WORD

The Equinox label has been pumping out insanely good music for a long time. Do yourselves a favor and pick up Welcome To The New Golden Age, their first compilation for some next level post-rock instrumental beat goodness, a hefty collection. Soon they will be releasing their next compilation, One Year & A Day. To celebrate that and tease it up, they’ve unleashed One Year & A Day - The 5inch Files. Offered up as a free download on their site, it will be released as a set of 5 inch vinyls as well. 20 minutes of short head crushers, the breaks on this little compilation are huge and tough and swing like a hatchet. Grab it at the link below.
Various Artists - One Year & A Day - The 5inch Files (ZIPPED MP3s)

This year I decided to do a mix of songs from my top releases instead of the usual song per album approach. Doing the colossal WORD project of 2007, Like A Scientist: Official WORD Blog Mix, is probably what made me want to do it this way. Make no mistake, this year-end mix won’t be as complicated or detailed, but hopefully you’ll enjoy listening while you check out the post! Happy New Year to everyone. I’m making a resolution to get back on track with the blog and start to post regularly again.

WORD Best of 2007 Mix (mp3)

01. El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (Definitive Jux)
02. Dag Rosenqvist & Rutger Zuydervelt - Vintermusik (Self-released)
03. edIT - Certified Air Raid Material (Alphapup Records)
04. Modeselektor - Boogy Bytes Vol. 03 (BPitch Control)
05. Ben Frost - Theory of Machines (Bedroom Community)
06. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (Definitive Jux)
07. Valgeir Sigurðsson - Ekvílibríum (Bedroom Community)
08. Jesu - Conqueror | Sundown/Sunrise | Lifeline EP (Hydra Head)
09. Letters Letters - Letters Letters (Type)
10. Sixtoo - Jackals and Vipers In Envy of Man (Ninja Tune)
11. Prefuse 73 - Preparations/Interregnums (Warp)
12. Lifesavas - Gutterfly (Quannum)
13. Crippled Black Phoenix - A Love Of Shared Disasters (Invada)
14. Various Artists - The Prix Label (Numero Group)
15. Jasper TX - In A Cool Monsoon (Pumpkins Seeds In The Sand)
16. Sylvain Chaveau - Nuage (Type)
17. Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)

2007 started out excessively exciting for me, as my two favorite albums of the year were released in quick succession in the early months, coming out of nowhere at me. One, a collaborative project with an artist I was just beginning to follow, and the other, a new album by an artist that has always grated on me previously. I love this, actually. Nothing makes me appreciate music more than being shocked by a new discovery or having my head completely turned by an artist. It’s what keeps me taking risks on things I’ve never heard. I’m talking about Vintermusik and I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, two albums that couldn’t be more different. Last year’s round-up talked about the similarities in disparate music and how I see the match-ups. I’m not sure I can say that with these two albums in particular. Vintermusik is an intimate, contemplative work, conjuring cold nights watching snow. I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is a loud, intense epic hip-hop album about paranoia and frustration. They both speak to different facets of my brain, though. These are two albums that will wind up on my Best of Life list someday in the future. They struck me that deeply.

I spent most of the year anticipating the edIT album, after being blind-sided by the brilliance of his remix of Daedaleus and subsequent appearances. Certified Air Raid Material is an album I meant to review for the blog, but never got to it. His mix of glitched-out IDM sounds with a bouncy club style of hip-hop is the freshest thing to come along in ages. Here is someone making new and exciting hip hop without worrying about crate-digger crusty breaks or making sure his drums sounded like 1968. I simply can’t get enough of “Back Up Off The Floor, Pt. 2 (feat. the Grouch)”, a simply brilliant post-electro-hop track. The Grouch raps about dongles and the very act of making this amazing music, topping it all off with a fun and instantly catchy chorus. Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass is like the catchier, bouncier “fun” version of I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, featuring brilliant production by Blockhead and the customary head turning lyrics by Aes. Another album I had been anticipating for most of the year was Sixtoo’s new one. Based on his previous album, experiments with live instrument recording, and the singles he had put out through Bully in the intervening years… the album I was expecting to hear was not necessarily what Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man turned out to be. And it’s possible it’s not the one he expected either. Due to some lost/stolen recordings, he was forced to make an “edit record” using recordings of live shows and old sketches. He cut and chopped these pieces into the album that was released. It’s quite brilliant and unexpected, sounding grittier and more kraut-rock than he might have intended. Sixtoo is an artist that will always deliver, and it’s frequently not what you think on first listen.

