Catching The Waves

Modem - Wooly Mammoth Stomp

 

I've followed Typepad's well-meaning advice about attracting readers to this greasy corner of the net, and have therefore used an obvious and explicit post title instead of my usual artsy-fartsy and obscure fare. Don't try to make a clever pun: just say what it is you're writing about.

*looks up*

Yeah, that's really going to help. People type that into Google all the time.

Modem, an aspiring sound designer from Tempe in Arizona, first essayed Wooly Mammoth Stomp, a fine example of IDM fast-paced, glitchy, danceable electronica, in his ModEP003 album of 2006. Two years later, with a little help from his friends, he released an EP of remixes of the aforementioned stomp. Now CTW will add some unwarranted amateurism to this hitherto orderly and professional process.

The first remix of Wooly Mammoth Stomp, by Terminal11, features a filthy electro riff, some nifty vocal stutters, an accordion and synth embellishments. Overall, it's a...wait...back up. Accordion? In an electro track? Oh well, in the wacky world of electronica one must expect the unexp...accordion? It should be disastrous, but it's so incongruous yet so well done that it somehow works.

Modem - Wooly Mammoth Stomp (Terminal11 Remix)

Following that is Captainmarmalade's Eskimo Kisses Remix, two minutes of blazingly rapid IDM glitchy percussion garnished with choppy synths and smash edits. The Nero's Day at Disneyland Remix by, er, Nero's Day at Disneyland is another two minutes of the same, albeit with a tired house-ish intro that is redeemed by smart synth work and an electro bass line.

Talve's Remix is a stealth song: this is an unremarkable, if well-produced, piece of uptempo electronica that, without announcing its intentions, engages you in polite conversation, lulls you into a false sense of security and then gently slips a cold hand up your thigh. Gradually, without any fanfare, the tempo drops and drops...and drops, until the track finally becomes slower than underfunded public transport; uncannily, the formerly percussive bleeps and blips morph into ambient pings reverberating against a shimmering synth pad. It's like sitting in a hot bath: two minutes of ooh-ing and aah-ing followed by deepening calmness and scented candles. Recommended for those who need to chill out. One might say that it's a mammoth track.

Glix's Anxt Remix is a deft slice of (dread acronym) IDM with odd flashes of synthy interest and glitchy tomfoolery. The Floorcrusher Remix by ANgR. MgMT. is a suitably aggressive reworking of the title track which confirms that every remix on this 26-minute long EP is impeccably produced and realised. There's nothing woolly about it at all. And yes, I did use the British spelling. W.o.o.l.l.y. So there.

If you like this free album, please don't forget to thank Modem. Don't forget to think about downloading his other free albums, MODEP003 & MODEP002. You could also visit his website's "Friends" section for links to the artists featured on Wooly Mammoth Stomp. End of orders.

Modem - Wooly Mammoth Stomp (link to individual mp3s and zipped album - it's a rather primitive download page. "192.rar" is the zipped album. As yet, Modem hasn't added an album cover, but you could always copy the picture he gave me for this review. Go on, rub my wool.)

Modem (much less primitive)

Modem on MySpace

Brad Sucks - Equality Doesn't

  

Picture credit: J.Howard Miller & anonymous Brad Sucks fan

We interrupt normal service to bring you an emergency announcement. Brad Sucks, proud recipient of two CTW reviews for his highly popular albums, I Don't Know What I'm Doing and Out Of It, has just released a demo song for desperate men who like women, women who like to laugh at desperate men who like women and, er, women who like women. (Actually, it's a rather disastrous sweet gift to help a friend with his wedding proposal.) Here it is:

Brad Sucks - I Command You To Be My Woman (demo)

It's rare that CTW writes about just the one song (I like to stack 'em high), but this is a fun song that you might enjoy sending to loved ones and friends. Or not. It's probably best not to send it to Angela Merkel or Margaret Thatcher. Michelle Obama? Britney? Your one true love? I'm not sure. Good luck, O brave one.

Please remember that this is just a demo - which hasn't stopped it from being a kick-arse rock song with a message that romantics/chauvinists everywhere will detest/adore. If you haven't heard of Brad Sucks before, please note that he isn't normally this sexist, but he is usually this good.

By the way, Typepad recommends that I use more obvious and self-explanatory titles for my posts so as to attract more traffic to Catching The Waves. It's a good idea but I write CTW for fun, not fortune, as you can tell from my lackadaisical posting schedule...

