OPM: From Jazz to Plunderphonics

Jack Phantom and the Exquisite Corpse Cabaret – Ghosts

Smoky, dark and experimental jazz that would be at home soundtracking the most stylishly disturbing noir film imaginable. It also wouldn’t seem out of place seeping out of the door of a spooky speakeasy, beckoning you inside as you’re filled with dread. In other words, this is some very atmospheric and cool jazz. 

Led by the hypnotic sax lines of Jack Phantom, these tunes will take you to some wonderfully seedy, spirit-filled spaces. It’s jazz a goth could love – still displaying all the technical skill and mastery associated with the genre, but also in possession of a powerfully dark aura. 

(Listened to the whole album)

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Kikai – 0123

A just-modernized take on classic Berlin School, full of warm synthesizer sweeps, percolating arpeggios, cosmic melodies, and relaxed beats. The basic blueprint is the same one displayed on all those classic, early Tangerine Dream records. That’s been updated just a scooch with elements popularized by ambient and chillout scenes and a few hints of modern sound design. 

The results are welcoming and familiar but fresh enough that it never feels like this is merely aping those old records. Indeed, it feels like an evolution (albeit a minor one) into a sleeker, somewhat more progressive form. Still spacy, propulsive, and blissed out, but with just a touch of an edge.

(Listened to the entire album)

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Petridisch – Apéritifs

An unpredictable and idiosyncratic experimental electronic outing that covers an impressive amount of territory. Incorporating a wild variety of elements, including spoken-word samples, metronomic techno beats, smeary spectral choirs, and tension-filled piano sequences, each track holds its surprises – often several. 

Overall, the vibe is drifting, hazy and weird – like the feeling you get after smoking too much good weed on a sweaty summer afternoon. Call it ambient or minimal dream pop, or make up a new name entirely, but definitely check it out.

(Listened to the entire album)

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West Echo Three – “FESTIMÖLE”

Breakbeat metal track about a music-loving mole at a music festival. We open with a spoken word introduction to the titular rodent, cluing us in to a bit of its backstory. A programmed breakbeat comes in, followed closely by some brittle metal guitar riffs and a bassline. 

Things progress in this vein for a bit, we get another brief infodump on the mole and then it’s just a riff fest as the guitars spin their way across the soundscape and the drums and bass chug away underneath. It’s a fun track, bordering on silly, but I can see it absolutely killing at an outdoor festival set if you dropped it at the right time. 

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Romeo Rucha – Boom

A brilliant and bewildering blend of Plunderphonics, IDM, and experimental electronica. Crammed to the brim with wild ideas and exciting execution of those ideas. Weird, somewhat dark vocal samples that fall somewhere between self-help and clinical diagnostic notes get cut up, manipulated and chopped into rhythmic shapes. 

Skippy, techy IDM beats slither and slide thru a mixture of synth timbres that varies from warm and welcoming to the almost aggressively shrill. Tabla rhythms, tech support, vocoder freakouts get mixed in for good measure. It’s weird. It’s wild. It’s a worthy successor to the culture jamming classics of Negativland. Don’t miss it.

(Listened to the entire album)

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A parting note: If you’d like to support my efforts to expose cool independent music to a wider audience, you can contribute to my year-long fundraiser via Ko-Fi. Alternately, you could always buy some of my music…