Taplog

[sp4cetiger]

Loving this so far!

[Tap]

thanks! I just updated for my end of day. been enjoying this and also everyone's different take on doing it, it's been a lot of good reading. I especially dig getting all the detailed takes on the new Grimes at the same time, it feels like a whole shared expansion of understanding going on.

[Tap]

11/8

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Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding by Venetian Snares

Decided I'd start off the day with some crazy drum patterns. So at least back in these days there were two modes of vsnares albums. You had your sampled drum ones like doll doll doll or higgins, and then you had your synth drum ones like this or songs about my cats. I feel like the synth drum material was able to get out to crazier places. I guess not so much on this album, this one has a fair amount of much more direct melodies than usual. Mostly thinking of Songs About My Cats, that album is bonkers. This one is still pretty nice though. Probably a bit more cheese and a bit less \m/ than you would get on a sample drum album, but still for those who have enjoyed his work, this album should not be skipped. I don't know if I'd say to start with it, but maybe after you start it'd be a good one to keep going with. I really do need to take a shower tho so I'm actually going to pause it for that. I've heard it a million times, it's ok. edit: finished shower, I'll throw this on my phone and finish it there, while I go to get some costco pizza. edit2: Made it back home just as the album was entering the last track, good timing. But yeah, this is a really fun listen.

Think I'm gonna give this another spin while enjoying some of the legal perks of living in Washington state.

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On Earth by Hans Otte

Yeah, this is really fantastic. The first side starts out with the throb and the speech, but then the big noise cloud comes in. So it's like maybe multiple layers of filtered white noise, maybe eq is involved, but the way it moves is just from these gradual builds and descents in allowing specific frequency bands in and heightening em, so it's like pretty simple stuff really but just used very slowly and to sort of build an emphasis on a certain patch of the spectrum and then while that's happening in addition to the throb you sort of have this synth gurgle that builds on the irregular rhythm feeling that the throb gives and eventually it influences one of the filtered layers of noise that has the resonance set high so you get a mirror of the rhythm in the higher frequencies and then you get this interplay between the slow moving noise clouds and these rapid firing bits cutting thru and then tons more happens but I don't know how to explain yet. And then second side is again sort of like a different take on the same idea of the first, still starting with that throb, but instead of filtered noise it's like filtered feedback, much more centered on a pitch than just BWWWSSSSSSSHHHH. It's also not quite as slow moving feeling, there is a slow oscillation to the volume that gives it a metered feeling right away, and then the feedback comes up a bit and starts bleeding out and turning the object into something more diffused and I don't know, stuff happens afterwards. But I think that's enough to illustrate that this album works with sorta minimal components and structure, and creates a relationship between these sounds where small gestures can end up feeling massive. That oversimplified sentence describes a lot of things, a lot of things that don't sound like this even, so I do need to spend more time with this album to figure out exactly how to talk about it. But I really like it.

now let's catch up on some 2015

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Communion by Rabit

Is 2015 the best year of the decade so far? I don't know. I am pretty sure that this year had the most noteworthy releases with monochromatic album covers tho. Like in the future I bet the biggest takeaway from my chart would be seeing the album covers and going "what, was everyone sad that year or something?". This album is pretty great sounding tho. There's so many people working with sorta similar approaches to beats but they're all finding distinctions of their own. This one maybe doesn't feel as bold as M.E.S.H or Arca, like I'm having trouble in seeing as much of a distinction here. I guess it actually gets feeling a bit more like 00's idm in some parts with how crowded the beats can get, like I'm reminded of Quinoline Yellow a little bit though there are some major differences there. The crowding comes in clusters and you still get these pockets of space, and also the approach to melody is more in line with what's going on nowadays. I'm going to need to spend more time with this for sure, because these songs do rip really hard, I'll need time to figure out the nuances tho and how it fits into the landscape.

next up

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Consumer Electronics - Dollhouse Sounds
[not in db]

