friday / nov. 25 / the boat

supesharu
now hype
eye hype

music is polarizing between over and under stimulation.
how can you not love?



matias aguayo / are you really lost / kompakt

The long awaited and anticipated release by Matias Aguayo has finally arrived. Matias Aguayo formally known as the singer of Closer Musik surprises us with Are You Really Lost by creating a blissful album of beautiful liquid sexiness. Aguayo crackles and pops our cherries with exciting new dirty disco pop. "New Life," has not been able to leave my playlist. Aguayo's tracks are compelling and varied giving us tastes of throbbing bouncy bass line clusters while smokeing us out warm and gloomy grittiness.
listen: de papel
listen: so in love

jan jelinek / kosmischer pitch / ~scape

Jan Jelinek's Kosmischer Pitch is an album of gradual exploration. There are healthy portions of the sophisticated edge of pre-millennium micro/clicks and cuts-era music but with an organic, quietly majestic Krautrock flavor. Explored here are the concepts of time sense alteration through repetition without being too clinical or cynical; the ride is gentle, beautiful and moving. This album is a slow burner: One that will grow on you as it opens with multiple listens. Fans of Jelinek's many high-quality albums will be very pleasantly surprised.
listen: morphing leadgitarre ruckwarts
listen: im diskodickicht

various / the post piano open remix project / 12k - download the album

various / rhythm & sound - see mi ya / basic channel
If you don't like raggae then perhaps this is the album that will change your mind.
download the album

bit rock alumnae / london / oct. 21st

New emerging Toronto artists spread their love by sharing their talents with the less fortunate cities of the south. Prhizzm, Minisystem and B. Kawula packed Alex P. Keatons, this small warm little pub style restaurant in London Ontario on October 21st. Prhizzm, signed to Scottish label Benbecula Records, Minisystem who will be the next exciting release on Noise Factory Records in 2006, and B. Kawula who entertained Mutek goers last June are some of the brightest new stars to hit the local electronic music scene. If you haven't heard them, start paying attention now.

b.kawula


minisystem


prhizzm

I dream of days that go slow, I dream of someone that won’t go


off the sky / caustic light ep / autoplate net label - download

alex smoke / incommunicado / soma
in the mix review
listen: download album

murcof / remembranza / leaf

Leaf Records brings us Murcof's second full-length, Remembranza. Slow-building tones, much like soundtrack music, compositions are minimal yet rich tapestries of prepared sounds. Corona opens the parameter for sound to breathe, interrupt, slow down, and sustain itself, all in calm beauty. Reminiscent of the work of Vladislav Delay, Thomas Brinkmann, Fennesz, and Morr Music's pop ambient releases, however, possessing a restrained approach. This album is perfect for those lonely nights when you're trapped in doors and a glass of wine is your best friend.
listen: rostro
listen: reflejo

audion / suckfish / spectral

Audion (aka Matthew Dear) hits it harder than his regular known moniker. Suckfish is a hit and miss album. Some tracks hit so hard they completely miss me all together. The repetition in "the Pong" (hence the name, I guess) goes beyond enjoyable, but then there's tracks like "Your Place or Mine" and "Taut" that have the familiar booty neo-jackin' choppy kicks that make us so hot, we weep for more.
listen: kisses
listen: t.b.

vladislav delay / the four quarters / huume



Vladislav Delay is back full of soft, moody, gently cascading atmospheric bubbles with a hint of soul: ambient Luomo? Seriously, check track two, "The Second Quarter." All four of the 15-minute-long tracks are chock full of living, breathing-style arrangements. Another beautiful organic classic which has kept me happier than a pig in mud these last few days. Vladislav Delay is always highly recommended.
listen: the first quarter
listen: the fourth quarter

skugge & stavostrand / humla / onitor

Onitor has been dishing out the consistently soft and deep Traum meets Forcetracks jams. The collaboration of Sweden's Skugge & Stavostrand is a continuation of that tradition. Humla is an album of smooth, bouncy, and smart tracks.
listen: move, run, fly
listen: lonely at the k-mart

alex under / dispositivos de mi granja / trapez

Alex Under is the hottest new techno producer from Spain.
boomkat review
listen: download album

images in the sky
I love the simplicity of this idea, makes me want to do my own.

humus magazine

safety scissors / tainted lunch / ~scape



San Francisco based Safety Scissors returns with a squelchy IDM-disco-pop much like his first album. Generally, the way it works is: a bouncy electro house beat is laid down while an endless barrage of bleeps, shifting keyboard lines, and leftfield sound effects keep the music constantly moving in one direction or another. Erlend Oye and Kevin Blechdom provide vocal assistance, while Vladislav Delay adds some programming, but it's Safety Scissors who makes the music so infectious and bubbly you'll find yourself humming along on the first listen.
listen: amnesia, i need you to remind me
listen: l'amour d'cuisine

dominik eulberg / kreucht & fleucht / mischwald

Dominik Eulberg's Flora and Fauna was one of my favorite albums to hit the shelves last year. His latest release Kreucht & Fleucht is a double CD mix. The mix mostly contains neo-jacking and interestingly bleeping German house tracks, with that blunted haze in the production that keeps the beats and bleeps from being too harsh. The first cd focuses on the softer side of the club experience, while cd two rocks a little harder without losing any of its creative edge. Classics like Termiten's "Nordhorn" (a soft melodic bobber secretly released by Villalobos) are blended alongside Sergej Auto's killer "I Am Dirty." This mix coaxes you onto the dancefloor and keeps you there.
listen: dinamo / pele bloss
listen: las velas no arden / i am dirty

