Health - "Health"

Health - Crimewave (Lovepump United 2007)

Health - Health / Lovepump United

We were going to write about the new Liars record at one point, just like we were going to write about M.I.A. Honest we were. And it's not because they stand as Important in the broad scheme of indie schmaltz. It's because Liars are genuinely interesting at what they do, and their sound never stays the same; for M.I.A., the difference is in using ethnic instruments you otherwise never would've heard of.

But for one reason or another, the opportunity passed us by, and unless Michael decides he has it in him to give a dissertation on The Evolution of Angus, you won't be hearing anything from us about it. Instead, we thought we'd highlight yet another group coming out of The Smell scene in LA (although Health are more frequently found at Il Corral when in town). No Age, Silver Daggers, The Mae Shi, Mika Miko, Barr, you know the list. These like-minded outsiders have put together one of the most ceaselessly inventive rock scenes of the decade, and in the past year or so their finest have put out some really stellar records that we've covered occasionally here on Audiversity.

Health is next in line and the quartet have already been trumped for their split 7" with lauded Canadian duo Crystal Castles, which features the Italians-don't-necessarily-do-it-better no wave masterpiece "Glitter Pills." The self-titled debut on deck stands as one of the better outsider records of 2007. In keeping with both their kindred spirits in Toronto and in New York (or Berlin, or wherever the nomadic Liars are playing with Interpol tonight), Health demonstrates that it is possible to mix the unpretentious party atmosphere with avant-garde sensibilities for a brief but furious lesson in just not giving a fuck.

And with eleven songs on the ballot, there are plenty of opportunities for you to dive in. From the celestial wrath of opener "Heaven" to the thorny aggression of "Triceratops," you keep hearing sounds you swear you recognize - if it's not Crystal Castles (as "Glitter Pills" appropriately nods to), it's Health's mid-July tourmates in Aa (and you'll definitely hear that Amazonian no wave in "Crimewave" here with its big drums and demanding beat). Sure, there are Liars... But it's more like if Liars had been birthed in the past two years instead of in 2001 when we hadn't yet drowned because they were wrong. It's also more like if Black Dice had kept to their hardcore roots a little more instead of diving off the deep end of the beaches and canyons that paved the way for what they've mutated into.

In some ways it also brings to mind nu-rave and the busy sonic structures of the younger kids out of Britain, say a Hadouken! or somebody like that. I'm not sure Health would argue - having just returned from a visit over there, I doubt their brightly colored outfits and in-your-face analog style would have gone down poorly. But they're carving out their own niche (and I'm sorry I haven't done more justice to it here by namedropping everybody under the sun, but trust me when I say Health are well on their way to creating a distinctive sound of their own), bred on the streets of the fashion-dominated LA scene where a small but vibrant arts community is keeping alive the spirit of the new millennium: Party, but party with an informed sensibility of where you come from. Health seem to know where they've come from, but more importantly, their self-titled debut gives a good indication that they don't know where they're going. More than anything else on this lively but lightning-quick record, it's the thrill of meshing those sounds together that keeps it interesting. Young, fresh, brilliant and bullet-fast: Health have arrived.

Les Savy Fav - "Let's Stay Friends"

Les Savy Fav - Patty Lee (Frenchkiss 2007)

Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends / Frenchkiss

Guitars. Yes, guitars. A good guitar band is hard to find, right? Especially one that's been around for ages. Les Savy Fav know. They've been around since forming at RISD in '95. If that feels like the Bronze Age, think about how long it's been since we last saw actual new material from these guys (proverbially, natch). Go Forth? I mean, people were still thinking New York was the next big thing in those days. Remember when everyone was comparing bands to Les Savy Fav a few years ago? Now people are comparing Les Savy Fav to bands that have been formed in the interim. If that doesn't say it all, The Bravery have had an entire career arc in the time it's taken Les Savy Fav to put out something more than a comp with "The Sweat Descends" on it.

So what is it about Les Savy Fav that has given them the staying power to keep themselves in the media mix? Part of it can be attributed to Inches doing so well and the fact that Pitchfork loves them and the fact that Tim Harrington is a maniac and the fact that their live shows are still unparalleled and the fact that Frenchkiss is still a reliable label after all these years. But maybe it's time to confirm what their fans have been proffering for years: That Les Savy Fav are simply a band built on a foundation of deceptively good rock songs. If Inches wasn't enough for you (like it and the 3/5 reissue last year weren't for me), then let me say that the tides have finally, finally turned. Let's Stay Friends? Deadly, squire.

For a long time it was suspected this band was just a joke, albeit an elaborate and intimately scene-devoted one. But the quality of the music here is better than they've ever produced. The pre-Let's Stay Friends Les Savy Fav was unhinged, chaotic and occasionally melodic; erratic but brilliant; sometimes deadly, sometimes dudly. I never felt that was the case with this record. Strong across the board (and they even have the ballad "Comes & Goes," one of the most affecting tunes out this year), this album deserves to be on some year-end best-of lists when all is said and done.

And it's not just the restraint that Harrington is showing with his vocals. He can be crazy on the mic, loud and aggressive (as on "The Equestrian"). We always knew he was a sharp lyricist, and he's no duller for having stayed in the drawer for so long. But the quality and quantity of his vocal work, that's just as much the revelation as Seth Jabour's guitartistry. The exercised breathers you get in tracks like "Scotchguard the Credit Card" are spectacular. I mean, even here on "Patty Lee," you see what I mean? He's not dumping sweat all over the kids on record, which can only mean that when they play it live the kids are all the more surprised.

It's a measured recording, more melodic and to-the-point than ever before. It is, to be more blunt, Les Savy Fav's own The New Romance. Phil Ek didn't man the boards on this album - Chris Zane did - but that ringing guitar sound will no doubt remind you of "All Medicated Geniuses" or "This is Our Emergency." Maybe this is the album Pretty Girls Make Graves would've made had Nathan Thelen not quit and everything gone to hell thereafter. The difference comes with some outside assistance: Eleanor Friedberger sings a duet with Harrington. Unicorns alumnus and current Islands member Nicholas Thorburn helps sing. Enon is in the mix somewhere. Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live?) plays drums on "Pots & Pans" and "Patty Lee." Metric's Emily Haines plays piano. Modest Mouse/Black Heart Procession guy Joe Plummer drums. There's a lot going on here, as you can see.

But that's not a bad thing. In fact, it helps Les Savy Fav sound more complete, more fluid, more mature than ever before. Horns on "The Lowest Bitter." I know indie-rock types can be suckers for horns, but hearing it give this album just a touch of color at the last gasp is a masterstroke and one that duly deserves recognition. It's exactly the masterstroke that exemplifies the whole reason this band made this record: They were unwilling to give up.

"It's a resolution to defy the forces which wear away at our innocence and enthusiasm." There's no doubt that the innocence and enthusiasm of the group that first got them noticed with Rome (Written Upside Down) is still there. But it's tempered by the underlying factor that drives the very forces they seek to defy: age. Les Savy Fav are one of the smartest bands in music, and with Let's Stay Friends they've married the consistent with the inconsistent to produce their most fully realized release yet. Descending sweat never felt better.

Supermayer - "Save the World"

Supermayer - Please Sunshine (Kompakt 2007)

Supermayer(?) - Save the World / Kompakt

It would be easy to set this review up as the collaboration between two of electro's most nimble minds in two of Kompakt's brightest talents, Aksel Schaufler aka Superpitcher and Michael Mayer, brought together under the umbrella of, um, saving the world. But from what? The Field for one proved earlier this year that it certainly wasn't bad techno we were being saved from as there's already a healthy crop of good stuff already out there. No, Supermayer is more the collaboration between two of electro's most nimble minds brought together under the umbrella of a loose aural narrative better explained by the remarkable booklet that accompanies the gatefold vinyl as well as the plastic.

The big story here, then, is not that Schaufler and Mayer have brought more amazing electronic music into this world, but that these two masters have been one-upped by the visual accompaniment. The duo emblazoned on the cover is given a plot to follow by this dudette Kat Menschik. Menschik's stunning work here is the fruit of years of cultivating her art.

