The Others - "Africa"

The Others - Bushido (Dub Police 2007)

The Others - Africa 12" / Dub Police

Cyrus (Random Trio) was a nice step in the right direction, but I still don't think I really know what's going on with the dubstep underground. It's a deep, dark, twisted terrain of alien dub the likes of which the creatures from "Independence Day" must listen to when they're docking their spaceships on the mothercraft. I'm not sure even dubsteppers themselves know what they've birthed.This bizarre mental correlation seems to hit me every time I hear dubstep of any kind, actually.

That changed with The Others, two guys from SW16 London who go by Dexterous and D-Code. Their background springs from the Vestax DJ Academy, where they met and united under the banner of similar taste. This promo CD-R and/or vinyl 12 arrived unadorned in early May and I've been listening to these three tracks quite often lately. I feel like a narrow-minded fool for bringing him up again, but in a time when listening to Madlib's latest Beat Konducta record is pretty much the norm (It's all getting a bit unhealthy, but I hope to recover soon; get-well cards can be sent to the address at the bottom of this page), the unique nooks and crannies that these songs inhabit gets me as close to India as any trip Otis Jackson Jr. might have taken me on lately.

First, the two tracks kids will come to know and love as their own: "Africa" and "Flapjack." Cut from the same cloth as the rest of their brethren borne out of the wobblestep streets that have produced the audio wreckage seen elsewhere on these pages, "Africa" uses vocals more than the other two tracks, but the point is the same: Reggae zooms in from the future, breaks your ears with its wamping bass and brings you back with echo-laden vocals replete with a thick accent and vaguely sinister words. "Flapjack" is thankfully not quite as hokey as its title may suggest, a similar bassment-dwelling thriller with slightly less vocal influx and a healthy penchant for keeping it sleazy. Parents will be proud of their children blasting this from their Civics if they're not totally put off by it first.

While these wicked riddims are all well and good, "Bushido" is the exotic ace up The Others' sleeve and has already garnered "anthem" status in finer dubstep circles. Caspa has already done a remix of it, for example, and its obvious hook is so enticing I can almost smell the curry rising from the darkest recesses of East London. Whereas "Africa" plays like the label the continent once carried and "Flapjack" has the amusing backstory of N-Type rambling on about his mother's flapjacks on Rinse FM so why not call it that?, it's "Bushido" that takes the cake with its British Raj vibe, except who rules who may or may not be reversed. You decide.

This is the eighth release for Dub Police, who are just two years old and already on the cutting edge of the scene; L-Wiz, N-Type and Caspa were their early releases (and L-Wiz has already had three releases at the time of this writing). A sister label to Storming Productions and Sub Soldiers, Dub Police was started in 2005 for the more dubbed and half-stepped beats. This is just one example of how they've succeeded. As dubstep grows a little older and the folks at the forefront of the movement look to change and evolutioni[s]e the sound, new names are beginning to emerge. Those of you who are into this and have been sleeping on Dub Police, it's time to wake up: The Others have arrived, and they're not alone.

Pumice - "Pebbles"

Pumice - Brownbrownbrown (Soft Abuse 2007)

Pumice – Pebbles / Soft Abuse

It is incredibly frustrating when you sit down to research an artist in preparation for your own review and every bio or critique you come across lists related or similar artists that you have never listened to or even heard of before. For me personally, the thought always comes fluttering across my mind that I could fake a little knowledge and cop a comparison or two, but that damn conscious of mine always wins out demanding honesty and kicking me in the shins for even considering the thought. This is the trouble I have gotten in with the latest release by New Zealand outsider musician Stefan Neville, or has he’s known on dozens of cassette-only releases, Pumice. I am really digging Pebbles and it’s lo-fi psychedelic-pop cacophony, but reading the number of other reviews already strewn throughout the internet has made me realize that I know jackshit about the New Zealand underground… or really anything New Zealand. Is that where kiwis come from? Sigh. My knowledge of the South Pacific island is laughable, and though I am familiar with the names circling Neville’s sound like Alastair Galbraith, Tall Dwarves, The Clean, The Enemy and Flying Nun, I can’t say with a clear conscious that I have spent much time actually listening to them. But this is also the exact reason I am so excited to write about Pebbles, because I find the feedbacking outsider avant-pop to be incredibly hypnotizing and am looking forward to exploring the scene that influenced Neville in this direction.

Since the early 90s, Stefan Neville has gained a cult following thanks to his lengthy discography of self-released cassettes, 7 inches and CD-R’s with the majority of them being released under the Pumice moniker and through his own label, Stabbies, etc. A one man band, Neville explores a sound lying somewhere between Fahey, Jandek and Moondog, setting up an archaic organ immediately in front of his abbreviated drum-set and running his electric guitar along with everything else through distraught, yelping amplifiers. Though, as I mentioned before, I can’t speak for his entire discography, the Pumice sound appears to be an oddly enchanting mix of outsider folk and near-droning avant-garde rock with excursions into rollicking rockabilly, fragile singer/songwriter, and experimental psyche-pop explorations.

I honestly almost want to approach this album one song at a time, because Neville attempts a number of styles with each individual track, though he always sounds distinctly himself. Album opener, “Eyebath,” is a rollicking, jaunty electric guitar workout that is ridiculously catchy though bathed in feedback and buried in dynamic-less quarter-inch tape mid-frequencies. It is a dead giveaway to why Neville was picked to be featured on the forthcoming compilation of Fahey-inspired New Zealand artists as he transcribes the innovative folk-jazz into new realms of noisy avant-rock. The cacophony is set aside for the next few tracks though as “Bold/Old” introduces the more intimate Pumice sound and is a crawling, endearing piece of soft-spoken singer/songwriter vocals, sparsely feedbacking guitar noodles and acoustic piano flourishes. I find “Brownbrownbrown” especially interesting with its stuttering arrangement and absolutely hypnotizing melody. It proves Neville has the ability to be an effective pop songwriter, but he thankfully chooses to express such intimacies in experimental settings. Tracks like “Greenock” and “Spike/Spear” continue that method but in an increasingly droning setting and calling to mind similar acts like Sun City Girls or Flossin. The hypnotizing melody is there and effective, but it gets buried and teased in between over-modulated organs, minor drum freakouts and swirling feedback. If you have ever wondered what Jandek sounded like if would ever stumble across a hook, Pebbles wouldn’t be too far off.

Mastered by Yellow Swans member Pete Swanson and released by the reliable psyche-folk label Soft Abuse, Pebbles is one of those albums that initially sounds like insular bedroom experimentation but with each successive listen reveals more and more intriguing and catchy psyche-pop nuggets. Though maybe a little tough to approach for those used to more traditional production, Pebbles is a pretty accessible album and Neville’s songwriting absolutely sounds like that of a musician with a discography pages long. I definitely recommend this to anyone already into the lo-fi psyche scene or is up to the challenge of widening their pop tastes. As for me, I have a few decades of New Zealand underground music to explore, because if spurred an artist like Pumice, I am definitely interested.

Modeselektor - "Happy Birthday!"

Modeselektor - 2000007 (feat. TTC) (Bpitch Control 2007)

Modeselektor - Happy Birthday! / Bpitch Control

By crook or by diff, last week was a bevy of hip-hop releases. It was only partly intentional, but the quality was all there. Germany's Modeselektor could've been propped up right with them, but they are a different animal. Working from our beloved Bpitch Control offices in Berlin, using big-beat electronic anthems more akin to Justice than Jay Dee, utilizing the vocal talents of Thom Yorke and a questionable collaboration with Maxïmo Park, Modeselektor continue to choose the road less traveled of audiversity, if you know what I mean.

In short, they go beyond mere categorization, and though that's a trite thing to say (I shuddered typing that out just now, in fact), Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary are on a trajectory that will take them beyond mere "electro" or "party-hop" MySpace tags. And anyway, the title of their two albums have been Hello Mom! and Happy Birthday! Only The Saturday Knights take themselves less seriously.

The history of the duo dates back to 1992 when Bronsert met acid house DJ Szary in Berlin. After coming together under the Fundamental Knowledge alias, they rechristened themselves as Modeselektor in 1996 and one chance meeting with Bpitch head Ellen Allien later, the boys were on the label at the turn of the millennium. It's been all uphill since: Several collaborations and remixes have furthered the Modeselektor name in between 2000 and 2005, but Hello Mom! was a wake-up call to those who weren't already on top of the electro game. One advocate in particular helped them garner enough attention to get a US release for Happy Birthday!, and he's on here. That'd be Thom Yorke.

But that'd be jumping the gun, because Thom doesn't make an appearance until penultimate tune "The White Flash." There's so much more happening on this record that reducing it to mere guest appearances (which also include TTC, Siriusmo, Puppetmastaz, Apparat, Paul St. Hillaire, and Otto von Schirach) would be foolish. Bronsert and Szary are doing plenty with the production of this record, and that's one of its many joys: If it doesn't sound like the perfect Franco-crunk of TTC's appearance on "2000007," it's the dark n' stark minimalism on "B.M.I." expected from a Berlin-based bunch of electronics-savvy personnel (We could've picked any song from this record to get the point across that they are working their stylistic palettes, but the TTC track just seems to have this extra bit of zest in their demented delivery that is hard to turn down). If it's not "Nova"-style flowers-blooming-at-speed on "The First Rebirth" (Just picture the voice-over as a woman describes how "In a few short weeks, this rhododendron has become a part of the landscape... Forever..."), it's the thoughtful IDM of "Edgar," which shares a lot in common with French brethren Tepr. I've always mentally associated these three but while Tepr is more boisterous more often, Modeselektor show an air of restraint when they're not throwing down wicked glitch-hop for the kids to flip out about.

There's a pleasant stretch of five songs in the first third of the album that are free of guests, and these songs, from "B.M.I." to "The Dark Side of the Frog" are both emotionally and sonically coherent. This reveals a definite mood that Modeselektor fall into when they're left to their own devices; just have a peek at "Late Check-Out" deep into the album to understand. Even when it's Kavinsky-esque Testarossa autodriving on "Sucker Pin," it's never overtly flamboyant or boisterous as it seems to be when there are others hanging about the studio. Take for example IDM terrorist Otto von Schirach's appearance on "Hyper Hyper:" The twisted voices bring out the dark side of the song. It's an interesting dynamic and one which Modeselektor have not always employed; I seem to remember Hello Mom! being a little more excitable a little more often.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. The two sides to Modeselektor balance themselves out quite nicely here. "The White Flash" is a tantalizing taste of what The Eraser should've sounded like had the songs been, you know, tolerable in length; hopefully Yorke will have taken a few clues from his friends here and the next Radiohead album (due whenever they feel like it!) will follow suit. "I Can't Sleep (Without Music)" is a bit boring but you never see it coming on the CD so as an addendum it's somewhat of a last-gasp kicker.

Not that Happy Birthday! needs one. See, the great thing here is that Modeselektor are peaking at a time when people are open to rockist electronica, so Modeselektor are in the right place at the right time, even more so than they were two years ago. If this is the summer of Simian Mobile Disco and New Young Pony Club and on and on it goes, then Modeselektor deserve to rope in their own contingent of followers and, as they've done so often in the past, bend their brains on the next release (which I predict will be called For the Graduate! if the last two album titles are anything to go by). It's what being brilliant is all about, and though we toss that description around a lot here at Audiversity, Modeselektor are truly deserving.

Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - "Keep Reachin' Up"

Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators - If This Ain't Love (Don't Know What Is) (Light in the Attic 2007)

Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators – Keep Reachin’ Up / Light in the Attic

Though you have to put up with all the rowdy immaturities of her pop divaness, you got to give a few props to Amy Winehouse for helping re-popularize classic funk-backed soul music to a young audience. She is obviously not the singular reason for the stylistic shift from the over-produced dance-heavy digital backing tracks of the late 90s/early 00s to the raw, live-sounding retro-soul in the mainstream today, but again, having a new generation research names like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan just because they are listed as Winehouse’s influences is absolutely a good thing. I only even use Winehouse’s name as a comparison to Nicole Willis, where I should probably be citing Beverly Knight or Jill Scott as similar contemporary artists, because Willis has a discography that made that very transition from fronting trip-hop or electronica acts from the 90s to sporting a retro-soul-funk outfit with her third solo outing, Keep Reachin’ Up. With the help of the Finnish answer to the Daptones, The Soul Investigators, the Pekka Kuusisto String Orchestra, her husband Jimi Tenor, and producer/engineer Didier Selin, Willis has crafted an album of classic soul workouts that easily shows why Seattle’s always-impressive Light in the Attic Records was willing to follow up their Betty Davis re-issues with it.

Brooklyn-born, Nicole Willis has utilized her earthy, calm, soul-drenched croon for a number of acts in the last two decades. For the most part, she has stuck with the flow of the pop-soul genre as it transitioned from a number of styles, from acid jazz to trip-hop to urban to today’s retro-soul, always sounding completely effortless and natural. Over the years she has contributed her vocal chops to a range of diverse artists including Curtis Mayfield, Brand New Heavies, Deee-Lite, Wax Poetic, The The, Leftfield and most of the Mo’ Wax roster. All of the Finnish connections throughout Keep Reachin’ Up can easily be traced to her husband, Jimi Tenor, an alum of WARP, Matador and Ubiquity who is described as techno’s first cabaret star by AMG. Tenor has no doubt had a big influence on Willis over the years (or perhaps the other way around) as he has progressed from techno to IDM to new-groove to the recently released Joystone on Ubiquity where he teams up with the West African rhythm section Kabu Kabu for a Fela-meets-Stereolab sound.

Anticipation for this release has been stirring for a while now especially since London’s renowned DJ and tastemaker Gilles Peterson proclaimed opening track and hit single “Feeling Free” as the 2006 Worldwide Winner Song of the Year. Really though, that can’t be too much of a surprise if you have ever heard Peterson’s radio show as he is quick to champion most anything that is both danceable and soulful all the while molding the Northern Soul sound to his tastes for a number of years. “Feeling Free” is a hell of a song though as it pairs a backing track that can easily be traced back to Mayfield or Hayes with it’s string-heavy climaxes and deep funk rhythm section. Willis vocally swoons with grace overtop never sounding forced and teasing each and every syllable with her sexy alto. I find the vocal arrangements to be much less emphatic soul workouts as proto-disco paint-within-the-groove accompaniment. In contemporary comparisons, less Aguilera, more Winehouse.

As on the first track, The Soul Investigators color each track with Motown-like pop-funk instrumentals that are less concerned with fiery solos as masterfully capturing a groove and perfecting it. My personal favorite track, “If This Ain’t Love (Don’t Know What Is)”, is a great example of this. The Investigators head-nod there way into an easy-going groove that would have Berry Gordy bopping all night long while Willis effortlessly swaggers with minute harmonic precision never really grabbing the spotlight, but never missing a beat either. Tenor even contributes a quality flute solo that of course is strung through an echoplex plug-in; once an electronica artist, always an electronica artist. Later, “Invisible Man” ups the pop factor hand-clapping it’s way into Jackson 5 territory as Willis ups her vocal pitch that though sounding slightly uncomfortable, works well. “Blues Downtown,” on the other hand, is more of a workout for The Investigators with a deep funk organ and elliptical horn groove while Willis coos with jazzy melodic waves.

Though most of the names in the credits are Finnish, Keep Reachin’ Up sounds more Detroit circa the mid-60s when The Four Tops and The Supremes were teaming lush arrangements with party-soul vocals. While I want to group in Willis with contemporary soul vocalists like Sharon Jones, she is much less funk and much more pop-soul. The Soul Investigators and the Pekka Kuusisto String Orchestra doing a wonderful job of contributing a great live setting for Willis to shine over; they play with great talent, precision and most importantly soul, riffing just enough to loosen the arrangements but without ever stealing the spotlight. Keep Reachin’ Up is a solid outing for all the artists involved and should do wonderfully in the Northern Soul circuit, and thanks to the recent American pop-soul mainstream shift, may even make a few waves here in the States.

Interversity: History Invades

History Invades is our featured artist in this week's Interversity. Fielding questions for the San Francisco three-piece is Paul Harper, who has taken the ordinarily obtuse aesthetic of the band and kindly (and directly) answered our questions. Straight from the horse:











History Invades - Post-Modernist Trap: A Stalker's Guide to the Universe - In Vision Vanish Invisible (Lujo /Pish Posh of North America 2007)

1. What other musical endeavors were you involved with pre-History Invades?

Believe it or not, not really any before the original incarnation of HI. I played in a circle of local friends' bands just because they needed this or that. I toured the west coast with Map (Velvet Blue Music) as a drummer in 2003, and nationally with Kat Jones (VBM) as a bassist in 2004. Those tours were great learning experiences of how life on the road really is.

2. I've always loved the band name. What's the story behind how it came about?

Originally, when we were changing our bands name and figuring out what to call the project, Michael Norman Williams had a handful of joke side bands, all with these outrageous names, including James Dean & The Pase Robles Racers, We Come In Pieces (This one we are still planning on using actually), Die Capitalist War Machine!!!, and a bunch of others. One of them was History Invades, and someone (i think Daniel Scott Mayberry) suggested it. We never really agreed on it, until we played a local show (our first in a few months as we were out on the road quite a bit), where Michael stated that our other band couldn't make it because they changed their name to History Invades, finishing with "Hi, we're History Invades." Ever since then, we have rolled with the name, and its been a good name for us. We never really had a good reason for calling the band HI, but numerous people have commented on what they think the name means, and thats more important to us...to know that our name spurs different ideas into the listeners mind. We have had people tell us that it reminded them of the Great Depression, others talking about history repeating itself, and probably so many more. It holds specific meaning in my life now, and i think the name will be a good one to keep around for the tenure of this band.

3. The album artwork is reliably distinctive and In Vision Vanish Invisible in particular is tough to miss. How did you hook up with Nigel Dennis?

We played a festival in southern Washington called Tomfest (though i think it was called Portico that year), at which The Evaluation were playing. We played in Portland, Or a couple nights beforehand, at which a couple people asked us if we had ever heard of The Evaluation, which we hadn't, and stated that we should check them out when they play at Tomfest. Well, I had no idea who they were, and when we got there, we started seeing these two dudes running around the grounds. These guys were the best dressed of everyone there. You could tell that they seemed kind of beat, tired, but still, they looked good, and they were everywhere. We played our set on either the first or second night, and right afterwards Nigel and their touring drummer at the time (Frank Lipari) ran up to us in the merchandise tent and started flipping out, stating that they had not heard a band like ours in years and making phone calls. These two dudes, who we thought were just some guys with a fashion sense, were actually The Evaluation. So we told them our story, and we heard about their tour, we exchanged numbers and CDs, and we talked to Nigel the following year about doing our seven inch artwork, which led to him wanting to do our first record, and subsequent work since. He is one of the greatest guys I have met in this business and a force behind the band, and thats why he is considered a member of the operative.

4. I feel obligated to ask about the song titles because I'm honestly curious as to the methods of creation. What's the process in writing and naming a track? Do you start with a title or theme and write a song or the other way around?

Very often the title has little to nothing to do with the actual song, though we never pair a title with a song that we don't feel defines the song somehow. A lot of the songs on IVVI didn't have titles until we started working on the design of the CD. Some of them were stolen from ideas in a short story I had written about fake characters in separate situations who finally come together in a Happy Endings / Me, You, And Everyone We Know sort of way. A couple of the songs' titles came from jokes or conversations had with everyone in the band and even just people in our lives. "Check That Figure! With Digits Like That, Who Needs Cell Phones?" is our friend Evan Persons statement he made at an In & Out in California back in 2004 about good looking people on their cell phones or something. I mean, our titles can come from anywhere and everywhere, if they feel right for a song, no matter how ridiculous, they will be used. I wanted to say, because i just found out...track five on IVVI is listed as "Romance Of Sand And The Salts / Snakes And The Consequential Epilepsy" on a bunch of websites. It's really Shakes. I don't know where Snakes came from.

5. Your new live EP is out now so you've got fans sated for the moment, but how far ahead are you looking for the band's future? Album by album, or something grander?

Well, we have actually ran out of copies of the We Touch The Sky Now Live EP. The only way to get it now is to ask us personally for it. But we have plans. We currently have plans into 2009, but we're taking it one step at a time. We are currently working on a new full length, which will be entitled "COMPANGLOMAMMOTH." The majority of the tracking is finished, but were going to spend as much time as we need to make sure we like what we're doing. HI's focus on this record is a blending of electro-club dance beats and synths with guitars and noisy percussion from experimentation with post-punk. So far it is shaping up to be the most diverse and cohesive record we have done. We were planning on releasing a movie with the album, but that idea was vetoed in the post-birthing stages. Besides that, we just got word recently from Lujo that we will be doing a three way split with label mates All Teeth And Knuckles and The Drugstore Cowboys due out sometime next year. I hear the other bands each have a song or two finished, and we're still coming up with ideas. Luckily, we have time for that. In addition to these, we're hitting the remix circuit, as I am personally remixing all of IVVI for an iTunes exclusive release entitled "Visions", probably around the transition of years. Finally, History Invades is remixing Lujo Records bands as part of a compilation we're releasing on the label. I believe we are calling it "History Invades Lujo." We are in the process of collecting the tracks from the bands. Once we have them we will be hitting that pretty hard, and everything in rotation. So, i would hope that is something grander than just record to record, but we'll find out when these releases see the light of day.

Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

1. What did you specifically remember listening to as a child that triggered a notable response?

There really is only a few I can think of... there is hardly any music that I really listened to until i was in my early teens, and the bands worthy of noting at the time were Frodus, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Bjork, Starflyer 59, Devo, Sunny Day Real Estate, and I'm sure there is more.

2. You are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you two individually listen to?

Well, I would opt for something recent, and it's always subject to change, but currently i would probably pop in "Fancy Footwork" by Chromeo. Michael would probably listen to the new Hella record "There's No 666 In Outer Space", Noah Guitar Prado might have all of the Radiohead albums and rarities on shuffle with his iPod, Zachary Alan Zeller has been rocking the CSS album lately, And Nigel Evan Dennis has been listening to "We Are The Night", the new record from The Chemical Brothers.

3. Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

Of course. A few from each I'm sure. As far as books go, the oblivious "1984" by George Orwell, "No One Belongs Here More Than You" by Miranda July (Christine Jesperson from "Me And You And Everyone We Know), "The Tao Of Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff, and any of the "This Book / Diary Will Change Your Life" series by Benrik. As for authors, David Icke, Noam Chomsky, Douglas Adams, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Pablo Picasso is my favorite artist, but the majority of inspiration I get from paintings is from friends and people close in my life. It's the only thing in the arts that i can't even come close to doing. For actors, Christopher Walken, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Daniel Dumile, Kirsten Dunst, Stella, and I really respect Drew Carey and Matt Maiellaro. Movies have been hard to come by lately, but I will say The Fountain, The Virgin Suicides, Pans Labyrinth, Wet Hot American Summer, Pi, Spinal Tap, Repulsion, Twin Peaks, Office Space, Dr. Strangelove... to name a few. And as for celebrities, they are rarely an inspiration, but they are great to watch. Lindsay Lohan, Kathy Griffin, talk/game show hosts are always great, Ross Matthews, and probably so many more. Those people on Top Chef are way too interesting... I have to say, i haven't been anticipating something so much as The Flaming Lips Film, "Christmas On Mars."

4. Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

A lot of my friends are constantly showing me and sending me new music. Sometimes it's something i have heard of and really want, and sometimes it's just someone being really excited about a new band. I probably get into 5 new bands a year. At this very moment I am enjoying a band i heard of today called Bat For Lashes. The only thing i know about them is that they have a fantastic vocalist, and their record is called Fur And Gold. The singles I've heard from Common's Finding Forever are outstanding.

5. What question do you get most often that you hate answering?

I can't think of a single question that i have been asked that I couldn't answer, or hated to answer.

6. Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

All sorts of percussion. Like Kylie Minogue said in her single Slow, "let the rhythm pull you in, it's here so touch it." Rhythm is pulsating, and without a pulse, you don't have a heartbeat. Besides that, i absolutely love my Korg KP2, and I am always a sucker for the French tremolo picking style on a mandolin.

7. The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close; what section do you head immediately towards?

These days, probably to the used vinyl to find any of the Randy Newman LPs i haven't already purchased.

8. What is the last notable daydream you had and where did it take place?

I don't know if I ever have had a daydream. The closest thing I could think of would be last summer, when I was out on the road... I think we were in PA driving west from Philadelphia and I was lying down on one of the benches in the van. Before I really knew it, I was skateboarding (which i haven't done in a decade) to my house, at which some lady was waiting. I was listening to !!!'s Louden Up Now on my iPod. The road to get there was much more difficult to ride on than it would seem. I got there, and she was talking to me, but I couldn't hear her. so I tried talking back, and nothing would come out. So I took off the ear buds and attempted to speak again, but I could still hear the same song playing, and I still couldn't talk. This turned into me not being able to breath, and i started freaking out. Somehow, i shook myself to a conscious state, and i had my iPod on my head, listening to !!!. Is that considered a daydream?

9. What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

I don't really think there is such a thing as a perfect album, but if I had to choose my closest choice of perfection, it would be The Fashion Focus by Starflyer 59.

10. Do you keep up with blogs? Which do you read if so?

Not many, but a few. Joee Irwin's IM ON THE INTERNET, Seth Werkheiser's Buzzgrinder, and i poke my head into Audiversity from time to time.

WLUW Update: First Loyola Response

So, as I explained in my last WLUW post, the biggest concern we have is the callousness Loyola is presenting in their re-absorption of 88.7 WLUW-FM Chicago, a one-time listener-supported community radio station. Well after a good number of unsuccessful attempts to contact John Pelissero, whose email is listed on the FAQ page presented by Loyola in response to the situation but most attempts to that address were bounced back unsuccessfully, a WLUW volunteer got through to Jennifer Clark, Director of Community Relations. The following is the email exchange word for word followed by a response by Dustin Drase of The Hump Day Dance Party (Wednesdays 8-10p on WLUW) sent out to the WLUW staff listserve. My reasoning behind posting this to the public is because the absence of communication between the university and the station has been our biggest concern, so I wanted to share with everyone the first response we received. I feel it is important to forming a well-rounded perspective on the situation.

The following is the exact email WLUW volunteer Ang Concepcion sent to the WLUW staff listserve containing the email exchange she had with Jennifer Clark, Director of Community Relations at Loyola-Chicago:


I was talking to some people at my office, and my supervisor suggested that I should contact Jennifer Clark of Community Relations and see what's up.

First email is mine, the second is Clark's response:

Hi Jennifer-

My name is Ang, and I'm a senior at Loyola who works at Student Life, Campus Recreation, and WLUW. I was referred to you by Mary Rinaldi, and I was hoping that maybe you can help us out, or perhaps give some insight.

I went to a community council meeting of WLUW's yesterday evening 7/25, and witnessed a fair amount of people from the community who support the radio station. Basically, they expressed much disdain and frustration with the lack of communication from the university to WLUW. The chair of that council, who happened to resign that evening because he did not want to fight Loyola to get any answers, said that it didn't help that John Pelissero's email on the press release on WLUW was bogus.

I feel like I'm rambling, but the gist of this is that it's not just the Rogers Park community that'll be affected; there are many people who tune into the station that are from Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Uptown, and Andersonville. The people I met at this community radio council last night feel that Loyola doesn't care about the community and the type of rare programming that WLUW has that makes it more special than any of the other commercialized radio stations.

How can we, the community of volunteers and staffers, and the community of listeners, have our voices heard?

~~~~

These are some articles that various Chicago media outlets have posted/blogged:

Robert Feder's article on Friday 7/13 in Sun Times:
http://www.suntimes.com/business/feder/466749,CST-FIN-feder13.article

Preliminary follow-up from Loyola:
http://info.luc.edu/newsevents/public/news_story.cfm?newsID=7325&siteid=0

Chicagoist story (a pretty solid account of a staff meeting held on Monday 7/16):
http://chicagoist.com/2007/07/17/wluw_wtf.php
Chicagoist follow-up (with some clarification):
http://chicagoist.com/2007/07/18/wluw_mini_updat.php

Time Out Chicago blog (has some back-'n-forth with Loyola administration):
http://www.timeout.com/chicago/outandabout/?p=2548#more-2548

~~~~

Many of the WLUW staffers are just devastated that our bosses are getting fired, and that no one from Loyola has stepped up to even acknowledge us.

Thanks for reading this email,

Ang Concepcion

And her response:

Properties
From: Jennifer Clark Thursday - July 26, 2007 4:11 PM
To: Angelic Concepcion
Subject: Re: Loyola and the community based radio station WLUW

Ang,

I am not aware that Dr. Pelissao's email was "bogus." If the people who are interested in learning more are not willing to believe what they hear, there is very little anyone at Loyola can do to help. Loyola takes control of the station back from WBEZ in July 2008, so very little has been planned that will effect anything in the meantime. Also, there has not been any discussion about changing the format of the station, it has an independant community format, and that seems to be what people are most worried about - I am not sure where the idea came from that it will change to talk radio or punk music or anything - I think there is a lot of misonformation being spread by some disgruntled people about who owns the station and what it is intended to be used for.

In terms of communication between Loyola and the staff of WLUW, you have to remember that the at this point the staff are employees of WBEZ so it would be inappropriate for Loyola to communicate with them, they should be getting their information from their employer.

As to your last point, I am very disappointed to hear that people think that Loyola doesn't care about the community. It seems to me that it is the people that are spreading half-truths in order to make themselves look good are the ones who truly don't care about the community. Like I said at the begining, why would Dr. Pelissaro lie? He has nothing to gain from lying, but other people do. I am not accusing anyone of lying, I don't even know the people involved, I am simply encouraging you, as a critical thinking Loyola student to consider how quick you are to believe that Loyola would lie to you for no reason.

To have your voice heard on this matter, contact Dr. Pelissaro. His email is in groupwise and I am sure he would be happy to hear from you.

Jennifer

----------

No where did I say in my email that Pelissaro ever lied about anything, and I never ever implied that Loyola lied about anything; they're just not really saying anything... and there's only so much that WBEZ can do for us.

I like how she kind of slipped a jab at me with the last lines in the third paragraph. That's all I guess.
-
Ang



And now a response from WLUW staffer Dustin Drase sent over the listserve to other staffers that I felt was appropriate to include as well so you have an idea the kind of discussion we are having in-house:



I was hoping to stay out of the large scale rhetoric on all this for a while, but Jennifer's email and specifically the response she got from it, really struck a cord for me. What hurts me the most in all of this, is that Loyola is completing dismissive of the current staff, many of whom have been around the station for 5-10 years.

Specifically, these two points from Jennifer Clark's response email are what gave me an angry start to my day:

"In terms of communication between Loyola and the staff of WLUW, you have to remember that the at this point the staff are employees of WBEZ so it would be inappropriate for Loyola to communicate with them, they should be getting their information from their employer."

Inappropriate? How so? Torey and the folks at WBEZ can only tell us as much as they know, and at this point any information in regards to the future of the station is completely out of their hands. Attending the community advisory meeting this past Wednesday, reminded me how passionate, and genuinely concerned Torey is about the situation. However, for Jennifer Clark to brush all of us off as "employees of WBEZ" is exceptionally short sited. It's obvious from this statement that they have zero regard for us as a part of what WLUW is now and what it will become in the future. How exactly is Loyola helping the current staff follow the Jesuit mission of spreading justice into the world? The answer is, that they are not. We are DOING exactly what their school is trying to exemplify, yet they act as if we are some sort of rogue agents working for a rival company. It's obvious that they have no idea that WLUW is more than just a transmitter and a license; there is literal sweat, and lifeblood behind every radio wave broadcast from this station. For us to do what we do every single week is not a whimsical decision. To give up our precious free time to be part of something that is truly important and rare in this or any community for that matter, it really does take a lot out of us both physically and emotionally. A large part of who I am is intertwined in that station, and i'm sure every one of you reading this email can say the same. Why does Loyola not realize this?

"I don't even know the people involved, I am simply encouraging you, as a critical thinking Loyola student to consider how quick you are to believe that Loyola would lie to you for no reason."

This here is some truly specious reasoning. Jennifer says it all right here, "I don't even know the people involved". What the hell? How idiotic and shortsited can these people be (answer...immensely). Maybe they are, and maybe they aren't lying. Craig's dismissal (Ed. Note -- http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/thebusiness/070727/) reeks of behind the scenes power plays, and it's truly unfortunate that a man that I admire so much, and who would be infinitely useful as a resource for both the school and the radio station, has been ousted for no apparent reason aside from the fact that Loyola wants to start with a clean slate when they take over in 2008.

I plan to keep doing the Hump Day Dance Party as long as possible, knowing full well that Loyola has absolutely no use for me, and has absolutely no regard for any of the relationship that I have forged over my 7 years at WLUW with staff, listeners and community members. Apparently none of that matters to them, and that fact almost crushed my spirit entirely. Luckily, something Torey said to me at the advisory meeting kept my spark alive. To paraphrase what both he and Shawn have been saying, this radio station, and our shows are a completely altruistic endeavor. Each show we do is a treat for our listeners, our fans, and those that we play over the airwaves. I have been so incredibly lucky to have this forum to champion things that may not have gotten exposre otherwise, be it music, bands, artists, movie makers, social ideals, community activism and all other sorts of weirdness that has taken place on the Hump Day. Shawn has said again and again, "it's better to have a radio show than to not have a radio show," and she is right. Whatever I have built by doing my show may not have a place in the future of WLUW, and that's ok. I am extremely proud of what I have done, and what I have been a part of. I am extremely grateful for the friends and colleagues that I have worked with over the years at WLUW. We deserve to be treated with a bit of respect, and Loyola has not done that in any way whatsoever. The fact that this whole fiasco was leaked to the press on the same day as one of our biggest promotional events of the year is completely demoralizing. I have no interest in smearing Loyola. They can do whatever they want, and they've proven that point. What I do have an interest in, is them treating us with a bit decency and respect, and the very least they could do is send a representative to talk with us. Even if that person spoke with double talk and vague statements, it would show on some level that Loyola actually espoused their own beliefs. Somehow I have little faith that they will even give us that.

your friend

Dustin Drase
Dr. Drase of the Hump Dance Party
http://www.humpdaydanceparty.com



I hope this adds a little more perspective to what we are dealing with and the feelings from both sides of the situation.

Singleversity #20

Audiversity’s weekly column, slightly modified, on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 98.

MA:



I dropped "Crooked Booty" by Atlanta supergroup Dungeon Family the other night at a party and was surprised at how many people there were unaware of their existence (all of them). A one-off experiment that resulted in the incredibly fun though slightly underwhelming 2001 album Even in Darkness, the Dungeon Fam was made up of rap groups Outkast and Goodie Mob, production outfits Organized Noize and Earthtone III and a couple other scattered Atlanta emcees. Easily the sum of its parts, EiD bounces with that quirky early-aughts Southern hop and the wonderful eclecticism of the minds involved.

PM:










Though there are a ton of bands out of Brooklyn and it’s often difficult to tell who’s good from who isn’t, The Social Registry quartet Telepathe has been stellar since their four-song debut Farewell Forest in February 2006. Focused around part-time dancer Busy Gangnes and New Orleans transplant Melissa Livaudais (who was recently featured here for her work as “Coronation” in First Nation), Hoss Records 12” single "Bells" is their freshest, most novel processing yet. Dance enough to hit the clubs and avant-rock enough to please the elitists, “Bells” is a sublime slice of perfectly harmonized, challenging space-pop.

Genghis Tron - "Triple Black Diamond" EP

Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth (Epeirogenesis) (Crucial Bliss 2007)

Genghis Tron - Triple Black Diamond EP / Crucial Bliss

I'll never forget the time I saw Genghis Tron play Columbia's old Immaginarium on Bull Street a few years ago. I really had no idea what I was in for and, not being partial to tech-metal or grindcore at the time, felt particularly out of place among Columbia's wiser and less "refined" youth. One set later and I was sold; they had to shut the place down because it was too loud and not long afterward the Immaginarium moved elsewhere. The indelible imprint of Genghis Tron live had won me over. Genghis Tron. What a fucking fabulous name. To think it came from three modest gentlemen native to Poughkeepsie, New York and you have on your hands a genuine success story of the highest order. If they're not the hottest thing in "extreme" music, they ought to be.

Triple Black Diamond, a limited tour-only EP (from their recent run with Ed Gein and Gaza) released on Crucial Blast's CD-R imprint Crucial Bliss, is another example of the band's versatility. It's not the first time they've done this tour-only shorthand thing: Last year they released Cape of Hate in anticipation of one of 2006's most overlooked (and most underrated) albums, Dead Mountain Mouth. This time around, the anticipation is for their second full-length to be released on Relapse. We're not in the kiddie pool anymore.

Why should the average person care about Triple Black Diamond? The short answer is "Colony Collapse" and the future it holds, and that translates to Kurt Ballou. Better known for his work in seminal hardcore architects Converge, Ballou's reputation as a first-rate producer has been building since he established Godcity Recording Studio. This is the same guy who literally thought My Bloody Valentine's Loveless was "a great record but sounds like shit." And when a man has managed to make Swarm of the Lotus sound coherent, I guess he can get away with saying that. What he will do with Genghis Tron is not for us to know just yet, but this EP gives at least one indication of what kind of material he'll be working with.

Having written new stuff over the course of the past year, the trio have allowed fans the opportunity to hear a working version of "Colony Collapse," the only new song on the album and competently self-recorded this past spring. It starts with a dulled guitar played at lightning speed before exploding in typical Genghis Tron fashion into a Mookie Singerman-led blast of electro-grind. Elements of shoegaze are in the first bridge, while glitchy electro take over in the second as a dreamy guitar line of Hamilton Jordan's creation are brewed and Michael Sochynsky's keyboard programming works a quiet magic. This is one of Genghis Tron's best songs and who knows what will happen when Ballou gets his hands on it, but I for one am very excited.

Appropriately, "Colony Collapse" is the final song on the EP. The other seven songs are either remixes by friends or reinterpretations by the band themselves of their own material from both the Cloak of Love EP and Dead Mountain Mouth. The opening tracks, "Ride the Steambolt," "Chapels" and "The Folding Road," are all live versions from a Montreal radio session. You can get a pretty good feel for what was going on that night at the Immaginarium three years ago from these recordings, but while they serve as an interesting addition to the tracklisting, they're not the best songs on here.

Remixes can either be fruitful or frustrating depending on how liberal you want to be. Some people just throw a lazy hi-hat-addled 4/4 over an otherwise unchanged song and call 'er finished; that doesn't happen here. The "Carwash Climax" remix of "The Folding Road" almost sounds like I Am the World Trade Center or maybe a Big Country song with synths instead of those genuine bagpipes, but another harmony sounding either like a manipulated vocal or another synth quivers in and out to give this track beauty where you wouldn't expect it. The "Greek Beds" remix proves the group has a sense of humor in that it is exactly what the title suggests it is: A 1993 industrial dance remix of the creepiest kind. Trent Reznor would approve if he weren't so worried about the apocalypse or whatever it is he's doing now. In fact, that's a good idea. Somebody get a vocal track of his and put it over this song to see what it sounds like.

While all these tracks are brilliant, I've selected "Dead Mountain Mouth (Epeirogenesis)" because it has struck a cord with me that Marnie Stern didn't earlier this year. It's not a typical 'Tron track: There are no Alec Empire-esque beats. There's none of Mookie's shot-in-the-arm vocal screeching. There are only two guitars, working against each other for over 10 minutes to uplift and depress the crust at a third the speed and three times the length of the original. Its colossal tensioning is the stuff of greatness and if Battles were less into crisp guitar tones, they would sound like this.

We've had a lot of hip-hop here this week, but balance is a beautiful thing and though cybergrind isn't quite related, the electronic beats of Gouseion or Kid606 are just a few steps removed from Shape of Broad Minds when they're not a few steps removed from Converge or Pig Destroyer. Genghis Tron represent a unique intersection in music: They are impossibly hard rockers, they are impossibly soft electro-poppers, they are beatsmiths and they are six-string shredders. Everyone can relate to at least one aspect of their sound, and while Triple Black Diamond is realistically only a stopgap between Dead Mountain Mouth and their untitled forthcoming fuller, its demonstration of the group's massive potential is a good reason to continue caring about this band. They may be moving on to Relapse, but Crucial Blast certainly didn't get the short end of the stick. Here are eight reasons why, eight reasons why Genghis Tron are not only one of the most "extreme" bands in extreme music, but also one of the most mercilessly intriguing.

Educated Consumers - "Write/Hear"

Educated Consumers - Catch a Glimpse (VeriZum 2007)

Educated Consumers - Write/Hear / VeriZum

In a week that's been full of hip-hop for us, Educated Consumers round out our five-day forecast with their second album, Write/Hear. Let's get right into it: The duo of Cole "Seez Mics" Policy and Jason "t.E.C.K!" Fields are not actually from Washington DC or Baltimore - they call College Park, Maryland home - but their reputation as arguably the best hip-hop duo to come from the greater metropolitan area betwixt B-town and Dead City has been growing steadily since they first came together in 1999. Already under their belt are two LPs, Aisle 2 having garnered the most acclaim and getting them the attention that allowed Write/Hear to happen. You'll have to ask Jason Torres what the name of that first one is.

They've opened for Murs. They've been on a Warped Tour date. They've been hyping Write/Hear on their website for over two years. What took so long? Who cares. It's finally here, and it's better than you're expecting, if you were expecting it at all: As the cover-art suggests, this album is built on old-skool beats and back-to-basics lyrical prowess the kind of which has been lamented so often as of late.

