Morrow vs. Hajduch Archives - Page 2 of 5

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Seabrook Power Plant’s II

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Seabrook Power Plant: II (Loyal Label, 4/26/11)

Seabrook Power Plant: “Lamborghini Helicopter”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Seabrook_Power_Plant_Lamborghini_Helicopter.mp3|titles=Seabrook Power Plant: “Lamborghini Helicopter”]

Morrow: Using a banjo and upright bass as key instruments in a math-prog power trio, Seabrook Power Plant offers one hell of an alternative to the “nuclear family” of the traditional rock lineup.

Electric guitar, electric bass, and assorted effects each play major roles, and at times, the group comes closer to the shredding avant-rock of “regular” experimental bands. But even when not using the twangy instrument for rapid, arpeggiated leads or going acoustic with the rhythm section, something unusual is happening — whether it’s weird operatic vocals, furious and echoing violin riffs, moments of sludge rock, or distorted drum fills.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Ford & Lopatin’s Channel Pressure

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Ford & Lopatin: Channel Pressure (Software / Mexican Summer, 6/7/11)

Ford & Lopatin: “World of Regret”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Ford__Lopatin_World_of_Regret.mp3|titles=Ford & Lopatin: “World of Regret”]

Hajduch: Ford & Lopatin (formerly Games) is comprised of Daniel Lopatin (a.k.a. Oneohtrix Point Never) and Joel Ford (from indie/’80s-pastiche band Tigercity). Their music together is a jittery, looped amalgam of trashy ’80s vibes. Riffs and vocals are recorded, deconstructed, down-sampled, and smashed back together. Their previous output as Games was a hypnotic series of tightly looped samples from synth-pop hits that never existed.

Channel Pressure takes the conceit a step further, adding occasional lyrics and the nebulous idea of a concept album. If you toned down the funk (and the length) of the poppier songs from Daft Punk‘s Discovery, and made them a bit more spastic, you’d approach the sound of Channel Pressure.

Morrow: To me, it sounds like Prefuse 73 twisting around the Miami Vice theme. The ’80s synth sounds and fake drum hits are out of control. Between those elements, the airy pop vocals, and the deep, bouncy bass, Channel Pressure has enough nostalgia to unleash a torrent of endorphins for anyone born before 1988. (Entertainingly, one song is titled “Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me).”)

But there’s enough of a modern and experimental twist (hence the slightly stretched Prefuse comparison), and that prevents it from being strict homage.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Jim Guthrie’s Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Jim Guthrie: Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies (4/5/11)

Jim Guthrie: “Dark Flute”

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Morrow: With a list of accomplishments that includes a solo career, band collaborations, and the co-founding of Three Gut Records, Jim Guthrie is more than a notable name in Toronto’s music scene. He has recorded as part of Islands, Royal City, and Human Highway and has worked with Arcade Fire, but his newest project transcends the realm of reality to explore a magical/digital world.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is a successful cross-platform game / music project for the iPad and iPhone. Guthrie delivered a great score for it, and now the music is available to purchase on its own.

From the open, The Ballad of the Space Babies is sort of a Legend of Zelda-meets-Goblin blend of space jams. But pieces such as “The Cloud” and “Under a Tree” — with ambient, chamber, and neoclassical influences — establish different moods entirely, and there are more percussive elements than one might imagine, as tracks such as “Bones McCoy” build around clattering drum fills. “Ode to a Room” even has a synth line that acts like a reverberated, quasi-Italian-western guitar melody.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Tom Vek’s Leisure Seizure

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Tom Vek: Leisure Seizure (Downtown / Island, digital = 6/7/11, physical = 9/13/11)

Tom Vek: “A Chore”

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Hajduch: Alt-pop singer/multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek released his under-the-radar debut, We Have Sound, in 2005. Since then, he’s remained very quiet. It turns out that he was holed up in a studio, preparing more of his rhythmically propulsive, sort-of-electronic, meticulously produced post-punk pop jams. Leisure Seizure recently arrived digitally (a physical release is forthcoming), and it’s very solid, if largely unsurprising. Banging drums and sing-along choruses have always been Vek’s MO, and they serve him well here.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Ash Black Bufflo’s Andasol

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Ash Black Bufflo: Andasol (Knitting Factory, 5/23/11)

Ash Black Bufflo: “Buho”

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Morrow: Ash Black Bufflo (note the missing A) is the recording moniker of Grails keyboardist Jay Clarke, and his debut release, Andasol, is the culmination of five years of solo composition. Like Grails, the music here is extremely eclectic and skillful, but the styles found within Andasol are more segregated from track to track, not stirred in the melting pot like his group endeavor.

