DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Tin Man Vienna BlueTo say that Tin Man's latest release is something of a departure immediately begs the question: "What is it exactly that Tin Man does?" Starting out producing acid house twelve-inches on the Finnish-based Keys of Life label, Californian-born Johannes Auvinen's subsequent work exists in a world...
POP & ROCK REVIEWS: Dirty Three Toward The Low SunDirty Three haven't brought us a new album in seven years, their members being kept busy with collaborations and guest spots. Warren Ellis composed several soundtracks with Nick Cave and also joined Cave's Grinderman project. Drummer Jim White worked with songstresses Nina Nastasia and P.J. Harvey,...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Terranova Hotel AmourThe fifth album from Berlin-based Terranova, Hotel Amour sees a move into more classic dance territory, leaving behind the downtempo style of some of their past work. The album features several recent singles, including "So Strong" (with vocals from Khan), "I Want To Go Out" and standout...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: ColeCo Can't StopColeCo (not to be confused with the videogame console or any of the three other artists of the same name) are a production duo based in Toronto, ON that have been getting a rep in the past year or so for remixing a variety of artists, as well as providing the live programming for T-dot hero the...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Air Le Voyage Dans La LuneHaving scored Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, and with several of their songs used in other films, Air are no strangers to the soundtrack world. Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon, in English) was composed as a score to the digital reissue of the silent masterpiece...
POP & ROCK REVIEWS: Black Bananas Rad Times Xpress IVRoyal Trux have always paid heavy homage to '70s-era Rolling Stones, doing what the Cramps did for rockabilly and Jon Spencer did for the blues, but it's disco-era Stones being summoned here. Black Bananas are basically RTX, the often-lacklustre successor to Royal Trux, rebranded and re-energised....
POP & ROCK REVIEWS: Bill Ryder-Jones If...Bill Ryder-Jones used to play guitar for British band the Coral, but don't expect If... to remind you of his previous outfit. Primarily piano-based, the album exists somewhere between the worlds of Erik Satie and Michael Nyman, with some interesting original touches. It was conceived as a...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Loops of Your Heart And Never Ending NightsLoops of Your Heart is the new project from Sweden's Axel Willner, more famously known as the Field. Although tonally the album bears some simarlarities to the Field, the sound is markedly different. Containing less of the hypnotic, minimal looping and emphasis on layers of ambient texture and...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: The Boats Ballads of the Research DepartmentAround since 2004, the Boats have released a prodigious amount of work, this new album being their 11th offering. They started out as the duo of Craig Tattersall (once of autumnal post-rockers Hood, arguably the UK's most underrated band) and Andrew Hargreaves. They are now joined by cellist Danny...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Shigeto LineageWith his latest mini-album, Shigeto (aka Zach Saginaw) attempts to redraw the lines of connection back to his family origins in Japan and simultaneously to his musical roots as a jazz-obsessed drummer growing up in Detroit. Jazzier and more drum-centred than previous work, Lineage is rich...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Jacques Greene ConcealerIn 2011, Jacques Greene was busy releasing several singles and remixing high-profile artists such as Radiohead and Katy B. The Montreal-based producer clearly isn't planning on resting on his laurels in 2012, having recently launched his label, Vase, and prepared Concealer, ensuring it'll...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Jokers of the Scene J0T5Known primarily as remixers, Toronto, ON's DJ Booth and Chameleonic (aka Jokers of the Scene) aren't easy to pin down, stylistically. Elements of trance, kosmische and acid, to name a few of the things going on here, straddle straight-up techno. The end result sounds, at times, like a compressed...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: James Blake Love What Happened HereThis latest EP contains Blake's best material since the release of his debut album, which led to his sharp rise to fame earlier this year. The title track, having been performed live on several occasions, isn't exactly new, but it's great to finally have a definitive version released. It is...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Jacaszek GlimmerGlimmer is Jacaszek's seventh album in less than a decade and his first for Ghostly International, following his contribution to the label's superb compilation, SMM: Context, in 2010. (Michał) Jacaszek, a modern classical composer from Poland, focuses here on harpsichord and the...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Tycho DiveScott Hansen divides his time between graphic design (under the moniker ISO50) and making electronic music as Tycho, which is maybe why Dive, his second album, arrives seven years after his debut, Sunrise Projector. Heavily influenced by Boards of Canada and the ambient shoegaze of...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Adolf Glitter Adolf GlitterAdolf Glitter (aka Kevin K., Suzanne Thompson and Roxanne Luchak) blend digital hardcore with dirty electro beats and a pop sensibility. Evoking Atari Teenage Riot and Crystal Castles, Adolf Glitter are above all grimy and fun. Full of energy, angst and strong European influences, they sound like...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Triads HologramAfter losing their beloved drummer to Berlin, the remaining members of Toronto, ON-based math rockers Ça Va Mal decided to forge on, sans drummer, and pursue a more electronic path. Ryan Cherewaty and Jay Gordon formed Triads in 2009, a synth-based duo that march to the beat of their own drum...
INTERVIEWS: DJ ShadowDJ Shadow (aka Joshua Davis), now a household name, started out in the California hip-hop scene as a campus radio DJ, remixer and later a key member of the Solesides crew with artists such as Blackalicious and Lyrics Born. Shadow secured the world's attention back in 1996 with the release of his...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Tim Hecker Dropped PianosDropped Pianos isn't a new album, per se, but nine sketches recorded in 2010 for his most recent, and strongest, album, Ravedeath, 1972. Using beautifully sparse, minimal piano, as opposed to the church organ in the Ravedeath versions, and minimal layering, the sketches are...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: The Black Dog Liber DogmaThe Black Dog (often credited with inventing IDM) began life as Ken Downie, with Ed Handley and Andy Turner (of Plaid), but for the past decade, Downie has been performing and recording under the moniker with Martin and Richard Dust. This release is a welcome return for the Black Dog, in the wake...
