The Wire Tapper 34 Your track by track guide to this month’s free CD

1Marsen Jules “Beautyfear II” From Beautyfear (Oktaf) German electronic music composer Marsen Jules creates atmospheric and evocative tracks steeped in the principles of minimalism and abstraction. Since his debut album on City Centre Offices, he has released seven full length albums and contributed tracks to compilations on labels including 12K, Kompakt, Dronarivm, Miasmah and his own imprint, Oktaf Records. This year will also see him release material recorded during a two week residency at the GRM Studios at Radio France in Paris. marsenjules.de, oktaf.com 2Shoukichi Kina & Pascal Plantinga “Shima Guwa” From Washinnayo (Ata Tak) Known throughout Japan for his hit “Haisai Ojisan” and the million-selling “Hana”, Shoukichi Kina has never lost his status as a rebellious outsider; he uses his blend of rock and Okinawan folk as a vehicle for his musical and political activism. Here, he collaborates with Plantinga, a Dutch soundscape artist who couples electronic experimentation with a singular style of musical storytelling. atatak.com 3Pas Musique “Inside The Spectrum” From Inside The Spectrum (Alrealon Musique) Founded in 1995 by Robert L Pepper, Brooklyn’s Pas Musique create audio/

visual collages through the form of abstract sound and video. With 16 full length releases to their name, the collective have collaborated with musicians including Rapoon, Philippe Gerber (JOHN 3:16), HATI, David Tamura and Philippe Petit, and continue to coordinate the annual Experi-MENTAL Festival and other music events in the New York area. pasmusique. net, alrealonmusique.com 4Jakob Boeskov/Timothy DeWit/ Matthew Morandi “Computer Eyes” From I Think I Scan (Pork Salad Press) I Think I Scan is a collaboration between three New Yorkers: the conceptual artist Jakob Boeskov, best known for his ID Sniper project; Timothy DeWit, a founding member of Gang Gang Dance who now records as Dutch E Germ; and Matthew Morandi, aka L.I.E.S Records artist Jahiliyya Fields. Lifting metaphors from James Cameron’s Terminator films, “Computer Eyes” blends pseudo-automated spoken word, dissonant synths and drum machines in a deadpan exploration of our modern relationship with technology. porksaladpress.org, soundcloud.com/i-think-i-scan 5chra“Snowbird”FromShirleyM EP (Comfortzone) chra is the alter ego of Viennese author, DJ, music addict and radio/TV presenter Christina Nemec. After a period experimenting with low frequencies and noise effects, chra started to work on more club-friendly beats, using sinewaves processed through a tape recorder and other analogue and digital tools to allude to landscapes, territories, silence and extraordinary and extreme situations. She is also a member of Shampoo Boy and SV Damenkraft, has made performance works with Lydia Lunch, and runs her own label, Comfortzone. soundcloud.com/chra, comfortzonemusic.com 6Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard “Sikorsky” (extract) From Sikorsky (Hiatus) Copenhagen composer and multireedist Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard works by multiplying instruments over and over, transcending familiar jazz and classical conventions and creating a pure new sound without reference. This extract is taken from his 2013 album Sikorsky, a 30 minute piece featuring eight bass clarinets, four double basses and four drum kits. His work has also led him into some high profile collaborations: he recently worked with MoMA, composing a number of sound pieces for their René Magritte exhibition. nielsloekkegaard.dk, hiatuslabel.com 7Mason Bates “Stereo Is King” (Wire Tapper edit) From Stereo Is King (Innova) Mason Bates writes music that fuses orchestral writing, narrative forms, the harmonies of jazz and the rhythms of techno. His symphonic works, performed by orchestras large and small, have been championed by conductors including Riccardo Muti and Michael Tilson Thomas. He has also been an advocate for bringing new music to new spaces, through partnerships such as his residency with The Chicago Symphony, or through his classical/DJ project Mercury Soul, which transforms spaces from commercial clubs to Frank Gehry-designed concert halls into exciting hybrid musical events. masonbates. com, innova.mu/albums/mason-bates/ stereo-king 8Ernest Gibson “Groupwork”FromIslandRecords (Skrot Up) Trailing the scorched-earth urbanism of his group Net Shaker’s 2013 album I’m So Cold, Ernest Gibson’s debut LP ventures ever deeper into dense, primeval territory. Released on Copenhagen’s Skrot Up, Island Records provides a suite of 13 serpentine compositions from which the Pennsylvania-born, Los Angeles based soundshaper manages to coax his own strain of mutant exotica. “Groupwork” features contributions from Laena Geronimo on violin and Robert Wedemeyer on sax. ernestgibson.bandcamp.com, skrotup.com 9The Bleeding Peasant Orchestra “Pandaemonium” (edit) From Sanctuary And Truce (Corrosive Growth Industries) This shadowy British collective explore the hinterlands of drone, folk and industrial musics, their songs obliquely addressing austerity politics and religious fundamentalism. “Once formed and twice unformed, staggering amid the wreckage of their own memories like swollen children in a winter’s storm,” they write. “All sounds have been moderately created by crickets trained to live in a bean can.” corrosivegrowth.co.uk

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