electronica

Talk To Your Body

tina — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Brian Emmert and Nathaniel Kane are Das Black Milk’s two songwriters and they’ve done an excellent job on their latest album Talk to Your Body; it’s probably their best work yet.

Many of the songs focus on notions of domestic turmoil in a paranoid dystopia, which I think reflects the current time we’re living in. In “Laissez-faire,” the second single off the album, Das Black Milk sing, “Laissez-faire, let them devour each other,” probably referring to the idea of how our lives are basically the social constructs of powerful organizations and institutions that are simply seeking to increase their capitalistic goals. The band continues: “Another confession dictates our direction,” but the question is whose confession are they referring to and why does it have such control over us? It makes you wonder.

Music blogger Jester Jay was dead-on when he wrote that “Talk to Your Body reverberates with post punk and 1960s garage rock sounds, but also reveals traces of electronica and tatters of punk. It's a fun listen that defies expectations.” These different types of music give the album a unique sound that is quite rare.

One cannot take for granted the amazing contribution of Ray Kline, the newest member of the band. Kline brings a whole new level to the DBM sound and is responsible for the integration of new and different music styles on Talk To Your Body. Overall I’d say this is a great album; it’s fun to listen to and it’s an amazing diversion from mainstream music.

Written by: May Abu Jaber, November 24th 2010

Fairytales and Lullabies

brittany — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 18:00:00 +0000

By Sol Skugga

Cauldron Soundwerx Productions

Sol Skugga is someone I need to keep my eye on. Her third album, Fairytales and Lullabies, is a well-mixed collection of electronica, ambiance, and folk. Skugga wrote, mixed, and produced her own tracks. Clearly a collector of sound, her long list of instruments include vocals, piano, acoustic and electric guitars, "electronic drums in all shapes," ambient sounds, synthesizers, samplings of Nordic nature, and rhythm instrumentation. She effortlessly merges the traditional with the experimental, topping it off with magical elements. Be still, my beating heart.

The first two tracks on the album are delectable electronic songs. The third track "Burn Her" is a complete surprise; classical and Medieval sounding folk with rock elements was the last thing I was expecting to hear. Though it's completely unexpected, it is equally wonderful. "Letter To Myself" really made me want to waltz with David Bowie in a hallucinated ballroom while wearing a beautiful dress. "I Had My Share" is a folksy rock tune. I was happy that the album ended on a classical flavored note with possibly Skugga's best vocals of the entire lot.

It's cliche to say that every interesting female artist to have ever existed sounds like Tori Amos and/or Kate Bush; however, Skugga's vocals did remind me of them both. "I Wanna Know" reminded me of listening to Tori Amos' "Hey Jupiter" when I was sixteen. I also felt a Madonna vibe going on, especially in "Share Tonight" and "Sweet Lullaby", when her wavering vocals were backed by predominantly electronic sound (Confessions on a Dance Floor came to mind). In any case, Skugga’s vocals are both new and familiar, often taking a front seat in her songs.

On Fairytales and Lullabies, Sol Skugga has proven herself as a multi-talented, electronic musician, and modern day bard.

Written by: Jacquie Piasta, September 13th 2010

Maniac Meat

admin — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Tobacco

Anticon

Sometimes I can send off a record review in ten minutes. Excited by the tunes in my headphones or emanating from my computer’s tinny speakers, my fingers fly across the keys with artistic inspiration. Other times, it takes time and a few repeat spins of the disc to let the music settle into my brain. Tobacco’s Maniac Meat is one such record.

You could ask, what’s happening here? A better question is, what isn’t? So many sounds merge on this album that it can be difficult to discern how these arrangements were conceived, let alone constructed. Tobacco, who is also the frontman of Pittsburgh’s experimental psychedelic outfit Black Moth Super Rainbow, is known as much for his borderline hip-hop beats as he is for his solo analog-based electronic collages. Rolling Stone called his first album “stoner-rock.” Since I don’t indulge, you’ll have to find out about this one yourself.

