While the impending Raster Norton boxset reissue of Wolfgang Voigt’s monumental GAS series has given many professional
music scribes the joy of brushing up on reading material from their favorite German Lit classes, it’s in turn given me a stiff boner in my brain. Confluence, not Kant, is the password here. At what point do the forest and the ocean cease to be seen as different? Hearing GAS’s Modern EP on the NJ domepike two winters back was lifechanging to say the least. Nevermind whatever elements might have been circulating in that vessel; all inhabitants were instantly entranced by the flowing orchestral ocean which soon filled up the cabin, submerging us all. But we were rats of The Abyss, and our spasms soon gave way to liquid muscles.
Wolfgang Voigt liberated the mids from the dominating fours of the lows, making the rhythmelodies of civilization appear hopelessly barbaric (yeah, I said it) next to the lightforce of incomprehensibly radiant harmony. Of course, this feat of Germanic prowess made a few scribes grabbing for their copies of Origins of Totalitarianism and right they were. GAS is a 21st century
Leni Riefenstahl resculpting the forms of the past into totalizing moments of the present and future and sweeping everyone up along for the ride. And who's complaining? But fascist music this is not (and how could it be?!), for ultimately it is a means to overcoming that greatest fascist of all: yourself. This is music to surrender to, to open up to and become one with, cuddle with, sleep with.
Alright, here's the aforementioned A side of GAS's modern EP.
GAS-HellerGAS-Klang
I don’t know bout u, but I’ve always been very put off by the perennial scenario of a friend or acquaintance wanting to share their art with me. I know that sounds absurd, but I’m a nervous dude and honest at all the wrong time. What do you say when _____ totally sucks, which it often does? I still haven’t figured out an answer, so I was a little nervous when my homie DJ
Rezound sent me his band’s,
Men and Women new ep via glorious fileshare a few weeks back. Having been woefully underwhelmed by earlier material I had heard, I started prepping my damage control before even listening to the tracks. In the midst of the strategizing, my dome slowly became colonized by the sweet yet offsetting melody of “South America,” lazily hovering over the wreckage of dime store drum machines, guitar feedback, and assorted other sound textures. Needless to say, I was soon totally disarmed and my reservations stood unhinged. But there was more. “Flowing Blood” is exactly that; a fluid, pulsing tribal dance invented by the mole people and popularized by Throbbing Gristle. This is not uplifting music; nor is it a downer. It’s music for the chair surfer, like the cyborg puffing a doobie on the cover of Warp’s Artificial Intelligence comp. There’s no rushing because there’s nowhere to go; like GAS’s immersion tank, Men and Women create environments and situations for the hardy traveler. Hell, “Flowing Blood” is a fucking horror trip down some tropical river, with a nasty anaconda and the viet cong lurking round the corner.
People, we are already in the middle of a movement by freaks for freaks. Weirdo Dub is the name of the game and Men and Women have just unleashed an early touchstone.
Make sure to buy a copy and scoop up the banging Elliot Lipp and Cousin Cole remixes of "South America."
Men and Women-Flowing BloodMen and Women-South America
Now that our teutonic friends have decided deep house is the new minimal (which never was), I’ve been feeling haunted by
Romanthony and every other single Prescription release. Not being European or an urbanite, I for one have NO IDEA why deep house is hip again, but boy, I’m not complaining. My favorite Richard has always been Wade, not Hawtin, and hey, I like my genres that sound like they are (I’m holding back here, but for you mnml faithful, please listen to some pre-Fizheuer Zieheuer Villalobos and Omar-S and then tell me who the mnml one is, jerks). Okay, I know you need another tirade about minimal misnomers like you need a new wave of blog house, so I digress…
A naysayer the deep is not; lift yourself up, join a choir, and get free(r). This is that chorus of robots leading your brain and buns in a chant of positive thing. Speaking of positive robots, my man over at
Solid Goldberger who seems to have cornered the market on all things Daft and French, hipped me to the track that follows below. It’s the former that I imagine brought many to the light of The Wanderer, which if you’ve never heard, well, hypertext your mind up above and prepare to have a MUCH better day. Also, while there, be sure to scoop my new fave guilty pleasure: the filter house track born in infamy, Louis LaRoche’s Love. 17 year olds with Ableton kick out the jams!
So to engage in a bit of blog cannibalism here, I can’t help but snake a guided one from goldfinger (bet no one’s ever called him that!). A jam guaranteed to make you chip the light fantastic, join hands with the Reverend Wright, and pledge allegiance to the United States of KKK. This is one for the soul. And Obama.
Feel it Indiana. Feel it North Carolina.
Romanthony-Da Change (Vocal Vamp Mix)
ADDENDUM: Cool Shit
Still Going Beats In Space Mix--The Boys behind one of my favorite 12s from last year (and who also made me start taking DFA seriously) got a chance to flex their mixing muscles a few weeks back and I'm still digesting this 2.5 hour melange of ripping guitar solos and sexy-ass house. Fantastic stuff and be sure to scope their recent remix of Force of Nature (the only recent remix of theirs I'm really feeling). The date on it is 4/15/08.
Unedited Transcript of Carl Craig's Invisible Jukebox
--I know I'm not the only one who got totally titillated upon seeing Wolfgang Voigt on the cover of May's The Wire, along with a Carl Craig invisible jukebox conducted by the ubiquitous Philip Sherburne. Well, turns out that 7 minute edit is actually a 14 minute monster.
Kaibo Zonshinzu--Who knew there was a Japanese equivalent of Ernst Haeckel? Not this guy. Props to Rachel on the link.
