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News
New Releases
Festivals
Listen
Feature
Charts
Credits
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OCTOBER 13 - 26
Earplug is a twice-monthly email magazine, delivering a handpicked
selection of news, sounds, videos, and original features to the international electronic-music community.
This weekend marks the South American Music Conference — Buenos Aires' answer to professional gatherings like those in Cannes and Miami — so it's fitting that we turn our attention to artists from the places not generally thought of as dance-music epicenters: places like Tijuana, Madrid, and rural Scotland. News from the world of digital downloads, though, proves that geography matters less and less. (Fittingly, this issue launches on John Peel Day, paying tribute to a man who did more than perhaps any other radio DJ to bring a borderless world of sound to his listeners' ears.) To update an old saw from Eric B. and Rakim, it's not where you're from, or where you're at, but how fast your modem's running.
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The HHR™ is rolling proof that cool can be useful and useful can be cool. Get into the latest form of self-expression for just $15,990.* What are you waiting for? Go to Chevy.com and check it out.
*MSRP. Tax, title, license, dealer fees, and optional equipment extra. ©2005 GM Corp. Buckle up, America! |
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Hail Holy Sound
Sound art exhibition opens in Cincinnati
Curated by Detroit radio host Liz Copeland and Minus label manager/DJ Clark Warner, Sacred and Profane: A Collection of Sonic Art opens this month at Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center. The exhibit, which previously ran in Detroit in 2004, features original sound pieces ranging from experimental electronics to free jazz, classical composition, and noise experimentation by local and international artists including Jack Dangers, His Name Is Alive's Warn Defever, Robin Guthrie, Richie Hawtin, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Tadd Mullinix, DJ Olive, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and Mark Van Hoen. The exhibit, says Copeland, was born out of "confusion about why sound always had to be secondary in the art world," rather than simply being put "in its own framework." To accomplish that goal, Copeland and Warner break from multimedia-heavy sound art installations along the lines of those featured in recent years at Barcelona's MACBA and New York's P.S.1, by stripping the gallery down to its bare minimum and replacing the art on the walls with simple listening stations and headphones. (CW)
One Million Served and Counting
Dance downloads, Gwen Stefani make their numbers
The digital music sphere, whose invisible hand is so often bitten by the major labels that should be feeding it (and simultaneously gummed up by illegal downloads, where "P2P" is just an acronym for "five-finger discount"), is understandably savvy about statistics. Metrics, after all, lend transparency (and legitimacy) to an otherwise opaque space. This month saw two announcements illuminating strikingly different corners of the download world; both, coincidentally, prominently figured the numeral one followed by six zeroes. Interscope announced that Gwen Stefani's single "Hollaback Girl" had sold one million commercial downloads as of October 3rd — only a little more than six months after its release. Meanwhile, dance-music download site Beatport announced that it was nearing its own one-million mark, and promised a golden ticket of software prizes and free downloads for a year to the lucky customer who carves the notch in its belt. The Stefani stat is impressive, but not shocking — the more mindblowing metric may be that "mastertone sales" of the single to mobile phones are also nearing one million. But for dance music — an industry slow to accept technological change on the dance floor — Beatport's announcement suggests significant market shifts to come. (PS)
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MORE HEADLINES
Growth Spurt
Digital download market triples in first half of 2005 more »
"Slow" and Steady
Kylie ghostwriter Emiliana Torrini returns more »
Indie Power
TVT's Steve Gottlieb on the American Association of Independent Music more »
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Artist: |
DJ Koze |
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| Album: |
Kosi Comes Around |
| Label: |
Kompakt |
| Release: |
September 12 |
