Catching The Waves

It's got a wonderful defence mechanism...

Listening to minimalism always makes me feel as though something weird is happening. It's music, but not as I know it. Tom Ellis's Switched Off EP, just released by Berlin netlabel Pentagonik, is strange. Different. Alien. It's like hearing a Martian watchmaker count sheep in his sleep.

The opener, Switched Off, is switched on from the very start, abruptly dropping the listener into a soundscape that could only be minimal: hardly any melodic content, precious little development, and an all-pervading rhythm made up of dry, short sounds. Snippets of piano flirt with spoken vocals and thus lend a jazzy, naturalistic feel to what would otherwise be a robotic listen.

Slim is reminiscent of what little Richie Hawtin I've heard. The beat is easy to dance to, but it's the barely noticeable synths and ticks and taps that give it that unmistakeably "minimal" flavour. The slurred, whispered vocals make it an intriguing listen.

Sixty One Be has a guitar-ish riff that tries to break through the super-detailed beat but fails, becoming a rhythmic element instead of a melodic one. Again, it's only after a while that you start to notice the subby, bubbling bass, so subtly is it wrought. Unlike that last sentence.

Beginners is minimal with an ambient slant; the dancefloor rhythm is still there, but background hisses and crackles and ghostly vocals lend the track a more human air than the rest of the EP, until the final minute ends in a sparse 4/4 beat, ideal for any DJ who wants to throw it into a mix.

I'm sure the whole EP will see the light of day gloom of night at minimal clubs everywhere. The precision and attention to detail is deeply impressive; more than that, Tom Ellis's exploration of jazzy, funking minimalism is a chunk of fun. And if you think that's difficult to say, remember that he comes from Wales, the land of vowels and phlegm. (He's also a co-founder of Trimsound netlabel, so is obviously an all-round good egg.)

Repeated listens will reveal more and more detail in these tracks, not least because their bit rate is an exemplary 320 kbps, but unfortunately this means that the mp3s are large. Pentagonik have thoughtfully provided the option to download individual tracks so those without broadband can still hear the music. It might be an idea for Pentagonik to offer the option of choosing a lower bit rate so that minimal aficionados on dial-up get to hear Switched Off before nature ensures their heads will no longer need shaving. Failing that, visitors to the label's very snazzy website can pretend to be a DJ on its ultra-cool home page. Now you're curious...

Tom Ellis - Switched Off EP (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Tom Ellis on MySpace

Pentagonik netlabel

Grand Theft Auto 5: Ambient City

I first heard Choc's work at the music production website KVR, where his Mimesis Algorithm knocked the dregs from my clay pipe. It's a click 'n' cut track, full of atmospheric glitches, with a sparse but effective piano and cello accompaniment. The clincher is the bridge, which is the sound of a modem firing up; in the context of the track, it's perfect. If you have a friend who likes classical music but isn't too keen on contemporary stuff, or vice versa, point them to Mimesis Algorithm. I don't think it's available for downloading at present, but you can still hear it at Choc's MySpace.

All of which leads me to Choc's highly downloadable four-track EP, Solstice Urbain, available at Jamendo. But first, a haiku:

8000 albums

All free, no hidden charges

Jamendo calls you

Learn to say this in one breath and repeat it to friends and acquaintances. Your procreation will soar as people discover how cool you are. Back to the review:

Choc is a Frenchman who works in signal processing, statistics and telecommunication, making him eminently suited, I would have thought, to produce ambient electronica. To quote the man himself: "Solstice Urbain is a collection of four songs composed in 2004-5 which reflect the universe of a fictive city." The album could be classified as "industrial ambient minimal" because intimate clanks (oxymoronic, I concede) and rhythmic thumps and thuds abound. Now, I could easily kick a dustbin downstairs and claim to be an ambient artist; the only difference between Choc and me is that he's composed addictive music whereas my effort would still sound like a dustbin being kicked down a staircase. I don't know how he manages to convey emotion through abstract sounds, but I'm happy to listen in dumb admiration.

