experimental

/\/\/\Y/\ (Maya)

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:22:00 +0000

A week prior to its July 13th release, M.I.A.’s new album, /\/\/\Y/_ (or _Maya), was made available streaming on the artist's MySpace page. The agitprop-meets-cyberpunk video for “Born Free” is the most inspiring thing I’ve seen all year (a clear indication that M.I.A.’s message is as much visual as it is aural), and my guess was that her latest effort would be the most overtly conceptual album that M.I.A. has recorded.

The first track, "The Message," begins with the sound of keyboard strokes that reminded me of early alternative rock heroes R.E.M. and experimental musician John Cage. It creates a rhythmic paranoid beat laid over a mechanical nursery rhyme. A male voice suggests that the body is no longer private property, and spells it out for the “connected” listener: “Headbone connects to the headphone/Headphones connect to the iPhone/iPhone connected to the internet/Connected to the Google/Connected to the government.”

“Steppin Up” will appeal to fans of Kala. It mixes laser and power drill sound effects with a melodic reggae pace while asserting an increasingly cyborgian identity. “Teqkilla” recalls “Boyz” for its hyperactive layers of hip-hop hooks and fluctuating vocals. This is a sexy club song, and would be the closest that M.I.A. settles into mood music.

Although she is stretching choruses and pressing the temporal limits of pop music, M.I.A. still has a knack for constructing tighter melodies, and proves it on “XXXO.” This track is about unrequited love, and calls a potential lover out for his down-low tweets. It’s a beat-heavy examination of familiar odes to obsessive love.

_/\/\/\Y/_ is definitely weirder than M.I.A.'s previous recordings, and it will be interesting to see where critics of her ability to balance political and aesthetic ambitions go with this album. Will the media continue to castigate M.I.A. for going too far beyond the pop star galaxy with her overt political agenda? If so, I just hope M.I.A. doesn't go the way of pop feminist icon Madonna and, in the words of bell hooks, "return to patriarchy."

Cross-posted at Gender Across Borders

Written by: Maria Guzman, July 14th 2010

Sisterworld

admin — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Liars

Mute Records

Three-part a cappella harmony finds itself slowly warmed by spare instrumentation. A bedraggled man, bobbing adrift on the ocean in a yellow inflatable life boat, regains consciousness. The first thing he sees is a black rock. There is no one else with him, no land nearby. He weakly tosses it overboard and closes his eyes for a moment.

When he opens them again, a small pile of rocks has gathered in front of him. After looking around, he starts tossing them out, turning his back briefly. When he turns back, the rock pile has grown so big that it's nearly pushing him out of the lifeboat.

The droning harmonies enveloping one man's voice are quickly overtaken by a brutal ragged wall of synths and drums. The struggling man angrily flings heavy slabs of rock over the side. Realizing that he will sink if he doesn't escape, he sees a sailboat floating nearby. Paddling frantically, he climbs on board to see one corpse on deck and another below in a bunk. A look of confused horror comes over his face.

Seconds later, a smooth black stone comes shooting out of the water, slamming into the deck. The music swells as stone after stone launches out from the ocean, all aimed at the man. A rock hits him in the head, momentarily stunning him. He sees another rock barreling through the ship's window, then ducks.

The song and the barrage of stones both stop. The man uncovers his head, goes back up on deck. A large shadow crosses his face. Terrified disbelief clouds his eyes as a massive boulder in the sky overhead careens at breakneck speed toward the ship.

The man in the lifeboat is lead singer Angus Andrew, a lanky Australian who looks like the love child of Nick Cave, David Johansen, and Stretch Armstrong. The dead men on board are his fellow bandmates, Julian Gross and Aaron Hemphill. And what was just described is the harrowing video for “Scissor,” the first single from Liars' latest album, Sisterworld. It's a video that encapsulates the feel of the album's eleven songs and the band's oeuvre.

Bands who crank out a variation of the same album every few years (cough Aerosmith cough) send me running for the hills. But bands whose shtick is concept albums earn a special place in my heart. Liars is one such band. Originally lumped with other Brooklyn/NYC bands under the lazy label dance punk, Liars soon proved themselves much more experimental than dance punk could ever imply.

Sisterworld is Liars' first album recorded on U.S. soil in its entirety since 2004's They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. That one was made in a cabin in the middle of the New Jersey woods. Sisterworld was recorded in—and is the product of a fascination with—the underbelly of the Bizarro World that is Los Angeles. Eleven songs slip in and out of one another, reflecting the cruel desperation and guarded hope of L.A.

