phs.abstractdynamics.orgphilip sherburne

May 28, 2011 Top 10: May/June 2011 Pigeon vs. hawk vs. magpie. My backyard, a month ago. Hawk killed pigeon; magpie taunted hawk. Hawk eventually flew away, beleaguered by magpie. Is there a metaphor here? Possibly, possibly not. Mario & Vidis, "Changed (John Talabot Remix)" [Future Classic] Mario & Vidis ft Ernesto - Changed by Mario & Vidis Carter Bros, "Full Disco Jacket" [Rush Hour] listen to samples here Morning Factory, "Fantasy Check" [Clone Royal Oak] Clone Royal Oak 009 Morning Factory - Fantasy Check by clone.nl Trickski, "Wilderness (Genius of Time Remix)" [Suol] A2 Wilderness (Genius Of Time Remix) by trickski Falke, "Taunus" [Kann] listen to samples here Dorisburg, "Emotion" [Kann] listen to samples here Maya Jane Coles, "Senseless" [2020Vision] Maya Jane Coles - Senseless by 2020VisionRecordings Runaway, "Dead Dog Dance (Andy Ash Remix)" [On The Prowl] (Andy Ash remix is the third segment in the SoundCloud player below) OTP08 Runaway "Dead Dog" Sal P, Coyote, Andy Ash & Simoncino remixes by On The Prowl Records Cosmic Kids, "Reginald’s Groove" [Throne Of Blood] Reginald’s Groove by CosmicKids John Talabot feat. Glasser, "Families" [Young Turks] YT056 - John Talabot - Families by Young Turks Posted by psherburne at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)May 14, 2011 A Lazy Mix for Mid-May A Lazy Mix for Mid-May by psherburne A thrown-together, easygoing mix you don’t have to think too much about. 105 BPM pretty much from start to finish. Not every transition is up to my usually fastidious mixed-in-key standards, but there’s nothing too jarring, either. Enjoy! Joie Noire, "Games" [Public Release] Snoretex, "Strange Aeons" [Buzzin’ Fly] Nikolaj Grandjean, "A Shadow (Bjorn Tørske Short Edit Remix)" [Music for Dreams] Erdbeerschnitzel, "To An End" [Mirau Musik] Glasser, "Mirrorage (Lindstrom Remix)" [True Panther] Soul Center, "Psycho Set II" [max.Ernst] Trickski, "Wilderness" [Suol] Space Dimension Controller, "Kaleidoscopic Ecstasy" [R&S Records) Kuniyuki, "All These Things (Theo Parrish Remix)" [Endless Flight] Posted by psherburne at 11:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)April 30, 2011 New Mix Something sunny for your Sunday: last week’s Jackson’s Wireless Extravaganza featuring host John Osborn and a 45-minute mix from yours truly. John kicks off with Chez N Trent’s "Morning Factory," which sets up the vibe perfectly, and Oni Ayhun makes a cheerful appearance later on. You can see my tracklist below. John Osborn TwenFM w/ Philip Sherburne 24.04.2011 by JohnOsborn The setlist for my portion: Todd Terje, "Snooze 4 Love" [Running Back] Martin Dawson, "Sunday Smoking (Jay Shepheard Remix)" [Moodmusic] Genius of Time, "Drifting Back" [Clone Royal Oak] Nebraska, "A Weekend on My Own" [Rush Hour] Pal Joey, "Higher Now" [Loop D’ Loop] Eve White, "Sugardub" [Perspektiv] Andre Lodemann, "Your Choice" [Room With a View] Lauer, "H.R. Boss" [Live at Robert Johnson] Posted by psherburne at 09:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)April 02, 2011 Cover connection Posted by psherburne at 05:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)March 24, 2011 Two albums: Morphosis + Bnjmn So my attempts to break back into the blog game have been less than successful; life has a way of getting in the way. (A certain opening line of Philip Larkin comes to mind.) My January top-10 list has fizzled out, morphed into February, been edited and repurposed for March, and I still don’t have anything to show for it. Not for a lack of stellar material, just a lack of time to think and write about them, or even listen, really. But this week two albums came out that, if your tastes align even slightly with mine, you need to hear. Morphosis, What We Have Learned (Delsin) Morphosis, recently (and wonderfully) profiled on Resident Advisor , is a Lebanese-born, Venice-based producer also known as Ra.H. His style, at least on What We Have Learned , on the Netherlands’ excellent Delsin label, is a kind of roiling, undulating