First off, Choc gently prises your ears open with Resurrection industrielle. Imagine listening to the world's biggest glass harp being played inside a Tibetan monastery's boiler room and you'll get the idea.

Introspection digitale introduces a pulsing bass and a flapping (yes, really) kick drum with feisty interruptions from what sounds like a short-circuiting fusebox. Most high frequency sounds are filtered out, giving the music a muffled feel befitting the track's title. It ends with a heartbeat, Pink Floyd fans.

The third track, Chaos Indus-nat, finds us among leaking pipes, their echoing drips slowly increasing in frequency until we stumble upon a hard-working computer terminal. It's like exploring a sewage system, but in a good way. I release that last sentence under a Creative Commons licence. Do with it what you will.

Misanthropie Numérique follows a classic electronica recipe: glitchy drums, smooth synths and a bit-crushed ending. Like the rest of the EP, I'm sure it contains a subliminal "keep listening" message.

It's perfectly possible to listen to this album while cruising the streets of GTA 4's New York. But I warn you, you might have to pull over, switch the engine off and recline your seat. Let others investigate the city; you're busy exploring sound. And, although it's optional, you can always put something in Choc's parking meter. It might prompt him to correct the typo on his album cover. ;-)

Choc - Solstice Urbain (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Choc's MySpace

Campanologists Rejoice

My last review raved about an album that hit the net in, um, 2003, so as compensation here's something that's just appeared, mewling and puking, in the maternity ward. Foolk has released an EP with five remixes of Bells, a track from his new album Red Pills For Daddy, soon to be released on the Deadred label. CTW isn't the type of website that reviews all the latest netlabel releases (I'm too lazy discerning for that), but Foolk's Bells Remixes EP is definitely worth a listen. You can hear the original track at Foolk's MySpace. So, from the top:

1. Bells (Abuse/Rain & Hail Mix) - a rolling bassline and breakbeatish drums greet gently descending synths and blend with a bit of chopped guitar. We're off to a good start.

2. Bells (Karaoke Tundra & Peto Tazok Remix) - I'm guaranteed to love anything with the words Karaoke and Tundra in it, as I've said before. But curse my monolingual ways - all I can make out are those two words in the characteristically mad-as-a-hatter chopped vocal. Did Mr Tazok have to place KT in a straitjacket in order to finish the track, I wonder?

3. Bells (Millex/Latin Lover Remix)  - Here your ears get the old "kick/snare/kick/snare/here come the trancy synths" treatment. Enjoyable, but it fades out just as it gets going.

4. Bells (Milos 120 Remix) -  Hmm, let's see. *takes a swig* Ooh, glitchy, moody. No, wait, *sluices around teeth* here's a kick and a snare and *makes disgusting sucking noise* I'm getting some some bit-crushing and a taste of elderberry. Hey, it's minimal! *refuses to spit out* What's more, the tiny little pops and clicks create a melodic soundscape. *swallows mouthful and looks for more* Minimal fans might have heard it all before, but I found this remix to be an absolute treat. It feels futuristic. Excellent production, too. *hic*

5. Bells (Ear Drum Kru/Ring The Bell Remix) - Steel drums, a screaming James Brown - from Think (About It)? - and a sampled, silly vocal. What's not to like? It's a jolly dance-pop track that leaves me reflecting that the whole EP has put a smile on my face.

All of these remixes approach the one track differently, thus avoiding the curse of the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" remix that makes you wonder why the remix was attempted in the first place. This is a fun, free EP that has piqued my interest in Foolk's forthcoming record. I hope it does the same for you.

Foolk - Bells Remixes EP (zipped album)

Deadred label

Foolk's website

Foolk on MySpace

Eyedrops and cigarettes and absinthe are all a Tribble needs

It's the internet - you have to expect Star Trek jokes.

I dread to think how many man-hours BitBasic put into making the eighteen minutes of music that constitutes Grating Rainbows, but I'm glad they did: it shows.

