REVIEWS

blackshaw_echoesLet's cut to the chase: large swathes of Litany of Echoes are ravishingly beautiful. The precision of James Blackshaw's guitar technique is such that his twelve strings sound more like a harpsichord than any other guitar player I can think of. His melodies swoon inside intricate repetitive rhythms as each section of his compositions locks into each other like cogs in an elaborate piece of clockwork. But don't be fooled in to thinking this is a cold mechanistic kind of music, Blackshaw's playing is as warm and pleasing to the senses as burnished brass. This is not simply a guitar player's album either. Fran Bury adds carefully-judged violin and viola to the finely-wrought design and Blackshaw abandons his guitar for piano on the opening and closing tracks. Both musicians are completely focussed on uncovering the beauty within Blackshaw's compositions by cutting away all superfluous instrumental technique and letting each note ring out and fold itself around its companions. Blackshaw's admiration of French expressionist composers such as Debussy and Ravel is evident in the lushness of the sound he creates and the way his compositions allude to non-Western musics without indulging in pastiche or simple exoticism. Other, more contemporary, points of comparison are the more mellow moments in Sonic Youth's discography. Bury's droning strings add a necessary astringency to the sweet textures, sometimes seeming to imitate carefully-controlled electric guitar feedback, at other times sounding reminiscent of bagpipes. This is complex, delicately-structured music, but long way from the John Fahey-inspired 'American primitive' music James Blackshaw was once associated with. In common with his sometime-collaborator Jozef Van Wissem's recent A Priori, these recordings have roots that reach down to the Medieval mystery at the beginnings of European music and leaves that soak in the white-hot heat of new creation. -- Nick Ilott.

:: James Blackshaw/Litany Of Echoes - Tompkins Square Records/A-Musik. 

high timeHigh Time, album no 5 from Chicagos fine trio Pit Er Pat appears as an eclectic offering, sounding sometimes like two drum kits, six people and a box of percussion crammed into a disused and gutted boeing 747 and sometimes like deep smoky trip-hop in a moroccan hash parlour. However, a sultry vocal from Fay David-Jeffers overlaying most tracks gives some symbiosis and also brings us back down from the stark smells and visuals of the multi-faceted instrumental music that dominates this CD. My highlight is the beautifully sounding Creation Stepper, a cross Polynesian/ Ghanese xylophone driven, world inspired piece, which builds constantly in complexity and intensity until it peaks, with likewise, a world music inspired chant and heavily cross rhythmic instrumentation. Splendid - pass the kava! The whole album has a nice warm feel and sound, even though the textures are a mixture of high produced quality sounds and lofi sources. The production is also very well placed spatially, excellent pan work that widens the audio spectrum without depleting that warm sonority. -- stewart hill (stü)

Pit Er Pat/High Time - Thrill Jockey/Rough Trade. 

huntsvilleEco, Arches & Eras is the second album from Huntsville, the Norwegian trio of Ivar Grydeland, Tonny Kluften and Ingar Zach. A wash of sound from various sources create a complicated backdrop for this record of improvisation. Tabla box is a defining feature under the cacophony of other instruments including guitar, banjo and other drums. There is a distinct South Asian influence. Polyrhythmic rythms give an undulating and ever moving quality to the tracks. Over the drums, sounds come and go in a stream of short melody. The effect is an always changing mood over one ground. There is a lot to hear and the concerted listener will find a plethora of sounds, influences and deeper essences. The record also works well as background music as a stream does a picnic. Second CD is a one track improvisation recorded at a concert they did with Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche from Wilco at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival in 2007. Here, a multitude of sounds are eventually moulded into one musical entity again held together with percussion. It builds ever so slowly, but once there, the wait is worthwhile. The track goes on and on for some time and looses its structure a couple of times with points of clarity between. The record is a testament to the creativity improvisation produces, however without editing, some of it is lost in the sections with less form. -- anna johnston  

:: Huntsville/Eco, Arches & Eras - rune grammofon/cargo.  

gala dropThe loose African-style percussion and what sounds like a didgeridoo at first led me to dismiss Gala Drop as a bunch of hippies rubbing their two remaining functional braincells together as they perform a freeform bongo jam around the fire. There will definitely be those who find the scent of patchouli and enthusiastically-employed bongs that permeates this album overpowering, but those who stick with this disc may find themselves won over by its unpretentious charm. The beats are as calculatedly trance-inducing as any available, but with a looseness and rawness that prevents things sounding too 'professional'. The bass lines and melodies repeat seemingly endlessly (chachacha - the Silver Apples reformed in here! Ed.), worming their way into your consciousness like the synths in an early acid house track. Various ambient backgrounds drift in and out of proceedings like a partygoer who has eaten several too many space cakes. Despite the organic feel of the music, it is structurally most closely informed by dance music, moving from section to section seamlessly, like a deep house mix by Sasha or John Digweed. Each new element slides into the mix almost unnoticed as others retreat into the background in a series of impressive aural slights of hand. The blend of new and primordial technology achieved by Gala Drop is extremely subtle and the technology utilised never detracts from the sense of experiencing a performance or the warmth of the carefully selected electronic and organic sound sources. Maybe I should light up that joss stick after all (carefully, Nick! - Ed.). --- Nick Ilott.