Hmm, I'm not sure if I'll add this to the db. It's not bad, I don't know, it's not especially striking me. This is a dude from Whitehouse yelling a bunch over digtal sounding noise and beats. The previous album Estuary English was cool, but what really struck me was a single 12" that came out this year (Repetition Reinforcement) that wasn't really noisy and got into this weirdly hypnotic thing. This album sort of hits an inbetween, lots more noise than that 12" but also lots more bass (and I guess reverb?) than Estuary English, smoothing out the edge of it a bit. But like most of the songs are under 5 minutes and never get into the hypnotic thing, I don't know. Maybe I just need to adjust my expectations towards what this is doing because there is something different going on here. But like it's a conflicting sort of thing, like this song Nothing Natural has a bit of cheese to the synth timbre it starts with but gets into some really cool noise stuff as it goes. And like there's a version of Murder The Masters from the 12" but the vocals on there were all whispery and here it's like mildly pitched up harsh yelling and I dunno, it's just doesn't seem like an upgrade. I'll give it some space and check in with it again later before the year wraps up, but right now it's not quite there for me.

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Gabriel Saloman - Movement Building Vol. 2
[not in db]

This one I think I will be adding. I dug Vol. 1 last year, and this seems like it's on par. Lots of physically drummed bassy thudding and cool drones from all sorts of Japanese instruments, referencing Taiko and Gagaku (which I'm not really familiar with as well as I should be, just going off of the label's description). But then there's also an electronic element bringing in some high frequencies at times it seems (or maybe bringing them out from the instruments, not sure). Gets sort of on the doom ridden side of things, the monochromatic cover is very appropriate in this instance. Except I guess in the case of the curveball cover of Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine at the end, it fits and works as a closure but it's pretty different to what comes before it. Not sure where it's ending up on my list but it'll be on there. But to the people who like ominous drones with drum thuds, I would say this is an album I think you'll want to check out.

let's go for something classic now while I give the Binding of Isaac's daily challenge a go...

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No One Said You Didn't by Phthalocyanine

Ah man, this was an awesome soundtrack to a really great seed on the daily, I was able to beat it with one heart remaining. This album is a pretty singular entity in the whole idm canon, and an oft overlooked one I think. It's the last album from the guy who ran Phthalo Records. This one sorta gets at what some of the really beat heavy tracks on DrukQs got into, except way more focused in that mode thru the whole thing, and also with a different approach to melody. There's a lot of sort of stock drum sounds, but they sound pretty sharp, really solid production and subtle shaping of the sounds to make them distinct. And also it's just an onslaught of them. Doesn't really get into that whole drill n bass, drums become the melody type of thing. It's just a pummeling. A constantly evolving one, like an extended loss to the picasso of mma or something. or wait no duh, Pollock. The Pollock of MMA. Well, maybe not quite that busy but you know, comparisons are messy.

This still has a bit of time to go, but I think after this I'll grab some coffee and dive into some of that Braxton that was recommended. Jazz and coffee go really good together I think.

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Silence by Anthony Braxton

Decided to go with this one first because it's chronological both in order of suggestion and recording. It sounded like a bit of an anomaly right off the bat, there's some odd instruments popping up. I'm really digging the switches in instruments tho, keeps things moving all over the place with really distinct touches popping up. It stays centered tho with Braxton's approach to playing, I don't have the theory knowledge to really understand it in a way where it's explainable but I really dig what he's doing. Some really great percussion too. The harmonica is a bit of an odd choice but I could work with it. I think tho that what spurred this particular recommendation is the second track, and the significant usage of the titular feature. Does not feel like something that is typically indicative of Braxton's work, but still a very fascinating listen due to it's closeness to a lot of improvisation stuff that's focused on tiny sounds and silence. Fortunately, my environment was cooperative and I didn't have the external world invading, and I was able to appreciate the unfolding of sound events properly. I love the tension that this sort of work creates, even tho I'm not there with it live I'm still careful to not make a sound and intrude on what's happening. I noticed some sort of weird delay thing where it seems like sometimes I'll hear the saxophone really quietly, and then loud, sort of confusing me on the exact moment when it was really created. Some of the other instruments sort of felt that way too, which really amplified this feeling of uneasiness I had where it was like I couldn't quite get a handle on how it was unfolding. And that's not exactly a knock, it's a compelling unease but it does make me unsure of exactly how I consider it in relation to other things. This is one I'll be coming back to for sure, thanks.