Seez Mics is on form straight away on the title-track, a crowd-pleasing, throw-your-hands-up anthem that has to work like magic live. "Make some noise if you're ready to enjoy it," and you will be by the time "Right They're" wraps up a hefty 17 tracks later. This album seems to fly by though, and a large part of the reason is Seez Mics. His delivery isn't anywhere near Twista-esque brain-benders, but his solid n' steady flow keeps things lively even as the album winds down in the second half. He's relentless and relentlessly entertaining.

Though the guys have a NoW Coast mentality on tracks such as "Dot, Dot, Dot..." where their political conscience comes out, the majority of the topics are more about average day-to-day living. "In the Pocket" describes how Seez Mics has to "move a few boxes and write a lot of songs" as the "Internet sales cover half of my rent." Straight commerce, that's all this is. In some ways, that's what's missing from hip-hop these days. On one end, you've got the Top 40 Courvoisieur VSOP-sipping superheroes with bullet wounds in their arms and exaggerated tales of thuggery; on the other end, you've got the underground good guys with the heart of gold working for their neighborhoods to raise awareness and fight the power by motivating people to get involved and change it from within. Stuck in the middle are the average educated consumers, buying it up but worrying more about the daily grind and paying rent most days than marching against Bush or deciding which slut to take home from the club. "Educated Consumers is not just a mantra," Seez Mics insists. But it can be, and that's part of the appeal (even if I might inadvertently be undermining everything they stand for).

"Save the cookie-cutter murder for 106 & Park," has to be my favorite line, from "Catch a Glimpse." Seez Mics is sharp alright, and the fact that you get some Pharcyde-worthy beats from t.E.C.K! makes this feel like it came straight outta 1992. It's laid-back sonically, but the rhymes can be aggressive depending on the subject. That clash is at the crux of the greatness behind this record. Its austerity works in its favor, smart but not distracting in sound and lyrically smart but not preachy.

Write/Hear is a great album because it shows how necessary every point on the hip-hop spectrum is. I'm not going to lie and say that "This is Why I'm Hot" doesn't have an incredible beat with mind-numbingly stupid lyrics, or say that Sage Francis doesn't have a keen eye for exposing political turmoil... But Educated Consumers prove that you can have both, and neither, and still be good. That's the magic of this album. It's totally average and perfect for exactly that reason.

If there's nothing else, this single week has reinvigorated my belief in hip-hop. It's far from a dead art, and though Educated Consumers are taking a slightly different approach - a little more throwback than Pharoahe Monch's futurism and a little less crate-diggingly deep funk than Copperpot - they are still a vital part of the landscape this genre has traversed in its relatively short existence. Educated Consumers are for the educated consumer: They know what the score is, but they play to their strengths and it shows. If you've dug what we've had here this week, support these witty bastards and get this album. We'll both be glad you did.

The Stringed Theory - "Universal Relativity"

The Stringed Theory - Quark (Stadtgruen 2007)

The Stringed Theory - Universal Relativity / Stadtgruen

Now nearly 40 years old, the sad truth is that there are still precious few people who actually know what the whole idea behind String Theory is. "The Elegant Universe," the "theory of everything," what does all of it mean? Here's as simple a description as I can come up with: Quantum theory (which holds that the universe is made of finite amounts of things) and relativity (which holds the universe as smooth and continuous) are incompatible when dealing with extremely large or extremely small sizes or masses. String theory plugs the hole by describing matter as small, vibrating loops called excitation modes. Throw in a little about Rube Goldberg and flaws in the system and you have a pretty good idea of why the layman doesn't really get it. Scientists don't, either.

It's enough to make the average person's mind wrap around itself in an effort to take it all in. Diving head-first into the whole concept can be both mind-numbing and stressful. It is ironic, then, that The Stringed Theory is actually instant anti-stress music. Though inspired by the complexities of a theory that may or may not even be true, Vista, CA resident Dustin Frelich has made an album that inhabits the worlds of ambient electronic and post-shoegaze IDM. Fennesz and Belong are a good way to enter the protons, neutrons and bosons of Universal Relativity.

That's how it starts off, appropriately enough. "Boson" comfortably warms up the headphones as the opener, inhabiting a space with drones and force carrier particles to ease the brain. The bosonic string was the earliest model of string theory, so a subtle nod to make this the opener is both coy and virtually unnoticeable. The beauty of "Quark" is the most immediately touching to me, its guitars reminiscent of Belong's October Language that came out last year. Cosmic key tones and swirling guitar noise are also the meat n' potatoes of songs like "Sparticle" and "Parallel," while "Equivalence" chimes along with a simple electronic note progression that changes slowly over the course of its five-and-a-half minutes. With seven tracks running 40 minutes, the songs are in no hurry to grow on you, which they always do. Universal Relativity is sort of immediately striking in that you can remember one or two tunes the first time you play it through; to properly digest these recordings, however, one must play it back at least three or four times to take it all in. That said, it's a swell album. Sedate and pleasant, optimistic and playful, cosmic and coherent.

One of the best parts to the album? This stuff is all licensed under a creative commons license, so if you happen to love this track, there are plenty of places to go to get the rest of them for free. German-based netlabel Stadtgruen have chosen wisely in releasing their first American: Frelich has brought the best in ambient and minimalist drone to the table. For a group of like-minded individuals that have brought their culturally natural music together under the Stadtgruen name (Though their roster is full of electronic artists, their homepage is dominated by the image of a plant), one of your best places to start is The Stringed Theory. Just be prepared to take some heat from the growing number of String Theory disbelievers. If only they knew Universal Relativity, maybe they would change their minds.

Fog - "Ditherer"

Fog - Inflatable Ape pt. 3 (Lex 2007)

Fog – Ditherer / Lex

To be perfectly honest, I offered up this album to Patrick first and he respectfully declined for the same reason I offered it in the first place (if I wanted it myself I would have never even asked, muwhahaha): Andrew Broder’s Fog has never really struck a chord with either of us. Well that’s not completely true. I saw the trio (which is rounded out by drummer Tim Glenn and bassist Mark Erickson) perform at CMJ 2004 and still clearly remember the moving set. In particular, I remember a moment where the music stopped and Broder ached out a line about a dump trunk dropping 200 kittens on him. While obviously a bit on the weird side, it was also very moving, especially in the dank NYC club I witnessed it in (which was later covered in baby powder thanks to a certain Gary Wilson). Well that moment made me a fan, and I have checked out most of his discography since, but none of the recordings had that same lasting effect on me. So when Patrick turned down my offer, I figured at the very least I’d give it a curiosity spin, and I’ll be damned if I haven’t listened to it six times in the last two days. I have no idea why Fog’s upcoming release on Lex Records, Ditherer, is succeeding in my ears where the prior releases fell short, but I am glad to have an album to finally accompany that fond live memory.

The oddness of Fog’s sound is easily traced through the awkward path it took to develop. A Minneapolis, MN native (and I believe still resident), Broder made a number of different stylistic jumps while carving out his musical niche that vaguely followed the trail of punk rocker turned acclaimed hip-hop DJ turned 4-track experimenter turned bedroom singer/songwriter turned quirky avant-rocker. It may not be the most natural evolution, but the current product easily speaks for itself. After capturing the imagination of Adam Drucker (Doseone, Anticon) with his first self-produced release, Broder scored a deal with the U.K.’s Ninja Tune and repeatedly gained a following and then confused them endlessly with each subsequent release. By now though, the fan-base expects only the quirkiest from the now full-fledged trio (the Fog line-up went through a couple of different member changes and at one time included Martin Dosh, Michael Lewis and Jeremy Ylvisaker), and they delivered the goods with the acclaimed electro-pop leaning 2005 release 10th Avenue Freakout on their new home, the WARP offshoot turned independent buzz-maker Lex Records. Now two years later, Fog is an all-out rock band as Broder transcribes his endearingly absurd lyrics and avant-pop arrangements to anthemic hook-heavy pop-rock songs that excel greatly in their ability to tiptoe the line between accessibility and quirk.

I think the biggest difference between Ditherer and previous releases is its fully fleshed-out sound, which very well could be due to the stability of a band and the number of collaborators involved. Not that Broder wasn’t an able songwriter on his own, quite the opposite in fact, but the number of collaborating creative minds teamed with his own avant-pop sensibilities make for a much more refined sound. Though I don’t have the exact credits in front of me, all of the former Fog touring members contribute (Dosh, Lewis, Ylvisaker) along with Anticon members Pedestrian and Why? (Joanthan and Josiah Wolf, Doug McDiarmid), Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum, indie-popster Andrew Bird and Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. Broder does an amazing job of balancing his increasingly confident vocals, wonderfully oddly syncopated and typically multi-layered rhythms, accessible pop-rock guitar hooks, omnipresent background noise and seemingly spontaneous arrangements. It’s music that is both unpredictable and catchy as hell, which is the absolute mark of a masterful songwriter.

I think what is most surprising is the amount of pseudo-anthems strung throughout Ditherer, though to really sing along you have to master Broder’s idiosyncratic oddball lyrics. For Example, “I am smothered in glistening chicken fat on my mother’s bedspread” or “When the appendix burst dust blotted out the sun, we stood on the mountaintop with calendars and guns” or “A three-piece suit on me me, a tutu on you, in an empty airplane hangar at a table for two,” to name just a very few. While it may just seem weird on paper, it is absolutely infectious while listening to the album. Tracks like “Inflatable Age pt. 3” and “I Have Been Wronged” are absolutely irresistible near-anthems that will have your finger laying on the repeat button to go back and attempt to catch each and every hook. Later on, “The Last I Knew of You” sounds like a mix of Why? and Animal Collective, and “Ditherer” blends Drums and Guns-era Low with Kieran Hebden-leaning production and a Subtle-like mix of drum machine and strings. And honestly, I may be reaching with such comparisons, because it sounds so much in its own class.

So if you are like me and earlier Fog albums just didn’t quite strike that long-lasting chord with you, I urge you to give Broder and company this one more chance because I am near certain you will be sold. If you have always been on the Fog bandwagon, then my friend, you are in for a treat with Ditherer because it just keeps getting better and better. As for me, I think I will revisit their discography because perhaps I just wasn’t in the right mindset at the time; I just can’t believe that the transition would be as abrupt as it appears from my angle. Either way, Ditherer is a hell of an infectious album and I strongly recommended it if you are a fan of the avant-pop music.

Post-Dramatic WLUW Feelings

There was a recent comment posted on a lot of the message boards concerning the state of WLUW-FM Chicago (see here and here to catch yourself up), and it spurred a reaction out of me that I felt was a bit more important than the comment section. It is a direct response to the anonymously left comment you can read below, but also features a lot of my thoughts on the subject now that I have had a little time to reflect on the situation. If none of this concerns you and you are just here for the music, then feel free to skip ahead to the two new reviews posted today.

Anonymous comment left:

Guys - LUW always supported local/indy music way before the "community" designation. I seriously doubt that's going to stop simply because the University is opting out of its contract with BEZ. History would tell you that just 5 years ago BEZ's involvement was considered the worst thing to ever happen...the same types of outrage, blogging and petitions you’re seeing now, were out there then decrying the association between the two.

Sean [sic] and Craig, while seemingly great stewards of the station, are just the most recent in a long line of faculty and staff that have given their hearts and souls to the students and listeners… The station has been around for 30 years.

Change happens. The University finally realized what an asset they were holding, and quite frankly, the infighting and general lack of comportment and “bi-partisanship” during the last major change (way before BEZ entered the picture) did real, long-term damage to the Dept of Communication both in their internal dealings with each other and how they were perceived in the greater university community. People lost their jobs or were forced out. Students who complained were subtly threatened in ways way beyond acceptable behaviors from Dept Heads. Tenures were denied and those educators moved on.

With a “New” Dept of Communication (whatever that means) in the works, maybe it made sense to take the entire thing back under control. History would show that in previous incarnations the station was a very real draw for students of both broadcasting and community affairs. There are professionals in the industry all over the US that are Loyola/LUW grads – go to Wikepedia and look at the VERY small number of Alumni listed. I can add another 20 to 30 working at what they love off the top of my head.

We all know about the groups like “Friends of WLUW” If you’re interested in the flip side of some of the goings on over the last several years, take a look at http://www.wluw.blogspot.com/

Having said all that – I’m taking a wait and see attitude.

In response:

I do understand what you are saying; and very much understand that Loyola had every right to do what they did with 88.7 being their frequency. And though I wasn't around at the time, I have been fully informed on the craziness that went down when WBEZ stepped in.

The biggest concern I have had with the entire situation is the callousness Loyola has shown in their steps to take back the station. They have still yet to say a single word to us that I am currently aware of at this moment. We have entered into a transition period, but have no idea what we are transitioning towards. It feels mostly like they just wanted to say they have a radio frequency to lure in front of potential students, but don’t really care what happens once they get their tuition. And I emphasize “feels,” because again, Loyola has not said a word to us about their ideas concerning the station, so I have no idea what is going on in their heads.

I agree with what you implied as well, educating students in radio is absolutely a good thing, but it just seems like there was a better way to approach this whole situation. First of all, I personally would be a hell of a lot more inclined to come to a university which houses a professionally run community radio station than just some trial-and-error, student-run college station. We already enlist the second most student volunteers of any radio station in Chicago, second only to WNUR, and we reached out to students on a continuous basis and in a number of different ways from flyering the campus before interest meetings to setting up booths during the school’s get-involved fairs. When I was picking out assistant Music Directors to assist me, I was even asked specifically by Shawn Campbell to make sure one was a student because they are assets to the station.

And I realize that WLUW has been supporting the local/indie music scene prior to it becoming a community station (but to a much lesser degree, to my knowledge it was a Top 40 station for a good duration of time). But as a community station who makes all of its own programming decisions, it can do so much more than as a run-of-the-mill college radio station. The definition of a “community radio station” alone designates that you have to reach out into the community to stay supported and operational, and then you return the favor by supporting your supporters in every way you can. It’s a give-and-take system that benefits both the community and the station.

From a music department standpoint, it will be most detrimental. I approach this position like it’s my full-time career (it’s not, I work 40 hours on the side to pay for rent, etc). And to be done right, it really needs to be a full-time position, but the money is not there and I have no problem doing it for the minimal amount I do make (minimum wage, 10 hours max a week, though I clock many more hours as you can tell by Audiversity) or nothing at all. For typical college stations, the turn-around for music director is yearly, which is why nearly all college stations stagnate. The position has at the very least a 6 month learning curve just to associate yourself with the innerworkings of the particular station, familiarize yourself with the tastes of the DJ body and audience, and to establish connections with the music industry that services you. I have been the MD at WLUW for about a year-and-a-half and I’m still tweaking my system on what seems like a daily basis. Stability in a music department is the only way it can grow productively, and that is just not a liberty that is allowed in college radio for obvious reasons: they are student-run stations and students graduate. I plan on sticking around probably until I am forcedly replaced by a student, but it’s incredibly frustrating. When before it honestly felt like we were well on our way to establishing ourselves on the same level stations like KEXP, The Current and WFMU are regarded, it now it feels like we are working towards nothing. Not that working for the current listening audience is chump change by any means, but I have lofty ambitions, and I was very much hoping to achieve them through WLUW because I knew the staff was aiming for the same goals.

And as far as the hyperbolic statements the “WLUW Watch” blog (whose existence I was aware of, though it seems to suffer from the same hyperbolic statements it is calling out and appears, as far as I can tell from reading, to be fueled somewhat by personal vendettas; but since I wasn’t around personally during the period that spurred that site, I will remain as objective as possible) reposted from the Chicagoist article, they were said, they were heartfelt, and perhaps they were a little over the top. But you have to understand that we all took the station incredibly serious and were putting a ridiculous amount of energy into it, so you can’t blame us for being upset when the ball was dropped seemingly out of nowhere. I think the biggest concern for most of us is not losing an outlet to play indie rock or whatever, but the possible disbandment of both the community within the station walls and the accompanying listening audience we have connected with over the years. WLUW was the first community I joined when I moved to Chicago (which was only 2 months before I started volunteering), and they not only welcomed me with open arms but also gave me the opportunity to work my dream job (music director of an independent radio station). Now a year-and-a-half later, every single one of my best friends in the city came from the station, I have learned a countless amount of information about radio, music and the city of Chicago, it was the catalyst for starting this very website, I have met a ridiculous amount of wonderfully intriguing people through being on the air or at a WLUW participating event, and it has open more doors than I could have ever hoped in such a short amount of time. It’s not only disappointing that I am losing this myself, but it won’t even be an option for others in a similar situation as mine in the future.

Maybe it won’t be as drastic of a change once Loyola let’s us know their plan, maybe it will. Like you implied, only time will tell, but it just doesn’t seem plausible that this move will benefit the station. From every indication we have been given (emphasis on indication), the station will become an academic lab and student-run, which obviously equals college radio. I have no problem with college radio, and it was an integral part of my own education, but it just seems like squandered potential with the direction WLUW was heading. Why couldn’t Loyola just have created a closed-circuit station for an academic lab like most schools have? I can’t believe that would be any more expensive. Or work with Kois and Campbell to at least attempt to figure out how they could integrate student curriculum with the existing community format? It just seems to me like the entire situation could have been handled better by Loyola.

I guess it’s on to bigger and better endeavors though, no need to sit around a gripe about lost opportunities. Click here to sign a petition to help persuade Congress to approve more Low Power Frequencies in urban areas, and check out the newly formed Chicago Independent Radio Project so we can work towards securing a license if it passes and hopefully give Chicago an independent, community radio station full of localism, diversity, adventurousness and immediacy it can be proud of sharing.

Copperpot - "WYLA? (What're You Looking At?)"

Copperpot - WYLA? ft Prince Po (EV Productions 2007)

Copperpot – WYLA? (What're Your Looking At?) / EV Productions

Next in the slew of excellent rap albums that have finally found their way to the Audiversity offices comes from fellow Chicagoan Daniel Kuypers aka hip-hop producer Copperpot. Most interestingly, in context with the other recent rap albums we’ve been covering (especially from the producer point of view), Kuypers seems to be attacking the genre from a completely different angle; he is embracing the past rather than pushing forward with all out aggression. I think it’s safe to say (and as I did say in the Shape of Broad Minds review) that the style of inventive producing Madlib and the late J Dilla perfected in recent years is the go-to sound for most underground hip-hop purveyors. While cats like Jneiro Jarel are out to one-up the current kings by further tweaking the dense arrangements of boom-bap beats over minutely chopped funk, jazz, soul and worldly dance music samples, Kuypers is looking back to the influences of the current style and purveying a sound somewhere between Pete Rock and Madlib, or Premiere and Dilla, Prince Paul and Jarel. He is embracing the longer loops and instead of burying an oddly syncopated beat in a dense fog of swirling samples, he puts them right out front in easily decipherable sequences to let the emcee do what they do best, rhyme. Like his debut, WYLA? (What’re You Looking At?) is a solid album of classic early 90s-inspired rap; so who cares if he is not reinventing the game in the process?

2005’s Chapter Seven introduced Copperpot to the hip-hop industry. Kuypers made it clear from the very beginning that he was interested in just being behind the boards and putting most of his effort into creating deceptively simple beats for emcees to verbally soar over. Of the eighteen tracks of Chapter Seven, only five were instrumentals, and they were dubbed as “interludes.” While the rappers involved weren’t too buzz-worthy at the time, Kuypers did wonders spinning tracks for Diverse (please release another album!), LongShot, Edo.G, Braintax, Profound and Pace Won to name a few. For WYLA?, his reputation has definitely gotten around both as Copperpot and for his EV Productions label/studio, and the names involved are a bit more noticeable. On the mic, we get three cuts from the notorious (and still very able) KRS One, Organized Konfusion’s underrated Prince Po, legendary Juice Crew member Masta Ace and fire-tongued Chicago female emcee Psalm One, along with a couple hold-overs from Chapter Seven, The Streets-meets-Roots Manuva sounding Braintax and the gruff-voiced Edo.G, and a few cats I am not familiar with including Truth Enola, Rodney P, Time Bandits and Valeska Jakobowicz. Behind the scenes, Kuypers was also able to round up a number of notable Chicago musicians to help fill out his sound including guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise, Isotope 217, (((Powerhouse Sound)))), percussionist Dan Bitney (Tortoise, Bumps), bassist Matt Lux (Isotope 217, Exploding Star Orchestra), bassist Josh Abrams (The Roots, Town and Country, a million other projects), guitarist Rodney Anderson and cellist Tameka Reed. Kuypers has got friends and his music is that much better for evolving with some of that classic Chicago collaboration.

