| #590 |
|
2002 |
Perilous 590 New Order, such a shambling mess live in the past, managed to pull of an excellent summation of their career at their Hordern show. Although at times it felt as if they were going through the motions (Bizarre Love Triangle, True Faith, Touched By The Hand Of God), live versions of four Joy Division tracks (Love Will Tear Us Apart, Atmosphere, Transmission, and an almost nu-skool breaks version of Isolation) and several quirky early New Order tracks (Ceremony and Your Silent Face) more than made up for it. Peter Hook’s bass, low slung as ever, is even more prominent live and really is the trademark for their sound – bass driven melody lines, while the synths were ultra crisp and spacious. And as for warm-up old school electro producer, Arthur Baker, well, he was amusing finishing with a dubplate mix of Good Vibrations running over Busta Rhymes’ Woo Ha . . . apparently this sort of jarring layered pop reconstructionism is sweeping the world at the moment. I blame V/Vm. The infamous and mysterious Drexciya have a new album out this time on Berlin-based Tresor, a label with a long running association with Detroit and famous for the early establishment of a Berlin-Detroit axis. The new album, Harnessed The Storm, brings another swathe of aquatic electro tracks (with more than a nod to Kraftwerk) full of rough and at times almost industrial beats, and synthlines that ripple and slide. Again it’s the slower more melodic tracks like the serene closer Birth Of New Life that are the best with a beautiful simplicity – that classic Detroit futuristic melancholy. This album follows the other recent Drexciya related release The Other People Place, Lifestyle Of The Laptop Cafe on Warp. Also quite melancholy and rich is the latest on Morr Music from Phonem called Ilisu. This time a mini-album which takes its name from the Turkish dam building project that threatens to force nearly 25,000 Kurdish people from their homes, Phonem runs his classic melodies against increasingly complex beats. Tracks names Water Rights and War By Other Means declare Phonem’s opposition to the dam project and at the same time tie back to the aquatic theme of his earlier works. More excellent downtempo medodic electronics from the Morr Music label (who also seem to have finally got some more of their website done – www.morrmusic.com and www.ilisu.org.uk for info on opposition to the dam project) Frigid on February 10 brings nearly the last chance to pick up invitations for our long awaited Cryogenesis island chill event. This year we’ve got SJD and Stinky Jim over from NZ plus Gemma & Seymour Butz, Sir Robbo and his live crew Tooth, Sub Bass Snarl and the Benzo Experience. Cryogeneis is on Saturday February 16 so if you wish to come drop down to Frigid or email us. Its been a long time since the last one in 2000 so you don’t want to miss this if outdoor chilling sounds enticing. February 10 at Frigid brings Ben Frost up from Adelaide to drop a live set of his DJ Shadow-meets-Mick Harris sounding audio world of ice and snow over 80bpm breakbeats. Frost is joined by the equally melancholic Betaville Orchestra the superb sounding side project from Andrew Maher of house crew Alphatown Collective. Don’t miss either of these. More info at www.snarl.org of course. Yellow Peril  Goto
Snarl Texts Index Pages
|