My German is pretty rusty (It's been several years since I've used it), but here's her background as best I can read: Though she was always fond of the visual aspects of books, East Berlin didn't really have any creative outlets for her as a child. It wasn't until the mid-90s that she really plugged in with her talent. As a design and communications student studying "abroad" in Paris in 1995 (In those days, they still used francs and marks), she got hooked on this fanzine called Spunk; it is unclear if that is the same Australian-based Spunk that has now blossomed into a record label, but I can't find evidence of a Paris-based Spunk so I'm guessing it is. A year later she was working in a comic publishing house called Millions, and since 2000 has been freelancing out of Berlin. Her work has been seen in Germany through Daily Kat and "Frankfurter Allgemeine."

The technique starts with a frame that is drawn with a feather spring and india ink on paper, then scanned. There, the white spaces are filled in with color electronically. This comicbook style is incredibly effective when it comes to narrating a plot where Supermayer try to save the world. With its execution, it's hard to imagine anything else going together.

And the songs. It's almost a foregone conclusion to say that Schaufler and Mayer bring their best to the table, but for the sake of saying so, these two are on form here. "Hey!" leaves you a little leery as it functions solely as an intro (As Soul Seduction said, "Who needs a techno Tommy?"), but "The Art of Letting Go" is more in tune with the rest of the album. "Let's get to it / Relax / Let me go" they sing over handclaps, strummed bass and plucked guitar. And there, about midway through, Schaufler and Mayer hear the audience's cries for "more cowbell." Yes, they have a cowbell.

Horns also dot the landscape of Supermayer's Save the World. Daintily at first, then more so as trumpet intrudes. There's saxophone prominently in the mix of some places ("The Lonesome King"). There's melodica. There's flute. There's the minimalist bangers you're expecting ("Saturndays" in particular is worth checking out). And "Please Sunshine," featured here, is a swank astrological burner, piano-driven for that extra touch of humanity.

In fact, that's one of the greatest bits about Save the World. It's not afraid to brashly mix the organic with the electronic and, in keeping with other great records this year that were willing to do the same thing (Matthew Dear's Asa Breed is probably the closest contemporary I can think of), Schaufler and Mayer have delivered the goods in a record that wasn't necessarily one of the most highly anticipated of the year, but which certainly delivers tenfold on the hype. If Kompakt is your kind of label, you won't be disappointed. If electronic isn't your thing, maybe this can go some way toward keeping you interested.

Baja - "Aloha Ahab"

Baja - A River Splits Love and Spits Out Bones (Arctic Rodeo 2007)

Baja – Aloha Ahab / Arctic Rodeo

As much as I hate to say it, the most refreshing music is near always poured from unexpected sources. Listening to music you have heard time and time again by your utmost favorite artists is more giving in to your comfort zone than trying to revitalize your ears. For me at least, to truly replenish those weary, jaded eardrums, and really reinvigorate my interest in the entire medium of sound manipulation, I have to explore completely unknown territory, listen to an artist I know absolutely nothing about or just blindly start pulling music from the shelf. Thankfully, working in the music department of the independent radio business presents me with multiple bins of unknown sounds on a weekly basis, almost to an annoying degree at times. But unearthing that one mysterious gem from the mound of manila madness makes the entire process completely worth it every time. That inspired jubilation is exactly what happened when I stumbled upon the German sound designer Daniel Vujanic last January and his two-sided debut on the wrongfully unheralded Belgian label Stilll Records. Maps/Systemalheur consisted of seventy minutes of melodic excursions throughout a series of touchstones in experimental folk, post-rock, jazz and electronica broken into two separate parts: forty minutes of cut-and-paste experimental prog-folk followed by a half-hour of jazzy post-rock. Granted Vujanic wasn’t tapping into any particular sound that had not been tweaked before, but he had a refreshing approach to the music that very much reminded me of the reason we are continuously digging so whole-heartedly for new music.

When I got an email from Daniel a few weeks back letting me know he was shipping me his sophomore effort, I was both excited and impressed; two albums in only six months apart? Nice. Maybe we’ll have to start dropping the prolific tag with his name. And even better, when his second full-length of 2007, Aloha Ahab, finally made its way stateside and started spinning in my CD player, it sounded nothing like his previous release. Instead of the swirling tunnel of pieced together chamber music that made up Maps/Systemalheur, Aloha Ahab is a soothing ray of melodic sunshine pop more interested in swooning than spurring challenges. Don’t get me wrong though, if this album proves anything, it is that Vujanic is an ambitious sound designer above all else. Because surrounding the lulling hooks and delicate melodic interplay are continuously shifting song structures, heavily manipulated instrumentation and interweaving found sounds (which according to the liner notes were captured throughout Pula, Copenhagen, Venezia, Prijedor, Bayonne, Stuttgart, Berlin, Cabarete and Kuala Lumpur). This is rippling, stuttering pop music with as much emphasis on plucking your desire for easily accessible melodies as it places on surrounding them with as much accentuating musical quirks as possible.

The most surprising new characteristic of Aloha Ahab is that Vujanic has found his voice, which was completely absent from his previous release. Unassuming and comforting, the vocals help create more of a storybook narrative to accompany the pleasant interlacing tones. I am personally a bit partial to the instrumental tracks, but when he starts manipulating the vocals in the same manner as he does the instrumentation, I believe the combination excels. For example, “From Slogan to Spectacle” features both Vujanic and his wife/sister(?) Mariana trading simple lines that become increasingly interweaved in between near schizophrenic ambient conversation, or during “European Pillows” where the soft-spoken lyrics ever so slightly stutter beneath lush acoustic guitar melodies increasingly being manipulated by echo and vocoder like effects. And most surprisingly, Tim Kinsella of Joan of Arc/Make Believe/Cap’n Jazz/Owls fame shows up for an extremely brief vocal interlude during the shimmering two-minute piece “Gibraltar Sequence.” I wonder what the story is behind that collaboration. The instrumental numbers are my personal go-to points though, like “A River Splits Love and Spits Out Bones” (which in all honesty features a guitar part that would not at all be out of place in a Joan of Arc song), which blossoms with dueling clarinets, horns and sparse electronic twinges, or “Waterthreads,” which utilizes a ridiculous amount of instrumentation continuously passing off the melody for a song clocking in less than three minutes.

Aloha Ahab is sequenced perfectly between the instrumental and vocal-led numbers with only two songs actually surpassing the four-minute mark, which is another striking difference between this sophomore effort and the sprawling Maps/Systemalheur. And to be completely honest, I was slightly taken aback with my first impression of the complete package between the album’s near-Chill Out artwork and the opening indie-pop track. But in the end, Vujanic won out, and I was once again very impressed by his output, perhaps to an even higher degree now that I know he is more than a one-trick pony. And get this! I got another email from Daniel this morning saying he just wrapped his third album of the year(!), not to mention he described it as “Scandinavian blackmetaltronica.” Whoa. The man is prolific. You better believe I’ll be checking that one out on the wonderful day it arrives in my mailbox, though I might have to pass it off to Dave to actually review.

X:144 - "Scribble Jam Battle Beats"

X:144 - Last Sample Rounder (Nonsense 2007)

X:144 - Scribble Jam Battle Beats / Nonsense

You know what happens when we assume, so here's a little about Scribble Jam for the uninitiated. Held in Cincinnati every year since 1992, the festival attracts thousands of people annually to see the best and brightest mix with the up-and-coming hip-hop stars. Famous acts who've graduated or passed through the Scribble ranks include Slug, Murs, Sage Francis, Blueprint, and arguably the greatest freestyle battle ever in 1997 between MC Juice and some kid named Eminem. I'm personally entertained by this one between Justice and Thesaurus (2006)... And of course, everybody knows this guy. So you see, Scribble Jam sets the stage for not just the best masters of ceremony but some of the finest turntablists on the planet as well. DJs and MCs alike flock to Ohio every year to see who's packing the sonic heat.

This year, the organizers introduced something new. In addition to competitions on the deck and the mic, Scribble Jam included a Production Battle Championship. The man behind production company Transparent Dark is an MC who's been working hard out of Orlando, Florida to make a name for himself. X:144 first came to national prominence last year with a critically lauded but quiet debut partnering up with Berlin-based scratcher SPS. M.E. was easily one of my favorite hip-hop records of the year, and not just because of X's lyrical dexterity. The beats were incredible, fusing jazz together with rap together with dance together with crate-digging funk. It was sadly ignored on a lot of year-end lists, but it's good to see that he hasn't given up the ghost in O-Town. If anything, this six-song set showing how he progressed through each round at Scribble Jam is a reminder that X:144 is not just a sharp MC but easily one of the best producers out there.