The entirety of Maniac Meat sounds like a cross between an underwater concert, some synthed-out Dosh, and a few Daft Punk samples. “Creepy Phone Calls” is a dance hit of epic proportion. Less distortion and more danceable synth, the track is lyric-less but soulful. “New Juices From the Hot Tub Freaks” brings some serious rock to the mix with heavy guitars—or at least, a vocoder sample that sounds exactly like them.

The album’s two tracks featuring guest instrumentation or vocals, “Fresh Hex” and “Grape Aerosmith” sound like Beck songs for a reason. Mr. Hansen, auteur of noise, makes a guest appearance, though according to Tobacco, the two never met during their collaboration. The wonders of lo-fi genius at work in our modern world.

BMSR may be SXSW darlings, but Tobacco also gets away with doing few interviews. I like privacy in the age of oversharing. I like artistic merit in a time of paparazzi-based acclaim. And I like anyone who uses a tape machine when a Mac with some audio software will do. Because for some of us, it won’t.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, June 18th 2010

Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound

admin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Tara Rodgers

Duke University Press

I was about fifteen years old when PinkNoises.com started up. I was very involved in riot grrrl music, so perhaps it's no surprise that I liked a website specifically dedicated to women in electronic music. The writer of this content—as well as the rest of the Pink Noises website—was Tara Rodgers. After years of performing and researching, she came out with a book by the same name.

Much like her website, Pink Noises encourages the creativity and capabilities of women in electronic music. Tara interviewed twenty-four different female artists; a diverse collection of electronic musicians, sound artists, composers, DJs, remixers, and performance artists. The end result is a book heavily, wonderfully saturated with facts, ideas, and experiences.

The DIY section was my particular favorite because it was the first time I had seen a music tutorial specifically written for amateur female artists. This section was full of information and resources, while being simple and direct. Creativity and experimentation were emphasized. Not only was I capable of creating my own music, but was also encouraged to.

On the flip side, I wish this book came with a CD featuring one song from each artist interviewed. However, there are lists of female artists and websites at the end of the book. Also, I felt my eyes glazing over some of the interviews. Though I admired women who were rich with technical knowledge and musical theory, I need to revisit their ideas when I have more musical experience. There is a helpful glossary of terms in the back of the book for those of us still learning.

Other interviews struck chords in me that had never been validated before. For instance, noticing that I shared a similar, basic upbringing of music as they did; we loved music growing up, took a few years of an instrument in school, joined a band, quit the band. Many of these women experienced sexism and unreliability of other performers while in rock bands. I kept seeing interviewees mention that electronic music is a great way to be creative without having to suffer misogyny or flakiness of others.

Creativity without bad attitudes? Sounds like a dream come true! Well, it is for the most part. Unfortunately, we still have the sexism of the electronic music industry to deal with. For example, most people probably envision a man wearing headphones and a hooded sweatshirt when they hear the phrase "electronic musician." This is a shame; Pink Noises clearly demonstrates women of all stripes as electronic musicians, many of whom have been creating for decades.

While some of the interviewed musicians reported positive community and good resources, others felt the blow of not having their work taken seriously or being excluded from electronic music magazines, events, and other outlets. It's no wonder that many female electronic musicians take up androgynous names or wear masks while performing. Both of these factors help demonstrate the artist's personal identity to their audience. However, I feel as though some female artists may also be conjuring Joan of Arc in order to be taken seriously.

In the book's introduction, Rodgers touches base on the history of electronic music. She notes that electronic music's beginnings stem from war. She writes that "amplification and recording technologies emerged directly from wartime expenditures or were funded for their potential military applications." The earliest electronic music piece, "The Art of Noises" (1913), is a "bold celebration" of "machines, modern industry, and war." Even the terminology of electronic music refers to war; "executes" a programming "command," DJs "battle," computer "crash."

Considering an industry with early war associations and plagued with sexism today, it's no wonder that there are so few women involved. Pink Noises succeeds in immortalizing a talented, diverse collection of female artists, as well as encouraging women to get involved in creating for themselves.

