★Moikai
Spectral Evolution
After a two-decade interlude, Jim O’Rourke’s Moikai returns with Spectral Evolution, a major new work by Rafael Toral. Making his name in the mid-1990s with influential guitar drone platters like "Sound Mind Sound Body" and "Wave Field" (both reissued by Drag City in recent years), Toral has never been one to rest on his laurels repeating his past glories. In the early years of the 21st century, Toral laid the guitar aside, along with the focus on extended tones that had defined much of his musi…
99 explosions
"Orton Socket is mainly comprised of main-man and mouthpiece Rob Mazurek, known for blowing horns (as well as eardrums and minds etcetera) on a variety of efforts by Stereolab, Isotope 217, his own Chicago Underground Duo, and some other folks you probably have’nt heard of. Plus Rob's done a series of records under his own name. See, he's been a spotlight kid for years now. But for 99 Explosions, Rob has reemerged incognito, armed with synthesizer and powerbook, wearing the shimmering cloak of O…
Ongakushitsu
Double LP version. Aki Tsuyuko may be best known on this side of the planet as the voice for Nobukazu Takemura, but she has been making her own music quietly and unassumingly for the last few years. Tsuyuko's own music is subdued, and more introspective that what is expected from the current generation of Japanese electronic music.Instead of the sample-crazed, cartoon-pitched high speed cacophony of say, someone like Space Ponch, the sound of Ongakushitsu is rooted in more organic sounds. Fender…
Live At The I.C.A. / Retrospective
The English free jazz improvisation scene of the late 60s and early 70s was an incestuous breeding ground. Robert Fripp was producing albums by Keith Tippet, Brian Eno was using Derek Bailey and Evan Parker on albums of odd Russian electronic music on Island, and labels like EMI and RCA were actually taking a stab at selling this music to a large market. Amidst all this was Ray Russell, a popular session guitarist, also playing in John Barry's group, also reputed to be the first guitarist in Eng…
s/t
"Triangles offers you more of the powerbook electronics sounds we're all digging on so much, and from speaking comparatively from the field as it stands today, Triangles sounds quite good, really amazing, in fact. Despite falling into the, dammit, start saying it -- 'melancholy electronics,' hole that you clearly need filled, Triangles stands on it's own. Need more? Try this -- Triangles occupies the space between powerbook extrapolations (quite reminiscent of the sole person in America w…
Sound Mind Sound Body
Rafael Toral's music is guitar based, but doesn't seem to involve any of the usual guitar histrionics. Instead he focuses in on the little details, the expansion of the sustained note. Sound Mind Sound Body is indeed a sustained note; the music is not dissimilar to Fripp and Eno's classic extrapolations, to Toral's mentor (and former NYC landlord) Phil Niblock, or to other like-minded drone masters. What is special is its (for lack of a better word) tenderness and hands-off gentleness. For this …
G2, 44+/x2
"Yep, in this day and age, there's money in this minimalism thing. Which is nice for a fellow like Phill Niblock, a man who's been out in the field for over thirty years. While some may be happy to dabble in approximate music, or that only hinted at in whispered tones by those who still subscribe to the idea of the 'tonal auteur,' Phill Niblock makes the very stuff around which this particular world of music revolves. Thusly (and finally and thankfully), a finished record, to add to the handful …
Comedy
Original 1st editon, Comedy is Drumm’s third album, recorded over two years ago. It floated around in a provisional version, entitled Organ, for quite a while and caused a genuine bidding war between labels, at least five of them, which caused our Kevin to retreat in his special endearing way, and ultimately decide not to do anything at all with it. During this hibernation, Organ underwent some changes, being dissected and bisected and now including three electronically generated magnifications,…
Fennesz plays
This is seen by many as the "turning point" between early Fennesz electronic abstract works such as the Instrument 12" and Hotel Paral.lel CD, and the more guitar-based works such as Endless Summer and Venice. The two tracks, "Paint It Black" and "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)," were initially released as cover versions of songs by The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys, respectively. Since then, via the relevant mechanical and publishing rights, the world has ruled that these tracks …