Like I mentioned in the opening paragraph, the Copperpot sound is not as much redefining the game as embracing the best elements of it, especially that competitive early 90s spirit when rap was concerned about the commercialization of the genre. And Kuypers isn’t concerned with stuffing four obscure samples into one bar as much as crafting a solid, well-rounded beat to riff on. It is definitely a Pete Rock derived sound with a bit more live instrumentation and buoyant flare. The album opens with bang as KRS One spits a youthful spew over a flute-heavy jazz beat calling for hip-hop to come back home. It’s certainly not a new subject (and one that is repeatedly covered on this album), but maybe as relevant now as ever before. KRS later gives two different renditions of “Dem Know,” which definitely has a reggae flare in its original state, but goes all out dancehall for the “Club Mix.” Perhaps the two strongest tracks come from the NYC rappers. Masta Ace, joined by Edo.G, pleads for the return of art in rap over a greatly resounding cello loop and funk guitar chops, while later during the title track Prince Po drops one of his classic rousing rhymes with the help of Lux’s patient step-ladder bass lines. I also dig Psalm One’s dense, fiery rhymes over the stuttering beat and Parker’s teasing electric guitar during “Blow”, and the sultry-voiced Jakobowicz sexing up the instantly recognizable blues sample that Kuypers flips with perfection. And on the more instrumental tip, the collaboration with The Time Bandits, “Clowning Arounding,” is a great middle-ground between Midwest and West coast production approaches.

WYLA?, like Chapter Seven before it, is an extremely solid effort, but will probably go sadly overlooked for the most part because of it’s nostalgic sound and lack of hyped rappers. Personally though, I would take this any day over most of the nonsense being released because you can easily hear it’s coming from a musician who truly respects the genre. I am not about to get on a pedestal or anything (mostly because you can find much more knowledgeable hip-hop heads elsewhere), but the rap game mostly sounds stale these days (emphasis on mostly… and duh). Albums like WYLA? are good reminders of why the genre was so infectious to begin with and the creative potential held within the styles boundaries, even if you are not out to completely deconstruct the rules. Yes, most of the rapping on here is aimed at the dire state of modern hip-hop and plea for returning to the roots, and even if those are stale subjects themselves, it’s definitely warranted. At the very least, we still have rare producers like Copperpot both embracing the past and tweaking it in new, interesting directions.

Sixtoo - "Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man"

Sixtoo - Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man, Pt. 5 (Ninja Tune 2007)

Sixtoo - Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man / Ninja Tune

The Sixtoo story stretches over a variety of big names, big albums and big shifts in the underground hip-hop consciousness over the past decade. Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man, his eighth full-length release since 1994, is a proper nod of sorts to the DJ Shadow we knew before The Outsider: Beat-based and totally devoid of the Montreal native's sufficient mic skills, we have on our hands here a shift in direction for the man that lit it up in 2001 with The Psyche Intangible and hasn't looked back since.

This isn't the first time Sixtoo's name has been raised on this website, but it is the first time we'll have given Vaughn Robert Squire his proper due. And it's about time: For a man who has been on the Canadian scene for well over a decade, his name is surprisingly unknown. Maybe it's because he reps Halifax, Nova Scotia; maybe it's because he flew the Anticon. coop for Ninja Tune a few years ago; maybe it's because he worked with Buck 65. Whatever the reason, Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man is an album hand-crafted and compiled as a tape-edit of recent live sets, bringing a feel of immediacy to a sound already built on the big drums and eerie production Sixtoo is known for. So: It's good. Really good.

One problem that may turn the kids off right away is song titling. It's a little lazy, to be frank. I don't question the art behind it, but it's going to be hard for the Average Joe Backpacker remembering "Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man, Pt. 2" from "Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man, Pt. 7" just by name alone. So already Sixtoo's engaging us on an almost incidental level, daring us to actually listen to this album on repeat to remember our favorites. For that reason, solely focusing on the music is easy, and the album wastes no time grabbing hold of your attention: The Far East-based "Pt. 2" could almost act as a modern update on Madlib's latest Beat Konducta installment, but its alien synth paranoia is a production tweak that's all Sixtoo. In fact, all songs are all Sixtoo; there are no guests for this one.

It's just as well, they'd probably get in the way of some of these beats. We're talking a lot of cut chemistry here, and "Pt. 5" is a fine example of echoed beats and analog fuzz meeting in space for a cut you'd never confuse for Megasoid. The tricks of "Pt. 7" are pretty neat too, skittering drums and glitchy synths stuttering to an abrupt halt in the best traditions of the turntablist. At this point you're also noticing something about the tone of this album: It's slightly more upbeat than past efforts. Whether or not it was a conscious decision we can't be sure, but the pianos employed on "Pt. 8" suggest that Sixtoo's brief time with Belgian pianist Jef Neve wasn't for nothing.

Both Squire and Ninja Tune have recognized that there's a definite sonic "toughness" to the Sixtoo sound. This comes out well in "Pt. 12" and even the concluding "Pt. 13," ostensibly a downtempo, more traditional Sixtoo track featuring primitive keyboard ambiance, feels muscular. The switch at just past two minutes drops everything out but the drums, and suddenly you're in a room covered in padded walls. It's cold for a minute, but what warmth was provided early on returns just a few seconds later, piano now added to the mix. It's like Squire is reminding us what the backbone of his tracks are and why we're here, just in case we might've been ignoring them for melodies.

Ultimately Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man is not quite a classic, but it is well worth giving a listen to. In some ways it feels like, even though a good portion of these tracks don't need emcees at all, a vocal appearance here or there would welcome some of the more sedate instrumentals. That is a minor quibble. Sixtoo hasn't gotten nearly the amount of attention he deserves; now that we're a few years removed from people blowing the lid off the Montreal scene, it's time to wake up to the man's supreme talents. No, it won't top any year-end breakdowns in December... But does it have to? Sixtoo has simply delivered once again, and anyone lucky enough to hear this record will agree he's as on-form as he's ever been. In a lot of ways, that's more important than any no-talent hack putting him #8 on their best-of lists.

Shape of Broad Minds - "Blue Experience EP"

Shape of Broad Minds - Let's Go feat. MF Doom (Lex 2007)

Shape of Broad Minds – Blue Experience EP / Lex

Last August, before Audiversity really clicked in its new releases format, I did a column on impressive new hip-hop albums coming out. Along with highlighting the latest from Oxnard, CA’s Oh No and the excellent Anticon reissue of Darc Mind’s lost ’97 classic Symptomatic of a Greater Ill, I touched on a bright young producer by the name of Jneiro Jarel. Under the moniker Dr. Who Dat?, Jarel crafted a hell of an instrumental hip-hop album in Beat Journey (which was actually a domestic reissue by Lex Records, it was originally released in 2005) by flipping worldly samples and intertwining them within synthesizer escapades and some classic boom-bap beats. A no-brainer entry into Audiversity’s Top 60 of 06, Beat Journey also crowned the traveled multi-instrumentalist as one of the most promising producers in years following in the footsteps of fellow Lex artist Danger Mouse but with less of a pop bend. Now less than a year later, Jarel is back, but in a group setting akin to another one of his obvious influences, Madlib. Wonderfully dubbed the Shape of Broad Minds, Jarel and company are dropping a teaser EP that I guarantee will have you snatching the up coming full-length the day it comes out.

“So Dilla and Madlib are the uncontested champions of the beat conducting circuits no doubt, but being seated on top of the boom-bap hierarchy means constantly fending off eager producers who want to uncrown the demigods and tend to cop their style and flip it all their own (just like they had to do when Premiere and Pete Rock ruled the land).” Though I am obnoxiously quoting myself, I did somewhat hit the nail on the head with this one. Not only is Jarel spinning Jackson and Yancey’s left-field hip-hop style into a sound distinctly his own, but the Shape of Broad Minds is a group that easily falls in line with the Soulquarians, Madvillain, Jaylib or Yesterday’s New Quintet both in sound and spirit. The official members of the group are Jarel, Jawaad (which I have also seen written as Jawwaad), Rocque Won, Panama Black and Dr. Who Dat? Four of these five members are the multiple personalities of Jarel, each distinctive to the city they were conjured up in during his traveled upbringing as the son of a U.S. Army mother. According to the press release, Jawaad is the Houston-raised multi-instrumentalist (keyboards, trumpet), Rocque Won is a west coast psychedelic singer inspired by Hendrix and Prince, and Dr. Who Dat? calls Philadelphia home and is known as an introvert, record collector and studio wizard. Panama Black is (at least to the best of my knowledge) a real living, breathing person, a rapper from Atlanta, GA to be precise. Together they form the Shape of Broad Minds, an innovative rap group that is quickly reinvigorating my love of the genre.

The spotlight single of this Blue Experience EP is an ode to Jay Dee himself, and of course features the man who maybe loves split personalities the most, MF Doom. A bright but hazy mix of arcing keyboard lines, proto-disco samples and a simple boom-bap beat, “Let’s Go” sounds like a Jaylib song pared down in a Beat Konducta style but with a more exotic feel. Jarel has a great handle on how to mix vocals as well, panning, echoing and overdubbing with precision and style. Though Doom only drops a brief verse, he sounds very comfortable teaming with Black’s more laid-back easily Atlanta drawl and Jarel’s swiveling lyrical style. Later, the song gets the Who Dat? remix treatment by dropping the club-ready pace for a more quirky, odd-beat tick akin to a Quasimoto beat. “Electric Blue” finds the group in a more sexy setting; it features an eclectic lady plea over wetly pinging synths and sub-bass groove. It has a very Platinum Pied Piper vibe with Sa-Ra’s penchant for space-love, which is only further purveyed on the final track “Love Continues,” no doubt a Rocque Won-helmed number with a heavy Dilla influence.

I feel bad continually referencing Jay Dee and Madlib, but the truth of the matter is Jarel owes them a drink or two. But don’t get me wrong though, he very much stands on his own, and with each subsequent release you can hear an idiosyncratic style taking mold. Jarel seems like one of those cats that sits back and absorbs everything going on around him, and then channels it all into one cohesive sound that in itself will become something completely new. I have a feeling the Shape of Broad Minds is going to be that next step for Jarel, and he will be getting a lot of positive and warranted attention for it. Do yourself a favor and get on the bandwagon before it’s too full, and be prepared for something spectacular in Craft of the Lost Art, due out in the coming months and featuring along with Doom, Count Bass D and Q-Tip among others. I have a feeling it’s going to be one of the strongest hip-hop albums of 2007.

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "Tout New Age" EP

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Hugs & Kisses (Theme From A Sunny Day in Glasgow) (Notenuf 2007)

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Tout New Age EP / Notenuf

Right from the first time I heard them in January, I liked A Sunny Day in Glasgow. For devoted (and discerning) followers of shoegaze and dream-pop like myself, the Philadelphia-cum-Montreal-based group has become irresistible. Scribble Mural Comic Journal, aside from being an extraordinary combination of seemingly random words, is one of my favorites from this year. Arriving not quite fully formed (and by that I mean not quite perfect production-wise), A Sunny Day in Glasgow joined Cyann & Ben as my early-'07 daydream soundtracks.

So when I read about this tour-only EP Tout New Age, I was excited to see that this handmade limited edition release was making its way out there to those of us unlucky enough to miss them. When their tour ended July 6th, the set-up was there: Tout New Age would be released digitally. Basically, that equals one big hell-yeah from this guy. Hopefully you'll feel the same when you hear it in full for yourself.

The applause that raises the curtains for "They Made My Baby Care About Things That Didn't Matter" leads into a meandering REM sleep of a song that never quite breaks into My Bloody Valentine walls o' sound but doesn't really reach the jangly perfection of The Cocteau Twins either. That's reserved for the next track, "Laughter (Victims)," which sounds like it literally came straight out of 1988 but actually came off of their mid-'06 EP The Sunniest Day Ever. Rarely have I heard a song that so perfectly captures the mood and spirit of the late-80s UK scene as with this track. Part of the reason it sounds as time-specific as it does is because of a kind of lo-fi quality that surrounds this EP. Indeed, homespun is the proper word for the production, even more so than on their full-length debut earlier this year. The Daniels sisters know how to sing to God alright, but brother Ben does himself no disservice by providing just the right music to accompany the sirens of such a fresh, young band. Filled with promise and not a little electronic trickery, "The Ossifrage (Tout New Age)" is another excellent example of the heavens this band is reaching toward.

Interestingly, the band's own theme song includes their mother on piano... But it got cut from the final Scribble Mural Comic Journal tracklisting. Unfortunate though it may be, its thankful appearance here brings fine closure to the band's first scribblings. Or maybe it's the first journal they've finished writing. Either way, these tracks are all quality and though their exclusion from the real deal is sometimes understandable (Drums are barely evidenced throughout this release, going to serve that somnolence even more so than usual), it's well worth your while to check out the fuzzy feedback and kraut-like dream-pop these kids are putting out.

...Blah blah blah blah blah. How many times have you heard raving about a shoegaze album before and been disappointed? While all of these kind words are nice and all, sometimes brevity as the soul of wit is the better part of intelligence; on that note, let me leave you with the band's own thoughts on Tout New Age. I could not have (and did not) put it more succinctly myself.

Pharoahe Monch - "Desire"

Pharoahe Monch - Free (SRC 2007)

Pharoahe Monch - Desire / SRC

This is a frequent set-up for my opening paragraphs, but in a way it's self-fulfilling: Michael and I are only human. We have real lives, real problems, and occasionally we really live and solve them (This week, for example, Michael's finally taking time off to go home and rest a little). That said, it's tough giving proper devotion to this blog in a business that races relentlessly forward, through the days after days after weeks after are we at Web 3.0 yet? We're getting there. Patience.

And patience was something I'd run out of for sitting around waiting for good hip-hop albums to come out, so I actively went and looked for some this past week. I was so far out of the loop that I hadn't realized that we were even having a crisis in the genre right now; I thought that between the Detroit scene and everything coming out of Seattle we were doing okay. What did I know?

So I went digging. In the coming days we're going to have some stuff from Sixtoo, Educated Consumers and, inevitably, Madlib's third Beat Konducta record. In terms of delving into an artist that I wasn't already aware of, Pharoahe Monch's Desire was one that I had been lured into with the man's excellently understated cover-art (The other version is just as cool, which you may also have seen). I knew a little background: Troy Donald Jamerson, a Queens native with a history of Organized Konfusion and a penchant for the Egyptian. Had no idea about the Monchhichis, but I was aware of Internal Affairs. There was the whole sued-by-Godzilla thing. There was the wait that made Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury seem modest. There was Madden '02. Positive press for an album never hurts, but I wasn't about to waste time on a record that was set up as a guy's "decent" comeback. What did I know?

So I went listening. And let me say this: As an uneducated consumer, Pharoahe Monch won me over not just with production that speaks to the inner Dillas and Otis Jackson Juniors among us. But whereas the Beat Konducta series is all about crate-digging and searching for the perfect loops that lie within warped Bollywood vinyl from the 50s, Desire takes the origins of soul and funk and throws in distorted synths and futuristic ambient footwork to reach all corners of the hip-hop underground. A sonically astounding record, Desire is well worth the price of admission for the music alone.

Originally titled Innervisions, Desire is a personal album that unleashes all of Monch's anger on both the business and the pleasure side of things. Showtime, Mela Machinko, Mr. Porter, Tower of Power, Dwele, Tone, and Erykah Badu all lend vocal assistance, but this is clearly Monch's show. The gospel choir "Intro" brings you right into "Free," one of the best songs on the album. "While y'all stay strugglin' / We strugglin' MCs do the streets to be bubblin' on mix CDs." Fuck you, he defies us all. He's free. Evidence of this continues in the near-spirituals of songs like "Push" (which doubles as the first single) or even the bizarre "Bar Trap"; this emancipated feel is a running sound that Monch has acknowledged himself in interviews and in the people he's employed for production: The Alchemist, Denaun Porter and Black Milk are three of the most prominent.

The epic "Trilogy" has been derided as a poor man's "Trapped in the Closet," but I don't find it nearly as annoying. In fact, even without the UK bonus track "Agent Orange," it feels like "Trilogy" is a mellow way to go out, a proper ending to this cerebral album. There are distant gunshot sounds (really just drums, but the subconscious knows what's going on) and their clash with the laid-back R&B; of the song itself provides an interesting backdrop for Monch to explain his whole wife-girlfriend(s) conflict. Needlessly sentimental or a well-placed downtempo slow-jam? I choose to go with the latter despite what's happening in the actual plot of the narrative. It's a good way to wrap things up in a neat n' tidy nine minutes. Relatively speaking.

I've made some runnings around to see how much the blogosphere cares about Pharoahe Monch. It seems like he's a lot less Clipse and a lot more Lupe Fiasco, good enough to namedrop but not quite fresh enough to be hyped to death. Food and liquor be damned: Desire has stamped its authority on this summer and while most kids are still bopping to the numerous remixes for "D.A.N.C.E." that must surely be out there by now, Pharoahe Monch has worked himself quietly back into the reckoning. What did I know before this album? About as much as you do now if you haven't already heard this. Get it.

Tleary - "Mind Liberation Front"

Tleary - Juan & John (Dusty Skin 2007)

Tleary - Mind Liberation Front / Dusty Skin

A weekend to recover from everything that's been going on these past few weeks, that's what we needed here at Audiversity. A weekend to just take a step back from all the politics, all the money issues, all the legal wranglings and pressures of the real world and just listen to some fucking music. Yes. It wasn't quite Zombocom, but if it was, Tleary would be the perfect soundtrack to re-entering reality come Monday morning.

Sure enough, here we are and here, too, are Tleary. Who they are: Two guys from Sicily of all places. It's not too often you hear of Italian rock bands making it big but luckily Janpaolo Peritore and DJ Doc Trashz have done exactly that with a schizophrenic set of nine songs that will have you constantly guessing what's happening next.

There are scant few tunes that have been released this year more menacingly fun in the classic traditions of The Fall than "Juan & John," and that's just what opens this album up. This is what The Fall would sound like if... Well, if they were from Sicily and you could understand what he was saying about 5% more of the time. In other words, it's a deadringer in the best way. It's also a high-energy red herring: Take "Groundman" as an example and suddenly they sound more like a Pixies fronted by Mark E. Smith actually trying to sing. Very endearing in a way. The garage-like guitar tones are offset by DJ Doc Trashz's electronic addenda, and the bouncy indie-pop breakdown in the middle of "Groundman" isn't the only example of Tleary showing multiple personalities in the same song. It's par for the course, in fact... But these crunchy aluminum guitar sounds we keep talking about aren't just something they happened upon; working with them for this album is Josh Bonati, who has worked with Fred Kevorkian and Michael MacDonald. The White Stripes and Iggy Pop are two of the artists the band lists as examples of their work, so there you see the connection to garage. "Ghost Worm" is another great example of these sounds meeting a champion Italian DJ's sonic switchbacks.

But wait, it's not that simple either. "Hi" is "the ballad," but it's one you just don't see coming in all its stripped-down, understated simplicity. More than I expected, "Hi" is a spaghetti western excerpt brilliantly placed right in between a moody instrumental that would've worked for Marcus Schmickler and Hayden Chisholm ("Prickly Pear") and a 90s Italo-porn laced with grunge ("Porn Jazz"). Like, groovy. Even Peritore's high-pitched snarl can't disguise that this is some pretty salacious stuff.

In the best traditions of musical collagists and fuck-your-track-sequence sequencers, "Life" returns to the acoustic simplicity of "Hi" but with more a backporch Americana feel than a frontporch Catania. "Z" ends on an electro-acoustic near-glitch note indicating no indication whatsoever as to where this band will be heading next. It's erratic, it's vibrant, it's wildly inconsistent. It's also a great reason to wake up on Monday mornings. If variety is the spice of life, Tleary are surely the habanero peppers of rock's Scoville rating. Mind Liberation Front urges you to join them in freeing yourself of the ideas of predictability, of consistency, of boredom. Just one song isn't enough and, at this rate, just one album isn't enough either. We need reinforcements on the front. Tleary have arrived to deliver.

Interversity: The Saturday Knights

Seattle party-rappers The Saturday Knights raise the roof a little bit this week with a little Q & A courtesy Interversity. Barfly and Tilson represent the vocal 2/3rds of the group; third man DJ Suspence has got a day job and a family to tend to, so the MCs patiently fielded these questions for us. What we learned: Don't trust anything Tilson has to say. Enjoy and be on the lookout for a new full-length album out soon.










The Saturday Knights - "45" - The Saturday Knights EP (Light in the Attic 2007)

1. First off, The Saturday Knights. Brilliant name. How did it come about and how many other names did you have to go through to get to that one? (Also, do you capitalize "The"?)

Barfly: The name is a bit obvious and we are apparently one of many groups who hold or have held the same name but I'll take the Pepsi Challenge against any other band now or ever with the same name. It suits us to a T. It's just one of those things. I don't remember too clearly how we came to be The Saturday Knights but I think I came up with it. Before that we'd considered being called Royal Comfort and a couple other silly names that we don't talk about. Plus Slayer was already taken so...
Tilson: How did we come up with the name? The name came up with us. We're honored to even know the name.

Of course you capitalize the "The." Do you pee with the seat down?

2. You guys are literally all over the map with your songs. What artists can you all agree on that helped shape your sound?