In the eclectic tradition of his dance floor-decimating DJ sets and the whimsical Wo Die Rammelwolle Fliegt, International Pony's Stefan Kozalla returns with the wonderfully bipolar Kosi Comes Around. Deploying an arsenal of tracks forged specifically for peak-hour battlegrounds, Kozalla charges in with the same Spartan economy and stern intensity he employed on "Brutalga Square" (thankfully present here), last year's lauded Speicher side that relentlessly rattled Richter scales and dancers' spines. But not all of the album is banged out on an anvil; its craftsman easily transitions from austere techno blacksmith to folktronic melody-maker with lilting numbers such as "My Grandmotha" — a stunning track that trots, shimmers, and innocently grooves like a pop-tinged childhood reverie. Apt to flash wolf's teeth one moment and orchestrate a lullaby the next, Kozalla and his mischievous duality must have compatriots the Brothers Grimm rolling in their graves. (JJ)
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Artist: |
Jackson and His Electronic Band |
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| Album: |
Smash |
| Label: |
Warp |
| Release: |
September 19 |
As a boy, Jackson Fourgeaud claims to have spent his time fantasizing about the lives of the musicians surrounding his mother, blues singer Paula Moore. So rather than growing up to be a solo musician, he became something like the musical incarnation of Hearst Castle, developing into an amalgam of as many artists as he could. Unlike media mogul William Randolph Hearst, however, Jackson presents a work not of vainglorious excess, but rather of both frantic complexity and opiate beauty. Sampling and creating sounds from nearly every imaginable genre, he paints a picture in which electro drums pound their way through malevolent keyboards (as on opener and single "Utopia"), arena guitars make way for big breakdowns that fade in and out of vaudeville melodies (lead single "Rock On"), and absinthe-laced bass lines flirt in back alleys overrun by sirens of the night ("Hard Tits"). Through the tension between conflicting images, Jackson hints, "You supply the pictures, I'll supply the war." (CO)
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Artist: |
Murcof |
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| Album: |
Remembranza |
| Label: |
Leaf |
| Release: |
September 23 |
Using classical strings in electronic music requires a deft touch, in order to avoid the feigned emotion of a sound-bank contrivance. On his debut, Martes, Fernando Corona, aka Murcof, found a delicate balance by layering tastefully restrained string arrangements and mournful piano chords over indistinct micro-samples. Following suit, Remembranza looks further inward, taking the formula deeper into the cerebral with an astoundingly magnified sense of production. "Razón (en 3 Partes)" is especially otherworldly, an apt soundtrack for grainy footage from an exploration of the Titanic. The percussion sounds like a crab skittering across a bed of barnacles, while watery piano notes bubble to the surface from the groaning belly of a ship. The mood of the entire album is similarly somber, but "Reflejo" ups the tempo slightly with a 4/4 kick drum, elevating things to a level where some refracted sunlight is barely visible amid a swaying kelp bed. As deft as it gets. (CJN)
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Artist: |
Dijf Sanders |
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| Album: |
To Be a Bob |
| Label: |
DUB |
| Release: |
October 17 |
Ideas come fast and furious (and occasionally, frivolous) on Dijf Sanders' second album for Rotterdam's DUB label. To Be a Bob hopscotches from frothy jazz to fizzy pop to laidback, lo-fi downbeat. The Antwerp producer and his collaborators conjure a beautiful, unworried — and, surprisingly, unhurried — mess of styles, invoking influences as diverse as Tom Waits, Apparat, Mose Allison, and Morr Music. Ball-bearing beats skitter into anti-gravity upper atmospheres, toy keyboards chime imaginary hours, and goofily growled voices rant about long drinks and girlfriends' bras. The album leaves the impression of a sun-drenched stylist's studio, littered with unlikely pieces from incompatible seasons — flowery ascots knotted over steely waistcoats, and chunky, woolen sweaters cinched up with twine and fishing wire. Odd analogies, perhaps, but then, this is odd music, fanciful and self-assured all at once. (PS)
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Artist: |
Alex Under |
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| Album: |
Dispositivos de mi Granja |
| Label: |
Trapez |
| Release: |
September 19 |
The title of Madrid producer Alex Under's debut album may translate to "Equipment from My Farm," but there's nothing particularly industrial or bucolic about it. Instead, elements of Akufen, Thomas Melchior, and Dan Bell combine to make for a collection of patiently minimal, profoundly funky, floor-ready tracks. Aside from walloping kicks and sand-blasted snares, all of Under's percussion is whittled down to needle-point proportions, the better to let his bright, sparkly keyboards and chiming arpeggios fill in the white space. Meanwhile, in contrast to the longer arcs followed by many current techno producers, Under sticks to tight one- and four-bar loops that churn the musical soil with fierce efficiency; the illusion of evolution results from canny drop-outs and cunning re-entries. As for the turning of the seasons, on Under's farm, it's always swingtime — brisk, skippy, and fertile. (PS)