It's not like he was coming in to the competition as an unknown quantity. X has competed in and won DMC's South Eastern and Regional Championships as well as Orlando Music Awards' best hip-hop solo and producer of the year awards. He's got some bling for the shelf, but Scribble Jam is one for the well-lit trophy case.

Here's how it works: Two weeks before the competition, each producer is sent an acapella of Brother Ali's "Pedigree." With only 14 of the original 32 contestants showing, the elimination round was skipped and it was on to the remix. That's the first round and it's featured here, a reworking that duly won him the acclaim and support enough to carry him through to the next round. The sample and remarkable live rounds follow, the latter a totally off-the-cuff recording that is possibly one of the best on this short-player. Busta Rhymes' "Woo Ha!" is included here towards the end with muted, retro bleeps and bloops providing further entertainment.

The final round, the main stage, is where the magic happens. "Four crates of records, two producers, and sixty minutes to make history." That's the "Last Sample Rounder" here, a cut-up mixture that he actually didn't get to play all of because the judges cut him short by 20 seconds. Nevermind as it didn't matter. Good enough to win, X:144 had already made history by the time his kill was supposed to come.

For the average hip-hop fan, listening to what basically amounts to an EP might not engage you from a lyrical standpoint. But check out his recount on the Numark website and you can almost feel the excitement and the pressure of being on that stage, of digging for the right beats at just the right times. This is the thrill of being in one of the most competitive atmospheres in all music (Take that, "Rock of Love"). X:144 has flown below the radar up to this point, but it is my sincere hope that a Scribble Jam title will aid in vaulting him to the national pantheon of underground hip-hop's elite. Someday, maybe we'll be able to look back on this and say, oh yeah, Scribble Jam? That was just another stopgap to greatness.

Redhooker - "The Future According to Yesterday"

Redhooker - Twelve Times Goodbye (Soft Landing 2007)

Redhooker - The Future According to Yesterday / Soft Landing

A few weeks ago we featured a record here on Audiversity by Brooklyn group Slow Six. Its gentle mixing of post-rock and classical was well executed and our enjoyment of the record did not go unnoticed: Just one week after that, the group's guitarist Stephen Griesgraber got in touch with me about an album of his own that he was in the process of putting out. As my ongoing personal sagas with trying to move to Chicago continue to get in the way of the important things (like, y'know, blogging), Redhooker's The Future According to Yesterday is very much a record I'll be needing for today as much as for the past or the future.

Some facts: The Red Hook neighborhood in Brooklyn is the home of "Crazy Joe" Gallo, Kentler International Drawing Space, and Charley Goldman. It's also the setting for H.P. Lovecraft's "The Horror at Red Hook" and Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge." A public high school principal was once killed in the crossfire of a drug-related shooting while looking for a kid who'd taken off from the school. It's the only part of New York City that has a full view of The Statue of Liberty from land.

I spend a paragraph telling you this because I feel that as the inspiration for the quartet's name, a great deal of the neighborhood informs this album (despite the fact that it was recorded in a vacated law office in downtown Manhattan). Griesgraber says as much, too. "The stark contrast of these two environments yields a four-piece program that is spacious but dark, dense yet fluid, cautious while extreme." I don't know about that last bit when it comes to the music, but there's no doubt in the space, darkness and fluidity of this album.

Its density is as good a place as any to start, though. An argument could be made that these songs aren't dense; there is no percussion and the instruments (limited mostly to the violin, clarinet, Rhodes piano, and guitar) are all about as far from the climax to "My Father, My King" as you can get. Its density instead comes from the amount of notes packed into each line of music, the interplay between Griesgraber and his colleagues as evidenced by the opener, "Sometimes She Speaks Gently."

If you think it sounds a lot like Nor'easter, you're not far off. Violinist Maxim Moston and clarinetist Peter Hess are both members of Slow Six. But Redhooker is like a pop version of Slow Six. The songs are a little more succinct, they're not quite as minimalist, and hooks (for whatever pun that's worth) are occasionally identifiable.

And this is one of the more interesting things for me, to listen to this and describe it as a more "pop" Slow Six. I don't know if that's the right word, but it is more immediately accessible. Someone can turn on Redhooker and understand right away what is happening with "Animus." Slow Six requires a little more time, a little more patience, and an altogether different approach. They are not the same beasts. Think of Redhooker as a less band-ish Tortoise or Hylozoists. Chamber music released into a cold, rainy sunset at Prospect Park.

Griesgraber and his cohorts do a lot with a little on the opening three tracks. But he saves the best for the longest and last with "Twelve Times Goodbye." "Animus" is pretty great, but it's like the abridged version of "Twelve Times Goodbye." This is a slow-burning near-nine-minute epic, brilliantly building tension and setting a somber mood straight from the moment the Rhodes kicks in over the strings that have bled in from "Sunday Silence." Like Slow Six, Griesgraber is using technology to his benefit too: In this case, it's Max/MSP, another real-time audio editing program most famously used by Autechre and not unlike the Audiomulch Erdem Helvacioğlu used to great effect on Altered Realities. The great relief is that, also like Slow Six, it does not distract from the superlative arrangements and interaction of the players. You hardly notice it happening at all, in fact.

There are still some people who think that, going into a review of something even vaguely classical, a guitar is some kind of shock or an instrument that should sound out of place. Griesgraber is exactly the guy you want to talk to about what should and should not belong in music, because he's demonstrating with Redhooker that anything can belong when played effectively. It's not a revolution, it's not an albatross, it's not to be ignored. Hear what the annoying intellectual at work who's been listening to way too much NPR is fawning about; hopefully this review will go some way toward helping you understand why it's so good on your own terms.

The Dirty Projectors - "Rise Above"

The Dirty Projectors - Rise Above (Dead Oceans 2007)

The Dirty Projectors - Rise Above / Dead Oceans

When I saw The Dirty Projectors play with Hella last November, the name was familiar thanks to their recent signing with Dead Oceans and I had heard a song or two from their LP The Getty Address. The performance was solid and I thanked them for playing, but an innocent chat and brief handshake did not transmit anything special. Maybe Dave Longstreth had no idea where he was going to go next at that point, or maybe Rise Above was already fully formed in his head. Whatever the timing, no one beyond maybe Longstreth himself could've anticipated the palpable excitement and widespread curiosity that's been simmering in lieu of the announcement that Longstreth had attempted to record Black Flag's Damaged from memory. On the other hand, this is a dude who has seen musical inspiration in finches. The point: One of the most intriguing efforts of the year is here. So what do we make of it?

"What I See" is the start of a long, strange journey. In fact, at 45 minutes, it is nearly ten minutes longer than the source material. When you have a track like "Spray Paint (The Walls)" at about four times the length of the original, the explanation for these albums being so close together is that Longstreth simply forgot "T.V. Party," "Damaged I," "Damaged II," "Padded Cell," and "Life Of Pain." That said, there is a bonus untitled song at the end nearly four minutes in length. It doesn't feel out of place among the, er, "covers."

Interpretations is a better way of putting it, actually. It's really interesting to hear how a guy whose favorite instruments are the piccolo and the double bass can go back in his memory bank and try to produce listenable arrangements for an audience more in tune with The Arcade Fire and Bishop Allen than The Minutemen and Saccharine Trust. A very different experience altogether, so much so that comparing these songs to the source material is spiritual and nominal at best.

Instead, The Dirty Projectors' Rise Above must be judged on its own merit. One of the reasons this album sounds better than any other this band has put out has very little to do with Black Flag and everything to do with a steadying line-up. Longstreth is the only constant in the band's history, but now with touring hands Angel Deradoorian (It's Armenian, and she's not actually credited on the record), Amber Coffman and Brian McOmber, Dave has with him a competent group of young musicians looking to stake their claim on the freshly laid turf of Dead Oceans.

They're demonstrating it best on songs where the vocals (always one of the best parts of a Dirty Projectors record) can shine. Blast beats and windmills? Go play somewhere else. We're talking one-one-one-one-ones and Yellow Houses. This means "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie," and the undulating "Depression," and the orchestral manipulations of "No More." Speaking of Grizzly Bear, fellow Brooklynite and suspenders aficionado Chris Taylor lends his production skills to great effect here. He's able to let Longstreth's wandering vocals and the girls' backup complement the music without letting one or the other dominate. Polished? Let's just say Taylor sounds like he nailed what the band was going for.

