They’re no longer raconteurs in the political sense, but the Scream hasn’t raised this much hell since 1994’s Give Out But Don’t Give Up. And with the Kills’ Alison Mosshart singing backup on tracks like the Stones-y “Dolls,” Riot City Blues might break down the commercial walls Give Out couldn’t. The stomp, jangle, and mandolin of “Country Girl” set a relentless pace for Bobby Gillespie‘s whiskey-soaked tales of “Suicide Sally and Johnny Guitar” and “Junkie Jesus on the cross” (“When the Bomb Drops”)–just a few of the characters in his still-psychedelic, slightly blurry world.
Solenoid Supernature
Portland-based IDM composer Solenoid delves into acid experimentation on his fourth full-length, the 303-happy Supernature. The results can be spot-on (“Drack Soul,” a worthy Robotnick rival) or a little off (its chaser, the hyperactive “Blowatcher”). But as a concept album based on Solenoid’s sketchbook thoughts on nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and futuristic battles, the songs don’t have to be on. They’re about a world that’s slowly but surely getting fucked, so Supernature‘s union of ambiguous menace and hedonism makes sense. Blinded by science, Solenoid forecasts the future while keeping one ear firmly in 1982.
Marsen Jules Les Fleurs
In Einstein’s Dreams, physicist Alan Lightman describes a world where time is circular, each moment lived over and over; and another where time stops, bittersweet at the center. Ambient composer Marsen Jules uses the science of sampling and editing to similarly convey the hypnotic beauty and dual chronology of the natural world. 2005’s Herbstlaub evoked autumn, and here, sun-washed moments seek infinity through beatless loops and waves. Bell tones, vibraphone hums, and fingers sliding on fret boards are suspended and layered mid-air in the gorgeous “La Digitale Pourpre” and “Anemone.” Closer “Aeillet En Delta” is a 15-minute tease of tones that guarantees gorgeous dreams.
Dani Siciliano Slappers
“If you speak/Speak your mind/Use your head/Not your behind,” sings Dani Siciliano on the title track of her second full-length, Slappers–though, from the funkiness that follows, you might suspect she only half-believes what she’s saying. While her lyrics are full of personal and political contemplation, it’s still possible (encouraged, even) to dance to the jazz-jam of “Why Can’t I Make You High?” and the subtle 4/4 beats of “Too Young,” though it’ll probably be around your house rather than at the club. Like her longtime collaborator Matthew Herbert, Siciliano embraces the sampler’s infinite possibilities, creating a framework of found sounds that her most powerful instrument-her voice-solidifies and strengthens. Most interestingly, she plays with her personas as sidekick and singular artist (note “Be My Producer,” which occasionally exchanges “producer” for “seducer”), proving Siciliano is one of the present moment’s most thoughtful and inventive artists.
A Cloud Mireya Singular
Singular is a collaboration between On!Air!Library!’s Claudia Deheza and Prefuse 73’s Guillermo Scott Herren. With plenty of mistakes left in, the album retains a simplicity that belies its sophisticated production. Herren’s light touch leaves the tracks feeling fragile and honest, with just enough sheen to please the ear. Few songs approach single status, leaning instead towards a more fractured, floating compositional aesthetic-a possible exception is “Those Nights,” which feels like it would have been included on the Garden State soundtrack had it only been finished in time. Fans of Tortoise, Mogwai, or even Eno ought to find plenty to like here.
Various Ryuichi Sakamoto: Bricolages
Having won critical acclaim with his last release, Chasm, Ryuichi Sakamoto has upped the ante by passing along the material to 13 remixers from across the electronic-music spectrum. In one of the disc’s most accessible moments, Taylor Deupree’s reworking of “World Citizen” (with elegant vocals by David Sylvian) adds glitch while preserving the dark pop feel of the original. Another fine point is the inclusion of two different remixes of the starkly beautiful “20 msec.,” one by film-score composer Craig Armstrong and another by guitar-ambient surrealist Fennesz. Both mixes are austerely graceful; Armstrong takes a more conventional approach to song structure while Fennesz, though toning down his trademark searing, still turns in a powerful, melodramatic interpretation. Of the few low points, mixes of “Undercooled” and “War and Peace” feel a bit tired, maybe due more to the spoken-word-over-electronica cliché of the originals than the remixes themselves.
My Robot Friend Dial 0
My Robot Friend positions himself somewhere between the deadpan synthesizer jokiness of Devo and the droll sexual politics of Soft Pink Truth (with a pinch of Hot Chip’s falsetto Casio-pop) for his sophomore album. Dial 0 delves, with self-aware merriment, into the horny desires of Howard Rigberg’s circuit-based alter ego-“Swallow” is a goofy, boy-on-girl-on-machine electro-orgy while “The Good Part” casts Mr. Robot as a sexually frustrated sadbot crooning behind curtains of dark pop melody. Like the neon-rigged automaton suit he dons for live performances, My Robot Friend’s music smacks of gimmickry-luckily, it‘s a smart, mostly listenable trick.
Sex Mob Sexotica
Martin Denny described his own music as “window dressing,” and the pop-jazz quartet Sex Mob takes that concept and runs with it. Their most studio-polished album in the past decade, Sexotica is a sly, electronicized homage to Denny’s brand of exotica, that airy, pseudo-tropical jazz of the ‘50s and ‘60s. A showcase for the slithery slide-trombone work of Steven Bernstein, Sexotica weaves and shimmies through a maze of tiki-lit bachelor pads via hypnotic Latin percussion loops and slow-burn instrumentals.
Point B A Previous Version Of Myself
Like long-lived program code, the IDM that delights many hackers has built and patched on so many previous versions of itself that sometimes it sounds (entertainingly) like a creaky, buggy program struggling to boot. Point B codes dub spaciousness, noisy interruptions, buzzing electro, and a cut-and-paste take on club bass into his data, with a mischievous eye towards catchy melodies buried like Easter eggs. A Previous Version of Myself peaks with “Figure,” a knotty glitch-hop extravaganza that drops slow-moving Hoover swaths behind Prefusian digital phonemes. Music to hack to, or hacked music?
Various Conspiracy Uncovered
Continuing to help define minimal tech-house here and abroad, the folks at Amsterdam’s Tuningspork deliver standard progressions while forcing the envelope of the quirky click-house sound. This assembly of the catalog’s releases nicely represents their trademark bass-throbbing, static-twitching minimalism. Artists such as Dan Curtin, Samim, and Shyza Minelli provide flavors ranging from bass-heavy party thrillers to vocal-fused electro-tech. Falko Brockspieper’s “Hardwired” features futuristic impressions, experimental arrangements, and extreme, sentiment-evoking moments. Michal Ho’s “Kiss the Wasp” and “Steam Engine Sex” carry more traditional minimal ideas, with square-wave synth loops, time-based effects, and heaps of post-production edits.
