New Music: Assemblage Sessions 2, Caural, DoF, Susan Christie, Owen

Conrad Newholmes - Old and News - Assemblage Sessions Vol. 2 (Abandon Building 2006)


Various Artists – Assemblage Sessions Vol. 2 / Abandon Building

Columbus, OH has earned the nickname “The Arch City” due to the dozens of metal arches that span the streets of the Short North district originally used for streetcars. Upstart Columbus label, Abandon Building Records is taking that concept to an entirely new level. With their Assemblage series, which makes up 40% of their releases to date, the progressive collective is not only arching genres but cultures as artists from Japan, France, Spain, Germany, China and the UK reside next to hometown and other American musicians. The music itself connects the borders between electronic and organic styles, folk flutters through IDM, jazz mashes with hip-hop, psychedelia swirls around broken beat evoking descriptions like folktronica, organica, illbient and other fun to say words. The most amazing arch though is the shared aesthetic and the maintained level of quality throughout the entire 21-song compilation. Fans early WARP, Plug Research, Mush, Anticon, Carpark, Merck and other similar labels take notice, because though only 5 releases deep, Abandon Building very well may be your new favorite label and just maybe, Columbus, OH could be the next focal point for a potent electronica scene.





Caural - I Won't Race You - Mirrors for Eyes (Mush 2006)


Caural – Mirrors for Eyes / Mush

Chicago bred musician Zachary Mastoon has always made the type of music I am typically into, but for some reason, we have never fully connected on a complete album (because obviously he and all other musicians should be catering to solely my taste). Under the Caural moniker, Mastoon crafts left-field hip-hop leaning towards folktronica, ambient and IDM with Eastern influences. His previous albums for Chocolate Industries always seemed a bit too cluttered, but with his return to Mush, Caural sounds reinvigorated with finally a fully realized sound. Because he builds his songs from the drums up, Mastoon’s earlier productions sounded stiff, but now he lets the melodic instrumentation, notably strings and clarinet, breath and take over from time to time, almost like an instrumental hip-hop version of Jen Jelinek. With the minimal vocal help from Hrishikesh Hirway of One AM Radio, Chicago emcee Racecar of Modill, Paul Amitai and Jacob Croegaert, Mirrors for Eyes is the album I’ve always wanted to hear from Caural… and you should too.




DoF - Explosions Over Baseball Fields - Sun, Strength, and Shield (Abandon Building 2006)


DoF – Sun, Strength, and Shield / Abandon Building

The pseudo-genre of folktronica has flourished in the last 5 years, but in all actuality, the style name can be misleading, since key artists in the field don’t necessarily use anything more than the solemn mood of folk in their music. For example, Four Tet samples free jazz more than anything, Caribou relies on heavy usage of psychedelic pop, The Books piece together found sound and Colleen sticks with minimal tinkers. Enter Pennsylvania’s Brian Hulick, who under his moniker DoF has been creating what could be the truest definition of folktronica over the last couple years. With a foundation of plaintive acoustic guitar and soft piano melodies, Hulick is just a delicate croon away from Nick Drake territory, but instead he incorporates glitchy percussion and waves of white noise to counteract the lush harmonies with disjointed IDM. With his second album for the noteworthy Columbus, OH label Abandon Building, DoF is producing the type of quality music that can strip the pseudo from a poorly defined genre.




Susan Christie - Paint a Lady - Paint a Lady (B-Music 2006)


Susan Christie – Paint a Lady / B-Music

So there are rare records, maybe less than 1000 ever printed. Then there are records so obsolete they solely existed in demo acetate form; for example, Susan Christie’s attempt to produce a meaningful record, Paint a Lady, which was scoffed at by CBS after it’s completion in 1968 and left for dead. Christie, a promising Philadelphian singer/songwriter, recorded a novelty hit in the late 60s called “I Love Onions” which gained fame from its appearance on the Captain Kangaroo show. CBS, being a stereotypical major label, attempted to cash in on Christie’s 15-minutes of fame and unknowingly sent her into the studio with a rhythm section trained in Philly funk and producer John Hill, an innovative artist in his own right who is sometimes credited with the first outings into trip-hop and heavy metal(!?). With this support, Christie’s pristine voice and her tales of inner-city loneliness, Paint a Lady baffled the execs with its unprecedented mix of acid-folk, psychedelic country and light funk. They panicked, scrapped everything and pressed nothing… 40 years later Christie is finally getting her rightful due, though the impact would have been much greater if it would have originally fallen into the right hands.




Owen - A Bird in Hand - At Home with Owen (Polyvinyl 2006)


Owen – At Home with Owen / Polyvinyl

The problem with Mike Kinsella’s Owen projects is not that the music is bad, but it tends to remain redundant with little artistic progression. For a typical singer/songwriter, this wouldn’t be that much of a problem because it’s what the audience expects, but for Kinsella, who has played with Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owls and American Football, I just want more from a proven creative mind. Like the previous the full-lengths, there are flashes within the sentimental, acoustic guitar driven ballads, like in the final seconds of Bad News where it enters Sigur Ros territory or the avant electric guitar outburst of centerpiece and highlight, A Bird in Hand. But these moments of “Yes! Here we go!” are always drowned between the predictable post-emo that drapes every Owen album. I want to reiterate that I am not knocking Kinsella, the intricate finger-picking is top notch and his crackling, emotive voice is perfect for this setting, but I know there is so much more creative energy inside that mind and if he would just unleash it, his alter-Owen-personality could really shine.