New Music: Macromantics, Gojogo, Jean-Claude Vannier

Macromantics - Scorch (mp3) - Moments is Movement (Kill Rock Stars 2007)


Macromantics – Moments is Movement / Kill Rock Stars

I’ll be perfectly honest, after pulling Moments in Movement from its envelope and reading the short press release, my initial response was a hearty ‘meh.’ Naturally, the Lady Sov association was front and center (white female rapper, “courting both pop culture and hip hop heads,” yada yada yada), but goddamn was I shut up after throwing the CD in the player. Macromantics spits some serious venom. Ms. Romy Hoffman is an Australian emcee that weaves wordy versus with a biting accent, hungry urgency and enough idiosyncratic nuances to truly separate herself from the pack. The closest comparison is obviously Jean Grae, confident, emotive rap with playful undertones, but she also conjures names like Sole and other early Anticon and Rhymesayer releases with her frequent outings into sometimes-harsh self-awareness. Sparse, effective production from Sydney-based Buchman (Tony Buchen) counterbalances nicely matching Hoffman’s frequently fluctuating mood from poppy, party-triggering princess to pissed-off, piercing dramatist. The one-time guitarist for Ben Lee duals with Sage Francis for a track and teams with Melbourne rock’n’soul band Ground Components for another, but don’t kid yourself, this is the Romy show and she let’s you know. If Lady Sov is Jay-z, Macromantics is Nas, not as worried about radio reaction, more concerned with lyrics, the art of storytelling and absolutely sticking you in the gut with each syllable. It’s a solid album with room for improvement, but most likely won’t reach too far out of its underground rap niche a la Jean Grae.






Gojogo - Tezeta (mp3) - All is Fair (Galaxia 2006)


Gojogo – All is Fair / Galaxia

Following their renown eponymous EP, the ensemble Gojogo flesh out their geographic-less sound with much success for their debut full-length outing. Comprised of four well-trained musicians and a gaggle of friends, Gojogo collects a variety of influences and weaves them into an audio tapestry that is instantly familiar but impossible to pinpoint. Featuring Indian percussion, European stringed instruments and modern electronics, All is Fair is a hypnotic flair of Balkan music, raga, jazz and post-rock that lures you in like a snake charmer. The rhythm section is a combination of classic Indian instrumentation like the tuned drums tabla and tabla tarang as well as the high-pitched dholki and ghatam with a booming double bass keeping the music grounded. The violin, courtesy of Sarah Jo Zaharako, creates a gypsy-like atmosphere while subtle electronics from Bright Black Morning Light’s Elias Reitz reminds us that this recording is in fact not an artifact of past times. Maybe because they cover the classic Ethiopian standard Tezeta, but the half-composed, half-improvised, all wonderfully mysterious tunes of All is Fair keep pointing me to a slightly sketchy underground club somewhere in Northern Africa thick with hookah smoke and bad intentions.






Jean-Claude Vannier - Danse Des Mouches Noires Gardes Du Roi (mp3) - L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches (B-Music/Finders Keepers 2006)


Jean-Claude Vannier – L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches / B-Music/Finders Keepers

Culled by psychedelic b-boy and Finders Keepers' think-tank Andy Votel, Jean-Claude Vannier's L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches ("The Child Killer of the Flies") is one of the most rare and sought after records from the early 70s French Ye-Ye aka the "jerk-beat psychsploitation" scene. Originally recorded in 1972, the record was considered by most a myth, the supposed follow-up by the arranger of the much revered Serge Gainsbourg concept album, Histoire de Melody Nelson. Sometimes heralded as the "French David Axelrod," Vannier crafted an eclectic array of psychedelia, jazz, pop, avant-garde, found-sound and funk tinged with nods toward baroque, klezmer, Oriental music and rock that no doubt leaves the record utterly unclassifiable. With his band Insolitudes, an ensemble of three guitarists, two percussionists, electric bass, drummer, accordionist and reed, brass and choral sections, JCV arranged, directed and handled piano, clavinet and flutes himself in the swirling circus stage show that seemingly soundtracks a drug-laced romp around Paris in the heyday of experimentation and… well, Paris drug-laced romps. This re-release, which includes two bonus tracks from another JCV LP called Point d' Interrogation, reveals the colorful, playful, oddball world of Vannier and once and for all puts all myths, mysteries and rumors to a broadly-smiling rest. (2)