Electrohound

Photo by Mick oOo

Photo by Mick oOo

Photo by TxJaxx

Photo by Htsu

Photo by Count Crakula

Much in the same vein as 120 Days, MGMT and LCD Soundsystem, Britain’s Friendly Fires take electronica’s rhythmic psychedelia into the rock idiom. Only these young cats give the dance rock phenomena a decidedly upbeat, more romantic feel. Their self-titled debut album was apparently recorded using a laptop. And just like 120 Days, their live show is far better than their album recordings.

I attended Coachella on Sunday and I almost missed Friendly Fires, who played early. I’m glad I caught them. For me they were one of the revelations of the day, further evidence that techno and acid house have reset the DNA of rock ‘n’ roll. Soaring, grooving and joyous, the Friendly Fires whipped through extended versions of their underground hits “Photobooth” and “Jump in the Pool,” ending with their little anthem, “Paris.” The crowd ate it up, everyone levitating a couple inches off the ground, feet and heads shuffling to the beat.

I’ll wager that the first producer to capture the hypnotic power of 120 Days or Friendly Fires will start the next music avalanche. It’s only a matter of time before this stuff gets into everybody’s blood. Thanks to rock, thanks to electronica.

Still working on this list, but here’s the tally so far:

1. Benga – Diary of an Afro Warrior

2. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular

3. Future Sound of London – Environments II

4. The Black Dog – Radio Scarecrow

5. M.A.N.D.Y. – Fabric 38 (mix)

6. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles

7. Baldelli & Dionigi – “Cosmic Disco?! Cosmic Rock!!!” (mix)

8. Hardfloor – Tales of the Unexpected 3 (mix)

9. Underworld – I Love Techno, live in Gent, Belgium

10. Leila – Blood, Looms and Blooms

*HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Justus Kohncke – Safe and Sound
Future Sound of London – Environments I
B12 – The Last Days of Silence
Osborne – Osborne
Wighnomy Brothers – Metawuffmischfelge
Cobblestone Jazz – 23 Seconds
Portishead – Third
Basic Channel – BCD-2
Autechre – Quaristice
The Orb – The BBC Sessions, 1989-2001
Santogold – Santogold
Stanton Warriors – Stanton Sessions, Vol. 3
Various Artists – Pop Ambient 2008

Rhythm and Stealth is a brooding onslaught of electronic wizardry. From the streetwise raps of Roots Manuva on ‘Dusted,’ to the Afrika Bambaata throwdown of ‘Afrika Shox’ to the spectral beauty of ‘Swords,’ this swansong from one of England’s techno supergroups is still undefeated as the final statement on ’90s electronica.

Unlike Leftism, Leftfield’s popular first album of 1995, 1999’s Rhythm and Stealth was jagged and austere in its first impressions. At it’s core was still Neil Barnes and Paul Daley’s unmistakable blend of thundering techno, dub science, hip hop beats, house rhythms and punk attitude. But their approach was now deeper in its studio precision, more beguiling in its sonic tricks, and in the end far more Detroit than Ibiza. (more…)

You have to love YouTube for giving us access to the past. Stewart’s video feels wildly psychedelic and fresh today, as I’m sure the video was in its own time. She comes on like a cosmic peacock chugging to the light fantastic.

Downright bizarre music courtesy of Future Sound of London’s Brian Dougans. Acoustic electronica is one way to describe it. Freaky is another. Brilliant comes to mind too. The Woodlands of Old seamlessly blends rock psychedelia, world, jazz, and ambience into a vision quest through elemental rain forests and inky streets. Sometimes I wonder if the Future Sound of London have driven right off the cliff, but then you always suspect they are just one step away from another triumph. They always keep you guessing. Whiplash funk like ‘Crow Hushing the Floating Woods’ and ‘The Yage Letters’ suck you right up into their madness with a grin. All that’s missing is more of that acid house joy from ‘Papua New Guinea.’ I can hear those same birds chirping for a new dawn.

Some intriguing stuff from the Eat Static boys on their latest album. Sadly however, it seems one half of the dynamic duo, synth whiz Joie Hinton, has mostly bowed out for the foreseeable future to spend more time with his family. The result is an ecclectic, downbeat mix of tunes further along the lines of remaining member Merv Pepler’s drummatic tastes. Twists and turns are all about with some real gems, especially ‘Valley of the Moon,’ ‘Pearl of Wisdom’ and ‘Lo-Ride Sloucher.’ A few experiments don’t quite work as well, like the cheeky Latin swing of ‘Epoch Calypso’ or the Arabesque ‘Dune Rider.’ In spite of the New Age tendencies though, tracks like bruising groover ‘Up, Periscope’ buggy right along. You can check for yourself and buy single tracks on Beatport.com or buy the album, which features classic Eat Static artwork.

The Guardian’s Scene and Heard blog reports on a little phenomenon called ‘trancehall,’ a hybrid of arpeggiated synths and dancehall beatitude. Just discovered John McDonnell’s blog and find his judicious and insightful posts quite on the money. He picked up earlier on another trend he dubbed trance-hop, something most astute listeners picked on but maybe failed to declare within American shores. Cross-pollination between techno and hip hop is always healthy. Just check Benga, Flying Lotus and the like if you don’t believe me.

The Guardian reports that Orbital bros Hartnoll will be performing at the outdoor music festival the Big Chill in 2009. Is it a full-fledged reunion? One wonders what it might spark. They say it’s not an nostalgia thing. “The time just seems right,’ Phil Hartnoll says. “Everything just seemed to fall into place. I’ve played at the Big Chill before, I DJed there and had a really good time – it’s an amazing festival. The timing is also good: 20 years of being together.” Hmmm…

Just a small treat, no professional thing. Each electronica composition taken as a sonic map to a landscape with peaks and valleys often with no continuous beat. Walter Cronkite narrates the journey through our local, outer spacial neighborhood. A little lost audiobook from Panorama’s Colorside Nature and Science Program, courtesy of Columbia Record Club, 1961.

Choice tunes from my overgrown library play accompaniment: Germany’s bright new lights, some ancient Pete Namlook and Geir Jenssen (The Fires of Ork), a Jeff Mills orchestral rendition, local Los Angeles wonderboy Kenneth Graham, a slow-mo Chemical Afrika and modern ’90s classics from Innersphere, Pluto, Eat Static and astrophysicist Universal Machine aka Lorien Ferris.

Sprinkle in the gorgeous Luke Chable and Chris Gainier remix of Bjork, Pig & Dan’s heartbreaking ‘Futile’ and I think you have something distinct. I hope you agree. Happy Thanksgiving 2008.

The Solar System, Part One -
1. Asha – Pantha du Prince
2. Friday’s Child – Lawrence
3. Fluteorgie – Hug
4. Belly Dancing – Guy Gerber
5. Sympathy for the Devil – Pig & Dan
6. The Fires of Ork I – The Fires of Ork
7. An Echo, A Stain (Luke Chable & Chris Gainier Mix) – Bjork
8. Let’s Get to Work – Innersphere
9. Love Dialed In – Kenneth Graham
10. See This Way – Jeff Mills
11. Futile – Pig & Dan

The Solar System, Part Two -
1. It Began in Afrika – The Chemical Brothers
2. Shambala (Balil Remix) – As One
3. Walden 2 – Pantha du Prince
4. India in Me – Cobblestone Jazz
5. Arboreal Sunrise – Universal Machine
6. White Label – Bjork
7. My Aeroplane Mania (Lawrence Mix) – Turner
8. Sueno Plutino – Pluto
9. Uforic Undulance – Eat Static

More to come soon…

The Associated Press reports that U.S. military engineers are developing little flying robots able to infiltrate enemy zones, spy abroad, and keep an eye on potential baddies. It’s straight out of science fiction and may actually spell the coming end of terrorist threats, privacy and maybe a whole lot more we take for granted. Historian Niall Ferguson predicted something like this in a 2006 Time Magazine piece that looked ahead to the year 2031. (more…)

Whoa there friend! Not so fast on those new swanky collector’s editions of New Order’s groundbreaking ’80s catalog. Reuters reports that “alert fans quickly complained of about 300 errors, mostly relating to poor sound quality on the bonus discs. The pops and crackles on many of the tracks suggest they were transferred directly from commercially available vinyl recordings rather than from the original master tapes.” That’s a shame because the bonus discs are supposed to be filled with alternate versions, remixes and instrumentals.