In contrast, there is a huge segment of my list that is all guitar feedback, starting with Ben Frost’s intense experiments, moving through Jesu, and into Crippled Black Phoenix. While Ben Frost has similarities with other music I have been listening to in recent years, it’s much more abrasive and in your face. Post-industrial ambient, if you will. Jesu was the weirdest addition to my listening this year. As I related in my review of Conqueror, my history with mastermind Justin K. Broadrick goes back to high school and was tantamount to obsession. To be listening to his mixing of late period Godflesh and My Bloody Valentine pop feedback is about as strange as things get for me with music. It’s a blend of styles no one would ever think could work, but Broadrick pulls it off brilliantly. Crippled Black Phoenix is a supergroup of various post-rocks from Godspeed and the like. It snuck up on me over the course of the year. It’s huge, sprawling and emotionally mood driven.

The intricate beauty of Valgeir Sigurðsson’s Ekvílibríum is probably most analogous with things like Sylvain Chauveau’s beautiful Nuage and Jasper TX’s late 2007 entry, In A Cool Monsoon (a simply gorgeous drone experimental pop album), but the Letters Letters album’s infectious vocal performances also fit in here. I can even put Burial next to releases like this and see the contemplative nighttime stories intersecting.

Nothing particularly puts the party on more than Modeselektor and their mix CD is simply brilliant. The choice of songs is impeccable, the blends smooth as butter, and their sense of humor fully intact. Put this on, following by Lifesavas and edIT and you have most of a night’s party music right there. Gutterfly was a bit of a shock for me, coming off their last album. This one is way more upbeat, full of flashy settings, a continuous environment, and a strong story structure. It definitely feels like the blaxploitation flick they were basing it on. What do you follow these up with on your theoretical party playlist? Why not Numero Group’s wonderful compilation of the little known treasures from The Prix Label for some serious soul and funk. Worth it for Mitch Mitchell’s “Can’t Get A Nuff” alone.

[2006 Addendum: In retrospect, Grizzly Bear should have topped my list. Manyfingers struck my emotional core profoundly, but Yellow House is still the album that I keep going back to, almost 2 years later. An astounding work.]

I’ve been keeping an eye on 2600 Recordings ever since they started talking about this initial release, a compilation of UK beatmakers and producers, maybe a year ago. They’ve been feeding the beast with one great podcast after another, and it’s all lead up to this: Home Entertainment, featuring such names as Req, Buddy Peace, ZILLA, Lukid and Mr Cooper, alongside a few names you may not have heard of before. Starting it off right with SasQwax (aka WORD fave Waxfactor) and his Ambulance Chasers project, “GHC” is a beautiful and chunky piece of cinema-hop, complete with delicate melodies, live bass and one of those customary gigantic beats Wax is so well-loved for. Rhythm Incursions head honcho brings us the next track (under the name Sirhowy), “I Remember Cocoon Union,” a lovely live guitar-led jam that calls to mind Ulrich Schnauss and Christian Kliene to my ears. Another highlight is the return of UK beat legend Req on “Concert Pianist,” reaching into his well-known crate of dusty records to bring us this piece of piano and beat experimentation (it sounds like the melody from this is off an old forgotten player piano in someone’s ancient saloon!). Tempa brings us two pieces of really exotic sounding production. “Bracelet Toothpick” with Mr Laws might be sampling finger picker Bela Fleck, but who can be sure. I do know this is one fun jam. “Wonderland” is a slow burning glacier that could easily be backing Björk to great effect (potential match made in heaven!). And then we come to two pieces by everyone’s favorite mixologist, Buddy Peace. How can you not love this guy? His productions are similar to his mixes, full of TV outtakes, complicated beats, abrupt changes and a bewildering amount of detail in a short period. Someday we’ll get a Buddy Peace album and we’ll die blissfully of music saturation. Mr Cooper brings us the instrumental of his Sage Francis track, one of the highlights from Sage’s most recent album. The drums on this track are… Bonham-large. There’s no other word for it, really, full of crashing symbols, deft patterns and some epic reverb. Every one of the 15 tracks on this compilation are worthy of being called highlight. You really just need to buy this bastard now and do what I have been doing, playing the hell out of it, trying to survive the drums! Check out SasQwax’s mini-mix of the compilation below and buy it wherever good records are for sale!
SasQwax - Home Entertainment Mini-Mix (mp3)

