Leb Laze: Library Catalog Music Series: Music for Troubled Machinery (Asthmatic Kitty)

One of those cheap albums bought to knock a Boomkat order over the £50 and into free postage mode and, as usual with these punts, an interesting surprise and a worthy purchase. Leb constructed this album after his sampler/sequencer started giving up the ghost and spewing forth all manner of bizarre electronic sounds and arhythmic noises. He then took these sounds and turned them into the 17 tracks here that, by a myriad of twists and turns, bleep and buzz their way through industrial songscapes with gay abandon and, amazingly, craft some decent tunes out. Nothing too long (most tracks are 2-3 minutes long) so none of the noises really irritate, as the tracks are always meandering into something else. The whole things gives off the air of a cyberpunk soundtrack - the snatches of sound bring to mind snatches of images and expand your consciousness. Not bad for a half-arsed purchase of a throwawy album recorded with broken electronics.

Colorlist: The fastest way to become the ocean (Serein)

A limited 10" of 4 tracks and 25 minutes of experimental, but hugely listenable, jazz that bustles with invention and cyclic rhythm over gentle melodies. Jeff Parker, post rocking jazz-guitarist-for-hire from Tortoise and a myriad of other bands, guests on the second track and accompanies the loops with abandonment and takes the whole thing into another direction for the 9 minute duration - which could've been twice as long and kept the interest. This is one of those records that, although strictly jazz, could appeal to many an open-eared rock fan - which is never a bad thing as the more people that get into jazz, the better off this old unsyncopated  world will be.

Message to Bears: Departure (Dead Pilot)

I've seen this described as 'ambient', but that's really doing it a disservice. Ambient music is meant to sit unobtrusively alongside the rest of your life and just........exist. This album is too special to be ignored or to just whisper in the corner as it demands your attention to fully appreciate the gently picked guitar, beautifully arranged strings, subtle viola, softly shuffling rhythms and the occasional humming vocalisation. Solo guitar-based albums can often seem dull and uninspiring - like the tracks are supposed to be intros to longer pieces, rather than standalone pieces of their own. The tracks here work well as they build, grow and change into individual snapshots that need no extra embellishment. This is an astonishing album and one of those debut albums that make you feel excited to be there at the start, and equally excited as to what the future will bring. A hand numbered ltd edition of 250 in 180g vinyl, so be quick if you want one.

Mist: House (Spectrum Spools)

John Elliott, from Emeralds, is also Mr Spectrum Spools and has a beautifully lush shiny gatefold sleeve for his beautifully lush electronic evocations and experiments in sweeping soundscapes and kosmiche wonderment. Each track is given so much time to unwind and expand that you almost forget that the glistening chimes of one track started off as a bass-y rumble 5 or 6 minutes ago. Best taken as a whole, this album moves through the whole range of emotions with undulating textures and Klaus Schulze-like movements that never stay still for long and continuously surprise and excite.  

Forma: Forma (Spectrum spools)

I've been listening to so much of this synth laden kosmiche music lately that one wonders how i manage to hear the good from the bad but, somehow, i manage to persevere and only the great floats to the top. And this is really great - as Forma have taken the sweeping lushness of many of the other releases of this type and then morphed it into something that stands very much on its own, and in its own frame of reference. There are ten short tracks here and that information is very interesting indeed - as most of the other similar musicians seem to scorn shorter tracks and, instead, take up whole sides of records with a single track. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it just shows how formulaic this genre is becoming and, thus, something like this record stands apart. The melodies are very well structured and they seem to pack a wealth of quality music into each piece and the occasional motorik rhythms move the tracks along well and into almost dance territory (i could see 'Forma197' remixed into a mighty trance piece - such is it's illusion of power).

Great stuff and a band i'm really keen on hearing more of, also very happy to report that there isn't a huge number of back catalogue releases to buy up!

Jonny Trunk: Animation & Interpretation (Ghost Box)

Part of the 'study series' collection of ltd 7"s that i've gone and got myself locked into (although i cocked up and still haven't got no. 5). The A Side ('Le Train Fantome') uses the chuffing locomotive rhythm as the backing and then plonks vaguely familiar keyboard sounds over the top. Like most Ghost Box releases, it has the air of long forgotten children's TV soundtrack to it and, as usual, evokes memories that probably weren't there in the first place. As the record is composed entirely out of samples, there is always the chance that there is something buried deep in it that evokes something buried deep inside me. The B side ('Cardboard Boxford') sounds like something from the soundtrack of 'Tales of the unexpected' - which i'm sure was entirely intentional.

I actually enjoyed this record much more than these words would suggest - i've just reread it and it looks a bit negative and a bit lazy, i'd change it but i'm a bit lazy and a bit negative. So there.