It's always nice to imagine that a band like The Dirty Projectors, who have never sounded like Black Flag and carry with them a very different audience from the inspiration to this record, have the potential not only to reach out to kids with the four bars tattooed on their arms, but enlighten their own on another History, a History where Damaged leads to Incesticide leads to Siamese Dream leads to Ships and back again; maybe there's something to that title, then. Rise Above is the sound of convergence in the 21st century, the sound of one man's musical evolution turning around on itself and doing a self-assessment. Imagining a world where everyone understands that growing beyond Black Flag doesn't mean having to stop loving them might be naive, but Rise Above is as convincing an argument as you're likely to find.

Madlib - "Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: In India"

Madlib - Indian Hump (Stones Throw 2007)

Madlib – Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: In India / Stones Throw

I pretty much splurged all of my love and appreciation for Otis Jackson, Jr. during my Yesterday’s Universe review, so retreading that territory seems somewhat unnecessary. If you did not read it yourself (or don’t care to), then a brief summation of the article can be wrapped up in pretty much four words: I fucking love Madlib. Thanks to being exposed to his exceptionally wide array of influences and source material, my own tastes have been significantly widened. And really, for the entire crate-digging appreciation society, he has basically become that friend who comes over to hang out for a chill listening session and spends the entire time controlling the tunes. “Yea, that’s pretty cool, but have you heard this!” … “Oh not bad, not bad, but wait wait, check this out, this shit will blow your mind.” You want to hold your own, but that shit did blow your mind, and you are left to just accept that fact that there is no way you are going to one-up a man who has spent his life digging for music. Thankfully though, this dude is cool, and he is not snobby with his knowledge, but would rather share it by any means necessary. There is no established absolute good or bad when it comes to the quality of music, it’s all personal opinions that can only be classed in a hierarchy by ranking the amount of exposure one has had to the exceptionally large amount of music out there. Basically, the more you have listened to should translate to surer, more knowledgeable opinions on the subject. Madlib has proven time and again over the last decade that he has been exposed to an unreasonable amount of sounds, so when he has got something to share, you have no other choice but to listen and be amazed.

Jackson returns… well not really returns, Yesterday’s Universe was released not even two months ago… Jackson continues his string of 2007 releases by revisiting the Beat Konducta series. First established with 2005’s vinyl only release, Volume 1: Movie Scenes, the Beat Konducta moniker was an outlet for Jackson to return to… well beat conducting… by utilizing one particular range of source material and concocting brief instrumental loops out of them. Volumes 1 and 2, compiled together for a CD release, intricately explored 70s soul samples, pieced creatively together in two minute outbursts of funky breaks and seemingly stewed into a soundtrack all its own. Volume 3 of the series just dropped a few weeks back on wax, and features Jackson on a trip to India, scrounging old Bollywood films for the colorful music of the late 70s and early 80s in the South Asian country. Very much akin to the recently started Bombay Connection series, which explores the same source material but presents it its unedited glory, Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: In India spins the energetic action soundtracks into thirty-four compact Madlib ditties, each exceptionally intriguing for both their origins and the manner that they were flipped.

Sometimes words just don’t do the same justice as actual visuals, so I want to present you with the trailer (how amazingly appropriate) compiled and edited by James Reitano for the album:



If you need any more motivation than that, then my friend, you are on your own, because there is not a damn thing I can say to top it. As you can hear from the music, Madlib extracts the finest of samples and masterfully flips them, both giving minute attention to the percussive and melodic side of the track. Though I am not sure exactly how much, if any, accentuating drum machine was used to give that extra thump to each song, but tracks like “OnThatNewThing” and “The Rumble” definitely bounce on original drum samples, which chug with near tribal inflection and jubilant celebration. On the opposite side, examples like “Indian Hump” or “Smoke Circle” definitely sound MPC-driven, though it is impossible to tell whether the percussive sounds are sampled and sequenced from the same source material or from elsewhere. Either way, the samples making up the melody are enough justification for flipping and easily carry each track, the former riding a decisive piano loop and a climactic, fuzzed-out string sample and the latter utilizing dramatically stuttering action-sequence string flourishes and rattlesnake hand percussion. Though the majority of the material is minutely chopped and reassembled, you can still almost tell the cinematic settings they are stemming from. For example, “Raw Tranquility Pt. 3” definitely accompanies a more somber sequence on screen, while “The Rumble” has to be soundtracking some eerie stranglehold for the film’s protagonist. This is why Madlib is so potent in this setting; yes, each track may average at only a minute-and-a-half and the album strings along for an hour, but if the sheer creativity of the sample flipping is not enough for you, the music carries enough of a narrative to keep your undivided attention throughout.

Like Vol. 1-2, Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: In India is a hell of a cinematic journey, pimped and primed especially for hazy, late night car rides or as wonderful thematic party-accompanying music. It can comfortably sit in the background adding constant intrigue to a setting’s ambiance, or can act as the center of your ear’s attention, aiding inquisitive thoughts on the origins of the source material or the fascination of how it was reassembled. It is not easy crafting lengthy instrumental beat-oriented music as the focal point of an album, just ask all of the contenders to Dilla’s sequencing throne, but if there was ever a name to blindly depend on, it is most definitely Otis Jackson, Jr. Madlib once again delivers the goods, and we get to bask in its searing, wonderfully exotic Indian sun.

Devotion #3

I hate everything. But it’s not hate in the customary sense. It’s hate in the musical sense. And it’s not even “hate,” but more like a feeling of apathy towards much of what other people consider to be good music. Unfortunately, if you don’t like something nowadays – or just don’t have an opinion either way – you’re branded a “hater,” which really puts a music critic in a tough spot. In fact, we might as well stop using the words “music critic” and refer to ourselves as “music haters,” because by these new rules, that’s what most of us are.

Personally, I’m learning not to put the blame entirely on the artists and their work. It’s often a matter of my own musical maturity and changing tastes. I can’t be expected to like the same things at 22 as I did at 12 or the same things at 32 as I did at 22. The music isn’t the same, the business models aren’t the same, and I’m definitely not the same. So I always try and look at the glass as half full. If your music stinks, I’m at least going to try and understand why your music stinks. It’s only fair.

And a lot of the time, I’m not the only crooked eye in the crowd. Your music really does stink.

In the end, to paraphrase a disco classic: I don’t want to be a hater but I just can’t help myself. More often than not, it’s justified.

With that being said, here are two songs that I absolutely love right now…











Eugene Blacknell – “I’m So Thankful” – We Can’t Take Life For Granted (Luv N’ Haight 2007)










Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra – “Hey Ya!” – Hits The Hits (Ubiquity 2007)

Which makes today Luv N’ Haight/Ubiquity day. This cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” is a must-hear collaboration with renowned pianist Mick Talbot (Style Council, Dexy’s Midnight Runners) that “sounds like vintage Ramsey Lewis,” according to the label. It’s an accurate description, but what Ubiquity fails to mention is the harmonica that colors the track in place of the chorus vocals, which makes this an off- but still on-beat rendition and a rave-up of the highest order. Somewhere, Magic Dick is smiling.

For a long time, all that most people knew about the late Eugene Blacknell was this retarded open break in the intro to his “Gettin’ Down” single. Thanks to Ubiquity, however, it’s time for the Oakland guitar master to be known to the world. I can’t say enough about Blacknell and his work. He was an activist, business pioneer, and a prodigy as a musician, becoming the youngest Bay Area artist to play the legendary Apollo Theater in New York. Throughout his almost 30-year career, his style ran the gamut of popular black music – from prototype R&B and funk to sleek ‘70s soul and disco – and by all accounts, he was just as wonderful a person as he was a performer.

We Can’t Take Life For Granted is Blacknell’s painfully overdue official debut. And remember, I don’t like anything. But this album hit me like a Joe Louis left hook, and so did this YouTubage.














Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings – “Nobody’s Baby” – 100 Days, 100 Nights (Daptone 2007)

I recently wrote a review of the new album from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, 100 Days, 100 Nights, and promised Jones that I wouldn’t mention the name of the Dap-Kings “other” lead singer anywhere in it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to mention Amy Winehouse here. It’s funny how things work out. Almost a year or so ago, I was talking to a colleague who works closely with Daptone Records about the effect that this most recent British invasion was having on Jones, who had been down with the Dap-Kings since day one. It seemed as if it had taken Winehouse just months to achieve what Jones and her boys had been chasing for the past ten years. There were awards, tours, platinum albums, magazine covers, and Late Show with David Letterman appearances, all the while Miss Sharon sat on the sidelines, watching.