dj koze / kosi comes around / kompakt



DJ Koze has released a full-length album on Kompakt entitled Kosi Comes Around. This album has many synthesized references to classic house grooves stripped bare and fucked with sparingly, using everything from strange sounds, odd bass pulses to random squiggling sounds. There's also many odd transitions within tracks, where the beat will minimize and ride for a long time and suddenly burst and change. The stripped down funk combined with the goofy unpredictability of this album makes it eligible for a new hybrid genre name.
listen: brutala square
listen: estrella

sigur ros / takk / geffen



It's been over three years since Sigur Ros released an album, and during this time, there has been much speculation in the press regarding what direction they would take. The band claimed that their new direction would be more "pop," and promised that there was an album with proper song titles in the works. Well here it is, and to say it is "pop" is definitely relative, for Takk is more structured and focused than its predecessor, ( ). The bombastic drums, sweeping strings, falsetto vocals, bowed guitars, and delicate piano melodies are distinctively Sigur Ros, but somehow this album seems happier and more optimistic than their previous albums. This could be their finest album to date.
listen: glosoli
listen: saeglopur

tape / mort aux vaches / staalplaat

Swedish trio, Tape's latest endevour "Mort Aux Vaches" treads a similar path to that of their previous albums; it's another faded postcard from the dew-soaked Swedish countryside, where folky acoustics and field recordings are juxtaposed with electronics and synthesizer. Over six tracks and 33 minutes, these contrasting elements help create some of the most entrancing and infinitely beautiful soundscapes, which should thaw even severely frostbitten hearts. Especially recommended for those who have been enjoying releases by Colleen, Mountains, and Fennesz.
listen: reversed flames
listen: summonspipe

t.raumschmiere / blitzkrieg pop / shitkatapult
brainwashed review

depeche mode / precious video

download sam koivikko / hot pepper

download marat hussein

{sender 030cd} konkord - foodgroover
{ware 048} ziggy kinder - mikrozirkulation
{dumb 017} midiots - traktorizm
{dessous 54} phonique - weapon [tracks and the city remix]
{itiswhatitis 003} drumkomputer - munk [john tejada remix]
{boxer 021} goldfish und der dulz - micro boy
{ware 054} mathias schaffhauser - coincidancetrentmoeller remix
{areal 032} konfekt - quenge liese
{sender 030cd} metope - Crux
{substatic 044} metope - even
{wagon repair 004} mathew jonson - return of the zombie bikers
{mental groove mg.ltd.001} luciano - A2 Untitled

_download_

suz / winnipeg

download:

1- Manmade Science - Turn Down The Lights (Jackmate vs. Nik Reiff) - Philpot
2- Echopilot - Emptiness - Morris Audio
3- Magda - Wanda's Wig Wax - Underline
4- Pierre Bucci - Polaris - Crosstown Rebels
5- Chardronnet - Super Serious - Raum
6- Johnatan Traffic - Sad Hurry - Clever
7- Baby Ford - Down - Pal Sl
8- Pheek - Been Up Since Yesterday - Telegraph
9- The Mole - I forgot the Smokin' Posties - Revolver
10- Someone Else - Bedroom Eyes - Found Sound
11- Troy Pierce - Two Weeks In Crack (Butane's Mo Mas RMX) - Mos Ferry
12- Run Stop Restore - Suck My Christmas - Telegraph
13- Bearback - Funky Voodoo Mama - Tuning Spork
14- Troy Pierce - Sold Our Souls - Mos Ferry
15- Samim and Michal Ft. Lil Dirty - Out Of Sight - Tuning Spork
16- Pantytec - Elastobabe (Crackhouse Dub) - Perlon
17- Cabanne - Karashik - Katapult
18- Jay Hunsberger - Move On - Mutek_Rec
19- Guido Schneider - Las Cuerdas De Las Canarias - Poker Flat
20- Adam Kroll - Aeugler - Traum Schallplatten
21- Canson - Kaschmir - Sub Static
22- John Tejada - Steppa - Poker Flat
23- Trentemoller - Kink - 3rd Floor
24- Miss Dinky - Sea Death - Traum Schallplatten
25- Social System - Los Angeles - Unreleased

blir / blir / raster noton

SND project, Blir is the most recent featured artist in the exceptional Raster Post series. The album begins with blended vibrating microbeats burrowing forward, layering one on top of the other. There is a wider range of sounds explored in this album compared to previous releases. Bleeps, gently simmering static, dull thuds, piercing melodies continually evolve through each track like changing colours that melt into each other.
listen: 2
listen: 17

fennesz + sakamoto / sala santa cecilla / touch



Fennesz and Sakamoto construct a beautifully concentrated 19 minutes that covers a lot of ground. They appear to have a very natural connection, that can only come from mutual respect and a fair amount of give and take. "Sala Santa Cecilla" is a beautifully constructed journey through glitchy clouds and atmospheric hums.
listen: sala santa cecilia

boards of canada / new album / october

"we are extremely proud to announce that boards of canada have finished and mastered their new album, to be released in october - their first release since 2002's geogaddi! the album is very much classic boards of canada, building on themes and sounds that can can be heard in their intervening remix work for beck, cLOUDDEAD and boom bip..
- warp records"