Hajduch: The music is mostly understated, minimal, and minor. It’s very cinematic and seems designed to be unobtrusive, with occasional snippets of dialogue to fill the gaps. With the soft nature of the music and the truncated length of the tracks, it’s an album that flies by.

Morrow: The 18 tracks do go quickly, and they’re sort of built like musical vignettes — which makes sense, because Clarke’s other material as Ash Black Bufflo has been used for movie soundtracks, theater productions, and dance recitals. Even though some of the tracks are a medium length, nothing overstays its welcome.

Also, even though certain tracks are minimal or start out as such, many build into much more, with intricacy after intricacy added to the mix. The album’s second track, “Misery is the Pilgrim’s Pasture,” is a perfect example, and it strikes a very Steve Reich vibe as flute, piano, harpsichord, and percussion work on top of the repeated foundation.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Venetian Snares’ Cubist Reggae

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Venetian Snares: Cubist Reggae (Planet Mu, 5/23/11)

Venetian Snares: “The Identification Circles Levitate”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Venetian_Snares_The_Identification_Circles_Levitate.mp3|titles=Venetian Snares: “The Identification Circles Levitate”]

Hajduch: Electronic surrealist Venetian Snares (a.k.a. Aaron Funk) returns with his zillionth release for Planet Mu. Cubist Reggae has a title that gets right to the point: this is a four-track EP that deconstructs reggae samples down to a nervous, amorphous tangle of sound. Largely free of the jungle brutalism common to Snares’ sound, Cubist Reggae favors a (relatively) slow burn, with lots of space to breathe (when that space is not being filled with deep-voiced threats of violence).

Morrow: You never know what to expect from a Snares release; it could be something that he’s never done or something that he’s done a bunch. Thankfully, this falls in the former category, and it’s fun to hear what reggae and dub can become when in his hands.

Those deep-voiced rumblings make the first track much creepier than its otherwise benign (yet weird) structure would dictate. But that’s about the end of the creepiness, and the next three songs — though a bit eerie at times — are a challenging IDM take on a tired genre.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Austra’s Feel It Break

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Austra: Feel It Break (Domino, 5/17/11)

Austra: “Beat and the Pulse”

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Morrow: A DIY advocate from the Toronto underground, singer/multi-instrumentalist Katie Stelmanis is the force behind Austra, a new electro-pop trio that incorporates an operatic flare. Stelmanis grew up learning the viola and piano while also singing in the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, and that vibrato vocal ability is what carries this Austra debut.

The musical complexity isn’t as pronounced here as it was on Stelmanis’ solo debut, Join Us, which preceded Feel It Break. But both albums channel a moody yet melodic dance/electronic sound — a style that’s sure to draw comparisons to The Knife.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Africa Hitech’s 93 Million Miles

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Africa Hitech: 93 Million Miles (Warp, 5/10/11)

Africa Hitech: “Glangslap”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Africa_Hitech_Glangslap.mp3|titles=Africa Hitech: “Glangslap”]

Hajduch: Africa Hitech is an electronic duo comprised of jack-of-all-trades Mark Pritchard (Harmonic 33, Global Communication, Harmonic 313) and Steve Spacek. Following an EP last year, this debut LP on Warp is a lurching exploration of juke beats, swirling synthscapes, acid squelch, hip-hop menace, and the breakneck tempo of South African dance music. Though initially it seems like an overwhelming listen, there’s a lot to pick apart, and plenty of hooks to latch onto even when the rhythms are hard to grasp.