Barfly: The only thing we agree on is that music is supposed to be fun to make and fun to listen. Tilson listens to rap mostly. Spence listens to good music and I listen to crappy music. We have no idea what we're doing really.
Tilson: Van Gogh and Sydney Portier.

3. The debut full-length was, last time I checked, due in August. How has the recording process or the dynamics of the group changed from when you recorded the EP?

Barfly: We're actually looking at October as a release date. We haven't changed anything really.We just figured out that the best way to fly is to throw yourself at the ground and miss, so we're gonna stick with that 'til the wings come off.
Tilson: I grew an extra tooth.

4. That Coloring Book Coloring Skills Challenge you guys did last month was pretty amazing. How did that come about, and have you played that house show yet? How did it go?

Barfly: Haven't played the houseparty yet but it's gonna be a blast I promise. I did that coloring book some tinme ago and the label thought it might be a fun promotion and we're too scared to tell them no because they can get on some Death Rom, Suge Knight shit when we're not totally agreeable. I'm still recovering from the last ass kicking i got for showing up late to the label president's foot ru
Tilson: We haven't played it yet. The entries were amazing. How did it come about? It came about in a dream.

5. This may or may not be entirely related, but: What are your favorite beverages? They don't have to be alcoholic.

Barfly: I drink Crown and Rocks but I'm not picky. I drank gas one time. True story.
Tilson: Powdered water.

Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

1. What did you specifically remember listening to as children that triggered a notable response?

Barfly: I grew up on a bunch of regional Southern California shit. If you know who Beowulf, Excel, Circle One, Dr. Know and that whole canon of groups is then you probably get it.
Tilson: So many sounds of being in trouble, it's hard to choose one.

2. You are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you two individually listen to?

Barfly: I always choose Dios' self titled release on Star Time.
Tilson: I would listen to a Masterson mix tape.

3. Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

Barfly: I like reading Tom Robbins, Chuck Palahniuk, Hunter S. Thompson et al. I definitely get motivated off that stuff. Caddyshack, Big Lebowski are a couple movies I can't burn out on.
Tilson: Wild life ... wild people ... wild atmosphere ... calm days.

4. Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

Barfly: I don't check for music much anymore. I have horible taste and shitty listening habits. I'm kinda into ringtones right now. Radio songs are too long.
Tilson: Between an exit and a turnpike.

5. What question do you get most often as a group that you hate answering?

Barfly: What is Tilson on?
Tilson: Why is there a black guy in the group?

6. Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

Barfly: I love 808s. I also love Tamborines, cowbell, shakers, fish and cheerleader chants.
Tilson: Women's inner and outer beauty. My favorite sound is tzzzzzphgthhssszzzzzzzzghey.

7. The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close, what section do you head immediately towards?

Barfly: The bargain bin.
Tilson: The snacks section. And the t-shirts.

8. What is the last notable daydream each of you had and where did it take place?

Barfly: I've done a lot of time so we'll just skip this one.
Tilson: I was on stage with people watching me ... it was our next show!

9. What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

Barfly: Pobody's Nerfect.
Tilson: The perfect album is made with appreciation from the people listening. Or: people tell you to turn it down when you're playing it in public.

10. Do you keep up with blogs? Which do you read if so?

Barfly: No habla ingles.
Tilson: Audiversity, of course. Can you recommend some for us?

Singleversity #19

Audiversity’s weekly column, slightly modified, on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 47.

MA:



Geoff Farina - "Only Yellows" - Reverse Eclipse (Southern 2001)

Right now I’m on a big Geoff Farina trip. I can’t exactly pinpoint it, but there is just something hypnotizing about his sparse arrangements, impeccable phrasing and warm guitar tone. A founding member of Karate and the Secret Stars, Farina way too often is overlooked and underrated.

PM:










Like Pantha du Prince a few weeks ago, Gui Boratto's Chromophobia is an album I rue not reviewing sooner. Not just for its Apparat-like cover-art, either: “Xilo” is an infectious demonstration of the Sao Pãolo native’s knack for turning cold loops into warm, colorful, chromophilic pop pieces.

Marcus Schmickler with Hayden Chisholm - "Amazing Daze"

Marcus Schmickler with Hayden Chisholm - Amazing Daze (For Phill Niblock) (Hapna 2007)

Marcus Schmickler with Hayden Chisholm - Amazing Daze / Hapna

It wasn't so much the names that grabbed hold of me. Pluramon, Mimeo and Wabi Sabi don't mean a great deal to me personally, but my knowledge of mid-90s Cologne is limited to be fair. Likewise, New Zealander Hayden Chisholm hadn't set off any bells one way or another. Going into Amazing Daze, all I had was the curious album artwork and two tracks with elongated titles to go by. It turns out that Amazing Daze is so much more than that: It's a concert, it's a meditation, it's an epiphany, it's a collaboration of two minds that bears beautiful drone fruit.

To understand Amazing Daze (and the song which has been posted here), it's best to understand who these men are. First, Schmickler: As a university student in Cologne studying music under Messrs Fritsch and Humpert, Schmickler developed a talent for ambient texturalization. This has translated into a number of pseudonyms that litter the past decade. His impressive back catalog fills up a good size of A-Musik's releases but as seen here he isn't strictly tied to them.

Chisholm is another story. Just from his website, I get the feeling that this is the kind of guy I want to hang out with. Posts are full of things like, "I managed to break the Guiness [sic] Record for the longest tone on a clarinet by holding one for 50 minutes in the middle of this football stadium in Austria," and "The fact that the German government flew me back to my homeland to give this talk raised many a kiwi eyebrow." From Mallorca to LAX to Kenya, Chisholm has been around the world and back again. The benefit for us are not just the half- or untold stories, but his sponge-like ability to sop up the musical cultures he inhabits.

Notably, Chisholm seems to frequent Germany often and he no doubt hooked up with Schmickler through their work in Pluramon... But Germany has very little to do with this release, split between "Amazing Daze (For Phill Niblock)" and "Infinity in the Shape of a Poodle (for Björk Gudmundsdottir)," which if nothing else goes to show you why Björk sticks with her first name. In fact, it doesn't really have to do with Iceland either: The title piece is a slow-burning bagpipe piece that Niblock himself would've been proud of as its microtones change courses and slither back into position over 23 minutes. There's a stretch little over halfway through that foreshadows the following track, but by the time the last breath of air leaves the bagpipe, it's back to where we started.

The Björk track revolves almost entirely around high-end manipulation of the sho, a Japanese free reed instrument constructed around 17 bamboo pipes. In a most unflattering description, listening to the sho is like listening to held-down horns at a stoplight in a higher octave. Here Schmickler and Chisholm use this headache of an instrument to their advantage by twisting and writhing around in a high pitch that only breaks pace around 18 minutes when it slowly fades out. At first it sounds angelic, but the longer you live with it, the longer you see the sho as an enemy than a friend. Images of a Rapture from which there is no escape are conjured and you think your head is about to blow when, suddenly, 20 minutes into the piece, it dies. Just like that, fading away to nothing.

Maybe it seems a little too academic, but I enjoyed Amazing Daze as I would enjoy a piece by Eno or Begushkin or Espers. It's the stretching out, the building up, the breaking down, and the manipulating within that makes these two songs so good. It's also what makes these two composers so interesting to watch. At the moment, they're on form as they've never been before. Amazing Daze is just the latest reason why.

Helios - "Ayres"

Helios - The Obeisant Vine - Ayres (Type 2007)

Helios – Ayres / Type

So if it isn’t obvious enough, I have a bit of a crush on John Twells and Stefan Lewandowski’s Type Label. All of their releases share a similar aesthetic of mixing musical pleasantness with sound experimentation, easily two of my favorite characteristics within music. And most importantly, each of their artists stamp an individual fingerprint with their style; though they may all share a similar mindset, each album is completely idiosyncratic, from the looming acoustic doom of Svarte Greiner to the cheery sun-drenched pop of Mountaineer. One of the label’s earliest releases was from Boston-based multi-instrumentalist Keith Kenniff, who at the time was recording under the Goldmund moniker. His atmospheric piano-based compositions were no doubt instrumental in carving out Type’s stylistic niche, and since that release, Type005, he has further expanded and refined his musical palette. Now also recording under the Helios moniker, Kenniff is easing his way into an almost singer/songwriter format, but believe you me, the experimental ambient soundscapes he established as Goldmund are far from a lost aspect of his latest musical endeavors.

Practically raised on music, Kenniff has followed the path of most multi-dimensional musicians: joining band after band, each of different styles, and though not gaining any monetary success, learning each genre’s idiosyncratic touch. During his tenure studying percussion at the Berklee College of Music, he also took a keen interest in film soundtracks, further expanding his taste for mood-setting atmospheric music. A young but refined multi-instrumentalist, Kenniff began developing his own compositions, drawing heavily from his interests and concentrating on a sound similar to on-screen accompaniments: sparse, patient and filled with emotion. Along with establishing his minimal yet cinematic ambient alias Goldmund, the Helios moniker became an outlet for more textural ambitions. After a one-off release on Miami’s excellent Merck label, Kenniff moved his Helios project to Type where they had already released the initial Goldmund album, Corduroy Road. Now well established with an ever-growing fan-base, Kenniff preps his fourth full-length as Helios, Ayres, for the British imprint, and it’s perhaps his most realized release to date.

The biggest addition to the Helios sound with Ayres is the infusion of Kenniff’s vocals. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t just sing on top of his compositions, but rather utilizes his melodic coos as instruments themselves, sampling, looping and intertwining them within the layers of harmonious bliss already swimming around. Take the opening track for example, “A Rising Wind.” The song opens with melodically hollow percussive ticks paired with distant hums and hushed, wordless coos harmonizing just beneath the surface. The patient percussion expands with deeper reverberating thumps and delicately swelling string-like synths while Kenniff’s fragile voice sings within the whirlpool of pleasantly enveloping sounds. The music builds into a climactic multi-tracked vocal harmonization that drifts swiftly over over-modulating drum machines before ebbing back to the initial tide of vocal ambience. Think a collaboration between Sigur Ros, Grizzly Bear and Low with the Type aesthetic of experimentation.

Most of the album follows suit with Kenniff approaching the fractured, melodic and textural sound from different angles. The most successful of the all-too-short six tracks is “The Obeisant Vine,” a deeply moving dream-pop song. Kenniff portrays a great understanding of vocal prowess by not singing at emphatic levels, but teasing his hushed croon with wavering pitches. It is just one of those melodies that is so perfect that it must have been composed on piano first and later transposed to vocals. The accompanying drum machine march and swirling acoustic guitar and warm synth swells only further emphasize the brilliantly melodramatic mood. Kenniff’s equally intriguing cover of “In Heaven” rounds out the mini-album. Initially recorded by cult R&B; crooner Peter Ivers for David Lynch’s classic film Eraserhead, Kenniff sounds as assured as ever with his voice front-and-center over a backdrop of harp-like percussion loops. The song is wonderfully immersed in a reverberating sea of melodic tension before disintegrating completely.

Clocking in at just over twenty-seven minutes, Ayres ends way too quickly, but also vastly excels in its pared down state. Kenniff’s music as Helios is much less meandering than earlier projects and refined into excellent five-minute dream-pop songs. But he never loses touch of ambiance and treats each track with obvious care and minute attention. While this is just a theory, it sounds as if Kenniff set out to craft songs that are as cinematic as the soundtrack music he is so heavily inspired by, but can tell a story without any visual accompaniment. If so, consider it a success, because Ayres is a moving and deeply sensuous album of patient, textural dream-pop.

Pinback - "Autumn of the Seraphs"

Pinback - From Nothing to Nowhere (Touch and Go 2007)

Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs - Touch and Go

I had originally intended to post this yesterday, but with the situation up at WLUW as dire as it is, reviews pretending as if nothing were happening hardly seemed appropriate. Having gotten my first taste of the station last week during a visit to the Windy City, it's clear that they're necessary. All I could think of was, "Finally! A station that doesn't play "Umbrella" every three songs." It's that attitude to diversity that opens doors, educates the ignorant, and allows two guys with their respective laptops to go on and on about their favorite albums. As you've seen this past week, a lot hinges on Loyola's decision.

But with the score straightened out, all I can do back here in South Carolina is, well, pretend nothing is happening at all. And today's review of Pinback is no coincidence: In a time of massive upheaval both for Michael and myself (not all of it WLUW-related), Rob Crow and his mates in Pinback returning for a fourth time with Autumn of the Seraphs seems not only logical but necessary. Pinback may be a band of many things, but radical reinvention certainly isn't one of them... And yet, through all of these albums and a multitude of EPs and their b-sides collection Nautical Antiques last year, they still have a remarkably good output in large part because they are so consistent.

That's taking the easy way out, though. There are too many reviews that drop a few references to Thingy or The Ladies or Goblin Cock or Living Well and then explain that Crow's got a little more tradition in his structure or piano in Pinback and moving on. It's not that simple, but sometimes the band makes it hard to argue the point. Really, what's the difference between Blue Screen Life and Summer in Abaddon to the average listener?

First impressions listening to this album will have you thinking, as with their prior releases, that this is really good. But is it the album of the year? Zach Smith's bass playing is only a little less prominent than on prior releases, but this has been replaced by a variety of sounds that make Autumn of the Seraphs their most varied and sonically diverse album yet. There were pianos on past releases of course, but on tracks like "How We Breathe" and "Bouquet" they stand out as prominently and as beautifully as ever despite only ever hitting about three notes. The guitars are fuzzed out on songs like "Walters," which is classic Pinback in the best sense as the lilting vocals and, again, piano bring the song to a rewarding decrescendo n' fade-out. "Torch" is all about a moody organ driving the percussion and vocal harmonies that wrap up the track. The genius of these songs is that the band builds on such simple melodies and reinvents reinvention by taking the best elements of their older songs and adding subtle touches from there. "Off By 50," their most epic song yet, could not end this "large"-sounding album better.

So what happens on the second, third, or eighth impression? How much distance can you get out of this album? The answer is that you can only get as much out of Pinback as you want. Cursory listens will yield cursory conclusions. There's so much both sonically and lyrically (though they are typically obtuse) to this group - and that includes dramatically different cover-art as you can see - that passing up another opportunity to give them a try would be fool hearty. I started this review by insisting that Pinback hadn't changed, but I suspect that Pinback themselves have such a sense of humor that they would've done the same in my position. The truth is, the band has changed dramatically and Autumn of the Seraphs is proof. Even low-quality rips off a leaked RAR file from June can't disguise that this band is sounding bigger than ever before. Hushed vocals battle mid-tempo post-modern pop for a fantastic listen that is, despite all of their added tweaks and touches, just as good as ever. In a time when we are questioning are futures here at Audiversity, Pinback give us the power to believe that staying the course and carrying on regardless is the best course of action. I am willing to believe.

WLUW Update

To follow up on the previous post concerning the demise of Chicago's only independent community radio station, 88.7 WLUW-FM Chicago (of which I am Music Director and DJ for; and is responsible for Audiversity existing at all), here is some more information on the happenings:

WLUW's staff had a meeting with the heads of WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio, who stepped in back in 2002 to support the transition of the station from Loyola's college frequency to a listener-supported community radio outlet) to be properly informed of the situation and get the opportunity to ask questions. Here is a summation of the entire situation and what went down at the meeting.

At a very basic level, we are now in a tentative 11-month transitional period, but we have no idea what we are transitioning to nor whether we will be given an opportunity to remain at the station once June 2008 comes around. In fact, I very much doubt Loyola has any idea what we are transitioning towards either.

And what is even more ridiculous is this FAQ page posted on Loyola's website. First of all, the opening line is completely misleading: "Loyola University Chicago and WBEZ have mutually agreed to begin discussions on the termination of our operating agreement for the radio station WLUW." WBEZ is pertaining to their part of the contract, they are not by any means wanting to terminate the operating agreement. And most upsetting is this line: "The community radio station label is akin to calling another station blues, jazz, or rock. It's a format, not ownership." I completely disagree with this; the whole idea of a community station is that it services and acts as a voice for the community. Perhaps it is a format, but a much more important and multi-dimensional format than say a commercial rock station. Not to mention the tight knit community of volunteers that run the station. I find it to be a very shallow and callous response to the situation.

If you would like a more concise description of the situation, check out this Time Out Chicago article. Though this is just a simple audioblog, I do plan on using it somewhat as a forum for the happenings of this ordeal because this site owes everything to WLUW. Also, please take a minute to read and possibly sign this petition to help create more low power frequencies so that community radio can exist; it may be our only chance to continue providing Chicago with a radio station that is progressive, community-oriented, committed to social justice and independent thought and expression, and to giving a voice to those who too often go unheard.

Radio Show Playlist: 7/18/07

6a:
1. Can - Future Days - Future Days (Spoon 1973)
2. Artanker Convoy - Open Up - Cozy Endings (Social Registry 2007)
3. Yesterdays Universe All Stars - Vibes from the Tribes Suite - Prepare for a New Yesterday (Vol. 1) (Stones Throw 2007)
4. Town & Country - Bookmobile - C'mon (Thrill Jockey 2002)
5. Lateduster - Shaker/Flicker - Easy Pieces (Merck 2004)

7a:
1. Begushkin - Nightly Things - Nightly Things (Locust 2007)
2. Karate - Cancel - Cancel/Sing (Southern 2001)
3. John Vanderslice - Central Booking - Emerald City (Barsuk 2007)
4. Sam Prekop - C+F - Who's Your New Professor (Thrill Jockey 2005)
5. Apostle of Hustle - Dark is What I Want/Strutters Ball - Folkloric Feel (Arts & Crafts 2004)
6. Kallikak Family - Shopping Mall Sun - Vineland Social Maturity Scale (On Purpose 2004)
7. Akron/Family - Gone Beyond - Meek Warrior (Young God 2006)
8. A Perfect Friend - Welcome Aboard - A Perfect Friend (Stilll 2007)
9. Low - Belarus - Drums & Guns (Sub Pop 2007)
10. The Books - An Owl with Knees - Lost & Safe (Tomlab 2004)
11. Jennifer Gentle - It's All in Her Eyes - The Midnight Room (Sub Pop 2007)
12. Emperor X - Sfearion - Central Hug/Friendarmy/Fractaldunes (Discos Mariscos 2004)

8a:
1. Mystic Chords of Memory - Sure, Bert - Mystic Chords of Memory (Rough Trade 2004)
2. Mountaineer - A Town Called Ivanhoe - When the Air is Bright They Shine (Type 2006)
3. Life on Earth! - Sell Your Soul to Me - Look!! There is Life on Earth (Subliminal Sounds 2007)
4. Andrew Douglas Rothbard - Indigo - Abandoned Meander (Smooch 2006)
5. Nobody - Wake Up and Smell the Millennium - And Everything Else... (Plug Research 2005)
6. Reminder - Days of Awe - West Side Cabin EP (Ropeadope 2007)
7. Wire - Outdoor Miner - Chairs Missing (Harvest 1978)
8. Githead - Drop - Art Pop (Swim 2007)
9. Art Brut - Post Soothing Out - It's a Bit Complicated (Downtown 2007)
10. of Montreal - Du Og Meg - Suffer for Fashion EP (Polyvinyl 2007)
11. Sparks - Equator - Kimono My House (Island 1974)
12. The Jai-Alai Savant - Sugar Free - The Flight of the Bass Delegate (GSL 2007)
13. Why? - Sanddollars - Sandollars EP (Anticon 2005)

Githead - "Art Pop"

Githead - Drop (Swim 2007)

Githead – Art Pop / Swim

Though I can’t remember his exact phrasing, a colleague of mine once proclaimed that everything he learned about balancing experimental music and pop came from Wire. The long-lived London four-piece was one of, if not the actual reason for having to invent a new genre tag for punk-based experimental music. Is there a more quintessential post-punk album than Chairs Missing? And most impressively, beneath the barrage of unpredictable and intense explorations into the depths of punk and music in general, there was always the foundation of a pop song. I am not necessarily drawing comparisons to something buoyant or playful, but there is a reason that those songs get imbedded in your consciousness so easily.

Throughout the years, Wire guitarist/vocalist Colin Newman has emerged as the most productive of the four original members continuously pushing his creative boundaries in a number of different manners, from ambient solo artist to remixer to establishing the genre-less Swim Records to creating one of the web’s premier hubs for experimental labels in posteverything.com. Somewhat surprising though is that it took Newman nearly thirty years to put together a true pop-rock group. Teaming with his wife and former bassist for the Israeli new wave/art-pop group Minimal Compact, Malka Spigel, and ambient composer Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner), Githead came together in 2004 and near immediately released the incredibly intriguing Headgit EP on Newman and Spigel’s Swim label. Surprising to say the least, a few heads were baffled by the trio’s seemingly straightforward approach to art-pop, but obviously thanks to the musicians involved, the music transcended genre boundaries and intertwined elements of post-punk, Brit-pop, shoegaze, dub, funk and experimental rock. 2005’s debut full-length, Profile, found the group further developing their palette, but I don’t feel they hit their stride until this sophomore album, Art Pop.

