With track titles like “I Could Have Killed Him in the Sauna,” it’s clear that whatever their aim, Jaga Jazzist aren’t taking themselves too seriously. Part freeform jazz, part electronic groove, part cinematic ambience, the album’s pieces evoke an ephemeral sense of nostalgia. Propelled by breakbeat-style drum kits and upright bass rhythms, saxophone and bass clarinet riffs are interspersed with Aphex Twin-like electronic clicks, vibraphone and a range of electronic atmospherics. At times like a Miles Davis free jam, at others like the lost score of Coppola’s The Conversation, the result is something distinctly modern but at the same time full of wistful references to a past you can’t quite place.
Various Artists Well-Suited for General Purpose Audio Work
This latest compilation from Miami’s Schematic features all the usual suspects-label-heads Phoenecia, boy genius Richard Devine, resident madman Otto von Schirach and relative upstart Dino Felipe-plus one semi-newcomer along for the ride’schemic’s Kiyo. As you would expect from such a line-up, the two records are littered with hopped-up beats that skitter, pop, twist, bend and pile on top of each other with reckless abandon. But it’s not the manic beats and frantic sample-overload of, say, a prankster such as Otto von Schirach that makes this record pop-indeed Schirach’s schtick serves only as a minor, if enjoyable, diversion. Rather, the more refined (though hardly sweet or cloying) laptop concr
Supersilent 6
Supersilent has always been difficult to label. Their darkly atmospheric mix of electronics (processing, vintage synthesizers and the like) and acoustic instruments (trumpet, drums and the occasional guitar) seems to fall somewhere in the vast no-man’s land separating post-rock, out jazz, and abstract electronic music. This fourth release by the Norwegian quartet finds the group in fine, brooding form. From the opening notes of the record, the group strikes a somber, elegiac tone, creating an extended magisterial dirge of organ augmented by clattering percussion and increasingly insistent squalls of electronics that swirl and howl like demons. It’s an often somber, even funereal record, with few moments of unalloyed beauty (most often courtesy of Arve Henricksen’s plaintive trumpet). And yet, oddly enough, 6 is Supersilent’s most immediately accessible record to date with its evocative half-melodies and glacial, drifting drones.
Various Artists Nonesuch Explorer Series: Indonesia and the South Pacific
The exotic sounds of the gamelan in its seemingly infinite manifestations are the focal point of this second installation of CD reissues of Nonesuch’s historic Explorer series. This exhaustive collection features recordings of gamelan orchestras from the far reaches of the Indonesian archipelago, as well as popular music from Tahiti and the South Pacific islands. The original LP releases had a profound influence on Western experimental music when they were first put out in 1967. The music varies widely from the formal, stately court gamelan of Java-with its silky, flowing sounds and unusual melodic forms-to the more frenetically percussive Balinese version. It’s an amazingly complex collection, not only because it captures the well-known beauty of gamelan, but also because it reflects its complexity, documenting these myriad co-existing musical traditions on the eve of the homogenizing onslaught of modern mass culture.
Various Grounded Sound
After a long, dark winter, this first full-length release on Boston’s Grounded records is a welcome thing indeed. Full of shimmering melodies and delicate beats, it has an almost vernal feel to it, appropriate for the springtime profusion of flora and fauna. Beginning with the tripped-out buzz and hum of E*Rock’s “Ice Museum” through to the slow krautrock groove of Charles Atlas’s “Italian Air,” this is a beautifully subtle collection of quietly jittery beats and warmly melodic electronics. The line-up features such familiar names as Ogurusu Norihide, Emotional Joystick and Greg Davis, but many of its finest moments come courtesy of lesser-known artists (most from Boston), such as Mister Interrupt, Don Mennerich and Soplerfo. Quite lovely.
Daniel Magg Facets
Compost is nothing if not consistent. The label is known for churning out classy, sophisticated nu-jazz/broken beat/house tunes at an alarming rate, and Daniel Magg’s Facets is another fine example. The former Worldless People member’s solo debut fits well with the long-established Compost sound, and really breaks no new ground. Still, with all the shimmering, soulful and danceable tunes on here, the album is by no means typical. With a host of guest artists popping up here and there (Minus 8, Wolfgang R?ter and Gentlerain), Magg keeps the tempo up and the bassline groovy, and piles on just the right amount of leftfield flavor.
Benga & Skream The Judgement
This Croydon teenage duo justifies the underground hype about their warped basslines, as they unleash a growling, stuttering monster that laces an Omen-style choir over some conga-pounding tech-garage tribalism. Guilty as charged!
Plasticman The Lift
Who said we were post-industrial? Plasticman is part of a new school of young, post-“PulseX” producers delivering militant, electro-inflected minimalism. “Printloop” on the flip is the standout here, opening with, yes, looped printout samples and dropping into proper bleeps and bass. For MCs and Front 242 fans alike.
High Planes Drifter vs. Goldspot/Horsepower Productions Sholay/TGS Remix
Lights out for the summer. “Sholay” is downtempo, and reminiscent of “Snakecharmer” (but better), with glistening bells’ndian percussion and laced with haunting Bollywood vox. On the flip, “TGS” caresses you with shimmering synth and teases with blaxploitation threats, before dropping you right in the bass chamber. Essential!
The Executioners Scratchology
Hoping to release the definitive “history of the scratch” compilation, Sequence Records (home to other hip-hop DJ anthologies such as Dan The Automator’s Wanna Buy A Monkey? and Babu’s Duck Season) recruits the X-Ecutioners to put it down. One of the most visible crews in turntablism, the X-Ecutioners have graced the big screen (in Doug Pray’s documentary Scratch), and even made it to MTV and arenas around the world with their Linkin Park duet. But more importantly, all three X-E members-Rob Swift, Roc Raida and Total Eclipse-put NYC turntablism on the map with their dope mix tapes and inventive battle routines. Scratchology covers most of the essential old school scratch cuts, including Grandmaster Flash’s “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steels” and Herbie Hancock’s “Rock It,” featuring Grandmaster DXT. Homage is paid to scratching’s inventor, Grand Wizard Theodore (“Military Cut”) and Philly’s scratch innovator, Cash Money (“Ugly People Be Quiet”). The mid-’90s gets love with the inclusion of some funky scratch jams like 3rd Bass’s “Product of the Environment” remix featuring DJ Richie Rich, while Q-Bert and D-Styles’s “Razorblade Alcohol Slide” and the Beat Junkies’ “Dilated Junkies” exhibit just how far the scratch has come with the very best virtuosos of our time flexing on the cut. Overall, Scratchology is a solid overview for anyone interested in the musical history of the turntable as an instrument.