chris cunningham / new video / aphex twin



decibel festival / seattle / september 22-25

line up so far:
isolee, fennesz, thomas fehlmann, akufen, deadbeat, aeroc, tim hecker, deru, proem, machine drum, l'usine, jeff samuel, jacob london, caro, bruno ponsato, cepia, loscil, strategy, deceptikon, gel-sol, 302, dj merck

monolake / polygon cities / monolake

Monolake celebrates 10 years of production with his latest album "Polygon Cities." Robert Henke always takes techno above and beyond by emerging dub and deep minimal techno and layering it with spacious organic soundscapes. "Polygon Cities" takes you on a darker journey than his previous releases. This is a nice balance of sophisticated academic computer music and club music.
listen: invisible
listen: carbon

various / spectral sound volume 1 / spectral



The must have compilation of the summer! Check out www.spectralsound.com for a track sample taste.
listen: the vanisher / the tic-tac tactic
listen: matthew dear/lawrence / another/five leaves

jamie lidell / multiply / warp



Jamie Lidell is Stevie Wonder on acid. This crazy autistic fellow can't be ignored, as he always brings exciting entertainment to the floor guaranteed. His funky choppy soulful sounds are bitter sweet tender loving obscurity.
listen: when I come back around
listen: multiply
jamie lidell live


lali puna / i thought i was over that / morr



2 disc's of rarities and remixes by Dntel, Two Lone Swordsmen and Boom Bip, plus a cover of Slowdive's "40 Days."
listen: past machine

Sonar 2005



ellen allien live set
interview with ellen allien

isolée / we are monster / playhouse

When it comes to a new Isolée album, the words "highly anticipated" are an understatement. Jounalist, Philip Sherburne has been hyping this album since the word go. After five years, Rajko Moller returns with a full-length filled with squelchy synths, disco beats and some of electronic music's catchiest melodies.
listen: do re mi
listen: pictureloved
listen: enrico

ellen allien / thrills / bpitch

Ellen Allien's new album, Thrills, has all the inventive German electro-techno/minimal vocal style of her previous efforts. A well-crafted club-feel is subtly woven into this album via fat bass booms and extra layers of melody and atmosphere that fill the room tastefully.
listen: the brain is lost
listen: naked rain

triple r / flashback: mbf / trau

MBF (My Best Friend) is a recent sub-label of Traum that has been releasing Germany's answer to neo-jacking, Chicago-style funky acid house. For those of us who love the idea of clean, streamlined techno injected with some jacking, almost disco funk blackness, MBF is a godsend.
listen: steve barnes & riley reinhold / someday
listen: youthanasia / mondo cane

sanso-xtro / sentimentalist / type


Type Records brings us yet another great debut, this time from Sanso-xtro (aka Melissa Agate). Though Sentimentalist was created from digitally manipulated instruments like guitar, ukulele, kalimba, drums and synths, the end result is an album that is much more than just another venture in modern laptop electronics. The influences of traditional Middle Eastern and African music are equally apparent. This is a must have album for fans of Type Records and Rune Grammophon releases, as well as like minded artists such as Goldmund, Tape and Mountains.
listen: misplaced feather
listen: unsentimental

antony and the johnsons / hope there's someone / secretly canadian

The second single from Antony's stunning I Am A Bird Now album, this includes the title track as it appears on the full-length, plus an equally haunting video for the song. The two b-sides are out-takes from the album sessions, and can hold their own with most of that record, particularly the lovely and intense "Frankenstein." A great treat for the fans.
listen: frankenstein

Mutek 2005

June 1 / Nocturne 1

Polmo Polpo


Radian



June 2 / Evolving Channels Panel

Mark Quail, Pheek, Jonas Temple, Matt Laszuk, John Acquaviva

June 2 / Expérience 1

Minibloc


Des cailloux et du carbone


June 3 / Expérience 2

Galerie Stratique


Dafluke


June 3 / Beyond Borders Panel

Deadbeat, Atom Heart, Philip Sherburne, Mendoza, FM3

Philip Sherburne

June 3 / Nocturne 3

Vertex


Apparat


Pan/tone


June 4 / Placard

B. Kawula

superpitcher / today / kompakt

Dreamy, heavenly and sometimes sinister, Superpitcher's mix CD for Kompakt delivers in a way that his album did not. All the dark atmospheric moodiness of artists like Lawrence, Mayer, Hacke, Max Mohr, Wighnomy Bros. and Superpitcher himself create the mood and focus of this mix. Angst-filled bouncy bliss prevails throughout Today, making this one of the first singular mixes to come through in a short while.
listen: marz & blouse / happiness - wighnomy bros. / superpitcher (lawrence mix)
listen: let's help me / love food - dj koze / michael mayer

aminar / AminaminA / the workers institute

Having met at the Reykjavik College of Music in 1998, the four ladies of Amina have an impressive resume. Perhaps best known as Sigur Ros' string ensemble (featured on two of the albums, and an essential ingredient in that band's live act), Amina also backed up Efterklang on their widely acclaimed Tripper album, and laid down some string love on one of the Album Leaf records. However, AnimaminA, the group's debut EP, sees them as much more than a back-up band. Centered around violin, viola and cello, the four compositions have a cinematic and otherworldly quality to them, enhanced by the addition of glockenspiel and glassophone. Clocking in at an all-too-brief 18 minutes, this is beautifully meandering and hypnotic music.
listen: hemipode

bohren and der club of gore / geisterfaust / wonder

Geisterfaust (which translates to ghost fist), Bohren have stripped their music down to absolute bare boned minimalism. Just shy of an hour long, the five songs-"Zeigefinger," "Daumen," Ringerfinger," "Mittlefinger" and "Kleiner Finger" are each named after one of the digits on a hand. Christoph Clöser's electric piano is the dominant instrument and for much of the album there's practically no detectable tempo. Every chord from his Rhodes is allowed to decay before he hits his next series of notes. Low rumbles from a stand-up or eight-string bass, occasional vibes and maybe a percussion accent here and there are sparingly used to emphasize the skeletal minor key melodies. Songs don't really move, but rather creep into lucid ambience like a sinister and unimaginably restrained Tortoise. Geisterfaust is definitely an album to be listened to late at night with lights off and headphones on.
listen: zeigefinger
listen: kleiner finger

