ELECTROLOUNGE ARCHIVE B
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REVIEW ARCHIVES: 
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Re:creation
Backini
Lumenessence

Backini's debut album Threads is one of the great downbeat albums ever — it's seemless blend of big band and big beat is immediately accessible yet endlessly surprising. Perhaps it was inevitable that Brighton b-boy Rob Quickenden's follow-up, just wouldn't measure up.

In drops re:creation, a platter that follows Threads' patchwork template for stitching disparate samples together with clean beats and hooky bass lines.

It starts promising with the cheesy spoken word intro of "The Conversation" followed by the cinematic "Little Big Horn" and the sexy funky "Electro Industry."

Even the inevitable rap number, "Radio," has a good vibe with a '70s FM pure pop refrain. It's a worthy experiment, but it doesn't exactly scream Backini.

Then, the decision to use a breathy "soulful" female singer (Dalia Saunders) for a rockish trip hop number ("Wake Up") is cliched. Moreover, it calls into question the taste of an artist whose sample selection on the jazzy hookified Threads was so spot on. Adding insult to injury, Quickenden even resorts to using a tired 'tablist scratch solo.

Moving on, "Victoria Falls" sounds like Air from 10,000 Hz Legend, which could've been a bad thing considering the middling quality of that platter, but the humorous lyrics about being "in love with Stephen Hawking" save the day.

"Boathouse" plunders more electro sounds, but edges toward being filler.

"Deus ex Machina" boasts the cinematic melodicism of Threads, and briefly casts a spell. And "La Anima" follows suit, but it's all atmosphere and studio trickery but no hook.

The drum'n'bass experiment, "Family Secret", boasts a Bernard Herrmann sample (from Vertigo), but it ends up sounding like an Amon Tobin outtake (not a terrible thing, but...)

It must be time for another melodramatic trip-hop number because "The City," featuring earnest vocals by Richard Palmer and swooning strings, fits the dubious bill.

"Chameleon" mixes electro synth throbs with piano, Enya-style backing vocals and spoken word. It doesn't exactly stick with you, but it manages to sound like Backini.

The closer, "Rockall Bailey," opens with an acoustic guitar loop, adds a seriously squelchy electric lead, some ponderous synth and crunchy beat. It's reminiscent of Jaga Jazzist without the fusiony element. Not bad for a closer, but doesn't exactly inspire one to hit "disc repeat" either.

Oh, and the hidden track on the tail end of the final track rocks in that Propellerheads kind of way, but is a bit generic.

Bottom line: Backini's re:creation is definitely not Threads revisited. The artist is clearly experimenting with different styles, which is laudable, but about half of it left me wanting to pop Threads back in. The best tracks here might have been deep tracks on Threads, but there's nothing here that is nearly as brilliant and hooky as "Company B-Boy," "Istanbul," "Dreamer" or the like.

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Threads
Backini
Lumenessence

Electro lounge fans rejoice. Backini's debut is every bit as great as Lemon Jelly's Lost Horizons, the best album of its kind in 2002.

Threads is a perfect embodiment of the electro lounge aesthetic: Big beats meet loungecore hooks meet irony-clad samples in a shiny cocktail blender.

Although nearly every track is a keeper, the album's greatest track must be "Company B-Boy", a catchy-as-hell dancefloor adaptation of the WW2-era Andrews Sister's hit "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (of Company B)". This track will definitely please those who enjoyed the Avalanches' "Frontier Psychologist", as it follows a similar arrangement in its use of samples.

Other great tracks include the jazzy "Cream", the exotic "Istanbul", the trippy "Dreamer" and the sample-mad excursion "Go Go Killer". Just get it already!

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Creative Cookery
Baldiun
Crippled Dick Hot Wax

Swiss trip hop artist Balduin makes his Crippled Dick debut with the wryly titled Creative Cookery.

Balduin cooks up a comfortable blend of downtempo electro-lounge with turntablist abstractions on the side. He's got an eclectic sense of style, but he never tries to do too much -- preferring to build a groove instead of showboating as a scratch artist. In fact, when I first listened to Creative Cookery, I wasn't impressed by it in the least. Only after several listens, did the subtle shifts in mood and texture strike me as worthy of repeated listening.

