CD Reviews
May 1, 2008 12:00 PM
ELLEN ALLIEN
Boogy Bytes Vol. 4 (BPitch Control)
Substance and suspense
In 2007, Modeselektor used its Boogy Bytes slot and menacing digital trickery for an unconventional, brilliantly genre-swapping mix. Berlin BPitch boss/techno visionary Ellen Allien doesn't stray from a minimal palette for Boogy Bytes Vol. 4, but she blends a clean, aurally rich collection in the style for which she's globally recognized.
Boogy Bytes Vol. 4 is markedly without any glimpse of Allien's forth-coming LP. Its chilling, ambient opener — recitations and static manipulation included — belongs to poet/electronic experimentalist AGF, though, who produced the host's imminent 2008 full-length. From there, the mix slinks along microbeats and pitched-up bass, with glossy, chiming house from Italian artist Lucio Aquilina (“My Cube”) and Sozadams' dizzying “Eyes Forlon,” which Allien slips behind a barrage of glitch and detuned synth blips midway through the set. Her dressing-up of an already haunting entry from Sasha Funke's Mango (“Double Checked”) — with a fluctuating loop of bleary vocals tucked behind a two-chord-and-claps outro — would've sounded better were it followed by a new Allien original; alas, there is no such luck here.
— Dominic Umile
RALF GUM
Uniting Music (GoGo)
Uplifting, if familiar, house intimacy
Gum's soulful, gracefully steady house music shows that Germany knows how to move trendy taste-making bars and open terraces. The veteran DJ's deluxe clubbing is capped by the luxury tonsils of Monique Bingham (“Kissing Strangers”) and Inaya Day (“Easy”). Though “All This Love for You” and “Searching” inject some sweat, Gum knows the accepted standards of such a genre involving percussion, rolling bass, Latin tang and is aware of its own impeccable, elegantly keyed posture. A welcomingly cool breeze for sticky summer nights, even if you probably know its every flutter.
— Matt Oliver
ISLANDS
Arm's Way (Anti-)
Grasping at pop's darker reaches
It's a bit redundant when Nick Thorburn sings, “In the back of my mind/I want to do bad things/I want to be unkind” to open “I Feel Evil Creeping in,” the penultimate song of his band's second album. It follows songs about murder and misfortune, and by then this Montreal outfit's new mood is apparent. Robust rock arrangements of swirling guitar, strings, keys and horns grab the focus from the Graceland-inspired rhythms of their debut, but the indulgent compositions are still ambitious and rewarding. Traces of whimsy and hope do appear, but dark impulses are the heart of this set.
— Noah Levine
METAFORM
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (Just/BSMNT)
Or at least near them
From melancholy to boisterous, Meta-form's wayward-drifting instrumentals easily call for shelf space next to DJ Shadow or Amon Tobin. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants is a tidy balancing act; Metaform is generous with sullen melodies, bits of live instrumentation and quick-sliced cuts over looped breaks, but he doesn't linger for long. Look no further than to the erratic, digger-framed freak-outs in “As if in a Dream,” or to the pastiche of choral samples and splintering psyche of “Barbie Doll” for this guy's own stamp on a genre with which he is quite familiar.
— Dominic Umile
PANDA RIOT
She Dares All Things (Panda Riot)
Oh no! Pandas! Run!
Chicago's Panda Riot honors its shoegaze roots with a gauzy and energetic debut à la Asobi Seksu. She Dares All Things teeters on high-end overload at the jump, as treble-rich guitars flood opener “White Elephants” before vocalist Rebecca Scott delivers an unexpectedly chipper performance. After the twinkling “Like Flowers at Night” beat machine-steadied intro, Panda Riot's most satisfying effort breaks into several shifts, with more insanely bright guitars, a beach-pop melody and an urgency that was once only attributed to rioting pandas. Jesus, those things can get really hostile.
— Dominic Umile
SCIENCE FOR GIRLS
Science for Girls (Science for Girls)
Beauty meets beast
Science for Girls' Darren Solomon loves spongy sounds and electronic programming. Recalling Everything But the Girl, Solomon plies dark vocalists with intense programming, the contrast between lush human and artificial production especially striking. Vocalist Bronwen Exter brings angelic humility to the Rhodes-comforted ballad “14 Days,” with the soft-focus template repeated for the vocoder-effected “You'll Never Know” and the silken “Northern Lights.” A successful Manhattan jingle writer by day (Amex, M&Ms), Solomon finds the sweet spot in the New York night.
— Ken Micallef
SALLY SHAPIRO
Remix Romance Vol. 1 (Paper Bag)
Delicate disco
These remixes of Shapiro's 2007 nu-disco debut were handpicked by the Swedish singer and her producer Johan AgebjÖrn, and they chose well. Shapiro's understated, pretty tones are a nice change from the usual predatory female club vocal, and those who reworked her songs understand this, as the new arrangements demonstrate. Her melody line is carefully chopped up by whirling bongos and effects on The Cansecos' “Hold Me So Tight,” modulating synths range through Juan MacLean's revamp of “I Know You're My Love,” and a blithe ticktock feel makes Lindstrøm's take on “Time to Let Go” a standout.
— Kristi Kates
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
