ARTICLES
Ten Questions: Fat Jon
MUTEK 2006

ALBUMS
65daysofstatic
A Cloud Mireya
Ambarchi and Ng
Another Elec. Musician
Derek Bailey
Band Ane
Barzin
Black Gold 360
The Blow
Boduf Songs
Childs
Darc Mind
Dosh
Duopandamix
Fat Jon & Styrofoam
Liam Gillick
Shuta Hasunuma
Tim Hecker
Ilkae
Jack's Son
Richard Jäverling
Jazzkammer
Junior Boys
Last Days
Hanno Leichtmann
Luomo
Mandelbrot Set
Mountaineer
N.Phect & Dizplay
Part Timer
Karsten Pflum
Benoît Pioulard
Plus Device
+/- {Plus/Minus}
Relay
Saroos
Seht
Shedding
So Percussion
Sybarite
Trio Vopá
Marshall Watson
Weather Report
Donato Wharton
Christopher Willits
Xela

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
ESL Remixed
Four Tet
Garnier & Craig
Ginglik Saturdays
Michael Mayer
Henrik Schwarz

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Colleen
Delano and Xpansul
Detritus
Ed Devane
Eskimo
Feathers
Goldmund
Ezekiel Honig/Graphic
Ezekiel Honig
Eliot Lipp
Robert Lippok
Alejandro Lopez
Evan Marc
Porter & Carr
Sebastian Russell
Somone Else
Spaceships & Pings
SplitEP3
Simon Whetham

Childs: Yui
Static Discos

Paul Marrón (guitars, keyboards, programming) and Guillermo Bátiz (programming) call their Childs' tracks ‘electronic lullabies,' a term that nicely captures their songs' endearing, child-like character. Anything but twee, Yui is a remarkably beautiful and oft-melancholy (one song even titled “S.a.d.”) fusion of delicate digital, analog, and acoustic sounds that not only reflects Childs' love for the sweet musings of Múm, Boards of Canada, and Isan but also the epic reach of Sigur Rós and Four Tet.

Throughout the album, voices drift through dreamy, string-laden landscapes while chiming guitars transport songs into higher galaxies. Among the standouts, “Yui” envelops the listener in a huge, slow-moving cloud of heavenly melodies and guitar haze, though the song's second half turns even more captivating when a distant chorus floats over the song's lush base, intensifying its epic quality. In the equally hypnotic “Marisal,” willowy strings caress piano-kissed melodies and hushed vocals before the song gallops to an epic close. Gorgeous keyboard melodies chime and voices murmur throughout the stately “Reki” and “Ian P” has more than its share of goose-bump moments too. Since initiating Childs in 2001, Marrón and Bátiz have perfected the group's sound as Yui arrives fully formed. Though influences sometimes surface a little too baldly (the melodica-laden “Oliver” is a tad too similar to Múm, for example), the album still impresses as a captivating suite of hypnotic sounds.

November 2006