Though Art Pop’s rhythmic backbone is still decisively rigid, I think one of the best moves by the band was replacing “The Beat Monster” (the drum machine used extensively on the first two releases) with Minimal Compact’s drummer Max Franken. Now the rhythm section matches the fluidity of the lulling guitar interplay and atmospheric soundscapes. Like the previous releases, Spigel’s sinuous and supple bass leads each song creating the surprising dub-like grooves that make up Art Pop. She also provides wonderfully sensual vocals to match Newman’s own deadpan delivery. Meanwhile, Rimbaud and Newman color each song with continuously melodic guitar playing that easily bounds from more angular work to circular patterns and shoegaze-like waves. It makes for a deeply textural, and multi-dimensional sound that is nearly impossible to pinpoint on a timescale and surprisingly unpredictable. It’s pop-rock, but refined, elaborate and imaginative.

Attempting to highlight a couple of the songs as good assessments of the overall sound has been a futile endeavor. The first four songs alone sound completely different from each other: “On Your Own” sets up the album very simply mixing classic Brit-pop with Pixies like avant-pop though less frantic (“Rotterdom” takes this mix to even better levels), “Drop” moves in the opposite direction strutting on Spigel’s deep-funk bass line and Newman’s hypnotizing vocals and tight electric guitar chops, “Drive By” ups the fuzz and urgency easily shadowing Wire’s more straightforward work (which is later near perfected in the irresistible “All Set Up”), and finally “Lifeloops” is a delicate acoustic guitar-driven number delicately narrated by Spigel’s echoing coo. And that’s not even the entire first half of the album! Where I felt Profile lingered on with the same sound a bit too long, Art Pop does an amazing job of creating an overarching vibe while using each song for a separate exploration into their sound.

I cannot quite figure out why Githead seems to be completely overlooked by the U.S. music market (I honestly have no idea if the attention it receives overseas is any more substantial). Granted it’s not the most buzzworthy sound, but with the musicians involved you would think that respect would be paid more wholeheartedly. And it’s a shame too, because while everyone is digging around for the next youthful flavor of the month, here is quality, inventive and downright infectious music created by artists who have spent decades perfecting their craft. While Art Pop may be a little more grown up and refined than a lot of the pop swirling around the market these days, it’s also an album you won’t be sick of three months down the road.

For Real...

Audiversity will be back running at full force tomorrow.

The Day Independent Radio Took a Step Back

The Impressions - Keep on Pushing - Keep on Pushing (Paramount 1964)

Yesterday morning I woke up to the worst possible news concerning the radio station that I Music Direct for and is near solely responsible for bringing Audiversity to life, WLUW-FM Chicago, Listener-Supported Community Radio:

from the Chicago Sun-Times:
July 13, 2007
BY ROBERT FEDER Sun-Times Columnist
When it comes to WLUW-FM (88.7), Loyola giveth and Loyola taketh away.

Five years after university officials gratefully turned over day-to-day
management control of their struggling campus radio station to Chicago
Public Radio, they're asking for it back.

At the time of its transfer in 2002, WLUW was operating at a deficit,
and Loyola sought help in managing and fund-raising from the nonprofit
parent company of WBEZ-FM (91.5).

Since then, under an operating agreement with the public radio
station's board, WLUW has been thriving as a listener-supported
community-based station.

Now Loyola reportedly plans to return the station to its roots as a
student-run operation and make it part of the curriculum.

Pending a deal between Loyola and Chicago Public Radio bosses, the
management change should be completed by next June.

So as you can see, come next June I'm out of a job and Audiversity's future will be in limbo, though I am going to spend the next year building as strong as contacts as possible to keep the website alive.

This is an excerpt of the email we received from our Station Manager shortly after:

"As some of you already know from this morning’s Feder column in the Sun Times, and per provisions of the operating agreement between WBEZ and Loyola University, the university has decided to exercise its option to take back WLUW. The details of this transition have not been communicated to us. We understand that the station is expected to continue its current programming until June 2008. All current staffers are welcome to stay until that date. At this point we do not know the status of those staffers after that date.

You should know that this decision is not based on anything that has gone on at WLUW. It is indeed ironic that this happens just at the moment WLUW has had its greatest successes as a community radio station. The decision is a function of the university wanting to establish a new School of Communication for which WLUW will be an academic component."

But really, I have only been with the station for a year-and-a-half, and there are DJs and volunteers who have been producing highly-regarded shows for the last decade. These are the people I feel the worst for, because once Loyola takes the station back over (which coincidentally comes after we've grown enough to reach our yearly financial budget for the first time thanks to the very kind souls of listeners who donated their hard-earned money to our cause), they may not have an outlet to keep on producing their excellent programs. And our Program Director, Shawn Campbell, has spent the last eight years of her life building the station from the ground up just to have it plucked away from her at it's highest state of popularity. It's an absolute shame Loyola has decided to take these actions and, in turn, demolishing one of the strongest radio outlets for independent music, progressive news and community programs, and denying listeners an option for independent, heart-felt radio here in Chicago. Do I regret spending so many under-paid hours helping develop the station's music library and musical image? Absolutely not. It's been a wonderful learning experience and introduced me to the most hard-working, immensely creative community I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I sincerely doubt that we will just pack it up and head in our own separate directions. Radio needs it's independent outlets more than ever before, and I guarantee that this is not the last you will hear from us. There is nothing like a little oppression and defeat to inspire bigger and better endeavors.

Thank you to everyone who has listened to Audiversity: The Radio Show and WLUW-FM. The show should run for a few more months uninhibited; from there we'll just play it by ear.

Sorry...

Like I mentioned earlier, we apologize for the lack of posts. This week is nuts for both of us, and Patrick is actually here with me in Chicago. I will be working WLUW's Record Fair within the Pitchfork Music Fest, so if you are going feel free to stop by the WLUW merch table, ask for Michael/Audiversity and say hello. I'm thinking Singleversity will still definitely happen this Saturday, but another album review is looking less and less likely. Don't worry though, we should be back in full swing next week.

And definitely stay tuned, because excellent new columns are in the near future further diversifying and expanding our content. Seven months in and the snowball is beginning to gather some girth. Thanks to everyone who is visiting on regular occasions, because the response has been incredibly encouraging. If you promise to keep caring, we promise to keep putting so much effort into it.

Radio Show Playlist: 7/11/07

6a:
1. Fugazi - Turnover - Repeater + 3 Songs (Dischord 1990)
2. The Icarus Line - FSHN FVR - Black Lives at the Gold Coast (Dim Mak 2007)
3. These Arms are Snakes - The Blue Rose - This is Meant to Hurt You EP (Jade Tree 2003)
4. Queens of the Stone Age - Sick, Sick, Sick - Era Vulgaris (Interscope 2007)
5. Tyondai Braxton - Stand There - Rise, Rise, Rise (split with Parts & Labor) (Narnack 2003)
6. Pterodactyl - Three Succeed - Pterodactyl (Brah 2007)
7. Plants - Roots - Photosynthesis (Strange Attractors 2007)
8. Alexander Tucker - You Are Many - Furrowed Brow (ATP Recordings 2006)
9. Ghost - Motherly Bluster - In Stormy Nights (Drag City 2007)

7a:
1. Everyoned - Friends of Mine - Everyoned (Brilliante 2006)
2. Paul Duncan - The Fire - Above the Trees (Hometapes 2007)
3. Jim Guthrie - Broken Chair - Now, More Than Ever (Three Gut 2003)
4. Helios - Signed I Wish You Well - Ayres (Type 2007)
5. Theodore & Hamblin - Balmpe - The Scientific Contrast (Moteer 2007)
6. Fonica - Twang - Ripple (Tomlab 2003)
7. Misha - Losing - Teardrop Sweetheart (Tomlab 2007)
8. Caribou - Melody Day (Four Tet Remix) - Melody Day EP (Merge 2007)
9. Masha Qrella - C.Bones - Unsolved Remains (Morr Music 2005)
10. Mirah & Spectratone International - Community - PDX Pop Now! 2007 (self-released 2007)
11. Catherine Howe - It's Not Likely - What a Beautiful Place (Numero Group 2007, recorded 1970)
12. Julie Sokolow - Alternations - Something About Violins (Western Vinyl 2006)

8a:
1. Life on Earth! - Life on Earth - Look!! There is Life on Earth! (Subliminal Sounds 2007)
2. Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta - Ananda Shankar and His Music (Fallout 1975)
3. McNeal & Niles - Punk Funk - Thrust (Chocolate Industries 2004, recorded 1979)
4. The Budos Band - Budos Rising - The Budos Band II (Daptone 2007)
5. Bumps - Tryplmeade Gorsmatch - Bumps (Stones Throw 2007)
6. Antibalas - Broken Metal - Security (Anti- 2007)
7. Seun Kuti & the Egypt 80 - Think Africa - Think Africa/Na Oil 12" (Still Music 2007)
8. Vieux Farka Toure - Ana - Vieux Farka Toure (World Village 2007)
9. Beat Konducta - Raw Tranquility Pt 3 - In India (Stones Throw 2007)
10. The Jahari Massamba Unit - Umojo (Unity) - Prepare for a New Yesterday (Vol. 1) (Stones Throw 2007)

Caribou - "Andorra"

Caribou - Irene (Merge 2007)

Caribou - Andorra / Merge

With the Melody Day EP now appearing and Merge beginning their late-summer push for the fuller, conditions feel right for a Caribou review. Ah, Caribou. Dan Snaith, the incomparable one-man bliss-pop army out to avenge his defeat to Handsome Dick Manitoba three years ago. By equipping himself with some of the most infectious and joyfully oblivious poptronic products in the entire existence of said style, Snaith has become a reference point for plenty of people with laptops and a love for The Beach Boys. Not that there weren't already a few out there, but Snaith has somehow managed to elude mediocrity partly because he knows when to hit it and when to quit it; in keeping with that, Up in Flames might be acknowledged as the archetypal Caribou album, but the nine-song Andorra that he's been working on since early '06 makes a strong case for the best Caribou record yet.

In between 2005's The Milk of Human Kindness and the August release date for this album, Snaith has constructed a live show with the help of Delicious 9 and not a little musical handiwork from his backing band, all to good effect. It feels like that backing band had some effect the other way around on Andorra, because it feels more like a band is playing this album than in the past when Snaith could cleverly (and effectively) disguise his largely solitary efforts. "Melody Day" is the lead-off single and opening track; as a raison d'etre, it works effectively with dreamy vocals harmonizing perfectly in between the spaced-out psych-pop awash in summer cymbal sunshowers. "Melody day, where have you gone?" asks Snaith... But the answer is as straightforward as the flute fluttering about. It's as prominent here as it's been anywhere else. The melodies are simply irresistible as "Sandy" duly proves on the following track. Robert Palmer would be proud in a roundabout way.

Of course, Caribou may not have appealed to you in the past. Snaith's freeform palette-plastering psych-pop glittering with all things flower-child was at times mercurial and at its worst little more than white noise in disguise. My argument for that is, if you're willing to listen to something that seriously sounds straight out of 1967 but with just a lemon-twist of modernism, you're ready for Andorra. The additional touches of krautrock on a track like "After Hours" reveal just that little bit more about this guy. You keep wanting it to be boring, but Snaith never lets a good idea wear out its welcome. "Sundialing" is a good example, running its full rise n' fall at just over four-and-a-half minutes.

"She's the One" is a subtle nod to a less organic past as Junior Boys' Jeremy Greenspan lends his breathy vocal talents to a song that always feels like it's going to erupt into this ebullient acid trip but instead cleverly continues at a controlled pace, defying expectations and pleasing the ear all the same. The verve in the sparse vocals of "Irene" is another brilliant moment toward the end of the album, well-placed as a quiet breather and a set-up for the understated "Niobe," a whimper to end a banger of an album.

For a long time I wasn't really impressed with Caribou. I didn't think Snaith was anything special and that most of his tricks had been honed, what, 30 years ago? But Andorra has led me to rethink this position. Rather than viewing him as an ordinary electro-psych-pop player with a shrewd knack for melody, I've come to see Snaith as a guiding light for anything with a psych label on it. And that's kind of why he's here. While we don't review Merge records too often given their stature, Caribou stands as both a flattering example and a noticeable exception to their Institutionalized Indie paradigm: By bringing people to Andorra, it's possible we can take them beyond that if they haven't already gotten there. Jan Dukes de Gray, Kemialliset Ystävät, First Nation, there's no end to the possibilities, the world of opportunity and wealth of knowledge Dan Snaith can open up. Nestled deep in the Pyrenees, it's hard to imagine a nation less likely to sit in such a unique position.

An Open Letter to Billy Corgan

Dear Mr. Corgan,

The first draft of this letter was written in July of 2005, so if it sounds like something you've heard before, at least you'll be able to say that you can relate to me in more ways than just the Irish-American lapsed Catholic with blue eyes, [naturally] brown hair, crooked teeth and a wiseass attitude. I always felt like we had a lot in common, Billy. Me and about 40 million other people, obviously, but for a few fleeting years in the late 90s I really thought you were it. Those being my most vulnerable and impressionable times, you stuck with me despite a voice that was, in the words of a friend now forgotten, "akin to a drowning rat."

An impeccable knack for balancing the beautiful with the brutal was what drew me. Oh sure, you had the anthems. Ask most alternative radio stations in the US today what you amounted to and they'll reduce it to four words: Bullet with butterfly wings. Sound familiar? Of course it does, because they still play it three times a day where I come from. But you were more than a single, awful anthem for Gen Xers with mudpeople in your video. I mean, there was "Today" for first-comers to the Alternative Nation. Some people will never look at ice-cream trucks or "Zabriskie Point" the same way again.

Really though, if it wasn't for Smashing Pumpkins (with or without the "The") there would be no "alternative" in the first place. Without your distinct touches of psychedelia and new-wave and post-punk and all these things Seattle was afraid of, "grunge" would be the punchline for modern rockists. You broadened the horizons. You made people see that there was more to the 70s and 80s than just speed metal and hardcore-punk and the Pixies. There was shoegaze, there was Cheap Trick, there were The Cars. Kurt knew too, but he didn't let it show in his music, at least not until that Bowie cover. What greatness would've come we'll never know, because he took the easy out. He gave up the fight against his wife and his hopeless imitators and his greatest rival, you. There's a reason there are hundreds of Nirvana soundalikes, but only Our Lady Peace and The Secret Machines: You were the harder act to follow.

At some point after your folktronica experiment Adore (which we only now have a proper sub-sub-sub-genre for), you decided it wasn't worth "fighting the good fight against the Britneys of the world" anymore. I don't blame you. There's only so much battling you can do against not just Britney and Justin but people who don't see the joke in "Today." So you brought Jimmy back and kept D'arcy away from Mickey Rourke as long as you could before the heroin consumed her and went out on tour for one last fling against The Man, sorry, Machine, sorry, Machina. Then you told Virgin to fuck off and dealt with "the downloading question" by releasing Machina II for free online. You took the piss on plenty of people in the 90s, but that had to be my favorite punchline. Even more so because it was delivered with a wink to Virgin, who had no answer... And because it contained the song you felt was the crystallization of 12 years of playing. I don't have that citation, but I'm sure you'll remember:

The Smashing Pumpkins - "Cash Car Star (Version 1)" - Machina II: Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (Constantinople 2000)

When you went out on Leno with this and "comedy doesn't pay," I was confident the last chapter in my favorite book had closed. In between growing beyond alternative to discover The Get Up Kids and At the Drive-In and Mogwai, I found time to forgive you for Zwan almost entirely because of "Declarations of Faith." It could've been much worse than worn paisley shirts. I found that out with TheFutureEmbrace.

This is where the first draft leaves off. It's interesting to go back and read now because I was adamant I wouldn't pay attention to your "solo album with another on the way." Very coy, indeed! Turns out that second solo album was Zeitgeist after all... But I didn't remember that bit when I heard the Pumpkins were reuniting. That's the way (my love is). I hear the band is reuniting and for a split second I think of the good old days. Remember, with James and D'arcy and conquering the world? Ginger who? The motherfucking Lassie Foundation? Are you kidding me?

My question two years ago was, "What are you doing?" That was a stupid thing to ask, but we all know the answer now. I thought TheFutureEmbrace was your way of disgracing the legacy of the Pumpkins, but the joke was on me, wasn't it? The solo album(s), the "confessions," the full-page ads... Christ man, it was all an illusion. Why the hell would James want to get himself mixed up in a song like "Tarantula" anyway, especially considering you already wrote it with "Cash Car Star"? Or "Jellybelly"? Or "Hello Kitty Kat"? You had used every trick to ruin the legacy of the band, but with Zeitgeist you've finally done it: You've ruined the band itself. Well played. I hate this album.

As a Chicago-affiliated blog, I guess I should address the music of the album. The vocals are too high in the mix, the songs blend your solo production touches with blatantly obvious and therefore unrewarding hooks, the lyrics are horrendous. There. I don't work for WLUW, but even if I did and they allowed you to be played, I wouldn't. Not anymore.

There is one redeeming tune, "For God and Country." Maybe it's on the iTunes version, maybe it's on the HMV version, maybe it's on the Amazon Cambodia version, I don't fucking know. I downloaded it. There are a few lines in here that, like a million other people, I think are written for me. "It's too late for some / It's too late for everyone / I can't help what I destroy in you." That stuck out to me mostly because I don't agree. The sad part is that you could've helped all of this by just continuing to release solo albums and living out your days maintaining some semblance of artistic integrity.

But you got me with this: "It's time to wake up / It's time to wake up for good." You're right, Billy. I really don't want to look stupid when I'm sleeping.

...Said sadly,
PM

Various Artists - "PDX Pop Now! 2007"

Ethan Rose - Celing Songs 3 (excerpt) (PDX Pop Now! 2007)

Lips and Ribs - Battle in Nagoya (PDX Pop Now! 2007)

Ferocious Eagle - Bastards (PDX Pop Now! 2007)

Various Artists – PDX Pop Now! 2007 / self-released

Growing up on the east coast and now relocated to the Midwest, sometimes I fail to get on the same wavelength of west coast artists. It is just a different frame of mind out there, and one that I have just not spent enough time in to really be able to get down with a lot of their particular trends. Granted there are certainly exceptions to this and the internet’s ascension as a way of life is really breaking down regional differences anyways, but as for now, there is still a considerable disparity between my Midwesterian way of life and, say, the regular routine of a Pacific Northwesterner. Besides the obvious geographical and climate differences, I think it’s all of the smaller details, from grocery stores to local bands, which really make up the void between us. For me at least, immersing yourself in the local music scene is the best way to at least be introduced into the frame of mind of your contemporaries, which is typically spelled out in stylistic choices (for example: Midwest=pastoral post-rock=laid-back but innovative culture… I am so biased). Well if this is true, then Portland has been trying to lure music fans of all sorts of styles and mindsets over the last few years by not only putting on an all local, multi-genre, free-of-charge festival showcasing the cream of the cities musical crop, but also releasing an accompanied two-disc compilation of all Portland-bred acts. The 2007 installment of PDX Pop Now! is as strong and diverse as ever, which is an excellent reflection on Portland’s continuously expanding local scene and the wide variety of creative minds taking part.

“PDX Pop Now! is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating, promoting, and enhancing Portland’s vital and diverse music community. We also strive to connect this community, in various ways, to the public.” The mission statement pretty much sums it up. Now in it’s fourth year, the festival itself is still a free three-day, all-ages event that let’s Portlanders experience fifty of the cities brightest groups in a live setting. It is certainly a respectable, worthwhile grassroots operation, and other cities really should take note and perhaps start one of their own.

While the 2007 festival line-up is still not completely unveiled (The Blow, The Shaky Hands and Blitzen Trapper are a few of the notable names already revealed), this years compilation has been released, and while a bit top-heavy, it’s a solid two discs of quality music. After jotting down loose, one-line descriptions of each of the forty artists included, four particular styles emerged: folksy singer/songwriter, art-pop, electro-whatever and rap. While you have got to love the diversity of genres, it very much reflects what is popular on a national scale of independent music. The real question is whether it’s a reflection of or an inspiration for what’s happening on a bigger scale.

Before we get to the oddballs of the 2007 PDX Pop Now! installment, let’s point out both the most notable and my personal favorites of the four main styles. Of the folksy singer/songwriters, The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy has got to be the most familiar as he has become the sort of poet laureate of Portland. “Culling of the Fold” is classic Meloy: somber, acoustic-guitar driven and eerily catchy. My personal choice comes from quirky folk popsters The Ocean Floor, whose “A Simple Adventure” could have just of easily fit into the art-pop group with its whimsical song structure. And speaking of art-pop, after their monumental 2007 release, Friend and Foe, Menomena has to be the biggest name, with an inclusion of a track from that album, “Wet and Rusting.” Energetic trio Ferocious Eagle with their anthemic rocker “Bastards” gets my personal vote in this category. I was glad to see such strong representation from the Portland hip-hop community as well with five different artists contributing tracks. “No Surprise,” one of the best songs from Lifesavas excellent 2007 release, Gutterfly, is the most notable and would also be my personal choice if it wasn’t for female emcee Syndel. Her contribution, “Lemme Hear It,” reminds me a lot of Psalm One and is a biting, empowering banger. And finally, the electro-whatever category. I guess either YACHT or Panther would be the most familiar, both have had surges of popularity as of late, but Lips and Ribs’ all too short “Battle in Nagoya” is my personal favorite. Like an 8-bit video game soundtrack hopped up on Red Bull, I’m sure it completely destroys basement parties on regular occasions.