Rhino released the following statement: “We are now in the process of correcting the problems, but it should be noted that due to the age and condition of some of the original source tapes, the sound quality may vary. A further statement will be issued once the corrected product is available. At that time, the procedure for exchanging CD’s will be announced. Thank you for your patience while we resolve this situation.”

Ah, the misadventures of technological immediacy. I just watched perhaps the worst movie I’ve ever seen, Neil Jordan’s “The End of the Affair” of 1999. It was a free On-Demand TV option so me and my lady decided to kick back and watch the period romance. Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore star. The most memorable thing besides the mind-numbingly mopey dialog, is Fiennes’ bare behind and several booby-shots of Moore. The best is a cut to slow motion as Fiennes falls on the bed in exhausted sexual ecstasy, Moore’s boobs bouncing as the bombs of World War II fall in the London background. (more…)

Yes, everyone is beginning to catch wind of these two East Coast wonder kids with their electronica-inflected songs and ironic wit packed into a tripped out debut album, Oracular Spectacular. It’s not often I dig ‘rock’ music but these guys are irresistible. “Electric Feel” is the anthem of the summer, simultaneously retro and futuristic: “Ooh baby! Shock me like an electric eel” is the most brilliant lyric I’ve heard in years — simple, impressionistic, throwaway, indispensable. The Justice remix available on iTunes ain’t bad either. This is psychedelic pop and disco poetry for all the washed out apocalypticos out there. Come on out from the cold.

Catch up with Wolfgang Voigt’s distinctive ambient oeuvre as Gas in a remastered box set. All four of his landmark ambient albums for the price of two, this is the classiest, cheapest way to earn your spooky electronica stripes. As Andy Kellman of Allmusic writes, haunting climes perfect for zero-gravity clubbing or sleepwalking through a forest. Satisfaction guaranteed.

For anyone who still gives a crap about the Grammy Awards, one of the most bizarre moments last night was Kanye West’s live performance with Daft Punk in tow. At least the two robots in the pyramid looked like Daft Punk, though they could have been paid actors. Such is the problem with post-modern robot costumes — how to verify their human authenticity? (more…)

1. Underworld – Oblivion with Bells

2. Radiohead – In Rainbows

3. Daft Punk – Alive 2007

4. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

5. Chemical Brothers – We Are The Night

6. Tom Middleton – Lifetracks

7. Future Sound of London – From the Archives

8. Pantha Du Prince – This Bliss

9. Groove Armada – Soundboy Rock

10. The Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future

*HONORABLE MENTIONS:
The Black Dog – Book of Dogma (reissue)
Muscles – Guns Babes Lemonade
Klute – The Emperor’s New Clothes
Simian Mobile Disco – Attack Decay Sustain Release
Arctic Monkeys – Favorite Worst Nightmare
Calvin Harris – I Created Disco
Guy Gerber – Late Bloomers
Gui Boratto – Chromophobia
CSS – Cansei de Ser Sexy
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
The Tuss – Rushup Edge
Cornelius – Sensuous
Pig & Dan – Imagine
Battles – Mirrored
!!! – Myth Takes
Burial – Untrue
M.I.A. – Kala
Justice – +

“Faxed Invitation” – Underworld

“Best Mamgu Ever” – Underworld

“W” – Cobblestone Jazz

“All I Need” – Radiohead

“Reckoner” – Radiohead

“Never, Never” – Klute

“Asha” – Pantha Du Prince

“Beautiful Burnout” – Underworld

“Shinkansen” – Tom Middleton

“Someone Great” – LCD Soundsystem

“Battle Scars” – The Chemical Brothers

“Golden Skans” – The Klaxons

“Belly Dancing” – Guy Gerber

“Mate Tron” – Luke Vibert

“Futile” – Pig & Dan

“The River” – Spooky

Sauced-up party girl gets nasty with DJ Matt Xavier at last $2 Tuesdays at Mor Bar location. Photo by Electrohound.

Trance is on its last legs and the best evidence came in the form of $2 Tuesdays‘ closing night at the Mor Bar location. Resident Moontribe DJs Daniel, John Kelley, Brian, Brad, Matt Xavier and Treavor tore the roof off with blistering beats. That’s right, crunchy, twisted drums and syncopated synth riffs shook the air, and nary a trance pulse was in earshot. Hallelujah!

The original pioneer of the desert trance sound, Daniel Chavez (DJ Daniel), abandoned that beat eons ago, and now in 2007, his banging, sophisticated techno fit perfectly with the other DJs’ selections. Brian and Brad have also pushed electro techno over the last several years, and the more recent addition of Matt Xavier has beefed up the tribal spirit.

A packed house goes bonkers as sick record after sick record shakes the room. Photo by Electrohound.

DJ John Kelley, pioneer of the desert breaks sound, turned to more crunked up, meaty fare, and not surprisingly, it fit in perfectly with the acid techno assault. John and Brian’s close ties in the studio seem to have cemented their intuitive re-commitment to unrelenting, dance-floor dynamics.

The DJs switched back and forth all night until Treavor closed with a melodic touch. But the common thread was full-on techno filled with innovative beat change-ups, unexpected turns and innovative sound designs. There was even a hint of nostalgia as John and Daniel’s tracks drew once again from the same psychedelic cloth of Moontribe’s heyday. It was one of the best nights out I’ve had in a long time. Everyone had a blast, including the DJs, who were smiling and laughing with one another the whole ride.

Many thanks to Petey and Mike for keeping $2 Tuesdays going for so long. The good times are returning. I can only pray they find another location soon.

Halloween cheer greets dancers as they enter Doc Martin and Sublevel’s latest event. Photo by Electrohound.

This past Halloween weekend, a number of good events were on offer, from Droid Behavior’s 5-year anniversary to Monster Massive. We chose to make our pilgrimage to Doc Martin’s Sublevel event. Located at a new space in the San Fernando Valley, the party felt like an autonomous free zone. Packed by 2 a.m., in fine Sublevel form, the crowd was racially mixed and primed for a good time. (more…)

You can now start a member’s account on Underworldlive.com to receive special treats and music downloads. According to recent interviews, they have a ton of unreleased stuff up their sleeves, a lot of it banging techno. Apparently they will be dispersing it through their site in the near future. Enjoy!

Here’s a snapshot from ongoing Underworld pics at Underworldlive.com. This one is of Rick Smith during the recording of Oblivion with Bells at Abbey Road Studios. Most people don’t know it, but Rick is the production genius behind Underworld’s stunning compositions.

The Deadly Syndrome’s Will Etling, Jesse Hoy, Michael Hughes and Chris Richard beat out thunder. Photo by Electrohound.

I don’t often touch on the rock scene, but it’s good to keep up with electronica’s neighbors as a healthy cross-pollination between genres is leading to some of today’s most exciting new acts. As noted before with bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the influence of electronic music also isn’t necessarily in instrumentation but in how those instruments are mixed and played as well. (more…)

Aril Brikha, a Swede of Persian descent, blends the sounds of Detroit and Europe into melodic, neon funk. First appearing on Derrick May’s Transmat label with Deeparture in Time in 1999, Brikha takes his earlier, more sedate dreaming and injects jaunty dance-floor rhythms on Ex Machina. The result is a smooth, entrancing ride through the night. (more…)

In case you’re looking for your live Underworld fix, LiveHereNow.com is supplying limited CDs of several Underworld performances in England. Anyone who has been to their live shows knows these guys fly. Wish I had the funds to pick them all up myself.

