Holy Ghost!

Static On The Wire EP (DFA, 05.2010)

For: Justice, FLASHLIGHTS, Cut Copy, Double Fantasy

Byline: Brooklyn's dynamic disco duo most notable for their stellar remixes drop their long-awaited EP on DFA records.

Indie-dance music, or whatever you want to call it, for how insular and pigeon-holed it is, has its share of certified club bangers—those songs that get the biggest returns from DJs when played in the club. It'd be a waste of our time to rattle off a list here, if you know what I'm talking about you know what I'm talking about. Agreed? If there has been one group that has been setting the dancefloor ablaze with their minstrel-like take on disco-house, diving head-first into minimalist interpretations of Kraut heroes NEU! through the sexed up glitter-jams of Prince it is...Oh man, I totally lost interest in that sentence. Let's start over: Holy Ghost! are two Brooklynites who make beats but are mostly known for their stellar remix work. The remix of Panther's "Goblin City" is transcendental, spiritually edifying, "like looking into the face of God and him telling you that you are his most treasured creation," or something to that effect. They've established themselves as credible remixers of the stars, doing choice cuts for MGMT, Moby, Phoenix, and just about every band to ever be attached to the DFA roster. So to hear these dudes doing their own thing provides some insight onto the group's overall aesthetic: Static On The Wire jives well with their remix history, sporting long droning beats over cheesy 80's influenced synth lines and even cheesier guitar shredding courtesy of John MacLean (of The Juan MacLean). None of the songs are too obtrusive; polite little numbers that would fit in well in any DJ's set (and their July appearance at Fabric in London should prove this). But on the whole, these tunes fail to garner any real satisfying rewards. That is, until "I Will Come Back" drops. That song has a vocal hook that is structurally designed to be remixed into the next century—hot as the center of the sun itself. Holy Ghost!'s music is athletic, has the energy of a jazzercise class, and the steely, locked in gaze of Don Johnson's Miami Vice Ray-Bans. You've been warned, but by the time you catch your reflection in the mirrored shades, it's over.

Indie-dance may have its hits, and Holy Ghost! has remixed probably about half of them, but this time, they're about to add a few of their own.

Ryan H.

Funki Porcini

On (Ninja Tune, 2010)

For: Amon Tobin, Squarepusher, Bonobo

Byline: Ninja Tune turns in another winner despite dangerously flirting with the "lounge" tag as James Bradell's latest runs a wide gamut of electronic styles alongside wistful improvisations. ***Originally published on www.inyourspeakers.com. Used by permission from Inyourspeakers, LLC.

Theoretically, could a robot play jazz? Like any other genre as old and storied as jazz in all its various permutations throughout the years—such a vigorously, consistently studied, practiced, and performed art—this style has endured largely through its cultivation and use of certain basic properties. Many of these have to do with sheer mechanics—what tones are produced through which instruments, the rhythms used, the essence of rolling-triplet swing, the ballad, the burner, the 12-bar blues, the 32-bar A-A-B-A form, etc. It makes sense that any mechanical attributes to a style of music could indeed be emulated by a computer processing unit, and this simple fact, from classical to rock, to hip-hop, to disco and dance and back again, has created a massively huge macro-genre of electronically generated music, (perhaps foolishly) blanketed simply as “electronica.” But there’s something cold behind a lot of electronic music, that icy beating heart of a metronomic calculator regurgitating simply what it’s been programmed to do. And jazz is a bit different—there’s something else there; something less predictable, inherently tied to the emotional and imaginative responses of which only the human brain is truly capable. This, of course, is the style’s ultimate calling card: the art of improvisation. That wonderful, whimsical way an artist can use technical mastery combined with the creative human spirit to make something wholly unique with each go around—to tell a different story each time.

It is this element that James Bradell, a.k.a. Funki Porcini, wisely clings to in his moody, meditative compositions, and indeed what shines most brightly on this, his sixth official release for the cult-followed experimental hip-hop label Ninja Tune. And actually, this is really the only element of jazz that carries through to Bradell’s work (except for swing... yeah, he can do that. Hard.) Much like his contemporaries, Squarepusher and Amon Tobin, his Funkiness seems to be on the cusp of jazz music’s next step, dropping a traditionally structured format, traditional band setups, etc. and opting instead for a visceral, modal approach, creating soundscapes based on simple motifs—generally bass and drum grooves—and building from there, layering soft textures and harmonic undertones to solidify the feel before allowing an instrument to head off to the races—a synth, a vibraphone, a piano, a demonically processed saxophone (Charlie Parker... in Hell?). Instruments flow from the recognizable—found in the bewilderingly precise, bop-tastic drumming, walking upright bass-lines, and scattered horn samples—to the mysterious, synthetic, and obviously processed, including his trademark time-stretched manipulations of vocals...

