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The "wink wink" Thread 2010: This Time It's Personal

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KvP:

Luke Vibert - Chicago, Detroit, Redruth


--- Quote ---It was way back in the early aughts, and I was in high school. Like any good music geek I needed a niche that set me apart and defined me, and while I had shown quite a bit of love towards funk and electronica, I was an angsty teen and I needed music that reflected that fact. Thus I developed an abiding interest in post-industrial music of all sorts (though tending more towards the proper post-industrialism of Coil and the metal of Ministry over goth stuff like Skinny Puppy or EBM stuff like Combichrist). Naturally I became one with the Nine Inch Nails cult, and through that particular love came many of the loves I have today, directly or indirectly. My interest in Luke Vibert came more or less directly from Nine Inch Nails - Trent Reznor had run a label called Nothing for a time in the mid-to-late 90's, and aside from NIN itself, Trent's pomo sludge clown protege Marilyn Manson, and the fortunate / unfortunate industro-pop outfit Prick, the label was primarily concerned with re-releasing classic Coil and Warp Records albums Stateside. So I visited the Nothing site sometime in the early aughts and saw these names that I hadn't seen before but I felt compelled to investigate - Squarepusher, Plaid, Autechre, and Plug. The P2P services of the day only allowed me the benefit of single songs, one at a time, but in some ways discovering catalogs song-by-song is preferable to the album-by-album methods you find today. It was like glimpsing some grand show through holes in a sheet. Invariably the singles I picked up were my favorites on the gestalt albums I would pick up later.

Anyway, it was a meticulous thing - You have this band you like, you see who remixes them, you explore the remixers, rinse, repeat. Luke Vibert was unfortunate enough to turn in a remix of "The Perfect Drug" as Plug that I didn't like all that much, and thus my urge to explore his output was blunted somewhat. But Plug's page on the Nothing site also mentioned an alias by the name of Wagon Christ, which, well, a name like that makes you curious. Too bad the P2P sites didn't have a lot of stuff by him - this was before digital distribution of .mp3s via legal means was a big thing, and while I got a few tracks off of Wagon Christ's Musipal (which I adored and still adore) the trail ran cold past that. So I forgot about Wagon Christ and Plug and got on with my life.

Fast forward a few years, and the AV Club runs a short, glowing review of Chicago Detroit Redruth by this Luke Vibert guy and I decide to track it down, and while I think it's love at first listen it turns out all the little tracks I had held fast to over the years by Wagon Christ and Plug were in fact Luke Vibert tracks. Did I mention that Vibert uses a lot of aliases? He has a lot of aliases. He seems to have retired many of them recently, though his output hasn't slowed much (just last year he released at least 2 full albums under his own name, plus who knows how many mixes and / or remixes).

Anyway, what you have to understand about Luke Vibert is that he is a true blue IDM luminary, even if he doesn't get the recognition that the Aphex Twins and the Squarepushers do. I recall reading some latter-day Pitchfork review in which the writer considered the idea that IDM was less a "movement" than a number of different artists with distinctive individual styles who got lumped into this trend that didn't actually exist. I think on some level that's probably correct - it doesn't make a lot of sense to draw direct comparisons between, say, Autechre and Plaid. And Luke Vibert's music in particular shares the heavy influence of acid techno with many other significant IDM artists (particularly Aphex Twin and Squarepusher). It wouldn't do to call him an also-ran, though. While acid-obsessed IDM artists all share use of certain sounds, their particular styles are quite varied. Squarepusher applied abstractified acid synth work to jungle (and later, to fusion jazz), Aphex Twin made classicist acid techno but it also intermingled with hardcore rave and drum and bass music.

Luke Vibert, by contrast is a huge, huge hip hop fan. It's all he listens to, reportedly. While he tries his hand at a lot of different styles of music he tends to always gravitate back towards abstract hip-hop of the pre-Dilla variety. Which is to say it features a lot of funky drum loops and analog drum sequencing. Vibert's stuff also features an infectious madcap personality that seems to be present in a lot of IDM DJs, but while Aphex Twin is supposed to be sinister and more than a little weird, Vibert's music has a Loony Tunes quality to it - thick, rubbery basslines, a penchant for danceable beats, upbeat melodies.

The best of those qualities are on full display in Chicago Detroit Redruth. Opener "Comfycozy" sets the tone perfectly, with cheesy lounge-jazz piano accumulating drums and synth elements. It's a very well structured and dramatic song, and it's always on the shortlist for kickers to my own mixes. "Brain Rave" is what it says on the box, showing the first overt acid influences on the album with oscillating 303 melodies and a strained organ backing. "Radio Savalas" hits pretty hard with a live-sequenced acid bassline bouncing between the kicks and snares of the hard-charging beat.

