Sunday, January 23, 2005

Kitty-Yo
Team Kitty-Yo
version forthcoming on www.earplug.cc

Perhaps best known for breaking Canadian ex-pats Peaches and Gonzalez, Kitty-Yo stands as one of Berlin’s most progressive labels since 1994. They’ve released everything from kitchy electro and minimal techno, to folk and post-rock. The breadth of the back catalogue spans from gentle, ethereal bliss to a soundtrack for debauched evenings. For example, Maximilian Hecker’s glacial “Help Me,” a song that brings to mind the dreamy atmospherics of Sigur Ros, is contrasted with the bounce and swollen synthesizers of Gold Chains and Sue Cie’s “Crowd Control.” It’s admittedly tough to switch gears in such an extreme fashion on one CD, but an equal testament to the openminded music policy. CD2 contains unreleased and rare material, highlighted by a 1996 jazz funk and electronic fusion track from To Rocco Rot, and Tarwater’s dreamy, melancholic, “Doppelganger.”



Saturday, January 22, 2005

Simple One
Mixed by Will Saul
Simple Records
Released February 2005

a version to appear in earplug.cc

In its relative infancy, Simple has been putting out some of the most innovative breaks in the scene. Rather than being mired in the dark, techy rut of some producers, the label has achieved a difficult balance between being intellectually engaging and cutting it on the floor. Mixed by Will Saul, Simple One is a fluid mix of live-sounding percussion with distinctive jazz and dub elements and an overall emphasis on melody. Sideshow’s “Waiting in the Darkness” is a percussive groover with a piercing snare tone that sounds sourced from a taut marching drum. Austria’s Walkner.Hintenaus bring forth a live, electro jazz amalgamation with “Karma,” and for added variety, Matthew Jonson re-rubs Sideshow’s “Slide,” adding a bouncing analogue bassline and throbbing techno groove. On the darker side of the equation, Precision Cuts’ “Xylophone” applies a formerly geriatric instrument to a new context, while Saul ends things off nicely with Infusion’s barnstorming mix of his own “Cliff.”
Ubiquity
Rewind! 4
On Tour
variations to appear stateside in flavorpill.net

It's not the most original of concepts: various musicians covering tunes
from producers that have inspired them. However, fresh from being deemed
"Label of the Year" by Gilles Peterson, the Ubiquity crew demonstrate the
depth of their bench with the fourth Rewind! installment. To
celebrate the record -- featuring Platinum Pied Pipers tackling Burt
Bacharach and Nostalgia 77 covering "Seven Nation Army" -- Ubiquity throws a
multi-city bash. SF gets the best bill of the bunch, with the mysterious duo
Yam Who? -- known for their sought-after remixes of Amp Fiddler, Zero 7,
Pharrell, Dwele, and more -- dropping the tunes you'd kill to get your hands
on. Wrap your ears around'em instead. (CJN)

Friday, January 14, 2005

from johann johannson's excellent "Virdulegu Forsetar":
part 4

one of the most lovely things i've heard in quite some time.

cjn

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

From DNasty:

Mumbai and I

So Wall Street is outsourcing a lot of analyst responsibilities to Mumbai.

As I read of this whitecollar bloodletting I couldn't help but think that we have all been warned.

For certain there was NAFTA, Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan and a host of others. But I am thinking of an even more prescient Laocoon: Great Tiger in Mike Tyson's Punchout. Think back to his callous taunts:

"A kitten is no match for a Tiger!"
"So a pussycat wants to fight a Tiger?"
"Beware of my Tiger punch!"

And finally:

"I have purred long enough! Now hear me roar!"

This he often said before destroying me (Mac) with the aforementioned Tiger Punch.

I thought that I had left that punch behind for good when the firm bosom of a local girl broke me from the bliss of Freudian latency.

Great Tiger is back. He has an MBA from the Delhi Institute of Business Technology and Administration and he wants your job. He will work for 5 cents an hour and a medical plan consisting of band-aids and dental floss to get it.

What is corporate America to do?

An early policy paper leaked from the Brookings Institute has come up with only one plausible solution: A:B:Select-Start:007 373 5953.

The Heritage Foundation has opted to keep quiet on the issue after their disastrous policy recommendation re: The Iran Contra Scandal - Up:Down:Up:Down:Left:Right:Left:Right:A:B:A:B:Select:Start