REVIEW: The Black Dog - Tranklements

8.25 out of 10

Find it here.

Listening to The Black Dog is a peculiar experience. While their name is often synonymous with the IDM movement of the early 1990s– and they indeed are among the prominent revolutionaries the genre – their music has always defied simple classification, dwelling in an uncanny space between the luxurious, anthemic Futurist-Funk of Detroit Techno (“Chase the Manhattan”) and the sparse, hypnotic Minimalism of Berlin Techno (“Single Light Focus”). Yet, this has never gave their work a disorienting and alienating affect. In fact, it is precisely because of their ceaseless experimentation that, twenty-four years after their formation, The Black Dog remain a staple of contemporary Electronic music.

On their newest album, 'Tranklements' – their first since 2011's 'Liber Dogma' –, The Black Dog extend their idiosyncratic style into even more uncharted territories. Present here are some of the  streamlined qualities reminiscent of their earlier, more conventional work: the tightly looped 4/4 sequences (“Pray Crash II”), the gauzing melodies (“First Cut”), and the softly reverberant beats (“Internal Collapse”). But more often than not these elements form the backdrop; driving the greatest moments here are the subtle micro-tonal experimentations. Most songs begin with a single rhythmic theme, off of which builds a well-disciplined economy of sounds that tease apart any sense of linearity or progression.  “Hymn for SoYo” opens with an unrefined organ melody, which over four minutes is slowly recessed and submerged against layers of clicks, fuzzes, and colliding half-sequenced arpeggios. “Spatchka” features free-flowing synth melodies, moving in and out until converging into stunning harmonies. There are moments that these experimentations feel ultimately out of place and disruptive – like the four arhythmic and amelodic “Bolt” tracks, ranging from 0:20 to 1:18, which cancel out any sense of coherence in comparison to the rest of the album – but overall this album's daring inventiveness is nothing but sweet candy to the ears.
 

This music crawls underneath your skin, and pulses through your body. It infects your senses, and transports you straight back onto those dance floors when Techno still felt fresh and exciting –  a feeling rarely achieved by most artists of the genre today. Highly recommended.

Standout Tracks: First Cut, Spatchka, Hymn For SoYo, Atavistic Resurgence

REVIEW: Violetshaped - LP

8.75 out of 10

Find it here. goodluck..

''Violet like winter twilights. Poison like raw madness.” This is how the enigmatic British producer Violet Poison explains the meaning behind his/her moniker. Pretentious as it may seem, evocations of nocturnal landscapes and psychic frenzy are remarkably apt when describing Violet Poison's music. Over the past two years (s)he has onslaught upon the underground electronic music community a manic hybrid of Harsh Noise, Industrial music, vintage Electronica, EBM, and Minimal Techno. The raw physicality, the unnerving ambience, the insanely intricate arrangements: Violet Poison's music is simply unmatched.

Violet Poison's most recent release –  a collaboration with Berlin's Shapednoise under the name Violetshaped – might just be the artist's most powerful material to date. The album begins with a simple rippling beat and droning feedback. No rhythm is established; we are simply left submerged in a dark and unsettling atmosphere. Then, within the first seconds of “The Lord Won't Forget,” the total assault begins. Machine-blast beats, amorphous rhythms, and half-formed melodies flow in and out for eight minutes, leaving us overwhelmed yet yearning for more. This relentless barrage continues for the next six tracks. “Out Of Any Symmetry” recalls the Industrial-Tribalism of late Whitehouse, hammering out an almost Tropical beat alongside a deep, nauseating bassline. “Spectral Nightdrive” retains the expansive feeling of the opener, but injects an even more sickly ominous sensation as panning glitches and asymmetrical spasms of beats immolate any central guiding pattern. By the closing bars of the final track, you will be gasping for breath.

