Arcane Candy

“Roger Reynolds (born 1934) studied music composition at the University of Michigan. Together with fellow classmates Robert Ashley and Gordon Mumma, he was a founding member of the ONCE Group. In the late ‘60s, Reynolds settled in Southern California to teach composition at the University of California, San Diego, where he has been based to this day. Reynolds’ works most often include text of poetic or mythological origin, electronic sound elements, and multichannel spatial explorations.”–Wikipedia

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After three releases on their own Vague Terrain imprint*, San Francisco electronica duo Matmos visit the sad, vain and vacuous world of California cosmetic surgery on their first widely available effort, A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure. Offering gainful sonic employment to such diverse items as an acoustic (bowed) and electric guitar, a clarinet, drums, L.A.S.I.K. laser eye surgery, a hearing test booth, test tones, a wah ukulele, an acupuncture point detector, a plucked and bowed rat cage, a human skull, goat spine and corrective tissue, artificial teeth, rhinoplasty surgery, an endoscopic forehead lift and a chin implant, Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt have skillfully pasted together an aural construction paper assignment far beyond third grade expectations. Needless to say, plenty of fresh and strange “pop” sounds for you to rock out to are included. In contrast to that, my favorite track is “For Felix (And All the Rats)” for bowed and plucked rat cage, which offers up a more atmospheric affair with no discernible beats. All in all, A Chance to Cut is worthy—but not as good as The West, so don’t get your hopes up, cheese.

*I really like the one with the aspirin caught inside the jewel case and the really nice sample of a pair of scissors snipping away.

Label: Matador Catalog Number: OLE-489-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 7 Country: United States Released: 2001 More: Pitchfork, Reverb, Smithsonian

Text ©2003 Arcane Candy

This group of Philly cheese steaks first mitted my attention back in ’95 (19, that is) with their coming out party platter of yore, Bufo Alvarius. Seems that most every member of the band had bought out the complete remaining stock of effects pedals from every guitar store east of the Mississippi and proceeded to slather layers of distortion all over the slow, plodding rhythms ebbing out most nicely throughout my bedroom. In fact, the aural cloud they’ve created is way thicker than the coat of Ben Gay your grandma is applying to her joints at this very moment. That’s pretty much been the story for each following album over the years ever since, including this new one, Set And Setting.

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Jorg Burger (The Modernist, Bionaut, Burger Industries) and Mike Ink (Love Inc., GAS, Vinyl Countdown) serve up an expanding tray of pleasant minimal techno pleasantries that will urgently knead your stressed forehead with a warm, slightly damp towel of incessant Cologne bliss. Complete, body-swaying, nod out exit ramps that I want to park within all damned night. Rock’s on.

Label: Matador Catalog Number: OLE 334-2P Format: CD EP Packaging: Cardboard sleeve Tracks: 10 Country: United States Released: 1998

Text ©2003 / 2023 Arcane Candy

John Myers is an ethnomusicologist, composer, conductor and guitarist whose main claim to obscurity is joining fellow composer Glenn Branca’s ensemble of massed electric guitars. On his lone 1996 CD, John Myers’ Blastula, John offers up four pieces for an electric guitar quartet vaguely reminiscent of some of Branca’s greatest works. Chock-full of powerful, dark sprays emanating from hovering storm clouds and man made rhythmic thunderheads consisting of killer riffs and expansive drones, this CD EP clocks in at only 20 minutes, and thus surely won’t bore the uninitiated. I personally wish they would’ve stretched it out a lot further. Alternately-tuned guitar drone freaks take note: this release is definitely for you.

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Good afternoon, freelance journalist. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to review a 10″ vinyl record album titled Gitanjali by the musical group The No Neck Blues Band. As always, should you be injured or killed by the artist or a representative of the label for writing a review that is highly critical of this release, the owner and staff of Arcane Candy will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This 10″ record will self-destruct in one hour.

Label: Ri Be Xibalba Catalog Number: OQ’EBAL 004 Format: 10″ Packaging: Jacket Tracks: 3 Country: United States Released: 2013 More: Ri Be Xibalba

Text ©2023 Arcane Candy

In alphabetical order by artist name.

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I’m not sure if White Zero Corp is the artist name on this CD or just the title, as it’s listed different ways on various web sites. Nevertheless, rest assured it is a musical project by two lads over in Poland named Pierre Jodlowski and Alexandre Babel. What they have on offer to your ear drums is heavy instrumental math metal interspersed with quiet interludes full of experimental ambient textures. When they rock out, they do so by way of odd, disjointed rhythms and tempo changes not unlike the Japanese band Ruins. The complete absence of tough guy Cookie Monster vocals—or any other kinds of singing for that matter—is a huge plus. Another thing other than the title that fooled me until I read the liner notes is that the instrument that sounds like a distorted guitar is actually a bass! Packaged in a DVD-sized Digi-Pak with a booklet of artwork depicting surreal nature scenes, this CD is highly recommended for fans of metal, math rock, ambient and experimental.

Label: éOle Records Catalog Number: éOr_017 Format: CD Packaging: DVD-sized Digi-Pak Tracks: 12 Country: France Released: 2019 More: Clic Musique, Pierre Jodlowski

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Not to be confused with the actor Tobey Maguire, MC Maguire “is a composer / producer who has created a very quirky post-modern hybrid that combines classical, pop, jazz, electro-acoustic, and world music traditions. He works primarily in his studio’s multi-track environment (up to 400 tracks) combining live recording, sampling, synths, exotic plugins, and digital editing possibilities. The finished product usually consists of a rigid, hierarchical, multi-layered construct, which is mathematically proportioned to reflect the philosophical / psychological thrust of each individual work’s raison d’être.”—Haro Street Music

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