Now, the tide has turned a bit. As Winehouse deals with problems of a personal nature, Jones and the Dap-Kings are back on track with an upcoming Rolling Stone feature, some MTV love, 100 Days, 100 Nights set for release in October, and a world tour to follow, including a night at the Apollo on October 6. In the end, the Amy Winehouse phenomenon turned out to be a blessing in disguise for everyone involved but Amy Winehouse.

I talked to Jones recently, and it was interesting to hear her take on the situation and how the “competition” between the two is being played up in the media.

“People compare me to some singers that I’ve never even heard – blues singers, R&B singers – but Amy, that’s a child. She’s just 23 years old. I’m old enough to be her mother. I ain’t got no time to be playing around. And don’t compare me to no child. What’s wrong with you? She’s just a baby, and I think the record label and the guys managing her are taking her through that. And the poor thing is out here with the drinking and drug thing. I pray for her… I pray that she gets to be my age.”

Altered Beast - "Demo"

Altered Beast - Morbid Collection & Computer Generated Bullshit (Self-released 2006)

Altered Beast - Demo / Self-released

Yes, a demo. Yes, they still exist. Yes, they're awesome.

Way back before the Internet, self-made tapes were the release of choice for bands that couldn't afford a 7" or later, CDs. A number of these tapes are still quite collectable, and a number of bands still stick to the release-a-demo-before-you-actually-release-something mindset. Unfortunately, only a strong few are sticking to the cassette-tape format, and one of the few faults I can find with Chicago-area Altered Beast's demo that it's begging to be released on a cassette instead of a CD, but what are you gonna' do? Formed as a side project by the drummer and vocalist (Aaron and Josh, respectively) of local grindcore band Tower of Rome, Altered Beast is to powerviolence and grindcore what House of 1000 Corpses is to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: pure, serious tribute created not with the intention of a nudge and a wink, but with the idea of carrying the goddamn torch for those who miss the old days. The 12 songs on this demo only add up to about six-and-a-half minutes of music total (that's not a typing error), but what a six minutes they are.

Grounded in the style of powerviolence-superstars Spazz, as well as lesser-known bands like Crossed Out, Despise You, and Lack of Interest, Altered Beast do the dual-vocalist thing (one screamy, one more throaty), the no-bass-guitar-on-the-recording thing (though the bassist from Tower of Rome now seems to be part of the live show), and the now-I'm-thrashing-now-I'm-blasting-now-I'm-breaking-it-down song-structure thing with glorious results.

The topics of the songs are true to typical '90s-hardcore themes: songs about friends ("Jay Who Corrupts"), beer ("Cold Style"), slasher flicks ("Voorhees Rage"), and people they don't like ("Sick Mosh Brah"), Altered Beast are clearly having fun, but it's obvious that these topics are near and dear to their hearts, otherwise they'd just find something else to write about.

Though the music may have not taken the longest time to write (as the longest track clocks in at 1:33 . . . also the only song over one minute), the lyrics very clearly had time spent on them. Either that, or Aaron and Josh are just lyrical geniuses, because lines like "Habitual line stepper / wrongful shit talker / turn your ass / into a shallow-grave inhabiter" are just brilliant, even if the "habitual line stepper" part was stolen from Chappelle's Show, and "inhabiter" doesn’t sound like a real word (it is, though), you not only know exactly what they're talking about, but it's fucking funny in the process. Clearly, someone's unnecessarily talking shit, and they're going to pay sooner rather than later.

Next up on the praise list for this amazing release is the packaging. A CD-R housed in a paper sleeve (which itself is a mini-poster), the disc also comes packaged with a bigger, fold-out poster, a button, and the whole thing is kept together in a sandwich bag. Brilliant. The liner notes are sure to remind us that everything was recorded in one take ("fuck ups intact"), and there's also a photocopied picture of Aaron with Gunnar Hansen, AKA the original Leatherface.

OK . . . so this demo is technically almost a year old at this point, but Altered Beast has been much more active lately with the hibernation of Tower of Rome, and this demo finally landed in my hands after a refusal to just have the songs emailed to me. Clearly, with the packaging, this is well-worth seeking out and will only run you a cool $3 (well-hidden cash only) to the address below. Just fucking go, already!

Altered Beast
c/o Aaron Gutierrez
15601 Orchid Drive
South Holland, IL 60473

Interversity: Odd Nosdam

Level Live Wires is the kind of free-thinking collage album anyone with a keen fondness for sounds will enjoy. The man behind its broad sonic spectrum is Anticon.'s Odd Nosdam, aka David Madson, and he kindly joins us this week to answer some Interversity questions ahead of the album's Tuesday release date. Read, digest and enjoy the hell out of this album. We still are.














Odd Nosdam - Fat Hooks - Level Live Wires (Anticon. 2007)

1. I hear a lot of shoegazer in Level Live Wires, but there's a plethora of sounds hidden throughout. What sorts of ideas and sounds were you looking to most closely for this album, and how are they different from past efforts?

Im always lookin and listenin for anything that moves me.

2. What do you make of the whole downloading thing, and how often does it come up with other members of the Anticon. collective?

I personally dont seek out and download music. it does have it's advantages though. I mean, I make music and some of my music I wanna share with other folk. I cant control how people find or hear my shit. but the least I can do is give people the option of experiencing my music as close to how I want it experienced, on vinyl or CD and loud.

a couple friends of mine will often float me mp3s online through sendspace. I suppose everyone should just enjoy stuff while they can, regardless of how they get it.

3. Level Live Wires is a title open to a number of interpretations. What did it mean to you when you were christening the album? Has that changed at all since?

the way it looks on paper. the way it rolls off the tongue. a rusty pin removed from a bible...

4. The idea of a bonus ambient EP of the sounds that constructed the album is really interesting. At what point did you decide to use it in a limited edition version?

over the years, I collected a bunch of shit in itunes like early versions and raw sounds of LLW tracks. when LLW was done, it made sense to put together a companion CD of this stuff.

5. How much did Odd Nerdrum paintings influence Level Live Wires, and do you have a favorite of his?

I havent thought about Odd Nerdrum for a long time... one painting that comes to mind is his self portrait with an erection. that is dude is a fucking twisted modern day Rembrandt.

Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

1. What did you specifically remember listening to as a child that triggered a notable response?

my parents had Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' on wax. the synth sounds and the cover photo of the dude on fire used to freak me out.

when rap got big, I was way into scratching. it was the craziest stuff Id ever heard. my favorite was the scratch "solo" on The Furious Five's 'Step Off'. The vocoder used on 'Scorpio' was pretty wild. mid 80s rap was the first music I took seriously. I used to dub stuff off the radio, never knowing what the hell I was listening to. 'La Di Da Di' was the first song I memorized.

2. You are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you listen to?

'Revolver'

3. Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

I love the work of Dali, Basquiat, Bosch, David Lynch, Akira Kurosawa, the Cohen Bros., Kids In The Hall, The Chapelle Show, Mr. Show, Monty Python's Flying Circus. Ive watched John Lennon's 'Imagine' like a million times. skateboarding. I really enjoy reading music biographies.

4. Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

'Out The Closet', a non profit thrift store on University in Berkeley. Ive scored hundreds of great LPs there. for most everything thing else its Amoeba and Rasputin's in Berkeley. and I have a few generous friends that hook me up with random shit.

5. What question do you get most often that you hate answering?

dont get it as often anymore but Ive been asked "whats the future of hip hop?" way too many times. another one, regarding my music: "is this hip hop?"

6. Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

Favorite instruments: SP 1200.

specific sounds: 50's - 60's vinyl. drones.

7. The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close, what section do you head immediately towards?

"oldies" vinyl

8. What is the last notable daydream you had and where did it take place?

[N/A - Ed.]

9. What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

De La Soul '3 feet High And Rising'
The Beatles 'Revolver'
Flying Saucer Attack 'Distance'
Serge Gainsbourg 'Histoire De Melody Nelson'

10. Do you keep up with blogs? Which do you read if so?

no.

Singleversity #24

Audiversity’s weekly column, slightly modified, on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 85.

