Bluermutt ha venticinque anni, vive a Barcellona, ed è la nuova uscita della Nexsound: arrivata alla numero quattro, l’etichetta di Andrei Kritchenko ha fatto uscire il suo disco migliore, sempre orientato verso una via interessante da far percorrere all’elettronica nella direzione del pop. Figlio del suo tempo, questo disco propone una miscela di quello che è da qualche anno il suono della generazione più “cool” e giovane della computer music, o meglio della laptop music. Non che brilli assolutamente in originalità, ma questo Decivilize After Consumption è un disco gradevole e riuscito nel complesso: il tutto a base di blips, glitch, indietronica, qualche voce e tutte la caratteristiche di un suono che ricorda molto le prime uscite della Plug Research e le cose più elettroniche e giocattolose della Ache. Al di là dell’ottima fattura del disco, resta sempre il fatto che, anche usando i tools “giusti” e i suoni “attuali”, se ci si muove bene si può imbastire qualcosa di valido, ma c’è sempre il grande rischio di restare confusi nel mucchio, dato che la diffusione di hardware e software “azzeccati” è davvero ampia. Insomma, Bluermutt ha studiato, si è applicato, ma al prossimo giro gli servirà qualcosa in più per strappare la sufficenza…
Review
Bluermutt – Decivilize after consumption
Decivilize After Consumption brings on more melodic electronic quirkiness from fine Ukrainian imprint Nexsound’s PQP series. Andrey Kiritchenko and his unique label have been carving out an intriguing niche for themselves on the electronic scene, and Bluermutt’s avant-mess of techno, electro-pop, and post-rock is a fine addition to the ongoing story. This record is an elaborate and melodic journey with several highlights. Opener “Welcome to a Bluer Blue Sky” is a whimsical yet foot-moving romp, while the absolute top of the tops on this disc is the one-two punch of cranial post-rock/electro gem “Fukikin’ Jimmy from Here” and brooding soundscape “Jimmy Coda.” The rest of the disc has its share of highs (Plone-esque “Before Going to Bed,” urgent finale “More About Him Later”) and lows (bland “Old School Lesbians vs. the 21st Century,” irritating “Metallic Concepts for D and M”), and even a Family Guy sample, but the overall impression is certainly a positive one. Keep Bluermutt in mind.
Bluermutt – Decivilize after consumption
Andrey Kiritchenko hat sich seiner Leidenscahft für Pop verschrieben und hier ein weiteres knisternd-crunchiges, gut goutierbares Produkt auf den Markt geworfen. bluermutt, wohl aus Spanien, spielen HipHop beinflußte Electronica, mit knackiger Produktion un schön kaputten Beats, ohne dass diese nerven. Verdammt nah am Morr Music Soudn von vor fünf Jahren
Bluermutt – Decivilize after consumption
The musical entity peculiarly named Bluermutt (a word suggested by eBay) creates, like the infamous Perrey & Kingsley, quite catchy pop through ‘avant garde’ means.
Not that the guy from Barcelona goes as much overboard as that colourful couple. Not in the sense of painstakingly cutting tapes, which has become a lot easier with the arrival of computers and not in the sense of the almost sickening happy-happy-joy-joy coming from that ‘in sound from way out’. That said, Bluermutt does make popsongs that are upbeat and uplifting while incorporating a lot of harddisc editing. Pretty much every sound that’s recorded on his harddisc has been tampered with. There’s a hint of Richard D. James album as well, in its naivet
Bluermutt – Decivilize after consumption
It’s always exciting to receive discs from the elegant and eclectic Nexsound label. Striking design and cover art, neat digipaks, and with a content always stretching out to be – if not always succeeding they’re at least doing quite well trying – innovative and forward stuff.
Bluermutt popped up out of our P.O. box and a joyful spectacle it is. Decivilize after consumption is an explosive and playful collection of songs. Bubbling, bursting hypnobeats, fine samples of voices & sounds and cool cut’n’paste techniques, colourful collages with humour and wit: Bluermutt describes his (their) music as “scrambled humans singing and dancing”. He also says about himself: “…is 25 but looks like 13, maybe 15 with beard.” And: “…doesn’t make art, just assembles sounds together till he’s satisfied.” A laugh and serious business.
Bluermutt (I don’t know his name, he’s also one half of Mickey Eats Plastic) lives in Barcelona, Spain, and seems to be a European traveller. In fact the whole Bluermutt project looks like a worldwide project including: Lucz (Roma, Italy – the other half of Mickey Eats Plastic), Fredo Viola (New York, NY), Steph Thirion (Barcelona, Spain), Dorian Concept (Vienna, Austria) and Nils Christian Fossdal (Norway). Some of Bluermutt’s listed sources of inspiration are: Matmos, Neptunes, Busta Rhymes, Fugees, Justine Timberlake, Radiohead, Karate, Basement Jaxx, Timbaland, Mouse on Mars, Mos def. Quite a mix, with some being more obvious than others. Bluermutt had success with his first record, When I’m Not. I’d better check it out. Until then I’ll have plenty of entertaining moments with Decivilize after consumption. It somehow makes me think of a wilder Cornelius, and also the French surprise a couple of years back in time, Cagesan.
