His latest release Kilawatt V1 is limited to 1000 copies on vinyl, as well as a digital release, and has been bumping in my headphones for the past fortnight.

The lead track, Day By Day, layers a multitude of samples back and forth (some more recognisable than others) for a true head-banger featuring both Damu and Panacea’s Raw Poetic on vocals.

Prosper is a slower-paced, melodic jam featuring some live instrumentation along with a few classic horn and vocal chops. Reminds me of ice skating. Dope.

The 12″ is filled-up with three bonus beats, nicely varied in tempo and concept.

Kilawatt Music London are putting this one out, the first in a series, with stuff from UK producer Eric Lau to come soon. V1 is a very nice package, grab it where ya can!

You can hear the tracks and find out more here. The digital single can be found on itunes and you can find the vinyl release as HHV amongst others.

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And in other Damu-related world news…

Beat heads and vinyl junkies rejoice! Y Society’s producer Damu laced some beautiful beats for their 2007 album Travel At Your Own Pace and the long-rumoured instrumental version is finally available! Nice rhythms for days -> check it out!

Damu has also produced another winter warmer for Michigan emcee Buff1, which you can hear as a part of the It’s a 1derful Life EP, available for free download via Damu’s site WonkaBeats.

For this second release, Jemapur has dropped from the hip-hop centric Hyde Out Productions label to work with W+K Tokyo Lab and has changed up his style to match. The sound of this album is distinct from his previous work, demonstrating more controlled compositions than the frenetic Dok Springs. However, this comes from an artist who now claims to be following in the footsteps of classicism. Jemapur has said his aim is to create the electronic music that Bach may have composed if he was still alive today.

If the aural madness doesn’t fry your brain, then the visuals will, as W+K Tokyo Labs (always a driving artistic force) commissioned four experimental videos for the album that are included on a DVD.

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The album begins with a classical piano, setting a quiet scene as the next track fades in slow drums over further mellow piano. Clarte, the third track, slowly ramps up the energy with a wailing guitar and we can begin to hear the album developing into new areas, as if constructing itself while you listen. Consistent melodic elements are set against rhythmic pulses and grainy noises.

Within the next 12 minutes we stray musically from atmospheric and dreamy to jumpy and mechanical before Documents creates a pivoting point in the middle of the album and resets the rhythm at mellow, ready to rebuild.

The track Invisible Departure is the most reminiscent of Jemapur’s previous, more hip hop beats and soon we are on old ground as we listen to Reprocessing Plant, with vocal snippets starting to cut in once more, last heard on Dok Springs.

Vexations contains deep plunging beats, almost dubstep in tone, while elements of white noise start to creep in (Re: Jemapur’s Early Works) and guitars fade into the mix. Almost sculptural, like being surrounded by helicopters, it is electronic without any loss of soul; a very well crafted emotional peak.

Aanaatt descends into a drifting soundscape, still much more mechanical in feel than say, Moons And Cattails from Dok Springs, but definitely warm. It sounds like an underwater Flying Lotus.

The Witch’s Blue Remix provides a mellow downturn to the last part of the album, descending into psychedelic visions, before a drum beat crescendos into the chaos.

The final track picks up the finale with upbeat drums fronting a robotic rhythm circulating over a beautiful piano background and we evacuate in style…

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Evacuation is available to download on iTunes, but of course you will miss out on the DVD and the lovely packaging…

+ the dvd

Four videos are contained on the DVD that comes with the album; Beneath The Water Surface (available as a single on iTunes) and the album tracks Aanaatt, Maledict Car and Clarte.

Maledict Car is a beautiful series of reflections of Tokyo, directed by Kosai Sekine (also check out his other film, Right Place).

[reminiscent of Roni Size - Brown Paper Bag?]

Beneath The Water Surface, by the same director, has some lovely slow motion underwater shots: bubbles, sea creatures and drowning electronics. Plus a cool ending twist.

A still from Beneath The Water Surface

Aanaatt, directed by German film-maker Max Hattler, uses the slow pace and build of the track as context for abstracted yet absorbing stop-frame animation.

Clarte, by Genki Ito, is a visualisation of something like rainbow particles. Lovely.

All four videos showcase innovative and precise direction and reflect the nuances of Jemapur’s compositions well. Maledict Car and Clarte are available on youtube but being able to check them out full screen is great.

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As ever, Evacuation is only available in Japan however the album is available on iTunes as a download, along with the Beneath the Water Surface / Am I Scape single. Fans not wanting to miss out on the awesome DVD and packaging, however, will feel the need to import. hmv.co.jp is probably the best bet, with English and near next-day delivery direct from Tokyo(!)

Links:
Jemapur on Myspace
Jemapur’s website
W+K Tokyo Lab
W+K blog

‘Explosion’ 1982

Since the 1970s Signer has been creating “action sculptures” (basically blowing stuff up) and generally just riding around in kayaks, attaching his hat to rockets, propelling umbrellas into ceilings and manipulating lightning balls.

