Boomkat – new Zola Jesus, Shit Robot, Tiny Tim, etc

*Amazing album of what are allegedly important ‘lost’ recordings spanning back a century and packaged in a sublime gatefold sleeve with die cut panelling – strictly limited copies* Eccentric avant-garde composer Felix Kubin has spent the last five years sifting and selecting this incredible volume of ancient sonic curios from archives and personal collections spanning back a century. Together with attached essay and extensive sleevenotes, this is an often surreal portal into the “foreign country” of the past, preserving for posterity sounds which may otherwise be resigned to the scrap heap of history without the world recognising their idiosyncratic charms. However, in similar fashion to Faitiche’s Ursula Bogner recordings, we should say we’ve reserved a modicum of doubt as to their provenance, but when he’s crediting them to heavyweight figures such as David Tudor, Oskar Sala and even Joseph Goebbels, replete with extensive backstories, the situation only becomes more muddied. The most divisive, and fantastical of these “recordings” is a 1min 10secs piece of “…atypical electrical activity on line” captured by a telephone engineer/voyeur at the residence of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, apparently dated to the same time he held a séance attempting to contact deceased folk music specialist, Elias Lönnrot. It’s either spine chilling or preposterous… we’ve love to go with the former. Elsewhere, there’s the personal recording of Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, dated to 1935, playing Oskar Sala’s Volkstrautonium prototype, plus one of the very earliest recordings of John Cage collaborator David Tudor, a 1948 recording of Norwegian Whaling festival music, the sounds of a Pgymy hunting ritual in 1934 and just to test your faith, the sounds of a 7″ reel found in a package post-marked 1918, with contents dated to 1951 and most likely produced in the early 1960s – go figure. Whether it’s a beautiful work of sonic fiction or genuine documentation remains to be seen, but either way this is hugely fascinating and beautifully presented album worthy of your immediate and long term attention. Highly recommended!

Properly immersive album of lambent kraut-dub groovers and fuggy psyche from the Madison, WI duo of Peaking Lights – sounding something like the bastard child of Forest Swords, Zola Jesus, Tom Tom Club and Nite Jewel. Their hauntingly melodic ‘936’ is made of the stuff we could happily hear on loop all day. Like Pocahaunted or Sun Araw minus the noisiest elements, their trance mantras lasso the flightiest psyche essence and lets it guide them through ethereal other-zones, Indra Dunis’ vox streaming echoic comtrails across dusted desert dub landscapes on ‘Amazing And Wonderful’ or like a distant cousin to Dadawah on the twinkly telepathic skank of ‘Birds of Paradise Dub version’. ‘Hey Sparrow’ is more pastoral, with an effusive melodic nature warranting comparisons with Harmonia, while ‘Tiger Eyes’ bridges the gap between Forest Swords’ loping dub repetitions and hand-built synth-pop. However, highlights have to be ‘Marshmellow Yellow’ and ‘All The Sun That Shines’, both using slinky House and minimalist disco rhythms to utterly sublime effect, kinda-like more dosed-up post-dancefloor versions of the 100% Silk releases. Very highly recommended – one of the albums of the year fo’ sure.

Tim Hecker had proven himself to be one of the great survivors of 90s electronic music. While he might have only surfaced at the tail-end of the ailing IDM scene, Hecker’s distinctly original brand of rich, textured ambient music set him apart from his peers. Many have tried to emulate his sound, but few have come close, and while he peaked with the punishingly noisy and effortlessly beautiful ‘Mirages’ a few years back, his subsequent flirtations with a quieter, more meditative sound have been similarly arresting. Unusually, ‘Ravedeath, 1972’ sees Hecker moving away from his comfort zone and collaborating with one of the very people who attempted a second-wave of the Hecker grit, grind and harmony – Ben Frost. This is a move which saw Hecker up sticks and fly over to Iceland, where he proceeded to record the album over a handful of days using that most hallowed of instruments, the pipe organ. Frost clearly adds some of his production expertise (he moonlights as an engineer) and with this there can be no doubt that ‘Ravedeath,1972’ is the most hi-fi album in Tim Hecker’s discography to date. The crunch that Hecker has made his own is now reproduced in 1080p High Definition, billowing from every orifice of the speaker set with basses dribbling like viscous lava and treble firing with the slick precision of an M16. The powerful pipe organ sound underpins everything, coughing, wheezing and stuttering beneath Hecker’s expertly crafted granular sounds like the ailing ghost of the Catholic church itself. At times it might simply appear in amongst a cloud of white noise, and at others there is only the familiar shadowy blast, shrouded in the trappings of morals and dogma. Pitting his knowledge and skill against that of Ben Frost has yielded an album’s worth of crushing, near-spiritual sound. Whoever thought of throwing the church organ into the mix had clearly eaten their Weetabix for breakfast. Recommended.