From original presentations to exceptional experiences, to playful productions: the 2005 MUTEK edition is a genuine invitation to an exciting voyage… for the pleasure of the eyes and the ears. A multitude of people from all corners of the world will converge in Montreal over the coming weeks. Take your place among the festivalgoers! Tickets on sale now!

Thanks Sami Koivikko!

Sami Koivikko - deep attack:
1. Marcel Janovsky: "Vamos A Otro Piso" Regular
2. Horror Inc.: "In My Garden" Perlon
3. Håkan Lidbo: "Clockwise (Mathew Dear Rmx)" Shitkatapult
4. Dominik Eulberg: "Das Röhren Der Rotwildbrunft" Traum
5. Peter Grummich: "Fasern" Shitkatapult
6. Metope: "Tadpole (It's A Long Way Home)" Areal
7. Sascha Funke: "Forms & Shapes" BPitch Control
8. Heib: "Akrobat" Auftrieb
9. Volker Dornhagen: "Schwarzlicht / B1" Treibstoff
10. Gringo Grinder: "Dirty Deeds (Ada Remix)" Onitor
11. Jake Fairley: "Boozing" Dumb Unit

Sami Koivikko - orange border:
1. Popnebo: "Monsters Make Love To(k)night" Traum
2. Gringo Grinder: "Lovers And Lesser Men" Onitor
3. Jackmate: "Do San" Philpot
4. Mathew Jonson: "Folding Space" Sub Static
5. M. Rahn: "Cobra Boy" Trapez
6. Apoll: "Popschicht" Tongut
7. Misc.: "The Magic Number" Sender
8. P. Lauer: "Starkweather Swing" Punkt Music
9. Le Dust Sucker: "Mr. Ingum" Plong!
10. James Cotton: "Bizarre Carnival" Spectral Sound
11. 2 Dollar Egg: "Naxos / B1" Nummer
12. John Spring: "Schokolada" Sub Static
13. Frivolous: "Song Of The Kwaning Bird" Karloff
14. Jeff Samuel: "Lya" Trapez
15. Los Hermanos: "Guidance" Los Hermanos
16. Baby Ford: "Not So Bad" Perlon
17. Ricardo vs. Jay: "Cactus Love" Contexterrior
18. Hansen + DJ Daniel: "Trapezltd. 11 / B1" Trapez
19. Karri O: "Cricket X" X-Rust

Sami Koivikko - eucalyptus:
1. Kalabrese: "Studio B" Stattmusik
2. Pastamusik: "Velvet" Pastamusik
3. Thomas Fehlmann: "Whistle" Kompakt
4. Carsten Jost: "Uccellini" Sender
5. Kenneth Graham & Casey Hogan: "Around You" Macintosh
6. Villalobos: "Waiworinao" Playhouse
7. Lopazz feat. Alex Cortex: "I Need Ya Hi Time" Freundinnen
8. Oliver Hacke: "Country Grammar / B1" Background
9. Iñaqui Marín: "Ouija" Regular
10. Undo/Redo: "Zeitgleit" Areal
11. Codebase: "Seek & Destroy (Stewart Walker mix)" Force Inc.
12. John Spring: "Do You Like That?" Sub Static
13. Isolée: "Can't Sleep All Night" Playhouse

Sami Koivikko - 100 minutes:
1. Oliver Hacke: "21:31" Traum
2. Cessna: "Dub Ticks Away (Sami Koivikko Remix)" Amuri Air
3. Monoder: "Ikikieriö B2" Statik Entertainment
4. SCSI-9 vs. Lazyfish: "Vint" Salo
5. Morane: "The Trick (Think Away)" Perlon
6. Deadbeat: "Fun...k?" ~Scape
7. Todd Bodine: "The Lost Girl From Mexico" Morris Audio Citysport Edition
8. Ricardo Villalobos: "I Try To Live (Can I Live)" Playhouse
9. Akufen: "3e Tournée" Risquee
10. Kosmos: "Kosmoska" Puu
11. Sami Koivikko: "Rakkaus Pakkaus" Shitkatapult
12. SCSI-9: "Just Married" Forcetracks
13. Tom Clark: "X-File" Highgrade
14. Kenneth Gragam: "Conspiritual" Macintosh
15. Gabriel Ananda: "Quartal III" Trapez
16. Apoll: "Lauchen & Licht" Morris / Audio
17. Jackmate: "L'arc Venue" Morris / Audio
18. Qads: "Muchacho" Raum...Musik
19. Heiko Laux: "Still Lively" Kanzleramt
20. Sylvie Marks & Hal 9000: "Mad Zen" BPitch Control

spring treats:

