Danny Spiteri – Crea Island

April 24, 2014 • Cridius Collective

I don't know if I've gotten too predictable lately or everyone I talk to is incredibly good, but either way the recommendations I've been getting lately have all been spot-on. Today's suggestion is a wonderful (and unfortunately short) trip through seven electronic / downtempo / plunderphonics tracks that have a fantastic atmosphere and surprising depth.

Crea Island is, at its core, very simple electronic music, but it has a lot attached to it to give it a great feel and experience. There is a slight vintage aesthetic to it, kind of like a cheesy soundtrack to some low-budget tape from the '80s, but without the actual cheesiness and bad production. It has those same warm synthesizers, echoing arpeggiating melodies, and Casio drums, entwined with plenty of samples and noises and textures that give it a kind of laid-back colorful tropical feel to it (which I surprisingly really enjoy) (also, is that Katamari Damacy I hear in that last track??). It's very atmospheric and ambient, with a soundscape sort of feel to it rather than distinct songs. The whole experience just has a very honest and simple and welcoming feel to it. It's so easy to just put on and totally get lost in.

It's a pretty simple premise so there's not much to elaborate on in a review like this, so all I'll say is that it's absolutely worth listening to and I'm intrigued enough to check out the rest of Danny's material. Very nice job.

情報デスクVIRTUAL – 札幌コンテンポラリー

April 20, 2012 • Beer on the Rug

In theory, nothing about vaporwave should have been successful. Cheesy, generic stock music, shamelessly ripped off and re-purposed from the awful corporate mood music of the '80s and early '90s, music that should have stayed on the Weather Channel and home shopping networks. I can't explain why in 2010 it suddenly came back out of nowhere, wanting to be taken semi-seriously, even. But I still have this odd fascination with 札幌コンテンポラリー, and it's definitely an album worth knowing about.

There's a lot going on all over this album, though it's hard to notice at first. The cheesy MIDI arrangements are just a distracting surface element; just underneath that are some actually well-arranged and well-performed smooth jazz and ambient pop tunes. There's a surprising amount of diversity, too, like the African-sounding influence on tracks like "iMYSTIQUE エジプト航空「EDU」" or the downbeat, droning "HB☯ PORN". And yet there's nothing very challenging about the album, because it all stems from a place that's at least a little bit familiar to people who were around during that time (or at least experienced the bits of its culture that this music comes from).

It kinda goes without saying at this point that 札幌コンテンポラリー is not for everyone—not by a long shot. Even if you can get into the aesthetic of the album as a whole, the tracks themselves can vary quite a bit in quality and listenability (take "CONTEMPORARYセーター", which sounds like it comes from an awful soap opera, or the disgustingly-saccharine soul of its successor "HOTEL TAIWAN WELC☯MES U") and the album does feel somewhat too long (at one hour and twenty-seven tracks). Personally, I can't bring myself to hold it any higher than a novelty act, but at the same time it's still a pretty good novelty act, one that makes you stop and think for a minute. It's so unlike anything I'd ever naturally listen to that I just have to like it, even for just a little bit.

7

SAT Stoicizmo – Mah 2

1997 • Artware Products / Graph Zahl

One more dive into the land of the mysterious underground '80s avant-garde for the week: this time it's Czech band SAT Stoicizmo, who recorded this album back in 1985 and let it sit around until 1997 (ten years after they disbanded) before releasing it. This album has a lot more polish and a lot more interesting things going on, though, and though it's tough to get into it's a really neat listen.

Like a lot of sound collage records, the music on Mah 2 is quite hard to define as it's all over the place—but to start somewhere, the liner notes describe it as an "attempt to combine the achievements of (punk)rock-music with the classical concept of futuristic bruitism"... and I'd say that's at least somewhat accurate. Well, while there isn't much musically "punk" about Mah 2, the intent is there, as is the futuristic influence. The album presents itself as a bizarre but very deliberately-composed sound collage: plenty of found sounds, a bizarre assortment of music clips, manipulated field recordings, and plain noise barrage the listener.

It's a lot to take in—I've had this album around for a few years and listening now, it still feels completely fresh (even after several listens the past few weeks); there's just so much to take in. But at the same time, that's definitely what makes this album (and others like it) so appealing: it's not afraid to surprise the listener with different textures and sounds. At the same time, it feels like everything fits together as it should (particularly the more rhythmic "Nehaj") so it's not too jarring or alienating when things get switched up.

Obviously this kind of music is not for everyone, and even for me it took a long time to really get into it. But with a little patience, Mah 2 is absolutely worth it.

7

Husten – Let's Kill Television

February 11, 2011 • self-released

Plunderphonics is still a relatively foreign technique to me, but a lot of what I've heard of it so far has been pretty impressive. Husten has clearly been busy honing his craft lately, and Let's Kill Television has a pretty tight and consistent sound compared to debut Auszeit. While it's not perfect the whole way through, it definitely has its high points that make it worthy of a listen or two.

The forumla is quite straightforward: most songs are a simple downtempo drum beat and bass line, accompanied by various vocal and instrumental samples. Almost all of the instrumental samples sound great too: "Heyeah" has a really nice piano line, "Igor Eat Meat" has a very pretty combination of folky guitar and keyboard, etc. The vocal samples are hit-or-miss; I really like the cut-up dialog in "So Much Time" and the call-and-response in "Heyeah" isn't bad either, if a bit cheesy. On the other hand, some don't sit well with me at all, like the George Carlin sample in "I'm a Happy Guy" (it doesn't help that I don't really like Carlin to begin with, so I can't blame Husten much), or the weird dissonant singing in "When You're in Love".

On the other hand, sometimes everything clicks beautifully. The album's highlight "Then It Seems" integrates some soulful pop singing into a very ethereal beat, which clicks perfectly. It reminds me of Burial quite a bit as well. And "Ponzo Illusion" has what sounds like a Notorious B.I.G. rap throughout, which is pretty awesome on top of an already-good beat.

The song quality isn't particularly consistent, and to me it seems like the end of the album is pretty weak compared to the beginning. (But again plunderphonics isn't something I'm an expert on, so perhaps listening to it as one cohesive work isn't the way to about it.) Regardless, Let's Kill Television is full of cool ideas that are executed well—and let's face it, where else are you going to hear some hardcore rapping and throat singing on back-to-back tracks? (And if you do know where, let me know, because that's neat.)