And as far as everything else that does not fit into those four categories, I am happy to see inclusions from the art-metal, ambient, big band and punk side of things. Bands like Black Elk, The Better to See You With and The Hand That Bleeds add a welcomed dose of aggression, while on the complete other side of things, Ethan Rose contributes an excerpt of one of his gorgeous ambient pieces from his phenomenal 2006 release, Ceiling Songs. Both the Evolutionary Jass Band and Klezmocracy contribute excursions into big band, pulling from New Orleans jazz and klezmer music respectively to round out their sound. And finally, punk gets it’s due with bands like The Exploding Hearts and Nice Boys keeping with the pop side of the genre, while Swim Swam Swum and Junkface both stem from the post-punk sub-style.

As you can see, there is a lot to be discovered on PDX Pop Now! 2007. And it speaks significantly of the accepting and encouraging catalyst culture that Portland has become in the last decade. It would be tough for a city of New York or Los Angeles size to be able to sum up their counterculture in a two-disc set, but Portland appears to be at just the right magnitude to both cultivate artists and launch them onto the national stage. It is at a small enough level that the music scene is still accessible for anyone willing to put in the time and energy, yet big enough to reward them with a significant amount of attention. PDX Pop Now! is a great outlet for the scene to be heard, and it’s become a compilation I look forward to hearing every year.

So Busy

Be aware that through the rest of July, Audiversity posts may be a bit more infrequent than usual. This is due mostly to both Patrick and I being ridiculously busy and traveling some. If you are attending the Pitchfork festivities this weekend, stop by the WLUW Record Fair tent and say hello. I should be working early on all three days. Cheers and enjoy.

Interversity: Channel One

Don't touch that dial: Channel One have been good to us in returning our humble questions for them this week. Everything from the art to the words and back again is covered in relation to their latest EP, Permissions.










Channel One - "These Roads" / Permissions EP (Sound Foundation 2007)

In my review I mentioned a ton of Creation or Creation-influenced groups, but all of your releases so far have a very Factory Records feel to them. Is there a conscious disconnect from the music to the art, or is it just the band's preferred aesthetic?

Richie: we would be heavily influenced by some acts from both creation records and factory records, specifically joy division, my bloody valentine and vanishing point/xtrmntr era primal scream so invariably, all of these things may influence what we do.

A few of your song titles ("Rhythm&Purpose;," "These Roads," "Accelerate;Brake") are as driven as the music. Bad pun there, but do you guys keep up with motorsports at all or is that just a coincidence?

Paul: The words and titles are always written after the instrumentation. We prefer the music to colour and inform the vocal as oppose to vice versa. So i suppose it follows some of the words and titles allude to things like movement.

While you opened for CSS on a few dates, you've just finished making some lengthy rounds yourselves. What are your most memorable tour experiences thus far in '07?

Richie: yeah, we've been touring a lot this year and the dates with css were great as it was nice to play to a crowd that we would not usually get to play to as we are very different to css. Our most memorable gigs would probably be our 2 hometown headline shows in dublin and also the carlow date of the css tour.

What's your favorite place to play in Ireland? Why so?

Richie: we wouldn't necessarily have a favourite place to play in ireland as it really depends on how that night’s gig goes but recently it would have to be belfast as we get looked after really well when we’re there and the crowds seem really responsive to what we do.

The lyrics seem personal as best I can tell, but how much do politics affect the band's writing or playing? What is the main source of inspiration?

Paul: The lyrics are kept as intuitive as possible. They often change a lot until we go to record. While we'd all have a big interest in politics there isn’t really a narrative or a message, personal or political, at least in any direct sense. The words just serve to evoke certain images and feelings in line with the music, sometimes to the extent that lyrics are built around particular vowel or consonant sounds suggested by the tone, melody or rhythm of the existing instrumentation. We've always viewed the vocals as just another musical element, and increasingly we're sampling my voice in order to layer or splice it which is a lot of fun – it’s been like adding a whole new instrument.

Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

What did you specifically remember listening to as children that triggered a notable response?

Richie: we all got heavily into music when we were in our teens and we would probably all remember different things from our childhood but i would think that the smiths were the first band that we all loved and were heavily influenced by. They may not seem like an apparent influence in our music now but they were and still are hugely influential.

You are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you all collectively listen to?

Richie: well on the last tour, we rekindled our love of the smiths by listening to all of their albums on rotation so any of them.

Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

Paul: We were kinda obsessed with all things Chris Morris for a while. Not sure if it’s an influence but we’re big fans. I’m reading a great book at the moment called ‘All that is solid melts into air’ by Marshall Berman

Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

Richie: we would pick up on a lot of new music on the internet-message boards, blogs etc and we would also stumble upon some stuff in some of the better record stores in Dublin such as city discs. the guys who run that place are always good for suggesting some new act to check out and have told us about Jackson and his Computer Band and Chris Clark recently.

What question do you get most often as a band that you hate answering?

Paul: We usually avoid ‘favourite colour? favourite food?’ type interviews like the plague. With that in mind thanks for the interesting questions.

You spoke too soon... Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

Richie: We are constantly trying to buy new keyboards,drum machines and equipment so the sound or piece of equipment we most like is whatever we have yet to buy/can’t afford.

The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close, what section do you each head immediately towards?

Richie: Dvd section for some Brass Eye or Jam. Dance music section for a fabric compilation, some of the recent mixes by Ellen Allien and Diplo were great.

What is the last notable daydream you guys had and where did it take place?

Not sure.

What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

Paul: I suppose Loveless comes close. As does Mezzanine.
Richie:Not sure but think Bjork-Vespertine is close.

Do you keep up with blogs? Which if so?

Richie: Yeah i religiously check out an irish music blog which can be found at www.nialler9.com/blog

Singleversity #18

Audiversity’s weekly column, slightly modified, on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 64.

MA:



A few years back I was DJing a radio show dubbed For Love of the Beat spotlighting a lot of organic-sounding instrumental hip-hop, electronica and other hybrid beat-oriented styles. Though I’ve just discovered it lately, Josh Abrams’ wonderful side-project Reminder is the exact style and mood I was purveying with the show. "On Rooftops" especially taps into the chill MPC-hop vibe I was seeking.

PM:













Pantha du Prince’s This Bliss is my greatest regret in not reviewing for this site so far this year, so here’s as quick an opinion as I can make: You owe yourself a listen if Apparat or Trentmøller appeal to you. Hendrik Weber’s minimalist masterpiece still reveals layers months after its spring release on Dial. “Moonstruck” is just one tidy example of the genius.

A Perfect Friend - "A Perfect Friend"

A Perfect Friend - Welcome Aboard (Stilll 2007)

A Perfect Friend – A Perfect Friend / Stilll

After yesterday awarding Look!! There is Life on Earth! as the prime summertime road trip record of 07, I am having to adjust my exclamation just a bit after spending some time with today’s highlighted album. Now I am no less enthused by Life on Earth! or anything of that nature after just one day, but we are going to have to concentrate their award as the DAYTIME summer road trip record of 07. Why? Because once the sun goes down and the body and mind start to cramp after ten hours of sitting in the car, it’s time for music that is a little more soothing and akin to the ambient sounds of a mid-summer night. Music that both plucks a heart string, reflects the somber mood of day coming to an end and embraces all of the odd noises associated with the sun-downed half of a July date… the insect chirps, the fire crackles, the fluorescent light hums, the distant pops of firecrackers, etc. A Perfect Friend’s eponymous debut does just that: it marries somber, heat-fatigued folk with chirping, whirring, ambient-leaning electronica and field recordings. It is exactly the sort of sighing music you want as the headlights start burning and you just want to feel the serene calm of a cool summer night.

Aptly named, A Perfect Friend is the collaborative efforts of Sweden’s CJ Larsgården and Thomas Jonsson. Maybe an odd couple on paper, the combination of Larsgården’s experimental soundscapes (along with a good number of other collaborations, he also records drone-metal under the Ondo moniker) and Jonsson’s delicate indie-folk (he has recorded a number of albums under the Thomas Denver Jonsson alias and has collaborated with Damien Jurado, Rosie Thomas and others) flows seamlessly together. With Larsgården piecing together an autumnal mosaic of synths, field recordings, loops, samples, and other various electronics, Jonsson weaves a comforting tapestry of melodic interjections including acoustic guitar, organ, harmonica, glockenspiel and other more folksy instrumentation. The results sound almost as if Akron/Family was signed to Mego Records.

The thirteen-minute “When the Temperature is Rising” is surprisingly the most engrossing for my ears. Extremely patient, the song builds off a simple loop of minutely chopped up drum machine and high-pitched tone gurgles. Synthesizer swells and flourishes of electronic noodling, glockenspiel and what sounds like a very slowly exhaling accordion all color just beneath the surface. Jonsson creakingly coos for only a few minutes in the middle of the song and for the most part, it is a pretty redundant thirteen-minutes, but the duo are tapping into just the right tonal mood to keep the listener hypnotized throughout. A more compacted approach, “Welcome Aboard” rides a similar wavelength but utilizes fire crackling-like static beneath Jonsson's folksy pleas, accordion swells and a distant, delicate electric guitar melody. It almost sounds like Pole remixing one of Deerhunter’s more ambient pieces. I also dig the brief “Apf,” if only because it leaves the electronic gurgles aside for a handclap and glockenspiel rhythm.

With A Perfect Friend, Larsgården and Jonsson do a great job of crafting a very organic album out of mostly sounds created from electronic knickknacks. It stutters and clicks and crackles, but is always counteracted with warm touches of acoustic guitar, accordion, organ or something else with a very autumnal tone. Hell, they even used samples of purring cats and quacking ducks amidst the sound collage that is the album. It is a very somber and serene album, and maybe not perfect for middle of the day listening. But I can guarantee that once the sun drifts beyond the horizon and your bones start to ache from the fatigue of the day, there is no better soundtrack than A Perfect Friend for lying back and letting all of the days’ worries drip off your body and fall to the floor.

The Tuss - "Rushup Edge" EP

The Tuss - Synthacon 9 (Rephlex 2007)

The Tuss - Rushup Edge EP / Rephlex

Having listened to this literally minutes before I read The Guardian's take two weeks ago, consternation and thorough analysis were pretty much ruined in the straightforward sense for me almost immediately after I first heard Rushup Edge. Stylus quickly followed, and Pitchfork were on it today. Instead of arguing over who this really is straight away and detracting from the point of why you're here in the first place, let us start with the music. It's brilliant. Like spectacularly intricate mind-blowingly tight home-electro-guru-gone-wild detailed. There are so many ideas in these six tracks brimming to get out that 32 minutes is both not enough at all and just enough to whet the appetite for something more. It's been a long time since I've heard something quite like this.

It starts with "Synthacon 9" rushing up to the edge of your headphones or speakers with a buoyant melody that would not sound out of place with all this other garbled electro-blogging you've heard so much about lately. Its beats are intricate, flittering and twisted like "Windowlicker" in a wind tunnel. Throw in a little Kavinsky, sorry, Tepr, sorry, Moroder and you've got a good idea of where this is going. "Last Rushup 10" is the same thing with glittering laptop handiwork for the big-time. Each of these songs neighbors four minutes, but its composition and structure is worth listening to for more reasons than just the mathematics of it all; the playing is wizard-like.

Case in point: The quickly worked piano is the highlight of "Rushup I Bank 12," a mid-song breakdown the rose between glitchy IDM synth-styled thorns. And then Mario is handcuffed to a ceiling fan and sent for a ride on "Death Fuck." Once again, the piano comes in near the 4m30s mark and it's hard to imagine anything less angelic for a fuck of this supposedly deathly caliber.

With the Confederation Trough EP already out, Rephlex now have two EPs from a Cornish electronic mastermind. The big question everyone's asking right now is, has Richard D. James unveiled yet another alias before our eyes? Brian Tregaskin isn't talking, and neither is publisher Chrysalis. All the evidence is there, but this certainly wouldn't be my favorite trick of his. That time he fell asleep on a couch in New York... That might be my favorite Aphex Twin story. But I'll tell you something, if Brian Tregaskin is real and this is some mass of confusion, it is clear we have on our hands the heir-apparent to Aphex Twin's electronic mantle. Credit where credit is due... Wherever it's due. Good luck keeping a secret out here on the Internet, Brian. It's safe with us.

Life on Earth! - "Look!! There is Life on Earth!"

Life on Earth! - Life on Earth (Subliminal Sounds 2007)

Life on Earth! – Look!! There is Life on Earth! / Subliminal Sounds

“The basic idea is to make music that celebrates the incredible and absolutely wonderful phenomenon of life on Earth, hoping to spread some joy to any possible listeners… Why not simply enjoy it, until the day we die? So lay all your worry aside now. Don’t hesitate; let your dreams sweep you away… Wonder at the beauty of nature; listen to how it invites you among beech trees and squirrels. Embrace it, because he and she and it and we are all connected to you and you are just like everything else, constantly changing into wondrous beings yet unseen. We can’t avoid this, it is the sensation of life. We should know by now, but it doesn’t really matter, what’s real is real, what ever we know. In the end, any little drop of water dripping down into your mouth comes from the surface of this planet, just like any little glimpse of knowledge popping up inside your head is born within your frameworks for believing, and just like any little sound you make or any single letter you draw, it is meaningless without context or connections, but then how to sing or how to write I can’t tell, instead, you might watch the life on Earth for inspiration.”

As uplifting and utopian as Mattias Gustavsson’s outlook on his solo project outside Dungen, Life on Earth!, might be, you can’t help but think he is lost in a late 60s flower-power state of mind. Not necessarily a bad thing by any means and human interaction indeed would be more pleasant if we were all stumbling around on the same unabashedly optimistic mind plateau, but most of us are lost in the valley of reality and cynical paranoia as a way of life. No worries though, Gustavsson has rounded up a few friends for a globetrotting trip in the 21st century’s version of the Yellow Submarine. So if you are amongst the valley dwellers seeking a deep breath of fresh air, hop aboard, strap yourself in, crank the headphones and get ready for a trip of swirling summertime folk-pop psychedelia that guarantees such spiritual uplifting.

Gustavsson’s day job of supporting Gustav Ejstes’s psyche-rock escapades in Dungen certainly ruins some of the surprise, because Life on Earth! definitely exists on a similar musical plane but with all the hard rock influences left at home. Where Dungen evokes such comparative hybrids as The Who-meets-Love or Blue Cheer-meets-Jefferson Airplane, Life on Earth! mostly scraps the harder-edged half for more proggish acts such as the softer sides of Can or King Crimson. Sure there are a few wailing guitar solos, most likely thanks to Ejstes and the rest of Dungen’s members contributing as well as the help of sister Scandinavian psyche-rock outfit The Works, but Gustavsson seems more interested in exploring the possibilities of a pop song. Along with the rampant psychedelia, pop and folk butterflies circling this sunny pasture of an album, rays of chamber-jazz and Latin music come shining down on frequent occasion. The chamber-jazz I get, immensely talented Town & Country members Josh Abrams and Ben Vida contribute bass and guitar respectively, but the Latin influence leaves me at a bit of a loss. Don’t get me wrong though, there is nothing I like better than a little shaker-conga rhythm to really bring the psyche-pop home, I am just curious where it comes from. Either way, Look!! There is Life on Earth! is a hell of an enjoyable album and the prime summertime listen.

The opening title track pretty much sums up the entire album in six minutes. A growling flute solo mixing the intensity of a Rahsaan Roland Kirk song with a Tito Puente melody introduces the track, which grooves on a multiple conga-rhythm, acoustic guitar strum, buoyant bass line and Gustavsson’s unhurried vocals that are very similar to Ejstes’s. At the half way mark though, where a Dungen song would up the ante with a few ripping electric guitar solos, the song deconstructs in a very prog-like manner with feedbacking sitar followed by more flute, more grooving… oh, and there is the electric guitar solo. Hells yeah. Most of the album skips along on a hazy, unhurried tempo though like the Donovan-meets-Ravi Shankar “Sell Your Soul to Me,” the Beatles-meets-King Crimson “You Are There,” or the very Gil Gilberto-influenced “After a Few Years We Settled Down, Got Kids and Bought Our First Car.” And just in case you felt there just wasn’t enough prog to go around, Gustavsson tagged on a nearly thirty minute jam of minimal tone experimentation.

I feel bad continuously referring to Dungen to describe the sound of Life on Earth!, because I am sure Gustavsson is trying to pull away from its shadow with his own project, but the similarities are just too apparent. This is not a bad thing by any means though; both bands are excellent and should certainly share a heavily overlapping fan base. And if you wanted to get into Dungen, but just couldn’t get down with the 70s hard rock aspect of it, look no further, your prayers have been answered. If there was ever a soundtrack for summertime cross-country driving, Look!! There is Life on Earth! is it. Because hey, Gustavsson’s right, life is completely fascinating and inspirational. I certainly wouldn’t be the same without it.

Slow Six - "Nor'easter"

Slow Six - The Pulse of This Skyline With Lightning Like Nerves (New Albion 2007)

Slow Six - Nor'easter / New Albion

When the fireworks end, you've passed all the police checks out on the backroads, and you're safely home in one piece to recover from a long day of revels, Brooklyn's Slow Six will be waiting. In fact, they've been waiting for quite some time: The group has been around in one form or another since 1998 and they've been performing together live since 2000. Their debut LP, 2004's Private Times in Public Places, was a hailed masterwork of sounds meshing post-rock with the classical and producing something delicately detailed in between. You can ask "Time Out New York" or Stylus or WFMU, but they'll all tell you the same thing: This is some deeply touching music well worth your time and effort.

As the magnificent opener "The Pulse of This Skyline With Lightning Like Nerves" immediately demonstrates, the group has not lost its way or gunned for a dramatic reinvention. The spokesperson for the group has turned out to be Greenpoint-based Christopher Tignor, who has built his own studio there and tweaks a variety of instruments from electric guitars to violas. However, it's the digital aspect that has most captured the eye of live attendees and critics alike: By taking his knowledge of SWARM (SoftWare and Algorithms for Running on Multicore), which is a programming framework to speed up the efficiency of processors (I think), Tignor has designed music software personalized for his own needs in Slow Six. So when a violin or a piano is played, Tignor cleverly weaves the sampled bits back into the song as a sort of efficient reprocessing of his own. The effect is nothing less than totally organic.

It's a generally downbeat air on Nor'easter, but these songs don't come without their optimistic moments. The quietly drawn-out "Contemplation and Dissolution of An Idea for Two Pairs" is full of hope and a keen sense of contemplation as its title would suggest, but the piano lines during the course of the dissolution are almost angelic, like what you'd expect to hear as you ascend to the pearly gates. Or, alternately, it's what The Rapture would've sounded like if they'd taken a bigger hint from The Bible. Tension on "Distant Light, Part 1: Chromatic Clouds Surround" is relieved during the course of its nine minutes. "Distant Light, Part 2: Now New Colors Fall Like Rain" ends on a positive note.

These pieces are another fantastic outing for the Brooklyn six-piece and though it's likely I won't have the opportunity to see them live anytime soon, you should go experience Slow Six for yourself. Their music can be haunting, it can be thoughtful, it can be soaring, it can be resigned... But it is always good. If you thought you couldn't listen to classical beyond the obvious choice cuts from Wagner or Beethoven, Slow Six is a great excuse to delve back into orchestral music. Brilliant stuff.

The Big Disappointments - "The Big Disappointments"

The Big Disappointments - An Absolute Farmer (Hot Cave 2007)

The Big Disappointments - The Big Disappointments / Hot Cave

This review comes to you from the not-too-distant past where the Stars n' Stripes are still adorned on every lawn of every neighborhood in the great United States and "everyone" is celebrating Independence Day with fireworks, hamburgers and not a little alcohol to make things more interesting.

Even more critical than that is the music. Beyond Francis Scott Key, what could be more American than Toby Keith, Phil Spector or, uh, jazz? Garage-rock. It almost seems silly to explain where the style originated given its name, but one of the earliest sub-genres in rock n' roll's history evolved in the early 60s with bands like The Wailers who were literally playing out of their suburban garages. DIY before DIY was DIY, these groups eventually made way for better production techniques in the late 60s and early 70s, but with everything old being new again all the time, garage-rock has had its resurgence.

