Artist
: THE BOWLING GREEN
Title
: FABRICATIONS
Label
: SPIKY RECORDS
Format
: CD
'Fabrications'
is The Bowling Greens 2nd full-length album and the first for London's Spiky
Records, also home to leftfield beat mutators, Slang, ROC and The Mellowtrons.
Micko Westmoreland a.k.a The Bowling Green, fuses an
eclectic funk-laden electronic style with real instrumentation from such luminaries
as Jean Jacques Brunel (ex - Stranglers) and top brass man, and collaborator
with the stars, Terry Edwards.
Several tracks from Fabrications appear on the soundtrack
to independent porn-scene flick 'The Fluffer' (featuring Debbie Harry), so
expect a certain built-in sleaze factor amongst the digital squeaks and lush
arrangements.
Fusing
leftfield breaks and machine funk, spoken word interludes with some warped
80s reference points - the cheese factor is kept to a respectable minimum.
Fabrications offers a decidedly human take on electronica.
Stand out tracks include the electro-pop of 'Stereo Love' with Jayne Wayne
on vocal duties, also 'Hot Potootie' featuring Mr Edwards trumpet and 'Alcatrash'
with its skittering ska rhythms which move off into metal dub overload territory.
Clive
Subculture
Artist : ELECTROSLIDE
Title :
NEAR LIFE
EXPERIENCE
Label
: BACK ROOM BEATS
Format
: CD
An
album with a laid-back, summer feel to it. Electroslide are two Parisian-based
musicians, Frank Bolaers who is a guitarist with a rock background and who
played on the DJ Food series for Ninja Tunes, and Brice Berard who has a techno
and DJ background. They began working together to blend rock and dance, a
thing tried many times before - specially by fading rock bands attempting
to boost sales. They have not fallen into the trap of many of those bands
in trying to make this cross-over obvious.
This,
their second album, is influenced by funk, jazz, hip-hop, break beats, ambient
and dub to bring together a whole range of warm, feelgood sounds that should
get you smiling. Every so often a sample is slipped in that triggers the memory,
but never too obviously.
UD
Artist
: TOSCA
Title :
DIFFERENT TASTES OF HONEY
Label
: G- STONE
Format
: CD / LP
A
remix project with taste and a twist, this collection consists of 13 versions
of one tune - 'Honey' from Tosca's 'Suzuki' album - revamped and revoiced
by producers including Only Child, Faze Action, Funky Lowlives and Organic
Audio.
The
angles are as varied as you'd expect, with Shelter Avenue and Azoia at one
extreme adding live instrumental performances and the sound of Lisbon, Supatone
at the other serving up two tasty slices of atmospheric electronic dub.
More
surprising is the way the whole thing hangs together as a set, with the different
styles blending sweetly together and Anna Clementi's original vocal slipping
in and out of the mix like a voice from a recurring dream.
OM
Artist
: BOARDS
OF CANADA
Title : GEOGADDI
Label
: WARP
Format
: CD / LP?
It's
taken the enigmatic Boards nearly four years to follow the acclaimed and influential
'Music Has The Right To Children', and the end result holds few surprises.
The
design is minimal but powerful, the tune titles run suitably scared of meaning
(more Cocteau Twins anyone?) and there are plenty of their trademark low-key
vocal samples and off-centre-vinyl style wobble effects.
Clocking
in at 66 minutes and 23 tracks, 'Geogaddi' mixes brief atmospheric noodlings
with fully-formed chillout epics to create a constantly shifting but consistent
soundscape.
Highlights
are the opening 'Ready Let's Go' and the heartmelting '1969', featuring the
distinctive vocoder treatment used on the classic 'In a Beautiful Place Out
In The Country' (revisited briefly here on 'Sunshine Recorder'). So nothing
groundbreaking here but when the ground is as well-covered as this it probably
just don't need fixing.
OM
Artist
: Mr Night & Mr Day
Title
: This Is It
Label
: Liberated Astronaught
Format
: CD
These brothers in rhythm
are better known as the Knights of the Occasional table , responsible for
some of the late 90’s catchiest underground and in many cases underrated ambient
dance grooves. Championed by the sadly defunct Mega Dog midi-circus as well
as Megatripolis and The Big Chill. Their prolific releases transferred onto
the stage with their own midi shows and showcases. Described as anything from
eclectic to trance to English new wave folk they certainly fought hard to
defy any musical stereotyping .They have thus far released four albums from
the seminal "Knees up Mother Earth" to their latest take on English folk music’s
"John Barleycorn".
