Jena Paradies

MySpace

2008-05-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

News and updates at

myspace.com/jenaparadies

The Talk on the Town

2005-09-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Stylus Magazine is all about Soulseeking this week, articles about music downloading and over-saturation of our aural palettes keep on rolling in, and notice that they almost read like eulogies to something that's about to go away. Apparently, The Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) has filed a fresh string of lawsuits against seven P2P software companies, and Soulseek is one of them.

Soulseeking - by Nick Southall

Soulseeking: Me and Mine: Ahab after the Whole - by Derek Miller

What is to be done? Since it's not really the kind of thing you write your senator about (not that I personally could, but I'm just throwing it out there), enjoy it while you got it, and stock up on your hard to find Pearls Before Swine bootlegs or out of print House Classics compilations now.

Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Absencen (Staubgold)

2005-09-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

Lichterloch

Re-Post

2005-08-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

'Brecht's rejection of certain sorts of music was so extreme that he invented another variety of music making, which he called 'misuc'. Misuc he regarded as a way of music making basically differing from music, since it is misuc and not music.
Brecht's efforts in this field were really based upon his dislike of Beethoven's symphonies- 'his music always reminds me of battles'.
For a musician, it is difficult to describe misuc. Above all it is not decadent and formalist, but extremely close to the people. It recalls, perhaps, the singing of washing women in a back courtyard on Sunday afternoons.Brecht's dislike of music ceremoniously produced in large concert halls by painstaking gentlemen in tails also forms a constituent of misuc. In misuc nobody may wear tails and nothing may be ceremonious. Misuc aims at being a branch of the arts which avoids something frequently produced by symphony concerts and operas- emotional confusion. Brecht was never ready to hand in his brain at the cloakroom. He regarded the use of reason as one of the best recreations'

- Hanns Eisler

Regular posting to resume over the weekend.

Love, Lust and Everything in Between

2005-07-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

Tyler Hanel - Sometime - An excellent vinyl mix of tech-dub originating from the Berlin school of roots revivalism. The dense and moody textures of Rhythm & Sound coalesce with early Model 500, and further into works on dub-ridden labels like Raum Musik and Tikiman's False Tuned. Blaze's "Lovlee Dae" struck me as an especially lovlee surprise today.

Jeffery Mac - The Subtle Energies - Here's a mix that serves to put the highly contested art of digital mixing into a comfortable status quo. Jeffery leaves no stone unturned, not forgetting to pay homage to the genius of earlier techno visionaries like Vainqueur, and churns out a mesmerizing mix of some of the most brilliant cuts in recent memory.

Jena Paradies - New Identities - A third installment in a series of home-made mixes starting in September last year. Made with Ableton.

The title of today's post is inspired by a proposed 10 song compilation "to listen to when you're trying to convince everyone you're not a communist."

For an alternate worldview, there's "Russendisko Hits 2", compiled by Wladimir Kaminer and his DJ cohort Yurii Gurzhy. For an additional 19 EUR you can also purchase the retrograde kitch russian hat, as modeled by the schismatic writer himself, on the right.

Nate Harrison - Can I Get An Amen?

2005-07-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

Can I Get An Amen? is an audio installation that unfolds a critical perspective of perhaps the most sampled drums beat in the history of recorded music, the Amen Break. It begins with the pop track Amen Brother by 60's soul band The Winstons, and traces the transformation of their drum solo from its original context as part of a 'B' side vinyl single into its use as a key aural ingredient in contemporary cultural expression. The work attempts to bring into scrutiny the techno-utopian notion that 'information wants to be free'- it questions its effectiveness as a democratizing agent. This as well as other issues are foregrounded through a history of the Amen Break and its peculiar relationship to current copyright law.

Can I Get An Amen?

Gradual Corruption of the Pure Octave

2005-06-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

In only a couple of years since it's inception, Type has built a solid reputation in the murky realms of minimal electronica with a string of remarkably solid releases from the likes of Andreas Tilliander, Khonnor, and Xela. Their newest offering pushes them another inch forward, with the help of Parisian newcomer Julien Neto. On 'Le Fumeur de Ciel', Neto offers 10 pieces of refined cinematic noir that hover about magically, often seemingly faded in in and out of the mix, like intuitive drawings of eternal themes with no definite or necessary demarcations. Simple yet impecable, digital processing remains subtly tucked in the background and is used almost exclusively to shape out melodies as fleshed out by pianos, strings and disintegrating synthesizers. An insiduously affecting record that would be well enjoyed in contemplative solitude, perhaps accompanied by the implied cigarette and a couple of glasses of Mary Mayans.

