The Rubber Room column is a weekly look at recent and notable releases that don’t fall into the rubric of traditional reviewed material—namely 7”’s, 12”’s, 3” CDs, EPs, cassette-only and MP3-only releases.

Efdemin
Kleine Wirrniss
[Dial, 2004]

If you’re not familiar with Dial, get familiar. The label has been releasing some of the most woozy and unsettling house music this side of Dettinger for going on three years now. Efdemin is a tad cleaner than most stuff that ends up on the label and this EP is no exception. The content: “Post Script Blues” is all sonar pulses and round beats, “Colonia” is the schaffel joint that errs on the side of trackiness and “Isobel” is Tubular Bells gone wild. Got it? Good.
[Todd Burns]

Jersey Devil Social Club
Homage at 121 BPM
[Environ, 2004]

Featuring possibly my favorite sound effect ever (10CC “I’m Not in Love”), Jersey Devil Social Club’s “Homage at 121 BPM” is a twelve-minute three-song suite that sounds mightily similar the whole way through. It’s not such a bad thing, though, when the sound is in full effect. The problem is, it cuts out halfway through. And the beat isn’t quite propulsive enough to carry the whole thing to its purported epic ending. The B-side (“Italo Bassline”) does a bit better in the propulsive department, but after twenty minutes of congas, it’s hard to get excited about the lackluster finish much less anything else.
[Todd Burns]

Metro Area
Metro Area 5
[Environ, 2004]

But let’s not count out Environ quite yet, OK? They’ve still got Metro Area running things. If this single is any indication, though, it doesn’t seem like we’ll see the label stepping out of its prescribed placement in the synthetic + organic niche that they’ve so successfully mined for their career. As such, it’s hard to really identify why the B-side works so much better than its counterpart, but it should be apparent to anyone listening. So seek out “Proton Candy” (it’s the ever-escalating melodies and the more buoyant beat) and skip “Nerves” (it’s the tired strings and piano mélange) and await another brilliant full-length.
[Todd Burns]

Dr. Phil Stumpf
Praxis
[Festplatten, 2004]

Trying hard to refrain from bad doctor analogies here. Let it be said that “Praxis” means “practice” in German and we’ll leave it at that. “Dreigang” and “Schnipsel” do an admirable jocking of the electronic jack of typical Bpitch Control drum programming and melodic sentiment. But the real joy here is “Wuerfel”, the requisite schaffel tune that comes in somewhere between “Boys in Shorts” and the Superpitcher mix of “You Don’t Need A Weatherman”. It doesn’t take one of the latter (or a doctor for that matter) to tell you that this is the most fertile ground that Stumpf is treading here.
[Todd Burns]

John Spring
Waterproof
[Sub Static, 2004]

Despite the water proof claim, the beats here do tend to err on the side of squelch. “Schokolada” works well once the mid-portion adds a cohering bassline to the mix, amid its other more acid bassline and muttered vocal samples. “Prolog” goes the same way, making further claims towards a harder-edged sound from the usually minimal Sub Static camp, while “Textilfrei” similarly takes no prisoners as the ridiculously ferocious finale to this menacing set. An interesting sidelight for the usually more demure Sub Static, but not one I’m going to be listening to much more I fear.
[Todd Burns]

Metope
Alphafrog
[Areal, 2004]

If you do get a chance, take a digital walk over to the Areal site and read the descriptions for each release. The actual music isn’t as crazy as it’s all made out to be, but sometimes it comes close to describing it to a T. Case in point: The 6 ft. gallop mention in reference to Metope’s latest outing “Alphafrog”. Almost makes me want to give up writing about music. Doesn’t make me want to stop listening to Areal, though. And it shouldn’t stop you either. Top stuff, as has become the custom for Metope.
[Todd Burns]