Buoyed by the warble of a guitar that sounds like it's from post-punk 1982, “Here Comes All The People” repeats the phrase “counting victims one by one” over and over. “Scarecrows On a Killer Slant” depicts simple creatures acting on impulsive (and callous) self-interest rather than giving any thought to their peers and surroundings. When asked why, in both cases the only justification is “'Cause he bothered you.” On the other hand, “Proud Evolution” immerses the listener into a guarded transcendence, somehow both hypnotic and hyper-aware. A tiny moment of comic relief comes toward the end with “The Overachievers,” as the subjects of the song sound like the kind of people described by Stuff White People Like.

The two-disc deluxe edition comes with a second disc of remixes, covers, and reinterpretations performed by an impressive roster of artists. It's one thing to have your peers cover your songs. It's quite another when your forebears, oftentimes standard bearers in their genres, cover your songs. Stellar examples include “No Barrier Fun” from Duetonal (aka Alan Vega of Suicide), Tunde Adebimpe's (TV on the Radio) version of “Scarecrows,” and The Melvins' take on “Goodnight Everything.”

Written by: M. Brianna Stallings, May 17th 2010

Aggressively Humble

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Chll Pll

Porter Records

Just like the spelling of their name, Chll Pll is complex yet simple. Apparently the two musicians that form Chll Pll are quite the musical social butterflies, as they have collaborated with a bunch of other musicians. This an indication that they are a talented duo, but it didn’t prepare me for their unique sound on Aggressively Humble, a title that had a tight grip on me from the beginning.

So, of course, I grabbed my iPod, put my little white ear buds in and wait. When I listen to Aggressively Humble, I get everything: there's an urge to dance and an urge to just listen. I feel happy, then I get contemplative—all in the span of a couple of songs. I get noise, out of control and rich noise. I laid down on my couch and took in every note, every odd, experimental arrangement. The album is not polished by any means; listen to it on your headphones too loudly and it will actually hurt your brain. Yet this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

To put it in simple terms: some of the songs are oddly different, but in a great way. The sound is futuristic and, in some instances, a bit on the heavy side, but it never leans towards metal. The tempo is energetic, but not necessarily cheery or sappy. It's upbeat chill, just like their name indicates. This album is energetic down to the vocals, and I can’t help continually to emphasizing the experimental aspect of the album. Musically, vocally, and conceptually, Chll Pll create an amalgam of contradictory sounds. Listen while lounging around in your house or entertaining complex artsy ideas in your head.

Written by: Jessica Sánchez, March 14th 2010

Arminico Hewa

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:13:00 +0000

By OOIOO

Thrill Jockey

When I was twenty, I flew off to Japan one spring with a stated mission “to be alone.” While this may sound more glamorous than it actually was, I did accomplish my goal. Unable to speak to anyone, wandering between cities and sights in dazed confusion, I was undeniably alone. It was either the best ten days of my life or the strangest—and really, it was probably both.

Japanese band OOIOO recreate the strangeness of that experience. Their all-female lineup, which has made space for the likes of Sean Lennon in the past, plays a mix of experimental and minimalist noise rock. Much like their counterpart band, The Boredoms, OOIOO vacillate between enjoyably listenable and disturbingly avant garde.

On Arminico Hewa, tracks range from under two minutes to over six. Songs like “Ironrun” and “Konjo” run together and sound like Japanese tribal chants—if such a thing exists outside of a Kabuki theater. “Polacca” could almost be mistaken for a rock song. For balance, tracks like “Ulda” bring to mind the shoegaze fuzz of My Bloody Valentine. MBV's Kevin Shields scored much of the music for Lost In Translation. It all comes together, no?

My partner’s brother—a twin in DNA only—recently returned from a conference in Osaka with pleasant things to say about his time abroad. While I’ve recently warmed to the idea of returning to the islands nation, I’d no doubt do better with some company this time. As demonstrated by the constantly shifting OOIOO lineup, comfort—or at least safety—comes in numbers.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, October 20th 2009

Balf Quarry

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:23:00 +0000

By Magik Markers

Drag City

Magik Markers will never have the fame to reflect their talent, which is a shame and says more about the music industry than their ability to create fine music. One could classify Magik Markers’ sound as noise rock, but only a few tracks on their latest album Balf Quarry would live up to that label.

Influence from Sonic Youth and other No Wave bands are apparent on tracks like “Risperdal” and “State Numbers,” where it sounds more like spoken word poetry over a cornucopia of sounds created both instrumentally and experimentally. Other tracks, however, show that the duo doesn’t limit themselves to such abstractness, but rather have the ability to create complex melodies, some more apparent than others. “Don’t Talk in Your Sleep,” for example, pairs hearty blues chords, drum machine beats and a slight echoing funk vamp all working together to accompany strong female vocals delivering a warning to all potential cheaters out there. Later in the album, as Elisa Ambrogio’s voice softens from the beginning of the album’s more raucous tracks, a downright twang can be detected in the guitars in “Ohio R./Live/Hoosier.”

