Boomkat new releases list

*Initial copies come on white vinyl – recordings made by Steven Hess and Sylvain Chauveau completely reworked by Christian Fennesz* Regrouping for a third album under their ‘On’ moniker, Steven Hess and Sylvain Chaveau have created another body of chilling improvised recordings at their Chicago studio. As with previous records the results were passed to a guest musician for rearrangement of perspective and mixing techniques. Following Deathprod’s work on ‘Your Naked Ghost…’, the material for this album was handed to experimental virtuoso Christian Fennesz, who transforms the source sounds into a display of stripped, yet richly textured drone ambience. However, unlike the dense scapes of Helge Sten’s rework, Fennesz deftly treats the sounds with a light and effervescent touch, rendering the inherent crackles and surface disturbances into a gentle topography of blissfully dissipating sonics. The trio of collaborators have developed a working relationship since performing as a trio in 2004, which possibly explains the innately tactile understanding of their material by Fennesz, from the choral dissonance of opener the ‘Inconsolable Polymath’ to the plaintive use of Hess’s slow percussion and muted blue keys in the title track, allowing each element to contract and expand with an intuitively organic evolution, especially on final track ‘The Sound Of White’. This 20 minute closer could be counted among his finest compositions, layering Chaveau’s prepared guitar into drifting glassy harmonics with near subliminal surges in volume drawing the ear to background crackles and tender amp hum for an engrossing uneasy listen.

Succeeding his ‘Wintermusik’ and ‘The Bells’ compositions for solo piano, Nils Frahms takes a wonderful detour into string heavy symphonies and glitch rhythms alongside the estimable talent of Wolf-Ferrari-Ensemble’s Anne Müller. Frahms’s instrument of choice is largely subservient to the strings on much of the album, instead it’s his compositional talents which are in focus, writing for and with Müller, and her profound knowledge of string arrangements. They clearly relish the possibilities of this collaboration, fashioning dramatic, cinematic suites like the pastoral sweep of ‘Because This Must Be’, and the gracefully solemn ‘Let My Key Be C’ and the almost pop-tidy arrative of ‘Long Enough’ with outstanding success. When his keys do come into play they’re entwined with precisely clipped glitch rhythms, as with the quicksilver step of ‘7Fingers’ and the finely tuned pitches of ‘Duktus’, all strongly reminiscent of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto’s ‘Insen’. Again, each of these tracks are elevated through Müller’s strings, whether bursting in with shocking velocities on ‘Journey For Traveller’ or floating in at the crucial moment of Reminds To Teeth’, they’re right at the emotional core of this album, carrying out a highly sophisticated and articulate dialogue with Frahms’s keys. Beautiful music.

*Hugely tipped new album from the wondrous Julian Lynch fusing lo-fi basement aesthetics with elements of Jazz, pop ambience, drones and Casio pop, brought to you by the Olde English Spelling Bee, one of the most inspired and influential labels of the moment* Olde English Spelling Bee continues its near unprecedentedly good run of form with this first official album release from New Jersey’s Julian Lynch, an experimental songwriting talent who’s very much in the ascendance. Lynch seems to operate in the same sort of circles as Ducktails, Real Estate and Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, pursuing a more substantial branch of washed-out pop than many of their lo-fi styled peers. “Mare” incorporates his wide influences gleaned from a very interesting background working for the Smithsonian Folkways and his studies in the field of ethnomusicology. Like so many others, we’d really struggle to find a tag that adequately describes his music, and that’s a brilliant thing. It’s ambient pop, in that gauzy, heartfelt sense of Ducktails (he’s also a member of Matthew Mondanile’s live show and Real Estate-related Alex Bleeker & The Freaks), but really doesn’t stop there, folding in smooth jazz elements from his clarinet, drowsy drones from a harmonium and melodic percussion gleaned from Indian tablas and African shakers. This means that while it errs towards the hypnagogic frame of reference, each element effortlessly seems to have a fluctuating, individual life of its own, while making total sense in his indiepop style. It’s not too often that you hear lo-fi, basement-style aesthetics put to use on such a musically accomplished project as this. Each piece seems to take on its own character, with ‘A Day At The Racetrack’ offering a richly undulating line in clean and atmospherically loaded psych-pop guitars, while ‘Stomper’ adopts a homely, half-asleep analogue synth motif. Elsewhere ‘Ruth My Sister’ delivers an incredibly tight downbeat jazz routine fronted by beautiful reeds, choral vocals and flickering rhodes pianos. ‘Ears’ is another triumphant highlight, and possibly represents a more conventional songwriting style for Lynch – there’s even a full-blown J. Mascis-esque fuzzed up guitar solo, which like everything else on this record is judged to perfection. The warm and muffled production style of ‘Mare’ gives it a very potent sense of atmosphere and ambience, and in a very quiet and gradual way makes its case for being one of the year’s standout albums to date. A huge recommendation. **Features full colour “tip-on” style jacket and mp3 coupon redeemable directly from the label**