The
slimmed down Knights 2002 version of Mr. Knight and Mr. Day AKA Nygel Packett
and Steve Radford has the duo pursuing their own musical frontiers . Track
one 'Mountain High' is a beautiful harmonising house tune that floats along
blissfully with an afrocentric chant as the hook. 'Bughunt Insect Identification
Desk ( ! ) is an ambient dreamscape that should have every orb fan pricking
up their ears as the narrator recalls his insect dreams. 'Electra Magnet'
starts with a plea for global giving to save the planet as we know it and
again heads into a blissed out instrumental workout. With layers of twinkling
Knights like synths floating in and out. 'Plate O' Shrimps' with it's beautiful
Piano and Sitar intro lollops into an idyllic funky drummer complete with
sax solo. 'Feed the Pig' is funky assed House with flangers and phasers firing
for a dance floor hoe down. 'Packet of Chaos' Something for the weekend sir?
Liquidity itself as the track begins with what sounds like a Tibetan singing
bowl.
The overall feel of
the album is chilled out ambient dance grooves that should appeal to all musical
magpies everywhere. "Time is not money, it is Space" and this album is well
wedged up.
Smart
Monkey
Artist
: Various
Title : Stone
Label : Play
Format : CD
'Stone' is
a truly international affair combining the creative forces of contemporary
UK, US, Swedish and Japanese digital dance and ambient pioneers, showcasing
a selection of previously unreleased tracks.
Artists
include the mighty
Depth Charge opening the proceedings with the moody
yet filmic 'Akira'. Quiro Pro's 'Vertical flight'
combines a jazz infused hip-hop drum loop with sonic freakery and aural
resonance. Quante Jubila's 'Resurrection Shuffle'
has an Isley Brothers old school funk rhythm, riding a digital shuffling
groove.
Thievery Corporation's
'Guide for I and I' is a lush rasta tinged future dub track destined for
a chillout room near you and best served horizontal alongside Subculture
Soundsystems' gravity free 'Moonbass'. Elsewhere producer
/ DJ Takayuki Shiraishi - a long time resident
of the Japanese club scene provides 'Steel-Blue', a thorough electro-dub
workout where Tubby and Kraftwerk collide.
Top Tune
: The Mighty Quark - 'Keep That Money for us'
Robotic bliss from the Swedish maestro's Mark O'Sullivan
and Walter Backlin.
Runner Up : Maya -
'Crazy Clocks'
Deep space ambient funk
Smart Monkey
Play
Label Artist Profiles
Play Label Profiled
Artist : Osymyso
Title : Welcome To
The Palindrome
Label : Sprawl Imprint
Format : CD
'It's Mark Nicholson'...
and he hopes 'you like the music we're using on this record'. Quite whose
music is being used is a job for the trainspotters out there. There's
also a fair proportion of television presenters, comedians & B-movie actors,
who appear on vocal duties. In the cut-up melange of contemporary sample
culture its currently a free for - all as to who can disorientate their
audience the most. Live Osymyso chops through numerous genres, supplementing
Hawaiian guitar, funk, lo-fi electro, swingbeat, with large amounts of
'cheesy' listening and perhaps most importantly an irreverent, Monty Pythonesque
sense of humour.
Surprisingly, for music with a large 'novelty' content, 'Welcome to
The Palindrome' stands up well to repeated listens - and of course,
there will always be a stranger somewhere, yet to be introduced to the
delights of such 'palindromic' titles as 'A dog! a panic in a pagoda'
and 'God, a red nugget! a fat egg under a dog'.
Osymyso may
be bizarre and fairly out there, but manages to be accessible through
the sheer volume of musical references & soundbites welded together
in a distinctly cantankerous style. Also given the horrendously straight
- jacketed genre fixation that has encouraged lot of electronic(a) musicians
& the majority of the dance scene to disappear up their collective arses,
its refreshing to hear people like Mark Nicholson flouting convention
& giving you something to smile about.