Comparisons to artists like Demdike Stare and Raime may seem obvious when listening to this album, but none are adequate. There is no sense of the alienating distance or restraint present in most Minimal Techno here. This album is simply no-holes-barred, face-eating electronic music. I swear every time I hear one of these songs a new layer of sound becomes perceptible to me. They all have their own internal architectures, full of nuanced complexities and unyielding strangeness, that lead to an endlessly rewarding listening experience. Prepare for sensory overload.

Standout Tracks: The Lord Won't Forget, Out Of Any Symmetry, Spectral Nightdrive

EIC'S10Q'S w/Greie Gut Fraktion

"..the sense of something being constructed inside your ears. You are there witnessing a convoluted piece of machinery do it's job while possibly breaking down and piecing itself back together again.."


Greie Gut Fraktion
Dismantled Fabricated Apparatus

Greie Gut Fraktion Bio:
Crafting what the duo calls "post-kraut-dub-industrial-techno," Greie Gut Fraktion brings together East German-born poet/producer Antye Greie and West German experimental producer Gudrun Gut. Greie also releases music under the moniker AGF, was one half of Laub and has worked with Ellen Allien, Craig Armstrong and Vladislav Delay, among others; Gut, meanwhile, was a member of Mania D, Malaria!, Einstürzende Neubauten and Matador, and runs the label Monika Enterprise. The project began in 2008, when Greie invited Gut to collaborate with her on a work commissioned for the BBC program Late Junction; the pair were inspired by the propulsive sounds of construction sites and made hours of field recordings. Throughout 2009, Greie and Gut formed songs out of these sounds plus vocals, beats and guitars in their respective studios in Finland and Berlin. The duo played shows in Copenhagen, Berlin and London before their first release, the Wir bauen eine neue Stadt ("we’re building a new city") EP arrived in spring 2010 on Monika. A cover of the 1981 hit by Palais Schaumberg (which included Gut collaborator Thomas Fehlmann among the band’s members), it also featured remixes by Wolfgang Voigt and Alva Noto. Greie Gut Fraktion’s first full-length Baustelle ("Construction Site") was released in summer 2010.


Hello, how are you?
Thanks fine.

What are you currently listening to?
I am listening to the new Four Tet album over and over again. Quite like it.

How long have you two been writing music together?
I met Antye at a festival in Moskau and we talked all night- that was 2008- shorty afterwards she invited me to join in to this collab project for BBC radio and we quickly found the theme "Baustelle/construction site" for us. That was the first time we ever worked together. And we both really enjoyed this- so we decided to continue and make a full length album. But I knew her from Berlin music scene before.

Can you explain your sound in 5 words or less?
Powerful, sensual, direct, loud.

Your debut full length “Baustelle“ translates into Construction Site, can you explain why you chose this title?
A construction site is a place of progress. Its..

Who are your current favorite underground electronic musicians at this time?
Natalie Beridze/tba

What‘s next for you guys?
We have prepared a live set up and are planning gigs for Autum.

Will Einstürzende Neubauten ever see the light of day/tour North America again?
I am the wrong person to be asked that question. I haven't had anything to do with EN since 1981.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
I'll get a bird.

Are you living your dream?
Yes. but I am living reality at the same time.

Thanx Brian & GGF!

Greie Gut Fraktion are currently playing shows here and there in EU, who wants to fly em' out here and get a show set up? (I'll go)...

REVIEW: Greie Gut Fraktion - Baustelle

8.25 out of 10
Find it here.

This was another random album sent into me. I had never heard of these two lovely ladies before, and I wasn't all that familiar with their music. But out of random obscure submission came an intense surge of ear pleasure-ness. Greie Gut Fraktion are a German based Electronic duo. Both of them have been in and out of the best parts of the underground electronic music scene for the past 20+ years or so. (They are indeed masters of their craft.) Their music, although could be danced to, is best really listened to/soaked in. The intricate layers of samples with haunting & seductive vocals among other obscure electronic sounds really makes "Baustelle" one of this years best electronic albums.

