From Lance C McGannon Sent Wed, Jun 10th 1998, 04:45
From Lance C McGannon Sent Wed, Jun 10th 1998, 04:45
Took the afternoon off from work to get=20 some reviews done. Expect more soon... . Rei Harakami: unrest cd (sublime) Rei Harakami's self-titled 12" on Sublime was one of my favorite=20 releases of last year. His track on the Pacific State comp and remix=20 on the Flare: Regrip remix album were also memorable, so I had high=20 expectations for this, his first full-length CD - it doesn't disappoint.=20 Eleven tracks in all of beautifully moody, deeply subtle, wonderfully melodic electronica with hints of jazz, funk, and house at sounding=20 like a mixture of Morgan Geist, Daniel Ibbotson Ken Ishii and Max=20 Brennan. My only criticism of this album is that six of the eleven=20 tracks were previously released on Rei's self-titled sublime ep from=20 last year. But aside from that this is a fantastic album that will be one=20 the my tops this year. 8/10 . Bj=F8rn Torske: Nedi Myra 2x12" (Ferox) After several records on Djax as Ismistik and on the Paper label=20 as Those Norwegians, and a 2-track ep on Ferox, Norse tech-house prodigy Bj=F8rn Torske again delivers the goods with this, his first=20 album on Ferox. This album features eight tracks that range from funk-laiden disco-tech (a1 & d1), to superbly jazzy break beats=20 (b1 & b2), to light jazzy electronica (c1 & c2), and straight up tech-house (a2). Comparisons range from Ian O'Brien to Dan Curtin=20 and to Russ Gabriel. Another outstanding release for Ferox and=20 Bj=F8rn. 8/10 . Sensorama: Love 2x12" (Ladomat 2000) The third album from Jorn Elling Wuttke and Roman Flugel,=20 aka Alter Ego, Acid Jesus, and Eight Miles High, amongst others. This one, like many of their previous releases, features a delightful=20 mix of melodic techno and subtle experimental electronica. There=20 are plenty of highlights on this eleven-tracker. A few of them are: the deep chords over minimal clickety percussion and a vocoder- tainted vocals of the a1; the deep bassy minimal techno builder=20 with some unique looped sfx like an odd clap, record pops, and a=20 reverbed doinging of the a3; the speed up and slow down effects=20 switching to a melodic hiphop number with beautiful chord=20 backdrops and spacey synths of the b1; the b2 is a dubby 4/4 track=20 with echoey reverbed sound effects and weird reversed synths; and=20 the very retro-kraftwerkian-sounding electro piece of the c3. From start to finish this is a great adventure in varying styles. This=20 album reminds of somewhat of early Mouse on Mars mixed with=20 the current works of Mike Ink or J Burger. More great music from=20 Roman Flugel & friends. 9/10 . S.A.S.: Averslon 12" (pure plastic) Another new signing to Mark Broom's Pure Plastic label. This=20 one, by s. Goossens & dj Jerohm aka S.A.S., is a three-tracker of trancey abstract techno. The a1 starts with dark trancey synths=20 that build into a light polyrhythmic track with a number of builds and decents. The b1 is a dark minimal techno track with nice chords and percussion but a little too light on the bass. The ep finishes with a harder minimal techno much in the same style=20 as the b1. This is a decent ep but it reminded me too much of=20 the early Waveform Transmissions, X-101 and X-102 records which all sound a little dated today. Pure Plastic have done=20 much better. 5/10 . Ester Brinkmann: totes renen cd (suppose) If you like the Bionaut, The Modernist or Burger Ink you should really check out this new cd. Ester Brinkmann is the new guise of Thomas Brinkmann and german spoken word artist Ester. As you can guess from the artists involved, the styles on this one are minimal techno & electronica with german spoken=20 word over the top. For the most part it's quite entertaining - the techno is top notch and the spoken word with unique. Fans=20 of the material on the Concept, Harvest, and Profan label should check this one out. 7/10 . John Tejada: Outer Circle 12" (Organised Noise) Yet another new Tejada (his 5th in 98) on which he delivers more=20 techno & tech-house this time on the excellent Organised Noise label. The a1 is a deep basic-channel-goes-tech-house track with jazzy pianos and percussion over the top of deep bass and dubby synths. The b1 sounds like a less-dubby remixed version of the a1. The ep closes with a deep techno track which features several intertwined synth lines over deep bass and light jazzy percussion. Another quality record for John Tejada and Organised Noise. And=20 guess what, John has even more records coming out on Ferox and=20 7th City in the next few weeks. Does he ever sleep? 7/10 . Markant #7 12" (Markant) The excellent skam-like/musik aus strom-ish german electronica=20 label Markant with their seventh record. This one features six tracks ranging in styles from light autechre-esque electronica to Jega-like dark crunchy breakbeats to melodic PBOish electronic hip hop. All six tracks are good but none do anything that hasn't been done before. Fans of the aforementioned artists should check this or any of the Markant records out. But hurry, i believe all of them are limited to 200 copies each. 7/10 . Epectir: Infection cd (Epectir Recordings) More dark crunchy breakbeat electronica from by unsigned=20 Chicago artist Tim Niewold aka Epectir. Fans of Scorn,=20 Techno Animal and even Paneca will definitely be into=20 this 7-track cd. Again styles range from midtempo & fast=20 crunchy breakbeats to melodic autechre-esque idm. Two tracks on this release get the dark remix treatment from collegue Usher. His two mixes are my favorite tracks here. All together, another recommended release from Epectir. The=20 only problem is that at this time Epectir is unsigned so you'll=20 have to wait for some proper releases. But any interested labels=20 contact Tim at xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xx.xxx.xxx. Also be sure to catch Epectir playing live on June 27th in Cleveland at the Got Moog? event. 7/10 BTW: Don't forget our Inaudible netcast every Wednesday from 9-11 pm Eastern Standard Time. Hear John C (Bent Crayon)=20 and I spin two hours of the music we speak so highly of... The show will be accessible by visiting http://www.wcsb.org every Wednesday from 9-11 pm EST. The show will be broad- cast in the AudioActive format (which is actually much better=20 than RealAudio). You can download the Audio Active plugin for free at http://www.audioactive.com/player/ During the Inaudible show we will be giving away promo 12"s=20 and cds so yet another reason to tune in. -->-Lance--- p.o. box 450715 westlake, ohio 44145 united states