Photo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith by Perou.

So I’ve been listening to Oblivion with Bells in more detail. A key session involved a start-to-finish odyssey with my Harman-Kardon sound system. I am happy to report that my esteem of the album has not sunk but skyrocketed. I actually think this is their best work yet, period. It’s like pouring pure sonic light into your ears … soma vibrations. (more…)

So it’s finally here, Underworld’s long-awaited new album, Oblivion with Bells. In short, it’s a doozy. But a complex one at that. So don’t expect immediate gratification or you’ll end up like some poor, sour critic. Case in point, the usually sturdy John Bush at AllMusic.com squelched this one, begrudging Underworld’s departure into more unsettling territory with “Ring Road” and “Holding the Moth.” They’re actually wonderful, subtle productions that just require greater patience. (more…)

After several years, Eat Static have returned with a proper album of tough beats, innovative sounds and yes, alien weirdness. De-Classified will excite longtime fans, sounding closest to their classic Impact LP. From the start, we’re prowling in familiar territory — b-movie sci-fi samples swimming around plasmic funk, cosmic flights, tripped-out synth washes and buzzing riff attacks. (more…)

Underworld’s Oblivion With Bells hits the shelves on Tuesday. The buzz so far has been good, the latest coming from Scott Otto at Entertainment Today, who writes, “This is music for now, for today, for all of us who need hope to get through the days and nights of uncertainty that is 2007. And also for those of us who need beauty in our dance music.” (more…)

Tom Middleton, if you aren’t familiar with him, is one of the top electronic music producers in the world. He has worked with Aphex Twin, helping compose the classic “Analogue Bubblebath.” He partnered with Mark Pritchard as Reload, Jedi Knights, Chameleon, and most famously, Global Communication. And over the last several years he has made a huge impact on dance floors as Cosmos. (more…)

It’s taken me a while, but here’s an unedited, at times maddening, but brilliant and funny interview with Garry “Gaz” Cobain of Future Sound of London. It’s from 2002 when I talked with him about the group’s wild departure into rock-electronic psychedelia. In it, he expounds about his spiritual awakenings, Brad Pitt, the bullshit of corporate labels, fashion, music cycles and his journey of self-healing. You’ll also learn about Radiohead and organic carrot juice.

Reading it again now, I’m reminded how FSOL have always been about ten years ahead of the curve. We’ve been living through a repressed, angry and cocaine-fueled culture the last few years, paranoid and at war. Cobain’s magpie mind seems even more prophetic today as the plight of the planet grows in our consciousness.

On the music front, we now have new-rave, electronica rock and tecktonik. Is a new wave of wildly psychedelic music next? Could Jimi Hendrix and drum machines be right around the corner? Well, maybe not exactly, but I still think FSOL are onto something.

Read it now.

Radiohead’s doorstep to a brave new era of artist self-empowerment. Click and join the party.

Listen to Radiohead’s In Rainbows:
15 Step
Bodysnatchers
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
All I Need
Faust Arp
Reckoner
House of Cards
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Videotape

Radiohead’s long-awaited new album In Rainbows comes to the world like a hushed blessing. Word of it has hummed loudly across the media, but once it flows onto millions of hard-drives, it’s spinning rhythms and quiet power will feel more like a private prayer.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is a massive milestone for popular music for some very important reasons. One, the album is an instant classic. It’s evident from the first listen and gets better and better. Of course time will be the ultimate judge, but I will wager my reputation on it. Second, this album has the potential to reach more listeners across the economic ladder. You can donate whatever you want or grab it for free. I paid five pounds for my download and I would hope others who can afford it will contribute the same or more. Third, this is a major statement by the world’s leading rock band about the power of the Web to free art from corporations and to unlock the door to a bright new age of music.

All these things together impress the ears with greater emotion upon listening to In Rainbows. I have always dug Radiohead, but this is the first album I can say I truly love. Here they have finally harmonized all of their influences into a sonic poem that surpasses the moment. The glitchy rhythms of “15 Step” give way to the electronic buzz of “All I Need,” while the loving noise of “Bodysnatchers” deepens the heart-aching beauty of “Reckoner” and “House of Cards.”

The end result is extraordinary, making the manner of the album’s delivery even more profound. This is what we’ve needed for too long, an open way forward for cutting-edge music.

To take this risk, to eschew major label security, to empower fans with choice, to allow for modulated devotion at the transfer, this is the wave of the future.

Radiohead are riding it, and it’s thrilling. Join them.

Justice jam behind the Holy Cross, spewing molten beats to the masses. Photo by Electrohound.

After hearing all the hype surrounding Justice I knew I was in for a spectacular show Tuesday at the Music Box. But the night was a spectacle for many questionable reasons. Every generation needs its angry music and today’s kids may have found it in Justice. I base this on the crazed, rough reaction by much of the crowd and the at times incredibly dark, negative vibe of Justice’s freestyle techno. In fact, their music live is more conducive to head-banging than grooving on a dance floor.

This was surprising because of the comparisons with Daft Punk, but Justice have almost nothing to do with that older pair on a spirit level. Daft Punk plays hard, mental techno, but Justice’s version is almost angry, corrosive even, “Tecktonik” as the hip are calling it these days. I’d say it has all the trappings of techno, but is more akin to heavy metal and deathcore. These guys are today’s Kiss with laptops instead of electric guitars. (more…)

DJ Sasha returns to Los Angeles with an intense, commanding techno sound. Photo by Electrohound.

The mainstream club crowd at the Vanguard get hammered by Sasha’s cutting-edge techno. Photo by Electrohound.

It’s been a little while since I’ve checked out the Vanguard Club but with the buzz building about LA’s super-clubs I figured Sasha and Spooky were the ideal excuse to investigate. I’ve been a massive Spooky fan since their early ’90s days on William Orbit’s Guerrilla Records, when they penned some of the best progressive house tracks and remixes of all time. Their remixes of Jo Bogaert’s “Water” single continue to amaze me and their “Xylem Flow” remix of Orbit’s “Water from a Vine Leaf” is quite possibly the most beautiful dance track I’ve ever heard.

At the same time, I’ve never actually seen Sasha play. Although I respect his music, I try to avoid hype at all costs and support local talent instead whenever possible. This time however, with the rave scene just beginning to hit a new stride I figured it was time to see what the man had to offer live. (more…)

Dashboard albums on the way to Arizona. Photo by Electrohound.

Sometimes it takes a couple weeks to properly digest an album. Such is the case with the Chemical Brothers’ new We Are the Night. It got a lukewarm reaction from critics upon release, but in retrospect, most of the gripes were unfair and misplaced. Cruising down the Interstate 10 on our way to Arizona, my fiancee and I loaded it in. Listening to long-players on a road trip often adds a needed dimension, a pop out of the usual noise and grind of one’s home base. This time it did wonders for the Chemies’ new album from start to finish. (more…)

!!! sends up their techno-fried funk at Los Angeles’ Avalon club. Photo by Electrohound.

On Wednesday, September 27th, my friends and I capped off the end of my day job at CBS Interactive with !!! (“chk chk chk”) at the Avalon. With a little VIP access thanks to backup singer Shannon Funchess, we grooved to the mad band’s electrofied punk funk from above the fray. (more…)

The Palladium reopens to a sold-out Arctic Monkeys show. Photo by Electrohound.

