Really wanted to get writing done (today especially) but I ended up pretty busy. Mostly posting this so that the backlog list doesn't get too big to write out. I'm thinking this week I'll be getting back to some write-ups on things.
So hmmm I should throw something in here. Oh I know let's project forward to the future. So I've finished 42 days of this year, so that means projecting forward, I'm on pace for total year count to be 3,337 listens of 2,213 releases, 827 of which will be new to me and 270 of those will be from 2016. Doing this straight projection also means that I would listen to 1,716 things only once, but I feel like that number will peak and then start to drop down as more and more of the old favorites that pop up briefly get revisited again.
Oh DBZ posted his ALC entry, so those counts are all going to be off now as I listen before bed.
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Running Tally '16
First Listens: 96
Releases Listened This Year: 255
2016 Releases Listened: 32
Total Listens: 384
Only Listened Once: 198
Matmos have a particular sort of approach to concept-driven albums, or actually two. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Drew Daniels and Martin Schmidt sort of trade off with each album, with Daniels seeming to favor the headier sorts of things (like psychic experimentation or portraits of important homosexual people in history), and Schmidt seeming to go a bit more down-to-earth and material driven (like a 100% synth album). I'm probably oversimplifying a bit, but I bring this up because this one's been credited in interviews as originating with Schmidt, and it's based around their washing machine. So if you know Matmos from The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth of a Beast, this is a different approach to the sound.
So if you're completely unfamiliar with Matmos, they popped up in the late 90's when IDM was getting used to having computers. They get lumped in with that stuff but seem to be both more academic and more playful than the large majority of it. Though this album, if any, deserves the label the most. The length is 38:06, the length of the Ultimate Care II's wash cycle, and the sound of that loosely forms the structure of the album. You won't be constantly hearing the sound of the washing machine. Though it is clearly present at times and there is even a wonderful passage towards the end that is turned over entirely to the sound of the machine. But mostly the sound of the machine seems to be guiding the rhythm and form. These rhythms are built upon with chopped up sounds recorded from the machine, some synths for some clearer melodies, and a few dollops of processing. Taken in excerpt form they might not seem drastically different from previous work of their's, however strong it may be. But it's in the way the album moves as a whole that I think puts this up with the best of their work. The rhythmic sections seem to not be concerned with finding resolution within their own section, they feed off of each other and each one is like a new twist in an extending process. And it's not just an all out rhythmic assault, there will be these weird sort of digressive interlude parts in between that keep the momentum of the machine, but push the sound into more abstract or uncomfortable timbres. So while it does feel tied to the process of the machine, the movement through the process feels very dynamic, so that when the rhythmic assault actually does come at the end, it feels significant (and awesome). The concept tracks clearly the whole way through, is key to what the music is, and the music itself is very enjoyable. So yeah, that's some top tier Matmos as far as I'm concerned.
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Most Listened
17 Listens: Animal Collective - Painting With
9 Listens: Prants - Hot Shaker Meet Lead Donut
9 Listens: Not Waving - Animals
7 Listens: Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - Cognition / Observation
7 Listens: Matmos - Ultimate Care II
6 Listens: Matthew Revert/Vanessa Rossetto - Earnest Rubbish
6 Listens: Graham Lambkin/Michael Pisaro - Schwarze Riesenfalter
5 Listens: Roly Porter - Third Law
5 Listens: Chippendale/Pupillo/Gustafsson - Melt
5 Listens: Pauline Oliveros & Ione - Water Above Sky Below Now
4 Listens: Max Eilbacher - Subtle Scatter
4 Listens: Tarzana - Alien Wildlife Estate
4 Listens: Kassel Jaeger/Stephan Mathieu/Akira Rabelais - Zauberberg
These thirteen albums have really done the most to color the opening of this year for me, representing 22% of my listening so far.
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Running Tally '16
First Listens: 99
Releases Listened This Year: 260
2016 Releases Listened: 34
Total Listens: 392
Only Listened Once: 202
Last edited by Tap on 03/18/2016 06:22; edited 1 time in total
As I've been listening to more and more Andrea Pensado, I get increasingly surprised that I don't see her work done very much, even at the spots where brittle computer noise generated with voice via max/msp would be discussed. Like I just saw this video of a short live performance and it was amazing, around 4:30 is when it starts to get really crazy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KspVGrJrhpg
But yeah, more people should know about her.
