Broken Note - Terminal Static (Ad Noiseam)

For those of us who have been forced to stem our vinyl intake, it's nice when a label like Ad Noiseam swoops in and neatly collects a slew of great dubstep 12"s from multiple sources. Terminal Static, featuring tracks released on Ruff, Damage as well as Ad Noiseam, is such a collection -- a near-comprehensive taste of London producers Eddie (aka Kidnappa and one half of 16 bit) and Tommy, together known as Broken Note. Imagine dubstep strung up and gutted by space marine rastas, with tense atmospheres, roaring bass lines and raging tempos that can go neck-and-neck with the likes of Excision, Rotator and DJ Hidden, and you come somewhat close to nailing the sound. Pigeonholing it as "darkstep" does a disservice to its unhinged nature. Each track is its own mechanized beast. A rogue unit. Halfway through "Meltdown" the gears noisily shift from a tribal deathmarch to frenetic drum'n'bass warfare. "Pyrotek" machineguns its way into breakcore/gabber territory. The grime of "Dubversion" (which Hecq later re-calibrates in a chop-shop fashion) is caked on so thick, it's a wonder its tank treads still move. Everywhere is the reek of corpses and napalm. This isn't a stealth mission. This is an all-out, take-no-prisoners invasion, chainguns and flame throwers blazing. Were you to send "Zealot" back in time, Terminator style, to anyone listening to Bloody Fist Records or Digital Hardcore Recordings, they'd immediately surrender... after soiling themselves. The future is frighteningly advanced. Broken Note has seen to it. Stop crying and get up, soldier. Terminal Static is the debut release by the duo on Ad Noiseam. In addition to the above mentioned Hecq remix, the CD contains a rework by Enduser appearing on the album as I Am The Sun. Check out Broken Note's previous 12", Let 'Em Hang / Meltdown (Ad Noiseam, 2009), War In the Making / No Struggle (Ruff, 2008), and  Fueling The Fire EP (Damage, 2008). In addition to the above mentioned names, this release is recommended for the likes of Reso, Innasekt, King Cannibal, and Hektagon.

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Review prepared by Autodestruct exclusively for Headphone Commute

See also Two and a Half Questions with Broken Note

myspace.com/brokennoteuk
myspace.com/adnoiseam | adnoiseam.net

DJ Hidden - The Words Below (Ad Noiseam)

Noël Wessels wants you to think everything's going to be okay -- that the storm has passed, the survivors are carefree and strong, and that, should trouble rear its ugly head again, there's a good chance of escape. Turns out, the kind locals are killers. And, surprise surprise, the lovable protagonist is secretly mad, and growing madder. What could have been so perfect, so hopeful or so noble is now utterly screwed up, and we never saw it coming. This is how DJ Hidden wanted it. It doesn't feel like two years have passed since the Dutch d'n'b producer's directorial debut The Later After (Ad Noiseam, 2007), because 2009's sequel, The Words Below, appears to have picked up the narrative exactly where the former left off. The world is still vastly in disrepair, but the dust has settled some, and from it emerges a new, more powerful threat. A hunter-turned-scavenger, Wessels picks through the rubble of his own devastation with an even craftier, time-tested set of breakbeats, basslines and breakdowns. His drum'n'bass DNA has mutated to the point where it can not only withstand the new wilderness, but match its hostility blow for blow. It's a minute-thirty into "Broken Seconds", and I'm being chased down. I didn't get a good look at it, but it's big and it's fast. I'd take refuge in an abandoned building if it weren't for the fact that the buildings here aren't completely abandoned. It wasn't enough that I was on my guard. Planned a strategy. It got the better of me anyway, and now I've dug myself a dank little trench here in the dark. I'm as still as the grave, but I'm sure my scent will give me away. Dear God, I can feel its breath on the back of my neck. This is it. Like its predecessor, it's impossible not to weave some story around each track on The Words Below. From its epic opener to introspective, quasi-dubstep moments like "It Feels Wrong," to the packaging of the album itself, care has been taken to inflame your senses, string you along, and make you get your hopes up before vivisecting you while you watch. Even those who enter cautiously are sure to be toyed with. Repeated listens may well land you dribbling in a padded cell, nightmare and reality fused, begging for mercy. DJ Hidden offers only one kind, and it's permanent.

