On its debut disc, the Staten Island-based Budos Band represents Shaolin with a varied set of funk instrumentals. It‘s a groovy set for damn sure, with timekeeping as tight as a Swiss watch and flowing horns that roll like waves rather than puncturing songs with staccato stabs. Tracks like “Eastbound” bring some Afro-Caribbean rhythms to bear on the band‘s laid-back approach, as a Latin trumpet line softly speaks above the mix. Elsewhere, “Aynotchesh Yererfu” bottoms out with blaring saxophones that nod at Afro-beat. While nothing here shines brightly or makes a case for the band outshining its influences, The Budos Band will get your head-nodding nonetheless.
Johann Johannsson Dis
Specializing in shimmering electronic music, Johnann Johannsson strikes a vein that‘s already been mined by many musicians, Icelandic or otherwise (slow, moody piano playing, anyone?). But Dis, the soundtrack to a film by Icelandic author Silja Hauksdottir, exemplifies Johannsson‘s compositional chops, subtly repeating motifs and themes with sounds that slope as gradually as snowdrifts. Peppy and grandiose like Vanilla Sky‘s saccharine score, the album would do wonders as a companion to stunning cinematography. The snappy rock theme “Efripides Og Nedripides” is a high moment, full of crisscrossing electronics and a strummed guitar. But as a stand-alone CD, Dis is little too plodding and precious.
Various Artists The Raid: A Trip Into the Vault of Fort Knox Recordings and Jalapno Records
In the case of these two compilations of funky breaks, the vault is probably a hard drive, since the featured producers aren‘t funk-era artifacts. But even though the artists here are recording today, current trends don‘t figure prominently. From the carnival-organ cut “Rastarollarink” to the psychedelic raga remix of “Man of Constant Sorrows” to the Norman Cook-channeling “Nitty Gritty,” the theme is fun, catchy-and sometimes cheesy-beats. A diva gets fresh on “Now I‘m Livin‘ for Me,” but that‘s about as serious as it gets. The good times may get old, but The Raid remains more entertaining than many albums that try to be serious and fail.
Hot Chip Coming on Strong
Does funk still groove when it‘s muted and mumbled? Much of Coming on Strong sounds like the fake songs that Casio keyboards play when the demo key is pushed, with half-hearted lyrics slurred by a legion of ennui-affected hipsters. But listen closely and ignore the occasional bubbly lullaby, and you‘ll delight in an album of sarcastic, sleepy soul. This exhausted yet effervescent music, made for slumping on the couch at the end of the night, hides some indulgently wicked lyrics. Who else brags about rollin‘ with 20-inch rims while blasting Yo La Tengo out the subs or softly croons Who let the dogs out?
Collabs 3000 Metalism
A continuation of Dutch producer Speedy J‘s “Collabs” series, Metalism pairs the techno contortionism of J with the skills of German pümpmeister Chris Liebing. At first moist, springy and skittering, Metalism grafts on linear, aggro crunch by track four, “Hilt”-featuring a distinctly Teutonic, steely grind that lopes while not quite achieving Cologne‘s schaffle shuffle (almost reprised in “Cream 3”). For several tracks, imagine a piston-mounted sponge encrusted with broken glass relentlessly buffing a marble floor. These are peak-hour steam bath beats, the kind that flare searing sweat across palpitating temples. Following is a pixilated couplet-minimalisms glistening duskily like a post-apocalyptic aurora borealis-before the disc concludes with the chiming, locomotive “Trikco Live.” Insistent is the final word that comes to mind.
Various Artists Richie Hawtin: DE9-Transitions
Following up 2001‘s standard-setting microedit showcase Closer to the Edit, Berlin-based and Canadian-bred techno producer Richie Hawtin‘s latest is an immersive affair where breath is paid as much attention to as breadth. Using Ableton Live and ProTools, Hawtin cobbles isolated gradients of up to six simultaneous tracks by Ricardo Villalobos, Stewart Walker, Carl Craig, Baby Ford, Underground Resistance, Plastikman, Detroit Grand Pubahs, Luciano, Mathew Dear, Daniel Bell, and False, among countless others. The gently jacking CD is as hypnotic as it is diaphanous yet holds nothing to the 96-minute DVD, voluminous in 5.1 and providing a visual illustration of the sources‘ stitching. Transitions is essential technology.
Vector Lovers Capsule for One
Electro‘s torrid and escapist love affair with outer space dates back to its ‘80s inception and on this gorgeously nostalgic LP, Vector Lover‘s Martin Wheeler does the originators‘ dream of interplanetary life one better. His precision-engineered bass, drifting synths, and synthesized bleeps bleach away any traces of Bambaata‘s humanizing pre-MIDI vocodered robo-funk with music that could have come from nowhere but deep in one man‘s hard drive. Wheeler‘s predilection for IDM iciness and techno‘s recent galloping renaissance makes this one Capsule equally suited for solitary space walks or martian clubbing.
Deaf Center Pale Ravine
Capitalizing on the gossamer promise of their “Neon City” EP, Norwegian duo Deaf Center issues this stunning meditation on memory and performance. With soundscaping prowess that makes David Lynch seem like a pansy, Deaf Center sublimates the familiar sounds of a perfectly precise slo-mo orchestra with the tactile textures of everyday sound, assimilating the hushed clatter of each passing day‘s non-events into an absorbing electro-classical whole. A compelling listen, slowly revealing its layered secrets, “Pale Ravine” is one aural gorge worth lengthy exploration.
Hell Grossenwahn 1992-1995
With his 13-year career, techno‘s DJ Hell has more than earned his retrospective disc (with bonus remix CD). But if this set points out how long and fruitful a life this DJ/Producer/label boss has had, it also highlights how viscerally his work should be experienced. Tracks like “Definition of House,” its synths layered over a driving beat, and the dark, vocodered “Suicide Commando” sound meant for engaging your whole body on the dancefloor, not playing on your living room stereo. Still, “Je Regrette Everything,” an electro torch song, sounds good anywhere.
Various Artists Noches de Hip-Hop
With reggaeton and Latin music getting ubiquitous, the appearance of quickie compilations with churned-out tracks is inevitable. Happily, this is not one of those. Instead, Noches, including new and established Latin hip-hop artists, features polished and consistent tracks. Malverde‘s blazing “Oye Mami” and Cultura Londres‘ downtempo-leaning “Good Times” both stand out for mixing Spanish lyrics over tracks that expertly blend Latin and Anglo influences. On the slowed-down “Sigo,” Crooked Stilo even uses the Colombian folk rhythm, cumbia-impressive, considering the bouncy cumbia doesn‘t exactly scream street. The album brings plenty of such rewards.
