Balam Acab

As time progresses and I have dined at the feast that is downloadable digital music, there comes a time now and again where I step back go to my roots and make the effort to acquire an actual physical copy of music. Sometimes it is on vinyl, sometimes cd.

On these occasions, I am generally anticipating the record for some time before it comes out. More and more the pattern appears to be that I have been very impressed with an artist that I have downloaded, I hear that something new is coming out and I then abstain from consuming any further content by the artist so that I can be surprised when I finally do get a copy of the record.

This last week the scenario played out with the new album by Balam Acab. Since their amazing single last year many people have been in the same position as myself. Nervously awaiting a full length by an artist that hadn’t really proved themselves capable of anything in particular. It is a paralyzing position to be in. The previous music had been so good, but there was precious little of it. Some artists just blow it at this point and the dream dies. Yet he has delivered here.

While this music certainly bears the imprint of the person who released See Birds last year, he has gone beyond that music into something far deeper and much more expressive.

If I for one were hoping to tie the legacy of the 4AD from the 80s to a sound that is relative today this would be a prime choice. Restrained, elegant and slightly tortured this captures that label’s infatuation with Romanticism and updates it with a post-Burial sound palette.

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Kosmische or Krautrock?

I have been a long time fan of Krautrock/Kosmische Music. Exploring nooks and crannies to discover what made those Germans go so wacky in the 70's.

In some ways it is easy to understand. As with many musical movements it is a reaction to societal pressures that have been built up over time and the music that is regarded as mainstream. In this case much is attributed to German Schlager music. It is a style of pop that is sweet and syrupy and very conformist.

As to the societal pressures, lets just say that being first generation to grow up in the spectre of Germany's role in WW2 might have a profound impact on one's worldview. Additionally, Berlin existed as a split city, occupied by Communist and Western powers. Out of this milieu emerged some of the most dramatic music of the early 70s. From the proto-punk jams of Can to the ethnic flavored ambience of Popol Vuh .

It was enough to lure Brian Eno in for a series of albums in with various originators of the sound after he left Roxy Music. Albums such as Cluster & Eno, After the Heat (again with members of Cluster), and Tracks and Traces (Harmonia and Eno).

I recently came across an incredible mix of Kosmische music, which I regard as the more ambient side of this music, at the incredible mnml ssgs blog.

This mix is put together by Donato Dozzy whom I had previously known for his work as a producer of trancey tech house. However, on this mix he really outdoes himself assembling a collection of drifting pulsating tracks that you might find yourself listening to for years. What really sealed the deal was his closing song. Which was not at all German, but a band that drew a great inspiration from the movement and transformed the sound into something quite uniquely their own.

Donato Dozzy Kosmische Labyrinth mix

In case you are interested in exploring further, there is great documentary from the BBC on the subject accessible here.

Update: A great article from an interesting blog on seminal band Cluster.

James Blake, Witch House and the importance of being earnest

Over the past year or two, with the gradual dissolution of the hardcore dubstep scene into a kind of post-dubstep and experimental bass and hip hop sub genere's, there have emerged myriad takes on what bass music could or should be. Much in the same way that Kompakt revolutionized house music in the early 2000's by fusing it thoughtfully with pop and techno to revitalize the genre. There are beginning to emerge producers and record labels that are, willfully or not, undertaking a similar revolution in the bass music underground.

What makes this music so difficult to discuss is that unlike Kompakt's efforts, which resided in a non commercial underground. This music has definitive ties to popular music. Hip Hop is alive and well in 2011 and much of the music on labels such as Tri Angle, shows a definite affinity for hip hop structure and many of these artists, such as James Blake and How to Dress Well, are indebted deeply to mainstream R&B artists such as R. Kelly.

Yet this music stands well apart from those influences. Artists like Forest Swords make music that blend a hip hop aesthetic with elements of dub, pop and even a touch of industrial folk to create music that somehow recalls the primeval forests of his native England. oOoOO in his track Burnout Eyes imposes the vague structure of a chopped and screwed track onto the atmospherics and vocals one might expect from a traditional 4AD band to produce something quite unique and affecting.

oOoOO - Burnout Eyes by frankyboy

Whether witch house or whatever its eventual name will be will flourish is yet to be known. However, this innovative atmospheric music is captivating for its emotional intensity and innovative combination of disparite styles to create a new whole.