*Includes a free CD version inside!* Earlier in 2010 Francois K recorded the Moritz Von Oswald Trio live in performance at New York’s Unsound festival. The results are laid out on a heavyweight gatefold 2LP also featuring photography of original artwork by Cosima von Bonin. For this special live show Carl Craig and Francois K join the trio, contributing modular synth and live effects respectively, on four extended sound & rhythm excursions. They maintain the heavily dubbed and improvised nature of last year’s ‘Vertical Ascent’ throughout, developing pulsing sequences which slink between jazz, techno, dub and krautrock with an unrivalled urgency and intuition. The recording also incorporates environmental sound from the club, which rather than detract from the show, lends a trippy mid ground perception to proceedings. Driven by Sasu Ripatti’s controlled percussive clatter, the ensemble set a deft groove which is duly splayed into fantastical dub shapes by the men on the mixing board, daubing the surface with splashes of Sun-Ra infused cosmic interference and Can style tropical breezes. The effect is acutely psychedelic and dynamically dancefloor orientated, in the most esoteric sense of the phrase. If you’re familiar with their recorded output you’ll be stunned at what they can do in a real-time, live situation. Very highly recommended – and strictly limited to boot.

*Absolutely killer addendum to Autechre’s ‘Oversteps’ album – but for our money this is so so much better* Acting as an addendum to their recent ‘Oversteps’ LP, but actually functioning as an entire album in it’s own right, ‘Move Of Ten’ is Ae’s outlet for their more rhythmically concerned recent productions. That’s not to say that it isn’t melodically and harmonically rich, but in comparison to the largely downtempo and relatively effusive IDM of ‘Oversteps’, this album is more reflective of their crushing acid-tech live sets, driven by an advanced motor of post-everything percussive programming and incredibly dynamic sound design structures. It’s the dance music side of Autechre’s sonic hyperprism coming out to play, showing that they can still keep two steps ahead of whatever games everyone else is on, whilst still retaining that innate sense of B-Boy controlled funk that they imbue into all their finest feats of programming complexity. This is technology in the hands of those who really know how to use it and comes with high recommendations for and from those that know.

M.I.A likes to knock out extremely good, brilliantly screwed up pop albums. She’s done it twice already with ‘Arular’ and ‘Kala’, and she’s about to do it all again with ‘Maya’, probably her brashest, noisIest and most adventurous to date. We’ve already been impressed with the 16-Bit referencing dubstep-conrete of ‘Steppin Up’, and maybe less so ‘Meds And Feds’, but there’s another eight brave and future leaning missions to really get excited about, and some of them are just jaw-droppingly good. It’s probably an unfair comparison to make, but between herself and Lady Gaga it’s easy to see who has reached the top of their game with the most credibility intact. Like the Gaga, she’s obviously surrounded herself with good people, but in M.I.A’s case those people have some interesting musical ideas and good links with the underground, not just a wild wardrobe. So, she’s got Blaqstarr and Rusko alongside longtime spar Diplo to nourish her pop roots with some real unna’ground fertiliser, resulting in tracks like the dub flanged killer ‘It Takes Some Muscle’, the unhinged bashment bubble & squeak of ‘Teqkilla’ or squawking halfstep pop like ‘Space’. With ‘Tell Me Why’ there’s a pointed wink towards the Panda Bear/Animal Collective axis of indie-psyche, only anchored with a booming 808 bass, and there’s no fear that her lyrical style has waned, making that mid-Atlantic enunciation work so much better than Uffie’s snotty style. Basically, she’s cut looser than any of her contemporaries with a well measured mix of exotic global currents and a real heavyweight sound design element that’s futureproofed this set for years to come. Very very good indeed.

