I got exposed to U.K. digital wonderboychiks Underworld via a recent Uncut® Magazine free CD where they featured a track from the band’s 1990s heyday. It sounded okay and when this sparkling new “U-World” disc hit the review “do-you-wanna?” list I jumped at the chance to hear a full release from this talented duo. Karl Hyde and Rick Smith connected with a bevy of producers to create this, only their sixth album in their thirty-year existence. And at first listen it sounds pretty much like a techno album should. Most every track strikes a groove early on and fans of the genre will respect the urgent boom-thuwap as being as authentic as it gets. The trouble is, techno is an extremely limited style and if you don’t have a dance club and a wigful of ecstasy outside your back door then the tunes here do definitely become a little boring. There are a couple of tracks (song names are irrelevant for this music, really) that edge into a beatcentric, Pink Floyd-y vibe but so many as that one would notice the advance or even pay extra attention to what comes after them. Search this out if you were ever a fan. If not, swerve to the left and move on. (Cooking Vinyl, www.underworldlive.com) Jeff Monk
Found: Pratt’s Driving Off a Cliff
After one of Fletcher Pratt’s latest sets, Guy from free grind band Tu Sufres (among other bands) commented that he dug all of Pratt’s set, except for the beats, because he doesn’t like beats at all.
“Really?!” said I. “I really enjoyed the beats.”
“Yeah, see, that’s why I don’t like beats,” he quipped. That motherfucker.
Either way, here’s Pratt’s newest release off his Soundcloud account, and, in Guy’s face, it starts with a beat. It, however, isn’t something to dance to–it’s definitely 5/4. Then, as the drums punch away, drones and twinkles entwine the piece until that sure beat speeds up, stays at double speed, and dissolves into a series of glitched-out purgatories.
It’ll be on a limited edition CDR of 50 titled DEATHDUBS on Snapped in Half. You can see Pratt play in his band Kkraakk!! open up for B.C.’s Anha this Friday at Freud’s Bathhouse and Diner.
Driving Off a Cliff by fletcher_pratt
Review: Elaste – Super Motion Disco
The third compilation of obscure ’80s disco by DJ and musician Dompter Mooner–a.k.a. Elaste–is a CD that’ s outrageously fun and enjoyable. Super Motion Disco is acollection largely inspired by the Italian afrofunky disco of the ’70s and ’80s. The 14 lovingly selected tracks encompass “avantgardistic, galactic sounding disco, proto-techno, electronic new wave, and cheesy slow motion pop.” Yeah, this sounds like theingredients of pretentiousness all right, but Super Motion Disco is like any variety offreshly baked pastries: sure they can be reheated, and sure other people know how to bake, but they’ ll never taste the same as the way they used to. Still dubious? One listen and you’ll find yourself grooving along to tracks such as the zippy “Maccaroni Radio” (by Eddy Trauba & MM Greco) and the zappy “ The Shark Eats Ice” (Conrad Und Gregor Schnitzler), with your dad, your little sister, and your dog. The lyrics are more often than not super cheesy, (“Glaring Sound throbs / DJs turn the knobs”) but they’re so unabashedly sung, you’ll wonder why you even cared. The tracks of Super Motion Disco sound as fresh and fun now as they must have 30 years ago. There’ s a lot going on here, and it’s a rewarding and filling listen. (Compost Rec, www.compost-rec.com) Adrienne Yeung
Review: Tender Forever – No Snare
Melanie Valera couldn’t have picked a more apt moniker. As Tender Forever, Valera crafts curiously intimate, sparsely instrumented indie pop – previously seen on 2005’s The Soft and the Hardcore and 2007’s Wider – letting her pipes take centre stage to draw you in close. And close you get. Valera’s voice tends to wrap around you, going from hopeful staccato to desperate howls. Opening with “Got to Let Go,” on which Valera croons, “This song is not for you and it is meant to be/ Just a piece of something nice that you won’t get to see,” the album seems borne the eventual relief and release that comes from heartbreak, that pocket after the end of a relationship where emotions run free and wild, the realization that you’re better off alone. “Day Number” swiftly counts off phases of a dying relationship, followed by the musically optimistic, yet lyrically dark “But The Shape Is Wide.” No Snare – named not for instrumental patterns, but rather, as Valera sings on “The Snare That’s Gone,” “My heart was the snare you could hit anywhere” – is truly an album in the purest sense, a mood that carries through all nine tracks and belies song transitions, each number luring you further into an oddly soothing sorrow, flashes of synths, organs and various percussions. (K records, www.krecs.com) Brietta O’Leary
Review: Jukebox the Ghost – Everything Under the Sun
Have you ever seen the falling star? I’ve seen it. Usually, it vanishes away in a matter of seconds. But I’ve seen the everlasting falling star. This is Everything Under the Sun. I’ve had this album playing loudly in my head since I listened to it for the first time. I’m always listening to this album, because Jukebox the Ghost makes my emotions deeper. Although music has a limited ability to express the human mind, their music can almost express our feelings. If you listen to “Schizophrenia” and “Half Crazy”, you must be happy and you can’t help dancing. On the other hand, when you listen to “Mistletoe” and “So Let Us Create,” you will get sentimental. “The Sun” and “The Stars” will let you can enjoy this album whenever you listen to it. It is because we live under the sun. Jukebox the Ghost knows everything about us and what music we want to listen to, as if they are watching us from the sun. So we can listen to their music easily. Your day doesn’t start without listening to it. Just listen to it!! (Yep Roc) Takashi Wakasugi
Review: Wolf Parade – Expo 86
