Whorl Clock – Compilation Album

Debut compilation release from Three Eyed Cat Records.

Whorl Clock is a collection of electronic artists, each donating a track hoping to raise money for ‘Doctors Without Borders’, an international, medical humanitarian organisation working in more than 65 countries around the world. (Their medical teams work to save people’s lives in conflict zones, natural disasters and epidemics)…  Cool

It’s a ‘pay what you want’ download with a time travel theme running through the contributions, of which are all really really good. Did I say ‘really really’ twice? (oh yes, it is). Very difficult to pick a stand out track here because the standard is high with the contrasting styles moulding perfectly across the whole album.

Whorl Clock

Opening play is ‘School Night Dreams’ by Chorus 1986. A lovely rolling groove with arps and cool melodic saw, nice vintage feel too. SAZER contributes ‘The 61^st Second’ keeping a certain amount of vintage feel n the mix with a very ‘action thriller’ type sound. Elkingtit’s ‘Reverse Engineer’ bursts through my cans with industrial strength (almost jungle) rhythms and grinding synth bass followed by Spaceman 1981 with ‘One Night On Earth’. Head jolts back in momentary surprise…’Ooh Singing’. I sort of expected all instrumentals until this point and shift moves more in to the synth pop camp. Unexpected but very nice balance and still in the overall theme.

The 5^th instalment is a familiar name – Humm Bugg who has previously graced our Canned Static pages with ‘Charging the Chopper ray’ (Dec 2020) and ‘Blue Laser’ (July 2020). His 8bit madness returns with over 3 mins of ‘Primordial Ooze’, a lovely quirky bit squeak of wonderment. Petra Dish and the Nicotine Tingles, dish out ‘The Future of Petra Dish’. A nice follow on from 8bit to contorted experimental madness.

Second half of Whorl Clock starts with ‘Timefall’ by Endless Wires, a nice electronic groove that would sit nicely on the back end of sci-fi movie. Murgatroyd’s ‘Derailment’ brings back the experimental fused with chipset mayhem.  ‘Strawberry Galaxy’ by Reddlis reminds me of the  classic movie ‘Never Ending Story’ , it could have belonged in there.

Bitrotator – ‘Quite Simple’ switches genre yet again with some banging EDM/ just in case you’re too relaxed. Nice 8bit inclusion at the end and a great bridge for Creepy Pizza to sound out ‘4D NAUSEA’, an alarm clock of chip tune pop fusion. Aaaaand finally… Moths – Henry Hassel. Pure twisted experimentation just to send you on your way with a warped head.

Whorl Clock is a varied collection of electronic music that does not stick around too long on any of the sub genres. There’s enough here to keep your ears glued for a long time, I know I’ve loved the experience. Download/Stream here at Bandcamp

(Released January 11th 2021)

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Humm Bugg – Blue Laser

Is it a bird, is it a plane…. dunno? we’re in 8 bit so it could be a flying saucer. Yes, 8 bit quirky tunes floating on a backdrop of FM waves, if that floats your boat, be the Commodore and read on…

Very much in the realms of the home-grown; 8-bit music has always had a certain fan base within the experimental scene. It’s an area of music I sometimes drop into with open mind and a little excitement as generally you will never be sure of what you are gonna get. Generally you get the ‘Mental’ in ‘Experimental’.

I certainly let out a “Hmm” when I dropped on the ‘Humm Bugg’ Bandcamp page. Met with 8-bit imagery , the cover of ‘Blue Laser’ is straight to the point. This is exactly what you are going to get. Chip tunes a plenty, short and sweet buzzing, tweaks and mods all the way.

There are 10 tracks mostly a little over 2 minutes with just the one track exceeding 4 minutes (Undiscovered Bird Planet). Very tuneful, quirky as expected from this format. I like the feel, as always from chip tunes. It’s not meant to be serious or deep music, this is fun and should draw a smile.

There are some clever twists along the way showing the programming is much deeper than what appears on this chirpy surface. Call it Sine language (sorry, can’t help myself). Seriously though, some clever stuff going on here.

There is an element of B-Movie horror going on at times. I can visualise opener, ‘Clash Manor’ dropping into an Ed Wood jr tribute. ‘Everybody is Dead Dave’, playing over the Red Dwarf cruising through deep space. The slightly more serious sounding ‘Blood’ accompanying some mad alien doom game.

The shortness of the tracks add to the appeal along with a certain comedy aspect to some of the themes. ‘Blue Laser’ is a happy, feel good experience, although short, it feels a like a shot in the arm, a quick boost of happyness to get through the day.

Currently available via Bandcamp and soon to be released on all platforms –

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Tim Susa – Masquerades

Casting back to October 2016 I found myself listening to (and reviewing) ‘The Hermit – The Gate’. The significan link here is the label to which our current focus shares. As I said in that review, ‘Broque’ records of Germany have a history of releasing superb electronics which cover the leftfield.