MA:



Though John Fahey seems to get the majority of the props for the genre-bending experimental folk movement in the early 60s, I have always been a bit biased towards Sandy Bull. Released in 1964 (the same year of Fahey’s debut album, Blind Joe Death), Bull’s sophomore effort, Inventions, featured the inventive guitarist blending characteristics of folk, jazz, modal, raga and Middle-Eastern music into one pulsing sound. Joined by ingenious drummer Billy Higgins, "Memphis, Tennessee" is an elaborate and swinging re-imagination of the Chuck Berry-penned classic.

PM:














"What Joe Trofino gives to his girlfriend Vickie." There it is, right there in the Urban Dictionary. And here, as an “original rock” band from Dublin. Yet Barakas has as an added benefit the pleasure of another definition: Brighton-based DJ Simon "Bonobo" Green. After DJing in the UK for years, Green conspired with Tru Thoughts A&R Robert Luis for a few tracks and demand was so high, he decided to release this vinyl single earlier this month, "Stabilo Bossa." Dance floor wobbly goodness? I’d say.

Prefuse 73 - "Class of 73 Bells EP"

Prefuse 73 - The Class of 73 Bells feat. School of Seven Bells (WARP 2007)

Prefuse 73 – Class of 73 Bells EP / WARP

Oh busy schedules. Finding time to write about music here at Audiversity HQ is easily our biggest concern. Hell, finding spare moments to spend a sufficient amount of time just listening to the records is hard enough, nonetheless securing a block of a couple hours to think critically about them. But we do it because we love to (and don’t mind sacrificing other time-consuming tasks), just like artists who get readily labeled “prolific” for their constant output of high quality music. This tag has often been dropped when discussing Guillermo Scott Herren, aka Prefuse 73 aka Savath y Savalas aka Delarosa & Asora aka Piano Overlord aka A Cloud Mireya aka La Corrección (if you would like brief descriptions on the particular sound of each of these monikers, check out my review of Golden Pollen from a few months back). Herren is just one of those cats who are constantly brewing up delicious aural treats in his ever-mobile kitchen, and we get to enjoy the fruits of his seemingly nonstop labor with an elaborate discography of exploratory sounds. The Prefuse 73 alias has been the bread and butter for the traveled musician, and any time a new album is on the horizon I get giddy. We are still a couple months off from the October 23rd release of Preparations, but there is a new teaser EP hitting the streets in a few weeks, so let’s take a look at that.

A four-song twelve-inch, the Class of 73 Bells EP finds Herren in a familiar setting: collaborating with talented, like-minded folks. While not everyone is partial to such things (see the critical reaction to the underappreciated Surrounded by Silence from 2005), I for one am always down for it. As far as I’m concerned, two creative minds are always better than one. For the first single from both the EP and the upcoming LP is a collaboration with a few familiar faces under an unfamiliar moniker. New York City psyche-pop band and Blonde Redhead openers School of Seven Bells is made up of the Deheza twins, Claudia and Alley, from On!Air!Library!, Ben Curtis of the Secret Machines and James Elliott of Ateleia. Herren has often teamed with Claudia Deheza, and even put out a full-length featuring them as a pair under the name A Cloud Mireya. “The Class of 73 Bells” features a traditional Prefuse beat (read: chopped, screwed and incredibly catchy) and his penchant for glitchy ambient noise, as well as swirling flute samples, chiming church bells and other bubbling melodic undertones. Overtop, the Deheza twins brilliantly harmonize lyrics with elongated syllables for a final product of soothing, head-nodding psyche-hop.

The more abrasive second track, “Smoking Red,” features the percussive mania of John Santier, most recently known for his incredible drum performances as the Battles backbeat, not to mention the time he spent with Helmet, Tomahawk and The Mark of Cain. The song features a much more aggressive backdrop from Herren with searing waves of high pitched electronic noise and slightly disturbing vocal samples, but grounded by a subtly melodic undercurrent. Next, “En Blanco” is listed as “A Prefuse/Epstein Production,” though I am not completely sure who Epstein is exactly (Ed. Note -- Thanks to Rodolfo, here are links with more information on Epstein: www.robertolange.com & www.arepaz.com) Either way, it’s a classic Herren production with a steady, head-nodding, hip-hop backbeat overdubbed and overlapped six-fold, continually erupting electronic sunspots, shifting synthesizer hooks, string flourishes and a few keyboard lines pulled out of the Alice Coltrane repertoire. The EP rounds out with “The Classical Sounds of 73 Bells,” a revisit to the opening track with the percussion replaced by heavily sighing string sways. The Deheza twins sound even more angelic as they are free to glide and sashay over the free-flowing track.

The Class of 73 Bells EP may not be overtly surprising for longtime Prefuse 73 fans, but at the same time, it will definitely have you salivating for a new full-length. Go ahead and circle October 17th on your calendar, and I’ll meet you at the record store with a broad smile on my face.

Aesop Rock - "None Shall Pass"

Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (Definitive Jux 2007)

Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass / Definitive Jux

You would think that the more you are into an artist, the easier it would be to write about them when the opportunity presents itself. Personally, I find it to be tougher. There is this thought that lingers menacingly in the back of my head, peeking out from behind my eyeballs after each line to criticize what I wrote. It is this ridiculous notion that I owe the artist my best work, since they inspired me so greatly with theirs. As if I owe, in this case Ian Bavitz, the same level of quality workmanship that he has given me over the last seven years. Am I doing him justice? Am I being honest with myself at the same time? Why do I even think, number one: Bavitz will ever actually read this? And number two: would ever truly give a shit about my personal opinion? At which point, the next floodgate of doubting questions open up and I start asking myself: does anyone give a shit about my opinion? Why should anyone give a shit about my opinion? Who am I to be criticizing music in the first place? Why am I even a part of this ridiculous, ever-scrutinizing blogosphere? What the hell am I doing with my life? And so on and so on until I end up in the middle of the floor, rocking steadily in the fetal position as the cat curiously stares at me from her cozy perch on the windowsill. It is the sick, ruthless cycle I put myself through nearly every time I write, which is only amplified when it is about an artist I truly admire. And goddamn, all of this inner turmoil for a simple page-and-a-half album review for a self-made website that is barely making a blip on the music critic radar. I could only imagine what must go through the heads of cats like Bavitz who relatively put their soul on wax and spin it for the entire world to judge. Basically, you do it because you have no other choice; you have got to occasionally open that creative faucet and drain those artistic urges or it will drive you mad. Some of us do it by dropping a few of the most idiosyncratic underground rap albums ever produced, some of us do it by obsessively wasting away each and every one of our coveted mornings on a blog with minimal (but very welcomed) readership amongst thousands of near identical ones. At least in the process we are supporting each other’s mania and teetering sanity, whether we know it or not.

But enough about my nonsensical thought processes, let’s get back to the matter at hand: Bavitz, aka Aesop Rock, has got a new album out and the indie music world is salivating for new material from maybe it’s most talented lyricist. Like I am sure most of you were, I was introduced to the NYC emcee by way of 2001’s heavily applauded Labor Days, an album that now stands as perhaps the epitome of emotional underground rap. Truth be told though, it is just another album in his incredible discography to me. I find 2000’s Float on Mush Records, the first proper release following two self-released LPs (Appleseed, Music for Earthworms, neither of which I have had the privilege of hearing), even more rewarding with it’s minimal beat accompaniment letting Bavitz’s never-ending stream of visceral lyrical imagery completely grapple the listener’s ears. And you know what, I wore out 2003’s Bazooka Tooth as well. Granted it was a completely different beast than the previous albums with its incredibly dense production, but nonetheless contained intricately interesting innards. And yep, I was at the record store the day the Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives EP dropped, because I was hella excited not only about the new, increasingly funky and confident music, but about that 88-page lyrical booklet that came in the same packaged. What can I say? I am a big fan of his near impenetrable lyrical flow, imaginative poetic imagery and that intelligent, blue-collar, pissed-off-at-the-world-because-it-is-fucking-insane attitude.