The Palladium in Hollywood reopened Tuesday and the Arctic Monkeys were the first headliners to test out the new digs. Can’t say it looked all that different from what I remember, but the sound system is a good deal clearer and stronger now. (more…)

LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy rides the wheels of steel. Photo by DFA Records.

London’s Fabric nightclub and imprint is putting out a DJ mix album by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Pat Mahoney next month. A U.S. domestic release will follow in November. Perusing Fabric’s recent and very in-depth interview with the two, I found the following nuggets especially insightful:

James: My DFA partner Tim Goldsworthy, he came over with David Holmes to work on a record and I was like this is new, this is weird, nobody plays this sort of thing. It was a very different way of making music and then I went out and did ecstasy when David was DJing and heard Liquid Liquid for the first time.
Pat: James helped me build a rehearsal studio for Les Savy Sav, who ostensibly speaking, he broke up, and this was the genesis of LCD and also me leaving Les Savy Sav.
James: So I played bass and he played drums and it was just like Liquid Liquid, and we were trying to wrap our heads around making people boogie.
Pat: That was like ’96, with dubious results, totally foreign to us in a lot of ways because indie kids were not dancing.
James: No, they weren’t looking to boogie. But it was fun. (more…)

Natural showman and band leader Win Butler keeps the fire burning in his belly. Photo by Electrohound.

The Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem came to Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl last Thursday, attracting thousands of hipsters straddling the rising rock/dance pony. James Murphy’s LCD went first as the supporting act, hammering out “Get Innocuous,” “North American Scum,” “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House,” “Yeah” and “Us v Them.” (more…)

Simian Mobile Disco work their circle of analogue heaven at Pure. Photo by Vivahate.
Re-published under Creative Commons license.

Saturday night, September 22, 2007, Boys Noize and England’s analogue maestros Simian Mobile Disco tore up Los Angeles’ Echoplex. The magic duo of James Ford and James Anthony Shaw took a packed room for an unforgettable ride. Their baroque acid sound twitched and bursted over muscular beats, pounding and lashing the air with white-hot energy. (more…)

Underworld’s Rick Smith, Darren Price and Karl Hyde conduct their multi-sensory magic on stage. Photo by Mark_V_Socal.

Anticipating Underworld’s return to the world stage, Karl Hyde recently wrote at Underworldlive.com that they were eager to look again “for the spaces between the notes, between the beats, where gravity falls away.” And that’s exactly what happened Sunday night at the Hollywood Bowl under a big wide sky.

KCRW’s Jason Bentley gave a nostalgic introduction, calling back to Underworld’s first US appearance at Southern California’s Organic rave festival in 1996. I was there and I remember too the sheer sonic power of that performance. That time they played on the same stage as The Chemical Brothers, Orbital and Meat Beat Manifesto. This time Paul Oakenfold opened, showcasing his underwhelming emo-trance. But it was clever to have Oakey play, ensuring a bigger crowd by mixing older, smarter cats with the new, less schooled.

There was no mega-burst of sound when Underworld kicked off their set. Instead, they made perfect use of the Bowl’s atmosphere, gliding in with hypnotic, percolating grooves. First off was their delicious new single, “Crocodile,” with its wicked sliding bass line opening up time in the mind. From their they cruised through trippy “Luetin” and “Kiteless.” Hyde was a perfect showman, bringing everyone into the vibe, his intro wordplay paying homage to, as he rolled it, “Los Angeleeesss.” (more…)

Photos and montage by Chiapetgirl.

I hadn’t seen Underworld play in maybe 7 years and last night at the Hollywood Bowl I could hear the past, present and future. They played a healthy blend of material from their upcoming “Oblivion With Bells” album and classic permutations. It was mind-bending, volcanic, wily, and wise. Underworld rocks bells!

Rick Smith and Karl Hyde get some shelter. Photo by Perou.

The Los Angeles Times ran a nice article Thursday on Underworld’s return to the fray. It confirms the positive buzz about their new album, “Oblivion With Bells,” due out in October, and gives a quick preview of what to expect:

Ethereal offerings such as the lush, Brian Eno-esque “To Heal” and the cacophonous, brooding “Cuddle Bunny vs. Celtic Images” hint at Underworld’s recent soundtrack work (the band scored Danny Boyle’s sci-fi film “Sunshine”). Tracks such as “Glam Bucket” exemplify Underworld at its finest, full of ringing bells punctuated by discordant bursts of noise. But driving, hypnotic and percussive songs such as the eight-minute epic “Beautiful Burnout” will excite fans the most — imagine a tranced-out Depeche Mode after a weeklong bender in Ibiza.

Reporter Charlie Amter gets some nice quotes and perspective from Karl Hyde, who notes that the band has been quite busy since “A Hundred Days Off,” releasing three download-only albums and a series of 12 inches. The story also highlights Underworld’s “video jamming” and their progressively larger sound.

Tycho showcases his watercolored, nostalgic sound at the Los Angeles County Arboretum. Photo by Electrohound.

On Sunday, the third annual “Terrabyte” show began with local DJs and electronica artists playing to families, kids, hipsters and students. Set in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, a vast park filled with plants and trees from around the world, the “Art, Science and Nature” event began around 4 in the afternoon and extended to late evening.

In the main area, ambient techno artists Testshot Starfish, Tycho and Boom Bip explored three different sides of electronic music. Testshot Starfish belted out their glitchy heaps of textured funk and warping walls of sound. Tycho played mellower tunes to a sitting audience lounging on the grass and tripping out to his ’70s inspired psychedelia. And Boom Bip closed out with a techno party vibe, keeping the metronomes steady and fun. A cover of Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out” drew the most smiles of the night.

I & I Soundsystem bring their portable irie party to Pasadena. Photo by Electrohound.

Elsewhere, the organizers set up I & I Soundsystem near the stage grounds, their mobile music van chugging out dub, reggae and soul from sunlight to moonrise. Walking along the grounds, my girlfriend and I explored the Arboretum by ourselves, walking once before sundown and again at night under a full moon. (more…)

Photos by Electrohound.

Battles bring their mad science to Los Angeles, June 30, 2007. Video by Electrohound.

Above, Battles, the math rock electronica outfit, use samplers and computers to bend and reinvent instrumental jamming at the Troubadour. You can get the feeling by watching them that they are working from inside the belly of the beast, breaking through into a new hybrid of sound and technique. Below, the same night, DJ Pierre, the acid house pioneer from Chicago that discovered the liquid potential of the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer, spins at Doc Martin’s Sublevel party. Dancers around him absorb the machine rhythms under a swirl of light.

DJ Pierre takes dancers on a head trip at Sublevel, June 30, 2007. Video by Electrohound.

Dancers jack to DJ Pierre’s molten acid house at Sublevel’s June 30, 2006 event. Photo by Electrohound.

In late June, math rock band Battles came to town to showcase their mad science at the Troubadour. With a massive bank of samplers, sequencers, keyboards, effects units, and laptops, they melded their guitars, basses and drums into a fluid matrix of hybrid electronica.

Signed to Warp Records, they just released their debut album Mirrored to critical acclaim. Their first single “Atlas” has many a music connoisseur wagging their tongues to its modulating vocals and marching groove. To me, it instantly calls to mind the anime music of Akira by Geino Yamashirogumi, shot through a M.C. Escher sketch.

Consisting of ex-Helmet drummer John Stanier, ex-Don Caballero guitarist Ian Williams, ex-Lynx guitarist Dave Konopka, and Tyondai Braxton (son of avant-garde jazz musician Anthony Braxton), Battles ushers in a new frontier that abets improvised jazz, instrumental rock, funk and techno.

American math rockers Battles take their fusion sound to LA’s legendary Troubadour. Photo by Electrohound.