Finally, just to underline the humour included yet again, Bluermutt’s got some cool and fascinating song titles – often a story on their own: “Welcome to a Bluer Blue Sky”, “Old School Lesbians vs. the 21st Century”, “Fuckin’ Jimmy from here”, “Metallic Concepts for D and M”, “The Diapason’s Uncertainties”. Get it? This is ‘city music’: it should be coming out of your headset while going by bus, by tram or the tube. Dig in and dig!
Copyright
Bluermutt – Decivilize after consumption
The person behind Bluermutt is from Barcelona, but also lives in Amsterdam, and he is part of Mickey Eats Plastic and sometimes works as Crashbonsai. He likes creating music using computers. That is perhaps the thing that I learned from his website. He has a bunch of free tracks on Nexsound, who now release a CD of his work. I must admit I played this CD twice in a row. Not because I thought it was so great, but rather because it was early morning. I was getting up, looked at the ‘today’s pile of Vital Weekly’, and I scanned this briefly before, so it seemed like an appropriate thing to hear, starting the day. The bass I cut down a bit, but the eleven tracks rolled on, with IDM styled rhythms, glitchy sounds, female vocalists, guitars. I picked up the newspaper, ate a bit, drank some coffee, and then this was over. Damn. I think I didn’t get it quite right. So I played it again, made more coffee, finished the newspaper, checked e-mail. Its seems over again. Twice in a row, didn’t notice it that well, but on a third, more concentrating listening (making notes now), I thought it was quite a nice, if not ordinary release of home listening rhythmic music. Not great, not bad, positively in the way it uses various guestplayers, especially the various vocal bits. Certainly a great way of starting the day anyway.
(FdW)
Bluermutt – When I’m Not
Bluermutt is one part of Crashbonsai, all of Mickey eats plastic and proprietor of Skyapnea, after all only one person though, but with many personalities and he comes from Italy. Next to sounds and sound discourse there is also visual arts and remixing and what no, and if you are thinking now: T
Ballroom of Mars – cédre
Two strategies define the work of Ballrooms of Mars on this release: hiding structure behind walls of seemingly disorganized noise and hiding the noise and chaos behind a resemblence of structure. The effect is the enforced and welcome disjunction of moments of pristine beauty and chaotic dissonance that keeps the listener in upright tension for the whole of the tracks, ever expecting a harsh attack of ripping noise while trying to relax to gentle appregios on an acoustic guitar or finding the inner pulse in a chaotic collage of random noises of either and or electronic instruments of manipulation or electronically or manually manipulated instruments but waiting for moments of relaxation. The dynamics are challenging and exhausting. A minute of harsh digital noise pulsed might be followed by a slew of ragtime chords on the piano straight from the Jacksonville Twenties. A young women
Andrey Kiritchenko – Misterrious
Kiritchenko returns here to Spekk, following ‘True Delusion’ (see Vital Weekly 476), although of course Kiritchenko has released various other releases in the meantime. He set himself at work with the idea of creating something that was more acoustic than electronic, with the vague notion of jazz, in the Kiritchenko way that is. The album is built from various elements. First there is the piano playing of Kiritchenko, with some guitar parts. To add he added some percussion of his own, mainly a snare and a cymbals, but also he asked Martin Brandlmayer and Jason Kahn to play some real drums. Last but not least he added some insect field recordings from the Crimea area. Maybe the drumming is a bit jazz like, but throughout I didn’t perceive this as a jazz album. But then perhaps also I didn’t hear this to be a microsound album, or glitch or, well fill in whatever you think is appropriate. Its one of those albums that avoids any tags. Postrock, ambient rock, may come close, but then its hardly rock what is going on here. Very mellow music, with an excellent mixture of instruments and field recordings, and indeed to a very minimal extent an album of electronics. That perhaps is the greatest achievement of this disc, to move away so strongly from the old territory and so finely moving into a new one, or rather: expanding on the old one, and create something that may sound like the old one, but achieved with new means. Fine album indeed.
FdW
Andrey Kiritchenko – Misterrious
Andrey Kiritchenko is a fairly prolific Ukrainian based musician who since 2001 has released over 20 albums- which have seen him dip his sonic toe in the genres such as: electrionca, folk, electro acoustic & drone works. Misterrious finds him offering up a collection of atmospheric often fragile yet harmonic piano pieces; that are lined with field recording elements and touches of guitar, glockenspiel, mouth harmonica, auto-harp, Tibetan bowls. Most of the tracks here see Kiritchenko coming up with a melodic & often atmospheric sequences of piano notes; to which he then carefullly and lovingly builds around a mixture of: subtle often hypnotic yet effective field records elements, crystalline mainly acoustic guitar strokes, auto-harp atmospherics, glockenspiel tinkles and all manner of subtle yet satisfying and very mood setting noise making and percussive matter. The tracks for the most part stay around the four minute mark; meaning that Kiritchenko gets his sonic and atmopshric point over perfectly, but never lets the tracks feel over stretched or become padded.
An enjoyable, highly atmospheric and often cinematic collection of piano based pieces; which are weaved by field recording detail and other instrumental flourishers. And as always with anything on the Spekk label the disk is presented in their distinctive house style oversized folder style- which features rather lovely yet simplistic line drawings by Olga Indovina which fit