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EARPLUG FAVES
Ewan Pearson, Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi. Vol. 1 (Soma)
Matias Aguayo, Are You Really Lost (Kompakt)
Vladislav Delay/
Antye Greie/
Craig Armstrong,
The Dolls (Huume)
The MFA, "The Difference It Makes" (Border Community)
Various, Não Wave: Brazil Post Punk 1982-1988 (Man)
Whitey, The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a Train (1234)
Vladislav Delay, The Four Quarters (Huume)
Boards of Canada, The Campfire Headphase (Warp)
Various, Dubstep Allstars Vol.02 (Tempa)
Dandy Jack and the Junction SM, Los Siete Castigos (Perlon)
Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, The Days of Mars (DFA)
Mike Ladd, Father Divine (Roir)
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Decibel Festival
September 22-25
Seattle, Washington
www.dbfestival.com
Last year's inaugural Decibel Festival hinted at greatness; this year's installment asserted that the four-day/night event can legitimately lay claim to being the Pacific Northwest's own MUTEK. Peaks came hot and heavily amped at the extravaganza dedicated to the advancement of advanced digital media production and consumption, featuring gear clinics, panel discussions, visual art, and, of course, music showcases. From the most quiescent, minimalist ambience (Loscil, Pan American) and sublime microtone/glitch/drone sculpting (Fennesz, Son of Rose) to radical subversions of hip-hop-infused IDM (Merck Records showcase), pummeling knarz-techno (Shitkatapult showcase), and some of the world's most adventurous tech-house (Bruno Pronsato, Akufen, Thomas Fehlmann, Deadbeat), Decibel flaunted a cornucopia of intelligent programming — and killer sound helmed by world-class engineer Vance Galloway. Attendance was robust and the crowd enthusiastic throughout the fest, evoking a combination of MUTEK's discerning appreciation and old-school raves' full-on raging. In fact, things went so well that, immediately after Isolée's breathtaking, Db-concluding tech-disco set, creative director Jerry Abstract was already roaring about next year's bright prospects. (DS)
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listen » |
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Out Hud (RealAudio)
New York-via-Sacramento funk-punkers Out Hud stir up dark disco and lurching techno in this session for mix-set goldmine Five Grand Stereo — home to exclusive mixes from the likes of Lopazz, Zero dB, and (coming soon) Kid Loco, UnaBombers, and Richard Dorfmeister.
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listen » |
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Galaktika Records Presents Martinez (RealAudio)
Sweden's Martinez, known for tracks on Dessous and Morris Audio — and destined for greater fame with upcoming releases on Get Physical and a remix of Nathan Fake's "Sky Was Pink" — ratchets up electro-house's wrenching grooves with skittering minimalism and a battery of acid bass lines.
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listen » |
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Joakim Plays Good Music (RealAudio)
Ah, they're cheeky, the French. Joakim opens his mix for the mind-blowing Le Milliardaire site with a computer-generated voice sweetly singing, "Fuck off / Please fuck off," before launching into the kind of unclassifiable funk, disco, and experimental electronica that made his label Tigersushi such a powerhouse.
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listen » |
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Sambacana Vol. 16: Iky's Mixtape Vol. 1 (MP3)
DJ Babão and Iky tour the state of Brazilian hip-hop with 14 old-school-influenced, mid-tempo bangers. Whether or not you speak Portuguese ("favela" is about the only word we recognize), the sense of flow is unmistakable.
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listen » |
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Alter Ego Live at the Awakenings Festival 2005 (MP3)
No wonder they call it the Awakenings Festival: Alter Ego's blistering live set is a high-octane cocktail of paint-peeling techno and adrenalized trance. Your pulse rate may never be the same again.
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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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Interview: Boards of Canada
Groove magazine's Heiko Hoffmann speaks to Scottish electronic duo Boards of Canada, aka Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin, about how they stirred up the ashes of their own influence to create their new album, The Campfire Headphase.