The first track, Soap, is schizophrenic. Its first minute is soothing trip-hop; the second is jumpy, glitchy funk. It's followed by Left Here, a 60-second jazz-funk workout with lots of stretched vocal glitches and a chiptune-ish quality to the hip-hop beat, if that makes sense.

Emaze is more "traditional" breakbeat and drum 'n' bass with skittering beats, a hoovering bass, a seductive female vocal (no lyrics, just "aaahs") and mellow synths jazzing away quite happily.

Next up is Shroom. Yes, you're right: it's fungus-inspired hallucinogenic drum and bass that starts off tunefully and then descends into frenzied smash-cuts and edits.

Amen Break Steals The Show begins with a slow rock beat and a jittery sampled guitar but the pressure tells; eventually it has to give the world's most famous drum break a good seeing-to, but does so between juicy organ chords, which leavens the mangling and gives the drums something to bounce off.

Any track that can use creaking doors as an instrument gets my vote. Grating Rainbows, the funky and melodic title track, does all this and more before unearthing a wonderful organ riff that struts all over the accompanying glitches then departs the scene to allow breakbeat mayhem to commence.

Watch Less TV is good advice and is also the seventh track here. It's stuffed with countless cheesy audio snippets from British television that may or may not tell the story of a torrid affair. (These things lend themselves to adding your own narrative.) Is there anything more bathetic than snooker commentary? "Enter the king of the nineties" is my phrase of the week.

The album ends with Rest, which I am forced to call experimental electronica because it jumps from one style to another - breakbeat, nu-jazz, hip-hop, glitch, etc. - before settling for chill-out. A slowed-down and stretched vocal bids us goodbye and says "take care". Health and Safety would approve.

Perhaps the mix is slightly muddy here and there, but that may just be my cheap headphones and personal preferences. The sheer weight of effects, synths, samples, and the plethora of editing and arranging on Grating Rainbows is certainly impressive, but better still is the fact that the album is an enjoyable listen. Once the ear gets used to the melee of jump cuts and glitches, Grating Rainbows becomes a lot of fun.

BitBasic - Grating Rainbows (link to zipped album and individual mp3s)

BitBasic's website

BitBasic on MySpace

Monotonik netlabel

"Yes, of course I've got my trousers on...oh, damn."

Just when CTW's musical palate was getting a bit furry, along comes the musical equivalent of a wine-tasting session: DVA's Ringtones for Mobile uPhones released on Surreal Madrid netlabel. There are no two-hour ambient drones here - the longest track is a minute long; the shortest, eight seconds. The "songs" range from fruity reds to the driest of whites, and I swallowed them all.

DVA are a boy/girl duo from Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, who combine electronica (beatbox, loops) with traditional acoustic instruments (saxophone, clarinet, cello, guitar, accordion) and, er, doll. That's what it says on their website. Vocal duties are shared, though the female vocals make my tummy feel funny; ah, the Czech Republic, land of luscious lager and exquisite cheekbones. The country's also renowned for its theatrical and folk music tradition, and DVA (Czech for "two") spring directly from that; they got together during a radio recording of an Isaac Asimov play and have recorded a soundtrack for the classic film, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and are deeply involved in making soundtracks for theatre performances. They are influenced by the circus, cabaret, beatboxes, the tango, electro-acoustic music, acoustic-electro music and "non-existent languages". Again, that's what it says on their website.

Instead of describing the various ringtones, I'm going to list the main elements of a few of my favourites - Nova Zprava: Cold War clarinets, Tyrolia Ring: yodelling, Alpen Ring: cow bells, Scifiring: jolly saxophone, Harmo Ring: low-fi accordion, Elektroring: glitches, Ping Ring: lots of drugs, Cirkusring: woodwind, Press Ring: typewriter. The last track, Trampring, sounds like a crazy campfire singalong - quirky humour is an essential element of this album.

Now, instead of forcing your phone to pump out the latest aural burp from the latest corporation, why not sluice your mobile phone's taste buds with an ambient ringtone, a dusty accordion ditty, or a glitchy, reverberating slice of out-there electronica? It's a very good sign that most of the tracks feel too short. DVA aren't afraid to experiment - you won't be able to guess what the next track will sound like. Music needs more people like them.

