This criminally underrated London duo is thankfully never content to kick back between brilliant albums. So cats panting for more of their patented American jazz, hip-hop and funk beat abstracts, pieced together with loving care, will be rewarded with this third installment of the Solid Steel Presents mix series. Keeping in character, Herbaliser has crafted a DJ set that is equal parts political conscience, fat beats and humor, whether they’re melding LA mic-smith Rakaa’s “Verbal Anime” acapella with a tune from the awful Burt Reynolds film Gator, or appropriating Steinski’s sound collage slam on Dubya’s “New World Order” speech (“It’s Up to You”). Special nods go to the late Jam Master Jay (who gets a loving scratch tribute), the irrepressible DJ Food and lyrical genius What What (now resurrected as Jean Grae). It might not be as classic as a vintage mixtape from LA’s AM radio giant of your KDAY, but it sure as hell comes close.
Morcheeba Parts of the Process
Laidback guitar noodling fed through a well-worn wah pedal. Smoky, low-key vocals about loss, desolation and mistakes. Clean beats bumping lightly in the background. In other words, the usual Morcheeba fare, and what else would you expect from a “best of”? “Tape Loop” gets a crunchy upgrade, “Undress Me Now” is still an acoustic softie and “Moog Island” retains its initial floating-through-space sonic ambience. But this disc is preaching to the converted, some of whom are still waiting for Portishead to get off their lazy asses and make another album. And, while you may call this trip-hop, it’s about as psychedelic as a night spent at Starbucks. If you’re looking to put the trip back into your hop, grab DJ Shadow’s definitive singles retrospective Preemptive Strike instead. “
Midwest Product World Series Of Love
Ghostly International continues a winning streak with this seven-track sophomore release from Ann Arbor, MI trio Midwest Product. Comparatively, Midwest Product’s 2002 debut, Specifics was, well, unspecific. It dealt with unfolding and inverting rhythms, whereas World Series of Love is constrained to the sensibilities of pop convention-rhythms are more reeled in, less regurgitating. Midwest Product’s taut jams traffic in melody, filling in the empty grave of harrowing, hollow percussion left by Ian Curtis’s demise. The omnipresent elasticity of steadily plucked single-string basslines leads listeners through the boiling kettle-crescendo sizzle and twitter of guitar and synth arpeggios. The only weak spot on WSOL is the Kraftwerkian post-Trans Am/Knodel automaton that is ‘Bank.” Otherwise, the album is a collection of airy electronics that culminates in dusky gems with murky names like “Dead Cat,” “Swamp,” “Duckpond” and “Motivator.”
Laika Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing
With the shoegaze revival kicking into full swing, instead of waxing nostalgic, pay some respect to the ever-evolving, but always consistent Laika. Featuring alumni of early-’90s band Moonshake and backed by 4AD super producer and engineer Guy Fixsen (Breeders, My Bloody Valentine), Laika releases album after album of dreamy Krautrock-steeped electro funk. This is no major departure from the last record, nor need it be. Margaret Fiedler’s soft, soaring voice continues to enchant while Fixsen’s complex, Can-like backdrops continue to engage. And if you miss out this time, there will always be next time.
Sophie Rimheden Hi-Fi
Sophie Rimheden sounds like what the much maligned electroclash genre should if its artists were down, really down, with sounds ranging from Brit New Waver DMX Krew to vintage electonic styles such as Italo disco and freestyle, as well as the shuffle groove of Cologne’s Kompakt Records. And, man, does Rimheden sing her heart out. Sure, her voice grows a wee tiresome near the end, when her Sci-Fi voice processor’s preset hasn’t been altered over the course of an hour. But Rimheden’s album stands out as a uniquely European amalgam of club music, which also truly feels like the individual embodiment of one woman’s singular sonic vision: Hi-Fi redefined.
Quinoline Yellow Cyriack Parasol EP
Does this review really matter? It’s on Skam, Autechre may have touched it once, plus there’s a track atavistically and cryptically entitled “eu jach”-a veritable checklist of requirements guaranteed to cause IDM completists worldwide to foam at the mouth. That’s a shame, because the music of Quinoline Yellow stretches far beyond clich?s. Cyriack Parasol is a freshly reconfigured remembrance of 1996 Warp/GPR/Rephlex-era electronics that sounds almost old-timey with its total lack of DSP effects and laptop-spliced beats. Still, it confidently clatters along crisply with visionary outbursts of melody and constantly evolving songscapes. This one’s not a skam at all.
Various Rephlexions
It took this crazy Cornwall, England label a decade to release its first proper compilation, 2001’s Braindance Coincidence. Now, only two years later, Rephlex comes forth with this extensive triple LP, whose contents reach back to Global Goon’s first album, Goon, and DMX Krew’s electro-throwback, Ffressshh!, both from 1996. Rephlexions proves how rarified this label’s music truly is, and how worthy it is of thorough mining. Bochum Welt’s “Radiopropulsive” and Yee King’s “Goodnight Toby” are perfect examples of the Rephlex sound: a warp of perky melody and punchy acid feel that is at once culturally avant garde and musically retro. New AFX (Richard James), Luke Vibert, and Astrobotnia cuts further cement the fact that Rephlexions is a critical purchase.
Monolake Momentum
If Monolake’s 2001 album Cinemascope was the soundtrack to a rhythmically placid, melancholic dream state, Momentum is a marvelous technoid nightmare. Robert Henke, now creatively independent from former collaborator Gerhard Behles, pushes Monolake’s percussive echo dub into the depths of mechanized Detroit techno with an unrelenting grip, shaking from techno all the progressive puffery of the last six years. “Atomium”‘s majestic bass, timpani and wooden percussion ride the fine line between tribal and martial rhythms, further propelled by cascading synth shimmering; so too with “Excentric,” where a devilishly nimble sub-bassline juggles stridently under a theme based on assonant major second chords. Momentum is techno recontextualized for malevolent emotions.
Various Best Seven Selections
Reggae’s been hot for years now, and the bandwagon is full of quick-change artists hoping for a fast buck. This is not what Best Seven Selections is about-instead, the compilation’s 12 standout cuts deftly blend together timeless reggae and soul that steers clear of the paper chase. “This Room” by DJ Fitchie and Joe Dukie (a.k.a. Wellington, N.Z. singer Dallas) uses a dancehall rhythm and horns with Dukie’s smooth vocals, a combination reprised successfully on “Hope” by the same artists under the moniker Fat Freddy’s Drop. Jazzanova and Ursula Rucker chip in “Keep Falling,” showcasing the power of Rucker’s lyrics. It’s hard to find a track here that isn’t worth at least a listen or two.
Various Stargazing
Chicago’s Guidance imprint has continued to earn its place as one of the leading labels in the downtempo house arena with another compilation that easily demonstrates the label’s consistency in keeping downtempo interesting. Aptly entitled Stargazing, this ensemble features mainly starry-eyed artists exploring upbeat synth-chord galaxies. These tracks deftly blend into the electroclash offerings of Ladytron’s “Playgirl” and Soviet’s “Candy Girl,” two tracks that recall ’80s alterna-pop outfits. Stargazing references some of Guidance’s finest tracks over the last three years, including Alpine Stars’ lush pop cut “77 Sunset Strip,” Flunk’s acoustic-touched rendition of New Order’s classic “Blue Monday,” and the collection’s hands-down masterpiece, Handpolished’s “One Day Trip In An Elevator,” a funky zig-zag step through the electronic cosmos.