Tape: Luminarium/Fugue/Revelationes (Immune)

After my huge enjoyment of their 'Milieu plus' album (see older post) i just had to investigate further and bought these three and, although quite different to that album, these are all astonishingly good. They took a step forward from the earlier album's subtle mix of many disparate instruments and concentrated mainly on electronics, bass and keyboards - with the occasional vibraphone and guitar thrown in. This is particularly rounded on the most recent album ('Revelationes') where the bass notes thread themselves around the hint of darkness that filters through the record - this one, more so than the others, seems to be their 'serious' album. By this i mean that it gives over a sense of solemnity and i can visualize their brows furrowed when they created it - it seems much more concentrated on and less free.
'Luminarium' takes the earlier sound and moves it forward into more melodic territory. A much more acoustic guitar based collection of songs, the prettiness of the tunes almost stray into the twee area of things - were it not for the electronics and found sounds going on in the background, which put it firmly into the 'hold your breath 'cos you don't know what's coming next' category. I love the hushed resonance of the sound on this album - the squeaking of the strings, the distance between sounds and the expectation caused by the electronics in the background.

'Fugue' - a collaboration with Bill Wells, plays at 45rpm. I mention this because i played it many many times at 33 and i didn't notice. I'm still not sure which speed i prefer. Bill Wells contributes minimal keyboards and melodica to this collection of 4 beautifully minimalist pieces. Each piece slowly grows with minimal changes in repetition until you reach a point of ending that is criminally too soon. Many times during this album (and the others) i found myself holding my breath at the total beauty of the sounds.

I really can't recommend Tape highly enough, although it is true music for concentration and cannot be treated frivolously. It has to be really listened to, to be truly heard.

Box: Studio 1 (Rune Grammofon)

Four heavy hitters of the free improv scene get together and bash out 6 tracks of such an awesome racket that the LP is a blessing in that you get some respite in turning the thing over (or of putting it away and replacing it with something pretty for a while). Recorded over 2 days with no practice, no editing and no overdubs, what you hear here is what went down (or the best/most successful of what went down, anyway - these free improv guys may be masters of the genre but they're also savvy in only releasing the cream of the crop, which is why some free improv snobs state that free improv should never be recorded and only ever experienced live). Most successful on the second track ('untitled 11') when they reign themselves in a bit and don't go for the macho instrument shredding option so often utilized on the other tracks. Good stuff though, in its own little noisy way.

Matthew Cooper: Some days are better than others (Temporary Residence)

An avid follower of Eluvium, and Mr Cooper's other exploits, i excitedly pre-ordered this soundtrack from Temporary Residence the first minute it was available. Matthew Cooper is very versatile and there is a world of difference between his different Eluvium releases, his 'Miniatures' album (under his own name) and his concert silence releases - so i genuinely didn't know what to expect with this one. Apparently, the instruments used on this were damaged instruments (in keeping with the film's theme of our throwaway society - apparently), although you wouldn't know it from the sounds produced. The 13 short tracks mostly seem to be based around the musical plan of 'repeat simple melody over drone' and often seem like snippets from longer pieces rather than complete pieces in themselves. I imagine that, with some remixing, these tracks could all be mixed into one long piece and you wouldn't be able to tell. This is not to say that the pieces, and melodies contained therein, have similar tunes - but that they have a similar sound which connects them. This is, in no way whatsoever, a criticism - quite the opposite, as i really enjoyed this album. Much more so than the last Eluvium release anyway - at least he doesn't sing on this one.

Theologian & Steve Moore: Into the uttermost fields of ether (Annihilvs)

Attracted by the Steve Moore connection (Mr Theologian has taken Mr Moore's music as source material here) and the cheap price tag - a $5 cdr direct from Mr T, i invested and it's pretty much how i expected - low level dark ambient drones setting an atmosphere of desolation and darkness, with nary a hint of the original analog source. Except on the fourth track ('Song of the spheres') - although it's soon overtaken by the creeping musical stench of death, decay, darkness and damp cellars where bodies are buried.

Which is nice.

Tropic of Cancer: The sorrow of two blooms (Blackest ever Black)

Back in about 1985, i would regularly dance with my backcombed hair rigid, my fringe floppy, my eyes closed and my pointy boots pointing. To say i was a goth would be understating it rather - not that we would ever admit it ("we're not goths, we're individuals - and so are all my friends that look like me and listen to the same music as me"),

 but it has to be said that a lot of that music that i listened and danced to still sounds pretty good today - bauhaus, sisters, the cult (early), the cure, cocteau twins, dead can dance etc - and Tropic of Cancer are aware of that too. 'Cos they've made a record which should've been released on 4AD in 1985. It is such a perfect artifact from that bygone historical era that i had to check that it wasn't actually a re-release. The drum machine thunders deeply in the background, the guitars and keyboards chime away and the vocals swoon all over the place. Makes we wanna backcomb my hair; dig out the old raincoat, makeup bag, winkle pickers and black drainpipes and mope all the way to the shops. But i wont. 'Cos my kids would disown me.

