Issue 4.2, Part 2
 |
Ella Blame Ella Blame is a Milwaukee-based vocalist and composer who works primarily in experimental and avant-garde art-song and avant-pop. Possessing a jaw-dropping range, classical and pop chops, and an artistic vision that hasn’t seen the light of day since Nico’s albums in the 1970’s, Blame creates a musical tapestry that is at once hypnotic, alluring and nightmarish. At first glance, the music of Ella Blame seems weird. I mean, really weirtd, but it’s not so much a combination of densely layered atmospherics and textures and bizarre vocalizations as it is a unique and intelligent approach to singing within an experimental/pop setting. “Another Side” and the three tracks that follow it are from her 2007 release, “Ineffable Desire.” “Another” is packed full of experimental, dissonant electronics, which provide a virtual world for Ella’s jaw-dropping voice. By turns avant-garde (Nina Hagen), bluesy (Billie Holliday), psychedelic (Diamanda Galas) and multi-octave (Yma Sumac), she chides, allures, stalks and whispers her way through the track, building it to a very intense peak by song’s end. Adding a little of Siouxsie (of the Banshees) for effect and Grace Slick (for Moorish flavor), the track is unlike any vocal experiment you’ve heard in a long time. “Ineffable” and “Dance” invoke the spectre of Nico, the once Velvet Underground collaborator and singer of dark and ominous songs in the 1970’s. The album’s title track trades experimentalism (though not all of it) for mutant alien habanero and a weird but nice groove with a heavy psychedelic bent. “Dance” uses pulsing synth under Ella’s disconnected singsong chants and truly creepy 21st century electronics. The overall feel is like a psychotic’s midnight serenade at a seance. Treated vocals and stunningly modern harmonies make this less a complete weirdfest than a melding of Nico and Arnold Schoenberg. “Last” uses Enigma-flavored eclecticism and Moorish blues to showcase Blame’s nearly unheard-of croon/caterwaul. Nina Hagen in space. “Thousand Kisses” is the first release from her upcoming album, and features almost conventional arrangements and much clearer production. Combining unorthodox song structures and fractured Indian (sub-continent) harmonies with balalaika and middle-eastern vocalisations, the song is more accesible than any of the previous four tunes..although it’s still pretty weird. What I meant before about a unique approach to singing rather than tear-out-the-walls weird is in the way she sings in all of these songs. What may sound like bizarre vocalisation is just a comprehensive understanding of classical and modern vocal approach, performed in new and unorthodox ways. Dropping octaves, pear-shaped vowels at high registers, sotto voce whispers in the basement, low to super-low belting are just a few examples of what you’ll find in an Ella Blame song. A performer to watch and a legend when her prime arrives! Another Side 4.4 Ineffable Desire 4.5 Dance With Me 4.7 Last View 4.6 A Thousand Kisses 4.8 DJ Browsa Based in York, UK, DJ Browsa is primarily, though not exclusively, a remixer in the drum’n’bass and hip-hop genres. The UK DJ is part of a growing and prospering scene in the Midlands of England where a lot of vital and essential music is being created. “HeyHey” features the DJ Browsa trademark sound: percolating drum’n’bass punctuated by a ripsaw bassline and good use of f/x. “Hey” is a teaser track, and while there’s really not enough to give a coherent review of it, it has the Browsa Sound, and is still a good listen. “Dig it” avoids the bassline blues by mixing it up with cool loops, reggae-flavored keys, solid drums, and an innovative mix. The BrowsaBass is here, and yes, it doth get old after a while, but the change-up at the end prevents the tune from sounding the same. Browsa’s forte, however, is in the remix. “Choo Choo” features the BrowsaBass slicing through highly-danceable d’n’b with hyperspeed breaks, then over more conventional drums. Feels like updated Shaun Imrei, but the bassline does get a little old. “”Found a Lover” and “Foundations” are both very good updates of already good