Disquiet

Victor Tverdochlebov, a musician from Slovakia who records under the name Karaoke Tundra, has released nine free MP3 tracks with the dimensions of haiku, the static-laced fissures of microsound experiments, and the overall feel of a pop demo tape. The songs are as short as they are spare, from just over a minute in length to just under two. But if you’re picky about your downloads, then be sure to at least grab “Damn You,” with its combo of two very different retro sounds (a taut jazz trumpet riff against an oscillating analog synth wave), and “Ministry of Fishing,” which introduces its tasty rudiment of a beat with an electric piano hook (is that sample from Steely Dan or Genesis?), and then wanders away until the momentum has pretty much evaporated, only to start it up all over again — imagine the off-kilter funk of James Chance or Jon Spencer or DNA, but played out at small scale on a laptop. The EP is titled Residence, and it’s available from the Kikapu netlabel, at kikapu.com (it’s the label’s 68th release). More info on Tverdochlebov/Tundra at his website, here.

By Marc Weidenbaum