To give a little sense of their technique, Konopka will play a measure on his electric guitar, sampling it live, and then loop it as Stanier matches the pace with his drum kit. Next, Williams, Konopka and Braxton add new guitar lines, distorted riffs and keyboard touches. Later, as with “Atlas,” Braxton will sing notes into a microphone, sampling it live and then morphing its pitch and timbre with an effects box. (more…)

Following on the growing triangle phenomenon, the crowd at Berkeley give the sign. Hip to their fans’ growing devotion, the robots give back some triangle love.

The best things are spontaneous: Daft Punk gets their own hand sign in homage to their pyramid stage cockpit. Photo by Electrohound.

Daft Punk provides prismatic view of technological change; crowd has worldwide eyes, the human face looks back at crowd. Photo by Electrohound.

Daft Punk – Alive 2007 tour, “Around the World” at Los Angeles Sports Arena, July 21, 2007.

Photos and video by Electrohound.

The word on the street is that Daft Punk is filming a live DVD called “Alive 2007.” According to the Daily Swarm in June, the film will document their European and North American stops:

The Alive 2007 tour currently includes stops in the U.K, Germany, France, Holland, Italy, and North America. The U.S. leg of the tour kicks off with a sold out show in Los Angeles at the L.A. Sports Arena which will be recorded for a future DVD release.

Apparently Daft Punk now live in Los Angeles and have been putting the final touches on their new live set. For those who have tickets to this weekend’s show, get your best robot groove on. I’ll see you on the dance floor.

Groove Armada absolutely rocked it at LA’s Hollywood Bowl last night. Unbelievable. 17,000 people danced in an amphitheater designed for orchestra concerts. Even the grandmas were grooving. It was a beautiful sunset performance. They gave “Chicago” a raved-up techno ending and their final 15-minute suite, using previously unheard music and “Superstylin,’” took the whole Bowl to a higher dimension: Ghostly, euphoric synths wafted through the audience as thundering beats and delayed bass chords took us for an optimistic ride. Wish I could relive it again and again and again.

The Chemical Brothers have uploaded their new album to MySpace, the whole shebang. It ranges through many tempos, rhythms and sounds and features a bunch of guest artists, including the hot band du jour, the Klaxons. While the party is rocking, beauties add the perfect ache to the evening. “A Modern Midnight Conversation,” simple yet ghostly, is my new favorite song of the week. “We Are the Night” will be available for purchase on July 17. Pre-order now on Amazon.

The pioneers from Electronic Brain Violence have returned with three expansive volumes of previously unreleased material. “From the Archives” was first released a few months ago on FSOL Digital, the Future Sound of London’s online store. I bought these files but couldn’t resist the physical CD versions. I’m not sorry I forked over the extra cash either. Buggy G. Riphead provides all the new cover and booklet artwork, his methods still yielding stunningly surreal results, while accompanying text tells a freeform, impressionistic story. (more…)

Photo by Electrohound.

LCD Soundsystem returned to LA for three sold-out nights on June 10, 11 and 12. Filled with hipsters and aging ravers, the show on the opening night was less energetic than their visit last Spring at the Avalon. James Murphy, the self-effacing frontman and mastermind behind LCD, was apparently suffering from a major bout of the flu. Pumped full of drugs, he soldiered on, bringing the crowd to a high enough pitch to keep fans satisfied. (more…)

Detroit is a husk of a city but its battling spirit shines on. Images of Detroit’s annual music festival by Cornstarr.

Local Los Angeles photographer and techno enthusiast Conrad Starr took a grip of images at this year’s Detroit Electronic Music Festival from May 26 – 28. The photos are filled with Conrad’s poetic sense of humor and beauty. This year saw the likes of Model 500, Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin, Matthew Dear, Higher Intelligence Agency, Pole, Losoul and many, many more. By all accounts it was another wicked year of electronic mayhem. You can also check out DEMF’s own photo gallery.

Groove Armada have just released their latest album, “Soundboy Rock.” It’s a mishmash of styles, with a welcome return to the dance floor with tracks like “Get Down” and “Lightsonic.”

Not all the experiments work, but at least they’re pushing the envelope both above and below the ground. They even bring back a more acidy, psychedelic vibe perfect for outdoor parties rolling in the dawn. (more…)

Recently discovered the gently complex world of Germany’s Dial Records. It’s got a hint of spooky goth to it. Or maybe it’s just their austere, dark artwork. The melodies from their artist Pantha Du Prince for example are gorgeous, building into epic sweeps, coupled with head-spinning rhythms. Really introspective, intelligent stuff.

From the cover of “This Bliss,” an exerpt from sci-fi writer J.G. Ballard:

“…The light was deeper but more resonant, as if every leaf and flower were a window into a furnace…”

Somehow it describes Pantha Du Prince’s music perfectly.

The young Americans salute the Arctic Monkeys’ cool, sonic onslaught.

Last Sunday night, the Arctic Monkeys, the hot rock group from England that has been turning ears for the past couple years in Europe, showcased their talent at LA’s Troubadour the night after they played at Coachella. Far from what I expected, the four-piece banged out a mod-infused, punked up, full-throttle concoction of post-rock, post-rave mayhem. Not just pop music, their live fare was some of the most heady, far-out music I’ve heard in quite sometime. The fact that frontman Alex Turner’s laconic singing came across more as detached commentary on the teenaged, post-9/11 set, only deepened their white-hot refrains. (more…)

The Chemical Brothers’ new album “We Are the Night” is on the horizon, slated for a June 19 release. The Los Angeles Times reports that it was a difficult record to make, sparking some soul-searching for the duo. Looking for inspiration, they seem to have zeroed in on the dance-rock and “nu rave” craze:

“We put together what we had experienced at raves — the shared experience, the wildness of it, the fun — with our love of rock and indie,” he says. “We didn’t want to be in a guitar band. We wanted to take the rawness and sweat and intensity you’d get from a rock band, but do that with electronic instruments.”

Let’s hope it’s even better than the last one. Read the full article.

!!! rock LA’s Amoeba Record Store day before they perform at Coachella.

Norway’s 120 Days and New York’s Ratatat stoked the electronic fire Monday at the amply spacious Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. Ratatat headlined on the heels of their critically acclaimed albums “Ratatat” and “Classic,” interlacing their intricate, sometimes baroque electric guitar over meaty electronic beats. Less Air and more Hendrix and Mozart rocking out with a drum machine, Ratatat is a natural hybrid of rock and electronica.

But getting the gig off to its start was the astonishing 120 Days, who are already a sensation in Europe. Excelling as a live act, 120 Days jam over long, epic numbers with roguish abandon. Fusing techno’s hypnotic horsepower with a rock band’s raw swagger, the Norwegian quintet were a revelation in the hearing.

120 Days bring dream-tidings from the north, basking in their sonic maelstrom of cascading guitars and entrancing grooves.

And yet their genius is shockingly obvious: fat beats, skitter-scatter snares and galloping high-hats riding under a diamond sky of bursting synths and guitar psychedelia. But it took young pups weaned equally on Led Zeppelin and Sasha to push it through with natural purpose. And looking at the thin northern strangers with their long hair and engrossed playing style, it seemed the ghosts of early Pink Floyd had returned for the technicolor dreams of the day — “One of these days I’m going to cut you up into little bitty pieces…” (more…)

What can I say that hasn’t probably already been said about this sophomore album? Yes, it’s a sleekly produced affair that shouldn’t disappoint most fans and newcomers. But, the real surprise for me is “Someone Great.” When I first heard it on the radio I thought it was by some clever German producer — it has that minimal, cold sound. The vocals married to the casual, interlocking melodies yield one of the more stunning electronic songs of the year. It is especially delicious at night. (more…)

Sexy, heady, grooving, ingenious, pulsating, rollicking — you could say all of these things about !!!’s new album. Gaging their reception at Coachella and their growing mentions in mainstream media like the Los Angeles Times and NPR, it’s only a matter of time before these guys explode. If you’re new to !!! (chk chk chk) what you need to know is that they are not just another LCD Soundsystem or simply a modern update of the Talking Heads. (more…)

LA’s own John Tejada releases one of his best longplayers yet. The big prize here is his gorgeous, goose-bumping “End of it All,” a strong candidate for this year’s techno anthem. I first heard him play it at a local club months ago, fresh off his computer hard drive, its many percolating synths and bass tones cascading down like glittering bee-bees. Others like “What Happened to Manners,” “Clever Bunch” and “Paper Jet” follow in the tradition of Orbital’s whipping, schematic grooves. While the album doesn’t sustain itself throughout, it’s a highlight for any electronica fan.

