| #608 |
|
2002 |
Perilous 608 In amongst all the world cup fever, the big release this week has to be the new DJ Shadow album, The Private Press. Long awaited and no doubt one that will be rushed out and bought by nearly everyone in the next few days regardless, there won't be much escaping from the hype and the endless stream of reviews. Fortunately though, The Private Press is quite an amazing release, but not one that will immediately appeal to those who expect Shadow to "keep it real". Coming six years after Endtroducing it's not surprising that on first listen it is not as startling as you might hope. The palette of sounds, and beats that Shadow pioneered back in the 1993-96 years have been replicated by hundreds of other lesser producers since. And given the strip mining of the "traditional hip hop" sources of sixties and seventies funk, soul and jazz it's interesting to see Shadow move to some intriguing eighties sample choices. There is a strong nu-wave eighties influence in some tracks, the first single 'You Can't Go Home', and the surprising standout track, 'Blood On The Motorway', a 9 minute epic featuring an over-wrought AOR eighties a Capella. Held together by several interludes apparently sourced from "vinyl postcards" from the early sixties, The Private Press flows nicely and is only let down in the middle by several more predictable tracks, and should be considered an essential purchase. Keep in mind there are two local release versions, a double CD limited cardboard gatefold version and a standard model. The extra CD features a short excerpt from a live workout with Cut Chemist and Numark. On Planet Mu, North Amercian producer Venetian Snares delivers a splendid wickedly dark and humorous album, Higgins Ultra Low Glue Funk. Crammed full of finely chopped and edited samples, torrents of amen breaks, and all the hyperspeed madness that you would expect of Squarepusher, this new Venetian Snares album, the follow up to the child murder-themed Doll Doll Doll on Hymen Records, moves close to a mid terrain between Squarepusher and Amon Tobin. Fans of both Pusher and Tobin should definitely check Venetian Snares. The opener, 'Dance Like You're Selling Nails' starts off at a blistering pace complete with a pisstake operatic voice singing traditional junglist MC calls (which has to be heard to be believed) before the main driving motif of the track drops back into a sweet AFX-style ambience. The second track, 'Banana Seat Girl' is all drill n' bass crossed with deranged chopped up seventies fusion. Towards the middle the junglist MC themes return with some appropriate samples on 'Deadman DJ' then it's into the morbid psychotic madman horror-movie dialogue that separates the two halves of the slower breaks track 'Walmer Side'. And speaking of crims, none other than Chopper Read pops up on the splendid and ambitious double CD local compilation Communication Problems on Sydney-based Vibragun. Full of star studded internationals Thomas Brinkmann, Farmers Manual, Atom Heart, Thomas Koner, Mick Harris and Sensational, and some fine locals - Adam Fisher as 8-Bit, Pimmon, Oren Ambarchi, Communication Problems was assembled from various artists reactions to a quote and musical challenge posted on the Vibragun website in 2000. Excellent value and very diverse this is a stunning internationalist compile. Frigid over the next fortnight sees a reggae special with LL Static and Mark Ottignon on June 16 then Melbourne post-rock project Nightswimmer on the 23rd joined by Dan Coy from Ju Ju Space Jazz. More at www.snarl.org. Yellow Peril (www.snarl.org)  Goto
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