Oh No - Dr. No’s Oxperiment | Madlib - Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: India
In some ways, I feel like I just heard these two albums, so there must be something in the air, as everyone is putting out their Eastern sample instrumental hip-hop records. These two and the above linked Deejay Om release all have their specific charms. Deejay Om’s is certainly the most fun and wacky, with a variety of styles. Oh No’s is definitely the hardest in terms of thundering drums and swagger, with Madlib’s just having that wonderful rough and loose Madlib aesthetic, like it was thrown together in 2 minutes, but walks around like it owns the place all the same. I can’t say that I don’t recommend getting them all. It’s quite an interesting way to take a hip-hop influenced tour of the world! Dr. No’s Oxperiment and Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: India are both out from Stones Throw now.
Madlib - “Indian Deli” (mp3)

Learned about this one on the Controller 7 Forum, ostensibly because it features Controller 7 himself, alongside fellow like-minded friends like Scott Matelic and Buddy Peace, not to mention the other fine contributors. The focus here is instrumental beat and sound experiments, most often coming from the hip-hop realm, but also venturing into some extremely electronic tones. It’s a completely solid and enjoyable compilation. Miles Tillmann’s opener “Chicken Salad Beats” is one of these electronic hip-hop hybrids that works so wonderfully with it’s bouncing beats and flourishes. My favorite track, though, is Controller 7’s “Consumer” which has an absolutely kill break that simply crushes. Elseswhere sound collage extraordinaire Buddy Peace lets into his world of beats, hip-hop, and random snippets of conversation, conjuring a full scene before out eyes as usual. The furious jungle-esque drums of Meatsock’s “Another Place” show us there is another side to this fast style in a brilliant composition of bass and drum programming. I really have to hand it to this label for quietly putting out one of the most interesting collections of truly innovative producers working today. These songs aren’t what you expect and maybe not even what people familar with some of the names are expecting. It’s better! Out from The Secret Life of Sound on vinyl and iTunes, get one for yourself today and support the names you may not always come across!

