Scene Points: Micro-Music DVDs

Experimental Everything
40 Bands/80 Minutes! (Sounds Are Active, $10.98) documents a Monday night all-ages show at Los Angeles’ ll Corral (a former sweatshop), where 40 bands each played two-minute sets. Covering everything from post-hip-hop (Bizzart vs. Demonslayer) to sludge metal (Harassor) to sheer insanity (Explogasm, Rape Nick Lachey), it’s a glimpse into the anything-goes mentality of L.A.’s experimental rock underground. Notable moments include a “performance” from local Rob Williams, who makes a complex ham sandwich with his feet, and the cathartic last show from The Wives. Some bands pack enough pretentiousness in two minutes to make Thurston Moore blush, but the film is ultimately charming, making one wish more shows were this concise. Josiah Hughes

Grime Time
The Lord of the Mic series is organized like a boxing match, where UK grime’s youngest, hungriest MCs face off in three rounds, with a bonus final fight. Highlights of the nine battles on Lord of the Mic II (Hot Headz Ent., £8.99) include a bugged-out set of freestyles from Earz, and a dramatic, obscenity-filled session between the murderous Demon and lanky, humorous Bashy, who spends time sucking on a lollipop when not spitting (literally) at the camera. Hosted by lovable stoner Jammer and filmed entirely in dark basements, the flick captures the gritty aesthetic and the wild passion of grime, although only the staunchest bwoy on road or the most serious avant-rap nerd will make it through all 105 intense minutes. Tyra Bangs

Techno Fever
Living for the weekend is bittersweet, a point that Feiern (Intergroove, $26) drives home. With candid, touching interviews about life, love, and loss–and jerky montages that simulate how your eyeball sees in low-light, Ecstasy-drenched states of mind–this German documentary strives to articulate the fragile skeins that bind avid clubbers together. Although it’s not overly professional (you can see people’s mic clips, the club scenes tend to go on too long), the 80-minute Feiern is a charmingly intimate portrait of a few Berliners (Villalobos and Luciano, among them) recounting the most memorable club moments of their lives. Be forwarned: the film is in German with English, French, and Spanish subtitles–best not to watch when you’re too fucked up. Vivian Host

Boom Bip Preps New Album

Fresh from his work with Busdriver on the recently released Roadkillovercoat (Epitaph), Boom Bip is back with his first solo endeavor since 2005’s Blue Eyed in the Red Room.

Saccchrilege is something of a left turn for the L.A.-based artist, who is more commonly associated with artsy hip-hop à la Daedelus. This is an electro record–hands down. Functioning on bassy percussion and the crunch of analog synth power, the EP is a healthy ascent into the realm of dance music, though it never fully abandons hip-hop (see Ali Lee’s Uffie-influenced rap on “Coogi Sweater”). Rather, Boom Bip takes a more experimental approach to the genre’s traditional sounds, adding the rebel disco sensibilties of Black Devil Disco Club, the choppy grooves of Daft Punk, and the more banging work of his Mush and Anticon. contemporaries.

However his brand of hip-hop evolves, expect plenty of risk taking, genre mashing, and pleasantly unpredictable results.

Sacchrilege is out April 23, 2007 on Lex Records.

Tracklisting
1. Snook Adis
2. Rat Tail
3. Coogi Sweater (feat. Ali Lee)
4. The Pinks
5. One of Eleven

Xiu Xiu Gets Remixed and Covered, Tours

Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart doesn’t exactly create ordinary indie rock. Instead, he crafts introspective musical blasts that can, at any moment, shift from completely danceable to being worthy of a pity-party. Xiu Xiu’s newest offering Xiu Xiu Remixed and Covered is right on par with those sensibilities, custom-made for the weirdly sensitive man in us all.

Remixed isn’t just another dancefloor-friendly take on Stewart’s otherwise melancholic jams. This two-disc collection is comprised of a “Covers” disc and a “Remix” disc. The former showcases experimentalists like Kid 606, Larsen, and Oxbow reinterpreting Xiu Xiu tracks in their own cathartic ways. The latter is a series of remixes from acts like Gold Chains, To Live and Shave in LA, and Stewart himself. Sound manipulation goes a long way when you have droney ambience colliding with party-worthy electro and blues noise.

In support of the collection, Xiu Xiu will hit the road this spring.

Xiu XiuRemixed and Covered is out now on 5RC.