...Computers will (hopefully... let’s not get into “Terminator” conspiracy theories quite yet) never be without their organic components—the men and women who so painstakingly connect their brains with circuit boards to create recordings for us to ponder and enjoy. Those in the Ninja Tune coup (which is currently on a refreshing upswing with the release of Bonobo’s notable Black Sands earlier this year), are thankfully putting in the extra effort to connect with listeners in a way that is undeniably human. Funki Porcini is nowhere without his laptop, but his style simply can’t be divorced from what comes naturally to a true musician: the creative, mindful spirit that is overflowing with fleeting, in-the-moment ideas that blurt forth with both excitement and control.

Please read the full review here.

—Craw'z 6/10/2010

Funki Porcini Official MySpace

Ninja Tune Records Official Website

Constellations

Lady Coast/Reflection Mandible (Self-Released, 2010)

For: Autechre, Public Image Ltd., Burial

Byline: Denver proto-dance-punk-electro band returns as a “nationwide collective” ...finally. Plz and thx.

In a world where there’s no shortage of bands that make things look easy (and I hate most of them for it), Constellations purposefully make their music sound hard. That’s because music is hard... especially for this gang, the once Denver-based dance-punk-gone-electro-infused outfit that made serious waves on the scene before ever having the chance to release a full-length record. As members began piling on the projects and other members began to disperse about the country, hopes for an official LP from the band were nearly dashed altogether. But just like the challenging nature of their dark, highly intellectual, intensely layered, syncopated, grinding beats and scathing textures, the group’s reemergence as a “nationwide collective” represents a refreshing tenacity—some things are just too good to give up on, distance-obstacles be damned. Several years in the works now, this single is at once a welcome return for the band, but it’s also, frustratingly, only but a taste—but a morsel of that sickly-sweet’n’sour mix of sound that’s somehow progressed fantastically beyond expectations. Lady Coast is über-meticulous, fascinating, but maintains an extremely high level of listenable gusto.

For those new to the band: Expect dark. Expect beats. Expect electronics. Expect rad (uh... really rad) bass lines. Expect haunting vocals. Expect piercing guitars. With Lady Coast, you’ll get all this and more, though—Constellations is certainly parts and pieces, but it’s uniquely whole and individual. Instruments and elements simply wouldn’t survive without their symbiotic partners... Constellations is an electro-ecosystem. Real drums rely on their glitchy, gated counterparts, synth lines flow relative only to threnody drones, and so on. See those “For” artists listed above? Yeah, those guys all certainly had something to do with the overall sound of Constellations, but this band’s got something else... these are but primers pieced masterfully together to (at the risk of being cliché here) sound one of a kind. Nothing else today comes across quite like it—an extraordinarily, uncommonly unique blend into something new... and thank Jebus for that.

The songs themselves find the band largely slowing things down and really pulling from the monstrously massive dinosaur stomp of dub-step. A new-jack swing feel finds its way into hi-hats alongside a biting backbeat that lays the path for the bass to flicker in and out with catchy snippets. Zack Brown’s hushed, creepy whisper will have you following his every command in your nightmares. The best part is the detail with which programmer Cory Brown so painstakingly saturates his work. Uncrackable codes and rigorous trial and error surely worked to ensure that nothing sounds the same twice, as beats and tones are cut up and scrambled with the complexity of a calculus equation. The music constantly, consistently evolves itself, tricking you into looking for patterns where there aren’t necessarily any. This’ll have you digging for days to unlock its mysteries... but you may never be able to go quite deep enough. Accompanied by a couple of remarkable remixes, Lady Coast is one of those don’t-miss-the-boat releases of the year. Plus, it’s free, so you don’t really have an excuse.

—Craw’z 5/18/2010

d-d-d-Download this

Constellations Official Facebook

Ambassador Engine

Live Dismally EP (Act So Big Forest, 2010)

For: Fennesz, The Books, Tim Hecker

Byline: “Live Dismally” is the new “Live Hopefully”. Download this.

It has occurred to me, in writing these funny little posts about the weird and wonderful world of musical meanderings, that you, the readers, may be interested to know more details about the histories behind some of the artists that we cover here at the TOME. Come to think of it, I myself would like to know more about the histories behind some of the artists we cover at the TOME. Alas, there is sometimes, of course, a problem with this, and that is that often we just don’t know anything about the artists we are covering here at the TOME. These folks are just sending us their records without nary a word, nary a notion, nary a Wikipedia article on who they are or where in the hell they are coming from. They’re wondering if we’re going to read, wondering if we’re going to listen, and then patiently wondering if we’re going to post. Well, our friend Ambassador Engine here is worthy of a post. Likely, if his upcoming full-length on the Fort Collins-based Act So Big Forest Collective’s label follows on the promise of this quite pleasant Live Dismally EP, the dude is worth two posts. He is also, therefore, worthy of probing research, and since there's not a whole lot of info on him or his work, I have decided to do my best to construct the life and times of a young man who calls himself “Aaron,” casually, and “Ambassador Engine” formally. With this, I present to you, a brief history of Ambassador Engine, as pieced haphazardly together through MySpace blog notes and his newest release, Live Dismally.