1. A Guy Called Gerald – Proto Acid – The Berlin Sessions

2. Ratatat – Classics

3. Burial – Burial

4. Aphex Twin – Chosen Lords

5. William Orbit – Hello Waveforms

6. Total Science – Mars Needs…Total Science

7. Thom Yorke – The Eraser

8. The Rapture – Pieces of the People We Love

9. Booka Shade – Movements

10. 120 Days – 120 Days

*HONORABLE MENTIONS
Stanton Warriors – The Stanton Sessions Vol. 2
Stanton Warriors – Fabriclive.30
Trentemoller – The Last Resort
Move D – Kunststoff (reissue)
M.A.N.D.Y. – At the Controls

“Starwaves (Spiritualcatcher’s Time Modulator Mix)” – Kirk Degiorgio

“Acid In My Fridge (Tobi Neumann Remix)” – Dinky

“Sun (Deep South Remix)” – Stereo MC’s

“Pop Ya Cork” – The Stanton Warriors

“XMD 5A” – Aphex Twin

“La Luna” – Andy Cato

“Wildcat” – Ratatat

“Nostrand” – Ratatat

“Strange Addiction” – Spooky

“Merlot Brougham” – A Guy Called Gerald

“Sweet You” – A Guy Called Gerald

“The Warning” – Hot Chip

“Whoo! Alright-Yeah… Uh Huh” – The Rapture

“When She Said Goodbye” – ScSi 9

“Black Swan” – Thom Yorke

“End of it All” – John Tejada

Japan’s renowned dance troupe Sankai Juku touched stage at UCLA’s Royce Hall last night, using its butoh patterns to mirror the evolutions of history, the tensions of civilization and the timeless call of nature. The main metaphor of Kagemi that conveyed this message was a floating field of giant lotus pads that gently rose and fell. Wrapped in this context, the silent dancers, dressed and painted in white, moved like ghosts that mirrored the natural elements, animal behavior, the power of industry and the mystery of time itself.

The dancers first rested under the lotus pads, which twirled almost imperceptibly. Rising above on wires, the leaves defied gravity as the dancers began to billow underneath like weeds at the bottom of a stream. Soft, pulsating sounds carefully lifted their movements, opening their bodies like blooming flowers.

Opening Kagemi up was the sublime music of Yoichiro Yoshikawa and Takashi Kako. The composition “Manebi – Two Mirrors” fluttered to an endless phrasing of little taiko drums, mapping time through a tunnel of moving points to and from an infinite origin. Skin-drum tones hit multiple points in all four dimensions, using rhythm and harmony together. Like stark constellations they repeated intermittently in a call and response with the mind, accenting the taiko cycling below, approximating groove and arousing the heart to the vast expanses of tribal consciousness.

After a flurry of rhythmic movements, alternating in geometic patterns, more strident sounds followed, supporting the dancers’ increasingly abstract language. Mimicking the facial expressions of surprised and listless apes, three of the troupe switched between calm and manic behavior in repeating sets. Those familiar with Japan’s Three Wise Monkeys that “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” might have caught a humanist reference.

Sankai Juku at Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, Mexico. Photo by Carlos de las Piedras.

The music evolving into rougher textures, the dancers’ movements suggested the mindless march of the machine, at once more erratic, more repetitive and more rigid. Unsettling electric guitar accompanied a change of energy and costume, the dancers becoming mirror holograms of reality, donned in long, soot-splotched coats roving round and round like gears in a factory. (more…)

Chosen Lords on the Rephlex lablel is a collection of techno-maestro Richard D. James’ rare material under the name AFX / Analord, a play on his love for analogue music gear and twisted humor. For all intents and purposes however, this is an Aphex Twin album with one major difference: heavy use of the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer — a device famous for its drippy, squelching sound that helped birth acid house in the late 1980s.

Starter “Fenix Funk 5 ” takes a page from Aphex Twin’s classic “Windowlicker” single, its tight breakbeats and surprising spasms intesifying its melodic turns. Quieter songs like “Boxing Day” play brilliantly with phrasing, its fitful melodies connecting with floating fragments in poetic counterpoint. And finale “XMD 5a” stuns with its shimmying groove, its frayed harpsichord searing the mind with white-hot moodiness and communing handclaps. It’s James at his most epic.

Every TB-303 acid line on Chosen Lords is exquisite, oscillating back and forth and bouncing up and down, shaking the psyche with liquid electricity. But Lords is not just an exercise in fetishism. Instead it folds the TB-303’s evocative magic into James’ inventive brew, blazing uncharted territory. In the process, James proves once again he’s a mad genius — an analogue lord indeed.

Music Samples:
Pitcard
Boxing Day
XMD 5a

In a recent visit to LA’s Amoeba music store I picked up Junkie XL’s May 2006 release Today. Listening to it on the way home I was unmoved in the same way that I was with his Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin. Despite some winners and rocking energy, Tom Holkenborg’s pop fusions just seem too formulaic, too obvious, too much. Granted, the man who remixed Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation” into a worldwide hit has made a fortune this way and clearly he’s a stellar producer in the technical sense. But what’s disappointing is that he’s also gifted artistically, which is mostly evident with his MP3-only “radio transmissions.” Still, there are two great tracks here worth special mention, “Mushroom” and “Such A Tease.” These instrumentals successfully channel Holkenborg’s obsession with the baroque moodiness of Disintegration-era Cure — all strumming, underwater guitars and deep, damp bass.

It makes sense that as more techno artists engage pop formulas that they’ve returned to artists like The Cure and New Order for inspiration. But the current fascination with Disintegration’s gothic beauty, as also heard in Jonas Bering’s “Melanie,” for example, creates a deeper sense that we’re entering a musical period not dissimilar from the late 1980s. This has to do with generational cycles and global events perhaps. Sofia Coppola’s upcoming Marie Antoinette film, which features The Cure’s “Plainsong” will only strengthen this sense of deja-vu. Out of anger and the death of innocence, comes sadness and today’s obsession with the past. Next, I would hope, is a genuine lust for life.

Music Samples:
Mushroom
Such A Tease
Jonas Bering’s Melanie

Esteemed German label Kompakt releases its seventh album in the Total series. It’s a double-disc affair of alternately brooding and uplifting techno. “Grey Skies to Blue” by Kontrast begins the compilation with an exquisite tune, dropping into an introspective groove, accentuated with billowing sheets of energy and microscopic percussion. It’s clearly one of the deepest tracks on the market and a solid addition to the Kompakt catalog. Disc one follows with other glitchy gems, including Justus Kohncke’s “Arquipelago,” its echoing drums splashing under patiently building glaciers of sound, and The Rice Twins’ “For Penny and Alexis,” which slows down Orbital’s classic “Lush” to a rainy daydream.

But the real standout is Scsi-9’s magical “When She Said Goodbye,” harkening back in its own way to the halcyon days of early Orbital, its giddy rhythms giving way to gorgeous vocal send-ups — a lover’s bittersweet calls to the sky answered by an angel’s sensual seductions. It’s enough sunshine to burn away all the cobwebs in a cynical day or age.