“Two oil barrels are placed fairly close together on the grass. I stand on one of the barrels and wait for ignition. Suddenly the lid of the other barrel shoots into the air (about five to six metres). I jump into the empty barrel at this point. I am protected by a crash helmet for this action.”

‘Actions in Graz’ 1987

Oh, and ‘catching’ helicopters…

‘Helicopter’ 1994

If these crazy spasms interest you then check out the book Roman Signer by Gerhard Mack, Paula van den Bosch & Jeremy Millar. It includes a bunch of interviews with the artist and loads of his work (of course) including my favourite, the flying bike…

‘Bicycle’ 1991

Links:
peep YouTube for more

Then Stones Throw put out Old Money.

This is the latest solo album from Omar Rodriguez Lopez, lead guitarist of prog-rock masters The Mars Volta (and previously the amazing post-hardcore band At The Drive-In). Despite the album featuring six guest musicians that are all current or former members of The Mars Volta, Old Money is wholly Lopez’s project as the bass, drums and percussion all act as a backdrop for Lopez’s dominating guitar work.

Old Money seems to be an exercise in (relative) frugality from Lopez, who normally thrives on elongated guitar solos and hours-long jam sessions (just go see The Mars Volta live) as the album opens with the ‘The Power of Myth’. The track is a commanding opener with an immediate driving energy and despite inevitably dropping into a few guitar solos along the way, the rhythmic pace is sustained elegantly until the track names get typically weirder and ‘How To Bill The Bilderberg Group’ carries the album forward. Wurlitzer, keys and synths meld together as filtered vocals swim back and forth, and in this collage the hip hop heads could imagine a flowing emcee kicking off the rhythm of the bass… that is before the experimental rock craziness that is within Lopez’s mind takes control and we are lost amongst ghostly helicopter-like echoes.

It’s at this point though, that the album does begin to fly away and the energy felt in the opening track returns with increased potency and continues for the remainder of the album. Tracks led by Lopez’s skilled guitar meandering are held together by steady percussive rhythms and while occasional bursts of eccentricity puncture out above the drums, Old Money maintains a consistent meditative quality found in some of the best guitar-led instrumentation (for example, the last 9 minutes of ‘Just Abondoned My-Self’ by Boris).

Feeding from a pulsing crescendo, the track ‘1921’ provides an instrumental composition of sounds, really creating a very evocative and atmospheric resting point in the album. Old Money continues afterward, blasting through funk infused melodies, frenetic power jams (‘Family War Funding’), gritty chilled interludes (‘Vipers In The Bosom’) and enveloping aural soundscapes before it’s soon all over. Too soon even.

However, the final track, ‘Old Money’, is definitely worth waiting for and it closes the album with superb melodic subtlety and showcases the best of Lopez’s talent.

Experimental rock is in full force throughout Old Money but don’t let the ridiculous track names put you off (‘Population Council’s Wet Dream’ !?) there is a lot to be gained from listening (even if you are a hip hop head) and Lopez really pushes himself musically, creating the kind of wonderfully crafted compositions that you would expect from someone who must currently be one of the best blokes that play guitar.

Links:
Stones Throw Records - Old Money
The Mars Volta

the original cover vs. Joe Buck’s remix

This time however, the album cover revision was accompanied by aural revisions from Damu the Fudgemunk (Y-Society / youtube / hip hop producer legend who we interviewed back in the day).

To put it all into context before you hear (and see) Damu’s remix, just have a listen to the original track ‘Meat Grinder’ from the Madvillainy album…

Madvillain / Meat Grinder :

…and Damu’s Beat Grinder mix!

Visit Damu’s blog to read about the project and download a zip containing juicy video and audio remix treats. Future audio/visual album ReVisions will also be appearing soon so keep an eye out!

AND all this just a few months after Stones Throw released Madvillainy 2 - a remix of the entire original album (plus a few extras) created by Madlib just because he was bored!

So, just in case you haven’t checked it yet here’s Madlib’s remix of Meat Grinder re-interpreted as ‘Heat Niner’ from Madvillainy 2 … FIRE!

Madvillain (Madlib Remix) / Heat Niner :

Links:
Joe Buck’s ReVisions project
Damu’s Wonka Beats blog
Damu on youtube
Stones Throw Records

Imagined as brain cells, each site (or ‘neuron’) is sampled when particular frequencies are detected. The audio sample is then processed at the central hub at FACT in Liverpool (the ‘virtual cortex’) before being relayed out to all the sites. The premise is that each individual neuron can work with the interactions from all the others in order to create a combined musical organism.

