Cabeza de vaca P014 - 2012 round-up

Last Cabeza de Vaca  program of the year is part best-of and part summary of the previous post rounding up some of the key tracks and concepts in electronic music for 2012. Apologies for my voice during the show as I had a bad cold! As always any comments or suggestions here or there and email me demos, ideas and more at:

floatinghead9[at]yahoo.es.

See you all safely in 2013.

 

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Recent gigs – Sonar 2012

First post in a while and hopefully the first of a few to come in the following week or two.

For Sonar 2012 you can find my official round up over at Cyclic Defrost. Thanks to Bianca de Vilar for all the great photos, many more of which will appear in the print edition if you happen to be in Australia. But here just a few added things to complement the main text.

Starting at the top: my favourite individual show this year had to be Mouse on Mars which was something of a surprise. Why should it be a surprise? I was always a big fan, even of the unstable “Niun Niggung” and “Idiology” albums which threw a lot of people, perhaps more so those who’d entered the group more from the post-rock side of things via their connections to Stereolab and the Too Pure label, but who knows? Their recent album “Parastrophics” was also great, always rewarding a return listen with new details and new thrills. Perhaps it was more of a surprise to see the trio perform more of a dance set, underpinning everything with varied but quite driving beats and of course a strobe which compounded the intensity. Watching them career wildly through what seemed like all of “Parastrophics”, but little old material, also brought home how much these guys paved the way for that new breed of chaotic producers who excel on labels like Brain Feeder, Hyperdub and 50 Weapons. More striking about this was how MoM seemed to have something else, something new that said “We are still ahead of the times”. Perhaps it was watching them master this kind of music, this dance music, from what is ostensibly still a band set up? Perhaps it was the sheer sense of logic in the billowing chaos that they conjured? I can’t put my finger on it. In any case, there was a raucous cheer anytime the group came anywhere near what seemed like a pause and especially at the end. Brilliant.

This was perhaps the best track of the show, although in the end you could pick almost any one.

Cooly G was another surprise for different reasons. Without having paid any proper attention to her music before, I found her show to be the one that left the deepest mark. Perhaps as evidence of its power of persuasion was that I was at the back and kept trying to move nearer, but had just met a work colleague by chance. She was as surprised to see me as I was to see her. But despite the tangle of conversation, it was Merissa Campbell’s music that dominated, her lithe song forms floating across the crowd to the back of the Lab stage. It was hard to pin down her sound live, but it seemed like the whole set was a kind of ribbon, unravelling slowly, never overburdened with bass or beats, and yet never so light as to lose its presence. Her debut album should be out in a few weeks on Hyperdub where she has already released a handful of 12”S.

I also had the pleasure of listening to Brackles’ new album on Rinse in the week after Sonar. Here the vocals are shared between guests Lily McKenzie, Cherri V and Terri Walker, with Rob Kemp providing the music and production.

The two albums share many similarities, being essentially song based bass music. Both rely heavily on vocal mantras and a more massaged rhythm section, but both triumph by making the pop song format work. There are many significances to this: one is the direct threat to commercial chart music as these sounds are genuinely accessible without shying away from quality or invention. Surely it’s only a matter of time before someone crosses over and does more damage than Magnetic Man? The other importance here is the marked contrast between this type of gentile dubstep compared to the heavier, “blokish” type that seems to be spreading like wildfire, at least in the US. Crowd surfing at Cooly G? I can’t imagine that. Those in defence of this new, rougher trend should check out FACT mags 10 best “wobblers.” Over at Resident Advisor Jordan Rothlein also makes the important point that this kind of real singing (at last!) might herald something of a reprieve from the cut, pasted and stretched vocal technique reintroduced into bass music from its roots in Hardcore by Burial. Certainly this has become one of the most over used techniques in electronic music over the last few years.

One other interesting point was the predominance of dubstep everywhere. It only seems a few years ago that dubstep was making its humble debut on the Lab stage, whereas this year it was perhaps the most dominant music. Day and Night time shows seemed to depend more on bass and a breakbeat template than the straight four-four of house and techno, even if many of the bigger acts still adhered to these styles.

I only managed to catch the last half of New Order’s set due to arriving late, but the version of “Temptation” they did as the penultimate song was one of the most emotive moments of the festival. Many people had been bad mouthing the group from the crowd before the show and I had defended them without ever having been a big fan. The pent up emotion and fragile beauty of “Temptation” proved me right with its strange beginning ripped from Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle”.