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Running Tally '16
First Listens: 101
Releases Listened This Year: 266
2016 Releases Listened: 35
Total Listens: 409
Only Listened Once: 202
New releases! I checked boomkat after work today and they had this surprise new EP from Micachu on Demdike Stare's label. No Shapes this time, lots of Tirzah collabs and one with Brother May, and all of it focused on the electronic dance music sort of thing. And then I also went and snagged this Holden & Camilo Tirado / Luke Abbott split double album tribute to/celebration of Terry Riley. Serious Terry Riley Vibes, the Holden & Tirado piece is 47 minutes of linear music that just goes on a thing with tabla and curved air synths, while Abbott does 30 minutes on something dronier. No idea how it would work on vinyl, I grabbed it digitally the pieces don't really seem like they have a clean spot to split it in the middle. But yeah, both are some good stuff that I would recommend them checking out. And the Odd Nosdam album, it's nothing especially new but there is a bit of refinement in his style here and of course it is very pretty. Still haven't checked out the new Jega album but I can wait for that one to be up on streaming services I think.
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Running Tally '16
First Listens: 103
Releases Listened This Year: 269
2016 Releases Listened: 37
Total Listens: 415
Only Listened Once: 203
I think the last track on Borbetomagus - Zurich is quite possibly their best track ever. Even if you count Barbed Wire Maggots as one track.
I picked up that new Jega album, 1995. All stuff he did in the titular year, some vintage IDM. Nothing quite on the level of D.M.C (Live Version), the beats are played a lot straighter. If you're into the early IDM sound this is absolutely one that you wanna hear.
Saw that this label Mikroton just threw 5 new releases up on Bandcamp that aren't officially released until later in March but are fully purchasable in digital right now. That stuff makes me really confused about what the official release date even is because like I bought it and I have it but it's not out yet? But yeah they had a release featuring Norbert Moslang and I really love his stuff with Andy Guhl, and the sample sounded really cool, so I picked it up and it's really interesting. There's lots of awesome noise and stuff but there's this rhythm that pops up a lot and sometimes it even feels like all the noise is grooving with it. But it's still way far out stuff, really digging it.
Also gave a listen to this thing from a few years back with Annette Krebs and Toshimaru Nakamura and it was really striking, I'll be revisiting that this week. I need to dig deep into Krebs back catalog because she seems to be really good at the music stuff.
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Running Tally '16
First Listens: 108
Releases Listened This Year: 284
2016 Releases Listened: 39
Total Listens: 442
Only Listened Once: 212
First Listens: 48
2016 Releases Listened: 28
Total Listens: 212
Most Listened Album: Painting With (Times Played: 20)
2nd Most Listened Album: Animals (Times Played: 9)
Only Listened Once: 99
Running Tally '16
First Listens: 109
Releases Listened This Year: 287
2016 Releases Listened: 40
Total Listens: 448
Only Listened Once: 213
Holter came on the scene making some lo-fi weirdo pop, and since then has been on a trajectory of polish and smoothing out the edges. This may turn off some folks, but I think even with the cleaner presentation, a lot of interesting weirdness comes through. Like she was a part of the whole Terepa thing where a bunch of musicians improvised at the same time all around the world, trying to influence each other psychically. So I don't really think she's turning her back on the fringes. But the music here could perhaps be filed under Adult Contemporary off of a quick glance. And of course, part of the appeal for me is in how the melodies sound pretty. But if it was just that, it wouldn't have stuck me, I wouldn't still be getting that cool tingling feeling of goodness on my back when it's really hitting. The arrangements, immediately noteworthy for sounding very spacious while also packing in quite a bit of density at times, have a more subtle quality in how they articulate the structural moves. For example on Lucette Stranded On The Island, the song starts with a quiet loose clanging and Holter's voice, and builds up with drums and strings and additional wordless vocals. But then 2 minutes in, we drop back down to the energy level we had at the beginning, losing the drums and returning to the little clanking and vocals. But the strings are still going, and piano and synth is added to this ascent, so that when it does get back to the bigger sound it feels significantly different in approach. Like there's a really compelling narrative type of progression that adds an extra bit of satisfaction for me when the track goes all wild at the end. So yeah, I feel like there's a lot of stuff like that on here that takes it from being simply nice, and makes it just as riveting as her earlier and more overtly weird stuff.
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Running Tally '16
First Listens: 109
Releases Listened This Year: 294
2016 Releases Listened: 40
Total Listens: 464
Only Listened Once: 215
ShadowColossiProfile The faraway place of whatever I'm listening to
Nice listens! I did the Centipede Hz-Painting With combo a few days ago myself, although I must say you liked Painting With a lot more than I did. It was a weaker release for me personally, but I really enjoyed a few of the tracks. A lot on here that I'll be checking out myself! 😄 _________________ "If I could just leave my body for a night.... FJSDKFJKAJFKFJKDSFDKSJF"
-Animal Collective
Yeah I've been really into the new one, actually had to stop myself from listening to it in the days leading up to the concert on Friday. Speaking of which, I have a lot of catching up to do, gonna spread it over a few days.
