gray/matter

eMusic Picks - Mar

April 7th, 2008 @ 11:29 pm by gray

The March selections are a bit delayed as I decided to switch from a mid-month to end-of-month posting schedule, which meant going over 6 weeks of additions in total since February’s picks. March alone had 12,312 new albums posted. So, took a little while.

One helpful addition is the album page’s conversion of sound samples for all tracks from m3u files - which required playback in a separate program like iTunes, cluttering the library - to an inline player that lets you listen to the 30-second samples individually or together in sequence. This is diverting enough that I’m almost tempted to script a background player that chains together groups of albums for ambience, like an audio screensaver.

Last month was also the introduction of eMusic’s Test Your Music IQ. Despite missing a few I should have known and guessing a few I shouldn’t, I was satisfied with an honest score of 120/180 along with its rather hyperbolic assessment:

Mix-Tape Master (109-144 points)
You are a music evangelist: the person in your network of friends who always has the coolest new song, the one whose iPod gets picked to DJ every party. You understand the art of the segue, how the key to the best mix-tape isn’t just the songs you pick, but how they interlock with each other. You also know who the up-and-coming acts are and are quick to recognise where their influences lie and whether they will make it big. You work hard at the pursuit of this knowledge, scouring music blogs, magazines and record stores. Most importantly, you are generous with your passion – and your friends should be very, very grateful. Still, it’s always good to get new inspiration for your latest mix.

Hear that? I work hard. Be grateful!

Featured Selections

Bang on a Can All-Stars, Brian Eno: Music for Airports (live) (4)

It was always a challenging prospect to recreate Eno’s tape-loop compositions on real instruments. The Bang On A Can ensemble did it first on their decade-old studio recording. Perhaps to commemorate, they have now released a live recording also made back in 1998.

Biosphere, Substrata (11)
-, Man with the Movie Camera (9)
-, Insomnia (17)

A masterwork of arctic ambient or ‘chillbient,’ Substrata is unlike the acid tripping, sample-heavy dub of The Orb but more of an Enoesque tone poem of the far north. Slow, eerie drones and pulsing synths mix with the crackling of ice and the sound of submerged bells to evoke great wide spaces that hint at loneliness.

Andrew Bird, Soldier On (8)

Previously a European tour-only EP, Soldier On collects compilation tracks, mixes, and live tracks (still no Fingerlings, alas) including “The Trees Must Be Mistaken” previously available on My Name is a Blackbird.

Boards of Canada, Hi Scores (6)

The first evidence of Boards of Canada appearing to US subscribers, their first official EP is a small but sweet taste of their melodic electronica.

Bola, Fyuti (10)
-, Gnayse (10)
-, Soup (10)
-, Kroungrine (8)

A lesser-known counterpart to Autechre and Boards of Canada, Bola excels at the melodic end of the IDM scale. The characteristic glitchiness of Autechre is not entirely absent, such as on Fyuti’s “Magnasushi”, but it remains well short of harsher works like Confield or certain Aphex Twin. Of the four albums so far available, Fyuti is a good place to start, although Bola’s sound remains pretty consistent across them all.

Gavin Bryars, The Sinking of the Titanic (1)

Yet another variation on ambience, this time from minimalist composer Gavin Bryars and his 72-minute piece recounting, well, the sinking of the Titanic. Ice crackles, voices warble in the mist, and the band plays waltzes as the ship goes under, all set against the waves of arpeggiated score for strings and wind instruments. (I can’t quite account for the recurring crickets, however.)

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, The Swell Season (10)

Indie icons and now Oscar winners following the groundswell success of the film Once and its award-winning song, “Falling Slowly” (track 3 here). Both the film and the album are testament to the transformation of life into art, and the possibility of life imitating art. “The Swell Season” is also the name the duo have recently toured under.

Johanna Kunin, Clouds Electric (12)

A discovery courtesy of TNG, who hounded me mercilessly to see her play live - an experience well worth the somewhat lackluster accommodations. Kunin gets name-checked most often with Imogen Heap, who shares her mix of keyboards and breathy vocals, or Laura Veirs, with whom she shares producer Tucker Martine and occasional bandmembers, but neither really captures her appeal. Likewise with comparing her to a ‘less crazed’ Björk (which is to say, not Björk at all) or ‘less neurotic’ Tori Amos (same). A better angle might be noting her background as a jazz vocalist, and her upbringing in Minnesota, which come through in her unhurried pacing, sparse keyboard arrangements (Satie is another influence, most evident on instrumental “The Butterfly”), and lyrical musings. Her songs feel like yearning towards cool autumn mornings, creaky porch steps and grass stiff with frost. “Fireflies” offers the most pop sensibility and thus stands out from the otherwise gauzy production.

Sigur Rós, Hvarf-Heim (11)
-, Agaetis Byrjun (10)

Filling in the Sigur Rós catalog we now have the 1999 album Agaetis Byrjun with epic tracks like “Svefn-g-englar.” In Hvarf-Heim, we get a collection of 5 unreleased songs accompanying the documentary Heima about the band touring in Iceland, while the latter 5 are live acoustic performances in varied locations.

Spoonfed Hybrid, self-titled (11)

In keeping with the theme of unsung melancholic, minor-key melodies Spoonfed Hybrid is a side-project of Ian Master (the best part of 4AD’s Pale Saints) and Chris Trout. In keeping with its 4AD roots, the songs are fractured dream-pop with gorgeously idiosyncratic arrangements. The plunging introduction to “Tiny Planes” and the harp-like dirge of “Lynched” set against radio bursts remain as stunning 15 years later as they first sounded in a tiny apartment in cold north Britain. Spoonfed Hybrid only mustered another, less impressive EP but this album stands alone as a one-off classic.

