Man, these Beat Detectives guys are capital-dub Weird. Their musical output stands as pretty strong evidence of this, with groggy-azz tapes for Moon Glyph, 100% Silk and Night-People all capturing my attention last year. Their latest release, the wonderfully titled ASSCOP, captures those “3am basement house party” vibes that followers of the Detectives will already be accustomed to. As if the psychedelic fug of the music wasn't enough, their visual accompaniments also happen to be next-level BAD trip material (as is well-documented on their YouTube channel), and the Nic Wilson-animated vid for "Fresh Out The Pack" could well be the strangest of the lot, featuring a nude CGI Bart Simpson doing all sorts of hoodrat shit; namely, walking through a mountain range, navigating a black void, and setting himself on fire. Yeah. Watch it above, and cop the ass outta ASSCOP from 1080p here.
Showing posts with label Cassette. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cassette. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Tuesday, 20 May 2014
New Music: Foodman
It's been over a month since the last //APEX post, and in our dormancy some fairly astounding records have been released. One such album is DRUM DESU, a new tape from the slippery Japanese footworker 食品まつり aka Foodman, which was released unto the web by Noumenal Loom on May 9. If you've had the pleasure of following the music of Foodman, you'll know that the footwork connection is an extremely distant one at this stage; DRUM DESU continues his expansion into what is near-enough uncharted territory, characterised by his use of garbled samples, digital squelches and barely-there drum patterns. Bewildering stuff indeed, but it should leave you thoroughly satisfied if you're in the market for an alternative experience. Stream the whole damn thang below, and maybe grab it on cassette from the label here.
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Cassette Roundup, Volume 2
C L E A N E R S Real Raga Shit Vol. 1 (Bootleg Tapes, 2014)
EQ Why ChiTokyo Mixtape (Orange Milk, 2014)
Footworking is resolutely a location-centric genre, with many of its finest practitioners hailing from Chicago, but outsider contributions to the movement are not only preventing footwork from falling into an easily- replicable template, but they are also providing some of the most worthwhile contributions to it. This calendar year has already seen a few shining examples, such as Thug Entrancer's Death After Life and Foodman's hamakko EP, but one of the best "outsider" efforts thus far comes from an actual Chicagoan. EQ Why - a cheeky dig at RP Boo? - merges the malleable styling of Chi-town footwork/juke with the weird and wonderful Japanese take on the scene, and appropriately calls it the ChiTokyo Mixtape. Essentially, the tape is an hour of primo footworking, which bridges the gap between two rather different modi operandi, and thankfully never takes itself too seriously. If you've ever found yourself enjoying the likes of DJ Rashad or DJ Spinn, as well as the warped worlds of Paisley Parks and Foodman, then ChiTokyo Mixtape might just be your calling.
Magic Eye Babylon (Not Not Fun, 2014)
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A triumph of style and substance. Despite making it into our favourite albums of 2014's first quarter list a few days ago, I don't think either of us has really managed to attest to the brilliance of Real Raga Shit Vol. 1. It's an interesting proposition from the outset, with what its release on Bootleg Tapes (quite possibly my favourite label around right now), two intriguingly named side-long tracks, and some fancy artwork to boot, but the music contained within is the real star attraction here. In a similar vein to much of Bootleg's catalogue, the C L E A N E R S tape is a haphazard meeting of samples from entirely disparate sources, from Coltrane's "I Love You" to the most obvious Casablanca quote, with an undercurrent of tape hiss and analogue noise throughout. This approach to sound really shouldn't work, but by sheer dexterity and intuition, C L E A N E R S pulls it off with a very large degree of panache, connecting the dots between the least likely of entities and making it sound fantastic in the process.
EQ Why ChiTokyo Mixtape (Orange Milk, 2014)
Footworking is resolutely a location-centric genre, with many of its finest practitioners hailing from Chicago, but outsider contributions to the movement are not only preventing footwork from falling into an easily- replicable template, but they are also providing some of the most worthwhile contributions to it. This calendar year has already seen a few shining examples, such as Thug Entrancer's Death After Life and Foodman's hamakko EP, but one of the best "outsider" efforts thus far comes from an actual Chicagoan. EQ Why - a cheeky dig at RP Boo? - merges the malleable styling of Chi-town footwork/juke with the weird and wonderful Japanese take on the scene, and appropriately calls it the ChiTokyo Mixtape. Essentially, the tape is an hour of primo footworking, which bridges the gap between two rather different modi operandi, and thankfully never takes itself too seriously. If you've ever found yourself enjoying the likes of DJ Rashad or DJ Spinn, as well as the warped worlds of Paisley Parks and Foodman, then ChiTokyo Mixtape might just be your calling.
