A few less-than-stellar rhyming moments can’t overshadow how important-and good-this album is. Breakbeat legend and erstwhile Stezo producer Dooley recorded it back in the late ’80s, and as a production showcase, it’s fantastic. Dooley was touching some amazing grooves before other folks made them famous-witness the title track, the first ever usage of the legendary Skull Snaps break even before Stezo jacked it for “It’s My Turn,” for example. The overall feel here is straight ’88, from the big chunks of funk to the party/braggadocious rhymes. If you want to hear beats the way they ought to be done, you better not sleep on this release.
Matthew Shipp Equilibrium
Pianist Matthew Shipp began his exploration of avant-garde jazz fused with electronic funk on last year’s Nu Bop, and on Equilibrium, he finds a perfect balancing point between his jagged jazz and blasting hip-hop beats. The talented players behind Shipp spin off in every direction on “Vamp to Vibe” while he holds it down with a smashing left-hand figure. It takes until “Cohesion,” four tracks in, for Shipp to tear the roof off, but when he does, it’s in fine style. That uptempo burner showcases Shipp’s ability to wring effects from his keys with the resourcefulness of a turntablist-twice in the track he pounds the same chord repeatedly, amping the effect up like a stuttering beat. Shipp and his quartet play with compelling energy and vibe, uniting jazz and hip-hop with rare fire.
Various Artists No Space for Dogma
In just two years, K2O has presented IDM from artists as far-flung as Moscow, Berlin, Brooklyn and Colorado. Sadly, geographic diversity doesn’t translate into musical diversity, as much of No Space for Dogma runs together into a midtempo soup. It’s up to TenEcke to wake us up with a splash of cold water called “The Living Ice Age,” which weaves together real cymbals with blatantly fake drum machine hits, while ominous guitars and bass scratch and bleep away. It’s supremely creepy and cold, and along with Kareem’s dark, piano-driven headnodder “Beirut,” provides a center to a somewhat meandering collection.
Adrien75 Coastal Access
Combining traditional instruments with software processing is now commonplace in the electronic underground, but Adrien75 was at it years before it was fashionable. He was responsible for most of the output of the unjustly ignored Carpet Bomb label, which merged sweeping post-rock gestures with gurgling, fleet-footed drum & bass. His debut LP pares the beats back to their barest necessities, and the guitars vanish among mazes of echo and DSP. The compositions ebb and flow with the surging dynamic of the tide, sometimes peaceful, occasionally roaring with noise. Perfect for an evening’s drive.
Håkan Lidbo Finest Selection
Is there anything Håkan Lidbo can’t do? Finest Selection, a collection of singles and semi-covers, brims with the good Mr. Lidbo’s characteristically laser-sharp production and infectious bouncy attitude. While most of these tracks are in the vocal-drenched tech-house vein, flashes of Lidbo’s protean stylistic tendencies crop up, most notably in the ultra-diced vox over “Happy People” and the fantastically bright 2-step swing of “Never Change.” As if to prove a point, he even redeems the dodgy pop hit “What is Love.” The nastiest man in electronic music delivers in fine style as always.
Via Tania Under a Different Sky
Tania May-Bowers knows how you spent those lonely nights: curled up on the floor, flickers of street light invading your room, and your ex’s Cowboy Junkies and Mazzy Star records spinning endlessly. The last time it happened to Tania, she transformed herself into Via Tania, in which guise she writes ethereal dirges like a depressed female Sam Prekop. Under a Different Sky has a few surprises in store, including two dangerously off-kilter collaborations with Prefuse 73, who walks the narrow line between his cutup beats and Tania’s gauzy vocals like a nervous new suitor.
Sleep of Oldominion Riot by Candlelight
The Dirty South has had it on lock for years now, and with all due respect, it’s time for some new blood. The Pacific Northwest, an unlikely hip-hop stronghold if there ever was one, is ready to step up. Sleep is ringleader of Oldominion, an Anticon-ish collective of freaknik MCs from Bill Gates’s hood. Sleep can tear off syllables at a cheetah’s pace like Aesop Rock or Busdriver, but even his fastest rhymes make sense. When he does get abstract, he does it like an Impressionist, throwing around color to emphasize what’s beneath. The sappy ballad/plea “Angelique” aims for Outkast’s “Toilet Tisha” and misses, but the rest puts a new corner of the States on the rap map.
Various Artists Destination: Out
Future jazz has always seemed to me a sleek soundtrack for a utopia in which no one sweats, spills, or has visible pores. In this world, everyone jetsets while wearing unrumpled white and listens to Destination: Out, a smooth cocktail of cosmopolitan broken beat and downtempo, featuring artists from Europe, Russia and Japan. Burbling with effortless good taste, the two-disc compilation features gentle magic from Cuica, Jimpster and Bobby Hughes Combination. Departing slightly from the beguiling “Braziliance” burble, A.L.S.M.’s track just hints at turbulence over windswept steppes. Get your manicured paws all over this one.
Konstantin Raudive The Voices of the Dead
I can take spiders, gore, psychological thrillers, no problem. But when it comes to ghosts, set to the ponderously spooky Sub Rosa vibe? Different story. Latvian psychologist Konstantin Raudive, a student of Carl Jung, collected samples on magnetic tape of what he was convinced were the voices, noises and echoes of the dead. Here the archives are warped by DJ Spooky, Lee Ranaldo, Random_Inc, and others in a collection that plays on fears of the unseen. Unfinished wisps of slurry enunciation and hyper-fast gibberish purr to life when completed with our own imaginings. For the masochistically faint of heart.
Various Artists Atitetoca
Oh, old school, you hit it right. Original mambo, Afro-Cuban, and other assorted Latin smokers from such pioneers as Willie Bobo and Israel “Cachao” Lopez inspire saucy high heels and unbuttoned collars that stay crisp despite the ever-escalating, hipswaying heat. Aspiring congueros should note the immaculate trombones of Mon Rivera and the Caribbean-flavored pungency of El Super Tumbao’s “Bacalo Salao.” The classic “Lluvia con Nieve,” performed succulently by Rivera, sizzles at the edges. Wipe your mouth, throw your napkin on the table, and find yourself a dance partner.