www.killingcaterpillars.com / mp3

01. lump - sukkula
02. peter f. spiess & jay haze - molecular dynamics
03. jay haze - bass in your face
04. mister e. minimal - want your soul
05. vivianne project - holes
06. mister e. minimal - freakin
07. mikael stavöstrand - steady
08. maetrik - freaky flow (random factor point to point dub)
09. maetrik - excursion
10. the rip off artist - fix the love
11. slam - fast lane
12. ellen allien - bullet (ellen allien flow mix)
13. docma - driving
14. jerry abstract - drvnk
15. michael mayer - speaker
16. popkan - nightman
17. rene breitbarth - woosave
18. ellen allien - alles sehen
19. holger flinsch - mavadoo

www.jenaparadies.com / mp3

01. Pantha du Prince - St. Denis bei Licht (Dial)
02. The MFA - The Difference it Makes (Superpitcher remix) (Kompakt)
03. Dub Taylor - Sweet Lips (Force Tracks)
04. Sami Koivikko - Tyonimi (Shitkatapult)
05. Phonique - The Red Dress (Tiefschwartz remix) (Dessous)
06. Ellen Allien - Fuse (Live Outtake) (Bpitch Control)
07. Jena Paradies - Kotka (Lifeform Project)
08. Heiko Laux - The Silent Bass (Kanzleramt)
09. Sender Berlin - Spaziergang In Neos Kosmos (Tresor)
10. Oliver Hacke - Schoener Wohnen (Trapez)

marsen jules / herstlaub / city centre offices

With Herbstlaub, newcomer Marsen Jules has created the finest electronic record this year. It is a beautiful amalgamation of classical instrumentation and modern electronics, and the results are simply breathtaking. Jules takes pieces from classical compositions such as slow string sections, muted horns, and the occasional piano melody, and builds new loops that rise and swell. Section by section, the layers swirl about one another, in a manner that is simply gorgeous.

The first track, "Fanes D'Automne," is an ambient masterpiece that rivals Wolfgang Voigt's GAS output. Yes, it is that good. As of late, there have been many artists that have combined classical music and electronics--Goldmund, Johann Johannsson and Ryan Teague, to name a few--but Marsen Jules takes it into a whole other realm. This record is a must for any fan of the aforementioned artists or ambient music in general. There has not been a more gorgeous album released this year.
listen: fanes d'automne
listen: aile d'aigle

caro / the return to caro / orac
boomkat review

recycling the rock
by martin turenne

manual / azure vista / darla

For the first time in three years, 23 year old, Jonas Munk goes solo again! "Azure Vista" marks a return to his pop oriented work and finds Munk expanding on the melodic, shoegazy electronica of "Ascend."
listen: clear skies above the coastline cathedral

stereolab/ oscillons from the anti-sun / too pure



Everything you ever wanted from stereolab with this 3 CD disc complied of all their UK EPs from '93 to 2001, and dvd complilation featuring bonus live BBC TV appearances. Without a doubt, some of the band's finest tracks are here, the vast majority of which have never been released domestically.
listen: fluorescences
listen: you used to call me sadness

isolée / we are monster / playhouse

-predicted to be one of the best albums of this year.

autechre / untilted / warp



Autechre has arrived to pummel you over the head with new sounds and rhythms that you have never heard before.
listen: ipacial section
listen: lcc
listen: iera

mitchell akiyama / small explosions / sub rosa

One of Montreal's most notable electronic producers, Mitchell Akiyama's Small Explosions takes somewhat of a classical approach to his arrangements. In many ways his digital manipulations of the piano brought to mind the overall sentiment of Fennesz. Akiyama works in a montage style, layering disparate melodic passages on top of one another and weaving them around digital fragments, but several of these compositions have more semblance of structure than you'd expect. Melodies from acoustic instruments are accented and interrupted with interjections of running water, human voices, breathing, which essentially creates the soul of these pieces and certainly steers the compositions away from the oft clinical nature of laptop constructed music.
listen: but promise me
listen: ghost storms

stephan mathieu / the sad mac / headz

Mathieu collaborates with a long list of traditional instrumentalists (various strings, voice, piano, field recordings etc.), but only slightly abstracting the source and thereby creating a unique sense of space not often found in electronic records. It has the overall effect of some distant memory, sitting just at the edge of your consciousness. An extremely pleasant and warm album that lets each levitating note float just long enough for you to realize the next one is already there.
listen: tinfoil star
listen: imagination

thinner!
If you don't already know about this quality net label, now you do! Thinner is a German electronic music label that distributes all its mp3's for FREE. The artist's range from the best of Canada's electronic music scene to Vladislav Delay. This site has brought me many days of happiness. Check it!

DOPEFIEND, a new Torontontian online magazine; your guide to all things style and art oriented in the city.