POP & ROCK: Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror
To say that Tin Man's latest release is something of a departure immediately begs the question: "What is it exactly that Tin Man does?" Starting out producing acid house twelve-inches on the Finnish-based Keys of Life label, Californian-born Johannes Auvinen's subsequent work exists in a world...
Dirty Three haven't brought us a new album in seven years, their members being kept busy with collaborations and guest spots. Warren Ellis composed several soundtracks with Nick Cave and also joined Cave's Grinderman project. Drummer Jim White worked with songstresses Nina Nastasia and P.J. Harvey,...
The fifth album from Berlin-based Terranova, Hotel Amour sees a move into more classic dance territory, leaving behind the downtempo style of some of their past work. The album features several recent singles, including "So Strong" (with vocals from Khan), "I Want To Go Out" and standout...
ColeCo (not to be confused with the videogame console or any of the three other artists of the same name) are a production duo based in Toronto, ON that have been getting a rep in the past year or so for remixing a variety of artists, as well as providing the live programming for T-dot hero the...
Having scored Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, and with several of their songs used in other films, Air are no strangers to the soundtrack world. Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon, in English) was composed as a score to the digital reissue of the silent masterpiece...
Royal Trux have always paid heavy homage to '70s-era Rolling Stones, doing what the Cramps did for rockabilly and Jon Spencer did for the blues, but it's disco-era Stones being summoned here. Black Bananas are basically RTX, the often-lacklustre successor to Royal Trux, rebranded and re-energised....
Bill Ryder-Jones used to play guitar for British band the Coral, but don't expect If... to remind you of his previous outfit. Primarily piano-based, the album exists somewhere between the worlds of Erik Satie and Michael Nyman, with some interesting original touches. It was conceived as a...
Loops of Your Heart is the new project from Sweden's Axel Willner, more famously known as the Field. Although tonally the album bears some simarlarities to the Field, the sound is markedly different. Containing less of the hypnotic, minimal looping and emphasis on layers of ambient texture and...
Around since 2004, the Boats have released a prodigious amount of work, this new album being their 11th offering. They started out as the duo of Craig Tattersall (once of autumnal post-rockers Hood, arguably the UK's most underrated band) and Andrew Hargreaves. They are now joined by cellist Danny...
With his latest mini-album, Shigeto (aka Zach Saginaw) attempts to redraw the lines of connection back to his family origins in Japan and simultaneously to his musical roots as a jazz-obsessed drummer growing up in Detroit. Jazzier and more drum-centred than previous work, Lineage is rich...
In 2011, Jacques Greene was busy releasing several singles and remixing high-profile artists such as Radiohead and Katy B. The Montreal-based producer clearly isn't planning on resting on his laurels in 2012, having recently launched his label, Vase, and prepared Concealer, ensuring it'll...
Known primarily as remixers, Toronto, ON's DJ Booth and Chameleonic (aka Jokers of the Scene) aren't easy to pin down, stylistically. Elements of trance, kosmische and acid, to name a few of the things going on here, straddle straight-up techno. The end result sounds, at times, like a compressed...
This latest EP contains Blake's best material since the release of his debut album, which led to his sharp rise to fame earlier this year. The title track, having been performed live on several occasions, isn't exactly new, but it's great to finally have a definitive version released. It is...
Glimmer is Jacaszek's seventh album in less than a decade and his first for Ghostly International, following his contribution to the label's superb compilation, SMM: Context, in 2010. (Michał) Jacaszek, a modern classical composer from Poland, focuses here on harpsichord and the...
Scott Hansen divides his time between graphic design (under the moniker ISO50) and making electronic music as Tycho, which is maybe why Dive, his second album, arrives seven years after his debut, Sunrise Projector. Heavily influenced by Boards of Canada and the ambient shoegaze of...
Adolf Glitter (aka Kevin K., Suzanne Thompson and Roxanne Luchak) blend digital hardcore with dirty electro beats and a pop sensibility. Evoking Atari Teenage Riot and Crystal Castles, Adolf Glitter are above all grimy and fun. Full of energy, angst and strong European influences, they sound like...
After losing their beloved drummer to Berlin, the remaining members of Toronto, ON-based math rockers Ça Va Mal decided to forge on, sans drummer, and pursue a more electronic path. Ryan Cherewaty and Jay Gordon formed Triads in 2009, a synth-based duo that march to the beat of their own drum...
DJ Shadow (aka Joshua Davis), now a household name, started out in the California hip-hop scene as a campus radio DJ, remixer and later a key member of the Solesides crew with artists such as Blackalicious and Lyrics Born. Shadow secured the world's attention back in 1996 with the release of his...
Dropped Pianos isn't a new album, per se, but nine sketches recorded in 2010 for his most recent, and strongest, album, Ravedeath, 1972. Using beautifully sparse, minimal piano, as opposed to the church organ in the Ravedeath versions, and minimal layering, the sketches are...
The Black Dog (often credited with inventing IDM) began life as Ken Downie, with Ed Handley and Andy Turner (of Plaid), but for the past decade, Downie has been performing and recording under the moniker with Martin and Richard Dust. This release is a welcome return for the Black Dog, in the wake...