Clive Subculture
Artist : Various
Title : Good
People
Label : Good
People
Format : CD
Mark
Sullivan's ventures into Scandinavian electronica and dub collision
has already been spotted by the Free Radical Sounds crew when we previously
interviewed him about his project "The Mighty Quark." More recently
he has collaborated on the electronic dub-fusionist "Play" label with
his remixes alongside Takayuki Shiraishi.
The latest release in our sweaty mitts is his collaboration on the
Swedish club-dub scene bought to us through the creative channelling
of label's Flaura and Fauna ,"King Syndrome Sounds," and "Robust ".
13 tracks of deep dubalicious electronica with the bass most definitely
to the fore. There are a number of artists featured including the
Mighty Quark, Slummer, Pave, Bacuzzi, Infinite K, Franck, NYA Sampan
and J. Harding. All dub rollers with a charismatic industrial edge
and predominantly female vocals. all essential playout or stay at
home and bliss out tunes.
Top
Tune - "Promise You."- Pave.
A deep fretless bass workout and haunting vocal
by Anna Maria Wenalainen.
Runner-up.
Theme from the Beautiful People-The Mighty Quark
A digital one drop and stabbing keyboard workout.
Smart
Monkey
Artist : Takayuki Shiraishi / The Mighty Quark
Title
: Steel Blue / Keep That Money for Us
Label
: Play
Format
: 12"
This the first twelve inch vinyl release form Japans finest Electronica
label ‘Play’ teams up Stockholm based electro dubsters The Mighty
Quark with internationally acclaimed producer Takayuki Shiraishi for
a shared / remix soundclash EP
Shiraishi’s
original mix of his ‘Steel Blue’ track, lifted from the ‘Play’ labels
ultra cool ‘Stone’ compilation album, is a floor friendly roller
with bubbling acid bass and skiptastical beats. The Mighty Quarks
remix is an fx laden, stripped down affair. Adding a minimal funk
b - line and home grown ‘Mighty quark’ samples.
The
AA side brings ‘The Mighty Quark’ to the fore for their original
mix of ‘Keep That Money for Us’, also lifted from ‘Stone’. A Balearic
ideal, down tempo piece featuring acoustic guitar lines and a mellow
skank vibe. Shiraishi’s cash prize remix fattens the beat with some
analogue riddims, adds a slide bass refrain and new Balearic slanted
acoustic guitar line. All together a perfect meeting of minds and
a great debut release from this fledgling label. Plus with another
twelve on the way and news coming through of the forthcoming ‘Scissors’
Compilation Play looks a label that’s going from strength to strength.
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Artist : Dub Squad
Title
: Enemy Or Friend?
Label
: NS-COM (NSCOM CD 004)
Format
: CD
Neither purely a dub band, nor an electronic act, Dub Squad inhabit
that strange middle ground where musicianship & modern technology
collide.
Heavy subsonic basslines, a variety of funk fuelled rhythms &
a good dose of weirded out effects define the Dub Squad sound.
Breakbeat,
drum n bass and electro beats are all present in equal measure
on 'Enemy Or Friend'. The tune 'Madness' contains some particularly
catchy sampled vocal snippets which grab the attention & refuse
to let go. Imagine a dubbed out Japanese version of Underworld
& you're kind of there.
Top Track: A Giant In The Dome & Enemy Or Friend?
Runner Up: Madness ( Tuff )
Artist
: Hibenobu Ito
Title
: Bedroom In The Cage
Label
: NS-COM (NSCOM-005CD)
Format
: CD
A bizarre melding of lo-fi electronic glitch music and neo-psychedelic
post-rock ambience, but not in the chill-out sense.
Ito
skilfully mixes found sounds (many quite possibly recorded
from his bedroom) including creaking doors, floors & domestic
appliances with the kind of edgy / clicking & whirring normally
found on a 'Mouse On Mars' record.
Some of the disorienting rhythmic structures on 'Bedroom In
The Cage' are not that far removed from some of Kid 606's
excursions, but Ito's album is not a purely electronic affair,
as some gentle acoustic melodies & psychedelic guitar riffs
rise above the looped audio debris of contemporary urban living.