EP: On your last album, Geogaddi, you included some hidden messages to test your audience. Do you consider that experiment successful?
MS: It was too successful! We thought that putting these secret things in would be an interesting thing that one or two people would stumble on in listening to the record. We didn't realize that we would end up creating a cult.
EP: You didn't realize that there was this thing called the Internet.
MS: Exactly (laughs). I think if the Internet hadn't existed, it probably would've been fine, because people would have mostly just listened to the music, and the odd person would have mentioned the secret bits maybe in an article. But because of the Internet, these things just spread. Part of it, for us, was done as an experiment, but part of it was just done as a kind of in-joke. It was just the two of us having fun. Even some of the sinister things were just done for fun or for textural reasons. Some things, like voices that if you reverse them you can hear such and such, are a nod to all the bands in the '70s that were doing this kind of thing. And that's all there was.
ME: For example, the decision to make the record 66.6 minutes long was made right at the last minute. We wanted to insert some silence at the end of the album so that there would be a gap before the CD would start again. When we were discussing the length of the silence [Warp Records owner] Steve Beckett actually suggested to take it to a total 66 minutes 6 seconds, because then everyone would think it's the devil who made the album. And we just laughed.
MS: People found things in the record that aren't actually in it. I've seen people talking about some of the vocal lines in the album being palindromic — you know, if you play it forward, it says exactly the same thing backwards. I think we did this in one case, but some people claim that there are many more. Then there are people who said, if you slow down this song, after two-and-a-half minutes you hear a little sound that sounds like a cymbal, but if you slow it right down and reverse it, it actually turns out to be a child screaming. But that's just a cymbal.
EP: On The Campfire Headphase, you avoided the use of your trademark children's voices.
Keep reading »
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MORE VIDEO
Exile in Gearville
Techno/breaks producer Tim Exile talks to Native Instruments more »
Female Pressure
Electronic Beats profiles 13 women reinventing dance music more »
Brand New, You're Retro
Simon Reynolds on Gang of Four's eternal returns
more »
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Each week, 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, download, or purchase vinyl.
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Morgan Page
(Bedrock/SAW/Nordic Trax)
Los Angeles, CA
www.nuancerecordings.com
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- The Timewriter, "Love Is Beautiful" (Plastic City)
- James Zabiela, "Robophobia" (Hearing Aid)
- Morgan Page, "Outside the City (Dave DK & Voltique Remix)" (Sugarcane)
- Suicide Sports Club, "I Don't Know (King Unique Remix)" (Bedrock)
- Marko Militano feat. Darren Barret, "Good People" (Bananza)
- Trevor Loveys, "Turn It Up" (Freerange)
- Jay West, "The Way You Walk (Morgan Page Remix)" (Spleen)
- Richard Vision, "Automatic" (Thrive)
- Duckbeats, "Racket" (Odori)
- Andy Caldwell, "Brand New Day" (Swank)
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View all of this week's charts »
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Editors:
Doug Levy
Sascha Lewis
Steve Marchese
Philip Sherburne
Jon Spooner
Cyrus Wadia
Founder:
David J. Prince
Cover Design:
Sebastian Onufszak
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Contributors:
Kendra Borowski
Andy Cumming
David Day
Nick Doherty
Carl Hagen
Jorge Hernandez
Heiko Hoffmann
James Jung
Mandy Minor
Colin James Nagy
Cameron Octigan
Nick Parish
Tim Pratt
Dave Segal
Maggie Stein
Bruce Tantum
Mark Teppo
Toby Warner
Production:
Anjuli Ayer
Morgan Croney
Pilar Gallego
Jake Lancaster
Afarin Majidi
Sander-Martijn Milks
Judah Wiedre
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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.
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Cover Design |
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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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About Us |
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Earplug is an email magazine dedicated to electronic music and its many dynamic styles and influences. Published every two weeks, 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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Media Partnerships |
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Every other week, Earplug presents one exclusive media partner. Click for more information about advertising opportunities on Earplug and across all Flavorpill publications.
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