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Credits
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June 19 - July 2
Earplug is a twice-monthly email magazine, delivering a handpicked selection of news, sounds, videos, and original features
to the international electronic-music community.
While feted producer, club mainstay, and dream remixer Carl Craig is America's premiere ambassador of electronic-dance music,
he's also the standard-bearer for more obscure legacies, like Detroit's underrecognized jazz collective Tribe. On the eve
of his appearance at New York's JVC Jazz Festival, alongside Tribe veterans Marcus Belgrave, Phil Ranelin, and Wendell Harrison,
Craig spoke to Earplug about a side of himself that far fewer listeners know about. Continuing the educational theme, Invisible Conga People prove they're not just another nu-disco act, giving us the lowdown on ten of the cuts that influenced the band's psychedelic
sound. Excellent sets from Nôze, James Pants, Tobias., Low Motion Disco, and DFA's James Murphy and Pat Mahoney are sure to prick up your ears,
while reviews of albums from Quiet Village, Spiritualized, the Wighnomy Brothers, Nomo, and Claro Intelecto offer some summer-listening
favorites.
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Sonic Youth Find a Daydream Patron
SENSATIONAL FIX showcases band's multifaceted approach to art
Now open at the LiFE (International Place for Emerging Forms) museum in Saint-Nazaire, France, SONIC YOUTH ETC.: SENSATIONAL FIX offers both an exhaustive overview of the pioneering band and intimate insight into the lives of its friends and collaborators.
As multidisciplinary as the musicians themselves, the collection of artifacts, artwork, and media includes many of the group's
early flyers, recordings, videos, and photographs alongside the work of influential icons like William S. Burroughs, Stan Brakhage, and Gerhard Richter (the latter's 1983 painting Kerze famously graced the cover of landmark SY record Daydream Nation).
The exhibition offers a chance to root through the band's past as one might dig through boxes in someone's attic. Freelance
curator Roland Groenenboom has described the show as "an alternative history of contemporary culture." As such, it's no surprise
this massive career overview is premiering in a hip art space — a converted former German submarine base — instead of the
corporate rock castle in Cleveland.
- Pat Sisson
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Peer-to-Star Network
Håkan Lidbo, Calexico, Underground Resistance explore space
Cosmic disco is all the rage, but Daniele Baldelli's heirs aren't the only ones with their eyes and ears turned toward the
sky. Last week, Sweden's Håkan Lidbo emailed Earplug to announce that one of his compositions had just been sent into space. A collaboration between the Swedish Space Corporation and Swedish National Radio, Music for Alien Civilizations collects the work of Swedish artists like Lidbo, Andreas Tilliander, and the Knife's Olof Dreijer. On June 4, the music was
beamed via radio signal toward Cassiopeia, a star located "not too many light years away" from our solar system. Let's hope
the technology used was more rigorous than some of the musicians' methodologies: Henrik Johansson (aka Smyglyssna) writes
that he "chose between making music with water sounds or piano sounds. Simply because he thinks it is beautiful."
There's clearly something in the air: Pitchfork recently reported that "Crystal Frontier," by roots rockers Calexico, was part of the Discovery astronauts' playlist on their most recent mission.
Detroit techno pioneer Jeff Mills, meanwhile, recently released "Alpha Centauri," a new record dedicated to a 1965 space probe that went astray. In addition,
he and "Mad" Mike Banks will make a rare Earth landing as X-102 Discovers Rings of Saturn at this weekend's Sónar festival
in Barcelona, reprising a 1992 recording (with Robert Hood) set to mind-boggling images of the ringed planet.
- Philip Sherburne
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MORE HEADLINES
Lizard Vision
Can's Irwin Schmidt & Kumo release Axolotl Eyes more »
Grand Theft Audio
GTA IV radio reviewed more »
Fluo Kits
Digitalism behind next Kitsuné Mix more »
Monkeys in the Mix
Simian Mobile Disco to mix FabricLive 41 more »
DJ Assault Lives Up to His Name
DJ attacks Alan Braxe onstage more »
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Artist: |
Quiet Village |
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| Title: |
Silent Movie |
| Label: |
!K7 |
| Release: |
May 13 |
To call Quiet Village a Radio Slave side project is something of a stretch. Yes, Matt "Radio Slave" Edwards has a 50% stake (alongside Joel Martin)
in the lovably cheesy Balearic mood music of Quiet Village, but don't dwell on it — Silent Movie and Edwards' sullen tech-house exist in parallel universes. This is as far removed from the dance floor as it gets — more
like music for a sex 'n drug orgy on a holodeck than anything else. "Too High to Move"? Totally: muffled thump, horn solos,
and, way down there in the mix, crashing waves. "Pillow Talk"? That silk-sheet-smooth guitar lick is straight pornographic.
