Mordant Music - SyMptoMs

Mordant music are a mysterious and intriguing collective. Their music is fascinating, and they don't seem to be the kind of folk who employ voracious lawyers who are desperate to keep themselves in employment, trying to influence thinking and policy about music rights or legislation about copyright. The kind of cunts who offer nothing creative, who only want to syphon off their earnings from the creative industries. Expect lawyers to be at the forefront of all forthcoming copyright/mp3/pirating debates, trying to save their own bacon, and fatten it up at the same time. They don't give a shit about artists, but they certainly earn a shitload of money from them. But I digress.
This album sees this weird collective sometimes embrace a Pop Group-style polemic; classic Underworld repetition, and an ultra-modern aesthetic that keeps them fresh and strange. The title track is a truly glorious combination of these elements: pulsating epic Berlin techno backgrounds some proper spoken vocals, but also surges into the foreground, with chiming, tinkling melodies. This track is truly magnificent, and is worth downloading for. 'You Are A Door' is another fabulous track, with a wickedly chugging electro beat, and more spaced out atmospherics. Mordant are a curious bunch - definitely worth investigating further.

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Kiyoshi Izumi - Effect Rainbow

I've been a bit slack recently, so I'm going to post a couple of EPs tonight, and not write much about them. First up is a brilliant EP from this obscure Japanese gent. This 3 tracker was released on Rephlex in 1997. I don't remember if it caused much of a stir, but I bought it on vinyl and was blown away by it. It's full of oddball melodies, wonky drums, and crazy arrangements. There is some great drum programming, and some strange little samples and vocals thrown into the mix for extra trippy effect. There is a real eastern feel to this, from the chiming, ringing sounds that evoke old Japan, and also from the 8-bit game noises bleeping about. Fabulous stuff, that really peaks on the last track 'Bedroom Glow', which is a bit of a rocker.

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White Dot Electronica 2

Another wad of superb electronica for you. Slightly more upbeat, lush and tuneful this time, epitomised by the glorious opener by Four Tet vs. Pole. This also contains what I think could be the finest piece of electronica ever: Autechre's remix of Beaumont Hannant. I'm sure there are proponents of Carl Craig's 'At Les', too - a total classic. The other Autechre remix is completely awesome, too, and the Balil track is one I never tire of. Two hours of niceness: hopefully there will be some revelatory discoveries within.
Tracklisting:
1 - Four Tet vs. Pole - Cload (V/A - Osmosis Leaf Sampler)
2 - Apparat - Limelight (Walls)
3 - As One - Meridian Max 404 remix (Reflections On Reflections)
4 - Softballet - Jail Of Freedom Autechre remix (Softballetforms)
5 - Bersarin Quartet - Mehr Als Alles Andere (Bersarin Quartet)
6 - Mouse On Mars -Owai (Instrumentals)
7 - Dabrye - No Child Of God (Instrumentals)
8 - Kettel - Any Waken Sly Bonda (Whisper Me Wishes)
9 - Balil - Parasight (V/A-Artificial Intelligence 2)
10 - Kiyoshi Izumi - Bedroom Glow (Effect Rainbow 12")
11 - LA Synthesis - Agoraphobia (Matrix Surfer)
12 - Nonplace Urban Field - Roll Over Ehrenfield (V/A-Deutsche Funk)
13 - Boy Robot - Magic Toys For Girls & Boys (Rotten Cocktails)
14 - Principles Of Geometry - Golem (Lazare)
15 - Vulva - Kellog's Corn Circles (From The Cockpit)
16 - Cristian Vogel - The Time Lock (Station 54)
17 - Carl Craig - At Les (V/A - In Order To Dance 5)
18 - 16B - Falling: Two Lone Swordsmen remix (Falling 12")
19 - Beaumont Hannant - Psi Onyx Autechre remix (Psi Onyx 12")

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Alexander's Dark Band - Dobutsu Bancho

A 2005 album by J Saul Kane, aka Depth Charge. This is a loose and dirty beast of an LP, full of rough and drunken beats - mostly breakbeats, distorted bass, and rotten analogue keyboards held together with sellotape. There's plenty of influence from dub - check out the rude, throbbing bass on 'Dead Metal Dyno Rock', with nasty backwards sounds and some expert knob twiddling. There are some terrifically monged sounds on here - tweaked beyond the realms of good taste, and ending up crashed in a smoking heap at the end of brainfuck road. Virtually every track exudes a bad attitude, and has the rough beats to back it up, and twisted editing/brain prodding sounds poking you in the chest for extra provocative effect. It also rocks mightily, and has plenty of raised-fist triumphant moments, some lino-polishing retro grooves (The Immortal Squirrel), as well as some menacing frequency assaults (Baka Monkey Doll, EH O400).

