GRIZZLY BEAR
Friend EP
WARPCD163
Warp Records 2007
10 Tracks. 43mins18mins
Format: CDS, 12″ and Digital

Originally the solo project of Daniel Rosen, whose lo-fi debut album, Horn Of Plenty, was recorded in his bedroom and released on Rumraket in 2005, Grizzly Bear are now a fully fledged formation counting four permanent members. Following its release, Horn Of Plenty got the remix treatment from a wide range of artists, including Efterklang, Dntel, Solex, Ariel Pink and Alpha to name but a few. Friend EP comes over a year after Grizzly Bear’s stellar second album, Yellow House (Warp Records), and collects alternative versions, demos, new songs and covers by Band Of Horses, Alias Sound and CSS.

The first impression filtering out of this record is the somewhat rawer and heavier nature of the music. While Horn Of Plenty appeared fragile and almost amateurish, and Yellow House was carried by beautifully light and airy melodies and arrangements, Friend at times reveals a moodier Bear, more prone to dig its sharp claws in. Continue Reading »

New Autechre album announced on Warp in early 2008. At the moment, there is no information on release date, track listing and so on. The only information available is the title of Autechre’s ninth album: Quaristice

Warp Records

Plaid have just released a digital-only single entitled Faster, which was recorded to showcase Apple’s new Logic Studio music software suite. The six-minute piece is the first new recording from Plaid since the release of their 2006 audio-visual feast Greedy Baby and the soundtrack to anime film Tekkon Kinkreet, currently still only available on import only. The DVD of the Japanese animated movie was released at the end of September, and the film will be premiered in the UK on Thursday 29 November at the Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea, Wales, as part of Swansea Animation Days (SAND).

The band have also announced two UK dates, the first one on Saturday 20 October 2007, at Ginglik, London (DJ set), and the second on 2 November at Spectrum, Nottingham (live).

Plaid | Warp Records | Taliesin Arts Centre

FLYING LOTUS
Reset
WAP228 / WAP228CD
Warp Records 2007
06 Tracks. 17mins32secs
Format: 12″ / CDS

Flying Lotus is the project of Los Angeles resident Steven Ellison, a young musician with an impressive pedigree, counting Alice Coltrane as his great aunt no less, yet he owes his burgeoning music career to Snoop Doggy Dog, whose Doggystyle album made a strong impression on a thirteen years old Ellison.

Ellison’s debut album, 1983, was released last year on Plug Research and received critical acclaim for its impressive scope. A tight exercise which freely borrowed from hip-hop, jazz, tropicalia and electronica, the album called on comparison with the likes of Daedelus and Dntel, but Ellison’s sonic dexterity made it a remarkable personal effort. Now signed to Warp, Flying Lotus has just delivered a dense six track EP, ahead of his second album, scheduled for next year. Continue Reading »

PREFUSE 73
Preparations
WARPCD158
Warp Records 2007
14 Tracks. 46mins12secs

Of his many incarnations, Prefuse 73 is perhaps the one Guillermo Scott Herren remains best known for. It is most definitely the one project that has allowed him to push the boundaries of his work the most, with seminal albums Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives and One Word Extinguisher and even more so, their companion mini albums, serving as benchmark for the more experimental side of contemporary hip-hop. In 2005, Herren followed his logical development path by teaming up with a wide range of hip-hop and rap artists for the utterly brilliant Surrounded By Silence. Since, his deliveries have lacked some of the luster of earlier releases. Continue Reading »

Grizzly Bear will follow last year’s excellent Yellow House album with the Friend EP on 5 November on Warp Records. The 10 track EP, clocking at just under 50 minutes, features two new songs, He Hit Me, a cover of a 1962 song by The Crystals, and Granny Diner, alternate versions of Alligator, Little Brother, Shift and Plans, and covers of Knife by CSS, Band Of Horses and Atlas Sound, better known as Deerhunter.

Grizzly Bear | Warp Records

Warp have announced details of the new Prefuse 73 album, Preparations, due out on 23 October, with a single, Class Of 73 Bells, with with New York’s School Of Seven Bells and Battles drummer John Stanier. The album, which follows Guillermo Scott Herren’s recent Golden Pollen (Anti) album as Savath & Savalas, will be a double album, with the first half being beat-orientated, while the second collects a series of modern classical compositions. The digital version of the album will only contain the first of the two CDs.

Explore: Prefuse 73 | Warp Records

BATTLES
Mirrored
WARP156
Warp Records 2007
11 Tracks. 51mins52secs

The problem with such a stellar live act as Battles is that, whether they try to capture the energy of their performances or polish their music in such a way that it becomes a completely different entity, they are likely to ultimately disappoint. Battles are certainly in such predicament. Hailed as one of the best contemporary live acts around, the band’s fist three EPs, released between 2004 and 2006, never really sought to showcase their stage performances, yet they clearly informed the relationship between the four musicians, and consequently cemented the music. But Battles were still to demonstrate their ability to carry this onto a full length, which is now done with this debut album. Continue Reading »

MIRA CALIX
Eyes Set Against The Sun
WARP150
Warp Records 2007
10 Tracks. 62mins37secs

Hot on the heels of her collaboration with pianist Sarah Nicolls and arranger David Sheppard as Alexander’s Annexe and over three years after the stunning Skimskitta, Mira Calix returns with her most ambitious record yet. Building on her orchestral work with the London Sinfonietta and with Alexander’s Annex, she presents here a rather diverse and expensive collection of complex electronica. Continue Reading »

SQUAREPUSHER
Hello Everything
WARPCD148
Warp Records 2006
12 Tracks. 63mins41secs

Four years ago, Tom Jenkinson was asking ‘Do You Know Squarepusher?‘ If the album that hid behind this title lured you to think that you did, think again. With his eighth album in eleven years, Tom Jenkinson shakes off his compulsive beats and driving grooves in favour of a much more chilled and eclectic sound.

Tom Jenkinson burst out on the electronic scene in the mid nineties with a series of EPs for Spymania, Rephlex and Worm Interface, and a debut album published on Richard D James’s Rephlex. A seasoned self-taught bass player and drummer, Jenkinson’s particular blend of experimental drum’n'bass dipped in a bubbling bath of digital jazz and acid house and his seminal live performances rapidly brought him a huge following, Since, he has cleverly set the pace for his contemporaries with each new release by cleverly dodging expectations. Continue Reading »