Quiet Village add a dash of exotica and a chunk of cheese to what "new disco" cohorts like Chromeo and the Italians Do It
Better roster have been attempting; but more importantly, they have the gall to take the throwback exercise to its ridiculous
and wonderful conclusion.
- Michael Byrne
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Artist: |
Spiritualized |
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| Title: |
Songs in A&E |
| Label: |
Universal/Spaceman |
| Release: |
May 27 |
After a several-year hiatus (due in part to mastermind Jason Spaceman's bout with a life-threatening illness), Spiritualized
return, once again tapping choirs, synthesizers, and mellow, smoky vocals for tales of struggle, defeat, redemption, and hope.
More weathered than on previous albums, Spaceman's voice is buoyed by grandiose string arrangements. He takes center stage
in the record's more simple ballads, emerging from the drowns of feedback, as bombastic emissions give way to a subtle, stripped-down
folk style. Alternately dark and uplifting lyrics match equally bleak/upbeat arrangements — the whole thing feels inspired
by the sparklingly depressing shade of hospital white. Including a 32-page medical manual and a fold-out poster featuring
pastel-tipped IV needles, the deluxe edition of A&E — a reference to English hospitals' Accident & Emergency wards — is marked by recovery at every turn.
- Lisa Garrett
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Artist: |
Wighnomy Brothers |
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| Title: |
Metawuffmischfelge |
| Label: |
Freude am Tanzen |
| Release: |
April 7 |
Metawuffmischfelge doesn't seem like it should be the Wighnomy Brothers' first commercial mix CD. The duo's sprawling productions and remixes
have always felt more like miniature club sessions, swinging from tech-house to minimal to dub while making clicky minces
of the originals. Foregoing a more traditionally linear approach, the mix pulls together a balanced, cohesive hour, smartly
sequenced and looping back upon itself. With the dour strings of Agoria's "Les Violons Ivres," Metawuffmischfelge ("a fantasy word," according to Gabor Schablitzki, the only Wighnomy given selection and mixing credit) takes an elaborate
pass through several emotional states. It goes on to touch beachside points from Trentemøller & DJ T.O.M. ("An Evening with
Bobi Bros"), while making casual reference back to Mathias Kaden's percussive "Rhythma." Instead of offering a 68-minute,
peak-hour slice, it's the kind of mix that begs to be stretched into a four or five hour set.
- Nick Parish
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Artist: |
NOMO |
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| Title: |
Ghost Rock |
| Label: |
Ubiquity |
| Release: |
June 17 |
While American spins on African music have proliferated of late, few genre-crossing groups deliver the Tortoise-sized fusion
of NOMO. Like Antibalas' recent Security, the streamlined Ghost Rock is indicative of a tighter, more experimental sound. It seems the Afrobeat-inspired Michigan group has shed some of its hefty,
slightly jammy grooves in favor of a more muscular, hotwired approach. "Brainwave" opens the album with a twitchy, circuit-bending
battle cry. The incandescent, bubbling tones cycling through "Rings" and the shaky, weaving melody of "Nova" suggest minimal,
loop-based electronic rhythms and a darker, more insular side. The band's Konono-like junkyard electronics also buzz and sizzle
throughout, but it's the cool interplay between lush horns, clipped guitars, and homemade electronics that makes this a studied
advance in technique as opposed to a skilled adaptation.