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Byetone - Plastic Star

Byetone is a recording alias of Olaf Bender, one of the co-founders of the Raster-Noton label from Germany. I love a lot of the music on this label, which is normally a kind of icy, detached electronic minimalism; sometimes even distant and sterile (and often brilliant). This, on the other hand, is a bit of a beast. Right from the off it storms in with an electro kick drum and a glorious throbbing bass. This is driven along by minimal cymbals, and punctuated with stabs of distorted harmonic noise, before a triumphant droning melody is introduced and the track rises to a victorious peak. This demands to be played loud, and is the kind of tune that makes you raise your fist into the air.
There are four mixes on here, all excellent, none of which deviates greatly from the original, which is a good thing. Sleeparchive does a characteristically excellent job, shaping it into a more syncopated techno pounder. Fellow Raster-Noton luminary Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) funks it up a bit, cutting and chopping with clipped beats and some of his trademark high pitched noise signals. And it's nice to see Dr Walker turn in an Air Liquide-style acid-hop version, adding some acoustic bass and swirling trippy synths in the classic mid 90s Air Liquide style.
Marvellous. After hearing this I had to buy it on vinyl.

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Two Lone Swordsmen - The Fifth Mission

This 1996 double album was a serious statement of intent from Andrew Weatherall and Keth Tenniswood. Forging a unique sound from oddball synth noises and some monged rhythm loops (the amazing 'Beacon Block'), this provided a wealth of listening pleasure for me when it came out. Veering from beautifully downbeat tracks like the sublime 'A Slow Drive West' to more intense, almost techno tracks like the cd only 'Backstairs Rattlers', via spannered electro and house, this is a classic collection.
It was also something of a surprise: Weatherall had been one of my favourite DJs for a few years - his Sabresonic club under the arches at London Bridge still remains one of my favourite clubbing experiences - and I was expecting something a bit more banging. Instead I got something that is far more enduring.

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Gonzales - The Entertainist

Aptly titled album by the chameleon-like Chilly Gonzales. Ridiculously entertaining, this album finds him in hip hop mode. Other albums have seen him do post rock and neo classical solo piano. Brilliant lyrics, delivered with aplomb, over beats which venture from trad hip-hop territory to electronica (no beats, which has no beats). The music is provided by a range of collaborators including Peaches, Digital Hardcore chaps Bomb 20, Patric Catani and Paul PM, who also provides vocals on the brilliant mogadon-hop 'Meditation'. This crew also provide little snippets of background vocals, and little intentionally dumb interjections. Personally I think this all hangs together beautifully, and I can't believe how obscure this gem has become.
I should also note that when he played live to promote this album, it was easily the funniest gig I've ever been to, at the sadly defunct Spitz in London. I would say you had to be there, as a mere description wouldn't do justice to the hilarity of the evening. It's just occured to me to Googe this event. Here is a high-handed NME review, written by someone on their high horse, who obviously wasn't high.
After reading that review, I feel I should point out that this album isn't a joke - it's just funny. It's not some ironic statement, it's serious.

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China White - The China White EP

From 1993, one of my favourite releases on Djax-Up Beats, and I had quite a few. Impeccably produced by three chaps who seem only to have done one other record together, the Tuned In EP by Dark Llama, which is also fantastic. This consists of two slower Detroit influenced tracks; a great acid belter; and a classic Chicago acid house track, wherein a disembodied voice decries the hardships of working for the man. 'Tired of working for the motherfuckers' indeed. The beat programming on this is magnificent throughout, with definite influences from Detroit electro.

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Ethik II - Individual/Traffic

Released on the cool Eat Raw label, home of some of my favourite electronica artists, in 1994. It says on the back 'This is not a compilation', although the tracklisting reads like one. Ethik II is more of a collective - a who's who of the German scene at the time, also featuring early work by Cristian Vogel. Chock full of the kind of trippy ambient beats that inhabited a space balanced perfectly between the techno dancefloors of the time, and the pioneering german legends of Cluster, Conny Plank, Klaus Schulze etc. The artwork and track titles nicely mirror the classic Kraftwerk meditation on the autobahn.
Tracklist:
1 Twilight Zone (5:42)
Producer, Written-By - Thomas P. Heckmann
2 Light On Glass (6:57)
Producer, Written-By - Cristian Vogel
3 Continental Traffic Jam (4:34)
Producer, Written-By - Pierrot 1er*
4 Drive-by Shooting (5:11)
Producer, Written-By - Jörg Burger
5 Zabriskie Point (2:37)
Producer, Written-By - Akustik Shift
6 Empire State Building (4:51)
Producer, Written-By - Khan
7 Safety Check (5:27)
Producer, Written-By - Jammin' Unit
8 Direction (5:24)
Producer, Written-By - Akustik Shift
9 Lifelines (4:29)
Producer, Written-By - Jürgen Paape
10 Somewhere Out There (4:08)
Producer, Written-By - Bionaut, The
11 1000 Miles & Running (4:16)
Producer, Written-By - M. Migher* , Sweet Reinhard
12 Still 150 Miles To Lyon (2:29)
13 From A Buick (3:24)
Producer, Written-By - Bionaut, The
14 Womb (12:33)
Producer, Written-By - Cristian Vogel

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