Written by: Jacquie Piasta, June 7th 2010

Fabriclive 49

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:00:00 +0000

By Buraka Som Sistema

Fabric Records

I recently heard a clip from Fabriclive 49 and wanted to review it. Although I’m not too familiar with techno music (aside from the occasional club visit), I do like it, so off I went. Buraka Som Sistema’s album has a total of twenty-eight short club pieces that are very hard to separate. These songs overlap, interconnect, and pulse. There’s a definite dance vibe to the collection. At the same time, they are rather mellow and spacey in nature. At points, it was difficult to tell where one piece ended and the other started, but maybe that was intentional. The way the songs were put together reminded me of how the colors float together in candy floss, which is how the album needs to be treated—as something light and fun.

One of my favourites is “Machete,” which introduces a more acoustic style with beautiful singing. “Mermaid Dub” is another that stands out with its watery meditation feel, although it is rather long. There isn’t too much to say about its substance, but then again, maybe that too is expected.

Other pieces, like "IC19," are frantic with spinning sirens and a groove that slows down to offer voices only to rise up again. Images of being at once both at a party and floating out among the planets filled my head while listening to the sounds of this album. The dips and surges make the music somewhat more interesting. Another funky track is “Gone Too Far Feat Sizzla,” which is really upbeat.

While the collection overall isn’t too original (it includes remixes from other artists), I’ll definitely be playing it again. It may not have any original sounding bits, but it does have a rhythmically meditative quality to it. Light and airy dance music requires nothing of the listener other than to move to the beat.

Written by: Nicolette Westfall, February 28th 2010

One Love

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:00:00 +0000

By David Guetta

Astralwerks

French DJ and producer David Guetta’s One Love is a dream come true for dance and electronica fans who like hip-hop too. With the smash hits “When Love Takes Over,” featuring Kelly Rowland on vocals, and the auto-tune-saturated “Sexy Bitch,” with Akon, Guetta has placed himself at the forefront of what seems to be a new movement of hip-hop artists showing up on dance records.

Guetta went beyond his strong club fan base and reached a wider audience in 2007 with the hit “Love is Gone,” which got the attention of other artists His collaboration with the Black Eyed Peas on “I Gotta Feeling” resulted in his first number one single in the U.S. The boring FMIF remix is on One Love, along with two other appearances from Will.I.Am: “On the Dancefloor” (also with apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas), is perfect for club heads with its pulsating beat, but the chaotic and annoying “I Wanna Go Crazy” goes nowhere. The same can be said for the Ne-Yo and Kelly Rowland song “Choose.”

In an interview with a British magazine a few months ago, Guetta said he kept hearing from so many artists who felt “trapped in a formula” and were “looking for the music of tomorrow.” He called the sound they began to develop, this mixture of dance and hip-hop, “electro-hop.” Cause for concern if you’re a hip-hop fan worried about the direction our beloved art form—already in trouble—is taking.

Guetta’s work with Kid Cupri on “Memories” is actually worth hearing, although the real standouts are the title song with Estelle’s smooth vocals, and the still hard to resist “When Love Takes Over.” (Is it the backing piano lifted straight from Coldplay’s “Clocks?" Could it be the pleasantly predictable buildup?)

In that same interview, Guetta says that dance music in America has for many years remained a “black, gay underground thing,” but that’s changing now with artists like Kanye West and Timbaland borrowing from house music—an interesting statement since it can be argued that house music was birthed from hip-hop. As one of those concerned hip-hop fans I mentioned earlier, a little “borrowing” doesn’t worry me, but overkill does. Guetta’s mission to resurrect dance music and rule American pop is clear. The future of hip-hop, if too many of its artists ride the “electro-hop” wave, is not.

Written by: Natalie Maxwell, January 8th 2010

Terradactyl

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:49:00 +0000

By Serengeti & Polyphonic

Anticon

Playing in subway stations wasn’t that fun for us
At first it was, but now it’s getting old
First it was, but now I’m getting cold
- “Playing in Subway Stations”

I owe my fascination, adoration, and patronage of Anticon artists to my friend Nick. The most taciturn person I know, he is also the reason I became vegan. Not particularly conversant, he may not even know either of these things, though his quiet example has been profound and influential. Anytime a new artist emerges from this collectively-owned Bay Area record label, thanks to the Nickness, I am inclined to give it a spin. More often than not, I greatly enjoy my selection.

