Dallas Austin produced the hit single on r&b singer Blu Cantrell’s debut album, So Blu, which may sound like an odd bit of trivia on an electronic-music site. But the CD single (which is actually under Cantrell’s name) is worth checking out because it includes the instrumental (i.e., vocal-free) version of the song “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!),” which is a masterfully swinging assemblage of samples, plunked piano keys and obscure noises. It wouldn’t sound out of place on a Ninja Tune compilation.
Category: the crate
Ambient Compilation
A half dozen foreboding ambient recordings best heard far in advance of bedtime comprise the compilation Where Stalks the Sandman (Noh Poetry). This is sound etiolating as it unfolds. “Pythagorean Sea II,” by the esteemed Kim Cascone, is a composite of threadbare palimpsests, myriad layers that somehow never threaten to intrude into the foreground. Monocaine’s “Ars Moriendi,” which is gaunt and spirit-shaking, makes Cascone’s contribution sound extravagant by comparison. Steven Wilson’s “A Grapefruit in the World of Park” is built from a slim sample from guitarist Robert Fripp, and it has the lilting quality of Fripp’s collaborations with Brian Eno, though it augments that melodiousness with dramatic gaps of silence. Also included are tracks by Karen Anderson, Don Falcone and Praxis, the latter a distended remix by Peter Weatherbee.
Ghostly Aura
Ingram Marshall‘s Kingdom Come (Nonesuch) contains three pieces, the most noteworthy of which is “Hymnodic Delays,” a series of settings that contemporary-classical composer Marshall did for a spare vocal quartet who sing centuries-old New England hymns. The hymns would be beautiful enough on their own, but Marshall, who has long been a proponent of experimenting with sound technology, employs digital delays, which lend a warm, church-like reverb to the voices. Just about everything that any individual member of the quartet sings is repeated several times, making the group sound significantly larger than it is, and lending a ghostly aura to everything they utter.
Pete Rock Minus Vocals
After the rise of rock’n’roll, American jazz musicians took refuge in Europe. Maybe some update of that scenario explains why it took British record label BBE (as in “Barely Breaking Even”) to present PeteStrumentals, a full album of instrumental hip-hop by Pete Rock. A Mt. Vernon, N.Y., native, Rock is best known for his work as half of Pete Rock and CL Smooth, the enduring rap duo (on the order of DJ Premier’s partnership with Guru). Minus Smooth’s booming vocals, Rock can be more easily recognized for his cinematic flavor and moody rhythmic constructions. He can locate tiny jazz riffs that gain texture and flash with each passing loop. Spooky reverb compounds the threat, while the ever-present residue of scratchy vinyl keeps even the most otherworldly moments grounded. Rock utilizes electronic production tools to forge funky, swaggering, haunting music that can speak for itself. This material is likely fodder for samplers, which may explain why the package is sealed with a long magnetic strip: all the better to demagnetize nearby floppy discs.
Orchestra, Beats, Craft
Demolition Squad: On the band’s MP3.com site is a song titled “Get On Down,” definitely worth a listen. The initial effect, an avant-garde orchestra slicing its strings over a stuttered beat, sounds obvious enough, but the longer it goes on, especially once a spoken-word segment concludes, the more the group’s craft becomes evident.