Soundway Records presents an extensive and largely exclusive look at Afro Rock And Psychedelia in 1970s Nigeria over a huge 32-track compilation – one of the best compilations from the incredible Soundway stable so far. All of these tracks were recorded by small bands in Nigeria at the same time Fela Kuti was hitting his stride, yet largely eschew his dominant style with an African take on the psyche-rock coming from London and San Francisco, saluting the likes of Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Jefferson Airplane. Like any of the Soundway compilations, there’s so man revelatory moments hidden in here, such as the bassline tripping People Rock Outfit’s ‘Blacky Joe’ (where the hell is that sub sound coming from?!), the frayed wurlitzer keys of The Identicals’ ‘Akwa Kayi Ji Bia Nuwa’, the heavyweight head’s groove of The Action 13’s Active Action’ and the churning motorik bassline and drum tumble of The Funkees’ ridiculous ‘Breathrough’ (DJs and breaks diggers, this is deadly!). This is one serious muther of a compilation for all the Afro and psyche fiends, do not sleep on this!

Over the last 12 months Terror Danjah has received some long overdue credit for his role in preparing the ground for younguns like Joker, Swindle and Gemmy. The massive ‘Gremlinz’ retrospective and more recent singles on Hyperdub and Butterz played a big hand in his reappraisal, opening up hard-to-come by music to an army of nu-ears. ‘Powergrid’ is affirmation, if it were needed, that’s he’s still here and leading the game by experience, sounding off eight crucial hybrids that “swallow r’n’b and dubstep into Terror’s self made matrix. From the prowling marimba and halfstep of ‘Space Traveller’ to the ruggedly synched swing of ‘Menace’, or from the dynamic starburst synths of ‘Twisted’ to the twitchy ‘ardckore surge of ‘Power Grid’  this is some of the most deadly UK dance music in circulation right now. Heavyweight!

Together for the first time since 1998, and on Moodymann’s Mahogani Musiclabel no less, Sherard Ingram, Anthony Shakir, Carl Craig and Kenny Dixon Jr return with a new Urban Tribe album. In recent years the Tribe’s manoeuvres have been dutifully handled by Ingram aka DJ Stingray, heading his project down the cyberjit alleys of yo’ mind, but now reunited, the rabble have roused twelve tracks of sheer Detroit excellence, clearly reflecting the melancholy mood and style of their city. It’s unnecessary to try and pick out who did what and where; some tracks have the distinct traits of their maker, and some sound like composite efforts, but we can assure you that each has been selected for their quality over owt else. They range from soul burnt beatdown to slow and industrial technoid darkness via propulsive abstract booty and back again, making brilliant use of the combined talent involved. Even down to the fractal artwork, this feels and sounds like a special project that demands the attentions of any self respecting 313 fiend. Highly Recommended.

Another sublime transmission from the Olde English Spelling Bee label, Pigeons is the husband/wife psyche-pop/folk project of Wednesday Knudsen and Clark Griffin. Coming from a background featuring in Seattle’s The Sea Donkeys collective – who also included Sublime Frequencies main man Hisham Mayet – they’ve moved from releasing cassettes and lathe cuts of free jazz and noise, to make blissfully pastoral folk songs from their home in Paris. If that all sounds like a bit of a hippyfreak fairytale, this album will open your eyes. It features excellent contributions from revered guitarist Carter Thornton (Enos Slaughter, Gnaw, Zashiki Warashi), and Jason Meagher of No-Neck Blues Band, who alternate between lucid acoustic folk strums and more coarsely textured psyche styles, neatly embellishing Knudsen’s pure vocal tone. ‘Si Faustine’ is in possession of some truly gorgeous songs which lovers of Women & Children, Karen Dalton or Julian Lynch should fall for – very highly recommended. *LP is housed in full colour tip-on style jacket and includes free mp3 coupon redeemable from the label*

After 10 years of impressive releases for Offshore, Good Looking and Covert Operations, ASC drops his new album on Instra:mental’s excellent Nonplus Records. With ‘Nothing Is Certain’ he’s created a defining moment for the Autonomic canon, focussed on glowing, far-eastern electro-referencing melodies and agile modern tech-step programming. ‘Matter Of Time’ sets his agenda with exceptional production values before swinging into the lush but fractured minimalism of ‘Opus’ and taking a moment for reflection on the beatless ‘Conversations’. ‘Microsia’ and ‘The Depths’ are tricker half-timed beat experiments and there’s even a stab at slow swung electro-house in ‘Textura’. Back in 180bpm mode ‘Losing You’ and ‘The Ubiquity Incident’ shift back into steppers gear with impressively widescreen results. ASC is in sophisticated form and should be checked by any fans of DBridge, Instra:mental, Sabre etc. Recommended.