Type page for Julien Neto

Having left Finland years ago for the more temperate climates of Berlin and Barcelona, Mika Vainio is finally letting some sun shine through his heart, likely made out of black ice, granite and pieces of vintage tone generator. His latest solo outing comes under his Philus guise (see artwork), on his native Sahko. The only other record under this name that I can clearly remember is 1994's Metri, which was a highly experimental release that made use of tone generator blips as melodic component for really minimal, rudimentary techno tracks, and which likely convinced the good people at Hardwax to keep the entire label's catalog in permanent stock ever since. Kantamoinen is far more sparse and atmospheric, in the majestic tradition of his eponymous releases. The difference is that here, Vainio makes ample use of synth pads and even organ to assemble truly monumental sound pieces that rarely exceed the 4 minute mark. With Kantamoinen, Vainio makes a bold step and re-invents himself (in his own way) with all of the grandor and none of the pomp.

Nakinkengat / Shells

Monneista viimeinen / Last of Catfishes

The Future of DJ-ing... Meet Kuka

2005-06-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

:(

2005-06-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I cannot seem to do anything to make my umlauts actually show on the screen, and i was just about to write about the new Mika Vainio record, who performs under a single unpronounceable umlaut letter! I will re-format my template, and hopefully come up with a way to make things more legible. As per my previous posting, Chuancho is spelled with a double-dotted umlaut over the letter 'a' and the letter 'o'.

Automatic Umlaut Love

2005-06-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

I for one cannot resist a name with not one, but two umlauts, so naturally while browsing through somebody's music collection online and running into somebody named Chuänchö, I thought I'd try it out. I got an EP titled Inampli, with 4 tracks of impecably produced, driving techno with startling effects running through the space of the track and no shortness of ideas in sight. A Google search yielded one link, and that was to the spanking new Inoquo net-label out of Barcelona, where i managed to get a hold of another offering by what i assume to be the same producer. Slightly different aesthetic here, with stabs at dub experimentalism that led me onto the discovery of yet another record, questionably titled 'Nada en Particular.' Although I would start with Inampli, I find it remarkable that somebody can release 3 records of such quality and still be walled in near-complete obscurity. It's almost as if he encourages to be searched and discovered, which is almost obsolete, like pulling a record out of the stacks and testing it out on some creaky excuse for a listening station. Who does that anymore?

Never Repeat

2005-05-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

Athough the press release states that she released this back in January, i only heard it for the first time last night. The first two songs seem written on the spot, in a ruptured rhythm and with choruses that seem caught in mid-air, announced in a startling yet soft Finnish, as if channeled through a prodigious child. The record then sets into a restrained instrumental pause, after which Islaja's voice re-enters to hover over jangly fiddles, electric guitars, whistles and her own fractured choruses, all the while gently luring me down to attest to the submersion of western civilization into primordial abyss. I'm most certainly coming along.

Two Links

2005-05-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

The skinny on Mathew Jonson, an exclusive set consisting of most of his recent output, carefully mixed and arranged into a string of pearls courtesy of Markconsumption.

The new and improved Jena Paradies website is up.

Smoov Crunk for Pimpin' Playaz

2005-05-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

DJ-Mixes have been popping like mushrooms after a warm summer rain lately. Supepitcher's Today and M.A.N.D.Y.'s Body Language Vol. 1 are fantastic, but there’s also several mixes and live-sets online that are well worth a spin:

Dirt Crew, aka James Flavour - Dirt Crew DJ Mix - Dirt Crew launch(es) an eponymous imprint of 'Ghetto House with Electro and Disco Influences' and celebrates with an exemplary union of above ingredients. Process, Booka Shade, and that wonderful Sasse remix courtesy of the man himself.

Marc Henning - Mumm-Ra Pick'nMix - This collection comes from the head of the Clever Music net-label. The first 25 minutes or so are unimpeachable as he starts off with arguably one of the earliest examples of what is now called micro-goth, Grungerman’s Fackeln im Sturm. The stygian atmosphere persists for the next 25 minutes or so, before it moves into more clicky territory. Sleek and proper.

Rrimöykk - Avarru - Lush, penetrating and simply sublime experimental dub from Finland. The tracklisting speaks for itself.

Mathew Jonson - LIVE PA at Planet Rose, Belgium on 26-03-2005 - More of a live show than a DJ-mix per-se, but it's something I couldn't stop listening to on repeat lately, despite the occasionally patchy sound quality. Each of his tracks feel like a recurring dream, and the opportunity of hearing them mixed and transformed in real-time ups the magic.

Intruiging Bits of Music Trivia

2005-05-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

Below is a collection of random bits of music trivia collected from I Love Music. The Motorhead one is soooo rock-n-roll!

Columbia Records signed The Byrds based on Miles Davis's recommendation.

David Bowie owns the patent for popular game 'Connect 4'.

The climactic feedback in Motorhead's "We Are The Road Crew" wasn't intentional - it was the result of Fast Eddie Clark passing out and falling too close to the amplifiers while recording (!)

