JustAddNoise

History Is Bunk

May 11th, 2006

Various Artists
History Is Bunk vol. 1 & 2
Rating: 8.9
[Hefty; 2006; Electronic]

As somewhat of a companion to the Hefty Digest dual disc we talked about a while back, History Is Bunk: Collaborations, Reinterpretations and New Compositions (volumes 1 and 2) continues celebrating 10 years of exceptional musical output by Chicago’s Hefty Records. But as Digest looked back over the past, the HIB series gives a glimpse of the label’s future with remixes of past material, collaborations between Hefty artists and friends as well as new material from the current roster.

Volume 1 kicks off with the experimental but jungly “Russian Icle Slide” by Slicker (label head John Hughes) which sets the stage for next 50 minutes of highlights. The mellow strings and soft boy/girl vocal harmony of L’Altra’s “The Last” are perfectly complimented by the restrained use of electronic bits and downtempo beat that only stays for the middle peak and the final Radiohead-ish eruption towards the end. This is also an early indication of the wide spectrum of sounds that Hefty’s “electronic” music covers. Dabrye’s brand of hip-hop infused into Some Water And Sun’s “Snowbreaker” is completely contrasted by the delicate piano and jazzy horns (over subtle atmospherics) of “Deluge” by Chris Case featuring Rick Embach and Phil Ranelin. “Mackinaw Peeper Division” by Sts9, Slicker and Retina.It combines a folksy guitar loop, bits of keys, random percussion and distortion over a crunchy bass beat to form a strange futuristic freak-folk.

After packing all that and more into the first disc, Volume 2 slows the pace a bit overall beginning with the (nearly ambient at times) downtempo beat and spacey vocals of “Absentminded” by Spanova. But the pace picks back up again immediately afterwards with the new wave-ish danceable “Compose The Beat” by Plus Device and old school hip-hopishness of Eliot Lipp’s “Heat”. Chris Case and Rick Embach return with very subdued keys, tiny blips and chimes over quiet washes of fuzz on “Axtel” that is counter-balanced by the choppy sound design of Retina.It’s “Anticamera Dei Dubbi”.

Both discs blur the dividing lines of dance, experimental, ambient, hip-hop, pop and jazz, and each track in it’s own unique way. If you like it on the faster, harder side, choose volume 1. If you like it softer and smoother, choose volume 2. If you like many flavors of electronics, get both. You won’t be disappointed. History is bunk? Not Hefty’s history, and by the sounds of these, a bunk future isn’t on the horizon either.

Download Some Water And Sun’s Snowbreaker (Dabrye Remix)

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Entry Filed under: Electronic