toys of one's own - breaking down the boys' club in electronic music
by dimitri nasrallah


dance music's détente - peace breaks out between intellectual and instinctive
by martin turenne

deadbeat / new world observer / ~scape

Montreal's Scott Monteith, aka Deadbeat, aka half of Crackhaus, returns with his third album for the fine ~scape label. Monteith continues to plumb the digital depths set out by folks like Pole, Maurizio, and the early Basic Channel catalog. Still informed by dub reggae's oceanic feel, Deadbeat has more vocals here than on any of his previous work. The biggest presence is that of Montrealian chanteuse, Athesia. She brings a bossa-nova tinged vocal to the table, but rarely does Deadbeat allow them to pass by unprocessed. Instead, he breaks down her lines to a layer of finely chopped phonetics and encoded sighs, making for a fine marriage between the cool of his post-dub spaces and the warm touch that Athesia brings.
listen: port au-prince
listen: little town of bethlehem

solvent / elevators and oscillators / ghostly



Elevators and Oscillators is a collection of singles/12" tracks and remixes that explore Solvent's electropop side. If you've already heard "My Radio" off of 2002's Disco Nouveau compilation, you know what this one's all about: sweet melodies reminiscent of radio-era OMD or Erasure (but produced in an indie kid's bedroom studio), catchy breaks and beats, and love song lyrics sung in a broken hearted robot voice. While the tracks are mostly poppy and sweet, there are a few rockers like Alter Ego's remix of "Think Like Us" and Legowelt's remix of "My Radio".
listen: my radio / schneider tm
listen: devices and strategies

lonely-hearted montag learns to lighten up
by martin turenne

various / state of the union / spectral
- a look at the underground techno scene in Montréal, featuring deadbeat, mike shannon and the mole
listen: sleazy skankin - deadbeat

lawrence / spark ep / ghostly
- deep beautiful magic
listen: wasting a fall

mountains / mountains / apestaartje
Mountains is a collaboration between Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp, the label heads behind Apestaartje. Through their combined efforts they've succeeded in creating the greatest electronic album I've heard since Fennesz's Endless Summer. Like that particular album, this one reaches beyond the boundaries of its genre. Too many so-called experimental records are simply content to wallow in a self-inflicted ghetto-isation, never bothering to attempt to bridge the gap between what can be listenable and still artistically forward-thinking and compelling. So what we have here is a rare feat indeed, four slowly unfolding tracks that are artfully and meticulously constructed and which use computers and layers of field recordings as well as various and sundry live instruments to provide a palpable humanness.
listen: paper windmill
listen: down under the manhattan bridge overpass

various artists / minimize to maximize / minus

Nice, new, compilation from Richie Hawtin's Minus imprint featuring all new artists. Minimize to Maximize is full of deep, pumping throb-funk, with the dry minimal production of Perlon mixed with the funk of Playhouse. The tracks develop nicely and generously with sudden shifts and builds that don't rely on played-out, traditional transitions.
listen: magda / the black room
listen: marc houle / east to west

markus guentner / 1981 / kompakt

Markus Guentner is known as being "the inventor of pop-ambient." Guentner's latest release is beautiful ambient textured bliss. Why would anyone want to miss out on this album?
listen: wanderung
listen: wenn musik der liebe nahrung ist
listen: jelly fish
listen: hi-jacked
listen: sommergewitter
listen: umgebung
listen: der wuestenplanet
listen: der hotel shanghai

sam prekop / who's your new professor / thrill jockey

Fans of the Sea and Cake and Sam Prekop's previous solo release will be pleased to hear that his newest solo venture doesn't wander too far from the sound that made him famous. (It also probably helps that three-quarters of the Sea and Cake play on Who's Your New Professor, as well as Chad Taylor, Josh Abrams and Rob Mazurek, the same instrumentalists responsible for his earlier solo album's lighter, jazzy touch.) "Something" opens the record with Prekop's layered, breathy vocals hovering over the sounds of a cornet and bass. The album follows through with a mix of livelier instrumentals and flowing, soothing songs, Prekop's melodies melting into phased-out guitar and gentle rhythms; in "Magic Step," his vocal disappears allowing the warm, Caribbean-inspired percussion to carry the track. Perfectly gratifying for these last (let's hope!) nights of winter.
listen: density
listen: dot eye

masha qrella / unsolved remained / morr

Sweet vocal melodies with experimental indie-tronic pop. "Destination Vertical" by Rechenzentrum and Masha Qrella was also previously released on ~scape's But Then Again five year anniversary album.
listen: destination vertical
listen: feels like

goldmund / corduroy road / type



Goldmund is the alias of Keith Kenniff, a young Berklee student who has previously released an album of electronic music on Merck. This sparse tastefully performed solo piano music is very delicately played, and with only the barest accompaniment, Kenniff manages to create a compelling dramatic arc over the course of the album's 13 songs.
listen: ba
listen: door of our home

minamo / shining / 12k

Japanese electro-acoustic minimalists Minamo have returned with the much-anticipated follow-up to 2003's aptly titled Beautiful. Last year, band member Keiichi Sugimoto released two great solo albums under the name Fourcolor. I was enthralled with his gorgeous processed guitar pieces, but upon popping the new Minamo album into my stereo I realized that I'd forgotten the wonderful intricacies and dynamics of the full quartet's interplay. As on their previous four full-length releases, Minamo have built the album around live recordings and improvisations, with lulling electronic textures and ambient drones building and weaving amidst simple piano and acoustic guitar passages. This is a group that doesn't need to hide behind a massive and dense wall of sound, but instead works with an incredibly light and precise touch. Shining is a fantastic album, quite possibly their greatest one yet. Of the many groups working with laptops today, very few have figured out how to develop this level of organic interaction between the musicians. Minamo makes the process look deceptively easy.
listen: raum
listen: tone

dj hell / ny muscle / international deejay gigolo

DJ Hell borrowed A.R.E. Weapon's track title for his latest album, NY Muscle, and hired some "NY muscle" to help him make a new album of nasty dancefloor rumbling jams. The album is peppered with a few bleepy nouveau electro tracks Keep on Waiting and Wired featuring Jon Selway, plus a cameo by James Murphy adding his muddy/blown speaker, smash-cymbal disco rock vibe to Tragic Picture Show, but the majority of the album is nouveau Chicago: dark, pumping house grooves with a teaspoon of nastiness thrown in. Let's party!
listen: keep on waiting (feat. erlend oye)
listen: listen to the hiss

lawrence / the absence of blight / dial



How could I have missed this album? Beautiful deep minimal house that warms the heart with lovely elegant ambient melodies. Great comfort listening while indoors and avoiding the March winter wonderland outside.
listen: -
listen: fifteen minutes with you
listen: winter green
listen: somebody hold me

top albums each year:

