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Animal Collective's Panda Bear, and
is preferable tc the last two Black Dice
full-lengths (That was a sentence jam-
packed with praise.)
True, Hermaphrodite is largely an
abstract record built ot groove and
wackiness, but it’s frequently beautiful
and ends up being more accessible
than any ot the many projects in which
Copeland has dabbled
Black Dice and Animal Collective
have always been good buddies, and
this record could easily be one of the
many collaborations between members
of the same band. The jubilant
tribalism of the latter is here, as is the
percussion-happy clanging euphoria
of the former. “Oreo" is pitch-shifting
and panning genius, and the fact that
Black Dice have always built the head-
noddingest pieces from the weirdest
materials is on prominent display
although there are only a handful of
sounds in the track
When “Green Burrito" hits, it
smacks awesomely of Panda Bear’s
current obsession: brilliantly skewed,
treble-hopping Beach Boy worship
Layers of reverbed vocals bounce
and trip on each other and create a
gorgeous mess.
Sure, there are a few tracks that
are just too out-there for the casual
listener, but each yields substantial
rewards to the determined, except
maybe “Tree Aliens." which sounds
just like the title: jungle drums and
backward vocals sung through gritted
teeth.
Overall, pretty spectacular. And
with a new Black Dice album called
Load Blown out at the end of October,
pretty promising.
Michael Wehunt
ANDREW PEKLfit
Cue
Kranky
Andrew Pekler has spent many
years now flitting along the fringes
of the experimental electronic music
sphere, releasing albums on some
venerated boutique labels such as
-scape and Staubgold. His music
melds the often clinical chill of minimal
techno/ clicks plus cuts with the more
organic nature of warm jazz and the
imperfect heartbeat of dub But never
one to rest on his laurels. Pekler has
vaguely but effectively shape-shifted
over the years, but never before quite
as boldly as on Cue, his debut for
Kranky.
The 11 tracks here sprang from
a rigid, almost academic experiment:
Each piece began as a notation (listed
alongside the titles on the back cover)
outlining the idea and mood Pekler
wanted to achievp before a single
note had beeft written Sort of like
classical music’s tempo notations,
but in layman's terms “Dust Mite"
aims “towards the incomprehensible,
microscopic danger, harmonic
feedback" ‘Steady State," with its
“repetitive bed for science/ mystery,
miniaturized percussion* accomplishes
lust that in its four minutes There
seem to be dozens of dicky and bangy
things providing the rhythm for the
r bullient melody of the synths With
,merely a ghost of jazz or dub present,
Pekler has crafted a riveting collection
of loop-based headphone happiness,
calm and pleasant, never overstaying
its welcome.
There's never a dull moment, and
the only time things get a bit rowdy is
on closer “Floating Tone." on which
the “frozen fuzz guitar" threatens
to burst the song’s seams. Overall,
Pekler tries very hard not to blow your
mind with Cue, and therein lies the
album’s staying power. It's wonderfully
inconsequential.
Michael Wehunt
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Total 8
Kompakt
A far cry from a perfectly arranged
deejay mix. less coherent than a single
artist album, and not nearly as practical
for club use as a crate of 12" singles
Kompakt’s annual Total compilation
aims to bring slammin' minimal techno
tracks to the dabblers, the attention
deficient, the home listeners And for
eight years now, these coliections have
hit their mark, garnering endorsements
of the “If you buy only one album of
electronic music this year ..." variety
from pop fans of all stripes This
year’s double-disc model is par for the
course.
Although none of the cuts here
cross over into chart-friendly territory
(no Justices or LCD Soundsystems
to be found) or even Krush Girls-
friendly territory, fans of more linear
and more organic genres will find
many fascinating points of departure
especially on starlit, disco-tinged Disc
One Traces of krautrock turn up at
every corner *" jperpitcher's “Rainy
Nights in Georgia" mounts splattery
drum machines and a maudlin RPG
melody onto a modulating, Faust-like
keyboard vamp, and The Rice Twins’
Can I Say’ masses effeds-soaked
keys into a trance. If those tracks sound
too heady, then you can seek refuge in
“Uber Wiesen," a collaboration between
Tobias Thomas and Michael Mayer that
teems with schmaltzy piano lines that
could have been lifted from an Olympic
highlights film.
Disc Two takes a more austere
tact It features ace selections by Herve
Ak, DJ Koze, Gui Boratto and Justus
Kohncke, all of whom produce stark,
minimal robo-funk. If you're still
bobbing your head by the time the
comp draws to a close, you’ll do well
to delve even further into Kompakt's
extensive catalog
Phillip Buchan
STRATEGY
Future Rock
Kranky
Part of me wishes Paul Dickow
would sign to the DFA label. Dickow
creates such a., exciting fusion of
dance music and a dozen other things
that I can't help but think about all the
incredible remixes he would do for
others and vice-versa were he on a
more “hip" imprint.
Just take disco-drone anthem
“Can't Roll Back," the opener on
Strategy’s second full-length for
Kranky, Future Rock. Mostly mid-
tempo, wafer-thin guitars jangle
beneath a lush bed of soft noise
and Dickow’s processed lazy vocals.