All of the sites have constant audio monitoring, so that you can listen in to any ambient background noises. On Saturday 21st February live music events took place at all of the sites as the experiment took place. Live audio feeds and a visual ‘neural spike’ graph updated online in realtime. Visit their website to read more, listen and be confused » The Fragmented Orchestra

exclusive reportage from our secret correspondant
[+ pics by sal of CF]

the light surgeons present true fictions / new adventures in folklore

“a visual and musical essay on how places take their identity from the collective narratives and histories of people and city. exploring truth and myth through the voices and musical collaborations of upstate new yorkers in troy, home to uncle sam.” - avfolklore.blogspot.com

“…a kind of documentary – albeit one that you are unlikely to have seen the likes of before… dazzling fusion of film, digital art, photography and music” - the guardian

d-fuse present surface

“created for the onedotzero / british council project re-imagining the city. this moving image odyssey captures the essence of urban expansion in ten cities in asia, visually exploring this transforming region in a vital and extraordinary work.”- dfuse.com

“breaking down the core of a city is the passion for d-fuse and onedotzero… rogues in the creative field with means to express their creative energy” - bangkok post

hexstatic / retrospective remix

Couldn’t grab a pic of the hexstatic set because I couldn’t refrain my hands from tappin … so you’ll have to make do with their ‘Pulse’ video:

“leading lights in the world where beats and pictures meet, instrumental in pushing technology forward. quite frankly you’ll be too busy enjoying hexstatic’s perfectly synched mash up of can’t-stand-still beats and laugh out loud clips.” - big chill

the REVIEW:

the light surgeons set was seriously cool - they had a MAD amount of kit laid out on the tables down at the front: infrared cams everywhere, a live musician on guitar and keyboard, some traditional video x fading and live sampling… t’was the BUSINESS - although some say it went on for aaages -> the longer the better imo - the drum line mixing was sick… the whole fact that they were making a live amalgamation of music + the video’s audio tracks WHILST all being thematically constructed was too ill. one fat live mash up with context -> its what VJing is all about and I think they did it fantastically.

the way they used the screen [three main projections/two slide projectors at each end/one 16mm] was an approach… which worked well… [I'm not sure how the hell I would organize media to fill a screen that big] but I think that the screen offered a lot more possibilities than they explored. but hey it was wicked anyway.

one thing that must be said about the screen is that dfuse absolutely KILLED IT! - their current-urban-situation-in-the-east theme was powerful and carefully selected.

similar to Koyaanisqatsi [high speed nature vs. man footage put to a phillip glass soundtrack for about 2 hours, filming people going up escalators with overcranked film etc - a sonic documentary of the western world during the 80’s.] dfuse’s ’surface’ is about detailing the East - looking at the asian urban situation in 2008 - from an outsider’s view, but with insider’s knowledge [gained from collaborating with local artists].

mate! their footage looked like it had been shot with super super hi def kit which made the whole set sing on that screen - I mean it was an astounding difference from the surgeons definition. but seriously -> being completely engulfed by a multitude of urban scenes with all the minutiae visible was simply an amazing experience. the set did feel a tad short [no doubt because of the length of the previous set].

however, on the flip side was hexstatic, where all the visuals [bar pulse and the onedotzero plug stuff] were seriously suffering from being blown up so big from their original format that it was like watching photocopied video, which looked quite insane at some points especially during timber - mahoosive pixels! a few technical hitches on hexstatic’s side meant that the whole night ended a bit abruptly - which was a real shame, but with all the equipment, sockets, cables to deal with it’s bound to happen to everyone at some point. that reminds me how ill the surgeons were at keeping it all together - there was one lil snag [wrong video/audio clip played or something] but with the nature of their VJing - you can probably get away with quite a lot as there is usually so much going on.

hexstatic killed it with the musical beats but not really on the video side. in the end -> the dfuse IMAX version of surface and the light surgeon’s U.S. documentary sets were the best - better tailored for the nature of the imax setting. hexstatic rocked the place as always - but when you can’t move it’s like damn!@%

Links:
onedotzero
The Light Surgeons
d-fuse
Hexstatic
CF crew
Hexstatic - Timber

A joyous half hour until a sandwich stop and the train of noise was lost.

The tri-racial and bi-lingual rapsters Giant Panda released their first album ‘Fly School Reunion’ in 2005. The album represented their love of hip hop and it’s history and while it was a forward thinking hip hop album it still had some people labelling it as “throwback”, “old school” or “backpacker” rap. With ‘Electric Laser’ however, Giant Panda have set their own boundaries, boldly defining an individual style and raising the bar for modern hip hop.

Following a grandiose intro the album opens with a bang and all three members drop verses to set the tone to come. From the get go Giant Panda’s second album shows a developed schematic through a distilled level of production and individual lyricism.

Chikaramanga, the asian third of the group, raps mechanical Japanese syllables and translates the ethic to his English flows and sample chopping.