tunes. “Found” uses phased trip-hop with nice digital fx and a hacked-and-jacked BrowsaBass. The feel is almost jumpy techno, and the hardstyle touches affirm that feeling. “Foundations” is a great song in its own right and features a very univentive BrowsaBass line. The song’s breaks save the proceedings and the song ends up being a sort of Loudon Wainright-Kevin Coyne affair, distilled through drum’n’bass. “Sick Phuck”, Browsa’s remix of the Jennacide tune, is his current masterpiece, a credit to both parties. Jennacide’s music, in her words, is “junp-up drum’n’bass”; in other words, drum’n’bass that can shake your ass to. This mix is TNT in that respect. The BrowsaBass is here, but in the form of randomized machine-gun salvos instead of the usual flamethrowing drone. The bass variations are awesome, and the song’s rhythm build is way cool. By song’s end, the groove and synth/percussion tracks are minimalist and hot, and the song has an awesome end to it. A great song! HeyHey 4.2 Dig It 4.7 Will P- Choo Choo (DJ Browsa Mix) 4.5 Jennacide- Sick Phuck (DJ Browsa VIP Mix) 5.4 DJ Creepa- Found a Lover (DJ Browsa Mix) 4.6 Kate Nash- Foundations (DJ Browsa Nash Mash Mix) 4.6
D-TEKTIV Florida’s d-tektiv offers up a slightly jumped-up version of drum’n’bass, incorporating ambient, breakcore, jungle and dub into the proceedings. The result is up-to-date electronic dance music, good for both listening and shaking your ass to. Really looking forward to watching this artist develop. We’re going to do this backwards because I just had an idea of how to better describe this evolving artist. The last two tracks, “Yeah” and “Da” are from 2007, the first two from 2008. “Yeah” shows a great sound (ravey goodness with blips and bleeps, looped vocals, some electronica trappings) married to an aggressive drum’n’bass. The midbreak is a bit skewed but layered, digital percussion is crisp, and the whole thing is all ravey/spacey. At the track’s end comes the beginning of the journey he is still continuing on. Trading in a homstretch rave ending for another breakdown of breakbeat and drum’n’bass, the song’s twisted propulsion ends with a voyage into dub effects. “Da” starts with a solid d’n’b rhythm kit with a standard 8-bar loop then goes into the darkness and a little slinky jungle. The whole feel is slightly off-kilter and a little experimental. The tune is a solid, if weird, dance track, and hints at what’s coming. d-tektiv’s foray into experimentation is more in different styles and methods than the experimentation with sound and texture, such as the work of Ella Blame, or the alterations with vocals and mix, as is the case with the Quirky. It’s not unlike watching Deep Purple transition from psychedelia (Hush) to mysticism (Book of Taliesyn) to classical (Concerto for Rock Band and Orchestra) to prog-rock noodling (In Rock) before they discovered their mastersound (Machine Head). “Every” features a good-to-great dance groove and sneaky vocal loops. Midsong is spacy, funky jungle with understated breaks. The song cuts a dark but highly danceable path and builds into a really great ending groove. The journey continues with “Alternate”, which takes solid dance percussion, classic bassline, unsettling vocal loop and midsong ambient moves and places it back where we started, in a hot technorave setting. This is 21st century rave, and this is a truly awesome track! Here’s to hoping the journey takes us further, and to a very promising young artist! Every Part of You 5.1 Alternate Direction (slight remix) 5.3 Ooo Yeah 4.85 Da Undaground 5.0 GUTTER BREAKS UK’s Gutter Breaks is one of those rare DJ/recording artist combinations, capable of stunning original material as well as inspired, technologically-informed remixes. Incorporate a healthy knowledge of other musical styles and forms, and you have the ingredients for a powerhouse performer and producer. “Jazz” is truly a wonderful synthesis of jazzy chords and massively jittery percussion, punctuated by a solid bassline. The tune uses layers and loops to great effect and some pretty weirdo samples as well. Midsong is completely jacked-out house, then hyperweird atmosphere