Dopey title aside, Chris McCormack (a.k.a. avant-technoist UK Gold) shows impressive range here as WKOS. From the dense electronic dub of “Sound and Rhythm” to the richly complex techno of “The Pylon Symphony” and the organic ambience of “Klea,” McCormack offers a creatively burning vision of next.
DRM/First Floor Brothers Shaheed/EP
Citrona’s second and third slabs keep them on the good-look chart. Remixer Greg Long gives Aaron Schultz (a.k.a. DRM)’s dubby downtempo “Shaheed” a keyboard rinse on one mix, and extends well on another. Meanwhile, First Floor Brothers’s smooth, retro-funky “Fashionably Late” gets sped up and globalized by Thunderball, while Long thumps up their “Signal 106.” Oh yeah.
Mathias Schaffhauser Re:
In which Cologne-based minimalist producer Schaffhauser presents two takes on late-night-clubby material from his recent remixes comp. Both J.C.A.’s “I Begin To Wonder” and Raz Ohara’s “This Is A Beautiful Day” get a shimmering and understated bass-kick-spit-snare treatment.
Sonna Smile and the World Smiles With You
Sonna are unquestionably one of America’s most interesting instrumental rock ensembles. While much of the world’s attention has remained fixed on Tortoise and Canada’s Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sonna have quietly realized their own gentle melodic dialect. On their second album, the quartet’s harmonic guitar lattices support Jim Reid’s always spacious and multi-accented drumming in the same way that Art Blakey’s round-the-kit flourishes guided the The Jazz Messengers’ horn soloists. Again Sonna have achieved and perfected a balanced playlist: all five compositions on Smile sit naturally next to each other like song birds in symphony on a telephone pole. While others in their league (Low, Sigur Rós, Tarentel) languish in gloomy climes for artistic effect, Sonna conjure sunrises, clear skies and mornings of possibility. Take their record’s title to heart and listen, with only the best to come after.
Thomas Köner Zyklop
Thomas Köner is the god of small sounds. After shiveringly cold environmental ambient works on experimental labels Barooni, Dorobo and Die Stadt from 1992 to the present-alongside many more techno tracks with Andy Mellwig as Porter Ricks-Germany’s Köner has explored a vast audio realm. Not one to lock himself away in the art installation and academic music circuits in which he has a considerable following, Köner has made a career of auspicious collaborations, from filmmakers to electronic engineers as disparate as Techno Animal and Asmus Tietchens. Zyklop, a two-disc set of processed field recordings and haunted film scores, contains works commissioned by international museums and director Yannick Dauby. Similar to his beloved early-’90s atmospheric recordings Permafrost and Tiemo (also available on MP), Köner investigates hushed, eerie landscapes, allowing the listener to hear every drip of water from an abandoned mossy spigot, every insect buzz, every whoosh of breeze and electric powerline hum. Quiet-but not silence-is used to offset these delicate components, and while his terrains are relatively empty, deliberate volleys of human language are added in varying intervals. Unlike the detached world of Irv Teibel’s Environments series, K?ner’s buried electronic melodies create an intentionally shadowy biosphere. Fear not, though-Köner is a benevolent god.
Cornel Campbell Original Blue Recordings 1970-1979
Jamaica’s gentle falsetto vocalist Cornel Campbell has been resurfacing lately on a number of British and German electronic roots and dub recordings. In particular, his work on Berlin’s Burial Mix last year, combined with the reissues of classic Campbell hits such as “Queen Of The Minstrels” and “Up Park Camp,” unleashed a flood of interest in his early music. Blood and Fire’s brilliant 2000 release I Shall Not Remove showcased many of Campbell’s best tracks from 1975 through 1980, Original Blue Recordings fills in some more gaps. Original captures Campbell’s basic repertoire: American soul covers (Curtis Mayfield’s “I’m The One Who Loves You”), lovers rock (“Just One Kiss”) and apocalyptic prophecies (“Beginning Of The End”). Campbell’s silky, Mayfield-mimicking voice falters occasionally when he tries to cram too many words into a verse, and a small portion of these 20 tunes are a tad bland. But when he’s redoing Jamaican classics like Ernest Wilson’s “Undying Love,” there’s really no other singer (save Marley) that matches his prowess.
EZ Rollers Titles of the Unexpected
The sophomore album from drum & bass collective EZ Rollers kicks off quite as you’d expect. The first three tracks fit neatly into jungle’s current obsession with disco and house, with the Rollers-one of the premier live d&b acts-managing to add their unique stamp by incorporating original vocals and warm, real-sounding instrumentation. From there, the disc grows into its title, branching into shuffling, funky hip-hop, proto-ragga two-step, and even a few tracks that sound like Fatboy Slim might be on their heels. Drum & bass continues to peek in every few tracks-the Breakbeat Era-inspired “Submission,” the summery “Sunshine People”-but it’s vocal numbers with rapper Doug E Fresh, diva Sharon Brown, and the crew’s own Kelly Richards and MC Jakes that dominate. As a result, Titles of the Unexpected straddles the line between underground breakbeat and catchy numbers that are prime for mainstream radio. Happily, the Rollers move between similar styles with grace. Apparently, when you stick with what you love, sounding good comes EZ.
Moodswingaz Primetime (Feat. Ace Lover)
Sure, sampling Bobby McFerrin’s theme to the Cosby Show for a song called “Prime Time” might be gimmicky, but it kinda works. While not a club banger, this one will be right at home on mixtapes. The b-side’s “Finite Number of Starz” flips a smooth downtempo bassline over which the MCs sound right at home.
King Solomon Solstice EP
Ohio-to-SF transplant King Solomon gets down for his crown on this one. Drop the needle anywhere for warm beats by Fat Jon and PremeOhio and confident rhymes from a seasoned veteran. “Fine Thin Line” should be “Fine Fat Lines” and “Lyrical Substance” provides just that. All hail the king.
Pitch Black Errie (Jiggle Like Jello)
Bay Area MC/poet Pitch Black sets it off fittingly with the uptempo “Errie,” the greeting of choice among Frisco gangstas. It showcases Black’s intense vocal style, something akin to a heated whisper. The flipside’s “Communication,” however, steals the show, alternating between frustrated flows and calm cadences over sparse, plucked-string soul.