Well that finally brings us to None Shall Pass, Bavitz’s third official full-length for one of underground rap’s defining labels, El-P’s Definitive Jux. Being released nearly six years to the day that Aesop Rock shed a little “Daylight” on the possibilities of indie-rap, None Shall Pass is being strewn from a completely different perspective. Bavitz is not out to find, establish, reveal or defend himself, but to simply make a quality rap album. He has crossed each of those necessary bridges in his highly nitpicked career, and now, as we discussed earlier, he is just re-opening that creative faucet, because creating rap albums as Aesop Rock is purely how he suffices those artistic urges. Now relocated to San Francisco, None Shall Pass was crafted over two years in what is seemingly a more relaxed setting than what I would imagine living in New York is for him. Producer and frequent collaborator Tony Simon, aka Blockhead, is back in abundance, appearing on eight of the fourteen tracks, the most since he steered the boards for Labor Days. Def Jukies El-P, Rob Sonic, Camu Tao, and Cage all make appearances, as well as the Juggaknots’ Breezly Brewin’, DJ Big Wiz (who scratches on nearly every track) and The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle. There is also an abundance of live instrumentation on this album, mostly electric guitar and bass, which is a first for his Aesop’s mostly sample-based back catalogue. Honestly, I have never been much for the combination of electric guitars and rap music, but for the most part, it is utilized and mixed in a much more intriguing manner than past concoctions I have come across. With a heavier emphasis on story telling rather than, in Bavitz’s words “braggadocio”, None Shall Pass displays maturity and creativity without sacrificing one iota of urgency from his quick-tongued baritone.

After a lead-footed opener, which I feel suffers from the thick, almost Rage Against the Machine electric guitar riffs, Blockhead provides his best beat in years for a future classic Aesop Rock song. Carving his way through an almost steel drum keyboard loop, meandering flute wisps, driving kick drum beat, contemplative electric guitar noodling and schizophrenic pitch-shifted vocals, Bavitz does what he does best: spits ridiculously wordy verses with relaxed aggression, enunciating every syllable into an inimitable been-there-done-that flow. The guests start giving their two cents about halfway through; Breezly Brewin’ and Cage provide archetypal tag-team Def Jux verses to the amped “Getaway Car,” while “39 Thieves” is yet another great Aesop-El-P collaboration. Menacingly interweaving a great Bavitz production of late night trumpet coos, an acoustic Spanish guitar loop and Mr. Lif’s sampled vocals, Aes rhymes potently, seemingly propping the listener up for El Producto to swing in and knock out, but it never happens. Not until “Gun for the Whole Family” anyways, which not only features El’s dense, stuttering space-funk production, but a bravado-dripping verse as well. After a quality pairing with maybe Def Jux’s most underrated producing emcee, Rob Sonic, in “Dark Heart News,” comes the most curious collaboration of the album. Very much a kindred spirit to Bavitz, The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle provides ghostly, modulated backing vocals to Aes-Rock’s masterfully odd rhyme flow syncopation on “Coffee.” Darnielle is barely recognizable though until the final minute of the song where his vocals erupt into an almost anthemic coda. It is an odd teaming for sure and even slightly uncomfortable at first, especially with Darnielle’s more effeminate alto completely counteracting Bavitz’s deep-throated baritone, but it works and is more effective with each concurrent listen.

With great artwork provided by Jeremy Fish, who Bavitz collaborated with for a children’s story, None Shall Pass is a complete package. The production, much like the type established on the Fast Cars EP, is a nice middle ground between the resonating sparseness of Labor Days and the intimidating density of Bazooka Tooth. Bavitz’s vocal rhythms remain one of the most idiosyncratic styles in the game, and the lyrical imagery is as potent as ever, though perhaps slightly less visceral. It doesn’t sound as much like he is straight venting through the Aesop Rock moniker as he is utilizing its now-well-established voice to tell the kind of struggling blue collar stories that made Labor Days so relatable. Does it potentially have that same kind of longevity that the 2001 breakthrough has had though? Probably not, but that is somewhat of an unfair comparison being as they were created under such expansively different circumstances. It is a solid album though and certainly another strong entry into Bavitz’s increasingly diverse discography, which is really all you can ask for as a passive listener. And besides, it’s a new Aesop Rock album, and any new material from the never ending lyrical well that is Ian Bavitz’s mind is more than welcomed as far as I am concerned.

Radio Show Playlist 8/22/07

6a:
1. The Jam - Going Underground - Dig the New Breed (Polydor 1982)
2. Gary Walker & the Rain - Magazine Woman - Album No. 1 (Shanghai 1968)
3. The Zombies - Care of Cell - Odyssey & Oracle (CBS 1968)
4. Fiery Furnaces - Duplexes of the Dead - Widow City (Thrill Jockey 2007)
5. Turner Cody - Buds of May - Buds of May (Digitalis Industries 2007, recorded 2004)
6. Woods - Hunover - At Rear House (Shrimper 2007)
7. Saturday Looks Good to Me - Spiderbite - Cold Colors EP (Polyvinyl 2007)
8. Angels of Light - The Man We Left Behind - We Are Him (Young God 2007)
9. Akron/Family - Blessing Force - Meek Warrior (Young God 2006)
10. No Age - Boy Void - Weirdo Rippers (FatCat 2007)
11. Don Caballero - Trey Dog's Acid - Singles Breaking Up, Vol. 1 (Touch & Go 1999)

7a:
1. Sonic Youth - Death Valley '69 - Bad Moon Rising (DGC 1985)
2. Dirty Projectors - Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie - Rise Above (Dead Oceans 2007)
3. Weird War - See About Me - Illuminated by the Light (Drag City 2005)
4. The Make-Up - Gospel 2000 - Sound Verite (K 1997)
5. Pumice - Stopover - Pebbles (Soft Abuse 2007)
6. John Dwyer - Fretting and Fussing - 2 (Narnack 2004)
7. The Bird Names - Nobody Loves Me - Wooden Lake/Sexual Diner (Unsound 2007)
8. Caribou - Sundialing - Andorra (Domino 2007)
9. Jab Mica Och El - Haircut from the Above - ABC Hej I'm Cola (Ache 2006)
10. Baja - A River Splits Love and Spits Out Bones - Aloha Ahab (Arctic Rodeo 2007)
11. Odd Nosdam - Up in Flames - Level Live Wires (Anticon 2007)
12. Eric Copeland - Hermaphrodite - Hermaphrodite (Paw Tracks 2007)

8a:
1. Bird Show - Greet the Morning - Lightning Ghost (Kranky 2006)
2. Charles Mingus - Track C-Group Dancers - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (Impulse! 1963)
3. Boxhead Ensemble - Coastal Boarder - The Last Place to Go (Atavistic 1998)
4. Bobbi Humphrey - New York Times - Satin Doll (Blue Note 1974)
5. Marvin Gaye - "T" Plays It Cool - Trouble Man (Motown 1972)
6. Joe McDuphrey Experience - Song for Airto - Experience EP (Stones Throw 2002)
7. Shape of Broad Minds - They Don't Know feat. Stacy Epps - Craft of the Lost Art (Lex 2007)
8. Psalm One - Beat the Drum - The Death of the Frequent Flyer (Rhymesayers 2006)
9. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass - None Shall Pass (Def Jux 2007)
10. People Under the Stairs - Empty Bottle of Water - O.S.T. (Om 2002)

Shape of Broad Minds - "Craft of the Lost Art"

Shape of Broad Minds - Changes (Lex 2007)
(mp3 taken down by request, but they gave an option of this 20-minute mp3 featuring samples of the album mixed by DJ Jamad from Atlanta)

Shape of Broad Minds – Craft of the Lost Art / Lex

A little less than a month ago, I nearly proclaimed Shape of Broad Minds’ Craft of the Lost Art the hip-hop album of the year. Being as I actually just heard their debut full-length for the first time a few days ago, my hyperbolic statement may have been slightly premature, but if you had a chance to cop the teasing Blue Experience EP, I sincerely doubt you would be able to contain your excitement either. I am just a sucker for innovative rap music, and Jneiro Jarel and company bring the creativity, and in the process deftly establishing himself as an up-and-coming force in the underground hip-hop game by very much carrying the torch lit by the late James Yancey. 2006’s Beat Journey under the Dr. Who Dat? guise entrenched Jarel as a master beatsmith, teasing, twisting and twirling worldly samples through wormholes of synthesizer swirls and stuttering boom-bap foundations. Craft of the Lost Art, as well as furthering his development as a sought after producer, introduces us to the verbal and lyrical side of Jarel’s talents, an aspect not quite as individual, but definitely worth merits. At twenty-three tracks and an hour-plus collection of musical exploration, Craft will definitely be making it’s case come December to sit atop my ‘Year’s Best Rap’ list, and may even be pushing the ‘Best of 2007’ as well.

