Samadhisound)

Colin Buttimer on May 17th 2010 09:50 pm

Akira Rabelais: Caduceus

AKIRA RABELAIS
Caduceus
SOUNDCDSS019
Samadhisound 2010
13 Tracks. 63mins27secs

Amazon UK: CD US: CD Boomkat: CD iTunes: DLD

Caduceus marks the bewitching return of Akira Rabelais, the American whose magnificent name simultaneously tilts its hat toward the deep past of the French Renaissance and post-apocalyptic manga Tokyo. It has been some time since we last made his acquaintance, six years since Spellewauerynsherde. In the interval there have been occasional field recordings – Hollywood and A.M. Station – but Caduceus convinces as Spellewauerynsherde’s dark sister. Continue Reading »

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THOMAS FEHLMANN: Gute Luft (Kompakt)

themilkman on May 17th 2010 06:52 am

Thomas Fehlmann: Gute Luft

THOMAS FEHLMANN
Gute Lufte
KOMPAKT81
Kompakt 2010
15 Tracks. 69mins25secs

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

Thomas Fehlmann is a true veteran of the music scene, having made his debut over thirty years ago with avant-garde outfit Palais Schaumburg, with whom he released several albums and EPs between 1980 and 1984. Since, he has been a prominent member of bands such as Sun Electric, The Orb, 3MB or FFWD, while his solo releases have appeared on R&S and sister label Apollo, Plug Research or Kompakt. For his latest project, Fehlmann created a series of tracks to feature as part of the soundtrack to 24H Berlin, a twenty four hour long documentary for German TV following a handful of Berliners during a whole day. While only a few tracks eventually appeared in the documentary, Fehlmann edited the material he had gathered into a cohesive record. Continue Reading »

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Joanna Newsom/Roy Harper, Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, London, 12/052010

themilkman on May 14th 2010 12:42 am

Joanna Newsom/Roy Harper, Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, London, 12/052010

It was a Royal Festival Hall packed to the rafters that welcomed Joanna Newsom on the second of her two London dates this Wednesday evening. She had managed to convince her musical hero, Roy Harper, to open for her for these two shows, as she had a few years ago at the Royal Albert Hall. Harper, who was performing live for only the second time following a three year break, played a selection of songs, most of them dating back to the late sixties and early seventies (The Green Man, Another Day or Me And My Woman to name but a few), his voice, strong, with rich overtones and deep reaches, effortlessly filling the RFH, while he alternated between two electro-acoustic guitars, at times so utterly fragile and ephemeral, at other incredibly gritty and violent. Continue Reading »

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:PAPERCUTZ: Do Outro Lado Do Espelho (Lylac Ambient Reworks) (Audiobulb Records)

themilkman on May 12th 2010 01:00 am

:Papercutz: Do Outro Lado Do Espelho (Lylac Ambient Reworks)

:PAPERCUTZ
Do Outro Lado Do Espelho (Lylac Ambient Reworks)
AB029
Audiobulb Records 2010
12 Tracks. 57mins53secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: DLD

Originally the project of Porto-based musician Bruno Miguel Pereira Pinto, :Papercutz soon expanded to incorporate vocalist Melissa Veras, with other musicians joining the pair for live performances. Released two years ago on Canadian imprint Apegenine, Lylac, the band’s first album, bridged the gap between stark atmospheric electronica and elegant contemporary pop music to create a superb hybrid, served by Pinto’s delicate blend of acoustic instrumentation, electronic textures and beats on one side, and by Veras’s softly ethereal vocal tones, occasionally reminiscent of Anneli Drecker, on the other. The album was followed by a single, Ultravioleta, which featured remixes by The Sight Below, Neotropic, Spandex and Signer. This is partly what encouraged Pinto to let other musicians give their own vision of his work. The resulting collection of remixes, published on Audiobulb, features reworks by Helios, Simon Scott, Taylor Deupree, He Can Jog, Autistici, Astroboy, Chris Bissonnette, Jasper TX,  Rameses III, Emanuele Errante and Feu Follet. Continue Reading »

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VARIOUS ARTISTS: 10th Anniversary Edition (Nonplace Records)

themilkman on May 11th 2010 01:18 am

V/A: 10th Anniversary Edition

VARIOUS ARTISTS
10th Anniversary Edition
NON28
Nonplace Records 2010
15 Tracks. 60min00secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD

Ten years is a milestone for any label, especially in today’s volatile music market, and it is just the one reached by Bernd ‘Burnt Friedman’ Friedmann’s excellent Nonplace. While the label has been an outlet for his own projects, either solo or collaborative, it has also seen contributions from a handful of bands and artists, from Beige or Freeform to Roots 70 and The Embassadors more recently. More than a label with a perfectly hermetic roster, Nonplace is a bubbling cauldron where artists are often spotted on works other than their own and cross pollination is actively encouraged. Friedmann of course has been involved in one way or another on most records released on the label, but it is also the case of multi-instrumentist Hayden Chisholm, who, from his early collaboration with Friedmann as part of the Nu Dub Players, went on to form both Root 70 and The Embassadors, or guitarist Joseph Suchy, who beside a number of extra-Nonplace activities, is often seen alongside Friedmann on his solo projects. Continue Reading »

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INTERVIEW: AUTISTICI Sound Therapy

themilkman on May 9th 2010 09:28 pm

INTERVIEW: AUTISTICI Palliative Therapy

In the early 2000s, David Newman founded Audiobulb, a label which has since been a catalyst for contemporary electro-acoustic works and sound-based projects involving a wide range of artists. Two years ago, Newman released his debut album as Autistici, a project which he had started working on in 2000. We took the opportunity of the release of Detached Metal Voice – Early Works (Vol. 1), a collection of early material released on Audiobulb, to catch up with him and talk about both his music project and his label. Continue Reading »

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FLYING LOTUS: Cosmogramma (Warp Records)

themilkman on May 5th 2010 11:24 pm

Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma

FLYING LOTUS
Cosmogramma
WARP195
Warp Records 2010
17 Tracks. 45mins37secs

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

Thought Flying Lotus’s Los Angels was ambitious? Think again. There’s a lot to get your head round on the latest slice of goodness from California-based Steven Ellison, all crammed into a mere forty five minutes of virulent twists and turns, where beats are compressed into hectic sequences and dropped over thick layers of sounds. Ellison refers to Cosmogramma as a space opera, but it is more akin to the soundtrack of a disjointed sci-fi cartoon

It is difficult to keep track of where Ellison is at any point of the record, so quick is he to move from one step to the next. Continue Reading »

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