Magic Eye Babylon (Not Not Fun, 2014)
Reverb and distortion have been getting a bad press as of late, and it's totally understandable; it's the go-to method of distraction to mask lazy songwriting, or to obscure lyricists who have nothing worthwhile to say (I'm looking squarely at YOU, Perfect Pussy). Thankfully, Magic Eye utilise these effects to a particularly artful degree on their latest release, Babylon. The album came about after a distasteful experience at an "overly pro studio", which left the resulting recording "grit-less and dried out"; mercifully, upon hearing the opener "Japan" it would appear that the grit and earthiness has been well-and-truly reinstated, and the tape retains this beautifully lo-fi aesthetic throughout. It amounts to an exploration of the limits and boundaries of the humble cassette tape, in all of its noisy, scorched glory.
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Cassette Roundup, Volume 1
Independent record labels have really harnessed the potential of the internet through mediums such as Bandcamp and Soundcloud, and it means that whatever the label puts out can be heard by more people than a limited-run release would allow. Sure, it sacrifices the exclusivity of owning one of 50 copies of a tape, but as the major labels continue to stagnate, we need these boutique and web-based labels more than ever for exciting, challenging and new music. A few releases I've reviewed this year (JCCG, LAMPGOD and**Ł_RD//$M$) have been tapes, so to reflect the wealth of cassette releases out there in 2013 I have decided to launch this new series: Cassette Roundup. Every so often, I'll tackle a few tapes which I feel are worth a few words and include a sample/stream for good measure.
Free Weed On the Moon / Get It 2Nite (Exo Tapes, 2013)
Erik Gage's releases as Free Weed carry the drug-induced hypnagogia one would expect from such a name: his previous releases feature whacked-out pop songs comprised of drum machines, distorted guitars, pianos and sloppy vocals, all veiled beneath a kush cloak. His cassette for Exo Tapes, released earlier this year, sees him clean up his sound a little bit for On the Moon, before retreating back into the clouds on Get It 2Nite.
The On the Moon side is probably his most immediate set yet, with upfront drum machines opening the proceedings. The lyrics are, rather predictably, stoner fare, with lines such as "I wanna have drugs for friends" and "You won't get high if you don't get high, if you won't get high"; it's not big, and it's not clever, but it's infectiously good fun. The Get It 2Nite side is more abstract, with the case in point being "I'm a Mermaid", in all its sub-aquatic glory. All in all, this tape is a pleasure to listen to, and you'll be sure to return for your Free Weed fix.
Street Thunder Bonfire Gecko Hex (Reckno, 2013)
Street Thunder doesn't do "releases" or "albums"; he/she/they/it instead operates in "transmission[s]", and the latest is Bonfire Gecko Hex, released in Reckno's October batch. Gibberish name aside, Bonfire Gecko Hex feels like some sort of spiritual rite. There's a certain earthiness and elemental quality suggested by the artwork, and it's carried into the recording itself - Street Thunder manages to shift the stasis with swelling, layered drones and subtle movements in sound, in a way that reflects a forest ecosystem.
Side A's "Dragon Bong" starts out with pulsating, melancholic strings, as if one was exploring a dark undergrowth or wading through a murky river, but just as it seems to slip into a groove the mood is suddenly altered by a shimmering loop, akin to the awakening of an ancient beast. Side B's "Chrome Swisher" begins as side A ended, with a twinkling loop underpinned by slowly-developing (but never threatening) noise. Towards the end of the track, a chasm is opened and the noise envelops all, before fading back into the darkness. Bonfire Gecko Hex, then, is a rather minimal, hallucinatory experience, but a gripping one nonetheless.
Diamond Black Hearted Boy Father, Protect me. (Steak Au Zoo, 2013)
There's outsider hip-hop, and then there's this. Chino Amobi's Diamond Black Hearted Boy project has been going since 2008, but it hasn't seen many proper full-length releases; instead, his Bandcamp mainly features single tracks, all of them strange in their own right. Father, Protect me. is a continuation of his oddball approach to beat-making and soundscaping, and it may be one of the most singular hip-hop albums I've heard this year (possibly probably ever).
The title track is an exhilarating experience in and of itself, featuring broken drum loops, digital abrasion and a stuttering verse which is repeated throughout. Amobi has an almost Burial-esque approach to vocal samples on tracks such as "I just wanna be a r#97C57CE", wherein soulful voices are pitched up and looped ad infinitum. There are some rather strange samples across the album - I think I can hear the gravity hammer from the Halo games on "I don't need protection (You)", and I'm sure there'll be hidden pop-culture nuggets aplenty buried beneath the murky beats and noisy manipulation. That's all I can really muster up about Father, Protect me.: albums like this have to be heard to be believed.
Free Weed On the Moon / Get It 2Nite (Exo Tapes, 2013)
Erik Gage's releases as Free Weed carry the drug-induced hypnagogia one would expect from such a name: his previous releases feature whacked-out pop songs comprised of drum machines, distorted guitars, pianos and sloppy vocals, all veiled beneath a kush cloak. His cassette for Exo Tapes, released earlier this year, sees him clean up his sound a little bit for On the Moon, before retreating back into the clouds on Get It 2Nite.
The On the Moon side is probably his most immediate set yet, with upfront drum machines opening the proceedings. The lyrics are, rather predictably, stoner fare, with lines such as "I wanna have drugs for friends" and "You won't get high if you don't get high, if you won't get high"; it's not big, and it's not clever, but it's infectiously good fun. The Get It 2Nite side is more abstract, with the case in point being "I'm a Mermaid", in all its sub-aquatic glory. All in all, this tape is a pleasure to listen to, and you'll be sure to return for your Free Weed fix.
