Beserkley Chartbusters Volume 1 [Beserkley, 1975]The Berkeley rock underground? Featuring Earth Quake, a failed heavy boogie band from A&M and Jonathan Richman, reputed to have squandered numerous Warner Comm bucks studioing with the Modern Lovers yet here sounding as if he prefers to record in the WC? I played this sampler twice and shelved it. But a more sympathetic listening suggests that maybe rock and roll undergrounds are the same everywhere--tough-minded, spare and loud, and committed to an eloquent simplicity of form no matter what the embroidering tastemakers in the biz consider art. This shared commitment makes the four artists exhibited here sound as if they're all on one album, instead of a bunch of cuts, and the album is a good one. A-
The Real Hip-Hop: The Best of D&D, Vol. 1 [Coldfront, 1999]The main thing undergrounders mean by "real" is Hold That Tune, a/k/a/ Hook Junkies Keep Out. Though this ethos dates officially to the South Bronx's primordial ooze, its immediate forebear is these mid-'90s productions of Premier and his lessers. On choice singles from a singles music, the warm feelings hip hop heads cherish for M.O.P., the Lost Boyz, Smif-N-Wessun, and Showbiz & AG can be shared by us hook users. An excess of celebrity similes is counterbalanced by gangsta talk as unmitigated metaphor. Competitive world, hip hop. It could kill ya. A-
Echoes From The Underground Vertical Horizon Rar
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Hip Hop 101 [Tommy Boy, 2000]De La Soul's (really Maseo's) version of "real" and/or "underground" hip-hop, those bizarre virtual synonyms, eschews ascetic beats and fancy-ass scratching for an accessibility that recalls the ebullient old-school funk of Pumpkin and Hitman Howie Tee. About half the hooks are irresistible, the rest are at least hooks, and from metaphysics to dick grab, the rhymes honor black male expression in all its self-validating glory. A-
Ultimate Worship Music [BMG Strategic Marketing Group, 2004]All I know about worship music is that it's the hottest Christian subgenre--otherwise content-free "vertical" songs of praise to the Almighty in many modern (i.e., dated, white) pop and rock styles. So this came in the mail, and with Christians on the warpath I played it, and it sounded like goop to me, but it would, wouldn't it? The $12.98 or so price for a triple-CD that would fit on two discs canceled out the all-too-redolent label name. Still, I wondered why the credits listed only composers. An Amazon post from Stephen Putt of Warren "Vacate Our Election Board, Journalistic Terrorists" Ohio put me straight: "I bought this cd at walmart. there was no indication on the cd that the songs were not sung by the original bands. I tried to return this cd at walmart and they wouldn't take it back. basically if you want a collection of worship music done by the original bands and singers. Dont buy this cd." How "naive," shot back a co-religionist who'd attended a camp run by compiler Joel Engle: "Believe it or not, the vast majority of these songs do not 'belong' to any one band, but have been written by songwriters and can be sung by anyone who gets permission." Or doesn't get permission, actually. Strategic marketers have long known that sacred truth. Just like Christian retailers know what's nine-tenths of God's law. E
Journey Into Paradise: The Larry Levan Story [Rhino, 2006]Though disco was supposedly an underground, minor-label phenomenon, Rhino's corporate muscle is what makes this two-and-a-half hour mix the most successful attempt to evoke the mythic vibe of the great DJ's Soho dance haven. Fifteen of the 22 tracks originated with WEA, including a few that provide songful relief from the cult hits of divas-in-waiting--Yaz's "Situation," Womack & Womack's "Baby I'm Scared of You," and a weirded-up Nile Rodgers remix of Sister Sledge's "Lost in Music." But mostly it showcases the ambient abandon and steady-state serial orgasm of 12-inch singles often fashioned by Levan himself, cutting extravagrant orchestration with spare percussion and breaks he could protract to infinity if the mood was on him. Not really infinity, of course--not here, and not at the Paradise Garage either. The sun always did come up. And Levan died in 1992. A-
Now That's What I Call Club Hits 2 [EMI, 2010]If the Now cartel's records weren't so uniformly patchy I'd think they'd done it on purpose: 10 straight "dynamite" tracks, to borrow Taio Cruz's cutting-edge metaphor before he tries to copyright it, followed by six straight--well, not quite duds, but songs to sit down to. What differentiates good from ordinary isn't purity of talent or purpose, though Christina Aguilera and Adam Lambert certainly fulfill their dull destinies. Lady Gaga excepted, it isn't genius either, though Ian Nieman, whoever he is, comes close, expanding and overdriving Jason Derulo's high-generic "Ridin' Solo" into ramalama history. It's just inspired mechanics, as the same sounds and techniques that make it such a chore to dance to most dance music once your adrenalin recedes are propelled from the booming din by one or more extra-clever tricks. A trifecta of synth hooks on David Guetta and Chris Willis's "Gettin' Over You." La Roux's "Bulletproof" goosed with both treated echoes and "natural" crooning--and then seguing directly to drum 'n' electrosqueezebox custom-designed to juice the Black Eyed Peas' "Imma Be." Etc. A-
