Here’s a brief recap of The Raging Family’s bio: raised and home-schooled by bohemians in Upstate New York; lived in Eugene, Oregon until driven from their house by local authorities because of noise and behavior complaints; settled down in an enclave somewhere in the hills outside of town to focus on music and art. If you ask me it all sounds a little cultish, and at the risk of becoming Sharon Tate to their Manson Clan, I’m gonna throw my support behind The Raging Family’s latest “concept” album. Black Holes is ostensibly a journey through space and time, but how they get us there is through an eclectic collection of styles ranging from the knob-twisting and wax-scratching exploits of Land of the Loops and Prefuse 73, the found-sound rebelliousness of Negativland, the electro-clash abandon of Meat Beat Manifesto, the jazz exploration of Miles Davis and Sun Ra Arkestra, and even the psychedelic guitar masturbation of Carlos Santana’s Illuminations period. It’s a whole lot of styles to wrap your noodle around, but luckily the band has posted the entire album on their website for us to take it all in (the links below are just some highlights), and there are other entire albums there fully linked for the taking — but beware, the money you save on music today may go to pay for the cult deprogrammer you’ll need tomorrow.
Radio 4
My sister Christy saw these guys play at Coachella a couple weeks back and sent me an email asking what I knew of them, especially their percussionist (what is this, a dating service?). To my embarrassment, I knew nada. After reading up, I see that one of their two singers is Anthony Roman, formerly of Garden Variety, who I do know for his ragged, plaintive punk of some 10 years back. After listening up, I hear funky homage to Britain’s most danceable post-punk bands (Wire, Gang of Four, The Clash) and the feelgood politics of NY peers !!! and Out Hud. So thanks, sis, for keeping your brother’s ear to the street (apparently the Mitubishi ad they were featured in didn’t do it) — and happy birthday!
David Last
Is there such a thing as dumbed-down IDM? Not inferior, but approaching it from a slightly different angle is David Last, less brainiac and more booty-shaker, moving away from digital detritus and towards more organic dancehall rhythms. Perfect for intimate gatherings. Served to chill. I’m jonesin’ summer BBQs. Can you tell?
Someone Else
“An undying fear of commitment has fueled 24-year-old Sean O’Neal’s eclectic discography…” So began an interview I did with the Illadelph native, then of Flowchart, back in 1998 for URB. Seven years later, not much has changed — in that quite a lot has. Sean recently added netlabel unfoundsound to his stable of ventures (he also runs Fuzzy Box Records) while steering his music away from the richly layered drum ‘n’ bliss and quirky electronica of his Flowchart days toward wry, minimalist techno under the alias Someone Else. You gotta love a fool who can make your head bounce and put a smile on your face (just listen to those tweaked mouth noises on “Goofball”). These tracks make up the first of six unfoundsound releases to date; all are available as free, high-quality MP3s under a Creative Commons license (if anyone gets “sharing the sharing,” it’s Lawrence Lessig). There’s also an entire release of Philadelphia field sounds which unfoundsound invites you to mess around with and submit as a demo.
Out Hud
Let’s hear it for the Golden State! No, Out Hud ain’t no Midwest transplant, but straight outta Californ-I-A. Between Out Hud and !!! (with which they share members) the Williamsburg myth loses steam (hasn’t it already?), proof that geography has little to do with rhythm. “How Long” is retro without kitsch, funk with a pinch of punk, and completely danceable. Get down on it.
Mad Awkward
Mad Awkward. Story of my life. I guess I shouldn’t hate the guy for taking what would have been an awesome stage name for me, considering my skills never progressed far enough to warrant a stage name. Not only is it a great name, it somehow describes my man’s off-kilter yet entrancing production.
DJ Soul Slinger
Hidden in the back of every music collection is a little rave music. Okay, maybe not every one, but there are plenty of us who keep a little something stashed away. I pulled out my personal rave-orite Altern 8 recently. My five year old was not impressed. Another from my collection who is actually still going strong is DJ Soul Slinger. A native Brazilian, Carlos is an early purveyor of rave/jungle/drum’n’bass music/culture/goods here in the good ol’ US of A, and a perfect way to welcome a dear friend to 3hive on her first visit.
Giant Robot
Not to be confused with the Japanese pop culture ‘zine of the same name, Giant Robot are members of Nuspirit Helsinki and they run the gamut like Jesse freakin’ Owens. From cozy EBTG-ish ballads (“Best Match”) to lanky, dub-hop (“Konevitsa”). And then you’ve got the remixes, if you’re ready for even more curveballs. Best of all, Giant Robot’s site has a mile-long MP3 page with all of their commercially unavailable tracks, which includes their entire debut album and tons of said remixes. Set aside some download time.
DJ Riko
Our friend Jacob sent my wife a link with the following note: “Heard this tonight on KCRW and immediately thought that Sam would dig it…” I’m not sure if he thought I’d dig it because it comes from an album called Latter Day Taints (a knowing nod to my Mormon peeps) or because I’m a closet whistler. Either way, he’s right, I dig it real good. DJ Riko is a plundering masher-upper cat from Columbus, Ohio who either doesn’t have a day job or doesn’t sleep ’cause he’s mad prolific. For “Whistler’s Delight” he pulls a crateful of whistled “riffs” from various songs, beginning with Peter Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers,” and takes us on a spotter’s field trip. By the way, if you can name all 22 songs used herein by year’s end, email Riko and he might award you with one of his fancy bootleg CDs. See his site for more details, and many more downloads — including a nice 55MB holiday mix.
Machine Drum
2001. Machine Drum and Prefuse 73 both drop debut albums. Both serve cut up, stuttering, hip-hop that’ll get you jerking back and forth. No doubt, these two are cut from similar cloth — yet many still haven’t heard Machine Drum. What gives? Maybe it’s Prefuse’s A-list collaborators. But what Machine Drum lacks in “friends” he makes up for in deft drops and solid jazz and funk samples.