Yet the sublime must also be taken with the mundane. On Total 7’s second disc, that means enduring a Teutonic nightclub with pop leanings and lots of boozers. Not that the results can’t be fun. Robotic, almost militant rhythms romp under the stiff but playful melodies of Jurgen Paape’s “Take That” and Reinhard Voigt’s narcotic “Tranceformation.” More subdued experiments such as Thomas Fehlmann’s murky “Saft” and The Field’s slushing “Over the Ice” keep the journey from veering into complete silliness. In fact, as Oxia’s “Domino” proves, Kompakt’s Total 7 keeps up the label’s tradition of demented, majestic pop, stumbling into moments of astonishing beauty.

Audio Samples:
Kontrast’s Grey Skies to Blue
Scsci-9’s When She Said Goodbye
Oxia’s Domino

Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions is A Guy Called Gerald’s sixth album and one of his best. An early techno innovator, the black Englishman Gerald Simpson has left few electronic genres untouched. He was critical to the development of drum ‘n’ bass, spending most of the ’90s sculpting breakbeat loops that trip the mind. In the last few years he has returned to the more straight-ahead grooves of techno and house music, testing his tunes in Berlin basements and clubs.

The purely instrumental nature of Proto Acid departs from the majority of Simpson’s work, which has brilliantly flirted with vocals. This latest effort also dispenses with polite listening altogether. Starter “Marching Powder” wigs out to tribal drums and modulating synths. “Nasty” bristles like a thousand incandescent insects. Tracks like “Voltar,” “Transition” and “Monday” pump and grind while Simpson drops parachute bombs into the cranium that explode into flashing images. His ingredients are mixed and timed with a masterful sense of dramatic tension and the magic aura of dreams.

Simpson is also no slave to the machine: Melody rules like a queen beside Rhythm’s throne. “Downstroke” spirals with a delirious xylophonic pattern, putting sex on the mind and harkening back to his classic work with 808 State. At once beautiful and far out, “Plaything” reminds us of the man’s pure genius — a heaving bass line rolls under disembodied moans as acidic lines of electricity burst overhead. “Merlot Brougham” bangs the walls with energy, cymbals crashing and rattling across the air while “X Ray” seethes, its haunting carrion of the night calling overhead as swishing scissors echo into the distance. And closer “Sweet You” seals the deal — aquatic, piercing synths wrap around a galloping horse of high-hats, as a piano shatters deep down to the soul.

A Guy Called Gerald is a mysterious character in the history of electronic music. Born in England to Jamaican immigrants, his consciousness as an artist unfolded in a cold, white country. As an early member of Manchester’s 808 State, he was greatly responsible for the classic “Pacific State.” Soon enough he set off on his own, releasing the greatest Acid House anthem of all time, “Voodoo Ray,” as A Guy Called Gerald.*

Exploited by major labels and depressed by the music’s hedonistic turn, Simpson soon found himself pioneering jungle. His classic album Black Secret Technology is still the most compelling of the drum ‘n’ bass genre. During this period he devised his hypnotic drum programming, what he once described as a polyrhythmic interplay between “daddy drum,” “mommy drum” and “baby drum.” Using analogue sequencers, the phrases would slightly slip and sway in time, creating a mind-bending journey through music. Hearing him DJ at LA’s Viper Room in the late 1990s, I found myself deep inside an elastic matrix of crunching beats, Simpson’s multi-dimensional grooves melting away any sense of linear time, his snaking bass lines and spectral female vocals completing my seance with the unknown.

In the intervening years, Simpson began to explore the more soulful side of this musical evolution. While some of the experiments were beautiful, such as his “Beaches and Deserts” from the Humanity album, much of the raw excitement was gone. “In the beginning Jack had a groove that was fucked so many times during the ’90s that some of us had to leave and go and hide in the jungle until it was safe to come out again,” he writes in Proto Acid’s liner notes.

And so Simpson returns to the techno and house rhythms of his youth. “Proto Acid is a weave of interlaced analogue sounds driven by digital sequencers,” he writes of his still intriguing approach to things. The results are as brilliant and original as ever.

LINKS:
A Guy Called Gerald’s Web site
Label: Laboratory Instinct

*
For those unfamiliar with “Voodoo Ray” but perhaps on the indie film diet, you may know it as the soundtrack to a key moment in Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People, when the main character walks through the Hacienda dance floor and talks about the glorious arrival of Acid House — England’s ecstasy-fueled fusion of Chicago house music and Detroit techno in the late 1980s.

With its roots in early ’80s electronic hip hop, “electro” took the European blueprints of Kraftwerk and injected Black America’s broken sense of time. Like floating lily-pads, its funky beats created a fantasy escape from ghetto despair. Over the ’90s the sound submerged again, taking on a more inward, angry energy. Always akin to the dance ethic of techno, electro was revived through the aquatic jams of Drexciya, the soulful grooves of Juan Atkins (Model 500, Infiniti), and the trippy experiments of European artists like The Advent, Air Liquide, Dopplereffekt and D’Arcangelo. What they pioneered together was an austere frontier of provocative thought.

This combination of stark drums and staccato riffs created a particular kind of outlaw psychedelia, one that shapes time through the perception of presence and space. This is the special, little-understood power of techno music. While the form provides equally fascinating uses of melody, its rhythmic psychedelia is what truly separates it from most other forms of music.

At its most extreme, its minimal, hard, sometimes metallic structures paint a cold, inhuman world that challenges the listener’s humanity. In the company of robots is how many techno producers and dancers have then envisioned this sound. But I’d say this is a false conception of what is truly happening. Instead, as with so many spheres of human activity, the dynamic, quickened pace of information through computers has simply allowed an almost liquid outflow of the human spirit. And inside the open spaces of funky electro techno, angling through its wicked stabs, we find its most renegade, pure expression. You can either be enslaved by it, or freed.

1. Temple of Dos De Agua : Drexciya : Neptune’s Lair
2. You Don’t Know : Drexciya : The Quest
3. Maroon : The Suburban Knight : Interstellar Fugitives
4. Bang Bang : Drexciya : The Quest
5. The Flow : Model 500 : Deep Space
6. Wave Jumper : Drexciya : The Quest
7. Bubble Metropolis : Drexciya: The Quest
8. Program Da Futur : The Advent : Brassik 12″ single
9. Intensified Magnetron : Drexciya : The Quest
10. Living in the Future : Freaky Chakra : The Blacklight Fantasy
11. Robot Wars : Air Liquide : Robot Wars E.P.
12. Postcard from the Future : Infiniti : Skynet
13. Stasis : The Advent : New Beginnings
14. Solina (The Ascension) : The Jedi Knights : New School Science
15. Sinclair : D’Arcangelo : Shipwreck
16. Fate In Us : D’Arcangelo : Shipwreck
17. Interstellar Crime Report : Drexciya : Interstellar Fugitives

Massive Attack and Liz Fraser’s angelic music fills the Hollywood Bowl. Photo by Electrohound.

Massive Attack performed at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl this past Sunday to a crowd of fans and hipsters of all stripes. Only one of the original three members from the trip-hop innovators was present, 3D (Robert Del Naja). But a supporting cast, including reggae vocalist Horace Andy and chanteuse Liz Fraser of Cocteau Twins fame, warmed the cool air. The sound was expertly mixed as a live guitarist, keyboardist, and two drummers puounded, pulled and pushed Massive Attack’s heavily programmed music into a liquid, thunderous ball of lightening.