Since Dylan Carlson’s Earth resurfaced back in 2005 with the peerless ‘Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method’, the band seem to have hit on a second phase of renewed creative energy. Their last ‘proper’ album, ‘The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull’ showed Carlson widening the dusty doom-country he had pioneered on ‘Hex’ to include elements of jazz, and on this latest full-length he even brings folk-rock into the mix. It’s hardly surprising to me that Pentangle should be mentioned in the press release, their music (at least to me) has always retained a sense of folk music’s strange occult past, and this is transferred aptly into Earth’s sound. It might not be obvious on a cursory listen, but with the addition of new member Lori Goldston’s cello the tangled spirits of folk music permeate through the usual shattered country and blues. ‘Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1’ might not be Earth’s easiest record to get to grips with, and it is obvious to me that Carlson is experimenting more with the song writing aspect of his craft, but it is an album that builds progressively with each listen. The echoes of ‘Hex’ and ‘The Bees Made Honey…’ are there, but with each album Carlson seems to refine his craft, chiselling it to a fine point and somehow making twenty-minute compositions deftly economical. In fact the finest moment comes with the album’s eponymous twenty-minute closing track, which slowly moves from a near-Bohren Und Der Club of Gore introduction into a glorious exploration of smoky, molasses-thick back-room blues-rock. Light up a cigar, pour yourself a tall glass of bourbon and sit back, you’re going to need to make time for this one. A huge recommendation.

Heavyweight Dug Out edition, issuing the incredible mid-late ’80s Dancehall rarity ‘Tempo Explosion’; a run of one-off version excursions on Red Rose’s ‘Tempo Rhythm’ including three head melting dubs. It’s regarded as a masterpiece of reggae’s digital revolution and the finest release on Sugar Minott’s short-lived Black Victory label, utilising the “sainted” players from the Studio One and Music Mountain, Stony Hill studios in JA, and Lloyd “Bullwackie” Barnes crew at Wackies’ White Plains Road studio in The Bronx, NYC. Towering above them all is Minott’s opening statement ‘Devil Is At Large’, laying it out deadly cool and mellifluous amidst squirting, gurgling digi FX and a masterful blend of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Further vocals come from Chris Wayne and Willie Williams, but its only the balance of Ras Menilik Dacosta’s hoarse boom and astro synth bubbles on ‘Free South Africa’ that can test Sugar’s. On the instrumentals Jerry Johnson’s saxed-up version is pure NYC vibes, but it’s the trio of stripped synth, drums and FX-driven versions that makes this one so, so special. Jaws will drop at first contact with the skulking ‘Slow Tempo’, sounding the soundtrack to a missing scene from John Carpenter’s Escape From New York set in a smoked-out cyberdub bunker, while the ‘Up Tempo’ really chisels the rhythm with stunning mixing desk movements, like someone just let Chris Carter in through the back door for a midnight mix session. Mindblowing tracks. Huge recommendation!

Composed way back in 1979, ‘A Red Score In Tile’ eventually surfaced as a vinyl-only edition in 2003. Made up of piano, this shows Basinski’s patented tape-loop technique perfectly and still stands as one of his most affecting pieces of music. If you’ve heard ‘Melancholia’ you’ll likely know what I’m talking about, piano notes are transformed into tones by the slowly disintegrating tape, and the loops become motifs all of their own. The beauty of Basinski’s work is in its patience, and this early piece is a testament to that overwhelming skill, a skill that few others possess. There are plenty of people now attempting similar things and recreating these sounds using similar methods but for my money none have come even within ten feet of William Basinski. Put this on, lie back and prepare to spend forty-five minutes in paradise. Absolutely gorgeous.

