There’s something about Eastern-bloc electronic music that often suggests a heavy influence of synth-rock, the soundtracks of Golem, the space explorations of Cluster, the melodic drones of Tangerine Dream. Veron, of Budapest, Hungary, fits that mold, judging by a recent four-track release on the Stasisfield netlabel (stasisfield.com). It’s most noticeable on “Early Morning” (MP3), a synth bed of slowly decaying notes. But the other material here ventures away from the recognizably artificial tonalities, most effectively “Flower” (MP3), which is all gently blipping pin-prick percussion above undulations so soft you could mistake them for organic near-silence. Since that’s the track on which the set, titled Dreamtime, closes, perhaps it suggests the direction in which Veron is headed — away from tone synthesis, and into texture and rhythm. Get the full set at stasisfield.com.
Juárez and Calarco Field-Noise MP3
A new collaboration by Adrián Juárez and Juan José Calarco provides one of those situations wherein the sum of the parts is considerably less than the constituent parts themselves. Except in this case, that statement is not just a compliment; it’s a formal measure of the duo’s accomplishment. The material that Juárez and Calarco plumbed for their 14-minute soundcape, titled “Tierra Abierta, is, self-evidently, field recordings — rain and wind and other real-world noise working together to form an artificial but semi-natural realm (MP3). Only with repeated listens can the attention to balance between those elements can be appreciated, as can the means by which apparent light processing has allowed looped elements to yield rhythmic and compositional impact. More information at the website of the releasing netlabel, restingbell.net. Don’t turn it up too high, as there is one loud moment, but it serves primarily to emphasize the relative quietude of the rest of the piece.
Juju Mega-Remix MP3 (Oh No vs. Plunky Branch)
Indie hip-hop figure Oh No has provided an album-length podcast for the Stones Throw label (stonesthrow.com/jukebox), in which he mixes up various afro-jazz tracks from the group Oneness of Juju, led by prolific saxophonist Plunky Branch. It’s a rough mix, with occasional gaps between tracks, and noticeable delay in some of the beatmatching, but Dr. No knows well that the rhythmic intensity of juju that characterizes Branch’s music — the shuffle beats, the way single melodic elements sit aloft above the mechanistic patterns, the subtle shifts in texture — lends itself well to DJ techniques (MP3). More on Branch at plunkyone.com and on Oh No at both stonesthrow.com/ohno and myspace.com/ohnodisrupt.
For future reference, should the podcast listing disappear from the Stones Throw site, here is the track listing provided: 1. “3B,” 2. “Carving,” 3. “Wawa,” 4. “Carving Again,” 5. “A Call to Arms,” 6. “Time Iz Now,” 7. “Twoness of Juju,” 8. “Ooo Ow,” 9. “Keys,” 10. “Following,” 11. “Funk U Very Much,” 12. “Harmony,” 13. “Something in the Air,” 14. “Morning Alarm,” 15. “Santesana,” 16. “Get Up,” 17. “Wap,” 18. “Juju March,” 19. “Funkier than Wood,” 20. “All Ahhs on Me,” 21. “Giiiiive,” 22. “African Chant,” 23. “Onnon,” 24. “River Rhythm,” 25. “Bogged Down.”
Heavy Rotation: Cliff Martinez’s Latest Score, J. Rawls’s Beat Fusion, DJ Baku’s Overture
What I’ve been most focused on, listening-wise, this past week:
(1) A Late Winter: First Snow, the Guy Pearce film, came out about a year ago, but Cliff Martinez‘s score only saw release last week, at least according to iTunes, which lists the release date as June 10, 2008. The score’s 20 tracks of intimate yet abstract soundscapes, with occasional moments of traditional instrumentation, are of the sort that have earned previous Martinez scores, notably that to Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris, a dedicated following. According to iTunes, the record label for the score is YFG Records, LLC. That would be the Yari Film Group, which released First Snow. The film was directed by Mark Fergus, who wrote the screenplay to Children of Men.
(2) Live Beats: A new single by J. Rawls takes one of the great instrumental hip-hop tracks, the backing music to the Beatnuts‘s “Off tha Books” (off the 1997 album Street Crazy), and refashions it with sinewy live instrumentation. It’s a jazz fusion hybrid of hip-hop that Rawls has practiced previously, but fortunately none of the slickness that marked his 2006 album The Liquid Crystal Project is heard here. The flipside of the new single pays similar tribute to Da Beatminerz. The tracks are available on a 7″ single (titled “A Tribute to the Beatnuts/ A Tribute to Da Beatminerz”) from Polar Entertainment.
(3) Calm Before the Drums: The recent album Dharma Dance (Popgroup) by Japanese beat figure DJ Baku is a little heavy on the rock’n’roll, a little tight to the 4/4, but the opening track, simply titled “Intro,” elegantly layers street noise, orchestral overtones, and distant piano to rich effect, slowly building over the course of its brief but detailed minute-and-a-half length.
Image of the Week: Satoh to 11
A stomp box by Japanese artist Yoshihiko Satoh:
More on Satoh at tbb.t-com.ne.jp/hipopo-art. Visit the site for numerous additional such art-boxes. (Via sound designer Tim Prebble‘s blog, substation.co.nz.)