Tourdates
4/01 Murfreesboro, TN – Casa Burrito
4/02 Raleigh, NC – Duke Coffee House
4/03 Wilmington, NC – Bella Festa
4/04 Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel
4/05 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
4/06 Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
4/07 Cambridge, MA – TT The Bear‘s Place
4/08 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
4/11 Montreal, QC – Lambi
4/12 Toronto, ON – Lee‘s Palace
4/13 Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig
4/14 Bloomington, IN – WUIX Radio Festival
4/16 Denver, CO – Hi Dive
4/17 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
4/19 Seattle, WA – Neumo‘s
4/20 Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
4/22 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
4/23 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill

White Flight White Flight

For his first solo effort, former Anniversary member and product of the suburbs Justin Roelofs takes inspiration from a summer spent deep in the Peruvian rain forests imbibing psychedelics. His production and vocal arrangements are unarguably rooted in his indie-rock conditioning, but White Flight also hints at time spent away from Middle America. Frantic voices could easily pass as chants rather than lyrics, and, armed with ProTools, Roelofs twists keyboard and accordion sounds into eerie compositions that suggest an alternate universe. Psychedelics or not, White Flight marks a strong start for this suburban kid.

V-White Perfect Timin’

Make no mistake: V-White is (to quote fellow Bay ambassador Messy Marv) on his hype. The East Oakland rap veteran from The Delinquents has been in the hyphy-movement shadows waiting to drop this bunker buster, which arrives with aid from friends like E-A-Ski, Traxamillion, Too $hort, and Ant Banks. “We at It Again” bounces with fingersnaps, bongos, and White’s scrappy, G’d-up lyrics that speak of all things “Town”-what it do and how it go. And there’s ample scraper-rattling bass and devastating spit-game moments on “Skyscraper,” “Oakland,” and “Cinco de Mayo.”

Apparat “Arcadia”

Fresh from his recent full-length collaboration with Bpitch labelhead Ellen Alien, Sascha Ring a.k.a. Apparat is back with his most realized release to date. Like well-rounded melodic producers Trentemoller and Lusine, Apparat utilizes live instrumentation (guitars, drums, etc.) to craft his moody synth craft. “Arcadia” is just a taste of this producer’s potent passion for pop atmospherics.

Apparat – Arcadia

Mikkel Metal Brone and Wait

Prolific producer Mikkel Meldgaard (nicknamed “Metal” for his love of hard drum & bass) releases an album per year on either Kompakt or his Copenhagen hometown’s Echocord, a place for his more abstract, less melodic music. Those who’ve come to know Meldgaard via the former label may be surprised that his latest album is even more chilled; it nearly lacks a pulse. Brone and Wait meanders like someone living in the thick fog of a perpetual hangover. Present and past influences (dub and shoegaze, respectively) are layered throughout each composition, dancing around each other but never touching in obvious ways. Those masterful, shape-shifting atmospheres hold interest on an album that’s otherwise slightly too murky and same-y.

Room Service: SXSW Hotel Cribbin’

XLR8R TV invades the hotel rooms of six artists to study their habitation patterns during what is undoubtedly the craziest, busiest week of their year – the South by Southwest music festival. Australian wordwarpers Macromantics transform their room into an acid house, indie dance rocker Panther coughs up blood and Cadence Weapon – the pride of Edmonton, Canada – invoke Steely Dan. Turntable champ A-Trak forgets his meds as club rapper Kid Sister head bangs and, um, Panthers asked for two king beds, not one, OK?

Audion Preps New Single

Unlike the acid-house meets tech-pop sound made under his birthname Matthew Dear, the Audion experience is all about noisy, 4/4 psychedelia. The Spectral Sound stalwart has already released six records, including the full-length Suckfish, which beams with sexual titles (“F*cking”, “Your Place or Mine”) and rarely strays from the 4/4 deepness and tripped-out samples that make people go nuts on the dancefloor–even post-3 a.m.

Since Suckfish, Audion has released a split single with Berlinette Ellen Alien and released remixes with Canada’s Konrad Black, fellow Spectral brethren Bodycode, and Heartthrob. Now we have the seventh installment of the Audion series–and an awesome contrast to Dear’s newest vocal pop release, Asa Breed.

The “Noisier/Fred’s Bells” 12″, picks up where Audion left off–in the realm of the minimal, deep, and, well, noisy. After playing clubs across the US for the better part of 2007, and set to take on the UK, Japan, and Mexico this summer, there is no sign of Dear’s dark alter ego slowing down.

“Noisier/Fred’s Bells” is out May 22, 2007 on Spectral Sound.

XLR8R TV Episode 3: SXSW

Last week’s episode of XLR8R TV featured a record shopping trip with Carl Craig. This week, XLR8R TV invades the hotel rooms of six artists to study their habitation patterns during the madness of 2007’s South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX.

Australian wordwarpers Macromantics transform their room into an acid house, indie dance rocker Panther coughs up blood and Cadence Weapon–the pride of Edmonton, Canada–invokes Steely Dan. Turntable champ A-Trak and Kid Sister head bang and, um, Panthers asked for two king beds, not one, OK?

Watch This Episode

Previous Episodes
Episode 1: DAT Politics, Zion I
Episode 2: Carl Craig

Kid Sister and A-Trak.

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