over similarly out-there breaks. The whole tune has a graceful, if eccentric, beauty to it. Fantastic track. “Beat” and “Stargaze” don’t succeed as well, but they are fascinating tracks nonetheless. “Beat” takes farty, buzzy, multi-octave synth and a weird vocal part through some amazing hardcore drum’n’bass maneuvers. It kind of reminds me of the Art of Noise’s “In the Army Now” mated with 4 Hero’s “Mr. Kirk’s Nightmare.” The tune is really good and features a great sample near the end. “Stargaze” is Spanish-inflected drum’n’bass with nanosecond-duration vox editing. Combining a cement-cracking bass buzz with weird quasi-gyutar edits, the song becomes a collage of vaeious bent, tinkly synths and jazz percussion. It’s a little too repetitious, but a good tune anyway. “Cute” is breakbeat percussion spiked with power pop/reagge guitar, synth layering, and a great rock sound. The tune really jams out, and later becomes a lethal psych-out rock workout: Hendrix drum’n’bass! In response to A*S*Y*S*’s hit “No More Fucking Rock and Roll”: “Listen to this and Shut Your Hole.” Gutter Breaks’ remixes are masterpieces, but on completely different levels. Last issue has the goods on the J-Dub remix, but to sum up, the remix takes J-Dub’s twitchy, jumpy tune into a completely new world of breaks, buzz, and pure sonic heaven. The Quietus Phasmatis remix is simply beautiful. Layers of ace vocal filtering, spacy atmospherem and uptempo percussion make this an awesome song: an updated Ultravox or Alphaville. Toss in a little Gary Numan and a nice counterpoint ending that DOESN’T resolve, and you have a classic track in any genre! Jazz Dubbed in Colour 5.45 And the Beat Goes On 4.85 Stargaze 4.7 Cute as Hell 5.5 J-Dub- Tweaked Shitless (Gutter Breaks Remix) 5.625 Quietus Phasmatis- Subtleties and Small Talk ING-J Norwegian-born and London-based singer and artist Ing-J is one of those rare voices that takes familiar electronic ground and binds it up into her own unique sound. Add to that a penchant for genuine pop hooks and rock street-smarts and you have an amazing combination that invites comparisons to Tori Amos, Bjork, and Blondie. All of the tracks you see here are from her 2008 release, “So Cold.” “Crockfiles” (I have no idea what those are..) has a nice poptronica feel with a Breeders-style groove. Ing has a great voice, and although I have no idea what she’s saying, it’s a great rock/jazz counterpoint to the music. The song has a cool new-wave feel yet very rock, sort of like decent Romeo Void crossed with Pearl Harbour and the Explosions. The track is chocked full of pop hooks, and “all the girls in the bus stop” lyrics will not leave your head for some time. “Wave” mixes funky electric kit and guitar with a classic Chrissie Hynde vocal. “Wave” is like a cross between the Pretenders and the Police, with some jazzy Joni Mitchell thrown in for flavor. The track also features wonderful spanish guitar and is a solid and awesome dance track. Echoes of Blondie abound, and the ending is a classy spin on Robert Fripp’s “Frippertronics.” “Child” continues the winning streak with a jazz/funk guitar groove riding atop a hot dance track. Ing is in vocal peak, unleashing multi-octave, multi-character work much like Ella Blame, but more alluring. The whole song feels like updated Luscious Jackson. Who knows what the hell the song is about, and who cares? Listening to the song is a pleasure, although the loop-filled ending goes on a little too long. “Winter” is far more experimental, and while the shadow of Brian Eno and the hybrid hip-hop/electronica arrangement is great, some of the other experiments don’t come off as well. Ing’s voice, a powerful and seductive instrument, takes on an almost extreme Siouxsie Sioux affectation, and is frequently OTT. Her upper register vibrato seems to have been put more forward into the mix, which I’m not sure is a good thing, and the whole scope of the track is weird for weird’s sake. While I’m sure the track isn’t marked for a single release, it probably makes more sense within the scope of the album. Ing-J is a powerful new talent that, with some maturing and a little room to