Post-Soviet Turntablism (MP3s)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Someday we’ll learn — likely in some cross-functional collaboration between a sociologist and a musicologist — not only how it is that old-school hip-hop production thrives in the former Soviet Union, but also how it is that the two leading influences seem to be Pete Rock and DJ Krush. The great netlabel dustedwax.org is one of the major players in the free-culture quadrant of post-soviet turntablism, and its digitally manipulated progeny. Just about every recording on the label has at least one seriously enjoyable track, and Project Monarch, by the duo of Tab & Anitek, is no exception. The duo, which is half based in the U.S. and half based in Switzerland, may not share geography with the majority of its labelmates, but the label’s inclusion of Monarch in its catalog is a confirmation of a specific aesthetic at work here: downtempo, arid palette, one or two central samples, soulful, textural. The strongest tracks are “Dormouse” (MP3) and “ArtiChoke” (MP3), both of which exude a strong Krush vibe.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/DWK117/Tab_and_Anitek_-_02_-_Dormouse.mp3|titles=”Dormouse”|artists=Tab & Anitek] [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/DWK117/Tab_and_Anitek_-_06_-_ArtiChoke.mp3|titles=”ArtiChoke”|artists=Tab & Anitek]

Get the full album, 14 tracks in all, at dustedwax.org.

Widesky, Live in Seattle (MP3)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The album Floating in Being by Widesky made my top-10 list of favorite free releases from last year, and a recently posted live recording makes a fine follow-up. Taped just three days ago, on January 14, in Seattle, it’s a solo performance by Widesky that mixes foreground and background just as effectively as it does the tensile and the incandescent. There are watery field recordings and harsh textures, there is a layer of broken radio signals that ebb and flow like a tide, but there is also a lovely, sustained undercurrent of angelic guitar, piercing notes that decay so slowly you suspect they never quite fully truly disappear. Widesky lists his equipment as “field recordings, electric guitar, eBow, AM radio, & processing.” The event took place at Gallery 1412 in Seattle, Washington.

Recording originally posted at soundcloud.com/widesky. More on Widesky, aka Seth Chrisman, at effervescent-airwaves.blogspot.com.

Epiphany in a Toaster (MP3)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Tags are funny things. They are in many ways more useful than genre as a means to focus in on a particular piece of music. But when misapplied, they seem less like mistakes and more like hints. “Epiphany” by Toaster is, flat out, a giant sweeping brain-on-hold drone with undercurrents of tension. However, at Toaster’s toaster.bandcamp.com page, where it is currently the lead item, it is tagged as, in addition to “drone,” the following: ambient, electronic, idm, minimal, techno, ambient, “drone ambient,” and “San Jose.” The “minimal” and “electronic” and “ambient” and “drone ambient” certainly apply. The work is nothing if not a swath of synthesized haze, enjoyable for its attenuation, the way it instills not so much calm as pause. Perhaps the “idm” and “techno” mentions relate to that tension that underlies the overwhelming bliss. Seeing them there in turn gets the ear to focus in on what might, otherwise, be passed over as mere texture.

Track posted originally at toaster.bandcamp.com in December 2011. More on Toaster, aka Todd Elliott, at his twitter.com/toddbert page, where his bio reads: “I make music by programming things.”

Past Week at Twitter.com/Disquiet

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Hairshirt Industrial (MP3)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The tribal, droning, fuzzy beats of Would-Be Messiahs‘ “Broken Teeth (Small Rock Movement)” move steadily between past and present as they proceed forward. The monotone quality, the prevalent white noise, the whip-fast sonic artifacts, are all quite of the moment, drawing from the danker realms where dub and techno intersect uneasily albeit with mutual benefit. Yet the track’s overall aura, especially the abraded spoken snippet (“Why? Why is this all so painful?”) and the willfully plodding beat, are all hairshirt industrial music from the 1990s, the heavily burdened vibe of Consolidated having come particularly to mind. The result is a song that for all its blissful stasis seems to undergo broader temporal phase shifts as reference points cycle by.

Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/would-be-messiahs. More on the Messiahs, aka John Ryan, at unlessyougotlostonpurpose.blogspot.com.