However, there was also plenty of fuel for the opposing fire in their choice of performing “Love will tear us apart” as the finale. A better version might have been half forgivable, but turning it into a kind of sweet up-lifting anthem without even a trace of the bitterness that makes it so poignant merely wipes out the meaning.

I have read in a few places some veiled murmurings about the excessive need to have a “show” in order to be able to present at Sonar, or indeed probably any festival. There is a dangerous divide somewhere here. Many will remember the rather bland years of watching a nerdy man hunched over a laptop (or decks even) with shivers. However, the opposite extreme is also possible, where the show becomes more interesting than the music. I can’t say that there was any one example of this at Sonar 2012, but I did feel a little for Squarepusher who somehow seemed swamped by his banks of lights and LED helmet playing to an ok, but relatively small crowd (why were they all at Fatboy Slim I will never know). It seemed a far cry from the bearded Tom Jenkinson who I saw from only a few metres away in a dingy club in Perth, Australia a decade ago. Nonetheless, Squarepusher’s music and show were great, with the lights  well choreographed with the music, which has a nice ravey twang to it that suited the big Sonar Club stage, even if it was a bit empty.

Perhaps it was ironic then that Nina Kraviz should have closed the Friday night after Squarepusher, armed with nothing but her beauty and her music.





There is definitely a grey area developing here, however, where on one side pure club music lurks in the dark, and the festival musicians who are essentially new media entertainers. In the latter case all technologies go hand in hand.

Just to finish, and still speaking of shows, there must be some form of congratulations again to Die Antwoord who continue to impress, not so much for their music (in my opinion at least), but for their stage presence, attitude and iconoclasm which extends to everything. Nothing is sacred in their eyes which can only be a good thing. One example will suffice for those less familiar with their music. Watching them perform their rap version of Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” complete with masturbatory lyrics and the chorus “Sail away mother fuckers” while dressed ironically (one hopes) as some kind of South African red neck urban musician verges on genius. Not a fan, but always welcome at my festival while they can keep this up.

Sail away mother fuckers, until Sonar 2013!

Water sports – Nautical dub, dolphin islands, Scuba bashing, Monolake and deep sea dwellers

Porter Ricks – Biokinetics

"The nautical view evokes a clear vision, something freeing. The club as a diving platform, and techno as a nautical sound experience, a project that lies between clubs and art."

The Type label has just re-released the seminal Porter Ricks album “Biokinetics” for the first time in 16 years. The album by the duo of Andy Mellwig and Thomas Köner was originally issued as a series of 12”s and then as one of the famous self-destructing metal boxes on the Chain Reaction label. One curiosity of the re-release that has not been picked up on is the cover art, more so since a characteristic of the original Chain Reaction label was the absence of art, only a logo and track names all emblazoned in the labels trademark steely, cold colours. With so many watery track titles like “Nautical dub”, “Port Gentil” and “Nautical zone” as well as the group’s name deriving from a character in the dolphin TV show Flipper, you would think that Type might have gone for a more aquatic cover image.

The image chosen was a sepia tinted photo negative of the sky above peeling grey clouds, watched over by a black sun. Although the clouds can easily be induced to resemble the ocean, there is something a little stuck-on or last minute about the image, perhaps more so since after 16 years it is finally receiving a visual christening. But the choice is difficult since as well as the sea, there are also clear urban atmospheres within the album, particularly the train noises of the brilliant opener “Port Gentil”, still one of the all-time great techno tracks. Now all we need is a more focused Chain reaction release for the releases that have not yet received it.

Dolphins into the Future - Canto Arquipelago

Lieven Martens has just released his latest album as Dolphins into the Future entitled “Canto Arquipelago”. The album was apparently recorded by Martens in the fishing village of São João on the small island Ilha Do Pico in the Azores archipelago. “Canto” is a much less electronic outing than previous records and even resembles a kind of watery jazz at times. Nonetheless, fans will still find Martens particular musical tropes all over the album, from wind and wave noises, to imitations of dolphins and the evocation of the presence of people. There are two lovely videos to accompany the release, one an animation with text by Zahid Jiwa from the Dolphins official website.

And also a film by Martens under the name Lieven Moana that serves a trailer for the album.

Scuba – Personality

Scuba’s new album has been ruffling feathers as far as the eye can see. One of the biggest problems seems to be either the lack of commitment by critics to defending it or panning it outright, resulting in reviews with mixed messages. On the other hand, the public response is also confused with many upset by the perceived change in direction, something that actually occurred sometime ago as reported here, something that in the end should be taken as a good sign.