When Wolf Parade’s Apologies To The Queen Mary was released, it was as damn near perfect as an indie rock record could ever hope to be, falling somewhere in between Arcade Fire’s anthemic scope and Broken Social Scene’s hazy sprawl. 2008’s follow-up At Mount Zoomer, shifted into a murky swirl of dense, third-wave Brit pop and Springsteen-indebted rock. With it, the division between Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner’s songwriting became clear, just barely balancing the record in a sort-of-adverse symmetry. But Expo 86 doesn’t fall into the same disjointed folly that Zoomer did. Instead, the album works as a convergence of their two voices—Boeckner’s raucous riffs are funneled through Krug’s disenfranchised brand of pop, the result as gripping as it is bizarre. Huge, lumbering hooks, like those found on “Little Golden Age” and “Yulia” rock in a way that Wolf Parade has never quite managed to on their previous efforts. The Krug-penned tracks retain his trademark knack for chatty, rambling lyrics, but backing them with Boeckner’s bluesy riffs and spinning them through some fleeting electronica results in something that, for all its layers, sounds organic and fluid. Boeckner and Krug have found a middle ground where they can co-exist cooperatively, rather than competitively, and they sound all the better for it. (Subpop, www.subpop.com) Kevan Hannah
Review: Autechre – Move of Ten
The ten tracks offered on this EP see these UK electronic alchemists opting for refining and combining their previous sonic elixirs, rather than conjuring something altogether new. And the results are pretty damn good. Those expecting the abstract, glitch-frenzied madness of 2001’s amazing Confield will notice immediately how straight forward some of the beats are here. Tracks like “M62” and “Y7” are constructed on a steady, four-on-the-floor pulse, yet Autechre only use this decidedly accessible meter as a backbone for a concise, complex symphony of writhing analog synths, dizzying melodic interplay and masterful, layered production. Still, this is far from Daft Punk. Listeners pining for something a tad more obfuscated have the lead off track, “Etchogon-S,” which sounds like a drum machine gone completely haywire inside an echo chamber while 8-bit icicles come crashing down atop that giant floor piano in the movie Big. Thankfully, Autehcre’s keen ear for atmosphere is stronger than ever; Move of Ten feels icy, dark and foreboding, yet the songs are catchy, groovy and utterly alluring. This delicate balance is what makes Autechre among the best, and Move of Ten a fantastic album. Repeated listens and headphones are a must. (Warp Records, www.warp.net) Curran Faris
Review: Male Bonding – Nothing Hurts
So I finally sat down with my good set of headphones and a vinyl copy of this record when I had some time to myself. I dropped the needle on the band’s full-length debut and lay back with the liner notes as these three Londoners were firing through “Year’s not Long,” already one of my favourite songs of the year with its major scale hooks and furious sixteenth note strumming. In the midst of guitar noise, reverb settings stolen from Abe Vigoda, double time drums, half time drums, and inprecise chord changes, you can catch that almost all of John Arthur Webb’s lyrics are about temporality, living in the moment, etc. etc., which gives the whole of Nothing Hurts that arty and poetic edge. Unfolding the liner notes, I discovered a huge photo of the three stylish guys looking up at the camera and the name Male Bonding splashed under them. Right then and there I wanted to scotch tape it to my wall and scream along for weeks on end. (Sub Pop, www.subpop.com) Taylor Burgess
Review: Endless Boogie – Full House Head
New York, New York’s Endless Boogie is one of the most aptly named bands around today. Forget obtuse band names like Animal Collective (no animals playing instruments—big disappointment) or Japandroids. (What? Not even a word.) Endless Boogie aim to deliver exactly what their name implies—Boogie, in the quantity of Endless. This is primarily achieved by taking one or two guitars and having the first slam out some heavy bluesy guitar riffs, full of Boogie, and then repeating them into damn nigh eternity, hence the achievement of Endless. Then, halfway through most songs, the second guitar snaps into the forefront, in full Wank mode, lending some Endless solos too. The guitars are the star of this picture based on their presence alone. They are so all-encompassing you barely notice the competent, albeit complacent rhythm section, which anchors down a beat for the guitars to wail over. The vocals are growled or hurled out seemingly as an afterthought. From what I can tell, they are mostly about pie (“Mighty Fine Pie”) and having good times (“All Other Songs”). Pleasant enough, given that you love electric blues and take the term “Endless” as a good thing. (No Quarter) David Nowacki
Review: Melvins – The Bride Screamed Murder
Overlords of all things heavy and riffy return with their proper follow-up to 2008’s excellent Nude With Boots. In case you haven’t been paying attention, this is the third record that wizard-haired front man Buzz Osbourne and god of thunder Dale Crover have churned out with the heavy-hitting rhythm section of Big Business. The two-drummers-on-one-massive-drumset formula has been perfected here, with Crover and Willis no longer merely trading fills but somehow sounding like one superhuman drummer: syncopated, complex and unstoppable. But something just isn’t sitting right with me on this record. The Melvins have been around forever and have rarely missed the mark – unless they’ve missed it on purpose. (Prick anyone?) While The Bride Screamed Murder has it’s share of bangers, Buzz and the boys let their bizarre sense of humour loose a bit too often here. The military march, call-and-response of “The Water Glass” is interesting, once, while the 8-minute version of “My Generation” is just awful. But, if you’re a Melvins fan, you know that every once and a while they mix in some self-indulgent silliness amidst some of the greatest riff-rock ever written. It’s a price that must be paid. (Ipecac Recordings) Curran Faris