The album is nicely capped off with “Shells,” a ten minute strain of dark yet harmoniously hymnal-like sounds eventually evolving into lyric support after the four minute mark. What follows is a true testament to Ambrogio’s vocal ability perfectly paired with Pete Nolan’s mastery of making experimental sounds pleasing to the ear. The track is an adequate representation of the album because of its sonar spectrum. Many songs lack traditional structure, making listening more of a challenge, but one thing Magik Markers have is the power to keep you engaged.

This isn’t an album to play while you’re cleaning the bathroom. You’d be ruining a perfect opportunity to give the album the attention it demands. Rather, put it on, sit down, and let yourself be guided. Balf Quarry is a fully complete album demonstrating that sometimes good music is hard to listen to, but the reward at the end is twice as much. It turns listening from passive to active in one tickle of the distortion key.

Written by: Sara Custer, October 7th 2009

C'est La Dernière Chanson

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:57:00 +0000

By Maher Shalal Hash Baz

K Records

When the songs on Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s latest release, C'est La Dernière Chanson, last longer than thirty-seven seconds, they are very enjoyable. The eighteenth record for the band is a two disc album consisting of a total of 277 songs ranging from a confusing eleven seconds of horns and drums to three minutes and one second of musical pleasure. Founded by Tori Kudo, the group is now centered around a core group of three musicians (Tori, his wife Reiko Kudo, and Hiroo Nakazaki), but Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s lineup has changed over the band’s eighteen years with a steady stream of incoming and outgoing talent.

The English translation of the Japanese group’s name seems as mysterious as it does in the original Hebrew. Taken from Isaiah 8:1 and 8:3, the name means, “Hurrying to the spoil, he has made haste to the plunder." Musically, however, the band has concocted a multi-genre dish of musical flavor. A catchy jazz base is typically sprinkled with folk and peppered with unique rock overtones. Many of the short songs are congruent in their frequent bursts of a-tonal arrangement, yet maintain an endearing quality. The occasional vocal tracks are equally intriguing in Japanese and English, whether you understand or not.

Currently, the only song available on the group’s Myspace page, "Joab," is longer (three times longer) than many compositions on C'est La Dernière Chanson and is from a different record. At the same time, it still gives an accurate taste of what you may be biting off with this newest release. Something about Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s noise is so painfully cute that even the parts that don’t sound good feel strangely pleasant.

I strongly recommend investing nine minutes in "Joab" to see whether or not you can live without this band.

Written by: Tatiana Ryckman, September 15th 2009

Insects Awaken

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:13:00 +0000

By Death Sentence: Panda!

Upset the Rhythm

Death Sentence: Panda! seems like a ridiculous name, right? Pandas are cute. They look like plush dolls. They eat bamboo, which is, like, a totally cute plant. They are fuzzy and have paws. Death by panda sounds like it’s just about as probable as being mauled by a herd of unruly kittens. Unfortunately for us weak and easily fooled humans, all of that cuteness is a ruse.

Panda teeth are actually carefully honed and specialized not for eating leafy greens, but are actually made for gnawing on human flesh. CNN reports that in January a panda named Gu Gu at the Beijing Zoo attacked a man that climbed into his pen. The man, Zhang Jiao, described the attack thusly: "The panda didn't let go until it chewed up my leg and its mouth was dripping with my blood."

Death Sentence: Panda! is all clarinets, flutes, bells, and drums, which sounds oh-so-endearing—like a parlor band in an old, quaint house with lots of doilies placed neatly on armrests of comfortably cushioned chairs. However, before you invite them to your next _Antiques Roadshow _house party, consider Gu Gu the panda. Remember his maw, so cutely dripping with man-leg blood?

Death Sentence: Panda! doesn’t play cute instruments like cute instruments should be played. Screw you, Pan, and your sweet little flute and fuzzy goatey legs. Clarinet? Thought it was just for Benny Goodman, right? Well, take a big band playing “Sing, Sing, Sing” and toss in a bee nest, that freaky leatherface dude from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and maybe Mike Patton for flavor, and you have Insects Awaken.

The weird thing, though, about Death Sentence: Panda! is that they somehow retain some cuteness despite the violence that their music spits up like yesterday’s salmonella-tainted peanuts. It’s sort of like reading Lord of the Flies. Cute little boys plus spears, boulders, and fire equals… cute little boys that brutally attack, maim, and kill each other! Adorable!

Sure, sharks look brutal, and snakes conjure images of Satan in the Garden of Eden. Whatever. Pandas are way scarier; they lure you in with their cute, and kill you with their giant freaky jaws. That, in my opinion, is way more evil.

Written by: Emily S. Dunster, June 2nd 2009