| #560 |
|
2001 |
Perilous 560 Fourtet is the side project of Kieran Hebden of Fridge, one of the more interesting post-rock outfits around, and the new Fourtet album, Pause, has finally hit the shelves courtesy of the Domino label. This would be Hebden’s sixth album, remarkable because he is still in his early 20s, and follows Fourtet’s Dialogue album of 1999 on Output and Fridge’s remarkable Eph release for Go Beat last year. Known for his fascination with the programming techniques of Timbaland and his collection of 2-step garage 12”s, Hebden has flirted with 2-step beat programming and production over the last two years – first with his pirate radio scanning intermission on his Calamine single, then on his remixes for Pole and Two Banks Of Four. Curiously, then, Pause has a much more organic feel harking back to 60s psychedelic folk instead of a urban futuristic technically driven sound. Appearances can be deceptive, though, and a close listening to the album reveals a wealth of subtle programming with impossible drum patterns and reversed guitars and re-pitched harps. It is this sonic detail that makes Pause such a great album beyond the immediate lure of its lush melodies and the tricky atmospheres. Although short at under 50 minutes, Pause is full of exquisite moments - the harp progression on Untangle, the only track with a drum machine beat, and the melodic structures of Twenty Three, Parks and Everything Is Alright. The first single, No More Mosquitoes is also out thru Domino with three extra non-album tracks. Pause sits nicely on the carousel beside Boards Of Canada and between Soft Machine and Alice Coltrane. And look out for a new Fridge album shortly too. Also rewarding is an album from Norway by Kim Hiorthoy called Hei. Distributed by Melbourne’s Synaesthesia store (www.synsound.com), the Hirothoy album traverses a similar path to To Rococo Rot’s excellent The Amateur View release of 2000. Electronics and samples rub up against sampled guitar and glockenspiels and some curious cut up bits and pieces. Breakbeats Moments are a little bit like early Aphex Twin or the scattergun post-rock-meets-junglisms of New York’s Carpet Bomb label, or the experiments of Unagi Patrol, its certainly worth tracking this one down if only for the melancholy gypsy strings and rearranged tap-dancing samples of Forskjellige Gode Ting. On a more local tip is the debut album from Johnny Phive called A Feast Of Beats. Mr Phive has been doing stuff for ages either as a breaker, a DJ or as a producer. Sometimes all three at once. A Feast Of Beats is really a collection of a ideas he’s been working on for the past 18 months or so and includes several samples collected in his travels overseas. Always playful and never serious several of the tracks open with, or are based around silly phrases or the way peoples’ voices sound different when put down on record or repatched in a sampler. This playfulness extends across tarcks which go from Krush-style slow hip hop breaks to a nasty compressed jungle bassline on In The Beginning over mashed up amens. Oceanic Jazz, a track that came out on the first Frigid 3” CD way way back gets a reprise in a echo-chamber dub version, whilst Mr Oizo gets messed around with a versioned on Digital Worms Attack. Put out on his own Phive Recordings it should be out and about in most local shops by now. Frigid’s birthday is approaching rapidly with Squarepusher taking over the Newtwon RSL on Friday 20th July, but before then check out Ollo doing a proper live set of material from the forthcoming Creative Vibes album (crazy dubby cut-up minimalist house) alongside Clan artist Pempek on the 8th and 5000 Fingers Of Dr T and Brisbane’s Zonar artist Paul Abad on the 15th. www.snarl.org for more details. Yellow Peril  Goto
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