Fans of another German label, Compost, will enjoy Balduin, more so than fans of CripDick's sleazy listening (Schoolgirl Report, Beat at Cinecitta, etc.) It's got that upbeat downtempo vibe going for it. Perfect for chilling out after hours.

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Dovetail / Kissing My Grandma /
Many People
Coloma / Mauracher / Bauchklang
Klein

Popular musical taste — even in the so-called underground — is a fickle bitch. What passed for cool music a few years ago is now played out. It seems that a lot of the electronica artists of the past decade are either resigned to the dustbin of yesterday's pop novelty OR are adapting to a musical landscape where dance rock has been resusitated. Groups that only a few years ago were embracing sampledelic grooves and instrumental experimentation are now releasing albums that favor song-structures and prominent vocals. This is evident in recent releases from Klein Records of Austria.

First up is Coloma, an English group working in Germany whose first couple of releases fell firmly in the electronica camp. Thanks in part to Alex Paulick's crystalline production, their new album Dovetail sounds like a long-lost new wave record from the '80s with a singer (Rob Taylor) who wouldn't sound out of place fronting a new romantic group like ABC or Spandau Ballet. The best track here is "No Moving Parts," which boasts a bouncy funky bassline. Taken in small doses Dovetail sets a new standard for "retro cool."

Another artist blending electronica with pop vocals is Mauracher whose Kissing My Grandma is a solid sophomore effort. The opening track, "Going Home," sets the tone: emotionally engaged vocals (sometimes male, sometimes female) coupled with electronic textures, pulsating rhythms and big modern rock hooks. Each track has a distinctive make-up and thick propulsive basslines and beats that encourage a visit to the dance floor. Most of the vocal duties fall on Maja Racki whose delivery has an appealingly throaty croak. Kissing My Grandma has a lot to offer fans of modern rock, but having more than one vocalist gives it a somewhat schizophrenic personality. Best throw it on the MP3 player and hit shuffle.

Next up is Bauchklang, an Austrian hip-hop acapella group whose sophomore album Many People is a showcase for what a group of voices can accomplish with some electronic manipulation. On first listen, it's astonishing that vocal chords are responsible for every sound, and one suspects that there is little appeal beyond the sheer novelty of an amped up beatbox show. On second and third listen, the dense rhythmic textures and subtle melodic hooks come to the fore and cast a modest spell. It's experimental hip hop worth checking out.

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Wer Beatet Mehr?
Beat Planet
Brigade Mondaine

BeatPlanet is a German septet with a retro beat sound that takes the listener back to the Star Club of Hamburg circa early '60s where the Beatles made their first big splash. Wer Beatet Mehr? bears a German subtitle that identifies this platter as "music for young people" — a kitschy conceit in keeping with the band's thoroughly throwback sound.

Sung entirely in German, the album's 13 songs are bursting with energy and optimism. The musicianship and production is spot on, with layered vocals accompanied by guitars, bass, electric piano and occasional cello and brass.

Because the songs are so focused on vocals, however, the listening experience may prove frustrating for anyone who doesn't understand German. Those who do are likely to find BeatPlanet more than a mere novelty act.

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Model Shop
The Big Knife
Pulp Flavor

Built purely for pleasure, Model Shop by The Big Knife delivers chilled beats and slick samples for those who enjoy a well-crafted listening experience.

Although there is nothing particularly ground-breaking on Model Shop, the Big Knife's production is impeccable and the cut-and-paste compositions are seamless. There is a workmanlike quality to the proceedings, wherein The Big Knife shows a good deal of taste regarding samples, etc. This is easily on par with anything heard on Compost Records' Future Sounds of Jazz series.

Lush, even-tempered and worthy of repeated listens, Model Shop is essential listening for the wee hours or even a lazy afternoon.

See other Pulp Flavor reviews on Sound Library, Moog & Mood and New Reviews.

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Autorama
Black Market Audio
Supertracks

Dutch duo Black Market Audio are categorically groovy. On the back of the group's full length debut Autorama, it says "file under: dance-classics, lounge, pop, big beat, easy tune, jazz, exotica, rare groove, skank, pyschadelica, mood music, triphop, soundtracks and top 40." Somehow, Black Market Audio incorporates all of those styles while remaining consistant in sound.

