REVIEW: SPRING SPROUTS - Ingrown Records compilation - 2012 - Bandcamp and cassette

SPRING SPROUTS
Ingrown Records compilation, Bandcamp and limited edition cassette
http://ingrown.bandcamp.com/album/spring-sprouts
Derek Poteat drops guitar science with the brief "Abbreviat," fresh and experimental sounds from the start. Tearo is next, "Let's Die A.I.," drops a nice break, under heavenly synths, this could be John Foxx or Bill Nelson for all I know. Nice.
Tesla Recoils's "The Penal Colony" is more toward the soundtrackish end, with layers of blustery synths flying all around the place. Tight! Treasure Hunt is next, "Dillard's Shopping" is pure Magnetic Fields, or Ken Clinger, same thing, swirly synth pop. Lovely. Orphaned Holograms "Ascension Dimension Disintegration" is very much like modern Skinny Puppy, which means a nice beat out front, twiddly synth bits, echoey samples and the occasional machine noise. Break it down. I hadn't planned on writing about every single piece on this compilation, but Wyss's "A JPEG Jam" is so fucking cool, I had to mention it. What the hell, Peter Gabriel vibe or something, uplifting and then a dubstep breakdown? Outstanding. Bryce Eiman drops "The Corm Tunic," reverbed synth swells for 2.5 minutes, can't go wrong. Shit yeah. Caucasians's "Pious Bias" literally sounds like a surveillance recording of some dudes playing keyboards in a room, maybe reversed & echoed backwards, it's very cool. Dead Chimp "Twisted Fuck" is fun, bouncey, dancey, bassy and amusing, which is all I'm asking for. Come on. Fun and funny samples, I hope they're supposed to be funny. JoieJoieJoie's "Les Iguanes" features enervating wordplay and asian percussion & melodies & stuff, plus oh my god an actual TUNE and a SONG with LYRICS, oh my god. Devastatingly cool song, with so many good things about it, I can't stand it. First Dog To Visit The Center Of The Earth gets the last spot with "Perdido," which is 7 minutes of jammed synth weirdness. I enjoyed this whole thing, what an unexpected treat.
Ian C Stewart

REVIEW: THE ERNIE 4 - "One Baskervoid Frottage - 30 Minutes With The Ernie 4" - stream - 2012

One Baskervoid Frottage

THE ERNIE FOUR
"One Baskervoid Frottage: 30 Minutes With The Ernie 4" Bandcamp stream
http://thecheshiredragon.bandcamp.com/track/one-baskervoid-frottage
Soulful echoes from distant times and spaces, layered and sliced like bisecting the universe itself. This piece is thirty minutes of continuous feelings, the inner tentacles of the mind feeding back on itself. Cross sections of fear enfolding themselves and each other. There are moments. Echoes that sound like trains colliding and collating? The synth? drones throughout and toward the end taunt you, teasing you with what could've been! This could've been a lost Cyberaktif b-side after all. But no, it couldn't. It wasn't, it didn't. This overarching crescendo comes home, the end. What, do it again? Okay. Let's go one more time.
Ian C Stewart

REVIEW: RUSS STEDMAN - "Blowing Chunks Of Theory" - 2012

RUSS STEDMAN
"Blowing Chunks Of Theory" CD album thing
http://www.russstedman.com/album-pages/056/056.htm
Mostly? entirely? instrumental? Fun musical and sonic puns about music, like "Diamonds & Pears." "One Mile High" is slow and spacey, like a Prince song played at 20 BPM? This album is not like symphonic dubstep dirge digeridoo glitch-witch or anything out of left field, Russ is giving ya/me what ya/I want, which is great songs, great production, great performances, great fuckin' guitar tone that makes me wanna pick up a guitar myself, and drumming that sounds like a live drummer, except better. It ain't fuckin' rocket science. "Vitreous Humour" is another favorite, it's like rocked-out MIDI files of a Marilion song or something. Hah. "Eat The Sun" contains some symphonic elements, don't get me wrong, some cool phrasing, fiddly bits, cool shit to go around. Also, "A Tin Teardrop" which is bulbous, also tapered? No, but it does sound like a fitting tribute to Dr. Beefheart & His Electric Teeth. "Insomnia," god DAMN those drums are cool! "Try Eating That (In Stereo)" and "Leaping Stink Snow" are an humorous pair of homages maybe to the "Zoot Allures" era, and to Frank's Synclavier years respectively. Or I could be totally wrong, fuck if I know. "Stale Trident" brings the proceedings to a close, in grand, lighters in the air, fog machine, laser finale fashion. Get it now, stop reading this. Shut up.
Ian C Stewart