- Pat Sisson
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Artist: |
Claro Intelecto |
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| Title: |
Metanarrative |
| Label: |
Modern Love |
| Release: |
March 18 |
Like its predecessor, Claro Intelecto's second album, Metanarrative, courts overcast, emotionally distant techno that floats between the wintry pastorals of German artist Lawrence, the glummer
climes of Detroit techno, and the Chain Reaction imprint's grayscale washouts. Sure, it's a somewhat over-populated field,
but mastermind producer Mark Stewart's gentle, reserved touch — not to mention his welcome brevity (the album clocks in at
around 40 minutes) — means these vague tone poems never tire. At mid-point "Gone to the Dogs," almost all color disappears:
the subterranean bass and noxious clouds of texture recall Super-8 footage screened on a black-and-white television, the broadcast
interrupted by ghosting and static. By the closing "Beautiful Death," the album's narrative arc is complete, and everything's
whittled down to its barest form.
- Jon Dale
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REVIEW: MUTEK
May 28 - June 1
Montreal, QC
www.mutek.org
For years, Montreal's MUTEK festival felt like an upstart — an isolated outpost for experimental electronic music and the
kind of more populist (but hardly popular) club fare that's perpetually struggled to convince North Americans of its relevance.
But, after eight annual installments and numerous satellite projects (in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, India, China, Berlin, and
elsewhere), this year's event reached a sort of critical mass, boasting both the smoothest delivery and most diverse offerings
in the history of the event.
A case in point, Underground Resistance supergroup Interstellar Fugitives are far from the MUTEK norm: their opening-night performance integrated smoke machines,
angry political sloganeering, dystopian sci-fi projections, masks, and five men clothed in all black. For nearly 90 minutes,
the group kept a small throng stage-front at the warehouse-like SAT space, covering material from 2006 UR label compilation
Interstellar Fugitives 2, a stylistic hodgepodge that runs from brooding downtempo to kicked-up Detroit techno. Special mention goes to MIA, on drum
pads, and hypeman Atlantis (we think — they were masked with blindfolds for much of the time). We were definitely feeling
the rejection of personality and injection of politics into dance music that UR represents. Put against something as flashy
and indulgent as Modeselektor's set two nights later, it gave the five-night MUTEK party some gravity.
More so than in recent years, dub, breaks, and digi-crunk were also on prominent display. Friday's Nocturne offered a reprieve
from the 4/4 techno onslaught with performances from hometown turntablist-done-well Kid Koala as well as Megasoid and Knifehandchop. Fresh from the success of Happy Birthday! and seemingly nonstop global touring, Modeselektor grabbed the headline spot. While the act may have lacked the playful,
on-the-fly spontaneity and jump-up/ragga stylings of earlier incarnations, the duo made up for it by the sheer size and impact
of the performance, packing extra punch courtesy of larger-than-life visuals from Bpitch's in-house design team, Pfadfinderei.
keep reading »
REVIEW: A Tribute to Arthur Russell
May 15-17
New York, NY
www.thekitchen.org
Though his groundbreaking dance tracks became late-night mainstays at Larry Levan's Paradise Garage, cellist/underground dance
icon Arthur Russell's real home was New York's legendary Kitchen. As the SoHo art space's musical director in the mid-70s,
he coordinated performances by Downtown avant-garde luminaries while cultivating a cavernous collection of his own darkly
resonant dance songs (many of which are only now seeing the light of day). As such, there's couldn't be a better place to
honor Russell's life and music than the venue's more recent uptown incarnation.
Curated by Matthew Lyons and Chris McIntyre, the Kitchen's weekend-long salute kicked off with the New York premiere of Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, Matt Wolf's new documentary on the musician's life and growing legacy. Using artful reconstruction and the few bits of archival footage
that exist, the film follows Russell from his home in Oskaloosa, IA — where his parents Chuck and Emily still live — to his
East Village apartment. While Russell also makes a pit stop in San Francisco, where he meets future friend and neighbor Allen Ginsberg, it's in New York that he truly hits his stride. It was there that he lived with his boyfriend, Tom Lee, until his tragic
death of AIDS in 1992.
Rather than give a detailed account of Russell's life, Wolf approaches his subject as an Impressionist painter does a landscape,
giving us a blurred glimpse into a man whose life was the music he made. Part of this approach is, of course, due to the lack
of first-hand footage, but this handicap ends up being Wolf's strongest weapon: Russell's music almost plays better over washes
of color and light, interspersed with photos. At the film's end, one gets the feeling that Wolf has but briefly captured a
ghost, and that Russell's spirit remains as elusive as ever.
keep reading »
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Nôze: RA.106 (MP3)
The only thing wetter than the weather at MUTEK's final outdoor performance was the bottomless cups of Parisian boozehounds
Nôze. Gloriously goofy.
