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, DVDs and MP3-only releases.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Ghostface
Back in the Air
[Roc-A-Fella , 2004]

With some clever live bass playing and clean drums this surely cannot be a RZA production, but still its bare boned groove brings the better tracks from Forever to mind. Dirt manages to actually rhyme two ‘proper’ verses here as opposed to the crack bricolage rhymes of the pre-rehab years or some old recycled shit like many of his collaborations. This ‘normal’ Dirt sounds slightly out of breath here and his voice has certainly changed, not even daring to attempt the wild flows which used to drench mic shields across the land. A refreshingly together signpost for the comeback LP.
[Scott McKeating]

Dub Tractor
Faster
[City Centre Offices, 2004]

While the title of Anders Remmer’s five-track 12” might suggest Dub Tractor has become some thrash-metal variant of its former self, Faster floats by at about the same BPM as 2003’s More Or Less Mono. But it’s quality, not tempo, that’s the issue, and in that regard these dreamy hymns of glistening guitars, dubby bass lines, and ethereal voices do the job just fine. Reminiscent of “I Don’t Care,” “Faster” casts an intoxicating spell when Remmer repeatedly intones the title alongside sun-drenched guitars and swaying rhythms. Elsewhere, “Right/Wrong” is animated by gentle weaves of vocal harmonies and bubbly bass, while “A Meter” and “Cirkel” are distinguished by their respective churning guitars and music box plunks. As with More Or Less Mono, that these songs appear to be confections deceptively belies the evident craft of their construction.
[Ron Schepper]

L.Pierre
Total Horizontal Pt 1 & 2
[Melodic, 2004]

Formerly Lucky Pierre and now currently still .5 of Arab Strap, bon vivant Aidan Moffat (hairy, red wine drinker, Strap vocalist) continues his instrumental side-project with a 12” from the forthcoming Touchpool splitting the full “Total Horizontal” cut over its two sides. The first countervails the harsher cut and paste hissy drums with the quasi-BoC tune giving stilted programmed overwhelming beats the focus over the melodies. “2”, the song’s striped finale brings the Satie piano, horns and Spanish guitar flourishes front and centre creating a wash of softer sounds for that post coital dusk / dawn soundtrack.
[Scott McKeating]

Infusion
Girls Can Be Cruel / Do To You (In ’82)
[Audio Therapy, 2004]

With Girls Can Be Cruel, Australia’s Infusion (Frank Xavier, Manuel Sharrad, and Jamie Stevens) offers an enticing foretaste of its upcoming album Six Feet Above Yesterday. The 12” includes two versions of the song, the first an electropop-progressive house treatment and the second a straight-up club mix. The song version opens with chunky T Rex guitar chords draped over a slamming groove that’s frankly more New Wave than techno or house. A robotic vocal hook (“Just one sip of your behavior / And my senses tell me danger”) digs beneath your skin amidst grimy synth whirrs and industrial noises. On the flip, galloping tech-house beats in the stomper “Girls Can Be Cruel (Infusion SQ’ed Mix)” morph into chugging machine rhythms that, goosed by synth snarls, sound even grungier.

Strong too though not as compositionally sophisticated as “Girls Can Be Cruel,” the ‘80s electro-techno “Do To You (In ’82)” alternates synth and guitar stabs over relentless beats while a breathless chorus intones the monotone hook: “If I could do to you / The things I wanted to do to you / Would you still want me to?” While the song itself is fine, the 12” impresses less for excluding a B-side; wasn’t an alternate mix (or equivalent) available? Regardless, both discs bode well for the full-length’s quality.
[Ron Schepper]

Daniel Wang
Berlin Sunrise
[Ghostly International, 2004]

While Berlin Sunrise might be inspired by Wang’s ‘90s’ club experiences, its handclaps and whistles sonically root it in the ‘70s. That might sound unappealing but Wang invests the ItaloDisco genre with such beatific sparkle it proves irresistible, especially on “Berlin Sunrise (die Nacht)” where velvety synths, snaking bass lines, and sunkissed arpeggios are distilled into an immaculate slice of Kraftwerkian elegance. Elsewhere, “Berlin Sunrise (die Dammerung)” adopts a slightly funkier stomp, “Das Ist Kein Techno!” shimmies with an enticing snap and pop, and Disco Nouveau’s “Pistol Oderso (Mehr Acid Mix)” boasts an echo-laden, electro-acid makeover that’s all graceful shimmer and laconic breeziness.
[Ron Schepper]