An average score seems to have been about 3-5/5 taken from the various sites, with Pitchfork giving it a more positive 8.1 via the words of RA contributor Andrew Ryce. Check out Any Decent Music for an interesting overview of reviews. But rather than letting the critics talk, it is perhaps more informative to look at the comments for where the album went right and wrong, albeit the language of comments is often a bit crude.

On Resident Advisor, rezerekted23 maybe gets the politics right, but says very little about the album itself:

“It's funny, I could tell that their score for the album wasn't going to be that good because they took so long to get it out. It seems like the longer they take to put out a review of a super-hyped album, the lower a score that it will have.

Also, knowing what we do about Scuba, when has he ever been content to stick to the same sound? Pure dubstep is so far gone that it isn't just him that's abandoning the sound. As for the forward-thinking-bass sound of Triangulation, while he could put another album of that out today... even that sound is starting to fade.

House and techno is what's in right now. Look at Pinch, Martyn, Instra:mental, Ben UFO, Pearson Sound etc. Everyone is making throw-back/ retro house, techno and breaks. Maybe he feels like he needs to keep up with this trend? Also, he's lived in Berlin now for four-and-half years, I'm surprised that he is only now just making 4/4 stuff on a regular basis.”

Still at RA, Adam420 addresses the musical pros and cons in a succinct way:

 "Also it feels a bit juvenile and naive, but the production quality is still almost as good as you'll get.”

This hits the nail on the head: the music is outstanding as ever and in some cases its colours and rushing floods of sound are quite exhilarating, but invariably there is a clumsy moment that undermines all the good work, particular the much derided vocals on “The Hope” and the spoken word opening of “Ignition Key” which is otherwise a fantastic track.

Funklestiltskin says on RA “What a nice, shiny piece of shit this album was.” Which is a tad harsh as well as crude. But taking the analogy further with the phrase “You can’t polish a turd” you can invert it to become “You can’t polish a great track with a crappy vocal”.

Over at FACT, JD says:



“What's unfair is critics bending over backwards trying to praise this album with half-assed platitudes like "fun!" and "honest" and "ballsy".” “I do suppose nothing quite says "fuck you" like making a tepid electro/prog-trance album and having no one (that matters anyway) call it out.”

It is hard to call out an album that is let down by only a few key moments, just as it is difficult to really stand behind it, but again the problem of JD seems to be that he/she/it is looking for another moody “Triangulation” and won’t let go. Anyone like JD still doubting the new direction should see the well selected, but strangely mixed DJ Kicks set from Photek which also showcases a certain big beat sound to see that Scuba is still up with the times.

The question is still why all this naivety? Why such a fun and dare I say it “teenage” album from Scuba? (There is a CD version and a poster of the cover art included in the vinyl by the way, if I needed to justify the teenage angle more – and is the cover really a hand in the air and a sun as I thought it was a burning match?). Is all this “fun” due to a reduced work ethic and a “that will do” attitude? The production quality and excellent sequencing doesn’t sound like it to me. Was it part of the big change that crystallised around “Adrenalin” and/or a new way to enjoy producing? Maybe. Dubstep has certainly been dour and paranoid at times, like drum n bass used to be (and maybe still is?). Scuba’s output has also been prolific for a guy who is also playing out a lot and running a label, so maybe something a bit lighter is necessary for state of mind if nothing else. But this also answers the question to some degree: a look at where Scuba has been playing will show his rise from dark and dank dubstep clubs to the big stage and now beyond. Last year he headlined Sonar in Barcelona and this year he will play indie rock festival Primavera Sound. Scuba’s audience has changed, his environment has changed, even if some of his fans didn’t move on. Finally, after so many years of hard work and making cutting edge music, I would not begrudge him commercial success at all. At least he has done it with a decent album.

Scuba himself can have the last word, posting on RA:

“Posted by Orbital316It: "honestly doesn't feel like a big radical departure from his other work to me, as some people are making it out to be".

Yup, people saying the opposite obviously haven't listened to either the old or new stuff in much detail. Adrenalin definitely was a departure, that was the point. There's as much continuity as there is difference between this album as the last one.”

Not bad, even for an Arsenal supporter!

