Nostalgic synths, glitch-drone meets proto-breakcore, modern composition meets sound-art installations meets Jamaican vocals, and more tonight…
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In a year in which the long-awaited new Boards of Canada album came out (and was incredible), James Holden‘s doing a pretty good line in gorgeous fauxstalgic organic electronica. I couldn’t resist giving the new album one more spin, and “Blackpool Late Eighties” is just impossibly pretty – so deceptively simple, but so perfectly made.
Pure is a DJ and producer who came up out of Vienna around the same time as the glitch pioneers from Mego were doing their thing. Bridging the gap between the hardcore/breakcore and glitch/drone/noise scenes from Vienna & Berlin, he’s best known for his glorious live laptop sets, which rival FennO’Berg et al for beautiful distortion… In the late ’90s Pure established the Sub/Version label with Christoph Fringeli to release their take on the hardcore jungle sounds they were hearing from the UK – a different take perhaps from what DHR were doing in Berlin. But his glitch/drone/abstract work really stands out, even though I feel he’s somewhat underrated. Tonight’s special is brought to you by the No End of Vinyl (sort-of) remix album inspired by his classic Mego EP The End of Vinyl, made from vinyl record run-out grooves, and features some masters including Mego’s very own Pita, and DHR überlord Christoph de Babalon.
One half of Dutch idm powerhouse Funckarma, Roel Funcken appears to be carrying the release schedule mostly on his own these days, with his brother Don taking a back seat. By and large, it hasn’t really made much difference to the sound! Warm analogue synths battling with extreme, advanced digital processing; at their best, Funckarma give us complex beat programming and beautiful soundscaping, and I think there’s a bit more of that going on on this new EP, probably the best thing from them/him in a while.
Also hailing from Holland, Machinefabriek hasn’t really made much music with beats for years, preferring drone and sound art, and his production is second to none. On his Stroomtoon releases, he works with a primitive Phillips analogue tone generator and various effects units, essentially making his own synthesizer. The original album from last year was a closely composed, layered work, from which we heard two tracks in the middle; for the sequel which he’s just released, we hear more raw pieces, created live, which manage to be both complex and quite moving.
New York-based conceptual artist, composer & turntablist Marina Rosenfeld released an amazing album on Room40 back in 2009. Her new release for the label sees her joined by experimental cellist Okkyung Lee (although I think only on one or two tracks), and Jamaican vocalist Annette Henry aka Warrior Queen. While the focus track nods at the dancehall beat and gives Warrior Queen a rhythmic backing for her vocals, it’s quite wonderful to hear her in a more poetic setting, voice slightly glitched over a sparse electronic backing from Rosenfeld.
Rosenfeld’s earlier album, Plastic Materials, features some beautiful minimalist composition-meets-soundscapey-electronica works, but also some versions of her Teengage Lontano work, the original of which is a “cover version” of the 20th century composer Ligeti’s choral work Lontano, performed on stage by mostly-untrained teenagers singing along with their iPods. It’s pretty amazing – watch/listen here.
Last year renowned jazz pianist Mike Nock & PVT drummer Laurenz Pike released an album of jazz duos called Kindred. It’s a side of Laurence that we haven’t really heard much of since his Triosk days, and without much of the digital interventions of the “post-jazz” subgenre. It’s really lovely stuff, and we have a rare opportunity to see the duo live this coming Friday courtesy of SIMA & the Sound Lounge.
I don’t usually promote my own music on the show, but as a special note, my post-everything improv quintet Tangents are playing at the Sound Lounge also this week, on Thursday the 1st of August. Stream a couple of tracks at the link, and check the Facebook event. Would love you to come along!
Holden – Blackpool Late Eighties [Border Community]
Pure – This & That Edit by Pita [Crónica]
Christoph Fringeli & Pure – Darkstar (Fennesz remix) [Sub/Version]
Pure – ivan [Mego]
Pure – duck [Mego]
Pure – The End of Vinyl (Christoph de Babalon remix) [Crónica]
Roel Funcken – Dreampty [Eat Concrete]
Roel Funcken – Jeptic Une [Eat Concrete]
Machinefabriek – Stroomtoon Tien [Machinefabriek Bandcamp]
Machinefabriek – Twee [Nuun]
Machinefabriek – Vijf [Nuun]
Machinefabriek – Kreupelhout [Machinefabriek Bandcamp]
Marina Rosenfeld feat. Warrior Queen – Seeking Solace / Why, Why? [Room40]
Marina Rosenfeld – “Cuz I Cannot Find My Way…” (Teenage Lontano 1) [Room40]
Marina Rosenfeld – In F [Room40]
Marina Rosenfeld feat. Okkyung Lee – New York / Empire State of… [Room40]
Mike Nock & Laurenz Pike – Zeus’ Dream [FWM Records]
Mike Nock & Laurenz Pike – The Old Times [FWM Records]
Listen again — ~122MB
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