So quick notes on the new 2016 albums I checked... was feeling a bit mixed on them. They're not bad, but didn't really strike me. Thug Entrancer has the busy drums and muted acid lines that almost feels like it could've come out on Rephlex a decade ago, but without any of the little quirks that would be expected in that scenario. And Anna Meredith's album has some nice songs, but the instrumental bits feel a lot like Battles but with more rigidity in the position and movement of the individual instruments. And some of the vocal tracks I just cannot hang with. But there's still some nice songs on there and I think it's cool that she might get the old Pitchfork BNM bump even if I don't fully share their enthusiasm.
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Animal Collective & Ratking live @ Neptune Theater, 3/4/16
Here is a cleaned up version of the drunken notes I took:
There sure are a lot of people here. M.E.S.H. - Epithet on the preshow music, I saw someone in the crowd trying to dance to it and they had an understandably difficult time in the second half.
Ratking were cool, tho they played a long set. I actually jumped out for a smoke in the middle cause I'm anxious about the absurd number of people. Like goddamn, I thought at least with the backlash "hey now it won't be so crowded", NOPE. But yeah, Ratking, they actually kinda made the most sense as an opener of any of the bands I've seen open for AC in spite of their genre differences, the interplay between the vocalists felt like "yeah these dudes probably like AC". They had more than one song that seemed to be about how it was cold outside but none of them were as good as Ludacris - Cold Outside. Still, cool stuff.
Also the thing about all of the people here... are young people more wholesome now? Do none of them need to go drink and smoke and pee now? Because in the past it felt like when there would be the change of bands, there would be a fluidity in the crowd because people had vices to feed, and I could sneak in and get a good place but it all feels so solid here. I think I have a decent spot in the drinking area.
I do not though. Immediately I felt like I needed to move, and that I was surrounded by people who just wanted a cool backdrop for a conversation. So I found a spot down on the bottom-most area, in the back of a solid mass of bodies. Although there were Wall People in front of me, I still ended up in a line of people who were into physically quantizing the music via dancing, so that was cool. I saw a woman squeeze thru the Wall People, like really force herself into a pocket they were selfishly blocking. That woman is my hero. I was really into my spot though, and got way into the music. This was new territory for me, since every album after Sung Tongs I had experienced the material first thru live shows or bootlegs, followed by the album editing down that experience. But with this, I got to experience the straightforward blast of this album and get all familiar with it, and then experience that material expanded upon. And it was incredible. Natural Selection! That's a song that grew on me on the album, but I still wouldn't call it a favorite. But they turn it into an all-time classic AC live jam, stretching out an introduction that seemed to last even longer than the album track. One of the most significant aspects of this live set-up is that they have that drummer from Ponytail behind a kit. And he was key in pulling out and extending those grooves, and really adding that extra umph when the songs needed to kick up to the next gear. I am a huge fan of the new album, and am even more psyched that this is the music they're making now. All of the vocal interplay was a feat to behold, seeing it happen in real-time. The new material made up the bulk of the set, more than the first half was all either PW material or newer (a cover and something from the upcoming 7"), and even with the typical expansion of the in-between spaces of an Animal Collective live show, it didn't really let up on the energy and my engagement was unrelentingly dialed in to the max. It only really slowed down with some old material (Loch Raven, Bees, Daily Routine) that would get sprinkled in in the 2nd half, which I suppose was necessary to prevent exhaustion. And while some may take that as further evidence of Animal Collective leaving something behind with this new material, the rousing closing performance of Alvin Row really confirmed for me how this new stuff really does stay true to something that has been in the band since the beginning. It was a fantastic show and I had a great time.
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Running Tally '16
First Listens: 111
Releases Listened This Year: 298
2016 Releases Listened: 42
Total Listens: 475
Only Listened Once: 216
Tarzana is a collaboration between Jan Anderzén (Kemialliset Ystävät) and Spencer Clark (The Skaters). I'm a big fan of KY, and while some of the synth timbres and melodies evoke the more recent work from that project, the approach to structure is quite different. Each track quickly establishes a sense of a place, and pokes around that space but never really steps out of it. Ill-fitting loops pile up, and it's like the balance between the loops shifts as the song goes, and the synths expand what they're doing and do create some sense of a narrative progression, but there's still this sense of consistency at the base that never really lets up. So I think this music really needs your attention while listening, or that consistency might be the most striking thing if it's fallen into the background. But a close listen is incredibly rewarding, as this modest presentation contains an incredibly active sound world full of developments in the nooks and crannies, with plenty of rewarding moments that I'm still discovering.
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Running Tally '16
First Listens: 111
Releases Listened This Year: 303
2016 Releases Listened: 42
Total Listens: 485
Only Listened Once: 220
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Tap
ShadowColossi
