Tips Zum Selbstmord

Never heard Retro'd. Gripped this sequel which brings video game music and instrumental hip hop, cloudrap, chiptune, together...although I have to say it feels relatively artless, the samples are clunky and it's fun recognizing classic 8- or 16-bit video game themes but not used in particularly innovative ways. It's OK and I guess very en vogue. But meh.

New Bandcamp-only dealio from the master(s) - I presume Samantha Davies is joining Bower here. "Houston" is a 20-minute live track from 2016, a real dark churner of a tune, thick and evil, a real good one. "White Wolf" is 9 minute live cut from 2012, more of a higher pitched squall and not as enchanting.

A whopping two hours of new Drumm music, recorded Jan-Mar 2018, presumably with a "custom resonant filter"...four tracks - "Morning", "Before Noon", "Afternoon" and "Later" but! Not at all in the Drumm mode, super quiet, barely audible sheen and glossolalia...shimmery but kinda in the Tony Conrad mode? Maybe a little William Basinski? I can't say it was terribly interesting. At least, not 2 hours worth of interest here. Unlike other ultra-quiet KD this doesn't specify stereo-listening only, so I'm not too sure what the deal is.

Volume One was all right...but Volume Two is a banger. 2 tracks, (37 + 19 minutes) of pure hypnagogic pop bliss, total deep churn with buried synths and everything good in a woozy, dreamy, sleep-piece. A la the best of the Skaters but more settled and certainly primed for slumber hours. Five stars.

Death is Not the End usually delivers up quality, but I feel like I'm missing a joke here. Henry Caravan is Louis Johnstone (??) is Wanda Group (????) who seems to have recorded this album alone in a room somewhere (I'm picturing a desolate cabin in winter). There's a lot of aimless fingerpicking experimentation that's so angular it sounds like a more purposeless Derek Bailey, and any time it threatens to get interesting Henry steps up to the mic and sings with a voice that indicates he's afflicted with a monstrous head cold, replete with sniffing and snuffing and heavy breathing throughout the tracks. Imagine your co-worker in the cubicle next to you annoying the shit out of you with their cold, and then having them mumblesing into your ear with their mucus and hot breath. Certainly no pleasure to listen to unless, like I said, I'm missing a joke? Either way....no thanks.

I was sucked in by the awesome cover art and great album title (and Dais has done some good in the past) but this is Not For Me. In the vein of the kind of industrial/electro/goth that was really big in the 90's, like...Ministry and Skinny Puppy and all. The (really good, better) witch house group AIMON did a rad cover of Swans' "Holy Money" and that track alone is a better representation of what I think this tries to be. The lyrics here don't hold up to any kind of smell test, and the whole thing is kind of overly-serious and cringe-y.

Laurie Anderson's response to Hurricane Sandy which ruined her Manhattan home, along with the Kronos Quartet...as usual for Anderson this has the sound of a cinematic, multimedia event even if it's (mostly) Kronos' strings with Anderson doing a scant few readings, although they're never boring I wish there were more. The music is of course dramatic and serious and certainly evocative of an impending/occurring natural disaster. I was expecting to be a bit more gripped, it's just OK. Not the fascinating and emotional experience I was expecting.