Monday, June 22, 2009

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

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Marc Hannaford – Polar (Extreme)

Posted: 22 Jun 2009 06:50 AM PDT

marc hannoford

Australian pianist Marc Hannaford wants to lose himself, and if possible its within his own work under a cascade of strange difficult to comprehend piano notes. Of course musicians losing themselves in their work is nothing new, both in a ritualistic sense, in communicating with a higher power, yet also in terms of removing the ego and becoming a conduit to pure creativity. In the press release for Polar, a work for solo piano, Hannaford speaks of striving to create ‘a balance between observation and construction,’ and you can hear him twisting and turning, contorting and relaxing on the six pieces collected here. At times it’s fluid, others disjointed and chaotic, where you wonder how it’s possible to make sense of the work. Yet that seems to be precisely the point, with Hannaford including a quote from MIchael Ondaatje (The English Patient) suggesting that it takes the best art to realign and provide order to chaos.

It’s probably the kind of music that you need to sit with and let go of. As Hannaford tinkers away, dodges and weaves, forgets himself and occasionally finds himself in the rough and tumble.

Bob Baker Fish

Pete Seeger – Now (Omni)

Posted: 22 Jun 2009 06:48 AM PDT

In 1955 American activist and folk singer Pete Seeger was dragged before and blacklisted by the House Un American Activities Commission for refusing to name names. This was after the Hollywood 10 had been sent to jail, and he himself narrowly avoided jail time. It was a demonstration of Seeger’s conviction to an ideal, and in his music he tirelessly agitated against the Vietnam war, labour rights and for social and racial equity.

pete seeger

The music on this 2cd set that encompasses his final three albums for the Columbia label between 1968 and 1971, possessing a certain weariness, yet also a kind of optimistic wisdom born out of struggle. His songs are gentle and simple, just his guitar or banjo and voice, with only sparse accompaniment from bass, keys or guitar, never obtrusive, always respectfully behind Seeger, giving his tunes more body. There’s a certain swamp jig that pops up occasionally such as during The Hobo’s Lullaby, yet the real story is about the lyrics. In the 40’s he performed regularly with Woody Guthrie, and over the years refined his talking folk style. His wordplay here is inventive, at times audacious, he can be scathing, black, and sarcastic one moment and the next whimsical and romantic. So we’ve got 1968’s Now, 1969 ’s Young Vs. Old and 1971’s Rainbow Race. He sings call and response with a choir, adapts a blues and hillbilly influences, tells stories, and approaches everything with a mischievous wit. In fact the sheer cleverness and anger at the core of a track like Talkin Ben Tre is just astonishing. The tale of the US army destroying a Vietnamese village in order to ’save’ it, it’s just so simple, delivered matter of factly by Seeger over hillbilly banjo to a live audience that plugs right in to the absurdity of the thinking behind the American war machine.

This collection typically of Omni reissues lovingly comes with extensive liner notes in a 20 page booklet detailing Seeger’s life, with some of his writings and some archival photos.

Bob Baker Fish

Jon Hopkins – Insides (Double Six/Domino Australia)

Posted: 22 Jun 2009 06:06 AM PDT

I have to confess that I hadn’t been aware of Jon Hopkins until his involvement in the recent Luminous festival in Sydney. I’ve clearly been missing out. Insides is quite a remarkable album. Hopkins’ instrument of choice is the piano, via which he got into keyboards and then production, and the piano has a large role to play on the album. But where piano/electronics combinations would normally have me thinking of unbearable chill-out, Hopkins avoids such problems entirely.

Starting with ‘The Wider Sun’, a small string ensemble piece, Insides is captivating from the outset. Some glissando runs undermine the classical-ness of the piece, while the ending dissolves real strings into synthetic ones, darkening the tone and hinting at the journey to follow. The next handful of tracks flirt with dubstep production techniques and rhythms with some mighty dirty basslines cutting swathes through the title track in particular, counterpointed by whispered female voice samples and the ever present melodies of the acoustic piano. Album centrepiece, ‘Light Through The Veins’ is a joyful nine minute trek, almost nostalgic for 90s electronica in its mellower pulse, endlessly cyclical chord pattern and truly peaceful coda. Following this is a series of more low-key explorations. The dampening pedal of Hopkins’ piano is particularly evident in the ending to ‘The Low Places’, where the sound of the actual instrument – the bits of wood and metal – become as important as the notes and performance. ‘Small Memory’ is almost a solo piano interlude, the exquisitely recorded instrument with its room apparent and what sounds like the subtlest of backgound electronic harmonics.

Insides defies genre categorisation, running from aggressive dancefloor workout to the sweetest of solo instrument lullabies. Yet it is a singular vision with pieces melodically intertwined and emotionally consistent, the results of which are an outstanding album.

Adrian Elmer

Gang Gang Dance – First Communion (Warp/Inertia)

Posted: 22 Jun 2009 02:53 AM PDT

In which Liz Bougatsos continues to channel the spirit of Siouxsie Sioux. The original album mix features the mildly controlled chaos of Gang Gang Dance sounding altogether joyous. TV On The Radio let the funk come to the fore in their remix of the track, giving the vocals more room to breathe and the hook more chance to grab. Hot Chip round out proceedings with a mix of ‘House Jam’ with a typically infectious heavy shuffle. The overall effect sounds a lot like The Knife – works for me. Good fun all ’round.

Adrian Elmer

at 5:12 PM