Serengeti and Polyphonic are no exception. S&P—David Cohn and Will Freyman—don’t really sound like other hip-hop, and generally speaking, this can be said of any genre-bending Anticon artist. Falling into what seems to be the “avanthop” genre—one loosely composed of elements from jazz, hip-hop, and electronica—Terradactyl is a fabulously disorienting yet cohesive album. It isn’t for everyone, but what great art really is? Half-rapping, half-meandering conversations fill the space between samples and disjointed melodies. Song topics include: modes of transportation (buses, trains, legs), thievery, negativity, hustling, Jesus, and one’s own patriotism (or lack thereof). Stateside, they’re touring through the end of October. European dates for 2010 will be announced soon.

I used to think it was stupid to believe in dinosaurs—not because I think the Bible trumps science, just because I think dinosaurs are a slightly annoying fixation in an age of modernity. Nevertheless, I’m quite taken with Terradactyl, even if it lacks the letter “p.” Maybe a Mesozoic misspelling was just what I needed to be converted.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, October 23rd 2009

Fabric 47

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:10:00 +0000

By Jay Haze

Fabric Records

For the thumping album Fabric 47, Jay Haze, the Pennsylvania-born and Berlin-based teamed up with the series of compilation albums produced by the legendary London nightclub of the same name. Haze is the quintessential renaissance man with experience in running multiple record labels and starting up the online electronic music magazine Textone in 2003, all while producing both collaborative and solo albums. His music has been described as psychedelic, but I didn’t get psychedelic so much as I did sultry and subtly climactic. For instance in “Mellow Dee” Haze (featuring Ricardo Villalobos) takes a melody that, when removed from its down tempo context, would seem almost creepy and ominous, but he turns out a track that slowly builds the musical equivalent of an orgasm. My favorite track is “An Hour to Fly” by Lil Dirty Ghetto Bastard, this kind of galloping tempo is definitely a personal favorite of mine, but when simple piano notes and a drum n’ bass beat are merged, Haze creates one of the most sensual tracks on the album.

Fabric 47 is much less lumbering than the last Fabric album to which I listened. It has natural transitions and is an exceedingly cohesive album with a much bouncier and more accessible recurring rhythm. It was most definitely more danceable, and less exhausting; it could just as easily be played at a low volume for more ambient sound than it could being pulsed through massive speakers in a club. I found it to draw much on creative transitions and other genres and less on heavy-handed electronic clichés.

Haze’s album is welcoming and versatile, a compilation that I imagine even people with rather narrow ideas of music would respond to. One can’t help but react to the throbbing sensual beats with, at the very least, a tap of a foot or the bob of one’s head. His sound could easily be compared to French house DJ Stéphane Pompougnac's Hotel Costes series which cleverly mixes tempos and genres in an inspired and refreshing way.

Without a doubt, in my future I see more Jay Haze. This compilation indicates an aptitude of what makes people move and a mastery of musical devices that make listeners yearn for more.

Written by: Erin K. Murphy, October 8th 2009

Enjoy Your Rabbit

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:26:00 +0000

By Sufjan Stevens

Asthmatic Kitty

Sufjan Stevens, god of the indie concept album, is the sort of fellow my evangelical Christian minister grandparents can enjoy. This is not an insult. My maternal grandfather, born in Michigan eighty-some years ago, has never admitted that he enjoys the Stevens album Michigan. I nevertheless suspect that my sometimes secular, former music minister grandpa samples some Sufjan when he thinks no one is around.

Stevens’ second LP, recently reissued by Asthmatic Kitty, essentially marks the beginning of his conceptual career. Recorded in 2001 and based around the Chinese zodiac, all the songs correlate with the year of particular animals. To be fair, the East Asian cycle is often awkwardly translated into English and does not leave space for varying breeds of animals across continents.