"Baustelle" means "construction site". Now you know the theme; this album was made up (almost) entirely of sampled construction site sounds. Sure, you've heard of "themed" albums before where the band goes and gets a few field recordings.. But the way GGF put their samples back together gives you the sense of something being constructed inside your ears. You are there witnessing a convoluted piece of machinery do it's job while possibly breaking down and piecing itself back together again. If Ben Frost's "Theory Of Machines" is about the life and-or lack-of life in machines, then Greie Gut Fraktion's "Baustelle" would be about the corruption and decay of machines. As for "sound specific"; the songs on this album range anywhere from Minimal Techno (Ellen Allien) to Industrial (in it's truest sense) to Post Apocalyptic Dub (somewhat reminiscent of Burial). It's relaxing, unique, a little dancey, and complex. It's exactly the way I like my Electronic music.

If the thought of Ellen Allien teaming up with Midaircondo to release a Post-Dub Industrial Electronic-Ambient album excites you.. You need to be obsessed with this now. RECOMMENDEDddDddDdD.

Standout Tracks: All ..Drilling An Ocean(boom.), Grossgrundbesitzer, Baustein, White Oak

REVIEW: Ellen Allien - Dust

6.5 out of 10

Find it here.

To me Ellen Allien is one of "those" kinds of artists, ..you know the kind. The ones that should be waaaay more established than they currently are. But for some catastrophic reason we live in a lame society/fantasy world where quality music never gets the attention it deserves. Her music, well it's extremely simple/minimal techno with a dancey "edge". And, although it's "simplistic", it's extremely rich in sound. Which gives you the sense of picking up more details with every listen. Her 2003 album (my favorite) "Berlinette" could possibly be one of those 10 out of 10 albums for me. It's definitely one of the most catchy electronic albums I've ever heard if anything. Since then I've made it a point to seek out all of her work. On top of releasing a tremendously important techno album that I love so much she also runs a little know label called BPitch Control which is home to the likes of Apparat, Modeselektor & many other artists that are equally awesome. Her role in the "underground" dance scene in Europe is slightly(vastly) larger there than what it is in the US, but maybe one day (hopefully) that'll equal out. Any-whoooo, "Dust" is her latest offering, and yes, it's a tasty treat for the club kid in all of us.

At most points on all of the tracks you won't hear more than 3-4 different layers. Each one of those layers brings the sweetest sensation to those with the best headphones. Tiny blips, machine-esque sounding beats, bizarre lyrics sporadically enhancing other sounds, and the sense of being at one of the best dance clubs of your life. There are also moments like in "My Tree" when the tiniest Jazzy/melodic sample pokes it's head out towards the end, giving this album it's moments of "chill". Don't get me wrong, this isn't one of "those types" of "Dance" albums that's always upbeat, loud & in your face, it's actually quite soothing in the right mind set. Your toes will no-doubt be tapping though.. "Dust" is fun from beginning to end, the pulsing sensations you'll get from the music are super nice and the production (as always) is top-notch. Side note: I'd LOVE to hear Ms. Allien do a split with James Murphy some day, that's a paring that sounds like some next level shtuff if you ask me..

On "Dust" Ellen Allien, once again, proves why she's one of the best female producers in music today. Fans of her previous work should like this one, it's somewhere between "Thrills" & "Sool". Fans of catchy Minimal Techno/Dance music you're in for a treat if you have never laid ears on Ms. Allien.

Standout Tracks: Ever, Flashy Flashy, Huibuh

Audion to hit the road this summer..

From Audion:
Two new Audion tracks have now materialized, and more is soon to come. Audion will be taking his new material on the road this summer with audio/visual accompaniment from Eno Henze, Andreas Fischer, and Audion art director Will Calcutt.

Audion Live Summer Tour 2009.
Berlin Germany. Berghain June 26.
Amsterdam Netherlands. Awakenings Festival June 27.
Dour Belgium. Dour Festival July 16.
Valencia Spain. Barraca. July 4.
London England. Field Day August 1.

WITH MORE TBA

Get ready to shake what your mother gave, or perhaps didn't give, ya!