Arnold Schoenberg feared he would die during a year that was a multiple of 13. He so dreaded his sixty-fifth birthday that a friend asked composer and astrologist Dane Rudhyar to prepare Schoenberg's horoscope. Rudhyar did this and told Schoenberg that although the year was dangerous, it was not necessarily fatal. Schoenberg survived it. But in 1951, on his seventy-sixth birthday, the Viennese musician and astrologist Oscar Adler wrote Schoenberg a note warning him that the year was a critical one: 7 plus 6 equals 13. This stunned and depressed the composer, for up to that point he had only been wary of multiples of 13 and never considered adding the digits of his age. He became obsessed with this idea and many friends report that he frequently said: "If I can only pull through this year I shall be safe." ... On Friday, July 13, of his seventy-sixth year, Arnold Schoenberg stayed in bed - sick, anxious and depressed. Shortly before midnight his wife leaned over and whispered, "You see, the day is almost over. All that worry was for nothing." He looked at her and died.

More Schoenberg - he named his opera "Moses und Aron" because naming it "Moses und Aaron" would require it having 13 letters in the title.

Black Lips/Dirtbombs, Drunken Unicorn, May 5, 2005.

2005-05-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Enter Summer

2005-05-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Isolee - We Are Monster (Playhouse, 2005)

Certainly a welcome return, Isolee re-emerges after a six-year break (!) and delivers a sparkling jewel of a record. A beguiling collection of hazy deep house and sun bathed vignettes, it builds upon 2000's 'Rest' and maybe even improves it. The funky percussion, the chunky retro synths and disco throwbacks are still there, but this time also with occasional vocal harmonies upon layers of smart, polished and lusciously funky production. So much more than the sum of its parts, this record stands in a class of its own, and is certainly one of the year's best. At least so far.

Here's one track, titled Enrico.

Jaga Jazzist - What We Must (NinjaTune/Smalltown Supersound, 2005)

I know, the cover was about the only reason I didn't rush off to get this the moment it was announced. Once I got past that, this couldn't have made me happier. Makes me want to drop in words like "mindblowing" and stuff. I'll veer off that route and only say that this is beautiful, beautiful music. Now only if they could do something about that cover...

Oslo Skyline.

Matthew Jonson & The Mole/Axel Bartsch - Speicher 26 (Kompakt Extra, 2005)

Make sure to check out this latest offering from Speicher; the first track is an 11 minute long epic with plenty of Romantic strings and dark bass, whle the B-side simply tears down the establishment, old school style.

Jena Paradies Update

2005-05-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

OK,

So there've been a few DJ-sets by Jena Paradies floating around, and I haven't yet thought about putting them up here. So here's two sets, aimed at correcting that.

1. Kunstformen der Natur

01. Pantha du Prince - St. Denis bei Licht (Dial)
02. The MFA - The Difference it Makes (Superpitcher remix) (Kompakt)
03. Dub Taylor - Sweet Lips (Force Tracks)
04. Sami Koivikko - Tyonimi (Shitkatapult)
05. Phonique - The Red Dress (Tiefschwartz remix) (Dessous)
06. Ellen Allien - Fuse (Live Outtake) (Bpitch Control)
07. Jena Paradies - Kotka (Lifeform Project)
08. Heiko Laux - The Silent Bass (Kanzleramt)
09. Sender Berlin - Spaziergang In Neos Kosmos (Tresor)
10. Oliver Hacke - Schoener Wohnen (Trapez)

2. September

Jackmate - Wolfen (Resopal)
Kiki - Up (BPitch Ctrl)
Basteroid - Against Luftwiderstand (Remix by Ada and Jake Fairley)(Areal)
Quarks - Koenigin (Tunnelblick Mix von Turner)(Kompakt)
Losoul - You Know (Playhouse)
Kiki - So Easy to Forget (BPitch Ctrl)
Rex the Dog - We Live in Daddy's Car (Kompakt)
Frivolous - Can't Stop the One, Two... (Karloff)
I:Cube - Arp Surface (Versatile)
Marco Passarani - Clair (Peacefrog)

There's also a 4-track EP titled Ladoga, admittedly in somewhat rough shape, out on Lifeform Project from Atlanta. The last track on that record is going to be re-done and re-mastered this coming week in the Tennesee mountains, and eventually re-released. Way to have your bases covered.

More at www.jenaparadies.com

John Peel 1939 - 2004

2004-10-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that John Peel is gone. I assumed he'd always be there to lend me an ear for the bold, beautiful and innovative. Radio will never be the same.

Shows Galore

2004-10-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

I'm about to go see my third show for the week tonight. I've already seen Mission of Burma on Friday and Clinic on Sunday. Tonight - Mouse on Mars. It's a bit of a burden on my wallet, of course, but I promise to quit for a while after this.

The Clinic show was good, and so were the Sons and Daughters, who opened. It wasn;t until after the show that I went online to discover that they featured my favorite drummer today, in the person of David Gow of Arab Strap fame.