Following up on the December 9, 2003, entry in Disquiet’s Downstream (here), there’s a free online EP by the same artist, Pocka (aka Brad Mitchell), which saw release in mid-October of last year, and it’s well worth the download time. Released on the Please Do Something netlabel, Chronology Brought consists of five tracks, including “Like Water in Water,” a thick current of bright static; the more percussive and melodic “Star on My Arm”; a brief and gentle guitar tune, “Daniel Bradley Remixed” (the six-string part credited to Dan Weinhaus); “Me Make Pretty Again,” which drops in snippets of a dire vocal against an abrasive flange and a jittery beat, at times reminiscent of a Geiger counter; and “Lauren’s Face Pressed Against a Xerox Machine,” which relaxes Pocka’s penchant for noise in favor of pithy, electro-acoustic verve, leavened with a looped guitar phrase that’s a sort of anti-riff, a quick-fingered figure whose energy suggests a happy accident. (Please Do Something website at pleasedosomething.com; album page here.)
Norwegian Fusion Stream & MP3
Guitarist Eivind Aarset plays a dark brand of trip-hop-infused jazz fusion, chords hovering like sulfurous clouds, ominous yet plaintive, beats that are mechanical, but also seductive and atmospheric. On two albums, Electronique Noire (1998) and Light Extracts (2001), Aarset has built a body of work that complements the reputation he’s made as a member of trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer’s band. Like Molvaer, a fellow Norwegian, he is extending the heritage of Miles Davis’ electric era, melding the swing of jazz with electronic percussion and other digital effects. Aarset’s webpage on his tour promoter’s site features a three-minute video of him and his band, which takes its name from his 1998 album, performing “Dust Kittens,” off Light Extracts (page here, video stream here). In related news, Molvaer has put a free MP3 file, “Wilderness,” up on his own website (site here; enter and click the “unreleased on CD” tab) that evidences his interest in applying sinuous melodies to club beats.
Vibert Stream
Luke Vibert (aka Wagon Christ) is promoting his Kerrier District collection, out now on the Rephlex records. On November 21 of last year, while in Tokyo, he recorded a mix of his tunes for web radio outlet Station Samurai FM (RealAudio stream archived here). The site itself, samurai.fm, is worth a look, as it houses sets by Aquasky, FC Kahuna and A Guy Called Gerald.
Deadbeat Stream
Deadbeat, aka Scott Monteith, is currently on tour, playing San Francisco this weekend, with Monolake and Joshua Kit Clayton; Detroit in February, with Monolake and others; and across Europe throughout March. He contributed the A side to a three-artist single, the debut release from the Tokyo-based Kodaira Tracks label. His loungey downtempo song, “Schmalzting After Midnight,” is streaming in its entirety, along with the single’s two B-sides (Kodaira founder Yoshihiro Arikawa’s somewhat harder edged “Lamp Black,” and the techno with an acoustic vibe of “Petenoye” by Petetok, aka H. Nakajima), on the Kodaira website, kodairatracks.com.
Quote of the Week: Dean’s Scream
Slate.com on the audio fallout of Monday’s Iowa Democratic caucuses:
I’ve heard it replayed so often, the [Dr. Howard] Dean scream is starting to sound good to me too. … Who’ll be the first hip-hop artist to sample it?
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 entry of the “kausfiles” column, here.