NEW RELEASES WEEK #44 OCTOBER 29, 2013

OCTOBER 29, 2013 (WEEK #44)

1.    ARCADE FIRE-“REFLEKTOR” (2-CD) (10/29) 

2.    AUTECHRE-“L-EVENT” [EP] (10/28) 

3.    DANIEL AVERY-“DRONE LOGIC” (10/29) 

4.    BANABILA & MACHINEFABRIEK-“TRAVELOG” (10/29) (When Michel Banabila and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) finished their first collaborative album, it felt like they were just getting started. Surprised by how fluent and natural their collaboration went, it was obvious that this wasn't over yet. Banabila & Machinefabriek was quite an abstract affair. It's successor, Travelog, is lighter, more playful, and rhythmic. Some moments recall the mighty Tape, while others showcase motorik Krautrock influences and subtle hints of African rhythms. All in all, this album clearly radiates the joy of its creative process and sees Banabila and Machinefabriek on top of their game. I am a big Machinefabriek fan!)

5.    MACHINEFABRIEK & SANJA HARRIS-“MACHINE ROOMS” (10/29)

6.    MACHINEFABRIEK & MINUS PILOTS-“SIGNALS” (10/29) 

7.    BARDO POND-“PEACE ON VENUS” (10/29)

8.    BLUE RODEO-“IN OUR NATURE” (10/29) (IMPORT) 

9.    BOY & BEAR-“HARLEQUIN DREAM” (10/29) 

10. THE CHILLS-“SOMEWHERE BEAUTIFUL” (10/29)

11. CIRCUS DEVILS-“MY MIND HAS SEEN THE WHITE TRICK” (10/29) (2013 release, one of two albums released simultaneously by this band founded by Robert Pollard and completed by the Tobias brothers Todd and Tim. The trio continues to stretch their musical muscles on My Mind Has Seen the White Trick, a set of thematically unrelated pieces that at times ventures into jazzier territory. The terrain remains darkly mysterious, as always, with multiple layers to explore and reward the listener on repeated plays. Unlike the trio's albums of the past, the music was written to match the vocal melodies, instead of the other way around. It may be the birth of a new Circus Devils.)

12. CIRCUS DEVILS-“WHEN MACHINES ATTACK” (10/29) (2013 release, one of two albums released simultaneously by this band founded by Robert Pollard and completed by the Tobias brothers Todd and Tim. On When Machines Attack, the trio delivers a collection of eighteen sonic postcards from a probable future forecasting civilization's approaching doom and the opportunities to cash in. The cast of improbable characters on display includes the Controller who introduces the album, along with Johnny Dart, Bad Earthman, Doberman Wasp, The Brain of the Iron Fist, and more. A satisfyingly unsettling listen from top to bottom (or perhaps unsettlingly satisfying?), it's perfect for late-night car trips - driving alone, of course. Keep watching the skies!)

13. DEETRON-“MUSIC OVER MATTER” (10/29) 

14. THE DEVIL MAKES THREE-“I’M A STRANGER HERE” (10/29) 

15. KEVIN DEVINE-“BULLDOZER” (10/29) 

16. KEVIN DEVINE & THE GODDAMN BAND-“BUBBLEGUM” (10/15) 

17. DRIVIN’ ‘N’ CRYIN’-“SONGS FOR THE TURNTABLE” [EP #4] (10/29)

18. CHRIS FORSYTH-“SOLAR MOTEL” (10/29)

19. FUTURE OF THE LEFT-“HOW TO STOP YOUR BRAIN IN AN ACCIDENT” (10/20) 

20. THE GRAND OPENING-“DON’T LOOK BACK INTO THE DARKNESS” (10/29) (The one-man project The Grand Opening by the Stockholm multi-instrumentalist John Roger Olsson proves impressively on his fourth album that he is rightly counted among the finest representatives of beautiful and melancholy music. Being mentioned directly alongside American Music Club, Talk Talk, Red House Painters and The Blue Nile -- as happens in the British music press -- is certainly flattering. And these references are indeed helpful to give a rough impression. But their resemblance to The Grand Opening is mainly to do with the mood created by the music.)

