Tom Jenkinson (a.k.a. Squarepusher) has rewarded the listening public with a plastic gift every year since ‘96. That‘s a 10-year, 10-album journey, stopping off in territories as varied as anxious breaks, fruity future-funk, jazz fusion, and schizoid D&B. But everything seemed to culminate on 2004’s masterwork, Ultravisitor, a meaty, studied album that pulled from every influence at Jenkinson‘s disposal. So while Hello Everything boasts all of the stair-stepping synth, busy bass, and jazz structuring we’ve come to expect from Squarepusher, it seems a bit stuck in the shadow of a more complete record, and an increasingly imposing back catalog.
Various Four Tet: Remixes
Aside from flexing the automated muscle of one Kieran Hebden, Remixes is an absolutely monstrous collection of songs-a 24-track compendium of Four Tet-related remixes laid out over two discs; one for Hebden’s own work, and another for artists giving FT songs the once-over. In truth, it’s a novel setup that inadvertently pits the owl-eyed Brit against his collaborators and their tracks. When his source material isn’t outshining lesser remixes on Disc Two, Hebden is bettering tunes by Bloc Party and Radiohead on Disc One. When it’s all over, there’s only one winner: Four Tet himself.
The Blood Brothers Young Machetes
The Blood Brothers have never been ones to hold back. But their latest release, the frantic Young Machetes, finds Seattle’s finest post-hardcore noiseniks indulging in a whole new kind of excess: the big, fat, bloated record. When they fire on all cylinders, with tracks like the album-opening “Set Fire to the Face on Fire,” the Bros make their anger sound sexy, delivering razorblade rock with the sass of a made-up pop tart on TRL. But there’s just too much to digest on this 15-track firework, forcing even the album’s strongest tracks to get lost in the shuffle.
Meissner/Slavin/Sachs Into The Void
Inspired by the Kazimierz neighborhood of Krakow, Poland, most of whose Jewish inhabitants died in the Holocaust, Into The Void captures the sonic response from three Jewish ambient-music producers: Sebastian Meissner (Klimek, Random Inc., Bizz Circuits), Ran Slavin, and Eran Sachs. Meissner’s 11 tense, desolate tracks evoke the hollowed-out feeling of intense sorrow and pity, while also excavating obscure shreds of that culture in John Oswald-esque homage. Over six compositions, the artists show their clicks-and-cuts pedigree with delicately daubed microtonal haikus of riveting content-a heartfelt, abstract tribute to a place irrevocably transformed by hate.
John Medeski and Matthew Shipp Scotty Hard’s Radical Reconstructive Surgery
While most jazz imprints focus on plundering their back catalogs or desperately seeking hot producers to remix said oldies, Thirsty Ear strives to push the art forward with infusions of electronic, hip-hop, and classical elements. Here, inventive keyboardists Medeski and Shipp (with bassist William Parker, turntablist DJ Olive, and drummers Nasheet Waits and Mauricio Takara) have their intriguing motifs transformed by producer/engineer Hard (Kool Keith, Wu-Tang Clan). Hard threads Shipp’s and Medeski’s oblique shafts of piano and organ anomalies around intricate, robust rhythms. This compellingly strange disc suggests a fruitful path for 21st-century fusion to take.
Drumcorps Grist
Drumcorps is Aaron Spectre‘s metal/grindcore/breakcore/fractured breaks project, and it‘s absolutely killer. A smash-up from the best of many worlds, Drumcorps draws the connection between thrash (and almost prog-) drumming and the possibilities of an amen break, then wraps it in a sample-heavy wash of guitar, vocals, and screams. The whole thing is ballistic, delivering the pure energy that has always been present in breakcore in a uniquely clean and raw way. Spectre is one of the world’s most talented musicians today and it’s awe-inspiring to hear him at his least restrained.
Zero dB Bongos, Bleeps & Basslines
Bongos, Bleeps & Basslines, Zero dB’s long-awaited debut album, is a slamming musical tour de force. Misters Vogado & Combstock stir up a witches’ brew of ingredients, an invigorating blend of Latin, jazz, broken ish, and beats du jour, alongside acoustic flourishes and guest vocals. “a pomBa giRou” wastes no time laying down the album’s character, while the title track is contagious and ever-so-twisted. Late-night, downtempo sizzler “Sunshine Lazy” ends it all in fine style-bold, brash, and brilliant.
Various Morrow Choral Orchestra
Android drums bounce, flutter, and dissipate; fragmented clicks swirl and somber synths echo in galactic expanses. These are the sounds proffered by Deru, Machinedrum, Edit, Richard Devine, and eight other key IDM and ambient electronic artists on independent L.A. label Designed Disorder’s new collection. What‘s surprising is how each contributor weaves freely in and out of genres like hip-hop, techno, dub, and musique concréte while expanding their boundaries. If you thought you knew exactly what Mr. Projectile, Anon, Ben Milstein, or Eight Frozen Molecules were musically capable of, guess again. Score another victory for the independent electronic underground.
Rankin Toyan Ghetto Man Skank
Produced in 1983 by Jah Thomas for his Midnight Rock label, Ghetto Man Skank presents deejay Rankin Toyan at his prime. Chatting on classic Roots Radics rhythms, Toyan was blessing the dancehall regularly alongside Yellowman, Fathead, Louie Lepkie, and Johnny Ringo. Toyan’s liquid patois on “Gwan Go Dance” and “Nice It Up” exudes the good vibes of a true rub-a-dub session. His toasting is so effortless that you get the impression that he could literally deejay for hours. Two duets with Jah Thomas, including “Two Bad DJs” on the old-school Entertainment riddim, round out this masterful set.
Various Serious Times
Many reggae compilations are hastily created in a race to be “up to di time,” often producing lackluster results. Not so with this collection of the most beautiful and moving one-drop tunes, reaching all the way back to 2003 for Tony Curtis’ oft-overlooked “Rolling.” Most of these songs are well known to fans of the genre, but this two-CD set offers bonuses like a disc expertly mixed by Max Glazer (Federation Sound) and a gorgeous remix of Gyptian’s “Serious Times,” the crucial song that hit at the same time as the two biggest hurricanes in recent history.