 LISTEN |
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James Pants: Gorilla vs Pants Mix (MP3)
Stones Throw's James Pants goes way off the deep end with this free-form blast of free-your-mind jams from Bruce Haack, Todd
Rundgren, De la Soul, and... Ariel Pink?!
LISTEN |
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Tobias.: Live @ Watergate 10-11-2007 (MP3)
With recent releases on Cadenza, Wagon Repair, and Ostgut Ton, Berlin's Tobias Freund is on fire lately. This recording captures
a riveting live set that zig-zags from steely minimal to emotive house.
LISTEN |
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Low Motion Disco: Love in Space Mix (MP3)
Eskimo signees Low Motion Disco fuse beatless psych with understated grooves on this whispery spin through David Byrne, Panda
Bear, the Mountain People, and Jacques Renault.
LISTEN |
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James Murphy and Pat Mahoney: Beats in Space Mix (MP3)
In case you missed it the first time around, here are James Murphy and Pat Mahoney as Special Disco Version for Tim Sweeney's
Beats in Space. What more do you need to know?
LISTEN |
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Looking for more hot mix sets and fresh new tracks? Check out Blentwell for an ongoing document of the evolution of blended music online.
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WATCH
Make Up the Breakdown
Andy Butler explains Hercules' album watch »
Vintage 4AD
Dif Juz, "Hu" watch »
Balearic Not Balearic
Sandy Marton, "People from Ibiza" watch »
Not NSFW
BPA feat. David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal, "Toe Jam" watch »
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Carl Craig's Tribal Affiliations
Detroit techno veteran teams up with local jazz elders
Detroit's Carl Craig is many things to many people: techno enthusiast and pioneering producer, label guru, club DJ, celebrated remixer, Grammy
nominee, and founder of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. In his nearly 20-year career, Craig's passion for music has run the gamut from melodic techno and drum 'n bass to funk,
soul, and jazz. It was projects like the Innerzone Orchestra and the Detroit Experiment that fueled Craig's desire to helm
the reunification of Detroit jazz collective Tribe. Originally formed in 1971, the group recorded experimental jazz albums and influenced a generation of local musicians. Several
of those records were re-issued earlier this decade with remixes by Tortoise's John Herndon. After working with Tribe trumpeter Marcus Belgrave on the Detroit Experiment in 2003, Craig pursued living members of Tribe in the hopes of recording with them. With the sessions
completed, he's putting the finishing touches on the as-yet untitled album, due out in September. Earplug's Tim Pratt caught
up with Craig via phone just five days after the birth of his new baby daughter.
Earplug: What's up with this new jazz project you're working on?
Carl Craig: It's about Tribe — [trumpeter] Marcus Belgrave, [trombonist] Phil Ranelin, [drummer] Doug Hammond, [saxophonist] Wendell Harrison,
and [pianist] Harold McKinney, who's not with us anymore. It's a project based around music these guys wrote and released
30-35 years ago. We've done new versions of [their material]. Basically, I'm producing an album for this music that I really
love and have a lot of pride in. These are fellow Detroiters and legends as well. It's a re-presentation of these guys, re-introducing
them to the world.
EP: Have you finished the recording sessions or are you still working on it?
keep reading »
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MORE FEATURES
Back to Fronting
"Hipster rap" invites a backlash more »
Strumming About Architecture
David Byrne plays the building more »
Just the Fax
Rob Young profiles Pete Namlook's ambient label more »
Numerology
Techno + dubstep = 2562 more »
Man of Few Favorites
Jamie Lidell completes Pitchfork's "Guest List" more »
Motoring On
Greg Scruggs analyzes DEMF's inner workings more »
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Each issue, Earplug sneaks a peek inside the crates of our favorite DJs. We'll even help you beef up your own bag: click on
selected titles to preview tracks, download MP3s, or purchase vinyl.