I may be getting ahead of myself though, so just in case you are not yet familiar with the Shape of Broad Minds pseudo-super group, let me introduce them. The official members of the group are Jarel, Jawwaad, Rocque Won, Panama Black and Dr. Who Dat? Four of these five members are the multiple personalities of Jarel, each distinctive to the city they were conjured up in during his traveled upbringing as the son of a U.S. Army mother. According to the press release, Jawwaad is the Houston-raised multi-instrumentalist (keyboards, trumpet), Rocque Won is a west coast psychedelic singer inspired by Hendrix and Prince, and finally, Philadelphian Dr. Who Dat? is known as an introvert, record collector and studio wizard. Panama Black is (at least to the best of my knowledge) a real living, breathing person, a rapper from Atlanta, GA to be precise. Together they form the Shape of Broad Minds, primped and poised to inspire pseudo-genres like psych-hop or rapadelia.

Sitting comfortably on the one-time WARP offshoot Lex Records, alongside the equally prolific Danger Mouse, Jarel and company’s sound crosses the path of a number of different artists, all very much respected for their own creativity. The music of Craft is a saturated, deeply thudding combination of Outkast, Slum Village, the Soulquarians, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Madvillain and Gorillaz, of which they share Albarn’s penchant for cinematically quirky compositions. From a musical standpoint, Jarel is definitely building off the sound he established as Dr. Who Dat?, synth-heavy, cleverly syncopated and continuously morphing with amoeba-like compositional structures. Yancey’s instrumental work as J Dilla is definitely a reference point, as is Madlib, especially in his Beat Konducta or Madvillain monikers. It also is very reminiscent of Sa-Ra’s space-stoned remix work and even Outkast’s more tripped-out numbers. Verbally and lyrically, Jarel’s best attribute is his ability to never flat-line in one particular flow. He as easily lays back into free-flowing, smooth-voiced delivery as he can up the ante and spit with speed, running circles around the beats with his delivery. What the EP didn’t reveal was his fondness of abstract interludes, from jazzy scatting to schizophrenic pan-heavy half-phrasing that maybe slightly too akin to the Quasimoto technique. Panama Black, on the other hand, is a straight-up rapper with a flow similar to one of the Clipse twins but without the snarl. When they team their vocal prowess, the album really shines.

There are also a number of guest artists along for this psychedelic boom-bapping trip. As you heard from the Blue Experience EP, MF Doom kills an all too brief verse on the wonderfully urgent “Let’s Go.” Stacy Epps, of Sol Uprising and who you may remember from the standout Madvillainy interlude “Eye” or Oh No’s The Disrupt, also completely demolishes a verse upset-Lauryn Hill-style during one of the album’s best moments, “They Don’t Know.” Her Sol Uprising partner, Lil’ Sci, is also granted a guest spot during the drama-filled “So Much (Chaos),” which stutters superbly over an instrumental that Madlib really should have made; and the always dependable Count Bass D flows effortlessly on the briefly laid-back “It Lives On.” Of the non-guest spots, “Changes” maybe the go-to track, with it’s deeply saturated, heavily modulated melodic beat, of which Jarel verbally glides swiftly over and Black keeps grounded. “Opr8r” shows the more spacey soul side of the group sounding like a collaboration between Andre 3000 and Clipse remixed by Sa-Ra, and the finger-snapped bump of “Stiff Robots & Drunken Horses” comes off like an El-P and MF Doom (though he’d have to inhale a balloon full of helium) pairing.

So, the question I keep asking myself is: “can Craft of the Lost Art be the best rap album of 2007?” Absolutely, but it is still August, so let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. It is an incredibly solid and interesting record that though clocking in at over an hour, never seems like it’s dragging on thanks to the myriad of styles Jarel explores throughout. He is a free spirit experimenting with his tools at hand, and the album very much excels because of it. Craft very much should establish Jarel as an act to watch, and my guess is that future collaborations are imminent. In fact, there already are rumors of Jarel, ahem Roque Won, teaming with Khujo of Goodie Mob for a pairing that can only lead to good rap music. But until his next endeavor, Craft of the Lost Art is plenty of music to keep your head-boppin’ and your mind swirling, so do your ears a favor and introduce them to some psych-hop care of a few Broad Minds.

Roam the Hello Clouds - "Near Misses"

Roam the Hello Clouds - Pretender's Hand (~Scape 2007)

Roam the Hello Clouds - Near Misses / ~Scape

With the recent passing of Max Roach and a reflection on what we've been going over here at Audiversity in the past few weeks, Roam the Hello Clouds came at just the right time. It had been a while since I'd listened to a proper jazz album; Blockhead and Arts the Beatdoctor danced around the genre with a jazz flair but a hip-hop base. I can't remember the last time I'd listened to an album that had jazz inklings but wasn't a straightforward affair.

Luckily, the ever-reliable, Berlin-based ~Scape label has read my mind. Upon arriving back in Chicago yesterday, I was quickly rifling through some of Michael's albums that had yet to be reviewed - sometimes I just have to make do with leftovers, y'see - when I stumbled upon the sleeve for this record. Interested almost entirely because they're on ~Scape, I went ahead and popped it in. I was greeted with an excellent jazz album that is alternately light on the foot and loaded on the gravitas.

Who is Roam the Hello Clouds?

Roam the Hello Clouds is a talented Australian trio consisting of Phil Slater (who beautifully handles the trumpet as well as a few bells + whistles scattered throughout the record), Dave Miller (mixing n' mingling the organic base of the songs with his laptop), and Laurence Pike (who cleverly flavors tracks with drums, the glockenspiel, and some vibraphone).

These three have a proven record when it comes to former groups: Slater was in Band of Five Names and has recorded with Lou Reed and Perth rock heroes The Sleepy Jackson. Miller has been a member of Pivot as well as a solo artist with a robust back catalog; in addition, it would seem that Miller is our kind of guy. Not only does he knock around East London, he also drinks "real ale." Pike was also in Pivot, but he's recorded and toured with Burnt Friedman and, wait for it, Prefuse 73. Jackpot.

What Can They Offer Me?

Near Misses is about as good as you're going to get when it comes to electrically enhanced jazz. This isn't a total reworking of the music, but the added touch of a little laptop work brings that much more depth to the fore of this ten-track debut. And that's not the only kind of experimentation going on here: Roam the Hello Clouds was built on the idea that trial and error can produce something fruitful. Miller and Pike met in October of 2003 playing the Sydney Opera House on what was apparently a "musical blind date." Their styles gelled and one week later they were playing again - this time with Slater added to complete what they thought would be a one-off. Thank goodness it wasn't: After their second performance, the three men got together and recorded what was to become Near Misses.

What's so remarkable about these performances is that they are group improvisations recorded in just one day. Banging out a track with such a dramatic dynamic as "Pretender's Hand" as well as the woozy nightclub funk (rather than funky) feeling of late-album highlight "A Life of Near Misses" (which arguably could not have been titled any better) can only mean these three musicians have the natural talent to understand each other's strengths and weaknesses.

It plays brilliantly. The highlight of several of these tracks is Slater's excellent trumpet playing, but pay attention to the textures that Miller is slipping in almost unnoticed. You think you're hearing another trumpet in a track like "Twenties in the Eighties," but you've been had. That's Miller working his magic, adding color and panache to an already admirable trumpet performance.

The unheralded hero of this review is Pike. I'm not an expert on the technical aspects of drumming and percussion, and I'm certainly no Max Roach when it comes to playing them, but Pike adds his own improvised flavor to each song by holding together the wandering sounds of his bandmates. To me, that's the mark of a great percussionist: Someone who can keep the beat interesting without stealing the spotlight John Bonham-style and simultaneously pin down surrounding sounds as a kind of anchor, a counterweight to the freeform experimentation of backward percussion or a lonely trumpet stumbling through dark back alleys at night. Pike duly performs this role and there's no question the occasional glockenspiel will bring a smile to your face.

It's that added element of playfulness that weaves its way in and out of the many sobering and contemplative moments dominating the tone of this record. It's also what makes Roam the Hello Clouds' debut so fascinating. If you're at all looking for a jazz record with the feel of something traditional and a touch of the modern improv, or if you just happen to have a hard-on for the trumpet, this is your record right here.

Can They Come and Play My Town?

Sayeth the men themselves: "Sure. Contact us." Now you have instructions. You know what to do.