Saturday, August 15, 2009

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

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Predrag Delibasich – This Season’s Colourful Tones (Heartless Robot Productions)

Posted: 15 Aug 2009 03:52 PM PDT

CDoutside
A seeping through of Eastern European sensibility from Predag Delibasich's Serbian roots permeates this release slicing in folk melodic guitar motifs amongst the heavily beat scented guitar structure. 'Happy Hobo' with warped accented quivering eastern guitar and heavy marching insistence broken, just a touch suggestive of a madness around a corner, as melodies break down into decay. 'Leaves falling over Lisbon' has all the hallmarks of doof fodder translated and mashed through acoustic sensitivities and broken string dreams. 'Through the gardens of st. John's wort' pounds through this concept, bass and snare triumphant with cyclical jangly phrasing mandolin simulacra looping into infinity bringing the joy. 'Serpent bites the young lion', stretches the drum/rim combo with more intricate guitar and a more bombastic version of the martial styled beat. The outro track 'Happy hobo (reprise)' adds record hiss along with the accented warble on the guitar phrase.

All in all it has the charm of fresh and new excitement, a rough and tumble joy that would translate well in a live setting especially with a world music/acoustic/electronic /experimental crowd if there is such a crossover group exists in one venue dimension. However as a release it does seem lacking in the polish and development of ideas, which is in keeping with the realm of the private press domain, a space that allows for rough cut beauty.

Innerversitysound

All Apologies – Nine Stories (Symbolic Interaction)

Posted: 15 Aug 2009 03:47 PM PDT

All Apologies

Tokyo-based downbeat electronic pop duo All Apologies first formed in 2007 when producers Forka and Geskia! (previously known for his solo album ‘Silent 77′ on Japanese label Flau) decided to collaborate together. Two years on, this debut album ‘Nine Stories’ comes self-described as being ‘whisper-vocal and beautiful beats’, and sees the duo fashioning a delicate blend of downbeat pop and leftfield electronics, with glitchy, occasionally jagged digital textures nicely contrasting with a swooning bed of gentle live instrumentation and breathy, treated vocal duets. Opening track ‘Air’ introduces this aesthetic nicely, as glitchy, sizzling electronics navigate a subtle path amidst swooning, blurred-out treated Japanese vocals and gently flowing acoustic guitar textures, before breakbeats begin to increasingly exert a rhythmic presence that calls to mind the likes of Dntel or The Postal Service.

Elsewhere, there’s more than a stray hint of Telefon Tel Aviv’s intricately sculpted hybrids of live instrumentation and contorted digital textures on the understatedly moody ‘White Whale’ as the distant guitars and bass power forward in almost post-rock fashion, while the languid ‘Meteor Stream’ offers up one of this album’s biggest highlights, as Ai from Japanese band RECO contributes sugarsweet chorus vocals to an almost dreamlike backing of handclaps, strummed acoustic guitars and rattling samples. ‘Nine Stories’ certainly represents an extremely impressive debut offering from All Apologies, the added bonus here being the second remix disc, which sees the likes of Maps and Diagrams, Scam Circle and Sabi offering up consistently interesting reworkings ranging from glitchy click and cuts electronics, right to straight ambient / drone soundscapes. Well worth investigation.

at 5:31 PM