techno, meaty and analog in its textures, propelled by tight drum-machine programming and given shape by gorgeous, buzzing, chaotic, and also lyrical synthesizers. Classic Detroit techno, the Ostgut Ton sound, Omar-S (compare "Silent Screamer" to "Psychotic Photosynthesis") and Oni Ayhun’s deranged modular fugues are all reference points, but the range displayed on the record, as well as that aforementioned lyrical quality, really make this stand out. For something so techno to its core, the tempos are refreshingly varied, and there’s even an unexpected nod towards a kind of coldwave techno-pop on "Too Far"; the closing "Europa," another tangent, flirts with purplish hip-hop as filtered through Mad Professor’s Massive Attack dubs. But for the core of the thing, listen to "Silent Screamer" (below), "Wild in Captivity," "Androids Among Us," the raga-like "Gate of Night," and the apocalyptic "Kawn." Masterful. Morphosis - Silent Screamer by Delsin Records Morphosis - Wild in Captivity by Delsin Records Bnjmn, Plastic World (Rush Hour) Rush Hour just keeps ’em comin’. I discovered Bnjmn last year through a vinyl-only, store-only release for the label; now the UK producer, a relative newcomer, brings us his first album—really, his first widely-available music at all. (Although, according to Discogs, he’s been recording since 2007 as Jackhigh, including a collaborative EP last year with Brainfeeder’s Teebs, who was one of my favorite discoveries in 2010.) Plastic World is, at its heart, an album of house and techno, or at least I think it is, given its predominantly 4/4 grooves and its big, buzzing synthesizers; in terms of tempo, though, it ranges even more widely than Morphosis, from churning chord burners ("Wheels in Motion") to midtempo fluoro-funk glides ("Tunnel Flight," moderately comparable to Oriol’s record for Planet Mu last year) to nervous, post-Drexciyan electro-techno ("Plastic World," maybe "Ocean Spray"). As with Actress or Teebs, texture here is everything—Bnjmn favors a grainy spray coming off his synths, so that the music always seems to be in a permanent state of dissipation; at the same time, his compression tricks give the music a powerful sense of presence, opening and closing like a bellows, and sometimes almost boxing you about the ears. It’s a wide load of full-spectrum sonics, and there’s no helping getting swept up in its wake. Hard to wrap your head around at first, but so very worth it. Plastic World by BNJMN Posted by psherburne at 11:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)March 17, 2011 Squaring the Cyrkle Well, triangulating, anyway. Posted by psherburne at 09:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)January 01, 2011 Best of 2010 (aka Schnee von Gestern) LET’S DO THIS. Rankings are fluid within subsections, and become more so the further down the list we go. And yes, I’ve probably forgotten some. Don’t miss my two best-of-2010 mixes ("House" and "Home") at Made Like a Tree , featuring many of the below tracks. Best of 2010: Albums Teebs, Ardour [ Brainfeeder ] In my review for Rhapsody, I wrote: If the debut album from Los Angeles’ Teebs (aka Mtendere Mandowa) reminds you of Flying Lotus, that’s probably OK: After all, FlyLo released it on his Brainfeeder label. Like other producers in his circle, Teebs’ style is obviously hip-hop in its genetics, but it’s evolved far beyond the genre’s boom-bap roots. Rhythmically, his beats have as much to do with dubstep as hip-hop, but it’s the textures that really set him apart. Full of bells, harp, flutes, strings and clicky percussion, his tracks thrum rather than thrump, with a gentle rush like a rainstick filled with feathers. This is another album that grew on me immensely over time—but then, I think the very best music usually takes a while to open up and reveal its essence. My first time through the promo, I had cherry-picked a few tracks to use in DJ mixes. The more I stumbled across them, the more I realized that there was something really special in them, and I finally dove into the album in earnest....