Monday, September 7, 2009

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Link to Cyclic Defrost

Various Artists – Kompakt Total 10 (Kompakt/Stomp)

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 05:48 PM PDT

And so Kompakt rolls out the tenth in its series of annual compilations of some of the previous year’s best releases, sprinkled with the odd unreleased rarity. Starting out with what could have been rather tacky – the sound of a tennis game timeshifted into the rhythms of DJ Koze’s ‘40 Love’ – instead turns into something of a manifesto track, at least for disc one of the collection. Bordering on minimal, it grooves and techs its way through 7 minutes of the kind of classy electronica the label has been built on. Disc One generally follows this template – pulsing, minor key techno. It’s the kind of thing that has been the bedrock of the label since its late 90s inception, yet it still sounds fresh and moving. Maybe that’s due to the fact that these types of sounds are no longer ubiquitous as they were in the dance underground 10 years ago, so there is space for them to exist on their own terms, not as part of a trend. And even on the compilation, full 10 minute tracks such as Dirk Leyer’s excellent mix of Kohncke’s ‘(It’s Gonna Be) Alright’ are allowed to snake their way unhurriedly across the plateaus of sound that draw their lineage right back to the Germany of the motorik 70s. Other highlights include Gui Boratto’s ‘No Turning Back’, in a dark, shapeshifting remix by Whignomy and Nicolas Stefan’s slightly rawer, and definitely poppier with processed female vocals, ‘Closer’. The disc could almost have been mixed, such is its continuity.

Disc Two takes a slightly different approach and throws a number of different takes on the electronica blueprint into the mix. With lo-key electro in Kohncke’s ‘Give It To Me Easy’ starting out, things then really head off on tangents. Matias Agyayo offers probably the whole collection’s catchiest moments on ‘Walter Neff’ with handclaps and muted cowbells under a post-punk bass riff and affected vocals. Great fun without ever descending into kitsch. A long lost Supermeyer remix of Gotye’s ‘Hearts A Mess’ offers deep, shuffling dub-tech and is another highlight. Burger/Voigt get ever so slightly out of time arpeggios and percussion to add to the off kilter, piled up layers of synthetic joy in ‘Wand Aus Klang’. Wassermann uses repetitive orchestral samples in a very Villalobos vein to good effect on ‘Berg Und Tal’, undermined only slightly by the not so great church bell sample loop. The whole set finishes off with the strangest of its tracks, Pachanga Boys’ lo-fi wooze and bad spanish vocals in ‘Fiesta Forever’. It’s slightly tacky, but certainly fun, and definitely allowable at the conclusion of a wholly excellent few hours’ worth of music.

Adrian Elmer

Waed Bouhassoun – La Voix de L’ Amour (Institut Du Monde Arabe/ Select Audio Visual)

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 02:05 PM PDT

waed

This is pure unaffected acoustic music from Syrian artist Waed Bouhassoun, who with little more than her oud and gorgeous voice creates an incredible, still feeling of beauty. There are rumours abounding on the internet that she is currently collaborating with Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz project, however this is much more stripped back, austere and tranquil. Typically she weaves this majestic web with her oud/lute, twisting and turning around notes, creating these subtle runs, making time stand on its head with her complex compositions before accompanying herself on vocals. Her voice is remarkable, powerful, soaring above her sparse accompaniment, at times taking on a melodic role. Her songs stem from the Sufi poetry of Ibn Zaydoun, Jalal-Eddine, Rumi, Wallada, Tahar Abou Facha and Mahmoud Bayram al Tounissi, the famous lyricists to Oum Kalthoum and in her mouth the texts become the voice of pure intimacy.

She is part of the new generation of Arabic singers however she draws heavily upon traditions that date back as far as the 13th century. Her approach however is singular, garnering her much respect across the Arab world, regularly playing live and collaborating with master musicians. Yet here on A Voice for Love it’s clear that she’s at her best accompanying herself, creating exotic, evocative, unforgettable music.

Bob Baker Fish

Ap’strophe – Objects Sense Objectes (Etude)

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 02:05 PM PDT

apostrophe

When you think of the zither it’s impossible not to be reminded of Anton Karas’ idiosyncratic and jaunty theme to the Carol Reed’s 1949 thriller The Third Man. Whilst the twang is still present on this curious experimental album, all the music and mischief has been sucked out and we’re left with a rather textural exploration of the instrument itself, sound art style. It’s played by Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga, who plucks, picks, drags, vibrates, even hits her beast, often emphasising a unique fuzzy, buzzing metallic resonance, particularly on the 31 minute track curiously titled ‘6′. She’s joined by Barcelona-based guitarist and experimental musician Ferran Fages, who contributes some spooky electro acoustic inspired guitar, often using e-bows or fans, perhaps even a violin bow.

We’re in a heady, at times atonal, arrhythmic experimental realm for this release where the duo eschew any forms of melody or musicality, where at times you even question whether they are actually playing together. This kind of questioning comes on the first piece, again oddly titled ‘3′, where the duo seem to gently trade notes, one for one, allowing time for the decay of the other before chiming in themselves, a kind of “row row row your boat”, for the avant-garde set. Midway they begin to gradually relax the rules, no longer respecting each others space, finishing the other one’s note – offering added texture. Yet this is only slight and by the end they have returned to their earlier positions. It’s this lack of compromise to listeners sensitivities, to their need for understandable patterns or structures that makes Objects Sense Objectes such a difficult listen. The textures are there, the decays, the silence, and it’s quite gentle and non-explosive, there’s even some really interesting ways in which their respective instruments are pushed into really peculiar previously nonexistent realms, particularly during the droning moments on the previously mentioned ‘6′. Sonically it’s beyond reproach, however conceptually it’ s a very difficult beast in which to find an entry point.

Bob Baker Fish

at 6:05 PM