Train users of the world unite - you have nothing to lose but the disinterest of your fellow commuters.

DVA - Ringtones for Mobile uPhones (link to zipped album - it's a small download for dial-up users)

DVA's website

DVA on MySpace

Surreal Madrid netlabel

Bring Out Your Dead

I've just had to chuck a load of festering, maggoty breves and semi-breves onto a horse-cart that's passing down the street; every note longer than a minim has died from lack of use. I blame Kampion and his Invisible EP, released on Mexico's Filtro netlabel. Kampion is the alter ego of Guillermo Guevára, who forms half of the two-man electronica outfit, Duopandamix. Invisible is what might be called "glitch-funk". Not sure about the genre name. How about funktronica? Nu-jazz? (Yuk. "Nu" should be thrown into a wood-chipper.) Microfunk? Never mind, I'll leave it to CTW's six billion* readers to decide.

Kampion eases us gently into his sonic universe with Pirata, a stately groove that seems hectic because of the plethora of glitches that dance around the speakers while snippets of vocals provide the minimalist tune. Next up is Primaveral and its brutally chopped melody; if its fragments were any shorter the melody would become incoherent - it's amazing how little information the ear requires before the brain fills in the gaps.

Routes is full of polyrhythms, record scratches, and spliced vocals: all ingredients that tickle CTW's fancy. A modest bass pops up and ushers in the appearance of some very mild reverb and delay to fill out the track. Two-thirds of the way in, the track gets even catchier when a lovely (if you like that sort of thing), high-passed stab of white-noise appears in an impeccably groovy riff that sounds like a pastiche of futuristic car horns. Anyone who likes glitch, funk, IDM, electronica, etc. will enjoy and learn from this track.

The start of the title (and final) track, Invisible, shows that Kampion is not adverse to creating a dreamy reverberating soundscape only to slap it away with a glitchy, funky beat. My only quibble is that a kick drum/bass element is rather forward in the mix, so forward that my speakers struggled with it somewhat, but as the rest of the EP is an exercise in sonic expertise this may well be intentional.

This danceable music is unusual - there's hardly a bass line worthy of the name; everything sounds "trebley" but not piercingly so. Invisible's sounds are clean and spare with little sign of reverb or delay, so tightly are the snaps and pops packed. The rhythms are tight, funky, and garnished with a South American special sauce that adds a delicious swing to proceedings. The panning is excellent, with glitch breaks coming at just the right speed - quick enough to stay funky and slow enough to retain intelligibility.

This is a surprisingly gentle, good-humoured album that displays a high level of skill and inventiveness. Ah, free Latin electronica, how I love thee.

Kampion - Invisible EP (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Kampion on MySpace

Duopandamix on MySpace

Filtro netlabel

*potentially...

Lingers On The Palate

DJ Side is a Czech DJ who makes dubstep, grime and hip-hop. "All well and good, and we're very happy for him," I hear you say, "but what about those of CTW's enormous readership who don't want to nod their heads and consort with people of the opposite sex?" Fear not, O basement dwellers. With a surreptitious wink, DJ Side has sneaked an ambient hip-hop EP into CTW's coat pocket. You heard me: ambient hip-hop. Bittersweet Love is a five-track slice of hypnotic audio bliss, released on parole by those unstable people at Surreal Madrid netlabel.

Wikipedia defines dubstep as "distinguished by its dark mood, sparse rhythms, and emphasis on bass," which goes a long way to explain the soundscape you'll hear in Bittersweet Love. What's especially intriguing is the use of ambient sounds in hip-hop rhythms, though the glitches are set at such slow tempi that it's more trip-hop than hip-hop. Standing on the Olympic podium: 1. Lo-fi beats over lengthy delays and reverberations. 2. Deep bass drones. 3. Glitches.

