LEFTFIELD REVIEWS
FOUND SOUNDS, PO Box 20437, London, SW16 2YJ QUICKIES Don Nino
Beats (Remixes) In Fine 7.5
Turzi tops the pile in this trio of remixes. Smooth down strokes, and a touch of reverb. Beats for the folks.
Falty DL
Straight & Arrow Ninja Tune 8.0
Menahan Street Band
Lights Out Daptone Records
8.5
Two of the smoothest (production-wise) tracks that have come from the Menahan collective. Released on trusty 45, both tracks have a filmic quality, ‘Lights Out’ echoing Bill Conti and Axelrod chewing the fat over tapas and tequila, whilst ‘Keep Coming Back’ sways and rocks gently on swirling keys and guitar before climaxing with bursts of horns and energy only reserved for those more intimate moments. Beautiful.
Bonus Skor
Bonus Skor EP Static Caravan 8.0
One to definitely track down, on the ever-elusive, exclusive and limited Static Caravan imprint. Pairing the considerable and understated talents of Laura J Martin and Tunng’s Mike Lindsay, it’s a gentile collaboration that centres on the lead track ‘No Souls Treasure’. Swelling with rising strings and ominous-yet-smooth electronics, it’s a stunning piece of work that ends in a darker place than most usual Tunng productions. Check it out.
Debruit
From The Horizon Remixed Civil Music 7.5
The synth-laden offbeat shenanigans of Debruit get the remix treatment from a clutch of his contemporaries in this tight four-track EP. Kelpe and Fulgeance lead from the front with expanded versions of ‘Cri’ and ‘Zef’ respectively, although it’s the former that surpasses the original, as you might expect from the depths of a Kelpe production.
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Hot 8 Brass Band Ghost Town/Let Me Do My
Thing Tru Thoughts 7.0
Likelihood is, you will be well versed by now, but for those of you not fully up to speed with the Hot 8 job spec, it works a little something like this... Established and well-drilled New Orleans-style brass band seeks modern classic to cover and interpret. Ideal candidate must be instantly recognisable. Any genre considered. Experience not essential. Horns, drums, percussion and tons of funk provided. Apply within.
Joe Banfi
Iron EP Communion 8.0
Unearthing yet more lovely music and in turn another great new vocalist, the keen ears at Communion appear to have struck gold once again with singer/ songwriter Joe Banfi. Citing the likes of Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Deftones as influences, you’d hardly expect this acoustic guitar- plucking troubadour to turn out the fragile, tender and beautifully poised folk that he does. But then, I suppose that’s all part of the charm.
Lapalux
Some Other Time Brainfeeder 8.0
Like a fine ocean liner buffet spread, there sure are some tasty treats amid this sprawling EP. Glitching, pulsating, looping and modulating its way through a mini LP’s worth of material, each track has its own worth and value, without the need for filler. ‘Jaw Jackin’ and ‘Forgetting And Learning Again’ are the two access points for the world of Lapalux that lies within. Investigate.
Michna
Moving Mountains Ghostly International 7.5
A deep and varied comeback release from New York’s Michna, who crosses various beat textures on this four-track EP. Opening with the downtempo beats of ‘Titanium Glaciers’, it progresses into punchy (yet soothing) 4/4 nu-disco with ‘Wanted Exotic’, leaving via an exit route of soundscaped electronica on ‘The Tabernacle At Pendrell Vale’. One of Ghostly’s more accessible releases to date, but worthwhile for the opener and last track alone.
Omega Male
Testosterone Full Time Hobby 8.0
They may be a new name on the FTH roster, but Omega Male certainly comprise some familiar faces. Enter David Best, the indolent vocalist of the brilliant kraut-inspired duo Fujiya & Miyagi, and Sammy Rubin, the programming mind behind laptop-rock duo Project Jenny, Project Jan. The result is a perfectly balanced distillation of the two; taut, minimal, understated moody brilliance.
The Stepkids
Sweet Salvation EP Stones Throw 8.5
Stones Throw’s answer to Sly & The Family Stone make good with yet more freewheeling, innovative music. Equally informed by the sounds of classic soul, psych, jazz, rock, R&B, funk and then some, their music somehow manages to harness that rare, intangible quality of never sounding remotely forced, planned or contrived. In fact, it’s almost as if they — like us — are never quite sure what they will come out of the studio with next.
www.djmag.ca
Colonel Abrams in time travel sensation! Four Tet supersizes the groove into a micro party all of his own.
Kelpe
Bags Of Time Svetlana Industries 7.5
Swaddled in a deep, rich, almost visceral analogue blanket, production don Kelpe delivers yet another deftly executed lesson in
warm, low-end theory. Nice, nice, nice!
Matmos
The Ganzfeld EP Thrill Jockey 8.0
There is something perfectly symmetrical about this release. Both celebrating 20 years in ‘the business’, pioneering electronic label Thrill Jockey joins forces with pioneering electronic act Matmos. Like a marriage made in heaven!
Pablo Nouvelle
One More Chance Self Release 6.5
Swiss film-maker and musician Fabio Fredli follows up the success of ‘Is It OK?’ with this tasteful two-tracker that fuses melodic 4/4 with charming slo-mo electronica.
DAVID SHEPPARD VILLAGE GREEN
01. ARTHUR RUSSELL ‘Instrumentals Volume 1’ Audika “Everyone knows Arthur flirted with both avant-garde and popular forms, and here
those sensibilities merge into clonky, ingenuous rapture.”
02. ARTHUR LYMAN ‘Hiilawe’ Rykodisc “Simple, brief, but full of feeling; Arthur’s brand of ‘50s faux-Polynesian exotica,
embraced by a wistful melancholy.”
03. TERRY RILEY ‘In C’ Ars Nova “Minimalism begins here — but while this improvisatory piece is based on repetition of a
single note, it remains 20th century experimental music’s most fecund creation.”
04. MOONDOG ‘Pastoral’ BGO “Not by an Arthur, but by a Louis, this is Moondog at his most lyrical. The graceful harp
melody somehow speaks of Bach and The Beach Boys simultaneously.”
05. HOLGER CZUKAY ‘Fragrance’ EMI “Holger’s proto-sampling work immediately after leaving Can is a playful joy. When I
first heard this, I thought it was the sound of pop music’s future. I still do.”
06. GEORGE DELERUE ‘Ouverture Le Mépris’ Universal “Delerue and Godard achieved genuine audio-visual synergy on the 1963 movie, to
which this is the musical opening.”
07. JOHN CAGE ‘In A Landscape’ Virgin “A dreamlike solo piano meditation, it seems to always be ascending toward some Zen
apotheosis. It was composed in 1948, anticipating ambient music by three decades.”
08. ANTHONY MOORE ‘ABCD Gol’fish’ Blueprint “This mesmerising track from the one-time Slapp Happy man’s 1971 solo album is a
narcotic bridge between cyclical, classical minimalism and electronic trance.”
09. ALESSANDRO ALESSANDRONI ‘Galleria Di Immagini’ Roundtable “Best known as ‘the whistler’ on Ennio Morricone soundtracks, here Alessandroni deliv-
ers his own mellifluous take on just-the-right-side-of-kitsch chamber orchestration. There is no whistling.”
10. PETER ZUMMO ‘Song IV’ Optimo “Zummo’s trombone, Bill Ruyle’s tablas and Arthur Russell’s cello melded together with
modesty and subtlety. They open up great plains in the imagination, nonetheless.”
MONEYSHOT!
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