The 16 tracks that comprise The Coat Hanger Clinic, its title and content reportedly informed by a binge of Korean horror flicks, range from vocoded computer vocals to elegiac piano to 8-bit giddiness to abstract electronica to saccharine pop. Recorded by Cursed Chimera (aka Benatos Thompson, and formerly L.A.M.P.), it’s a purposeful mixed bag, but [...]
The excellent Complementary Distribution netlabel isn’t as prolific as it has been in the past, but a recent EP makes up for lost time with five tracks by four different artists, among them nAsty, Banyek, and NiT Grit, all working broadly speaking in a dubstep vein. The highlight of the record, titled Dubstep Is Fun! [...]
Website URLs are not unlike vanity license plates. You can tell a lot from how an individual chooses to label him- or herself. URLs do no have the attendant cheese factor of personalized license plates, because there are no non-vanity URLs; there is no “F38BC” nor “43HLJ2″ of URLs. In the world of music, even [...]
Derrick Hart may have titled his recent five-song EP Fall Asleep to This, but it starts with a short, sharp, seriously pulse-quickening bang. The album opens with an abrasive bit of noise-making (“When Someone Loves You No More,” MP3). At a total of 23 seconds, it’s harsh and loud and startling enough to get your [...]
Back in the heady days of fusion, and later on repeat during the heights of acid-jazz, texture was perhaps the discernible feature distinguishing depth from froth. The rough, saliva-tinged exaltations of Miles Davis kept his electric-era work grounded — in contrast with the high-tone lounge music of his third-generation descendants. On the fifth and penultimate [...]
Minimal techno isn’t as minimal as it once was, or as the name might suggest — or as it thinks it is. Popularity and populist impulses can lead to creeping complexity, density, and, God forbid, flamboyance. Tracks of self-described minimal techno can come thick with flourishes, weighed down by chimes, and keyboard tones, and a [...]