*First ever vinyl pressing of probably the most special album from Johann Johannsson – new on Touch.* ‘Viroulegu Forsetar’ was Johann Johannsson’ssecond album – a breathtaking hour-long composition in four parts that reeks of all the majesty and grandeur of classical music as it seeps into the realm of imaginary soundtracking. Written for and performed by 11 Brass players, percussion, electronics, organ and piano, Johannson seemed intent on making himself one of the most notable modern composers working in the field. Grand in scale and ambition, paced to perfection and baring all the hallmarks of classic cinematic scoring, “Viroulegu Forsetar” is an absolute must, another incredible find from those ever-inspiring ears over at Touch. Stunning music.

Kompakt’s new darlings are the hotly-tipped duo Rainbow Arabia, a couple of seriously canny pop charmers with a killer debut album up their sleeve. In todays sea of instantly available music there’s only a few who can fuse the most disparate sounds with anything approaching cohesion and these two are on the money. Their sound apparently originated from the purchase of a Lebanese Casio that played microtonal scales and eastern beats and lead to their fusion of post punk tropes with authentic Middle Eastern vibes on debut, the ‘Basta’ EP in 2008. Since then they’ve been encouraged by LA peers like Former Ghosts and assisted by the likes of drummer/producer Butchy Fuego (M.I.A/Boredoms) to develop a sound likened to everyone from Gang Gang Dance to an early incarnation of Madonna, a bold simulation of East and West as sharply rendered as it is surreally colorful. Danny Preston is responsible for the outernationally scoped rhythm programming and pads, while Tiffany Preston contributes sticky vocal hooks and cadences running a fine line between Karin Dreijer Andersson. M.I.A and the well warranted Madonna comparison. Entwine the two tightly, pressure bake in Caribbean sun and send into orbit on the African space programme and you should have something resembling this album. Fans of everyone from Animal Collective to Glasser, Telepathe to Toro Y Moi or Chris & Cosey need to spend some time with this. We don’t think they’ll regret it.

Lithops, aka one half of Mouse on Mars Jan St. Werner, has been intrinsic to the development and recognition of Cologne as a world centre of electronic music with his collaborative projects, Mouse On Mars (with Andi Toma), Von Südenfed (w/ Mark E. Smith) and Microstoria (alongside Markus Popp aka Oval). ‘Formationen’ is based on four tracks created with synthesizers and effects which were discovered on cassettes dating to 1992-93, pre-dating much of his best known material. Jan has augmented the pieces with new elements and computer editing, creating a timelessly beautiful suite of classical, beatless electronic works. The tracks wouldn’t comfortably fit into the “drone” or “ambient” categories, they’re just too kinetic and experimental. Instead, as Werner himself calls them, these are “harmonically defined and modulated movements of sound”, or abstract, nuanced and engrossing compositions which are defined by Jan’s expanded sonic vision more than anything else. We’re richly reminded of music by Fennesz, Marcus Schmickler and the whole Emeralds axis in the depth of textures and underlying structures, but there’s also a distinctly ’90s edge to them which we can’t exactly define, but you’ll discover soon enough. Limited to 300 copies and highly recommended!

*Limited to 600 copies* Psychic Reality delivers an incredible batch of augmented kNew Age Dance-Pop for NNF. The production values are notably higher for ‘Vibrant New Age’ courtesy of a pro-style recording with Trans Am’s Phil Manley at his San Fran studio, adding a crucial, albeit gauzy, depth to Leyna Noel’s dramatic songs. ‘Fruit’ opens with perpetual House motions faded behind Leyna’s beautifully expressive vocals, hinting at the drama of Björk or Laurel Halo, but with a febrile, lo-fi character. ‘Hi-High’ is from the Pocahaunted/LA Vampires skool of tropical weirdness, fragranced with beautifully shitty casio keys and organic drum machine, while ‘Fanta’ is all glistening, pseudo-religious organ timbres and thudding heartbeat 4/4, Chicago House for those reading from a different gospel. Finally, the power-balladeering ‘Softscript’ captures Leyna at her most arresting, gliding over machine-gun rhythm and arcing starburst synths. Fans of Laurel Halo, Pocahaunted and Sex Worker need to check this out, now!

