TIPPER
Broken Soul Jamboree
TIPP004C/TIIP00DL10
Tippermusic 2011
13 Tracks. 59mins22secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD iTunes: DLD

David Tipper has been around for over ten years and has, in that time, delivered a fairly constant flow of music, from his early EPs, published on his own Fuel Records imprint, and debut album, The Critical Path, which had him rubbing shoulders with the big boys at Sony Music, via their short-lived Higher Ground stable, before favouring once again home comfort with Tippermusic, which has been the outlet for most of his releases since. With eight albums under his belt, he’s had plenty of time to perfect the blend of breakbeat and ambient which has been at the heart of his work throughout the decade.

With Broken Soul Jamboree, Tipper largely leaves behind him the hectic rhythms and outwardly abstract textures of his break-infused records for a series of gentler cinematic compositions. Continue Reading »

JÆ
Balls And Kittens, Draught And Strangling Rain
HUBROCD2508
Hubro Music 2010
10 Tracks. 43mins25secs

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

Somewhere between the über delicate introspective pop of Susanna Wallumrød and the wonderfully pastoral folk of Alela Diane is Dutch-born singer Jæ, who currently spends her time between Amsterdam and Oslo. Jessica ‘Jay’ Sligter studied music at the conservatories of her native town, Utrecht, and, later, Amsterdam, but it is in Oslo that she recruited the musicians who were to bring this album to life, by hanging around the Norwegian Academy of Music and progressively getting acquainted with members of the improv scene.

Jæ’s music is essentially folk-infused, but the rich arrangements and breadth of instruments used (Jæ herself plays guitar, melodica, piano, flute and recorder, to which are added, amongst others, percussions, strings, brass, mandolin, harmonium, musical saw, ukelele) give this record a much broader scope. Continue Reading »

MARK FELL
UL8
EMEGO111
Editions Mego 2010
20 Tracks. 64mins48secs

MARK FELL
Multistability
RN125
Raster-Noton 2010
17 Tracks. 63mins48secs

UL8
Amazon UK: CD | DLD Amazon US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD
Multistability
Amazon UK: CD | DLD Amazon US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

SND, the duo of Mat Steel and Mark Fell, have, in just four albums released over the course of ten years, defined a totally unique sound, based on extremely minimal electronic soundscapes and rarefied grooves. Fell released his first solo record under his name back in 2004 on Line, and has since collaborated with a number of other musicians and worked on numerous sound installations and performances. In a matter of weeks towards the end of 2010, Fell delivered two rather different records, one, UL8, on Editions Mego, the other, Multistability, on Raster-Noton. Continue Reading »

ÆTHENOR
En Form For Blå
VHF113
VHF Records 2011
07 Tracks. 54mins29secs

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

Æthenor is a variable geometry supergroup centred around the nucleus of guitarist Stephen O’Malley (SunnO))), Burning Witch, KTL) and multi-instrumentist Daniel O’Sullivan (Guapo, Monolith, Ulver). Over the years, various musicians have either contributed occasionally or been fairly permanent fixtures, the most regular of these being Vincent De Roguin, who contributed to all three of the band’s studio recordings. He is however absent on En Form For Blå, but O’Malley and O’Sullivan are here joined by drummer Steve Noble (Rip Rig & Panic) and Ulver front man Kristoffer Rygg.

Unlike the formation’s three previous records, which were all the result of studio improvisations, collected in just a handful of compositions, often spanning the best part of ten minutes, this latest offering documents three live performances recorded at Oslo’s seminal jazz and experimental venue BlÃ¥ in April and June last year, yet the band follow here a similar improv-based concept, but add a level of tension which had remained until now fairly guarded. Continue Reading »

AGORIA
Impermanence
IF1013
InFiné 2011
10 Tracks. 59mins53secs

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

Sébastien Devaud is one of the founding members of InFiné, a French imprint which has, since its conception back in 2006, revealed a number of new talents, from classical musicians-come-techno masters Francesco Tristano or Bachar Mar-Khalifé to the quirky electronica of Rone, Arandel and Clara Moto. But Devaud is above all a DJ, musician and producer who has been operating under under the Agoria banner for over ten years.

Following a string of EPs released between 1999 and 2002, Devaud published his first full-length album, Blossom, on PIAS in 2003. The album, and its follow up, The Green Armchair, released three years later, collected electro-infused techno and dance pieces together with occasional post-trip hop moments. Continue Reading »

ALEX MONK
The Safety Machine
SMERALDINA-RIMA17
Smeraldina-Rima 2011
13 Tracks. 72mins36secs

Norman Records: LP

London-based Alex Monk is not exactly a new comer. Although he has only so far released a couple of very limited CDRs, he has been perfecting his style by regularly playing live sets which often rely on improvisation. Using a wide array of instruments, acoustic electric and electronic, he finds himself experimenting somewhere between dreamy pop/folk songs, kosmische-infused electronics and atmospheric drones.

