electro from kyoto, iceland makes string & a study of metric’s.
Shinichi Osawa recently released SO2 and I was finally given the impetus to purchase his first record as well, as his cover of star guitar was always a favorite of mine. The Chemical Brothers may have made the track to start out with, but SO’s version is wild, frenetic, and even more beautiful than the original. Both records of Shinichi Osawa are brilliant, hard bits of electro, with a huge emphasis placed on guitar for the first record and the heavy sampling and repetition of pianos on the second. In my favorite records of electronic music, there is a constant; the use of natural instruments taken to devious and synthetic ends using the studio as a furnace to bend the sound to the producer’s will. This is Osawa’s great talent, his ability to change what would be wonderful pop guitar into a crunched, compressed, just mean guitar that envelopes the mix. He’s done a mix for renaissance as well, with some top shelf electro on that disc, so do take a look if you’re of that persuasion. As introduction, listen to star guitar, then make the jump in for the rest. Electro is not always a user friendly format of EDM and sometimes it’s a bit ironical and self effacing, which to the long time listeners, we know. Though if you’re just getting into it, realize, we [the EDM community] are kidding sometimes.
I have made reference to Johann Johannsson before in my discussions and my long search for his “Fordlandia” record is now at a close. The new classical style, though occasionally dangerous territory, does have it’s profound voices. Johannsson is not an overly complex or technical composer, his melodies are simple and gorgeous. But he is always in hot pursuit of a mood, a tone that will describe a feeling better than any word and this record really does describe loss, tragedy and moments of singularity in one’s life very well. The record is just completely distopic and sad, but with beautiful sweeping strings that are loose and flowing. While his synths, as an antipodal counterpoint, have rigid structures like soviet architecture. His music is staggeringly gorgeous but his vision is what carries the record: his theme is that of Fordlandia, a south american experiment that Henry Ford himself undertook. It was a horrible, heart wrenching failure. And that is the theme, instructions to the careful, slow dismantling of a dream.
Alex Metric is a close friend of Adam Freeland and co conspirator of the new noise in electronic music. He’s taking vintage sounds, mangling them and contributing partially to the nu disco sound but also the punk rock 2 step that Mr. Freeland has been undertaking the last few years. They are together, a nye unstoppable force. But I have always been curious to hear something fresh and on his own, to see how well Alex plays alone. Metric recently released the “It Starts” EP with a wonderful, heavy hitting breakbeat on the album title. Really just heavy as hell and full of the clips and blips we all know from Alex’s work on the Freeland record, Cope. Though I do wonder if these two individuals, Adam and Alex, are made greater than the total sum of their individual talents when they work together. It seems that Freeland and Metric complete one another with Alex’s pentient for pop hooks and Freeland’s deep, dark, noisy breaks. But that’s only just an idle thought. Great EP, the tracks stand alone but the album title opener is the definite shiner.
I have just started to listen to the new Skream record, “Outside the Box”. I have yet to form an opinion, though this does appear to be a rather smashing bit of dubstep. I however am still hoping for a new record from our man in east london, Burial.
I think that should do.
keep your headphones on.
_backchat
posted from the [seventeenpointzero]