When I was a child in Indiana, my single mother and I—and later in my teens, my friends and I—used to frequent a Chinese restaurant named Yip’s Chopstick House. Their red and white paper placemats gave us an introduction to the Chinese zodiac before our egg drop soup and MSG-laden chicken and mushrooms arrived. My mother is the year of the rabbit, which is appropriate since she used to collect bunny-themed tchotchkes and put them in curio cabinets around the house. I am the year of the dog, but I try not to be a bitch.

If you came later to the Stevens game—say, anytime after 2002—Enjoy Your Rabbit may not be for you. Most of the tracks sound more like they’d be found on a Black Dice or Negativland CD. Myself a second wave Stevens fan, I enjoy his efforts from later this decade. When I cue up Sufjan, I expect folk loveliness, not glitchy noise. And yet for fans that enjoy the early catalogs of their favorites, this strangely electronic album can be great fun. I just don’t happen to be one of those hardcore fans. Sometimes, your earliest work is best left alone, best forgotten once you’ve worked out the kinks. I enjoy understanding artistic trajectory as much as the next person, but this album is quite like a video game soundtrack when all I wanted were a few lo-fi lullabies.

Thank god—either the one my grandparents worship or one of your own imagination—that Stevens put down the sound machine and started singing. The world is a much better place for it.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, October 4th 2009

My Electric Family

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:48:00 +0000

By Bachelorette

Drag City

Bachelorette is the electronic dream pop project of New Zealander Annabel Alpers. Her record, My Electric Family, is beautifully orchestrated and takes inspiration from its title to explore the lusher, melodic side of electronic music inhabited by the likes of Tortoise, Caribou, Asobi Seksu, and Lali Puna.

The album’s opener, “Instructions for Insomniacs,” showcases Alpers’ layered instrumentation and vocals, with verdant harmonies pushed forward with a loping snare beat and accented with a lap steel guitar. “Her Rotating Head,” a number just asking to be remixed as a dance track with a deeper bass line, directly embraces familiar feminist themes of women’s body image and media exploitation as sex objects with lyrics like, “She likes it that way, she’s programmed to say, ‘objectify me, degrade and revile me.’” These sensibilities set Bachelorette apart from her electronic contemporaries, who often prefer to hide their political sensibilities behind layers of feedback, effects, and laptop generated bleeps.

Alpers embraces and pokes fun at the technology she uses to create her art. During the opening lines of “Technology Boy,” Alpers sings, “Technology boy intends to live his life as a machine, but then his humanness experiences humanitarian resentment.” Alpers’ lyrics are clever and critical without being cynical or biting, making My Electric Family a fun and refreshing listen. She brings in a variety of collaborators to add instrumentation, including the Royal New Zealand Air Force Brass Band to play on “Dream Sequence.” The songs embrace a variety of pop styles, but the overall feeling of the album is engagingly upbeat. With each song contributing to the flow of the album—while also standing alone as a gem of glittering pop—My Electric Family deserves a place among the year’s best indie-pop records.

Written by: Eleanor Whitney, June 24th 2009

Trailer Park (Legacy Edition)

admin — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:49:00 +0000

By Beth Orton

Sony Legacy

I was twenty and living in Austin when I first heard Beth Orton. She laid the soundtrack to my existential search for love and self and meaning. Trailer Park is the kind of record you listen to while laying on your bed, questioning your life, your love, or playing against the background in a movie scene where you walk along the railroad tracks, hands in your pocket during a particularly emotional moment. When I see photos of Kristin Stewart, for some reason, Beth Orton sings in my head.

Orton has the smooth soft voice of an old school siren, but there is so much depth to her quiet and gentle sound that it’s difficult to pinpoint whether it’s her voice or her emotions that pour into each song. In some ways, Orton has a Portishead aesthetic of mixing trip hop with a woman’s beautiful voice, but without the affectation of Beth Gibbons, Orton just sings with a vulnerability and softness that still manages to get your attention. One of the best songs on the album is a cover of the Ronette’s “I Never Saw the Sunshine,” a quiet memorable track that captures what is best about Trailer Park and Orton—not overdone, not showy, just simple and straightforward, but powerful. There are also two different versions of “Best Bit” that are both remarkable in their own way.