*shuffles notes*

June 6th, 2007 - In which a child named Sand Castles is born in the town of Greeley, Colorado. His birth is both immaculate and phenomenal, the event occurs with a small spark that builds gradually toward a blinding light charged with kinetic harmonic frequencies, finally exploding into fireworks of beautiful pain—brief, fractal images appear before his mothers eyes and terrorize her ears in manic stereo; It’s her entire life flashing before her in a whirlwind moment where time itself is reduced to a three-second final orgasmic flash. The exhaustive experience is enough to kill her, and after the doctor cuts the umbilical cord he brands something onto his forehead: the words “Save the Date” are written backwards beneath the letters “A” and “E”. Sand Castles is born into sadness. He has no father or mother, and immediately recognizes the smell of death that constantly surrounds him from the meat processing factories that pollute the airs of his hometown. The rest of his life will be barren, hollow landscapes interspersed with colorful characters whose fleeting appearances will guide him through his journey. From the first day of his life, he knows better things are waiting for him, something he’s reminded of every day he looks in the mirror.

July 16th, 2007 - In which the four-week-old child who ages and matures with a magical, fast-forward pace is put up for adoption and shipped over seas to Niigata, Japan where he will spend the early part of his life. He is taken in by a native of the region who teaches him Japanese and explains the healing, empowering and emotional potential of playing the drums. Sand Castles takes his drumset with him everywhere he goes from that moment forth, and records himself playing in train stations... train stations of the future. These are trains that use maglev technology to travel at supersonic speeds across vast distances and at times speed gracefully through underwater tunnels. Sand Castles controlled, linear drumming become a catalyst for his educational career, as he learns the intricate secrets of controlling electronic tones, collected samples, and flickers of static. He can hear his dreams, and he is cultivating skills to document them. He is learning that life is a journey, one that is short in reality, but long and broad in imagination. His destiny is becoming clearer by the second.

September 21, 2008 - In which Sand Castles completes his training in Niigata and returns to Colorado. Realizing his prophecy as previously foreseen by the man who aided in his miraculous birth, Sand Castles changes his name to Ambassador Engine.

September 30th, 2008 - In which Ambassador Engine takes a job driving semi trucks between Ft. Collins and Greeley, Colorado through the night. He does this for two years, living in a world harmonic stasis where time is signified in flashing truck lights whirring by his driver-side window. He is only awake at night. The trucks that pass are ghosts; they’re not really there. Ambassador Engine is sad in his current state of reality, but his drums are there to comfort him. He discovers tempo, and locks into a stately march toward an unknown goal, his chin up. It helps him get by. It passes the time. His prophecy has only been partially fulfilled up to this point. There must be something better on the horizon, and he knows this to be true.

May 17th, 2010 - In which Ambassador Engine has quit his job of driving trucks and time travels to the future in hopes of finding more for his life. Though he’s dropped into a future of a world devastated, one plagued by economic crises across the ocean, and oil slicks dividing the seas into models of filth, he still calls this chapter “Live Hopeful.” His document of the trip paints an expansive terrain that folds over itself slowly, progressively. It’s spliced with diaphanous synths that trickle a lightly beautiful melody, and build in volume and speed. His life is reaching an apex he’s never imagined or envisioned until just this moment. His heart is racing. He wants to help the world, and he knows just how to do it. His scatter-shot drums can give hope to the world. His melodious synths can give hope to the world. His droning guitars can give hope to the world. He sketches his final notes on a sonic tablet of tape and returns home.

April 16, 2010 - In which Ambassador Engine travels back in time to the present, and has just closed the first book in a forth-coming volume about his life that is still currently in the works. It’s a brief, vibrant summation of the first four years of his existence and chronicles seasons of change, growth, maturity, melancholy, creativity, heart, and optimism. His life up to now has been a dramatic crescendo, the first of more to come, he realizes. He gets on his computer, which has just finished mixing down the final cut of Live Dismally, and composes an e-mail...

—Craw’z 5/5/2010

Free Download of Live Dismally EP

Ambassador Engine Official MySpace

Act So Blog Forest

**Note: Almost none of the above is true. Except the parts about how good this music is.