| #566 |
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2001 |
Perilous 566 First this week is local Sydney band Ukiyo-E’s mini album Inland. Released on Trifekta and distributed by Festival, Ukiyo-E’s new release is the follow up to a lush 7” from last year and the fruit of recording sessions after the inclusion of their track Val Doonican on the Fat Cat Records (UK) demo compilation No Watches No Maps. Inland continues their excursions into similar territory to Tortoise, instrumental post-rock with slight jazz inflections and drifting electronics. In fact Inland features more electronics than their previous releases and their live show and seems representative of Ukiyo-E’s recent collaborations and fascination with more electronic forms – Tooth and Pimmon were their launch party supports. Although only a mini-album there are some tasty downtempo moods on Inland and come shighly recommended. Ukiyo-E will be doing a range of gigs over the next few weeks so try to catch them live if you are in Sydney. Out of Melbourne comes crusty hip hoppers Tzu. Related to fellow Melbournians fringe hip hoppers Curse Ov Dialect and Hicstep, Tzu owes more to Metabass than anyone else. The production on their debut five-and-a-half tracker reveals the wave of r&b that has swept across Melbourne’s underground recently. With Adam Fischer (8-Bit) about to drop an r&b-meets-techno album, Tzu are in good company with their off-step beats and the little micro-samples that pop in to the mix every now and again. Its obvious they are Timbaland fans. Lyrically the twin MCs bounce ideas off each other and cover similar territory to the aforementioned Metabass. Across the seas and far away in Canada, British Columbia to be exact, comes a nice compilation of tracks from the Low Pressure label. Josh Martinez, whose productions for the compilation sounds a little like Tzu, appears alongside Buck65, AWOL One, and the amusingly named 5 Headed Retard and Birdaprès. In amongst the self-reflective rhymes and relaxed beats the influence of Buck65 is all pervasive. And another interesting hip hop album, new on Mush, is the debut from RadioInactive called Pyramidi. Put together as a continuous sound collage spread over 30 tracks, Pyramidi is a freaky journey into crazy rhymes, psychedelic instrumentals and some weird spoken word samples. Sitars, tablas crash head-on into 2nd hand jazz samples – at times its reminiscent of the long defunct English crew Earthling. Its pretty crazy stuff and is a very entertaining listen. Its worth checking out. And, lastly, another hip hop release to keep an eye out for – New York’s Aesop Rock and his new release Labour Day. Unlike his fellow New Yorkers, Aesop Rock steers clear of street rhymes and tells more intimate stories. Unlike Cannibal Ox and ex-Company Flow people who he works with at times, Aesop Rock is more real and less hyperreal. Labour Day is preceded by a 12” titled Coma. Frigid brings some heavyweights to round out August. Its Canberra’s prolific Pole/Chain Reaction-style producer Stalker on the 19th and the aforementioned post-rockers Ukiyo-E on the 26th. And keep an eye on www.soundsummit.org for all the info on Sound Summit 2001 in Newcastle coming very very soon . . . . Anticon, fat Cat Records, Hrvatski and most of Australia’s electronic underground in the one city! Yellow Peril  Goto
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