See Also

Ace of Base, Happy Nation - US Version (15)
-, The Bridge (17)
-, Flowers (14)
-, Da Capo (12)
-, Unspeakable (2)

Four albums of the finest Swedish pop!

Air Liquide, Best Of (11)

Amber Asylum, Still Point (10)

Area, Agate Lines (16)

Natacha Atlas and David Arnold, One Brief Moment (3)

Check out their lush version of “You Only Live Twice,” inspired by their work together on “From Russia With Love” for Arnold’s Shaken and Stirred James Bond tribute. That album got him the gig as movie composer starting with Tomorrow Never Dies, and also brought us the Propellerheads’ incomparable take on “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”

Attrition, All Mine Enemys Whispers (7)

Emilie Autumn, A Bit of This & That (15)

Baka Beyond, Rhythm Tree (10)
-, Baka Live (10)

Beach House, Devotion (11)

Berlin, Pure 80s Hits (7)

Bon Iver, For Emma Forever Ago (9)

Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie, Mysterious Skin OST (15)

Gavin Bryars, The North Shore (3)

BWO, Chariots of Fire (1)

If you wondered what happened to Army of Lovers.

Chumbawamba, Get On With It - Live (16)
-, English Rebel Songs 1381-1914 (13)

Less “Tubthumping,” more anarchic folk singalongs. “On eBay” is still chilling live.

Cylob, Formant Potaton (12)
-, Bounds Green (12)

Matthew Dear, Asa Breed - Black Edition (17)

Death Angel, Killing Season (11)

Death in June, The Rule of Thirds (13)

Mike Doughty, Golden Delicious (11)

Formerly of Soul Coughing.

Emmy, skajagprova@hotmail.com (7)

More Eurodance should come with its own email address.

A Flock of Seagulls, Pure 80s Hits (9)

Flogging Molly, Float (11)

Gaudi + Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Dub Qawwali Remixes (5)

Dub and Qawwali should be all you need to know to decide if this is your thing.

Gescom, A1-D1 (6)

The Grid, Doppleganger (13)

Gus Gus, Need in Me (5)

Paul Haslinger, Vacancy OST (23)

Kirsty Hawkshaw, The Ice Castle (10)

Information Society, Pure 80s Hits (8)

Junkie XL, Booming Back at You (12)

Kid 606, Why I Love Life (7)

Kitt, Supercar Theme (2)

Yes, Kitt as in Knight Industries Two Thousand. And yes, this would have made a much better theme update than the one actually featured in the series’ reboot pilot.

Lady Sovereign, Random (3)

Daniel Lanois, Here Is What Is (18)

Simon Le Bon, Nobody Knows (1)

Lowsunday, Elesgiem (12)

Lush, Gala (15)

The first Lush album is actually a collection of EPs but remains a great document of their early sound. I can only hope they’ll follow with some of their other EPs, like the impossible-to-find For Love.

Malicorne, Le Bestiare (8)

Metric, Grow Up and Blow Away (10)
-, Live It Out (10)

Mountain Goats, Heretic Pride (13)

Gary Numan, Replicas Redux (13+14)

Pale Saints, Mrs. Dolphin (10)

In keeping with the other 4AD additions this time, Mrs. Dolphin was a Japan-only collection of EP and other rare material.

Plump DJ’s, Eargasm (13)

Rajna, Ishati (13)

Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust (15)

Ready Fire Aim, So Fine (6)

Robin Rimbaud, The Garden is Full of Metal (9)

Robin Rimbaud = Scanner, and this is a tribute to the director Derek Jarman.

Rocket from the Crypt, RIP (20)

Fittingly, their final live performance.

Sam Rosenthal, Before the Buildings Fell (9)

Paul Schwartz & Susanne Elmark, Glimpses of Sappho (12)

I adore Paul Schwartz’ work on the Aria series, yet gave a pass on State of Grace. So it’s not entirely surprising that while I found the concept of an album derived from the few remaining snippets of Sappho’s poetry compelling, I cannot get past the shrillness of Elmark’s soprano. YMMV.

She & Him, Volume One (13)

‘She’ is kewpie actress-cum-singer Zooey Deschanel, ‘Him’ is M. Ward, and Volume One is their uncryptically-titled first installment of retro pop songs.

Sky Cries Mary, Small Town (13)

Sol Invictus, King & Queen (11)
-, Trieste (17)
-, In a Garden Green (7)

System 7, Space Bird (3)

Swallow, Blowback (8)

Another 4AD super-EP, this time the reconstruction of their sole album Blow which was somewhat overpolished and consequently a bit dull. Blowback fixes that in spades, and ranks up with some of This Mortal Coil’s albums as among my favorite from the label.

Sally Timms, Cowboy Sally (5)

Includes collaborations with the Handsome Family and Waco Brothers.

Toto, Falling in Between Live (11+12)

The Unquiet Void, The Shadow-Haunted Outside (10)

Lovecraft-inspired dungeon ambient, akin to early Lustmord or denizens of Cold Meat Industry.

Wax Poetic, Cihangir Remixes (3)

various, Anakin (10)

Before the Phantom Menace ruined everything, ‘Anakin’ was still an obscure reference and thus could anoint hipper-than-thou 4AD’s 1998 label compilation.

various, Broken English OST (15)

various, The Cooler OST (15)

various, Dedication OST (13)