Morrow: The rhythms strike me as intricate in a subtle way. There are different layers doing different things, but like most of Pritchard’s other work, there’s plenty of minimalism, usually involving a basic dance beat. These danceable polyrhythms are the real shared trait between 93 Million Miles and African music. Outside of a few drum samples on tracks such as “Spirit,” the album otherwise is heavy on the Detroit techno sound of Pritchard’s Harmonic 313.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: GDP’s Useless Eaters

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

GDP: Useless Eaters (Run for Cover, 3/29/11)

GDP: “Quintuplets”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/02-Quintuplets.mp3|titles=GDP: “Quintuplets”]

Morrow: With a background in hip hop as well as hardcore and punk, New Jersey rapper GDP approaches his genre with a unique perspective, coupling an unfiltered vocabulary with sociopolitical themes, banging beats, and a decidedly Aesop Rock-style delivery.

His newest full-length, Useless Eaters, quickly gets at the underbelly of America, whether discussing drugs, war profiteering, climate change, or big-brother distrust. “Neural Circuitry” begins the album with high-energy hi-hats and a nearly G-funk synth groove, but it hits hardest with its subject matter: hardcore drug use. There’s underlying intellect, however, and in making a passing reference to Afghani opiates, GDP rhymes, “Soldiers aren’t dying for us / they’re risking their lives for the change / a full ride to college or a meaningless grave.”

Hajduch: Australian producer Aoi makes clanging, colorful synth-based beats that remind me somewhat of the kaleidoscopic dubstep pushed by people like Hyetal. It’s glammy and full of square waves, and for all the clamor and seeming lightness, it still bangs. The fidgety beats fit GDP’s restless rhymes well. He’s equally comfortable deploring battle rap as he is deploying it.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Fabric’s A Sort of Radiance

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Fabric: A Sort of Radiance (Spectrum Spools / Editions Mego, 4/5/11)

Fabric: “Camera”

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Hajduch: Having folded a few years back, experimental music label Mego has come back full force as Editions Mego. Initially started as something of a reissue label (pressing remastered, deluxe editions from label faces such as Fennesz and Kevin Drumm), Editions Mego has begun cranking out brand-new releases, most notably the most recent releases from Emeralds and its guitarist, Mark McGuire.

The Emeralds working relationship continues with the formation of sub-label Spectrum Spools, headed by Emeralds member (and prolific solo artist) John Elliott. Spectrum Spools’ debut release is an LP by Chicago artist Fabric, who mines the same kosmische layered-synthesizer territory as many of the above artists with great success.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: The Psychic Paramount’s II

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

The Psychic Paramount: II (No Quarter, 2/22/11)

The Psychic Paramount: “RW”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The_Psychic_Paramount_RW.mp3|titles=The Psychic Paramount: “RW”]

Morrow: Though relatively silent for the past six years, New York noise-rock trio The Psychic Paramount recently released a new full-length album, its first since Gamelan Into the Mink Supernatural in 2005. The wait was well worth it.

Effected guitar loops, devastating low-end grooves, and bashing rhythms again form the core of the band’s sound, but II is more compact than its predecessor. Both pack a mighty wallop, but Gamelan…, which was based on live jamming, was more sprawling and improvised. This one is a direct but dynamic rock explosion.

Hajduch: If you like tremolo picking, but don’t want to listen to black metal or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, then this may be the album for you. The guitar is a constant, blurry howl. Between the guitar, the cymbals, and the effects, the mid-range gets a constant workout. You don’t even notice how ferocious the drums are until the guitar drops out. But the drums are pretty ferocious!

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Boxcutter’s The Dissolve

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Boxcutter: The Dissolve (Planet Mu, 4/25/11)

Boxcutter: “TV Troubles”

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Morrow: The Dissolve is the fourth full-length album by Boxcutter, a dubstep/IDM musician from Northern Ireland and a regular of the Planet Mu roster. Also known as Barry Lynn, he often takes a dance-influenced approach to his music, enabling an entry point for those who can’t handle thornier artists like Aphex Twin.

On The Dissolve, some of the dark dance elements remain, but by and large, this is a shift in a much funkier direction, with retro electronic sounds providing a much lighter and old-school feel.