Top
Track: Dogra Magra
Runner Up: The Third Ear
Artist : Sha Cho Mouse
Title
: Photosynthesizer
Label
: NS-COM (NS CD003)
Format
: CD
'Up side down pop', Japans' unique warping of western pop
structure & melody certainly has a bearing on Sha Cho Mouse.
Essentially a vehicle for female vocalist Tomo, whose
Bjork - like vocal acrobatics weave in and out of these
lo-fi, but exquisitely programmed beatscapes, grungy electro
& jazz infused breaks.
Defiantly
quirky, inventive eclectica with tunes.
Top
Track: Ice Scream
Runner Up: Dead On
Artist : Takayuki Shiraishi
Title
: Reach For The Sun
Label
: NS-COM (NSCOM CD006)
Format
: CD
Takaykuki's
NSCOM debut album was well received by the mainstream
music press, and its easy to see why, as he produces
the kind of soaring,melodic electronica, mirrored by
European acts such as Global Communications.
With an emphasis on funky , yet intricate electro-breaks
& and a smattering of Detroit techno nuances 'Reach
For The Sun' manages to sound contemporary in the
ever changing dance / electronic scene.
Shiraishi's
production is clear & concise, while retaining a warmth
& sense of melody too often forgotten by many producers.
Something of an understated classic, which stands
up to repeated listens, as much of the quality end
of 'techno' does.
Top
Track: Higher
Runner Up: Windborne Soul
Artist : Penumbra
Title
: Anoraks
Label
: Universal Egg
Format
: CD
A kind of aural screen saver, a textural album that
takes in the whole gambit of frequency range. This
5 track ( 71 minute ) is almost entirly without beats,
so is ideal as slumber music. Personally i use 'Anoraks'
as a DJ tool and as an aural screen saver while working
here at the keypad. A setting where if played quietly
enough all other external sounds ( birds song and
passing cars etc ) become part of the aural cleansing
experience.
Top
Tune : Stepping Into The Night
Deep throbbing one note drone-fest. Pure minimalist
genius.
Runner
Up : Panaphonica
Fourteen minutes of mezmorising atmospheric wash.
The analogue sounds - sweep cut off and resonance
tweaked to the extreme.
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Artist : Mystic Red Corporation
Title
: Red Mercury
Label
: MRC
Format
: CD / 10 Inch Vinyl
An awe inspiring future classic from The Mystic
Red Corporation. Although originally released in
'95, I've only recently discovered it and upon first
hearing was blown away.
This five track CD single features five versions
based around one rhythm each with a different
wind instrument feature. Each is truley inspired,
making it easy to forget the repeating rhythm
thang. The rhythm itself is a blissful - groovy
laid back affair with programmed drums and a wonderful
funkster goes dubwise B-line. All set off nicely
to bubbling keyboards.
The inspired solo's elevate us to a new plain
with each version. A land where the true jazz
solo
reigns . There's flute, oboe and sax with each
taking its turn to gently wigout over Rae's Rhythm
cut. Each versions rhythm cut is gently remixed
to enhance the space around the featured solo
part.
Sadly there aren't many of these around so if
you see this rare gem grab it. You won't regret
it guvner.
Red Mercury is a beautiful fusion of dub styled
rhythms, jazz
influenced solos and a lesson in restrained mixing.
Bringing us one of the finest pieces I've heard
in a long time. 10/10
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Artist : Ekko
Title
: Centripetal
Label
: Interchill Records
Format
: CD
This
is wonderful stuff... In a very chilled way,
this CD progresses at a terrific rate. Opening
with meditational flowing water sounds, running
into chilled out Jazz-Funk and on into tabla driven
Drum & Bass influenced styles and that's only
up to track three.
Ekko use a whole host of different instruments
from the more usual keyboards, samplers and
guitars to the not so familiar things such as
kalimbas, the dholak and the darbouka. The most
interesting by far though is the stickharp.
A one off / homemade instrument made of wood
and strung with 37 strings. A kind of harp/guitar/bass-thang.
An instrument with such a wide sonic scope,
it's hard to know exactly when it's being used.