Ramadanman

So recently I have been drawn back into dance music. The cold weather has been reminding me of warehouse raves and I have been updating my collection with some new tracks. I was seriously into dubstep for a while there and had a long infatuation with jungle, techno, trance and deep house before that so you might say my taste is a bit broad. :P

Anyway I recently came across the artist above Ramadanman, and am totally loving his output. His sound, and it is constantly developing, falls somewhere between tech house and dubstep and right now that is exactly the right place to be. His most recent release is on Aus Music with Appleblim (one half of renowned dubstep duo Skull Disco). The track is called Void 23 and although I have long been a fan of Appleblim this collaboration is what drew me into Ramadanman's catalog. Be sure to investigate because there are other treats to be found there.

01 Void 23 (Original) by Una

Be sure to be on the lookout for the new Fabriclive 56 which will be mixed by him and sounds incredible.

William Hundley

Well, I missed out blogging last week due to extreme business and a desire to check into a few local resources. But I am back (in case anyone is reading) due to a local show that I have been anticipating. Domy Books just opened a show this past Saturday for William Hundley and it looks great. He is a photographer based in the local area who has a playful, almost mystical air about his work. Certain aspects of his photographs seem on the very edge of psychedelic and then he uses collage elements to jump over that edge into the realm of the surreal.

Yet somehow the photographs still seem to capture the local spirit of Austin in their light and open feeling.

Recently, as I was driving back and forth between Austin and Corpus Christi, I was reminded of how different the spirit of Texas is from that the vast urban areas on the coasts. Miles of scrub and open land with beautiful light call for a different art (even urban art) than that developed in LA, NY, or London. Hundley's particular use of the available Texas light while still drawing inspiration from a variety of sources is very refreshing.

There is a good recent article on the artist here.

Emeralds, Mike McGuire and drifting inwards against the cold

The recent cold snap here in Austin has led to a bit more than usual indoor activity for me and my family. This has of course led to evenings spent huddled around the stereo, and although the Misfits do fit a lot of occasions. They certainly do not fit every one. Emeralds, the band featured above play an interesting refit of Kosmische Musik that I have been enjoying quite a bit recently. This is not to say that I am not the kind of dork that doesn't have AshRa Temple or Cluster albums, because I certainly am that kind of dork. Emeralds just seems to take it to a new and refreshing place.

Additionally, their guitarist Mike McGuire makes some amazingly transcendent music all on his own.

http://www.mediafire.com/?my5itarh2rfeu9l

Art books, men's clothes and contemporary connections

This story actually begins several years ago. Since I used to live on the West Side of LA and not too far from Santa Monica when I had some spare time I would go to an art book shop on the Third Street Promenade called Arcana. It was a magnificent little shop with a well schooled staff that were able to answer many of my obsessive questions. They not only stocked the most current art books but had a formidable collection of out of print books that could cost what I would be willing to pay for an original work of art. It is at this store quite by chance that I ran into a Japanese edition of the diaries of Peter Beard for the first time and was overwhelmed. He was a fashion photographer and diarist but was born to an extremely wealthy family. This wealth allowed his to live and travel between Kenya and Montauk, NY. His photography focused heavily on the animals of Africa and the women that magazines such as Vogue paid him to photograph. I believe however his best work was in his diaries where he would juxtapose these images and others along with his notes and occasionally his own blood to create stunning visual tapestries. What makes this relevant to Austin is the odd fact that although Arcana had priced Beard out of my range, in shopping for Christmas gifts I ran across the fact that STAG on South Congress claimed to have a new edition of his available for sale!

I guess you will take your art where you will find it. Beard to me is a precursor for many different types of art. Particularly in the way he layers darker imagery and then writes quotes or thoughts over it. Some of his work has an almost industrial feel to it as it is so caught up in the imagery of death and power. There also seems to be a connection to the contemporary artist from Southern California Ed Templeton.

If anyone finds this post and is interested, I eventually found the collected hardbound Peter Beard edition through Amazon at half the price quoted at Stag who had actually sold out! It appears there are more than a couple of people in town that know who he is and are willing to pay a pretty penny to enjoy his images.