The Caretaker: An empty bliss beyond this world (HAFTW)

James Leyland Kirby returns with the next installment in his 'Caretaker' series. He continues to manipulate his seemingly endless supply of 78's whereby the original melody is looped and pokes through an aural sea as a metaphor for nearly forgotten memories.

The whole album is inspired by the notion that music can aid Alzheimer's patients to recover lost memories and that memories are never lost - they just need to be put back into a particular context to make them visible again. The music contained on this album sounds like half-remembered phrases and the murk and decay that distorts each sample reminds you of the murk that fills your mind when you are struggling to remember something.

This record, as with the previous Caretaker releases, resonates with emotion and drains you with the utter sadness that it exudes. It also unsettles many listeners - the eerie sounds that poke through sound like a phantom gramophone in a haunted ballroom (which, of course, is entirely the point - The Caretaker name being taken from the movie version of The Shining, particularly the ballroom sequence) and works very badly as low level ambiance, people stop talking and try to concentrate on the sounds they are experiencing.

And tell you to turn it up.

Which is rare in my house.

Twilight Singers: Dynamite Steps (Sub Pop)

Greg Dulli is out to steal your woman, make no mistake about that. I have no idea why i always think that whenever i hear his songs but he just gives me that impression - that he will sweet talk your lady and leave her in a quivering mess the next day, whilst he flies off into the night and back to New Orleans. All this misplaced paranoia aside, this new Twilight Singers album is pretty much what you'd expect - well written songs that use equal measures of rock and soul to push Dulli's dubious (sorry, i'm doing it again) emotions forth and take root in your brain in that small place just below your memory - i.e they sound familiar when you next hear them but there is very little that sticks. I don't mean that to sound negative but it's true, the album is very well written/played/produced and stirring to listen to - it just doesn't have the same amount of memorable hooklines that some of his older albums had.

Fuck it.

I'm gonna say what i always think when i hear Twilight Singers albums - IT AINT AS GOOD AS 'GENTLEMEN'.

Sorry, short sighted and utterly stupid, but that album is so special and i love it so much he will always be measured against it, despite my attempts to stay focused on the here and now. So that's that. Truth spoken.

Fucked Up: David's town (Matador)

Record Store Day release of Fucked Up pretending to be 11 different British punk/new wave bands from 76-79 as a side-project to their new rock opera. Excellent fun, with realistic sleevenotes and less realistic British accents (the asides on 'Do you feel (The curry song)' make this the winner of the best mockney award over Dick Van Dyke and, errr, Damon Albarn) that add to the overall package and ramp the enjoyment up to a 10. Actually very well put together for something that is supposed to be throwaway, and possibly more fun than the accompanying rock opera....

Den Haan: Gods from outer space (The courier of death)

To say that i'm proud of this discovery would be a huge understatement - i play it to most people who visit and always make a point of showing the cover in all it's oestrogen pumping homo-erotic glory. I know very little about Den Haan and chanced across this gem by accident, when trying to make up a Boomkat order to above the £50 (free postage), i listened to a few brief samples and immediately ordered two copies - as i knew Matt the hat would love it as much as me (he has been riding this retro synth wave as much as me lately).

So, what does it sound like?

Gay disco. That's what it sounds like. Hi-energy Belgian new beat muscle music with synth washes, vocodered vocals, pumping beats and a sense of fun rarely heard from my music collection. As dance friendly as 'I will survive' when played to a gang of marauding pissed be-pinked hen night fat girls, and as fun as a fumble in the dark after sniffing large amounts of poppers and......errrrrr i'd better stop there.

Camp as hell and twice as rocking as Metallica, in its own way.

Zombi: Escape Velocity (Relapse)

Fantastic Hipgnosis style sleeve ushers in more retro early 80s synth sounds from Mr's Moore & Paterra. I preordered this bad boy about 3 months in advance to make sure i got one of the coloured vinyl copies and so, by the time it arrived, i'd almost forgotten about it. Also, in this between time, i had been listening to so much other analog synth music  that this seemed, at first listen, kinda just ok. I really liked it but it seemed to be a lot more subtle than previous zombi albums, and Tony's drums were much more understated. It was only with repeated listens that this one really hit me as much as the other zombi albums and is now ahead of most of the pack in the synth-flourishing world of cold wave old wave nu disco or whatever the fuck all this stuff is meant to be lumped in with. Interestingly, each of the pair are given a side each (writing wise, I'm presuming that they played together on all the tracks) which hopefully doesn't spell the death of zombi in the same way that the veritable split album that was Spacemen 3's 'Recurring' - which used the same splitting of tracks as a show of mutual petulance.