Crossbreed a little of that with the spirit of psychobilly and punk and you've discovered the secret to the all-American formula Boston's The Big Disappointments employ on their self-titled sophomore album and first official live recording (Live at Studio Eight has preceded this). There's nothing more American than two guitarists, one a singer and lead and the other a rhythm player, a bassist, and a drummer. The perfect band formula, just don't tell ...Trail of Dead or I'm From Barcelona. These upstarts aren't actually upstarts at all; Eric Boomhower (possibly one of the most awesome names in rock) and Andy Abrahamson were members of The In Out and this whole Big Disappointments thing was supposed to be a joke back in 1999. Eight years on, they're serious: In a mere 39 minutes, the group rifles through 15 songs and leaves little doubt that they've joined this latest wave of new groups with a slightly destructive garage-rock style.

It's interesting to note that the aforementioned styles that are all over songs like the blazing opener "Only Here Only Now" and the stomping "An Absolute Farmer," post-punk also intrudes on tracks like the rhythm-driven "Dance Track Budokan" and "Chemicals." Lisa Mullen's drumming is sturdy on this release and one of the main reasons it succeeds so well so often, the backbone of virtually every song reeling in the metallic-sounding guitars and subtle bass that rarely dominates. Rather, it quietly leads the guitars down corridors and through back alleyways as on "The Hunted Whale" or "The Ugly Man."

You can hear a lot of Philly's Burning Brides in this release to cite a recent contemporary, but The Big Disappointments are more than just a comparison. They're more than just a thankfully ironic bandname. They are a reflection of America on its proudest day: Sloppy, reckless, guiltless and free with just a touch of gravitas saved for the fireworks. Pass those burgers this way. Yessir, I think I'll have another.

Radio Show Playlist: 7/4/07

6a:
1. Devo - Mongoloid - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (Warner Bros. 1978)
2. Watchers - Superbad (live feat. James Chance) - Rabble EP (Gern Blandsten 2006)
3. Mark Sultan - Spinning Ceiling - The Sultanic Verses (In the Red 2007)
4. McClusky - Without MSG I am Nothing - The Difference Between Me and You is That I'm on Fire (Too Pure 2004)
5. Shellac - Steady as She Goes - Excellent Italian Greyhound (Touch and Go 2007)
6. Make Believe - Pat Tillman, Emmitt Till - Of Course (Flameshovel 2006)
7. Q and Not U - X-Polynation - X-Polynation 2-song EP (Dischord 2003)
8. Love of Diagrams - Pace of the Patience - Mosaic (Matador 2007)
9. Githead - Fake Corpses - Headgit EP (Swim 2004)
10. Sonic Youth - Computer Age - Daydream Nation (Deluxe Edition) (Universal/Geffen 2007, recorded 1989)
11. Poster Children - Space Gun - Daisychain Reaction (Twin/Tone/Sire 1990)
12. Dinosaur Jr. - Crumble - Beyond (Fat Possum 2007)

7a:
1. Wooden Wand - Delia - James & the Quiet (Ecstatic Peace 2007)
2. MV & EE with the Bummer Road - Canned Happiness - Green Blues (Ecstatic Peace 2006)
3. Plants - Tumbleweed - Photosynthesis (Strange Attractors 2007)
4. Sandy Bull - Memphis, Tennesse - Inventions for Banjo & Guitar (Vanguard 1964)
5. Glenn Jones - David and the Phoenix - Against Which the Sea Continually Beats (Strange Attractors 2007)
6. Colleen - Blue Sands - Les Ondes Silencieuses (Leaf 2007)
7. Fridge - Lost Time - The Sun (Temporary Residence 2007)
8. Squarepusher - Iambic 9 Poetry - Ultravisitor (WARP 2003)

8a:
1. Artanker Convoy - Rabbit - Cozy Endings (The Social Registry 2007)
2. Isotope 217 - Harm-o-Lodge - Who Stole the I Walkman? (Thrill Jockey 2000)
3. Les McCann - The Harlem Buck Dance Strut - Layers (Rhino 1972)
4. The Budos Band - Budos Rising - The Budos Band II (Daptone 2007)
5. Lalo Schifrin - Theme from Enter the Dragon - Enter the Dragon OST (Warner Bros. 1973)
6. Otis Jackson Jr. Trio - Free Son - Prepare for a New Yesterday (Stones Throw 2007)
7. Scientist - Laser Attack - Scientist Meets the Space Invaders (Greensleeves 1981)
8. King Tubby - Dub Magnificent - The Roots of Dub (1974)
9. Burning Spear - I & I Survive - Garvey's Ghost (Mango 1976)
10. Chromeo - Momma's Boy - Fancy Footwork (Vice 2007)
11. Brothers Johnson - Land of Ladies - Look Out for #1 (A&M 1976)

The Budos Band - "The Budos Band II"

The Budos Band - Budos Rising (Daptone 2007)

The Budos Band – The Budos Band II / Daptone

Sometimes it blows my mind how one particular style of music can grab and hold your attention for so long despite the fact that it has been bubbling in the ears of listeners for an extended amount of time. While this phenomenon is apparent in any number of particular genres from opera to punk, for my ears in particular its quality funk music. Not that I have never heard funk done wrong, but it is a style that just always seems fresh and invigorating no matter how many different bands play a similar brand within its slim confines. Just check the rivers of lost funk reissues streaming from crated reservoirs on almost a weekly basis. I know we Audiversitarians eat it up, and by the increasing number of them being released (which is odd seeing as how you would think reissues would have to be finite in essence), I am pretty sure most of you are down too. But it is always good to keep at least three-fourths of your mind in the present and supporting still-bumping acts so that they won’t have to wait for proper respect until thirty years down the line. New York City’s Daptone Records has an excellent stable of such bands that do a wonderful job of drawing a direct line between the classic butter-funk of the early 70s to today, and though Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings get most of the attention, The Budos Band are making a go at the spotlight with their sophomore effort.

A relatively young eleven-piece band out of Staten Island, NY, The Budos Band erupted on to the scene in 2005 with their eponymous debut album sounding as if it was dropped much closer to 1971 than midway through the 21st century’s aughts. Born out of an after school jazz ensemble, the core of the group added members for the next few years until their final line-up of drums, bass, guitar, electric organ, two trumpets, baritone sax and a percussion section consisting of mostly Afro-Latin toys like bongos, congas, clave and shekere was solidified. With the members in place, the boys started to carve out a niche all their own within the crowded confines of funk music by heading specifically in the Afro-Soul direction. With a relatively subdued backdrop of deep funk, The Budos color their sound with Afro-Latin rhythms, psychedelic organ lines, lyrical Afrobeat-like horn soloing, and patient, well thought-out arrangements that remind me mostly of Blaxploitation soundtracks than anything.

With The Budos Band II, the group continues to separate themselves from similar-minded bands like Nomo and Antibalas by really taking that Afro-Soul soundtrack sound to the next level. Brilliantly recorded in that nostalgic analog-like warmness, The Budos’s funk is not so much get on the dancefloor and shake your ass off until you pass out, it’s a much more groovin’, get-up-on-your-girl and shimmy to the hypnotizing music. More Mayfield than Brown, the music does a great job of marrying rhythmic influences from American, Latin and African styles of funk without ever leaning too much in one direction. A song like “Budos Rising” could easily be laying the musical groundwork for a chill ride through the alleyways of NYC, a late-night club scene in the dense heat of Havana or an evening stroll through the bustling streets of Lagos.

Most of the songs are built the same way: kit drum and percussion laying down a steady, mid-tempo rhythm with accentuating electric guitar chops, the bass never really taking center-stage but opting for tighter supporting lines instead, the organ bouncing back and forth between choppy, rhythmic spouts and lyrical grooves, and the horns mostly leading the way for each song. Typically, the horns will all play together, but the baritone sax will occasionally take control for a deeper funk sound and the trumpets for a more Latin flare (a flute wisps in as well from time to time, but most of the attention is on the horns). Whether it’s the deep grind of “Scorpion,” the groovy remake of “My Girl” named “His Girl,” or the blazing Blaxploitation bump of “Ride or Die,” the music brings out the Afro in anyone who cares to listen.

Much like their debut, The Budos Band II is near chronologically indistinguishable when listened to without context. Soulful, groovy and captivating, the music pleasantly churns in calm psychedelic swirls while flaring with pure spirit. And the best part is though while it does certainly owe a lot to it’s influencing styles, the music really stands on its own two feet, especially in contemporary music. Flipping the tables, you almost want to make a movie inspired by this soundtrack because it will inevitably be one badasssss film.

Cyrus (Random Trio) - "From the Shadows"

Cyrus (Random Trio) - Rasta From (Tectonic 2007)

Cyrus (Random Trio) - From the Shadows / Tectonic

Or, Patrick Picks Up the Ball and Throws it, But He's Not Very Athletic Anymore, So it Doesn't Go Very Far

While Michael may be out and about prancing around with Tortoise pictures and a healthy amount of real-world work to sort out, here in cyberspace where there are no consequences but an email slap-of-the-wrist and I have an actual future in getting paid for music writing, the reviews go on as the planets swivel: Cyclical in-jokes, boring intros, obvious set-ups. Just like Pluto, natch.

Actually, Pluto has very little to do with Cyrus (Random Trio) come to think of it. Everything about this fuller From the Shadows is massive. I mean, big sounds, big bass, deep woofing, heavy brain-twists in the beats, a dubstepper's delight, on and on it goes. There's no end to the big ups that you can give the three guys behind this album, and proof is in the Dubstepforum, where praise goes on for page after page. It's clear that well before the June 4th release date there was some mammoth excitement brewing and not just for the plates that they were putting out. Now out long enough for plenty of people to appreciate but still not receiving the accolades or the attention it deserves on this side of the Atlantic (that I've seen), From the Shadows is a dash of dubstep for the ages.

Memories of the Future and Burial set the benchmark late last year, but by the time we'd gotten it here in the States it was old news. From the Shadows is another excellent step forward for dubstep, or maybe it's hyperdub these days, do they even know anymore... Given that the biggest achievement up to this point for the Croyden-bred Cyrus and his partner in crime Omni (both of whom are from Random Trio) was background soundtracking in "Children of Men," this is a well-deserved glimpse at what's going on in the London underground coming to the surface. A dangerously underrated talent? I'd put money on it given that he's grown up in the scene that's basically become a hotbed of dubstep talent. There's no better spot than ground zero.

The proof is in the pudding that these dozen tracks deliver straight to your spoon-fed mouth. When we talk about deep bass carnage with dubstep, we're talking about "Gutter" here. It doesn't get any subatomic than the gutters, and Cyrus is working some sick Mala kickdrum to prove the point. Bassline junkies, rejoice: It gets better with minimalist mind-bender "Paradise Dub." Arguably the best example of this reggae from the future is "Rasta From." Omen, the third member of Random Trio, DJs as the darkest side of dubstep emerges from the shadows. "Indian Stomp" a little later revisits the Indian influence with a futuristic Bollywood sound. Nah, it's not quite like that. But it is sparse, airy and excellent.

Three additional tracks on this CD will be of interest to those who only purchased Tectonic's "plates:" "Bounty," "Calm Before the Storm" and the aforementioned "Indian Stomp" didn't make it to vinyl, but their quality is right up there with the rest of this album. In fact, this release is so extraordinarily tight and consistent that it can only be something to look for come December. Maybe you'll forget about Cyrus, Omni and Omen when it comes time to make your lists and go on and on, but believe me, your speakers won't. From the Shadows is pure audio wreckage.

Michael Drops the Ball

Photo taken from Pitchfork

Capping off the whirlwind of my last five days, I finally got to experience Tortoise in a live setting as WLUW presented them and Make Believe (my personal favorite Kinsella project) at the Metro last night. Not that I needed many more reasons, but the live show further proved that in my eyes they are absolutely the most incredible contemporary band; so if they happened to be stopping in your city, I absolutely recommend you go (granted you have probably seen them by now since they’ve been touring for the last 15 years).

Anyways, since I have barely had time to pet my cat in the last five days, I have had absolutely no time to concentrate on music reviewing and have to actually take this usual Audiversity-honed time slot to catch up on radio work. I apologize and will do my best to supply at least three good reviews for the rest of the week (I’d rather not post anything than half-ass it). I’m sure Patrick is on the ball though, so all is not lost. As a bit of a consolation prize, here is one of my favorite Tortoise songs:

Tortoise - Ten-Day Interval - TNT (Thrill Jockey 1998)

Warmth - "Leave Your Wet Brain in the Hot Sun"

Warmth - Hot Sun (Digitalis 2007)

Warmth - Leave Your Wet Brain in the Hot Sun / Digitalis

Well, here we are. A new month, a new quarter, a new way forward. The dead of summer in South Carolina, temperatures regularly clocking in the mid-90s with plenty of humidity hanging about to ensure you feel that heat long after the sun has fallen away behind the trees. Closed pools incite riots. Girls never look more tan and trim. The warmth has officially arrived.

There are two kinds of summers: The ones with the carefree kids jumping and splashing with their friends devoid of car payments or school loans or intellectual gravitas, and the ones all those Zima "What if there was no beer?" commercials were inspired by in 1994. Steev Thompson has solidly soundtracked the latter, and I couldn't have found a better way of opening up this quarter than with some slow, hot, sticky, sweaty dronescapes. Escapes. Yes, there's no escaping the unrelenting heat of Helios this time. Hyperion and Theia would be proud of Leave Your Wet Brain in the Hot Sun.

And they'd be especially proud of Thompson for this particular version of a release that was initially put out on Belgium's Audiobot label nearly two years ago now as a CD-R. In those days, Thompson went under the moniker of Roxanne Jean Polise, which has a massive discography proving Thompson likes to keep busy. But that early version did not feature two bonus tracks that the patient or unknowing among us will not be gifted with under the Warmth alias. The immaculately titled "Thank You Cloud. Fuck You Deerfly." and "Watch the Animals Glisten as They Trust and Rejoice" join the tracks that comprise the title of this release for 58 minutes of scorching sun and blistering feet on the pavement of music.

Of course, like a lot of music, how you want to hear this is based on your frame of mind. Digitalis think it sounds like a dense electronic forest fog, and if I were on the other end of the calendar year reviewing this album (or partnering it with its forest-art friend House of Low Culture) I might be inclined to agree... But given where I'm at (which is nowhere near Thompson's current Holly, Michigan residence) and the fact that the name of the fucking band is Warmth, it seems only too appropriate to envision the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" face-melting in the sprawling repetition and white-out-wash of "Brain in the" and "Hot Sun," presented here. Every track on here has the same feeling to it: You start out in a sun-staring competition with sounds miles away it seems, before they gradually creep in to your conscious and by the end of the epic you're sitting there with your ears agog as the noise override grabs you by your auditory ossicles and then, just as soon as the torrent of sound and the flood of water and children and dizzy spells get to you... The sound is gone again, just a distant call in the middle of the desert. The horizon blurs and twirls and reforms itself as something else as you recover, and when you finally do, you know you've made it to the other side of Leave Your Wet Brain in the Hot Sun.

Given that fingers are starting to stick to the keys and my ability to type is being impeded, it's best that I wrap this up quickly with an awful pun: Thompson has crafted a hell of an album. But the joke isn't the best part; actually listening to this handful of noisy droners is. Get it while it's hot. Oh man, I'm on fire. But seriously folks...

Interversity: Chris Connelly

Multi-dimensional singer/songwriter Chris Connelly is the concentration of this week's Interversity. After gaining recognition as an integral member of the late 80s/early 90s industrial scene (Ministry, KMFDM, Pigface, Revolting Cocks, Murder, Inc.), the Chicago-based Scot turned to more intimate recordings culminating in the acoustically dense and hypnotically plodding The Episodes released in late May. He graciously took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for us.



Chris Connelly - "The Son of Empty Sam" - The Episodes (Durto Jnana 2007)

1. In the last twenty years, you have evolved artistically from being an elite player in the highly productive industrial scene of the late 80s/early 90s into a highly lyrical, avant-pop singer/songwriter; has this musical progression been a conscious stylistic shift through the years or was it more an unconscious maturing process as a musician? Do you ever look back and try to decipher how exactly the evolution took place? Any significant turning points?

It certainly has never been a premeditated or conscious shift, I have always been a lover of melody, and a lover of poetry, as well as a lover of extreme noise, before I was involved with bands like ministry, I had been friends a frequent correspondent with bands like Throbbing Gristle, Nurse With Wound and Current 93 (and still remain so) these were bands (or artists rather) who I thought managed to combine great beauty with really horrific imagery. It was actually through Genesis P Orridge that I discovered the music of Pearls Before Swine, Tiny Tim, Leonard Cohen.. and Muzak! I spent my teenage years listening to a lot of Throbbing Gristle and Barry Manilow!! often at the same time!

2. Personally, the most stunning characteristic of The Episodes is how such urgent, enigmatic and intense music can be created with solely acoustic instrumentation; was this a sound you were seeking from the get-go of production, or was it a welcomed by-product of a particular songwriting process?

This was all very spontaneous-we were (most of the time) all playing at the same time in the same room-or in the same forest, the urgency generated by being empathetic to what the other musicians were doing, and reacting to this, a lot of giddy heights can be obtained by playing with just the right people in the right situation, it does not happen often, in fact, I had not felt like that since the Shipwreck album of 1994, and before that, my first band THE FINI TRIBE in the very early '80's.

3. How much influence has working with musical innovators Tim Kinsella and Ben Vida had on your own songwriting? Was it more of a collaborative process or an elaboration on previously written songs?

Well, Tim and Ben helped me ditch my inhibitions, they also-especially Ben, helped me simplify what I had written -I came to them with the songs first- you know- "why is that chord change there? does it have to be?" and I found that yes, I have thrown in chord changes because I felt I should, with The Episodes, I think I discovered repetition as a way to perhaps enhance what I was singing, it meant I started paying a lot more attention to the lyrics, and they made me feel that I did not need to be restricted by time, traditional song structure, and editing of the words.

4. The loose, spooky “Soul Boys/Hard Legends” was field recorded deep in the woods of Wisconsin; what spurred on this exploratory recording technique? Was the song performed written particularly for that setting and session?

"Son of Empty Sam" was also recorded mostly out doors too- this was Tim's idea: we had decided to record a few versions of a couple of the songs, in different situations and with different people, the idea being that we would edit together definitive versions later-A trip out to the country for a weekend meant that we could really fly without a parachute, and also get away from any of the usual connections that we have at home, we could play as late and as loud as we wanted. "Soul Boys" was a mixture of recordings from the forest, and a studio improvisation, along with a poem read by a Scottish friend, it actually was the most radical piece of the album because we abandoned so much of the original concept-which was kind of a soul song! I walked into the whole recording with an attitude though of NOT being so attached to what I had written that I could not see the material ripped to shreds and reassembled, I am very happy about that.

5. For your next musical venture, do you plan on continuing to explore a similar tribal, collaborative sound heard on The Episodes, or are you planning on heading in a different direction? Is it that premeditated or more of an in-the-moment songwriting decision?

I enjoyed the process of making the episodes so much that I am sure to approach the next album with perhaps the same attitude, and probably an attitude of "well, how can we make this more extreme?" Everyone who worked on the album had a great time, and I want to see us all having the same enjoyment again, and, yes, I have written a lot of what will become the next record.

Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

1. What did you specifically remember listening to as a child that triggered a notable response?

Hymns.
2. Let’s say you are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you listen to?

E.S.P. by Miles Davis.

3. Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

I draw most of my inspiration from crime fiction these days, the song "Mirror Lips" from the new album is inspired in part by "The Sculptress" by Minette Walters. I also really like Highsmith, Ian McEwan, Dorothy B. Hughes, Cornell Woolrich, Ruth Rendell, James Lasdun, Hugo Wilcken, Jim Thompson & Ian Rankin, to name but a few.

4. Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

Listening to music is a pleasure for me, I enjoy it tremendously, but it is no longer a source of direct inspiration for me musically, I do a lot of my writing whilst riding the train or walking around, or as I am falling asleep at night, then later, in silence, I can piece together a composition. I tend to not discover new music or sounds, I certainly hear things I like, but I am too focused on trying to make sense of my own methods to take anything else in-However, this did not used to be the case, it was different when i was younger.

5. What question do you get most often that you hate answering?

Why I no longer play the music that I used to, and when am I going to start doing it again?

6. Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

Bagpipes!

7. The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close, what section do you head immediately towards?

Jazz.

8. What is the last notable daydream you had and where did it take place?

Walking by lake Michigan this morning at 7 a.m. with my son.

9. What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

There are different kinds of perfect album, I think The Drift by Scott Walker is perfect as it is an incredible & visceral journey into the psyche of one man, and then way beyond. I think Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt is perfectly beautiful, as do I think is In a Silent Way by Miles Davis and The Sinking of the Titanic by Gavin Bryars, but all for different reasons.

10. Do you keep up with blogs? Which do you read if so?

I do not, I have not ever read one, I am very, very economical with my time so when I am not working or looking after my son, I am writing, cooking, or reading a crime novel!