I’ve never been an outrageous Aesop Rock fan. In fact, this is the first album of his I bought. And I bought it purely on the strength of El-P’s almighty recent masterpiece. I figured maybe the quality would bleed through to his labelmate and friend, coming so hot on the heels of I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. It certainly did. Mixing Aesop’s own productions with longtime producer Blockhead, he has crafted an powerhouse of a hip-hop record here. The beats are tough, the words are complex, and like ISWYD, the hooks are catchy as hell. I’m gonna be honest, though, I have no idea what he is talking about most of the time. Opening “Keep Off The Lawn” sets the tone. Strong boom-bap, some guitars, and that thick thick bazooka tooth MC style. The “Jesus walks” child outro is a fun little interlude into the Blockhead production, “None Shall Pass,” with it’s lovely lilting melody and hypnotic 4/4. “Catacomb Kids,” not surprisingly, is a pretty dark one, as are the next couple. “Fumes” is like a badass theme song for an illegal car racing TV show, with its tom rolls, slinky and staccato bass line, and orchestral flourishes. Following it up with “Getaway Car” is brilliant, featuring guest Breeze Brewin, and gives you a sense of a fast moving escape, all the while bumping the trunk. El-P makes his first appearance on the laidback “39 Thieves,” which also has some deft scratching giving you extra texture. “Citronella” is a West Coast G-Funk revolution…this should be blaring out of a L.A. windows. “No City” features some Shakespearean voiceover-ness: “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost / for want of a shoe, the horse was lost / for want of a horse, the rider was lost / for want of a rider, the battle was lost / for want of a battle, the kingdom was lost / and all for the want of a horseshoe nail.” The music and lyrics are equally tragic and poetic, with lithe rhodes lines, and a nostalgic tale of childhood. My favorite song is the closer, “Coffee,” featuring truly otherworldly vocals by The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, who basically sounds like an old female soul singer on this. The drums on this song are amazing, sounding completely live, with a swagger and bump of unreal proportions (Aesop refers to them as “animal drums”), but, of course, it’s all down to the amazing sample choices and programming of Blockhead. The John Darnielle outro is where the song reaches its ecstatic nadir. “I crawled down / to the basement / when the weather got cold / like a lost lamb / returning to the fold…” It’s a fantastic end to the album… which brings me to the one downfall in an otherwise perfect album: the presence of a hidden track that pops up 2 mins after “Coffee” ends. Why do artists/labels do this? Darnielle’s voice perfectly takes us out of this album. The minimal, bluesy track sounds like an outtake… something that wasn’t felt to fit with the whole album. Please stop doing this!
“Fumes” (mp3)

Aching beauty in every minute. That’s the five word description that springs to mind for Ekvílibríum, the debut album of Valgeir Sigurðsson, perhaps not the easiest to remember name, but certainly one of the most well known for being a stellar producer to various artists. The most famous is probably Björk, for whom he did various work on the delicate Vespertine and Medulla, but he has also worked with Bonnie “Prince” Billy (who guests on two songs here), and Cocorosie, a band of which I know very little. In the midst of all this production work, he started the Bedroom Community label, which shot to the top of everyone’s minds earlier this year with the outrageously fantastic Theory of Machines by Ben Frost. On his solo debut, there is a little bit of all these influences, from delicate folk vocals to careening strings to micro-noise beats, along with a various assortment of old instruments, and above all, an absolutely pristine, almost unbelievably natural recording aesthetic. These songs sound like they are in your room with you. Nowhere is this more apparent on my favorite track, “Baby Architect,” with J. Walker on vocals and 5 or so instruments (including ‘velcro’!). This song could have easily gone on for 10 blissful, gorgeous minutes. There is an ever present crackling fuzz throughout the song that reminds me of static being generated. To call this nostalgic would be understating the case. The strings and horns give it a majestic sound, even though the mood is one of pensive thought. “Focal Point” might be the most memorable track, with it’s distinctive piano by Nico Muhly and traces of Vespertine. The instrumental “After Four” has a mindbending and luscious synthesizer melody that floats throughout the track, taking you on a trip through the middle of the album. Elsewhere, “Equilbrium Is Restored” and “Before Nine” provide us with perhaps the most transcendent tracks of the set, with airy strings, synths, and piano. This tableau of celestial music takes us into the final portion of the album, with the second of 2 Bonnie “Prince” Billy vocal tracks, “Kin” and the amazing closer “Lungs, For Merrilee.” Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham)’s track sounds like it’s from the perspective of a God, but could also easily be from a parent, a tale of love and empathy for the created. The strings on this song are especially lovely but the celesta (such an unusual and gorgeous instrument, appropriate to this album) and guitar melodies take centerstage. Bonnie’s vocals weave in and out of this with a classical grace benefitting its subject matter, reinforcing Will Oldham’s remarkable range. “Lungs, For Merrilee” takes us out in a grand fashion. Beginning as the quietest of compositions, the strings and piano swell and cascade over it’s course, reminding me a little bit of a cross between Ben Frost’s “Theory of Machines” and the closing theme from Heat. For me, it’s as perfect and cinematic of a way to end the album as any I could imagine. Ekvílibríum is out next week in Europe and the US from fine record stores everwhere. Check Bent Crayon in the US or Boomkat in the EU, as well as the normal digital sources.

