Articles
2010 Ten Favourite Labels
Liam Singer

Albums
Akabu
Amorph
Keith Canisius
Carinthia
Cursor Miner
Dark Party
dOP
Evon
Ex-Wise Heads
Forever Delayed
The Fun Years
Dirk Geiger
The Green Kingdom
Chihei Hatakeyama
Hessien
Robin Holcomb
The Inventors of Aircraft
Peter Jørgensen
Loveliescrushing
My Dry Wet Mess
Silje Nes
Ontayso
Piiptsjilling
Pleq
Radioseed
relapxych.0
Sharp & Whetham
Liam Singer
Erik K Skodvin
Sarah Kirkland Snider
Squares On Both Sides
Strië
Sutekh
David Sylvian
Taiga II
Francesco Tristano
RJ Valeo
Victoire
Wreaths
Zelienople

Compilations / Mixes
Buzz.RO! 2010
Crónica L
Timo Maas
Movement Torino Festival
Sebastian Mullaert

EPs
Dday One / Glen Porter
Depth Affect
Enabl.ed
The Gentleman Losers
Gulls
Mimosa
Piece of Shh…
Shufflepunk
Teebs & Jackhigh
Telekaster
thisquietarmy + yellow6
Tom White

Dday One / Glen Porter: Wavelengths
Content (L)abel / Ooohh! That's Heavy

On this ten-inch picture disc (300 copies), Dday One (LA-based Udeze Ukwuoma) and Glen Porter (Californian Ryan Stephenson) use the four brainwave patterns (Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta) as springboards for their sample-based constructions (in addition to instrumental hip-hop and electronic, Music Therapy is a suggested category under which to file the release). The beat-makers split the disc with Dday One grabbing the A side, and Glen Porter the B.

Dday One's head-spinning opener, “Between Poles” undergirds its mournful mood and delicate piano riffs with his signature beat crunch, as slippery as ever. A melancholy soprano sax line weaves a snake-charming path through thick trenches of vinyl crackle and chopped voice samples as the track alternates between episodes of melancholy rumination and heightened attack. After a few whale-like cries, Dday's beats slam into position in “Fall Forward,” this time in mid-tempo formation and joined by a pulsating bass throb and voice sample (“With each step, we fall forward”). The track gets its greatest impact from the beats, naturally, with Dday amplifying the shotgun crack of the snare and the punch of the bass drum to peak levels.

Glen Porter's tripped-out “Dream” twists and turns as it guides the listener through an eleven-minute journey into the twilight state of the Theta stage. Chiming guitar chords and clicking pulses establish a light-footed, almost poppy vibe before psychedelic flurries of strings and warbling Theremin motifs pull the material into bass-heavy neo-dub and growling dubstep zones. Things settle down near the end as Porter banishes the beats in an outro where the spotlight shifts to the haunting counterpoint of acoustic guitar and keyboard melodies. A brief exercise in slow and skanky headnod, Porter's “Prehistoric Cowgirl” drifts across the dusty desert plains with a snake-bitten melange of electric guitar twang and tremolo kicked along by laid-back beat thrust.

As if the EP's four stellar tracks aren't enough, the release comes with a Wavelengths E-book that describes the Dream-machine created in the 1960s by Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs (assisted by computer programmer Ian Sommerville) along with instructions that will enable those inclined to create Dream-machines of their own.

November 2010