WPRB Reviews - Dave Morris |
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b fleischmann: a choir of empty beds |
Very chilled-out electro-ish bleep-pop. Lots of warm, crunchy electronic sounds for those of you who like your indie-pop to bleep in an almost Casio-riffic way (Stereolab, Plone, possibly even To Rococo Rot). This record grooves nicely along in very inoffensive ways, but sometimes isn’t the most engaging thing in the universe. Still, it’s quite pleasing and happy, and deserves a spot on your playlist next to that Sukpatch record. |
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Blur: Greatest Hits |
For those that don’t know Blur past “Song 2” (aka the Woo Hoo song), they were a bunch of cheeky young British lads with a very well-developed sense of melody. Their first few records were more or less straight-up pop stuff, culminating in the ambitious (but widely disliked) The Great Escape. After years of trying to crack America with no success, they changed to a lo-fi sound for the album called “Blur” and had a massive accidental hit with the aforementioned grunge parody. As pop music that draws on influences as diverse as The Jam and Serge Gainsbourg, this stuff is near-perfect. |
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Roy Campbell Trio: Ethnic Stew and
Brew |
Pretty straight-ahead post-bop from these distinctly non-straight-ahead players. Campbell acquits himself well, and Parker and Drake are in fine form. Tracks two and five are funky, but sounds a bit thin without any comping instruments. By contrast, the more conventional post-bop playing on the first and third tracks is much more interesting, and a better example of the group’s intuitive interaction. Certainly a solid record by any standard. |
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Marilyn Crispell Trio:
Amyrillis |
Sombre semi-free piano noodlings. The playing on this album evokes the kind of reflective mood that new age music could only hope to hint at. It reminds me of Keith Jarrett’s ballad playing not just because of the presence of Gary Peacock, but mostly because Crispell has an incredibly light and sensitive touch that rivals (possibly even surpasses) what some see as Jarrett’s greatest strength. As for the degree of freedom, there seems to be a pulse of some kind in these pieces, but within that, there’s a lot of openness. Your listeners won’t run for the hills because of this one, it’s not Ayler, although there is one quality this music shares with Ayler and his contemporaries, and that is sheer stark beauty. |
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Richard Devine:
Lipswitch |
Underwhelming tech-noise. In these heady post-electronica days, it’s remarkable how quickly the lustre fades off of new techno trends. I mean, how fresh does trance seem to anybody who’s been near a dance floor more than twice in a year? So after five or six releases from dance deconstructionists like kid606, Lesser, or other ear-sodomizers like Datach’i, a record like “Lipswitch” fails to excite me nearly as much as it might have even six months ago. The Atlanta-based Devine cites Autechre as a principal influence and has remixed Aphex Twin. That’s your musical gene pool right there, kids. There’s clearly some talent here as the record does have its moments, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a genuinely original sound. I have to wonder what it’s going to take for a techno record to blow minds in 2002. Are we looking at another gabber-esque accelerating tempo situation, and then an ambient backlash? Regardless, this particular record won’t solve the mystery, or even offer clues. It merely serves as a wake-up call to those, like me, who’d hoped that Aphex-worship might be more than just another musical dead end. (after later reflection, I changed my mind. I really like this record, and this review is dumb. It is merely on the website for posterity's sake). |
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DJ Food: Kaleidescope |
This is so good. Lots of cheesy old hipster samples, both embracing that 50s loungy-jazz vibe and skewering it at the same time. Since DJ Shadow put out “Endtroducing”, it seemed like everybody and their pet monkey were using samples of interviews of old jazz guys. The Food guys pick some excellent stuff, though (speaking of which, when is somebody going to sample Cannonball Adderly talking?) and know when and how to use it. The vibe of the album begs comparison to “Endtroducing” as well as albums by other Ninja Tune artists, but the drums are more subtle and understated here instead of bone-crushing so the overall effect is pretty different. Beats the hell out of most other stuff with the “jazzy electronica” tag. |
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DJ Food: Quadraplex EP |
This EP was originally recorded during the sessions for “Kaleidoscope” but was too long to fit on the CD, so Ninja Tune have released it separately. Apparently, it’s all based around the sound of glass being blown, tapped and rubbed. For some reason, the result is a fairly lo-fi sound which, when it has a beat, works fairly well as slightly odd-sounding techno. When it doesn’t, as in the first track, it’s atmospheric but boring. Good material here, certainly a fine addition to the Ninja Tune canon. Not spectacular, but certainly worth hearing a few times. |
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DJ Shadow: Endtroducing |
The first release from Josh Davis aka DJ Shadow, a man who is at least partly responsable for the acceptance of the DJ as musician and not just that guy up there playing records. This massively influential album helped lay the foundation for trip-hop, and is appropriately dark and atmospheric. A lot of minor keyboard samples, echoey drums, odd time signatures to keep you listening, and no vocals other than the occasional short sample drifting through the mix. The scratch collages (track 1!!) are also mind-blowing. If you’re familiar with his work on UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction album (with MoWax’s James Lavelle), then you’ll instantly recognize his style here. Everything sounds like it’s been under a coating of ten-year-old dust with only the crisp edgy kick and snare drums poking their heads out. BONUS: the liner note shout-outs contain a who’s who of hip-hop pre-1996. You could find no better list of reccomendations from Grandmaster Flash himself. |
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Electric Birds: s/t |
Unlike a lot of faceless techno guys, Mike Martinez aka Electric Birds has a sound which could accurately be called unique to them, but damned if I could put a label on it. Not busy or distorted enough to be accurately referred to as IDM, but certainly not danceable either. Some lovely moments of analog crunch, especially at the end of track 3. Reminds me of how I felt the first time I heard drum and bass, in that I was so impressed by the way the individual sounds seemed so violent and percussive, and how they seemed to attack the senses from all around in ways that previous musics never seemed to be able to. It isn’t nearly as aggressive in that way, opting for a more sort of indie-accessible preciousness, but this is not to say that it doesn’t share some of the same qualities, or have the potential to noticably affect how you hear electronic music. |