Instead of tracks, check out the 2 fantastic preview trailers Bedroom Community put together, with behind the scenes footage. The first features music from “Focal Point” and the second from my fave “Baby Architect” featuring J. Walker:

Well, here it is: Like a Scientist: The Official WORD Blog Mix. I’ve been thinking about this thing for a year or more. In my head, it sounded very different, I think, somewhat more focused. But it became a case of “Oh, I can’t leave this out” and “I bet this will go great with this.” So it’s morphed into a bit of a “whole sound” type of thing, which leads on quite a bit from 2006’s year in review post. I won’t pretend to be an awesome DJ or blender or mixer, there will certainly be moments to make discerning ears cringe, I’m sure. Mostly I tried to put everything I love about music into one mix, everything that makes this blog what it is, and represent it in one fell swoop. I hope I succeeded. Please let me know what you think. There are a few formats here to choose below. Full tracklist follows. Enjoy!

Like a Scientist: The Official WORD Blog Mix (mp3 - full length)
This is the entire 79 minute mix as one 320kbps mp3 file with artwork embedded. 182mb.

Like a Scientist: The Official WORD Blog Mix (ZIP - 8 mp3 parts)
This is the mix broken into the 8 parts that I originally structured it as, each part a 320kbps mp3 file with artwork embedded. I’m also including a higher res version of the artwork in case you want to print it out. 168mb.

Printable Artwork (TIFF file - 150dpi)

TRACKLIST

Part 1: New World
01. Wagner - Thus, We Begin In The Greenish Twilight Of The Rhine
02. Björk - New World
03. DJ Cam - Twilight Zone
04. Waxfactor - Better Days
05. Alexandre Desplat - Birth: Prologue
06. Fog - I Have Been Wronged (Jesu Remix)

Part 2: Mary, Mary
07. CAN - Mary, Mary So Contrary
08. Ben Frost - Theory of Machines
09. The North Sea & Rameses III - Return Of The Ankou (Xela Remix)
10. Sixtoo - Next Soundtrack Side D1
11. Blur - Trimm Traub

Part 3: Spitalfields
12. Red Snapper - Spitalfields
13. Xela - Wet Bones
14. Radiohead - A Wolf At The Door
15. Sage Francis - Going Back To Rehab (Instrumental)
16. Cunninlynguists feat. Club Dub - The Light (Instrumental)

Part 4: Brothers In Arms
17. Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
18. 2tall - At The Gates of Love
19. Saltillo - A Necessary End
20. Andrea Parker - Clutching At Straws (Instrumental)
21. Manyfingers - Our Worn Shadow
22. Slint - Washer
23. Gorillaz - All Alone

Part 5: Funk
24. Solomon Burke - Proud Mary
25. Baby Huey - Hard Times
26. Doris - Beatmaker
27. Hailu Mergia and the Walias - Musical Silt
28. Ebony Rhythm Band - Drugs Ain’t Cool (Instrumental)
29. Eldridge Holmes - Pop, Popcorn Children
30. Lee Dorsey - Four Corners Pt. 1
31. The Black Exotics - Theme Of The Blackbyrds
32. Mitch Mitchell - Can’t Get A Nuff

Part 6: Tsunami
33. Manyfingers - Tsunami
34. Lo-Fidelity Allstars - Pony Pressure
35. Sixtoo - Next Soundtrack C1
36. DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World (Gab Mix) (Masaru Edit)
37. Gus Gus - Believe

Part 7: Lovesick
38. Olivelawn - Hate
39. El-P - Smithereens (Instrumental)
41. Oasis - Fuckin In The Bushes
42. Primal Scream - MBV Arkestra (If They Move, Kill Em)
43. Scorn - To High Heaven
44. Lisa Germano - Lovesick (Underdog Remix)

Part 8: Tragedy
45. Betty LaVette - Let Me Down Easy
46. Grizzly Bear - Colorado
47. Machinefabriek - Zucht 2
48. Lo-Fidelity Allstars - Nighttime Story
49. Svarte Greiner - Final Sleep
50. El-P - Reprise (This Must Be Our Time)

This past week I came across a bunch of mixes online in various ways and figured a post summing them all up would be a nice semi-periodic feature of WORD. I did one of these awhile back, too, but those were mostly bought CD mixes. These are all free, free, free, on the interwebdevice.