The EP kicks off with Amb Part 2, wherein we discover an electric piano, a snare drum made of stretched white noise (sort of), and a distressed seagull strapped to a dub delay. Hey, it's how I roll. [/Americanese slang]

Clicks is just that, the sound of a dusty record with lots of panned clicks 'n' cuts. It sounds like a fireplace getting its groove on while an ominous, pulsing bass runs around the house and tries to find a way in. It's difficult to make such sparse elements engrossing, but don't worry - a Czech DJ is, er, in the house. Heh.

If the Cold War ever returns to Europe, D33P should be the soundtrack for its newly employed spies as they don mackintoshes, smoke far too many high-tar cigarettes and rendezvous in bombed-out buildings. Bell-like tones haunt the crackly, delayed clicks that run in and out of a lo-fi drum break. The bass sounds as though DJ Side parked a diesel engine in the corner of his studio, threw a thick tarpaulin over it and left it to run while he got on with making music. The track takes its time and thus gets under your skin. It broods. It's deep ind33d.

In Klear you'll hear giant filter sweeps, background thumps and a low, pulsing bass. It's rather like listening to distant warfare while the United Nations deploy a blue-helmeted click 'n' cut groove to keep things almost civilised. Like the rest of Bittersweet Love, it won't grab you on the first listen, but it's detail and rhythmical qualities might eventually win you over; it did me.

Metatron provides an optimistic-ish ending to our aural journey. A plain clap-and-kick beat overlays background noises and snatches of conversation before a muted guitar and lo-fi strings leaven the mix.

I'm not sure if there's much point listening to this fascinating EP on your/my standard crappy PC speakers because much of the intricate detail will be lost. It's definitely headphones territory; either that or play it late at night on a decent sound system. Your neighbours will love you. Trust me.

Perhaps someone will tell me where the album cover image comes from. Donning my deerstalker hat, I've deduced that it's from an Asian gangster film, and furthermore, my magnifying glass tells me that it might include the odd bout of fisticuffs or at least a sharply worded letter deploring misbehaviour in general.

DJ Side - Bittersweet Love EP (link to individual MP3s)

Surreal Madrid netlabel

DJ Side's website

DJ Side's MySpace

Two Wheels Good

The free toy in today's CTW box of cereal is an EP by a ramshackle rock band who love to let rip on the road and in the studio. All the songs here have a loose and improvisational feel about them, as though the band members grabbed whatever happened to be lying around in the studio and barged into a song whenever the feeling took them. They feel a bit like the '60s Rolling Stones but with free added electronica. AdcBicycle - I'll repeat that again for the hard of reading - adcBicycle are a wild-eyed bunch of rebels who by rights should be tearing up the dusty backroads of America or dashing through rain-drenched Budapest squares in search of the next after-gig party.

Except they're not. AdcBicycle is actually one person from Canada who is unfeasibly talented and has released a free eponymous five-track EP on Kikapu netlabel in the hope it will encourage you lot out there to pay to hear the other songs from his album. If life was fair, he'd be pushing a wheelbarrow of gold nuggets to the nearest bank. The five tracks are all of a piece and lead directly into one another, so they are meant to be heard in order. Somehow the electronica elements are made to sound organic; they blend in seamlessly with the acoustic instruments.

The first track, intro, begins with electronic warbling before treating the listener to a blend of brass, over-driven organ, acoustic guitar and finishing with, erm, what sounds like the manic humming of a deformed manservant on his way to help in his master's laboratory.

About a minute into poor economic policies you'll find yourself listening to demented pseudo-Native American chanting backing a Nintendo-ish chiptune, and thinking, "Well, this is new. And tuneful. And rather superb. And free." The cackling laughter that follows (this is not your ordinary EP) precedes a transformation into an epic rock sound that implodes into a kazoo-like ending.

It's not easy to describe music, you know.

The third track is called Facing the wall, staring beyond, a line from Samuel Beckett's A Piece of Monologue, an extract of which features in this gloomy piece. Melancholy guitars and organs get deeper and darker as the lyric gets glummer and gloomier. It's a meditative piece that is strangely uplifting. In the name of god ponders religious violence and violence in general accompanied by burbling electronica and slide guitar. It's an easier listen than you might think.