The sixth and penultimate edition in Sub Rosa’s ongoing assembly of crucial noise and electronic music looks at the period 1957-2010. So far the series has been duly noted for its excavation and reappraisal of lesser known works by important artists and vol. 6 is no different, presenting 26 exclusive and original compositions including the work of Tzvi Avni, Joseph Nechvatal, and Kohei Gomi/Pain Jerk among better known titans of the avant garde such as Stephen O’Malley, Dick Raaymakers, John Weise and Z’ev. We enter disc one to the thrilling electroacoustic composition ‘Mi Vida’ by Prix Ars Electronica award winner, Israel Martinez, exploring the visceral narrative of a car ride which ends in a crash. Ata Ebtekar presents an original commission in ‘Turquoise Gas in Ice’, a complex piece of electroacoustic composition playing Persian classical scales on acoustic instruments which are then run through a modular synthesizer to create dazzling abstract harmonics. From La Monte Young’s former archivist Joseph Nechvatal, ‘Ego Masher’ is another revelation, offering a vivid Cageian collage which undoubtedly reminds us of James Ferraro’s recent exploits, while on ‘Trautonium Jetztzeit #4’ Oliver Strummer + Liesl Ujvary use the same machine that created the sound of birds in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic to shape an acrid noisescape and the work of the hugely influential Henry Cowell is represented in ‘The Banshee’, a 2’30 summoning of dynamic electronic ghosts. The second disc starts with the drum practices of Z’ev and follows through Daniel Menche’s drones and a intense noise attack from John Weise. The Pain Barrier’s ‘Virus’ offers a blackened chunk of speedcore gabber, thematically linked with Julie Rousse’s ‘Flesh Barbie Techno Fuck’ glitchcore, and followed with Bird Palace & Cristian Vogel’s micro-to-meta expansion of sound fragments in ‘PHing’. One of the oldest recordings is Else Marie Pade’s ‘Syv Cirkler’ from 1958, distinctly reminding of Daphne Oram’s ethereal experiments and finding similarities in the high frequencies tones of Stephen O’Malley’s ‘Dolmens & Lighthouses’ but also sharp contrasts in his use of ultra low subbass registers. This historically ripe collection of sound warrants your attention without delay.

Ever since he formed the Red House Painters over 20 years ago Mark Kozelek has been revered by musicians and critics alike as one of the most distinctive songwriters and voices in contemporary music. This fourth album under the Sun Kil Moon moniker is one of his most spartan and affecting yet, with Kozelek accompanied by his own beautifully rendered Spanish guitar throughout. The album opens with “Alesund” and an extended intro reminiscent of the sublime classical appropriations used by Nikos Mamangakis on his work for the Heimat scores. When Kozelek’s voice finally appears it delivers the same emotional impact that’s been unmistakably his own ever since ‘Down Colorful Hill’ was released in 1992 – the effect should be soothing but Kozelek packs so much introspective weight into every word that you can’t help but sink into a kind of bittersweet sadness almost immediately. The next hour followers a similar trajectory, but Kozelek keeps the emotional tension taught right to the end, a trick he’s pulled off pretty much with every record he’s been associated with. Despite listening to so many of his imitators over the years, it’s a conceit that no other songwriter seems able to pull off as convincingly, at least not for us. A beautiful album – highly recommended to seasoned followers and newcomers alike.

Ramadanman continues to blaze a trail through 2010 with a highly anticipated drop for Loefah’s Swamp 81 crew. Working with a similar palette of 808-driven beats as Addison Groove or Girl Unit, he references Chicago juke and Dutch bubbling in ‘Fall Short’, arranging economical and hugely effective patterns that land outside the zones of dubstep and Funky, yet complement them beautifully. With the flipside joint ‘Work Them’ he also nods to the similarities between B-More and UK Hardcore, twisting out rumbunctious breakbeats and flashing stabs that have been sending crowds loopy in the hands of Kode 9, Bok Bok and Ben UFO recently. The quality and effectiveness of these tracks simply speak for themselves. This is a no brainer – Essential purchase.

*Debut release on Alex Nut’s new label: Ho Tep!* Throwing Snow’s debut ‘Un Vingt’ is the 1st drop on Alex Nut’s promising new label, Ho Tep. The A-side is a very canny blend of broken dubstep and more psyched-out textures, perhaps best described as the mid-way point between older Martyn releases (before he went house) and Shackleton (er… before he went house too!). However, there is a unquantifiable element to this track that makes it stand out, whether it’s the chord progressions or the tucked drums we’re not sure, but it’s impressive either way. On the flipside, it’d be fair to put ‘Cronos’ with the wonkier, or more progressive dubstep brigade, along with the likes of Floating Points and Illum Sphere, but again, there’s a natural kink and cosmic inclination that puts this fella out on his own limb. Really strong debut, Recommended!

