These Are Powers | Life Of Birds

March 4th, 2009 Stu

The fact that 99.99% of the world’s population does not live in Brooklyn cuts both ways. Fortunately, we manage to avoid Dan Humphrey mumbling faux-etry on street corners whilst gazing longingly at the Upper East Side, but sadly we miss things like These Are Powers.

Their new album ‘All Aboard Future’ (released on Dead Oceans) transcends any genre identification that I can call to mind. If bags of bones and flesh marked Liars, Gang Gang Dance, Comanechi, Black Dice, Throbbing Gristle and PiL were thrown on the operating table and grafted together using some blunt electronics, the resultant Frankenstein would soon be found in the corner jamming rhythms for the next These Are Powers record. The band call it “ghost punk”, I call it an addictive, tribal goo. Whatever powers they actually claim to have, I swear that some primordial beast is at work amidst this artful mess.

In addition to these tracks ripped from the belly of the album, the trio – which features ex-Liars bassist Pat Noecker – have also curated a podcast at Urb, featuring Eliot Lipp, Salem, Mahjongg, Arp, Telepathe and other kindred spirits.

These Are Powers – Life Of Birds | mp3

Bonus: These Are Powers – Adam’s Turtle | mp3

These Are Powers – Life of Birds | Video:

These Are Powers – Life of Birds from Jon Dobrowolski on Vimeo.

img | mercuryvapour

Tags: thesearepowers, u.s.

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Run Riot Records | Gouseion, Atermis Jackson, Mutamassik, YSLE

March 4th, 2009 Stu

While scratching around the interweb, seeking out anything new from Egypt-via-NYC producer Miss Mutamassik, I was led by the ear to Run Riot Records – home of Mutamassik’s new ‘Commo’ EP. If you’re like me (in which case, may your God help you), there’s nothing we cherish more than not only finding a deep repository of new music, but discovering that it is all of an absolute, five star variety. I feel it now something of a crime that artists such as YSLE, Kitimat, Landless Farm and Gouseion had passed me by entirely over the last 12 months.

And rather than have to choose one of these stunningly handsome new kids on the block, I’ve opted to share the whole tribe with you – ranging from the dragging, wonky electro of Gouseion’s ‘Caps13′ to Artemis Jackson’s booty punk rock, and from Mutamassik’s (wo)manhandling of Middle Eastern paradigms to YSLE’s bleep’n'crunch gambol into the local ‘Radish Patch’. Appetite whet, I’ll race you to the Run Riot candy store to spend the rest of our pocket money.

Gouseion – Caps13 | mp3

Artemis Jackson – Asps and Adders | mp3

Mutamassik – 5×8 Cell | mp3

YSLE – Radish Patch | mp3

img | marianone

Tags: artemisjackson, gouseion, mutamassik, runriotrecords, u.s., ysle

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Lloop | Lei-Tzu

March 1st, 2009 Stu

As one third of Argriculture Records notional ’supergroup’ WeTM, Rich Panciera joined DJ Olive and Once 11 in not only crafting three fine albums in their own right, but also acting as top shelf suppliers of premium ‘illbient’. However, it was in his own one-man disguise, Lloop, that Panciera dropped the sampler-friendly ‘Bulbb’s’ in 1994, and thus chiselled a small hole for himself in the Story of Contemporary Music. The quasi-mixtape excursion was not only a fractured tale of NYC (with field recordings ripped from city streets), but to this day remains a renowned slice of the nascent illbient sound.

It’s taken him fifteen years to record the follow-up Lloops release, and thankfully there’s no notion of any retread here. As the story opens on ‘60 Hertz’, it’s clear that Panciera has embraced the bassline – not strictly forgoing the sense of infinite space on ‘Bulbbs’, rather tethering that echo chamber to both dubstep and ragga rhythms and to organic instrumentation in both fight and flight modes. As a preview, ‘Lei-Tzu’ (below) offers a mesmerising two-step journey into Middle-Eastern territory, exhibiting a nod to Filastine as a sonic brother in arms.

‘60 Hertz’ is out now on The Agriculture, available digitally via Boomkat – check The Agriculture blog at postambient.blogspot.com

Lloop – Lei-Tzu | mp3

img | Spookygonk

Tags: lloop, theagriculture, u.s., wetm

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Prefuse 73 | Preparation’s Kids Choir

March 1st, 2009 Stu

And thus a new Prefuse album was born. From the mind of the prolific Guillermo Scott Herren comes another superior exercise in beat physics, once again pushing himself out of the cocoon of the last album sessions, gorging and filtering all that’s new and blending that into his own individual timeline. It’s for tracks like this that the Oxford English Dictionary will soon come to include ‘prefusian’ in their mighty tome.

In this episode, Herren weaves an unrecognisable and somewhat wonky vocal into a multi-layered slice of midtempo sunshine – at just over 2.5 minutes, it’s the perfect soundtack for nipping quickly out to the shops to grab some suncream and a six-pack. Not so much a road trip, as a swift excursion.

The full-length record, the 29-track ‘Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian’, lands planetside on April 14 via Warp, flaunting track titles such as ‘Periodic Measurements of Infrequent Frowns’, ‘Gaslamp Killer Feedback Text’ and ‘Whipcream Eyepatch’. In the words of the great Stan Lee, ’nuff said.

Prefuse 73 – Preparation’s Kids Choir | mp3

img | libraryman

Tags: guillermoscottherren, prefuse73, u.s., warprecords

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