ZZK Sound Vol. 3 [ZZK/Waxploitation, 2013]The third compilation from this adventurous if narrowcast Buenos Aires label--which on its first comp five years ago (see below) classified its milieu as "cumbia digital"--has gotten some respect in the U.S. dance world, but zero comprehension near as I can tell, which may not matter much when you're dancing but ought to when you're verbalizing into the infosphere. For instance, the first thing this Anglophone in an office chair wants to know is whether it's dance music at all. The most detailed review I've found references "intoxicating electro-pulsating beats derived mainly from the Buenos Aires club scene" and promises it will render the listener "better aquainted [sic] with the dance and electronic underground of South America." And these electro-pulsations sound how, exactly? Find hints in the label squib: "there's a darker, last hour of the club feel to it, everybody sweaty and grooving to deep bassy cumbia infested tracks." To which promo poetry I add a few prosaic facts. Moderate-to-submoderate tempos that speed up gradually over 15 tracks. Low-end sonics not so much bassy as buzzy. Never ambient or chill-out, there's always a beat, but not floor-fillers either. Cumbia roots submerged. DJs mostly Argentinian but also from Paris, Barcelona, NYC, Mexico, Caracas, maybe Sweden. General ambience tends humorous--and friendly, as befits the cumbia tradition. Animators seeking soundtrack could do worse. A-
Purpose: Corneal topography data expressed as corneal aberrations are frequently used to report corneal laser surgery results. However, the optical image quality at the retina depends on all optical elements of the eye such as the human lens. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the correlations between the corneal and total wavefront aberrations and to discuss the importance of corneal aberrations for representing corneal laser surgery results. Methods: Thirty three eyes of 22 myopic subjects were measured with a corneal topography system and a Tschernig-type wavefront analyzer after the pupils were dilated to at least 6 mm in diameter. All measurements were centered with respect to the line of sight. Corneal and total wavefront aberrations were calculated up to the 6th Zernike order in the same reference plane. Results: Statistically significant correlations (p
Monochromatic aberrations may influence the visual acuity of the eye. They are not stable and can be affected by different factors. The subject of the following paper is the dynamic investigation of the changes in wavefront aberration with accommodation. Dynamic measurement of higher and lower order aberrations was performed with a WASCA Wavefront Analyzer (Carl-Zeiss-Meditec) and a specially constructed target device for aligning objects in far and near distances on 25 subjects aged from 15 to 27 years old. Wavefront aberrations showed some significant changes in accommodation. In addition to the characteristic sphere reaction accompanying miosis and changes in horizontal prism (Z(1) (1)) in the sense of a convergence movement of the eyeball also occurred. Furthermore defocus rose (Z(2) (0)) and astigmatism (Z(2) (-2)) changed. In higher-order aberrations a decrease in coma-like Zernike polynomials (Z(3) (-1), Z(3) (1)) was found. The most obvious change appeared in spherical aberration (Z(4) (0)) which increased and changed from positive to negative. In addition the secondary astigmatism (Z(4) (-2)) and quadrafoil (Z(4) (4)) rise also increased. The total root mean square (RMS), as well as the higher-order aberrations (RMS-HO) significantly increased in accommodation which is associated with a theoretical reduction of visual acuity. An analysis of the influence of pupil size on aberrations showed significant increases in defocus, spherical aberration, quadrafoil, RMS and RMS HO by increasing pupil diameter. By accommodation-associated miosis, the growing aberrations are partially compensated by focusing on near objects. Temporal analysis of the accommodation process with dynamic wavefront analysis revealed significant delays in pupil response and changing of prism in relation to the sphere reaction. In accommodation to near objects a discrete time ahead of third order aberrations in relation to the sphere response was found. Using dynamic wavefront measurement
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