Released on very limited vinyl (300 copies) and digital editions, The Safety Machine is a rather disconcerting offering, which spends much of its time tricking the listener into thinking it is something, only to move the goalpost again and again. Continue Reading »

SEEFEEL
Seefeel
WARP205
Warp Records 2011
09 Tracks. 51mins35secs

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

Fourteen years on from their last album, and with two new members on board, the return of one of the most highly regarded bands of the early nineties is something of a major event. Seefeel never actually split up, but its members had, since the release of (Ch-Vox) on Rephlex back in 1996, focused on various projects and appeared to have drifted apart in such a way that it seemed totally unimaginable to see them working together again. It is the release of an expanded version of Seefeel’s seminal debut album, Quique, by Too Pure in 2007 which brought Mark Clifford and Sarah Peacock back talking. Since, the band, now counting Shigery Ishihara, better known as DJ Scotch Egg, and Ilda ‘E-Da’ Kazuhisa, have performed a handful of live dates, including one in Paris as part of the Warp20 celebrations, and returned in September last year with a brand new EP, Faults, now followed by this new album.

One of the prerequisites of the band ever recording again was always to create something different from anything they had done before. Continue Reading »

PART 1

You seem to attach a lot of importance to the graphics on your record covers. You’ve been working with Intro pretty much from the start…
Trish: Yes, from the start, from the Accidentals single…

James: Well, it’s not actually Intro, it’s Julian (band acquiesce). Before he was working with Intro, we were working with Julian. He happens to be there now.

Do you see that side of a release as a further expression of your work?
Tim: Definitely. When you buy a record, you can’t help but look at the sleeve. We’re all record fans. When you buy a record, you’re exited about it, it’s like it creates a whole world for you. It’s very important you know… there’s nothing worse than having a record in a blank sleeve.

Trish: It’s the greatest advert for the music. Continue Reading »

Following the untimely death of Broadcast’s Trish Keenan on Friday morning, I have decided to republish the intereview I did with Broadcast back in June 2003, which was published on themilkfactory in July of the same year, as they were gearing up for the release of their second album, Haha Sound. You can also read my tribute to Trish publised on The Liminal.

Only a few weeks before the release of their much-awaited second album, Haha Sound, we met up with Broadcast’s Trish Keenan, James Cargill and Tim Felton in the backyard of a pub situated only minutes away from the Warp offices in North London. Settling down for a spot of lunch, the band, who were just back from a successful US and European tour, talked about the painful recording process of their first album, working on the second album, life on tour and the importance of being creative with EPs. Continue Reading »

CHAPTER 24 & PHILIPPE PETIT
The Red Giant Meets The White Dwarf
Bm026
Boring Machines 2011
09 Tracks. 43mins23secs

In recent years, Philippe Petit has swapped his record label owner’s hat for that of performer, apparently putting the excellent Bip-Hop on an indefinite hiatus while he focuses on his own music projects. First, there was Strings Of Consciousness, a loose collective which counts over twenty musicians, with whom he has released three albums, including one with Angel, the trio of Pan Sonic’s Ilpo Väisänen, SchneiderTM’s Dirk Dresselhaus, and cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir, then came his solo releases (Henry: The Iron Man and his reworking of Gustav Mahler’s Titan symphony, Off To Titan), his ever expanding circle of friends, the franchise counting so many luminaries per album (four to date), some sticking around for a few tracks, others just dropping in for a moment, that it is virtually impossible to account for them all, and, last but not least, the full length collaborations, with James Johnston (Friends With A Face), Pietro Riparbelli (The Haunting Tryptich), Lydia Lunch (Twist Of Fate), and the odd isolated effort (the Mist While Sleeping 7” with Cosey Fanni Tutti released last year). Continue Reading »

JONO EL GRANDE
Phantom Stimulance
RCD2106
Rune Grammofon 2010
11 Tracks. 38mins51secs

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

Rune Grammofon have made a habit of pushing boundaries in various directions throughout their releases, but it is difficult to know even where or what the boundaries are when it comes to iconoclast prankster Jono El Grande. He sits at odds with the rest of the label’s catalogue. Born Jon Andreas HÃ¥tun somewhere in Norway in 1973, this self-taught musician’s first foray into the recording industry came in 1999 with his first album, Utopian Dances, recorded in his bedroom with nothing more than a workstation synth, but things went up a few notches with his Rune Grammofon debut, Fevergreens, published in 2003. Part Christmas Pantomime music, part seventies soft porn soundtrack, part jazz/rock experiment gone wrong, the album, recorded with a nine piece orchestra, managed to be at once cheesy and über cool. Continue Reading »

SLOWCREAM
River Of Flesh
NON026
Nonine Recordings 2010
06 Tracks. 41mins45secs

Set at the confines of modern classical, electro-acoustic, Musique Concrète and ambient electronica, Slowcream is a strange beast. The solo project of Me Raabenstein, who also heads Nonine Recordings, Slowcream first appeared in 2008 with Live Long And Prosper, an album which largely relied on electronic textures. It is however with his third album, And, published at the end of 2009 that Raabenstein finally gained the recognition he deserved. Originally a commission for a modern dance project, the record, on which Greg Haines contributed cello on a handful of tracks, established a very textural sound, at times comparable to some of the Miasmah’s catalogue. Continue Reading »