Finally two curiosities. The squeaky chipmunk intro at the start of “Ne1butu” intones

“I’ve never heard you break it down like this”

There is a striking similarity between this and the end to the Mouse on Mars track “Polaroyced” from their new album “Parastrophics” when a similarly high pitched voice whines

“Jesus, what happened to Mouse On Mars? They’ve departed so far from their beginning!”

The actual vocal line is edited out from the end of this simple, but great video sadly, but the main riff of this track also sounds like it might be a homage to Manuel Göttsching’s "E2E4". But this micro-trend for self-reference is quite curious.

Scuba’s album has many trance elements to it, without quite stooping to stereotype, a genre I recently wondered whether it would ever surface into respectability again. Similarly, one of the last questions asked in my 2011 round up  was whether or not Drum n Bass might make a comeback this year. There are a few moments on “Personality” that hint at a more drum n bass direction, none more so than “Cognitive dissonance”.

As well as this Scuba track, there is the DnB sound of Monolake (see below), the widely reported news of the demise of Commix and reviews of their “Dusted” collection as well as recent positive reviews  of Kasra’s “Fabriclive 62” mix amongst others. Not quite enough to suggest a comeback, but maybe a few archival releases and a few more cross-over singles and we might be there.

Monolake – Ghosts

Speaking of DnB, and also of genre confusions, Robert Hencke’s brilliant “Ghosts” album for his own Imbalance Computer Music imprint has ruffled few feathers while simultaneously causing critics to drool. While it represents another impeccable release, one can’t help but feel more sympathy for Scuba given that “Ghosts” doesn’t really go much beyond “Silence”, or even the jittery sound of earlier Monolake releases, and yet is still lauded, whereas Scuba cops it for trying something different. Similarly, Henke seems to get away with appropriating maligned genres like DnB without negative consequences, whereas the audience is indifferent to Scuba.

Perhaps the difference between the two is the same issues as before, just a few crappy vocals makes the difference between brilliant and good. It is of note that the title track is the opening track and bears the unmistakable robotic lyric:

 “You/do not/exist – Get out of my head”

Somehow this opening seems like a portal: the rest of the album resembles as much literal landscape as soundscape, with the ghostly protagonist left to wander through the smoky, skeletal world, wondering if he/she is truly dead. It is tempting to try and interpret the text of the inner sleeve and the track titles, “Lilith” the first woman, “the existence of time”, “Aligning the daemon”, but the mystery only unfurls further, just like the music itself which slips further and further into textural detail with every closer listen. The cover images of the two releases are also outstanding. “Silence” converted what should have been the blue and white of sky and snow into pink and yellow, not so much sickly as vivid and more alive. “Ghosts” cover should be a spectral black and white, but shimmers with faded green and sepia tones as if blooming in reverse.

Drexciya – Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller

Clone Classic Cuts have just announced  the second instalment of the lovely Drexciya re-release project. While we wait for this, it is worth returning to two things brought up in The Wire issue 321 (2010) which features a Drexciya primer, but also a story about Turner Prize-nominated artists The Otolith Group who created a film work “Hydra decapita”  based around the mythology of Drexciya. No excerpts from the film are available, but there is plenty of other material and interviews available for the curious.

The Otolith Group are not the only artists to take inspiration from the myths of Drexciya. For the last few years, Ellen Gallagher has been exhibiting a series of paintings  called “Coral Cities” also based on the underwater world of abandoned slaves created by Drexciya.

Mouse on Mars

Cologne's post-rock/electronica combo Mouse on Mars look to be reactivating. The group of Andi Toma, Jan St Werner and drummer Dodo Nkishi haven't released under the Mouse on Mars name since 2006, but have of course collaborated more recently with The Falls Mark E. Smith on the Von Südenfed project. However, the duo have several upccoming gigs planned and what may be several releases in the pipeline. Most notably, the group will play with the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra on the 10th of September while a  single track entitled "Paenumnion" is currently available with the media, but with no release date or format information yet available. The track is a long instrumental piece featuring the group in collaboration with the Cologne Philharmonic and is in interesting counterpart to the just-released Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer "Re:ECM" collaboration, only here, rather than reconstruction, the music is a live interaction.

In addition to "Paenumnion", the group also remixed the Popol Vuh track "Through pain to heaven", originally from the Nosferatu soundtrack, for the upcoming "Revisitied and Remixed" double CD due for release on SPV to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the death of founding member Florian Fricke.





Two of the remix tracks appearing on the release originally appeared on Editions Mego in 2008, whereas German producer Roland Appel will also contribute a remix of the same track.