Gudrun Gut Releases Debut LP

It’s hardly possible to discuss the last 20 years of experimental and underground music in Berlin without mentioning Gudrun Gut, whose solo full-length, I Put a Record On (Monika), has finally arrived and reflects her long artistic process.

Gut was a founding member of noise progenitor group Einstürzende Neubauten only shortly before starting art-rock classic Malaria!. Other notable involvements include founding the Monika Enterprise and Moabit Musik labels, and collaborating with Thomas Fehlmann on Ocean Club Radio. It was on this radio show that a change in her tastes–increasingly bent towards techno–became evident to Stateside listeners.

The latest product of all her experience, I Put a Record On, has been touted as a minimal techno release, which is a gross over-simplification. The listener will also discover her refined sense for both popular music and instrumental experimentation. In the end, Gut produces a culmination of everything her history would suggest and more.

I Put a Record On is out April 17, 2007 on Monika.

Tracklisting
1. Move Me
2. Rock Bottom Riser (feat. Uta Heller & Matt Elliott)
3. The Land
4. Cry Easy
5. Girlboogie ‘06
6. Blatterwald
7. Last Night
8. Sweet
9. Pleasuretrain
10. The Wheel (feat. Manon & P. Duursma)
11. Tip Tip (feat. Manon & P. Duursma)

Peter Bjorn & John Writer’s Block

For a second, let’s just pretend Peter Bjorn & John’s ubiquitous whistling song never existed. Without “Young Folks,” Writer’s Block would be another admittedly solid installment in the catalog of a Swedish post-twee band destined for also-ran status. But revisionism ain’t for me. “Young Folks” is alive and well here, standing tall and proud over the rest of Writer’s Block, its mere presence making the entire record stronger. But even though the single does its share of album-eclipsing, the rest of Writer’s Block‘s 11 songs find Peter Moren, Bjorn Yttling, and John Eriksson at their creative best. From the reverbed rumbling of “Objects of My Affection” to the jangling plod of “Start to Melt,” Writer’s Block is filled with smartly written, immediately endearing indie pop.

Plan B Who Needs Actions When You Got Words

He’s white. He raps. And he talks dirty. No wonder Ben Drew (a.k.a. Plan B) is being sold as the British Eminem. The comparison isn’t entirely off, but Drew’s far from a clone. A grime MC, Drew has some of hip-hop’s usual (and boring) obsession with bravado, violence, and penises (he calls listeners “fucking cunts” about 10 seconds in), but he’s aware of his obsession. Sometimes that comes across as insightful, sometimes trite. Opener “Kidz” is cliché, painting dark images of youth and then lamenting, Oprah-like, “that’s the mentality of kids today” (contrast that with the unapologetically violent Clipse, who sound much better for it). And “Charmaine,” about a young girl, sounds forced. But lyrical flaws aside, his delivery is rhythmically absorbing, and the tracks themselves are well-crafted, with fresh beats and acoustic guitars playing off his own harshness for added complexity.

Pole Steingarten

Nearly a decade ago, Stefan Betke (a.k.a. Pole) translated dub into a permanent midnight of Cold War ghosts drifting through the Berlin streets. In Steingarten, he crafts a bright, minimalist-funk suite that saunters along on eight legs, and often acts like it’s being fried under a magnifying glass. “Jungs” is a kling-klang groove in an arson-lit disco, and “Madchen” has a dub rhythm that lurches forth with one eye over its shoulder, but the climax, “Düsseldorf,” is a microhouse groove that actually smiles for just being alive. Steingarten makes Pole a standard from whom to steal ideas again.

Various Artists Solid Steel Presents DJ Food & DK: Now, Listen Again!

British collective DJ Food originally made its name in the ’90s by providing selectors with tasty breaks, but the tables have turned in the new millennium. On their latest, the crew joins forces with fellow Brit DK for the genre-melting mix Now, Listen Again! Sure, they often employ the familiar mash-up method of mixing, though this party-to-go is far-reaching enough to not sound trite. When not giving Eric B & Rakim classics a Timbaland makeover and vice-versa, DJ Food and DK manipulate instrumentals by New Order or just let reggae riddims ride. As much music as they take on, it’s dumbfounding how seamless this mix truly is.

Effacer “A Study In Multiband Granular Synthesis”

Appropriately signed to the UK’s experimental label Audiobulb, Seattle’s Effacer turns the art of sound into a true exploration on his EP A Study in Multi Band Granular Synthesis, an album that examines the unpredictable tendencies of abstract noise and subtle nuances of live field recording.

Effacer – A Study In Multiband Granular Synthesis

Bloodysnowman “Dead Raver (Computer for Sale)”

Ominous, cold, and, and dark are a few words that come to mind when listening to Bloodysnowman, the Oakland-based producer whose music sounds more like he’s beating the synthesizer with a large metal stick than gently tweaking its knobs. Skeptics will be pleasantly surprised it’s possible to dance to this stuff too.

Bloodysnowman – Dead Raver (Computer for Sale)

Sen Kumpa “Niawal”

African Underground: Depths of Dakar is a collaboration between Senegalese MCs and Nomadic Wax Recordings, who set up shop in Dakar and opened the studio doors to anyone willing to grab the mic and spit some lyrics. The result is an album of tight musical production and politically-charged lyrics that act as the mouthpiece for social change in the country. Definitely not your average rap music–the citizens of Dakar are evident in every track.

Sen Kumpa – Niawal

Lymbyc Systym “Truth Skull”

Somewhere between post-rock, indie-rock, and folktronica sit Lymbyc Systym, the brother/brother duo that hates vowels and loves vintage keyboards, analog effects, lots of drumming, and are quickly carving a name for themselves as Mush’s latest laptop-rock creation. Fans of Tortoise, Four Tet, and My Bloody Valentine, take note.

Lymbyc Systym – Truth Skull

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