Getting the Olde English Spelling Bee singles club underway, New Jersey band Big Troubles drop four new songs, including an alternate rendition of the EP’s title track which is due to appear on their forthcoming album, Worry in the coming weeks. Pleasingly, ‘Bad People’ sounds a lot like it was probably recorded in the same room pictured on the sleeve, maybe even using some of the stuff seen in the photo (though possibly not the Nerf bow & arrow). As bedroom rock & roll goes this is pretty raw, piling on nasty wafers of guitar fuzz while the vocals sail off into a Jesus And Mary Chain-induced stupor. ‘Grey Dayz’ is probably the finest track, mumbling through yet more shadowy, tuned-out vocals while spectral rockabilly guitars float through the song like the ghost of Chris Isaak. Awesome.

**Part 1** Acting as an addendum to their recent ‘Oversteps’ LP, but actually functioning as an entire album in it’s own right, ‘Move Of Ten’ is Ae’s outlet for their more rhythmically concerned recent productions. This is part 1 of the vinyl version, bearing four tracks that for our money are easily the finest we’ve heard from Ae for some time. While the recent ‘Oversteps’ was a display of complex melodic IDM functions, these tracks are concentrated on the groove, in that innately cybertronik B-Boy style that’s written through their best beats. ‘Etchogon-s’ starts the set with a spiky hardsteppers arrangement laced with convulsive drum protrusions to get you in a crooked wriggle. ‘Y7’ follows this into a wormhole of psilocybic acid patterns textured like finely crushed glass rubbed on the cochlea and driven by a gracefully padded 4/4 – its probably the most AFX sounding track we’ve heard from Autechre – and an absolute warehouse killer. ‘Pce Freeze 2.8i’ on the other hand works a boulder-bass heavy hiphop groove with barren atmospherics and striking digital implosions, and then ‘Rew1’ spews gurgling acid dissonance into the circuitry of a malfunctioning hiphop bounce groove. Highly limited copies – very very good indeed.

**Part 2** Acting as an addendum to their recent ‘Oversteps’ LP, but actually functioning as an entire album in it’s own right, ‘Move Of Ten’ is Ae’s outlet for their more rhythmically concerned recent productions. This is part 2 of the vinyl version, holding six tracks from the CD edition. While the recent ‘Oversteps’ was a display of complex melodic IDM functions, these tracks are concentrated on the groove, in that innately cybertronik B-Boy style that’s written through their best beats. In ‘Nth Dafusederb’ they’re on a crushed jack-hop slide, nodding to Ultramag’s style hiphop breaks but heading the opposite direction with vast, rolling sonoramics and fluttering BoC style melodies embedded within. The title of ‘Iris Was A Pupil’ alone gives us shivers, but the unstable states of plastic synth and exquisite strings are sure to effect those nerves reserved for Ae emotions. ‘M62’ is the most DJ-friendly of the lot, if that matters. Working with a relatively linear 4/4 pattern they layer gently rolling harmonics into a lushly reflective composition that’s coincidentally the closest they ever come o sounding like AFX. ‘Ylm0’ is another pause for thought, creating a pool of eddying BoC-style ambience and delicate percussive melodies before ‘Cep Puiqmx’ returns to the darkside of tumultuous harmonic drama and hyperkinetic digi-rhythms. Highly limited copies – Recommended!

Extremely limited copies of Aardvarck and Jared Wilson’s heavy Skudge remixes. You really need to know that Aardvarck plays a blinder here, screwing the drive of ‘Convolution’ with his special touch until it pivots, ricochets and romps across the groove with a truly tech-house movement. To be totally honest, Jared Wilson’s mix is nothing special, giving ‘Overture’ a bucking acid overhaul, but the A-side is simply one of those tracks that just owns it. Killer twelve.

Roska drops the highly sought-after ‘Squark’ backed with the restless ‘Tomorrow Is Today’. It’s really all about the minimal madness of ‘Squark’ right here, building a stone cold swagger riddim from carnival whistles, cartoonish avian interjections and the all important kicks and snares synched for the loose and funky swingers. ‘Tomorrow Is Today’ heats up a sticky post-garage riddim with insistent strings, cyber-strafing synths and an affective bass surge while ‘Hey Cutie’ crosses into electro-Funky territory and the digital exclusive ‘I Like You’ features Jamie George on a chunky late night house tool. ‘Squark’ is big!