I'll be getting to Saxophone Improvisations Series F later on tonight. Was busy for a bit but then got listening to a mix someone made me from another messageboard. The theme was spooky type stuff cause we were all supposed to be finished making em by Halloween. There was of course a delay tho. The mix was alright, seemed like a lot of vaporwave or soundcloud type of things but definitely on an uneasy nervous type tip. Like not quite "omg it's after me!" but like "I should be careful, it's night and something could be lurking" type of cautiousness, which seemed like an interesting take on the theme. I dunno, I'm not super into some of the stylings that were represented but there was some cool stuff, but I don't know if there's anything I'd really want to seek out.

Now I think I'll dive into

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Saxophone Improvisations Series F by Anthony Braxton

So this solo adventure into Braxton's playing seems like maybe the thing I'm the least qualified to say much about, but I'm super glad I'm hearing it. This seems like a good way to sort of build up an understanding of Braxton's playing, the way he uses cleaner timbres and when he does and doesn't use more texture in the notes, the ways momentum is built and disrupted, the ways consistency develops, the ways all the notes relate to each other and give pieces coherence and distinct identities... that's all stuff I have no idea how to really talk about right now, but ah it's so great. Also really love how this album in particular feels like it is recorded really close so you can hear the breathing and clicking of keys more than I would expect even with the solo isolation. Although maybe that was just bound to happen, I dunno but it is cool. The whole space of this recording makes it particularly listenable imo. I dig the first sidelong piece the most I think, that one really gets going. It seems like both the sidelong pieces get into a different sort of thing than the other pieces w/r/t more direct repetitions, I think that might be the sort of thing that most interests me. But it's all so good, really.

That about does it for me on the music front today, gotta get ready for tomorrow and stuff. Today was some really good listening, thanks again for the recs.

[undefined]

Oh damn Tap I didn't realize you were editing in all that as you went along. This is even better than I already thought. Some wonderful reading there. (Sorry Satie you no longer have my favorite log)

[Satie]

[Tap]

Thanks guys! Tho I will say my approach is maybe not quite as focused and in-depth as what y'all are doing, and I think that is leading to some really good stuff in y'alls. I didn't know anything about that ballroom stuff before, and also my interest is way piqued in Revenge now and you'll be seeing that in this thread eventually too.

[Tap]

Finished up for tonight. Tomorrow will be probably be lighter on the music listening than these other posts but I'll still have some stuff.

[SquishypuffDave]

[Tap]

11/9

Figured I'd start this post up, so far I've just been listening to podcasts, but now it's time for music. Turns out this day will still be going heavy on the music.

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Supreme Balloon by Matmos

So this is Matmos' all-synthesizer album. I think I might be underrating it, I really enjoyed this listen. The theme really brings out Matmos' strength in making straightforwardly fun instrumental music without sacrificing an interesting structure or a few difficult sounds, really some of their catchiest work. And then it's like "oh yeah let's do a composition from this Baroque dude and then throw down a 20 minute epic". And then some other tracks go back to something a bit more straightforward. I need to stop listening to this CD tracklist version. The LP tracklisting seems way superior, for one thing it includes the Terry Riley collab, but the 20 min epic is the last track on there. Next time I'm doing that.

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Vittorio by Keith Fullerton Whitman

I was reminded that KFW contributed on that Matmos album so I was like "hmmmm what have I not listened to lately from that dude", and arrived at last year's Vittorio. This is the start of a new self-released very limited press series called Traveloglog, where he takes a recording of a live set and does some modification after the fact. I think with this one he incorporated huge drones generated from photos he took around the venue (such as the cover). At least I think that's what those are. So yeah, this one is interesting because the first 20 min or so are these layers of noise that have that sort of timestretchy-fft type sound to them, and it's all very ominous and not really characteristic of what KFW has been putting out. And then somewhere around halfway you start to notice some more modular synth type noises coming in, sounding all irregular. But then the second surprise hits, and you start getting like a straightforward bassy rhythm, and the noise fades away as layers of really nice melodic bits pile up. An odd release, not one I'd recommend to start with for sure, and even in the Traveloglog series I prefer this year's Tokyo, but this is still a good listen that I enjoy coming back to.