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It's hard to find a more perfect debut single than Invisible Conga People's "Cable Dazed," and even harder to find a dance
band with a better name. Four-to-the-floor kick drums and spring-loaded percussion mean Invisible Conga People are often lumped
with the likes of Hercules and Love Affair and Glass Candy, but the band's cozily lo-fi, drone-laced tracks don't don the
nu-disco tag so easily. Rather, they blur the old and new — like a tomb rubbing of a mossy monument to pop. These eccentric
picks might explain why.
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- Yura Yura Teikoku, "Ohayou Mada Yarou" (Sony Japan)
Mind-boggling opening track from the greatest band on Earth's latest masterpiece. Like a classic '60s soul song churned through
tremolos and sung in Japanese? Basically indescribable. No one even comes close to these guys.
- Zazou / Bikaye / Cy 1, "M'Pasi Ya M'Pamba" (Crammed Discs)
Perfect combination of analogue synths and live percussion. The vocals are excellent too. I heard this after we recorded "Weird
Pains" and thought we had channeled a similar energy. Of course they did it 25 years ago. Oh well.
- Baka Forest People, "Water Drums 1" (Hannibal)
Beautiful, raw field recordings of Pygmies living in the S.E. Cameroon rainforest, featuring lots of insect accompaniment.
I especially enjoy listening to this on the noisy NYC subway. Someone recently reviewed a Conga People show and said our kick
drums sounded like a "bogful of frogs." I wasn't sure if that was meant to be insulting.
- Phew, "Dream" (Pass)
Sad, dreamy track off of Phew's timeless collaboration with Can. This is one of my favorite records ever. Some of her more
recent work as Big Picture has a similar vibe to this song. Phew's my idol.
- Klaus Schulze, "A Few Minutes After Trancefer" (Innovative Communication)
I went to Europe in April and couldn't buy much since the dollar was in the crapper, but I did manage to find a bunch of cheap
records by '70s synth dudes — Schulze/T.Dream, etc. I like the bulk of these folks' often meandering (and compositionally
kind of boring?) work.
- Alèmu Aga, "Abatatchen Hoy" (Buda Musique)
This is from a collection of songs traditionally performed during the Great Fast (Lent) in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Every song sounds pretty much identical — just a low, buzzing "harp" (actually an oversized lyre called a bèguèna) and a guy
softly singing/whispering over it.
- DJ Rasoul feat. Shanan, "Let Me Love You" (Large)
A few weeks back, I was obsessively listening to this track over and over all day long. I was humming it in my sleep. I couldn't
shake it. Such a good house track.
- Hamza el Din, "Ollin Arageed" (The Pacific Arts Corp)
I went on a romantic getaway to the Catskills a couple of weeks ago, and this Nubian traditional got the heaviest rotation
in the rental car. Totally incongruous with American farmland scenery, but somehow it was perfect.
- Takehisa Kosugi, "Mano-Dharma '74" (CBS/Sony)
Been listening to this a lot again lately. Drone music that isn't boring! Another good one to listen to at work.
- Saheer Umar, "untitled" (unreleased)
I'm biased because this is one of my best friends, but I think this stuff is going to be huge in 2009. Quirky but classy house
music with strong production.
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About Us |
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Earplug is an email magazine dedicated to electronic music and its many dynamic styles and influences. Published twice-monthly,
it features a handpicked selection of music news, cultural spotlights, tip sheets, CD reviews, original reporting, and music
festival previews and reviews. Earplug offers only pure editorial and unbiased news — no money is accepted from any artists,
labels, promoters, or companies seeking mention.
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Advertising Partners |
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Every other week, Earplug presents one exclusive advertising partner. Click for more information about advertising opportunities on Earplug and across all Flavorpill publications.
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Cover Art |
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We have an open call to create the covers that run at the top of each issue. If you would like to submit a design, please
email us at design and we'll send you the necessary specs.
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Submissions/Feedback |
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Tell us what you think is exciting and worth including in Earplug by dropping us an email at tips. Writers interested in getting even more involved should reach us at contribute. To criticize, praise, or generally comment on this publication, please send an email to feedback.
In addition to this twice-monthly digest of new electronic music, Flavorpill publishes a series of online magazines, covering
ART, BOOKS, NEWS, and cultural events in six cities — NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, SAN FRANCISCO, CHICAGO, MIAMI, and LONDON. Coming soon: STYLE/DESIGN and FILM. Subscribe now.
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