Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

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Various Artists – Dillanthology 1, Dilla’s Productions For Various Artists (Rapster)

Posted: 24 Jun 2009 04:42 AM PDT

Dillanthology 1

This is a great compilation, and makes a good introduction to the work of J.Dilla. The last few years have seen a mass of material released from the vaults of this prolific producer, mainly instrumental, so its great to see his productions for others represented as one compilation.

Its not until you combine these tracks that you realise the influence he has had on some of the best moments of hip hop history, the legacy he has left, and the immense influence his music has had on many new producers, and not just within hip hop. Dilla has an undeniable talent for placing his music so well with the vocalists he has worked with, its the perfect marriage in most cases.

All the gems are here, the laid back genius of The Pharcyde with ‘Runnin” and ‘Drop’, the summer feel of ‘Stakes Is High’ by De La Soul, the skewed reality of Busta Rhymes’ ‘Show Me What You Got’ and ‘Hip Hop Quotable’ by A.G. and Aloe Blacc, to the sweet soul of Erykah Badu’s ‘Didn’t Cha Know’ and ‘I Believe In You’ by Amp Fiddler.

It’s when J.Dilla is put in a context with some of hip hop’s legendary vocalists, that you really begin to hear the genius.

Wayne Stronell

Andreya Triana, Richard Eignor, Some Freak – The Light Remixes (Wald)

Posted: 24 Jun 2009 02:28 AM PDT

‘The Light’ by Red Bull Academy alumni Andreya Triana (collaborator with Flying Lotus and Theo Parrish), Richard Eignor (Ritornell) and former Sydney resident Some Freak initally seems like standard innocuous lounge wallpaper, until its subtle charms reveal themselves. The ingredients are all textbook – floating flutes, husky female vocal, congas – but each is sufficiently skewed as to make the whole interesting. The nagging piano provides the greatest kink, more Reichian phase pattern than preset loop, vamping away like Heroin Lee Lewis. The remixes come from high places, but each is too sympathetic to add anything. Dorian Concept stretch the vocals into thin fibrous threads, draped around Moloko-esque trip-hop, Patrick Pulsinger contributes the obligatory house mix, taking in both Italo and acid but remaining resolutely muzak, while Orakel’s ‘Free the Horse Dub’ drowns the original in shuffling, overbearing jazz drums. Dixon and the Innervisions mob could have worked wonders here, but I’m sure they’re already playing the original.

Joshua Meggitt

Son of Rose – All In (Blanket Fields)

Posted: 24 Jun 2009 02:26 AM PDT

Most piano and electronics recordings take the Alva Noto / Ryuichi Sakamoto approach, preserving the percussive attack of the keyboard while toying respectfully with the sustain. Even Fennesz succumbed to the Japanese artist’s niceties, his two collaborations disappointing in their lack of critical engagement. New York-based, Iranian born Son of Rose aka Kamran Sadeghi takes a more tactile, almost alchemical approach, manipulating the piano’s strings with various objects and digital processing. ‘All In’ is his fourth album and offers a varied yet coherent statement, teetering on the brink between pleasant ambient sound and abstract noise.

The most obvious referent here is, surprisingly, Taylor Deupree, particularly his fondness for gently shimmering sine tones, but Sadhegi’s more willing to reveal his music’s acoustic origins, albeit obliquely. In ‘Falling Forward’, for instance, the opening moments – all lush pads and heavenly chimes – recall Kompakt Pop Ambient, but cracks soon appear, allowing wood and string to jut out. ‘Movement Transposed’ is more obvious, strummed and reverbed strings resembling a multitracked harp, while ‘Nineteen Sixty Five’ is abrupt, metallic swathes looming, lurching, and scratched. While short at three and a half minutes, the final ‘Fragrant’ is perhaps the most inspired, treated scrapes, bows and pings left to meander, calmly lost, like moments of gagaku.

Joshua Meggitt

at 5:21 PM