"Breakbeat Metal Music" offers a bit of weirdo speak'n'spell rave narration, but the song flatlines toward the middle (this is a problem with a few of Vibert's most recent songs). "Comphex" slows things down a bit and introduces a more ambient feel below the funk drum loop and arpeggiated synth.

The album's centerpiece is "God", a seriously weird but deeply mesmerizing electro-funk stomp over soaring choral samples and a typical panoply of recordings of people exclaiming the titular word. It's followed with "Clikilik", the most devastating dance track on the album, mining the vein of modern hardcore acid dance music (the song even features a female rapper famous for working with Simian Mobile Disco, one of Vibert's direct descendants) while still retaining that signature Vibert melodicism. "Argument Fly" is one of only two straight-up acid techno tracks on the album, and it's a little dense to get through even if the beat is a good one. "Rapperdacid" is downtempo hip hop not sparing in swagger. "Rotting Flesh Bags" is a goofy drum-driven track with a late-period Wagon Christ feel, and album closer "Swet" features live drums, lasergun sounds and a bell choir. It might be a little much, but "a little much" seems like a foreign concept to Mr. Vibert. It's a testament to his skill and talent that it works for him as often as it does.

Ultimately Chicago Detroit Redruths stands out as Luke Vibert's best and most consistent work in his post-Wagon Christ career. He's released a few full-length since then and they don't seem nearly as cohesive as this does. As the article below mentions, it's also a perfect intro record to the world of Vibert, and perhaps into IDM / Braindance in general. Check it out.
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Mr. Tool:
I am giving the fullest extent of my recommendations to this record

mr. Gnome - Heave Yer Skeleton




--- Quote ---Duos have been a mainstay of rock music ever since one can remember. The Black Keys, No Age, The Ting Tings and of course the White Stripes have thankfully rid the music world of the stale notion that rock is a number game, proving that a pair is just as capable of making the same amount of noise as a standard quartet. Nowhere is this fact truer than in the case of Cleveland duo Mr. Gnome, who in their second full length album ‘Heave Yer Skeleton’ pull out all the stops, running the gamut of every emotion known to man and thus providing the listener a rich sonic experience.

The closest reference points usually considered while describing a band like Mr. Gnome are female led Blonde Redhead and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but a more accurate comparison would be perhaps 90’s post hardcore legends Shudder to Think with their incredible similarity in the grasp of melody and rhythmic assault.

Using the same set of instrumentation as most duos, Nicole Barille (guitar/vocals) and Sam Meister (Drums) throughout this 12 song LP refuse to follow any convention instead opting for genre defying antics. Paradox is significantly woven throughout the album - delicate one second and explosive the next, alternating between cute and aggressive, the album travels wherever their imagination or technical prowess allows. A single listen to the striking ‘Today Brings a Bomb’ or ‘Pixie Dust’ establishes a somewhat undoubted fact; you’d be hard pressed to find a tighter band.

While the harmonious guitar lines of opener ‘Spain’ and ‘Titor’ are no indications of the belligerent sound that crowds the majority of this album, they offer up a sort of calm before the storm for the pummeling revved up guitar on songs ‘Plastic Shadow’ and ‘Cleveland Polka’.

Outstanding tracks such as the brilliant ‘Slow Side’ and ‘Sit Up and Hum’ contrast Barille’s feminine sweetness with Meister’s virtuosity switching between powerhouse drumming and deftly played rim shots with ease, establishing him as one of the most underrated drummers in the scene today. Even with just two people at the helm, they somehow manage to create sounds of orchestral proportions; Barille’s attractive vocals coupled with a bulk of driving moody guitar parts drawing the listener in even deeper.

‘Searider Falcon’ an instrumental which also proves to be the heaviest track on the album, appears to be designed for the sole purpose of putting subpar rock bands out there to shame. Truly through tracks like the playful yet somewhat dark ‘Vampires’ bordering on pop and the all too short ‘Hills, Valleys and Vallium’, which notably wouldn’t seem out of place on a dream pop compilation, they have issued a challenge to their peers, to expand their musical lexicon and range of expression, and throw off some of that stifling rock and roll orthodoxy.

The album comes to a close with the funeral procession opening of the title track, Meister complementing Barille’s whispery thin vocals with a moving piano riff, a somber end to an incredible record where everything down to the art is stunningly unique and perfectly appropriate, furthermore with absolutely no filler these are tracks are bound to stick in your head for days. Ultimately it is an album that comes along ever so often to reaffirm your faith in rock ‘n roll. An album that doesn’t sound the least bit contrived, it’s exactly as it should be, one of indie rock’s best kept secrets.
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In case Track 7 comes up corrupt, here it is.


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pulpfiction21:
Can't remember if you people are fans of this band, in case you are here it is:

God Is An Astronaut - Age of the Fifth Sun (2010)




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Just a webrip.

boneykingofnowhere:
^Hell to the yes!

Scandanavian War Machine:
that mr. gnome is pretty sweet!

definitely full of surprises

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