Tim Susa – Masquerades

Tim Susa hails from Berlin in the heartland of Germany and his latest release does nothing to dissapoint the broque legacy. The 6 part album gives 54 minutes of minimal electronics that motors onwards and upwards like a fine tuned machine.

Opening with the title track ‘Masquerade’ has lovely ripples of synthiness panning around my head before moving on to the machine like ‘Owl’. Were two tracks in and I’m already sold. This is great stuff, could it raise the bar.

‘Swan’ turns the pace and the mood into a soothing wave of anologue warmth. Probably my favourite on the album but I do also love ‘Owl’. Already sold, I’m forgetting about writing and just enjoying the moment. Moving on to the final 3 tracks of pure minimal house, they twist and evolve bringing you closer to the core.

Highly reccommended release for electronic music lovers as is all of broque releases over the years. Forget the World, forget your human chemestry and dive into the machine.

Release date – 15-5-2020 www.broque.de (and all major download sites)

Wasted Space – The Oscillation

London band , The Oscillation, formed in 2006 reach album number 6 with this 2018 release ‘Wasted Space’. Don’t do drugs kids, just play this…

Wasted Space

Its a psychedelic ride all the way and had me on board from the off. I’m partial to having my brains mashed every now and again so off we go. Trip out synth bubbles and reverbs on mass, it’s musical escapism.

Title track ‘Wasted Space’ holds the candle for me but the rest is neat too. I love the narco feel, it’s electronic but not quantised squeekyness. Ok, no such word but I’m allowed, it’s music journalism.

I really cannot add any more other than go out and buy this album, it is memorable and different. Weird beyond most peoples boundaries and it’s like free drugs every listen.

https://theoscillation.bandcamp.com/album/wasted-space

Maasai – Maasaï

Casting way back to the 2nd of November 2015 saw the birth of Canned Static music blog with our very first review from Canadian rapper SHAM (check out SHAM – Fast Life Cafe). The lyrical wizardry of SHAM first came to my attention with the Illmatic influenced Street Tape. Other releases include Chains of Freedom & LOST. Since the 2015 release of LOST we literally did loose sight and sound of SHAM the man until now.

June 2019, enter Maasai, an electronic experimental Hip Hop duo from Montreal featuring Emmanuel Dusautoir (Drums) & SHAM (Vocals).

Freaking wow, this is very different from what I expected. It has all the hallmarks of a ‘Fast Life Cafe’ but with so much more edge. It’s a musical roller coaster that crashes and explodes but keeps going, you’re on for the ride and don’t wanna get off. It’s dark and light, good & bad ass.

Opening with ‘I woke Up’, a minimal experimental rap with sparse bass, “I woke up in the morning in a bag of roaches, I know death approaches”, “I just wanna blow my mind”. Sets out the feel of the entire album, rebellious, abstract and out there in head space.

‘Astro Trip’ hits a tribal feel with a subtle swelling bass drone (another thing I’m diggin with this album… the subtle bits in the backdrop), its originality is rife and I just wanna keep it spinning. The spirit of Maasai is here, the tribal feel is just brilliant. ‘Lion’ follows in the same spirit, the African Maasai tribe would dance to this in their PJ’s, I love it and can’t get enough

Maasaï the album & band need to be seriously checked out. Real just got more real, go and grab this fantastic release over on Bandcamp, it’s a steal at a mere $5, also if you are in the Montreal area look out for these guys live.

Steam or Download Maasai on BandCamp

 

Lingua Lustra – Sonic Being

When it comes to the World of drones and experimental sounds most people take to the hills but then again, Canned Static is not like most people so if you are open to the new frontiers in sound, read on.

I cannot put my finger on how I came to discover this album, I may have seen the initial link on one of the ambient and experimental Facebook pages I frequent. A few weeks ago I downloaded it via Apple Music and have recently walked around for a few days (in a daze) with Sonic Being feeding my ears through a set of JBL cans.

The whole album is around 55 minutes long with just 4 tracks, the shortest being just over 7 minutes. Those stats alone should give you a clue to the type of listening experience ahead.

Immersing yourself into this lovely album is an experience and almost a journey that involves your own imagination because it certainly takes you to some place, sort of astral travelling with drones and harmonics. I love the rich textures that evolve and wash over you like a warm tide.

Ambient composer Albert Borkent is the man behind Lingua Lustra and it appears he has a prolific catalogue of albums which precede this current 2019 release. The official statement accompanying this release reads “Beyond the Sentinel lies a wondrous realm of light, colour and deep oscillation”.  “Yes”, I’d go along with that, its a journey of your own mind which takes you out there and beyond.

‘Sonic Being’ is a wonderful listening experience, I’ve been immersed in a dream like state yet functioning. It’s a good place to be and unlike so many other drone clad albums, this one is warm and gently uplifting rather then falling into dark ambience like so many do.

A highly recommended listening experience that deserves to stand out in an ever crowding World of sound.

Links –

Apple Music

CD Baby

Bandcamp