Part British folk, part interlude, Beth Orton’s /B001C5R2QW?ie=UTF8&tag=feminrevie-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001C5R2QW) adds a second disc of thirteen extra tracks, including live versions of several noteworthy songs, such as “Galaxy of Emptiness.” Lyrics like “Won’t you please knock me off my feet for awhile? Could you please knock me off my feet for awhile?” express completely what is so good about Orton and this album.

The heir to Carole King and Joni Mitchell, the original album fell onto the rainy London streets in the mid-90s, and a little more than ten years later, the legacy addition can reach out to a new generation of fans.

Written by: Mónica Teresa Ortiz, May 22nd 2009

Over Air

admin — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:36:00 +0000

By Gregor Samsa

One can safely assume that any band that names itself after the main character in Franz Kafka's “The Metamorphosis” is going to be interesting, to say the least. It would not be safe to assume, however, that the music made by Gregor Samsa feels as overwhelmed and ugly as Kafka's evolving man-creature. On the contrary, their creation is a precise tranquil poetry, twinkling and shivering like streetlights on snow.

With eight current members and thirteen past contributors, this mega-group from Richmond, Virginia is bursting at the seams with folks ready to make a joyful noise. Although main man Champ Bennett sounds more like the mustachioed villain from a schlocky 1970s sports movie than the front man of an ethereal slowcore band, it is the group's combination of supple male and female harmonies (courtesy of Bennett and Nikki King), as well as the slow-and-steady snail's pace of their songs, that has led critics to compare Gregor Samsa to perennial indie favorites Low. Plus, how can anyone resist a band so nerdy-clever that they would name their 2003 release 27:36 and their 2006 album 55:12? I know I can't. For the mathematically-challenged who might not appreciate the humor, the title of the 2006 album is exactly twice as long time-wise as that of the 2003 album. A watered-down, but still charming, form of this clever humor is at work on this collection's third track, the pure lulling “Three.”

Multi-cultural references don't stop with the group name. The first track, “Ain Leuh,” is the name of a Moroccan village, while “Jeroen Van Aken” is titled after also the birth name of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. It is also the longest track on Over Air, clocking in at just over nine minutes. Despite the length and the group's naturally rested pace, the song never feels that long. It's a personal favorite, thanks to both the art reference and to the chorus: “It seems the Devil's got a grip on me.” This seems oddly appropriate, given Bosch's infatuation with religious themes in his paintings. An alternative mix of “Du Meine Leise (that's “you, my gentle one” in German) is a questioning love song supported by a grinding undercurrent that seems menacing at first, but somehow manages to become uplifting.

Over Air was recorded in May 2008 for Dutch broadcasting organization VPRO and while a limited edition release (I received #340 out of 1500), it serves as a good introduction to Gregor Samsa's blend of classical styling and gentle ambient electronica. Six out of nine audio tracks were previously released on other recordings; most of them were culled from their 2007 album Rest, while “Young And Old”—the only song on Over Air with a crescendo—first appeared in 2006 on 55:12.

My only complaint about the album stems from technical problems. Over Air is an enhanced disc, but I found myself unable to access the video features on the copy I received.

Written by: M. Brianna Stallings, May 9th 2009

Rocket Science For Dummies

admin — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:55:00 +0000

By Astronauts of Antiquity

RevCon Records

It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that Rocket Science for Dummies is a great album. Astronauts of Antiquity’s singer, India, and guitarist, B. Rhyan, are a musical match made in heaven.

They travel further, taking listeners on a well-designed trip of cosmic rhythms. Astronauts of Antiquity’s influence list is long, but they have managed to make an individual, well-crafted sound that, although resembling many, is like none. This wife and husband duet describes their music as “urban, electro, organica,” and though I fail to understand what this really means, it somehow feels like a good explanation. India’s voice is out of this world and gives these thirteen songs a jazzy effect, while Rhyan’s noticeable expertise on the sitar, guitar, and sarod contribute a world music sensibility.