Classics like “Safe From Harm,” “Risingson,” and “Hymn of the Big Wheel” filled the bowl with soulful singing, whisping threads of melody and climbing electric guitar textures. The most exquisite moments belonged to “Teardrop” and “Unfinished Symphony.” The former worked around the song’s distinctive, honey-dripping bass notes, slightly delayed for awesome, dramatic effect. The latter breathed perfectly in the outdoor setting, lifting the audience up with its earnest lyrics and delirious rhythms. In this heady mixture of organic and electronic sounds, Massive Attack delivered its music and message from an enlightened core. “Safe From Harm” accompanied sobering statistics about the Iraq War flashed in red letters across lighting grids. Without killing the mood, it reminded old fans of Massive Attack’s common theme of protecting the vulnerable. All in all, it was a bloody professional showing from a band past its prime but sitting on top of one the best song catalogs of the last 20 years.

Jut two nights later Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played in the same place to an entirely different audience. The old Southern rocker jammed through most of his classics, keeping the joys high with many standouts from his landmark Full Moon Fever album. When he introduced Stevie Nicks as his special guest, the crowd went wild. Having grown up during the early years of MTV, I couldn’t help but be deeply impacted by Petty. And while his live rendition of “Don’t Come Around Here No More” — a classic ’80s song with an unforgettably creepy video — reminded me slightly of Disneyland’s Electric Light Parade theme, it was still the highlight of my week.

Standing in the same amphitheater that Massive Attack rocked just 48 hours earlier, it was easy to observe just how different the two generations were. One relied on the iconic personality of an enlightened Southern rebel, maybe the last true rock and roller of our time, the other on the tasteful fusion of global grooves and island soul by three English blokes steeped in the electronic revolution.

Even though the outward effects were worlds apart, there was a deeper connection. Both drew on the clash of musical traditions from Africa, the Americas and Europe. And both reached through them for enlightened ecstasy and peace.

The Stanton Warriors’ first album of original material is finally here. The one to buy is the import release, which includes a DJ mix in the tradition of Stanton Sessions Volume 1. Together the package is impressive. As anyone who’s familiar with these party pranksters would expect, the beats are thumping and body-moving. The album proper begins with “Seeker,” featuring a guest vocal by Jhelisa of The Shamen fame. Her hushed singing gives the The Lost Files a rock feel very similar to UNKLE’s Never, Never, Land. Dancehall and street vibes come direct with solid tracks “Blaze,” “Get Em High” and “Bounce & Twist,” while tracks like the moody “Slip Away” give the album a pop atmosphere that still retains an underground edge. But that pop sensibility is also a party killer. Instead of letting the sexy, slinking grooves of “Slip Away” ride fiercely for another two to three minutes, the Warriors shorten it for radio play. The result sizzles rather than burns. And that’s the main problem with The Lost Files. Clearly gifted with a sense of what makes people boogie, the Stanton Warriors simply lose their way when playing too hard to the home-listening crowd. Still, the duo’s talent for crafting tough beats and old school vibes is always on display. Any one of these “lost files” would sit well in an alternative radio show or in a breakbeat DJ’s set. The Stanton Sessions Volume 2 mix is proof of the latter. Not as good as their awesome Volume 1, this followup mix still has a deliciously mean streak. Tracks like “Pop Ya Cork” are hard, psychedelic numbers fit to get any big soundsystem party off to a fearless start. Which reveals something about these breakbeat warriors — they’re still better DJs than bedroom rockers.

Music Samples:
Pop Ya Cork
Blaze
Slip Away

I know most have heard of Boards of Canada. Nor is it original to compile a playlist of their top stuff. But I know some downloaders out there have never bothered to buy their albums and E.P.’s or take the time to listen to all of them. Also, I doubt few have assembled a smooth sequence with the right peaks and valleys.

If you’re new to Boards or have only heard them in passing, imagine a grainy wildlife documentary and family home movies from the ’70s, mixed with childlike wonder, crunchy hip hop beats and the bleak beauty of the northern wilderness.

So here it is — minus some highlights like “Hi Scores” and “Happy Cycling” — my home version of the best way to listen to the Boards:

1. Wildlife Analysis : Music has the Right to Children
2. An Eagle in Your Mind : Music has the Right to Children
3. Chromakey Dreamcoat : The Campfire Headphase
4. Satellite Anthem Icarus : The Campfire Headphase
5. Telephasic Workshop : Music has the Right to Children
6. Triangles and Rhombuses : Music has the Right to Children
7. In A Beautiful Place in the Country : In A Beautiful Place in the Country E.P.
8. Amo Bishop Roden : In A Beautiful Place in the Country E.P.
9. Kaini Industries : Music has the Right to Children
10. Bocuma : Music has the Right to Children
11. ROYGBIV : Music has the Right to Children
12. Aquarius : Music has the Right to Children
13. Nlogax : Hi Scores E.P.
14. Seeya Later : Hi Scores E.P.
15. 1969 : Geogaddi
16. Ataronchronon : The Campfire Headphase
17. Oscar See Through Red Eye : The Campfire Headphase
18. Dayvan Cowboy : The Campfire Headphase
19. You Could Feel the Sky : Geogaddi
20. Tears from the Compound Eye : The Campfire Headphase

Los Angeles artist Testshot Starfish navigate the night. Photo by Electrohound.

2006 was the year that it all began to flow back into mass perception. Five years after 9/11, with a healthy economy, the shake-out of digital downloads and the persistence of grizzled artists and DJs, it seemed the time to get down was here again.

For five years we had to endure the whine and cheese of pop electronica and the return of rock chic. Moby, while a genius, had made techno too safe for corporate executives and investment bankers. He was right that America had already missed the creative peak of techno. It was a sad commentary on America’s isolationism that it had missed Orbital’s Brown Album and Underworld’s Dubnobasswithmyheadman only to catch both artists’ less spirited but refined follow-ups. When America finally learned it was part of a global community, it learned it by way of crashing jetliners.

Dr. Alex Patterson and Thomas Fehlmann of The Orb at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Photo by Barry M.

By 2006, those dark clouds finally began to fade. In March, The Orb rocked the Frank Gehry-designed Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Local techno wonderboy John Tejada globetrotted tirelessly while Breakbeat continued its comeback with the Plump DJs and the Stanton Warriors.

Sitting at the Terra Byte show at the L.A. County Arboretum in June, I could sense yet again a little bit of that giddy excitement from decades past. Like little jolts of electricity, the inventive, beautiful songs of LA’s Testshot Starfish and Sacramento’s Tycho compressed time to zero, gently calling up memories of past summers of love.

Still a murmur perhaps. But then months earlier it had been shot right into my sober brain. Daft Punk had landed at Coachella like space invaders, showing what pure techno — trans-dimensional, electrofied, funky techno — was capable of. The beats punched the hips while growling synths melted into fist-pumping house magic.

Daft Punk booming daftendirekt from their stargate pyramid at Coachella 2006. Photo by Electrohound.

The Los Angeles Times barely mentioned their performance, deaf to its significance. But it was obvious to anyone who ever rocked out to a technoid drum: techno wasn’t dead, it was fucking alive and kicking ass. Eminem was right about Moby but wrong about the genre. In fact, Kanye West had a pitiful performance earlier that day, showing the major weakness of live, pop rap — its self-infatuation, its rants, killing the party.

When Daft Punk wrapped up, everyone stumbled away in a daze. One concert-goer shook his head, exasperating, “Motherfuckers stole the show.” As the kids pulled away from the parking lot, blasting Daft Punk on their car stereos, a blond teenage girl, born at the end of the ’80s when rave first came to be, cheerleaded to her friends as a truck crawled by playing “Around the World”: “That song is soooo amazing.”

It’s more than 20 years since Detroit and Chicago started the techno revolution. An economic bummer and the War on Terror knocked the wind out of its sails. But things are looking up in 2006. It’s just a feeling, but I think we’re beginning to discover again the optimistic power of techno.