There's a story behind We're taking over the world Richard [sic]. AdcBicycle is an Ottawa resident, and so is Richard Warman, a human-rights lawyer. Someone naughty dialled the wrong number and left this unforgettable message on the wrong answer-phone. I give you one of the best audio extracts ever:

"This is a message, um, to Richard Warman from one of David Icke's nutty followers. We're taking over the world, Richard, we're taking over. And there's fuck all you can do about it. We are right."

A brief chronology of David Icke: professional goalkeeper, TV sports presenter, Green Party politician, ...scourge of reptilian humanoids. Look him up and weep.

AdcBicycle's EP is full of extracts from interviews, speeches and films, all artfully mixed with a beguiling blend of electronica and rock/art music, creating a unique and pleasurable listening experience. I hope he sells some albums off the back of it. And I still don't know how one man manages to sound like a shaggy rock band with a hip electronica producer. The netlabel scene is great, isn't it?

adcBicycle - adcBicycle EP (link to zipped album and separate mp3s)

Complete album available from Noisefactory Records.

Go to the adcBicycle Home Page to find out more, and to read the good news that there's a remix of the album due soon.

Zoots You, Sir

CTW has fought Christmas, illness, the New Year, more illness and extreme laziness to bring you today's recommendation, Kurz und Klein, so stop complaining at the back there. Yes, you.

This five-track e.p. on Broque.de netlabel should appeal to jazz, swing, funk, big-beat and electronica lovers. The proof: a quick early morning blast of Kurz und Klein transformed CTW from a drooling, stained-underpant-wearing, bed-head victim into a zoot-suited, fedora-snapping hipster on his way to booty town with the funking ladies from across the street. Whether I changed my underpants I shall leave to your imagination.

The person responsible for my transformation, Nils Hoffmann, comes from Hamburg, and is a music teacher, concertmaster, chamber music composer, rock band member, a lover of all kinds of music and, all in all, is perilously close to being a Renaissance man. He is talented. I therefore hate him and love his music.

Sweet Man Like Me is a remix of St James Infirmary, a Dixie-blues standard made famous by Louis Armstrong, which Mr Hoffmann introduces to the 21st century with a shuffling beat and sampled chops and cuts. Is that Satchmo's trumpet slipping in and out? He would have loved this, I'm sure.

Next up is Goodbye Glamour, a superb remix of Candy Shop by Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire. It swings, it jazzes, it combines violin solos with scat vocals, it stops, it starts, it's ridiculously catchy...am I getting through?

Track 3 is the over-promoted Texan in the foreign policy committee. Popmusik is a minimalist pseudo-Kraftwerk dance number that has absolutely nothing in common with the other tracks save for a joy in the making of music. The deadpan vocal is a winner. I like it.

Cry Swing makes me cry for mama. The first time you hear it you realise you are briefly the centre of global cool. Many different minimalist elements weave around a so-idiotic-it's-genius jazz guitar riff, to which Herr Hoffmann adds synth stabs, chopped vocals and ingenious bridges that will make electronica fans throw their fedoras in the air. Distorted background strings and a bit-crushed synth sweep add to the fun. Halfway through, we're hit with a bassline that will be familiar to MGM pith-helmeted explorers hacking their way through the jungles and ruins of dastardly Johnny Foreigner circa 1935. But what makes the track is the timing - the whole e.p. is hypnotically rhythmic, but Cry Swing is syncopation in excelsis.

Old joke: An explorer, his guide and various luggage-carriers are lumbering through the jungle. They refuse to be unnerved by the tribal drums that have beat unceasingly for the past three days. Suddenly, there is silence and everyone but the explorer and his guide run away in terror.

"Whatever's the matter?" asks the explorer.

"It's the bass solo next," replies the guide.

