Making Monotony Interesting

I've been listening to Phil Manley's "Life Coach" recently and the phrase that comes to mind is "making monotony interesting." I mean that in the best way! The song starts off with a simple drum loop that is quickly joined by a relatively static electronic bass riff that rides out the whole song. Eventually, a guitar plays an ethereal riff for about a minute before moving to the same riff as the bass except that the notes go up and down the scale note by note. It sounds very much like Rainbow Dome Musick-era Steve Hillage (before he discovered drum kits and formed System 7).

The song itself is nothing special, but the combination of the sounds really does something to me. Perhaps it's the echo of the guitar that bounces off of the back of the soundstage of the song. Or perhaps it has something to do with Terry Riley.

 From what I understand, Terry Riley's In C was one of the first "minimalist" compositions in that it consisted of musical stasis that gradually transforms itself into something different, often so subtly that you don't even notice it until things have changed. I think of "In C" a lot, even if I find the actual recording I have to be unlistenable. The theory is sound, I just feel that it works better with electronic instruments than in a classical orchestral setting. For example, Pete Townshend was thinking of Terry Riley when he wrote the famous - and kick-ass! - keyboard riffs of Who's Next (going so far as to name "Baba o'Riley" after the composer). I also hear Terry Riley in the Orb, in particular the amazing "oxbow lakes" off of Orbus Terrarum where the static piano riff slowly changes into something else as the electronic madness takes over...

The last example that comes immediately to mind is múm's "Slow Bicycle" that rides essentially the same riff for a good nine minutes but is mesmerizing all the same. Oh, and The Days Of Mars by Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom!

I could go on and on but my main point of this rambling post is that montonous music can be interesting if the musician gives you the space to ride the groove - and you accept it. And that following musical influences into the past is really a hell of a lot of fun.

Electronica Nostalga

NPR recounts the history of the electronia craze of the 90s. I remember very distincly catching the Crystal Method in Albuquerque and having them blow me away. The super DJ trance mix was the bomb in those days too - the first Northern Exposure compilation by Sasha & Digweed changed my life for a while.

I still have a weakness for this type of music, although I never got into Fatboy Slim and Prodigy; I was more of an Orbital, Orb, Moby, Trance Europe Express ambient house kinda guy. But the Block Rockin' Beats era was a hellofa lot of fun.

For more of this kind of electronica nostalga, check out Simon Reynolds' Generation Ecstasy.

Classic Ambient House

Id be remiss if I didn't mention that anyone that likes The Orb or any of the old-school ambient house bands should listen to Belka & Strelka's 2006 effort Tales From The Projector Room. Dr. Paterson rounded up a bunch of Orb alumni - including Jimmy Cauty but not apparently Thomas Fehlmann - for perhaps his most danceable album since u.f. orb. The dub influences are minimal, the bass is mixed high: come join the party and let me know what you think!

Dated Orbital

I used to listen to Orbital all of the time. Now, whenever an Orbital song plays, a almost always fast forward past it. Why has Orbital dated more poorly than The Orb or some of the other Trance Atlantic artists that I still listen to? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that Orbital often relies on a heavier drum then a lot of the other early trance artists on my iPod. Still, it's a mystery - In Sides used to be a long-time favorite, but it just does nothing for me now.

Groove Night

Quick hit: If you're a fan of electronic music, you have to listen to Thomas Fehlmann's Honigpumpe. Awful cover, incredible album.

Fehlmann specializes in a minimalist four-square kinda funk. (I hear elements of krautrock in it too, but that might just be me.) It's hard to describe, and seems like it might feel cold to people upon their first listen. But stick with it. There's a lot of subtleties in the Honigpumpe toons, including:
- The funky-German dub-march of "T.R.N.T.T.F."
- The cozy couch paranoia of a "Little Big Horn (Liegend)," which builds up about a thousand little rhythm tracks all tapping away at your subconscious, like nervous spider fingers tapping the blues on a magazine cover in a waiting room
- The giant walking on the moon of "Atlas"

As the above may tell you, I don't have the words to describe these sounds - although people try - but it engages my hips and my mind, and whatever does that can't be all that bad.

Trance Frogs

Continuing on the theme of electronica animals from the other day, I note that The Orb's "Hamlet of Kings (Alternate Version)" track -- off of the expanded version of Cydonia (not their best album, BTW) -- sets up its initial groove off of a series of bullfrog croaks.

It's a neat concept, and one that nicely sets off the mellow groove that follows, but the track as a whole just never takes off, quite possiblly because by the end of the song the poor frogs have been abandoned in favor of keyboard washes and old skool electronic noodling.

However, I eagerly await the next frog groove with high hopes that we can get some sort of sun-beaten lazy summer pond groove going!

Baghdad Batteries

From the malicious damage news list:

there'll be a new orb album released on malicious damage in june
it's called baghdad batteries, is the third in the orbsessions series and it's all brand-new material from alex paterson & thomas fehlmann

That's good news, because I thought that The Dream, the Orb's last Fehlmann-free release, was sub-par. I think Fehlmann is the driving force behind the group now, as evidenced by the excellence of the unfortunately-titled Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Kompakt.