#12 :: A GLITCH IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Music without words. Whether it be Jazz or Rock or Glitchy Techno Pop or pure artsy-fartsy noise, the instrumental genre has been growing by leaps and bounds lately. Or maybe its just my burgeoning appreciation of it. For a long time I subscribed the traditional rock formula of guitars, drums and vocals and anything less seemed too easy. Maybe my ears are evolving, but I am increasingly finding myself mezmerized by these vocal-less compositions, whether its the mathy rock of Don Caballero, the hybrids of 65 Days of Static and Shining, the biological gurgling soundscapes of Jan Jelinek or the balls to the wall House of Jacob London. The rise of electronic media is the democratization of media. I vote for less talk and more rock. And more glitch.

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1 :: Stoney Street
Artist: Amon Tobin
Combining Jazz, avant garde, and golden era symphonic swells laced just the right amount of hip hop atmosphere, Amon Tobin creates a brilliant fusion of awesomeness that has a timelessness to it that is way ahead of its time.
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2 :: Wooo
Artist: Vitalic
This track has a lot of skronky organ effects and retro synth sounds going on. And its really going on. It also boats a infectious melody and bumpin beat. Really there is nothing wrong with this track at all.
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3 :: Wrapped in Bacon
Artist: Jacob London
This is house music and this not house music. It's certainly not the maniac ultra repetitive gay bar dance floor diva doused milk toast that has kept me 50 yards back from the genre for years. Seattle duo Jacob London know how to layer lots of snipped and glitched out sounds to create a rich and bouncy atmosphere, but the funk is never lost or buried even when it reaches its cacophonous apex. This is actually a super secret unreleased track. So the gettin's good y'all.
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4 :: Mullet Cut
Artist: Critters Buggin
Seattle's Critters Buggin were an accidental discovery on my part and one that changed how I understood non-vocalist music. This track boasts one bad ass groove and plenty of melodic particles floating around to keep things interesting. And then some.
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5 :: Lex
Artist: Ratatat
Ratatat boast an awesomer than awesome of names and whole lot of attention from the indie-illuminati. Sure they sold out to a Hummer commercial, but they overcome the software slump with this smokin track of synth and multi-tracked guitars. New album out August 22nd.
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6 :: Les Lumieres Pt. 2
Artist: Bell Orchestre
This wonderful multi-instrumentalist group shares some members with Arcade Fire, and that got them some deserved attention that quickly fizzled out before they could really make a commercial impact. You can here a lot of Arcade's rhythm and melodic style in this track and but Belle Orchestre are hardly lost in big brothers shadow.
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7 :: Joy
Artist: Four Tet
I had heard a lot about Four Tet before I finally gave in and discovered it for myself. His song "Smile Around the Face" got a lot attention last summer, but it was this lead track on Everything Ecstatic that got me moving and paying attention.
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8 :: (My 1st) Big Break
Artist: Cut Chemist
Cut Chemist left Jurassic 5 I assume to freely pursue his own brand of awesomeness which he displays in spades with this tribal breakin cut of funk and hip hop turntabalism. The full album is due out soon.
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9 :: Zealous Order of Candied Knights
Artist: Matmos
Matmos potentially pigeonholed themselves as a gimmick glitch group by creating a groovy house soundtrack from the sampled sounds of plastic surgery and liposuction. When I heard they were coming out with a new album made from only Civil War area instruments, I was skeptical again of their emphasis on a concept. But this track transcends its thematic trappings and presents its listener with a brilliant re-imagining of our own expectations. This doesn't belong in a CD bin but on a gallery wall.
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10 :: Rock in the Video Age
Artist: jan Jelinek
This was one of those rare gambles. I heard that Jan Jelinek's music was the perfect interpretation of the dense and mossy landscape displayed on the album cover for Kosmischer Pitch. That was enough to make me purchase something without ever hearing it or even hearing of it (which I rarely ever do). And it was so true. I spent a lot of time listening to his bubbling ethereal soundscape while staring at the image displayed on its mysty Shire-like cover. There is just enough rhythm underneath the gurgling activity to keep things moving.
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11 :: The Taut and Tame
Artist: Tortoise
No mix of modern instrumental music could be complete without the fathers of Post Rock making an appearance. Tortoise have done a lot of shape shifting over the years with mixed results but nothing really has come close to their opus Millions Now Living Will Never Die. This is my favorite track off that album and it's brilliant.
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12 :: Pagina Tres
Artist: Prefuse 73 Remixing The Books
Both Prefuse 73 and The Books are interesting enough on their own, but Scott Herren's bouncy interpretation of the Books articulate folksy meanderings is truly inspired. It sounds like Sufjan Stevens if he were hip and from New York.
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13 :: Flatheads and Spoonies
Artist: Drums & Tuba
This group literally is comprised of Drums and Tuba along with an additional mix of guitars, synths and electronics. But its the Drums and Tuba that comprise the core of the sound as well as provide its most dynamic and interesting nuances.
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14 :: Goretex Weather Report
Artist: Shining
This is a hurricane of a song and I have been waiting more than a year to stick somewhere on a mix. I finally found it a home. And it still sounds as fresh and blistering as the first time I heard it.
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15 :: Fire Back About Your New Baby's Sex
Artist: Don Caballero
Much like Tortoise, no "instrumentals" mix could exclude Don Caballero. These guys used to be a complicated metal group and that was interesting enough, but things got really interesting with the release of their masterpiece Whatever Burns Never Returns. Its transcendence of both popular and avant garde rock aesthetics is the pinnacle and tombstone of the Math Rock genre. This track is off the follow up record, American Don, which masterfully balances the nerdy geometry of WBNV with the more rocking back catalog.
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16 :: Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here
Artist: 65 Days of Static
The best combination of hip hop break beat freakout and rock ever. Sheer bombastic awesomeness.
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