The album’s available as a digital download or in a deluxe package with a book, double vinyl and CD. http://www.amontobin.com/store

Amon Tobin – ISAM (2011)

01. Journeyman
02. Piece of Paper
03. Goto 10
04. Surge
05. Lost & Found
06. Wooden Toy
07. Mass & Spring
08. Calculate
09. Kitty Cat
10. Bedtime Story
11. Night Swim
12. Dropped from the Sky
13. Morning Ms Candis
14. One Last Look

01. Starkey – PC
02. Starkey – Peacekeeper
03. Gold Panda – Marriage (Star Slinger Remix)
04. Boxcutter – Allele
05. Misanthrop – Sidereal
06. Dizplay – Punk
07. Noisia – Displaced
08. Above & Beyond – Sun & Moon (Distance Remix)
09. Photek – Avalanche
10. Photek – Slowburn
11. Kryptic Minds – Make You Sleep (with Emika)
12. Distal – OLDBOYMAN
13. Sluggo – Hostage (with Helicopter Showdown)
14. Joker – Retro Racer
15. Emalkay – Fabrication (Extended Mix)
16. Emalkay – Massive
17. Benoit & Sergio – Day Residue
18. Perc – Tokyo Blank
19. Clouds – Fibre
20. James Zabiela – Blame
21. Burial – Stolen Dog
22. Beataucue – Disque Oh! (High Rankin Remix)
23. Blaerg – Phonological Manifestations
24. Submerse – Never Again
25. Hardnoise – 75 Cents (Deenk Remix)

MP3 1: Shakes – Amusia
MP3 2: Shakes – Lullaby

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Which isn’t to say there’s no synthy dicking around to be found here; it’s practically smeared in the stuff. But I’ll cop to the fact that there’s something oddly comforting about the (admittedly synthetic) earthiness of it all. And while Third gave the world a glimpse of a somehow-even-darker Portishead, it certainly didn’t hint at the blackness that Beak> brings to the table. Before I had ever heard Silver Apples, I kind of assumed they were on some sunny 60’s day-glo shit, but after the first two tracks of Beak> I found myself slammed into the same queasy ominousness that that band first surprised me with. That initial familiarity doesn’t hang around for long, though, with the band soon enough skittering all over the place. The crunching guitar lines of “Ham Green” manage to juxtapose themselves with the ethereal when we arrive at “Battery Point,” one of the album’s few pinholes of light. But you’ll forget all that by the time your noise tolerance is tested by tracks like “Barrow Gurney.” In a lot of ways, much of what’s on display here is what I had hoped a group like Sunn O))) sounded like: heavy experimental grind with receded vocals that occasionally kicks ass. I mean, pretense is pretense, but I’ll take mine sounding like this and leave the cartoon demon vox for somebody else.

A large part of the enjoyment here relies purely on surprise. Plenty of artists take time for side projects or decide to move their work in different directions with middling results (Hi, Kanye).  So to give a cursory listen to a knob-twiddling side project out of obligation to an artist’s previous work, it’s definitely a relief to discover that it doesn’t blow up in their face. Sometimes risks pay off. And considering that “risk” isn’t exactly the watchword on the lips of most musicians these days, Beak> at least deserves a tip of the hat for making theirs work. And if you hate it, hey, at least you tried something new.  ~ Jim Feeney

MP3 1: Beak> – Backwell
MP3 2: Beak> – Ham Green
MP3 3: Beak> – Battery Point

The performance consists of four 10 x 3.5 meter screens with projections of Japanese performance artist Akemi Takeya’s face. The image is manipulated digitally by a computer, which warps it in a nightmarish way. Synched up with mechanical rhythms and drones, the experience is both disturbing and beautiful. It seems as though the video was composed just like a piece of music.

Granular synthesis is a method of splitting samples into many tiny (1-50 ms in length) sounds, or grains. The grains are then layered on top of one another playing back at different speeds, pitches and volumes. This creates a thick atmosphere of sound instead of one single tone. In a similar way, the video in Modell 5 is being broken down into individual frames and edited back together. If you’re interested in the audio end of granular synthesis, you can research Curtis Roads or check out audio samples of Native Instrument’s Spectral Delay plugin.

Although the album seems predominantly digital, it feels human. It sounds like the future of the past. Beats are missed, pitches slip and notes get dropped. The best example of this is in the seventh track, “Future Daniel.” If you’ve ever tried playing chords with a monophonic synth patch, you’d understand. There’s something special in every track—the beginning of “Luxman Furs”—the end of “Totem Crackerjack”—there’s a lot of cool shit going on here.

Clark apparently had an extremely hard time narrowing down 30 tracks that he had originally recorded for the album. I’d love to hear the tunes that didn’t make the cut. My only complaint with Totems Flare is that I can’t play it really loud because of the overwhelming distortion. Those of us with tinnitus have to be careful.

If you dig it, check out Boxcutter, Autechre, Venetian Snares, AFX and Telefon Tel Aviv. If I’ve left some key artists out, leave a comment. Totems Flare is available now from bleep.com and iTunes.

MP3: Clark – Growls Garden

This release is going to join my collection of “work albums.” Among the others are Funki Porcini’s Fast Asleep, and FFWD’s self titled album. They’re perfect to listen to when I need to sit down and design/code for hours.

To view artwork and videos by Ultre, visit Ultre on MySpace. The Nest and the Skull is available from Amazon and other online music retailers for a special price of $5.99.

MP3: Ultre – Struggle and Nothing

It’s a sound designers dream come true. Wobbly bass, foley sound effects, cartoon samples, warped synths, organs, flutes, kalimbas, trombones, slide guitars, broken egg shells, ping-pong balls, crunching food… you name it, it’s in there. Somehow, Moynihan is able to cram hundreds of sounds into each track while retaining structure, catchy melodies and sick beats. Zoomorphic can’t be pigeonholed into a single genre. It’s a mix of glitch-hop, IDM, dubstep, abstract electronica, folk and a touch of bluegrass.

A bit off topic… but about 10 years ago, my friend Liz and I were smoking in the dorm bathroom, looking out at the Philadelphia skyline. We were talking about the worst possible ways to die. For some reason, I thought that dropping acid at Zoobilee Zoo would be the worst way to go. Zoomorphic would totally be the soundtrack to that experience… only without the dying.

Zoomorphic is Spoonbill’s third full-length release. His previous albums are abstract as well, but are better categorized as broken beat, downtempo and experimental. Definitely worth checking out. All Spoonbill releases are available from Amazon and Addictech.

MP3: Spoonbill – Feather Leather

This is what Trent Reznor had to say about the upcoming release: “I wanted to try something different, something genuinely more underground and boundaries-pushing. Getting away from mainstream rock has been my wish for years now, and I found in TKDE the perfect people to jam with. Partying with TKDE / Bong-Ra’s Jason Kohnen also helped me get over my straight-edgeness, and releasing on Ad Noiseam brings me back to the times I was a struggling musician scraping for money. I am having fun again, finally.”

If you’re unfamiliar with TKDE, they’re an experimental 7-member band that got their start composing music to silent films. Their current sound is a mix between creepy jazz, downtempo, industrial and IDM. It’s dark and beautiful. Definitely check them out. TKDE are currently on tour throughout the UK. Below is a track from their second release, Mutations EP.

MP3: The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Shadows