Album Review: Totem by Ryat

Proverbial madwoman in the attic Ryat should ditch the wanky talk of 'spirit animals', one of whom is represented on each track here. The idea is that by juxtaposing Native American mythology with a sound of jazz-inflected futurism comes the realisation of a new paradigm, deep-rooted and shiny. As appealing as the concept is to devoted analysts with a clumsy grasp on their marbles, the Philadelphian’s Brainfeeder and UK debut Totem, her third in total, needs it not.

Full Review >>

RyatTotem[Brainfeeder; 2012]By Will Ryan; July 5, 2012Purchase at: Insound (Vinyl) | Amazon (MP3 & CD) | iTunes | MOGTweetBrainfeeder's newest signing is a colossus behind the boards and she's got a mean Björk-ian snarl. Los Angeles' Christina Ryat brings art school introversion to the already outcast mold of the Flying Lotus-led LA beat weirdo enclave. On paper, it might sound a little too on the nose, but Ryat's Brainfeeder allegiances feel like something that found her and not the other way around.

Full Review >>

You can probably guess what the average Brainfeeder release sounds like these days without knowing too much about it—distracted and tangential, sample-heavy hip-hop is the order of the day. It looks like that might be changing. First with Dutch producer Martyn's tough house, and now LA local Christina Ryat, whose avant-garde songs take the Brainfeeder aesthetic and twist its beat-driven collage into something even less linear.

Full Review >>

The recent resurgence of female ‘beatsmiths’ in the contemporary music scene is easily one of the high points of the last few years. Until recently, it felt like electronic music by women has been defined as either ‘Before Björk’ or ‘After Björk’. Though she is undoubtedly a pioneer and an influence on many musicians, male and female, we have since been emphatically reminded that not everything in this genre has to sound like her work to be great.

Full Review >>

Maribel – Reveries Splendour https://www.facebook.com/maribelband On the second and aptly-titled album from Norway’s dream-rockers Maribel, the band has toned down the rock element in favor of a drawn out, diaphanous atmosphere that pervades every song. The initial falling-star- film-noir-reverb-guitar, soporific splendor turns into an overdose by the end of the album as songs merge into each other like drifting, indistinct dreamscapes. In individual doses the result can be sensationally narcotic, but taken as a whole, the sonic resemblances become somnambulistic.

Full Review >>

An always-rewarding insight into this LA artist’s mystical and eccentric world. Ian Roullier 2012 Flying Lotus seems to have a fairly specific policy for signing music to his Brainfeeder label: it seems to be a rich refuge for left-leaning, glitched-out, largely instrumental hip hop that’s infused with a dash of IDM. So, on first appearance it seems that LA-based singer/songwriter Christina Ryat (recording under all-caps, it seems) does little to fit the bill that includes artists like Martyn, Samiyam and Teebs.

Full Review >>