The disc opens with "Midnight at Gigi's," a high energy cover of a little known Johnny Hawksworth tune calle "X Cert" (featured on the Betty Page Jungle Girl collection). From there, E-smog and Prof. Wah! lay down the groove in a big way. With titles like "Get Down" and "Now We Gonna Sock It To Ya!" could there be any doubt.

Much of the time, Black Market Audio sounds like the Dutch Propellerheads -- which is obviously a good thing since the Propellerheads appear to be defunct. Put on almost any one of these 14 instrumental tracks and you're likely to rock the house into a pile of funky rubble.

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Downtown Science
Blockhead
Ninja Tune

Crafting emotional instrumental hip-hop akin to the work of DJ Shadow, Tony Simon aka Blockhead delivers in Downtown Science a worthy follow-up to his 2004 Ninja debut, Music by Cavelight. It is Tony's ode to his native New York, but one needn't be from the isle of Manhattan to be moved by the densely arranged cut-n-paste montages heard here.

If Cavelight illuminated melancholy like a French flick from the '50s, Science is less obvious in its emotional attitudes, preferring instead to layer disparate motifs that seem to suggest mixed if not conflicting moods. Perhaps there's an oblique reference to post 9-11 manic depression in here somewhere, but that would be overly easy. The beats are too resolute and the samples too indeterminate to pin down with convenient analogies. It's really just an expertly crafted collage, where meaning is fleeting, but still feels meaningful.

The cd release of Downtown Science also includes a bonus DVD which includes the winners of the film-making competition that Ninja ran for Music By Cavelight. It includes traditional pop promos as well as short films using the music more like a soundtrack.

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Music by Cavelight
Blockhead
Ninja Tune

There are two kinds of hip hop music fans. Those who dig it for the rappers and those who dig it for the DJs. While that may sound like a gross generalization, consider the fact that many hip hop DJs must turn to the requisite instrumental effort to gain respect and attention. After all, few picked up the Aesop Rock album Labor Days to hear the mightly beats of Blockhead, producer of half that album. They may have taken note of his emotionally charged backgrounds once they listened to it, but he certainly wasn't the star attraction.

That's where Music by Cavelight comes through. Listening to Blockhead's moody debut on Ninja Tune, one is plunged into the deep end of instrumental hip hop. Not unlike DJ Shadow, Blockhead demonstrates a knack for exploiting an emotionally charged turn of melodic phrase. The childlike voice and downbeat piano melody on "Sunday Seance" are aching with loneliness and longing. And "Carnivores Unite" sounds like a hip hop version of Philip Glass in a stately meditative mood. And "Road Rage Breakdown" has less to do with rage then it has to do with breakdown. Of addtional interest is the bonus disc of six Aesop Rock instrumentals.

Music by Cavelight should make Blockhead a natural fit in the Ninja stable, where his brand of moody cinematic hip hop reigns supreme.

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Live Sessions
Bonobo
Ninja Tune

Bonobo's first live E.P. is truly a live document, featuring several musicians including Simon Green (aka Bonobo) on bass. The group — with Jack Baker on drums, Ben Cooke on sax, Simon Little on keys, Simon Janes on cello and guitars, and James De Malplaquet on electronics, percussion and vocals — adapts tracks from the studio efforts Animal Magic and Dial M for Monkey and a rare track from Future Sounds of Jazz, Vol. 7. The sound is fairly jazzy — like Cinematic Orchestra — with a bit of free-wheeling sax solos.

Plus, there are a couple of bonus studio tracks, including the drum 'n' bass hypnotiser "Recurring" and a Four Tet mix of Bonobo's "Pick Up".

Overall, another worthwhile effort by Green, whose mastery of gentle organic downtempo is top shelf.

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Bonobo
Dial 'M' for Monkey
Ninja Tune

On Dial 'M' for Monkey, downtempo magician Bonobo picks up where he left off on Animal Magic. Simon Green aka Bonobo (which is a type of primate) is a true ninja. He marries mood to groove in a manner that proliferates among the artists featured on the British record label. In fact, one of the best shows this reviewer saw last year was Bonobo with Prefuse 73 and Amon Tobin -- a solid evening of sonic spell casting.

