As for this weeks Cabeza de Vaca and Scanner FM show, all house and a lot more tracks from 100% Silk
than we normally get in a special, partly owing to their shorter length and more
direct pop approach.
One of the issues we raise in the show is
of hype. The sad truth of journalism is that hype and particularly “newness” is
somehow more interesting than consistency as a story. Look at 100% Silk. Lauded
from the beginning for their fresh and outsider approach to house, but also
criticised for dragging the “wrong” people into electronic music, mainly the
hipsters. In a weird way, Skrillex may have also done the same with the rock
kids. But it is a shame on two fronts: one is that the “hipster house” tag may
have put some people off and secondly it is ironic that the media finds it hard
to find something to say when a label is not so new, even if the music is just
as good (or better). In the case of 100% Silk, it is also better, but there is
more of it too. There are certainly plenty of exceptional tracks on the show
this week. Special praise must go to Octo Octa who’s album “Between two selves”
has some amazing tracks that somehow make the Tri-angle or Burial-esque time
stretched vocal bearable again, partly because it is also used sparingly. But
the opening track “Who I will become” is beautiful (and one we played on the
messy live set at Sonar).
Researching the show, it was curious as
well to see that Leech (aka Brian Foote)
was a member of Fontanelle, the ambient/rock group on Kranky.
Rex Ritter and Andy Brown were also members
of the legendary space rock group Jessamine who have almost passed into the
annals of the lost I would imagine. Here is a track from 1996 from their long,
improvised album “The Long Arm of Coincidence” that they used to play at
Kosmische the Krautrock club in London.
One artist who does get mixed reviews despite being one of the most recognisable names is Maria Minerva. I am not her
biggest fan either I must admit. I liked her show at Sonar last year for about
20 minutes, but then I found my patience wearing a bit thin. Same with her
recent EP which, as the review says, just needs a little bit more quality
control somewhere in the production line.
Also receiving some bad reviews was Swedish duo Mr Tophat and Art Alfie for the KVK200 ep which
opens the show. A great, but flawed track, like several of their other works.
The first EP KVK100 seems to repeat the same rhythm section on each side, for example,
only varying the top end of the track. However, a badly placed and aforementioned Burial-esque/Tri-angle
vocal really brings down the average a bit. We have seen this with many artists
in the past, notably Scuba, that a bad vocal no matter however short can really
undermine a good track.
But speaking of good things, I cannot
mention enough how much I like the Life Recorder 12” on Aesthetic Audio. All
four of the tracks have something special, but “Keep Maintain” is my favourite
from the EP. The older material is also good.
|
Number
|
Artist
|
Track
|
Label
|
Year
|
|
1
|
Mr. Tophat, Art Alfie
|
Crab at the Green Hunter (Original Mix)
|
Karlovak
|
2013
|
|
2
|
Xosar
|
Rays of Babylon
|
Rush Hour Recordings
|
2013
|
|
3
|
Magic Touch & Sapphire Slows
|
Just wana feel
|
100% Silk
|
2012
|
|
4
|
Coyote Clean Up
|
Zebra go seek
|
100% Silk
|
2013
|
|
5
|
Shams
|
Wasted
|
100% Silk
|
2013
|
|
6
|
Leech
|
Ninao
|
100% Silk
|
2013
|
|
7
|
Pharoahs
|
Beyon within
|
100% Silk
|
2013
|
|
8
|
Octavo Octava
|
Bad blood
|
100% Silk
|
2013
|
|
9
|
Life Recorder
|
Keep mainatin
|
Aesthetic Audio
|
2012
|
|
10
|
Barker & Baumecker
|
No Body (Machinedrum Remix)
|
Ostgut ton
|
2013
|
Scanner FM