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Extinguished: Outtakes by Prefuse 73

This followup to One Word Extinguisher is also a fun listen, although I mean it's not like I think it's great music. It's sort of a sketchbook really, some stuff sounds a bit chintzy and other bits unfinished. But that's sort of the charm. Modesty ends up getting underrated, but sometimes the best thing is something ok. I don't know if people who aren't fans of Scott Herren's way of putting beats together or his approach to melody (which can totally get a bit samey, especially starting around here in the career) would enjoy this, but if you're on board I think it's worth hearing and pulling out every couple years or so.

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Sing Me A Song Of Songmy, A Fantasy For...ie Hubbard

Here's an odd one. Ilhan Mimaroglu is a composer of experimental electronic music for tape, Freddie Hubbard is a jazzman, and together they make something that bounces between a sort of electronic tinged classical, to jazz, to stuff that's more like full on tape music. And also bits of spoken word that get pretty political. A pretty singular album right here. I'm not sure whether I prefer the more focused aesthetic from Mimaroglu solo or the broad spread from the shotgun blast of this album. I mean it feels like I should go shotgun blast no question, but I don't know. Also some of the political stuff maybe felt a little ham fisted on this listen? Still lots to consider here, maybe I'll come back to this later in the week after going in with some more Mimaroglu solo.

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Deep Voices by Norbert Möslang + Andy Guhl

AKA Voice Crack. This is before they had that name, their first album together actually. They eventually got deeper into noise and EAI stuff, but on this album they're sort of doing an approach to free improvisation that feels rooted in jazz, there's a lot of bass clarinet and sax, but they sort of work their way out of that and more into something distinctly free improv with some really cool sounding percussion things and a little bit of electronics. Their album after this, Knack On, is the classic I think, goes much deeper into what's hinted at on this debut. But there is still a lot to like on here. I should really explore this label FMP more, not just cause I need to go deep on some Brotzmann, there's probably a lot I would like in there.

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Long Hair In Three Stages by U.S. Maple

This band is sorta new for me, dunno why I kept overlooking them. But I've been introducing myself by throwing this album on every so often recently, and I'm enjoying it quite a lot. Just some really good hard edged guitar music without any bluesiness to take me out of it. Lots of instruments having their own freakouts, cool structures, abrasion and vocals that I can't really understand but sound cool. I should listen to more rock music. I guess there's a lot of stuff that fell under the math rock name that I haven't taken a close enough look at, maybe there's something more there to look into. Should probably just listen to more albums from these guys. And also Shellac, I should listen to more Shellac.

But I think rn I'll do one of those Borbetomagus + Voice Crack collabs

Borbetomagus & Voice Crack - Concerto for Cracked Everyday-Electronics and Chamber Orchestra
[not in db]

Yeah yeah I'll add it eventually. Borbetomagus are so great. I get the appeal of Barbed Wire Maggots, but I think a lot of the other stuff with clearer recording works even better. Especially something like this where you got Voice Crack throwing all sorts of wild stuff into the mix. It can be a bit difficult sometimes cause for me like there is clearly movement and change to the music, but it feels sort of static and like you're being held down in a moment. Tho of course not as literally as some harsh noise wall or whatever, which is fine by me. But yeah, Voice Crack fits into the group perfectly, leading to little flourishes that I don't think would've otherwise happened and expanding the overall sound palette (I love that weird percussion sort of thing, like I've seen video where they have this giant wire that one of em hammers away at and I think there might be something similar in here, maybe not as giant). I'm not as familiar with this one as I am with Fish That Sparkling Bubble, but I'm beginning to think I might prefer this.

[Norman Bates]