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Review prepared by Autodestruct exclusively for Headphone Commute

See also Two and a Half Questions with DJ Hidden

myspace.com/dj_hidden | djhidden.com
myspace.com/adnoiseam | adnoiseam.net

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Mutations EP (Ad Noiseam)

Coming in with slow jazzy percussion, deep rumbling bass, and all acoustic instrumentation, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble enters from the shadows of ghostly vocals and crackling dust. Violins, trombones, and jazz trumpets howl and growl, along digitally effected beats and bit-crushed atmospheres of decay. Darker than future jazz, yet lighter than doom jazz, the purveyors of sound composed of both digital and electro acoustic, are no strangers to the scene. The seven member ensemble includes Jason Köhnen, who has already added his trademark sound to our collections with numerous releases as Bong-Ra on Planet Mu, Ad Noiseam, and Sublight Records. Plus, the entire troup has already put out their live improv recordings as The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation with two full length albums, Doomjazz Future Corpses! (Ad Noiseam, 2007) and the recently released Succubus (Ad Noiseam, 2009). A few words from the label's site: A bridge between their first album on Planet Mu and the forthcoming second one on Ad Noiseam, the "Mutations EP" is The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble's coming of age. Profound and organic but dark and impressive, it is a perfect rendition of the ensemble's live shows and the proof that there is still something fresh to be done at the meeting point of post-rock, jazz and drones. A deeply emotional and original trip. At only 40 minutes long, the eight-track EP is a profoundly mature collection of abstract and experimental jazz riffs that get the heart pumping with anticipation of buildups that break into cinematic soundscapes of beauty. Like an abandoned farmer's house in a post-war eastern european silent film, the evoked environment of sounds is a little eerie and at the same time melancholic. I'm especially impressed with the jazz drumming by Gideon Kiers that lightly gets processed through FX. The above mentioned Jason Köhnen strums the fretless and the double bass, while the beautiful Nina Hitz works the cello. This is a serious record worth being promoted to an LP. With Succubus just hitting the streets in June 2009, the upcoming Here Be Dragons album is currently being mastered, and is due to be released sometime in September 2009. I'm glad that the ensemble's live performances could be rendered on a recording for a headphone experience - I only wish that I could catch them live next time they're in town. Don't forget to grab that Succubus! Recommended if you like Jacaszek, Blackfilm, Deaf Center, Triosk, Bersarin Quartett, Skalpel, and Kashiwa Daisuke. Other noir-jazz and experimental jazz groups to check out: Bohren & der Club of Gore, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones, and Contemporary Noise Quintet.

myspace.com/tkde  |  tkde.net
myspace.com/adnoiseam  |  adnoiseam.net

The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation - Doomjazz Future Corpses! (Ad Noiseam)

Must be a gloomy kinda day for me. The irritating questions from those who should know better, and the music from The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation didn't help at all. Perhaps just another alias for Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, or perhaps a brand new outlet for the two member group consisting of Gideon Kiers and Jason Köhnen, created to channel all of their semi-improvised, experimental, and free-form ambient doom through one of my favorite labels, Ad Noiseam. Köhnen is most notably known for his Bong-Ra moniker with drilling breakcore releases on the same label. But on the Doomjazz Future Corpses!, which was recorded live in Amsterdam, you won't hear any beats. Instead, the cinematic soundscapes resemble a haunted house in which a cello moans, a trombone sighs, and the saxophone wails, all to the accompaniment of the warm drony bass and the cold oscillating instruments. The acoustic "mutant jazz" treatment around the low vibrating hum make me imagine an abandoned ship pier, in which the wind plays music with the metallic doors. And with each long passing minute I descent deeper and further into the darkest caverns of this spooky corridor. I withstood this punishing (in a good way) and at the same time amazing experience, but I would not recommend it on sunny days. I would have absolutely loved to witness it live!

myspace.com/tkde | myspace.com/adnoiseam

Aaron Spectre - Lost Tracks (Ad Noiseam)

I have a lot of respect for a versatile artist - the one that attacks the musical and the noisy, the atmospheric and the tight, the beatless and the micro-programmed. Names like Lusine, Kattoo, Hecq, and Murcof come to mind among a few, and I am excited to add Spectre to that set. With a range of style that encompasses glitch and breakcore, under his Drumcorps moniker, Spectre returns to Ad Noiseam in 2007 under his real name, with a strikingly gorgeous downtempo and idm album (when are we retiring that term "idm"?). This collection of nine tracks spans about six years of production, but (going along with my new "resolution" of not emphasizing on composition and release dates), the album is fresh, original, and is anything but dated. Warm melodies, solid beats, and protective frequency space for the bass - something too often overlooked. Highly recommended for the likes of above mentioned artists. Favorite tracks: Voices, remix of Lapsed Break Ya Neck, and Degrees featuring the lovely voice of Kazumi (think Pink Lilies or Arovane's last album).

myspace.com/aaronspectre