Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Gultskra Artikler - Berezka/Lanterns - Monkey Lament (Other Electricities)

Posted: 25 Feb 2009 04:52 PM PST

The split ep is a phenomenon of the indie media, so you already know the territory; this is rarely heard sound, oblique sound, not necessarily accessible sound, sort of the holy grail of music afficandos, unless you are searching for mutual appreciation society of the popular. Of course obliqueness, rareness for its own sake is a trap in itself. To preface description of Gultskra Artikler's Berezka with such words is in a sense to set it up as obscurest, however it is to a greater degree of such a wide scope that it could be considered cluttered, overly full and brimming with sound.

Gultskra Artikler is Alexey Devyanin a player on the netlabel scene having had releases on Autoplate, Hyperboloid, Nexsound and more material releases on Lampse and Please do something. The inclination is to a certain degree environmental music, not in the naturalistic sense but in a wider composition of sound palate from the mechanical, the device of recording, the instrument, found sound and happenstance. Key being that the sounds have a sense and actual form of composition, so that the apparently random nature of the environment is nurtured into form that equally sits Russian folk singing next to sonic crackle and tonal harmonies.

Lanterns differ, in a sense more traditionalists they have maintained their instruments and added prolific effects manipulation to create sonic chance into shapes and forms anew. Guitars and pedals in thunderous quite and noise of the diverse array manipulators adding noise and motion to a semblance of form. Holding and releasing tone, bleeding sound through to its nth degree and building, reforming along the same tangents. Monkey Lament, plays technique against random noise experimentation, effects frenzy and thematic encapsulation.

What both hold in common is a sense of the psychedelic folk aspects of the works, high sonic assault on your senses along with a technical literacy, which has eschewed formalism in the search for new found ground.

Innerversitysound

The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules (Pod/Inertia)

Posted: 25 Feb 2009 01:56 PM PST

Back in the mid-90s, rock seemed on its last legs and many of its producers looked to the cutting edges of of electronica to pilfer sounds to sell to the masses. But without the grounding in electronic/dance historically, they merely emulated the superficial aesthetics, resulting in waves of lightweight fluff (anything from M People to Tom Jones come to mind without too much thought). Flip this idea over. Contemporary electronic dance music has a continuous history which now flows back 25 years (with influences from disco and krautrock stemming back even further), so many of its practitioners may have conceivably spent their entire life under its influence, rather than the rock paradigm dominant in earlier eras. So, for these musicians, turning to live playing on traditional rock instruments now feels new and cutting edge, a change from what they’ve always known and done. The problem they face is, like their rock forebears 10 and 15 years ago, they understand only the superficial aesthetic.

The bio for Rules, the second album for The Whitest Boy Alive, makes a fanfare of the fact that these four DJs and electronic producers are making the amazing decision to record ‘live in one take, and nothing gets added which cannot be played live…no overdubs, no FX’. Groundbreaking stuff. The results, as with producers grounded in rock producing inconsequential electronica, is lightweight fluff. Creating something that is different from what you’ve always done before is simply not enough to make it essential and groundbreaking. Especially when it is such a weak, pale reflection of the vast range of work that already exists.

In a nutshell, Rules can be defined as polite jazz-funk disco, made with a drumkit, a bass, a keyboard, a guitar and a voice. None of these is propulsive in any way (inspite of the self proclaimed ‘unbridled movement and pure enthusiasm’). Their combined effect approaches elevator music status. Erlend Øye’s voice approximates a lazy Bernard Sumner on tracks like ‘High On The Heels’ and ‘1517′, but is otherwise as insipid as the accompaniment. The drums stick to gentle disco beats while the guitar and keys hold to genteel jazz-lite. Øye’s Kings Of Convenience work is a much closer touchstone than anything electronic/DJ based, but at least there the laid back approach is pushed and makes contextual sense. Maybe all the gentle jazz is a Northern-European thing, but I’m really not getting it and the results here sound underwhelming and very overhyped to my ears.

Adrian Elmer

Seun Kuti interview by Bob Baker Fish

Posted: 25 Feb 2009 01:54 PM PST

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This is an interview I did in inpress with Seun Kuti, the 26 year old son of legendary Afrobeat superstar Fela Kuti. He’s just released an incendiary debut album with Fela’s old band Egypt 80 called Many Things (Cartell Music) and is playing with them at Womadelaide.

Bob: I’ll start with an easy question (laughs). Do You think music has the power to change things?

Seun: It is a question of opinion. I think music has the power to change things. But just like anything it can not be done by just one person or one group or ten groups it has to be a collective thing. All the musicians in the world have to have it in the back of their mind that music is a gift that should be used not just to get rich in their pocket but also to uplift their people. If every musician in the world is putting their music to advocate for some kind of change then definitely change will come.

Bob: Were you always going to make Afrobeat music?

Seun: Definitely. Being Fela’s son there’s no escaping it. (chuckle). But at the same time if I live this life to know what I know today I would still want to use my music to try and increase peoples awareness of what is going on in the world and also try to change the lives of my people.

Bob: Is Afrobeat inherently political?

Seun: I don’t think Afrobeat is the only genre that can do it. Afrobeat was created to do it. I think if you’re a rapper or a pop singer, or a working musician whatever you are and want to use your music for positivity it’s possible. Not just your voice, because what we’re seeing in the news for a while is gone but our music lasts forever.

