And also, check out the cover he designed* - just amazing!!
Quick Update: Silence let me know it wasn't him but Dj Myxplx out of Los Angeles who designed the cover. Big ups to DJ Myxplx and to Silence!!
Tracklisting:
01. Me'shell Ndégeocello - Love Song #1 (TT Edit) 02. Bob Marley - Is This Love? (Logik Dubstep Remix) 03. Pusuit Grooves - Whisper 04. Quest - Eden 05. Dezaray Dawn - Chameleon 06. Pinch ft. Yolanda - Get Up (L.V. Disco Mix) 07. Mite & Distal - Chocolate Circuit 08. Pinch - Gangstaz w/ 09. Jill Scott - Crown Royal 10. Kryptic Minds - Stepping Stone 11. Liquid Stranger ft. Deeyah - Hexed and Perplexed w/ 12. Erykah Badu - Honey (Seji Mix)
I read the term quite a bit while searching through different netlabels, artists, what have you. In my mind it has a lot of potential as to where it can lead you from new sounds with old instruments, to artistic freedom, to someone just jerking your chain.
As a musical genre, post-rock is arguably too vague to be useful. Don Caballero and Tortoise were among the more prominent bands described as post-rock in the 1990s, but their styles are very different, despite being instrumental bands centered on guitars and drums. As such, the term has been the subject of backlash from listeners and artists alike.
Although firmly rooted in the indie or underground scene of the 1980s and '90s, post-rock's style often bears little resemblance musically to that of indie rock.
So, before I go into this review,I need to hear some other examples to get a point of reference.
Now, in some weird way, both you and I get a reference point for the wonderful task at hand. There's a ton of potential and possibility for the sounds, the atmosphere, the experimentation which can go into this genre.
This is where moolen comes in. moolen's latest work can be found on the LCL netlabel under their Carte Blanche releases. LCL releases some terrific dub sounds, and with their Carte Blanche series they allow other artists to spread their wings into other sub-genres of their liking.
When I first heard moolen's album, it had me intrigued. Here's how best to describe it.
There are children's toys (both homemade and from stores) which usually have rice or sand or some sort of fabricated "pebble" material in a type of pliable pouch or container. There is usually a list of items found on the other side, and as you move the main substance around in the container you can find the hidden objects listed.
With "art of heartwork", and this analogy in mind, you get a fun musical journey through this post rock trip. In the first song, Nineteen (the first one), you hear busy signals, recorded voices, a rainstick, and large crashing drums in the middle; all with calming guitar riffs playing in the foreground. The addition of music concrete and samples takes the album from nice to nifty.
Dreamshard goes from this downtempo sifter (?) to a more, ummm, upbeat acoustic chill song with little sounds and glitches and clicks in the background.
As you listen, see how many more "objects" you can find in the little pouch.
Fly pts. 2 and 1 (how they appear on the tracklisting) take this electronic/acoustic combination and adds in backwards playing loops, neat echos, sounds of the ocean coming into shore, computer glitches and bleeps, a cellphone ringing, a chimpanzee, bike bells - one song flowing in, and one song ebbing out. I'm sure your imagination will coming into play by now!
Then comes my favorite song of the whole set: brokentopflow. It starts with some high pitched "strings" overlaid with lower sounding keyboards. This goes on until the drums kick in with glitches and faint robotic voices in the background, then reverting to the strings and background atmospheres. It's a calm, melodic track with a gentle back and forth between acoustic and electronic until about 2:35 with the introduction of processed heavy metal screaming in the background. It is this unique contrast between heavy drums, gentle melodies, and "screaming" which makes this track such a keeper (at first listen, I thought it was a Lil' John soundtrack, but after a while I heard otherwise).
In my opinion, moolen also plays with track continuity by throwing different sections of song to opposite ends of the album. The first and sixth songs are both entitled "nineteen" with the second and seventh songs coming under "dreamshard."
Okay, now listen to the two parts back to back... one flows in with sounds and the other seems to take that flow, continue on the energy while finishing the thought started by the first part.
Heck, "dreamshard" part two takes this to the extreme. Part one starts off as an upbeat happy dream while part two begins with an aggressive vocal sample retreating back into softness then into the abstract. It is a dream which turns into something intense with a peaceful resolution at the end.
After all of this, what is my verdict?
It's such an interesting album with parts electronic, parts acoustic, parts samples, and parts artistic interruption. It is literally a splendid grab bag of sounds and samples which keep you playing and replaying the album just to catch a sound you hadn't heard before. Plus, with the unique song structure/continuity, moolen invites you to listen over and over. It is this, for the lack of better words, playfulness and imagination that both define the album. Compared to the Post Rock samples given earlier, there is a similarity.
But with the experimentation, the "road less traveled" becomes your main path taking you down the track to auditory exhilaration and contentment leaving you to say to yourself, "This is the way this album should be," then pressing play to listen to it all over again.
I was on the Bedroom Research netlabel website last night trying to find some information and came across their latest release from Himuro. So, I pressed play on the popup player and was addicted.
I'm talking a Dr. Pepper rush! The glitchy, the wonky, the IDMy... it's fantastic. I had to listen to the four song EP, called 4P, a few times.
As soon as "Pay for What" comes on, the big beats pull you into the system Himuro creates. You think you can escape the galatic gravitational pull he puts up, but the sounds are too big to let go. Basslines, vocal samples, and electronic buzzes capture you fully.
My favorite track on this roller has to be Pointing Answers. We're dropping heavy bass and glitch which could be found on a Muti Music album. Himuro's sounds make you move, taking you from potential to kinetic energy help you knock on the door of possibly becoming a perpetual motion machine.
Ummm, I've been reading a book about how to make science fiction possible... and it's seeping into my writing right now.
Do yourself a favor and head over to Bedroom Research and download yourself a copy. I don't need to say much more.
Hey, I've got some extra space so I decided to make another mid-tempo romp for you all to enjoy!
This was another fun mix to put together and I hope you all enjoy it. There's quite a bit of music from the Muti Music, Swedish Columbia, and Ghostly International (maybe Foulplay - I can't remember off hand) labels with a song by Zoe.LeelA from the rec72 netlabel.
We've had our fun chatting, but it's time for the track listing!
Just like a good cheese, this episode is an hour of goodness which you will enjoy.
How do I know this?
I'm psychic.... or psychedelic.
Or psychotic...
Anyway, enough with the self-talk - let's get to the show.
A few Addendums: The title of the song from tmsgksk is "inclemency", (Mary) Jenning's song "Falling Higher" is from the Femtastic album, and leaving richmond's song "slow to exhale" is from the the secret traditions of washington ave.album.
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