2004: michael mayer / fabric 13 / fabric


2003: ellen allien/ berlinette / bpitch


2002: múm / finally we are no one / fat cat


2001: fennesz / endless summer / mego



new:

montag / alone, not alone / carpark/grooom disques

Montréal resident, Montag aka. Antoine Bédard has sampled sound sources of 17 different classical instruments at the Conservatoire de Montréal to create his second album Alone, Not Alone while including notable guests like Broadcast's James Corgill and Amy Millan from the Stars and the Broken Social Scene to contribute to his album. Bédard's songs are often crafted around '60s-inspired pop melodies, it's what I'd imagine if Stereolab was part of the Morr Music roster.
listen: perfect vision
listen: temps partiel

various artists / triple r selection 3 / trapez

The latest addition to the Selection series on Trapez has arrived. This third Triple R mix starts smooth and dives deep immediately. Starring Dominik Eulberg, Hansen & DJ Daniel, Matthias Rahn, Marcos Cabral, an unreleased Sarah Goldfarb track with vocals by Riley Reinhold, and a plethora of the LTD 12-inches.
listen: only love
listen: coco puffs

agf + delay / explode / agf producktion

This first proper full-length collaboration displays an interesting evolution for the duo. Vladislav Delay's production incorporates more deep house elements from his Luomo project while Laub's Antye Greie embellishes her spoken narrations with warm melodies. Minimal and impressionistic, Explode reveals itself with repeated listens.
listen: explode baby

c-schulz / 5. flicker tunes / sonig

This is the first proper release from C-Schulz in over five years! An elder statesman of the experimental electronic community in Cologne, C-Schulz has been quietly creating carefully orchestrated drone pieces out of layers of electronics, field recordings, and various objects and instruments for well over two decades. His self-titled duo CD from 2000 with frequent collaborator Hajsch (C-Schulz & Hajsch) is considered by many, including myself, to be a classic. His tremendous influence on the experimental scene in Cologne is quite evident in his choice of collaborators over the years -- Marcus Schmickler (Pol), Georg Odijk (Kontakta), Frank Dommert (Kontakta), Andi Toma, Jan St. Werner, Harold 'Sack' Zielgler etc.

While 5. Flicker Tunes is no great departure from C-Schulz's previous efforts, his modest and singularly focused approach serves him well on the eight pieces contained on the album. Fluttering electronics gradually envelope subtle instrumental passages and atmospheric field recordings to create an overall texture that's both engrossing and beautiful. Averaging around six-minutes, the pieces on 5. Flicker Tunes are remarkably economical in means and demonstrate a sense of precision and attention to detail not often found in more recent drone based compositions. An extremely concise effort that rewards repeated listening. Let's hope we don't have to wait another five years for the next installment.
listen: flicker
listen: weilland

ellen allien / thrills / bpitch


out may 2005

listen: i fell in love with a dead boy
listen: cripple and starfish

tiefschwarz / misch masch / fine

The much requested mix and remix collection from Tiefschwarz! Two generous CDs, the "Misch Masch" mix features rockin' electro tracks from acts like Sleep Archive, Max Durante with Keith Tucker, Think Twice, Kiki, Code 6 and Mat Jonson. The other is an 11-track collection of remixes done for artists like Unit, Lopazz, Spektrum, DJ Hell and Mocky.

The mix is exactly what you'd expect from the tasteful German electrohouse production duo. Stomping rock-electro-house where big synths weave and swell when necessary. Their production is a cross between Metro Area and DFA on Bpitchcontrol. Synthy, club-rocking jams with pseudo-natural drums to keep the fists pumping.
listen: quad 1 / code 6
listen: decompression / mat jonson
listen: listen to the hiss / hell
listen: mickey mouse muthafuckers / mockey feat. ad hawk

postal service / we will become silhouettes / sub pop



Two years later, Give Up is the album that keeps on giving. The snail mailed tape exchanges between Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello seems to have superseded both of their respective main projects, and here's one more single from Postal Service's lone album. The bouncy indie-tronica ode to nuclear obliteration, "We Will Become Silhouettes," is taken from their full-length, but fans will want to check out the three backing tracks. "Be Still My Heart" is a brand new song, while Styrofoam remixes "Nothing Better" and Ghostly International's Matthew Dear puts a nice subtle tech-pulse into a remix of the single's A-side.
listen: we will become silhouettes / matthew dear remix

christo and jeanne claude / the gates / nyc
central park

the mole / meets the bacon smugglers / risquée
bookmat review
listen: mole / lezgo lezgo

polmo polpo / kiss me again and again / intr-version
bookmat review

l'altra / different days / hefty

The Windy City has never been lacking in musical talent. Right now its electronic scene in particular is experiencing a creative boom with acts like Telefon Tel Aviv, Pulseprogramming and Slicker, the musical alias of John Hughes Jr., who also runs the Hefty label. L'altra, is another name that deserves to be near the top of this list. Originally a five-piece ensemble, co-founders Lindsay Anderson and Joseph Costa -- who ended a several year romantic relationship while recording this album -- scaled back the official line-up to just themselves, but among the nine or so guest musicians listed are recognizable names like avant-cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, horn player Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley), and Pulseprogramming's Marc Heller.