Optimo - Pitchfork Mix 01 (ZIP)
Pitchfork Media, that bane and hope of musicians everywhere, has started up a monthly mix series. For their first offering, they’ve enlisted one half of the Optimo DJ duo. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Apparently Optimo has nights full of healthy psyche-rock, and I love me some psyche-rock, but the tracklist looked like a lot of 80s techno, too, so I was apprehensive. However, Optimo really pulls it off on this one. Starting with Test Department’s bagpipe manipulations, it goes into some disco-funk, some odd pop stuff, winding up with the brilliant choice of Sabbath’s “The Wizard” somewhere in the mindbending middle before blending into “In Zaire,” a simply great afrobeat tune. From there, the shaky, steady beats coalesce into a suite of Detroit-influence techno (with a helping of actual Carl Craig) that somehow morphs into Grinderman. Yeah, pretty nutso journey!
Interview + Tracklist

Digitonal vs. Posthuman - Live Studio Session July 2007 (mp3)
This isn’t a mix, but it’s mix-lenght, and recently up on the web. These two artists have been getting together to do live shows, and they recently sat down (in Digitonal’s dining room, it appears) to do a proper recording of the set. Completely improvised, but with specific goals, it’s a beautiful marriage of Digitonal’s shimmering strings and electronics with Posthuman’s electronic beats. Not much else to say, peep the music and rejoice!
Info + Tracklist

Frank - African Mix #05 Cooked From Scratch (mp3)
I previously wrote about Frank and his amazing African Funk mixes back in March. Since then, he has graced us with another heavy mix, culled from a recent radio set did. Much props to him for sharing the knowledge with everyone, as always. I read on a Soul Strut thread, he has been contacted about doing some compilations/releases for a label. Let’s hope that works out, because he must be the expert on this music by now.
Tracklist + Info

Take - Press Enter (mp3)
There is a producer named Take coming out with a new album called Earthtones & Concrete. I don’t know much about it, but his label, Inner Current has this mix from him to promote the record release party. A little late, maybe, but here is the party info. Anyway, this is some tasty glitch-hop mixology we are being treated to. Take’s productions seem more Dabrye than Ooah in the glitch-hop field, and it works really well mixed in with some notable instrumentals and other producers of the ilk. I’m really looking forward to the album now. Check out the mix!

In other but related news, my posting has been down a little for a variety reasons, some good, some lame, but the one that is most relevant is the project I’ve been working on for the blog. Like A Scientist will be the Official WORD Blog mix, full of all that shit that I love. I don’t claim to be a great DJ, but hopefully people will enjoy seeing what happens when all the disparate WORD styles come crashing in upon each other for 80 minutes. I’m hoping to go all out with high-quality mp3s, artwork, etc. It’s coming along quite nicely, but will probably take another month or so for me to be full happy with it. In the meantime, I’ll try to get some new reviews up soon.

Do you remember the original Bombay The Hard Way by The Automator? Bollywood soundtracks combined with hard drums? Well, this is sort of like that, but taking less of the flashy Bollywood stuff and more of the traditional sounds of India as it’s melodic basis, and then combining it with even harder and more complex drums. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition and works really well as a journey through a culture’s aesthetic. Taking in a range of beat styles (crusty downtempo, old school breakbeat, rock), DeeJay Om proves his muscle as a producer. It’s especially interesting when a song sounds fairly “straight” or having very little obvious manipulation, like “East Meets West,” but then you hear little drum flourishes that make you realize it’s a fantastic understanding of the structure of the source material. That’s a remarkable achievement. Doing a mash-up of Indian music and hip-hop would be simple and there are likely a million of those out there. Understanding the originals enough to complement them with new compositions and different styles. Thanks to Galapagos4 for putting this bad boy out. Available everywhere!
DeeJay Om myspace.com (streams)
“The Arrival” (mp3)