| #685 |
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2003 |
Perilous 685 This week and next you’ll read my best picks of 2003 interspersed with commentary that you might decide to skip. For once you get the full album name and label so you can tell your grandparents to go into their local independent record store to get you a copy for Christmas. I’ve decided to spread it over two issues for the sake of word length, and so I can fit a few extra in that in a week’s time I’ll remember to add. Its been another weird year. There’s been the war we had to have, and, fortunately, the peace protests that came with that and showed that people really do care (and think). And at a time when I’ve been generally getting a bit annoyed with the way music has been moving, I’ve also been out to see the most live shows in quite a while. Most memorably, the Matthew Herbert Big Band in Barcelona were by a long shot the best live show of the year, and a good antidote to the idea that intelligent electronic music has become passé. Unfortunately the brilliance of the live show didn’t transfer well to the album, Goodbye Swingtime (Soundlike), which ended up as too trad for my liking – more so since hearing/seeing it live. On the same trip, Manitoba’s new three piece live show was stunning and managed to carry off his recent album in a live setting – and make a good fist of early 90s My Bloody Valentine at the same time. And that’s been the most marked shift – a return to song, and wall of sound guitars. Manitoba’s Up In Flames (Leaf) sits well with Pluramon’s stunning Dreams Top Rock (Karaoke Kalk) as the best examples of this trend this year – all fuzz, splinter, and hazy vocals. Pluramon’s use of Julie Cruise on vocals has paid off handsomely – dreamy pop combined with blistering treated guitar and subtle electronic processing. Likewise Desormais’ I Am Broken And Remade (Intr_Version) which took this laptop rock meme and crossed it with a more melancholy traditional Canadian instrumental rock sound (see Godspeed, Silver Mt Zion etc), and Broadcast’s Ha Ha Sound (Warp) which blended with 60s elements and Stereolab. This guitar trend leads onward into hip with Buck65’s Talkin Honky Blues (Warners), a return to straightforward story telling and wordplay whilst the rest of ‘undie’ hip hop tended to get into frat-style macho rubbish (was anyone else disappointed by Atmosphere’s Sevens Travels (Epitaph)) or just didn’t push into new territory (Anticon). Buck’s major label debut marked a step beyond the limitations of hip hop as it has become – limitations that have been as much self-imposed by the underground as by the dominance of the r&b/pop/thug/bling culture in the mainstream. Its been a quandary that has been a bit like watching Simon Crean (underground hip hop) try to face off against a hideous but far more dominant John Howard (Jay-Z, P.Diddy etc) but end up being stuck in a landscape defined entirely by the dominant. But I digress. In the more uptempo electronic world there were plenty of good ‘tracks’ but little that really stand the test of a few months. UK’s Plastic Man’s dark dubby, rave throwback dubstep (Soulja, and various white labels) was worth a listen but probably the best stuff of this ilk is on Artwork’s Red EP (Artwork) which moved explicitly into dancehall territory and tempos with Rolex Riddim, Agent X’s rinsing Turbulence 2 EP (Heatseeker), a nice ‘version’ of Moving Fusion’s d&b anthem, and Hype’s remix of Zed Bias’ Jigga Up (Sidestepper). At the same time, the label everyone was watching last year, Tempa, took things into almost downtempo tribal territory which Hatcha’s Dubstep Allstars (Tempa). In drum & bass the releases that most interested me were the throwbacks to early rave and ‘ardkore jungle – Luke Vibert’s hilarious Amen Andrews series (Rephlex), the Remarc reissue compilation Sound Murderer (Planet Mu), and Soundmurderer & SK-1’s Rewind Records compilation (Rephlex). More next issue. In the interim keep an eye on the Hopetoun in Surry Hills for a reggae Christmas dub special on Sunday December 21 with Nardo, Prince Andrew and Sir Robbo spinning appropriately themed dub, dancehall and roots; and the final Noodle of the year with Osaka experimentalists Pig & Machine. Closely followed by the regular mashup cheap NYE event – this year called Stool. Yellow Peril (www.snarl.org)  Goto
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