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Lindstrøm, Six Cups of Rebel

2012 | Label: Feedelity Recordings / Phonofile

02.06.12 With his debut, Where You Go I Go Too, Norwegian nu-disco producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm proved his skill at providing sloooow aural release. Prudent when taking his synthesized melodies to the next plateau, judicious in dropping the drums — be they syn-, lin- or steel — with each subsequent release, he’s been upping the velocity. With fellow producer Prins Thomas, they went fusion-y and with singer Christabelle (on 2010′s Real Life is No Cool) he emulated ’80s pop at its crispest.

Disregard the five-minute arpeggios of opener “No Release” (truth in advertising), and Six Cups of Rebel shows Lindstrøm at his most hyperactive. Providing his own skewed vocals for the first time, the tracks are busybody and maximal, crowding out… more »

Harmonious Thelonious, Listen

02.03.12 Harmonious Thelonious are a dance geek’s dream, so rich is their music in resonances and intermingling echoes. In “Argwöhnische Muziek,” the track that opens Listen, you might hear the melodic patterns of West African highlife guitars echoed in tumbling synthetic pianos, Terry Riley’s minimalist compositions in its phased repetitions, or the cosmicChicago house music of Jamal Moss (aka Hieroglyphic Being) in its raw production tics and relentlessly funky drum programming. Or perhaps you might think “A.O.,” later in the album, recalls both the distorted thumb pianos of Congolese troupe Konono No.1 and the most nihilistically druggy mid ’90s European techno. Or maybe you will think of none of these things. This is music so immediate, so obviously full of wild… more »

Mux Mool, Planet High School

Label: Ghostly International / IODA

02.03.12 On 2010′s Skulltaste, his first album for Ghostly International as Mux Mool, Minneapolis-gone-to-Brooklyn downtempo producer Brian Lindgren created IDM-tinged, electro-flecked tracks that roamed around the sound-field. You could hear everything from Planet Mu (the swampy bass and tinny breaks of “Breakfast Enthusiast”) to Mo’ Wax (“Morning Strut”) in its DNA, but on Planet High School, Lindgren’s tightened the reins — his tempos are generally meditative and his compositions are less meandering. Yet the music traverses lines as easily as ever: “Palace Chalice” is the kind of track you might have ripped from that pile of mostly-useless trip-hop comps back when you got your first CD burner, but the cooled-down Jan Hammer synths also let you get away with calling it… more »

Blondes, Blondes

Label: RVNG Intl. / IODA

02.03.12 The concept of duality is as obvious as the two sides of a vinyl record, but it suits Blondes on multiple levels. The improvisatory electronic duo of Sam Haar and Zach Steinman initially approached dance music from indie rock’s basement-show terrain, which led to gigs last year opening for scene-straddling elders like Matthew Dear, Simian Mobile Disco and the Juan MacLean. On Blondes’ self-titled follow-up to 2010 EP Touched, however, they explore more meaningful dichotomies, particularly the boundaries between psychedelia and house, as well as between electronic instruments and live performances.

Blondes takes this obsession with pairs to extremes: one disc collects each side of the three duality-oriented 12″ singles Haar and Steinman released last year, plus… more »