In Greek mythology, Daedalus was known as an inventor, although Alfred Darlington (nee Weisberg-Roberts) also cites the character Stephan Dedalus in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man -- as well as the ship in the Japanese cartoon Robotech -- as equally valid reasons for his namesake. Despite the fact that he was formally trained on double bass and bass clarinet, had studied jazz at USC, and could play additional instruments such as the guitar and accordion, Daedelus chose to go the electronica route, often incorporating samples from the '30s and '40s into his IDM and left-field hip-hop.
On Bespoke, Daedelus takes a few cues from cosmopolitan house and stuttering techno figures and adding guest vocalists Bilal, the Bird and the Bee's Inara George, and multi-instrumentalist Amir Yaghmai. It's a good thing he added vocalists, as this gives the songs focus when they otherwise would be free flowing beats without much direction. My album pick is "Penny Loafers" because I love the juxtaposition between Inara and what would otherwise be a run of the mill instrumental hip hop album. I have to say this is the first Daedelus album that caught my attention for more than one listen.
Being a somewhat lackluster releases week, I know I can trust in electronic music compilations. This album contains various artists from XL Records doing their best to alter Pantha Du Prince's Black Noise. Originally released in 2010, Black Noise was the minimal techno product of German producer Hendrik Weber. Some have criticized Weber for not keeping up with the times and current trends of electronic music, but for me, his debut with This Bliss in 2007 was a breath of fresh, repetitive air. Perhaps his style is a turn off for some critics because they just don't want to admit that electronic music was BETTER in domain of Underworld/Orbital/Chemical Brothers' late-nineties into the early 2000's. Such is why any connoisseur of that epoch of music will find Pantha du Prince as suitably reminiscent of a synthesizer sound and mixing style they know very well.
As a whole, the XL mixes are decent, although not all are stand out tracks. In some cases the remix is more interesting than the original. A few stand out artists are Hieroglyphic Being, Four Tet, and Animal Collective, whom I would not expect to be remixing Pantha du Prince! Their take on "Welt Am Draht" interests me the most because they bring a 2011 sensibility to a potentially dated sound, incorporating spacey, beachy vocals.
Take a listen to "Welt Am Draht (Animal Collective mix) here.
Get your own copy of XL Versions of Black Noise here.
Noah Lennox adopted the name Panda Bear in the late '90s, when he drew a picture of a panda on one of his first bedroom studio recordings. He grew up in Pennsylvania, went to college at the University of Boston, and eventually found his way to New York City, where he met his future Animal Collective bandmates Avey Tare, Geologist, and Deakin. In addition to his work with Animal Collective, Jane, and Together, Lennox has released several solo albums.
Panda Bear could be described as a mix of heavy reverb, sun-woozy synths a la Brian Wilson, droning kraut-surf-ambient-pop songs, high childlike voice, and psychedelic-cum-nostalgic sleeve art.
Tomboy, Lennox's fourth solo album as Panda Bear, was mixed with Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember of Spectrum/Spacemen 3. This album reflects the blissful psychedelia and dream-pop Spacemen 3 and their peers were playing in the late 1980s, a lineage that stretches right back to stuff we now consider classic rock. With its angelic choirboy harmonies over an unchanging synth buzz, even "Drone", the album's roughest song, is a dead-ringer for the way Spacemen 3 songs like "Ecstasy Symphony" merged the pop high of Beach Boys with the woozy downer feel of the Velvet Underground. On Tomboy, Noah Lennox strips away the samples that made Person Pitch so hallucinatory and focuses on guitars, drums, and emotive melodies. A few found sounds make their way into the bookends “You Can Count on Me” and the beatific “Benfica,” giving the impression that Tomboy picks up right where Person Pitch left off, but the album’s overall sound is much sparer: the aptly named “Drone” and the smoky “Scheherazade” are downright minimalistic compared to what came before. Yet Tomboy is just as dreamy and hypnotic in its own way, with Lennox's familiarly looping melodies and structures coated in so much reverb and delay that an intricate collage of samples isn’t necessary to make these songs transporting. Unlike Person Pitch's immersive miasma of sound, Tomboy takes a more song-based approach to Lennox's fondness for Brian Wilson harmonies and melodies. Tomboy was recorded in a basement studio in Lisbon, Portugal, and the album reflects those surroundings, providing a moody cocoon of sound to retreat into instead of Person Pitch's expansiveness. A feeling of loss often shadows these songs, and there’s a newfound sense of urgency, particularly on “Tomboy” and the fittingly soaring “Afterburner.” Despite Tomboy's significant changes, it feels less like a radical shift than a subtle progression; while it may not be quite as dazzling as Person Pitch, it should still please fans of that album and Animal Collective.
Take a listen to my favorite track, "Slow Motion", with its slightly dubby feel here.
The Kills are back with Blood Pressures, a delightful romp into gritty, straightforward rock with a twist of blues. I was slow to discover that I liked the Kills--it was through Dead Weather that I realized that Alison Mosshart is a true bad ass. Any woman who cackled on a song, saying, "I'm Mad!!" is alright with me. In turn, I gave the Kills a thoughtful, open listen and decided, hey, this is worthy of my time!
On Blood Pressures, Alison sounds more seasoned and confident in her vocals, probably a result from recording with the Dead Weather for two albums and honing her inner Ann Wilson rock goddess fortitude. These songs, and most of Blood Pressures, have the dead-cool attitude the Kills have always displayed, but the vulnerability they allow to peek through might be the album's biggest development. That openness is also the fuel for the brightest highlights, which span the seismic shifts between love and desperation that power “Future Starts Slow”'s massive drums and guitars and “Nail in My Coffin”'s tumbling choruses, or the classic-sounding balladry of “The Last Goodbye,” where Mosshart lets her inner Patsy Cline out to croon. Blood Pressures is a darker, slower ride than Midnight Boom, but it shows the Kills can make subtle innovations as well as bold ones, and make them fit their signature sound to boot.
Take a listen to Nail In My Coffin here.
Get your own copy of the Kills' Blood Pressures here.
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