...and there's no way I was going to have "Brad Sucks - I command you to be my woman" misconstrued all over the internet.

Brad Sucks

The guitar's only natural enemy

In the above photo we see impeccable form from Robin Grey as he distracts a pesky dog intent on peeing on his guitar. Note the seemingly casual display of the wooden mirror frame as he interposes his body between the dog and its target of delicious, unsullied sculpted wood and strings. Will the dog take the bait and settle for micturating on the mirror frame, thus creating a work worthy of Duchamp, or will he shimmy past the folkster's crumpled trousers and play his own tune on the acoustic? Let's find out.

Only The Missile is a 10-track album that will appeal to lovers of Leonard Cohen, folk music, introspection, pointed lyrics and open hearts. If you're stuck in a factory, office or general urban sprawl, listening to it will feel like you're warming your feet in front of a peat fire while sipping huge vats of Guinness the beverage of your choice. If you're stuck in open country, call the emergency services.

Hackney (East London, guv) resident Grey has filled his marvellous outing, released on modifythevan netlabel, with all sorts of familiar instruments that will enable him to play on when the electricity runs out: acoustic guitar (minus dog), banjo, ukelele, mandolin, double bass, organ and some tasteful percussion. That list will give you some idea of his sonic universe, although it doesn't hint at how the album's transparent mix warms the listener's ears while giving centre stage to the understated vocals. Nor will that list hint at how Robin Grey can be feisty as well as fluffy. For instance, The Last Time I Saw David, an unflinching tale about overcoming religious hypocrisy to reach an atheistic/agnostic state of mind, ensures that Robin will not be booking a gig in America's Bible Belt any time soon. It's refreshing to hear a heartfelt song that isn't all: "I wuv 'oo; 'oo wuv me."

Then there's the soothing lullaby of The Finchley Waltz (play it to any baby and watch them drop off), a quintessentially English response to the terrorist bombings in London on 7/7:

I daydreamed for hours in the traffic jam

As the good guys and the bad guys stopped play

There's more lyrical puckishness in Women, where the words "women" and "money" are used in place of what one imagines to be an extremely rude word. Women themselves might want to note that the entire song is a perfect encapsulation of the male mind. To digress: imagine Women remixed as a hip-hop track. Catchy, non?

Our besuited protagonist admits that he's still finding his voice (which is mostly right on the money), and I think that's evident in Every Waking Hour, where the vocals sound a little strained.

As I've found it impossible, despite much pleading and wringing of hands, to extract a single mp3 from the album's listing on Jamendo (this blog hangs by a thread most of the time - I think the internet is witchcraft), you lot out there get the chance to use Jamendo's dinky media player. I could recommend any track, but I'll be unoriginal and suggest the opener These Days, an uptempo mandolin and banjo-laden number with a paradoxically slow but optimistic chorus that will get you singing in the bath and, if you've suffered because of the credit crunch, because you've taken a bath.*

The title track is a toe-tapper with some wailing harmonica - do harmonicas ever do anything else but wail? - and Your Man is another in a seemingly endless supply of huggable love songs. Swan Song and Five (featuring some very welcome ethnic percussion - bongos, tablas, that sort of thing) bring things to a dreamy close - they're the aural equivalent of a favourite jumper.

Goodness, what a lovely album. It never ceases to amaze me at what talent is lurking in the darker corners of the net - though in this case I must whistle innocently and hide my blushes by thanking the scrumptious Free Albums Galore for recommending Only The Missile months and months ago. (CTW's motto: "Last with the first.") I urge the lumpen but sexually attractive mass of CTW readers to visit FAG, a wonderful asset to the internet, let alone the netaudio community.

Only The Missile is available for free from Jamendo, but you can also buy the mp3s at iTunes and the CD from Robin Grey's website. Please think about sending him a little cash, or, failing that, bake him a cake. He likes cake. A lot. Finally, if I may venture a little advice to Mr Grey: tuck your shirt in, young man. This is the internet - we have standards.

*thinks*

Maybe it's all that cake.

Robingrey.com (for bags of downloads, lyrics, interviews, photos, etc.. Exemplary.)

modifythevan netlabel

*High-falutin' financial terminology. Thank goodness that banks paid stratospherically high salaries so as to "attract the talent". Just think what might have happened if greedy idiots had been in charge of the markets instead...