21. LAUREL HALO-“CHANCE OF RAIN” (10/29) 

22. KAITO-“UNTIL THE END OF TIME” (10/29)

23. KID 606-“HAPPINESS” (10/29)

24. BRAD LANER-“NEAREST SUNS” (10/29)

25. LILY AND MADELEINE-“LILY AND MADELEINE” (10/29)

26. MINOR ALPS-“GET THERE” (10/29) (JULIANA HATFIELD & NADA SURF)

27. MOONFACE-“JULIA WITH BLUE JEANS ON” (10/29) 

28. THE NECKS-“OPEN” (10/29)

29. PHASE-“FRAMES OF REFERENCE” (10/29) (Frames of Reference is the some-12-years in the making debut album from UK-based techno producer Ø [Phase]. Best-known by his work on the Belgium-based Token Records, his style ranges from gritty minimal techno to Detroit-influenced material. His debut Module Overload was released on London's Lost/Cosmic records in 2000 and was followed by a string of productions for London's Surface/Inceptive Records and Ben Sims' Ingoma imprint. The move to Token came in 2007, and he shortly after began DJing professionally and has since performed at parties across the globe while becoming a regular guest at Berlin's techno Mecca, Berghain, performing alongside esteemed peers and supporters such as Marcel Dettmann, Len Faki, and Ben Klock. His continued works have seen constant support throughout the techno world and have featured in CD mixes by Dave Clarke, François Kevorkian, and Fumiya Tanaka, amongst others. Alongside his production work, Ø [Phase] is also a mastering engineer and on/off artwork designer. Starting out at London's prestigious Sony Music/Whitfield Street Studios, he has cut records for numerous underground dance acts as well as working on projects for mainstream artists. Now after a string of acclaimed releases on Token and a selection of remixes for the likes of Robert Hood, Mark Broom and Peter Van Hoesen comes Ø [Phase]'s debut album. Opening with the brooding and building swirl of "Binary Opposition (Process 3)," Ø [Phase] sets out his template of evolving, richly-textured atmospheres underpinned by shards of dark and light. "The Bwiti Initiate" revolves around a bouncing techno rhythm that could most certainly traverse the house/techno divide, while "Distracted" and "Misaligned" are the kind of unadulterated, pummeling, cavernous techno tracks that have made Lost such a party institution. Then we have tracks like the soft-beating "Just Another Dance," providing a lighter edge, embellished with warmth and strings and the thick, densely-woven tapestry of "Shadow Caster," which goes from experimental to dancefloor and back again with consummate ease. The off-kilter lilt of "Perplexed" drags us further into the dark before keys and a hint of a melody draw us back upwards for air while the fat, driving bass of "Dirtro II" and funkier-edged menace of "On the Edge" show a virtuoso producer at the top of his game. The closing introspection of "Self Deceit" wallows in subtle nuances before a mid-section synth and string intervention pulls us back from the brink before finally descending into the void.)

30. ROBINN-“MULTIPHONIA” (10/29) (Compost presents the exciting debut album from Robinn, a native Frenchmen now based in London. Multiphonia delivers a bass-heavy sound that sits somewhere between Four Tet, Bonobo, Mount Kimbie, post-dubstep, and electronic reggae. Featuring the vocals of Nathaniel Pearn aka Natural Self.)

31. RUSSIAN CIRCLES-“MEMORIAL” (10/29) 

32. ULRICH SCHNAUSS & MARK PETERS-“TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY” (10/29) (Electronic duo Ulrich Schnauss and Mark Peters (of the band Engineers) return with a second collaborative album titled Tomorrow Is Another Day, released by Bureau B. This second project offers a sublime exploration into their signature expressionistic landscapes while exploring the potential of a collaborative model in which Schnauss' keyboards and Peters' guitar work together in juxtaposition.)