Most
of the material here is improvisation based
so I'm sure if you get a chance to see these
guys perform it will be an awe-inspiring event.
The perfect setting for an Ekko gig would be
outside and preferably somewhere like on the
side of a mountain, at sunset.
Personally
DJ life started in the chill-out zones of free-party's.
A good training ground for any aspiring DJ.
Ekko's Centripetal album inspires a visit back
to those territory's.
Centripetal is a breath of fresh air within
a genre where so much is often mere pedestrian.
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Artist : Lech Jankowski
Title
: Music to The Film Institute Benjamenta
Label
: Koninck
Format
: CD
I read somewhere that Lech Jankowski was originally
against the idea of a separate release for his
sound-track to the film 'Institute Benjamenta'.
I fear then that my reviewing it purely on its
own merits, just may be his worst case scenario.
He needn't have worried though as I'd have
to say that if 'Institute Benjamenta' contains
a fifth of the emotion and atmosphere of it's
sound-track then viewers will be in for a
deeply moving experience.
It would be pointless of me to try to deal
with this CD track by track. Better if I try
to give you an overall feel for the piece.
The Instrumentation largely consists of double
bass, violin, piano and various wind instruments.
These come together within different combinations
to create a succession of varying mood-swings.
This sound-track invokes lots of emotions
juxtaposed. Feelings of sadness and beauty,
of melancholy and joyfulness.
I can't help feeling that this music can only
have been composed by an Eastern European.
It simply reeks of those roots. Somewhat Neo-classical,
somewhere jazz, sometimes folk, sometimes
theatre. But always with that Eastern European
sensibility. A slant that makes it somewhat
unsettling to the western ear. Which can only
add to the movies tension. Except that now
I'm only guessing. Which brings me to my final
point. As I've already said Jankowski was
originally openly against this sound-track
being separately released. But I suspect the
films makers ( The Quay Brothers ) fully realized
that with Jankowski's sound-track being so
deeply evocative, anyone hearing it would
simply have to seek out and see the film.
Which I for one will be doing at the first
opportunity.
bimble@freeradicalsounds.com
Artist : THE MIGHTY QUARK
Title
: IAN HENDRICKS DISCO
Label
: KING SYNDROME SOUNDS
Format
: CD
This eagerly awaited and anticipated album
should see the Stockholm duo of O’Sullivan
and Backlin getting plenty of airtime and
exposure. As they guide us through the gambit
of contempory Dub, Techno and Electro fusion.
Rhythmatically there are some obvious club-bound
cuts; Smokescreen, Theme and Three way Dub
have already had some exposure via pre- release.
There are eleven tracks plus a secret track
on the album all with a refreshing and original
feel to them. Its closest contempory comparison
is probably Weatheralls 'Haunted Dancehall'
but only in its subtle mixtures of realtime
musicianship and digital programming expertise.
The overall impression is if you had locked
King Tubby in a studio with Kraftwerk and
Orbital then there is a more than likely
chance that they would have happily come
up with something like this.
Smart
Monkey
Click here for
our interview with The Mighty Quark
Artist : DJ VADIM
Title
: ABSTRACT HALLUCINATING GASES
Label
: JAZZ FUDGE RECORDINGS
Format
: 12"
This wicked seven track taster is oozing
with massive grooves and a dominant presence
of smooth, dark, jazz funk. Our enjoyment
is enhanced by the inclusion of tongue in
cheek conversations and cheeky answerphone
messages filling the gaps between the tunes
adding a lots of character.
The opening track intitled Call Me kicks
in with a nice fat beat over smooth bass
and lush keyboards. Vadim's scratching
is subtle and blends into the stomping
down-tempo groove. Next up is 'The Pimp
Theme' an apt title for this sexy jump-up
electro-funk beauty. The wah-filtered
sound of the main riff over a pumpin'
bass line works a treat. Relax with Pep
part 2 takes the tempo up again, with
a funky Hammond looped over wicked drum
breaks. YoYo is my favourite track here;
It features menacing funk bass and drums
with weird jazz ambience brought on by
background bleeps and a cool diminished
vibraphone, "Nice".
This record should not fail to make your
toes tap or your heads nod, and will probably
put a grin on your fat faces too.
ESCHER
