Mochipet and Friends
Glitched beats and bass take the lead on The Land of Animation from UK producer MusSck. Sometimes experimentation at the fringe of genres can go too far, but MusSck keeps things comprehensible while still pushing out the creative boundaries. There’s midtempo sensibility that will get heads nodding as the tracks shift from the dark and ominous to the light and melodic. Excellent craftsmanship!
Uli Elser, Sales, Export Sales, Exclusive Label Relations
1. Yppah * They Know What Ghost Know (Ninja Tune)
2. Mochipet * Bunnies & Muffins (Daly City)
3. The Joy Formidable * A Balloon Called Moaning (Pure Groove)
4. DJ /Rupture and Matt Shadetek * Solar Life Raft (Agriculture)
5. Wye Oak * The Knot (Sub Pop)
6. Spider Bags * Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueler World (Birdman)
7. Kevin Blechdom * Gentlemania (Sonig)
8. Hex Dispensers * Winchester Mystery House (Douchemaster)
9. Summer Cats *Songs For Tuesdays (Slumberland)
10. Fredrik * Na Na Ni (Kora)
Honorable Mention:
James Blackshaw * The Glass Bead Game (Young God)
Smith Westerns * Smith Westerns (Horizontal Action)
Washed Out * Life of Leisure – EP (Mexican Summer)
Spaceheater spawned from the Jazz Mafia cabal, and originated as a duo with Francis on woodwinds and producer Bill M. mixing beats. The expanded version is distributed by Daly City Records, home of Mochipet and other DJ-centric acts. Normally a jazz combo would seem out of place in such environs, but Spaceheater isn’t really a jazz combo — not in the traditional sense, at least. Rather, Francis likes to experiment. He’s the composer’s equivalent to a restless teenager, always shifting grooves or mixing and matching, setting a busy drum pattern against an equally busy — but unrelated — horn part.
On some songs (“Persistent” and “Interlude”), he adds electronic sounds to make the music sound live and synthetic at the same time. The horns seldom fall in lockstep with the rhythm, but that’s what makes it interesting. There’s no question Francis is on to something new. (Ropeadope)
I found this very nice review amidst the Dia de los Maxos Recap by Barry Threw. Preshish Moments was also debuting his new light suit> make sure to check back for future pictures and video. Here are some of the yummiest bits:
The beat went on for the last set of the night, although the performance of the evening by Bay Area temporal mangler Preshish Moments was best represented by a broken mirror reflecting shards of musical culture into an asymmetrical light show on our soft fleshy consciousnesses. Cliche, hackneyed metaphors aside, Mr. Moments astounded as usual with a description of his integrated hardware/software system for real-time performance. He is one of the few electronic musicians that, were he to die on stage, the music would stop within 10 seconds; we should admire him for it.
We were also impressed with his new electronic technicolor dreamcoat, which triggers bands of LEDs based on musical mappings. It is indeed the 21st century.
Courtesy of Chrome Kids, the ghost of Eazy-E gets man-handled by Mochipet, DJ 0.000001 and Eprom by way of the free maxi-single “Eazy-E On Atari”.
Check out all the freaking reviews and features it has received from Money, Hoes, & Clothes, Bass Music, Rock The Dub, Noise Porn, White Folks Get Crunk for DJ’s, Boom Boom Chik, Goose Bumps Beatz, Ghetto Bazaar, Doktor Krank, My Morning After, and Faites La Fete Pas L’amour.
Get it here.
(And stay tuned for the free full-length DJ 0.000001 release, Racin’ Music, coming soon.)
The New York Times Reviews Alarm Will Sound Playing Mochipet : “SOMETHING odd and fascinating is happening at the borders of classical music and pop right now. Particularly in new-music circles young musicians are searching for repertory in the pop avant-garde. There were inklings of this in the early 1990s, when arrangements of Frank Zappa pieces turned up in programs by the Meridian Arts Ensemble, the American Composers Orchestra and, in Europe, Ensemble Modern and the Ensemble Intercontemporain. But that seemed only modestly remarkable. Zappa, after all, had been composing symphonic works since the late 1960s, and these transcriptions of his rock works shared the spirit of those scores. And transcriptions of Jimi Hendrix songs by the Kronos Quartet, and Nirvana tracks by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, seemed amusing stunts, offered as encores.” [ READ MORE__]
Mochipet’s latest album Master P on Atari reminds me of Transformers. The skillful electronic mix of miscellaneous sounds hit at just the right times and could be part of the soundtrack for those metallic, alien protectors of the world. The album cover even sports a creature somewhat transformer-like, however, this machine has a badass tape recorder and Atari joystick at its center.
The first thing I noticed while listening was that I didn’t mind the fact that there were no real vocals. I’m all about the words, but I think Master P on Atari is a full album despite its lack of lyrics. The album is intricately layered and emotive the same way a voice can lead a listener to feel a certain way.
That certain way in this case is the feeling that I’m in the middle of an action movie breakneck car chase. Police sirens went off (going the opposite direction, I might add) as I was listening to Master P on Atari in my car and I swear I almost sped up and veered off the main drag to lose them. I may be more easily influenced than most, but I was definitely adrenaline-laced due to this album. Which I loved. A fun, inventive album, Master P on Atari had me invested. And driving like a maniac.
By Eva Gross
