Articles
2013 Artist Picks
Jane Ira Bloom

Albums
Wataru Abe
Antonymes
Benoît Pioulard
Jane Ira Bloom
Blu Mar Ten
Matti Bye
Celer
Maile Colbert
Viv Corringham
Ensemble Economique
Karlheinz Essl
Farthest South
Faures
Flica
Fryadlus
Ghost Bike
Ikebana
Rafael Anton Irisarri
The Jaydes
Lantscap
Tristan Louth-Robins
Löwenritter
Chloë March
Lubomyr Melnyk
Mental Overdrive
Northumbria
Ed Osborn
perth
Xenia Pestova
Preghost
Redfish
Rion
Sicker Man
Thee Silver Mt. Zion M. O.
Ken Thomson
Otto A Totland
Vitiello + Berg

Compilations / Mixes
#100
Best of Poker Flat 2013
Evolution of the Giraffe
Danny Howells
Missing Fragments

EPs / Cassettes / Mini-Albums / Singles
Richard J. Birkin
DJ Bone
Cernlab
Akira Kosemura
Fabrice Lig
Lilies on Mars
Mako
Nian Dub
Nuage
Quiroga
Sheens
Snoqualmie Falls
Solenoid
Strong Souls
Tessela
ujif_notfound
Voyager

Solenoid: Talking Acid
Community Library

Gearing up for a busy 2014, Community Library returns with a seven-inch single of playful acid house from underground dance music figure Solenoid (aka Portland resident David Chandler, who's also issued material under the DJ Brokenwindow name and partners with Paul Dickow in running Community Library). As durable a presence as Solenoid himself, the ever-resilient genre gets dusted off in two four-minute tracks that gurgle and bounce in that familiar acid house style, though with a twist: in this case the immediately identifiable frog-like squelch of the TB-303 Bassline generator takes on a decidedly human-like quality—even if it's a vocal sound that squirms and croaks in that best swamp creature tradition. Chandler happened upon the single's sound somewhat by accident as it developed out of his working with the filtering effect in a scrapped circuit he found in an abandoned rack of vintage audio electronics.

Powered by a pumping pulse, “Pharaoh Acid” gurgles out of the gate, its wiry, jackhammer swing a secure base for the writhing acid patterns that somersault carefreely alongside it. The tune's got meat on its bones, too, what with a thick sub-bass roaming down below, and even takes a brief detour into Kratwerkian dystopianism along the way. There are moments when the acid patterns' gobble start to sound like nothing other than a talkbox, something even more pronounced in the aptly titled B-side “Frog Acid” where the acid squelch seems even more convulsive than usual. Stripped-down in comparison to the opening cut, “Frog Acid” limits its sound palette to a grooving house beat and a croak so pronounced and relentless it suggests—if there is such a thing—a throat swallowing itself. Love that yellow sleeve, too.

January 2014