Articles
Robert Henke
Deepchord and Soultek

Albums
Amoebazoid
Boy Is Fiction
BTB
Calika
Vic Chesnutt
Enrico Coniglio
Eric Copeland
Deadbeat
Deepchord : Echospace
Ditch
Terrence Dixon
Brian Ellis
Reinhold Friedl
The Green Kingdom
Marc Hannaford
Hrsta
K. Leimer
Lights Out Asia
Nebula 3
Netherworld
Le Peuplier de Simon
Po
Portable
Lou Reed
Jeffrey Roden
Skallander
Swod
Gregory Taylor
Telephone Jim Jesus
Pau Torres
Tunng
Rolan Vega
Robert Vincs
Warmth
Otomo Yoshihide

Compilations / Mixes
Sander Kleinenberg
One Point Two
Total 8

3"/ 7"/ 10"/ 12"/ EPs
Adultnapper
Arrow!!!
Ascoltare
Beneva vs. Clark Nova
Cinematic Orchestra
Deepchord : Echospace
Easy Changes
Fink
Peter Grummich
The Heavy
Isomer Transition
Laptik
Larytta
Nadja
Pendle Coven
Polvere
Redhooker
Spied
Andy Stott
Torrance & Hochstrate
Andy Vaz

Amoebazoid: Zucking
Cycling '74

Not that it's the only thing one needs to know about Amoebazoid's Max/MSP-generated release but the word ‘Zuckung' comes from the German word for ‘twitch,' an apt choice for music of such jittery and mercurial character. On the plus side, Keith O Brien stuffs his high-energy tracks with a ton of ideas but also keeps them short and sweet; on the down side, the material's sometimes so packed, it's headache-inducing. Imagine merry melodies cranked up to 78, and you're close to imagining Zuckung's sound.

Certainly the ambient overture “Intersoup” ripples quietly enough and “G's Last Day” doesn't sound much different from standard melodic electronica but subsequent tracks turn considerably dizzier. Confronted with the rambunctious carousel “ Novosibirsk ” and seizure-gripped titular meltdown, one's reminded of Squarepusher at his noisiest and most provocative (“Please Feed Me My Own Sick” certainly seems to nod in the direction of Feed Me Weird Things), especially in those places where O Brien puts the bass up front. His material often resembles a drunken carousel, and not just sonically either but rhythmically too, especially when “Please Feed Me My Own Sick” woozily speeds up and slows down. “5 Ziegen” is like a mutant mix of greasy r'n'b and Neptune jazz, while “Defekt” suggests jazz fusion re-assembled after a pass or two through the shredder. The material is advanced in terms of imagination yet often earthy at its body-based core; occasionally visible underneath the dense interplay are straight-up tunes one could just as easily imagine played by an organ-bass-drums trio or a Black Sabbath cover band (“Omsk”). Zuckung is ultimately a wild but not entirely unpleasant ride.

September 2007