*Featuring an extended Monolake production – limited to 250 individually numbered copies* Ethereal avant-techno/breakbeats from an unknown US operator, backed with a sumptuous and extended Monolake version. ‘The Great Traitor’s self-titled entry weaves fragments from the legendary Conet Project shortwave recordings (if you don’t know – go seek!) into a rugged mesh of hardcore breaks zip-locked with close and muggy atmospherics. In the hands of Monolake this becomes the ‘Echoes Of The Great Traitor’. The shimmering pizzicato strings of the original are digitally iced and diffused into a gaseous state while the rhythm is subjected to typical Henke refinements. Its ‘ardcore drum angles are erased to leave ghostly halfstep comtrails in the air, hanging over subliminal bass swells swooning with fragile yet dynamic force, the atmospheres oscillating between cloistered and wide open with dizzying, head pressure-altering effect. 250 copies only, housed in heavyweight, embossed card sleeve and pressed on centre-sticker-less vinyl. Don’t miss.

Pangaea, lad, what are you doing to us?!?! Over a year after his eponymous Hessle EP, Kevin McAuley augments his sound to a 130bpm (or thereabouts) style of deep Technoid ruffige compatible with label brethren Elgato or more recent 2562 beats. Squaring up to ‘Inna Daze’ we’re faced with a rugged rollers figure, broad, shoulder swinging bass with a Monolake-esque finish synched to hip-tucking, fake-out drum programming pecked with feverish diva yelps and siren stabs. On the flip, ‘Won’t Hurt’ starts out pensive but soon enough brings the bass weight like some 2005 DMZ classic, only at 130bpm and with hair-raising Detroit techno strings delivered like a true badman. Don’t f**k about. This is essential!

Unstably zonked post-dancefloor amazingness from the triumvirate of Jeff Witscher (Rene Hell), Daren Ho (Driphouse) and Brendan O’Keefe (Nimby). Like Hell’s skewed Yoyo Dieting take on Chopped ‘N Screwed HipHop last year, this 12″ takes a crooked look at the last 25 years of House and Techno, assimilating the sound from outside in and making it buckle into dizzying, disoriented refractions of itself. The label liken it to a Tron-esque matrix, which is pretty apt, but this is like Tron programmed by James Ferraro (f*ck, we’d love to hear him do a 100% Silk 12″!), full of blind jump-cuts into a hybrid analogue/digital multi-tiered cyber-clubscape for those who were barred from The Endless House. Dosed-up, we wander through catacombs of womb-like rooms, the individual sub-sub-genre sounds of each DJ blending into the next with nauseating effect (or perhaps that was the mescaline stars?). Love this record!!!

Dazzling debut vinyl from Kahn, a new talent discovered by exceptional minds at Punch Drunk. ‘Like We Used To’ is a powerfully built 130bpm swinger, stroking fragrant female vocal into orgiastic glossolalia over clipped 2-step and seasick subs copulating like Zomby and SBTRKT. ‘Helter Skelter’ is more exothermic, radiating stereo spirals of cascading lazer synths on a halfstep bump and grind akin to the recent Objekt 12″. Huge, frankly.

NNF’s 100% Silk sub-label ushers in the sideways disco of Estonian songstress Maria Minerva. The label pitch it as “Bedroom dance from a London flat where the w*nker walls throb with the echo unlimited drone of a pretty pulse” and they’re not far wrong. Like Nite Jewel lost in an exotic cyber-dream, blunted hippy vocals waft over sloping conga loops and impressionistic slurry of ’90s House beats on ‘Noble Savage’, and ‘Hagasuxxzzavol’ detaches from the flesh in a New Age slow-disco lather of bubble-blowing glossolalia. ‘On the other side, the coke-numb vox and lop-sided balance of ‘Disko Bliss’ sounds like some severely degraded Ron Hardy tape, and ‘A Little Love’ turns the dancefloor to a gunky pool of post-rave memes. Recommended!!