So, what does the new platter offer? Dreamy exotica ("Noctuary"), sitar ecstasy ("Flutter"), Gamelan groove ("D Song"), a Keith Jarrett tribute ("Change Down"), sampledelic psychadelia ("Wayward Bob" and "Light Pattern"), flute funk ("Pick Up"), and quasi-romantic musings ("Something for Windy" and "Nothing Owed"). Beautiful stuff.

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Seed to Sun
Boom Bip
Lex

Bryan Hollon aka Boom Bip's Seed to Sun is electronic music for cowboys -- at least that's how some hear it. There is a certain expansiveness in BB's sound -- call 'em beats for a big country.

Yet Seed to Sun is also headphone music par excellence. The sound skitters around like lizards among the cacti of scratch-static rhythms. It also sounds like it's been baking in the sun at Area 51. Alien transmissions plunder the airwaves for random bursts of noise. In other words, it gets into your head and takes over (an excellent soundtrack for channel surfing, too).

Stylistically speaking, it's a difficult album to categorize (always a good thing). Ambient, illbient, hip hop, trip hop, cut 'n' paste, you name it. Hollon was probably influenced by it. It's a sonic stew cooking over a campfire under some obscure southwestern night sky. Have a bowl? Hey, did you hear that sound? Sounded like a low hum just over that ridge. And it's coming this way.

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Bounces!
The Bran Flakes
Happi Tyme

Seattle's favorite sampledelic sound collagists The Bran Flakes are back and that's likely to make you very very happy -- even if you don't know why because you've never heard The Bran Flakes before -- you will be very very happy regardless. :-)))

Listening to The Bran Flakes is not unlike being on really really good hallucinogens -- or so they tell me (the voices in my head, of course)

But seriously, Bounce! is a delirious, beat-driven aural exploration of thrift store records (particularly of the kiddie variety). The tracks are a bit hard to describe, so dig some of the titles: "Good Times a Goo Goo," "Trash Can Fun," "Mr. Snuggles" and "Perversion for Profit." There are 31 tracks on this 70+ minute Happi Tyme record. Even Jean Jacques Perrey likes it. And the name checking at the end is inspired stuff.

Fabulous stuff for cats and kittens who enjoy the warped sensibilities of Tipsy.

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I Don't Have a Friend /
Hey Won't Somebody Come and Play
The Bran Flakes
Lomo / Happi Tyme

"We'll have a great deal of fun," says the warped child's voice at the beginning of The Bran Flakes' I Don't Have a Friend. There's no reason to doubt it, either. Let me just say this: if you're the type of person who gets a subversive kick out of kiddie entertainment gone awry, cut 'n' paste mayhem and the absurd in general, you will get an even bigger rise out of The Bran Flakes.

Like Odder and Pitt's last album Bounces!, I Don't Have a Friend and Hey Won't Somebody Come and Play? are insanely entertaining sampledelic listening experiences.

When you hear Johnny Depp speaking as Ed Wood about "liking to wear women's clothes" juxtaposed with a '50s doo-wop chick singing about her unconditional love for a non-traditional guy is a magical moment. Or how about a cut-up of Evil Knieval talking to kids about how he's afraid of the dark and how a slap on the butt works for him. Taken out of context his macho blather sounds neurotic, perverse and hilarious.

Of the two albums, both of which feature 30+ tracks, I Don't Have a Friend is probably better crafted. But if you like it, you'll probably want everything by The Bran Flakes. With three in the Score, Baby! collection, I'm feeling a rare sense of fulfillment. Will you join me?

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Amazonica
Bobby Brazil
Brigade Nouveau

The cover painting depicts a modern cityscape seen through a break in jungle foliage. That perfectly describes the essence of the new Brazilian sound. It organically grows from the same tropical soil that gave us the great bossa and samba sounds of the '60s, but it's also ultra modern in its execution.

Bobby Brazil may be a contrived moniker, but the sound is undeniably of the equator. It's not just about dropping a tropical rhythm on any old hook. BB definitely exhibits strong songcraft. And he knows talent when he hears it, seeing fit to feature Viviane De Farias, whose work dates back to the early 70s.

This is a warm, breezy, energetic record with detailed arrangements and melodic charm. Titles include "Viva Ronrico", "Deusa Negra", "The Waterfalls Of Iguazu", "Song For Joao", "Sambodromo", "Beja Flor" and "Brahma Vs Antartica". There are a dozen tracks in all.

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