(At this point I should insert a Paypal icon so I can reap some reward for the ripple of uncontrollable laughter I've sent around the globe. But I'm too nice.)

Why Don't You Do Disco is a moody, clever piece that slowly reveals itself to be a reworking of Peggy Lee's jazz/blues standard Why Don't You Do Right. Her voice and a jangly piano spookily emerge amongst a driving rhythm and countless electronica clicks and cuts, as though a ghost has successfully wormed its way through your electronica collection. Excellent.

No, I'm not sure about the cover either. You can't have everything, can you?

Nils Hoffmann - Kurz und Klein e.p. (link to zipped album and individual mp3s.)

If you get addicted to Kurz und Klein and you simply must have more Hoffmann musical heroin then visit Nils Hoffmann's own website and bask in his talent.

P.S. I don't really hate him, you know. It's called humour.

Speakers for Earmuffs

Stolen unashamedly from the comprehensive music production website KVR:

Q: "Please recommend an ambient album."

A: "Go for a walk."

Well, it made me laugh. But then, I don't have to go for a walk. I can sit here and get fat and happy because I've already got today's CTW recommendation, he said smugly. I'm new to ambient but I understand it eschews traditional rhythm sections and most melodic elements, preferring to concentrate on disparate and ethereal sounds to form a pleasing, almost hypnotic, whole. (Not a bad analysis, eh? This is all free, you know.)

CTW usually features albums that have been online for an ice age or two, but today's choice, Urlaub auf Balkonien by krill.minima, was released in October on the sainted Thinner netlabel. I'm in danger of getting trendy, but I don't care; this album is so good that it's usurped my vetting procedure like James Bond getting past Customs.

What to expect: white noise, scratches, clicks and pops, echoes, delays, sepulchral reverberation, the most gorgeous otherworldly pads and synths, and an occasional oh-so-cool-if-only-they'd-play-a-proper-blues-phrase-but-actually-this-is-ok electric piano waving hallo. The stunning Strandpalast is like hearing a pebbly beach express itself through music (trust me), and the tempo of the eerie Projektor deviates just enough to unsettle the listener, but if you're wondering whether Urlaub auf Balkonien is your cup of mint julep, try these:

CTW's recommended tracks:

Sommerdellen, a Satie-like conversation between two (sometimes three) notes that will resonate right between your eyes.

Leichtes Glimmen, a track that sounds vaguely industrial until overtaken by a wash of lullaby synths and endless echoes. It's currently my favourite track on the album.

This album is sneaky; before you know it, you've stopped what you're doing and you're swaying in time like a rabbit hypnotised by a snake. The soundscape is so intimate I keep debating whether to strap my computer's speakers to my head. I am normal. Sort of.

Broadband users:  krill.minima - Urlaub auf Balkonien (zipped album)

56K dial-up people: Individual mp3s

Scientific Progress Goes Boink...and Beep...and Twang

(The unpredictable sizes of these album covers are all part of CTW's charm, he said weakly.)

Rock/pop has always had trouble mixing new sounds with old. When Dylan went electric, when synths usurped guitars, and dance usurped melody ;-) it was an either/or situation for quite a while. These things take time to bed in. The combination of acoustic and electronica might be the latest of these combinations. Bear with me. I'm new to all this. :-) Anyway, Rob Hunter, from Bristol in England, has taken sub-Mario Bros sounds and spliced them with sampled acoustic guitars and pianos on his eponymous EP from 12rec.net, and I'm glad he did so.

Here are sounds that are crude but endearing, used in snatches of pop that verge into "chiptune" territory. Add acoustic instruments and a lo-fi approach and you're on to a winner.

The first track, Spectrum, starts with bursts of static and develops into something that might have been produced by, well, a ZX Spectrum. This is as lo-fi as computer music gets - cheesy synths and cardboardy percussion. It's excellent. Just when you've had enough of lo-fi, along comes Waiting, which sounds like a folk song that's been chopped up by someone who wanted to dance. First Day Back starts off with a somnolent, almost shambolic piano introduction before the squeak of fingers on guitar frets announce a spliced guitar hook accompanied by distorted crunchy drums. The rather delicate vocals in Spill become another instrument alongside the stuttering guitar.