Maanumental maintains his status as king of wordplay, dominating the track ‘AIM’ with a verse twisted with the letter T, while also showing a brave level of lyricism, exploring mature themes later in the album.

Newman is a constant force, trading verses with Maanumental to create a great duo chemistry and having a greater production influence on this album. In the three years since the last Giant Panda release, a couple of remixes and side projects have hinted at a development of musical experimentation, the sonic fruit of which are really revealed on ‘Electric Laser’.

“where we aiming with this, I don’t think it exists, the way that we came is strange, the whole thing is a trip”

Without giving too much away, the album flows through a variety of moods while maintaining a solid electric pace.
‘Laser Ray’ provides a metaphorical description of an outer-space political figure who uses a laser beam to clean up the world’s problems, while the single ‘Speakers Pop’ and its partner ‘Speakers Funk’ are eponymous plump offerings of that ol’ boom bap, containing crisp drums and deep bass lines that pump through your ears.

If anything, ‘Electric Laser’ seems to continue where ‘Superfly’ from ‘Fly School Reunion’ left off, although while there is a new electric sound, it is maintained through traditional production techniques and clever use of samples. A continuous electrical vibe with a funky backbone under banging drums, the sound is cohesive throughout and is distinct from other recent Giant Panda production, such as Newman’s ‘New Jack Hustle’ side project. Despite innovating their production, Giant Panda aren’t trying to follow any recent trends and make a point of stating their independence.

“All these new sucker type beats where there ain’t no drums, just some dumb little beeps, that’s weak” - Maanumental

If this all sounds daunting though don’t worry because you can expect more of what Giant Panda are known for with clever rhymes, big beats and real content being important elements as ever.

“We ain’t got anything new for y’all, just same old shit” - Chikaramanga

‘Electric Laser’ is definitely a hip hop album in all the traditional ways - it contains wack emcee disses, in-jokes, a love song (of course), a bit of chorus singing and a tribute to the DJ ‘Precise Calculator’ Chikaramanga, yet the level of maturity shown sets it apart from many recent records which have shown a purely artificial change in style.

Giant Panda have shown a consistent level of skill throughout their career so far, a rarity in modern hip hop, but they don’t need to brag about their prowess - ‘Electric Laser’ show and proves.

Out now!

‘Flight Of The Red Balloon’ follows the director’s recent trend of making films abroad; his 2003 film ‘Café Lumière’ was a close documentation of Tokyo life, and his latest offers a similarly poetic perspective on Paris.

An examination of the stresses of modern living, Juliette Binoche (who you may know from ‘Chocolat’ or ‘The English Patient’) plays the part of busy puppeteer mother Suzanne, who is constantly trying to look after her young son Simon whilst coping with her puppeteer job and dealing with their financial problems. The new nanny Fang Song is a student film-maker and enters into the family’s world to look after Simon but becomes a fly-on-the-wall for the unravelling crises, documenting it all with her camcorder.

The narrative stays close to the experiences of the family. We follow Simon through each day, as does nanny Song and the eponymous red balloon. The mother Suzanne is a frantic and deep character and despite son Simon acting as a lead, Suzanne is the focus, dominating each scene with emotion and conviction.

The film deals with all the aspects of the family’s everyday life with a slow pace typical of Hsiao-hsien’s work but as ever his delicate treatment of the subject makes the experience joyous. Beautiful cinematography makes frequent use of reflections and blurry through-window shots to create an atmosphere of being a hidden onlooker in the characters’ lives.

The film seems to be full of parallels between the viewer and the situation on-screen.
The viewer is introduced to Paris through the intimate portrayal of the characters’ lives and becomes as much a part of the film as the red balloon, which watches over the action and looks in the windows but is never noticed.
Simon acts as a focus for the other characters but plays an onlooker himself to his mother’s complicated problems, while Song’s character acts as an internal critic for the film as she herself is making a film based on ‘Le Ballon Rouge’.

‘Flight Of The Red Balloon’ is a clever and detailed film and feels very French yet contains strong Chinese elements (which is perhaps strange for a Taiwanese director). An exchange of cultures is described in the film; Song is fascinated by the Chinese red of the French balloon as Suzanne admires the puppetry work of her Chinese contemporaries. Song mentions studying ‘Le Ballon Rouge’ in Beijing, and perhaps with ‘Flight Of The Red Balloon’ Hsiao-hsien is trying to suggest how far the original film has travelled in it’s influence, such that his film is as much a description of the original as it is of Paris.

A song written by French singer Camille for the end of the film suggests the alcoholic hallucinatory state that allowed such a vision to be created. The film’s slow pace may mean that it isn’t for everyone, however Juliette Binoche’s performance is ultimately gripping and the cleverness of Hsiao-hsien’s composition and intimacy of depiction is wonderful.

Catch it.