:: Gala Drop/Gala Drop - Gala Drop Records. 

A PrioriThese solo lute recordings by Jozef Van Wissem's tap into a deep and throbbing minimalism that turns any expectations one might have about lute music on its head. Unlike more conventional virtuosos, who focus one the more staccato, attacking qualities of the lute, Van Wissem pays rapt attention to the resonance and sustain of the notes he plays. Each note is plucked with very little vibrato and allowed bloom before fading into silence. Van Wissem draws his listener's ear deep into the resonant body of his instrument and creates music that is more reminiscent of the carefully-tailored electronica of Fennesz than any other lute player. After concentrated listening, the tiniest change becomes a moment of intense drama. When Van Wissem applies a slide to his lute, the change in timbre feels like the rug being pulled out from beneath our feet and we float blissfully over the void that is revealed gaping underneath. This is music that operates the highest level, both passionate and unapologetically cerebral. The echoes and chimes of an instrument thought long dead speak anew and in a language that is both thoroughly modern and, in a sense, outside of the concerns of time and space. Like the late Indian flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, Jozef van Wissem creates a sounds that are unafraid to be simple and yet obviously the creations of a true master consumed by devotion. --- Nick Ilott.

:: Jozef Van Wissem/A Priori - Incunabulum/A-Musik. 

matt elliottMatt Elliott left his electro drum 'n bass a few years ago to bring us three entirely different records of which Howling Songs is the last. It is a song album with its roots firmly placed in Eastern Europe dominated by Elliott's voice and an array of guitars. Violin, flute and brass instruments of a definite folk persuasion deepen the traditional setting. However, this is no record of 'old' songs, these are an expression of the pains and loves we also feel in this century. The contemplative topics bounce and lilt along swaying melodies reminiscent of those a man may hum or whistle on a stroll. The songs are simultaneously brooding and up-lifting as Elliott saunters from laid-back meander to an intense spinning frenzy. Sorrow, loneliness and despair begin each track yet the album is held out of depression with cycles of frenzied melodic swirls pounded out by guitars and drums. Evident musicianship makes this album and a pleasure to listen to. Comfort comes from its sadness and its pull from it. Elliott is releasing a new album under his previous name 'The Third Eye Foundation" next year. How his folk excursion affects his electronic work will be interesting to hear. -- Anna Johnston.
:: Matt Elliott/Howling Songs -  Ici d'Ailleurs/Cargo. 

das kapitalAs is often the case with artists, the worse they fare in their personal lives, the better they sound professionally. In 1984 singer Bubbi was at his nadir, having released two flops the same year and just about to start the first of his many trips to rehab. The desperation is most audible on Svartur gítar, about having a conversation with the digital clock on your VCR in the middle of the night. Bubbi was Iceland’s first true rock star with all that entails, sings about the press on 10.000 króna frétt and the trappings of fame on Leyndarmál frægðarinnar, but retains his political side on Bönnum verkföll and Launaþrællinn. Bubbi tends to work best with Mike Pollock at his side, who gets a solo spot on Fallen Angels, while Bubbi himself attempts Danish on the title track. The album barely lets up the aggression for the classic ballad Blindsker, and is probably the best rock album recorded (mostly) in Icelandic, besting even Bubbi’s own debut.     
:: Das Kapital/Lili Marlene (1984) - Gramm/Iceland.

MoHa!This is the third long player from Norway's Moha. Once called 'an extremist hybrid between free improv, gutter electronics and darkwave scuzz' and they have elsewhere simply been proclaimed the future of Norwegian Music. Their sound mingles rock, jazz and electronic music to create one big rush of noise. The duo, Anders Hana and Morten J. Olsen, now give us a record that has been described as "slightly more structured". Their music doesn't slot easily into any genre. The combination of drums, supercollider 3, guitar and keyboards produces an unsettling cacophony of sound. In the past their work has been dubbed "a kind of arhythmically funky heavy metal musique concrete". One-way Ticket To Candyland follows suit. Interested? Catch them in Berlin in November.
:: MoHa! / One-way Ticket to Candyland - runegrammofon/cargo.