new Double Entendre - Irene EP

The artist-centric New York City may have been spared the brunt of Hurricane Irene's destruction, but the storm did seem to wreak havoc on weekend plans.  A definite benefit: musicians cooped up in their digs, pondering the approaching apocalypse, hopefully making some music, right?  That was certainly the case with Ryan Daniels AKA Double Entendre, who emailed me this morning about the existence of a new EP, born as Daniels sought shelter from the storm.  "The Calm" and "Rain Shields," in particular, may well be Daniels' best work to date.  The former is an experiment in repeating a riff until it's omnipresent, and then subtly changing emphasis to break the spell.  It reminds me, most pleasantly, of the warmly distorted guitars on Brian Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets.  "Rain Shields" ventures into Eno's other territory of sound, that being ambient and/or New Age.  The higher-pitched synth meanderings recall J.D. Emmanuel and Michel Genest*, while the industrial haze that muddies up the song's second half is straight from Sean McCann's aural encyclopedia.  Two of five songs below; stream the whole thing and purchase it here.

  Double Entendre - The Calm by casketcrashvigil

  Double Entendre - Rain Shields by casketcrashvigil

*Infinite thanks are due to Chocolate Bobka for pointing me towards these artists and their records

new Double Entendre - Street Music EP

Rolled out of bed this morning, checked my email and was very happy to see some correspondence from Ryan Daniels, aka Double Entendre.  Daniels' new Street Music EP is now streaming at bandcamp, available for download or in an incredibly limited run of just 15 cassettes.  There's something for everyone here, from the spin-inducing psychedelics of the title track to the more heavenly, harp-like oscillations of "This Perfect Day."  Faltering swells of acidic synths make up "Breathing in the Ether," while the fuzzed-up tin pan workout that is "Sometimes, Happy Times" took me back to Konono N°1's Congotronics in the best way possible.  "3-4 tbsp" is an ambient interlude complete with chirping birds and burnt-out key tones; "Onboard Currency" is an inspirational jam that chugs on and on towards the horizon.  Daniels offers up "Sometimes, Happy Times" and his remix of Andy & Zeus' "MCMLXXXI Choir" for free, but you should support the arts by buying the MP3s for $5 or a tape for just $6.  If you've ever bought anything from The Curatorial Club, NNA Tapes or Sweat Lodge Guru, you simply must buy this.