Deru - Trying To Remember (Merck)

It's been almost two years since one of the leading IDM labels operating out of Florida, closed its doors. My dear Merck... I'm tired of sighing. Your impact on the music scene still resonates till this day - with new artists drawing inspirations from your past releases, and abandoned musicians still scrambling to find a new home for their future work. In the same light, I haven't heard anything from Deru since his 2004 release on Merck, Trying To Remember. He has, however, just finished his third album, Say Goodbye To Useless, which is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2009. About a year ago, I saw Benjamin Wynn play out live, at an outdoor festival, and his deep bass and punchy beats sent the vibrations far through the woods. Add to that some subliminal melodic samples with a glitch and swirling effects, and you got somewhat of a staple sound as spearheaded by the likes of Funckarma, Hecq, Kattoo, Gridlock, etc. (I can go on and on). One of my favorite tracks, is Deru's remix of Yasume's Rengoku, appearing on Colonized 01 (Colony Productions, 2007). Some very cinematic and futuristic moments there. His other treasured releases include the Pushing Air LP (Neo Ouija, 2003) and a remix compilation of his originals, released on a beautiful 10" vinyl, Pushing Soil (Delikatessen, 2004), with reworked tracks by Xela, Ginormous, Lo Grey Beam and Lusine. Deru returned the favor to Jeff McIlwain by remixing Auto Pilot on Lusine's Podgelism (Ghostly, 2007). Deru also appeared on Sutemos' Intelligent Toys 3 and even remixed KiloWatts' Two Days Off on Problems/Solved (AMM, 2006). Throughout his short discography, Wynn has managed to perfect his found sound. It is atmospheric. It is thumping. It is fractured. And once you hear it, you'll be able to recognize his touch and influence in others. Highly recommended. And I am anxiously awaiting his upcoming new album!



myspace.com/iamderu | meisderu.com
myspace.com/merckrecords | m3rck.net

I Monster - Neveroddoreven (Karma/Dharma)

Thanks to my DVR, I never watch commercials these days. But there was this one ad, from AT&T, which got me to hit pause. It displayed flowers opening up, containing the cell phones inside. But it was also the music that stopped me. After the second time I saw the ad, I jumped on Google and sure enough, the first hit was people asking "what's that song on that commercial..." [I used the lyrics as keywords]. I've never heard of I Monster before, and after previewing a couple of tracks I just threw the whole album into the shopping cart. I was truly surprised to enjoy the entire album. It is now on its sixth rotation, and thus, deserves a write up. I Monster is a British group creating fresh, fun and bouncy trip-hop with very catchy samples and melodies. The two members are Sheffield based Jarrod Gosling and Dean Honer. Honer is also a member of All Seeing I and worked on some Add N To (X) albums. Together with Barry Smith (aka Barry 7), Honer founded a label, Cercle Records, on which the original 7" vinyl single of Daydream In Blue was released. In 1998 the duo has released their debut album, These Are Our Children. The track that got me all hyped up after hearing it only twice, Daydream In Blue, climbed the charts as a single, and soon after, the second album, Neveroddoreven, was released by Instant Karma and its sublabel, Dharma Records. [In 2004, Neveroddoreven, was also released on Atlantic]. I caught up with I Monster to get the spiel on their upcoming album. Here is the 411 - it is finished, no title or release date yet, a 7" vinyl single of a track titled A Sucker For Your Sound is coming up. Meanwhile you can preview the song on their myspazz. I seriously can't stop listening to this. Recommended if you like Moloko, Lovage, Portishead, Lemon Jelly, and Télépopmusik.

myspace.com/imonsteruk | imonstermusic.com

Sennen - Periphery // Automatic Writing (Zabel Muziek)

Here's a two for one, fellas - an EP from 2004, Periphery, and a mini-album from 2007, Automatic Writing, both released on the same label, Zabel Muziek, by Sennen, a four-piece instrumental post-rock band from The Netherlands. I'm going to start off with the most recent release and work my way backwards, since that's the order in which I discovered the band. In Automatic Writing, the band employs pretty complex rhythms at times switching between 3/4 beat to 5/4 and unexpectedly back to standard 4/4, and it makes the guitar and trumpet melodies, which effortlessly blend and glide in their own universe that much more interesting. The naming of the album, as well as its flow, imply a creative process in which the writer records his thoughts and feelings with the stream of consciousness. And it's an absolute pleasure to be on the receptive end. When purchasing the mini-album directly from the band [which, by the way, is available for free under the "creative commons" license], I couldn't help but grab their earlier EP (it was an easy sell for only €10 for both). Periphery, on the other hand, feels like a totally different album: it's opening, for example, is a slow build up of a rhythmic march along the paced strummed melody and a reverbed multi-layered tremolo picked guitar... until it all explodes. The three tracks work very well as one intelligently designed piece, and the EP does not disappoint one bit, even as an earlier production. I end up always listening to both in succession, and I recommend you do the same.

myspace.com/sennenband | myspace.com/vetteanalogeshit