Bob: I heard you were originally a backup singer in Egypt 80 is that true?

Seun: I’m not a backup singer. I’ve never been a backup. I used to open the shows for my father. I used to sing a little bit or one of his songs.

Bob: So you go back quite a way with the band.

Seun: Even before I started singing on the stage I knew all the members of the band because my dad used to take us to every gig and I used to go on every tour. Even my manager I think I met him as a little boy. I don’t think I met him then. But if I did I must have been a little boy. My dad so everyone in the band is like family to me. I’ve known them since even before I started singing in the band you know. It wasn’t just because of the band I would always be around them growing up.

Bob: So what’s it like being their leader now for both you and them?

Seun: I think I’m only the leader when it comes to doing something like this and everybody is having a good time and I’m being interviewed until 8 in the morning or something. I think this is when I am the leader (laughs). And maybe financially too (laughs again). But I think the way the band is run you don’t need something like the leader. Every decision is made democratically. And the band trust me. They know I want the best for the band. I’ve given my whole youth for the band. My whole life and everything has been about the band I think everybody close to me knows that whatever decision I make is for the band to grow.

Bob: After Fela died I’m wondering if maybe the band wasn’t going to continue.

Seun: Yes definitely. I was surprised to find out the family didn’t really expect the band to go on. That’s why I’m the one playing with the band today, because nobody was going to do it and the band didn’t get any support from the family to keep going on. So what did I have to do? What could I do in order to keep playing with the band. So don’t come to us for any assistance and keep what you make. So here we are today.

Bob: When did you start this?

Seun: We’ve been doing this for a long time. 1997. Immediately when Fela died we continued. It was very tough in the beginning trust me. But that’s our history.

Bob: Why has it taken so long to release your debut album?

Seun: It’s a whole combination of factors. From my personal issues to getting a proper record contract . From my point of view I didn’t want to do an album as a teenager or too quickly and as an adult I’d be wondering why did I do this album I really don’t like this album I made. And Afrobeat is a way of life, you have to live your music. You can’t just sing Afrobeat and do something else. I can’t be singing Afrobeat and go to a government launch like many African artists do. I had to decide. Afrobeat was my calling you know. After making this decision then we were looking at doing the album.

Bob: Is Afrobeat more accepted now in Nigeria by the government?

Seun: Afrobeat is still seen as the opposition music. It doesn’t get as much support as other genres of music in Nigeria. Because it was created in Nigeria and because it would talk about Nigerian politicians, Nigeria would be tougher on Afrobeat than anything else.

Bob: How do you and the band go about composing songs?

Seun: I write the music, that’s it. Yeah. It’s not so hard.

Bob: I find that hard to believe. It can’t be that easy.

Seun: The writing of the songs is really simple. Trust me (laughs).

Bob: Okay. I’ll trust you on that. Did you ever feel any pressure when writing lyrics to live up to your father’s words?

Seun: No no no no. If I thought like that I would never have finished making my album. I don’t think music should be compared you should just enjoy music. I had some things I wanted to say so I said them in my own words. I didn’t think about what my father would have said in that instance or the words he would use. That being said I’m still inspired by his style and words you know.

Bob: Is it hard to be something other than your father’s son? Particularly after making an Afrobeat album?

Seun: It’s not hard for me. I am my own person. It’s hard for people to believe I can be my own person. I don’t think that there is a tradition that I have to handle, So I’m living my own life as my own person. One of the things my dad actually taught me was the only person I have to impress in this world is myself. I’ve been able to do that quite comfortably. I’m impressed with who I am. I don’t feel any obligation.

R.Mendoza - Si Me Duermo…Choco (Static Discos)

Posted: 25 Feb 2009 01:54 PM PST

Si Me Duermo…Choco (If I fall asleep … I die) is a new album by Roberto Mendoza, one of the members of the Nortec Collective and a key figure in the Mexican electronica. Emerging in the late 80's in electro post industrial music, Mendoza is most well known as Panoptica with a swag of minimal techno releases on the Certificate 18 label and a Peel session under his belt.

A deep sense of reminiscence fills this album, haunting grime laden guitars lie superimposed over minimal tech structural form, along with spectral dream vocals and melodic guitar memories. The ghosts of post punk arise and spread across the tracks weaving decades together and providing a template of sound and time compressed. Collaborations with David J. Haskins (Love and Rockets) no doubt help a sensed of rekindling these moments in time in as much as the mastering technique of Stefken Betke (Pole) adds sonic depth and resonance so familiar his work on ~scape. Where on one hand the formal memory is noted, the contemporary technique is fore grounded. Glittering acoustic guitars overwhelmed by sonic grunge and brighter toned electronics and deep base tones are all present here as if all the sounds in Mendoza's world become apparent at once.

If a sonic encapsulation of a lucid dream could be constructed it is here, masking highly developed technical prowess in a coat of remembrance and dreamlike intonation, updating the waking dream for the listener. Awakening to a dreamlike sound is a kind of paradox and to a casual listener it may seem that the conjunction of sound worlds woven together here are at least a contradiction, if not a riddle or paradox, but the beauty is held within the contradiction of form.