Produced by Telefon Tel Aviv's Joshua Eustis, the duo's third full-length, and first with a Hefty logo, isn't exactly electronic in the traditional sense. The programmed beats and sonic textures are rounded out by the warm accoutrements of acoustic and electric guitars, Rhodes piano and bass. It all comes together creating a gorgeously restrained, at times heart-tugging, musical foundation for Anderson and Costa's intertwined vocals. Their sad, hushed melodies are quite sincere, the interplay between the two singers at times reminiscent of Ida's Daniel Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell.

It's all about slow-building dynamics. L'altra utilize subtle crescendos much in the same way as Efterklang; the lulling tempos of the songs emphasize the lush textures of instrumentation that flow in and out, be it layers of horns, strings or a rare blast of guitar feedback. This is a perfect late night chill-out soundtrack for those looking for something slow, seductive and a little bittersweet.
listen: different days
listen: better than bleeding

bibio / fi / mush

Bibio is in fact an Englishmen named Stephen Wilkinson, who not only has an affinity for playing beautiful, finger-picked guitar passages, but also for impressionistic production inspired by electronic auteurs like Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada, and what sounds to be a love of his four-track. The latter explains the brief, nonsensical album title Fi. His debut album actually blurs the line between hi-fi and lo-fi, Wilkinson processing and layering his cassette recorded guitar passages with unrecognizable drones, tape loops, and nature sounds. During "Puddled in the Morning," the precise fingerpicked notes are almost unrecognizable, overtaken by his guitar's overtones. As the distant melody fades away, what one would assume to be the clicks and pops coming from a stuck groove of an old record suddenly turns into a campfire's crackle.

Warbled tape recordings of Wilkinson's circular folk guitar passages give the album a mysterious, almost timeless quality. One can imagine these songs coming from an unlabeled cassette that had once been covered in moss, unearthed in a damp, English forest. Boards of Canada's Marcus Eoin is actually responsible for introducing the young musician to the Mush label. But while adjectives like hazy, soothing and pastoral can be used in describing both BOC and Bibio, Wilkinson's approach is much more minimalist. Deprived of beats, picture Fennesz processing loops from old British folk recordings or Kevin Shields on a camping trip with Jewelled Antler Collective.
listen: bewley in white
listen: puddled in the morning

alva noto / transrapid + transvision / raster noton

Alva Noto has released two new CD-EPs, each beautifully packaged and printed in a cardstock, fold-over pocket manual sized booklet. The CDs themselves look a lot like the 20' to 2000' CD-EPs from a while back with a few added graphic lines imbedded in the clear plastic. Very nice. Thankfully, the high expectations inspired by the design are rewarded with music that matches the simple intricacy of its package.

The first noticeable quality is its simultaneous closeness and distance to hip-hop. Ultra-sterilized (clinical), isolated bass-bumps, clicks, buzzes and beeps (smaller than 'bleeps') bump, scratch and climb themselves into breakbeats fit for the biosphere -- not that that idea worked, but you know, imagine a manmade atmosphere. (Take the sounds Carsten Nicolai added to the Noto/Sakamoto album and arrange them in fresh, lively, active beat arrangements.)

After hearing both EPs for the first time (and feeling them immediately) it took me a while to realize the obvious: these tracks bear a striking resemblance to recent Pan Sonic releases. I realized that the difference, and the reason that I didn't notice right away, is that here, the hi-fidelity of the sounds is much more inviting; the tracks 'swing' more and are much less static with many buildups and breakdowns -- if Panasonic and Jan Jelinek jammed in a parking lot.
listen: future
listen: j

various / pop ambient 2005 / kompakt

Kompakt releases year five of their Pop Ambient series. Get ready for blissful, warm adventures by Ulf Lohmann, Markus Guentner, Peter Grummich, Triola, Andrew Thomas, Klimek, DJ Koze, Thomas Fehlmann, The Orb, a classic slice of heaven from Gas (culled from his 2000 masterpiece, Pop), and a simultaneously sweet and haunting offering from the mysterious Popnoname. Bubbling synth arpeggios, luxurious drones, textures, washes, smears, wisps, reverberations, and hums…almost all the tracks are absolutely perfect, infectious, satin pop gems. Recommended.
listen: gas - pop
listen: peter grummich - sunbeams

michael mayer works alone
by martin turenne

coming to Toronto 27/02/05

m83's one man drama
by cam lindsay

coming to Toronto 19/04/05

m83 / before the dawn heals us / mute

In spite of the departure of co-founder Nicolas Fromageau, Anthony Gonzalez forges ahead with a new M83 album. Female voices and live instruments are more prominent, but the visceral layers of sound and breathtaking passages are unmistakably M83.
listen: teen angst
listen: moon child


Philip Sherburne's mixes
download

shuttle358 / chessa / 12k

Sweet warm hugs. Subtle beauty that floats by like a creek in autumn. Minimal (with nods to SND, Dettinger, Oval, Pete Namlook and other 'ambient classics') Chessa seems to be about indulging in the mood of the moment.
listen: marchie
listen: duh

a new Toronto techno mag.
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