breathe, could equal or possibly eclipse the work that Bjork has recorded. Crockfiles 5.7 Wave Attraction 5.65 Child 12 5.2 Winter Shell 4.45 DANIELE MONDELLO & EXPRESS VIVIANA Virtually unknown in the US (which figures), Mondello is a legendary figure in Europe. Known for his breathtaking scratch technique as well as his incredible live performances at Poland’s Club Piramida, Sensation Black, Qlimax and other large-scale European dance events, his brand of hardstyle has few equals. Frequent collaborator Express Viviana, while not as known as Mondello, is also well-known in Europe and the UK for tight, ultra-danceable hardstyle and sharp, fist-pounding sets in many of Europe’s influential clubs. Both are from Italy: Mondello from Messina, Viviana from Torino. The first two tracks are credited to “Daniele and Viviana”, the remaining tracks to “Daniele Mondello vs. Express Viviana.” All but the last are taster tracks. “Sensation” and “Intensity” are good-to-great dance tracks, heavy on the trance synths, layering, and the harmonic patterns that dominate pretty much all trance songs since Energy 52’s “Cafe del Mar.” “Sensation” gets the slight edge for additional BT-inflected piano layering. Both are very good dance tracks in the trance/hard trance vein. The vs. tracks are more an indication of both artists’ hardstyle reputation. “The Boss” is rated lower because there’s really not much to go on here (being a taster), and what’s there is really no more than derivative 2 Unlimited loops and a refreshing but somehow out-of-place classical pattern. “Amsterdam” is much better. Anthemic production with slightly dissonant synth patterns and strings, a solid wind-up into hardstyle territory and layered production hint at both artists/DJ’s powers live and in the studio. Very fine track. It’s “Tzunami” that really brings the point home. If you haven’t seen his performances at Qlimax 2006 or at the Club Piramida in Poland on YouTube, you really should. The Polish gig is arguably the most amazing DJ set I have ever heard, equalling Technoboy’s landmark set at Defqon1 in 2006 for sheer brilliance. “Tzunami” is hardstyle at its best. Pounding drums, standard build to sample loop, then drugged-up synth and percussion. Though midsong is a little echoey and not one of his best breakdowns, the ending is brutal and massive. A great hardstyle tracks by two masters of the trade! Sensation 4.6 Intensity 4.5 In Amsterdam 5.0 The Boss 4.3 Tzunami Original Mix 5.5 NEUTRONIX Serbian artist Neutronix performs trance with almost vintage sound and production. His work has touches of Kraftwerk, Front 242 and Front Line Assembly, and while mainly trance, flashes of techno and hardstyle add to his unique mix. The first four tracks are from 2007; the last is from this year. “Last” features hard trance, most likely one of the peak numbers in the mix-CD it comes from. The track has a nice full-out sound and a good backbuild down to the base track. Great synth work. “Day” is better. Also most probably midway through the mix-CD it is from, the cut is straight-ahead technotrance, layered well and very rooted in late 90’s and early 2000’s deep trance. The song has a solid, Kraftwerkian groove. Very nice! “Simulation” has a great, if conventional, techno beat. The synth layering is harmonically dull but well-programmed and builds nicely. Unfortunately, it ends right before the meat of the song begins. “Sensitive” is prime hard trance, perfect for Qlimax or similar arena events. A solid Front 242 influence can be heard throughout, and the song, an absolute floorkiller, has a great vintage rave feel. Stunning! “Seven Stars” is oldskool trance with progressive house tendencies. Very influenced by early-to-mid period rave, it’s a little on the minimal side, texture-wise. While not a bad track, it’s pretty standard trance that goes nowhere. Here’s to hoping this is just a misstep and Neutronix brings on the hardstyle with power and nuance. Last Hour in Japan 4.5 Day After Midnight 4.75 Simulation 4.65 Sensitive 5.05 Seven Stars 4.2 end CG 4.2 Part 2 |
Niche Site…
One of the most popular sources for relevant information on this topic [...]…