Reverbed-to-hell drums pound their
way in along with funky cymbals for a
groovy little interlude before the guitar
returns. If the DFA could get their
hands on this track, it would be an
indie-disco wef dream.
However, the rest of me is ecstatic
that he's right where he is. Dickow
at first listen seems to clash with
* everything going on in flourishing
Portland, OR But that impression soon
changes
And in a strange way. he belongs
on ambienl haven Kranky, as well.
2004's Drumsolo's Delight ms
certainly a dance record, but its floor
filling aspirations were moderately
concealed (and enhanced) behind a
curtain of gauze and texture
Future Rock virtually explodes
from *he speakers, always maintaining
a fierce pop sensibility, never going
for full-tilt ass-shaking delirium,
but filtering that euphoria through
a fascinating prism of many colors,
reflecting off dub, drift, house and
anything else that catches Dickow's
magpie eyes
I'll keep my fingers crossed that
LCD Soundsystem and cohorts will
give Strategy a leg up. That way we can
keep this left-field rump-moving cake
and eat it, too, with all the bells and
whistles the current disco-punk scene
can throw at it.
Michael Wehunt
STUDIO
STUDIO
West Coast
Information
Two episodes from Tortoise's April
2004 performance at the 40 Watt stick
out to me.
Moment 1: during the coda to
“Seneca," one of the percussionists
scales, Bono-style, a stack of amps
and leads the crowd in a boisterous
handclapping session, eliciting full-
scale audience participation from a
bunch of folks who spend a typical day
vice-gripped by a pair of headphones,
music cushioning them, encasing
them
Moment 2: the band begins its
encore by flubbing through “Owner
of a Lonely Heart"; from the looks on
their faces, all of the bandmembers
really like the song Whenever I feel
stiff-armed by Tortoise’s intertextual
meanderings. its record collector in
jokes, I remember that concert, and
I remember that these guys can ham
it up and wear qrins like any Georgia
Theatre jam band.
Studio, a pair of gentlemen from
Gothenburg, Sweden, who may or
may not play any instruments, is what
the members of Tortoise might sound
like if they were always such crowd-
pleasers Like the Chicago-based
post-rock pioneers, Studio delights
in smashing genres from different
continents and decades into one
another.
Their well of inspiration—buoyant
Afro-pop a la King Sunny Ade,
expansive disco of the Tom Moulton
variety, arpeggiated coliege-rock in the
vein of The Cure—is more jubilant and
melodic. Sometimes—on “Origin.*
for instance—the duo even sounds
like a revved up, arena-ready Tortoise,
all slinky, angular, filtered guitars and
mantra-like grooves firing at maximum
intensity.
During its troughs, the album flails
like typical ‘00s indie-dance-rock,
influences apparent but done little
justice.
At its least self-conscious, West
Coast suggests Primal Scream playing
Paul Simon's Graceland, and, for a
moment, we feel animated, social,
thirsty for a community of flesh and
blood, not of vinyl and plastic .
Phillip Buchan
r—t-y/fK*
~ **■ >'
'Everyone te Everyone'
MAGiCICADA
Everyone Is Everyone
Public Guilt
Considering the fact that Atlanta's
experimental/ ambient/ whatever
scene leaves a lot to be desired, and
has been lacking since the dawn of
time, Christopher White could almost
call himself its godfather. Granted,
typically only cities large enough to
have something of everything will
properly nourish a vibrant drone or
noise scene (though some in Athens
might disagree), so I can’t point too
many fingers There just aren't enough
people here.
But White's doing his best to at
least maintain its pulse in his low-
profile way. Finally, his longtime main
project Magicicada is more publicly
active. Before this year, the last time
I'd caught White live was three years
ago. when Magicicada trafficked in
blistering noisescapes. Nowadays, that
noise has been folded into a delicious
. ambient omelet, one packed with many
strong flavors. Everyone Is Everyone
offers a scattered, smothered and
covered amalgam of wispy drones,
plucky acoustic guitar, found sounds,
and the veiled threat of hazy noise.
“Wellbelow" clunks and pings
alongside frequency-tweaking drones
and White's mumbled vocals, finishing
up with a cartoonish chant. Maybe if
Greg Davis and Bird Show released a
one-off EP on Warp and forgot to bring
the beats, the results might fall along
these lines.
Most of the album is permeated
with a sense of psych-folk and
noodling around in the woods, both
of which suit White well. “I Demand
My Fucking Cloud" is the'centerpiece,
clxking in at 16 and a half minutes. A
simple finger-picked melody is slowly
swallowed by modulated vocal and
guitar tones that pick up distortion
and staticky noise like moss Field
recordings huddle with crunch and
low-end rumbling.
Everyone Is Everyone is a messy
and heady affair, make no mistake But
White’s made a meanderingly bold *
statement that’s unique, particularly to
Georgia. I only hope he proves to be a
totem pole we droners can rally around.
Michael Wehunt
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