Couple more electronic records...Shigeto and Ensemble Economique

That's right, it's time for me to struggle against the use of the word "blippy" and fret pointlessly about which instruments are "real" and which ones come out of computers. I've been listening to a couple of electronic albums with the raw enthusiasm of an Iron Age warrior contemplating his first iPod. I love the way that both of them sound, which I will try to describe to you in a naive and non-genre specific way that real electronics writers will find amusing or offensive, depending on how much they hate women. (And yes, actually, most of them do.)

First up Shigeto, who pulls heavily from jazz as he creates slinky, syncopated meshes of percussion. Elements of the sound suggest glockenspiel, marimba, xylophone and Fender Rhodes, all cool, serene and tonal, slightly idealized versions of the sounds they evoke. I like the way the beats drag behind, then step up sharp to the twos and fours, a succession of hesitations and slaps that feels unhurried, laid-back yet structured. It's quite sensual, but you'd have trouble dancing to it, sexual without heat, sweat or bother. The record is called No Better Time Than Now and it's out on Ghostly on August 19.

Disturbingly, given recent events, it includes a "Detroit Part 1," but no "Part 2" or subsequent.


With the second, Fever Logic from Ensemble Economique, I feel myself on somewhat firmer ground, since it is exactly the kind of landscape-y, outrageously gorgeous drone meditation that I tend to like on guitar, transposed to booming synths. Really, it could be Jesu in parts. There are even vocals. Lots of kissing on the video, lots of long hair flying around...enjoy.

ENSEMBLE ECONOMIQUE - We Come Spinning Out Of Control from PɨK on Vimeo.

The record has been out on the Not Not Fun label since July, but nowhere near enough people have heard it.

Back to guitars and banjos and such tomorrow.