33. SONGDOG-“LAST ORDERS AT HARRY’S BAR” (10/7) 

34. THE SOUNDS-“WEEKEND” (10/29)

35. JOEY SWEENEY-“LONG HAIR” (10/29) (FORMERLY OF THE TROUBLE WITH SWEENEY)

36. JOHN TALABOT-“DJ-KICKS” (10/29)

37. MARIA TAYLOR-“SOMETHING ABOUT KNOWING” (10/29)

38. TEETH OF THE SEA-“MASTER” (10/29) (Master, the long-awaited and devastating third album from TEETH OF THE SEA is an unprecedented junket into mind-melting abstraction and neon-drenched revelation. Nearly three years have passed since the band released Your Mercury, their transcendent second album, and the four-piece have kept very busy during this period--they've gigged constantly, sharing stages with the likes of Goat, Circle, British Sea Power, Trans Am, and Parts And Labor, collaborating live with Wire and Esben & The Witch, and taking their incendiary barrage to festivals like Roadburn, Green Man, Supersonic, Supernormal, and Standon Calling. Yet the evolution of their third album was most dramatically affected by two specially-commissioned soundtrack projects they embarked on--at Branchage Film Festival in Jersey, the band performed "Reaper," a new live score to a re-interpretation of Neil Marshall's film Doomsday, and a year later, at Bestival on the Isle Of Wight, they unveiled Beyond the Transfinite, a tribute to Kubrick's 2001. In this period, the band's experimental instincts have continued to extend in a myriad directions, and while Master nods to the established Teeth of the Sea touchstones of Throbbing Gristle, Goblin, Heldon, Angelo Badalamenti, and Slayer, recent work by the likes of Byetone, Pete Swanson, Raime, Powell and Prurient, alongside a long-standing fixation on the disco stylings of Patrick Cowley and Giorgio Moroder, have helped to mark out a gritty, confrontational path whereby abrasive and sparkling electronic textures do battle with waves of incandescent noise and a merciless beat-driven imperative to form a powerful alchemical charge.)

39. THIS WILL DESTROY YOU-“LIVE IN ICELAND” (10/29)

40. MIKA VAINIO & JOACHIM NORDWALL-“MONSTRANCE” (10/29) (Mika Vainio was a member of the legendary minimal electronic duo Pan Sonic. Emerging from the Finnish industrial and rave music scene in the early '90s, they became one of the most important electronic music acts. Vainio's solo work goes from abstract drone to minimal and experimental techno, under his own name or as Ø for labels like Touch, Raster Noton, Sähkö, and Editions Mego. He has worked with Alan Vega, Keiji Haino, and many others. His music is always extremely physical and present. Mika Vainio lives and works in Berlin. Joachim Nordwall has run the iDEAL Recordings label since 1998, releasing intense electronic music of various kinds and organizing club nights and festivals around the globe. He started making electronic music as a teenager in the late '80s in the psychedelic drone duo Alvars Orkester (Ash International), drifted off to sweaty avant garde punk rock with Kid Commando in the late '90s and formed the ritual rock and electronic drone group The Skull Defekts in 2005. He is also recording solo works under his own name and works with Mats Gustafsson, The Gagmen (with Aaron Dilloway and Nate Young), Mark Wastell, and The Sons Of God. Nordwall is based in Stockholm. Monstrance is their first album together and consists of drone works and pulsating electronic minimalism, but also guitar, acoustic elements, organs, and metal percussion. It was recorded in Einstürzende Neubauten's Berlin studio during an intense session in early summer of 2010. Monstrance is a place where Vainio's and Nordwall's backgrounds as musicians and composers meet, and something new and extremely powerful is born. Something deep, raw, and direct. Mika Vainio (electric guitar, processing, metallic percussion) and Joachim Nordwall (electronics, electric bass guitar, metal objects, Hammond organ, vibraphone).

41. VATICAN SHADOW-“REMEMBER YOUR BLACK DAY” (10/29) (Remember Your Black Day is the debut album proper from VATICAN SHADOW, the first material conceived and produced as a full-length by DOMINICK FERNOW  (COLD CAVE) for the project following almost a dozen tapes (mostly released on Hospital Productions) and vinyl editions (released by the likes of Blackest Ever Black, Modern Love, and Type) over the last three years. None of the eight tracks included have been released before on any other format. At a time when the scene is saturated with "noise techno," the album is almost celebratory by contrast, balancing caustic licks of distortion and oppressive bass with cleanly mixed synth tones and ricocheting claps in a shell-shocked, surreal soundsphere. With production assistance from JUAN MENDEZ (SILENT SERVANT), the album includes the most direct and propulsive Vatican Shadow material yet, continuing an evolutionary shift away from the complex, collage-based narrative of those cassette releases into more visibly direct contact with the listener. There is a functional connection to dance music here, honing in on the human element embedded within a subject matter so fraught with inhumanity.)

42. WHITE DENIM-“CORSICANA LEMONADE” (10/29)

43. WIDOWSPEAK-“THE SWAMPS” (10/29)

44. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“LAURENT GARNIER: FRENCH DRESSING MIX” (10/29) 

45. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“LIVITY SOUND” (2-CD LABEL COMPILATION FEATURING PEVERELIST, KOWTON & ASUSU) (10/29) 

46. VARIOUS ARTISTS-“SMM: OPIATE” (FROM GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL RECORDS) (10/29)  SMM: Opiate is the second release in Ghostly's SMM series, which is an ongoing exploration of the evocative possibilities of sound, with a focus classical minimalism, electronic and drone composition, film soundtracks, and fragile imaginary landscapes. Opiate is the follow-up to 2011's SMM: Context, and as with that record, it's a carefully chosen selection of music, compiled over some two years from around the world.