It took the Nyack, NY-based twosome three years after the release of their first work, AoA 1, to come out with Rocket Science for Dummies. In this second record, it’s easy to tell that much pensive thought went into this satisfying album, which lifts off with the first song. “Everywhere” is a very danceable tune that makes me want to defy gravity. The same goes for “Sweet-tooth” and the title track.

If you’re not already of the opinion that “hare, hare, Krishna, hare” is a sexy chorus, Astronauts of Antiquity will definitely convert you, especially after you hear the “Love is a Mantra” remix. They are accompanied by a DJ and several guest musicians who play various forms of air instruments. Cee Knowledge (of Digable Planets fame) contributes on the groovy “Soup Du Jour.”

If these astronauts are planning an intergalactic tour anytime soon I would put on my jet pack and lovingly follow them anywhere.

Written by: Laura Koffler, March 22nd 2009

Nine Inch Nails (12/7/2008)

admin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Rose Garden Arena

Portland, Oregon

I've never been a diehard Nine Inch Nails fan, but have listened to them on and off since high school. I've never seen frontman Trent Reznor or his music as misogynistic; in fact, "Closer" is one of my all-time favorite songs. And to be fair, the only semi-nude images on visual display in this show were equal opportunity, male and female.

Whatever else you want to say about them, NIN gave fans in Portland, Oregon their money's worth. Playing for more than two hours—with a five-song encore—we were treated to old favorites like "Head Like a Hole" and "Closer," taking us back to a time where materialism was (briefly) very un-hip. Reznor's performance of tracks from NIN's more recent albums (With Teeth, Year Zero, and The Slip) such as "The Collector," "The Hand That Feeds," and others, were equally juiced.

Reznor, who never uses the same band for more than one tour, selected a very talented ensemble for this one; his musicians, dressed to match him in his trademark black muscle T-shirt and jeans, used an unusual variety of instruments that included the lap steel (on "All the Love in the World"), banjo, and cello. While I was warned ahead of time by a longtime fan to bring earplugs, the sound quality at Portland's Rose Garden Arena was so perfectly engineered that they weren't necessary. An amazing light show added to the performance. The one exception was an extended version of "A Warm Place," which, coupled with the serene lily pond setting, nearly put me to sleep.

The only disappointment—in addition to getting charged $5.75 for a Diet Coke—was NIN's opening act, The Bug. This quasi-reggae singer, paired with loud (versus good) electronica, seemed to do little more than gyrate her hips while repeating the words "crazy motherfuckers" most of the time she was on stage. Tiring, to say the least.

Written by: M.L. Madison, January 3rd 2009

Fabriclive.33

admin — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 23:11:00 +0000

By Spank Rock

Fabric Records

Plenty of famous (and not so famous) DJs have contributed to the FabricLive series: James Lavelle, Jacques Lu Cont, Diplo and even the late John Peel. So Baltimore “dirty rap” superstars Spank Rock had a lot to live up to with their mix, the thirty-third in the series. And while other albums may have been better mixed, or contain more unknown tracks, there is almost no competition when it comes to plain old danceability.

Spank Rock are, by their own admission, all about the debauchery that comes with partying, so they know what they’re doing with a mix CD. The bring ultra-hip new electro and rap together with some of their own remixes and idols to make something really fresh. From more straightforward tracks like Daft Punk’s “Technologic” and Miss Kittin & The Hacker’s “Stock Exchange” to more oddball picks like Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” (you read that right) to some of their own remixes of bands like Best Fwends and Brazilian bangers Cansei de ser Sexy and Bonde Do Role, this album is pretty much a party in a cardboard sleeve. So if you’re looking for a dance mix that’s less Euro-house and more debaucherous and nasty (in the best way possible), check out Spank Rock’s FabricLive effort. It’ll make your booty shake, or you don’t have a pulse.

Written by: Dana Reinoos, June 2nd 2007