Cyclic Defrost Magazine |  |
- DJ T. – The Inner Jukebox (Get Physical)
- Sleeping Me – Cradlesongs (Hidden Shoals Recordings)
- Damian Lazarus – Smoke The Monster Out (Get Physical/Inertia)
- Extended Playlist 130709 – www.2ser.com 107.3FM
| DJ T. – The Inner Jukebox (Get Physical) Posted: 14 Jul 2009 03:34 PM PDT
It’s a decidedly sparse affair. Second track, Dis sets the stage the for the remainder of the album, with beats and meticulously edited vocal samples taking center stage, while the bass-line and hook seem almost an afterthought. Only the title track, and Lit From Within stray from this formula. Both drop the kick drum all together and let some atmosphere appear for brief interludes. This is a clinical photocopy of house music. It takes the template and reproduces it beat-for-beat, but neglects to inject any of the soul, feeling, and dance-floor drama of the classics. Clinical house music for the minimal kids. Ben Askins No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. |
| Sleeping Me – Cradlesongs (Hidden Shoals Recordings) Posted: 14 Jul 2009 02:46 PM PDT
‘Solitude’, ‘beauty’, ‘distance’, ‘disappointment’, ‘epic’, ‘melancholy’, ‘bittersweet’ are some of the words used by the bio to describe the sounds of Cradlesongs, the debut album by Californian Clayton McEvoy. His home state is often synonymous with music as pæan to sun and water, and this music definitely evokes elements of that. The big difference is that Sleeping Me is more interested in the deserted beaches of the winter months, when sand and water and light stretch on endlessly, uninterrupted by the clamour of people, the repetition of basic sounds of water and wind providing a context for solitude. There is a subtle notion of the concept album – starting and finishing with tracks titled ‘Empty Cradle’ and ‘The Rattle In Our Throats’ indicate fairly clearly the arc of time and human isolation. In technical terms, the music is quite simple. Electric guitar filigrees are bathed in a wash of treble heavy reverb, building layers of high harmonics. Subtle synth patches sometimes underscore the mood. Chord patterns never resolve but float in a Satie-an melancholy. There is a consistency to the timbre across the entire album which helps build the mood but is also its main weakness. Without a strong bottom end, the tracks are never grounded but float overhead. This could be the point, but the insistency of that top-end reverb sometimes becomes piercing, alienating the listener rather than enveloping them. And the anonymity of each track as the album moves from one to the next (but without the sheer driving cocoon of sound built in longform drone) while again creating mood, makes engagement a struggle. Instead of feeling consumed by the music, which I’m certain I was supposed to be, the sounds began to feel distant or, even worse, become slightly grating background noise. McEvoy goes someway to overcoming these issues in a few tracks mid-album – ‘Egdon Heath’, ‘Pride And Fall’ and ‘Here In The North’ add some subtle variety in timbre and structure but are also, tellingly, the albums three briefest tracks. I found Cradlesongs a slightly frustrating album. It’s basic idea and method are attractive and certainly fall within the successful parameters other contemporary shoegazers have explored, but that single idea doesn’t feel to be of enough substance to maintain interest for 48 minutes. Sleeping Me achieves his stated goals, but probably would have done so more successfully across an EP half the length of this. Adrian Elmer No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. |
| Damian Lazarus – Smoke The Monster Out (Get Physical/Inertia) Posted: 14 Jul 2009 02:45 PM PDT
“Let’s bring this moment alive”, Damian Lazarus swoons over a lullaby piano and understated Beatlesque orchestration during the early section of ‘Moment’. The 3/4 jauntiness then turns darker, before the timing switches to a pulsing 4/4 minimalism. In a 9 minute exploration of sweet emotion, dark and light timbres and pop melodicism, Lazarus lays the foundation for Smoke The Monster Out and explores them for the remaining 40 minutes. Sometimes it comes off a bit lame. ‘Memory Box’ is an otherwise nice shuffling electro hampered by silly industrial style vocal techniques. ‘King Of Fools’ is 45 throwaway seconds that could have been done without. And ‘Bloop Bleep’ is a proper comedy track made of big band jazz samples with electronic trimmings, all of which is actually quite good, but seems rather incongruous in the context of this particular album. Fortunately, the bulk of the album steers clearer of affectation and is much more successful. Guest female vocalists play a big part in the sound of the successful bulk of the album, with voices swinging from blues siren to little girl lost and all points between. I had originally thought it was the work of a single singer. For example, in ‘Come And Play’ duetting with herself to great effect or on ‘Spinnin’, playing Martine to Lazarus’ Tricky styled production. Then, a little research pointed out the fact that the female vocals are supplied by twin sisters, Miriam and Johanna Berhan, who are Sweden’s Taxi Taxi. This explains the intertwining beauty of the vocals and sent me back to listen even more closely. Lazarus himself sounds much better when singing in his cracked-indie warble such as the disco-tinged ‘Neverending’ or the truly uplifting album closer, ‘After Rave Delight’. And then there are the instrumental tracks such as the moodshifting ‘Lullabies’ or the string laden interlude of ‘Cold Lizards’, which stand well on their own as production displays. There’s much to like about Smoke The Monster Out. Lazarus flips around genres, holding them all together with a consistent electronic collection of timbres. When he slips into humour, he comes out sounding much poorer but, aside from these few astray moments, is able to deliver a worthwhile album. Adrian Elmer No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. |
| Extended Playlist 130709 – www.2ser.com 107.3FM Posted: 13 Jul 2009 07:02 PM PDT ————————- Monday 20 July 09 More themes at your leisure, please, to extendedplay@2ser.com . Mike Ink – Polka Trax 2 Devo – S.I.B. (Swelling Itching Brain) Yello – Heavy Whispers Sparks – Beat The Clock Voodoo Child – Dog Heaven (Lopez Mix) The Young Gods – L’amourir Swell Maps – The Helicopter Spies Mark Barrage – Just Desserts Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (Dam-Funk Remix) B(if)tek – Read To Me (The Emergency’s Bookclub Mix) Stereogamous – Bill Of Gay Rights Cocteau Twins – Shallow Then Halo Eyeless in Gaza – Three Kittens Martyn Bates – Mirrored In Me Bibio – Dwrcan Ata Ebtekar and the Iranian Orchestra for New Music – Tonus Do you like our playlists? No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. |
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