Street Thunder Bonfire Gecko Hex (Reckno, 2013)
Street Thunder doesn't do "releases" or "albums"; he/she/they/it instead operates in "transmission[s]", and the latest is Bonfire Gecko Hex, released in Reckno's October batch. Gibberish name aside, Bonfire Gecko Hex feels like some sort of spiritual rite. There's a certain earthiness and elemental quality suggested by the artwork, and it's carried into the recording itself - Street Thunder manages to shift the stasis with swelling, layered drones and subtle movements in sound, in a way that reflects a forest ecosystem.
Side A's "Dragon Bong" starts out with pulsating, melancholic strings, as if one was exploring a dark undergrowth or wading through a murky river, but just as it seems to slip into a groove the mood is suddenly altered by a shimmering loop, akin to the awakening of an ancient beast. Side B's "Chrome Swisher" begins as side A ended, with a twinkling loop underpinned by slowly-developing (but never threatening) noise. Towards the end of the track, a chasm is opened and the noise envelops all, before fading back into the darkness. Bonfire Gecko Hex, then, is a rather minimal, hallucinatory experience, but a gripping one nonetheless.
Monday, 23 September 2013
Review: JCCG
JCCG Eje (Department Tapes, 2013)
JCCG is Joao Costa Gonçalves, who also happens to be responsible for Mediafired, The Exhalers and Sofa Pits. These various projects, Mediafired in particular, have yielded some rather ethereal, transcendent music that plays with my emotions and soothes my eardrums, so I was naturally quite excited to hear the next release from the guy. A constant running throughout Gonçalves' soundworld is reverberation, and while you could almost say it is a gratuitously employed effect, its use in his work feels warranted by the effervescent, airy sound it creates - last year's A Pathway Through Whatever is a case in point, with its serene, blissful vapor jams leaving a lasting impression long after the echo had fizzled away.
This time around, JCCG isn't applying screw techniques to the readymades of Kate Bush or Queen, but is instead manipulating the sounds of his own guitar (although he does have a little assistance from Sonic Youth on "Fundos"). I find it quite difficult to rest a finger on this particular style, but whenever I listen to Eje I find it to be ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Fennesz or James Ferraro's guitar work, and those of you familiar with either of those artists will know that's quite the compliment. If I were to sum up Eje in a single word, it'd be 'serene'; in keeping with much of Gonçalves's back-catalogue, it is a blissful, pleasant experience throughout. Therein lies an issue, however. Such a singular sound can become rather monotonous after a while - this a problem that hampered Okkyung Lee's recent album Ghil, and it hinders Eje a little as well. The aforementioned Sonic Youth sample certainly adds textural diversity to the album, but those looking for a widely varied sonic palette may come away disappointed.
All in all, Eje is yet another good release from Gonçalves, whose particular brand of sun-soaked hypnagogia is a sound I'd love to hear more of, albeit explored further and experimented with. There is a winning formula somewhere within Eje's nooks and crannies, and I have no doubt that JCCG can source it, bottle it and utilise it in his next project, whatever that may be.
JCCG is Joao Costa Gonçalves, who also happens to be responsible for Mediafired, The Exhalers and Sofa Pits. These various projects, Mediafired in particular, have yielded some rather ethereal, transcendent music that plays with my emotions and soothes my eardrums, so I was naturally quite excited to hear the next release from the guy. A constant running throughout Gonçalves' soundworld is reverberation, and while you could almost say it is a gratuitously employed effect, its use in his work feels warranted by the effervescent, airy sound it creates - last year's A Pathway Through Whatever is a case in point, with its serene, blissful vapor jams leaving a lasting impression long after the echo had fizzled away.
This time around, JCCG isn't applying screw techniques to the readymades of Kate Bush or Queen, but is instead manipulating the sounds of his own guitar (although he does have a little assistance from Sonic Youth on "Fundos"). I find it quite difficult to rest a finger on this particular style, but whenever I listen to Eje I find it to be ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Fennesz or James Ferraro's guitar work, and those of you familiar with either of those artists will know that's quite the compliment. If I were to sum up Eje in a single word, it'd be 'serene'; in keeping with much of Gonçalves's back-catalogue, it is a blissful, pleasant experience throughout. Therein lies an issue, however. Such a singular sound can become rather monotonous after a while - this a problem that hampered Okkyung Lee's recent album Ghil, and it hinders Eje a little as well. The aforementioned Sonic Youth sample certainly adds textural diversity to the album, but those looking for a widely varied sonic palette may come away disappointed.
All in all, Eje is yet another good release from Gonçalves, whose particular brand of sun-soaked hypnagogia is a sound I'd love to hear more of, albeit explored further and experimented with. There is a winning formula somewhere within Eje's nooks and crannies, and I have no doubt that JCCG can source it, bottle it and utilise it in his next project, whatever that may be.
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