There's a lot to relish: the contrast of classic computer sounds with acoustic guitar and piano; subtle sampling and chopping of the "real" instruments; and an ear for the melodic. Best of all, the EP isn't an assembly of loops (a fault of much electronica) but a collection of songs and compositions. Each track is whistleable; this, surely, is scientific progress.

Rob Hunter's EP showcases another approach to music: it doesn't have to be either/or. If you like folk, electronica, lo-fi, or just plain music, have a listen.

Complete Album: Rob Hunter EP (zipped) 47MB

Individual mp3s available from here at archive.org.

Album website: Rob Hunter EP on 12rec.net

Prickly Heat

ALTA INFIDELIDAD - CACTUS Y VOLCANOES

Your esteemed host is still fairly new to electronic music, so Cactus Y Volcanoes was quite an eye-opener. I can now say that I like Chilean minimalism, ambient, and electronica. Alta Infidelidad are the duo of Christian Dittmann and Jorge Cortés, two South Americans who really understand how to manipulate sound. Each of the tracks on the album feel fresh and mysterious; it's hard to predict what's going to come next, except that it will tease the ear. The album is very restrained - there are no harsh dynamics or raucous sounds at all - but because Alta Infidelidad use such a broad sonic palette they have created a consistently entertaining album. It sounds modern yet timeless. (Trite but true.)

It took me a few plays to get into it. It's an ideal album to play while doing something else so the sounds seep into your consciousness before you know it. My inexperienced ears still expect to hear a tune or a melody when listening to music, but Cactus Y Volcanoes doesn't play that game. Have a listen to Oeste, which starts off with seagulls and the incoming tide...wait a second or two and then your ears will delight in the gentle surge of a synth as it sweeps onto the beach in perfect time with the next wave - and then we move on to an unrelenting but beautifully engineered rhythm. Or try Canción De Cuna, which is like listening to an airport lounge with a spirit of its own.

The album is full of "found sounds" such as railways, bells, sighs, creaks and whistles, but they're all set in service to the music. It's one of the best engineered albums I've heard - everything is just so. I wish I had a better stereo system on which to hear it. Initially, some of the later tracks outstay their welcome (especially if you have to download them on 56K) but sooner or later you'll find that they've all got under your skin. It's a privilege and an education to hear music like this, something I would probably never have bought in a shop because there's always a risk of wasting my money - you may know the feeling. Now I know what this is like, I feel like buying some. Have a listen and see what you think, but remember to give the album time to grow on you - just like a cactus...

Recommended tracks: Rápido, Oeste, Canción De Cuna. (Sorry, no individual links this time.)

But the album (& tracks) is hosted at the wondrous Thinner netlabel: Alta Infidelidad - Cactus Y Volcanoes

Songs floating over grassland

[Originally posted Aug '06. This is the last of the confusing updates, I hope.]

The name's Tundra. Karaoke Tundra.

Karaoke Tundra is a Ukraine-born musician currently living in Bratislava (Slovakia). When you hear KT, if I may be so familiar, you know you're in safe hands. He knows what he's doing. But I don't think anyone else does. He can certainly drop what I believe is known as a "dope" hip-hop beat, he knows his way around electronica, and his music introduced me to the "experimental" genre. Sometimes Karaoke Tundra goes...out there. Really...out..........there. Like I said, he knows what he's doing, even if nobody else does.

He's very talented and there's a lot of sly humour in his work. Most of the tracks are two minutes or less. It's all great stuff. Recommended tracks:

For Reservoir Dogs fans: Mr Pink, one of two free tracks on his Gastarbeiter album from Mufonic.

Getting a little freaky: Damn You from his album Residence on the kikapu netlabel.

Hold my hand now: Audiosmog from Schizopanorama on Surreal Madrid netlabel.

Don't forget his Killing Balls EP, which features a few more tracks from Gastarbeiter.